Resource SV OU Viability Ranking Thread [ UPDATE: POST #751 ]

[Excalibuwrath]

Before I get into my own takes, I guess I'll just make the observation I really don't think there's that much separating the S and A+ ranks, and I think there's a lot of space between the B+ and A- ranks. S, S- and A+ are mostly "things that just ruin you if you aren't prepared or if you don't keep the right things healthy". Below that, A and A- are mostly "glue mons that give you a prayer against the broken shit". Gholdengo is kind of unique, but the other exceptions to that pattern are Tusk and Ting-Lu in S- and A+. For those specific Pokemon, I think their rankings only make sense if you think Ting-Lu is a better bulky, somewhat passive utility mon than Corv, Dondozo, Clodsire, Garganacl, Skeledirge, Amoongus and Treads, and if Tusk is either significantly better than any of them in that kind of glue role or if its offensive uses push it higher than them. I don't really know myself, but they're the exceptions to this tier list where most things with a similar role are near each other. (I think you can also reasonably argue that Cyclizar, Glimmora and Grimmsnarl basically all fit the same mold of "enabling broken shit on HO", but I'm more willing to buy that Cyclizar is better than the others). What I do feel comfortable saying, though, is that for any of these Pokemon to be higher than A, you need to buy that they're better than the rest.

I thiiink that covers the Garganacl and Tusk noms I saw earlier, but I do have one more I have thoughts about:

Quaquaval to A-: Probably? I do really like that it's one of the only good Water types that don't need rain support, because being able to scare the Donphans, Unaware Clodsire, Skeledirge and Garganacl is really good for fighting the meta's fat teams. Plus, being a sweeper that isn't scared of Kingambit or Chien Pao's priority is pretty nice too. Basically, Water types are good and there aren't many good offensive Water types atm. It does not like all the Dragons in the meta that make Choice sets very prediction-reliant, but Ice Spinner is a real threat once you have either a Bulk Up or a speed boost, so yeah, this thing forces you to be very careful if you don't have a Dondozo. As far as the set-up sweepers in the B+ range, it's worse than Volcarona for me, better than Baxcalibur, probably similar to Iron Moth? So yeah, even though I always use Dragonite or Pult, which skews my perspective because they make its life very difficult, I'll buy A+.

As for my own:

Sandy Shocks to C. To be honest, this might be too low, I don't know. But right now, the entire D tier is full of junk and just having an actual use should probably put it up a tier. That actual use is the fact that with a +1 SpA boost, only Ting-Lu is both good on its own and fine with switching into either STAB. It can deal with all the other fat things in the tier (Corv, Dondozo, Clodsire, Skeledirge, Treads), and in particular, being a Booster Energy attacker that can smash all of the Unaware mons is really good. Alternatively, base 101 speed is fine for a Specs user, and Specs Volt Switch is pretty good when the opponent doesn't have Ting-Lu. Is it great? No, but like, it has a clear use that doesn't require a ton of team support, which is better than Brute Bonnet, Cetitan, Haxorus, Kilowattrel, Maushold.

Garchomp to B+. Its defensive sets are way worse than they used to be because they can't run Toxic, and its offensive sets are worse now because it doesn't get Scale Shot, and there's really no reason to use it as an offensive Dragon over Roaring Moon, Dragonite or Dragapult, and if you want an offensive Ground type, Tusk is better. I really only see it used as a Rocks lead that can actually handle the Donphans, which is fine, but I just don't think that's good enough.

Volcarona to A. The reason I'm not nominating this to A+ is because I think it really does need to be an active Tera threat every time you use it, and that's a lot of opportunity cost. With that said, base PhysDef Volcarona has really nice use as a pivot because of its reliable recovery, and ability to counter Valiant, check Tusk, Chien Pao, and Ape, and heal and fish for burns against Roaring Moon, Dragonite and Kingambit. With Tera Fairy, you smash all of the above, and also turn into a 6-0 machine because Fire-Fairy coverage is really good and reliable recovery means that getting multiple Quiver Dance boosts is very realistic. Sure, Ting-Lu, Clodsire and especially Skeledirge can stop you, but I can't tell you how many times I just win on team preview against teams that don't have one of them because Tera Fairy means you resist Sucker Punch, and DD Dragonite can't win the 1v1 against a boosted Volcarona. At the very least though, I would definitely argue that nothing else below A+ is as capable of ripping through teams, and it's better than Iron Moth, the only other offensive Pokemon in A- and A, because Quiver Dance gives it a combination of power, speed and bulk that Moth can't reach.

 

[CaptainDaimyo]

I nominate S-tier to my reformed Orthodox rabbi Bill Clinton

In all seriousness though, here is my nom:

A+ --> S-

Somewhat of a hot take, but I think Iron Valiant being at A- feels a little off. Unlike most of the A-tier mons and a good amount of the S- tier mons (Great Tusk to be exact), Iron Valiant isn't really one-dimensional. You can run it as a physical attacker, a special attacker, or a mix of both. Aside from that, Iron Valiant can get +1 Speed for free thanks to most sets running +Speed max with Booster Energy, and combined with its amazing coverage, you can outspeed and threaten most offensive threats in the metagame like Dengo, Pult, and Pao. It is also able to tear through defensive Pokemon that poses problems to a good amount of attackers rn.

Calcs

252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ting-Lu: 354-416 (68.8 - 80.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skeledirge: 208-246 (50.4 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dondozo: 262-310 (51.9 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Garganacl: 258-306 (63.8 - 75.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Iron Valiant Aura Sphere vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Treads: 330-390 (102.8 - 121.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 488-576 (112.4 - 132.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Great Tusk: 308-366 (70.9 - 84.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Overall, Iron Valiant deserves its S- tier spot. With its flexibility, it just offers so much to offensive and balance teams so much that its place in the tier as one of the best mons overall currently cannot be ignored.

 

[Magcargo]

I nominate S-tier to my reformed Orthodox rabbi Bill Clinton

In all seriousness though, here is my nom:

A+ --> S-

Somewhat of a hot take, but I think Iron Valiant being at A- feels a little off. Unlike most of the A-tier mons and a good amount of the S- tier mons (Great Tusk to be exact), Iron Valiant isn't really one-dimensional. You can run it as a physical attacker, a special attacker, or a mix of both. Aside from that, Iron Valiant can get +1 Speed for free thanks to most sets running +Speed max with Booster Energy, and combined with its amazing coverage, you can outspeed and threaten most offensive threats in the metagame like Dengo, Pult, and Pao. It is also able to tear through defensive Pokemon that poses problems to a good amount of attackers rn.

Calcs

252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ting-Lu: 354-416 (68.8 - 80.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skeledirge: 208-246 (50.4 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dondozo: 262-310 (51.9 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Garganacl: 258-306 (63.8 - 75.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Iron Valiant Aura Sphere vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Treads: 330-390 (102.8 - 121.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 488-576 (112.4 - 132.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Great Tusk: 308-366 (70.9 - 84.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Overall, Iron Valiant deserves its S- tier spot. With its flexibility, it just offers so much to offensive and balance teams so much that its place in the tier as one of the best mons overall currently cannot be ignored.

Valiant's pretty solid, but not S- Rank material IMO, mainly because it is very frail and somewhat weak without a boosting item. Anything that its not OHKOing will deal big damage back, and if the opponent has Tera in their back pocket, or Dual Screens setup, these types of situations will be arising quite often. Additionally, Booster Energy being one time use can limit its threat level if its forced out, as it will not longer be able to check Pokemon like Dragapult, Chien-Pao, Scarf Gholdengo, etc. That being said, it is still a great Pokemon w/ a great amount of versatility & can threaten a lot of team structures w/ its good speed and coverage (esp w/ Knock Off), but I don't think its as reliable as some of the other S-Rank Pokemon in this meta.

 

[Karxrida]

Valiant's pretty solid, but not S- Rank material IMO, mainly because it is very frail and somewhat weak without a boosting item. Anything that its not OHKOing will deal big damage back, and if the opponent has Tera in their back pocket, or Dual Screens setup, these types of situations will be arising quite often. Additionally, Booster Energy being one time use can limit its threat level if its forced out, as it will not longer be able to check Pokemon like Dragapult, Chien-Pao, Scarf Gholdengo, etc. That being said, it is still a great Pokemon w/ a great amount of versatility & can threaten a lot of team structures w/ its good speed and coverage (esp w/ Knock Off), but I don't think its as reliable as some of the other S-Rank Pokemon in this meta.

I've only been playing on and off with a more Balanced build using Valiant (something from the Bazaar but I can't find the original post), but I concur here. It never seems to win games for me and half the time I wish I had Life Orb over Booster Energy.

Good Pokémon, but not S-Rank worthy.

 

[Fearlesschi]

A -> A-/B+ While a popular hazard setter early gen, glim's utility compared to other mons like garchomp (in the A- tier) falls off significantly over longer games where hazards may have to be set multiple times per game, due to a frequently problematic typing in combination with "just ok" bulk and speed. Its utility at removing hazards (something which garchomp does not possess) is usually pretty limited, due to the prevalence of things like gholdengho or iron treads that it would require earth power to threaten, and even then only to a limited degree (not to mention corviknight). Attempting hazard removal also further cuts into its hazard setting capabilities in the long term.
And though offensive sets have spiked in popularity, having used scarf glim for quite a bit, it also has its fair share of shortfalls. Poison + rock means that it troubles to touch steel types and tyranitar without earth power, and even with it, struggles to hit anhillape and many of the tiers grounds for major damage. Even with earth power, this can lead to having to predict frequently and/or switch out after kos and forfeit momentum. Further, the relatively weak power of coverage earth power combined with a typing prone to getting earthquaked (or make it rain'd) by many of its checks can force a tera on the glim user's part, due to its lack of damage output against many mons and frequent inability to take hits coming towards it. Furthermore, on a personal note, failing to outspeed +1 bax or doing less than half of dragonite's health with a supereffective power gem has lost me several games, and has illustrated how it lacks the wide splash ability and/or ease of gameplay of other scarfers in the tier such as chi-yu or the slightly slower gholdengho.

 

[Moyashi]

A -> A-/B+ While a popular hazard setter early gen, glim's utility compared to other mons like garchomp (in the A- tier) falls off significantly over longer games where hazards may have to be set multiple times per game, due to a frequently problematic typing in combination with "just ok" bulk and speed.

Glimmora is able to litter the field with hazards, being one of the most consistent leads for this role. Its capacity to lay down toxic spikes is also unique, as the move is very powerful right now. The kinds of teams Glimm is used on, usually paired with Gholdengo to deny removal, are often aggressive too.

Attempting hazard removal also further cuts into its hazard setting capabilities in the long term.

How exactly? Rocks, spikes and spin. You mostly only need earth power in this role. And mortal spin has the benefit of poisoning. Though, I may disagree here but there is maybe a case for a drop to A- just due to how much people have prepped for this mon, but B+ is way too low for it.

A -> S-
This one was brought up already but more so i'm just echoing previous sentiments. Ape is very potent offensively and difficult to answer without great pressure to prevent it from boosting up, and tactics like status can be unreliable due to taunt, with most common status users being slower. Speaking of, slower teams are pretty much at its mercy because of taunt sets. It isn't impossible to beat, but it tends to be very awkward to play around and it is a very effective, consistent pokemon that is definitely on par with those in S-.

A -> A+
Salt cure is a busted progress maker. Sweeping sets are shockingly efficient and its amazing ability gives it great utility as a status blocker, and I've seen some.sets with protect which can rack up chip damage through salt cure even more. Tera just makes it even more good at what it does, and in general Garganacl is imo one of the best mons around right now.

 

[Fearlesschi]

Glimmora is able to litter the field with hazards, being one of the most consistent leads for this role. Its capacity to lay down toxic spikes is also unique, as the move is very powerful right now. The kinds of teams Glimm is used on, usually paired with Gholdengo to deny removal, are often aggressive too.



How exactly? Rocks, spikes and spin. You mostly only need earth power in this role. And mortal spin has the benefit of poisoning. Though, I may disagree here but there is maybe a case for a drop to A- just due to how much people have prepped for this mon, but B+ is way too low for it.

View attachment 475661 A -> S-
This one was brought up already but more so i'm just echoing previous sentiments. Ape is very potent offensively and difficult to answer without great pressure to prevent it from boosting up, and tactics like status can be unreliable due to taunt, with most common status users being slower. Speaking of, slower teams are pretty much at its mercy because of taunt sets. It isn't impossible to beat, but it tends to be very awkward to play around and it is a very effective, consistent pokemon that is definitely on par with those in S-.

View attachment 475662A -> A+
Salt cure is a busted progress maker. Sweeping sets are shockingly efficient and its amazing ability gives it great utility as a status blocker, and I've seen some.sets with protect which can rack up chip damage through salt cure even more. Tera just makes it even more good at what it does, and in general Garganacl is imo one of the best mons around right now.

After thinking about it, I think I agree with you that B+ was too low, and you make a lot of good points. As for spinning reducing its capacity to lay hazards, I was mostly talking about a longer game where hazards may have to be put up multiple times, as relying on a single mon without a great defensive profile or ability to force switches means that it only has so many turns out on the field to do so. Obviously saying gholdengho is fantastic is a dramatic understatement, but there are times where you may not be in a position to spinblock (such as against great tusk or iron treads on scarf/specs sets or if your air balloon is broken, or if cyclizar is threatening a high-impact shed tail) and as such may need to set hazards again (or go without hazards).
Definetley agree with garg to A+ though, that thing is a monster.

 

[Dece1t]

I nominate S-tier to my reformed Orthodox rabbi Bill Clinton

In all seriousness though, here is my nom:

A+ --> S-

Somewhat of a hot take, but I think Iron Valiant being at A- feels a little off. Unlike most of the A-tier mons and a good amount of the S- tier mons (Great Tusk to be exact), Iron Valiant isn't really one-dimensional. You can run it as a physical attacker, a special attacker, or a mix of both. Aside from that, Iron Valiant can get +1 Speed for free thanks to most sets running +Speed max with Booster Energy, and combined with its amazing coverage, you can outspeed and threaten most offensive threats in the metagame like Dengo, Pult, and Pao. It is also able to tear through defensive Pokemon that poses problems to a good amount of attackers rn.

Calcs

252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Ting-Lu: 354-416 (68.8 - 80.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Skeledirge: 208-246 (50.4 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dondozo: 262-310 (51.9 - 61.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 Atk Iron Valiant Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Garganacl: 258-306 (63.8 - 75.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Iron Valiant Aura Sphere vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Treads: 330-390 (102.8 - 121.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 488-576 (112.4 - 132.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Great Tusk: 308-366 (70.9 - 84.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Overall, Iron Valiant deserves its S- tier spot. With its flexibility, it just offers so much to offensive and balance teams so much that its place in the tier as one of the best mons overall currently cannot be ignored.

To add on to this, is coverage is crazy. Specially biased with CC, Psyshock for poisons, T-Bolt (especially with Tera Electric) makes for some insane early sweeping potential with no offensive boosts.

 

[Aurist]

Agree with Annihilape up to S- - I could probably even argue S because no mon in the tier changes the way any given team has to play quite like Annihilape. A meta warper that I expect to see people voting to ban before too long. Single handedly invalidates slower teams and forces offensive teams to run at least one of a small list of mons.

Agree with Garganacl up to A+ - Boosting sets vs Bulky sets are different beasts to fight and both high level threats, huge beneficiary of Tera type changes, Salt Cure is kind of a cheat code to some matchups. Reliably one of the biggest threats in the tier.

Agree with Sandy Shocks up to C - It's probably even better than this but that case will be built up with time. Clear applications for it on sun teams, usable outside of them, able to Booster Energy speed for big threat/revenge. Definitely limited in scope especially because it basically 100% needs tera ice.

Disagree with Glimmora down to A-/B+ - Not sure where people got this notion that because Glimmora isn't a direct threat to a lot of pokemon that it isn't an integral part of the meta. It just has so much efficiency for offense/hyper offense that its matchup against individual mons doesn't even particularly matter, if it was also effective at that it wouldn't be just A tier. If you're finding games are going too long and people are getting opportunities to remove hazards, you're probably not abusing the pressure it provides well enough with your team.

Disagree with Iron Valiant up to S- - Too limited in application to be fully splashable and not so reliable that you can just send it in and sweep - the benchmark for reaching the S tier is ridiculously high right now and I don't think Iron Valiant reaches it. A+ is fine for a mon of its very high power and versatility.

Disagree with Garchomp down to B+ - It might seem like a worse sweeper than Dragons and a worse tank than Great Tusk and Ting-Lu but it's simply a well fitted toolkit mon with a good speed tier, and its package of chip damage, support/pivoting and threat make it an A tier mon imo.

 

[Slimsjiggy]

I'm currently running: Gholdengo, Dragonite, Kingambit, Amoonguss, Rotom and Farigiraf. List seems very accurate from what i've been battling online so far. Although I do wonder where farigiraf would be on this list, it seems like a pretty decent Psychic stab/trick room pokemon to me, but hey im not a pro I suppose, thoughts on Farigiraf's place in VGC (if any)?

 

[Clementine]

to A

Garchomp getting Spikes makes it a terrific hazards setter capable of beating other common offense leads, mainly Glimmora, but it's also good at pressuring Treads & Tusk
Rough Skin (in conjunction with RH) is great at making people think twice before spinning, and it pairs extremely well with Gholdengo blocking Defog / spin from Great Tusk & Iron Treads (also Spin doesn't remove hazards if the user is KOd by Rough Skin / RH, I thought this was common knowledge but I had to explain this a couple of times during my reqs ladder session)
Dragon Tail makes it great at preventing set-up from a lot of common mons, and its natural bulk makes it very good at eating a hit and phazing out the 10 billion set-up sweepers in the tier
Tera options include Water, Fairy, Steel and even Ghost (?), most of which make it even better at its job
SD is not as great, mainly because there are a lot of much better options, but Hazards Machine Tankchomp is definitely a top mon in this Offense oriented metagame

 

[Esca D. Sulphate]

I'm currently running: Gholdengo, Dragonite, Kingambit, Amoonguss, Rotom and Farigiraf. List seems very accurate from what i've been battling online so far. Although I do wonder where farigiraf would be on this list, it seems like a pretty decent Psychic stab/trick room pokemon to me, but hey im not a pro I suppose, thoughts on Farigiraf's place in VGC (if any)?

Fari isn't really worth running in OU, it's not particularly strong nor bulky enough to wall things and much, much slower than most of the other special attackers. The main thing it'd have going for it is its fairly unique typing but it's not a particularly useful one. I could see it being a heat (not actually enough to get ranked but theoretically usable) answer to Annihi through Rage Fist immunity+Drain Punch neutrality+hits it SE with special moves that ignore BU boosts, but since Annihi is more likely to just Tera into something that loses the Psychic weakness even that matchup becomes iffy.

As for VGC viability, you're better off taking that to the VGC subforum.

 

[Mewthree69]

B- -> C+

After experimenting with Taunt + U-Turn sets, this mon is not as bad as I initially thought, but it's still weaker than every other mon on B-. It's hard to justify running this mon over Iron Valiant, which is faster, more versatile, has an excellent typing and usually deals more damage, Chi-Yu, who is a far more threatening special dark-type, and Meowscarada, which is capable of running a similar set but with greater speed and more damaging U-Turns and Knock Offs. I find its best niche to be in Pincurchin teams, where it acts as a ground immunity and gets the Quark Drive boost for free, which sets it apart from the aforementioned Pokemon. Since Pincurchin is in C+ right now, it should also drop to C+.

 

[P3DS]

Garchomp > A
Garchomp is an amazing hazard setter, and can phaze. It's fits a more hyper offensive style than Ting-Lu, and had bulk over glimmora. Rough skin punishes spinning and, as long as Gholdengo is around, garchomp remains an amazing hazard setter for stack teams.

Chi-Yu > S
Specs chi yu with tera fire breaks most strong defensive cores, even if they have high bulk. If you are slower than Chi yu, expect it to take the KO if it's fresh in.

Meowscarada > A-/A
Although Protean got nerfed, it's got some awesome tools in its kit, like knock off and flower trick, acting in a role that's a fusion between Cinderace and Weavile: fast, powerful pivot and a deadly knock off. It's banded set is its flagship build, decimating most teams, and covers stabs+u turn with either low kick or play rough, making it a potent attacker. Flower trick gets note as being a strong attack into defensive Garganacl and Dondozo.

Annihilape > S-
Annihilape is really strong, punishing pivot and slow styles with dangerously strong rage punches. It's the reason the likes of will o wisp tauros exists. Even without tera it's pushed over the edge as the ultimate checkmate Vs physical Mons.

Pawmot > B/A-
Revival Blessing. Moving on...

jk. Pawmot has potency with iron fist sets, giving it a potent Mach punch, and a strong ice punch to check the grounds. Don't let it's cutesy appearance fool you, this Mon is lethal. And Revival blessing just bringing back a major threat is huge.

 

[Critaquil]

A- > A
With an incredibly offensive, hazard heavy metagame, its no secret that the best non-mega Magic Bouncer would be this good rn. Not only is it good at repelling hazards, but its utility with Nuzzle, CM, and Healing Wish make it invaluable at being a wincon or support. With Mystical Fire + CM it becomes one of the better Espathra checks. Tera potential with this thing is seemingly unlimited. Tera Water to throw off Chi-Yu. Tera Fairy for stronger Draining Kisses and to eliminate the Ghost weakness Psychic brings. Tera Flying to wall Ting-Lu and Tusks. Tera Steel to eliminate its Poison weakness and comfortably swap into Amoonguss and non-EP Glimm. It has made appearances on bulkier builds and HO builds, showing how versatile its assets are to these teams.

hard agree, imo this is the best form of hazard control in the meta, especially since it has outs vs all of the common hazard setters, its also capable of keeping itself alive through the use of draining kiss, it has a lot of tera types that are good (although I'm personally super biased towards flying for how consistent it makes its hazardblocking vs basically every common rocker/spiker) and it often suplants the need for a spinner or defogger while also singlehandedly improving a teams matchup vs gholdengo teams tenfold.

 

[Vengeance417]

This is going to be a bit controversial but:


A -> A-

I’m really not at all excited about Corviknight in the current meta. We’re in an unprecedented point in the hazards metagame where Defog is…bad compared to Rapid Spin, and it’s all thanks to both Gholdengo and Annihilape . Yes, both can spinblock, as well, but Gholdengo is a straight up Defogblocker (Arceus help you if you’re up against Recover Gholdengo who just sits on Corviknight forever) and Annihilape takes advantage of Defog with Defiant. You’re in a better position to fail a Spin against Annihilape than using Defog on it. Even worse, Annihilape also takes advantage of Corviknight’s U-turn, boosting the power of Rage Fist. Tera’d Annihilape only makes Corviknight’s matchup against it even worse since it’s no longer Brave Bird-weak. Even without Tera, Annihilape only needs one Bulk Up for BB to do nothing against it.

The problems don’t end with the hazard game, though. The meta is simply way too offensive for this Pokémon to get much done, and so many premier threats take advantage of it. Within this screens HO meta, the fact the best Pokémon in the game can just say “no” to your Defog attempts to clear the screens away is a huge negative.

The Chien-Pao matchup seems like it’d be in Corv’s favor at first glance, but Banded sets can 2HKO it after rocks, and Tera Ice or Dark remove Pao’s 4x Body Press weakness and make Corv more susceptible to Pao’s boosted STABs. Roaring Moon can just U-turn out of it, but Tera Dark Banded Crunch, or Protosynthesis Atk boosted in Sun can 2HKO it. Iron Valiant likes to tech Thunderbolt for it. The Dragapult matchup is an 50/50 between the positive physical matchup vs the bad Specs matchup. Even Floatzel is a threat to this mon. Tera-Water Banded Wave Crash in Rain is an OHKO after Stealth Rock. Insanity.

Even the defensive Garganacl gives it trouble. Salt Cure vaporizes Corv for 25% health each turn, forcing it to burn through its limited Roosts more often than it would like to.

Not all is lost, though. The fact Corv can come in on the tier’s many good Ground-types is a great aspect, but there’s some caveats. Both Paradox Donphans have access to Knock Off, and a Corviknight without leftovers will find it harder to withstand the tier’s offensive juggernauts (like the aforementioned Chien-Pao). Worse still, Iron Treads in particular can just Volt Switch out of it as Corv comes in, gaining momentum.

Overall, I don’t feel Corv is thriving as well as the other A ranked Pokémon given how the metagame is treating it right now. I know this is a controversial take, so I’m down to hear your thoughts and I could be swayed. However, rn I’m not all that excited for this mon. It’ll get better with time if some of these broken threats get banned, though, but its time isn’t now.

EDIT; forgot to mention some of Corviknight’s other sets besides Defog; Bulk Up or Iron defense. They’re better than the Defog set, but they’re not that great either tbh. Both Skeledirge and Dondozo ignore the stat boosts and proceed to use IT as set up fodder, and Gholdengo can simply trick it a Scarf to cripple the set for good. Not great.

 

[dex]

Some of my initial takes on the meta:

-> B+: Iron Moth is a bit too inconsistent for my liking to go any higher than B+. Considering the tier plays host to some absolutely devastating special breakers like Chi Yu and Iron Valiant, the moth just seems… weak, to put it lightly, especially in a metagame with some incredible Ground-types like Clodsire and Garchomp. Due to its typing, Iron Moth often commands a Tera slot as well, which can hinder it from a teambuilding perspective.

-> A-: Iron Hands, on the other hand, is too consistent to be any lower than A-. With excellent bulk, coverage for days, setup, and a vast array of Tera types to choose from, Iron Hands always seems to put in the work whenever I use it. I’ve personally become a fan of Tera Flying, but I’ve seen Tera Water, Steel, and even plain old Electric on this thing. It’s too good at forcing trades and collecting KOs to be kept in B+.

 

[Vrin]

Anyone who's laddered for reqs, or observed other players' runs, has surely noticed a lot of rain being used. This isn't too unexpected; during suspect laddering periods, a lot of players boot up simple offense squads that don't require too much thought and have a generally "passable" matchup against the field (i.e. no auto-loss matchups). But, even when accounting for the "suspect test effect", I still think rain as a whole deserves to be reflected a bit more highly in the VR.

While teams are still reliant on priority to check a lot of sweepers, which rain (and in particular Floatzel) struggles with, we've seen utter priority spam diminish (not many teams are running Chien Pao + DNite + Scizor type stuff anymore). Furthermore, rain has demonstrated that it's capable of adapting; techs like Tera Ghost Barraskewda have popped up to keep sweeping through ESpeed and Mach Punch, while the overall defensive cores rain teams have been putting forward have gotten more sturdy, using mons like Iron Treads that aren't quite durable enough to be a formidable backbone long-term but are just bulky enough to do the job on an offensive team like weather HO.

A big factor for rain's success is the lack of sturdy water resists at the moment. Some teams have resorted to smacking, say, Tera Water or Tera Grass on a bulky Pokemon like Ting Lu or Volcarona in an attempt to patch this hole; however, using up Tera to defensively answer rain abusers not only consumes the Tera, but can also make the Tera'd Pokemon less effective at its original intended role. A lot of rain teams have started running Pokemon like Iron Valiant and whatnot recently to take advantage of this; if you Tera your Fairy resist, suddenly that Valiant looks a lot more scary.

Here's a replay from round 5 of No Johns, for example; note how Floatzel and Barraskewda pair well to wear down shared checks (mainly Rotom-W). Continuing my prior observation about how rain has begun to exploit defensive Teras, in this game we see Gholdengo Tera Fairying to beat Iron Jugulis, which effectively removed a mon that could've answered Iron Valiant (or at least forced a Tera prediction war) later on. Or this one from the same round demonstrates that rain doesn't necessarily need to compromise on a defensive backbone to be successful, with a very cool and synergistic Treads + Amoonguss pivot core. (It also shows that Tera Grass Volcarona isn't even guaranteed to OHKO Barraskewda from full, which isn't the most common dynamic but is pretty funny.)

In particular, I propose:

→ B
→ B-
(water) → D

To elaborate on the specific placements:

• Pelipper is the only mon that's mandatory on rain teams, obviously, and I think B is a very reasonable place to put the viability of the archetype as a whole. Blissey is also placed at B, and while Blissey isn't a requirement for stall, and it shows up on some semistalls/fat balances as well, I think it's fair to say that Blissey's viability right now roughly tracks with how viable stall is — and looking at ladder, it's hard to argue that rain is any less successful than stall. The two styles have had roughly similar (small) showings in the last couple rounds of No Johns, with rain actually having a higher winrate (though sample sizes are so small that I wouldn't read too much into them).
• Neither Barraskewda nor Floatzel are mandatory on rain individually, but every rain team wants one, and I think it's misrepresentative to act like Barraskewda is so much better than Floatzel so as to justify an entire letter grade above it. These two are so close together viability-wise that it's misleading to place them in entirely different tiers. Just as Iron Jugulis on rain teams fills the "rain fat-breaker" role, these two collectively serve a "rain sweeper" role that deserves to be represented at the same level; on teams that run both Barraskewda and Floatzel, the latter often shifts into more of a "rain breaker" role, but both are good. Indeed, I wouldn't put either of them below Iron Jugulis at bare minimum (even though Jugulis can go on non-rain teams, the most successful uses we've seen both on ladder and in No Johns have all been on rain).
• Tauros-Paldea-Water has seen a bit of success, most notably in the second No Johns reply I linked above (admittedly it didn't have a great showing that game, getting Wisped immediately, but it chunked Pult for 40 which guaranteed the OHKO from Amoonguss' Foul Play later so it still served a purpose), and it's also been explored more all across ladder with some promising results. Beyond its breaking potential, it has a very cool defensive typing for rain that often struggles with things like Chi-Yu spamming Dark Pulse. If Kilowattrel is ranked in D, Tauros deserves a position alongside it; both of them can be described as "niche role-fillers that have proven themselves on rain".

At the very least, I would consider the rain gameplan more broadly consistent than a lot of other mons in B-, like, say, Hawlucha, and the Swift Swimmers have certainly shown more success within their weather than Scovillain has shown on its own (most sun teams are even dropping Scovillain, as is represented by Torkoal being ranked so highly above it; meanwhile, every rain team has at least one Swift Swimmer, and sometimes two!).

And now for another trend that's appeared during reqs laddering:

→ C+/B-

Ceruledge has had a small resurgence on ladder. While offensive SD sets have already shown a bit of success, a lot of ladder has moved past the "new-toy syndrome" and have started to play around with defensive Tera (Grass, Fairy, Normal, or even Bug) + Flash Fire sets (often with Bulk Up over SD). While I don't think anyone would consider this type of defensive-tera-into-bulk-up-sweep dynamic to be anywhere near the level of Annihilape, it has shown a fair bit of success thanks to its typing being surprisingly hard to handle and it having a movepool that contains a lot of things useful for a setup sweeper like Shadow Sneak, Flame Charge, and of course Bitter Blade (as a case study, NJNP got reqs with an aveyon team that used all of these moves). We've seen other sets like CB even have some high ladder play, and while those are definitely more niche, their existence makes this mon harder to reactively play around until its set is revealed. I really didn't like this thing at first, and still don't think it's that great (I think its offensive SD sets are just not worth using), but it's had way more success than other "ladder memes" like Gallade and Scream Tail, and I think deserves a position above them.

 

[Scribble]

-> B-

I was going to make this nomination on my own but I got beaten to it, so I'll echo it. I'll go further and say Ceruledge is definitely worthy of the B ranks, with B- probably the most appropriate.

The SD + Weak Armor set seemed appealing at first, but imo is pretty bad and rarely ever accomplishes anything. On the other hand, Bulk Up + Flash Fire with a defensive Tera is actually really solid.

Ceruledge @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Bitter Blade
- Shadow Sneak
- Flame Charge

I got reqs for the suspect test using a team built around this Tera-Bug Ceruledge set and it was a surprisingly consistent win condition. The spread is EVd to outspeed unboosted Iron Valiant at +1 and the rest is dumped into bulk which lets it set up more comfortably and avoid some revenge kills. You can opt for a faster spread with a Jolly nature to outpace Chien-Pao if you want, but I ended up preferring this. Mono Bug with Flash Fire is a surprisingly good defensive typing in this meta where rock moves aren't super common, letting terastalized Ceruledge potentially set up on and check Great Tusk, Iron Moth, and Volcarona.

Tera-Fairy is another proven solid option as outlined in the post above me that lets Ceruledge 1v1 Chi-Yu and give it a better matchup vs Chien-Pao and Roaring Moon.

The main thing holding Ceruledge back from being any higher is Dondozo. That mon alone shuts down anything Ceruledge can do, so that's where Ceruledge's teammates have to come in. Having such a hard counter be a presence in the meta and relying on Terastalizing means Ceruledge is difficult to fit onto teams, so I think B- is a fair place for it. Even if it doesn't get to Tera, at least Shadow Sneak is always valuable utility to have on a team when Dragapult exists.

 

[658Greninja]

Some of my initial takes on the meta:

-> B+: Iron Moth is a bit too inconsistent for my liking to go any higher than B+. Considering the tier plays host to some absolutely devastating special breakers like Chi Yu and Iron Valiant, the moth just seems… weak, to put it lightly, especially in a metagame with some incredible Ground-types like Clodsire and Garchomp. Due to its typing, Iron Moth often commands a Tera slot as well, which can hinder it from a teambuilding perspective.

-> A-: Iron Hands, on the other hand, is too consistent to be any lower than A-. With excellent bulk, coverage for days, setup, and a vast array of Tera types to choose from, Iron Hands always seems to put in the work whenever I use it. I’ve personally become a fan of Tera Flying, but I’ve seen Tera Water, Steel, and even plain old Electric on this thing. It’s too good at forcing trades and collecting KOs to be kept in B+.

I’m gonna echo this nom as I made a RMT on a team I have gotten success with thanks to Iron Hands

https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/black-sabbath-sd-hands-gambit-bo-peaked-top-400-1700s.3712867/

It feels alot like Melmetal in the sense that it hits like a truck and can take any necessary hit in a pinch. With the right evs this bad boy can live a hit from Adamant Headlong Rush from Tusks, Specs Overheat from Chi-Yu, and non-Specs Valiant Moonblast. With the strength the OHKO them ba

252 SpA Choice Specs Chi-Yu Overheat vs. 0 HP / 140 SpD Iron Hands: 373-439 (83 - 97.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Iron Valiant Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 140 SpD Iron Hands: 336-396 (74.8 - 88.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Great Tusk Headlong Rush vs. 0 HP / 116 Def Iron Hands: 366-432 (81.5 - 96.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+2 252+ Atk Iron Hands Ice Punch vs. -1 252 HP / 4 Def Great Tusk: 450-530 (103.6 - 122.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+2 252+ Atk Iron Hands Thunder Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Iron Valiant: 309-364 (106.9 - 125.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

(You already know what happens to the fish lmao)

Its ability to trade hits, check physically offensive threats, and break holes in one slot should not be understated. I only covered SD, but it has other sets and moves to play with. AV with Volt Switch. Whirlwind, ID + BP, 3 Attacks + Protect, Brick Break vs Screens, it has so many options to play with that I wouldn’t be surprised it becomes a tier staple in the future.

 

[jackuzzler]

-> D

This serves as an interesting niche in the current meta on hazard stack teams specifically. Credit to Down$hift for the inspiration, but I messed with his potential a little bit more.

Not only is this a spin blocker, but it is the ONLY spin blocker in the current meta to wall the Donphans. This thing can also run leech seed to force Dondozo out a lot of times. Cool guy. It also works on Ting-Lu because of Wind Power, which also offers as a great pivot into Ting-Lu.

Brambleghast @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 16 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Leech Seed

By no means is this little goofy thing good, but it does serve as an interesting niche for hazard stack teams.

 

[Esca D. Sulphate]

-> D

This serves as an interesting niche in the current meta on hazard stack teams specifically. Credit to Down$hift for the inspiration, but I messed with his potential a little bit more.

Not only is this a spin blocker, but it is the ONLY spin blocker in the current meta to wall the Donphans. This thing can also run leech seed to force Dondozo out a lot of times. Cool guy. It also works on Ting-Lu because of Wind Power, which also offers as a great pivot into Ting-Lu.

Brambleghast @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wind Rider
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 8 Atk / 16 Def / 232 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Seed Bomb
- Rapid Spin
- Spikes
- Leech Seed

By no means is this little goofy thing good, but it does serve as an interesting niche for hazard stack teams.

0 Atk Iron Treads Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 202-238 (64.3 - 75.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (this is without investment, thus the bare minimum--Atk invested ones dunk you harder. Fwiw Heavy Slam and Ice Spinner also 2HKO, and Iron Head does with enough Atk investment. Especially harsh since Treads outruns this.)

0 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 230-272 (73.2 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 306-362 (97.4 - 115.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 254-300 (80.8 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

We might have slightly different opinions on what "walling" means.

edit: more funny calcs
8 Atk Brambleghast Seed Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Great Tusk: 156-186 (42 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

You might want to look into Strength Sap if you want a shot at actually walling Tusk, but still, the fact offensive ones threaten to outright OHKO on the switch is really unideal.

 

[Parascuffed]

Sandy Shocks to C. To be honest, this might be too low, I don't know. But right now, the entire D tier is full of junk and just having an actual use should probably put it up a tier. That actual use is the fact that with a +1 SpA boost, only Ting-Lu is both good on its own and fine with switching into either STAB. It can deal with all the other fat things in the tier (Corv, Dondozo, Clodsire, Skeledirge, Treads), and in particular, being a Booster Energy attacker that can smash all of the Unaware mons is really good. Alternatively, base 101 speed is fine for a Specs user, and Specs Volt Switch is pretty good when the opponent doesn't have Ting-Lu. Is it great? No, but like, it has a clear use that doesn't require a ton of team support, which is better than Brute Bonnet, Cetitan, Haxorus, Kilowattrel, Maushold.

Hard agree with this nomination. Will even push it a bit further and say Shocks is at least C+ material, especially looking at the other mons in the rank.
It's pretty good into a lot of the popular defensive cores and even beyond that, when you look at most of the ground and grass types in OU right now, they're just not equipped to deal with Sandy Shocks. This is especially true if it adopts a life orb/booster energy

Calcs into some of the most common grounds and other switch-ins

252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Great Tusk: 302-356 (81.4 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Great Tusk: 191-226 (44 - 52%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Clodsire: 265-312 (57.1 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 208-246 (49.5 - 58.5%) -- 64.5% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Amoonguss: 220-259 (50.9 - 59.9%) -- 85.2% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Meowscarada: 94-112 (32 - 38.2%) -- 95.2% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Breloom: 136-162 (52.1 - 62%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sandy Shocks Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Wash: 173-204 (56.9 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

I think LO is its best set right now as it can come in and repeatedly pick up 2HKOs it wouldn't normally, and Shock's poor defensive typing leaves it better suited for trading and breaking than sticking around for longer games. It having access to Spikes also gives it an interesting niche as a Spiker that can 2HKO Hatterene, though its lack of longevity makes it a poor solo-hazard setter. I'd also like to add that Tera Ice isn't as necessary as a lot of people think it is, as the previously mentioned grounds already get hit very hard by Earth Power.
IMO, aside from questionable defensive utility and competition from other grounds, the big thing keeping Shocks from being higher than C+ is the fact that Ting Lu walls it so hard. This is pretty bad as Ting is really good right now, but I think it can be remedied with proper team support. In particular, Sandy Shocks and Scarf Ruination Chi Yu make a dangerous pair.

 

[lionace]

Skeledrige has the ability to wall a decent amount of threats with its ability unaware of course. It's able to beat notable scary mons like Hatt, Valiant (lacking shadow ball), Volcarona, & Iron Moth. It also forces these mons out allowing it to then weaken whatever countermeasure you have for it with a stab torch song that also rises its spa every time it clicks it. It also is able to wear down its countermeasures with wisp most notably Ting Lu & Garchomp which generally are forced to phase it out. Due to tera once it weakens most of its checks/measures it then can turn into a fairy/water type and finish up the job and win late game potentially if played properly. It generally is not pressured by hazards due to heavy-duty boots and lack of knock-off distribution. It is able to be a nuisance for the entirety of the game and I feel most should grimace when it shows up in a game.

Any good teammates for Skeledirge?

If I were to guess...

Unaware + Will-O-Wisp+ Bulk lets it be a colossal pain versus physically offensive 'mons and set-up 'mons in general, and while its typing isn't the best defensively, that bulk plus the aforementioned elements above is the real deal, allowing it to take big hits and stall/recover if it gets the burn, and rinse/repeat from there.

While it is a 'mon that absolutely benefits from Tera, and the hazard-stacking centered meta is not too fond for non-HDB item slots, it's good because of access to Unaware + Recovery + Will-O-Wisp that can be used versus primarily physical and set-up opponents coming in, like Dragonite, while also being anti-Sub with Torch Song, which ensures it isn't totally passive and can hit decently hard. But a burn from this 'mon is a death sentence if you are a physical attacker.

Any good teammates for Skeledirge?

 

[jackuzzler]

0 Atk Iron Treads Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 202-238 (64.3 - 75.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (this is without investment, thus the bare minimum--Atk invested ones dunk you harder. Fwiw Heavy Slam and Ice Spinner also 2HKO, and Iron Head does with enough Atk investment. Especially harsh since Treads outruns this.)

0 Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 230-272 (73.2 - 86.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Great Tusk Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 306-362 (97.4 - 115.2%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Great Tusk Ice Spinner vs. 252 HP / 16 Def Brambleghast: 254-300 (80.8 - 95.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

We might have slightly different opinions on what "walling" means.

edit: more funny calcs
8 Atk Brambleghast Seed Bomb vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Great Tusk: 156-186 (42 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

You might want to look into Strength Sap if you want a shot at actually walling Tusk, but still, the fact offensive ones threaten to outright OHKO on the switch is really unideal.

Very fair, I only tested a little bit, and honestly only got the good matchups in that sense. I appreciate the correction.