Resource VGC 2024 Regulation E Viability Rankings

I didn't say it needs Tornadus :Tornadus:, I said it needs heavy speed control like TW. The 2 recent regionals have Urshifu :Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: paired with Tailwind 95% of the time, if it was doing just as well without it, this really wouldn't be the case. If Urshifu :Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: needs this support to function so well, I don't think it individually qualifies for S. I understand it can work but I also feel a lot of personal ladder experience can be iffy, because Urshifu :Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: has not felt overwhelming at all to me without Tornadus :Tornadus:.
Oh mk! Thanks for clarifying, I’m sorry if I was being rude earlier. I was just saying that it can still work without Tailwind. See, the most important thing with both Urshifu forms is that you need to deal damage. And you DID mention that. And while I hard disagree with the Tailwind claims, I do think that it needs speed drops(Icy Wind/Electroweb) or Scarf outside of Tailwind. I do still think it’s an S tier Pokemon solely because it can pair well with so many things and deals so much damage.
 
The Viability Rankings have been revoted on and are now updated! I'll make a post on the most notable shifts later!
HUGE news! First impressions:

:Kingambit: and :Dragonite: from B+ to A-. I believe these two Pokemon are leaps and bounds better than anything else in the B+ tier, apply big physical damage pressure that can't be intimidated, and make up some very influential compositions that win tournaments regularly (see :Chien-Pao: :Dragonite: for more details). Kingambit in particular is seeing some newfound success with a Tera Poison Swords Dance set that flips many of its usual counters on their heads and makes playing into it significantly more difficult. The Sucker Punch mindgames never end.

:Rotom-Wash: from UR --> C. I don't think :Rotom-Wash: is meta-defining (yet). What I do know is it has a plethora of tools to make it very good into the current metagame, one of them being Will-o-Wisp. It can safely threaten a burn on every relevant physical attacker, including the two mentioned above, with the exception of :Rillaboom: and :Ogerpon-hearthflame: (and :Arcanine-Hisui: , but you get Hydro Pumped or tera and burned). This is important because an increasing amount of physical attackers are using Abilities or Items to get around traditional Intimidate cycling, and are therefore not preparing for the Will-o-Wisp. Tera Poison + Levitate allows it to use its fairly decent bulk to resists Grass moves, loosely check fairies like :Flutter Mane: , and force ugly 50/50s with :urshifu-rapid-strike: on whether you tera or not on their Close Combat (and let's not forget that when tera'd, it has only one weakness!). I expect it to see more traction as the season progresses and it finds its way onto balance teams.

:Landorus: from B+ to B-. It sticks out like a sore thumb next to offensive threats like :regiDrago: (my goat) and :Urshifu: and doesn't offer anything in the way of utility outside of maybe Taunt, which it got this gen. Then we get to B, and it's directly competing with :Ursaluna-Bloodmoon: for special Ground damage. Inter-tier matchups aren't really important for VR rankings; my point here is that :Landorus: is incredibly unlikely to be picked as a ground type in this metagame due to the other Pokemon that can do its job better. Stick with the :Landorus-Therian: forme.

:Zapdos: cope: bring my baby back to B- I beg of thee. the C tier is dark and full of terrors...
:milotic:
AAAAH!


Sad to see :Cresselia: drop. Always a reliable mon, hopefully we'll see some new innovation with it as Trick Room figures out its toys.
A-tier is so thin lmao
It's really more that A+ tier is stacked. This is a very top-heavy metagame, where the 12-15 at the top feel significantly better than anything below. it's a shame it's going to be tossed to the wayside post San Antonio regionals, because I think this metagae could develop in some really cool and fun ways.

final thoughts
- :Okidogi: stocks are up, +1 on intimidate and a physical movepool wide enough to make Gallade blush
- genuinely think :zapdos: is gonna find the perfect EV spread + set and shoot up the tiers
- Schrodinger's :Goodra-Hisui: : simultaneously great and ass
- :eevee: to SS+ tier


edit: almost forgot about my daily :Fezandipiti: cope. i think the call rn is Rocky Helmet Tera Water with U-Turn/Tailwind/Taunt/STAB of choice, acting as a thiccque pivot with utility. this is a glue set and i'm huffing glue like no tomorrow
 
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Sapphire

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Oh yeah we actually did tier shifts for once, absolutely incredible. Here are the tier shifts:

:urshifu-rapid-strike: A+ -> S

:amoonguss: A -> A+
:arcanine-hisui: A -> A+
:heatran: A -> A+
:rillaboom: A -> A+
:tornadus: A -> A+
:gholdengo: B+ -> A+

:roaring-moon: A- -> A

:dondozo: B+ -> A-

:clefairy: B -> B+
:indeedee-f: B -> B+
:regidrago: C+ -> B+
:landorus: C -> B+

:brambleghast: B- -> B
:dusclops: B- -> B
:pelipper: B- -> B
:salamence: UR -> B

:grimmsnarl: C -> C+
:regieleki: C- -> C+

:empoleon: C- -> C

:thundurus-therian: UR -> C-

:landorus-therian: S -> A+

:ogerpon-wellspring: A+ -> A

:ogerpon-hearthflame: A+ -> A-
:chi-yu: A -> A-

:kingambit: A -> B+
:cresselia: A- -> B+
:dragonite: A- -> B+

:ursaluna-bloodmoon: A- -> B
:baxcalibur: B+ -> B
:ninetales-alola: B+ -> B
:sinistcha: B+ -> B

:ogerpon-cornerstone: B+ -> B-
:dragapult: B -> B-
:gastrodon: B -> B-
:gothitelle: B -> B-
:kommo-o: B -> B-
:okidogi: B -> B-
:torkoal: B -> B-
:volcarona: B -> B-
:weezing: B -> B-

:milotic: B- -> C+
:scream-tail: B- -> C+

:basculegion: B- -> C
:thundurus: B- -> C
:annihilape: C+ -> C
:enamorus-therian: C+ -> C
:moltres-galar: C+ -> C

:gyarados: B -> C-
:goodra-hisui: C+ -> C-

:tyranitar: B- -> UR
:arcanine: C -> UR
:Azumarill: C -> UR
:maushold: C -> UR
:politoed: C -> UR
:snorlax: C -> UR
:weezing-galar: C -> UR
:ninetales: C- -> UR
:spectrier: C- -> UR
:ting-lu: C- -> UR
 
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Oh yeah we actually did tier shifts for once, absolutely incredible. Here are the tier shifts:

:urshifu-rapid-strike: A+ -> S

:amoonguss: A -> A+
:arcanine-hisui: A -> A+
:heatran: A -> A+
:rillaboom: A -> A+
:tornadus: A -> A+
:gholdengo: B+ -> A+

:roaring-moon: A- -> A

:dondozo: B+ -> A-

:clefairy: B -> B+
:indeedee-f: B -> B+
:regidrago: C+ -> B+
:landorus: C -> B+

:brambleghast: B- -> B
:dusclops: B- -> B
:pelipper: B- -> B
:salamence: UR -> B

:grimmsnarl: C -> C+
:regieleki: C- -> C+

:empoleon: C- -> C

:thundurus-therian: UR -> C-

:landorus-therian: S -> A+

:ogerpon-wellspring: A+ -> A

:ogerpon-hearthflame: A+ -> A-
:chi-yu: A -> A-

:kingambit: A -> B+
:cresselia: A- -> B+
:dragonite: A- -> B+

:ursaluna-bloodmoon: A- -> B
:baxcalibur: B+ -> B
:ninetales-alola: B+ -> B
:sinistcha: B+ -> B

:ogerpon-cornerstone: B+ -> B-
:dragapult: B -> B-
:gastrodon: B -> B-
:gothitelle: B -> B-
:kommo-o: B -> B-
:okidogi: B -> B-
:torkoal: B -> B-
:volcarona: B -> B-
:weezing: B -> B-

:milotic: B- -> C+
:scream-tail: B- -> C+

:basculegion: B- -> C
:thundurus: B- -> C
:annihilape: C+ -> C
:enamorus-therian: C+ -> C
:moltres-galar: C+ -> C

:gyarados: B -> C-
:goodra-hisui: C+ -> C-

:tyranitar: B- -> UR
:arcanine: C -> UR
:Azumarill: C -> UR
:maushold: C -> UR
:politoed: C -> UR
:snorlax: C -> UR
:weezing-galar: C -> UR
:ninetales: C- -> UR
:spectrier: C- -> UR
:ting-lu: C- -> UR
Honestly, I mostly agree with most of the rises and drops. But something that caught my eye was Landorus-I rising to B+, which I find odd since most of the time Landorus-I is outclassed by Landorus-T and other, more manageable, flexible Special Attackers. So, why did it rise so high?
 

LovelyLuna

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Honestly, I mostly agree with most of the rises and drops. But something that caught my eye was Landorus-I rising to B+, which I find odd since most of the time Landorus-I is outclassed by Landorus-T and other, more manageable, flexible Special Attackers. So, why did it rise so high?
Meta adaptations, Sandsear Storm is in particular superb with rain dance Tornadus :Tornadus: and Gholdengo :Gholdengo: compositions. As it chunks down what Gholdengo :Gholdengo: can't break through ( Iron Hands :Iron Hands:, Heatran :Heatran:, Wellspring :Ogerpon-Wellspring: w Sludge Bomb, etc). A few strong teams have been built featuring Landorus :Landorus: and it's ability to break through most balance cores is very valuable.

I personally don't think it's that high but a rise makes sense.
 

Choruto

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I agree that a rise is fine, but yeah I just dont think its on the same level as a lot of the mons paired with it. Doesen't have the same power as things like :Kingambit: or :dragonite: or splashability/nieche as mons like :farigiraf: or :regidrago:. It requires a lot of support and kinda demands the tera in scenarios, and while those are not a deal breaker I think its not something that fits on many teams at all as most of the time :Landorus-therian: or :ursaluna-bloodmoon:/:ursaluna: compete for the ground type slot
 
idt lando i is that high either on second check, i think it'll run its course like weezing did
Imo weezing never really had comparable results at its peak to what lando-i already has now and his usage is going up at very high rates. I think it'll live up to its B+ ranking at the next regionals, expect suica's team (or a variant of it) multiple times in day 2 and one in t8. I can see B as a bit of a safer ranking but think B+ is totally fair
 
I wonder if Lando's populatity is a fad. I think it's been especially surprising since Sandsear wasn't explored too much and I think there's been a general trend away from ground moves that's lead to the popularity of poison Teras. As the metagame shifts to adjust I think it will remain popular for a bit but then start to drop as its weaknesses show.
 

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