Resource VGC 2024 Regulation F Viability Rankings

[flutterfan]

Raging Bolt from S -> S.

Seen quite a few people who believe it should drop but this is a great call by the council. Raging Bolt is incredibly versatile, being able to be a strong bulky attacker with Assault Vest, a sweeper through Calm Mind, or even just bullshit through the format with 3 attacks. This lets it be super splashable and gives you a check to pretty much half the format in one slot, the matchup against the Urshifu formes is in particular appreciated, as they are the hardest pokemon to play around defensively. Id honestly suggest that the AV set alone is A+, having minimal bad matchups. I think AV Raging Bolt is kind of like the Iron Hands of Regulation F imo, it doesn't die, dishes out great damage, provides utility in priority, and makes for a great addition to every archetype. A huge thing is that Iron Hands also didn't have specific good matchups, but to be more accurate could 1v1 almost the entire metagame thanks to big block of stats, same with Raging Bolt . But what if, Iron Hands could also run a set up set without fear of Flutter Mane or faster threats? That's Raging Bolt . Its movepool shows its versatility even further, allowing you to run Snarl for Flutter Mane and Landorus , Electroweb as a speed control option, Tera Blast to threaten Urshifu, etc. Incredibly hard to go wrong with this Pokemon and no one bats an eye if you put it on Tailwind, Goodstuffs, Gouging Fire Offense, Snow, Balance, and more. I'd honestly argue it's better than Ogerpon-W right now!

Hard agree, after finally trying out Bolt I can see why it’s so good. Great bulk, great damage, has good matchups into a lot of things, etc. Honestly it feels like Bolt was created literally to counter the meta tbh. Also it does really remind me of Iron Hands in terms of vgc lol.

 

[KindaKaon]

Raging Bolt from S -> S.

Seen quite a few people who believe it should drop but this is a great call by the council. Raging Bolt is incredibly versatile, being able to be a strong bulky attacker with Assault Vest, a sweeper through Calm Mind, or even just bullshit through the format with 3 attacks. This lets it be super splashable and gives you a check to pretty much half the format in one slot, the matchup against the Urshifu formes is in particular appreciated, as they are the hardest pokemon to play around defensively. Id honestly suggest that the AV set alone is A+, having minimal bad matchups. I think AV Raging Bolt is kind of like the Iron Hands of Regulation F imo, it doesn't die, dishes out great damage, provides utility in priority, and makes for a great addition to every archetype. A huge thing is that Iron Hands also didn't have specific good matchups, but to be more accurate could 1v1 almost the entire metagame thanks to big block of stats, same with Raging Bolt . But what if, Iron Hands could also run a set up set without fear of Flutter Mane or faster threats? That's Raging Bolt . Its movepool shows its versatility even further, allowing you to run Snarl for Flutter Mane and Landorus , Electroweb as a speed control option, Tera Blast to threaten Urshifu, etc. Incredibly hard to go wrong with this Pokemon and no one bats an eye if you put it on Tailwind, Goodstuffs, Gouging Fire Offense, Snow, Balance, and more. I'd honestly argue it's better than Ogerpon-W right now!

Bolt is such a ridiculous mu patch it’s not even funny. just throw it on any team with fwg/tw weakness and it gives so much value. best example of this imo is the arti team. should be near auto lose to torn rain but just by virtue of having bolt that MU becomes significantly more playable. it’s like the iron hands of this format but it has set variance, is a special attacker and also doesnt care about surging strikes in rain

 

[Jesuuuus]

Bolt is such a ridiculous mu patch it’s not even funny. just throw it on any team with fwg/tw weakness and it gives so much value. best example of this imo is the arti team. should be near auto lose to torn rain but just by virtue of having bolt that MU becomes significantly more playable. it’s like the iron hands of this format but it has set variance, is a special attacker and also doesnt care about surging strikes in rain

if its so good dare I say its..... overpowered?

 

[KindaKaon]

if its so good dare I say its..... overpowered?

idk if its overpowered, theres clear counterplay and matchups where its just not very good, but on a lot of teams that would otherwqise need to dedicate a couple of teamslots to countering some archtypes bolt is just such a ridiculously consistent pick to role compress especially if u factor in items where it also becomes a goated special wall

 

[Jesuuuus]

idk if its overpowered, theres clear counterplay and matchups where its just not very good, but on a lot of teams that would otherwqise need to dedicate a couple of teamslots to countering some archtypes bolt is just such a ridiculously consistent pick to role compress especially if u factor in items where it also becomes a goated special wall

Yes I agree, I don't believe it's overpowered as I don't believe it is super hard to find counterplay for. I think the main reason it is so good is that it just has positive matchups into a lot of stuff, especially pokemon that have been considered to be overpowered in previous formats such as Urshifu-R and Tornadus. I think the reason for that is that it's typing is good offensively and excellent defensively, and it has a good movepool and good stats - nothing broken just solid all round.

 

[koL reivaZ]

come on guys gapdos needs a shout it should be like A level it is sweeping rn

 

[LovelyLuna]

come on guys gapdos needs a shout it should be like A level it is sweeping rn

Please avoid one liner posts like these, if you're confident Gapdos should be that high, explain your reasoning so others can understand and maybe something does change in the update!

That being said, I think Gapdos isn't very good thanks to facing competition from the Urshifu formes and easily wearing itself down (think Close Combat drops and Brave Bird recoil.)

 

[koL reivaZ]

Please avoid one liner posts like these, if you're confident Gapdos should be that high, explain your reasoning so others can understand and maybe something does change in the update!

That being said, I think Gapdos isn't very good thanks to facing competition from the Urshifu formes and easily wearing itself down (think Close Combat drops and Brave Bird recoil.)

ok i will try to explain so..
basically tera flying choice scarf brave bird is faster and ohko's shifu and flutter mane if it is not proto speed or scarf. And i also use thunderous kick over close combat because the defense drop is really cool. It with chien-pao is literally one shotting like both teams. And you can forget about intimidating it as defiant makes it stronger and just sweep everyone with cp as a partner. I'm not tryna say its like S tier but go from unranked to like B or something. The first thing that comes to mind when destroying it is raging bolt but farigiraf covers that. I guess thats all

 

[LovelyLuna]

ok i will try to explain so..
basically tera flying choice scarf brave bird is faster and ohko's shifu and flutter mane if it is not proto speed or scarf. And i also use thunderous kick over close combat because the defense drop is really cool. It with chien-pao is literally one shotting like both teams. And you can forget about intimidating it as defiant makes it stronger and just sweep everyone with cp as a partner. I'm not tryna say its like S tier but go from unranked to like B or something. The first thing that comes to mind when destroying it is raging bolt but farigiraf covers that. I guess thats all

It's kind of like Urshifu in that sense, the main reason it barely gets any usage is that you'd rather use Urshifu almost every time. Recoil Flying STAB vs Unseen Fist is usually a pretty easy choice, and you're not really worried about Intimidate when your crit move threatens the main Intimidators. Also would like to note that it doesn't OHKO Terastallized Urshifu, which should be fair game when you're using Terastalization yourself.

I will say Gapdos has a great meta matchup but when you often wear yourself down, it seems like you're making trades rather than 4-0ing their team. Being outclassed is also unfortunately the be-all end-all for so many Pokemon.

 

[Choruto]

It's kind of like Urshifu in that sense, the main reason it barely gets any usage is that you'd rather use Urshifu almost every time. Recoil Flying STAB vs Unseen Fist is usually a pretty easy choice, and you're not really worried about Intimidate when your crit move threatens the main Intimidators. Also would like to note that it doesn't OHKO Terastallized Urshifu, which should be fair game when you're using Terastalization yourself.

I will say Gapdos has a great meta matchup but when you often wear yourself down, it seems like you're making trades rather than 4-0ing their team. Being outclassed is also unfortunately the be-all end-all for so many Pokemon.

This is right to an extent but I dont think this rly gets to the core of why Gapdos isen't being used, which is that it doesen't matter how great your coverage is or if you can OHKO Flutter when your opp just switches into Bolt, or Protects/Fake out. Big offensive choiced threats like that aren't really great as theres usually a switch in on most teams to everything (Ex Raging Bolt for Brave Bird, Flutter Mane for Close Combat), and opps can slow down your mon and exploit its paper thin defenses with Fake Out, Protect, Follow Me, etc. The other big choiced attackers in Flutter and Urshifu are carried by their statline/bulk, general offensive presence and type, and just being kinda busted with Ghost and Unseen fist, negating one of the big methods to slow mons down. I mean Chi Yu has like what base 190+ Special Attack with Beads of Ruin? And its still not great as it can be slowed down by any experienced player.

 

[Jesuuuus]

This is right to an extent but I dont think this rly gets to the core of why Gapdos isen't being used, which is that it doesen't matter how great your coverage is or if you can OHKO Flutter when your opp just switches into Bolt, or Protects/Fake out. Big offensive choiced threats like that aren't really great as theres usually a switch in on most teams to everything (Ex Raging Bolt for Brave Bird, Flutter Mane for Close Combat), and opps can slow down your mon and exploit its paper thin defenses with Fake Out, Protect, Follow Me, etc. The other big choiced attackers in Flutter and Urshifu are carried by their statline/bulk, general offensive presence and type, and just being kinda busted with Ghost and Unseen fist, negating one of the big methods to slow mons down. I mean Chi Yu has like what base 190+ Special Attack with Beads of Ruin? And its still not great as it can be slowed down by any experienced player.

I agree, gapdos is by no means a bad Pokémon, but it misses out on a couple of key KOs such as on Flutter Mane, even amoonguss which is calced to survive an pao icicle crash. The biggest problem is that its moves are just not as spammable as needed, fighting has 5 resists and an immunity, while Brave Bird does a lot of recoil, and only hits bug fighting and grass for s.e. On the right team I’m sure it can be strong tho, probably about C to C- range.

 

[4Kuser]

ok i will try to explain so..
basically tera flying choice scarf brave bird is faster and ohko's shifu and flutter mane if it is not proto speed or scarf. And i also use thunderous kick over close combat because the defense drop is really cool. It with chien-pao is literally one shotting like both teams. And you can forget about intimidating it as defiant makes it stronger and just sweep everyone with cp as a partner. I'm not tryna say its like S tier but go from unranked to like B or something. The first thing that comes to mind when destroying it is raging bolt but farigiraf covers that. I guess thats all

You do have a point, but like so many others explained to you, a lot of people would be prepared for 1+ Brave Birds or Close Combat. such as Tera Fairy Raging Bolt or Landorus and most people would likely have other switch-ins. Another reason is that you rather use Urshifu-R is that sense every time, since Brave Bird recoil makes Zapdos-G not last very long, other than other offensive threats which are carried by their typing, and sometimes longevity. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying that they're better options for fast, offensive threats, and I'm sure that in the right team, it can work. If I had to rank this, it'll be C or C-

 

[Choruto]

I dont agree with the bulk/recoil damage arguments. Overall, if you add up the defenses/hp Gapdos actually has better bulk than Urshifu, and I think 30 points more than Flutter. CC is kinda mish, Urshifu also runs it and its seen as fine there, and for Brave Bird I dont really see a problem 120 BP Flying Type STAB is really strong, and theres tons of mons which run recoil moves and are sweepers, like say Harc. I'd argue having a consistent Flying Type STAB is better than Water Type. Difference is that any good player can easily shut it down with switches, Fake Outs, Protects, etc. Its defensive typing is not great, It doesen't have a way to break through one of the ways to slow it down, and overall its in the same camp as Chi Yu or Harc, being strong on paper but ineffective in game against even decent players.