NU Viability Rankings

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Barbaracle from A- -> A
probably the most dangerous sweeper in the tier. Under Veil this thing is ridiculous, makes Scarf Emboar a potential liability and outruns like everything at +2. Super scary threat

Houndoom from A -> A-
This mon just keeps underwhelming me. Houndoom is clearly strong, but its just so frail and kinda slow :/. Delphox is far easier to fit onto a team right now. Houndoom just doesn't feel like an A-rank mon to me.

Charizard - lower
Outclassed at almost everything it does is what defines Charizard to me. I've been trying to make Zard work but there are just too many good fire-types right now that don't have to deal with a 4x SR weakness. Maybe an SD set could work? Zard sucks : (

Cinccino - C+ -> B-

actually a super scary mon for a lot of offensive builds to face. Really good Speed tier and packs a lot of punch. Can matchup quite well versus veil if you tech it to do so. Struggles vs bulkier builds but you use Cinccino for its matchup vs offense. Super underrated Pokemon~~~

Silvally-Steel - C- -> UR

sucks

Typhlosion - C+ -> B-

Really good breaker that is terrifying to switch in to. Specs Eruption kinda just invalidates most Fire-resists other than like Slowking. Needs a lot of support to function but its almost as hard to switch in on now as it was last gen.


Also Id support a Tauros drop, along with some other things I saw nommed
 

Emboar up to S Agree:
I think I was the first one (about a month ago) that nommed this monster for S rank and after NUPL i'm even more convinced it should be S rank.
| 2 | Emboar | 57 | 27.40% | 54.39% | it is the second most used mon in NUPL and I can ensure you that that 54.39% win rate like at least 15-25% was because of Emboar. I have watched alot of NUPL matches where Emboar just won / sweeped late game / got more then 1 kill. If we go in to terms why Emboar should be S:
Splashibility: It's really easy to fit on teams, you need a hard hitting scarfer with 3 amazing coverage moves? Emboar. Need an amazing wallbreaker that can complete your Water Fire Grass core? Emboar. Need a mixed attacker and you still need a Grass check? Emboar. It can even be used as a wincon with Bulk Up Z-Wild Charge.
Variety: As mentioned before Emboar has alot of sets it can run with Scarf and Expert Belt being the most populair, ScarfBoar outspeed everything that isn't like Accelgor with Scarf incredibly hard to predict because if you predict wrong you probably lose a mon. It can even run Toxic to cripple Slowbro or Earthquake to not die to Rocky Helmet Garbodor. Expert Belt is basicly to lure the Scarf set and do heavy damage to the opponent when the opponent thinks he predicted you right. But then the less populair sets: BandBoar is incredible hard to switch in to, if you don't have a sturdy 2x resist such as Slowbro or a 4x resist you probably lose a mon to either Flare Blitz or Superpower and even Slowbro gets 2 hit KO'ed by Banded Wild Charge. Bulk Up Z-Wild Charge is a pretty underrated set that is little bit less splashable on teams but still insanely strong.

Impact on the metagame: If we speak about impact on the metagame I would say Emboar is one of the most influencal in the tier, people can't just forget an Emboar check on their team and if they do they lose to it. If you predict the set wrong you probably lose a couple of mons, if you think Slowbro is enough to deal with Emboar you probably wrong as well Scarf can run Toxic, BandBoar can 2 hit KO it, Z-Wild Charge can OHKO it after a Bulk Up and it's a guaranteed OHKO after rocks. Expert Belt runs Grass Knot what with some prior damage 2 hit KO it.

All with all in my oppinion Emboar has everything in it's arsenal to be rank S.


Samurott up to A- Agree:
SUPERIOR SAMUROTTS!!!! All jokes aside it's the only good offensive Water-type we have in the tier, everyone knows what Samurott did in ORAS and it hasn't changed a single bit. You can even argue that it has become better with access to Z-moves, this means it can run Jolly instead of Adamant and has a better speed tier then. I won't go into this mon too much because I might be biased but this deserve A-.


Uxie down to A- Agree:
How much of a fan I am of Emboar is the exact opposite if we talk about Uxie, everytime I used Uxie I felt it was somehow dead weight or useless after it set up rocks. Without really reliable recovery it comes in to check what it has to do and will probably do not much damage or switches out and your Uxie took maybe 25% + Rocks if that is on the field and maybe did 10% to the opponant. I know people love Uxie but i'm just not seeing it and would probably say this even deserves B+ because of how bad it does vs 9/10 Rank S to A mons.


Spiritomb down to C+/C-
It's main purpose was beating Meloetta now that is gone I don't see this mon being more useful then other Ghost or Dark-types, it still has it's purpose on Webs and some other teams probably but it's main niche it now gone so yeah I don't think this deserves to be B- at all. Oh and as our lord and saviour meepsvictory said "Spiritomb is the worst mon in SM NU".
 

poh

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Emboar up to S Agree:
I think I was the first one (about a month ago) that nommed this monster for S rank and after NUPL i'm even more convinced it should be S rank.
| 2 | Emboar | 57 | 27.40% | 54.39% | it is the second most used mon in NUPL and I can ensure you that that 54.39% win rate like at least 15-25% was because of Emboar. I have watched alot of NUPL matches where Emboar just won / sweeped late game / got more then 1 kill. If we go in to terms why Emboar should be S:
Splashibility: It's really easy to fit on teams, you need a hard hitting scarfer with 3 amazing coverage moves? Emboar. Need an amazing wallbreaker that can complete your Water Fire Grass core? Emboar. Need a mixed attacker and you still need a Grass check? Emboar. It can even be used as a wincon with Bulk Up Z-Wild Charge.
Variety: As mentioned before Emboar has alot of sets it can run with Scarf and Expert Belt being the most populair, ScarfBoar outspeed everything that isn't like Accelgor with Scarf incredibly hard to predict because if you predict wrong you probably lose a mon. It can even run Toxic to cripple Slowbro or Earthquake to not die to Rocky Helmet Garbodor. Expert Belt is basicly to lure the Scarf set and do heavy damage to the opponent when the opponent thinks he predicted you right. But then the less populair sets: BandBoar is incredible hard to switch in to, if you don't have a sturdy 2x resist such as Slowbro or a 4x resist you probably lose a mon to either Flare Blitz or Superpower and even Slowbro gets 2 hit KO'ed by Banded Wild Charge. Bulk Up Z-Wild Charge is a pretty underrated set that is little bit less splashable on teams but still insanely strong.

Impact on the metagame: If we speak about impact on the metagame I would say Emboar is one of the most influencal in the tier, people can't just forget an Emboar check on their team and if they do they lose to it. If you predict the set wrong you probably lose a couple of mons, if you think Slowbro is enough to deal with Emboar you probably wrong as well Scarf can run Toxic, BandBoar can 2 hit KO it, Z-Wild Charge can OHKO it after a Bulk Up and it's a guaranteed OHKO after rocks. Expert Belt runs Grass Knot what with some prior damage 2 hit KO it.

All with all in my oppinion Emboar has everything in it's arsenal to be rank S.


Samurott up to A- Agree:
SUPERIOR SAMUROTTS!!!! All jokes aside it's the only good offensive Water-type we have in the tier, everyone knows what Samurott did in ORAS and it hasn't changed a single bit. You can even argue that it has become better with access to Z-moves, this means it can run Jolly instead of Adamant and has a better speed tier then. I won't go into this mon too much because I might be biased but this deserve A-.


Uxie down to A- Agree:
How much of a fan I am of Emboar is the exact opposite if we talk about Uxie, everytime I used Uxie I felt it was somehow dead weight or useless after it set up rocks. Without really reliable recovery it comes in to check what it has to do and will probably do not much damage or switches out and your Uxie took maybe 25% + Rocks if that is on the field and maybe did 10% to the opponant. I know people love Uxie but i'm just not seeing it and would probably say this even deserves B+ because of how bad it does vs 9/10 Rank S to A mons.


Spiritomb down to C+/C-
It's main purpose was beating Meloetta now that is gone I don't see this mon being more useful then other Ghost or Dark-types, it still has it's purpose on Webs and some other teams probably but it's main niche it now gone so yeah I don't think this deserves to be B- at all. Oh and as our lord and saviour meepsvictory said "Spiritomb is the worst mon in SM NU".
I agree on Emboar and Uxie. I haven't played with Samurott yet and since I don't see it often on the ladder, I'm not fully convinced on its rise since Sceptile and Mowtom are on 80% of the teams.

I think the reason why people think Spiritomb is bad is because of its physical set and rightly so. It has to rely on Sucker Punch for good damage output and is often taken advantage of. But don't forget that Tomb is the best spinblocker in the tier (just that should be enough for B-). Now I think its best set is by far CroTomb. After a couple of boosts it's simply unstoppable due to its typing and initial bulk. A lot of teams don't always have a reliable answer to it and that's what makes the set good imo. I had very good experiences with it so I think B- is a good place for it.
 
Emboar to S: Agree

Everyone here has eloquently explained why Emboar deserves S so there is nothing more I can add discussion - wise. I would like to highlight those NUPL usage statitics that Jarii referenced. 27 percent of teams used an Emboar and half of those teams won the battle! To further this point I have linked some replays below for games where Emboar played a big role in the win. And even in games where Emboar didn't do a lot of work it always has to be played around.

Gigavolt Havoc Bop, Emboar did well for both sides
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nubeta-614253967

Forcing out virizion and delphox and cleaning late game (also well played by lax)
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7nubeta-308378

Killed half the team
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-620258681

Bouff uses an unorthodox set that didn't do significant work but displays the versatility of Emboar
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nubeta-614099004
 

Disjunction

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Consider this thread updated
Code:
Rises:
Emboar A+ --> S
Barbaracle A- --> A
Vanilluxe B+ --> A-
Vikavolt B+ --> A-
Druddigon B --> B+
Guzzlord C+ --> B
Clawitzer C+ --> B-
Cinccino C+ --> B-
Typhlosion C+ --> B-
Abomasnow C --> C+
Gallade C- --> C+
Togedemaru C- --> C
Eelektross C- --> C

Drops:
Uxie A --> A-
Houndoom A --> A-
Tauros B+ --> B
Absol B- --> C+
Charizard B- --> C+
Spiritomb B- --> C+
Silvally-Steel C- --> Unranked
I wrote out the reasoning by myself this time. I decided to skip anything involving B- and below considering changes in that area aren't as significant.
Emboar's wallbreaking abilities are unmatched in the current metagame. A great typing offensively and defensively, plenty of options to break past its checks, and plenty of splashability, Emboar is a metagame-defining threat just as potent as the other current S Ranks.

Arguably the most terrifying setup sweeper right now. Barbaracle has plenty of options to beat its checks once it sets up a Shell Smash and threatens just about every playstyle. With the right support, Barbaracle can put in a ton of work almost every game.

The metagame has very few options to cover for Vanilluxe's powerful STAB Blizzard and Freeze-Dry combination. This mon terrorizes common balance builds and has been on the fast track to be one of the best in the metagame.

Vikavolt has a load of diversity in sets and an equal amount of bonuses it brings to a team for each set. It easily breaks past common defensive cores because of its great STAB coverage, Energy Ball, and its insane Special Attack. It also has a great defensive typing, checking a lot of fighters and the notorious Grass-type wallbreakers, Sceptile and Rotom-Mow. People are starting to realize how splashable this thing really is and how important it is to keep in mind.

Druddigon's pure Dragon-typing, bulk, and utility in Mold Breaker Stealth Rock have carved a very important niche for itself in the current metagame. It's also one of the best checks you can make use of on Bulky Offensive teams in order to check Emboar better.

Guzzlord's has found itself in a great position in the meta because of its great typing, good coverage, and insane bulk. Beating out all of the common Fire-type Special Attackers, Slowbro, and most specially offensive Grass-types makes it a great choice for a lot of teams.

Despite its useful utility moves and impressive bulk, Uxie has found itself struggling a bit more in the current metagame because of how passive it is. There are more threatening Fighting resists and there are more intimidating Stealth Rock users.

Houndoom, while still threatening, has been fighting for competition as the team's Fire-type with Delphox and Emboar. It's slower, is immediately pressured by the likes of Emboar, and the rise of Guzzlord make it increasingly more difficult to justify using Houndoom.

Tauros has been on a slow crawl down the list since the beginning of Gen 7 and it hasn't gotten any better. It's simply not strong enough or diverse enough of a threat to justify using a lot of the time nowadays.
If you have any questions about the Pokemon that I did not provide reasoning for, feel free to ask and either myself or another VR Council Member will respond. Keep up the good work, guys!
 

poh

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B+ --> B / B-

Shuckle is our best Web setter and being able to set up Stealth Rock alongside with it is quite unique. However B+ is way too high for a mon that just sets up hazards and nothing else. Although it sets them up consistently, Xatu has increased in popularity and basicly nullifies its presence completely. Removing hazards might not be the simplest of tasks in the current meta but I think Shuckle doesn't contribute enough for a team to deserve B+.


Thoughts on:
C- --> Unranked
C- --> Unranked
B- --> C+
 
B+ --> B / B-

Shuckle is our best Web setter and being able to set up Stealth Rock alongside with it is quite unique. However B+ is way too high for a mon that just sets up hazards and nothing else. Although it sets them up consistently, Xatu has increased in popularity and basicly nullifies its presence completely. Removing hazards might not be the simplest of tasks in the current meta but I think Shuckle doesn't contribute enough for a team to deserve B+.


Thoughts on:
C- --> Unranked
C- --> Unranked
B- --> C+
I would just like to pipe in on the whole Shuckle vs Xatu match up. Mental herb Shuckle is basically deadweight vs Xatu with the most it can do is chip at it with Knock off and remove its Lefties/Helmet/Colbur. That's where Red Card Shuckle comes in. There aren't an obscene amount of Taunt users in the tier and the Shuckle user can always double around the taunt users and get up its hazards. Red card will only work once until the Xatu is dead or misplays so you have to pick which hazards you want up immediately. Also Red Card isn't common enough for the Xatu player to see it coming and try and play around it and worse case scenario Webs will be on both sides by the end of the confrontation. I'm unsure if this should affect Shuckles viability but it's worth considering since Red Card allows Shuckle to not be completely shutdown by Xatu teams.
 
Last edited:
Hey, guys, just want to make a quick nom.
Gourgeist-Super from C+ to B-.

I've been using this thing lately, and man, does it put in a lot of work. With Meloetta gone, it's safe to say that fighting types have gotten better, having one less check to deal with. With that said, Gourgeist-Super remains to be one of the best fighting type checks in the tier, boasting strong physical bulk and a great defensive typing. The best set is probably Colbur, as it allows you to safely switch in on Knock Offs from things like Machamp and Hitmonlee. Gourgeist also manages to check a lot of the physical attackers in the tier, such as Virizion, Barbaracle, Sneasel, and Emboar (choiced Emboars need to choose Flare Blitz correctly when Gourgeist switches in). Compared to Vileplume, Gourgeist has the valuable niche as a spin blocker, being able to beat Hitmonlee and Hitmontop. The only relevant spinner that beats Gourgeist I can think of is Cryogonal. Unfortunately, Gourgeist is really passive, relying on things like will-o-wisp and leech seed to do damage, and with a lack of strong physical ghost type moves, Gourgeist fails to touch Xatu, which is becoming more common. With that said, Gourgeist can leech seed special attacking pokemon that switch in on it, like Houndoom and Delphox, which makes it easier for your next pokemon to tank incoming blows. Also, Xatu is pretty easy to predict when it switches in, so it isn't terribly hard to pursuit trap with things like Sneasel and Drapion. Overall, Gourgeist-Super is a fantastic check to a lot of the threats in the tier. I think that Gourgeist is just better in NU than most of the stuff in C+, which is why I believe that Gourgeist deserves B-.
 

PrinceLucian

Banned deucer.
B => -B
While its not necesarily a bad pokemon, Sawk role as a wallbreaker is typically outclassed by other wallbreakers, and first ones that id mostly compare Sawk to is Machamp, Emboar and even Hitmonlee. While Sawk speed tier is just a bit better than first 2, it doesnt help it any more vs balance, especially vs Slowbro which is premier fighting resist and S rank, and other fighting types can potentialy threaten him with rocks up, while sawk best way of hitting it is knock off, while at least Hitmonlee can get off a spin on a switch. His other set which is choice scarf isnt that great either, as its checked so easily by many other fighting resists, and its pretty easy to identify the set in team preview. Last gen it was popular as top fighting checks were pelipper/weezing which could get nearly 1 shot by its coverage moves, but rn its a lot easier to play around.

Unranked =>C
Choice specs Lapras is something me and few friends were playing around these days, mainly because its a pokemon that beats standard balance with hydro pump+ freeze dry, and might i add Toxic as last slot to outstall the slowbro+slowking if they try to CM. Not only does it offer great stabs, but its defensive utility in Water absorbs+ being 4x-resistance to Ice types can be benefitial for certain builds, i would suggest anyone trying it out.

That is it for now, i had a couple more in mind but im a rush rip
 

Finchinator

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Golbat to A- - Honestly, Golbat is a fine Defogger and checks plenty of things defensively, but it does not accomplish enough to justify using on a ton of faster-paced builds and I feel like the metagame is quite offensive right now, so it works against Golbat. I am not too strong on this nomination, but I do feel like people are misusing Golbat and in practice it does not do more than just check a few things and keep hazards off until the seems unravel upon being Knocked and facing mid-game offensive pressure if the opponent plays well. I think that Golbat is a fine balanced/bulky team hazard remover that can give support with moves like Taunt or Toxic, too, but I do not think it merits an A ranking when you have many of the Pokemon that define the tier and top playstyles (such as Barbaracle, Steelix, and Whimsicott) in this subrank and moving it down to A- probably would fit better.

Drapion to B+ - Every time I use this thing I am blatantly underwhelmed. The Scarf set is way too weak and only really does well at being fairly quick for a scarfer and being able to trap weakened Xatus so that hazards can be set (which Sneasel does better). The Swords Dance Z set is at least passable and probably the best of the bunch, but even then it has shortcomings as it is naturally weak still, prone to revenge killing from the most common scarfers, and relies upon the Z move to break through most things, leaving it incapable of doing too much work against normal balance teams outside of maybe picking off one thing. Other sets like Lum or Shuca SD are mediocre and just do not have the power or bulk to make it work -- I feel like Drapion is just lacks the standout element that most win conditions or top Pokemon have to truly flourish in the metagame. I find using Drapion to often be just out of sheer necessity for role compression and I think that many of the best teams lack Drapion because they are able to avoid it or use alternatives. I know that B+ sounds low for a Pokemon that has seen consistent usage, but I really think Drapion is pretty bad right now and should not be anywhere in the A ranks.

Vanilluxe to A - I am a bit late to the party here, but after using this thing I am convinced -- Vanilluxe is easily one of the best Scarfers, hole punchers, and just annoying Pokemon to handle in the tier and I think that the upside in using it is so huge right now. I do admit that Vanilluxe has shortcomings in terms of natural bulk, SR weakness, and arguably the speed tier it has, but I think that it overcomes most of these nicely with team support (the need for team support in itself is partially why I think A fits it the best despite it being such a dynamic Pokemon that is hard to counter). I do not want to repeat much of what was said a few weeks back, but I do think that Vanilluxe is still on the way up and should go to A rank given how much of a threat it is.

Granbull to B - Does anyone actually use this thing anymore? I guess it is ok on some stalls, but the metagame is so offensive and there are a ton of more common or relevant fighting checks and I do not think that the offensive utility it brings to the table really makes using it worthwhile. I hardly ever see it used because of this and I think B+ is very high for it. I could see it dropping even lower, but let's take it one step at a time.

Druddigon to A- - Druddigon got off to a rough start early in the generation with it not really having a true standard set and being overwhelmed by the fact that the tier was so strong and it did not serve much of a purpose early on. However, I feel like now it has two really good sets, in the Stealth Rock Rocky Helmet set and the Life Orb Sheer Force breaker set, both of which I have used recently on a consistent basis and feel are great options. I think nobody doubts that Druddigon itself is a good Pokemon and it just had to carve its niche in the metagame out, which I feel it now has done over time and I think a rise would be good seeing as it is picking up steam and stands out in a fairly mediocre B+ with inconsistent and uncommon picks such as Malamar and Toxicroak.

Samurott to A- - Samurott is a really underrated Pokemon in NU right now. The SD Z-Megahorn set is easily one of my favorite win conditions right now and I think that it does so well against all of the standard offenses you see right now considering that it threatens full teams and can even clean if the grass type is eliminated or weakened throughout games. It is also at its peak right now considering that the main bulky waters do not take Megahorn at all and then grass type checks to SD Samurott like Vileplume get killed by +2 Z-Megahorn after minimal chip or hazards. I think that Samurott is an underappreciated Z move abuser and deserves to go up a rank to where more consistent Pokemon reside.

Xatu to A - I've been on the fence about this one for a while, but the more I use Xatu, the more I notice how great a presence it is on so many teams and how it handles the Stealth Rock metagame so well (not to mention that it shuts down all of the Spikers in the tier besides Accelgor, which isn't even good and doesn't always run Spikes anyway). It even is a decent Pokemon in itself right now with some longevity thanks to Roost, the ability to stimulate momentum with U-turn, and then some means of doing damage thanks to Psychic, Grass Knot, and Rocky Helmet. Overall, I just love Xatu right now and think that it is at its best in the current metagame. I am not sure how I would stack it up compared to other A Pokemon in terms of overall viability, but I do think it stands out a bit in A-.

Mismagius to A - Speaking of standing out in A-, I think that Mismagius does this even moreso than Xatu. With Meloetta gone, the tier lacks a natural offensive Mismagius check that it needs if Mismagius is to stay in A-. The Z-Shadow Ball NP set runs over so many teams and while it does easily get revenge killed, it often claims a kill or two in offensive match-ups as well thanks to decent power and a great speed tier. I think that moving it up now that Meloetta is gone is definitely a good idea.

Guzzlord to B+ or A- - Lord Guzzington is insane right now -- nothing switches into it and it has a great specially defensive typing. I absolutely love using this thing and I think that it has so much upside and there are a lot of reasons to use it right now. When compared to very situational Pokemon like Turtonator or niche Pokemon like Raticate-Alola, I think that Guzzlord clearly stands out and deserves to move up.

Typhlosion to B - Specs Typhlosion kills everything and pressure pretty much the entire tier. I know it is not always the most convenient Pokemon to use and I am aware that Delphox stole some of its thunder, but you cannot refute the viability of Typhlosion as a breaker and hard-hitter and nothing else can fill that niche the same way. I think that it is hard to use and requires support, so moving it up too much would not be ideal, but one sub-rank to B is ideal seeing as B- is pretty much full of bottom-dwellers (and atrocious unpokemon like Minior) in this metagame.

Pinsir to B- or B - The Z-Earthquake Stealth Rock Mold Breaker Swords Dance set is easily one of the most anti-metagame things in the whole tier and it does a fantastic job at setting up rocks, threatening/eliminating other Rockers, and managing the early game. People are starting to pick up on what it does and it is slowing down a bit, or at least when I personally use it, but I think it is a Pokemon that is good enough to rise to B- when C+ is a land of pretty shitty, situational Pokemon that hardly find their way onto competitive teams.

Hariyama to B- or B - After being a staple on ORAS bulky-offense, Hariyama is slowly starting to surface again in NU as a specially defensive tank that has a physically offensive presence. I think that Hariyama is a pretty straightforward Pokemon and I think the reason for using it as a specially defensive pivot that isn't deadweight offensively is pretty clear and I find it being used more and more with time, so moving up from the depths of C+ seems to be fair for the time being.

Togedemaru the GOAT to B- or B - This is actually a pretty big move considering that it has never really been used until recently and was barely ranked in the first place, finding itself in fucking C rank, but let me tell you that this thing is SO good. It does require Xatu pretty much seeing as it invites Steelix in, but defensive cores with these two are great on balance right now and the ability to dick Rotom-Mow and pivot in on so many things is insane. It also actually can keep up momentum with U-turn or stop opposing momentum with Encore while promoting longevity with Wish and chipping opponents effectively with Zing Zap and Spiky Shield -- god bless this wannabe Pikachu and please move it up omg
 
Adding on to the Minior subject hidden in the above post by user: finchinator, why is Minior still in B-?
It takes so much efford to let it set up in the right way and remove all things that could prevent it from sweeping that you did just be better off using anything else over it. At +2 in turd core form it does only ''average'' damage and has a speed tier where most scarfers will outspeed it(I will admit that the faster scarfers don't have much to hit it back with exept for Scarf HJK Hitmonlee, Scarfed Rotom/Rotom-mow). If you somehow get to sub up or get into the HP range for you to change form, you become more powerfull, but so easy to revenge with priority(not even super effective priority, even mach punch from Hitmonlee can OHKO this thing as it requires you to be <50% for this form to exist). Not to mention the fact that even at +2 you still can't OHKO the main answeres to this pokemon without serious chip damage. Infact, every of our Stealth Rock setters bare Omastar/Aurorus are able to take it on 1v1 and prevent it from sweeping in all of the cases with just a damaging move, or in case of druddigon by clicking Dragon Tail as you don't get to use White Herb a second time either. Not that it matters honestly, in colour form you won't ever set up for free. It requires so specific momentum, match up and opportunity to the point any of our smashers in Barbaracle and Turtonator can give you twice as much back.

SR setters vs turdshield:
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 162-192 (41.1 - 48.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 162-192 (41.1 - 48.7%) -- 74.2% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 168-198 (40.5 - 47.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 168-198 (40.5 - 47.8%) -- 3.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 168-198 (47.8 - 56.4%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 168-198 (47.8 - 56.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 158-188 (44.8 - 53.4%) -- 1.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 158-188 (44.8 - 53.4%) -- 10.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Piloswine: 193-228 (47.7 - 56.4%) -- 84.4% chance to 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Seismitoad: 232-274 (56 - 66.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Druddigon: 186-219 (51.9 - 61.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Aurorus: 384-452 (99.2 - 116.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252+ Atk Minior-Meteor Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Omastar: 240-284 (85.4 - 101%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock


Revenge priority:
252+ Atk Life Orb Hitmonlee Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Minior: 134-160 (51.3 - 61.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Fist Plate Hitmonlee Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Minior: 124-147 (47.5 - 56.3%) -- 84% chance to 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Sneasel Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Minior: 240-284 (91.9 - 108.8%) -- 50% chance to OHKO
252+ Atk Guts Machamp Bullet Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Minior: 218-258 (83.5 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Samurott Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Minior: 168-198 (64.3 - 75.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0- Atk Never-Melt Ice Vanilluxe Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Minior: 134-162 (51.3 - 62%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Piloswine Ice Shard vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Minior: 182-216 (69.7 - 82.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


Defensive answeres to colour core:
+2 252+ Atk Minior Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 222-262 (56.3 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 228-270 (55 - 65.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Rhydon: 228-270 (64.9 - 76.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior Earthquake vs. 244 HP / 0 Def Steelix: 216-256 (61.3 - 72.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Minior Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Piloswine: 264-312 (65.3 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252+ Atk Minior Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 148+ Def Seismitoad: 316-373 (76.3 - 90%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Minior Acrobatics (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Druddigon: 255-300 (71.2 - 83.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO


How much they do back even to the turdshield:
4 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Minior-Meteor: 174-206 (66.6 - 78.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
16+ Atk Rhydon Rock Blast (3 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Minior-Meteor: 234-276 (89.6 - 105.7%) -- approx. 12.5% chance to OHKO
136+ Atk Steelix Heavy Slam (120 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Minior-Meteor: 288-342 (110.3 - 131%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Seismitoad Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Minior-Meteor: 152-180 (58.2 - 68.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Piloswine Icicle Crash vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Minior-Meteor: 254-300 (97.3 - 114.9%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Druddigon Dragon Tail vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Minior-Meteor: 76-90 (29.1 - 34.4%) -- 3.5% chance to 3HKO
 
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Electivire from Unranked to C-
Electivire is probably the best physical attacking electric-type in the tier and thanks to its coverage it can threaten many Pokemon out and surprise Pokemon like Emboar, Hitmonlee and Sawk with Psychic, which 2HKO's them all (it can 1HKO Emboar with earthquake too on sole physical sets) and outspeeds all of the fighting types in the tier bar Virizion, which it can hit hard on the switch with Ice Punch instead (Electivire should be a mixed attacker and should utilize its coverage options properly). As it can run both special and physical sets, the unpredictability of Electivire should not be underestimated, and due to it being a sole Electric type it can switch in on Klinklang (mainly) and Crustle and stop them setting up by either OHKO'ing or 2HKO'ing (depending on the set) with Earthquake and whatever electric attack it's running. Every single bulky water type is threatened out by Electivire, which allows a teammate to come in and set up in the process. Although its speed is only average for an offensive Pokemon, if the opponent does false predict and go for an electric attack, Motor Drive can enable Electivire to sweep through offensive teams quite nicely. It does face competition as a physical electric type by Alolan-Golem, but it can OHKO it with Earthquake if it tries to set up stealth rock (even if it has sturdy it's death fodder for electivire) and it doesn't have the additional three nasty weaknesses that Alolan-Raichu has. So that's why I think Electivire should be ranked.
 

quziel

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Evire: Stay Unranked, horrid mon (trust me, I've tried to make it work)

Being the best physical attacking electric type means nothing when that niche is neither wanted, nor very good in the current tier. Manectric does pretty much everything it does better, as its EQ isn't needed to hit lanturn, and like, its power is incredibly lacking, even when using a Z-move. Like, yeah, its sorta annoying to switch into, but so is stuff like Sceptile, Rotom-Mow, or Vikavolt, who are much easier to fit on a team due to bulk or speed. Frankly, I can't currently justify it in the current tier when there are much stronger Electric types that contribute infinitely more to a team's defensive synergy, making them just so much easier to fit onto a team.


Guzzlord: => B+/A- agree:

This mon switches into practically every single non-vanilluxe special attacker in the tier, takes virtually nothing back, and has amazing coverage and good power. Not much more to say besides the fact that the specs set is nasty as hell to come into, and you beat the Delphox, a rapidly rising mon.


Druddigon => A-: Agree

Emboar takes 50 million damage if it ever clicks Flare Blitz, Druddigon provides a very solid niche in a rocker that beats both Fire and Grass types (mostly), and the mon has disgustingly good synergy with rising star Togedemaru, who keeps its HP up with wish, and takes on Fairy/Ice types easily for Drudd. Its in a fantastic place within the meta, and will only get better.

On that note:


Togedemaru => B: Agree
Like, wish support, a defensive pivot that provides good momentum, and a check to Vanilluxe? What more do you need, well, the answer is not dying to coverage, and a way to prevent steelix/rhydon/fighting types from eating you, but I digress. Wish/Spiky Shield/2 of Zing Zap, U-turn, Toxic, encore is a pretty damn reliable pivot, and can be customized to support your team well enough with Toxic, or it can make itself a fair bit less passive with Encore. Just really consistent, and really helps Balance/some BO squads work.


Minior => C+ (Maybe lower)

shit's ass, and you're letting your opponent direclty control your power, sure it can sweep if your opponent is an idiot but like, so can Barbaracle, and Barbaracle does this wonderful thing called beating Ground types and hitting harder than a 50 year old tissue.


Liepard => C+

Its mandatory on rain, and rain is at least a C+ playstyle.



Shiftry => C+

Special Shiftry is disgusting to swap into, would have a replay, but haven't done tour battles in a while. Basically Extrasensory is amazing coverage for a Dark type to have, hitting Emboar for like everything, as well as Garbodor, especially when backed by Leaf Storm and a ton of utility. Sure its easily revenged by Emboar, but so is half the tier. Thing has enough coverage that it can be customized for basically any team.
 
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Agree with Drapion to B+ as although it brings a lot of role compression its generally weak as a scarfer, slow and lacking a nuke stab as an SD breaker and lacks the bulk to make use of its solid resistences (can be 2hko'd outright by specs Scep's storm, for example). Mostly outshined by Sneasel as a revenge killer and pursuit trapper, while SD sets are solid on some teams but are generally not as appreciated as other SD breakers like Virizion.

Unconvinced with the Evire to C- nom, most of things listed as stuff it can beat aren't really things electric types are concerned about and the competition you list for it aren't that relevant in NU to begin with. I could potentially see it getting ranked for the theoretical diversity of coverage options it has, but I don't think that's enough to rank it when Rotom-C can blow through most of the tier with its STABs alone and can afford to run volt switch to pivot out on what it can't.

Finally Mismagius to A as the tier just lost its best offensive check and there's few mons that can take on strong ghost STAB and not get ko'd by dazzling gleam or even z-power gem. Very solid on HO builds for its abilty to spinblock and check fighters while also being somewhat difficult to trap with dark types not named Sneasel if running a colbur berry
 

PrinceLucian

Banned deucer.
^Agreed with most of Finch nominations, mainly with Vanilluxe (balance answer to Choice Specs vanilluxe are limited as NU is known to have barely any Sturdy Ice resists, and most of them get whittled down pretty fast, it also has decent bulk so it can act alone as a freeze dry resist and check opposing Vanilluxe with Flash Cannon, especially if it versus Scarf set) and Guzzlord ( Great resistances, mainly to houndoom, delphox, slowbrothers etc.., and can afford to run Choice Specs because of natural sp.def bulk, it has good coverage and can hit anything, speed actually doesnt matter that much because it can act like a Tank and it doesnt need to neccesarily outspeed fast offensive threats).
The ones I dont have opinion on is Typhlosion because lot of people run Slowbros as their sole fire answer (and maybe one extremely soft fire check like scarf emboar), which makes typhlosion big threat vs them naturally.
One I wouldnt agree on is Druddigon, as much as I love chip damage from Helmet+ Rough Skin, only thing that bothers me with druddigon is being a rocker without being a Normal and Flying resist, and not being immune to Volt switch, while lacking passive recovery or recovery in general other than Rest, if you decide not to run Restalk, so it gets whittled really quickly, and being fire/water resistant doesnt rly help it vs those pokemon. And if someone is to say to add a normal resist along with Druddigon, its really hard to find ones in NU tier other than stuff like regular Rotom, which is what limits druddigon and makes it harder to build around.
Im also iffy on Togedemaru, as if it gets more popular as main Ice check and Vikavolt answer to some teams, I can see vanilluxe and vika not having issue fitting HP Ground on their movesets, as vika only really sacrifices volt switch on specs set, and choice locked vanilluxe doesnt rly mind getting rid of ice shard as it rarely ever clicks it.

B => B + , Lure Defog skuntank is a reliable defogger, with shuca berry and HP Grass+ Fire blast it can beat 3 of the best rockers in tier, it also gives great resistances to the table and fits very well on some of the balanced teams.

B => B+ , With Meloetta gone, and Spiritomb mainly reason to stay relevant, Medicham raises once again as a potent wallbreaker or even a decent scarfer, with a powerful ability in Pure power and great coverage to deal with most defensive pokemon
 
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Evire: Stay Unranked, horrid mon (trust me, I've tried to make it work)

Being the best physical attacking electric type means nothing when that niche is neither wanted, nor very good in the current tier. Manectric does pretty much everything it does better, as its EQ isn't needed to hit lanturn, and like, its power is incredibly lacking, even when using a Z-move. Like, yeah, its sorta annoying to switch into, but so is stuff like Sceptile, Rotom-Mow, or Vikavolt, who are much easier to fit on a team due to bulk or speed. Frankly, I can't currently justify it in the current tier when there are much stronger Electric types that contribute infinitely more to a team's defensive synergy, making them just so much easier to fit onto a team.


Guzzlord: => B+/A- agree:

This mon switches into practically every single non-vanilluxe special attacker in the tier, takes virtually nothing back, and has amazing coverage and good power. Not much more to say besides the fact that the specs set is nasty as hell to come into, and you beat the Delphox, a rapidly rising mon.


Druddigon => A-: Agree

Emboar takes 50 million damage if it ever clicks Flare Blitz, Druddigon provides a very solid niche in a rocker that beats both Fire and Grass types (mostly), and the mon has disgustingly good synergy with rising star Togedemaru, who keeps its HP up with wish, and takes on Fairy/Ice types easily for Drudd. Its in a fantastic place within the meta, and will only get better.

On that note:


Togedemaru => B: Agree
Like, wish support, a defensive pivot that provides good momentum, and a check to Vanilluxe? What more do you need, well, the answer is not dying to coverage, and a way to prevent steelix/rhydon/fighting types from eating you, but I digress. Wish/Spiky Shield/2 of Zing Zap, U-turn, Toxic, encore is a pretty damn reliable pivot, and can be customized to support your team well enough with Toxic, or it can make itself a fair bit less passive with Encore. Just really consistent, and really helps Balance/some BO squads work.


Minior => C+ (Maybe lower)

shit's ass, and you're letting your opponent direclty control your power, sure it can sweep if your opponent is an idiot but like, so can Barbaracle, and Barbaracle does this wonderful thing called beating Ground types and hitting harder than a 50 year old tissue.


Liepard => C+

Its mandatory on rain, and rain is at least a C+ playstyle.



Shiftry => C+

Special Shiftry is disgusting to swap into, would have a replay, but haven't done tour battles in a while. Basically Extrasensory is amazing coverage for a Dark type to have, hitting Emboar for like everything, as well as Garbodor, especially when backed by Leaf Storm and a ton of utility. Sure its easily revenged by Emboar, but so is half the tier. Thing has enough coverage that it can be customized for basically any team.
I Completely agree with another Druddigon rise. It puts in work every single battle and can always get stealth rocks up. It is awesome at crippling fast opponents with glare and it even has an offensive presence as well. It also pairs great with rocky helmet because of its ability rough skin and it's good physical bulk. It absolutely destroys anything that uses a recoil move on it. Very good Pokemon rn, I would support a rise.
 

Gurdurr @ Eviolite
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 192 Atk / 64 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Mach Punch
- Knock Off
- Bulk Up

UR --> C+
Machamp is gone which means we need to find other Guts users and I personally think other 2 Guts users will get more populairity, one of them is Gurdurr. Gurdurr has the bulk with Eviolite to take on Barbaracle after a Shell Smash what not much mons in SM NU are capable of doing which gives already a niche as Fighting-type. Better bulk every other Fighting type in the tier, good wincon with priority, not weak to Will-o-Wisp like Toxicroak and Scrafty. Why I never nommed this was because Machamp was just better and well that's gone now.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-627464670 here is a replay vs Hootie what Gurdurr made me not lose to Barbaracle.


Hariyama @ Flame Orb
Ability: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Facade
- Bullet Punch

C+ --> B/B+
Another pokémon that benefits of Machamp being gone. It's basicly a worse Machamp, less Attack, less Speed, little bit better bulk (252 SpA Mew Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Machamp: 282-332 (87.8 - 103.4%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO, 252 SpA Mew Psychic vs. 0 HP / 112 SpD Hariyama: 314-372 (73.1 - 86.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after burn damage). It has the exact same movepool and this was just outclassed by Machamp. Not much else to be said about this actually. Also AV yama gets more populairity because of Ice types being really dominant lately.


A- --> A
Okay this nom might be a little bit weird but I will explain it as much as I can, Vikavolt is in the top 20 of usage mons of NUPL
| 20 | Vikavolt | 20 | 8.93% | 70.00% | but that isn't why I nommed it, I nommed it because of the insane win rate. 70% is insanely high for a pokémon in the top 20 usage mons in SM NU. It has 3 movesets what are all incredible hard to check, 3 attacks roost is the most populair with either bulky leftovers or Z-Bug Buzz. This set is a very good wallbreaker and is the hardest to check because of it's insanely high spA and it's access to use it's amazing movepool and with Roost to get it's health back up vs bulky mons almost all the time. Agility 3 attacks is better vs BO teams but it's longlivity is limited so that has it's issues. Specs is just an insane wallbreaker what destroys every balance / stall team but again longlivity is the issue. Now I said all the sets I will show you some replays of Vikavolt in NUPL and that Vikavolt did actually do something to get 70% winrate. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nubeta-604789157 in this battle Lucianvega his Vikavolt pressured the balance core of Zamrock really hard and weakened both Steelix and Vileplume alot. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen7nubeta-302951 Vikavolt cleans end game. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-617098785 a game I played myself in NUPL vs Kushalos what basicly 6-0ed Kush his team. In all these 3 games (there are more but that would make this way too long, you can check them yourself) Vikavolt did a big part in all the battles I have shown and that is why I think it deserves to be A rank.
 
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Nomming
Cryogonal from B -> B+

Cryogonal is currently a really great spinner in the tier with the distinct advantage of not being affected by webs because of Levitate. The only other spinner in the tier with this trait is... Claydol. It has a great special defense stat that lets it tank special hits even when uninvested, and also possesses a respectable speed stat. It has access to recovery and Knock Off, as well as the always good Freeze-dry to deal with water-types (such as spinblockers like Jelicent). It can also set veil (not that I'm suggesting this) and run a bulky set effectively for different utilities.

252 SpA Choice Specs Sceptile Giga Drain vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Cryogonal: 123-145 (40.8 - 48.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

4 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Cryogonal: 67-81 (22.2 - 26.9%) -- 27.9% chance to 4HKO

252 SpA Mismagius Power Gem vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Cryogonal: 116-138 (38.5 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252 SpA Delphox Fire Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Cryogonal: 254-300 (84.3 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (lol)

252+ SpA Choice Specs Guzzlord Dark Pulse vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Cryogonal: 136-162 (45.1 - 53.8%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
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time for my first vr post.

-> A [i wanna say A+ but its not splashable enough for that :(]

This is one off, if not the scariest pokemon to face at the minute. Ice Stab is just amazing, and even common checks like boar and incineroar get worn down, and you just bop stell pikachu with hp ground. So i agree with all the other guys that posted that lol

-> B+

I know this is not a big change but i dont see why this is deserving of A-. Yeah Trick is cool and I see its niche on TR or Weather but its still an underwhelming and passive rocker that really doesnt provide much to a team.

-> A-

Scary Mon to switch into. Golbat is a good check but even that gets 2 Hit Ko'd by Hidden Power after rocks. Also random spikes support is always good.

-> B-/C+

When writing the analysis for this legend i recognized a few glaring flaws. It often lacks the power to Revenge Kill reliably, which is a big reason to run it. (eg Fake out on Vivillon being a roll after rocks). Also the speed tier really isnt as good as it once was. Toxic Spikes support still works, but having Golbat and Cryo as arguably the most reliable removal in the tier and also not being affected by tspikes just really hinders the playstyle a lot.

-> C+

With steelix being on literally 1/3 teams (and Rhydon/Toad being on the others) this just has a hard time to shine and it really doesnt do the job as well as we thought it would earlier this gen.

-> B/B-

Pretty big rise I know. Grass resist. Stopping momentum for rotom mow. Basically the best vikavolt answer we have. Grabs momentum or stops set up. not much more to say. I really like this+xatu, beautiful core.

-> A+

yes, this mon has its flaws, but as we saw from usage stats and from building, this mon can fill lots of roles that your team need while providing stealth rocks. easily one of the more splashable mons we have

also ban slowbro and mowtom imo

->B-

This is of course if Veil gets banned.
Scary wallbreaker that provides a secondary flying resist. Also has acces to earth power and Ancient Power to more efficiently take on its common checks such as Togedemaru, Cryogonal and Incineroar.
Also who doesnt like a sneaky boost every now and again.

this was too much work damn
 

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have you ever been as perfectly updated as this
Code:
Rises:
Mismagius A- --> A
Xatu A- --> A
Vanilluxe B+ --> A-
Druddigon B+ --> A-
Samurott B+ --> A-
Guzzlord B --> B+
Skuntank B --> B+
Typhlosion B- --> B
Pinsir C+ --> B-
Hariyama C+ --> B-
Togedemaru C --> B-
Lapras UR --> C-

Drops:
Golbat A --> A-
Granbull B+ --> B
Sawk B --> B-
Minior B- --> C-
Passimian C- --> UR
Manectric C- --> UR
I also unranked Drapion, Machamp, and Quagsire since they rose in the recent usage shifts. We've had this update planned from before shifts, so we wanted to get it out before any serious discussion happens as a result of post-shift stuff. Some of this stuff will probably change, but it is reflective of the metagame from before shifts, so it's important that we work off of this first!
Mismagius has seen a rise in notoriety after the Meloetta ban because of the lack of good defensive checks. Most Ghost resists get hit hard by its coverage of Power Gem and, more notably, Dazzling Gleam. Z-Shadow Ball is almost guaranteed to put a ton of heavy pressure on your opponent in the current meta considering how sparse Normal-types are.

Steelix is only getting more and more popular and Xatu is rising with it. The tier's almost complete lack of reliable hazard control puts the tier in yet another position where Xatu preventing Rocks from going up in the first place is arguably the best option on a lot of teams. The ability to shut down Seismitoad, Steelix, and Rhydon (on the right prediction) and generally apply offensive pressure as a result, is growing increasingly more valuable as much as the mon is boring as shit to play with and against.

The only Pokemon in the tier that really threatens Balance builds harder than Vanilluxe is Emboar and it's probably a lot closer of a call than many of you think. The ability to break down a team's infrastructure with just two moves, Blizzard and Freeze-Dry, is very impressive and should be recognized. Scarf Vanilluxe is also a rising threat as well considering how hard it smacks down offensive teams and punishes them for commonly running frail Fire-types as their only Ice resist.

As more experienced players have been experimenting with Druddigon, the more it has been coming into the limelight as a seriously good pick in the meta. Mold Breaker Stealth Rock sets really take advantage of Xatu's presence, the Life Orb Sheer Force set is a dangerous wallbreaker that has a lot of options for picking what defensive cores it wants to pressure, and the Rocky Helmet Rough Skin sets are one of the best options for an Emboar check that Offensive teams have right now.

The Z-Megahorn set has been seeing a lot of popularity lately because of how significant beating Slowbro, Vileplume, and Seismitoad is. Being a Water-type that beats out Guzzlord is also noteworthy because it demands that teams keep into consideration the presence of both SD Samurott and special Water-types in the teambuilder. It's also important to note that a powerful Aqua Jet is an extremely useful tool in a tier dominated by powerful Fire-types, such as Emboar and Delphox.

Guzzlord has been on the rise because of its very useful defensive utility in checking the majority of special Water-types, such as Vaporeon, Slowbro, and Slowking, special Fire-types, such as Delphox, Houndoom, and Typhlosion, and the obviously powerful special Grass-types, Rotom-Mow and Sceptile. The Specs set in particular does this great because it takes advantage of these omnipresent threats and uses them as an opportunity to fire off surprisingly hard-to-switch-into hits from its very diverse pool of coverage moves.

Viable Defog and Pursuit user. Both are pretty hot commodities right now in the tier and Skuntank is no slouch at either. STAB Sucker Punch and Aftermath are also very useful tools in its arsenal that help it stand out as an offensive threat.

Specs Typhlosion 2HKOes the entire tier bar AV Guzzlord, specially defensive Vaporeon, and Slowking. Extremely sturdy Fire resists are becoming increasingly less common in favor of offensive Fire checks and Typhlosion really benefits from the shift.
Pinsir to B- or B - The Z-Earthquake Stealth Rock Mold Breaker Swords Dance set is easily one of the most anti-metagame things in the whole tier and it does a fantastic job at setting up rocks, threatening/eliminating other Rockers, and managing the early game. People are starting to pick up on what it does and it is slowing down a bit, or at least when I personally use it, but I think it is a Pokemon that is good enough to rise to B- when C+ is a land of pretty shitty, situational Pokemon that hardly find their way onto competitive teams.
Just SD Z-Ground in general is rly good tho

As Vanilluxe and hyper-destructive Fire-types are quickly rising in viability, so shall the the ORAS-omnipresent Thick Fat tank. Though AV Hariyama finds it a lot harder to break past traditional Fighting checks in the tier, it has a very relevant niche against offensive teams as the sturdy special sponge that it is.

Togedemaru is one of the few options that defensive cores have access to that can shut down both Vikavolt and Rotom-Mow and, because both of these threats are so dominant, Togedemaru should follow with a rise. You can even see that, since Togedemaru's presence in the tier is so necessary for more defensive builds, Vikavolt are starting to run HP Ground in response to take advantage of them. It's also just a generally useful mon that has a good set of resistances and Wish.

In simple terms, Lapras takes advantage of teams that use Fire-types in order to prepare for Vanilluxe. It's a generally weak mon, but its dual STAB with access to Freeze-dry makes it an ok wallbreaker in the current meta.

By far still our best Defog user, but definitely becoming increasingly more noticeable how exploitable Golbat is. It loses to Steelix and Rhydon, our most viable and present Stealth Rock users, and is becoming noticeably easy to lure and/or offensively pressure to take out. Its weaknesses to Ice, Psychic, and, most notably, Rock really set it up as a less desirable pick for a team's defensive backbone.

Granbull is either very easy to whittle out of the game or demands the use of your Z Move in order to keep it relevant throughout the match. It's a good, sturdy Fighting check, but it struggles to make an impact when it gives way to Steelix, Vikavolt, and many other very relevant forces in the metagame. We also have a plethora of Fighting checks in the tier as is that can bring more to the table than what Granbull can typically do.

It's not really bad, it's just hard to justify over other Fighting-types. Even Medicham and Gallade's Z Move sets allow them to get through the most common Fighting resists.

I don't think there's much to be said on this thing that hasn't already been said. Impossible to set up with, can't break past the most common Flying checks in the tier, and there's no reason to use it over Barbaracle. It's just a bad mon.

See Sawk, but way worse because of its awful coverage and Speed.

Decent on paper, awful in practice. There's no real reason to ever consider Manectric over Vikavolt or Rotom-Mow because of its frankly irrelevant speed tier and surprisingly lackluster offenses.
Feel free to discuss the new drops and how they/other stuff are influencing the meta. The VR Council will determine Froslass and Mega Audino's placement in the next update soon.
 

quziel

I am the Scientist now
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderatoris a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a Top CAP Contributoris a Contributor to Smogonis a member of the Battle Simulator Staff
Aurorus => B-

Aurora veil is gone, and its mostly outclassed by vanilluxe in a breaker role, leaving lead as its main set.

Aloslash: => D

Without veil this mon isn't good, use regular slash instead if you really want a weather sweeper

edit:
Hootie-Today at 9:06 PM
we aren't unranking because
it's NU by usage
 

Disjunction

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Hi everybody, I've been gaming to make my own update post for a while but I never really had the time to sit down with it. I'll just start by going down the list top to bottom in terms of what I think we should change.

S --> A+

Maybe some people will disagree with this, but I think with how the metagame has shifted around, Sceptile isn't as dominating as it used to be. Locking yourself into Specs Leaf Storm isn't as easy to do nowadays with the lurking threats of Vikavolt, Guzzlord, a dozen threatening Fire-types, and Xatu. Sceptile has the tools to get around some of its common checks, but a lot of its checks are so abundant and its so much more reliant on prediction that I don't feel that it's as difficult to play around or adapt to compared to the other three S ranks. It would help if it had any other relevant options over Specs, but it's so desperately reliant on its one set that it's hard to step away from that status quo.

A --> A+

Our best sweeper right now if you ask me. Barb threatens just about any team and finds itself a load of favorable matchups in this primarily offensive metagame. Z Moves have only further buffed this creature as it's able to run stuff like Rockium Z to get past the omnipresent Slowbro and other various soft checks like Virizion. Between Return, Grass Knot, Razor Shell, and Z-Stone Edge, I think it's next to impossible to find a hard counter to this creature that can fit on a variety of offensive and defensive builds. Barb has a stranglehold on the metagame right now and it's not looking like it's going to let up soon.

A --> A+

Speaking of mons that have a stranglehold on the metagame, Delphox is becoming legitimately unstoppable. You see it all the time on offensive teams because it has so many tools at its disposal depending on what it needs to do. Calm Mind Z nuke sets can dismantle defensive cores, Dazzling Gleam is picking up in popularity to handle the far more relevant Guzzlord, and Scarf can be used to handle offensive teams considering it can revenge kill the likes of +2 Barbaracle and still sport impressive coverage and offensive pressure. It's a mon I'm always scared of at team preview and I think it should be obvious nowadays how it's affecting the meta.

A- --> A+

I think we should stop being babies about this thing by just moving it up one sub rank at a time and just put it where we all know it belongs. Vikavolt is on an absurd amount of teams because it does an absurd amount of jobs very consistently. It brings stellar offensive presence, a very sturdy Grass resist, a good Fighting resist, Steelix answer, slow Volt Switch, and the ability to soft check a lot of special and physical attackers in a pinch because of its nice natural bulk and access to recovery. Vikavolt has been abused to hell and back in NUPL and has a 70% win rate, as stated by Jarii a bit earlier, over 20 uses of the mon. This thing is quickly becoming the face of NU and, personally, I think it's a top ten mon that deserves the ranking that reflects that.

A- --> A+

This is another mon that I think we should get to the point with. Vanilluxe is another very relevant threat that is warping the metagame. Even in ORAS, we never had to deal with an Ice-type this powerful and it doesn't help that our most relevant Ice resists are Emboar and Delphox. Vanilluxe is just about as terrifying a wallbreaker as Emboar and it does this job using two predictable attacks, Blizzard and Freeze-dry, that you are likely unable to do anything about unless you have one of AV Hariyama, AV Incineroar, Piloswine, or Cryogonal. Scarf Vanilluxe is on the rise in popularity because people understand that it's still as powerful as it needs to be, but it circumvents a lot of the traditional ways of handling Vanilluxe through Speed control. Vanilluxe is flourishing in this metagame like none other because both Specs and Scarf manhandle both of balance and offense, respectively, and it's all a matter of what your team wants to punish more.

B+ --> A-

I've been using a team with Vaporeon a fair bit recently and I think it's a lot more useful than some are giving it credit. It's a very reliable check to the likes of Scarf Emboar and a useful soft check to the likes of Ebelt/Banded Emboar. It's useful in Barbaracle matchups because it has the ability to play around +2 Z Stone Edge with Protect and it handles non-Z Move Barbaracle very comfortably. It's also really hard to discredit the Wish support for balance teams nowadays when they use Pokemon like Guzzlord, Steelix, and Skuntank that don't have reliable recovery options. The rising popularity of Samurott also makes Vaporeon a more appealing choice for your balanced teams as well considering how effectively you Toxic stall it. Oh, and since I'm talking about it, you don't want to run Heal Bell on Vaporeon or it will just make it passive and harder to use. Do what every other Bulky Water in the tier does and abuse Toxic.

I was going to delve further into the lower ranks, but I think I'll keep it short and keep the post focused around the A ranks for now. I'll make another post soon to talk about Froslass/Mega Audino and the lower ranks soon enough.
 
Hi everybody, I've been gaming to make my own update post for a while but I never really had the time to sit down with it. I'll just start by going down the list top to bottom in terms of what I think we should change.

S --> A+

Maybe some people will disagree with this, but I think with how the metagame has shifted around, Sceptile isn't as dominating as it used to be. Locking yourself into Specs Leaf Storm isn't as easy to do nowadays with the lurking threats of Vikavolt, Guzzlord, a dozen threatening Fire-types, and Xatu. Sceptile has the tools to get around some of its common checks, but a lot of its checks are so abundant and its so much more reliant on prediction that I don't feel that it's as difficult to play around or adapt to compared to the other three S ranks. It would help if it had any other relevant options over Specs, but it's so desperately reliant on its one set that it's hard to step away from that status quo.

A --> A+

Our best sweeper right now if you ask me. Barb threatens just about any team and finds itself a load of favorable matchups in this primarily offensive metagame. Z Moves have only further buffed this creature as it's able to run stuff like Rockium Z to get past the omnipresent Slowbro and other various soft checks like Virizion. Between Return, Grass Knot, Razor Shell, and Z-Stone Edge, I think it's next to impossible to find a hard counter to this creature that can fit on a variety of offensive and defensive builds. Barb has a stranglehold on the metagame right now and it's not looking like it's going to let up soon.

A --> A+

Speaking of mons that have a stranglehold on the metagame, Delphox is becoming legitimately unstoppable. You see it all the time on offensive teams because it has so many tools at its disposal depending on what it needs to do. Calm Mind Z nuke sets can dismantle defensive cores, Dazzling Gleam is picking up in popularity to handle the far more relevant Guzzlord, and Scarf can be used to handle offensive teams considering it can revenge kill the likes of +2 Barbaracle and still sport impressive coverage and offensive pressure. It's a mon I'm always scared of at team preview and I think it should be obvious nowadays how it's affecting the meta.

A- --> A+

I think we should stop being babies about this thing by just moving it up one sub rank at a time and just put it where we all know it belongs. Vikavolt is on an absurd amount of teams because it does an absurd amount of jobs very consistently. It brings stellar offensive presence, a very sturdy Grass resist, a good Fighting resist, Steelix answer, slow Volt Switch, and the ability to soft check a lot of special and physical attackers in a pinch because of its nice natural bulk and access to recovery. Vikavolt has been abused to hell and back in NUPL and has a 70% win rate, as stated by Jarii a bit earlier, over 20 uses of the mon. This thing is quickly becoming the face of NU and, personally, I think it's a top ten mon that deserves the ranking that reflects that.

A- --> A+

This is another mon that I think we should get to the point with. Vanilluxe is another very relevant threat that is warping the metagame. Even in ORAS, we never had to deal with an Ice-type this powerful and it doesn't help that our most relevant Ice resists are Emboar and Delphox. Vanilluxe is just about as terrifying a wallbreaker as Emboar and it does this job using two predictable attacks, Blizzard and Freeze-dry, that you are likely unable to do anything about unless you have one of AV Hariyama, AV Incineroar, Piloswine, or Cryogonal. Scarf Vanilluxe is on the rise in popularity because people understand that it's still as powerful as it needs to be, but it circumvents a lot of the traditional ways of handling Vanilluxe through Speed control. Vanilluxe is flourishing in this metagame like none other because both Specs and Scarf manhandle both of balance and offense, respectively, and it's all a matter of what your team wants to punish more.

B+ --> A-

I've been using a team with Vaporeon a fair bit recently and I think it's a lot more useful than some are giving it credit. It's a very reliable check to the likes of Scarf Emboar and a useful soft check to the likes of Ebelt/Banded Emboar. It's useful in Barbaracle matchups because it has the ability to play around +2 Z Stone Edge with Protect and it handles non-Z Move Barbaracle very comfortably. It's also really hard to discredit the Wish support for balance teams nowadays when they use Pokemon like Guzzlord, Steelix, and Skuntank that don't have reliable recovery options. The rising popularity of Samurott also makes Vaporeon a more appealing choice for your balanced teams as well considering how effectively you Toxic stall it. Oh, and since I'm talking about it, you don't want to run Heal Bell on Vaporeon or it will just make it passive and harder to use. Do what every other Bulky Water in the tier does and abuse Toxic.

I was going to delve further into the lower ranks, but I think I'll keep it short and keep the post focused around the A ranks for now. I'll make another post soon to talk about Froslass/Mega Audino and the lower ranks soon enough.
S --> A+ Agree:
As Disjunction said Sceptile isn't as dominant as it was in Beta or early SM NU, people found good Grass resists in Vikavolt, Vileplume, Guzzlord and Fire-Types and with that Choice Specs Leaf Storm is just not spammable anymore. Locking into HP Ice or Focus Blast is also risky to do, of course Sceptile is still a really good mon but just not as good as it was.

A --> A+ Agree:
Holy moly this thing is so threatening if you have mons that are choiced locked like Scarf Emboar and you locked into Flare Blitz you just give Barbaracle a free Shell Smash and you probably have a big chance you just lose right of the bat or lose alot of your team. If your not prepped for Barbaracle is can just easily sweep, and it's ability to set up Shell smash by itself because of it's bulk is already incredible so you don't even have to make a team around Barbaracle as you do have to do with other Shell Smashers. If Grass-Types weren't this dominant I would nom this even to S.

A --> A+ Agree:
I remember in alpha people ranked it in B and I never understood that, now look where it is! It's the best offensive CM mon in the tier, probably second best Scarfer in the tier and second best Fire-Type. Good Speed and good SpA, soft check to all the S ranks. There is so much more able to say about this mon but Disjunction did that already so not gonna repeat him.

A- --> A+ Agree:
Sigh wanted to do baby steps but Disjunction wants to be real. Although I agree with it. Check my reasoning about Vikavolt here in my last post:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/sm-nu-viability-rankings.3607629/page-9#post-7498692

A- --> A+ Agree:
Another super anti-meta mon just like Vikavolt, there are almost no Ice resists and some are even only useful because they check Vanilluxe that is how threatening this mon is. Not going to say more about it then Disjunction already did.

Now my own noms (I know I nommed pretty soon ago but I tested around and found some mons that need more love):
C+ --> B-/B
Gallade deserves more love, SD Z-Thunder Punch, Z-X-Scissor or Z-Leaf Blade are all good ways to get around Slowbro. Fighting Psychic typing is amazing offensive typing. People might say Gallade doesn't have the best speed to be a sweeper (I did as well before), but then Sir Kay opened my eyes. Many people haven't used it on Webs teams, it's so good on webs teams and is easily to break through the standard balance cores running around with Slowbros, Steelixs, Golbats, Vileplumes and Rhydons. This mon really deserves more love then it gets.

B --> B+
Second best spinner, one of the few good Ice-resists that we have that also has reliable recovery. Ground immunity, good speed, great special bulk, reliable special switch in to everything it isn't weak to, Ice type that has Freeze-Dry what makes it a solid Water check. It's just a really solid mon that deserves to be higher then B.

B- --> C
Why is this even B-? There are so many better Fighting-Types in the tier, that it is not offensive helps it not either. Hariyama is better defensively because of Thick Fat. Offensively Hitmonlee, Emboar, Virizion, Toxicroak, Sawk and Gallade are all so much better. No reliable recovery like other defensive Hazard removal does have like Cryo and Golbat. All with all I think Hitmontop is just outclassed in every way as a Fighting-Type.
 

etern

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NU Leader
C- > UR: Togetic directly competes with Golbat and honestly there's not much reason to ever use it. Defensive sets are passive and outclassed and even a potential Nasty Plot set can be pulled off better by Golbat. This should be unranked.

C+ > C: Gastrodon is in a bad spot right now considering Grass-types are basically on every team, along with Pokemon such as Vanilluxe, Vikavolt, and Cryogonal. It's got a solid niche in being able to check Emboar and Sneasel decently (although Emboar can occasionally run Grass-type coverage or Toxic to cripple it) but Seismitoad just offers far more utility and versatility which makes Gastro hard to justify on anything other than dedicated semistall builds.

C > C-/UR: Eelektross offers very little that Vikavolt cannot do 2x better, Vika has better resistances, far higher power, and reliable recovery. There's really no viable reason I can think of for using this outside of maybe an AV set (which gets worn down way too fast and doesn't have the resistances to pull it off).

B- > C-: Hitmontop is too weak, too passive and too one dimensional to ever really be a useful Pokemon. It barely checks anything because it has no recovery and relies on Close Combat to kill things, It's completely useless against the best Spiker in the tier, and doesn't have enough moveslots to run everything it needs. (PS, please stop using bullet punch)

I've got a couple of mons I'd like to see ranked as well:

UR > C: Crustle is a neat mon I've been toying around with lately that fits nicely as a dedicated hyper offense lead. The main advantage over Omastar is Sturdy which gives you the ability to run Mental Herb, but it also has a solid matchup against most hazard controllers.

UR > C+: Ghost-types in general are quite good right now with the departure of Drapion + Meloetta. Haunter has very few switch ins with Sludge Bomb OHKOing mons like Sneasel and Houndoom after rocks, and unlike Mismagius it can wallbreak pretty well with just it's STABs, leaving room for stuff like SubSplit, Energy Ball, Destiny Bond, or even DGleam to nail Guzzlord + Scrafty. It's also nice that Haunter can get lots of opportunities to set up Subs vs common stuff like Vileplume, Garbodor, Slowbro, and even Grass-types choiced locked into Leaf Storm. Definitely worth a spot in C+.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-629307735
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-629334442
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-629331767
 
UR to C-
I`ve been using type null recently and I think it deserves to be ranked. I have been using its sd rest-talk set specifically. Type nulls niche revolves around its huge bulk, making it able to take many hits. Type null can actually be a big problem to some teams, sometimes just being able to 6-0 them. It can set up sd`s on many pokemon and then proceed to pressure the opponent. However, type null has a huge problem, which is not being able to hit ghost types at all. This means that Type null requires pursuit support to function. It also hates fighting types, bulky roar/dragon tail users and bulky taunt users.These things prevent type null from being great, but I think it still holds a niche in stall and even some balance teams. Type null`s bulk can also be used to take hits from a lot of pokemon and then pivot into something else.
252 SpA Choice Specs Vanilluxe Blizzard vs. 248 HP / 200+ SpD Eviolite Type: Null: 126-148 (32 - 37.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after hail damage
252+ SpA Choice Specs Vikavolt Bug Buzz vs. 248 HP / 200+ SpD Eviolite Type: Null: 136-162 (34.6 - 41.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Rotom-Mow Leaf Storm vs. 248 HP / 200+ SpD Eviolite Type: Null: 144-169 (36.6 - 43%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Here`s a replay that shows type null`s effectiveness
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nu-629806633

In this replay I recognized that type null had a great machup vs him if I could just weaken lix, which I did by aggressively staying in on Xatu to get a spike up and attacking with Steelix, Sneasel and even Type null itself. Type null also managed to work as a great switchin to his special attackers including Whimsicott and Vanilluxe. After Steelix died, I easily setup on his Xatu and almost won the game, only being stopped by destiny bond Houndoom. And even then he had to rely on me getting frustration from sleep talk and not switching out. I think this replay proves that Type null can be an effective sweeper in the right circumstances.

Edit:I was told that I should also mention that Type null relies on sleep talk rolls a lot, like in the replay I got the first sleep talk rolls on his mons before Houndoom, meaning that he could not go to it and get a safe destiny bond. It can also matter in situations like Virizion switching in and 2 hit ohkoing you so you have to get frustration there.
 
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