Rate of the Week V3: Week 3

[Enki]

Rate of the Week
​

Welcome to Rate of the Week! This is a project that looks to bring quality individual rates into the spotlight and recognizes the hard work of unbadged raters. Here's how it will work:

• Each week, official Team Raters will be paying close attention to the RMT forum and reading the rates posted in their respective tiers. They will then shortlist a few which will be in contention for the Rate of the Week award.
• From the pool of shortlisted rates, one will be chosen which most exemplifies the qualities of an excellent rate. That rater will be the winner for that particular tier!
• A post will be made by an official TR who specialises in that tier, explaining how and why the particular rate won. This will allow aspiring raters to gain an idea of what constitutes high-quality rates, and hopefully incorporate those aspects into their own rates.
• There will be multiple winners every week, one from OU and a couple from other tiers depending on the quality of the rates posted. We hope that in this way we can expand rating activity in less popular tiers, while maintaining a weekly OU winner.
• Official Team Raters are eligible to win, but not more than once. Unbadged raters can win the award multiple times.

So what's in it for the winners? Well, they will earn a place in the Hall of Fame, which will be kept in the OP of every thread, and their rates will be announced on social media. Also, after gaining 3 places in the Hall of Fame, a rater can be eligible to earn room voice in the RMT room on PS! on the condition that they've shown an interest in getting involved. Winners also earn more consideration for the Ladybug

and Team Rater

badges.

We hope that this project will encourage people to put more effort into their rates and become better and more experienced raters, which will consequently increase the quality as well as the quantity of rates in the forum. Good luck to you all!

Hall of Fame

Week #1 - Toon Linked (OU)
Week #2 - Nedor (OU), Arifeen (UU)
Week #3 - Fireburn (Ubers), Do A Bibarel (UU)

 

[Lord Outrage]

This week, our Ubers winner is Fireburn, who wrote an insightful rate demonstrating excellent identification of weaknesses and providing optimal suggestions.

He started by shedding light on a weakness to stall, and specially a weakness to Mega Sableye, since it shuts down 3 Pokemon on the team (Mega Mewtwo X, Aegislash, and Landorus-T). Furthermore, he explained how the stall breakers on the team (LO Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon with Toxic) did not apply enough pressure to break through stall teams, as Primal Groudon has no solid ways of recovery and is prone to status, and that the opposing team has a cleric that can heal off Toxics.

In addition, his suggestions were on point too. For instance, Fireburn recommended to replace Aegislash with Bronzong, a Pokemon that checks Xerneas to the same extent as Aegislash but also provides Stealth Rock so Primal Groudon can run the more effectively stall breaking Thunder Wave + Swords Dance set. He provides further justification for this by explaining that replacing Bronzong with Aegislash doesn't affect defensive synergy, since the loss of a fighting immunity is patched up by the presence of Mewtwo Mega X and Landorus-T.

Thanks to his great rate and in-depth options to improve the team, Fireburn was able to provide a great rate, and earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!

 

[feen]

This week's UU winner is Do A Bibarel! He made a pretty cool rate with a nice format. He begins with mentioning that Agility Mega Ampharos is pretty mediocre, as it is still not fast after using it. He also mentioned that Volt Switch is a blessing for a Pokemon such as Mega Ampharos, and so changed the set to an All-Out Attacking one. Next, he went on to explain the importance of each move on Ampharos, as well as the Speed EVs he suggested, allowing Ampharos to creep certain Pokémon.

After that, he mentioned the importance of Stealth Rock in a team, and identified that Volt-Turn teams were a major threat, as the only reliable Beedrill switch-in is Doublade, which loses a lot of momentum, and that the team had no Ground-type immunity. He also highlighted Mamoswine as a very dangerous threat to the team, as the team lacked any form of switch-in. His smart change of Vaporeon to Swampert mitigated all of these problems, fulfilling every role the team needed.

Do A Bibarel took notice that Espeon wasn't doing much on the team, and his team needed a Dragon-type switch-in. His change of Espeon to Calm Mind Gardevoir is a pretty nice change, as it can deal with Specially Offensive Salamence and Hydreigon, as well as not lose the ability of being a wall breaker. He also gave the importance of having Trace as an ability, allowing the team beat Mega Swampert in rain. He did acknowledge that the team is prone to being revenge killed by Pokemon that Espeon outsped, but gave reasons as to why this wouldn't be a big deal.

Lastly, he made some small tweaks in EV spreads and moves of Machamp and Crobat, which would make them be able to fare in the current metagame more easily. Thanks to his impressive rate, Do A Bibarel has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame! Congratulations!