NU Viability Rankings

[Raseri]

i want to make a bunch of small noms for mons that I think are too high right now. I'm not going to give really detailed explanations for them unless people disagree

Whimsicott from A+ -> A or A-

Whimsi is a good mon but it faces a lot of competition from Rotom-C and Sceptile as an offensive Grass-type. Moonblast is nice but its just so weak :/ it looks really outclassed in A+ imo

Drapion from A -> B+

Drapion was huge in the cofag meta, but with cofag gone it loses one of its best partners as well as one of the mons it countered best. Now it is a fast but weak Dark-type thats not that hard to switch in on. Still valuable but not as good

Lilligant from A- -> B

Grass-types are good right now but Lilligant requires a lot more team support than Rotom-C or Sceptile. Psychium or Normalium Z sets are dangerous but w/o aurora veil it can be hard to find time to set up.

Qwilfish from B+ -> B-

Not resisting grass in this meta is awful for a poison type. Can switch in on some Emboar sets but Garbodor is way easier to fit on teams. Maybe a Suicide lead is good but ive barely seen it used.

Spiritomb from B+ -> B-

I live crotomb as a late game win condition for bulky teams but it loses really hard to Virizion. Blackglasses sets are the best counter to Meloetta but I find it often doesn't do much else. Not quite bulky or strong enough to do what you want it to do.

Tauros from B+ -> B

opposite of Metal Sonics nom. I've been trying to make Tauros work but 110 Speed just isnt as good right now as it was in ORAS. Sneasel and Sceptile are both insane and easier to fit on teams than Tauros. Slowbro and Jellicent shut it down as well unless people start running Toxic

Ferroseed from B -> ??

I've never seen Ferroseed be impactful this generation. There are so many fire and fighting types right now that I think it is really difficult to use. Hates Trick more than anything else so you can't really come in on Rotom-C reliably either. Just doesnt seem very good right now

Incineroar from B -> B-

Its niche as an answer to Cofag isnt as relevant anymore. Bulky Fire-types are nice but being SR weak isnt. Too easy to pressure and wear down for a defensive Pokemon.

Weezing from B -> C+

really easily pressured Fighting-resist + a poison that cant come in on Sceptile at all.

Ninjask C- -> Unranked

Z-dig isnt good

Clefairy C- -> Unranked

Really doesnt check much right now


might do more later but its late and im tired

oricorio for b-

 

[Hootie]

Delphox B+ -> A-

I know this nom has already been said, but I can't emphasize enough how good Calm Mind Firium Z is in the current metagame, breaking down common balance cores like Slowbro, Steelix, Golbat ones with a boost. Unless you have an AV Slowking, Incineroar, Guzzlord, or Houndoom, chances are it's going to be a huge threat to your team, with Inferno Overdrive being essentially a kill at +1 and doing heavy damage to something on the opponent's side. Also being a check to things like Sceptile and Whimsicott is very good too for obvious reasons. Even if you're matched up against a Pursuit user like Scarf Drapion or Sneasel, at full it's a 50/50 to trap Delphox and if they do trap successfully chances are Delphox already got a kill prior because neither of them can safely switch in. Just a really good mon right now that deserves a spot among the rest of the A ranks.

 

[Moron5]

Time to clean up these rankings:

Sawk from B => B-/C+

Out of all the other fighting types, Sawk is situational at best and acts an awkward middleman of the others. Not being as fast and versatile as Lee (rapid spin and the ability to run unburden sets), Toxicroak (ability to go special which can lure in threats) or Virizion (best z crystal based fighting type also amazing set up sweeper) and not being able to shred walls quite like Machamp (ability to change up moves is huge also has priority in BP), Medicham (pure power is phenomenal) or Emboar (dual stab and reckless). It's only true niche is a choice user that is able to tank one attack from full but one simple hazard or literally any status even from something like Vileplume's effect spore ruins everything for the poor muppet.

Piloswine from B+ => B/B-

While this mon loves that Golbat is king of hazard control at the moment, it loses so much to the rest of the meta. Water types in the Slowbro, Slowking, Jellicent, Seismitoad and Vaporeon give Piloswine such a hard time doing anything besides setting Stealth Rocks up and switching out in fear of not only super effective STAB but also burns from scald which wear down on this mon because it doesn't have any leftovers or recovery. The popularity of fighting types such as Machamp and Emboar prey on this mon as well. Going back on the recovery point, it's also susceptible to all forms of hazards which makes it a pain against hazard stack match ups.

Lanturn from B- => C+

Honestly what does Lanturn do in this metagame besides maybe AV set against Houndoom or Delphox? Oh wait:

+2 252 SpA Houndoom Black Hole Eclipse (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 132 SpD Assault Vest Lanturn: 331-391 (84.6 - 100%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 SpA Delphox Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Lanturn: 277-327 (70.8 - 83.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Also loses to Steelix, like all the popular grass mons, all the physical wallbreakers, barely even bothers Slowbro/Slowking after calm mind, weak 76 base special attack even when invested and susceptible to all forms of hazards and 2/3 statuses. Just to showcase how weak Lanturn can be:

252+ SpA Lanturn Scald vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Incineroar: 150-176 (38.1 - 44.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
You get the idea.

And for my nomination:

Seismitoad from B+ => A-
Besides losing to the grasses in the higher ranks (which Rhydon and Steelix do too), this has such an amazing defensive typing ( extra bonus for completing many FWG cores), an overall solid match up against some hazard control (knocks off Golbat and Xatu while being fairly resilient to lee and top although loses the Freeze Dry Cryogonal), an amazing water and ground immunity, and enjoys the rise of Emboar and Machamp usage both of which it can take a hit and wear down heavily with EQ. This mon also benefits from having a matchup advantage against the other two higher rockers (Rhydon and Steelix) with its special water coverage in Scald.

 

[Disjunction]

I'm not nominating anything, however I would like to ask for something from the VR council. Even if I don't always agree with people's reasoning or opinions when it comes to banning/not banning something with the NU council, I do like it that people are starting to post reasons behind why they chose that. Now whilst I know the VR shifts are not as impactful as something being banned, I would like it if the VR council could post reasoning behind why they chose to move a mon up or down. Yes I know that the users that suggested it gave their views, but I think it would be beneficial to see the council's input, as they ultimately have the final say. I'm not asking for a massive in-depth list, just a little bit of text on each nomination. I think this would especially be helpful for things that were nominated but ultimately didn't change position on the VR.

I've wanted to respond to this for a while but I ended up having a pretty busy week, so sorry about that.

I think this idea works when it's something like a controversial nomination that ends up going through, but doing this for every mon on the slate every time we do an update is completely unreasonable, even if it's "only a little text." VR Council exists so that we can quickly resolve a mass of nominations in a fair manner all at once. We select players from a wide swathe of the community so that there is a level of trust that, if a nomination does/doesn't go through, there are reliable personalities behind the decision. Usually if you ask why a nomination doesn't go through, one or more of the VR Council will respond.

I can guarantee, though, that if you require them to make half-assed reasoning posts after EVERY update on EVERY nomination, it will not keep up. The VR is an important resource, but it is not so important that most VR Council want to make a 40 sentence post minimum every time they vote on shifts. NU Council works with a much smaller slate with far more impactful results and you still don't see a number of council members posting their thoughts if that gives you any idea on how hard it can be.

tl;dr if you want reasoning on the result of a nomination, just ask someone who is on vr council and they'll often times tell you why they did it. It's unrealistic to expect anything more than that.

 

[Fragmented]

Unranked --> B-/C+

set

Zangoose @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Quick Attack
- Knock Off / Close Combat / Swords Dance
- Knock Off / Close Combat / Swords Dance

This thing is hella scary to play against, though not impossible to beat. It pretty much dies to a lot of things, making switching in an arduous task. But when it comes in, it can cause so much damage. Nothing switches in to Toxic Boost Facade, bar Normal resists and Ghosts which get destroyed by CC and Knock Off respectively. On more passive plays, it can set up an SD and proceed to sweep late game after the opposing team is half-dead. Base 90 speed isn't too terrible, since it's enough to out-prioritize LO Hitmonlee's Mach Punch with your own base 60 Quick Attack. However it has it's flaws, some of which is pretty detrimental:

1. 73/60/60 defenses means it can only come in when one of your own mons is dead or on a predicted switch etc.
2. Base 90 speed, although good, isn't good enough, and Zangoose is likely going to get knocked out by a faster mon before doing anything.
3. Having to use Toxic Orb instead of the favoured Flame Orb, limits survivability and also takes up an item slot, so it can't use Z-Moves like other wallbreakers or Choice Scarf to boost its somewhat underwhelming speed.
4. It's not Machamp (ban please)

At the moment, it is a very overlooked mon due to the current nature of the meta, but if you want to try a "Guts" sweeper that isn't Machamp, give this mon a whirl.

 

[Martin]

Golduck: UR --> C/C-

Golduck is an interesting Pokemon because it fills a small niche on rain teams. In addition to being the third strongest special Swift Swim user in the game, meaning it has a slightly easier time spamming Surf compared to something like Ludicolo and due to it outrunning faster Scarf users (while being less reliant on rain between it having a better speed tier and it not hitting like a wet blanket outside of rain), it provides a coverage-based niche over its competition.

The following set is what Golduck should run in this metagame:

Golduck @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Surf / Hidden Power [Grass]
- Ice Beam
- Psychic

Timid is also an option to outrun non-Scarf Vanilluxe as well as to beat Webs+Sceptile squads under rain.

Access to Psychic allows Golduck to blow past Toxicroak, which otherwise can give rain teams a headache between Dry Skin, its resistance to Rock and Poison (forcing Boom/Breakneck (Qwil) or Rockium (Kabu) to be consumed in order to kill it), and its ability to comfortably tank Ludicolo's Ice Beam. The reason to use it over Gorebyss in this role comes from its significantly higher Speed stat, reducing rain reliance and outrunning Scarf Hitmonlee upwards without a boost.

This niche is small, but from my play time Golduck is really consistent even when not paired vs Toxicroak anyway. Only thing left to say is that running this 'mon doesn't necessarily mean not running Ludicolo on the same team.

 

[Deleted User 400951]

I'm gonna try and respond to some of these noms:

Hide

to idk maybe C at least ;_;

Hey I usually don't post on forums like this but felt that I discovered an underrated mon that has some specific niches. Rn lots of people complain about the meta and rightfully so. Balance/Fat teams are really hard to make without using standard or all too common mons like Slowbro, Steelix, Xatu etc. that just mesh really well together. Furthermore, every team needs their own Sceptile, Meloetta, and Rotom-C (some of the most prevalent and common special attackers) counter, which is where Mr. Trash comes in here. When I was teambuilding I had a really solid core based around the Pokemon I wanted to support. I had 2 slots to fill out that needed to consist of a Rocker, a Pokemon that beats those 3 aforementioned mons, and preferably a Water or Ground type mon. I could not go with the basic Steelix because all those mons have the potential to destroy it, I couldn't go with any other Ground or Rock types because they lose to those grass mons, and I was really stuck. Wormadam Trash here actually fulfilled 2/3 of those roles I needed and then I could pick a more flexible mon for my last. It handles Sceptile, Meloetta, Rotom-C all pretty well.


Wormadam-Trash @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect
- Bug Buzz

The evs and set are pretty straightforward. Max Spdef Max HP to switch into Sceptile, Melo, and Rotom well and just for general bulk. Rocks because this little bug thing somehow gets rocks and rocks are always needed on teams (unless ur kink haha). Toxic to wear down some other mons and Protect to preserve its longevity and to toxic stall. I chose Bug Buzz as my final move because it hits the above 3 threats super effective and Xatu also can't roost up on it. An alternative for this set would be to make its ability Anticipation so you can scout stuff like Xatu's heat wave or random fire coverage on other mons.

Here are some calcs exhibiting its use:

not my tl

252 SpA Choice Specs Sceptile Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Wormadam-Trash: 51-60 (15.7 - 18.5%) -- possible 8HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Sceptile Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Wormadam-Trash: 126-149 (38.8 - 45.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Wormadam-Trash Bug Buzz vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Sceptile: 164-194 (58.3 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Rotom-Mow Thunderbolt vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Wormadam-Trash: 94-112 (29 - 34.5%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Rotom-Mow Bloom Doom (195 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Wormadam-Trash: 51-60 (15.7 - 18.5%) -- possible 8HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Wormadam-Trash Bug Buzz vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-Mow: 134-162 (55.6 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Meloetta Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Wormadam-Trash: 145-171 (44.7 - 52.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Meloetta Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Wormadam-Trash: 81-96 (25 - 29.6%) -- 0% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Wormadam-Trash Bug Buzz vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Meloetta: 116-140 (34 - 41%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

SO all in all, Wormadam doesn't seem too bad and I definitely believe it should receive an official rank, maybe even higher than C but that may be too ambitious for now. It serves a specific niche in being able to beat, force out, or grant yourself the chance to double on 3 of the biggest threats in this tier right now. It has access to stealth rocks and overcoat which grant it more uses. Don't sleep on the trash bug thx

I don't think this deserves a rank at all. It's good vs these mons, yes, but is absolutely hot garbage vs anything else. As an SR setter, it's slow, easily taunted and can't punish Golbat at all. Bug Steel is very good but Ground Steel is better in this insane VoltTurn meta and Grass/Steel is also better. Ferroseed can spike and it beats the mons, and I'm guessing you're already using Steelix, which can rock and be a ground type. IMO if you're forced to use this on a team you're building wrong.

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hello i would like to bring up some pokemon that i have used that have been generally overlooked thus far!

raticate-alola: unranked -> c/c+

i've experimented with two sets for this pokemon and i'll discuss them both in some detail and why i like them:

Raticate-Alola @ Normalium Z
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Double-Edge
- Sucker Punch
- Swords Dance

darknium z is also an option, but normalium z is fairly suitable for teams which can effectively take out steelix, since it'll struggle more against steelix without a one time z-crunch nuke. anyways, this set can serve either an excellent one time nuke, and it can potentially sweep late game if dark resists are removed (and if you can hit your attacks). z-double-edge is extremely dangerous especially considering it cannot miss, even without swords dance, it is capable of ohkoing any offensive pokemon that doesn't resist normal, and enough damage on bulkier pokemon so that they may be ko'd on the next turn if they attempt to switch in, and at +2 anything that doesn't resist normal drops, even doing 50-60% to steelix. it's general coverage is extremely useful as well, as even after its z-move is consumed, it can still ohko a good portion of the bulkier pokemon in the tier. +2 sucker punch is extremely dangerous late game as well, as some potential revenge killers such as rotom-c and sceptile are ohko'd, and even some dark resists such as sneasel and houndoom are ko'd after rocks by +2 sucker punch, which can make raticate-alola potentially dangerous late game. however, it does struggle in the sense that a lot of revenge killers are fighting-type, and it's not necessarily easy for raticate-alola to setup, as its bulk is relatively mediocre and thus it can only take some neutral hits well. also as i've hinted, hustle can be a thorn sometimes as it may miss some attacks in attempt to sweep.

Raticate-Alola @ Dread Plate
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch
- U-turn

while building my team last week for nupl, i was searching for pokemon not named sneasel, drapion, or spiritomb that could potentially wield pursuit, and when i saw raticate-alola learned it, i thought it would be interesting to experiment with, and i find it to be a fairly dangerous pursuit trapper, as it can ohko the common pursuit targets, and non-physically defense slowking (which was my main pursuit target while teambuilding), while also being capable of switching moves (sneasel and drapion require band to ohko). also accuracy is ignored when an opponent switches out while using pursuit, so that comes in handy despite hustle. u-turn and sucker punch are also nice boons for this set, as it allows raticate-alola to pivot against potential switch-ins and what not, and act as an emergency revenge killer if needed. the other aforementioned pursuit trappers i've mentioned are generally better, but i do think raticate-alola still has some niche in this role

so overall, i think raticate-alola's best role is being a potent wallbreaker/late game sweeper since with z-crystals it can fire off one extremely powerful attack, while also being able to tear through most of the tier after an sd boost, but it does have it's struggles setting up and 80% accuracy is a thing; and it has a neat role in functioning as a pursuit trapper

oricorio: unranked -> c+/b-

i'm probably higher on oricorio than i am on raticate-alola right now; set i've been using:

Oricorio @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Dancer
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- U-turn
- Revelation Dance
- Calm Mind

one of the best things about oricorio is that its typing allows it to consistently take advantage of the ever prominent steelix, as it can switch in against either of its attacks, and then proceed to attack or setup, giving it solid potential to disrupt defensive cores in the tier. outside of rock-types, particularly rhydon, oricorio's offensive coverage is really solid in the tier since of course, it can deal heavy damage to steelix with revelation dance, the most common flying resist, which allows it to be a disruptive threat on offensive with its flying coverage as well.

oricorio does share the same typing as charizard, along with inferior stats, but it still has some advantages over charizard. oricorio has access to a more potent flying stab in hurricane, allowing it to better abuse such a potent offensive typing, and a very dangerous z-hurricane which is capable of ohkoing a number of frailer offensive threats without a boost. calm mind is also beneficial for oricorio as it becomes even more threatening after a calm mind boost, ohkoing pokemon such as slowbro which, may be an opposing teams only fire resist, thus allowing for oricorio to potentially ko multiple pokemon if it can take down slowbro, while also paving the way for other fire-types to clean. and oricorio also gets u-turn which is nice for pivoting, and also luring in slowking which can be pursuit trapped, which may pave the way for oricorio to dent the opposing team, given slowking is a solid check to oricorio.

overall i think oricorio benefits greatly from the prevalence of steelix in the tier, as it's capable of tearing through common defensive cores such as steelix / slowbro / posion-type

I can see Oricorio in C, maybe, but you're absolutely out of your mind if you think Alolan Raticate has any niche at all past maybe C-. I'm sorry, but it's just way too reliant on hustle for damage. It's not very fast, it hs horrid bulk and worst of all, it has one of the wrost defensive typings in the game. Normal/Dark has just about no valuable resistances while notably being 4X weak to Fighting, That means that MAch Punch 1 shots this thing. Oh, and since it's so slow, anything that can tank a sucker and hit back is just gonna win. It's just very poor vs offense. Against stall, it's not really bad but there are better options like the aforementioned Sneasel and Drapion that aren't deadweight vs offense. Also, stall and defense aren't as common. In addition, you cite Slowking as a Pursuit target when Slowbro is what the meta wants trapped. In addition, this can't pursuit-trap Meloetta because it'll just tank a Sucker and hit back with Focus Blast. I think it might have a niche but C+ is just way too much of a stretch.

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i want to make a bunch of small noms for mons that I think are too high right now. I'm not going to give really detailed explanations for them unless people disagree

Whimsicott from A+ -> A or A-

Whimsi is a good mon but it faces a lot of competition from Rotom-C and Sceptile as an offensive Grass-type. Moonblast is nice but its just so weak :/ it looks really outclassed in A+ imo

Drapion from A -> B+

Drapion was huge in the cofag meta, but with cofag gone it loses one of its best partners as well as one of the mons it countered best. Now it is a fast but weak Dark-type thats not that hard to switch in on. Still valuable but not as good

Lilligant from A- -> B

Grass-types are good right now but Lilligant requires a lot more team support than Rotom-C or Sceptile. Psychium or Normalium Z sets are dangerous but w/o aurora veil it can be hard to find time to set up.

Qwilfish from B+ -> B-

Not resisting grass in this meta is awful for a poison type. Can switch in on some Emboar sets but Garbodor is way easier to fit on teams. Maybe a Suicide lead is good but ive barely seen it used.

Spiritomb from B+ -> B-

I live crotomb as a late game win condition for bulky teams but it loses really hard to Virizion. Blackglasses sets are the best counter to Meloetta but I find it often doesn't do much else. Not quite bulky or strong enough to do what you want it to do.

Tauros from B+ -> B

opposite of Metal Sonics nom. I've been trying to make Tauros work but 110 Speed just isnt as good right now as it was in ORAS. Sneasel and Sceptile are both insane and easier to fit on teams than Tauros. Slowbro and Jellicent shut it down as well unless people start running Toxic

Ferroseed from B -> ??

I've never seen Ferroseed be impactful this generation. There are so many fire and fighting types right now that I think it is really difficult to use. Hates Trick more than anything else so you can't really come in on Rotom-C reliably either. Just doesnt seem very good right now

Incineroar from B -> B-

Its niche as an answer to Cofag isnt as relevant anymore. Bulky Fire-types are nice but being SR weak isnt. Too easy to pressure and wear down for a defensive Pokemon.

Weezing from B -> C+

really easily pressured Fighting-resist + a poison that cant come in on Sceptile at all.

Ninjask C- -> Unranked

Z-dig isnt good

Clefairy C- -> Unranked

Really doesnt check much right now


might do more later but its late and im tired

oricorio for b-

Yeah, I'm backing pretty much all of these noms. Most of these do need a drop; however, I disagree with the size of some of these drops. For example, I don't believe Spiritomb belongs in B-; B is good for it if any drop at all. It's still notable as the bulkiest Pursuit trapper in a meta with insane Psychics; it also tends to do the best against said psychics. It also has valuable priority. I think as a utility attacker it does well enough for B+.

Also, I don't believe that Tauros has any business in B. It's quickly established itself as the premier Normal type that can demolish lots of what's slower than it. I'm just gonna quote my post on it because I'm too lazy to write up otherwise.

As for Whimsicott, I think A- is better than A for it. There's Sceptile, Rotom-C and Virizion, 3 grasses who are much better than it, and while it's the best Fairy, IMO fairy really isn't that great a typing to have when the Dark types win anyways and there's a steel or poison on every other team. I don't see this on the level of Rhydon, Uxie, or Steelix rn.

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Time to clean up these rankings:

Sawk from B => B-/C+

Out of all the other fighting types, Sawk is situational at best and acts an awkward middleman of the others. Not being as fast and versatile as Lee (rapid spin and the ability to run unburden sets), Toxicroak (ability to go special which can lure in threats) or Virizion (best z crystal based fighting type also amazing set up sweeper) and not being able to shred walls quite like Machamp (ability to change up moves is huge also has priority in BP), Medicham (pure power is phenomenal) or Emboar (dual stab and reckless). It's only true niche is a choice user that is able to tank one attack from full but one simple hazard or literally any status even from something like Vileplume's effect spore ruins everything for the poor muppet.

Piloswine from B+ => B/B-

While this mon loves that Golbat is king of hazard control at the moment, it loses so much to the rest of the meta. Water types in the Slowbro, Slowking, Jellicent, Seismitoad and Vaporeon give Piloswine such a hard time doing anything besides setting Stealth Rocks up and switching out in fear of not only super effective STAB but also burns from scald which wear down on this mon because it doesn't have any leftovers or recovery. The popularity of fighting types such as Machamp and Emboar prey on this mon as well. Going back on the recovery point, it's also susceptible to all forms of hazards which makes it a pain against hazard stack match ups.

Lanturn from B- => C+

Honestly what does Lanturn do in this metagame besides maybe AV set against Houndoom or Delphox? Oh wait:

+2 252 SpA Houndoom Black Hole Eclipse (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 132 SpD Assault Vest Lanturn: 331-391 (84.6 - 100%) -- 81.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 SpA Delphox Psyshock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Lanturn: 277-327 (70.8 - 83.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Also loses to Steelix, like all the popular grass mons, all the physical wallbreakers, barely even bothers Slowbro/Slowking after calm mind, weak 76 base special attack even when invested and susceptible to all forms of hazards and 2/3 statuses. Just to showcase how weak Lanturn can be:

252+ SpA Lanturn Scald vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Incineroar: 150-176 (38.1 - 44.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
You get the idea.

And for my nomination:

Seismitoad from B+ => A-
Besides losing to the grasses in the higher ranks (which Rhydon and Steelix do too), this has such an amazing defensive typing ( extra bonus for completing many FWG cores), an overall solid match up against some hazard control (knocks off Golbat and Xatu while being fairly resilient to lee and top although loses the Freeze Dry Cryogonal), an amazing water and ground immunity, and enjoys the rise of Emboar and Machamp usage both of which it can take a hit and wear down heavily with EQ. This mon also benefits from having a matchup advantage against the other two higher rockers (Rhydon and Steelix) with its special water coverage in Scald.

I'm not so certain about Piloswine. Ice/Ground is something you're really not giving it credit for. You're also not giving it credit for stopping VoltTurn spam, as from my experiences with voltturn , it's just extremely difficult to get by. Rotom-C can't safely use Volt Switch, Accelgor fears for priority and there isn't really much on the archetype that can stop it from getting Rocks up.

I also think that Lanturn is a good check to VoltTurn, which is really very prominent in the meta, and thus doesn't belong in C+. Opposing bulky waters have just about nothing vs this sans CM Bro and King. In addition, VoltTurn teams have to play very cautiously around it. Rotom C can win with Leaf Storm, yes, but it can't safely click Volt Switch, which really sucks in the archetype. Nothing else can either. I think you're underestimating its capabilities.

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Unranked --> B-/C+

set

Zangoose @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Toxic Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Quick Attack
- Knock Off / Close Combat / Swords Dance
- Knock Off / Close Combat / Swords Dance

This thing is hella scary to play against, though not impossible to beat. It pretty much dies to a lot of things, making switching in an arduous task. But when it comes in, it can cause so much damage. Nothing switches in to Toxic Boost Facade, bar Normal resists and Ghosts which get destroyed by CC and Knock Off respectively. On more passive plays, it can set up an SD and proceed to sweep late game after the opposing team is half-dead. Base 90 speed isn't too terrible, since it's enough to out-prioritize LO Hitmonlee's Mach Punch with your own base 60 Quick Attack. However it has it's flaws, some of which is pretty detrimental:

1. 73/60/60 defenses means it can only come in when one of your own mons is dead or on a predicted switch etc.
2. Base 90 speed, although good, isn't good enough, and Zangoose is likely going to get knocked out by a faster mon before doing anything.
3. Having to use Toxic Orb instead of the favoured Flame Orb, limits survivability and also takes up an item slot, so it can't use Z-Moves like other wallbreakers or Choice Scarf to boost its somewhat underwhelming speed.
4. It's not Machamp (ban please)

At the moment, it is a very overlooked mon due to the current nature of the meta, but if you want to try a "Guts" sweeper that isn't Machamp, give this mon a whirl.

I'd say maybe the C-ranks - C for example - but not B-. Normal as a typing right now is not that good - this is why Tauros is suffering (Though I still think it's A- worthy). What Tauros does have os speed, decent bulk and sheer power without being worn down. This might be more powerful, but Machamp is honestly much better. As you say, 90 base speed isn't good enough. BTW most Hitmonlees tend to be scarfed, so that isn't good for you. Just about any Fighting type beats it, and the physically defensive mons like Slowbro, Steelix, and Uxie scoff at this too. It has coverage vs these guys but Knock isn't powerful enough after 1 hit (which can be recovered off) and CC lets any sort of priority defeat. It's still virtually useless against offense, while the physically defensive mons that are ever so common wall it. It's not worthy of a rank imo but if it were ranked I'd say C. B- is just giving it way too much credit.

Also, about the slashes - I think CC is required at this point with the steels around. You'll also need Knock Off for the Psychics. This forces you to just give up on SD, which IMO is terrible on it.

Hide

Golduck: UR --> C/C-

Golduck is an interesting Pokemon because it fills a small niche on rain teams. In addition to being the third strongest special Swift Swim user in the game, meaning it has a slightly easier time spamming Surf compared to something like Ludicolo and due to it outrunning faster Scarf users (while being less reliant on rain between it having a better speed tier and it not hitting like a wet blanket outside of rain), it provides a coverage-based niche over its competition.

The following set is what Golduck should run in this metagame:

Golduck @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Surf / Hidden Power [Grass]
- Ice Beam
- Psychic

Timid is also an option to outrun non-Scarf Vanilluxe as well as to beat Webs+Sceptile squads under rain.

Access to Psychic allows Golduck to blow past Toxicroak, which otherwise can give rain teams a headache between Dry Skin, its resistance to Rock and Poison (forcing Boom/Breakneck (Qwil) or Rockium (Kabu) to be consumed in order to kill it), and its ability to comfortably tank Ludicolo's Ice Beam. The reason to use it over Gorebyss in this role comes from its significantly higher Speed stat, reducing rain reliance and outrunning Scarf Hitmonlee upwards without a boost.

This niche is small, but from my play time Golduck is really consistent even when not paired vs Toxicroak anyway. Only thing left to say is that running this 'mon doesn't necessarily mean not running Ludicolo on the same team.

I'm at least glad you're the only one who's not trying to put their niche garbage way too high, but anyways, I don't think this merits a rank. Toxicroak can be dealt with by using one of the abundant Psychic types, or a Flying type. You can even use Whimsi with Psychic. Regardless, outside of this one coverage move Kabutops, Qwilfish and Ludicolo are all 100% better and since rain still isn't that great a playstyle in this meta, I don't believe this warrants a rank. I wouldn't be too opposed to it since it's the fasted Special rain sweeper though, but C- at max.

On a final note, aren't people supposed to post replays to nom an UR to a rank? I'm not a mod but I've just been recently finding people to post niche garbage for a rank without any replays.

 

[lax]

I'm gonna try and respond to some of these noms:I don't think this deserves a rank at all. It's good vs these mons, yes, but is absolutely hot garbage vs anything else.

It's good for these mons, 3 of the hardest Pokemon to deal with that practically run the metagame on the special side?

As an SR setter, it's slow, easily taunted and can't punish Golbat at all. Bug Steel is very good but Ground Steel is better in this insane VoltTurn meta and Grass/Steel is also better. Ferroseed can spike and it beats the mons, and I'm guessing you're already using Steelix, which can rock and be a ground type.

As an SR setter it can beat these 3 powerful mons in comparison to Pokemon like Steelix that could easily get destroyed by them through any of specstile's moves, focus blast meloetta or psychic doing a shit load in the first place, and leaf storm rotom or bloom doom rotom. Okay so it gets easily taunted and can't beat Golbat, there's a reason support for Pokemon exist in the first place and every team has 6 mons. Ferroseed suffers from the exact same reasons as Steelix and also just gets volt switched on so how are you going to say it does worm's roles better? It also gets taunted easily and Golbats with taunt also beat it so like, lol.

IMO if you're forced to use this on a team you're building wrong.

This is a pretty weird statement. Are you trying to say that after people build a team and need a last to cover some specific threats and fulfill a specific role (in my case a rocker and switch in to those 3 mons) then that means the team is bad? That's like saying an OU team with 5 mons that get worn down by constantly switching in to something like Keldeo is bad when they can just add a Keldeo counter like Latios or something.

team

Druddigon @ Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Thunder Punch
- Fire Punch
- Gunk Shot
- Sucker Punch

Xatu @ Colbur Berry
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 244 Def / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Psychic
- Grass Knot
- Roost

Rotom-Mow @ Grassium Z
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Will-O-Wisp

Passimian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Receiver
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- U-turn
- Close Combat
- Aerial Ace
- Rock Slide

Wormadam-Trash @ Leftovers
Ability: Overcoat
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Stealth Rock
- Toxic
- Protect
- Bug Buzz

Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic
- Acid Armor

Here's the team I made. I wanted to build around Volt-Turn Sheer Force Druddigon. I got my volt turn core and Druddigon and there was a lack of Rocks and a switch in to some of the tier's toughest pokemon to deal with. So, I decided that adding a wormadam trash would be pretty cool and it fulfilled its roles quite well. The team is pretty fun and has done well in some random room tours and ladder. I'd definitely say Wormadam contributes to the team as a whole in a positive way and does not hold it back. Yeah sure, it gets taunted and loses to golbat but there's a reason Pokemon is a 6 per team game dude. I only ended up with a single replay because I don't really save a bunch of my wins but I thought that this showed its capabilities even if my opponent ran some poor sets. http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7nubeta-609689940 It toxic stalls hitmontop out while maintaining rocks and easily took hits from the opposing vikavolt. The set is pretty self explanatory and there are some calcs on it.

You seem to have misinterpreted the post. I'm not saying Wormadam Trash's only use is rocking and switching into those specific mons. I'm saying it CAN and that's what makes it have a solid niche. It also beats other mons but I just listed those 3 in particular because imo they dominate and make building balance or bulky offense extremely difficult. I could go through the entire list of NU mons and come up with a pretty large list of mons wormadam easily deals with but here are a few dominant mons barring the 3 that were already mentioned: Whimsicott, Xatu (majority run grass knot as a counter to Omastar lead as gknot already hits lix), CM Slow-brothers and Cryogonal.

Idk why I just wrote a ton about a bug made of trash but I felt like you said one too many incorrect points and also made a direct attack to me. I'm not saying this is the next big thing or w/e I'm saying it deserves a spot on the VR.

 

[SPACE FORCE meeps]

On a final note, aren't people supposed to post replays to nom an UR to a rank? I'm not a mod but I've just been recently finding people to post niche garbage for a rank without any replays.

i'll start with this; i didn't include replays since i really don't care enough to save battles for unimportant matches; and i have used both pokemon in nupl, raticate-alola twice, and i've won both matches in which i've used these pokemon, feel free to look at the replays thread if you want to see these pokemon in action (week 1 and week 3 games in particular, week 3 arguably is a better showcase of both pokemon in action). i've also played better of ladder / room tour battles with these pokemon, a good number of which were spectated by members of the vr council, and some encouraged me to post nominations for them, so it's not like the vr council is completely unaware of what these pokemon can do, considering some have personally seen me wield both pokemon successfully.

but you're absolutely out of your mind if you think Alolan Raticate has any niche at all past maybe C-. I'm sorry, but it's just way too reliant on hustle for damage. It's not very fast, it hs horrid bulk and worst of all, it has one of the wrost defensive typings in the game. Normal/Dark has just about no valuable resistances while notably being 4X weak to Fighting, That means that MAch Punch 1 shots this thing.

hustle is definitely a disadvantage, which i've mentioned, but still, the raw power that is has along with potential to boost it makes can make it extremely dangerous, and z-double edge is ridiculous powerful; the prevalance of steelix does hinder raticate-alola, but even still, a combination of +2 z-double edge and crunch has a chance to ko steelix. mach punch also OHKO's sneasel (along with bullet punch from machamp) and its bulk is even worse, but obviously sneasel isn't a bad pokemon. raticate-alola like sneasel shouldn't be left in fighting-types in certain scenarios; it's common sense. raticate-alola does struggle to switch in safely, but in scenarios where it comes in via voltturn support or after a team member has been ko'd, it allows for raticate-alola to attack off the bat or use swords dance, just like sneasel. obviously sneasel is a much better pokemon than raticate-alola in the meta, but sneasel doesn't fully outclass raticate-alola since raticate-alola is plenty strong without needing to wield choice band or life orb like sneasel does, along with a more powerful STAB attack, and being able to utilize z-moves more effectively.

It's just very poor vs offense. Against stall, it's not really bad but there are better options like the aforementioned Sneasel and Drapion that aren't deadweight vs offense. Also, stall and defense aren't as common.

it doesn't have a wonderful matchup against offensive teams, but it can still threaten a number of offensive pokemon that can be either scared out by a potential sucker punch or are choice locked into an unfavorable move (sneasel or drapion trapped into pursuit or knock off is notably), and if fighting-types like emboar or virizion are weakened or ko'd, raticate-alola does have serious sweeping potential since as i've mentioned, a lot of pokemon faster than raticate-alola can't really take a +2 sucker punch outside of fighting-types. balanced teams are extremely potent in the current meta and raticate-alola has potential to bust massive holes in them. if you're referring to sneasel and drapion in using swords dances roles, they're still not as strong as raticate-alola is at +2, and setup opportunities are extremely hard to come by for sneasel (more so than raticate-alola). also in regards to breaking stall, raticate-alola can actually take down quagsire and pyukumuku, unilke drapion and sneasel

In addition, you cite Slowking as a Pursuit target when Slowbro is what the meta wants trapped. In addition, this can't pursuit-trap Meloetta because it'll just tank a Sucker and hit back with Focus Blast. I think it might have a niche but C+ is just way too much of a stretch.

literally nothing pursuit traps slowbro anyways so why even bring that up? again look at my week 3 replay, my main pursuit target was assault vest slowking because i wanted to trap it to support oricorio; unfortunately i faced a max defense colbur slowking which is rather rare, but this opened up the opportunity for oricorio to take it down anyways. also, slowbro drops to a +1 hurricane from oricorio so i don't need that trapped anyways. in regards to meloetta, it needs colbur to survive sucker punch. i've pursuit trapped multiple meloettas in practice, so it's incorrect to say it can't pursuit trap meloetta


your comments on raticate-alola are based on theory, not practice. i nominated raticate-alola and oricorio because i have solid experience and success using both pokemon, so i think they deserve more attention and should be explored more in the metagame for others to use; commenting on a nomination without experience using the pokemon doesn't really help the vr council in ranking the pokemon.

 

[Raseri]

there seems to be a divide between the VR council and other players regarding Incineroar. I see it as a SR weak Pokemon that is supposed to act as a bulky pivot. Decent stats and typing can only go so far when youre taking 25% on switch in and often need to check multiple Pokemon. What makes Incineroar worthy of b? The AV set to me just seems really weak.

 

[ceal]

there seems to be a divide between the VR council and other players regarding Incineroar. I see it as a SR weak Pokemon that is supposed to act as a bulky pivot. Decent stats and typing can only go so far when youre taking 25% on switch in and often need to check multiple Pokemon. What makes Incineroar worthy of b? The AV set to me just seems really weak.

I think simply dismissing a mon based on one single negative attribute isn't fair to the mon itself, especially when you hardly dwell on the positives. Golbat is an SR weak mon that's meant to act as a bulky pivot of sorts, but that mon clearly isn't so easily looked over. Not to say that Incineroar is as good as Golbat, but my point still stands.

Incineroar acts as, at the least, a soft check to a large number of dangerous special attackers. Being a bulky check to Meloetta and practically a counter to Houndoom, among other things, are certainly attributes that are desirable for a bulky pivot to have, and make it a decent pick on bulky offense/balance teams that appreciate having a switch-in to those threats. While it's no wallbreaker, Darkest Lariat still hits considerably strong when its invested, and those pokemon that can take advantage of it get u-turned out on. SR weakness is an issue, but considering that there's quite a few solid options for hazard removal in the tier, I don't believe this to be an uncompromising flaw, especially when most of those hazard removers appreciate Incineroar's ability to take on psychic and ghost types (Golbat, Xatu, and Hitmonlee are what come to mind). Incineroar is not an amazing mon by any means, but it has a clear niche that, when its weaknesses are compensated for, allow it to shine. Maybe B+ like what's been nommed for here is a stretch, but I wouldn't consider it a below average mon like B- would entail. It's a middle of the road mon at worst.

 

[Jarii]

Something I messed around with lately with success is:

UR --> C+
Flynium Z pokemons are powerful as shown with Vivillon, Moltres and Noivern in Alpha since not much mon resist it. So I thought what would be an another good Flynium Z mon? I came by Articuno, Agility Articuno has actually quite a niche in this meta with Sceptile being the main guy in the tier. With 40 HP you're able to 100% survive a Choice Specs Sceptile Focus Blast. Z-Ice Beam is another option to deal with Steelix which is with Modest (it doesn't need Timid with Agility) a solid 2 hit KO. Ice Beam is also able to hit Rhydon, Freeze-Dry could be used over Ice Beam to hit Water-types. I had many times used Articuno late game and it just set up an Agility and outspeed everything. Of course Articuno needs alot of support to work but when you have the right team to support Articuno it can do it's job.

UR --> C+/C
Another two Flynium Z pokemons I think deserves a rank, I don't have to talk about the fire one since people already nommed that so i'm going to talk about these 2 little cute gems. I begin with Pom-Pom, Fake-Zapdos has some notable checks like Steelix and Rhydon although you can check those okayish with HP Water what is Pom-Poms best last coverage move. What outshines this Oricorio over other Oricorio's is that it can check Vivillon quite easily if something is already asleep, if Vivillon Quiver Dances the Ability of Dancer pops in and you Quiver dance as well + the move you go for which is in this case Electric Revelation dance what then is able to OHKO while you sit there with a Quiver Dance in the pocket. Pair it up with a Probopass and a good Water-type and Pom-Pom can have its usage in NU. Now Sensu, Sensu is able to run multiple sets Flynium Z CM, Choice Specs, Choice Scarf. First of there is not much that resists Ghost-Flying STAB which gives Sensu already a good niche, this allows it to run Scarf and Specs as well Scarf to be able to revenge kill things like ScarfBoar Sceptile, Fighting-types, Grass-types etc, weakened Slowbro's / Slowkings and Psychic-types. Specs to nuke things and if it's able to have a solid check you can simply U-Turn out to your check. Overall I think these mons of course don't deserve more then a niche but they do deserve a rank!

 

[poh]

Something I messed around with lately with success is:

UR --> C+
Flynium Z pokemons are powerful as shown with Vivillon, Moltres and Noivern in Alpha since not much mon resist it. So I thought what would be an another good Flynium Z mon? I came by Articuno, Agility Articuno has actually quite a niche in this meta with Sceptile being the main guy in the tier. With 40 HP you're able to 100% survive a Choice Specs Sceptile Focus Blast. Z-Ice Beam is another option to deal with Steelix which is with Modest (it doesn't need Timid with Agility) a solid 2 hit KO. Ice Beam is also able to hit Rhydon, Freeze-Dry could be used over Ice Beam to hit Water-types. I had many times used Articuno late game and it just set up an Agility and outspeed everything. Of course Articuno needs alot of support to work but when you have the right team to support Articuno it can do it's job.

I agree that the Oricorios should get ranked but I don't understand why Articuno should jump from UR to C+. First of all since this is an unranked mon to begin with, you should give us replays to show what this mon can do. This may be a stupid example but shouldn't Masquerain be ranked then? After a Quiver Dance, it manages to deal with Sceptile, Steelix and Rhydon with Bug Buzz and Hydro Pump and does a better job than Articuno tbh. Charizard is another Pokemon that can do the same job aka boosting its speed (DD, Z-Sunny Day or Z-Celebrate) and dealing with the mons you mentioned. I'm not sure what Articuno has over these mons that warrants it to be ranked.

 

[Ares]

I think simply dismissing a mon based on one single negative attribute isn't fair to the mon itself, especially when you hardly dwell on the positives. Golbat is an SR weak mon that's meant to act as a bulky pivot of sorts, but that mon clearly isn't so easily looked over. Not to say that Incineroar is as good as Golbat, but my point still stands.

Golbat has recovery in the form of roost, it also is immune to spikes. This means that Golbat can come in multiple times throughout the game to recover health and pivot out. Incineroar requires hazard removal / control, without this its lucky to come in twice with a layer of spikes up. I think the AV set is good for the reasons you stated, but the reliance on having no hazards on the field for Incineroar to do its job might make it a B- mon.

 

[col49]

hello pals, nu fan and incineroar h8r col49 here, here to offer my opinion on this raseri debacle. while i absolutely understand the appeal in incineroar, and i will by no means dismiss that having a strong check for delphox in this meta is a very pleasing notion, i am too of the mind that it should be in b- at this time. to me, the premise of a blanket check is inherently a shaky one, since it predicates looser team-building on the defensive end (which can be fine if you pace the team accordingly), and in my eyes incineroar is a poke that doesn't gel w/this concept. to downplay the massive hazards-weak is pretty foolish in my eyes, being so reliant just sr being off to check even half the pokemon it is prescribed to handle is really terrible and puts a balance player at a disadvantage from the go. now with other pokemon such as yama (not necessarily advocating for yama but giving a historical example, do not strawman me please), such issues in building were mitigated by means of a faster pokemon that can instigate a ko on these threats, ideally one like sneasel that could press the issue via pursuit. however when choosing incineroar you set yourself up for a build that does not readily lend itself to that kind of pursuit support, and instead opting for a "scare it out w/your revenge-killer and hope your opp runs out of steam before you" approach, which as stated prior really is not the way to go if you can at all avoid it. this leaves incineroar, at least to me, feeling much like a band-aid for a bullet wound type poke, and one that in application really just finds itself scaring out a sceptile once and u-turning into a rhydon to be foddered l8r.

i am also a fan of raticate getting ranked fwiw

lastly, in the business of nommin niche dudes to c ranks

Mudsdale @ Choice Band
Ability: Stamina
EVs: 152 HP / 224 Atk / 8 SpD / 124 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Heavy Slam
- Rock Slide
- Close Combat / Payback

i feel as though mudsdale is perhaps the best offensive ground-type to capitalize on a meta that is deceptively kind to it. i say this because, in spite of the abundance of pokemon immediately threatening to it, in addition to a higher bulky offense skew (as opposed to hard defensive, meaning its ease with which it ascertains trvly "free" turns is far less high), really strong eq's when backed by a decent coverage move are wildly threatening to your average balance; de facto phys.wall slowbro is 2hkoed after stealth rock, and the prominence of sceptile both lends itself to risking an ohko to heavy slam (which is a fantastic neutral coverage option for a band mon like this) and encourages flyers to invest in spdef first, making them vulnerable to a rock slide ko after sr. really impressive bulk (the given spread takes under 75% from specs sceptile giga drain, more illustrative than anything but nifty) and enough speed to outpace a fair few major tankmons in conjunction w/everything stated prior to me offers it a palpable niche rn. obviously it is not w/o its flaws, anything that potentially lends free turns to the best mon in the tier and remains slow is going to, but the way it capitalizes on a mild oversight in balances now is to me enough to warrant a c+ ranking

 

[Omfuga]

I think Skuntank should be moved from B to B+. Skuntank has 4 qualities that differentiate it from drapion as a pursuit trapper.

1. Skuntank has access to priority sucker punch to pick off weakened offensive pokemon and force 50/50s at low percents vs rotom/mismagius/meloetta etc
2. Skuntank learns defog and can be used as a pretty decent hazard removal on these offensive grass type + pursuiter + ground type stealth rocker + machamp builds, which otherwise struggle to deal with hazards.
3. Skuntank has access to aftermath which can be useful when sacking it against something like virizion or machamp, especially in conjunction with sucker punch.
4. Skuntank is bulkier on the special side than Drapion is. Obviously useful when using a mon to check meloetta/rotom/mismagius

I think these perks allots skuntank to rise to 1 rank below drapion on the viability rankings. Of course, not all is great for skuntank. It's pretty slow and one probably wouldn't want to invest too much in skuntank's speed anyhow. Skuntank doesn't have access to useful coverage moves like earthquake and thus can be walled by something like steelix (though fire blast is usable). Finally, skuntank doesn't learn knock off, which is generally superior to crunch. On the bright side, though, using crunch can be more useful than knock off as it allows skuntank to 2hko slowking without a boosting move, and actually pressure slowbro (does like 45% to max/max slowbro with crunch and can defense drop)

Here's an example of a spread I like to use, though honestly the EVs are super flexible.

Skuntank @ Leftovers
Ability: Aftermath
EVs: 252 Atk / 184 SpD / 72 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Crunch/Poison Jab
- Defog/Poison Jab
- Pursuit
- Sucker Punch

252 SpA Choice Specs Meloetta Hyper Voice vs. 0 HP / 184 SpD Skuntank: 253-298 (72.9 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Rotom Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 184 SpD Skuntank: 138-163 (39.7 - 46.9%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 248 SpA Mismagius Never-Ending Nightmare (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 184 SpD Skuntank: 258-305 (74.3 - 87.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ Atk Skuntank Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Meloetta: 248-294 (72.7 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Skuntank Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Rotom: 248-294 (102.4 - 121.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ Atk Skuntank Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 8 Def Mismagius: 300-354 (114.9 - 135.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Personally I like triple dark STAB on this set to threaten fat psychic types and still fill its role as an anti-offense trapper. However, if you're not concerned about fat psychic types, or you already have hazard removal, you can use poison jab to hit fairies.

 

[Tangelo]

Drapion down to A-/B+

Drap fills its niche as a pursuit trapper much worse now with the meta adapting around dark in general (influx in colbur berries, protect, psychics that threaten/force 50/50s). It struggles with the current grasses and at best is a secondary grass check. It's so weak vs mons it can't trap (most mons) and struggles to do anything outside of sometimes trapping those mons. The reason I don't want it to drop further, though, is that SD ZEQ/Aqua Tail are both still very solid balance breakers that have some opportunities to set up. But they also struggle in that your dark slot is taken up with a mon that has a worse matchup vs Meloetta than usual.

Rhydon down to A-

This mon is a lot harder to fit on teams than lix and is definitely a less influential or significant SR user so I have no idea why it's in the same tier as Steelix, but in general the current A roster is in a weird spot. Rhydon struggles in the current meta as a SR user that doesn't like to come in on Sneasel or Drap and is super weak to grass + can't afford to run Protect. It doesn't even cover fires that well bc they all run grass coverage.

Regirock up to B+

Big jump, but this mon is that good. Lax and Finch have been saying this mon is good for a while and I agree. A lot of the mons Steelix covers are covered, but in addition you get an even better Sneasel switch in, fire resist, and a mon that gets up rocks versus Xatu/defogs better. TBH in a much better spot that Rhydon in not being 4x grass weak+ moveslot to run Protect + having leftovers + better vs knock off but I'm sure some people won't like Regirock being higher than Rhydon so I'll keep it at this for now lol.

Toxicroak down to B+

I find this mon to be very very underwhelming. It's a physical sweeper that struggles to break past the best and most common defensive mon in the tier (slowbro), takes up a slot as a poison type that doesn't cover grasses well, and has the same issue as Virizion in that it's piss weak without a boost. It has a small niche as a offensive Virizion check but usually this mon ends up having a lackluster matchup.

Vileplume up to A

Vileplume is in a really amazing spot currently with a lot of offenses and balances having huge trouble killing it. 4x grass resist + fighting check + not weak to electric + absorbs tspikes + good stabs + sleep powder lend it to being extremely powerful and extremely splashable on a lot of current builds.

Steelix up to A+

For some reason there's a lot of hate for Steelix but it's all kind of white noise to the success the mon has. It's undisputable that this mon is the best general SR setter in the tier, fills lots of usually hard to fill team building holes, and pretty much always does something in every matchup. Steelix's effect on the metagame is also fairy significant in that it makes mons that would be more significant (think Accelgor, normals, flyings) a lot worse, and you can argue that this is also due to every normal/flying resist in the tier, but the only significant one is Steelix lol. Not a true indicator, but NUPL usage has lix in the top every week so far, giving at least some recognition to its huge influence on the tier. In general, the hate on Steelix is all theory no practice.

Delphox up to A-

This has been brought up before, but Delphox is clearly a cut above the other mons in B+ (and quite honestly A-). Both CM ZFire and scarf are very good rn with the surplus of offensive grasses + fightings, and is not that weak to the common darks bc of weakened Knock Off (for z) or it's faster and can pressure (scarf). CM applies lots of pressure to standard balance builds that are now forgoing stuff like Incineroar and using shaky fire checks like Slowbro/king.

Other than those moves, I don't really want to make a noms for all of these but I find it very odd that shit like Weezing, Absol, and Scyther (who I haven't even seen a single time in hundreds of games) is above mons with big niches like Turtonator (who finds ample opportunities to set up at 6-0's a lot of builds with some prior damage, or can run Specs which is actually a good set), Vikavolt (who takes advantage of the ample grass + fightings + steelix defensively or can fire off devastating hits that lots of builds can't switch into), or Vanilluxe (who pressures lots of builds that rely on Slowbro/king as their primary fire check + applies significant chip damage in hail). It also annoys me that Gallade is in C-below a bunch of actually worthless shit even though it has clear distinctions from other Fightings (SD beats Slowbro/king, TR is good vs lots of fast teams and has the bulk to function vs bulky teams, and Memento is a niche no other fighting has for offense). Gallade seems to be ranked so low just out of theoretical disdain for the mon rather than actual use. As far as the Incineroar discussion, it only really had a place because of Cofagrigus. Unless Houndoom + Delphox usage goes way up Incineroar will always be a little lackluster. And even if they do, he cannot function without support (and when I mean cannot function it truly mean it does nothing when rocks are down).

Finally, I'd like to suggest my own niche mon who has an (arguably) very nice place in the current meta:

Torterra @ Leftovers
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Wood Hammer
- Synthesis

SDef torterra has a place in the current meta as a stealth rocker that is also a grass check and Slowbro/king switchin. There are lots of team building scenarios where I've noticed I need a primary grass switchin + electric immune + rocks that also applies pressure to Slowbro/king, and Torterra does just that. It was lots of flaws though; it struggles with common hazard removers, and needs to be at high health to beat Specstile, but in combination with a poison it offers a very nice set of qualities a lot of builds appreciate. So much so that I'd argue Torterra belongs in C. Outside of SDef, Band Torterra holds a similar niche as Mudsdale as a mon that takes advantage of the low number of solid ground resists/immunes on current teams, but differentiates itself with having more speed, a secondary stab, and arguably better typing in exchange for bulk.

 

[Marrrrrrrrrr]

C+ up to B-/B

I've been meaning to talk about this underrated Pokemon for a long time. Clawitzer is essentially the Primarina of the lower tiers, and as such, it has very few relevant switch-ins. And one thing that I think people have overlooked on Clawitzer is Icium Z. With it, Clawitzer can oneshot Virizion, Toxicroak, and specially defensive Golbat. Take a look at S through A, literally nothing in there can switch in on Clawitzer except the aforementioned Virizion and Golbat, which again fall to Icium Z. And in A-, nothing else can switch in on Clawitzer either except Toxicroak, which of course can't switch in on Icium Z, and Garbodor, which is fucked over by Scald burns. I honestly don't know what else to say other than that. If you keep Rocks off, it has just enough bulk to be able to switch into the likes of Slowbro and Steelix, and if you'd like, you don't even need to run Max Speed EVs, and pour some into its bulk, at the cost of getting outsped by Aurorus, Scrafty and Torterra. But its bulk is absolutely not its main selling point. Its main selling point is its sheer lack of switch-ins that it has, and I think that even in a Grass-heavy meta, Clawitzer is still too good for C+.

 

[Kiyo]

I usually don't like posting nominations for lower ranked mons because their niche is often too small to be relevant to the majority of teams, but I think this Pokemon's niche is large enough that it deserves a spot on the vr.

Togedemaru @ Leftovers
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Spiky Shield
- Zing Zap / U-turn
- Encore / U-turn

Togedamaru is probably one of my favorite Pokemon to throw on teams these days because it can do so much in the way of checking obnoxious threats such as Rotom-C, Whimsicott, Sceptile, Meloetta, Rotom-F, Rotom-A, Aurorus, Vanilluxe, Cryogonal, Accelgor, Vikavolt, Lilligant, Mesprit, Oricorio-G, Oricorio-E, etc. It also takes advantage of defensive Pokemon like Golbat and Vileplume and easily gets free wishes that it can either use itself or pass to a teammate. Toge is also one of a few defensive Pokemon in the tier that isn't total setup bait thanks to Encore. That being said a lot of the mons it checks can run Focus Blast and hit it pretty hard, although they fail to kill. Some of the threats I've listed can get past Togedemaru with Trick or Sleep Powder as well, so its not like the Pokemon is an automatic hard counter to them, but at least in my experience, preventing things like Sceptile from clicking their most powerful STAB moves is enough to either make them inneffective or give something on your team a setup opportunity. Also the amount of things that can't beat wish+spiky shield toge 1v1 late-game is surprisingly long even if its only attacking move is zing zap. I don't personally think U-turn is very good, but I've seen people have some success with it and it helps vs things like Virizion that can come in for free and threaten you out p easily.

I think C or C- is a fair spot for the electric mouse of alola, if not for the ability to check a ton of top tier shit in a single slot, then definitely for the support it provides its teammates with wish.

 

[Hootie]

Update time!™

Rises

B+ ---> A-

C+ ---> B

C ---> C+

UR ---> C+

UR ---> C+

UR ---> C

UR ---> C-

Drops

A+ ---> A

A ---> A-

A- ---> B

B+ ---> B

B+ ---> B-

B ---> B-

B ---> C+

B ---> C+

B- ---> C+

C- ---> UR

C- ---> UR

Since this was requested, the VR council gave a quick rundown on reasoning for why a Pokemon rose or dropped.

• Delphox rose for its ability to threaten many commonly used balance cores all while checking some prominent fast Grass-types such as Sceptile and Whimsicott.
• Though this wasn't nommed before this slate was voted on, Omastar rose due to its effectiveness as a hazard lead, being able to threaten common forms of hazard control such as Xatu and Golbat with Shell Smash thus making it effective at getting up hazards and keeping them up versus most teams.
• Gourgeist rising is most due to being the most effective stop to Machamp, a Pokemon that's been giving balance a hard time as of late thanks to its immunity to Facade and Close Combat and its raw bulk letting it effectively tank Knock Off when using Colbur Berry. It does all this while having reliable recovery and also check/counters several other Fighting-types such as Virizion, Hitmonlee, and Sawk.
• Eelektross was another Pokemon that wasn't formally nommed, but was added because it was supposed to be listed in the first place. Besides that point; no weakness, good coverage, and decent bulk all while being able to provide momentum make it a decent choice on more bulky offensive teams. It does have issues with being worn down over the course of the match and isn't the strongest Pokemon around which makes C+ a good fit for it.
• Oricorio, Raticate-Alola, and Wormadam-Trashy were ranked for reasons outlined in meeps' post and lax's post, respectively.

As for the drops~

• Whimsicott was dropped due to it struggling to compete with stronger Grass-types in the tier. Whimsicott is very weak compared to Sceptile and Rotom-C and is just not quite as good as them.
• Drapion was dropped due to the banning of Cofagrigus. Both its greatest partner and worst enemy, Drapion has lost a bit of viability as the metagame shifts away from Ghost-types. Drapion's relatively low SpD makes it a subpar answer to offensive Grass-types which are threatening right now.
• Lilligant requires much more team support than other Grass-types, often needed an entire team to be built around it. It is more effective to use one of the many more powerful Grass-types with a larger immediate impact.
• Scrafty often lacks the power to muscle through teams. Kind of bad typing leaves it vulnerable to many top tier threats and its Speed is still unimpressive when boosted.
• Spiritomb dropped because physical sets are too weak and have no reliable STAB moves to attack with and it fails to do much outside of counter Meloetta. Special sets have not been fully explored but are easy to take advantage of.
• Incineroar dropped because it's Stealth Rock weak pivot with no recovery options. It was a great answer to Cofagrigus, but because of its ban it lost a significant part of its niche. It also loses or gives free turns to a lot of top tier Pokemon right now such as the plethora of Fighting-types in the tier that can revenge kill or switch in such as Emboar, Virizion, Hitmonlee, Machamp, and so on.
• Ferroseed is a decent Spiker but the top 3 Grass-types right now can either pivot out of it or beat it outright. Fire-types and Fighting-types are really good in the current metagame so Ferroseed finds few opportunities to set up.
• Weezing is incredibly easy to wear down and fails to beat the best Fighting-type, Machamp, all while facing significant competition from Garbodor which is faster, less Xatu bait, and has access to Spikes.
• Lanturn doesn't beat much right now and can be used as setup fodder or a free switch in for several top tier Pokemon such as Rotom-C, Virizion, and Sceptile. Clefairy is a defensive Pokemon that just doesn't wall much. It's also extremely Knock Off weak and its offensive presence is very limited. Unviable right now. Ninjask's sole bit of viability with the Z-Dig set is very subpar right now and is entirely a gimmick not worth ranking.

There was a lot of drops, but this is mostly due to the large shift in the metagame that keeps happening since the banning of Cofagrigus. If anyone is curious, we voted on the slate for the Golduck post and above. At this time there's no notable discussion points, so feel free to post whatever nominations you like. Happy posting!

 

[Teddeh]

I usually don't like posting nominations for lower ranked mons because their niche is often too small to be relevant to the majority of teams, but I think this Pokemon's niche is large enough that it deserves a spot on the vr.

Togedemaru @ Leftovers
Ability: Lightning Rod
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Wish
- Spiky Shield
- Zing Zap / U-turn
- Encore / U-turn

Togedamaru is probably one of my favorite Pokemon to throw on teams these days because it can do so much in the way of checking obnoxious threats such as Rotom-C, Whimsicott, Sceptile, Meloetta, Rotom-F, Rotom-A, Aurorus, Vanilluxe, Cryogonal, Accelgor, Vikavolt, Lilligant, Mesprit, Oricorio-G, Oricorio-E, etc. It also takes advantage of defensive Pokemon like Golbat and Vileplume and easily gets free wishes that it can either use itself or pass to a teammate. Toge is also one of a few defensive Pokemon in the tier that isn't total setup bait thanks to Encore. That being said a lot of the mons it checks can run Focus Blast and hit it pretty hard, although they fail to kill. Some of the threats I've listed can get past Togedemaru with Trick or Sleep Powder as well, so its not like the Pokemon is an automatic hard counter to them, but at least in my experience, preventing things like Sceptile from clicking their most powerful STAB moves is enough to either make them inneffective or give something on your team a setup opportunity. Also the amount of things that can't beat wish+spiky shield toge 1v1 late-game is surprisingly long even if its only attacking move is zing zap. I don't personally think U-turn is very good, but I've seen people have some success with it and it helps vs things like Virizion that can come in for free and threaten you out p easily.

I think C or C- is a fair spot for the electric mouse of alola, if not for the ability to check a ton of top tier shit in a single slot, then definitely for the support it provides its teammates with wish.

I'd like to reply to this as I disagree with ranking the mouse. This mouse doesn't really check some of the threats you listed as sceptile carries EQ, aurorus carries Earth power, accelgor and meloetta carries focus blast, and unless it carries encore, then it is complete setup bait for meloetta and lilligant. That leaves it with 4mss as it can't carry stab + u-turn, with wish. So you're either being a complete momentum suck by not having u-turn or you've not got a way of dealing damage to the enemy in zing-zap, or you're setup fodder. Also, since it has such a low HP number, its wishes that it will be passing are very small, so it isn't a huge point to rank it. Not to mention that steelix and rhydon are on most teams, and hard wall the mouse to hell and back, so it will always suck momentum that way too. I have used the mouse a little bit (not after this post) and in theory it sounds good, but in practice there are way too many drawbacks to using it.
Naturally I like the gimmicky pokemon that do have a niche, but its got too many drawbacks that allow it to actually be viable in the tier on a competitive team, which would make me want to keep it unranked.

My second point is about the dropping of clefairy and the reasoning given. I've used clefairy a lot this gen on my bulkier team, and it also fits on bulkier balance archetypes, so I feel that it is usable most definitely. It has some extreme bulk and checks a huge variety of special attackers in this tier, so when you suggested it doesn't wall much, I completely disagree. I've got some calcs to support my post:

Hide

252 SpA Choice Specs Sceptile Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Clefairy: 172-204 (50 - 59.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (it can softboiled up the damage that has been done and PP stall the leaf storms)
252 SpA Choice Specs Meloetta Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Clefairy: 136-162 (39.5 - 47%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Delphox Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Eviolite Clefairy: 134-160 (38.9 - 46.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Whilst it's also a fantastic check for the slowbrothers as it can run toxic, reliably switch in on scalds, outspeed and softboiled up reliably to beat them 1v1 and leave at close to full health. I hence propose we re-rank clefairy back.

I appreciate you all taking the time to read this post, but if you didn't...
tl;dr; Keep toge unranked, clef for C+ (again)

 

[Punchshroom]

Aside from debatably unranking Clefairy, the only ranking I disagree with is ranking Eelektross.

I made this post a month back:

I wasn't really much of a fan of Eelektross to begin with, but in a meta where Rotom-C and Vikavolt are present, I can't see a whole lot of value Eelektross really has anymore. I never found Eel to have the typing nor the sustain required to do its job as a bulky pivot properly: for instance, STAB Leaf Storm from Scept and MowTom does a large chunk which Eel can't heal off effectively, Eel runs the risk of losing to SD Sceptile on the switch since Flamethrower won't be enough to OHKO Sceptile while +4 Leaf Blade cleaves Eel in two, and Eel even gets tripped up by Trick Rotom-C since being unable to switch moves severely hampers its offensive presence. Compare its pivoting ability to Vikavolt, whose SR weakness is largely made up for with access to Roost, additional useful resistances to Grass and Fighting, and more independent offensive presence (Bug + Electric STAB off a meaty SpA stat even if uninvested, and easily covered with HP Water). Meanwhile, MowTom is a significantly superior offensive alternative due to STAB Leaf Storm alongside Electric STAB giving it more neutral options, and sits in a much better Speed tier that allows it to outrun a vast majority of wallbreakers in the tier, while Eelektross is outsped and crushed / heavily damaged by nearly all of them before it can move, making it lose in 1v1s to more Pokemon than it'd like to admit. I feel that Eel is just the awkward middle-man between Vika and Rotom-C atm (being a middle-man is almost never a good thing in a meta where you want to be specialized, rip Silvally formes), and its kinda deserves to be tossed to the wayside for now.

This still applies, and I do not know what changed for Eelektross to receive a ranking, much less one high enough to be just below Vikavolt. Having no weaknesses is heavily overshadowed by the fact that it doesn't even have passive recovery (since it needs Assault Vest to not just get 2HKOed by every offensive Pokemon in the tier), and only has unboosted attacks to work with so it gets solo'd by nearly any offensive threat that isn't weak to Electric or 4x weak to its coverage. Right off the bat, the best only thing I can see Eelektross offering over Rotom-C or Vikavolt overall is its resistance to Flying, which does helps against Vivillon and SubU Braviary, but other Flying-types like Scarf Brav and Scyther chip it down way too quickly while Eel can't heal off the damage. Btw, Eelektross needs Thunderbolt to reliably combat SubBU Braviary as well as actually pose some sort of threat to bulky Waters with recovery, which leaves no room for any other tech moves like Knock Off since Volt Switch, Flamethrower, and Giga Drain are already mandatory on Eel.

Rotom-C, Vikavolt, and even the C- Rank Manectric outperform Eelektross offensively for the most part, though Eel does boast the mild niche of being able to switch in on Steelix and start threatening the Steelix + bulky Water + Grass cores. However, there are two problems with this.
1) Since Eel doesn't actually manage to OHKO any member of the core (even Slowbro has high odds of survival), it is extremely prone to getting worn down, and at this point I'd sooner consider something like Nasty Plot Raichu or even Calm Mind PomPomCorio to set up on the bulky Water/Grass-type and break through that core in a more efficient manner, with Raichu also being able to beat Virizion variants of this core which Eelektross can't.
2) Cores like those tend to have mons bulky enough to handle Eelektross, such as Aromatisse, Incineroar, CroTomb, even Audino or Clefairy. Don't even get me started on the Dragons, like Druddigon, Guzzlord, and especially Drampa, which just manhandle Eel. Paired with Wish support and coupled with the fact that Eel is easily worn down, Eelektross would rarely ever be able to break through these bulky cores.

Even as a slow Volt Switch user, I'd say Vikavolt and even Lanturn are in better positions due to superior resistances and support moves, like Roost, Scald, and Heal Bell. Even if Lanturn is vulnerable to the tier's offensive Grass-types, it's not like Eel is safe from them either, as Specs Sceptile can 2HKO with Leaf Storm followed by -2 Overgrow Leaf Storm or spam Giga Drains to always come out on top against an Eelektross as high as 84%, Virizion can set up in Eel's face and KO with +2 Close Combat or Z-Move, and Eelektross is crippled by Rotom-C's Trick far more than Vikavolt is, so I wouldn't say 'not being Grass weak' is a merit for Eelektross.

At the end of the day, I can't think of much teams that would consider Eelektross over numerous other options since, like Magmortar, Eel kind of just half-asses most of what its competition specializes in. Difference is that Magmortar's competition consists of really good and powerful Fire-types, while Eel's competition starts to include lower ranked mons like Vikavolt, Lanturn, and even Manectric. At least something like Vikavolt can be worth investing in hazard removal to maintain, but Eel just doesn't seem to contribute that much consistently. Shit, I would sooner consider PomPomCorio and that Togedemaru up there that can more reliably handle the Flying-types that Eelektross can, and those two have much more unique niches than what Eel has to offer.

Eelektross for Unranked, or C- if you insist on keeping it ranked, point is that I think C+ is vastly overrating Eelektross.

 

[Ijkee]

Lickylicky from UR to C-/C/C+
Hi so this is a niche nom and probably won't gain much traction but with all these stupid veil teams running around I've been trying to find some way to deal with them. After toying a round for a while, I've decided that (wait for it) Lickylicky is the best way to deal aurorus/ sandslash-a shenanigans. This is mainly due to its natural bulk and wide movepool, which enables it to tank hits and effectively deal SE damage in return. Most importantly, it has access to the ability Cloud nine, which makes weather related effects disappear. This means while sandslash-a will still gain access to slush rush, it will no longer be able to use veil.

Anyways, this is the set I've been using. I run 4 special attacks av with modest, but you can run quiet with knock off/explosion if you want some utility moves/nuke.

Lickilicky @ Assault Vest
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
- Focus Blast
- Flamethrower
- Ice Beam/Explosion
- Thunderbolt/Knock Off

With Max HP investment, lickylicky easily tanks icicle crash from sandslash-a.

252+ Atk Sandslash-Alola Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Lickilicky: 133-157 (31.3 - 37%) -- 79.1% chance to 3HKO

Keep in mind this is with no defense investment. To Ohko sandslash-a, lickylicky needs no special attack investment (I've been running modest max spa anyways so it can contribute in battle against non veil teams)

252+ SpA Lickilicky Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Sandslash-Alola: 444-524 (152.5 - 180%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Against max HP aurorus, lickylicky is just shy of a guaranteed KO with focus blast, but since every aurorus and its mother runs sash, this is a moot point.

252+ SpA Lickilicky Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Aurorus: 448-528 (99.5 - 117.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

However, the assault vest ensures that you get four hit koed by Aurorus.

252+ SpA Aurorus Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Lickilicky: 114-135 (26.8 - 31.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO.

So yea. This stupid fucking blob is actually quite effective at stopping the annoying amount of veil that's running around Nu. For that reason, I say that Lickylicky goes from UR to any C rank.

 

[poh]

A+ --> S

Thought it was time to nom this to S. Slowbro has been an S-rank contender for some time now and i'd like to see it up there since in my opinion it's literally one of the best mons in the tier. Slowbro has countless positives starting with its splashability. With all the Fighting-types running around, Slowbro is a very consistent check to them and it even beats Virizion 1v1. Slowbro is also a good softcheck to physical attackers in general and with Slack Off + Regenerator it can stay healthy throughout the whole game (something a lot of mons can't right now!). It also has quite a bit of influence on the meta. Grass types are more popular than ever Ghost-types like Mismagius and Rotom also became more popular. Emboar for example doesn't always run the usual sets as i've seen that people are experimenting with Electrium Z. Slowbro is also an amazing wincon having almost no problems setting up and becomes unkillable after a few boosts and Slack Off just helps that even more. I don't think there are any negatives when putting Slowbro on your team as it's very consistent and can win you games. Slowbro might not be that big of a powerhouse but the utility it offers is just priceless.

edit: 300th post

 

[LORD HELIX 65]

This nomination is going to be controversial, but here it is:

Emboar: A+ ----> S

If you could only use one word to describe Emboar, the word "powerhouse" instantly comes to mind. A reckless STAB Flare Blitz is gonna hurt whatever it hits. For a Pokemon that performs so well so consistently, it is almost a travesty that it is still A+. It's best set, the scarf set, hits hard and is very fast with a blazing (no pun intended) 375 speed. It outspeeds and OHKOes Sceptile with Flare blitz, and can damage anything heavily that takes normal or super effective damage from its moves.
Reckless is an excellent ability for emboar, because it further powers up Emboar's most spammable moves, Flare blitz and Wild Charge. There are many other viable sets you could use as well.
The choice band set has practically no switch ins, and can crush souls with a reckless boosted Flare blitz. The expert belt set is a very good one as well, as it allows Emboar to hit it's super effective targets even harder. This Pokemon is meta defining in my opinion, and deserves to be with the biggest threats in S rank.