Rises:
UR ->
C Sceptile becomes a genuine threat when supported by terrain. It's coverage allows it to pick and choose what beats it, with Earthquake for Poison-types, Drain Punch for Steel-types, Rock Slide for Flying-types, or Acrobatics for Grass-types. Sceptile also has surprisingly great bulk when invested and boosted by a terrain seed, allowing it to easily set up at least one Swords Dance
A+ ->
S- Silvally-Ground is a meta-defining Pokemon thanks to its great bulk, speed, typing, and ability to break or pivot for another breaker. It's been generally considered S-rank worthy and even a retest candidate for a bit now.
A -> A+ Another highly requested suspect test candidate, Indeedee-F's rise is credited to its devastating damage output. Easily 3HKO Steel-types without even clicking a coverage move, and it still gets great coverage with Mystical Fire for Steel-types and Dazzling Gleam for Dark-types. Choice Specs set push Indeedee-F into 5th gear, although Choice Scarf and Calm Mind sets can be just as lethal.
A ->
A+ This is another Pokemon generally agreed upon to deserve to rise. Depending on its set it is capable of beating nearly anything by itself, and it overall lacks consistent switchins due to its natural strength coupled with Sludge Bomb poisons along with Sleep Powder, Corrosive Gas, and Infestation Leech Seed sets.
A- ->
A Eggy-A is about as anti-meta as you can get right now. Having a positive matchup against nearly every other high tier mon, and also having a great defensive prowess to keep it around for as long as it'd like. Even relatively solid checks such as Stakataka and Sylveon can lose to the rare Swords Dance set or coverage like a respective Low Kick or Sludge Bomb.
A- ->
A Toxicroak, much like Eggy-A, is well known for demolishing the ever-present Vaporeon balance cores, even beating Mudsdale with Life Orb Low Kick or a Nasty Plot set. Toxicroak's few checks like Talonflame and Silvally-Ground are slightly less common currently and the banning of Machamp and Sirfetch'd means far less competition for Toxicroak.
B+ -> A- Decidueye's versatility in sets and positive matchups into tier staples like Rotom-Mow, Silvally-Ground, and Vaporeon makes it very valuable as both a breaker and a defensive piece. Swords Dance sets are a main stay on hyper offense for its ability to break for partners or sweep if its partners have paved a way for it. Choice Band and Choice Specs both enjoy clicking STAB Ghost-type attacks into a tier almost entirely devoid of Ghost resists. Roost sets with Defog or Nasty Plot let Decidueye utilize its great matchups into high tier Pokemon even further by sustaining itself over the course of longer games.
B+ ->
A- Undoubtedly one of the best Pokemon in the tier at making progress on bulkier teams. Drapion's STAB Knock Off, ability to Poison enemies with Poison Jab or even Toxic Spikes, and a fantastic defensive typing with great natural bulk allowing for relatively easy opportunities to Swords Dance make it very scary even into teams with solid checks such as Mudsdale, which hates having Leftovers removed.
B+ ->
A- After showing what it can do in the tier, Gastrodon has proven itself to be a formidable tank and great role compression for bulkier teams that need a Water and Electric immunity.
B+ ->
A- Recent exploration of non-choiced variants have given light to Heliolisk's great special attack and coverage, rather than its still great speed. Magnet allows Heliolisk to bluff Choice Specs rather effectively, while Heavy-Duty Boots, Expert Belt, and Choice Specs itself are all other great options on Heliolisk in the current meta. Heliolisk's coverage lets it threaten 2 of NU's rising stars, Gastrodon and Stakataka, with Grass Knot and Focus Blast respectively.
B+ ->
A- Tauros's sheer power makes it a nightmare to go up against. Its speed tier is great enough that it can often afford an Adamant nature as well, making it even more terrifying. Its vulnerability to all kinds of hazards and status and reliance on contact moves is a negligible setback for its amazing offenses.
B ->
B+ Mantine's blend of amazing defenses and surprisingly potent offensive capabilities through making use of high BP Hurricane and Toxic always ensures it will at least do
something in each game. Finding hazard removal that isn't a Grass-type (Tsareena, Rotom-C, Dhelmise) can be quite difficult and compressing a Blastoise, Salazzle, and Exeggutor-A check into one spot is quite remarkable. Mantine's role as a Fighting-type resistance is now even better due to the ban of two of the more powerful Fighters that could actually take it out.
B ->
B+ Less competition as a Fighting-type from Sirfetch'd and Machamp departing and further exploration of its Choice Band set has done Passimian very well. Passimian can often times set itself up for sweeps by simply forcing in Fighting resists and either damaging them with U-Turn or removing their items, making it a very self-sufficient Pokemon. Despite it being on the lower speed bracket for Choice Scarf users compared to the likes of Indeedee-F or Rotom-Mow, Passimian's natural bulk lets it quite comfortably pivot in on moves despite being a Scarfer.
B ->
B+ Silvally-Steel saw a lot of use in NUPL to compress two of the greatest desired traits onto one Pokemon; Steel-typing and Defog. Although Silvally-Steel's natural bulk may leave more to be desired compared to that of Copperajah, Stakataka, or Escavalier, it has far greater speed and 2 great pivoting moves, and a much wider range of utility options at its disposal, including Toxic, Thunder Wave, orTailwind, and can even switch its role as a wall by using Swords Dance with its great bulk to find many chances to set up.
B- ->
B Although Duraludon lacks the special bulk a proper "Steel" needs on a traditional team, it's much better at using its sheer power and solid coverage to rip holes through teams. Thunder(bolt) hitting bulky Water-types like Vaporeon and Mantine and Body Press chunking Steel-types means Duraludon is quite hard to manage defensively.Duraludon also serves as a great Stealth Rock setter as it beats Xatu head-to-head and can pivot out against unideal matchups while damaging them with Draco Meteor and the Eject Pack item.
C+ ->
B- Sand teams are quite good in the current meta and seem to have an answer for every matchup. Sandslash and Lycaroc prove to be quite the pair together and they couldn't do it without Gigalith's Sand Stream.
C+ ->
B- See Gigalith
C+ ->
B- See Gigalith
C+ ->
B- Sneasel boasts the two arguably best offensive types in the game with a powerful STAB Knock Off and Icicle Crash or Triple Axel as well. Coming off a whopping 115 base speed, Sneasel more than makes up for its nonexistent bulk, although even then its typing can allow it to pivot into Indeedee-F's expanding force.
C+ ->
B- The common trend of doing well into Vaporeon balance teams means rising in viability, can you tell what's really good in the meta yet? Virizion's typing and bulk gives it a phenomenal matchup into many tier staples; Mudsdale, Silvally-Ground, Vaporeon, Rotom-Mow, Steel-types, and it has coverage for incoming unfavorable matchups such as Stone Edge to OHKO Talonflame and the bulk to set up Swords Dance and beat Xatu with the aforementioned Stone Edge or Poison-types like Vileplume and Toxicroak with Zen Headbutt. Virizion can rock special sets with Calm Mind and Air Slash as coverage for Grass-types, or even a mixed set with all out coverage, no setup.
C ->
B- Ok it sets up on Vaporeon daring today aren't we? What if I told you it also beats Sylveon with its Calm Mind set too. Drampa also has a surprisingly solid typing in the meta but more importantly, two great abilities and a rainbow of a movepool.
C ->
C+ Ninjask's ability to force chip on the Steel-types that so desperately need to stay healthy for breakers like Indeedee-F and Sylveon makes it a perfect pairing for those breakers as well as others. Ninjask also has a surprisingly easy time sweeping even slightly weakened teams due to how strong (and fast) a +2 Adamant Acrobatics can be. Ninjask does require very specific support to be functional, heavy hazard control, keeping offensive pressure on clerics to keep Steel-types low, etc., although it can be well worth the effort if supported properly.
Drops:
A- ->
B+ Aerodactyl's overhype has died now, and the meta is just not kind to it. Looking at the most popular Pokemon in the meta, Choice Scarf Rotom-Mow, Mudsdale, Vaporeon.. Aerodactyl does not have a good time right now. It's suic*de sets are quite consistent although Kabutops can often accomplish its role and more. Aerodactyl is still a great offensive Fire-resist, and Dragon Dance sets are still very dangerous, but it was arguably overrated previously and it certainly is worse off than it was a couple months ago.
A- ->
B+ We all saw this drop happening. Diancie is still a solid offensive cleric, but lacking an amazing typing or recovery means its all too short-term for a defensive role, especially when Stakataka or Sylveon can fulfill a specific role Diancie would want to take. Diancie provides great role compression although this often leads it to being overwhelmed and stretched too thinly trying to do too much as one Pokemon.
B+ ->
B A breaker with almost no defensive utility, and STAB's with common resistences and not even having Knock Off as a Dark-type. Grimmsnarl is still quite scary to play against but it requires much more effort to get it on the field and even once it's on the field, you'd still have to make proper reads to accomplish anything.
B- ->
C+ Braviary stocks have been down even since before Bronzong left the tier months ago. Substitute Bulk Up doesn't destroy slow bulky teams like it used to, especially now that Stakataka is in the tier, and although other sets do have a lot of merit, being 3 attacks Roost or even Defog sets, there's usually a different Pokemon that does Braviary's job better.
B- ->
C The garbage is just garbage. Spikes are not permanent enough to justify something as passive as Garbodor. Better beneficiaries of Spikes like Heliolisk appreciate Garbodor's support but overall its just not worth the commitment.
C ->
UR Sandaconda's main niche was being a bulky Ground-type that outsped Dragalge, which Mudsdale did not. Dragalge is gone and there's really not much reason to use Sandaconda over Mudsdale. Rest with Shed Skin and Glare is nice, but Mudsdale is much stonger and bulkier even if it is slower, which sometimes can be better when it comes to taking Stakataka's Gyro Ball.