Resource USUM OU ULTRA Viability Ranking Thread

Status
Not open for further replies.

power

uh-oh, the game in trouble
A -> A+

Overdue as fuck. I thought my discord bullying would be sufficient, but clearly not. SD Kartana is a meta defining breaker and Scarf is surprisingly splashable and good when paired with Bulu or Magnezone or both. Kartana fits on so much its fucking dumb and paper is one of the best breakers in the tier. It also brings a shitton of utility for a Pokemon with 31 Sp. Def between Defog (It defogs on Ferro !) and steel typing which lets it just snack miscellaneous physical hits from a variety of threats.

Even with the increased distribution of Defog Kartana has not let up at all from where it was late SM, and its time to give this meta defining Pokemon the spot it deserves.
 
Tangrowth to B
While this does seem like a long shot after Tangrowth just dropped last update, I feel it is rather overrated in B. AV Tapu Bulu does the same thing, but better. Tangrowth has three things over Tapu Bulu, Regenerator, Not weakening Eartgquake, and checking Magearna. While these niches can find itself on some teams, Tangrowth is still rather hard to justify using on a serious team nowadays, and it’s ranking should reflect this.
No opinion on the discussion points, but I’m leaning towards a kartana rise and a greninja drop.
 
This update took me completely out of guard. I wasn't expecting as many drops and was expecting a few more rises, although I'm happy with A- FINALLY getting a much needed cleaning, many of the Pokemon there really had an inflated ranking for quite some time.

A -> A+: Agree
It was about fucking time this thing get the recognition it deserves. Getting Knock Off only made harder to switch-in into Kartana, everything that could absorb Leaf Blade and coverage has to deal with the possibility of losing item, which is huge to stuff that rely on leftovers, for exemple. Not to mention how great and defining the SD and Scarf sets are currently, the god-like sweeping ability, how splashable it's when team building, being one of the best if not the best defogger in the meta. Just raise this thing already.

A -> A-: Agree
Let's be honest, this thing isn't doing that much anymore. Most of its sets are just not that good enough to satisfy a position in A rank. Choice Scarf struggles to revenge kill as it fails to 2HKO a sizable portion of the tier. Dual Harzard is a good set in HO, but this archetype isn't even in a comfortable position rn to justify its position and the other sets aren't really worth talking like Spike 3 Attacks because they're either dead or not even that good.

A- -> B+: Agree
This pains me a lot, but I have to agree. The meta just hates Diance, a lot of the common balance cores that are running every where just give this thing a really hard time or just shit on it completely like teams with Steela, Pex, Thorn, Mega Venu, Mega Scizor and Gear.
Also rip Garchomp.
 
Last edited:
two nominations

1. Zygarde back to A+
2. Medicham to B+

With the drop of Mew and Tangrowth all Zygarde really has to worry about is defensive Landorus or AV Bulu. Bulu is a solid check which can't really be broken through without something trash like coil or iron tail. Landorus, on the other hand, has the same problem as AV magearna in the fact that it has no recovery and can be exploited easily with stealth rocks, status, repeated u-turns, etc. Wearing down a defensive landorus for a zygarde sweep is not very hard at all.

Mew and Sableye are nowhere to be seen atm and Medicham is honestly having more trouble with cresselia on all the trick room that is going around. Obvoiusly there still is a bunch of HO that can easily overrun medicham (veil, webs, tr, rain) running around but defensive teams are hard pressed to deal with it since most dont run mew or sableye anymore. Medicham can still break sashes on HO leads though so its not completely deadweight.

agree with everything on the council slate

Too many viable diancie checks (gear, venu, steela, scizor, toxapex, AV Bulu) even though all can be broken through with certain coverage moves (nature power psychic/electric, hp fire, earth power) diancie still has a hard time breaking bulky teams

Protean gren is the definition of 4MSS. Can't really do anything in one set. Only things that are good are sash and scarf.

SD Kartana is probably the best balance breaker in the tier and still a great defogger for offense. It can even annoy things like celesteela with knock off and make it super easy to wear down. Scarf is still a fantastic anti offense band is still bad lets not get carried away.

R.I.P. Garchomp
Good thing keldeo and rotom barely escaped the same fate
 
Last edited:
So does anyone think Volcorona can move to A+?

Now that there are a lot of new defoggers to clear away Stealth Rock, this bug scary in the meta.
It can run so many things to take out the mist common Pokemon in the meta and can raze entire teams to the ground if it can set up.

It can run Psychium-Z to blow up Toxapex and M-Venusaur.

Bugium-Z to nuke Tyranitar or Tapu-Lele even if unboosted.

HP ground to deal with Heatran if needed.

Volcarona is one of the few Pokemon in the tier can basically pick and choose what common key threats it will counter for your team and will end up checking it.
 
Last edited:
Definitely agree with Kartana, I think people were initially sleeping on how good Knock Off can be. So many mons rely super heavily on their items and, as a breaker, getting rid of Assault Vest/Choice item/Eviolite/Berries/Rocky Helmet/Leftovers is as important as punching holes in HP to help late game sweepers. Plus with Beast Boost you can output absolutely insane damage and with a Z-Move its fairly easy to get the snowball rolling.

Hella decent speed tier for a Scarfer to clean up with, only Latios is a good Scarfer that is faster. Isn't OHKO'd by priority moves like Water Shuriken and M-Pinsir Quick Attack which is nice, not thinking of Rocks with all the Defog. Sacred Sword is a really good move as well. Overall just incredibly good at what it does.

Edit: viable scarfer -> good Scarfer
 
Last edited:
A -> A+: Agree
I think that with Kartana finally getting Knock Off, allowing it to remove items from Pokemon that could otherwise come in on it for relatively free like Zapdos and Celesteela it can finally rise to A+. This has been something on my mind for quite some time even before USUM but I think now is the right time to do it, Scarf offers very good and unique utility, Z-moves are a basic nuke that really forces the opponent to gamble, and Band is another set that is pretty underrated imo.

A -> A+: Agree
While I do agree that Zygarde should rise back for A+ I don't think it should rise for a Coil or DD set, rather for a sub-toxic-tect set, ABR lined out its purpose perfectly in this post, it also got me interested to use it myself and i can honestly say that it's great, especially coupled with Pokemon like Tapu Koko because of their similar checks and Zygarde being able to permanently cripple a lot of initial switch ins to both Pokemon to weaken the team for either Pokemon to start punching holes.
Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 76 Def / 120 SpD / 56 Spe
Careful Nature
- Substitute
- Thousand Arrows
- Protect
- Toxic
248 HP makes Zygarde as bulky as possible and gives you 100+ Subs. 76 Defense EVs prevent Defog Scizor from breaking Zygarde's Substitute in 1 hit with U-turn. 120 Special Defense EVs allows it to avoid a 2HKO from pre-transformation Ash-Gren. 56 Speed EVs let Zygarde outspeed Adamant Bisharp. I dumped the rest EVs in Attack simply to get a bit stronger Thousand Arrows, it guarantees Zygarde to always 2HKO 80 HP Choice Band Tyranitar.


A- -> B+: Agree
Mega Scizor and Kartana being so splashable has hurt it a lot a team also cant run both Mega Scizor and Mega Diancie so that's also something that hinders it, Balance also just uses Celesteela and Mega Venusaur for this so it also doesn't pose too much of a threat to those archetypes, I really do believe it kinda lacks as an offensive rocker and All-Out-Attacker in the current meta game and its ranking should reflect on that.

Now for my own nom.

B -> B-
Alomomola has been getting a lot more usage since the release of USUM however, I really don't know why lol I fail to see any positive traits besides having obese wishes, it is way too passive for my liking and honestly, Toxapex outdoes it by quite a lot Toxapex can absorb T-Spikes, Is not set up bait because of Haze in contrary to Alomomola which fails to break most Substitutes of Pokemon that do use Substitute, and can set up Toxic Spikes itself. The surge of Pokemon like Kartana, Tapu Koko, and Tapu Bulu has hurt this mon a lot and I think this and all of the aforementioned points are why Alomomola should drop, on basically all points but one it is a worse Toxapex.
 
agree with Alomomola drop, I haven't seen anyone use it for a while now. I think some water mons are more useable then it, Pelipper and Mantine both have defog, which is very useful in this meta, not to mention Mantine has water Water Absorb, and defog shutting down Toxapex. Even Pelipper is a lot more useful on rain teams and just messing up fire types. Also both Mantine and Pelipper just fly over spikes, so I dont see a good reason to use Alomomola on most teams.
 
to stay A-

While the AoA set is ineffective atm, the SubEndeavor set is becoming popular and it's THE set to run on Mega Diancie imo. Sub -> Endeavor -> STAB either greatly annoys or straight up eliminates its switch-ins like Celesteela, Mega Venusaur, Tangrowth, Tapu Bulu, Toxapex, Heatran (kind of a switch-in), Ferrothorn (kind of too). This set is also a nuisance for stall teams as you can Sub on Mega Sab then proceed to waste their recovers or leave sth weak enough for another team member to stallbreak. Outside of SubEndeavor, Mega diancie is an ok Rocker due to its ability to force switches and to threaten mega Sab on stall. Until the meta adapts to the SubEndeavor set, Mega diancie is fine in A- imo.

to stay A


Ok, it has fallen so much from its former glory. That's true, I cant deny that but A- is underselling this thing too much. Its positive traits are still great: a) great speed, b) still can choose its own counters. You can call this a negative in 4MSS but it doesnt make switching into Gren any easier and c) your switch-ins dont stop Gren from using Spikes. Also, Volcarona, Zygarde, and Kartana are up for possible rises and (Scarf) Gren beats all three of them for you. It's worse than before but still worthy of staying A.
 
Last edited:
Greninja A -> A- Agree

Poor Gren I remember the days everyone used this mon. When All-Out Attacker was good. Now it's a hazard setter like in Gen 6 Ubers. Sigh.

Anyways, Greninja suffers with all of his sets. All the new defoggers running around, notable example in Rotom-W, can defog away all the hazards he lay down. Rotom-W also resists Ice Beam and can easily stomach the hit. Scarf Set was popular around Naganadel, but thats gone as well. Many of its moves are rather underwhelming, as many times they cannot hit a mon hard enough to secure a ko. Arguably, he can check Volcarona with rock slide, but there is little other purpose to the move, for example. I won't even bother talking about All-Out Attacker sets, those don't exist anymore. All in all, I just don't think Gren is as good as he was before. He would fit well among other A- mons.
 
A -> A+: Agree
Knock off gives it everything it needs to be top tier. With Ttar/Heatran running amok and HO on the wane, the Fightinium/Darkinium-Z SD set has tons of opportunities to tear teams apart. The Scarf set loves swapping in, hitting hard and retreating back when checked, fearing only Magnezone as a revenge killer and checking nearly every fast or speed boosting pokemon in the tier alarmingly well.

A -> A-: Agree
Definitely. Toxapex alone makes this thing sad, not to mention the myriad of other viable pokemon that can check it: Mantine, Fini, AV Bulu, Ferrothorn, AV Magearna, Mega Vensaur, etc. all make it harder to play. While LO 4 attack sets can break *some* of these threats *some* of the time, often just having one is enough to beat the other popular variants, particularly the underpowered dual hazard lead that now suffers from increased defog viability.

A- -> B+: Agree
Fairy's at an all-time low as an offensive type, and Rock isn't particularly great either. New dynamics like Sand Exca, Spdef Heatran, and AV Bulu don't bode well for Diancie and a lot of its appeal is lost with M-Scizor and M-Venusaur enjoying greater viability. Last, it's mostly just outclassed as a sweeper - Lele common threats hits harder, Koko is faster, Greninja has more than one useful set, and Blacephalon has the nuke power that Diancie wishes it had to break down cores like Celepex or Heatran/Scizor/Bulu.
 
Alolan Marowak -> B-

I think Marowak is being slept on super hard. Virtually nothing resists its stabs, and the few dark types that do get crushed by superpower/bonemerang. The ability to stop all relevant eletric types minus some like knock off thundy caliber shit is awesome. It has just enough bulk to take strong neutral hits like:

252 SpA Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Marowak-Alola in Psychic Terrain: 264-312 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Meaning its not too frail to be deadweight against offense. It also has an awesome matchup against stall with the following two calcs:

252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 177-208 (44.9 - 52.7%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 244-288 (80.2 - 94.7%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Meaning after a swords dance, if you have hazards up and just a bit of chip, your opponent is in trouble. But what I think what really puts it over the top is how awesome its defensive typing is, allowing it to switch in to tons of relevant stuff, even beyond electrics, like clefable, ferrothorn, non dark move kartana, scizor and magearna, and immediately can start blowing holes for your sweepers. The fact that it has actual defensive utility keeps it relevant with blace around

The following replay shows it doing some work and really highlights the synergy with sleep powder tangrowth. I also really love the support it gives hawlucha in softening up things like lando for a potential sweep.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-669099284
 
Last edited:
Yea agree with Mega Diancie dropping
I would of mever think Fairy would be considered a bad offensive type.

But with the current OU meta being defined by mostly Steel, Posion and Fire Pokemon along with the decling useage of many Dragon pokes in OU.. I guess its kinda crummy as an offensive type now.

Also yea. Kartana rising to A+ all the way.
 
Last edited:
I disagree with the marowak nom. Even though it is a really scary mon to face, it is so hard to justify on a team these days that isn't TR because of its fatal flaws. Its ability to switch into "relevant stuff" is really overestimated, IMO. In practice, I feel like it gets worn down extremely easily because of its vulnerability to hazards, which means it requires way too much support that really undermines the choice to put it on a team in the first place. Yes, it can often bruise something pretty hard but it rarely can stay healthy enough to be scary over a longer period of time. It's kind of like a frailer Mega-Camerupt that is weak to Stealth Rock, and basically has zero usage on non TR teams nowadays because of its issues. It's not a bad pokemon at all, but is just so hard to justify on a team and often performs worse in practice than on paper.

On TR, It's obviously basically essential and puts in a ton of work for that archetype but I think its current viability ranking reflects its strength on TR.
 
I think that Victini should rise to B, not because of the Z-celebrate set, but the scarf set. Max 150 base speed outspeeds everything without a boost sans mega alakazam. It can serve as an amazing revenge killer, or a good wallbreaker, with an Z power level fire stab useful for Koing extremely used pokemon. Bolt strike has great coverage, nailing things that would like to switch in like Fini, Toxapex, mantine, and peliper. Victini is by no means frail however, and 100/100/100 defenses lets it take a neutral hit or two. It can outspeed and OHKO lele, koko, bulu, magearna, Hoopa, Lopunny, skarmory, pincir, much more, and every fire weak pokemon on the tier list. This is not my replay, it is by metal sonic, the person who actually may have nominated victini for a higher rank already, but I could not find him here, so here I am. https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-591095554
 
Going to keep this short: I said a while back that people were painting Greninja into a corner by using its utility sets because it is functioning more of a glue / supportive threat than an actual offensive threat. So ye, I agree with a drop. Kartana should definitely rise right now since it puts a ton of pressure on balance teams, forcing them to lose or use Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Magnezone and Hidden Power Fire Landorus-T. It is the best offensive Defog user in the tier and its Choice Scarf sets are much more threatening to defensive teams now that it has Knock Off. A rise cannot be questioned at this point.

→ B+
A lot of people don't understand that Magnezone is at its peak in this metagame, allowing you to use Substitute + Endeavor to a great amount of effect. This set completely destroys every other Diancie answer in the game, mainly Assault Vest Magearna, Mega Venusaur, Chansey, and Gliscor. People need to stop sleeping on Tapu Koko + Nature Power Diancie too since it allows Diancie to break Toxapex + Steel-type cores. The presence of Mega Diancie makes people think twice before clicking hazards and its a fantastic Stealth Rock user itself since it pressures most of the Defog users in the tier. I cannot see a threat such as this dropping especially with USUM increasing the viability of some of its best teammates. If I'm being honest here, I'm expecting a drop, but people are eventually going to catch on and realize that the drop was stupid. I'll leave it there.

→ A
This nomination has been taken as a meme in recent days, but the more and more I see and use Magnezone, the more I am convinced that this is one of the best supportive Pokemon in the tier. I am a huge fan of Choice Scarf since it destroys Kartana, making Magnezone a valuable asset on balance teams. Now I want you to look at its role on a bulky offense playstyle. It destroys Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and Celesteela for teammates such as Mega Gyarados (which should rise btw) and Choice Scarf Kartana to hand the L. Its Steelium Z set is a great deterrent for Landorus-T. Even Assault Vest, while a mediocre set, is a fine option for teams that are a bit more offensive than what you call bulky offense. Overall, this Pokemon just produces results. There are other Pokemon in A such as Volcarona, Mega Mawile, and Kyurem-B which can definitely produce devastating results i.e. what you call "low-key broken", but none of these Pokemon have that consistency factor. Magnezone, however, HAS that consistency factor. This is definitely the appropriate time to rise this Pokemon, and I encourage others to discuss this.
 
I think Araquanid might be worth a rise. Webs are pretty popular right now, and Araquanid is a great setter. However, it isn't a one-trick pony like past setters. Its power with Liquidation is great and helps with other popular leads such as Lando-T. Additionally, Mirror Coat can be used to lure and drop special attackers.

Not only that, Araquanid's bulk, typing, and ability allow it to switch in on the ever-annoying Scalds, Will-O's, and Ground attacks of the world. It walls Heatran's attacks but must be mindful of Toxic.

Overall, I think Araquanid is definitely better than C+ with Webs still being decently popular post-Naga. It's a viable playstyle, and Araquanid is the best Mon for it. However, unlike past Webs setters, it is able to contribute more to the team outside of Web-setting, having both offensive and defensive utility.
I would like to echo my thoughts from before and formally nominate Araquanid to B-. Webs is still a solid playstyle and Araquanid is the best setter the playstyle has ever had. It offers immense support to Webs friendly mons like M-Mawile for instance. Not only does it set Webs, it's more than bulky enough to tank Ground and Fire hits, absorb Scalds and Will-O, and also bop opposing Ground and Fire mons that M-Mawile might struggle to break through.

Araquanid bops many common leads like Lando-T and Excadrill, and even non-lead sets for those two are nice to deal with. And as I mentioned before, Araquanid does nicely against Heatran which is still a premiere Mon. It likewise supports common Webs teammate Bisharp in the same way.

For additional thoughts, view my previous post that I have quoted. I feel that Araquanid is the premiere webs-setter, and it also supports its team in many ways beyond that, and should thus move to B-.
 
Definitely going to echo the same sentiments about Kartana. Knock off makes it much harder to switch in to, and it nets basic free kills against psychics and ghosts, which lets it start the snowball process even faster. I've been pairing it with Shift Gear Magearna and most teams I come across can't recover fast enough from the holes those two create together.
 
Alolan Marowak -> B-

I think Marowak is being slept on super hard. Virtually nothing resists its stabs, and the few dark types that do get crushed by superpower/bonemerang. The ability to stop all relevant eletric types minus some like knock off thundy caliber shit is awesome. It has just enough bulk to take strong neutral hits like:

252 SpA Tapu Lele Psychic vs. 248 HP / 8 SpD Marowak-Alola in Psychic Terrain: 264-312 (81.7 - 96.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Meaning its not too frail to be deadweight against offense. It also has an awesome matchup against stall with the following two calcs:

252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 177-208 (44.9 - 52.7%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+2 252+ Atk Thick Club Marowak-Alola Shadow Bone vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 244-288 (80.2 - 94.7%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

Meaning after a swords dance, if you have hazards up and just a bit of chip, your opponent is in trouble. But what I think what really puts it over the top is how awesome its defensive typing is, allowing it to switch in to tons of relevant stuff, even beyond electrics, like clefable, ferrothorn, non dark move kartana, scizor and magearna, and immediately can start blowing holes for your sweepers. The fact that it has actual defensive utility keeps it relevant with blace around

The following replay shows it doing some work and really highlights the synergy with sleep powder tangrowth. I also really love the support it gives hawlucha in softening up things like lando for a potential sweep.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-669099284

For one, there is a better ghost-fire type in the tier. Try Blace lol.

Ik that the two have different play styles, but still.

Regardless, as for actual points, Alowak just isn't good enough anymore to be in B- tier. It requires too much team support to be effective. Many pokemon in B- can go it solo, without much support. Stakataka can create it's own trick rooms and prepare to sweep, Jirachi's scarf set with iron head is scary in it's own way. Alowak is weak to hazards, even with the multitude of defoggers it gets annoying to deal with constant hazards. It does hit very hard, it just can't stomach hits back as well. Another problem is the amount of Ash-Ninja's in the tier. AKA a lot. Even with trick room Ash Ninja uses water shuriken and bye bye Alowak. The problem, in general, is just the meta has changed against Alowak, and it is no longer the monster it was back in the days. Count also that TR basically is gone (other the Staka) and one has a problem fitting this mon on any team.
 
For one, there is a better ghost-fire type in the tier. Try Blace lol.

Ik that the two have different play styles, but still.

Regardless, as for actual points, Alowak just isn't good enough anymore to be in B- tier. It requires too much team support to be effective. Many pokemon in B- can go it solo, without much support. Stakataka can create it's own trick rooms and prepare to sweep, Jirachi's scarf set with iron head is scary in it's own way. Alowak is weak to hazards, even with the multitude of defoggers it gets annoying to deal with constant hazards. It does hit very hard, it just can't stomach hits back as well. Another problem is the amount of Ash-Ninja's in the tier. AKA a lot. Even with trick room Ash Ninja uses water shuriken and bye bye Alowak. The problem, in general, is just the meta has changed against Alowak, and it is no longer the monster it was back in the days. Count also that TR basically is gone (other the Staka) and one has a problem fitting this mon on any team.
Yea A-Marowak gets mostly outclassed now as Ghost-Fire by Blace outside of TR teams. The niche it also has over Blace of absorbing and boosting itself off electric attacks does seem as scary or vital as it was at the beginning of the SM meta.

Plus with Knock Off now even more common and used on pokes like Toxapex and Kartana is a big problem for it . Even if the move does not kill A-Marowak outright its offensive presence will be gimped for the rest of the battle by getting its Thick Club removed

I can only see A-Wok moving down if it' going to move at all.
 
Last edited:
Volcarona is a rank but it doesn't seem to reflect how good it actually is right now.

I made a team and went laddering with it. I won most of the games with the team but it was kind of disappointing that volc was doing very little for my team. I was sort of sending it in to fire blast mons because their teams either had a hawlucha, pinsir, mawile, etc. or simply using it as a sacrifice. I also bumped into a few ho teams which was really crappy cuz there was no way volc would sweep with mimikyu around.

A friend mentioned that its more so the threat level of volc and if people start slacking in preparations for it but with all the counters to volc being so commonly seen, I really don't think its actually a in its actual viability.

*Might be just me*
 

mushamu

God jihyo
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnusis a Former Smogon Metagame Tournament Circuit Champion
Mantine B+ --> B

I know BladeOfFriendship nominated Mantine down a while ago back in SM, but I really think this thing needs to drop. Charizard Y + Duggy isn't a thing anymore ever since Arena Trap got the boot. Ever since USUM dropped, many new Pokemon got Defog, giving Mantine more competition for the role. Because of this, Toxapex is now seen more commonly running Toxic over Toxic Spikes as it can now 1v1 Pokemon such as Mantine and Rotom that would usually Defog Toxic Spikes away.

Choice Band variants of Tyranitar are also on the rise, and gives Mantine even more trouble trying to Defog hazards away. Rotom Wash is now more relevant than before, which can threaten Mantine out with a Volt Switch while also switching into it for free and giving it more competition as a Defogger. I think this Pokemon is still cool as a Defogger, checking Ash Greninja, Kingdra and Mega Swampert, but the new influx of Defoggers and Choice Band Tyranitar becoming more popular just gives Mantine a lot more trouble and competition as a Defogger.
 
(Lycanroc-Dusk)
Unlisted -> C or C+

I think this is a pretty debatable Pokemon in the meta right now. Especially because it faces stiff competition from its other Rock-type brethren, Terrakion. The fact that the latter has access to an amazing Dual-STAB combination in Rock/Fighting, should pretty much knock out all viability in using Lycanroc-Dusk, a mono-Rock Pokemon.

However there is one main thing that gives Lycanroc-Dusk a fairly good niche and that is the role of a late-game sweeper, due to the access of Accelerock.


Lycanroc has all the things it needs to pull off a decent sweeper set. First of which is access to a reliable boosting move in Swords Dance and a myriad of coverage moves such as Fire Fang, Drill Run/Stomping Tantrum, Thunder Fang; it also has access to less viable but still useable moves such as Brick Break, Iron Head and Outrage. Though the aforementioned moves sound a bit unappealing, considering something like Terrakion has EQ over Drill Run; one has to take into account its ability Tough Claws.

252 Atk Life Orb Terrakion Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Blissey: 545-641 (76.3 - 89.7%)
252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Drill Run vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Blissey: 528-621 (73.9 - 86.9%)

I'm using Blissey to demonstrate the difference to the closest HP possible.

So as you can see, there's really not too big of a difference on that. Note that all the listed coverage moves do get boosted, but Stone Edge (its main STAB of choice) does not.

Lycanroc-Dusk also has the much coveted ability to break through CelePex cores at +2 with a combination of Drill Run and Stone Edge, so that's always good.

Going back to its main selling point: Accelerock. A priority STAB that gets boosted by its ability is huge. Lycanroc-Dusk sits pretty at a good speed tier of the base-110s, so it's not like it it's totally useless without it. The speed tier also allows it to outright outpace unboosted Kartana, which is huge if you're running Fire Fang. But let's look a bit at the meta where huge threats such as Tapu Koko and Greninja normally outspeed it. Accelerock lets Lycanroc-Dusk do something that Terrakion can't compress into one role (since you have to be running either CS or RockiumZ as the main item.) Accelerock also has the added benefit of putting additional mind-game opportunities with your opponent that may just win you the game. [Replay 1]

But how good is Accelerock? What exactly does it hit and why should it be worthy of a rank in the viability list?
Here are the list of noteworthy Pokemon that Accelerock allows Lycanroc to revenge-kill:
CS Blacephalon (OHKO)
+>1 Volcarona (OHKO)
+>1 Gyarados (KO after SR or prior damage)
+>1 Charizard-Mega-X (KO after SR and 1 Spikes layer or prior damage)

Here are the list of noteworthy faster Pokemon that Accelerock allows Lycanroc to beat:
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def CS Latios: 247-292 (82 - 97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Alakazam-Mega: 290-343 (115.5 - 136.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tornadus-Therian: 494-585 (165.2 - 195.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tapu Koko: 235-278 (83.6 - 98.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Tough Claws Lycanroc-Dusk Accelerock vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Greninja: 285-335 (100 - 117.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Sample Set
Lycanroc-Dusk @ Life Orb
Ability: Tough Claws
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Accelerock
- Stone Edge/Return/Fire Fang
- Drill Run/Stomping Tantrum

Standard stuff, Return does a whole heck-of-a-lot of damage even without it being stab thanks to Tough Claws, and hits relevant Pokemon such as Zygarde (mainly) among others. Fire Fang can be run over Stone Edge for preference. Drill Run and Stomping Tantrum trade 5 for Accuracy and Base Power, pick your poison.

Lycanroc-Dusk also has access to its Lycanium-Z, but I think it's just inferior to the utility that a Life Orb boosted Accelerock gives.

A lot of this is basically justifying this over Terrakion, rather than finding its niche on its own. And that's really the thought process behind this. And even if we don't do the comparison, it has a lot of pros albeit its share of cons that it can bring to the table.

So I'm nominating it for C or C+, because I don't want to jump the gun and say it's better than Terrakion at B-, but it's very much viable in the tier. It also does not require as much support as other Pokemon in C-tier, being able to hold its own in the OU metagame.

Replays:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-669726680 (This one shows how scary Accelerock can be for the Volcarona user. A false prediction can lead to a bad game. For those wondering why the opponent did what they did, they needed Volcarona so that Scarf Magnezone wouldn't sweep his team; so the immediate threat of OHKOing Volc forced a switch and allowed for the set-up. Volcarona and other alike sweepers do not share the same sentiment for a Pokemon like Terrakion.)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-669717741 (Somewhat like above.)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-669713872
 
Last edited:
To be honest don't even bother discussing unranked mons in this thread, the mods will immediately just shut you down without listening to any reason and threaten to put the mon on the blacklist if u talk any further about it and will infract you or ridicule u similarly to the first two times unranked mons were mentioned (florges and roserade) even if they are better than the mons in c- (talonflame seriously? U don't want to rank unviable mons but u rank talonflame?) or even if the mon nom had support of being ranked

Unless it was used in a big tour, snake or by some popular player like njnp or something the mons ur suggesting will never get ranked (like how using mega latios was considered a meme until it actually had success in some famous game or w/e, only then it got ranked)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 3)

Top