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Hello! I was playing this gamemode in Showdown whe I stumble upon a person who lead with this Sunkern... I tried the obvious by using "Ice beam" but to my surprise this Sunkern mega Evolved turn one, becoming the same type as Gyarados mega and with his ability, however stil using sunkern's sprite... I still don't know how this user did this in a random match, this was not premade, sadly I didn't save the clip... if someone has any idea of how this was possible I'd be glad if you can share the answer with me
Hello! I was playing this gamemode in Showdown whe I stumble upon a person who lead with this Sunkern... I tried the obvious by using "Ice beam" but to my surprise this Sunkern mega Evolved turn one, becoming the same type as Gyarados mega and with his ability, however stil using sunkern's sprite... I still don't know how this user did this in a random match, this was not premade, sadly I didn't save the clip... if someone has any idea of how this was possible I'd be glad if you can share the answer with me
Hey y’all https://pokepast.es/adaaf45d3e174d8c pls help I am very new to balanced hackmon and I can’t beat no guard Deo s can somebody pls help me make better team
It's been over two months since I last posted a personal VR and the metagame has gone through multiple small phases since. I've tried out more various Pokémon on the viability rankings, including some in the lower ranks, teams have more variety now thanks to spam teams falling off, and new records have been made from people rotating around all sorts of different teams. I've probably seen more games from other players than played games myself after February, but have still managed to play maybe 100ish games since?
I've made a lot of changes to the VR to accommodate to this. To be honest, figuring out the ranks below S was quite difficult for me this time, and I've noticed the game still has quite a ton of room to be developed. I've destroyed the ladder with sets almost nobody else ever runs and realized if more of those sets were around, or even similar sets but slightly altered in some way, this metagame would appear to look quite different than it is now. Well anyway, here is what I have in store now. I'll plan to make a post explaining plenty of these ranks, especially the ones that seem most questionable (like why I placed Pikachu at B and why I placed Mega Scizor so low on the Wonder Guard Viability Rankings)
Welcome to the Pure Hackmons Viability Rankings. This is one of the many resources made to help players determine what can be considered viable in the metagame. These rankings are placed in alphabetical order. Any ability ranked is placed last for convenience. Anyone is free to put their thoughts on any Pokémon and debate on whether or not they need a rank change as long as they are reasonable. Provide clear evidence for reasons why a Pokémon should have a change in rank, and be civil about it. We want what we can believe to be closer to fact than subjective opinions.
S Rank S
Chansey
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Zygarde-Complete
Wonder Guard
S Rank S
Audino-Mega
A Rank A+
Greninja-Ash
Hoopa-Unbound
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
Slowbro-Mega
A
Arceus
Gyarados-Mega
Meloetta
Oranguru
Regigigas
Slaking
A-
Kartana
Mewtwo-Mega-X
Muk-Alola
B Rank B+
Celesteela
Groudon-Primal
Ferrothorn
Magearna
Umbreon
B
Bisharp
Gardevoir-Mega
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Houndoom-Mega
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Sableye-Mega
Scizor-Mega
Type: Null
B-
Cresselia
Gengar-Mega
Kyogre-Primal
C
Blissey
Chansey
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Pheromosa
D
Aggron-Mega
Swampert-Mega
Lopunny-Mega
Steelix-Mega
S-
Blissey
Groudon-Primal
A Rank A+
Doublade
Greninja-Ash
Mewtwo-Mega-Y
Steelix-Mega
A
Gengar-Mega
Kartana
Regigigas
Slaking
Solgaleo
A-
Deoxys-Attack
Diancie-Mega
Lopunny-Mega
Lunala
Necrozma-Dawn-Wings
Necrozma-Dusk-Mane
Rayquaza-Mega
Slowbro-Mega
B Rank B+
Arceus
Aggron-Mega
Celesteela
Deoxys-Speed
Gyarados-Mega
Metagross-Mega
Necrozma-Ultra
Type: Null
Yveltal
B
Banette-Mega
Cresselia
Giratina
Giratina-Origin
Guzzlord
Kyogre-Primal
Kyurem-Black
Pikachu
B-
Gardevoir-Mega
Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Bisharp
Ho-Oh
Lugia
Registeel
C Rank
Articuno
Entei
Groudon @ Red Orb
Pheromosa
Sceptile-Mega
Tyranitar-Mega
D Rank
Avalugg
Froslass
Shedinja
Blacklist - Do not discuss putting these on the VR Wonder Guard: Any pure Fire-type for their Burn Up sets.
Pure Fire-types in the metagame don't stand very well as Wonder Guards as they for the most part are outclassed by other possible Wonder Guards such as Primal Groudon and Alolan Muk for having similar but less weaknesses, and usually higher defensive stats. However, the main strategy of a Pure Fire-type Pokemon with Wonder Guard is to utilize the move Burn Up, a move that removes a Pokemon's Fire-type after successfully hitting. With many viable Wonder Guards in the metagame, these types of Pokemon should find it hard to be able to successfully hit an attack, and even if they do, they can still be forced to switch either by phazing or by matchup, causing them to have to redo their main strategy. It is also worth noting that the ability of Wonder Guards to carry four moves in this metagame is a gift. Most of them use their four moves in order to support, recover themselves, boost stats, inflict status, and/or throw hazards. Their type combination is good enough to handle on their own without the absolute need to provide a move to get rid of their type. Pure Fire-type Pokemon who follow the Burn Up strategy can also struggle more heavily against Mold Breaker/Turboblaze/Teravolt Pokemon or Pokemon that have Photon Geyser or Moongeist Beam, making the entire point of the strategy lose any value it had.
Post to stack on explanation: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/pure-hackmons.3656851/page-3#post-8375359
Wonder guard VR update request. Zeraora UR -> B. It isn't the best, and is slightly outclassed by Greninja-Ash as a fast support mon resistant to sunsteel, however Zeraora is still faster than most viable wonder guards, and has a slightly less common weakness in ground. It's role as a niche subpass/fast taunt+pivot is useful, and thus I consider it to be at least better than the likes of wonder guard pheromosa, and on par with wonder guard type:null and houndoom-mega/MMY
Wonder guard VR update request. Zeraora UR -> B. It isn't the best, and is slightly outclassed by Greninja-Ash as a fast support mon resistant to sunsteel, however Zeraora is still faster than most viable wonder guards, and has a slightly less common weakness in ground. It's role as a niche subpass/fast taunt+pivot is useful, and thus I consider it to be at least better than the likes of wonder guard pheromosa, and on par with wonder guard type:null and houndoom-mega/MMY
I struggle to agree with this one. Zeraora really struggles to justify itself over even other niche fast WGers. Pheromosa, Mega Beedrill, Deo-S and Deo-A are all faster than Zeraora and have a lot more going for them. Deo-S obviously being the fastest 'mon, Pheromosa only being a speed tier lower than Deo-S and better in most other ways, Beedrill's stronger U-Turn and TSpikes absorption, and Deo-A being only yet another speed tier below Phero and being pretty strong both Physically and Specially.
While Zeraora is a bit bulkier than the aforementioned mons, it still hates coming in on any Mold Breaker move other than Sunsteel, and AshGren is already faster than pretty much every Sunsteel user anyways (aside from MMY who usually runs Photon/Moongeist alongside it and MLop who actually might be worth it but MLop doesn't run it very often anyways). There's also the fact that Ground is an awful weakness to have, being incredibly common especially on Sunsteel attackers; not even mentioning the Fissure weakness.
I can see the benefits: the Para immunity, different set of weaknesses and STAB Electric are all maybe worth it sometimes; But I'm gonna disagree with the placement here. I can maybe see it being C rank, but nowhere near a B ranking.
Any pure Fire-type for their Burn Up sets.
