Is just a close-up of Tinkaton's Hammer. Also, it's far from the only gag I put there.Why is Tinkaton Corviknight in this one
Is just a close-up of Tinkaton's Hammer. Also, it's far from the only gag I put there.Why is Tinkaton Corviknight in this one
Ursaluna was indeed one of the reasons to why Skele wasn't ranked higher since now we have a pokemon that can actually punish Skeledirge mindlessly clicking Wisp, and while it's still a pretty good poke, the two new additions to the tier (Ursaluna and Hoopa) aren't really friendly to it (at least without teraing)Why did Skeledirge not rise? Was it Ursaluna?
Why is there S and S-?
I'll try to answer the first point:A few questions:
Why did Lokix rise? Is it because of how Hoopa-U? Do you think it was underrated before the drops and people simply started using it more because of Hoppa and Moon?
What's the niche Decidueye has to put it in C rank?
Why did Zarude raise 3 whole subranks all the way from B- to A-?
Belligoatfrom C+ to B
1. Goro has a fine response to answer the Lokix part. I'll also just add how Lokix has always been capable of limiting the effectiveness of offensive playstyles because of how powerful First Impression is off Tinted Lens, it alone being an amazing safety net against HO etc. Hoopa dropping didn't really change anything, it just ends up being a victim to Lokix being a solid mon rn. Just don't use CB, locking into FI does not feel good o.oA few questions:
Why did Lokix rise? Is it because of Hoopa-U? Do you think it was underrated before the drops and people simply started using it more because of Hoppa and Moon?
What's the niche Decidueye has to put it in C rank?
Why did Zarude raise 3 whole subranks all the way from B- to A-?
These are some great changes! It's nice to see the pre-home staples who fell off getting more accurate ranks. A few questions, though:
1. Why is Ursaluna ranked so highly? I find it to have a lot of similar problems to Hoopa, except it's even harder to fit on teams. Slow, no priority, chipped down quite easily... It definitely has potential, but through what I've experimented with and what I've seen others use, it's just too easy to overwhelm, even when running Leftovers and plenty of bulk. If you have any good teams with it, please send them, I'd love to be proven wrong here.
2. Why did Hisuian Arcanine fall?
Gardevoir isn't a common Pokémon at all but it does have a niche as a Choice Scarf user thanks to a decent speed tier + Fairy typing + Trace which allows it to come on things such as Tornadus-T or Thundurus-T and copy their abilities. It's also an offensive threats which can bring some utility to its mates thanks to Trick and Healing Wish.Someone explain Gardevoir to me, I have not yet seen it on the ladder.
I haven't really used sylveon so people that used it can give you a better answer but as far as my limited knowledge about it goes it's because of its lack of psychic typing which allows it to check/scout vs stuff like Basculegion, Hydreigon and Hoopa while being slightly less passive since its Hyper Voice (+ potentially CM) hits non-resists fairly hard and have slightly more bulk since Scream Tail usually runs max speed, and while Scream can theorically go bulkier it then loses out on one of its main assets imo which is being something that can take hits from some dangerous pokes while being able to sort of threaten then back by being faster.Why did Sylveon rise? I've never seen one on a team, and Scream Tail just seems like the superior defensive Fairy overall.
Why did Cyclizar fall two ranks? It's definitely not on par with the A-ranks anymore, but it's still a solid offensive pivot, and AV Cyclizar is basically one of our only reliable checks to Basculegion-F.
speaking for myself i also disagree with scizor's drop, but from what i saw it's because we got some more checks to it that naturally fits on your common teams (treads, quaqua getting more popular, tera steel torn, volcanion...), people being more aware of prepping to it (even if it still can take some games out of nowhere vs 2/3 decent checks to it) and with the usual Bulky Offenses getting a bit more fast paced it's been harder for scizor to get as much turns as it used to get vs some passive BOs using pokes like Scream TailWhy did scizor drop? It’s still the best offensive steel by far and idk if any of the meta shifts were that unkind to it. Is the rise of lokix that impactful or was it just overranked to begin with?
HoopaU (and probably Moon for the 1 day it wasn't BL) letting Lokix earn that usage this monthA few questions:
Why did Lokix rise? Is it because of Hoopa-U? Do you think it was underrated before the drops and people simply started using it more because of Hoppa and Moon?
What's the niche Decidueye has to put it in C rank?
Why did Zarude raise 3 whole subranks all the way from B- to A-?
a pokemon's usage is not directly correlated with its viability. a banned pokemon does not effect lokix's viabilityHoopaU (and probably Moon for the 1 day it wasn't BL) letting Lokix earn that usage this month
Anyways i know this isnt related to any questions nor is it a question itself, but i always find it neat that while normally the addition of new threats kick down old mons, sometimes it makes some better.C+ -> B/Maybe even B+ ngl
This mon is actually solid, its bulk and resists are quite useful for dealing with scary threats like , , , and even and kinda, while also helping play around things like bullet punch or maybe be an emergency way of beating with static para slowing it down. Speaking of static, while it does take a sizable amount of damage from a some of the things it comes in on, the contact moves hitting it give a good way to fish for paralysis on the previously stated mons.
is normally a scary scarfer capable of outspeeding and threatening a lot of things with stab brave bird while pivoting out with u turn, but if you send bellibolt, theres the chance that the zapdos gets para'd, in which case its threat level drops drastically. In fact gzap cant even 2hko you from full ever (252 Atk Zapdos-Galar Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Bellibolt: 151-178 (35.7 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO), so bellibolt is just a very good answer to it.
usually the go to fast pivot for teams, but bellibolt sits on most of its sets, and if torn tries to u turn out, it risks getting paralyzed and losing its speed advantage over a lot of the tier.
is just shy of the 2hko with head smash, (252 Atk Arcanine-Hisui Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Bellibolt: 178-210 (42.1 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO) so while i wouldnt recommend bellibolt as your only answer to it, it can work in emergencies, and static para can make the likelyhood of it landing head smashes even lower. Also, with 36 sp atk evs you threaten an ohko with muddy water (36 SpA Bellibolt Muddy Water vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Arcanine-Hisui: 332-392 (100.3 - 118.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO)
cant get a 2hko without an sd (252 Atk Quaquaval Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Bellibolt: 145-172 (34.3 - 40.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO), meaning it cant break effectively without risking getting heavily damage/getting taken out or getting paralyzed, and if it clicks cc, bellibolt has a very solid chance to ohko it with volt (36 SpA Bellibolt Volt Switch vs. -1 0 HP / 4 SpD Quaquaval: 306-362 (98.3 - 116.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO).
Checking mons like this gives bellibolt a very solid role against offensive mons that are threatening to many teams. Providing pretty decent speed control without even needing a move that paralyzes things is a pretty neat trait as well, especially since it can paralyze things for clicking u turn, which is big for some mons that are threatened by various fast pivots. Examples being , who loves having things slowed down so that it can click leech life more and be less reliant on first impression, , who really appreciates the birds that outrun it being slowed down so it can actually force them out rather than be forced out by them, and maybe , i havent experimented with this much, but it feels like it would like having things slowed and really loves things that punish u turn, which bellibolt does by just existing.
Heres the set ive been running
Frob (Bellibolt) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Static
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Muddy Water
- Tera Blast
- Slack Off
Volt Switch is just for pivoting, nice for when you come in on a bleakwind storm and want to grab momentum after its forced out (bonus points if it u turns and gets para'd lol)
Muddy water is good for grounds as it 2 shots all of them (except but im getting there) which means volt is easier to click.
Tera grass blast is just good for , tho tbh if you want you could prob drop it for acid spray or discharge maybe as gastro is rather abusable, can also change the tera type if you drop tera blast too.
Slack off is pretty self explanatory lol.
Other calcs that i find neat
252 Atk Hoopa-Unbound Hyperspace Fury vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Bellibolt: 151-178 (35.7 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Bug Lokix First Impression vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Bellibolt: 187-221 (44.3 - 52.3%) -- 16% chance to 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Scizor U-turn vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Bellibolt: 148-175 (35 - 41.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Sharpness Kleavor X-Scissor vs. 252 HP / 220+ Def Bellibolt: 159-187 (37.6 - 44.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
Some replays of Bellibolt from UUWC
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-709635
Bellibolt didnt do much here but people able to absorb sciz bullet punch and drawing in the donphan to kill it with muddy water to end the game was good
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-710003
From turn 17-22, it kept the nasty plot torn at bay while healing, then hit torn hard with volt to bring in talon to threaten it. Also kept torn from trying at turn 12 with just its presence in the back
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-712465
Turn 1 para on torn let lokix go crazy to soften up the team for gzap (also kept drawing in gastro for lokix to abuse)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen9uu-713763
Got a para and 60% on treads turn one and grabbed momentum on torn few times.
(Probably not too relevant but i figured itd be neat to point out that bellibolt had a 100% win rate in UUWC)
Anyways, heres a team i made with bellibolt if anyone wants to try it
https://pokepast.es/84d328074830014e
The reason i nommed it for a pretty big jump is that i feel its consistency is at least on par with the mons in B rank and imo probably higher (id even say its more consistent than some of the B+ ranks like or but i might be crazy)
Now i can understand if people are against a big jump or if the viability rankings are gonna be a bit more hesitant to raise a mon thats so low based off what one person says, but im telling you, bellibolt is the belligoat.
I'll explain this. For reference, we had 13 members of the VR team vote this update (some chose to abstain). To change a rank, a Pokemon needs a 7/13 majority to do so (simple majority in general). The reason Tornadus is S and Iron Treads is S- is the notable difference in their votes between S and A+ despite both having a majority.Why did Skeledirge not rise? Was it Ursaluna?
Why is there S and S-?