Resource USUM AG Viability Rankings

Pigeons

pidge pidge
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Grassceus is really underrated. Tbh it's one of the best leads in the game due to how it counters smeargle and can do more damage than other arceus forms with grass-knot. This also sounds like a mega meme but it can run roar of time to OHKO mega rayquaza (yeah, it sounds awful but somehow it got me to #2 in 2050s). Calm mind grassceus with flamethrower and/or ice beam is also p good, destroys ferrothorn and celesteela which are absolute AIDS. And plus it has arceus's superb bulk with base 120 stats across the board. Grass isn't really that bad of a type. People tend to think "oh, it's not that good because primal groudon and mega ray are both big threats to it," but it can still heavily damage both of them, as well as outspeed them (unless ray is scarfed). Steel types also aren't an issue for it if it has flamethrower. Honestly I just think that being the only arceus form with immunity to spore and leech seed combined with the other things that I mentioned make it deserving of a rise. Also to note, if you look at the "viability ceiling" of grassceus in the moveset statistics it is at 96, which is the highest viability ceiling for August along with some other pokemon. Comparatively, xerneas (which I'm personally not a fan of) is at a ceiling of 95 despite being ranked much higher on the viability rankings.
I absolutely disagree with a Grassceus rise, I'll try and address everything you said though.

Firstly, Grassceus is currently ranked in B-, so if you're going to nom something up it would help if you gave us an idea of why Grassceus is better than Pokemon it shares a rank with such as Gothitelle and Magearna rather than giving an overview of what it does (most people are already aware of this).

I definitely wouldn't call it one of the best leads in the game. Lead Grassceus does have a nice Spore immunity for dealing with Smeargle, but vs most dedicated leads it has a rough time without Magic Coat. Magic Coat does give it the edge against leads like Smeargle, Shuckle and Deoxys-Speed but Spore immunity alone isn't enough to set it apart from other Magic Coat lead Arceus (Fairyceus for example). Losing to PDon and MRay in a lead situation isn't great either because these Pokemon are often used as leads as well.

Magic Coat also highlights another one of Grassceus's issues: 4MSS. I know that word gets thrown around a lot, often when it isn't justified, but in Grassceus's case it really holds true. Grass Knot is obviously required and you don't want to be dead weight against Rayquaza, meaning Ice Beam or a Dragon move is pretty much a necessity as well. That leaves 2 slots for Flamethrower / Fire Blast to do something vs Steels, Stone Edge to not be Ho-Oh bait, Recover to have some degree of longevity, Stealth Rock to have some kind of team support or Magic Coat to act as a lead. Whichever two you choose, Grassceus will have some matchups where it is severely lacking.

Immunity to Leech Seed is definitely one of Grassceus's biggest selling points, and Spore immunity is quite nifty too, but you aren't really mentioning the downinsides of its Grass typing. Even though it can threaten them to some degree, Ray, PDon, Ho-Oh, Yveltal are all common offensive mons that put a ton of pressure of Grassceus by virtue of typing alone. Grassceus fails to 1hko these threats (Roar of Time is seriously bad and I don't feel like discussing why) so unless they have some prior chip, Grassceus will always be losing momentum vs some of the most common Pokemon in the game, or simply dying. Whatever its purpose on a team is, getting trapped by MGar is a huge issue for Grassceus that again stems from its typing.

Just for clarification to others who don't know what "viability ceiling" is, it refers to a maximum GXE achieved on the ladder with a certain Pokemon. I don't think this is really a major factor to consider when ranking Pokemon given that it is more indicative of the preferences of skilled ladder players than the actual merits of Pokemon themselves. Ladder typically isn't the best judge of viability to begin with given the generally low quality of players there.

Grassceus definitely has some nifty aspects to it, shutting down Ferrothorn and Celesteela is quite nice given how much of a pain in the ass those mons can be, Grass typing also has some merits you didn't mention like resistance to Zygarde's Thousand Arrows and being an alright soft check to POgre. That aside, Grassceus has way too many flaws to rise from a rank that is very generous to begin with, especially when looking at how powerful some of the Pokemon in B are (see Chansey and Giratina).

TL;DR: Don't rise Grassceus

The fact that Chansey can ONLY belong on stall makes it extremely niche, in addition, it is outclassed by the likes of ferrothorn, xern, ho-oh, pdon, and pogre in terms of the roles it can fulfill on most teams, thus making it require massive team support in stall mons. Thus, I still stand by my nom that Chansey should get dropped.
I realize I never replied to this so here we go again. I think you're defining viability exclusively in terms of splashability which isn't really the whole picture. If you look at other Pokemon in B and higher, you'll notice Chansey isn't the only one largely restricted to one playstyle. Sableye is almost always found on stall or extremely bulky balance, Deoxys-Speed and Deoxys-Attack are exclusively found on hyper offense, etc. We can argue about the details of this analogy and but the fact remains these Pokemon are similar not terribly splashable but remain highly ranked regardless, so the amount of playstyles something fits on is clearly not the only factor in viability.

The point is, you also have to consider how well it performs its given role. We argued about team support already, but the Pokemon you listed as "outclassing it" don't outclass it in the slightest. Xern and POgre are offensive Pokemon with no similarity to Chansey so I have no idea why you brought them up, the others can perform marginally similar roles in checking some special attackers but the similarities end there. Ho-Oh is an offensive tank, Ferrothorn offers Stealth Rock and Leech Seed support, PDon also offers Stealth Rock support and greater offensive presence. Compared to these Pokemon, Chansey is a check to just about every special attacker in the metagame that can also provide cleric support, a massive boon on stall teams and some balances.

Chansey is practically mandatory on stall and an amazing edition to certain balances, requiring team support is a factor in viability for sure but you shouldn't overlook the huge amount of team support Chansey is able to offer in exchange. In my opinion, Chansey doesn't require a greater deal of team support than say, MMY or Giratina, this combined with Chansey's huge overall utility leads me to believe Chansey should stay B.

TL;DR Don't drop Chansey

Some other noms:

Yveltal A -> A-
Yveltal's been a lot harder to use nowadays, it just doesn't fit on teams like it used to and teams generally aren't that weak to it. Fairy-types are more common and typical bulky offense teambuilds that dominate the ladder aren't really bothered by it at all. It's still pretty good but just a lot harder to fit onto teams than fellow A-rank members like Zygarde and Celesteela and meta trends really don't favour it much. Could honestly drop farther but it seems like a decent fit with POgre and other A- mons.

Gothitelle B- -> B
I know it just rose but it seems like Goth just keeps getting better. The Charm + Confide + Taunt set that Thimo introduced has made Goth all the more annoying to face, as now it can trap stuff like Ferrothorn or Defensive Zygarde lacking DTail. The prevalence of balance is great for it, as against such teams Gothitelle is often able to get multiple kos and open massive holes in the opposing team. The previously mentioned Charm + Confide set doesn't just remove threats though, it can turn them into setup bait for just about any threatening sweeper after their offensive stats have been reduced to -6. Gothitelle really stands out in B- because no Pokemon there puts in the amount of work that it does while also having so little counterplay. Even though Gothitelle has issues against faster offensive teams, I think the massive pressure it puts on bulkier teams warrants a rise.
 

Reffrey

Banned deucer.
Pigeons, you're missing the fact that both primal groudon and rayquaza, which are both commonly used as leads, are weak to each other. Primal groudon gets killed by mega rayquaza leads, and also has the risk of being taken out by opposing pdon leads. Mega rayquaza leads are weak to other mega rayquaza leads, because you have to rely on speed ties and/or the amount of speed evs (or the item) that you have on your mega rayquaza, and switching out is risky due to how much damage mega rayquaza deals with dragon ascent (especially with band or life orb). To top that off mega rayquaza leads risk getting hit hard by dragon tail from pdon. Grassceus pretty much has the same exact lead issues that mega rayquaza and pdon have. It is threatened by pdon and mega rayquaza but it can threaten them at the same time. A lot of primal groudon leads use stealth rock before they attack, and grass knot 2hkos pdon, so in many cases opponents end up losing their pdon lead to grassceus. And this sounds ridiculous but grassceus can OHKO mega rayquaza leads with roar of time. The downside is that you have to recharge a turn, but it is worth it taking out mega rayquaza turn 1 (and the opponent will never ever expect that you are running roar of time). Only other problem with this is that in a bo3 roar of time grassceus can be countered easily. I just don't see why grassceus should be in the same tier as giratina-origin (which is complete garbage in all honesty). And the thing about magic coat on grassceus... lmao what? There is literally no point of using magic coat on grassceus when it 2hkos deoxys-speed anyway (and btw, deoxys-speed is way overhyped, tbh it's garbage, all it does is set up screens or hazards and then dies, leaving u with 5 mons against the opponent's 6, and then in comes the opponent's defogger to take away the tiny little thing that deoxys-speed accomplished), and if the opponent has a shuckle then just lead with a steel type instead of the grassceus lead. And the big thing that sets grassceus apart from magic coat fairyceus or other coat arceus leads is that fairyceus cannot switch in on a smeargle that is about to spore, but grassceus can. Also, a lot of smeargles run substitute which completely ruins magic coat in certain situations. You are definitely 100% correct about 4MSS though. Kicking grassceus up to B tier seems fine. Also gothitelle should DEFINITELY move up to B tier.
 
For starts I hope we can just take Darkrai off of D rank. I have seen a quite a few teams with it even in the 1700's (idk maybe I am just lucky to see so many). But I am getting tired of seeing this bad mon. It is bad because from the start all its had is a 60% chance working hypno and now with marshadow witch means more Xerneas its even worse now.

Also Gothitelle I do believe that it should go to B but not any higher. The fact that it is the only other shadow tag user aside from the mega gengar makes it have a niche that no other mon can have for not taking up a mega slot. And in general it really hurts a lot of those slower/balance teams.
 

Funbot28

Banned deucer.
Some noms:

A+ -> A
Although Marshadow isn't as prevalent in AG as it is in Ubers (I still feel people are sleeping on it though), Arceus still has taken a hit since Marsh emerged its presence on the metagame. Sub SD sets are still pretty effective, but the fact that it can get forced out by common threats such as Mega Gengar, Celesteela, Mega Sableye, and the aforementioned Marsh really hurts its viability a ton, preventing it from sweeping teams in most cases unless it chooses to forfeit either its item slot of moveslot to counteract the aforementioned checks with stuff like Chople Berry for Marsh or Fire Blast for Celest or Ferro. Bulky sets also now get outspeed by Mega Ray, meaning that it can't force the mindgames with Espeed like it once could on the 1v1 unless either its near max health or if Ray is incredibly weakened. All in all, Extreme Killer is not a bad mon by any means and still is one of the dominant faces of the AG meta, but I can't deny that recent meta trends haven't fallen in its favor enough to keep it at its same rank.

A -> A+
Yeh this thing never should have dropped. Both Power Herb and Z-Geo sets are still both threatening in their own rights and are even more menacing in AG compared to Ubers due to how less prepped teams are for them for some awkward reason. Lack of species clause also helps out Xerneas quite a bit, as teams running Dual Xern can often bluff between Scarf and setup (or even dual setup with Reg Geo and Z-Geo if you want to be cheeky), applying a lot of pressure on the opposing team. Speaking of Scarf, that set is still quite good and is a great pick on a majority of offensive teams in terms of checking threats like Marshadow, unboosted Ray, and Yveltal. Specs is also really good on webs since it can blow past the majority of walls once they get a little chip on them. The rise of Celesteela and PoisonCeus don't help it, but again coverage options could be run to circumvent its checks (especially good when considering Xern spam).

A -> A-
Zygod is fat but still loses to the majority of threats its supposed to check since they are starting to adapt to it with examples including Mixed Rayquaza (even Adamant DD can 2HKO at +1), HP Ice Primal Groudon, HP Ice Marshadow, and Ice Beam Ekiller. RestTalk sets are just too passive and give up too much momentum while Dragon Dance sets can just be pulled of better by Ray. SubCoil with Glare is still a neat set (especially paired with Goth which I will get to), but yeh Zygod just kinda lost its touch imo over time.

B- -> B+
This thing is actually stupid lol. It basically can almost always auto-win versus stall if played properly and with the new sets emerging (mainly the Thimo PP stall set), Goth is able to trap even more threats that it struggled with against before (think Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Lugia, etc...). The amount of support it can provide to practically any offensive threat is truly absurd and its actually quite splashable when thinking about how much it can pull off in one slot. Its deadweight versus any type of Hyper Offense, but besides that Gothitelle is one of the best stallbreakers in the metagame and a rise is surely due.

Replay to demonstrate (AG Seasonal R6): http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-645514677

Disagree with a raise in Magearna and drop of Fairceus as well. Neutral on Yveltal.
 

Chloe

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NUPL Champion
Firstly, we've added Yuga42 aka Erotic Pigeons
to the Viability Council, welcome!!
Secondly, we've voted on nominations plus changing a few more inaccurate rankings.
Code:
Updates:
Xerneas A to A+
Gothitelle B- to B+
Arceus-Ghost A- to B+
Jirachi B- to C+
Blissey C+ to B-
Galvantula D to unranked
Nihilego D to unranked
Scizor D to unranked
Mewtwo-Mega-X B- to C+
Arceus-Poison A- to B+
Marshadow A- to A
Mewtwo-Mega-Y B to B-
Lucario-Mega C+ to C
Alomomola D to unranked
Pheromosa C- to D
Blaziken C- to D
Arceus-Dark B+ to B
Pyukumuku C to D
Magearna B- to B
Arceus-Flying D to C
Individual Votes:
Order of votes: Thimo | Chloe | Pigeons | Megazard | Verdict

Chansey B to C+ no no no no no
Shuckle B- to C+ no no no no no
Klefki C to D/UR no no yes nah no
Xerneas A to A+ yes sure yes yes yes, Xerneas to A+
Arceus-Fairy A to A- no no no no no
Yveltal A to A- no no yes no no
Gothitelle B- to B/B+/A- A- B+ B+ B+ yes, Gothitelle to B+
Arceus-Grass B- to B no no no no no
Arceus-Ghost A- to B+ yes yes yes yes yes, Arceus-Ghost to B+
Deoxys-Speed B to B+yes no no no no
Jirachi B- to C+ yes yes yes yeah yes, Jirachi to C+
Smeargle B- to B+yes no no no, b wouldnt be nuts but not b+ no
Blissey C+ to B- yes sure no yes yes, Blissey to B-
Galvantula D to unranked yes yes yes LOL YES TY yes, Galvantula to Unranked
Nihilego D to unranked yes yes yes yes :[ yes, Nihilego to Unranked
Scizor D to unranked yes yes yes YESYESYES yes, Scizor to Unranked
Mewtwo-Mega-X B- to C+ yes yes yes yes yes, Mewtwo-Mega-X to C+
Arceus-Poison A- to B+ yes yes yes no yes, Arceus-Poison to B+
Marshadow A- to A yes no yes yes yes, Marshadow to A
Ferrothorn A- to B+ no yes no no no
Mewtwo-Mega-Y B to B- yes yes yes no yes, Mewtwo-Mega-Y to B-
Lucario-Mega C+ to C yes yes yes yes yes, Lucario-Mega to C
Alomomola D to unranked yes yes yes yes yes, Alomomola to Unranked
Pheromosa C- to D yes yes yes no yes, Pheromosa to D
Blaziken C- to D yes yes yes yes yes, Blaziken to D
Arceus-Dark B+ to B- no B B B is reasonable but fine with leaving in B+- drop to B compromise, Arceus-Dark to B
Skarmory B+ to B no no yes either way too- does not drop no
Pyukumuku C to D no yes yes c- maybe but ok- goes to D yes, Pyukumuku to D
Magearna B- to B/B+ B+ B B- B- aka dont move- goes to B yes, Magearna to B
Wobbuffet C to C- no yes yes no- does not drop no
Arceus-Flying D to C+/B- B- C like C maybe?C+ is fine, still new/niche- starts in C for now compromise, Arceus-Flying at C for time being.
Sableye-Mega B+ to A- yes no yes no more discussion needed
Arceus-Water A- to B+ no yes yes no more discussion needed
Arceus A+ to A no yes yes no more discussion needed
Deoxys-Attack B+ to B no yes yes no more discussion needed
Some discussion points:
Mega Sableye B+ to A-?
Arceus-Water A- to B+?
Arceus A+ to A?
Deoxys-Attack B+ to B?
Arceus Flying C to somewhere higher?
 
Unranked -> D
Dragonite is as of yet unranked within the anything goes tier and I am nominating it to D rank, Dragonite serves 2 main roles which make use of its two most distinguishing aspects when compared to other similar dragon type setup sweepers, its fantastic ability multiscale and what is technically the most powerful move in the game, Horndrill.
Dragonites ability multiscale halves incoming damage when it is on full health, giving it incredible initial bulk, allowing it a free dragon dance in front of otherwise devastating offensive threats such as Kyogre-primal and Mega-Rayquaza, comfortably surviving a +1 dragon ascent from the Anything Goes flagship pokemon.
+1 252+ Atk Rayquaza-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 216-254 (66.8 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Kyogre-Primal Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 252-298 (78 - 92.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 SpA Pixie Plate Arceus-Fairy Judgment vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 153-180 (47.3 - 55.7%) -- 75.4% chance to 2HKO

With this initial bulk Dragonite acts as an excellent check to the multitude of relatively frail offensive sweepers within the metagame as well as taking advantage of this turn to set up its dragon dance technique.

The Lure
Dragonite @ Steelium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Head

Dragonite has a wide level of coverage and with generation 7 introducing Z moves Dragonite can muscle its way through many of the support arceus forms that previously stopped it in its tracks and are unsuspecting of this relatively weak OU tier pokemon. With a near guaranteed setup turn Dragonite can use dragon dance to boost its attack and speed and can effectively sweep an unsuspecting team with few defensive checks remaining. Dragonites steelium-Z at +1 ohko's max HP, max Def with ease, eliminating one of its most common defensive checks and paving the way for teammates such as Marshadow and Mega-Rayquaza.
Replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-647413359

The Driller
Dragonite @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Horn Drill
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Toxic

The use and abuse of the OHKO move is largely ignored within the Anything Goes meta, to which this strategy is limited to, and despite this can and will allow me and others who use this strategy to win games that they had absolutely no business winning. With a 30% chance to hit Horndrill allows Dragonite the ability, with a small amount of luck, to turn a game around in a matter of turns. Dragonites multiscale ability is well used in this allowing an almost guaranteed 2 chances to hit this devastating attack. Now many of you will be skeptical of using this due to the perceived low probability of the move actually connecting however with some math you can see the true potential of this attack. Let us say that this particular Dragonite is given the opportunity to hit 2 of its Horn Drills due to its choice scarf and multiscale ability, there are 3 outcomes in this situation, the dragonite hits both drills, hits one drill, or misses both, well the odds are spread as following; To miss both drills is at a probability of 0.49, to hit one out of the two is 0.42 and the chance to eliminate one third of the opposing team is 0.09. To put this into scale Dragonite has a near identical chance of missing a draco meteor as it does eliminating one third of the opposing team when using horn drill and has a 51% chance to hit at least one of its horn drills. Furthermore this set allows the relatively bulky dragonite to outspeed the vast majority of the metagame, allowing it to scare out the likes of marshadow, Mega-Rayquaza, Mega-Gengar and can often 2hko neutrally typed arceus forms without the use of HornDrill but with moves such as outrage and earthquake. Below is a replay which shows how even a champion of the meta can always be overcome by a hefty bit of luck.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-552670324

Weaknesses:
Yes, Dragonite has weaknesses, many of them. a list of these include stealth rocks, anything with Ice beam, thunderwave or will-o-wisp, various steel types such as celesteela, skarmory and arceus-steel and much much more. Dragonite requires a fair amount of team support from defoggers, checks to its many weaknesses and is not splashable on every team. Furthermore many parallels can be drawn to Mega-Rayquaza, which has identical typing, far superior stats and a similarly damage reducing ability to Dragonite and is for all intents and purposes superior to Dragonite except for lacking access to an OHKO move.

Thanks for reading this and hopefully you will consider my favourite pokemon for the D rank within the AG meta's viability rankings.


 

Fardin

Tournament Banned
Unranked -> D
Dragonite is as of yet unranked within the anything goes tier and I am nominating it to D rank, Dragonite serves 2 main roles which make use of its two most distinguishing aspects when compared to other similar dragon type setup sweepers, its fantastic ability multiscale and what is technically the most powerful move in the game, Horndrill.
Dragonites ability multiscale halves incoming damage when it is on full health, giving it incredible initial bulk, allowing it a free dragon dance in front of otherwise devastating offensive threats such as Kyogre-primal and Mega-Rayquaza, comfortably surviving a +1 dragon ascent from the Anything Goes flagship pokemon.
+1 252+ Atk Rayquaza-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 216-254 (66.8 - 78.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Kyogre-Primal Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 252-298 (78 - 92.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 SpA Pixie Plate Arceus-Fairy Judgment vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 153-180 (47.3 - 55.7%) -- 75.4% chance to 2HKO

With this initial bulk Dragonite acts as an excellent check to the multitude of relatively frail offensive sweepers within the metagame as well as taking advantage of this turn to set up its dragon dance technique.

The Lure
Dragonite @ Steelium Z
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage
- Extreme Speed
- Iron Head

Dragonite has a wide level of coverage and with generation 7 introducing Z moves Dragonite can muscle its way through many of the support arceus forms that previously stopped it in its tracks and are unsuspecting of this relatively weak OU tier pokemon. With a near guaranteed setup turn Dragonite can use dragon dance to boost its attack and speed and can effectively sweep an unsuspecting team with few defensive checks remaining. Dragonites steelium-Z at +1 ohko's max HP, max Def with ease, eliminating one of its most common defensive checks and paving the way for teammates such as Marshadow and Mega-Rayquaza.
Replay: http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-647413359

The Driller
Dragonite @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Horn Drill
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Toxic

The use and abuse of the OHKO move is largely ignored within the Anything Goes meta, to which this strategy is limited to, and despite this can and will allow me and others who use this strategy to win games that they had absolutely no business winning. With a 30% chance to hit Horndrill allows Dragonite the ability, with a small amount of luck, to turn a game around in a matter of turns. Dragonites multiscale ability is well used in this allowing an almost guaranteed 2 chances to hit this devastating attack. Now many of you will be skeptical of using this due to the perceived low probability of the move actually connecting however with some math you can see the true potential of this attack. Let us say that this particular Dragonite is given the opportunity to hit 2 of its Horn Drills due to its choice scarf and multiscale ability, there are 3 outcomes in this situation, the dragonite hits both drills, hits one drill, or misses both, well the odds are spread as following; To miss both drills is at a probability of 0.49, to hit one out of the two is 0.42 and the chance to eliminate one third of the opposing team is 0.09. To put this into scale Dragonite has a near identical chance of missing a draco meteor as it does eliminating one third of the opposing team when using horn drill and has a 51% chance to hit at least one of its horn drills. Furthermore this set allows the relatively bulky dragonite to outspeed the vast majority of the metagame, allowing it to scare out the likes of marshadow, Mega-Rayquaza, Mega-Gengar and can often 2hko neutrally typed arceus forms without the use of HornDrill but with moves such as outrage and earthquake. Below is a replay which shows how even a champion of the meta can always be overcome by a hefty bit of luck.
http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7anythinggoes-552670324

Weaknesses:
Yes, Dragonite has weaknesses, many of them. a list of these include stealth rocks, anything with Ice beam, thunderwave or will-o-wisp, various steel types such as celesteela, skarmory and arceus-steel and much much more. Dragonite requires a fair amount of team support from defoggers, checks to its many weaknesses and is not splashable on every team. Furthermore many parallels can be drawn to Mega-Rayquaza, which has identical typing, far superior stats and a similarly damage reducing ability to Dragonite and is for all intents and purposes superior to Dragonite except for lacking access to an OHKO move.

Thanks for reading this and hopefully you will consider my favourite pokemon for the D rank within the AG meta's viability rankings.
I don't agree with this. We might as well put mew in there cause it gets horn drill as well as recovery + better typing for ag. I'm not gonna consider its dd set cause its pointless to run especially when u have mons like mray, zygarde and salamence around who are much much much much better. Since those 3 are more relevant, it doesn't matter what dnite does :I u might as well nominate hippo cause it does almost the same as support groundceus but it's more shit. At this point, ur only arguement would be that dnite is capable of performing both as a horn drill tank or a shittier version of mray/zygarde, which makes it a little bit unpredictable. Idt that reason is good enuf for D
 

Pigeons

pidge pidge
is a Tiering Contributoris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Staff Alumnus
Well on a note that isn't about shitmons (I think I speak for the council when I say Dragonite is not getting ranked), here are my thoughts on the discussion points.

Discussion Points:

Mega Sableye B+ to A-


I do think Sableye should rise. I know the timing for this is slightly awkward, bumping a stall Pokemon up in rank when Gothitelle is becoming as prominent as it is does seem odd so I'll elaborate. Firstly, even with the increase in Gothitelle usage, stall is far from dead. Stall doesn't appreciate the rise of Gothitelle at all, but things like BlackGlasses Tyranitar to allow stall to beat it. Stall is also ridiculously underprepped for at the moment, giving Sableye an edge in many matchups. Individually it's extremely good against multiple playstyles. Against offense it shuts down most suicide leads while checking Marshadow, EKiller and Deoxys-A nicely. Sableye isn't restricted to stall either, paired with a strong breaker it can form an effective base for a balance team. Sableye + Primal Kyogre is particularly notable in my eyes as Sableye's Magic Bounce block Ferrothorn's ability to use Leech Seed and recover HP, making it much easier to wear down. Sableye just has a lot going for it right now individually and I think its rank should rise to reflect that.

Arceus-Water A- to B+

I made this nom so I support it obviously, won't really elaborate since I already did that before. tl;dr Toxic /Goth meta makes it harder to use and it has a hard time checking multiple things at once.

Arceus A+ to A

Nah. Arceus definitely got worse with Marshadow's introduction, nobody's arguing with that, but I think the degree to which Arceus was affected is exaggerated. Sets like Chople and Substitute make Marsh an unreliable check, and this comes at great risk to the Marshadow user as they have no way of knowing whether or not it's safe to use Close Combat. EKiller is definitely offense's best option to not lose to fast setup sweepers like DD Rayquaza, something Marshadow can't quite match as a revenge killer. Arceus simply provides too much for offensive teams to drop, especially when offense is becoming one of the better playstyles at the moment.

Deoxys-Attack B+ to B

Not super strongly opinionated on this. I've never liked Deospam personally but it does feel a bit better than the stuff in B. I'd be interested to hear arguments from people who have used this more.

Arceus-Flying C to Somewhere higher

Never used this Pokemon so no opinion. On paper it's pretty cool as a CM + Refresh Arceus form that beats Marshadow so not opposed to putting it higher, I don't think it should go higher than B- though.

Also:

Lunala B+ to B

Lunala is alright but right now is facing a lot of competition. Offensive sets have to compete with Marshadow, defensive sets (which I don't think are great) have competition from Giratina. Ghost / Fighting coverage is a lot more prepared for at the moment thanks to Marshadow which greatly limits Lunala's effectiveness against bulkier builds. Getting bopped by Marshadow's Shadow Sneak isn't great either because it reduces Lunala's effectiveness against offensive teams when using Scarf or Z-Hypnosis. I've never found Lunala particularly great but given the current meta I think it's time for it to drop.
 
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RNGIsFatal

Banned deucer.
Mega Sableye B+ to A-


I do think Sableye should rise. I know the timing for this is slightly awkward, bumping a stall Pokemon up in rank when Gothitelle is becoming as prominent as it is does seem odd so I'll elaborate. Firstly, even with the increase in Gothitelle usage, stall is far from dead. Stall doesn't appreciate the rise of Gothitelle at all, but things like BlackGlasses Tyranitar to allow stall to beat it. Stall is also ridiculously underprepped for at the moment, giving Sableye an edge in many matchups. Individually it's extremely good against multiple playstyles. Against offense it shuts down most suicide leads while checking Marshadow, EKiller and Deoxys-A nicely. Sableye isn't restricted to stall either, paired with a strong breaker it can form an effective base for a balance team. Sableye + Primal Kyogre is particularly notable in my eyes as Sableye's Magic Bounce block Ferrothorn's ability to use Leech Seed and recover HP, making it much easier to wear down. Sableye just has a lot going for it right now individually and I think its rank should rise to reflect that.
I never post in AG threads because people there hate me

Regarding Mega Sableye, I think I need some explanation to understand this. Arceus-Fairy is on nearly every team because of the prevalence of Marshadow led to it being one of the reliable answers while checking stuff like Mega Rayquaza and others. Also, there are plenty of threats that can force out Sableye and spread status as far as I can say from my experience. Primal Groudon basically beats Sableye one on one and Primal Kyogre (Sableye's partner, according to what you said) can't switch into Ground moves. Ho-oh can spam Sacred Fire on Sableye's face and eventually induce burn, halving Foul Play's damage and leaving it very passive against Ho-oh for the rest of the match. Of course, aforementioned two Pokemon despise switching into Toxic.

Also I'm not sure if Mega Sableye "checks" Marshadow when

+1 252 Atk Marshadow Soul-Stealing 7-Star Strike vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Sableye-Mega: 286-337 (94 - 110.8%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

... happens. I rarely see Life Orb variants because it is p much deadweigh against most Arceus formes.
 

Wuul

Banned deucer.
Maybe Marsh should be A+ rank? i have been using a swagger set, and while very popular when Marsh first came out, it has died down. I find it extremely useful not for boosts, but for forcing switch outs, which are easy to read. The mon is so unpredictable when it comes to its last move slot, that i think it should be higher.
 
Now for what I really wanted to talk about. Nominating Solrock from unranked to D rank.
Solrock a few different niches making it usable. Being a rock type allows it to tank hits from mega rayquaza and other flying type attacks (like fly arc and yvental) Also it has levitate so its immune to all ground moves and so this helps it set up Stealth rocks vs primal groundon. It has rock tomb so it can slow everything down and then either I out speed with another mon or they have to switch out. It also has decent recovery in morning sun and so it can stall out or at lest where down some threats with toxic. Still it has poor stats (especially speed like even rocktomb sometimes don't make it out speed) and takes 2x damage from ghost type moves due to being a psychic type. So it probably has no hope of being C-. But I do feel it would be reasonable as a D rank mon.
 
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I would definitely support the idea of getting solrock ranked. I have used it on different teams and it works rather well with Arceus-Poison being a good switchin for ground moves from mons such as Arceus-Ground, Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquazas that doesnt run draco/surf/waterfall. Maybe its just my personal bias of really enjoying Arceus-Poison right now but kinda covering Arceus-Ground, Pdon and some Rays (Ho-Oh too) at the same time should be worth getting ranked.
 

Geysers

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Okay

I would definitely support the idea of getting solrock ranked. I have used it on different teams and it works rather well with Arceus-Poison being a good switchin for ground moves from mons such as Arceus-Ground, Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquazas that doesnt run draco/surf/waterfall. Maybe its just my personal bias of really enjoying Arceus-Poison right now but kinda covering Arceus-Ground, Pdon and some Rays (Ho-Oh too) at the same time should be worth getting ranked.
Now for what I really wanted to talk about. Nominating Solrock from unranked to D rank. Solrock has a few different niches making it usable. Being a rock type allows it to tank hits from mega rayquaza and other flying type attacks (like fly arc and yvental) Also it has levitate so its immune to all ground moves and so this helps it set up Stealth rocks vs primal groundon. It has rock tomb so it can slow everything down and then either I out speed with another mon or they have to switch out. It also has decent recovery in morning sun and so it can stall out or at lest where down some threats with toxic. Still it has poor stats (especially speed like even rocktomb sometimes don't make it out speed) and takes 2x damage from ghost type moves due to being a psychic type. So it probably has no hope of being C-. But I do feel it would be reasonable as a D rank mon.
I fully agree with you, because solrock is actually quite bulky. It can tank dascent and vcreate easily, but it is threatened by waterfall and dmeteor, which prevent it from being higher than D. It also kinda covers pdon and Ho-Oh, which is useful. Also, Solrock can work well with Poisonceus, as stated above. It also works great with steelceus, which can bait the fire/ground moves. One big issue with Solrock is its weakness to water, which lets pogre and waterfall mray hit it really hard. Overall, however, Solrock is definitely worthy of D rank, possibly C-, but I am not holding my breath. Anyway, on to the main body of my post.

Zekrom: C+ -> C-
Zekrom does have its niches (as a powerul physical attacker with electric STAB, which virtually no other viable mons have). Also, Zekrom counters Pogre quite effectively, provided that you run max speed on it. In order to outspeed Pogre, however, you need to reduce your attack by running a jolly nature. Also, Zekrom has very little coverage against its key weakness, ground. Pdon with pblades simply goes to town against Zekrom, which has no useful ways to return fire. Zekrom faces a similar problem vs Arceus Ground, which will likely outspeed (provided you did your evs right), and then get an ohko with judgment. Zekrom is simply not viable in the AG, due to its crippling ground weakness. With air balloon, it has some potential, but Pdon still beats it, because Zekrom simply has no way to do any significant amount of damage to it. The only reason that I am not nominating Zekrom to unranked is the useful niche against Pogre, and the potential vs Flyingceus or, if used right, the ability to get an outrage off against Mray. However, this relies on the Mray having a choice item and being locked into a move such as dragon ascent or waterfall, rendering this scenario rather unlikely. Choice Scarf Zekrom could be quite effective against Pogre, hitting with an adamant Bolt Strike, but being locked into an electric type move makes it easy to defeat with Pdon or Groundceus. Choice Band Zekrom could also hit very hard against pogre, but would be almost required to run jolly in order to outspeed Pogre. Again, the choice item would cripple Zekrom, rendering it setup bait for something like Rock Polish Pdon, which gets a free turn to setup because Zekrom has to switch out.

Blaziken: D -> Unranked
Blaziken is just weak in general. It has a potential niche as a baton passer, but it is easily defeated by Groundceus. Blaziken's weak defensive typing means that many common threats, such as Pdon, Pogre, and Mray can go ham on it. Also, the lack of coverage in Blaziken's movepool means that it has virtually nothing that can hit Mray hard, allowing a Dascent to crush it. Pogre is a little easier to beat, using High Jump Kick, but still, if one Origin Pulse hits, Blazi is steamrolled. Also, defensive Ground-Arceus can hit really hard against it with near impunity. It has insufficient firepower to be of much use against many common threats. Also, Blaziken is outclassed in its most useful role as a baton passer. Scolipede is a far better speed boost mon for BP, due to its higher base speed and better defensive movepool, which includes iron defense. In all, Blaziken is simply too weak to be any good in the AG metagame, and would be better suited for use in ubers.
 
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I would definitely support the idea of getting solrock ranked. I have used it on different teams and it works rather well with Arceus-Poison being a good switchin for ground moves from mons such as Arceus-Ground, Primal Groudon and Mega Rayquazas that doesnt run draco/surf/waterfall. Maybe its just my personal bias of really enjoying Arceus-Poison right now but kinda covering Arceus-Ground, Pdon and some Rays (Ho-Oh too) at the same time should be worth getting ranked.
Like Lugia can fulfill its roll in a similar way but doesnt get stealth rocks and it is weak to rocks making it not be able to switch into banded ray if rocks are up. Still niche nevertheless but worth of d rank.
 
Well i guess Arceus-normal should be dropped cuz in current meta most of its sets are not that good,salac/chople are not that effective as it lacks damage and it can be taken out easily with mray with band or LO secondly chople just to take CC from marsh is not a good way to go imo so i just don't like that one :P next defensive sets this type of set can be taken out with pogre or any other heavy Spa attacker Go steelceus.Well it can still be used in late game too but still it just end up occupying a slot where you can add better sweepers which are good in current meta.
 
Well i guess Arceus-normal should be dropped cuz in current meta most of its sets are not that good,salac/chople are not that effective as it lacks damage and it can be taken out easily with mray with band or LO secondly chople just to take CC from marsh is not a good way to go imo so i just don't like that one :P next defensive sets this type of set can be taken out with pogre or any other heavy Spa attacker Go steelceus.Well it can still be used in late game too but still it just end up occupying a slot where you can add better sweepers which are good in current meta.
Well i agree with what you said but just how far down are we talking cuz I can see A or maybe A-. But if we are talking for Arc way down in B nah it still has enough power to stay in A.
 

Geysers

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Well i guess Arceus-normal should be dropped cuz in current meta most of its sets are not that good,salac/chople are not that effective as it lacks damage and it can be taken out easily with mray with band or LO secondly chople just to take CC from marsh is not a good way to go imo so i just don't like that one :P next defensive sets this type of set can be taken out with pogre or any other heavy Spa attacker Go steelceus.Well it can still be used in late game too but still it just end up occupying a slot where you can add better sweepers which are good in current meta.

Normalceus should definitely be dropped, due to its weakness to cc marsh. Due to marshadow's immunity to espeed, ekiller must rely on shadow claw to deal effective damage, but because it is outsped by marshadow, Ekiller gets pulverized with cc before shadow claw can hit. Even with chople berry, arceus is still steamrolled by sub marshadow. In a non-marsh meta, Ekiller could be a lot better, but marsh really blunts its effectiveness, prompting me (and a bunch of other people) to nominate it to A-.
Edit: Ekiller is also beaten by supprtceus walls, which have the bulk to survive a +2 espeed, before using... roar? To force you to switch out. I am still unclear on what else support arceus can do to beat ekiller, but Celesteela is possibly the best ekiller counter out there. It is virtually impossible to hit super effectively against with ekiller, and can protect/substitute stall after a couple of flame charges, rendering ekiller useless while it is stalled out with leech seed.
 
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Normalceus should definitely be dropped, due to its weakness to cc marsh. Due to marshadow's immunity to espeed, ekiller must rely on shadow claw to deal effective damage, but because it is outsped by marshadow, Ekiller gets pulverized with cc before shadow claw can hit. Even with chople berry, arceus is still steamrolled by sub marshadow. In a non-marsh meta, Ekiller could be a lot better, but marsh really blunts its effectiveness, prompting me (and a bunch of other people) to nominate it to A-.
Marsh is not only thing that effects ekiller in meta currently its also def arceus forms they can take your +2 speed and toxic while you sd and then spam recover and further the wow users cripples it alot more and facade is not that used on its sets so its likely frail vs supportceus too another thing is that if you are running ekiller then it must/should be bulky so that it can take hit if you are using chople but it makes it weak to mray cuz its slower so takes high damage from DA LO ray and then it can KO or it can't idk about it :/ sorry,and then extreme speed KOs it.
 
for Waterfall you could try running a pinch berry + Will-O-Wisp

252 Atk Choice Band Rayquaza-Mega Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Solrock: 294-346 (76.5 - 90.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(after Pinch Berry activates you'll be up to 60%)
252 Atk Choice Band burned Rayquaza-Mega Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Solrock: 147-173 (38.2 - 45%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

you're still going to die here but at least you can get Ray burned and one turn of stuff to do in the meantime (set rocks or pass existing boosts)

unfortunately Draco will just OHKO and you can get haxed but it's something

EDIT: Passho Berry alternatively to give you more leeway for prior damage at the cost of being useless against don / Ho-Oh

EDIT 2:
Also Solrock gets 2hko'd by a +1 LO dragon ascent from mega rayquaza.
you could pair it with a
pursuit trapper?

last edit: I forgot impish lol
 
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Shuca berry ttar is good vs Ray. But if they are dd life orb you want to toxic/rock tomb/will o wisp them anyway it going to die in the process is sth you need to expect its dd lo ray after all it is still good vs band, pdon and ho-oh. Its niche is doing that + having stealth rock. I use it on my goth teams bc I like to pair it with Arceus-Poison and I feel you have very limited space after that so sr + ground immune and above mentioned stuff is niche enough for me and it just works.
 

Chloe

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NUPL Champion
Blaziken is a really niche, but useful passer in AG. Definitely deserves to be on the VR. You clearly are not aware of Blaziken's best set which is the Z-mirror move set which actually can beat all three of the hoeen trio which you so often cite. Blaziken has a high chance of OHKOing Primal Groudon with a +2 (from z mirror move) Precipice Blades. It also OHKOs Mega Ray with a +2 Dragon Ascent after rocks as well. Blaziken isn't meant to be on Baton Pass teams but to use its support as a baton passer to potentially take out Pdon and then pass a +2 attack and a +2 speed to another teammate. Blaziken has like 0 user in ubers btw because baton pass is banned there (thanks thimsy). Blaziken's defensive typing really doesn't matter because it has great offensive typing and has no defensive utility anyway. Its not supposed to be a sweeper in AG but its a really decent support mon in the meta.
Z-Mirror Move Blaziken is a set that shouldn't be used seriously. Someone using this to justify its viability is incredibly silly, especially this late in the metagame when we know it's not justifiable on any team. It is simply a gimmick that someone has to be silly enough to fall for in the first place. Blaziken remaining at D rank doesn't bother me; albeit, your justification for why it should does.
Also Solrock gets 2hko'd by a +1 LO dragon ascent from mega rayquaza.
+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solrock: 214-253 (55.7 - 65.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

It only 2HKOs 15% of the time, when Will-O-Wisp misses.
solrock needs the leftovers to avoid 2hkos
252+ Atk Choice Band Rayquaza-Mega Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Solrock: 165-195 (42.9 - 50.7%) -- 3.1% chance to 2HKO

From Choice Band Adamant Mega Rayquaza Dragon Ascent, yes. Otherwise, no.
Is this enough to justify Leftovers being an essential item, no. Is it Solrock's best item, yes.
what pursuit traps mega ray tho lol
Tyranitar, you know, the most common pursuit trapper in the metagame.
so now you're taking two mons to soft check ray when one support arceus and some priority checks it fine
Just stop, please.
 
Well about blazekin - No no no,i mean any of its sets are not that effective currently and gets phazed by stallish mons and pdon/arceus with roar or with priorities etc.
Solrock >D - well only thing i like about this thing is that it checks both pdon and mray and setting hazards,status spreading and also nice recovery but at some point in my op its not that of a mon to put on a team to check pdon and mray you can check these things with other offensive options too but i do agree with this.
 

lotiasite

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Okay, it seems that a little more detail about my Blaziken nomination is in order. Therefore, I bring thee: CALCS

0 SpA Earth Plate Arceus-Ground Judgment vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Blaziken: 792-932 (510.9 - 601.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Earth Plate Arceus-Ground Judgment vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken: 584-690 (312.2 - 368.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Splash Plate Arceus-Water Judgment vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken: 584-690 (312.2 - 368.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza-Mega Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Blaziken: 702-827 (375.4 - 442.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Kyogre-Primal Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken in Heavy Rain: 1460-1722 (780.7 - 920.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Kyogre-Primal Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken in Heavy Rain: 1148-1352 (613.9 - 722.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 SpA Kyogre-Primal Thunder vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken: 255-301 (136.3 - 160.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
240+ Atk Groudon-Primal Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Blaziken: 1056-1244 (564.7 - 665.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Groudon-Primal Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Blaziken: 836-986 (447 - 527.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

And now, to laugh at Blaziken's weakness, a bunch of other random calcs:

252+ Atk Teravolt Zekrom Bolt Strike vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Blaziken: 501-591 (267.9 - 316%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0- Atk Teravolt Zekrom Dragon Claw vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blaziken: 195-229 (104.2 - 122.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Life Orb Sigilyph Psychic vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken: 632-743 (337.9 - 397.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Arceus-Bug Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blaziken: 362-428 (193.5 - 228.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Arceus-Bug Savage Spin-Out (160 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blaziken: 217-255 (116 - 136.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252+ SpA Icicle Plate Arceus-Ice Judgment vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken: 196-231 (104.8 - 123.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO
4 Atk Life Orb Abomasnow Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Blaziken: 309-364 (165.2 - 194.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Mr. Mime Psychic vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken: 474-560 (253.4 - 299.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

And now, the God of BP:

+6 248 SpA Espeon Stored Power (620 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Blaziken: 15588-18342 (8335.8 - 9808.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Yes, I know, some of those are kinda random.
As you can see, Blaziken is very easy to defeat with many totally random threats, many of which have next to no viability in AG, and some of which are in NU. Blaziken is beaten by NU pokemon, and clearly deserves no place in AG.
I'm sorry, but these calcs are pretty much irrelevant and have no place in discussing why Blaziken isn't viable in AG. Saying that Blaziken can't tank super effective hits doesn't mean anything; we could say Mega Rayquaza is unviable because it gets OHKOed by +1 Zygarde's Outrage. Also, literally none of these calcs are correct. If i'm right, you're using Level 50 Blaziken in these calculations, meaning all of them are invalid. Some of the fixed calcs would be:
4 SpA Kyogre-Primal Thunder vs. 0 HP / 0- SpD Blaziken: 198-234 (65.7 - 77.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO -- this actually doesnt even exist so that wouldnt matter regardless
+2 252 Atk Arceus-Bug Savage Spin-Out (160 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Blaziken: 165-194 (54.8 - 64.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO -- this calc is completely irrelevant bc 1) arceus-bug is unviable and 2) because earthquake exists

Furthermore, showing us completely us that Blaziken is OHKOed by completely irrelevant Pokemon like Sigilyph, Abomasnow, and Mr. Mime is useless and doesn't show us anything. If you want to explain why Blaziken is unviable in Anything Goes, use relevant (and correct) calcs. Max Defense/Special Defense Blaziken will never exist, so literally all of these calcs, besides the first one, aren't representative of the AG metagame. Your last sentence "Blaziken is beaten by NU pokemon, and clearly deserves no place in AG."... look at this calc.
252+ SpA Vanilluxe Blizzard vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Rayquaza-Mega in Strong Winds: 350-414 (99.7 - 117.9%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
Mega Rayquaza also loses to NU Pokemon. Does this means it's unviable in AG? Not even close. If NU Pokemon aren't going to be used in AG anyway, what's the point of saying Blaziken loses to them? Pretty much all of your calcs are random, and the last one is just crazy. Are you expecting Blaziken to survive a +6 Stored Power from Espeon? I hope not.

Blaziken has a niche with Speed Boost (and sometimes Baton Pass). Saying that Blaziken is unviable in AG because it can't live Life Orb Mega Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent is uninformed and irrelevant, because it's not representative of Blaziken's place in the metagame and what it actually does. It can support some Pokemon with Speed boosts, not do whatever you expect it to do. Personally, I think Blaziken is fine at D rank because it has a niche (albeit a pretty poor one). Please, if you're going to nominate a Pokemon for a specific rank, talk about its effect in the metagame and how it actually functions instead of providing utterly irrelevant and even wrong calcs.
 

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