OU Viability Thread

[ThinkNice]

Update time:

 

Gengar has been ranked as S for his insane diversity and fulfilling every role it can fulfill in a great way. Coupled with one of the best abilities and a pretty amazing typing and gaining STAB special Shadow Ball makes Gengar one of the most present -and terrifying- force in our metagame.

 

Slowbro has been ranked as A+ for outstanding defensive capabilities and instant recovery. It has a flew flaws in that most of the attackers it can counter have a good answer to it and it needs HP Electric to deal with Gyarados.

 

Metagross has been ranked as A+ as well for its great physical movepool and ability to go special if it wants. Only a few Pokémon can wall this monster completely and if it's lucky enough to get that 10% boost shit is going to go down.

 

Ludicolo has been ranked B, not as effective as most Pokémon but it's subseed set is extremely potent. Coupled with the fact that it is a great answer to Slowbro, Swampert, Starmie and even Gengar that lack Sludge Bomb and we have a Pokémon that can be useful, but sometimes, is not.

 

Vaporeon has been ranked B+ because right now it's overshadowed by Swampert, Slowbro and Blissey. It can not take physical hits repeatedly now that the meta is extremely focused on physical attackers. It still, however, can be an effective cleric.

 

Forretress has been ranked B+ as it is one of the best physical walls but does not exert enough offensive pressure to do something with it. It's a good spinner but with the prevalence of Gengar makes it less effective and in need of Pursuit support almost all the time.

 

Flygon has been ranked B+ as it is simply outclassed by the physical attackers in the S or A ranks. He sure has Levitate and STAB EQ goign for him though.

 

Gyarados has been ranked A+ for his extremely good sweeper set with the addition of physical Waterfall and the move Crunch. Although I cold still argue that Gyarados is a very meta defining Pokémon forcing all bulky waters to carry HP Electric, or in Swampert´s case Rock Slide. His STAB is really good and he has the tools to get by any physical defensive Pokémon. I would also like to add that Gyarados can effectively run a defensive set with Intimidate coupled with a pretty cool typing leaving him with just one weakness.

 

So although I ranked Gyarados A+ I still nominate Gyarados for S rank.

 

----------

 

I would go as far as bring Swellow down to D rank. It really can only function well with a Choice Band and Guts activated and even then it can still be walled. I think it certainly has a niche but this doesn't qualify it being C rank. It is IMO grossly outclassed by Machamp and Ursaring that both can function well without a CB or Guts and are less straightforward.

 

Reserved for Pokemon that are highly mediocre in the OU metagame, but are viable enough to justify their use on select teams. These Pokemon are only capable of doing their specific task and fail at doing anything more than that. Pokemon from this rank have multiple crippling flaws that prevent them from being successful a majority of the time, and are often severely outclassed because of it. These Pokemon exert a poor presence in the metagame.

 

Pretty much describes Swellow. As much as I love that bird.

 

Kangaskhan probably falls under C with it being grossly, grossly outclassed by Snorlax.

 

Discussion points:

Jolteon

Gyarados

Snorlax

Skarmory

Blaziken

anything else you want to discuss

Edited February 5, 2015 by ThinkNice

[DrCraig]

I'd put Skarmory in B+ along with Forrestress. It's basically a better defensive poke which can't spin. Best fit in B+, as it does have its own issue with its new physical weaknesses, and its usual lack of pressure.

 

I want to say Snorlax is an S, but Dnite sets the bar too high I think. The Curse set does destroy, as it always has, but now with CB I think it need more support thus it would be a more fitting A+.

[OrangeManiac]

I can't believe I pretty much agree 100% of the ranks.

but

But I'd call Gyarados easily S rank. HP Electric is generally bad. You would run it just for this ONE Pokemon instead of let's say HP Grass which basically has so much better coverage than Electric does. But that aside, nothing from the used OU meta counters Gyarados. Heck, I feel like there's not even too many stuff that check it. The only two things that I could come up to switch in without too much of a risk are Dragonite and Weezing and could be just me but the latter is something I haven't seen at all in the new OU. Also, throwing this out there and I know Outrage is bad but technically that's a move Gyarados can run if Dragonite turns too metacentralizing (if it isn't already). Overall, nothing from the used stuff safely switches into this, not to mention if Gyarados actually Dragon Dances on the switch it's basically a sweep when HP in the match gets even a little low. Even without switch, Gyarados can Dragon Dance against a lot of stuff with the Intimidate ability and relatively nice special defense to protect it from anything but electric attacks.

Edited February 4, 2015 by OrangeManiac

[DrCraig]

Yea I'm agreeing with Orange on that, it's tough to counter gyara without throwing hp electric on something. Vapo is probably the best at it.

Edit: Meta Defining = S

Edited February 4, 2015 by DrCraig

[BurntZebra]

Cloyster is a pretty good answer to gyarados as well but gyarados puts a ton of pressure on most OU teams

[DrCraig]

Blissey for A

 

One of the two best SDEF walls we have, not as good as snorlax in some aspects, better in others. Blissey is also the best cleric and I think it fits snugly at A.

[OrangeManiac]

Blissey for A

 

One of the two best SDEF walls we have, not as good as snorlax in some aspects, better in others. Blissey is also the best cleric and I think it fits snugly at A.

 

 

 

 

A Rank: Reserved for Pokemon that are fantastic in the OU metagame, and can sweep, support, or wall significant portions of the metagame. These Pokemon require less support than most others to be used effectively and have few flaws that can easily be compensated for when compared to their positive traits. These Pokemon exert a strong presence in the metagame.

 

 

Definitely fits the part "walling significant portions of the metagame". If we consider "basic" team building, you could argue Blissey walls minimum of 50% of the metagame. However, getting a physical attacker against a Blissey is a huge momentum changer. But while we consider how the highest rank wallbreakers have that high vulnerability to Blissey due to its 4x abuse (Thunderbolt against Gyara, Ice Beam against Dragonite) these two cannot gain momentum from Blissey right away. The only Pokemon to do this I think is Blaziken, Heracross and Metagross. So that is a huge flaw to Blissey but it's not that huge due to the two main wallbreakers must be predicting to switch in. So I'd argue the flaws are compensated by walling by default 50% of the meta. Exerting a strong presence in the meta? Definitely agreed too. I mean, if you do not save your physical attackers against this annoying lil.... prepared to get walled and salty.

TL;DR Agreed. Even though Blissey lost viability with the physical attackers being pretty nice in OU now, if you're not saving something against this you have absolutely 0% chance of winning.

Edited February 4, 2015 by OrangeManiac

[Robofiend]

Jolteon needs more love:

 

As the fastest special sweeper available, Jolteon has a big advantage over pretty much every common pokemon in OU just by virtue of its ability to clean up late game. It can carry Shadowball for extra coverage against potential switch ins (unless it's Blissey/Snorlax) and is one of the best Substitute abusers in the tier. Along with Swagger or Thunder Wave, Jolteon can abuse Sub/status sets for free turns. It absorbs Thunderpunches/Thunderbolts with its Volt Absorb ability, converting mispredicts by opponent Choice Banders into free turns. Its reasonable 110 base special attack is enough to dent much of the OU metagame and when combined with HP Ice/Grass it gains extra coverage against pesky Dragons and Swampert, who are otherwise reasonable checks.

 

A Rank

[Mardav]

Sub+flail zangoose anyone? 200 BP stab can can destroy anything after a teams ghost type is taken care of. Tho zangoose would've been better before the split.

[DrCraig]

Sub+flail zangoose anyone? 200 BP stab can can destroy anything after a teams ghost type is taken care of. Tho zangoose would've been better before the split.

I'd put Zangoose at a C Rank. Particularly for that set it needs a lot of support and is still can't ohko some pokes or gets finished by priority. Thus it needs a lot of support to clear threats, same goes for Dodrio, Linoone and other friends who want to flail. In regard to other sets, Zangoose is a squishy ursaring, and I think Ursaring does its job much better. It's just outclassed.

[BurntZebra]

I'd put Zangoose at a C Rank. Particularly for that set it needs a lot of support and is still can't ohko some pokes or gets finished by priority. Thus it needs a lot of support to clear threats, same goes for Dodrio, Linoone and other friends who want to flail. In regard to other sets, Zangoose is a squishy ursaring, and I think Ursaring does its job much better. It's just outclassed.

skarmory still walls zangoose+bulky waters can take on zangoose as well, not to mention dnite espeed which hurts zangoose a lot

Edited February 6, 2015 by BurntZebra

[Mardav]

Also.wondering about medicham tbh I've been using elemental punches with cb and it can 2hko a lot of the physical walls if not locked into a move that isnt super effective.. but obviously you'd switch...
252+ Atk Choice Band Pure Power Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 144 HP / 188 Def Snorlax: 618-728 (124.3 - 146.4%) --guaranteed OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Pure Power Medicham Fire Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 188-222 (56.2 - 66.4%) --guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Pure Power Medicham Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Vaporeon: 354-418 (76.2 - 90%) --guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Pure Power Medicham Thunder Punch vs. 252 HP /252+ Def Slowbro: 222-262 (56.3 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Pure Power Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP /252+ Def Steelix: 240-284 (67.7 - 80.2%) --guaranteed 2HKO

Sad thing is it doesn't have enough speed to hit the other sweepers before they take advantage of his low defenses
gengar shadow ball can ohko
Although jolteon would 2hko with shadow ball and tbolt

Medicham for B+ rank

Edit: just to make sure there is no confusion I DID scale hjk to 85 BP for Gen 3 power

Edited February 6, 2015 by Mardav

[DrCraig]

Yea Medicham is probably a B+. Too bad it kills itself if it misses jump kick. Otherwise it is a solid bander and alright at bulk up. Acess to the punches is nice with that huge attack, but it has mediocre speed and a medicore stab move.

Edited February 6, 2015 by DrCraig

[Mardav]

Cradily could probably be a decent mixed wall, getting 150 in both stats if at level 50 EV trained correctly also only 2 types as far as I'm aware are super effective to it. Ice and fighting, and with recover relatively easy to breed onto one it is a very good ancient power+ toxic abuser, after one boost with 225 in both stats it is literally unstoppable with recover, but relying on a 20% of the time boost on a Max 8 PP move isn't really something to heavily rely on. And suction cups stopping a skarmory spike+ whirlwind and allowing a curse set up while unlike curse lax which can be forced out with such moves, after a few of these with full spdef it can be a super annoying toxic staller with rock slide and recover.
Possibly B+ or A

Edit: sorry about multiple posts I'll try to think of 3 or 4 to put into one post instead of what I've been doing. Also I realized steel is also super effective to cradily.

Edited February 6, 2015 by Mardav

[ThinkNice]

Cradily could probably be a decent mixed wall, getting 150 in both stats if at level 50 EV trained correctly also only 2 types as far as I'm aware are super effective to it. Ice and fighting, and with recover relatively easy to breed onto one it is a very good ancient power+ toxic abuser, after one boost with 225 in both stats it is literally unstoppable with recover, but relying on a 20% of the time boost on a Max 8 PP move isn't really something to heavily rely on. And suction cups stopping a skarmory spike+ whirlwind and allowing a curse set up while unlike curse lax which can be forced out with such moves, after a few of these with full spdef it can be a super annoying toxic staller with rock slide and recover.
Possibly B+ or A

Edit: sorry about multiple posts I'll try to think of 3 or 4 to put into one post instead of what I've been doing. Also I realized steel is also super effective to cradily.

Cradily's weaknesses are fatal in the OU metagame. Fighting is extremely common and Meteor Mashes are falling down the sky like... meteors? Because Metagross is a very common Pokémon. Ice Beam and Ice Punch are everywhere because of Dragonite. Furthermore Cradiliy is very weak to being Toxiced itself and is setup bait for Slowbro. I don't even know if I can put it on the list because I can't think of any niche it fills in the OU metagame. If you say Toxic staller with instant heal, I say Quagsire, Umbreon. Arcanine and SLowbro. If you say Curse setup, it's not effective.

 

All in all, Cradily just doesn't work in OU. At least for now.

[DrCraig]

Blissey: A

Best cleric and arguably special wall as a whole. Its a big fat beast that everybody hates. Has decent offensive pressure, but is still switched in on fairly easily.

 

Starmie: A

Arguabley the best spinner due to its offensive pressure. Its wide special movepool paired with recover give it one of the best special presences. It hits hard with a strong, spammable, surf stab and has some reasonable bulk and a nice ability. However, it is susceptible to pursuit trapping. 

 

Skarmory: B

Although it is hated on for being no longer viable I still think it has a good defensive presence and is a great phazer. It has no pressure going for it however, and is susceptible to magneton trapping.

 

Dusclops: B

A great staller, spin blocker, and stops those pesky heracross. It has little offensive pressure, but has access to w-o-w/rest/painsplit which make it great for walling. It can focuspunch, sball, toss, shade, and ice beam which is all anybody cares about, if anybody cares. Needs support in a cleric and in a special/physical wall to cover its weakness depending on how is run.

 

Weezing: B

One of the best w-o-w pokes, with some great physical walling and no physical weakness that are actually viable (if they exist). It has an unreliable health regeneration in painsplit, and some alright offensive pressure in a nice special movepool and explosion.

 

Discuss.

[Shaniqualela]

Blissey: A

Best cleric and arguably special wall as a whole. Its a big fat beast that everybody hates. Has decent offensive pressure, but is still switched in on fairly easily.

 

Starmie: A

Arguabley the best spinner due to its offensive pressure. Its wide special movepool paired with recover give it one of the best special presences. It hits hard with a strong, spammable, surf stab and has some reasonable bulk and a nice ability. However, it is susceptible to pursuit trapping. 

 

Skarmory: B

Although it is hated on for being no longer viable I still think it has a good defensive presence and is a great phazer. It has no pressure going for it however, and is susceptible to magneton trapping.

 

Dusclops: B

A great staller, spin blocker, and stops those pesky heracross. It has little offensive pressure, but has access to w-o-w/rest/painsplit which make it great for walling. It can focuspunch, sball, toss, shade, and ice beam which is all anybody cares about, if anybody cares. Needs support in a cleric and in a special/physical wall to cover its weakness depending on how is run.

 

Weezing: B

One of the best w-o-w pokes, with some great physical walling and no physical weakness that are actually viable (if they exist). It has an unreliable health regeneration in painsplit, and some alright offensive pressure in a nice special movepool and explosion.

 

Discuss.

i agree to all of these except starmie maybe B+ or A-

many people are using snorlax, blissey and ludicolo now (even some on same team) and it cant do anything to any of them. also with pursuit coming soon(tm) once people are done breeding pursuit snorlax and stuff itll be easily trapped, and im seeing a lot of sceptiles which outspeed+kill it, or if you switch out you risk giving it a free sub for subseed sets, or free SD on physical sets and both can be dangerous if you need to switch starmie out.

[codylramey]

Either im doing something wrong or gyara is mis ranked. Water fall, eq,and crunch makes this thing a beast. Physical waterfall makes fortress and skarm not so good of a switch in, not that any of them can do anything to gyara, and crunch reks slowbro w/o HP electric. Even vaporeon is scared of crunch bc of def drop. The fact that it has intimidate and decent bulk for a sweeper allows it to come in with fairly decent ease and set up. After one DDance he out speeds everyting in the meta, has +1 atk AND doesnt get locked into a move. He is a premier late game sweeper and can work to bust walls early game. Idk Im bad in this meta (inb4 "you were always bad) so maybe im missing something. 

Edited February 10, 2015 by codylramey

[Robofiend]

inb4 "you were always bad"

 

Lol'd hard at that, but I agree with your post. Right now Gyarados isn't seeing as much use because of the following:

 

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Metagross: 278-328 (76.3 - 90.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

> you die to Tpunch

 

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Crunch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dragonite: 146-172 (45.2 - 53.2%) -- 32.8% chance to 2HKO

>you die to Tpunch

 

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 118-141 (35.3 - 42.2%) -- 88.9% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

>no one uses Skarmory

 

0 SpA Slowbro Psychic vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Gyarados: 97-115 (29.3 - 34.7%) -- 100% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Crunch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 190-224 (48.2 - 56.8%) -- 37.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

>this one's not as much of a mystery, Metagross and Dragonite are better go-to checks than Slowbro is, given that Crunch weakness

 

+2 252+ Atk Gyarados Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 224+ Def Vaporeon: 236-278 (50.9 - 60%) -- 89.1% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

>you need at least 2 DD's to break Vaporeon, gl with that (granted HP electric is extremely rare. Vap could run Roar if it felt the need to phase you)

 

+1 252+ Atk Gyarados Waterfall vs. 248 HP / 0 Def Heracross: 265-313 (73 - 86.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

>even Heracross can work as a check, if you can avoid getting Waterfall Flinched.

[ThinkNice]

Update:

 

Dragonite has been removed from the list and Gyarados has been moves up to S rank. Furthermore, Skarmory has been placed into B+, I'd like more opinions on the rest.

 

And people start nominating Pokémon or we'll never get this list full.

[londark]

Medicham for B/B+ in my opinion. Amazing Wallbreaker with with a massive attack stat thanks to its ability ( pretty sure it's the highest around right now ), premier CB user, with access to a massive 100 BP STAB move in Hi Jump Miss Kick ( Amazingly powerful, but has lots, LOTS, of reliability problems ), really nice coverage thanks to Elemental Punches and Rock Slide that lets it hit almost the entire meta for pretty good damages ( RIP Physical Shadowball ). It has also ( to be precise it'll have cause right now seems like it's bugged ) access to a priority move in Fake Out. 

 

Other sets include Reversal ( altho, imo inferior to Hera/Blaziken cause of the lack of SD ), Bulk Up set ( altho, not exactly a bulky pokemon that can set up againt lots of things ), SubPunch set.

 

Now, some problems with it. 80 Base Speed isn't that bad since it can outspeed most walls and some slow offensive threats, but from a general view point its speed is mediocre. It's not extreemly bulky ( 60/75/75 ) and can't really switch in on many attacks without taking a fair ammount of damages thanks to its typing. Except from HJK/FP ( and Double Edge/Return ) it doesn't really have an high power move to hit pokes like Weezing or bulky ghosts ( the lack of Physical Psichic Moves hurts here ). Its most powerfull and "spammable" move isn't exactly reliable since an unexpected protect or miss can litterally cost you Medicham, plus Gengar is a pretty common threat right now and giving it a free turn will be pretty bad.

[fredrichnietze]

And people start nominating Pokémon or we'll never get this list full.

this is why doubles viability died.

 

i think char should get moved up. while espeed gave it trouble b4 a 25% health char can live most mach/quick attacks and it's definitely scary.

 

personally i think gyara isnt S class. while yea it can dd and coverage wise it's great, it's coverage isnt effective. crunch takes out gar but it cant stop dusk/bro from hp elect/wow'ing it and stab water sounds kewl until you see all the other bulky waters show up and not care about eq/crunch. gyara just has too much trouble setting up to be S class and cb set can only come in on a few things.

[bl0nde]

Zangoose : middle A

Swords Dance, Return, Elemental Punches. I tried using my shuckle turtle to resist stab and neutral damage from the punches. Having not fought one before, didn't see the immunity ability and got swept. I'm using my solrock for zangoose now in theory. You can come up with something better for it thou probably.

 

Blaziken: high A or very low S

Swords Dance, Blaze Kick (slightly OP with high crit rate and chance to burn), thunder punch for bulky waters (exception swampert, as always). If I had a blaziken and wasn't sure what move to pick I would spam blaze kick evertiem. Yes, because that is OP with high crit rate + burn chance.

 

Scizor: middle A

Checked well by weezing but can progressively work a team down if it has coverage (flash fire or wish support, etc) with its high attack.

 

Venusaur: low A or very high B

Spams sleep powder every chance it gets. Seeds you to keep its health up. Can put in some good hits with stab sludge bomb and giga drain, especially with growth. Growth and overgrow: ouch!

 

Charizard: Low A or high B

You have to have something for substitute + belly drum. Just when you send out your bulky water to take the hit or phaze, it uses sunny day and can solar beam you. Gotta know which set.

 

Aerodactyl: Low A or high B

A good fast sweeper. It got crunch. Sometimes uses a band for extra punch. Don't mistake it for being bulky though. Many Aerodactyl have died trying to kill bulky rocks and steels with earthquake.

 

Machamp: High B

Wall'd hard by haze weezing among other things which can wear it down and it is slow. Make no mistake, stab cross chop is as strong as ever.  It got elemental punches for some more coverage.

 

Breloom: High B/Low A

Like venusaur, it still spams spore every chance it gets. Hidden power ghost is gone but thunderpunch can take its place and it hits pretty hard just like before. Be ready for it.

 

Rhydon: High B

Swords Dance boosts its attack into outer space. If it gets powered up and behind a substitute you will need resistences to even have a chance. It usually just switches out when you break the sub then comes back later in the match just as fat and stronk as ever. Be ready.

 

Dusclops: Middle B

Can still run a focus punch set with shadow punch but most attacks are physical now. So it kind of lost that special niche it had as acting as a mixed defender. The reason to use it would be mostly to make a physically defensive variant or a spinblocker. Stall and spikes may grow more popular but they are not popular right now. Dusclops can work okay covering for fighting or normal stab + elemental punches, but it will have to worry about pursuit and crunch in the future. It lost some of its shine, but can still work at times I'm sure (especially if you get W-o-W on the pursuit user).

 

Kingdra: Middle A

People suddenly figured out kingdra has decent attack in 2015 and can dragon dance for outrage or waterfall. Don't forget rain dance. be ready for it, or it will knock out part of your team.

 

Ludicolo: High B

• I was going to keep this as my little secret for awhile, but other people are figuring it out so who cares. A physically defensive Ludicolo walls off  almost ALL version of metagross. You can seed metagross then hit it with surf stab. if you have metagross seeded, it doesn't matter if it's mixed or not. Ludicolo has the bulk for it. The only Metagross that has beaten mine was an adamant one with a choice band - I missed the leech seed and it got a power up with meteor mash after ludicolo came in at 75% health from the start of the encounter - no tears on my side of the field. Without looking it up, I think metagross can run sludge bomb, but I have not seen one with sludge bomb...yet.

• Ludicolo also walls swampert hard and then can beat it with giga drain or even surf 1 v 1. one thing people don't exploit is swampert doesn't absorb water attacks very well on the special defense side without investment. people look at it and see a water pokemon so they don't think about that.
• It also got thunderpunch this update, that's a surprise for some. So it can wall gyarados hard then hit it in that weak defense for 4x damage. If gyarados tries to bounce, just switch out to resist it then send ludicolo back in. The only thing you have to watch out for is flail or i've read even "reversal". Hopefully you have something for those situations after ludicolo wears gyarados down for you.

• Physical defense Ludicolo also can take on dragon dance kingdra taking 1/4 damage from water. Usually you will be able to giga drain or seed kingdra to keep your health up and finish it off - usually*.

Physical defensive Ludicolo is  one of the most underrated defensive pivots in OU right now imo. Basically because everyone just got waterfall stab and they spam the poop out of it. Plus metagross, swampert, and gyarados are the easy go to pokemon for power right now.

 

Armaldo: Not sure what will happen to it because no one uses it or talks about it.

However, as a defensive player, I look at it having the same typing as shuckle which is excellent and would make me put it at a middle or even high A. I'm afraid to write this because someone will sweep me hard with it after reading this, but anyways:

• Basically it's good defensively because it resists normal stabs, takes neutral to fighting, and absorbs elemental punches for neutral damage. A lot of people try to go after shuckle (who has the same typing) with ice beam or ice punch, which is not effective.
• Armaldo has access to iron defense so it can harden that armor and take a pounding then work something down. Its only weakness on the physical defense side is going to be waterfall or metagross usually. If you want to hit hard with it, it has swords dance.
• It also has access to knock off and rapid spin just for options which is cool. 
• It also happens to have 125 base attack which is right under ursaring and machamp. hm... how about that?
• One weakness of it is no instant healing moves so it would roll on rest or wish support. Also, it is lacking a good strong bug type stab as far as I can tell, but you could bring the pain with rock slide.

It's currently an unknown beast and will remain unpopular(ish) because it is a fossil I think. Someone make me one pweez with impish nature.

 

Weezing: Anywhere from B+ to low B

Flamethrower for steels (scizor/skarmory) and venusaur, tbolt for water switch ins (starmie/slowbro/vaporeon). Access to haze (curselax/ bulk up machamp), W-o-W, and instant recovery(ish) with pain split. Not as versatile as before, but still a good defensive pivot.

Edited February 15, 2015 by bl0nde

[myhugeboijoe]

where would arcanine go?

[Robofiend]

I'll try to keep these blurbs short:

 

Gyrados: S

It's a pretty fearsome sweeper and likely to take down one or more of your walls if you're not careful.

Metagross: S

Good defensive pivot that resists Dragon, Ice, Poison and Grass and has the bulk to back it up. even if it just explodes it has done its job well.

 

Kingdra: A+

DD+Rest set is pretty scary, but Outrage is a little lackluster as a STAB option. Unlike other DD sweepers, it really needs to set up before it becomes effective.

Heracross: A+

A very strong pokemon who loves getting a Guts boost, it's a little slow but with good prediction it can do a shit ton of damage to common counters. I even watched a full health CB Hera Pursuit trap Gengar yesterday.

Gengar: A+

You never really know what moves it has, so Gengar requires some scouting. Like Heracross, it has the strength to take out its counters (i.e. Houndoom, Snorlax) with surprises like Destiny Bond, Will-O-Wisp, Pain Split and Focus Punch

Arcanine: A

As OU's best priority user and solid Intimidator, Arcanine has no problem scaring off the likes of Metagross (and other steel types) or weakened sweepers. Access to instant healing is a plus, as is a diverse move pool that allows it to fire off some reasonably strong attacks.

Porygon: A

Porygon is OU's premier support pokemon, it traces irritating abilities like Flash Fire, Intimidate, Swift Swim, Levitate, and Volt Absorb and immediately turns them into opportunities to strike. It has instant healing, access to useful STAB physical attacks like Facade and good overall bulk to survive lots of assaults. Tri Attack is an awesome STAB attack that has a 15% chance of haxing your opponent into a mind-numbing rage.

Slowbro: A

It's not as good as it was a week ago, but Slowbro's instant healing, awesome bulk and reasonable STAB combo lets it dent lots of common enemies.

Snorlax: A

With walls like Skarmory going out of style, Curselax is laughing easier than ever before. Newfound access to Pursuit lets it clear out pesky Gengar and Starmie while Fire moves let it cover irritating Steel types like Forretress. 

Flygon: A-

While its attack stat is a little paltry, it has a good STAB combo, good speed tier and access to coverage moves that can help make up for its otherwise mediocre stats. Quakeslide resistance can also be huge for stopping Aerodactyls and Rhydons

Jolteon: A-/B+

This poke definitely regrets the easy days, when it didn't have to choose between HP Ice and HP Grass. It has great support options and can capitalize on teammates weakeness to Thunderbolt pretty easily.

 

Blissey: B+

While clerics aren't as useful post split, Blissey manages to contain scary rain sweepers, Gengar and Jolteon really well. It's scared of fighting moves, but those can usually be avoided.

Vaporeon: B+

With the advent of Thunderpunch and banning of Salamence, Vaporeon's kinda in an awkward situation. It used to be standard support for OU but now it finds its life a little more difficult. It doesn't have coverage for Gyarados (outside of the rare HP electric) and despite being good at stalling, it often can't prevent terrifying set ups or avoid opening a door for Heracross to get into play. With more offense, Wish seems a little underpowered on most teams.

Blaziken: B+

It's absolutely the best answer to Skarmbliss but.. no one really runs that anymore. Instead, its more likely that Swampert, Slowbro, Weezing or Arcanine will come in and spoil your fun. Choice Band helps its damage output but doesn't ease the fact that Slowbro alone shuts down the Fire+Fighting combo.

Weezing: B+

While special Sludge Bomb is kind of a bummer, Weezing has a niche as a Gyarados counter when it runs surprise Tbolt. It complements defensive cores that need some Fighting/Ground protection as is pretty much inherently useful as a Heracross check.

Ludicolo: B

It's the bulky water that scares off other bulky waters! Unfortunately, it's a little underpowered as an attacker and doesn't wall as hard as the other Water types. At least its got Leech Seed to annoy the shit out of its switch ins.

Swampert: B

It's one of the best-typed pokemon in the tier that unfortunately suffers from 4MSS and fails to cover Gyarados, Starmie, Slowbro and a host of other pokemon very well. It stops Metagross cold (unless it has HP grass) which is something that nothing else in OU can boast.

Aerodactyl: B

Its fast with a good haxy STAB attack, but the presence of Slowbro, Swampert and Flygon often keep it from being the best late-game cleaner in OU. It is a god amongst Pursuit-ers, however.

Dugtrio: B

Dugtrio's good enough at what it does (trapping Snorlax, Blissey) but special attackers are kind of second rate to Physical attackers at this point. Even if Dugtrio runs the old Subtrio trick to eliminate these special walls, special sweepers like Jolteon, Starmie and Gengar are ultimately well checked by things like Metagross, Swampert, Porygon, or Ludicolo/Lanturn.

 

Ursaring: C

Slow and fragile at the same time? Its good ability and Attack STAT are tempting but it definitely wishes it could live more than one Slowbro Surf upon switching in. Who gives a fuck if you have elemental punches, so does everything else.

Zangoose: C

Slow and fragile at the same time? Its good ability and Attack STAT are tempting but it definitely wishes it could live more than one Slowbro Surf upon switching in. Who gives a fuck if you have elemental punches, so does everything else.

Dusclops: C

A former go-to Gengar/Starmie stopper finds itself now very useless with few spinners to block and special Shadowball to rip right through it.

Houndoom: C

An undeniably cool pokemon that isn't afraid of switchin in on Gengar, the tier's best special sweeper. Too bad it dies to Focus Punch, Destiny Bond and has to worry about being a mixed attacker with the Split robbing it of special Dark type attacks. Oh yeah, and it dies to the ubiqitous OU water types.

Sceptile: C

An undeniably cool pokemon that really can't do shit. It's weak and usually requires set up, has no special movepool to work with, and can't really switch in.

Edited February 16, 2015 by Robofiend