With the Garganacl test concluded, I’d like to step up and call for tiering action on the Pokémon that I believe to be the most problematic element in the tier that deserves to be removed: Galarian Moltres. This Mon has been broken even with Garganacl in the tier and there really aren’t many developments that would make it balanced, as I find that the builder freeing up doesn’t really matter when the Mon itself lacks reliable counterplay. For those unaware, Galarian Moltres had an awkward start in SV UU, not really getting explored when it first arrived in Pokemon Home. However, since mid UUSD last year it has been surging in prominence and rising in usage as a deadly sweeper and problematic element in the tier. For the record, just because it was in the tier for a while doesn’t mean it should be dismissed as balanced when meta trends and a general lack of counterplay say otherwise. Furthermore, the prevalence of HO on both ladder and tours leaves many frustrated players questioning on how to best handle the archetype, which I firmly believe to be a Galarian Moltres ban, and with its removal HO should settle down and become less of a problematic archetype. To get this out of the way because I know this will be brought up, Galarian Moltres is not broken by screens and removing Light Clay doesn’t do anything. While it is certainly amplified, the core of why Galarian Moltres is problematic remains, being of how its typing, bulk, and STAB combo contribute to a lack of counterplay in the metagame that restricts the builder into a select few options and leaves Galarian Moltres on top.
Galarian Moltres’s main set is Nasty Plot + Agility + STABS with Tera Dark, as Galarian Moltres’s STAB combo covers most of the tier barring Tyranitar and Tinkaton in terms of relevant Pokemon. This amazing combination allows Galarian Moltres to run a double dance set, boosting both its Special Attack and Speed in one set to become a brutally strong sweeper. Berserk lets it get a useful Special Attack boost if put below 50% healthy, and Sitrus Berry further helps Goltres sweep by not only healing its health but also now allowing it to activate Berserk a second time. This is important for two main reasons that many do not realize: (1) Goltres relies on Nasty Plot a lot less with Berserk giving it Special Attack boosts, which lets it focus on boosting its Speed rather easily against a good amount of teams, thus making the idea of “inability to boost both stats” not too much of a great one since it doesn’t need both Nasty Plot and Agility to be deadly, and (2) Goltres punishes you for attacking it, for if you’re not a super powerful breaker dealing a lot of damage like Ogerpon-Cornerstone or Hisuian Arcanine, Galarian Moltres will eat your hit, regain health, and boost and then take out your breaker and potentially have room for a second boost or just take you down outright. Elaborating into Goltres’s tool kit is necessary to evaluate the dynamics it produces in the tier.
What makes sweeping much more possible is due to Galarian Moltres’s bulk and typing. Goltres isn’t just great offensively, but very good defensively as well. See Mandibuzz, who sits at A tier on the VR in part due to its great defensive typing. Coupled with great all-around bulk, especially a base 125 Special Defense, it can be difficult to really take down Goltres without using several Pokémon to do so which is indicative of unhealthiness. Latios, Tornadus-T, Pecharunt, Sinistcha, Iron Crown, Jirachi, Ogerpon, Kommo-o, Keldeo, Quaquaval, and Hydrapple are all very relevant Pokemon Galarian Moltres can just get past by taking their hit and clicking Agility and taking them out. Even stuff like Garchomp and Greninja which can hit Galarian Moltres super effectively fails to KO it without a boost and are vulnerable to a Tera Dark removing the weaknesses that come with a Flying type. Other counterplay like Ogerpon-Cornerstone is also vulnerable to reactive Tera as well. The only real flaw to Tera Dark is getting dropped by First Impression but the payoff for avoiding super effective damage to facilitate setup AND have a +1 Adaptability boost is still really high.
Moreover, Status dynamics are flawed when it comes to handling Galarian Moltres. As established earlier, Galarian Moltres is pretty hard to KO offensively, and without something like Hisuian Arcanine, Lokix, or Terrakion as a faster offensive check, Galarian Moltres has a LOT more freedom to utilize Nasty Plot over Agility if the main out to it is a status user, like Thunder Wave Zapdos, Slowking, Rotom-Wash, and Amoonguss (technically Stun Spore but you get the idea) or Toxic Mandibuzz and Toxapex, and just break them. In regards to Paralysis, Goltres’s bulk allows it to just click Agility a second time because the Thunder Wave users can’t hit it that hard. Meanwhile, for the Toxic users, they also lack the ability to hurt Goltres, meaning it will run wild and still get like 2 KOes minimum before being put in range of most priority barring First Impression which is of course stronger, which also reflects how even most unboosted priority fails at taking down Galarian Moltres. Also, just as a side point neither Mandibuzz nor Toxapex run Toxic all the time, especially the former due to the hazard situation where Defog is needed on teams and it can’t drop U-turn so it drops Toxic.
To reiterate, Galarian Moltres is very difficult to revenge kill, outspeeding boosted 350s like Booster Iron Moth, Choice Scarf Latios, and Embody Aspect Ogerpon after Agility, as well as being bulky enough to tank almost every unboosted priority move. This is more difficult when it gets so many setup chances and lacks defensive counterplay in general. This means you’ve got to find something that can hurt it while also not at risk of dying. The problem is, as you might have already come to realize from this post, not a lot of Pokemon can do that. We know Tinkaton and Tyranitar stop it, but what about others? Terrakion, Hisuian Arcanine, and Lokix are decent enough offensive checks at best, where they don’t really handle it well if healthy and/or boosted, but they still should count since it won’t always be those. In terms of defensive checks, AV Azumarill, TankChomp, and Hisuian Goodra can stop Goltres, but this comes into another issue. You have to use these Pokemon specifically for Goltres, as otherwise they’re at risk of a +2 attack blasting them, not to mention hazards hurt them a lot. If any of them take a bit of chip from a teammate or come into hazards 1-2 times, they fail to beat Goltres at +2 and now it sweeps your team. This allows unhealthy dynamics in HO to occur; it’s too integral of a Pokémon on the archetype which makes it overwhelming against most teams. You’ve got sweepers like Garchomp, Iron Crown, Kommo-o, Ogerpon-Cornerstone, or Azumarill who can force chip on any of the limited checks to Goltres, which allows it to sweep, while also appreciating Goltres beating their counterplay. Want to send in Ogerpon or Sinistcha to beat Azumarill? Oh wait, Goltres switches in, sets up on you, and if you don’t have a Tyranitar or Tinkaton there’s a good chance you will lose with how flawed other counterplay is. It’s just too overwhelming and really ends up as an overpowering presence in the tier. It’s got limited checks, most of which can be worn down very easily, and its typing and bulk allows it to come in and set up on so much while being difficult to take down. This doesn’t even take into account more developing options like Tera Steel, which while generally weaker than Tera Dark, can help tank priority more easily as well as have better setup chances and notably resist Play Rough from AV Azumarill, making it easier to beat. There’s always situational or in-game elements of counterplay but I find those apply to every mon to a degree and I think Galarian Moltres just generally has a lot less than most.
If you read all of this post, thank you so much, but to summarize I believe we should ban Galarian Moltres. I know Latios is brought up a bit but I find Galarian Moltres is more problematic, as Latios lacks that instant-win potential like Goltres, and it’s an easy way to improve the tier with how straightforward action is on it. I am not even sure if I would consider Latios to be broken and that’s a topic for later because this is a post on Galarian Moltres, but I do find it more nuanced, being that no set is overbearing alone but rather the effect its multiple sets have on the tier is what can break it. With the way the tier is now, I think we should take direct paths in the Pokemon we prioritize and so to improve the tier Goltres should go first and across UUPL we will see how Latios performs in addition to another controversial Pokemon in Pecharunt but it’s not a priority compared to Goltres now.
Before I end this post, I want to say the UU council does not consider Light Clay an issue at all, with screens even being seen as a weaker archetype than terrain or hazard stack, as both main setters kinda suck and screen turns are pretty easily exploited to where they ultimately aren’t breaking any Pokémon. We’re also just in a state where they don’t matter and sweepers like Kommo-o or Ogerpon-Cornerstone are balanced with or without screens, while Galarian Moltres is broken regardless with several members of the UU council supporting tiering action on Galarian Moltres as well. Don’t hold off on supporting a ban on Galarian Moltres because you think screens break it because Light Clay is here to stay and if you think Goltres is broken by screens you should vote to ban it since the alternative won’t happen as of now. No action will happen until after tier shifts but I do not think we get anything that helps deal with it, although I could be wrong. To kick off discussion, I’ll ask two questions for the community to answer, as your responses help us see where the community stands on these Pokemon. It would be really appreciated, especially as a council member, to see more discussion regarding this.
Galarian Moltres’s main set is Nasty Plot + Agility + STABS with Tera Dark, as Galarian Moltres’s STAB combo covers most of the tier barring Tyranitar and Tinkaton in terms of relevant Pokemon. This amazing combination allows Galarian Moltres to run a double dance set, boosting both its Special Attack and Speed in one set to become a brutally strong sweeper. Berserk lets it get a useful Special Attack boost if put below 50% healthy, and Sitrus Berry further helps Goltres sweep by not only healing its health but also now allowing it to activate Berserk a second time. This is important for two main reasons that many do not realize: (1) Goltres relies on Nasty Plot a lot less with Berserk giving it Special Attack boosts, which lets it focus on boosting its Speed rather easily against a good amount of teams, thus making the idea of “inability to boost both stats” not too much of a great one since it doesn’t need both Nasty Plot and Agility to be deadly, and (2) Goltres punishes you for attacking it, for if you’re not a super powerful breaker dealing a lot of damage like Ogerpon-Cornerstone or Hisuian Arcanine, Galarian Moltres will eat your hit, regain health, and boost and then take out your breaker and potentially have room for a second boost or just take you down outright. Elaborating into Goltres’s tool kit is necessary to evaluate the dynamics it produces in the tier.
What makes sweeping much more possible is due to Galarian Moltres’s bulk and typing. Goltres isn’t just great offensively, but very good defensively as well. See Mandibuzz, who sits at A tier on the VR in part due to its great defensive typing. Coupled with great all-around bulk, especially a base 125 Special Defense, it can be difficult to really take down Goltres without using several Pokémon to do so which is indicative of unhealthiness. Latios, Tornadus-T, Pecharunt, Sinistcha, Iron Crown, Jirachi, Ogerpon, Kommo-o, Keldeo, Quaquaval, and Hydrapple are all very relevant Pokemon Galarian Moltres can just get past by taking their hit and clicking Agility and taking them out. Even stuff like Garchomp and Greninja which can hit Galarian Moltres super effectively fails to KO it without a boost and are vulnerable to a Tera Dark removing the weaknesses that come with a Flying type. Other counterplay like Ogerpon-Cornerstone is also vulnerable to reactive Tera as well. The only real flaw to Tera Dark is getting dropped by First Impression but the payoff for avoiding super effective damage to facilitate setup AND have a +1 Adaptability boost is still really high.
Moreover, Status dynamics are flawed when it comes to handling Galarian Moltres. As established earlier, Galarian Moltres is pretty hard to KO offensively, and without something like Hisuian Arcanine, Lokix, or Terrakion as a faster offensive check, Galarian Moltres has a LOT more freedom to utilize Nasty Plot over Agility if the main out to it is a status user, like Thunder Wave Zapdos, Slowking, Rotom-Wash, and Amoonguss (technically Stun Spore but you get the idea) or Toxic Mandibuzz and Toxapex, and just break them. In regards to Paralysis, Goltres’s bulk allows it to just click Agility a second time because the Thunder Wave users can’t hit it that hard. Meanwhile, for the Toxic users, they also lack the ability to hurt Goltres, meaning it will run wild and still get like 2 KOes minimum before being put in range of most priority barring First Impression which is of course stronger, which also reflects how even most unboosted priority fails at taking down Galarian Moltres. Also, just as a side point neither Mandibuzz nor Toxapex run Toxic all the time, especially the former due to the hazard situation where Defog is needed on teams and it can’t drop U-turn so it drops Toxic.
To reiterate, Galarian Moltres is very difficult to revenge kill, outspeeding boosted 350s like Booster Iron Moth, Choice Scarf Latios, and Embody Aspect Ogerpon after Agility, as well as being bulky enough to tank almost every unboosted priority move. This is more difficult when it gets so many setup chances and lacks defensive counterplay in general. This means you’ve got to find something that can hurt it while also not at risk of dying. The problem is, as you might have already come to realize from this post, not a lot of Pokemon can do that. We know Tinkaton and Tyranitar stop it, but what about others? Terrakion, Hisuian Arcanine, and Lokix are decent enough offensive checks at best, where they don’t really handle it well if healthy and/or boosted, but they still should count since it won’t always be those. In terms of defensive checks, AV Azumarill, TankChomp, and Hisuian Goodra can stop Goltres, but this comes into another issue. You have to use these Pokemon specifically for Goltres, as otherwise they’re at risk of a +2 attack blasting them, not to mention hazards hurt them a lot. If any of them take a bit of chip from a teammate or come into hazards 1-2 times, they fail to beat Goltres at +2 and now it sweeps your team. This allows unhealthy dynamics in HO to occur; it’s too integral of a Pokémon on the archetype which makes it overwhelming against most teams. You’ve got sweepers like Garchomp, Iron Crown, Kommo-o, Ogerpon-Cornerstone, or Azumarill who can force chip on any of the limited checks to Goltres, which allows it to sweep, while also appreciating Goltres beating their counterplay. Want to send in Ogerpon or Sinistcha to beat Azumarill? Oh wait, Goltres switches in, sets up on you, and if you don’t have a Tyranitar or Tinkaton there’s a good chance you will lose with how flawed other counterplay is. It’s just too overwhelming and really ends up as an overpowering presence in the tier. It’s got limited checks, most of which can be worn down very easily, and its typing and bulk allows it to come in and set up on so much while being difficult to take down. This doesn’t even take into account more developing options like Tera Steel, which while generally weaker than Tera Dark, can help tank priority more easily as well as have better setup chances and notably resist Play Rough from AV Azumarill, making it easier to beat. There’s always situational or in-game elements of counterplay but I find those apply to every mon to a degree and I think Galarian Moltres just generally has a lot less than most.
If you read all of this post, thank you so much, but to summarize I believe we should ban Galarian Moltres. I know Latios is brought up a bit but I find Galarian Moltres is more problematic, as Latios lacks that instant-win potential like Goltres, and it’s an easy way to improve the tier with how straightforward action is on it. I am not even sure if I would consider Latios to be broken and that’s a topic for later because this is a post on Galarian Moltres, but I do find it more nuanced, being that no set is overbearing alone but rather the effect its multiple sets have on the tier is what can break it. With the way the tier is now, I think we should take direct paths in the Pokemon we prioritize and so to improve the tier Goltres should go first and across UUPL we will see how Latios performs in addition to another controversial Pokemon in Pecharunt but it’s not a priority compared to Goltres now.
Before I end this post, I want to say the UU council does not consider Light Clay an issue at all, with screens even being seen as a weaker archetype than terrain or hazard stack, as both main setters kinda suck and screen turns are pretty easily exploited to where they ultimately aren’t breaking any Pokémon. We’re also just in a state where they don’t matter and sweepers like Kommo-o or Ogerpon-Cornerstone are balanced with or without screens, while Galarian Moltres is broken regardless with several members of the UU council supporting tiering action on Galarian Moltres as well. Don’t hold off on supporting a ban on Galarian Moltres because you think screens break it because Light Clay is here to stay and if you think Goltres is broken by screens you should vote to ban it since the alternative won’t happen as of now. No action will happen until after tier shifts but I do not think we get anything that helps deal with it, although I could be wrong. To kick off discussion, I’ll ask two questions for the community to answer, as your responses help us see where the community stands on these Pokemon. It would be really appreciated, especially as a council member, to see more discussion regarding this.
- Do you find Galarian Moltres to be balanced in the tier or agree that it needs tiering action?
- How do you rate Galarian Moltres vs Latios? Is one broken but not the other? Are both broken? We are aware that Latios has been a topic ever since Latias got banned in early January, and now we’re at a point where it would be great to see community thoughts on the next priority for tiering action. I strongly believe Goltres should be next, but I believe the community should make their voices heard on the change they want to see in UU.
- If its a balloon variant meant to check chomp, it can no longer do that in the gmolt mu, and thus gmolt easily opens up a teammate just by hitting into a resist. Not to mention gmolt can pair with other HO mons like rockpon and iron crown to force this mon in and beat it down.
- This may just be a me thing but... i dont really think this mon is that great. Its certainly no reun into garg deal bc it can actually pose SOME semblance of a threat outside of that MU. My issue with it is that it just feels kinda... weird to fit on a team. Its defensive utility outside of fighting gmolt and sorta iron moth is very limited, which means its kinda awkward to position outside the HO matchup imo. Speaking of iron moth by the way, gmolt can pair with that to force in and get big damage on ttar, which then allows gmolt to go crazy.
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are the ones i usually switch into this thing, not saying that 
