Resource 1v1 Sword and Shield Viability Rankings

[isatrapp]

Hello. Trapp here to nom comfey to D.

set

phys aegi advocate (Comfey) @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Triage EVs: 240 HP / 248 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Amnesia
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
- Encore

It actually doesn’t need synthesis to beat zone. All it requires to beat zone semi-reliably(cuz crits and spdef drops exist) are amnesia, leech seed, and encore in case it is metal sound zone. With it’s base 110 spdef, it can abuse amnesia to survive many of magnezone’s attacks. I expect no one to be running physical zone.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen81v1-624392
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Steel Beam vs. +2 240 HP / 248+ SpD Comfey: 254-302 (83.8 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Adaptability Porygon-Z Hyper Beam vs. 240 HP / 248+ SpD Comfey: 250-296 (82.5 - 97.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Funny calc where comfey is bulky.

Comfey can sometimes beat fini if the fini doesn’t run taunt.
I’ve seen comfey beat aromatisse, but I haven’t tested it enough to know if it reliably beat it.
I do know it can beat things like prim and sylv though, thanks to encore and amnesia.

It also has a small chance of beating lando-I, and ieleki but odds are greatly improved if protect is slotted over encore.
252+ SpA Choice Specs Volcanion Sludge Wave vs. 240 HP / 248+ SpD Comfey: 232-274 (76.5 - 90.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The bulk on comfey also allows it to live specs sludge wave from volcanion. With amnesia and leech seed, it can usually stall out volcanion provided you don’t get crit and the volcanion isn’t physical. This is once again a scenario where protect may be useful over encore.
With it’s decent speed tier, comfey can encore trap slower stall mons and slowly chip away with leech seed

why does this exist

:D (Comfey) @ Babiri Berry
Ability: Triage
EVs: 240 HP / 248 SpD / 20 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Amnesia
- Synthesis
- Leech Seed
- Charm

This is more of a variation set. It’s kind of a joke set meant to have a better mu against steela. Also has a small chance to beat banded aggron so that’s kind of cool.

 

[delemon]

seismitoad UR->D/C-
Does what you want a water ground type to do without losing to mons like entei along with having a good matchup against most water types.

set that I stole from charm

Seismitoad @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 172 HP / 132 Atk / 60 Def / 144 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Earthquake
- Power Whip
- Bulldoze
EVs to outspeed entei after Bulldoze, special bulk for specs landoI, physical bulk to always live 252+ attack metagross eq -> eq -> bullet punch (the matchup vs WP), rest in attack to 2hko most lele with bulldoze and have the best custap prim matchup.

zapdos B+->A-
Really good mon.
krookodile UR->D
Losing necrozma sucks but it’s typing still helps it beat a lot of threatlists and fit on teams.

AV

Krookodile @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 52 Atk / 100 Def / 108 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off
- Counter
- Smack Down/Rock tomb
The defence tanks adamant band lando t superpower intimidate , and the spdf makes it almost impossible to lose to koko. Counter beats things like lando t and haxorus WP metagross, smack down for steela and rock tomb beats volcarona (run more bulk for specs) band is usable but not very good.

 

[clerica]

Good noms above and I'd like to add one of my own

A- --> A/A+

I think as of now Garchomp is the number 1 ground type in the meta. It does unfortunately struggle vs Celesteela, but what I think sets it apart from the Landos and Rhyp is how explosive it can be along with its solid bulk and speed, making it much more versatile than the other ground types out there.

Throughout this WC I brought a mix of LO and Scarf sets in pretty much every series I played. I also toyed around with the likes of AV and WP but ultimately decided against using them myself and left those for the rest of the team to use. Scarf does a fantastic job as a general blanket check for the likes of a favorable darmg mu (loses to bulky but thats somewhat uncommon), a solid kiss mu, straight up beats zera, pult, nag, haxorus, koko, etc. All of this is fantastic and helps set it apart from Rhyp and Lando-I, but doesn't really set it apart from Lando-T, which is also stronger, besides a more favorable darmg mu. Where I feel chomp really shines is with its set up sets. LO with SD allows you to have mus Lando-T just can't afford to hit in 1 set such as Metagross, Volcanion, Bulu, Aroma, a favorable Prim mu, a good Spect mu, and even a winnable Sylv mu to name a few in 1 set. Lando-T needs both AV and SD to have a shot at beating all of those. Then there's sets like Custap and AV which just help chomp be even more threatening. Chomp's movepool is insane with Pjab threatening many fairies, SD threatening to instantly obliterate anyone who tries to stall it (along with being good for Aggron), good coverage options in Stone Edge and Fire Blast, and it also has great speed control options like Rock Tomb and Scale Shot to more reliably beat some stuff like Zera. There is so much Chomp can do without having to bend over backwards that makes it almost always a threat in game because not many popular mons 100% win vs it.

I'll drop all the sets I used this WC below along with replays I brought it. There's a reason this mon was my most used mon throughout my 5-0 run and I think y'all should look into it more because it's incredibly customizable and easy to slap on teams in a meta full of fairies and zera.

chomps

mother tongue (Garchomp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 240 HP / 108 Atk / 88 Def / 72 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Swords Dance
- Poison Jab
- Outrage

bulked for 252+ prim moonblast and 252+ gross ice punch, hits 240 speed

restless heart (Garchomp) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Stone Edge / Swords Dance
- Poison Jab / Fling / Flamethrower / Fire Blast

perfume (Garchomp) @ Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 16 HP / 112 Atk / 244 Def / 136 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Scale Shot
- Poison Jab

bulks 252+ gross ice punch with comp speed

replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen81v1-635153 vs delemon beating arcanine but I clicked it into jelli as well because I was sd making it a 2-1
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/smogtours-gen81v1-635604 vs cleffa hater beating spect and soft 3-0ing maybe, depending on the prim set but I was willing to take the risk
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen81v1-1619196723-hj9i9tm7cfuf3r2b9epjaoqj44rfin8pw vs deg, I was scarf here and knowing that loses to gross went corvi instead anticipating the chomp lure which made picking pretty easy
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen81v1-1621131423-kh9nlcddstka4c8iilfxce92kny25cmpw vs nick in finals, should have clicked it but this is an example of opportunity cost I suppose since I was slower than venu this time and wasn't scale shot oops. Didn't feel like replaying pl finals g2 again so clicked safe got owned.

all of these replays show chomp either exerting a ton of preview pressure or simplifying picking from my end. That's one of the great things about chomp, it always does work in game even if you don't click it because its versatility is so threatening

 

[ihbst]

A- --> A+/S
I think garchomp is one of the most restricting pokemon in 1v1 atm. The thing that makes garchomp stand out is that its a dragon with an incredible match up vs steels, other than steel/flying types like cresselia. Plus the scarf and swords dance sets cover different things, and only a select few non-fairies can beat both.

also a lot more reasons are in the post above

 

[clerica]

Nick.see has been added as the newest member of the VR Council. Grats!!

 

[RTM]

Nomming zyg to C+/B-
That guy still good. Band has a niche over garchomp with a reliable heatran, steela, zap and koko mu. (balloon steels + elecs)
Scarf is cool as zyg is a bulkier mon. This allows it to beat pz as well as other dragons without a resist berry.
Other sets still beat a lot and it is still extremely techable.
It has great top tier matchups.
There is no way in hell it's regirock + blacephalon tier.

 

[zo]

vr stuff

togekiss: this mon is genuinely silly. i think it could stand to occupy s tier on its own, it just has so many options in moves, spreads, items, etc. you can run kee berry to cuck like 80% of the physical metagame (yes togekiss fans, you can beat fucking aggron with the quirky fairy type, ive also solod bandots, metagrosses, garchomps, and sometimes fucking zeraoras), you can run maranga to beat, oh, basically every fairy ever with decent luck, you can run scarf to of course be a terrific stall beater while also being allowed to run flamethrower or fire blast (which btw, have a 20% chance to burn thanks to serene grace, just in case you needed a little bit of an out against normally solid toge answers such as custap ferro and aggron!), air slash flinching down things that should normally threaten you such as life orb/specs naga and landorus-i.

ive heard of togekiss running fucking specs???? that seems LIVE.

anyway, in addition to all that, this thing is blessed by the ability to run the move mystical fire and as a fairy whose most reliable counters are steel types since they resist BOTH your stabs, its a little ridiculous. magnezone goes from a generally losing matchup to one completely filled with 50/50s in your favor as they have to guess whether to mirror coat or raw tbolt right into a maranga boost/mystical fire drop. sure, it does nothing against heatran, but you have so much agency against other pokemon, such as opposing fairies (sylveon does not like the inability to deal damage) and as potential emergency coverage against mons such as celesteela as well as metagross who refuse to land meteor mash.

i think the list of TRUE toge counters that can beat it almost always without question are scarf darm (barring misses LMAO), regieleki, tapu koko, tentatively heatran, and like... av registeel? jesus thats a short list. i can think of a way togekiss can cheese every single other counter with a set that either sees common usage or SHOULD see common usage but isnt used much because togekiss usage doesnt nearly reflect its viability.

the last thing ill say is that im gonna keep it real; the reason togekiss isnt actually banned right now is cause it doesnt learn fucking moonblast

tldr - mystical fire, charm, air slash, fire blast/flamethrower all really good moves, reliable recovery in roost, kee berry/maranga/babiri/wacan all genuinely viable sets that should be used more because they either get an ass load of matchups or are easy to hide as a lure. move to s



chansey: ive been saying this for a while but this mon deserves to move up about 2 tiers, and maybe a solid 3. ill keep this one brief since my toge section is so long, but the summary is that with charm stoss counter soft this things beats genuinely like 70% of the metagame, maybe more. chansey is a mon thatll automatically make a team way better, and charm denying setup based attackers removes one of its main weaknesses, making the main best ways to deal with it (imo) are just fighting types like urshifu/sawk and, yknow, trick scarf users with recovery, like toge. move to a imo

 

[frogfacts]

Hi i am here to nom some mons
Red darm c>b has way more consistent matchups then darmg

Sylveon a>a- has no actual consistent matchups

Lele a->b+/b is just very fucking bad

Reuniclus d> b/b+ cress that does not lose to opposing stall and entei/steela

Aroma a>a- b+ this thing fell off hard

Zygarde d>c or something idk really but it is still pretty good and has some nice niches that chomp does not have

I wanna do some more but phone is at 3%

 

[Rafadude]

nomming 2 mons

dubwool UR > D/C- beats basically all offensive physical attackers

frosmoth UR > D/C- beats all non fire offensive special attackers

random calcs

252+ Atk Urshifu Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Fluffy Dubwool: 156-184 (44.8 - 52.8%) -- 25.8% chance to 2HK

252 SpA Choice Specs Naganadel Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ice Scales Frosmoth: 272-322 (79 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Heatran Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Ice Scales Frosmoth: 278-330 (80.8 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(also AV frosmoth beats scarf heatran with max spa)

this is my first time doing this so correct me if I'm wrong

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

252 SpA Choice Specs Naganadel Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Ice Scales Frosmoth: 272-322 (79 - 93.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Heatran Eruption (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Assault Vest Ice Scales Frosmoth: 278-330 (80.8 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(also AV frosmoth beats scarf heatran with max spa)

this is my first time doing this so correct me if I'm wrong

IDT it can actually touch them in return since ur running caeful 252 so it jsut takes the attack and it bounces of them and you still die

 

[clerica]

IDT it can actually touch them in return since ur running caeful 252 so it jsut takes the attack and it bounces of them and you still die

it gets mirror coat which is a ladder favorite but ye that's a gimmick more than anything and it isn't reliably beating heatran

 

[nolenot]

Yo Whaddup
Sylveon A ---> A+ there is NO universe where this shit is on the same level as aromatisse and azumarill and worse than dragapult and pz and like most of the A tier as sum1 who used this pokemon alot i can say that 1. It beats like 90% of the meta at least loosely, with JUST custap berry, and solidly beats like at least 65% of the meta. 2. Pult is not an entire tier above sylveon, i have used both quite a bit i would know. 4. IT is not the in same tier as fuckign azumarill L:maooo 3. You could load up a game with custap berry sylveon on the 1v1 ladder and flip a coin and the chances of your sylveon soft 3-0ing the other team would be higher than the chances of your coin flipping heads. Sylveon can also outplay pretty much any matchup not named steel poison types and volcanion. Literally from A- to S- the only pokmon that can 100% beat sylveon are as follows: Volcorona, Entei, Volcanion, Assault vest azumarill, Metagross, and celesteela.

Cresselia A+---> S- Shits Licharally broken lmao jit trippin on Jahllah Fr its better than sylveon and zera imo, only thing better would be togekiss ban that mon ahahaha

Arcanine B+ ---> A Top 1 on the sheet dawg, it beats stuff as a fire type, and then it beats more

Zygarde D --> D- Rank fuck that bitch ahaha

Where the fuck is latias lmao????? Latios is ass and outclassed by naganadel, and it doesnt even get reflect type! Latias gets the move reflect type which makes it good why the fuck is it not ranked but latios is???? Literally racially motivated bruh Holy fuck

 

[RTM]

 

[isatrapp]

If you've seen me on ladder the past month, you may have seen me running around with Passimian. Passimian is very similar to Sawk, but doesn't have access to sturdy. Despite this, I believe that Passimian has a few advantages it holds over Sawk. The first advantage, is access to priority in quick attack and feint (but we never use feint). The second advantage it has over Sawk is Gunk shot. Gunk shot is more powerful than Poison Jab, allowing Passimian to deal with certain fairies easier. Same thing with Urshifu; Gunk shot over poison jab just does wonders.
However, Passimian struggles with matchups that Urshifu or Sawk might win but not limited to: Zeraora, Metagross, G-Darm, Garchomp, Lando-t, Crustle, Ferrothorn, Lele, Lando-T and Heatran.

Monke

Monke (Passimian) @ Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs: 8 HP / 248 Atk / 4 Def / 68 SpD / 180 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Quick Attack
- Gunk Shot
- Close Combat
- Counter/Earthquake

Passimian: UR->D

This set could probably be a bit more optimised.
The hp and def evs are for tanking a banded heavy slam from Aggron after life orb damage.
spdef is for non-specs nihilego
252+ SpA Nihilego Psychic vs. 8 HP / 68 SpD Passimian: 290-342 (84.5 - 99.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Speed to outspeed base 60s.
Attack is for best odds to kill yawn Sylveon,
Quick attack is in case Sylveon/Primarina click endure on Gunk shot.
Ngl, I wish Defiant had more situations where it was useful.
Also has some ok odds to beat Kyurem(I mean around a 50% chance maybe): 252 SpA Kyurem Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 68 SpD Passimian: 289-342 (84.5 - 100%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO.
And defiant makes it so charm on stall Azumarill does nothing.

Calcs:

Primarina
252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 240 HP / 164 Def Primarina: 294-346 (81.4 - 95.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Poison Jab vs. 240 HP / 152 Def Primarina: 278-328 (77 - 90.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
248+ Atk Life Orb Passimian Gunk Shot vs. 240 HP / 152 Def Primarina: 374-442 (103.6 - 122.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Azumarill:
252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 128 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 336-396 (90 - 106.1%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Poison Jab vs. 96 HP / 180 Def Azumarill: 258-304 (70.6 - 83.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
248+ Atk Life Orb Passimian Gunk Shot vs. 128 HP / 0 Def Azumarill: 424-499 (113.6 - 133.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Aromatisse:
252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Aromatisse: 348-410 (85.7 - 100.9%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Surging Strikes (3 hits) vs. 244 HP / 40 Def Aromatisse on a critical hit: 345-408 (85.3 - 100.9%) -- approx. 6.3% chance to OHKO
248+ Atk Life Orb Passimian Gunk Shot vs. 252 HP / 40 Def Aromatisse: 437-515 (107.6 - 126.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO


Sylveon:
252+ Atk Choice Band Sawk Poison Jab vs. 204 HP / 224 Def Sylveon: 296-350 (77.4 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Urshifu-Rapid-Strike Poison Jab vs. 204 HP / 224 Def Sylveon: 278-328 (72.7 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
248+ Atk Life Orb Passimian Gunk Shot vs. 204 HP / 224 Def Sylveon: 374-442 (97.9 - 115.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

 

[RTM]

end of ss these aren't suggestions they are commands I literally know everything about this meta
UR->B
Dog (Slowbro) @ Wacan Berry
Ability: Oblivious
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Iron Defense
- Calm Mind
- Slack Off
- Stored Power

One of the best stall mons rn beats taunt beats pretty much every physical attacker beats a lot of special attackers off typing alone.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen81v1-1705798829-b5hneyzcnxeb2z83sqq7c1kfgo7ozacpw

C+->B/B+
this mon is criminally underrated, msound is good and it beats some of the best mons in the meta while farming mid tiers

A- -> A/A+
this mon is one of the best in the meta, up there with steela, pult, pz, prim AT LEAST

B+ -> A-/A
no matter your view on this mon, you cannot deny how much pressure it can place upon you both in preview and builder. It can be made impossible to setguess and even just normal leech seed can bullshit a lot of mus and is extremely flexible in the item it uses with options like resist berries, mental herb, black sludge, helmet etc

B+ -> A-
at least A-, beats everything

UR-> D
sigma wolf (Lycanroc-Dusk) @ Choice Band
Ability: Tough Claws
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Accelerock
- Iron Tail
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
has rock type mus, but confirms a few (Arca, volc, tran, pz), as well as getting some more thanks to its speed tier and access to 156 power cc, being especially helpful for random steels. Also beats fairies. Other rocks get sturdy but this is why i'm nomming it to d.


(Tornadus-Therian) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane
- Sludge Wave
- Heat Wave
- Grass Knot / Focus Blast
coverage + speed + high spatk, can even run base form but has less bulk which lets you randomly live attacks. Hurricane hits crazy hard neutrally, naturally beating haxorus type mons. Grass knot lets it beat some waters and rocks, notably, rhyp. sludge beats bulu, whims, rilla as well as giving it a very good shot at beating a lot of fairies. Heat wave is for ferro, steels like meta, steela etc. Fblast kills normals, darks, ice types and ttar (if u can hit it).

Pult down a bit (overrated whole ss) Darm up to A+ (setguessy, great top tier mus) Corv to A- (crazy mus) (actually use it!) Rilla to A- weavile up idc how much it hits hard and is fastest pressure staller and can lure mons

side notes: ur excav it has next to no niche, ur lure it is literally outclassed by another d rank, ur glowking it maaaybe does something over glowbro but glowbro has the broken ability and glowking doesn't.

thanks

 

[fake tom numbers]

whats up bitches

D -> UR

What does he even do??? He hasn't got a niche. I'd be more willing to put Vileplume in D tier because of Moonblast and Strength Sap over Venusaur. This is just worse Corviknight.

C -> C+ or B-

I believe this should be sent to B-, that might sound ambitious but it incredibly outclasses Ninetales which is the fire type which sits there as of now. Incineroar is an insane Pokémon

C+ -> D

no.

C -> C+

At least let this mon be C+, it is insane and shreds through unprepared teams. Even still it is an insane Pokémon with set diversity.

B -> B-

Overrated asf mon

 

[Opchurtle100]

whats up bitches

D -> UR

What does he even do??? He hasn't got a niche. I'd be more willing to put Vileplume in D tier because of Moonblast and Strength Sap over Venusaur. This is just worse Corviknight.

C -> C+ or B-

I believe this should be sent to B-, that might sound ambitious but it incredibly outclasses Ninetales which is the fire type which sits there as of now. Incineroar is an insane Pokémon

Nidoking: C+ -> D

no.

C -> C+

At least let this mon be C+, it is insane and shreds through unprepared teams. Even still it is an insane Pokémon with set diversity.

B -> B-

Overrated asf mon