Resource Ask a Simple Question, Get a Simple Answer (NU Edition)

[King Roma]

why is silvally steel blacklisted in the vr? he is one of the best

No but serioualy, for some reason they think he's shit
I think it's cause he's a pivot with no recovery, no ability and no item, who has a bad matchup against many mons (xatu, grounds, fightings and fires), and he's somewhat passive
I still think he's great, best defogger in the tier imo, blanket checks several mons, pivot, easily the best filler mon, amazing coverage (even though no one takes advantage of that), plus with the rise of vileplume and heliolisk it got even better
It's mainly the no recovery bit

 

[Brvry]

Why is Heliolisk S-Rank? From my little experience its not even close as good as Slowbro and Incineroar.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Finchinator]

Why is Heliolisk S-Rank? From my little experience its not even close as good as Slowbro and Incineroar.

Thanks in advance!

I think a lot of people disagree with your sentiment, at least to some extent. Sure, Slowbro and Incineroar are likely the two best Pokemon in the tier, but Specs Heliolisk is absurdly good; the Pokemon outright has no real hard counters that are common in the metagame and the reactionary trait it has to most common counterplay trends with regards to moveset adaptation has fueled a legitimate campaign for Heliolisk to become a top tier Pokemon. Many voters on the VR Council determined it was a level above the other A+ Pokemon, so it ultimately ended up in S rank!

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

How has regular Rotom survived the power creep between generations?

Most of the other ORAS NU mons that are still good in USUM NU (Vileplume, Rhydon, Steelix, Torterra) are good for taking on good chunks of the meta defensively, but I doubt it's the same case for Rotom.

 

[quziel]

Electric / Ghost with levitate is honestly amazing typing, both offensively and defensively, and with the new gen it got defog, which gives it an amazing niche of a mon that easily comes in steelix (electric / ghost with levitate), and can then threaten it with willo/hex and defog rocks away, making it a very splashable pivot and defogger.

 

[King Roma]

Why has Sceptile gone to A+?
Why is Dhelmise still A?
Why has Whimsicott dropped?

 

[Rabia]

Why has Sceptile gone to A+?
Why is Dhelmise still A?
Why has Whimsicott dropped?

Sceptile rose to A+ due to the combination of its Speed, power, and movepool. Its movepool and strength give it the edge over Whimsicott, which struggles to break blanket special walls such as Incineroar and Golbat, while its Speed differentiates it from Dhelmise, which finds itself much more easily revenge killed and is thus more easily forced out.

Dhelmise is still A because it is arguably a better breaker than Sceptile due to how damn powerful it is. Choice Band Power Whip 2HKOes essentially anything in the tier bar Incineroar, and it has Earthquake to manage that. It's also able to make use of its decent defensive typing thanks to its bulk and reliable(ish) recovery in Rest/Synthesis, letting it occasionally serve as a source of entry hazard control.

Whimsicott dropped due to its lack in power compared to other Grass-type wallbreakers. While it is definitely still great and sports useful defensive utility, it doesn't have the strength to muscle past the same targets that Sceptile can. U-turn is a great niche it has over the former two, however!

 

[Ellicrum]

A little theorymon: more than a year ago, the best fighting mon was Machamp. Being at rank-A+ just before his rise in RU, his Guts set 2HKOed all the tier (some even talk about a suspect). But the NU "replaced" him later with an ugly lemur. The latter has no shortage of advantages: access to U-turn, better speed, better distributed bulk and a more interesting movepool (Drain Punch, Gunk Shot or Taunt for example). In case of Machamp's drop (not the most likely, M-Glalie or Goodra are probably the next), who of him or Passimian would be the best fighting type (which outclasses the other)? Or do they have too different roles? Hariyama can pack him one's bags (same for Hitmonlee)

 

[petergreek2002]

Why do people keep using Hitmontop since the tier is filled with so many better fighting types like Passimian, Medicham and Gallade? Besides, Hitmontop's niche is completely rubbish in NU, so why does it still see usage?

 

[Yoshi]

Why do people keep using Hitmontop since the tier is filled with so many better fighting types like Passimian, Medicham and Gallade? Besides, Hitmontop's niche is completely rubbish in NU, so why does it still see usage?

The ladder is going to be the ladder. They see it in the team builder and they decide to use it because it’s kind of bulky and has decent utility. There also aren’t many good spinners so I suppose that’s why people use it as well. On paper it doesn’t even look that bad tbh but in practice it oftentimes fails to perform.

 

[Ellicrum]

A little theorymon: more than a year ago, the best fighting mon was Machamp. Being at rank-A+ just before his rise in RU, his Guts set 2HKOed all the tier (some even talk about a suspect). But the NU "replaced" him later with an ugly lemur. The latter has no shortage of advantages: access to U-turn, better speed, better distributed bulk and a more interesting movepool (Drain Punch, Gunk Shot or Taunt for example). In case of Machamp's drop (not the most likely, M-Glalie or Goodra are probably the next), who of him or Passimian would be the best fighting type (which outclasses the other)? Or do they have too different roles? Hariyama can pack him one's bags (same for Hitmonlee)

Just before deleting (again) this message, tell me at least (for example in MP) why you don't want to answer (that is the least). Thank for your attention

 

[Puer Abutens]

Is running X-Scissor on Kingler just to kill Slowbro something absurd?

 

[Jisoo]

Is running X-Scissor on Kingler just to kill Slowbro something absurd?

Yes, along with hitting Grass- types harder.

 

[lordoftets]

Why do people keep using Hitmontop since the tier is filled with so many better fighting types like Passimian, Medicham and Gallade? Besides, Hitmontop's niche is completely rubbish in NU, so why does it still see usage?

Something I've noticed with new players in the lower tiers is that they gravitate towards the bulky, passive Rapid Spin users, like Claydol, Blastoise, Hitmontop, and Donphan. whereas more skilled players like offensive spinners: Cryogonal, Mega Blastoise, Starmie and Tsareena. These are threatening Pokemon that force hazard setters to switch out, giving them a free turn to spin (or even prevent hazards from going up if you play agressively). And they'll pull their weight when hazards aren't a priority. But new players are less proactive and more reactive, and they always treat hazard removal as the #1 priority. They will let the opponent set hazards up, send in their spinner, and go for Rapid Spin every single time. So they won't force switches, so they need a mon that can take a hit, so they pick Hitmontop.

I think they like Ambipom for a similar reason. It can stop an out-of-control setup sweeper, but a more skilled player wouldn't let the opponent get to that point in the first place.

 

[Puer Abutens]

If Defiant Passimian was released, would it be too broken or we would just severily decrease Incineroar usage? (talking as no relevant Pokemon drops to NU)

 

[Finchinator]

If Defiant Passimian was released, would it be too broken or we would just severily decrease Incineroar usage? (talking as no relevant Pokemon drops to NU)

I don't think it would change a ton actually, but we tend to avoid theorizing too much here and focus on what the metagame has at our disposal currently.

 

[NylaTheWolf]

Can hyper offense work in this tier? I see a lot of more bulky Pokémon in here. Can Incineroar and/or Slowbro work on them?

 

[King Roma]

Can hyper offense work in this tier? I see a lot of more bulky Pokémon in here. Can Incineroar and/or Slowbro work on them?

No, not really
The closes thing to hyper offense is the hail core (Vanilluxe, Auroros and Sandslash-A) and that's not common at all; the format is pretty much balance based with a bit of BO and Stall, HO is almost non-existent

 

[Rabia]

Can hyper offense work in this tier? I see a lot of more bulky Pokémon in here. Can Incineroar and/or Slowbro work on them?

Hyper offense is somewhat niche, but it isn't unviable at all. Dual screens offense is sort of a thing, with abusers like Weakness Policy Incineroar and Belly Drum Zangoose really benefiting from the support.

 

[NylaTheWolf]

No, not really
The closes thing to hyper offense is the hail core (Vanilluxe, Auroros and Sandslash-A) and that's not common at all; the format is pretty much balance based with a bit of BO and Stall, HO is almost non-existent

Hyper offense is somewhat niche, but it isn't unviable at all. Dual screens offense is sort of a thing, with abusers like Weakness Policy Incineroar and Belly Drum Zangoose really benefiting from the support.

Oh okay! Thanks guys so much!

 

[Sacrificed]

Can someone explain to me why weezing jumped from c to b rank?Also what changes made torterra drop?

 

[Finchinator]

Can someone explain to me why weezing jumped from c to b rank?Also what changes made torterra drop?

Sure!

Weezing has seen an uptick in usage due to unrealized utility potential that has recently been discovered and explored. Throughout Smogon Snake Draft, which was a recent NU tournament, a lot of players utilized Weezing more than they used to. It was great at punishing common physical attackers such as Passimian, Steelix, and Torterra among other things. It has a respectable utility movepool and is oftentimes regarded as less passive than other, more conventional defensive presences.

Torterra surged in usage when Heliolisk first took off seeing as it was the main hard counter. However, the metagame caught up with it quickly. First, Heliolisk started to run HP Ice to adapt to it, but now that is less common and the metagame climate is just far less ideal for Torterra. Between Xatu spam, Mega Abomasnow being unbanned, defensive presences such as the aforementioned Weezing popping up with greater consistency than ever before, and other Stealth Rockers retaining a more sustainable niche, Torterra simply fell off a bit in terms of usage and appeal.

 

[MaahirMomtaz12]

What made Guzzlord go from A to B and why the removal of the C- rank?

 

[Yoshi]

What made Guzzlord go from A to B and why the removal of the C- rank?

C- was removed because it was unnecessary. People abused it by trying to get shit mons ranked, and it had plenty of unviable Pokemon within it such as Clefairy and Froslass. If you’ll notice, now that it’s gone, the quality of the VR is much higher and much less crowded. It should also promote people to make more valuable UR nominations.

In terms of Guzzlord, it kind of just fell off over time. The increased usage of VoltTurn makes it easy to weaken wallbreaker sets, and Pokémon like Comfey existing give it a hard time as well. I’d say it’s best set right now is a SubTox one, which of course isn’t material for the A ranks. I think where it is now is a perfect spot for it, at least in my opinion.

 

[sumwun]

Why does NU's viability rankings have so many more D rank Pokemon than every other tier?