People use Rest on that set, not T-wave, because it lets Gothitelle actually beat walls that go for a weak attack, instead of banking on them using a status move on the turn they get Tricked. This makes Gothitelle far more consistent with Rest. It is a fine set, though it sees almost no use because of its situational nature. While we see the definitive niche, it makes it difficult for us to rank it among other Pokemon that actually do have real usage from other high ranked players, but I'd be OK with a mention in the lowest vr tier. I think sorting out the current A-/B+ tiers have more priority, though, which includes Excadrill, Togekiss, and other Pokemon not yet nominated.
My nominations are:
to A+:
Ferrothorn: A -> A+
I guess Psynergy was right all along, Cinderace and Heat Wave Zapdos notwithstanding, Ferrothorn checks so many dangerous Pokemon including Mimikyu, Fini, Rillaboom, Nihilego, Porygon2, Dracovish, and more. It is backed up by usage stats in top ranked teams which is now higher than Celesteela. Iron Defense set can take over games with 1 Pokemon removed. Has excellent synergy with Hippowdon and Zapdos and other meta threats, and is the premier steel-type in the current meta for being able to actually check things like Nihilego. A big problem with Celesteela is that it's very awkward to fit another Nihilego answer in without stacking Zapdos / Cinderace weaknesses, and Ferrothorn is a big winner of the said metagame trend. Indeed, Celesteela are seeing more usage on stallier teams that can afford a Chansey to handle that without stacking a second Steel.
Urshifu-SS: A -> A+
This is such a menace to switch into. CB and Scarf and other sets have taken off, which makes it that much more dangerous. It naturally throttles defensive builds which are rising in popularity, which are making them go through drastic measures to handle it, and in spite of all that, Urshifu-SS usage has risen and has stayed there. It's just so good! It also stops defensive balanced teams from completely folding over to CM Psychic type sweepers. Rapid Strike is significantly worse because of this fact, and the worse stall matchup
Dragonite: A -> A+
Dragonite has really come to its own in the current bss metagame. Being a great dynamax-first sweeper was always an obvious draw of using Dragonite, but its ability to use Roost + DD with Kee / Maranga berry makes it a defensive - offensive threat able to set up on Pokemon that seemingly check it, like Tapu Fini, and Boots Dragonite has taken off as a way to stopper various attackers on stall disregarding stealth rock, and turn it into their own offense.
to A:
Nihilego: A+ -> A
Nihilego has taken a small drop in usage due to the rising variety of Zapdos checks. Nihilego is stopped by other Zapdos checks like Excadrill, and it is also the Zapdos check with the biggest target painted on its back, leading to entire cores being built around abusing Nihilego's status as a premier offensive Zapdos check. Steel-types like Ferrothorn and Excadrill and Magnezone are rising which is a double whammy - not only are they there to check Nihilego, many of them are taking away from Nihilego's niche by checking common Zapdos sets.
Toxapex: A- -> A
Toxapex is so god damn good. It's a big part in the meteoric rise of stall teams. Checks so much including but not limited to most Cinderace, Mimikyu, Fini, Dracovish, Pheromosa, Urshifu-RS. It's an integral part of stall, arguably more so than Chansey / Blissey.
Tyranitar: A- -> A
One of many other rising Zapdos checks. Unlike Nihilego, it has better utility and bulk that enable its use on more defensive teams. And it has the mixed coverage to not concede easy switches if necessary, though such coverage isn't necessary for its consistent success. It also stops defensive balanced teams from completely folding over to CM Psychic types just like Dark Urshifu does.
Excadrill: B+ -> A-/A
Well said by Ika, I can realistically see both A and A- for Excadrill, which has seen an explosion of usage.
To A-:
Glastrier: A -> A-
Glastrier's suffering from several factors in the metagame. First is the rise of Urshifu, and the other is the rise of various Steel-types and Toxapex that naturally check Glastrier. While Landorus, Mimikyu, Zapdos still lose to Glastier 1v1, it cannot switch into these Pokemon without taking heavy damage.
Kartana: B+ -> A-
Part of the larger trend stated that favors Steel-types. Unlike other Steel-types, Kartana is faster than Urshifu, and has great time using Dynamax with Stealth Rock support. It's an added bonus how the Water and Grass-types that pressure common SR users give free point of entry for Kartana.
Magnezone: B+ -> A-
Part of the larger trend stated that favors Steel-types. While it is still slow, Magnezone has access to Custap + Sturdy that enables it to gain control of its own priority. It is great at trading and at positioning your other Pokemon at an advantageous position. Weakness Policy sets are trending much on Korean teams and I also find that very good, though it is lower in usage stats overall.
Chansey: B- -> A-/ B+
Integral part of rise of stall teams. I feel like everyone knows what this does already. Make good use of your timer win condition when using Chansey. You will almost always win the timer tiebreak win condition if you play your high HP correctly.
To B+:
Naganadel: A -> B+/A-
Never been convinced of Naganadel, but it's really not very good. It loses to common top tier Pokemon like Zapdos, Mimikyu, Landorus-T, 1v1, and has difficult time setting up. Rise of Tyranitar and other Specially Defensive sponges has been devastating for it
drops to A- -> B+ ?
These Pokemon were expected to be good but never really realized high usage. Dragonite usage rising has eaten up Salamence's usage completely. Rotom-W never got that usage despite its seemingly good type matchup everywhere. Moltres is suffering from the Zapdos as well as the Zapdos counters. Metagross is the weirdest of the bunch to me because other Steel-types are thriving so much, but I think an argument could be made that it makes sense to drop it for now as it never really met its expectations on how good it's supposed to be. Being Weak to Wicked Blow kinda sucks too. These Pokemon should make the baseline for new B+
: Stays B+
Garchomp, Thundurus and Rotom-H has found good niche in being other solid Zapdos checks that don't lose to Excadrill / Ferrothorn immediately. Lapras has found revitalized usage thanks to it checking Dracovish, and also being the Water-type that has best matchup vs Zapdos. Blaziken's niche as a BP user + decent Dynamax attacker in one has made it pretty good in my eyes, and apparently, in eyes of other top japanese players.
Rhyperior: Rises to B+
Great Zapdos / Cinderace check that exerts offensive pressure. It is very favored by top Japanese players at the moment.
To B and below:
: Falls to B
In order to combat the serious tier bloat I suggest inserting a tier between current B+ and B, placing these Pokemon there, and moving down every tier name by 1 step. Many of these are leftover from previous metagames like Snorlax / Togekiss that has completely failed to redeem itself.
Low tier "rises": While most lowtiers go down 1 tier due to traffic control at B+, there's a few that warrants higher placement
: Stays B
Latias is really good vs the meta teams that utilize Zapdos, Nihilego, Ferrothorn, Excadrill, etc. cores. It's also dominant against defensive cycle builds. The main problem holding it back is its Mimikyu, Tyranitar and Urshifu weakness which is a big problem, but it is still better than the rest of current B to stay there because of how it warps team preview against the most common team archetypes. Clefable's Unaware set is really good at checking a lot of boosting threats, while Mamoswine is a coveted Ground-type attacker that checks Electrics, Flying-types like Landorus / Dragonite, as well as a lot of Rock and Steel-types mentioned above, Kartana being an exception due to its faster speed. While Darmanitan doesn't have STAB on its EQ, it very much threatens similar Pokemon and has higher Speed and Flare Blitz to boot.
Skarmory: stays B-/ Rise to B
Good fixture on stall teams for being an epic Steel-type that has higher physical bulk than Celesteela to wall things and pressure with Body Press. It's not a Rock resist but this was never taking on Nihilego anyways.
Slowking: add to B/B-
I mentioned this in a previous post iirc.
No strong opinion below B-, but I am open to adding things like Gothitelle to C/C-.
As a bit of an aside, I'm not going to exactly point to the offending post (it's not the Gothitelle post, don't worry wyrmheroblade, I personally enjoy using Gothitelle and brought the exact set in BSS circuit finals
here, even though I 1. didn't get to bring it because I didn't face stall I expected to face, 2. lost the game anyways) because I want to be nice, but if you are nominating something and expecting us to actually vote on it, please provide as much supporting argument. Please talk about your experience using it, instead of using this thread to theorize about a potential niche. Post what type of team you used with it, what its flaws and poor matchup were, and what makes it worth using in your opinion in spite of that. The second part about its flaws and how its flaws actually impact real gameplay, and how you play around it is super important - especially if the Pokemon isn't ranked here or is ranked very low! It's easy to make bad Pokemon sound great if you are just going on about its positives. Replays are very helpful tools to get you to talk about such specifics, which can be hard for some people not so well versed in forum discussion rhetoric skills.
Without such supporting evidences. feel free to use the general discussion thread otherwise.