might as well put this here since I reference it like 5 times in this post
Since
Latias is now confirmed for OU, I feel like it's time for the VR to give it some representation, and some updating towards how she's currently affecting the meta. Her showing at SPL X was impressive despite it being the first time being usable in high level play, being the 3rd most used Pokemon at 46% usage and a 54% winrate, the only Pokemon in the top 10 most used with a winrate above 50%. With that in mind, here's my recommended starting position:
Latias: Unranked => S, between Heatran and Tyranitar
Her strengths are so plentiful I'm having a tough time deciding where to start. She's capable of running scarf, specs, safeguard CM, defensive CM, Roost + 3 attacks, and can lure in Scizor and Tyranitar with HP Fire and Grass Knot, respectively, or even run HP Ground for Heatran; her typing allows her to act as the Breloom answer defensive teams in the past were scrambling for; She gives Starmie exceptional trouble, both in giving it competition as a bulky psychic with instant recovery, as well as an offensive psychic due to having greater bulk and Draco Meteor,
and since they speed tie and Latias can tank even a specs ice beam, she can effectively check or even counter opposing Starmies (apologies, misremembered Starmie's speed). Combined with her Spikes immunity, this means that a lot of bulky teams are now a lot more comfortable dropping Starmie and simply not running a spinner, instead focusing on stacking Spikes immunities (IIRC some number crunching I'd done previously, ~47% of the Pokemon used during SPL X were Spikes immune). She can be pretty easily slapped on almost any team and still pull her weight. However, Jirachi, Heatran, and Tyranitar all counter her if she's not running the respective coverage move or if she's a defensive set, and many offensive Pokemon already carry either neutral STABs or SE coverage moves that can hit her hard. She also suffers from 4MSS to an extent, and Draco Meteor SpAtk drops usually force her back out once it's dropped.
To be honest, I'd also be happy with putting her below Tyranitar, but my suggested placement is what feels more accurate to me.
As for my thoughts on previous nominations:
Scizor A+ => A: I'll have to disagree with this currently, mainly because of how it deals with Latias. While it hates tanking dracos, it pretty much forces any non-HP Fire Latias out, and can Pursuit trap it with proper prediction. A rise in bulky teams also helps, as Band Scizor has an easier time switching in and consistently gaining back the momentum, while SD zor doesn't need to worry about its Speed tier as much, while being able to deal with Clefable and Blissey. Everyone carrying fire moves to deal with Skarmory doesn't help, but those tend to be stronger than the stray HP Fires traditionally used to lure Scizor, so they should be more predictable and easier to deal with.
Hippowdon A => A-: Agree. While it should supposedly have an easier time finding usage in a bulkier meta, and there aren't as many Brelooms around, CBpert and Swampert in general is gaining a lot of ground, being the 5th most used Pokemon in SPL with 23% usage. Not only does Pert give competition as a bulky ground-type who can set rocks, but hippo also loses to CBpert, and Water offense in general. I otherwise agree with Jirachee on everything else he mentions.
Metagross A => A+: yeah, I'll agree to this. On top of what's already been mentioned, it can Pursuit-trap Latias, or just hit her hard with Meteor Mashes.
Machamp A- => A: 248+ Atk Machamp Payback (100 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Latias: 260-308 (86.3 - 102.3%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock | 252 SpA Latias Psychic vs. 240 HP / 16 SpD Machamp: 294-348 (77.1 - 91.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock . I also agree with Jirachee's statements, again.
Aerodactyl A- => B+: I'm not so sure on this one. Azelf leads definitely appear to be alive and well from what I've been noticing, and being able to outspeed Latias and hit it on its weaker physical defense with a neutral STAB is pretty good, while the omnipresent Sand would help it tank stray moves from her (252 draco does 57.1 - 67.7% under sand). However, I don't believe I understand the meta well enough to confidently say whether the aero team molds Jirachee mentioned can fare well again or not, so I'm going to ultimately pass on this one, but lean closer towards A-.
Clefable B+ => A-: yeah this is a pretty easy agree, it's existence is also a pretty big reason why the bulky spinnerless spike-immunity-stacking teams have been rising in popularity, and was the 13th most used mon, with 15% usage. I'd say its impact is too great for it to stay in B+.
Mamoswine B+ => B: agreed. An increase in spike-immune mons means an increase in ground immune mons, with Clefable being the exception. Being able to ice shard latias isnt enough to make it worth running - might as well go abomasnow or weavile.
Dugtrio B => B+: Agreed. While the above statement to Ground-type moves still applies, Dug's ability to guarantee the removal of a specific list of extremely important Pokemon can basically win games on its own. It should be noted that while Cresselia was used to hype it up before, Latias shares an extremely similar list, and she's a much higher profile mon to be supporting.
Milotic B => B+: Absolutely. While she's worse at blanket-checking mons like Suicune, her instant recovery allows her to consistently tank harder hits time and time again that Suicune could have a hard time dealing with even with Rest, such as Latias' Draco Meteor (though specs can 2HKO guaranteed after rocks), and can hit harder off the bat than Suicune can, or attack in scenarios where Suicune would be forced to deal with sleeping turns from Rest. I personally find myself using Milotic more than Suicune, though that could just be a fluke from me.
Togekiss B- => B: yeah I have to agree, even if I don't want to give it more exposition that it already has.
Snorlax B- => C+: it can tank and pursuit trap Latias now which is a bonus, but I don't think that's enough to keep it in B-.
Cresselia C+ => B+: I'm not so sure about it being this high now that it has competition with Latias as a bulky CM user, but having less weaknesses and a lot more bulk, significantly so on the physical side, probably makes it more consistent. I'd say B for now, but it could still be B+.
Uxie C+ => B-: I wouldn't put it in B with it also catching the Latias preparation every team will have now, but that shouldn't effect its ability as a lead, just its ability to function outside of it. I agree with a B- placement.
Starmie S => A+: If you read my original paragraph concerning Latias you should already know what my stance on this is. (Edit: Now that I realize I messed up and though Starmie's speed was 110, being able to hit Lati twice on a switch-in as well as confirming an Ice Beam kill at lower HP makes it better at dealing with latias than I originally thought it could. However, I still don't think it's quite enough to keep it in S.)
Gengar A+ => A: While it speed-ties with Latias, Latias can generally tank Shadow Balls and OHKO with Psychic, so it can potentially even beat Gengars behind a sub. Spikes being a lot less effective now also hurts gar a lot. It's still good, but not quite A+ good imo.
Kingdra A- => A: It gets bopped by Latias but Latias gets bopped back if Kingdra has Rain or a DD, otherwise it usually fares well vs bulky teams with most of its boosting sets (or specs if you wanna go that route). I agree with the bump to A.
Roserade A- => A: Hard disagree. IIRC, a solid 12% of the mons used in SPL X were suspectible to Toxic Spikes, and the most she can do to Latias is sleep or paralyze her. Offensive sets arent that good currently, her best bet is her spikes set but unless you're planning on haxing people out you're generally better off going with Skarmory. While Starmie still saw 30% usage as the 4th most used mon, I feel like having a Spiker that can deal with Starmie isn't generally as necessary as it used to be, and dealing with Breloom definitely isn't as important currently, since he's been scared off a lot by Latias.
Celebi A- => B+: Agreed. Celebi was already falling off previously, and now Latias is bullying Celebi out of a lot of positions teams were still using it for. Might even fit in B tbh.
Forretress A- => B: Agreed, it was pretty bleh before and the whole spike-immune trend I've mentioned 25 times doesn't do it any favors. It has spikes + gravity which could be cool for dealing with those teams but I doubt it'll ever be more than a gimmick that looks cool on paper but isn't actually practical.
Bronzong B+ => A-: What the hell is this thing doing in B+? I'd actually argue a solid A placement. it was tied for 8th most used Pokemon in SPL with 21% usage, punishes teams that rely on Ground coverage to deal with the steels, trades 1:1
at a minimum and usually puts in a lot of work before going down, and OTR zong is one of the better cleaners/sweepers out there at the moment. It's current placement is definitely undeserving.