Outside SD Gliscor, set up Garg has very few problems with it as boosting sets just set up in Gliscor's face, even denying the bat poison heal recovery (and pushing progress if rocks are up). Sub+ID Zama is a worse match up but it's also not hard to cover with something like tera ghost, or a partner like Zapdos, Moltres or a Toxapex for hazing boosts away. Garg also is a great spikes abuser due to the way it handles most spike immune mons well, and is itself still a great check to the likes of offensive Zapdos, TornadusT, Heatran, Volcarona, and physical attackers like Gouging Fire. And still offers respite against some threats like certain Koko variants as well. I don't really agree much has changed to make it much worse, let alone enough to drop it into B+ from A. Especially as, while sometimes wanting tera a lot, that tera usage can let the user cover some match ups otherwise hard to handle for a team. Like you may end up weaker to rain teams, and tera water/dragon Garg can greatly alleviate this weakness with not much help needed beyond maybe a back of check in case of emergencies.
A --> B+
Garg just struggles to do much in this Gliscor-infested world, and although I'll agree removing Poison Heal healing is a nice trait to have, it just doesn't feel as splashable as it did before Gliscor propagated the metagame. It also struggles against HO teams. I'll say its IDBP set is pretty decent as well as being a Rocks setter on bulky teams, but I just struggle to fit it a lot nowadays with how tera-reliant it is and how vulnerable it is to meta staples like the aforementioned Gliscor as well as Sub + IDBP Zama.
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Resource National Dex Viability Rankings
- Thread starter Kyo
- Start date
It does have Draining Kiss as decent recovery.
That's entirely suboptimal and not really enough to keep its hp up
I believe that Magnezone should go to the B tier. It's not quite as splashable as say, Tapu Lele but it does muscle through Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn.
There is a reason why mag is generally seen as unviable. It’s super hard to actually position against these Pokemon because it poses no threat to anything else and it is SUPER hard to actually get it in safely because your opponent will be playing around mag. Besides that, virtually every steel has some way around it. Mmaw can click spunch/knock if mag switches in or even fire fang on 4a sets and then what does mag do? Heatran is kinda obvious why mag is unable to trap. Ferro is able to Tera and then it just leeches and sets spikes against it. Arch just clicks its fighting coverage into it and mag has no real way of threatening it. Icrown doesn’t take much from mag and it just clicks vswitch. Msciz has like 3 ways of dealing with mag and positioning around it (such as clicking cc or knock because Hp fire doesn’t ko unless specs or u turning on mag switching in) and if it’s offensive forget about it. Kart needs to 1. Have mag be scarf and 2. Do a double into kart which is no reliable way of trapping it. Corv and skarm just click Tera. This also doesn’t take into account mag’s horrible matchup into everything else in the tier. Its sets also have major flaws, such as scarf not hitting hard enough and not being fast at all (and is only used to trap kart which is something you almost never need to do). Specs sets while at least able to put more oomph when trapping something are too slow and too scoutable to be worth anything except for trapping… maybe msciz if you postion PERFECTLY. Sub electric z is probably its best set at trapping things, mainly mmaw, but still has the same issues with trapping every other steel mentioned for the same reasons. Top this off with a not so good offensive typing and a ground (which is basically on every team) exploiting it more than every other electric and you just have a mon that doesn’t do much.
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C+ ----> URThis things garbage and has been since
was banned, defogger that takes 50% from rocks after being knocked and gets ohko'd by stone edge one of the most common coverage moves for rockers, due to this you're often forced to tera grass to even get a fog off.
, 
, 
, 
and 
are miles clear on this thing. It has maybe the worst longevity of any fogger except lando its only good utility is fishing for burns on u-turn and frankly there's much better u-turn punishes out there. Also has bad synergy with a lot of mons that want defog support like 
, 
and 
. This thing definitely doesnt deserve a spot in the VR
thebestever543
I COULD BE BANNED!
S- A+I think its gone unsaid for a while but I believe many people will agree that Landorus has reclaimed his throne as the best Pokemon in the tier. Landorus is number one in usage for ladder and world cup (week 1) and I believe is the most used Pokemon on samples. All this proves is that people feel Landorus is more splashable than any other ground. Landorus has always been versatile in ND but for a period of time Gliscor was utilized due to being one of the best wincons in the game with SD and also gaining access to spikes made him more valuable than Landorus. SD sets are prepared for more than ever and Spikes are still good but those teams also don't function as well as they used too. Spikes are really good into balance when pivots get their item Knocked but Balance is an under performing archetype right now. Mola structures have fell off since people started exploiting Mola's passivity and Balance in general is extremely limited with what it can do. Lastly, Offense does not give Gliscor free turns to set up hazards and reuire immediate reactions which Landorus is much better at responding than Gliscor. Gliscor still performs very well against Balance but is not as effective as it used to be and struggles against common meta teams. Fortunately it's still good on stall and against it because of it's longevity from it's status immunity, passive healing and reliable recovery.
Landorus has so many viable sets and honestly more than I think we realize. I have been experiemnting more with offensive Landorus and this Pokemon is always great no matter how you use it. Scarf, Defensive, Lead, Offensive Rocks and most recently I have been using Substitute/SD/EQ/Smack Down. Others have even brought up Earth Power to check Zamazenta better, Glimm and Archuladon. Additionally, it can utilize HP better on these sets without sacrificing another stat. You seriously can't go wrong with this pokemon on any team outside of stall. I hope you all continue to innovate and explore new options for undiscovered Pokemon and existing ones. I expect a VR update probably after World Cup has ended so hopefully this post ages well.
A+ -> S-This mon is peaking right now and it's incredibly good. Both being versatile and one of the most proficient wincons in the tier with IronPress. It's surprisingly flexible with just that set too, and being able to act as an emergency check to so much of the tier makes it highly splashable and reliable. Even when it doesn't sweep it always brings some kind of value to a game and makes it a super consistent choice.
B -> A-Kind of a big nom but Arch rain is very good with Archaludon being such a potent offensive presence that also compresses valuable defensive utility in one slot. Giving rain a near perfect Wellspring answer that doesn't ease up on the gas is great. It's really only great on rain, as outside of such teams it doesn't do much that Ferrothorn can't do better as a steel type, but it's good enough on rain alone.
B+ -> B/B-I'll be honest this mon just blows. Ladder uses it so much you'd think this was still pre DLC or even pre HOME when Dnite was still good, but it's just such an inconsistent threat with some annoying moveslot problems. If it runs roost it only gets one coverage which makes it difficult to consistently sweep as you'll get walled by something always, and dropping roost significantly hurts its defensive value.
The VR Council has finished voting on our most recent sheet. Make sure to check out National Dex World Cup as there are a lot of good insights here from some of the best players the tier has to offer. Update below, also please make sure to include replays when nominating Pokémon currently unranked on the VR as we will continue to require this at the bare minimum for consideration.
edit: I forgot to include the doc yall here it is
Code:
New:
None
Rises:
Landorus-Therian: A+ -> S-
Zamazenta: A+ -> S-
Mawile-Mega: A- -> A
Toxapex: A- -> A
Tyranitar-Mega: B+ -> A-
Weavile: B+ -> A-
Archaludon: B -> B+
Barraskewda: B -> B+
Charizard-Mega-Y: B -> B+
Latios-Mega: B -> B+
Pelipper: B -> B+
Swampert-Mega: B -> B+
Corviknight: B- -> B
Skeledirge: B- -> B
Slowbro: B- -> B
Venusaur-Mega: B- -> B
Celesteela: C- -> C
Drops:
Iron Valiant: A+ -> A
Tornadus-Therian: A -> A-
Great Tusk: A- -> B+
Iron Boulder: A- -> B
Rillaboom: B+ -> B
Cinderace: B -> B-
Iron Moth: B -> B-
Greninja-Ash: B- -> C+
Gyarados-Mega: B- -> C+
Pecharunt: B- -> C+
Skarmory: B- -> C+
Iron Hands: B- -> C
Enamorus: C+ -> C
Tapu Fini: C+ -> C
Hippowdown: C -> C-
Jirachi: C -> C-
Magnezone: C -> C-
Ninetales-Alola: C -> C-
Tangrowth: C -> C-
Hydrapple: C- -> UR
Lilligant-Hisui: C- -> UR
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Glowking usage probably the biggest factor imo but I think Mega Ttar is better. Pursuit trapping in general is still undeniably good. Torn-T drop I think was a long time coming that mon has been on a straight decline since a while back when it was near the top of the VR. Always felt like it did very little if you weren't using z move sets and nasty plot + z move requires a lot of careful positioning vs any team that can apply pressure at all because of how frail it is