shiloh
Tiering Lead
now that i have a bit more time i want to speak on the two mons that rw / ho3n discussed before the drops, and talk about how i see them in the tier rn, and hopefully spark some more discussion among more people as well.
croaks probably been the most reliable mon since the start of ss with its viability/calls for it to be banned since its just about dominated the tier since then. personally ive always felt it was more borderline, leaning towards dnb pretty much every time it came up on slate which led me to vote dnb each time. however its peaked over the last couple months i feel w/ how good it is, and how hard it is to prep for in the current meta. the main set im discussing w/ this here is the special set, though scarf is also very viable still and a very splashable form of speed control atm, but its nowhere near the level of special when it comes to how good it is in the current meta. theres very few things that can reliably switch into lo boosted moves from croak, and when it can np & threaten sweeps it can become even harder to deal with. a recent drop being weezing, who has turned into one of the more splashable defensive poison types in the tier, overtaking picks like garbodor/qwilfish, helps croak even more as weezing cant deal with special croak at all since it takes over 40 from lo focus blast, and cant threaten back unless it runs a move like psybeam (which is a dope filler if u guys want to try it out).
overall ive found the general powercreep the tier has had recently has just helped croak become even better, as its much harder to deal with it defensively compared to when it was one of the few breakers that had to be prepared with dedicated answers. especially with vacuum wave picking back up in usage on np sets, after already being common on aoa sets, its just hard to deal with in general. im still on the fence when it comes to croak at the end of the day, as it is not impossible to deal with when running faster ghost types like rotom/silv-ghost, or just not giving it a lot of room to come in and fire off attacks for free, but i think i am leaning more on the ban side than i have in the past.
a more recent addition to the tier, decid has become one of the premiere offensive threads in the tier. decid mainly relies on its killer dual stab combination, with grass and ghost being excellent typings that compliment each other aside from a few common checks. this stab combination is not new for ss nu, with smallgeist also being one of the better offensive mons in the tier, but decids ability to use both physical and special sets, as well as be used in a more utility role is what sets it apart. specs is the most threatening of these sets, with specs leaf storm and shadow ball together being able to deal at least neutral damage to most mons, aside from sap sipper mons. specs leaf storm is particular is great for muscling through common ghost resists like persian-alola, and silvally dark. persian in particular would be an otherwise good check to any physical decid sets, however it just cannot handle special sets at all, which makes it that much harder to play around. the best check to decid by far is miltank, as its immune to decids dual stab combination, and does not take a lot from coverage like hurricane either. while it does only run toxic to hit decid with, that still is enough for it to beat it reliably, as theres no real way for decid to get around it without running suboptimal sets. because of this, miltank has become hard not to run on a lot of balanced builds, as otherwise they have a lot of trouble trying to deal with decid, since theres no real way to check all its sets aside from miltank. bouffalant is another recent addition to the tier that should also be able to check decid with sap sipper + normal typing, but the jury is still out on how viable the mon actually is, and whether or not it will actually be able to deal with decid in the long run since it takes a lot more from hurricane compared to miltank, and with no instant recovery like milk drink, it cannot really deal with decid in the long run.
overall i was also very on the fence with decid the last slate when we voted on it, and i think since then the more ive played against the specs set, the harder it has been for me to deal with it reliably when not running miltank/multiple dedicated answers. its very easy to switch it in on most ground type rockers, as well as the bulky waters of the tier in washi/lanturn, and more defensive mons like eldegoss. whlie it is a bit slow when compared to some other offensive breakers like rotom/basculin/toxicroak, base 70 still isnt that bad for the tier. it has become one of the largest strains on teambuilding so far in the builder, and despite there being good counters to decid like miltank, they still arent common enough and splashable enough (aside from tank) that its easy to prep for in the builder. im still on the fence when it comes to what i would vote, but i think like with croak im leaning more towards ban than i did when we voted on it during the last slate.
bans/the tier right now
for those who do not really follow other tiers, when usage stats dropped last month uu gained almost 30 mons, and ru also gained around that many mons this month when the usage stats dropped. this will likely result in nu also gaining a large amount of mons next month, due to the powercreep ru is facing, and that means that nu will be basically a brand new tier starting september 1st. when that happens Eternally and i have discussed dropping down all bl mons, and having council votes throughout the month similar to what uu has been doing.
beside that point, we still want to have one more vote this month, preferably within the next week, centered around the two mons i discussed earlier in the post, croak/decid. i want to hear what other members of the community think, and ill get more members of council to post their thoughts as well, but we likely will see one more vote before the tier completely changes next month.
new drops
also wanted to discuss the new mons to the tier a bit since i think a lot of the new additions have been really fun to play with, and are overall good additions for the tier, at least over the next month.
alongside magneton, this is probably going to be the most viable mon that we've gained the month, and thats for good reason. offensive sets seem very potent atm, with throat spray sets already picking up popularity. the combination of unburden + the spa boost after using your stab gives accelgor the ability to clean up a game very quickly. with good coverage options to compliment bug buzz, theres focus blast for steels, sludge bomb for fairies, and even more niches options like mud shot to hit poisons like garb/toxicroak. defensive spike sets with boots + sticky hold also seem really strong in the metagame, with accelgor having a decent support movepool with options like recover/spikes/knock off/encore/etc that allow it to stick around long term, and not even having to be worried about losing its boots due to knock off/trick.
while we did lose silv steel, magneton is a very viable steel type that can pick up where silv steel left off in a sense, with being a more offensive steel for the tier. while it is a bit slower, it does get a lot bulkier with eviolite, and has a very good secondary typing which allows it to threaten a large majority of the tier. choice sets and eviolite sets are all really good, and its ability to eat a lot of physical hits, and then fire off strong attacks. we had this in the tier for a short time before, and i think it will once again be a very good pick in the metagame for offensive teams that want the resistances that it can offer them.
one of my favorite mons has joined the tier, and while i dont think it is as viable as the mons listed above, it still is a very fun mon to use. guts boosted facades hit really strong off the 120 base attack, and with good coverage options in superpower/crunch/wild charge, it also now has access to agility to potentially sweep offensive teams in the lategame.
these three i also expect to be viable in the tier, though i havent used them myself so far, but they all seem to have a solid niche and will probably see a good amount of usage in the coming month.
tldr
i want to hear from the community on what they think of croak/decid, and how they feel about a council vote for them in the coming week.
croaks probably been the most reliable mon since the start of ss with its viability/calls for it to be banned since its just about dominated the tier since then. personally ive always felt it was more borderline, leaning towards dnb pretty much every time it came up on slate which led me to vote dnb each time. however its peaked over the last couple months i feel w/ how good it is, and how hard it is to prep for in the current meta. the main set im discussing w/ this here is the special set, though scarf is also very viable still and a very splashable form of speed control atm, but its nowhere near the level of special when it comes to how good it is in the current meta. theres very few things that can reliably switch into lo boosted moves from croak, and when it can np & threaten sweeps it can become even harder to deal with. a recent drop being weezing, who has turned into one of the more splashable defensive poison types in the tier, overtaking picks like garbodor/qwilfish, helps croak even more as weezing cant deal with special croak at all since it takes over 40 from lo focus blast, and cant threaten back unless it runs a move like psybeam (which is a dope filler if u guys want to try it out).
overall ive found the general powercreep the tier has had recently has just helped croak become even better, as its much harder to deal with it defensively compared to when it was one of the few breakers that had to be prepared with dedicated answers. especially with vacuum wave picking back up in usage on np sets, after already being common on aoa sets, its just hard to deal with in general. im still on the fence when it comes to croak at the end of the day, as it is not impossible to deal with when running faster ghost types like rotom/silv-ghost, or just not giving it a lot of room to come in and fire off attacks for free, but i think i am leaning more on the ban side than i have in the past.
a more recent addition to the tier, decid has become one of the premiere offensive threads in the tier. decid mainly relies on its killer dual stab combination, with grass and ghost being excellent typings that compliment each other aside from a few common checks. this stab combination is not new for ss nu, with smallgeist also being one of the better offensive mons in the tier, but decids ability to use both physical and special sets, as well as be used in a more utility role is what sets it apart. specs is the most threatening of these sets, with specs leaf storm and shadow ball together being able to deal at least neutral damage to most mons, aside from sap sipper mons. specs leaf storm is particular is great for muscling through common ghost resists like persian-alola, and silvally dark. persian in particular would be an otherwise good check to any physical decid sets, however it just cannot handle special sets at all, which makes it that much harder to play around. the best check to decid by far is miltank, as its immune to decids dual stab combination, and does not take a lot from coverage like hurricane either. while it does only run toxic to hit decid with, that still is enough for it to beat it reliably, as theres no real way for decid to get around it without running suboptimal sets. because of this, miltank has become hard not to run on a lot of balanced builds, as otherwise they have a lot of trouble trying to deal with decid, since theres no real way to check all its sets aside from miltank. bouffalant is another recent addition to the tier that should also be able to check decid with sap sipper + normal typing, but the jury is still out on how viable the mon actually is, and whether or not it will actually be able to deal with decid in the long run since it takes a lot more from hurricane compared to miltank, and with no instant recovery like milk drink, it cannot really deal with decid in the long run.
overall i was also very on the fence with decid the last slate when we voted on it, and i think since then the more ive played against the specs set, the harder it has been for me to deal with it reliably when not running miltank/multiple dedicated answers. its very easy to switch it in on most ground type rockers, as well as the bulky waters of the tier in washi/lanturn, and more defensive mons like eldegoss. whlie it is a bit slow when compared to some other offensive breakers like rotom/basculin/toxicroak, base 70 still isnt that bad for the tier. it has become one of the largest strains on teambuilding so far in the builder, and despite there being good counters to decid like miltank, they still arent common enough and splashable enough (aside from tank) that its easy to prep for in the builder. im still on the fence when it comes to what i would vote, but i think like with croak im leaning more towards ban than i did when we voted on it during the last slate.
bans/the tier right now
for those who do not really follow other tiers, when usage stats dropped last month uu gained almost 30 mons, and ru also gained around that many mons this month when the usage stats dropped. this will likely result in nu also gaining a large amount of mons next month, due to the powercreep ru is facing, and that means that nu will be basically a brand new tier starting september 1st. when that happens Eternally and i have discussed dropping down all bl mons, and having council votes throughout the month similar to what uu has been doing.
beside that point, we still want to have one more vote this month, preferably within the next week, centered around the two mons i discussed earlier in the post, croak/decid. i want to hear what other members of the community think, and ill get more members of council to post their thoughts as well, but we likely will see one more vote before the tier completely changes next month.
new drops
also wanted to discuss the new mons to the tier a bit since i think a lot of the new additions have been really fun to play with, and are overall good additions for the tier, at least over the next month.
alongside magneton, this is probably going to be the most viable mon that we've gained the month, and thats for good reason. offensive sets seem very potent atm, with throat spray sets already picking up popularity. the combination of unburden + the spa boost after using your stab gives accelgor the ability to clean up a game very quickly. with good coverage options to compliment bug buzz, theres focus blast for steels, sludge bomb for fairies, and even more niches options like mud shot to hit poisons like garb/toxicroak. defensive spike sets with boots + sticky hold also seem really strong in the metagame, with accelgor having a decent support movepool with options like recover/spikes/knock off/encore/etc that allow it to stick around long term, and not even having to be worried about losing its boots due to knock off/trick.
while we did lose silv steel, magneton is a very viable steel type that can pick up where silv steel left off in a sense, with being a more offensive steel for the tier. while it is a bit slower, it does get a lot bulkier with eviolite, and has a very good secondary typing which allows it to threaten a large majority of the tier. choice sets and eviolite sets are all really good, and its ability to eat a lot of physical hits, and then fire off strong attacks. we had this in the tier for a short time before, and i think it will once again be a very good pick in the metagame for offensive teams that want the resistances that it can offer them.
one of my favorite mons has joined the tier, and while i dont think it is as viable as the mons listed above, it still is a very fun mon to use. guts boosted facades hit really strong off the 120 base attack, and with good coverage options in superpower/crunch/wild charge, it also now has access to agility to potentially sweep offensive teams in the lategame.
these three i also expect to be viable in the tier, though i havent used them myself so far, but they all seem to have a solid niche and will probably see a good amount of usage in the coming month.
tldr
i want to hear from the community on what they think of croak/decid, and how they feel about a council vote for them in the coming week.