MASSIVE UPDATE TIME
Hey guys, it's time for a massive update. And by massive, I mean 97 total changes massive. TRC and I noticed that the rankings were rather inflated, so we decided to refine them with a bit stricter critera, as well as test a ton of the lower ranked Pokemon, as their rankings were inaccurate in cases. Additionally, the metagame has shifted around a bit with the release of ORAS and the recent tier shift. also galbia helped too :o
Because of the ridiculously huge number of changes, we're only giving reasoning for changes that affected the A ranks. If you want to know more about why specific changes were made, feel free to ask one of us.
Code:
Leafeon added to A+
Mega Camerupt added to A+
Mega Glalie added to A+
Altaria removed from B+
Beedrill removed from D
Lopunny removed from C-
Pidgeot removed from D-
Carracosta from S to A+
Tauros from A+ to S
Golem from A+ to A-
Chatot from A to A-
Throh from A to A+
Dodrio from A- to B+
Flareon from A- to B+
Misdreavus from A- to A
Gourgeist-S from A- to B+
Kricketune from A- to B+
Heatmor from A- to B+
Torterra from A- to B+
Basculin from B+ to B-
Drifblim from B+ to B
Frogadier from B+ to B
Regice from B+ to A-
Sawsbuck from B+ to B
Swanna from B+ to B
Ursaring from B+ to B
Arbok from B to C+
Bastiodon from B to B-
Floatzel from B to B-
Glaceon from B to C+
Gogoat from B to B-
Kecleon from B to A
Klang from B to B-
Leavanny from B to C
Linoone from B to B-
Luxray from B to B-
Mantine from B to B+
Meowstic-M from B to B-
Rapidash from B to B-
Simisear from B to C+
Vullaby from B to C+
Zebstrika from B to C+
Aurorus from B- to A-
Butterfree from B- to C
Clefairy from B- to B
Metang from B- to B
Munchlax from B- to C+
Murkrow from B- to C
Quilladin from B- to C+
Sliggoo from B- to C
Wartortle from B- to C+
Wigglytuff from B- to C+
Ariados from C+ to C-
Dusknoir from C+ to B-
Furfrou from C+ to C-
Gigalith from C+ to D
Lapras from C+ to C
Masquerain from C+ to C-
Prinplup from C+ to B
Vanilluxe from C+ to C
Bibarel from C to C-
Honedge from C to D
Hypno from C to C-
Machoke from C to C+
Meganium from C to D
Meowstic-F from C to D
Ninjask from C to D
Lampent from C to C-
Persian from C to D
Politoed from C to C+
Shelgon from C to D
Vibrava from C to D
Whiscash from C to C+
Carvanha from C- to D
Dusclops from C- to C
Dwebble from C- to C+
Frillish from C- to D
Gabite from C- to C+
Lumineon from C- to D
Parasect from C- to D
Pineco from C- to D
Seviper from C- to C+
Simisage from C- to C+
Trapinch from C- to unlisted
Walrein from C- to D
Yanma from C- to D
Diglett from D+ to unlisted
Maractus from D+ to E
Seadra from D+ to unlisted
Whirlipede from D+ to C-
Emolga from D to E
Lunatone from D to E
Bellossom from D- to E
Furret from D- to E
Girafarig from D- to C+
Sudowoodo from D- to E
D- and D+ ranks removed
Leafeon is being placed in A+ rank initially (where it was before it rose to NU) because it is one of the best and most defining Pokemon of the tier. Leafeon's Swords Dance set is a fast and threatening sweeper, and Leafeon uses its high base Defense for an offensive Pokemon to find setup opportunities. Leaf Blade / Knock Off / Iron Tail offers great coverage, the latter being especially helpful as it means Leafeon is a physical sweeper that can break through Avalugg and Togetic. With Chlorophyll, Leafeon in sun is incredibly threatening to offensive teams, often straight up 6-0ing them after a boost. Leafeon also has supportive options; it can Baton Pass its Swords Dance boosts as well as pass Wishes on defensive sets. Leafeon is one of the biggest threats in the tier, so it earns its former A+ ranking.
Mega Camerupt can easily 2HKO the entire PU tier with its powerful Sheer Force boosted moves. It also makes for a good Stealth Rock setter and has decent bulk. However, its miserable base 20 Speed and the popularity of Water-types mean that it isn't very metagame defining, so in spite of its potential brokenness it isn't quite worthy of S rank.
Mega Glalie is a very powerful Pokemon that can be a huge threat if it is overlooked due to the absurd power of its attacks. However, it is walled by common Pokemon in Avalugg and Piloswine, and it is easily outsped, especially before it mega evolves, which can be hard to do safely. Despite this, Glalie's sheer power is enough to land it a spot in A+ rank.
Tauros is easily the most threatening offensive Pokemon in PU. It outspeeds almost all of the unboosted tier, is impossible to wall outside of very niche options such as defensive Solrock and Dusclops, and can also run a great Scarf set which is very difficult for offense to deal with. Tauros is a huge threat to every PU team, even if it is prepared for, so it is easily worthy of S rank.
Carracosta is rather difficult to set up at times, and needs to run a special set to get past the most common Pokemon in the tier, which is weaker and lacks Aqua Jet, which means that it is easily revenge killed. Stealth Rock sets also now face competition from the newly legal Stealth Rock Barbaracle, which has much higher Speed and Taunt. Because of these factors, it is simply not as dominant as before, and therefore not quite good enough to warrant an S ranking.
Golem faces much more competition in its main role, a Stealth Rock setter, due to Pokemon like Barbaracle and Aurorus also receiving the move. Barbaracle has access to Taunt as well as Water-STAB for opposing Golem and Aurorus, while Aurorus itself has a higher offensive presence and better coverage and Speed.
Throh is a very easy Pokemon to fit on teams in this metagame. It can easily annoy its checks and counters with the great Taunt + Toxic set that has been rising in popularity lately, while its great bulk, power, and typing make it an excellent Pokemon in general.
Misdreavus is easily the most reliable spinblocker in PU. While other spinblockers suffer from being too frail or too weak, Misdreavus is neither; it can run both Nasty Plot and defensive sets very effectively and also has great utility with moves such as Taunt and Will-O-Wisp.
Dodrio, Flareon, Heatmor, Gourgeist-S, and Torterra haven't really gotten that much worse recently, but their drops are a product of the stricter criteria that we're using now. For various reasons, such as frailty in the case of the first three, being overshadowed by other Pokemon in the case of the last three (note that Heatmor falls into both of these groups), as well as the fact that they have all generally fallen out of favor a bit in high level play, we felt that these Pokemon stood out as not being up to par with the rest of the A- rank. Chatot is dropping for very similar reasons, as we felt it just wasn't up to par with the rest of the A rank Pokemon.
As a result of Garbodor's increasing popularity, Defoggers have become more common, which means that Kricketune's job is more difficult than before. Sticky Web teams as a whole suffer from the fact that while they can prepare for hazard removal, they can never fully prevent it, and the most important part of their team can be erased completely if they aren't careful. For these reasons, Kricketune just isn't quite the A- rank threat that it used to be.
Kecleon can now use Knock Off and Drain Punch alongside Protean, which throws its previous coverage issues out the window. Kecleon is a great offensive Pokemon in the current metagame for several reasons, including its fantastic dual priority, the high power of its moves, its status as one of the only two users of STAB Knock Off in PU, and the fact that all of its offensive moves have a sizeable amount of utility. These changes have propelled Kecleon from being a mediocre Normal-type to one of the better offensive Pokemon in PU overnight.
Aurorus got a few new toys in ORAS but the one largely responsible for the change in its ranking is the addition of Stealth Rock to its movepool. Now, Aurorus is one of the first choices for SR setters for offensive PU teams, which is enough to push it up into the A rankings.
Changes to discuss:
Sneasel to A+ (we wanted to do this ourselves but didn't want to make a change to the S rankings without bringing it up here first.)
Leafeon to A (we were pretty torn on this, so discussion on whether it should be A or A+ is encouraged.)