Tangrowth from B Rank - A Rank
Tangrowth is one of the only viable Physical Walls for Monotype Grass, a type with many weaknesses and not many counters for them. With an astonishing 100/125 physical defenses, it has the raw bulk to survive even STAB super-effective attacks that no other Pokemon of its breed would, such as Mega Pinsir's Return, Ice Punch from Weavile, and a Flare Blitz from Infernape. It has very low Special Defense, but it's HP is workable enough to make it an offensive Assault Vest set. it's offensives aren't bad either, with a good Base 100 Attack and Base 110 Special Attack, it can put the hurt on opponents even if uninvested. From stall to Assault Vest to Physical Wall to Trick Room to Offensive, Tangrowth is the go-to guy for when you are looking to find Pokemon that can withstand heavy physical beatings. It takes hits better than Amonguss, plus higher offenses. Sure, you might say that Ferrothorn is a better wall, but in Monotype Grass, it is used more for setting up hazards and SubSeed Stalling than trying to absorb Physical Hits. Tangrowth is also blessed with the ability Regenerator, which recovers mounds of HP if switching out, so the opponent has to deal with a ripe, healed Tangrowth if it is forced out. Tangrowth also has excellent utility options such as Knock Off, Leech Seed, Sleep Powder, and two very usable abilities that make it the best physical wall in Monotype Grass. Here is the first set, the Defensive set and it can also function as
a Mega Pinsir lure.
Tangrowth@Leftovers/Coba Berry
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Defense, 4 Special Defense
Ability: Regenerator
IVs: 0 Attack (Optional)
-Hidden Power Ice/Ingrain/Rock Slide
-Leech Seed/Synthesis
-Knock Off
-Sleep Power
This set is a very good wall for Monotype Rock and has the bulk to easily sponge STAB super-effective hits, one after the other, and slowly stall your opponent out with Leech Seed
. It is a no-brainer on this set because it may force your opponent out, but you can always use Synthesis
if you are on a Sun-Team and that you want to heal with more HP. Although it has very shaky accuracy, Sleep Powder
puts your opponent to sleep, causing them to switch usually, or if not, allowing you to seed them or pick them off with attacks. If you want to put a stop to Mega Pinsir, use a Coba Berry to sponge Return, even at +2, and put that bitch to sleep and 2HKO it with Rock Slide. HP Ice is for coverage, namely Garchomp carrying Fire Blast. Knock Off gets rid of the opponent's item. Duh. You idiot. Ingrain allows for steady health if you plan Tangrowth staying in on the long run, but it is only viable with a Specially Defensive Set.
Why A Rank? I already explained.
It is not S Rank because of it's abysmally low Special Defense. 'Nuff Said.
Eviolite Tangela could also be used, but only for physical defense.
I disagree actually, yes regenerator is nice, but Ferrothorn outclasses it typing wise, and with utility. B rank is fine for it.
Like I said, Ferrothorn and Tangrowth have two different roles. Ferrothorn can set up hazards and be offensive, and Tangrowth seeds the foe and survives super-effective attacks. Tangrowth has better stall abilities and a better stall movepool, and Utility-wise, Tangrowth has better wall-movepool than Ferrothorn. But overall, Tangrowth is more physically bulky than Ferrothorn, and possess LOTS of recovery, something Ferrothorn doesn't have outside of Rest + Leech Seed, and Tangrowth has higher offensive stats, and is better functioning (By far) for a Mono Grass Sun Team.
This is interesting, I was about to petition for Tangrowth to
move down to C rank.
Lets consider the S and A ranked Grass pokemon. In term of defensively oriented pokemon, we have Venusaur, Ferrothorn and Cradily. Which of these are you going to remove on your team to make room for Tangrowth? Assume you run all four, then you have only two slots left for offensive threats of which really isn't enough on Grass in my opinion. What I'm trying to say here is, that even though Tangrowth my have a niche, there simply isn't enough room for it to be considered when team building, not to mention that its defensive capabilities in forming a good core are not outweighing that of Ferrothorn, Venusuaur or Cradily. Here are some calcs:
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 306-362 (75.7 - 89.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 612-720 (151.4 - 178.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Basically, Tangrowth can't switch in to M-Pinsir (actually nothing on grass can). If M-Pinsir gets in a Swords Dance, it's game over.
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Coba Berry Tangrowth: 153-181 (37.8 - 44.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Coba Berry Tangrowth: 306-360 (75.7 - 89.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Okay, that calc seems more reasonable, but Tangrowth still can't switch in. What can Tangrowth hit back with?
0 Atk Tangrowth Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 184-220 (67.8 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Tangrowth Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 184-220 (67.8 - 81.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
So Tangrowth can kill it, but only with Stealth Rock up. The only way you are getting stealth rock up is if you have Ferrothorn or Cradily, both which outclass Tangrowth. I'm also not sure how Tangrowth is functioning as a
lure. If I was running Bug, and I saw a Tangrowth, I wouldn't think, I'll switch in Pinsir and mega evolve. I would bring in a special mon, like volcarona, and force you out. Let's compare to something like Cradily,
0 Atk Cradily Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 232-280 (85.6 - 103.3%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
0 Atk Cradily Rock Slide vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 232-280 (85.6 - 103.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Cradily: 255-300 (67.8 - 79.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Cradily can still take the same damage (without any defensive investment) and have a chance to OHKO with rock slide. If you run curse or stockpile, we have
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. +1 252 HP / 0 Def Cradily: 169-201 (44.9 - 53.4%) -- 34.4% chance to 2HKO
If I was really trying to check M-Pinsir, I could also give Cradily a Coba berry, like you propose kill it that way. Essentially, Cradily can perform the exact same role as Tangrowth, except that it is actually useful in a variety of matchups (which is why it is an A rank mon).
What about Ferrothorn?
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 148-175 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Frustration vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 295-348 (83.8 - 98.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Ferrothorn Gyro Ball (150 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 132-156 (48.7 - 57.5%) -- 94.1% chance to 2HKO
Ferrothorn can take a Frustration and hit back with Gyro ball for decent damage, or Thunder Wave it. Actually, the only nice I can think of is that Tangrowth can won't die to Close Combat, while Cradily and Ferrothorn will. As far as a sleep setter goes, Breloom's Spore is argueably a lot more effective, although it needs to get in before rocks are up (unless you run Shiftry; please don't). Actually, your whole marketing for Tangrowth to move up is because it checks M-Pinsir, by Rotom-Mow can do that too:
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Quick Attack vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rotom-C: 93-109 (38.5 - 45.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+2 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Quick Attack vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rotom-C: 183-216 (75.9 - 89.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Rotom-C Volt Switch vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Pinsir: 218-258 (80.4 - 95.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Rotom-C Thunderbolt vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Pinsir: 278-330 (102.5 - 121.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
You actual set is also problematic. Why do you have Ingrain slashed in there, why that would mean it can't switch out, meaning it can't you regenerator and absolute bait for anything to switch into it? You can't run Ingrain with a "Specially Defensive set" because that would require Assault Vest. A Knock Off from Tangrowth is only slightly weaker than a knock off from Ferrothorn. Tangrowth really isn't my 'go-to-guy' for anything on Grass, just because it is outclassed in so many ways, and leaves you team open to super-effective hits without bringing much else to the table like Serperior does. Ferrothorn is never runs substitute, so I don't know where you got subseed from? No one runs sun teams on grass because they just get decimated by everything, so that niche is barely present. Mega Venusaur can also run Synthesis, Leech Seed and Sleep Powder if you wanted to go that route. Sleep powder is a pretty bad option anyway as you said, due to shaky accuracy. I don't really think you will be 'picking stuff off' with you uninvested attack either. HP Ice is doing almost nothing uninvested.
All in all, I can see no reason for Tangrowth to move up to A-rank, let alone stay at B-rank. I petition for it to
move down to C-rank:
"Reserved for Pokemon that are only used to check a threat once or twice. These Pokemon often run unorthodox sets since their primary niches are outclassed by other Pokemon. Since they run unorthodox sets some Pokemon can set up on them without fear. These Pokemon need a lot of support (which may be hard to give) for them to function.These Pokemon have a hard time adapting to the metagame."