Resource SV OU Viability Ranking Thread [ UPDATE: POST #751 ]

[fly casanova]

Skeledirge A –> A- (Direct result of Espa / Pao ban)

i don’t think dirge should drop, and certainly not because of these two bans.

pao murdered dirge unless you surprised it with a well-timed tera, which is super telegraphed if you bring dirge in on pao in the first place. torch didn’t guaranteed ohko unless dirge is 252 spatk modest, and if pao teras, then it does like 60% max. dirge could win that matchup, but not often.

espathra was a favorable matchup for dirge, but with it gone, that takes so much pressure off it to fill a role that only it and a handful of other mons could. it’s one less thing forcing dirge in and getting it low. you lose a good matchup but that helps keep you healthier against everything else.

TLDR: it’s too early to say how the pao + esp bans will affect dirge, but imo it actually got better now that the last of the truly broken mons are gone. i think we’re underselling how much of a tier staple dirge is gonna be going forward.

 

[Venuesaur]

i don’t think dirge should drop, and certainly not because of these two bans.

pao murdered dirge unless you surprised it with a well-timed tera, which is super telegraphed if you bring dirge in on pao in the first place. torch didn’t guaranteed ohko unless dirge is 252 spatk modest, and if pao teras, then it does like 60% max. dirge could win that matchup, but not often.

espathra was a favorable matchup for dirge, but with it gone, that takes so much pressure off it to fill a role that only it and a handful of other mons could. it’s one less thing forcing dirge in and getting it low. you lose a good matchup but that helps keep you healthier against everything else.

TLDR: it’s too early to say how the pao + esp bans will affect dirge, but imo it actually got better now that the last of the truly broken mons are gone. i think we’re underselling how much of a tier staple dirge is gonna be going forward.

I think that's not true? Dirge losing espathra and not being abusing tera for pao is pretty big, and it's a niche it no longer can fill. My issue with dirge is that it's base defensive type is really not good tbh, and arguments on tera types kind of telegraph its tera reliance. I think dropping to A- is fair because it's just hard to slot on teams, but I would've nommed it down probably even if pao stayed.

 

[Rootb]

i don’t think dirge should drop, and certainly not because of these two bans.

TLDR: it’s too early to say how the pao + esp bans will affect dirge, but imo it actually got better now that the last of the truly broken mons are gone. i think we’re underselling how much of a tier staple dirge is gonna be going forward.

Speaking of the future, Sub / Slack Dirge completely walls Garganacl 1v1, even without Tera. Even hitting a weakness, Salt Cure has either a 3/16 (248 HP) or 1/16 (252) chance of breaking a sub in one go, and you can reduce that to zero with a very small amount of investment.

It's not the fastest kill, due to resists, but there's absolutely nothing that any currently standard Garg set can do about it.

e:

My issue with dirge is that it's base defensive type is really not good tbh

It's not great, but I wouldn't call it bad, either. On top of two immunities and a few strong resists, you need some serious firepower to hit it for over 50% neutrally.

 

[Smoochie Mack]

As a result of the ban I decided to mess around and throw together a Weavile team, being that it is my favorite pokemon I was looking to have a little fun on the ladder.

I am nominating Weavile for UR –> D (direct result of Chien-Pao ban)

I have been laddering recently with Weavile in preperation for the impending ban of Chien-Pao, it doesn't hit nearly as hard as the latter however with proper set up it actually can handle its own in this tier providing elimination of unaware mons such as Dondozo or Clodsire. Corviknight also provdies some issues however I have learned to play around it.

The set:
Weavile (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Pressure
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Night Slash
- Ice Spinner
- Low Kick (Ice Shard)

You only really need to run ice shard for Dragapult, low kick after +2 does a ton of damage to Garganacl. You're going to have to run screens or shed tailt to usually set up Weavile, but once it gets going it does pack a slight threat to the tier pending removal of mentioned walls before. Night Slash can get boosted by Tera-Dark and help with its low base power, sometimes you are rewarded with a lucky crit which can make or break the 1v1 vs Corviknight after +2. Here are some replays of Weavile tearing apart teams. It still boasts good coverage and with proper set up, not many pokemon want to switch into either of its STABs.

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1798629280

vs standard balanced OU


https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1798610604

vs rain

 

[Venuesaur]

Speaking of the future, Sub / Slack Dirge completely walls Garganacl 1v1, even without Tera. Even hitting a weakness, Salt Cure has either a 3/16 (248 HP) or 1/16 (252) chance of breaking a sub in one go, and you can reduce that to zero with a very small amount of investment.

It's not the fastest kill, due to resists, but there's absolutely nothing that any currently standard Garg set can do about it.

e:



View attachment 491670

It's not great, but I wouldn't call it bad, either. On top of two immunities and a few strong resists, you need some serious firepower to hit it for over 50% neutrally.

okay, so the issue with this defensive typing is that it seems good because the amount of resistances is more than what it's weak too. BUT these weaknesses are all really really bad, and the resistances tend to be less important. Dirge has the issue where often mons have an alternative way of getting around it thanks to its really common weaknesses, and so it needs to blow its tera as a way of dealing with this. The one thing this is typing is great for is volcarona, something you can't really dispute and that does give this typing a valuable niche, BUT it cant just come in on tusk from the ground weakness, or ghold from the ghost weakness, or even dnite necessarily because of the ground weakness. As well, unlike something like clodsire, which is functionally similar as a special fairy resist, it can't use hazards, which makes it hard to stack on teams.

But really it needs to blow its tera to kind of deal with a lot, and while that lets it use its unaware, bulk and good signature, i'd argue its not getting as much out of it as stuff like garganacl or dragonite. Maybe i'm hating though idk

 

[Bice]

Taking a break from OU but for now here's some noms I support

B+ -> B-/C+, outclassed by its great grandaddy tusk as a swiss army ground-type, only things it outspeeds are pawmot (who isnt very good and can dent it with mach punch) and chomper (who it cant really do much to while it gets deleted by chomper's own eq)
UR -> C/C+, can be genuinely annoying with the right support especially now that pao and esp are gone, typing really hurts it though
A -> A+, excellent glue that can fulfill a variety of roles even with its diminished movepool, I've been having a lot of fun with specially defensive tera ghost nasty plot
and B/B- -> C+, loss of pao really does a number to their viability but they still have their niches
A+ -> S-, difficult for all sorts of teams to handle and really appreciated the pao ban
Unreleased -> A-, hits hard and fast and can even be a spiker if you really need one, protean nerf hurts it hard though
B+ -> A-, is way more than a one-trick kitty and has a lot of sets it can choose from. quite unpredictable, though starting with a grass/dark typing and being unable to truly take advantage of tera keeps it from being ranked higher
B -> B+, even with its middling speed and eh typing it is terrifying so long as it gets a setup opportunity

 

[Moyashi]

okay, so the issue with this defensive typing is that it seems good because the amount of resistances is more than what it's weak too. BUT these weaknesses are all really really bad, and the resistances tend to be less important. Dirge has the issue where often mons have an alternative way of getting around it thanks to its really common weaknesses, and so it needs to blow its tera as a way of dealing with this. The one thing this is typing is great for is volcarona, something you can't really dispute and that does give this typing a valuable niche, BUT it cant just come in on tusk from the ground weakness, or ghold from the ghost weakness, or even dnite necessarily because of the ground weakness. As well, unlike something like clodsire, which is functionally similar as a special fairy resist, it can't use hazards, which makes it hard to stack on teams.

The EQ weakness is only relevant against mons that pack stab EQ, as non stab EQ, even from something like Dragonite, doesn't threaten Dirge who can stay in and wisp it, ruining it. The base typing also walls Iron Valiant lacking knock off (and even still, walls it generally), as well as Iron Moth, Cinderace, and physically defensive Skeledirge can beat plenty more than you think it can. A small bit of careful positioning and it can cripple a large amount of physical attackers. Can beat stuff like Hatterene 1v1, Scizor, Ceruledge (though this is less useful imo just because I find Edge massively overrated), and in general spreads status well.

Not sure what you mean by hard to stack on teams. Unless you mean fit? Because Skeledirge is not difficult to fit at all.

TLDR: it’s too early to say how the pao + esp bans will affect dirge, but imo it actually got better now that the last of the truly broken mons are gone. i think we’re underselling how much of a tier staple dirge is gonna be going forward.

This. If anything Dirge is better because now if a player wants to run other sets that aren't spdef, they can do so more freely without having to dedicate a second slot to an Espathra check. It's got more freedom in how it can be run.

 

[Joseph Gomes]

Completely agree with Meowscarada and Baxcalibur rise. Meow is the primary speed control in the tier now with STAB Sucker Punch threatening the likes of Pult.

Bax might not be fast but it's got obscene firepower

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 278-328 (55.1 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

With Pao gone, and a lack of fairies in general, Mono Dragon isn't bad as a tera typing anymore. Bax is now much more splashable and can spam Glaive Rush freely.

 

[fly casanova]

really it needs to blow its tera to kind of deal with a lot, and while that lets it use its unaware, bulk and good signature, i'd argue its not getting as much out of it as stuff like garganacl or dragonite. Maybe i'm hating though idk

nah i mean you bring up a good point about weaknesses to common moves like sball, eq, or surf, but fire/ghost is still better defensively than it gets credit for. without tera, you hard stop valiant, volc, moth, scizor, breloom, amoongus, and more, and dirge’s bulk is good enough to take a SE hit and hit back if necessary. without tera, the dnite matchup is a tossup depending on the sets, but sub dirge reliably beats garg as long as you’re not coming in on a salt cure.

This. If anything Dirge is better because now if a player wants to run other sets that aren't spdef, they can do so more freely without having to dedicate a second slot to an Espathra check. It's got more freedom in how it can be run.

exactly my thinking. one less thing dirge is relied upon to check = better job checking everything else

 

[658Greninja]

So 2 days ago I posted some noms. However like I said earlier, I would most likely make a part 2 after the Pao ban. Well we got two bans with Espa joining in in Ubers. This overall causes a massive shift in the meta. I still stand with most of my noms, some are further justified by the bans while others like Orthworm and Moon were outdated quickly. I have some new noms that I either forgot about or were noticeably affected by the bans.

Rises•
A > A+: Volc was already popping off as a wincon that also acted as a 30% burn button on whatever contact move the opponent throws at them. As a result, many teams are now having to respond to it with Dirge, Garg, Pex, and Clod or be picked off by the matchup moth. The bans means two things, Volc doesn’t have to sacrifice itself to Pao for that 30% burn chance, plus not having to invest in so much Defense helps, and Espa being gone means less Dirge usage. It also is more likely to be slotted onto Screens/Shed Tail offenses. Pult is more inclined to run Modest meaning less speed evs necessary and more bulk or spA.

B+ > A-: The Pao ban seems to be detrimental to its performance, but it was a shaky rkiller to it anyways. Loom is a fantastic partner with Pult who has gotten better as a result of the bans. It threatens Gambit, Ting-Lu, and Garg with strong STAB moves. Rock Tomb catches Volc and Dnite. Bulldoze smacks Ghold and Dirge. Even Tera Fire to hit Amoonguss. It is also worth noting that even Ghold takes a ton from Banded or Boosted Bullet Seed. Banded CC even 2HKOs Corv. Being one of the few physical threats that wins vs non-Tera Dozo is huge in a Pao-less meta. Loom’s role is to lure and wear down would-be-checks, opening the door for something like Valiant, Volc, or Dnite. There is also other sets like Sash Lead, Poison Heal which completely stops Garg without needing to use up Covert Cloak. Pairs nicely with top threats while being a good breaker on its own.

B+ > A-: One of the biggest winners of the Pao ban. Future Sight pairs with so much shit. Valiant, Gambit, Tusks, Bax, Meow, Ace, Loom, etc. In this gen it is even more potent considering recovery moves have been nerfed to 8 pp. Defensively it pivots into Valiant, Gren, Pult, Ghold, and Dirge. Despite most of these hitting it SE, its special bulk is enough to shrug a hit or two. Exploits the common Garg/Pex or Ting/Amoon defensive cores. In general it is an anti-fat mon which will be demanded more in th

B > B+: Gonna echo this nom cause Pao being gone benefits it for obvious reasons. On its own it punishes Washtom and Volc for attempting to spread those meager burns. Tera Dragon Band Glaive Rush absolutely murders shit. If it is not a fairy-type, its not eating it. Seriously tho look at these calcs

chien-pao junior

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Gholdengo: 158-187 (41.7 - 49.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery (max defense btw)

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 148-175 (37 - 43.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery (does nearly as much as Icicle Crash, has a 60% chance of 2HKOing with ada and after it loses its lefties)

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Ting-Lu: 350-412 (68 - 80.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery (does almost as much as the SE Icicle Crash)

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Dondozo: 278-328 (55.1 - 65%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Great Tusk: 254-300 (58.5 - 69.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 112 HP / 0 Def Kingambit: 181-214 (49 - 57.9%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO

252 Atk Choice Band Tera Dragon Baxcalibur Glaive Rush vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Skeledirge: 306-362 (74.4 - 88%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Like with Pao there is also not many reasons not to Tera it. Makes it a nuke and it removes its impairing rock weakness.

Dragon Dance is also a dangerous wincon vs teams lacking Dozo. It also has options like Substitute to blank Garg. Pao being gone also means one-less mon to rkill it. 115/92/86 bulk is not to be scoffed at for an offensive threat like this, especially undet screens. Lets it eat one or two big neutral hits. DD Bax can either run Tera Dragon, Tera Ground, or Tera Fairy adding to how difficult it is to stop defensively. There is even the option to run Loaded Dice Spear to beat sash leads. Give this dude a shot.

B > B+: Everyone was talking about how slept on this boi is, then it dropped to UU and now nobody talks about it no more. Believe me, this thing is still goated. Gambit usage has risen and its one of the best checks to it. Its fat enough to live huge hits from Ghold, Pult, etc. SD Lum exploits its would be checks Washtom, Dirge, and Amoonguss. Also don’t bother with Tera Flying, use SD CC Tera Fighting. You OHKO defensive Tusks after a spike with it and eat an EQ easily. Also worth noting Tusks is almost never at 100% for the entire game

+2 252+ Atk Tera Fighting Iron Hands Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Great Tusk: 362-426 (83.4 - 98.1%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

Also OHKOs Amoonguss and Clod with this too.

Ice Punch is the obvious 4th moveslot but there is also EQ which still OHKOs Clod/Pult and 2HKOs Dirge, forcing a Tera, or Substitute to shit on Garg.

Iron Hands @ Leftovers/Lum Berry/Booster Energy
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 108 SpD / 148 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat/Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Earthquake/Ice Punch/Substitute

Booster Energy is also an option on more offensively oriented teams.

While Hands doesn’t appreciate the high usage of Dirge, it also appreciates the higher usage of Gambit, and Meow. If more people ran Lum, they would know its true power.

B- > B: Rain is cracked, but even outside of rain teams Peli is a demon, specifically Specs. This thing is a nuke, not even Washtom is taking its hits easily.

252+ SpA Choice Specs Pelipper Surf vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Rotom-Wash in Rain: 138-162 (45.3 - 53.2%) -- 91.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Clod doesn’t get 2HKOd by anything it throws at it, but Clod is an awkward check that can lose to an unlucky confusion.

It switch in opportunities are not limited either. The omni-prescent Tusks, Ting-Lu, Dirge, Volc, Dozo, etc. It exploits the increased usage of these threats to break holes. Plus it can keep itself alive longer with Roost.

C+ > B-: After the Pao ban, I believe Sandy Shocks warrants a rise. The previous Chi-Yu ban has caused a slight Ting-Lu usage decrease, with the Espa ban decreasing that number a bit more. Its niche is combining spikes with its unresisted STABs. The three relevant grass types consist of two frail mons and one that is neutral to ground. It has surprisingly good bulk for an offensive threat, letting it come in on at least one or two neutral hits.

C+ > B-: Heavily benefits from the recent bans and meta trends. One of the most underrated Tusk pivots as it resists CC and gives little shit about anything else it throws at it. Checks Dnite with Ice Beam + BP. Future Sight is also great even though the lack of Teleport sucks. With Colbur it can lure and kill Gambit with BP. The Tera potential is absolutely there. Tera Poison for Meow and Loom. Tera Fighting for Gambit. Tera Ghost to block spin. Tera Fairy for Bax. It distinguishes itself from Dozo due to its fighting resist, Future Sight, Regen, and Slack Off.

D > C+: I made a rmt on Flamigo a long while back. Pao being gone and the overall state of the meta is highly beneficial for it. Resists both of Meow’s STABs and shrugs them off with Roost. Same goes for Tusk. Teams are less inclined to focus on physical walls now that they aren’t chained up by Pao, which means Flamigo’s strong stab combination is even better. Scarf is the best set but Band gives it the raw power to crack through physical walls.

Here is a replay for demonstration
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1774724360-wkrw2550r7tiq5nds18ocrac83fc2dmpw

Drops•

B+ > B: I’m gonna echo this nom. Kinda sad considering my first post on this thread was praising it, and seeing how far it has fallen. Its not terrible, I would argue the nom before was way too harsh. It differentiates itself from Tusks with its resistance to MiR, better special bulk, checking non-Focus Blast/CC Valiant, and a faster speed tier. However B+ is not reflective of its status in the tier. Outside of those two, it does not check anything better that Tusk doesn’t. Even on HO, Tusks has been preferred for its more threatening STABs.

 

[WilhelmTheOkay]

I would like to nominate Golduck to C/C+

Set I've Been Using

Golduck @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 28 Def / 252 SpA / 228 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Surf
- Ice Beam / Psychic
- Grass Knot
- Nasty Plot

Strengths:
Under rain Golduck is able to become a serious threat with its incredibly high speed of 590 Timid or 538 Modest. Rain-boosted Life Orb Surf is immediately threatening to the point where the majority of the non-Water-resist pokemon in the tier will be 2HKOed by it and in fact that some of the top defensive pokemon in the tier such as Skeledirge and Ting-Lu are unwilling to switch into a hit. Golduck has good coverage moves in Ice Beam, Grass Knot, and Psychic combined with Life Orb is able to also 2HKO many of its would-be checks. If Golduck is able to get a Nasty Plot up then all but a few specific hard counters will by OHKOed or 2HKOed. I will include some calcs below to give some idea of what Golduck can do. Compared to Barraskewda and Floatzel, Golduck is slower and notably lacks Aqua Jet but is able to bring a wider array of coverage than Floatzel and will not kill itself as quickly either. Compared to Barraskewda, Golduck's access to Nasty Plot allows it to be less reliant on Choice items to act as a wallbreaker. Oh yea also it targets Special Defense and not regular Defense. Either way, Golduck pairs wonderfully with both of them and I believe it should be in about the same range as them on the viability rankings.

Weaknesses:
With the removal of Chien-Pao's banded Sucker Punch, Golduck now has less to fear in terms of powerful priority with only Kingambit andnDragonite remaining notable threats. Despite this Golduck still very much suffers from its frailty and is at risk of being easily revenge killed if it cannot OHKO outright and this is only exacerbated by the commonly used Life Orb. I also feel like Golduck suffers from wanting to bring 4 attacks alongside Nasty Plot as it can struggle to deal with Toxapex without Psychic but does not want to drop Grass Knot or Ice Beam for it due to the threats of opposing

types like Dondozo and Garganacl or

types like Dragonite and Garchomp. On top of this Golduck will almost always struggle against Rotom-W, Baxcalibur, Slowking, and Azumarill. Also yea, if it ain't raining, Golduck ain't doin too much.

Flattering Calc Dump

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Great Tusk in Rain: 837-985 (192.8 - 226.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Gholdengo in Rain: 274-324 (86.9 - 102.8%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Garganacl: 234-276 (57.9 - 68.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Dragapult: 286-338 (90.2 - 106.6%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 226-268 (69.9 - 82.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Iron Valiant in Rain: 383-452 (132.5 - 156.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Grass Knot (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Dondozo: 426-502 (84.5 - 99.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Rain: 320-377 (62.2 - 73.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Less Flattering Calc Dump

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex in Rain: 90-105 (29.6 - 34.5%) -- 100% chance to 4HKO after Black Sludge recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Rotom-Wash in Rain: 120-140 (39.4 - 46%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Psychic vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Clodsire: 164-195 (35.4 - 42.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Surf vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Baxcalibur in Rain: 143-169 (38.5 - 45.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Grass Knot (60 BP) vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 122-146 (30.1 - 36.1%) -- 37.5% chance to 3HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Golduck Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Slowking: 135-161 (34.2 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Overall:
Strong, Fast, and Frail. Golduck has the potential to sweep 6-0 given the right opportunity but still struggles with some high tier threats which will require help from teammates in order to live up its potential.

also in gen 9 you can finally make it psychic type :D

 

[fly casanova]

B+ > A-

D > C+

seconding these two since I've used them enough to get a picture of what they do. futureport feels as good as it did last gen, and slowking being the only one who can really do it gives it a strong niche. flamigo is actually one of the most fun partners for slowking, as future sight + cc that can't be mitigated by gholdengo is a very spammable combo.

 

[LudwigFrog]

The BIGGEST winner of the bans imo

A- --> A
Amoonguss has been thriving this gen. It has found itself being a strong switch in to pokemon like Great Tusk and Iron Valiant. While it hasn't been perfect, it has generally been great. I believe Amoonguss to be one of, if not the biggest winner of the Chien Pao and Espathra bans. Chien Pao was one of the few pokemon that could hard threaten Amoonguss, making its job much more difficult. Amoonguss losing Chien Pao allows it to have a much easier time coming in on threats, and not having to worry about being taken advantage of by Chien Pao.

The Espathra ban was also massive for Amoonguss. Substitute Espathra, or Espathra behind Orthworm shed tail would often be able to position itself for a sweep, due to Amoonguss not being able to threaten it back, and being setup fodder. This is a similar buff as with Chien Pao. These two pokemon took advantage of Amoonguss harder than almost anything else.

I already believed Amoonguss was scratching the surface to be A before the bans, however I feel comfortable putting it in A after these actions. In the current metagame, Amoonguss matches up super well vs the top tiers. Amoonguss is able to massively annoy Garganacl, especially when running Gass Knot. Grass Knot allows Amoonguss to OHKO Great Tusk, and deal massive damage to Garganacl. Tera fairy from Garganacl helps cover Grass Knot, but that leaves it vulnerable to Sludge Bomb. Looking at A+ and A Tier, Amoonguss matches up pretty nicely. Amoonguss can easily come in on Iron Valiants attacks, and can threaten it back with Sludge Bomb. Dragonite has mostly been running Roost over Ice Spinner, however Amoonguss can still live a +1 Spinner, spore, and then deal massive damage with Foul Play. Kingambit can deal with Amoonguss attacks, but it dosen't want to take a spore, as it leaves it vulnerable, and prevents it from being able to act temporarily. I could go on, but there are too many mons to talk about.

While Amoonguss I think is amazing, it is not perfect. Gholdengo, one of the premier pokemon can give it trouble. Gholdengo is the one non grass type immune to Spore, which can make it difficult for Amoonguss. The rise of the Nasty Plot set has made the life of Amoonguss a bit tougher. However, on the flip side, Amoonguss pairs very well with pokemon like Tera Water Slowking, and Ting Lu, allowing for counterplay to Gholdengo to not be too difficult. Roaring Moon also appreciates Amoonguss, due to the fighting and fairy resistances, while RM can handle Gholdengo. Skeledirge is another pokemon that can take advantage of Amoonguss. Skeledirge usually can come in for free, and start setting up, however, it does not want to take a Spore, making it have to think twice before coming in. There are other flaws, but I believe Gholdengo to be the most prevalent one, which is why I don't believe Amoonguss is A+. Overall I think Amoonguss is deserving of a rise, and is one of the biggest winners of the bans.

 

[SketchUp]

C > UR: Going from nice to harsh here but I’m sorry. What the fuck does this thing do that its competition doesn’t? It has a million competitors for its role. Back in SS its role was either as a wallbreaker with Dark STAB that got up sand or a special wall. Whats wrong with it now? Everything. 95% of the meta has a way to threaten it; this thing has little to no switch-in opportunities. Slow bulky Wallbreakers? Look around you, you got Tusk, Gambit, and Iron Hands. Gambit in particular having way better resistances on top of 5 points higher Atk. Brand new checks in the omnipresent Tusks, Valiant, Ting-Lu, Quaval, and Dozo. Zone doesn’t have this problem since its STABs are better in this landscape and special walls are less prominent than the physical walls of this gen. A special wall with rocks and a ghost resist? FUCKING GARGANACL. Everything this thing did is either done better by other mons or absolutely gone. Its a slow ass Rock/Dark type, weak to ground/steel/fighting/fairy/water. You can offset those weaknesses with Tera, but are you gonna waste your Tera on Ttar when you have 5 other mons on the team that can use Tera and better? You get my point. Maybe Ttar will regain its OU status like it did last gen through eventual meta shifts and/or Home/DLC, but rn this is the worst Ttar has ever been.

Unranked is way too harsh in my opinion. I think C is fine primarily because TTar does a great job at slowing down progress of opposing Hyper Offense. I don't think it's great for ladder teams because it has a bad matchup against the - in my opinion - two best pokemon in the tier in Great Tusk and Kingambit, but in a tournament setting it's a great choice versus opponents known for bringing HO. Sand has quite a few useful (albeit sometimes small) benefits such as disrupting opposing weather and chipping HDB users, e.g. Dragonite and Volcarona to respectively break Multiscale or put it in revengekill/priority range. A SpD Hippowdon can do much of the same things, but the Ghost and Fire resists and Thunder Wave (which is especially great in conjunction with resist berries) makes it much more useful in the HO matchup. It's definitely not worse than other C or D mons like Gyarados, Iron Thorns, Rabsca, Arcanine etc.

I agree with most of your other noms, most notably Rotom-W and Roaring Moon. Rotom-W has a consistently good matchups against the most common bulky offense builds and it succesfully adapts to some metagame trends (e.g. SubNP or dropping Protect for TWave/Discharge). Roaring Moon has some good sets (Acro, Banded, or Jaw Lock lure sets) but it's quite a matchup dependent mon and there are too many matchups in the current metagame that are disadvantageous to it. Most balance/BO teams naturally run multiple checks to it, so even if you manage to beat something like a Great Tusk with Tera Acrobatics, there's always something like a Kingambit or Tera Unaware mon waiting in the back to pick you off.

 

[ILSB]

to C+

Set

Scovillain @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Leaf Storm
- Tera Blast
- Overheat

Sun is one of the most underrated type of teams rn, and scovillain is the prime abuser of this kind of team archetype. Fairy/Grass/Fire has little to no safe switch-ins in this metagame and Chlorophyll makes it harder to revenge kill without Scarfers or Booster Energy users. It Stealth Rock weakness can be patched with Rapid Spin Torkoal, Great Tusk and/or Hatterene. 3 great mons on sun and the sun-enabler itself. His better counters/check are Skeledirge and Flash Fire Ceruledge, both can tank every hits if they didn´t tera before. Dnite can take a Tera fairy at full and rk Scovi with EQ + ES and stealth rocks + Lo deters his longevity, so needs Rapid Spin or Healing Wish support.

Hatt

Hatterene (F) @ Eject Button
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nuzzle
- Healing Wish
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam

Tusk

Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin

Torkoal

Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Body Press
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

Calcs

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex in Sun: 97-114 (31.9 - 37.5%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 187-222 (61.5 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Overheat vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Clodsire in Sun: 289-341 (62.4 - 73.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Leaf Storm vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Pelipper: 356-421 (110.2 - 130.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
(Offensive)
252+ SpA Life Orb Tera Fairy Scovillain Tera Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 374-445 (104.7 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Tera Fairy Scovillain Tera Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 165-195 (51 - 60.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (Multiscale)
252+ SpA Life Orb Tera Fairy Scovillain Tera Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 330-390 (102.1 - 120.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Without Multiscale)

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Moth in Sun: 126-149 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Moth in Sun: 183-217 (60.7 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Sun: 173-204 (33.6 - 39.6%) -- 19.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Sun: 250-294 (48.6 - 57.1%) -- 42.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

 

[BolTingBlazie]

Okay yeah I tried to defend Quaq and Iron Treads before, and I still stand by the fact that B is probably a good place for Quaquaval for now as it is a unique and very underrated wincon, albeit a bit tricky to use due to pex being everywhere at the moment and being not the easiest thing to send against faster mons.

However iron treads is pretty meh all around and I believe I gave it a little too much credit, and could see it being like B-/C+.
Sure its a fast spinner with different stabs than tusk, but tusk is so much better despite being slower as it hits way harder and is just easier to slot onto teams in general. Treads is also a good Gholdengo counter, but other than that its not particularly amazing. Its lack of boosting moves and its merely acceptable attack stat of 112 get the job done, but unless your team needs fast hazard removal/knocker, there really isn't a point to running treads anymore when it does not have much over tusk anymore. Kinda wish GF gave treads SD, as that would be so good for it as you wouldn't have to choice lock yourself or mess with the EVs to hit harder.

 

[LudwigFrog]

to C+

Set

Scovillain @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Leaf Storm
- Tera Blast
- Overheat

Sun is one of the most underrated type of teams rn, and scovillain is the prime abuser of this kind of team archetype. Fairy/Grass/Fire has little to no safe switch-ins in this metagame and Chlorophyll makes it harder to revenge kill without Scarfers or Booster Energy users. It Stealth Rock weakness can be patched with Rapid Spin Torkoal, Great Tusk and/or Hatterene. 3 great mons on sun and the sun-enabler itself. His better counters/check are Skeledirge and Flash Fire Ceruledge, both can tank every hits if they didn´t tera before. Dnite can take a Tera fairy at full and rk Scovi with EQ + ES and stealth rocks + Lo deters his longevity, so needs Rapid Spin or Healing Wish support.

Hatt

Hatterene (F) @ Eject Button
Ability: Magic Bounce
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 248 HP / 116 Def / 144 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nuzzle
- Healing Wish
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam

Tusk

Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Rapid Spin

Torkoal

Torkoal @ Heat Rock
Ability: Drought
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Body Press
- Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin

Calcs

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex in Sun: 97-114 (31.9 - 37.5%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Leaf Storm vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 187-222 (61.5 - 73%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Overheat vs. 248 HP / 252+ SpD Clodsire in Sun: 289-341 (62.4 - 73.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Leaf Storm vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Pelipper: 356-421 (110.2 - 130.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO
(Offensive)
252+ SpA Life Orb Tera Fairy Scovillain Tera Blast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Garchomp: 374-445 (104.7 - 124.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Tera Fairy Scovillain Tera Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Multiscale Dragonite: 165-195 (51 - 60.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO (Multiscale)
252+ SpA Life Orb Tera Fairy Scovillain Tera Blast vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Dragonite: 330-390 (102.1 - 120.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO (Without Multiscale)

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Moth in Sun: 126-149 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Overheat vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Iron Moth in Sun: 183-217 (60.7 - 72%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Sun: 173-204 (33.6 - 39.6%) -- 19.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Life Orb Scovillain Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Vessel of Ruin Ting-Lu in Sun: 250-294 (48.6 - 57.1%) -- 42.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

I agree with this nom, however, I think Tera Ground is stronger than Tera Fairy since it helps with Clod Ceruledge, moth etc. Fairy hits RM but you become completely walled by fire types.

 

[HydreigonTheChild]

-> UR

Why is chansey ranked at all... between being unable to wear boots, aka being shit vs hazards, having weaker shadow balls vs gholdengo, and being forced to burn recovers more as a result makes me wonder why is this ranked, blissey is alr very very stall exclusive and is alr very very hard to fit, chansey is even harder to fit and IDT It solves any problems for a team, esp since most stall teams cant afford to fit so much removal to combat hazard stack and combat it by wearing boots, passing wishes, and generally not being affected by spikes as much, idk, chansey seems like a mon that shouldn't be ranked, what does it even do? Its higher bulk is nice but how can you utilize it? I thought maybe the higher bulk can be used... but how often are you gonna be facing a game where blissey couldn't have done the same things

 

[1LDK]

View attachment 492301 -> UR

Why is chansey ranked at all... between being unable to wear boots, aka being shit vs hazards, having weaker shadow balls vs gholdengo, and being forced to burn recovers more as a result makes me wonder why is this ranked, blissey is alr very very stall exclusive and is alr very very hard to fit, chansey is even harder to fit and IDT It solves any problems for a team, esp since most stall teams cant afford to fit so much removalto combat hazard stack, idk, chansey seems like a mon that shouldn't be ranked, what does it even do? Its higher bulk is nice but how can you utilize it? I thought maybe the higher bulk can be used... but how often are you gonna be facing a game where blissey couldn't have done the same things

My guess is less knock off distribution means that eviolite can be hold on for longer, for even harder stall, but honestly, I don't disagree to see it drop

 

[JoeMama]

seconding these two since I've used them enough to get a picture of what they do. futureport feels as good as it did last gen, and slowking being the only one who can really do it gives it a strong niche. flamigo is actually one of the most fun partners for slowking, as future sight + cc that can't be mitigated by gholdengo is a very spammable combo.

Thirding these 2 (especially Flamigod) great breaker with just dual stab that forces way too many switches as most teams don't have a defensive counter, forcing switches and allowing for a potential roost. Slowking is good for pivoting as well as with Ice types like Baxcalibur.

Baxcalibur B->B+
No more Chien-Pao means less competition as an ice breaker/ sweeper meaning Bax is more unique within the meta.

 

[RogueAlpaca]

Taking a break from OU but for now here's some noms I support

B+ -> B-/C+, outclassed by its great grandaddy tusk as a swiss army ground-type, only things it outspeeds are pawmot (who isnt very good and can dent it with mach punch) and chomper (who it cant really do much to while it gets deleted by chomper's own eq)
UR -> C/C+, can be genuinely annoying with the right support especially now that pao and esp are gone, typing really hurts it though
A -> A+, excellent glue that can fulfill a variety of roles even with its diminished movepool, I've been having a lot of fun with specially defensive tera ghost nasty plot
and B/B- -> C+, loss of pao really does a number to their viability but they still have their niches
A+ -> S-, difficult for all sorts of teams to handle and really appreciated the pao ban
Unreleased -> A-, hits hard and fast and can even be a spiker if you really need one, protean nerf hurts it hard though
B+ -> A-, is way more than a one-trick kitty and has a lot of sets it can choose from. quite unpredictable, though starting with a grass/dark typing and being unable to truly take advantage of tera keeps it from being ranked higher
B -> B+, even with its middling speed and eh typing it is terrifying so long as it gets a setup opportunity

I absolutely agree on Rotom-W and Dragapult getting better. Rotom is an incredibly versatile defensive mon which checks much of the current meta. Specs Dragapult was good even before the Pao ban, and since its most common check was Pao it will only get better. Band Dragapult imo is one of the best replacements for Pao, it abuses Tera for monstrous Dragon Darts damage and can even run Adamant since its speed tier is so incredible. I run a team with Cinderace, Band Pult, and Rotom as a VoltTurn Core, and Pult especially performs incredibly.

The BIGGEST winner of the bans imo

A- --> A
Amoonguss has been thriving this gen. It has found itself being a strong switch in to pokemon like Great Tusk and Iron Valiant. While it hasn't been perfect, it has generally been great. I believe Amoonguss to be one of, if not the biggest winner of the Chien Pao and Espathra bans. Chien Pao was one of the few pokemon that could hard threaten Amoonguss, making its job much more difficult. Amoonguss losing Chien Pao allows it to have a much easier time coming in on threats, and not having to worry about being taken advantage of by Chien Pao.

Also totally agree with this one. Amoonguss is on the previously mentioned team, and checks pretty much anything that can't kill it before it gets a spore off. Regenerator is amazing, and allows it to switch back in over and over, absorbing massive amounts of damage. Running Grass Knot is a great idea, my team tends to struggle vs Garg but that should fix it.

 

[Vert]

→ B+
→ B
→ C+
sun is by far the best weather. it was honestly just underexplored post chi-yu ban but people are starting to realize again how consistent this archetype can be. all of the protosynthesis pokemon are very good (except scream tail but even that's viable) and sun support also helps 'mons like ceruledge, volcarona, iron moth, and cinderace become unwallable. brute bonnet to c+ might seem like a stretch but this thing puts in numbers and is leagues ahead of scovillain which is in C. spore is broken and it's the only spore 'mon that can kill off every traditional spore answer--- amoonguss, garganacl, and gholdengo. brute bonnet is impossible to answer defensively and very hard to kill in general due its enormous bulk. only issue with this 'mon is it's reliant on tera + sun support & has 4MSS. you either need to drop sucker punch and lose much needed priority or drop crunch and be walled by skeledirge

sandy shocks is also really good. a simple set of volt switch | earth power | tera blast-fairy is very hard to switch into. thunderbolt is usually the last slot but i have been using power gem (to snipe volcarona) and spikes to decent success. even though i slotted it with the sun guys, sandy shocks does not require sun support. but I personally find the sun support to be worth as you can see in my OST R3 game. that +1 speed via protosynthesis makes it nigh-impossible to maneuver around

→ B+
toxapex is literally passive dogshit that is set-up fodder for np gholdengo and sd kingambit, two of ou's biggest threats. another thing about this 'mon is garganacl's negative impact on the meta has indirectly fucked over toxapex. here's an example: people are spamming that tera-grass volcarona set with substitute | quiver dance | flamethrower | giga drain for garganacl. what's toxapex doing to this volcarona set? a pokemon it would normally beat / status in previous gens? nothing. another pokemon toxapex should beat in theory is skeledirge but garganacl has caused that ratchet ass substitute set to be used which means your toxapex no longer beats that either. speaking of garganacl, you have to run that shitty covert cloak item for that thing which means it can't run black sludge to negate will-o-wisp. the power creep is also insane this generation. roaring moon hits 800+ attack after 1 dragon dance and smokes your pack & iron valiant will just calm mind, tera-electric / -steel, then send you to hell. to top it all off, toxapex is shed tail fodder, a dead teamslot when you load into hatterene, and very prone to being tech'd with iron moth running psychic / tera blast-ground for instance

i personally thought the initial rise to A was a bit extreme to begin with. but it was understandable since bunker pex was one of the best chien-pao answers when that thing was legal. nowadays if i see a toxapex at team preview i'm happy. if this was my personal VR list it'd prolly end up in C+. shit's ass

→ A-
two very dangerous dragon-types that are direct beneficiaries of the chien-pao ban. hydreigon has an amazing speed tier and it's the best offensive answer to skeledirge. nasty plot is a free kill button if you position it properly and tera-steel lets it flip the script on common counter-play such as clodsire and dragapult. choice band baxcalibur only has 1 counter in the entire game: physically defensive fairy garganacl. baxcalibur's set-up sets are also dummy. sd and dd sets force a lot of players to react with defensive tera's.

post-charity bowl edit: baxcalibur could even rise all the way to A

→ A
specs has an elite speed tier and is impossible to switch into. counterplay to specs revolves around pivoting into the right move (hydro pump | ice beam | dark pulse) with the last slot being flexible, ranging from spikes to extrasensory to water shuriken (needs rain support) to even grass knot since it's one of the few 'mons available that can OHKO curse water garganacl

 

[AM]

This post ^

Obviously the bans will require some changes in VR that haven't happened yet but anyways.

Cinderace to A to A-/B+: This mon is too high imo. Simply for the fact Tusk exists but it's not better than Iron Moth or Meowscarda for example which sit below Ace. It's not better than the majority of A except for Pex which should drop per Vert's post above.

Corv A to A-: Same reasons as above, but I think this mon despite whatever usage it has is highly overrated, been for awhle. It loses in the long run to about everything good in the tier ranging but not limited to Pult, Skele, Gholdengo, Volcarona, Bulk Up tusk if you're not using Iron Defense /bulk up as well, the whole sun archtype, long list.

Meowscarada and Iron Moth to A-: They're better than the B+, Meow for sure, different tera types with Moth are very hard to account where stuff like this can happen. Slowking is a good example of good B+ mon far as benchmark goes.

Less explanation but Scovillain, Indeedee, Polteagiest, Zard up one subrank and half the B ranks are pretty trash/niche so maybe move stuff around to account for that.

 

[1LDK]

Corv A to A-: Same reasons as above, but I think this mon despite whatever usage it has is highly overrated, been for awhle. It loses in the long run to about everything good in the tier ranging but not limited to Pult, Skele, Gholdengo, Volcarona, Bulk Up tusk if you're not using Iron Defense /bulk up as well, the whole sun archtype, long list.

FUCKING
THANK YOU

I have been saying this for a long ass time now and nobody believes me, not only it loses hard to Gholdengo and Garganacl, but loses to almost everything from A to S barring tusk, unless of course you run Bulk Up + Power Trip, but nobody thinks its a good set

Body press? Only really hits Gambit and you get walled even harder, U-turn on the gholdengo switch? Is a meme, oh yeah, get a fucking 6% chip, just for your next mon to get sr + 1 layer of spikes damage, and gholdengo has Recover so half the time it won't even matter. And I could go on and on and on, but I'm glad somebody agrees with me

 

[Vengeance417]

A -> A-

Been saying that Corviknight was overrated since 2 months ago. While some of the bans such as Chi-Yu, Annihilape, and even Chien-Pao have been good for it, other meta shifts haven't been kind to it still. Giving NP Gholdengo free turns is horrid. Many Fire-types and Sun are rising. It can't freely come in on Garganacl. Iron Valiant techs Thunderbolt for it. Hates giving Rotom-W momentum. Mixed Garchomp's Fire Blast hits it hard. Even mons Corviknight should be checking very well, like Tusk, Gambit, Dragonite, etc all have ways of dealing with it depending on the situation. Tusk knocks it off, forcing more Roosts in the long term if it was holding Leftovers. Bulks Up on non-BU / ID Corvs. Choice Band CC 2HKOes, and Protosynthesis-boosted offensive CC has a good chance to after rocks and leftovers, even without BU boosts. Gambit Tera's to dodge 4x effective Body Press then sets up on it. Physical Dragonite can Fire Punch, but other special attacking sets can use Flamethrower or Thunderbolt.

Don't get me wrong. Corv's still very good. It's just not the face of defensive playstyles like it once was, and A- is a good indicator of that.