Resource ORAS OU Sets Viability Rankings V4 (See Post #229: Page 10)

[GnralLao]

Unless this thread shouldn't seriously be taken in consideration anymore, some mons (and their respective sets) should move up/down to reflect the OU's VR:

Moving down:
Manaphy: from S to A+
M-Altaria: from A+ to A
Celebi and Volcarona: from A- to B+
Omastar, Scolipede and Zapdos: from B to B-
Salamence: from D to unranked

Moving up:
Rotom-W from A- to A
Metagross: from B- to B
M-Aggron and Cresselia: from C- to C

 

[bludz]

Yeah I noticed I hadn't updated it recently and plan to. My bad.

Anyway thoughts on set placement are encouraged so if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts please feel free to post them

 

[jvl101993]

Yeah I noticed I hadn't updated it recently and plan to. My bad.

Anyway thoughts on set placement are encouraged so if anyone has any suggestions or thoughts please feel free to post them

I think one of the changes to be considered is moving the Utility set for Mega-Latias above the Calm Mind one (assuming the Utility set is the common BoltBeam set, which is really good in the current metagame and has been the central reason why M-Latias has been discussed for moving up to A- in the Viability Rankings thread). Another is switching Offensive M-Scizor and Bulky M-Scizor (Offensive is better in this meta). Other than that, I can't think of many other set changes to make: just shifting the mons to where they currently are in the Viability Rankings.

 

[Wildcat Formation]

I would like to give this a try.

M-Charizard X: Swords Dance/Tailwind should drop down a rank. Swords Dance nor Tailwind sees little to no usage on the high ladder. If anything, the set should be changed to just Swords Dance as SD+STABS+Roost is a decent set.

M-Altaria: I think Specially Offensive should be the same rank as Defensive DD. I think it is better than Offensive DD since it hits hard right off the bat and can afford to run another coverage move in EQ or just support with Heal Bell while Offensive DD requires too much support compared to the other two sets. Specially Offensive and Offensive DD should switch places and ranks.

Bisharp: I agree with Infenal that All Out Attacker Bisharp should drop. SD Bisharp is by far the most dangerous Bisharp set, so a drop to A or even A- should reflect that.

Excadrill: Choice Scarf Drill is good imo to where it should rise to A. It's one of the better Scarfers that punishes teams that use Rotom-W and Latios as their ground immunity. Emergency Rapid Spin is nice as well. I think it is on par with Choice Scarf Garchomp who is also in A.

Hoopa-U: Is AV Hoopa-U a viable set? I haven't seen a team that used it.

Keldeo: The Life Orb set should move up a rank mostly because of the Rest+Sleep Talk variant which prevents it from being worn down as quickly.

Lando-T: Choice Scarf Lando-T has risen in popularity to where, at minimum, it should be above Double Dance.

Latios: Although Calm Mind Latios is effective, Latios is known for the more splashable All Out Attacking Set. I think it should drop a rank to reflect that.

M-Scizor: I think Offensive and Defensive SD should switch places. Offensive SD hits harder and is harder to wall thanks to the extra coverage move. Thus, it is more effective currently than Defensive SD.

Jirachi: I think Choice Scarf Jirachi is the best set by far to where every other set should drop a rank. Specially Defense Jirachi has a tough time in a meta where T-tar, Bisharp, and Hoopa-U are everywhere. It also struggles with 4MSS. SubToxic and E-belt are really niche so a drop isn't too bad.

Raikou: Choice Specs over AV makes sense. AV gets worn down too quickly and doesn't hit as hard as one would like.

Dragonite: Curious on everyone's thoughts on this. Is DD a rank better than CB? I feel like they should at least be the same rank, but it is hard to tell which one is better.

 

[Martin]

IMO the mixed attacker Alt set is the best in the current metagame. The DD sets are so overprepared for in this metagame with shit like Helmet Lando and M-Diancie on the rise, and this in conjunction with it being pretty reliant on multiple boosts to achieve its goal effectively courtesy of its stats being low or middling across the board. The mixed set's capacity to combat the trends and catch opponents off-guard with its ability to take out the targets of Fire Blast and EQ's in a single set due to not needing a moveslot for DD while taking out the physical walls/tanks which are commonly used to combat it, such as Landorus-T, with Hyper Voice. It is just able to take advantage of the current trends better than the physical sets are able to, and by strengthening against physical Altaria variants the metagame has become weaker to its mixed set imo to the point of it surpassing the previously-superior DD sets.

Given that MAlt is A rank now, my personal opinion is that the sets should be ranked as mixed/special attacker (A)>DDD (A/A)>Offensive DD (A/A-)>support (A-).

 

[Lemon Ginger]

What are people's thought's on super defensive Starmie? A set like the following has been a very reliable spinner and status absorber for me.

Starmie @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Reflect Type
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover

While this certainly doesn't apply the same offensive pressure as offensive Starmie, this set can stay in on ferrothorn, scizor, ttar and other pokemon that would normally force Starmie out. Reflect type means that each of the previously mentioned pokemon can't even hurt starmie, and you actually force them out under the threat of a scald burn. You might think that a reflect type Mew is better suited for this role, but Mew crucially doesn't outspeed the above threats with 0 speed investment.

 

[bludz]

Okay updated the OP with rankings changes and a couple others that were suggested:

Scarf > DD Lando I thought this was fairly obvious

Offensive SD MZor > Bulky SD Also completely agree with

Due to Altaria dropping a rank, its special set is now ranked the same as both DD sets although its still at the bottom. I think the order is a fine discussion point as it's a pretty solid lure and could potentially be as good as DD

I'm against dropping Latios' CM set, even if it isn't as good as AoA.

As for this defensive Starmie set in the post above, I think it can just fall under the umbrella of the defensive set which is already listed.

I'll round up the guys and see if we can come up with some other discussion points and address some things

 

[JuanchoTacorta]

Specs Latios should be added to A- or B+. Remove Salamence (unranked) and DD Haxorus imo (outclassed af)

 

[dysbber162]

You might want to update this thread accordingly to the viability rankings, such as tornadus-t and Keldeo being S.

 

[bludz]

Yes I'd been planning to do that ever since I updated the VR thread, just been busy. I'll be done updating in a few minutes

EDIT: done. removed SD + Tailwind ZardX as its basically irrelevant.

Sorry haven't been doing the greatest job of keeping this thread up to date, have had a lot on my plate but I'll be a little more active with this.

 

[lepton]

manaphy's tail glow 3 attacks set still says s rank

 

[koista12]

Looking at normal Gyarados, I dont know why offensive Dragon Dance is even listed as a set. If I'm using Gyara, it's because I want a water type set up sweeper that can set up on Keldeo and Garchomp. Gyarados needs bulk investment and Substitute to reliably do this. Any fully offensive set normal Gyarados can use is either outclassed by Feraligatr, who can immediately threaten bulky grounds with Ice Punch or a Sheer Force boosted Waterfall, or Mega Gyarados, who can use Crunch for decent neutral coverage and a more reliable secondary STAB than Bounce. I personally think offensive normal Gyarados should be removed entirely, but if that can't happen, then a move down to around B- would be ok imo.

I'm going to second moving All-Out Attacker Bisharp to A Rank; Pursuit Bisharp sorta sucks and Low Kick is too team specific to put the set in A+ Rank.

 

[Vert]

moxie sets are really nice on gyara to gain vital attack boosts against people trying to sack intimidate users against you or if they can't bring a 'mon in safely. also, it is much more solid as a win con against balance esp. if you poppin' that chestorest or natural gift fire / normal gem return

pursuit bisharp i agree is cool but not as solid as sd which is why it is terrifying threat to deal with. pursuit mainly if you got that zardy or keldeo in the back ready to destroy

 

[bludz]

Hey guys so project's been a little dead lately and I was late on some VR updates so I'll try to give it some life. Talked with the guys and we came up with some things to discuss

Bisharp All-Out Attacker -> Pursuit A+ -> A
Slowbro Calm Mind -> above Defensive
Mega Venusaur Defensive -> above Offensive
Diggersby Choice Scarf B -> B-
Mega Latias Utility -> Rename? B -> B+ (& above CM)
Hoopa-Unbound Assault Vest: A- -> ???
Garchomp Choice Scarf: A -> A-
Raikou Choice Specs -> above Assault Vest
Volcarona Bulky Quiver Dance: C+ -> Unranked

To reiterate: this is not an update these are discussion points.

Bisharp's AoA set is sorta weird since Low Kick isn't a thing right now so it should probably be called Pursuit. Similarly Mega Latias' Utility set could potentially use a new name.

urban brought up Poison Heal Loom and Phys Def Tangrowth moving up but I don't use them so I have no real opinion. Sorta inclined to say PH Loom is really niche maybe even moreso than some stuff in B- but that's my take on it without having used it recently.

 

[Shuple]

I hadn't read every post here,if it is discussed already please note me of that,thx.

I suppose Choice Spec Magnezone to be A-.

Though can be a check against Serperior and Thundurus,safely trapping Mega Scizor,it lacks power to breakthrough bulky Ground- and Grass-Type,and Ground-Type can block the Volt Switch to prevent it from making any contribution after your trapping job - if your opponent did have a Steel-Type for you to trap.
Though still cannot surpass the Water/Ground Pokemons and the fat Chansey,a Spec Magnezone can kill almost any fat-mons if predicted correctly on their switch-in,dealing decent switching pressure to Balance and Semi-stall teams.
Spec Magnezone also checks CM Slowbro and CM Clefable,while come down to the Scarf Magnezone,it checks the former only when has 60% more health itself and would be killed back when the latter runs Flamethrower.This is an advantage of the Spec set over the Scarf set.


252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Garchomp: 138-163 (32.8 - 38.8%) -- 99.3% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 8 SpD Landorus-T: 156-184 (40.8 - 48.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 112 SpD Hippowdon: 148-175 (35.2 - 41.6%) -- 80% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Venusaur: 112-133 (30.7 - 36.5%) -- 64.5% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 84 SpD Celebi: 120-142 (29.7 - 35.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 120 SpD Amoonguss: 136-162 (31.4 - 37.5%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery

252 SpA Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. +1 252 HP / 24 SpD Slowbro: 230-272 (58.3 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 142-168 (50.5 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. +1 252 HP / 84+ SpD Clefable: 158-188 (40.1 - 47.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Clefable Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 204-240 (72.5 - 85.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

And,just compare with Hoopa-U and Keldeo.

Keldeo
Choice Specs: S
Choice Scarf: A+
Life Orb: A
Calm Mind: A

Hoopa-Unbound
Life Orb: A+
Choice Band: A+
Choice Scarf: A
Assault Vest: A-

Both of them have a higher viability ranking on their Spec/Band sets than their Scarf sets.Though Keldeo do runs Spec more often than Scarf,Hoopa-U has more Scarf sets on Usage statics,when CB set has a higher viability.
As with the Magnezone,Scarf set has 45% usage and Specs is 30%.
The Specs Magnezone,IMO,is underrated,should be A-.

BTW,the biggest threat against Magnezone,or a Offensive team with a Magnezone,is Zard-X.It can take advantage from the dead of trapped Steel-Type Pokemon,and tear your team with a single Dragon Dance,or weaken your check with a random hit - many Zard-X checks are too shaky to be weakened.

 

[Martin]

Bish change: agree. SD is just much more threatening nowadays, and its a pretty shaky Pursuit user when compared to stuff like scarf/band tar, m-meta and av meta due to not consistently beating what its meant to trap. Also yea as much as I like Grass Knot, Low Kick and Aerial Ace on Bisharp AoA is pretty much dead in the meta, meaning that AoA bish is almost always pursuit nowadays.

Cm>fatbro: agree. bro definitely prefers the offensive utility of CM in the current metagame to the kinda passive defensive set.

Def>off on venu: neutral (not used defensive enough to comment on this)

Scarf diggs drop: agree. diggersby prefers CB and SD, and scarf is just a worse Lando for the most part. Priority and a power booster is a better way to go on it imo as it just feels annoyingly weak with scarf. Kinda biased here as I'm not keen on scarfers beyond lando, kyu, tar and magnets anyway, but its not a very good set anyway imo.

Latias rename+move: agree. The set is less along the lines of utility and more along the lines of being a defensive 'mon tbh. Like, BoltBeam+Roost+T-Wave/Defog is basically what it runs nowadays if its not CM, and of those only the fourth moveslot can really come under the umbrella of "utility" tbh. Also yeah the set is better than CM+BoltBeam due to there being more offense than there is stall.

Hoopa-U AV-->?: IMO the AV set is pretty bad. Like, if you're not using this to annihilate playstyle A or playstyle B you're probably better off using another Pokemon imo. IMO it could go to unranked for that reason, although I can see a case for B+ being made.

ScarfChomp drop: agree. Its so hard to justify this over Lando in such a sand infested metagame, and the key niche that it has over more powerful/bulkier Lando-T (ability to beat out boosted Zard-X's speed tier) is not quite as important as it was before, with Zard suffering to current meta trends and it becoming less popular.

Raikou specs>AV: agree. This hasn't happened yet .-. Like, its hard to justify specs over CM in this meta anyway, but it is defo better than AV. I'm also gonna propose changing the name to AoA as I prefer LO/Magnet in the current meta but understand that the roles are pretty similar.

Volc Bulky QD drop: agree. The set is completely eclipsed by its offensive set, which is more efficient at cleaning up in such a fast-paced metagame. Being forced into 2 setup turns to clean is not ideal at all when this meta is so fast and offensive.

I hadn't read every post here,if it is discussed already please note me of that,thx.

I suppose Choice Spec Magnezone to be A-.

Though can be a check against Serperior and Thundurus,safely trapping Mega Scizor,it lacks power to breakthrough bulky Ground- and Grass-Type,and Ground-Type can block the Volt Switch to prevent it from making any contribution after your trapping job - if your opponent did have a Steel-Type for you to trap.
Though still cannot surpass the Water/Ground Pokemons and the fat Chansey,a Spec Magnezone can kill almost any fat-mons if predicted correctly on their switch-in,dealing decent switching pressure to Balance and Semi-stall teams.
Spec Magnezone also checks CM Slowbro and CM Clefable,while come down to the Scarf Magnezone,it checks the former only when has 60% more health itself and would be killed back when the latter runs Flamethrower.This is an advantage of the Spec set over the Scarf set.


252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 76 SpD Garchomp: 138-163 (32.8 - 38.8%) -- 99.3% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 8 SpD Landorus-T: 156-184 (40.8 - 48.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 112 SpD Hippowdon: 148-175 (35.2 - 41.6%) -- 80% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mega Venusaur: 112-133 (30.7 - 36.5%) -- 64.5% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 84 SpD Celebi: 120-142 (29.7 - 35.1%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 120 SpD Amoonguss: 136-162 (31.4 - 37.5%) -- 0% chance to 3HKO after Black Sludge recovery

252 SpA Magnezone Thunderbolt vs. +1 252 HP / 24 SpD Slowbro: 230-272 (58.3 - 69%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Slowbro Scald vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 142-168 (50.5 - 59.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Magnezone Flash Cannon vs. +1 252 HP / 84+ SpD Clefable: 158-188 (40.1 - 47.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Clefable Flamethrower vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Magnezone: 204-240 (72.5 - 85.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

And,just compare with Hoopa-U and Keldeo.

Keldeo
Choice Specs: S
Choice Scarf: A+
Life Orb: A
Calm Mind: A

Hoopa-Unbound
Life Orb: A+
Choice Band: A+
Choice Scarf: A
Assault Vest: A-

Both of them have a higher viability ranking on their Spec/Band sets than their Scarf sets.Though Keldeo do runs Spec more often than Scarf,Hoopa-U has more Scarf sets on Usage statics,when CB set has a higher viability.
As with the Magnezone,Scarf set has 45% usage and Specs is 30%.
The Specs Magnezone,IMO,is underrated,should be A-.

BTW,the biggest threat against Magnezone,or a Offensive team with a Magnezone,is Zard-X.It can take advantage from the dead of trapped Steel-Type Pokemon,and tear your team with a single Dragon Dance,or weaken your check with a random hit - many Zard-X checks are too shaky to be weakened.

Specs Magnezone lacks a lot of the consistency of Scarf though due to just how much can outpace it if it doesn't carry it, which is the reason why it is generally not considered to be as good. Also it leaves you at the mercy of fast Scizor's Superpower, which is not ideal at all. It plays a different role to Keld and Hoopa in that it is a trapper as opposed to a wallbreaker, so being able to maximise your chance of a successful trap is absolutely essential to its role, so I don't really like the comparison much.

 

[SketchUp]

Raikou's Specs set is great but Calm Mind is still the best set in the metagame. I agree that CM > Specs > AV but Specs seems closer to AV than to CM to me. The big difference is that every team carries a ground type and being choice locked means you don't have the freedom to spam your STAB, whereas both AV and CM can still switch moves and hit ground types. If you really want to show the difference between the viability of these sets I think it's better to drop AV to B. Gengar and Thundurus were the main two pokemon that made AV great a while ago (there are others like Starmie), but they both took a drop in usage. Checks to Gengar/Thundurus such as Tornadus-T, Scarftar and Amoonguss are just so splashable that, from a teambuilding perspective, I rarely see the need of having AV Raikou when I can use Specs, CM or Magnet. So yeah, if you want to distinguish AV from Specs go for AV -> B instead of Specs -> A- in my opinion.

 

[bludz]

Yeah I never intended to put Specs in A- or AV in B, just swap the order in B+. As you said yourself, Specs and AV are closer to each other than either is to CM so I don't think Specs and CM should be in the same rank. Generally if I'm going to make a rank change I'll indicate that by specifying a rank, while -> above simply means the two sets will switch order within their subrank. Guess I never touched on that before but yeah that's what that notation means.

 

[Cheryl.]

One change I would make is put Mega Pidgeot's Stallbreaker set up to B- and above the All-Out-Attacker set. Stallbreaker Mega Pidgeot is the best and only reason to use Mega Pidgeot imo, as while the AoA set has 100% accuracy Hurricanes, that's really the only reason to use it over Tornadus-Therian, who is better in almost every aspect, while Stallbreaker has a legit niche in being a good stallbreaker, and while it has a worse matchup against offense than AoA, the ability to break down bulkier teams reliably thanks to the combination of Work Up + Refresh + Roost at least gives Mega Pidgeot a good reason to be used over Torn-T, and that is why I think stallbreaker Mega Pidgeot should rise.

Also I think the Tank-Fable set (Magic Guard + LO) should at least be ranked. It may not be the best Clefable set out there, but it's great at luring in things like Empoleon and Ferrothorn and hitting them hard with moves like Fire Blast or Focus Blast, and it still has decent bulk as well. I think B+ would be a good place for it.

 

[p2]

lo torn-t should be above av. lo is what makes torn s rank, av is alright and i actually think it should drop to a+.

aoa bisharp should drop to a, like vertex said, bisharp isn't as scary when it lacks sd.

garchomps offensive sr should just be changed to offensive, a bunch of sets run sd 3 attacks which is incredibly good right now. ive even argue to make offensive > defensive in this meta.

i think agili megagross could drop to a-, i think it has too many coverage issues to be effective and it needs a lot more team support because of said coverage issues.

calm mind slowbro should be above normal defensive because its a solid wincon and sets up on annoying mons like clef so its good.

specs mag should be a- alongside scarf, i think specs is definitely the better set purely because of how powerful it is, offensive sciz is a pain, but if you're running specs you should have that covered.

scarf terrak should be b, not b-. it outspeeds so many crucial threats like all relevant dders and threatens to ohko all of them apart from alt. b- is underselling it a ton.

also what is defensive suicune if it has a cm set? if its some rubbish like resttalk/scald/roar just get rid of that lol

 

[Shuple]

lo torn-t should be above av. lo is what makes torn s rank, av is alright and i actually think it should drop to a+.

aoa bisharp should drop to a, like vertex said, bisharp isn't as scary when it lacks sd.

garchomps offensive sr should just be changed to offensive, a bunch of sets run sd 3 attacks which is incredibly good right now. ive even argue to make offensive > defensive in this meta.

i think agili megagross could drop to a-, i think it has too many coverage issues to be effective and it needs a lot more team support because of said coverage issues.

calm mind slowbro should be above normal defensive because its a solid wincon and sets up on annoying mons like clef so its good.

specs mag should be a- alongside scarf, i think specs is definitely the better set purely because of how powerful it is, offensive sciz is a pain, but if you're running specs you should have that covered.

scarf terrak should be b, not b-. it outspeeds so many crucial threats like all relevant dders and threatens to ohko all of them apart from alt. b- is underselling it a ton.

also what is defensive suicune if it has a cm set? if its some rubbish like resttalk/scald/roar just get rid of that lol

All agreed.
When comes to Garchomp,I hadn't use all sets of it but IMO Tank Chomp itself might be not worthy of A+,it fails to stall strategies easily since it has no recovery and has a poor offensive pressure,the specific it has is the high recoil against contact move,but many non-STAB U-Turn users has their STAB Moves to hit it hard or just killing on its switch in such as Hydreigon(Meteor),Landorus-T(EQ),Tornadus-T(Hurricane/Icy Wind).It checks priority moves,but may fail 1on1 with priority users,such as Mega Medicham,Mega Metagross(both BP,Ice Punch),Azumarill(Aqua Jet,Play Rough),which makes Double Switch a necessary - it should be an option but not necessary - for Tank Chomp users.
Yeah I mean it has poor presence on defensive synergy,only being an additional patch as STAB U-Turn Stopper and SD Talon/Bisharp Check.Idk how Tank Chomp big fans use it - as a suicide SR leader and Talon/Bisharp check in offensive team?or a patch up in a (semi-)stall for VoltTurn spam?Both I think don't deserve an A+ rank.
I do really like the concept Rocky Helmet Chomp works but fail to find a kinda effective role and a good group of partner for it.I'd appreciate if anyone shows me how.

Idk how offensive SR Chomp (maybe with a Lum Berry/Sash) works,I use suicide leaders infrequently,but the other suicide leaders seem to be all poor on viability ranking (that's not weird I think).

 

[urban]

My take on a few things:

LO Torn-T > AV Torn-T
I definitely agree with this one. Like p2 said, the LO set is what bumped it to S in the first place and its amazing coverage is pretty much unmatched. I could possibly even get on board with AV dropping to A+ just because it is so much less threatening, but its ability to actually switch into hits and overall splashability make it a borderline case for me.

Scarf Garchomp -> A-
I brought this up to the team because Chomper's main niche as a check to +1 Zard X has become significantly less important. It also faces huge competition from Lando-T, who arguably pulls off a Scarf set much better at the moment, and there is a degree of opportunity cost in that you can't use Chomp's own offensive and defensive sets, which are both really fantastic right now. Someone also brought up renaming Chomp's Offensive SR set to just "Offensive", which I am totally on board with.

AV Hoopa-U -> Unranked
Agree. Just not a very good set when all of Hoopa's usefulness comes from its offensive presence. It also can't make very good use of the item because it lacks resistances.

Specs Magnezone -> A-
Yeah, not really seeing this. Its power is nice and all, but in such an offensive metagame (one where Chomp/Lando-T are on literally every other team, too) the lack of speed is really troubling. Being locked into an Electric/Steel move is also horribly exploitable for most teams.

Bludz mentioned Poison Heal Loom and Defensive Tangrowth as well, which were things I mentioned to the ranking team. I like Poison Heal Loom quite a bit because it just feels like a bonus when you don't need the power of LO or the relative reliability of Focus Sash. The set still runs a mostly offensive spread with SD/Facade/Seed Bomb/Fighting STAB, so you don't lose a ton of offensive pressure while acting as a decent water resist now because you (usually) won't get burned. Defensive Tangrowth in C likewise seems really low to me in such a physically oriented meta because it actually checks a ton of physical attackers while being able to utilize Lefties/Rocky Helmet and its amazing support movepool.

 

[Martin]

I saw p2 comment on chomp, so I'll weigh in.

I don't like Fatchomp in the current meta much tbh. It is really hard to justify using over PhysDef+Helmet Lando-T in a metagame where sand is so common, and I've reached a point where I have basically stopped using it now. Like, sure the ability to make Talonflame and Lopunny impale themselves is cool, but why make your team inherently weak to +2 Excadrill as a result? The fact that I'm personally seeing more Return Excadrill on mid/high ladder doesn't exactly help either, as a common strategy on balance/BO to do is to carry TankChomp+Rotom-W so that you can have the extra recoil without sacrificing the ability to take on sand, but Exca is able to break through Rotom annoyingly easily with Return - which kinda undermines the aim of the core. Simply put, TankChomp gets worse when sand is common and gets better when sand is less common, and currently I agree with p2 that its offensive sets are better rn.

 

[Shuple]

Hey guys,did we miss the stallbreaker Thundurus?I guess an A or A- might be suitable.

http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/thundurus/

Thundurus @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Ice
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave

Quite useful set,tbh.

 

[Martin]

Hey guys,did we miss the stallbreaker Thundurus?I guess an A or A- might be suitable.

http://www.smogon.com/dex/xy/pokemon/thundurus/

Thundurus @ Leftovers
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power Ice
- Taunt
- Thunder Wave

Quite useful set,tbh.

That's literally just Prankster Utility with Volt Switch over Thunderbolt, so the set is already in A+