Rate of the Week V3: Week 10

[Enki]

Rate of the Week
​

Welcome to Rate of the Week! This is a project that looks to bring quality individual rates into the spotlight and recognizes the hard work of unbadged raters. Here's how it will work:

• Each week, official Team Raters will be paying close attention to the RMT forum and reading the rates posted in their respective tiers. They will then shortlist a few which will be in contention for the Rate of the Week award.
• From the pool of shortlisted rates, one will be chosen which most exemplifies the qualities of an excellent rate. That rater will be the winner for that particular tier!
• A post will be made by an official TR who specialises in that tier, explaining how and why the particular rate won. This will allow aspiring raters to gain an idea of what constitutes high-quality rates, and hopefully incorporate those aspects into their own rates.
• There will be multiple winners every week, one from OU and a couple from other tiers depending on the quality of the rates posted. We hope that in this way we can expand rating activity in less popular tiers, while maintaining a weekly OU winner.
• Official Team Raters are eligible to win, but not more than once. Unbadged raters can win the award multiple times.

So what's in it for the winners? Well, they will earn a place in the Hall of Fame, which will be kept in the OP of every thread, and their rates will be announced on social media. Also, after gaining 3 places in the Hall of Fame, a rater can be eligible to earn room voice in the RMT room on PS! on the condition that they've shown an interest in getting involved. Winners also earn more consideration for the Ladybug

and Team Rater

badges.

We hope that this project will encourage people to put more effort into their rates and become better and more experienced raters, which will consequently increase the quality as well as the quantity of rates in the forum. Good luck to you all!

Hall of Fame

Week #1 - Toon Linked (OU)
Week #2 - Nedor (OU), Arifeen (UU)
Week #3 - Fireburn (Ubers), Do A Bibarel (UU)
Week #4 - AM (OU), Raiza (PU), Kiyo (NU)
Week #5 - FlamingVictini (OU)
Week #6 - Cyndequil. (UU)
Week #7 - BreloomMyHomie (OU)
Week #8 - FlamingVictini (OU)
Week #9 - oml it's too ez (OU), Cyndequil. (UU), MrAldo (RU)
Week #10 - Nedor (OU), Cyndequil. (UU), Cranham (Ubers), Lax (Monotype)

 

[feen]

This week's UU winner is once again Cyndequil.! His rate is a very well written one with impressive format and conciseness. Firstly he suggested Swords Dance Cobalion over Galvantula because the team didn't really need Sticky Web and would have had a hard time setting it up. The team was also weak to Ice-type Pokemon and had a hard time breaking Blissey, which also made Cobalion an ideal partner. Furthermore, Cyndequil. suggested Shuca Berry on Cobalion as a nice way to check Mega Beedrill, a daunting threat to the team.

His next change of Salamence's set to a more offensive one was a great change. The team had little problem of Entei and thus made bulky Salamence redundant. Moreover, the Speed is very useful to the team, as it allows Salamence to beat non Choice Scarf Hydreigon which the team had a hard time to deal with. His suggestion of running Yache Berry was excellent, as it gives the team another insurance versus Mamoswine because Cobalion is still a shaky check if predicted correctly.

Cyndequil. identified the lack of Fairy-type switch ins and lacks a strong wall breaker. Entei over Slurpuff was an ideal suggestion, as Choice Scarf Hydreigon and Mega Sceptile could clean late game after Entei weakened or beat them. Entei also appreciates Pokemon such as Slowking and Suicune being worn down by Hydreigon and Sceptile and thus forms a nice core with them. Finally, having a strong priority move is very useful to the team, as it can check opposing setup sweepers.

After that, Cyndequil. has suggested running Focus Blast over Hidden Power Fire on Sceptile, as the latter is redundant. Lastly, he mentioned how Scald on Swampert is just for spreading burns and Damp is a better ability, as it stops suicide lead Pokemon like Azelf and Custap Berry Forretress. Thanks to his amazing rate, Cyndequil. has earned himself another spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!

 

[feen]

This week's Monotype winner is Lax! His rate was a well written one with a nice format. Firstly, he suggested running Dragon Tail over Extremespeed on Zygarde, as it becomes very dangerous in conjunction with Substitute and Coil. Dragon Tail also phazes Skarmory, a Pokemon Ground Monotype has a hard time against. Lax also suggested running more SpD EVs on Zygarde in order to set up on bulky Pokemon like Slowbro and Lanturn.

Lax's recommendation of running Flamethrower over Thunderbolt on Nidoking was a controversial one, as Thunderbolt was useful for taking down Water-types. However, Zygarde can set up on bulkier Water-types and Nidoking cannot outspeed offensive Water-types. Moreover, Flamethrower is more useful overall, as the team is likely to get destroyed by Leech Seed + Protect Ferrothorn.

Finally, Lax suggested running 92 Speed EVs on Camerupt in order to outspeed and 2HKO Slowbro, a Pokemon that is very hard to break for Ground Monotypes, as it can have free Scald and nothing would want to switch into it. Thanks to his impressive rate, Lax has earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame! Congratulations!

 

[Tricking]

This week's OU winner is Nedor! His rate was both very detailed and well-written. He started off pointing out that the team didn't need Scarf Keldeo. In fact, the team had already several ways to maintain Speed control. Instead, he noticed that a Specs variant of Keldeo would have been way more helpful to Charizard-X, as it can deal with Landorus-Therian and Hippowdon, and weaken the likes of Slowbro and Azumarill, all of which are common checks to Charizard-X. Since Nedor spotted a weakness to Weavile and Bisharp, he mentioned Life Orb RestTalk Keldeo as a useful option able to counter those threats throughout the whole match.

After that, Nedor proceeded with some minor changes regarding the EVs spreads. For instance, he suggested to lower to 0 the IVs on Serperior in order to minimize Foul Play's damage, and a better spread for Landorus-Therian, able to minimize Stealth Rock damage, tank a Draco Meteor from Latios at full health and take less damage from Electric-types that carry Hidden Power Ice.

Moreover, Nedor suggested to replace the useless Fire Punch with Heart Stamp on Jirachi. This change is particularly helpful when facing fast threats that threaten offensive teams, such as Mega Lopunny and Mega Manectric, while helping deal with Mega Venusaur, which is a huge threat. He suggested to run Roost on Charizard-X in order to increase its longevity, making it a troublesome sweeper during the whole match, although the lack of Earthquake would make it way more difficult dealing with Heatran; hence Nedor suggested to use Hidden Power Ground Serperior in tandem with Roost Charizard and he specified it wasn't a mandatory change. Finally he said that adding Healing Wish on Latias, as double Healing Wish would throw off the opponent in many scenarios, although this is far away from being a necessary change, too.

Thanks to his outstanding rate, Nedor has earned himself another spot in the Hall of Fame. Congratulations =)

 

[Lord Outrage]

This week, our Ubers winner is Cranham, who wrote an insightful rate demonstrating excellent identification of weaknesses and providing optimal suggestions.

He started by shedding light on weaknesses to common threats in the metagame; he then identified Kyurem-W as the weak link of the team since it doesn't provide any defensive synergy.

In addition, his suggestions were on point. For instance, Cranham recommended replacing Knock Off with Skill Swap on Deoxys-S. This change allows Deoxys-S to set up Stealth Rock against Magic Bounce Pokemon, and thus increases the chance of winning against stall teams. Then, he suggested replacing Kyurem-W with Extreme Killer Arceus, a great Pokemon against offensive teams, with a powerful priority to finish off weakened threats. After this, he suggested Rayquaza over Yveltal, which fits better on offensive teams, carries a priority move, and is not set up bait for Xerneas. Finally, he recommended Swords Dance + Rock Polish offensive Primal Groudon which is superior to the initial Rock Polish + 3 attacks set, especially against balanced and stall builds.

Thanks to his great rate, in-depth options to improve the team, and smart choices that enhanced the build's matchup against all archetypes, Cranham was able to provide a great rate, and earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!