Resource SM OU Sets Viability Rankings

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- Make Utility Tapu Fini named defog Tapu Fini at highest B, add a separate set for whirlpool and make it B- and Calm Mind A-. Defog Tapu Fini really isnt great in the current meta, and almost every stealth rocker has the ability to deal massive unrecoverable damage to it or have the bulk to 1v1 it. Defensive Landorus-T and Defensive Garchomp are the two exceptions, and even then they lose if the team has a solid defog Tapu Fini check ( Zapdos, Tangrowth, Tapu Bulu, Amoonguss, Mega Venusaur). Its also extremely hard to fit in Defog Tapu Fini on many playstyles, Balances hate no recovery, Stall hate no recovery, (Beside Z Haze)its too passive for offenses, way too passive for Hyper Offenses, thus the only playstyle that it fits in is Bulky Offense. It does not even work great on that because it gets severely crippleed by Toxic Spikes, and adds to the weakness to Mega Metagross and Tangrowth. It loses to the two most common Spikers, only beating Spikes Ash-Greninja. It gets massively crippled by Toxic Spikes and doesnt even beat Toxapex. It does not do that much against Sticky Webs, because at best it can come in on a free switch and sack itself for a defog. Calm Mind Tapu Fini actually can beat Tangrowth, Toxapex, and Zapdos. It can take advantage of Ash-Greninja and Keldeo. Whirlpool Tapu Fini beats stall and somewhat pressures Tangrowth.

- Add Stallbreaker a Tapu Lele set and put it in A+. Beating stall is one of the Key reasons why Tapu Lele is still so high up, it also is a Balance breaker, and does not do nothing against other playstyles, besides maybe non-webs Hyper Offense, as it really helps against the Sticky Webs matchup.

- Make SD Defensive Scizor all the way down to B. It really isnt good right now and what people should be running is Defog, because SD Defensive Scizor doesnt do much other than beat Defensive Lando-t. It is also extremely hard to sweep a Competent player with SD Scizor when something like Defog or Toxic will not. The only other real thing is that it beats Mega Metagross 1v1 when it is burned.

- Make DD > Coil on Zygarde and potentially make it A+ . DD Zygarde just cleans many unprepared teams with either of its Z Moves, it beats many of its Traditional checks with Dragonium Z and Groundium Z, blasting through Tangrowth and Landorus-T with Dragonium and Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor with Groundium Z, not to mention that DD + Sitrus Berry Zygarde is also a great set.

Thanks for reading.
 
Honestly, I think you should get rid of Scarf Kartana entirely. Its STABs have bad coverage, Sacred Sword is weak and Night Slash is both weak and has bad coverage. None of its moves are good to be locked into, and it's easily forced out and revenge killed. Overall, there are far better Choice Scarf users in OU, like Tapu Lele, Landorus-T, Keldeo and even Hydreigon.
 

Colonel M

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Updated.

Gary is still absent at this time so it is just bludz and I at the moment, so we might take a little while longer to update some things due to it being a tie. I'll try to keep more diligent in updating, but I've been suffering from really bad sleep and I'm just recovering from it (bless Zzzquil).
 

Colonel M

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Updated the list. Here were the changes as well as possible discussion points if you will:

Just to note in here what I did:

Landorus-T -
Flyinium Z: S
Rockium Z: S
Defensive: S
Double Dance: A+
Choice Scarf: A

Greninja -
Choice Scarf: A- -> A

Magearna -
Swapped Assault Vest and Shift Gear (order is OTR AV SG but all three are A+)

Tangrowth -
Rocky Helmet: A -> A-
Mixed Defense was already A- so no change

Zygarde -
Swapped SubCoil and Dragon Dance's placement - both are still A+ with Choice Band at A+ and Double Dance at A

Gengar -
Scarf: A- -> B+

Heatran -
Added Substitute. Placed between Offensive and Defensive - willing to negotiate spot

Keldeo -
Removed CM + Normalium Z

Tapu Bulu -
Swords Dance: A
Choice Band: A-
Leech Seed: B+

Choice Band can probably still be A, but have no clue on Leech Seed's placement

Clefable -
Placed Magic Guard > Unaware

Magnezone -
Removed Substitute

Scizor-Mega -
Removed Utility, though I kind of want to call Defog Utility anyway. Open to criticism on this.

Hoopa-U -
Choice Band: B+
Choice Specs: B+
Choice Scarf: B
Renamed (see OP): B-

Serperior -
Not a change, but questioning Offensive Serperior when SubSeed just does a lot more IMO

Tornadus-T -
LIfe Orb: B -> B+ (currently under AV willing to swap)

Kyurem-B -
Again not a change, but questioning Subzero in general

Azumarill -
Removed Choice Band. In most cases Belly Drum is the go-to set for Azumarill while the effectiveness of Choice Band has waned outside of Volcarona.

Slowbro-Mega -
Slack Off + 3 Attacks: B-
Calm Mind: C+

Willing to place CM to B- but havent used it.

Breloom:
Added Focus Sash (C+, but it's a rare set so I'm willing to axe it)

Dragonite:
Added Choice Band to C. The set is nothing spectacular but Dragonite still hits rather hard while boasting some utility.

Also removed Baton Pass from Scolipede and Mew.

If there's anything I'm missing or needs to be corrected let me know.
 

Leo

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Subzero and Band Kyube are both pretty mediocre tbh, maybe drop them a subrank further idk about the rest
 

Colonel M

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Definitely could agree with dropping at least one or both of the sets. Life Orb KyuB is by far superior.

Also I apologize for being rude, but I forgot to mention that we added 2 more people to the Sets VR, so I would like to formally introduce them in this post and add them to the OP.

Subject 18 , esteemed OU Moderator, has been around for quite a while and has participated in his fair share of tournaments and friendlies. We felt he would be a great addition to the team.

p2 , our favorite meme lord, has also been added to the team. His vast experience with ladder and tournaments made him a solid candidate to add to the team as well.
 

Colonel M

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Made a couple changes that reflect analyses:

- Re-ordered Magearna sets (Shift Gear > AV > OTR)
- Removed Offensive Serperior
 

Colonel M

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Wasn't OTR the best set?
That has changed within the metagame. Originally OTR was really big - Especially in the Metagross / Baton Pass spam metagame; however, Shift Gear has become more consistent in cleaning as well as performance. The only real boon to OTR is the ease of setup and bulk, but limited to 4 turns never helps. Tangrowth, a popular Pokemon, can also undercreep Magearna to outspeed Magearna in Trick Room and smack it around with Earthquake. Provided Tangrowth is healthy enough it can actually win.

Not to say that Shift Gear fares significantly better against Tangrowth, but it never outspeeds Magearna whether it Shift Gears or not which is fairly helpful too.
 

Colonel M

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Made changes to reflect the VR update including the death of a pink blob known as Blissey.

I'll note some of the changes made:


- Moved to S.
- Trick Room currently resides at A+. Awaiting feedback from Sets VR members on this, but for the most part Shift Gear and AV are more meta defining at this time in my opinion.


- Placed Spikes > AoA. Spikes right now has a larger impact on the metagame than the AoA previously did.


- Moved Swords Dance to A. Awaiting more feedback from Sets VR on moving SD over AoA since SD has been popping up more frequently in the tier. Due to terminology, I have also renamed AoA to Offensive to incorporate some may carry Stealth Rock.


- Moved Wish to B. Wish is not commonly used on Jirachi at the moment - especially when you consider Healing Wish gives Jirachi's teammate a second breath of life.


- Added Dragon Dance.


- Added Offensive.


- Removed Z Rain Dance.

- Terminology update. This is something that I have been delaying a bit too much (I apologize). I'll do a basic breakdown here.

All-Out Attacker basically means every move used on this Pokemon is an offensive move. There are no setup moves, utility moves, nor support moves.
Offensive usually incorporates Pokemon that are Offensively-oriented; however, may have some utility with them (i.e. Taunt, Intimidate) or setup moves.
Utility varies from Pokemon to Pokemon, but basically these Pokemon are not often Offensive based and, even if they are, usually support the team more often than sweep. Such examples are laying entry hazards, setting up terrain, or using U-turn / Volt Switch. This can sometimes be known as Pivot as well.
Defensive are basically Pokemon that are more Defensively-oriented.

In the meantime you are more than free to post comments and suggestions on rankings of other Pokemon sets as well.

A few potential changes suggested by myself and other OU Sets VR Council:

- Re-arranging Heatran sets. Right now Defensive Heatran and Substitute Heatran are very popular sets, and while Offensive is certainly not bad it does feel a little worse in comparison to the other two sets in the recent meta change.
- Re-arranging Tapu Koko sets. This one is currently in discussion with us as well.
 
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Ropalme1914

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Just to point it out, Mega Pinsir still is A- but it was raised to A on the viability rankings one update before the last one.
 

BReady

Banned deucer.
Jirachi-> Wish/pivot which I'm assuming you are referring to Smogon set of wish/uturn. I don't agree with this set. The naming of this Rachi should be Sp. def Rachi with incorporating body slam as its able to take on a ton of specially offensive mons ie. Mega Alakazam, tapu lele, Mega mane, tapu koko, nihilego etc. Ranked A.
 

Colonel M

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Made the adjustments based on this VR Update.

I also made an adjustment with Heatran:

- Substitute is now the top set, followed by defensive, then offensive. I kept these at A+ for now.
- I also slid Defensive Mega Slowbro in since it has been used and, while it is arguably worse than 3 Attacks, does okay under certain team compositions. It's the same rank as Slack Off + 3 Attacks.

A moment of silence for the lost loved ones...

 

Colonel M

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Changes Made

- Did Recent Ranking Update

- Moved Defensive above Rockium (both remain same rank)

VR Council felt at this time Rockium has been a little less consistent in comparison to the superior Z Fly set. Furthermore, the Defensive set with Leftovers and Protect taken into account does wonders against a lot of threats in SM OU at the moment - including Zygarde. We felt this was enough to push Defensive over Rockium Z at this time.

- Removed Taunt + 3 Attacks Greninja

Though there are definitely times a non-Choice locked Greninja can be terrifying, it also comes at a price in power. The biggest issue with Taunt + 3 Attacks is the decreased power in Dark Pulse is very noticeable and the loss in power with Hydro Pump and Water Shuriken can be noticed sometimes during the mid-game.

- Autotomize - A -> A-

Truth be told Autotomize has suffered a lot within SM's transitions. One of the biggest things that did not help was the increased usage in Zapdos. Unfortunately, the increased usage of Heatran has also placed another thorn on this set. This creates really hard choices of what to use for moves and can create very bad sacrifices.

- Re-arranged Zygarde sets:

Choice Band: A+
Dragon Dance: A
Double Dance: A-
SubCoil: A-

Should come as no surprise honestly, but in case it did - Choice Band is just way more consistent and more difficult to switch into. Dragon Dance, though it definitely poses a threat level, has a lot of issues such as nasty 50/50s (when to hit Devastating Drake) as well as still being rather slow after a Dragon Dance. The power level drop is very noticeable too as you can't freely spam STAB Thousand Arrows to wear down checks and counters. As for SubCoil it has certainly fell off very hard in the meta - the only consistent check, Mega Scizor, isn't used as often and Tangrowth still proves to be a huge problem for the set. Considering some of the offensive paces of the teams as well as some teams not really being bothered by SubCoil until after a few boosts and, well, you get the picture.

- Moved Choice Scarf back up (A-)

As shown in previous WCoP matches Scarf Dugtrio has proven to be an invaluable teammate at times for some offensive teams. While Focus Sash and Groundium definitely remain superior, Choice Scarf has the nice added touch of role compression as well as outspeeding Magearna after using Shift Gear.

- Moved Swords Dance + Stealth Rock over Swords Dance + 3 Attacks Garchomp

As also shown in WCoP as well as other matches throughout SD + Devastating Drake with Stealth Rock offers great role compression as well as the damning damage against a lot of Pokemon outside of Tapu Bulu. We feel the compression is justified to

- Moved Offensive Utility over Specs on Gengar

We were rather unsure on this change, but with Tyranitar (and Mega Tyranitar)'s usages increasing makes Specs a lot more questionable to use. In fairness Weavile doesn't completely negate Specs viability but can make it annoying.

- Moved Choice Scarf Latios over Specs


Scarf at the moment has a lot of nice utility considering compression with Defog while still being a solid revenge killer. We feel, currently, it's better than Specs at this time.

- Moved Choice Specs as the A- set ; kept Utility at B+

Truth be told rain teams benefit so much more with Pelipper having power behind its attacks because it can harass a lot of Rain's checks and counters. Specs Pelipper overall does so much more for rain than extending rain's duration for a few turns. Furthermore, some people like blunder have shown in WCoP that it isn't a complete cardinal sin to use Rain Dance on other Pokemon such as Mega Swampert.

- Removed Calm Mind Mega Sableye

Long overdue to be honest. Only was good in Baton Pass.

- Moved Whirlpool Tapu Fini to B-

Since Whirpool has sadly not gotten a lot of usage it's hard to really justify ranking it in the same tier or above Calm Mind.

- Life Orb moved above Assault Vest on Tornadus-T

We've been seeing a lot more Tornadus-T taking up Life Orbs over Assault Vests. LIfe Orb is still something that heavily pressures stall with Knock Off and provided Hurricane hits. Still threatening for a lot of balance teams to face, too.

- Choice Scarf moved up to B with Kartana, Swords Dance remains B-

Scarf Kartana has been brought a couple WCoP games, and honestly its performance has not been half bad. In the late game it can be a struggle for some teams to handle, especially if it collects Beast Boost sacrifices, while being faster than Keldeo. It's also okay as an emergency Volcarona check as other Pokemon can finish the job afterwards with priority (usually Zygarde or Greninja, though Mega Pinsir works too).

- Subzero Slammer moved above Life Orb


Another set brought back into WCoP and has proven to be menacing for some teams to handle. Since Magearna often go towards Shift Gear offensively they are 2HKOed by Subzero Slammer and Fusion Bolt. Still a fairly solid balance breaker and can at least put a dent on a stall team if used properly.

- Merged Defensive and Slack Off + 3 Attacks Mega Slowbro

Mainly for consistency and that both sets are defensive anyway.

- Re-added Z-Rain Dance to C+

Controversial, but Z Rain Dance with Psychic still can put some work in against your average stall teams while boasting Hydro Vortex on the side. In general Manaphy is a very unexplored Pokemon and it's difficult to determine what is good and what isn't good on it.

- Moved Focus Sash to C for Breloom

Not to dismiss Focus Sash - just realistically not used, but still solid.

- Removed Substitute + Fly on Dragonite

Tony pains on this one, but the SubDD set just requires a lot of circumstances to set up properly at this time and still has annoying issues versus Protect Pokemon, which have become a bit more common as well.
 

Deleted User 400951

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I think Scarf Garchomp ought to be raised above the other two. Chomp is pretty much the premier scarfer in this meta. It reliably revenges just about everything a Scarf user needs to, most notably Volcarona. I'll add more detail onto this post when I have more time but for now that's it.
 

Gary

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Scarf Garchomp is more of a necessity than an actual good set. Like don't get me wrong, the ability to revenge kill Volcarona among a slew of other things is really important for teams, but overall, Garchomp would MUCH rather be running its SD sets, as they are much more threatening overall and can pressure common switch-ins to Scarf Chomp such as Lando-T, Growth, and Skarm. Scarf wouldn't be nearly as common if Volcarona wasn't such a centralizing sweeper, but just because it gets a lot of usage, doesn't mean that it's arguably the best set Chomp can run. Outside of revenge killing, Scarf Chomp is pretty weak, and baits in a lot of defensive threats in for free, which can lose you a ton of momentum. It really dislikes being locked into both of its STAB moves, especially early game, which is why SD sets are so good because it has the freedom to switch between STABs and boost them to muscle through said checks.
 
I got sniped. Fuck this guy ^

Whirlpool Tapu Fini should be unranked since it really doesn't accomplish much outside of killing Toxapex (which is indeed nice) but still very team-specific. You are giving up a move in Defog, Taunt, Nature's Madness, or Moonblast (please not the latter oml), all which are valuable slots. If I had to sum this up into a sentence, I would say Whirlpool is more of a tech, but it's not a set. God damn, I'm dropping bars.

Substitute Buzzwole should be the first set and probably the only one. Roost + 3 Attacks will be fine when Mega Lopunny drops, being a consistent check to that along with Tyranitar, Zygarde, Tapu Bulu, and Tangrowth. However, it's not like this is a unique niche to Roost + 3 Attacks since Substitute sets check the Pokemon I listed too, and Buzzwole is much more of a threat when you are using Focus Punch behind a Substitute. If you don't take this explanation, then take tournaments ranging from World Cup to OST. Roost Buzzwole is not a thing because Substitute + Focus Punch is way, way, way more threatening.

There is a huge gap in viability between Choice Band and Choice Specs Hoopa-U, so I think the rankings should reflect that aka drop Choice Specs to B. Choice Band is clearly the best set even in a Dugtrio-infested metagame. Assault Vest Magearna does not wall you and Celesteela can't do any Leech Seed shenanigans because of how Hyperspace Fury is sexy and breaks through Protect. Dark Pulse from Choice Specs sets are also much easier to switch-in to (pun intended, but saying in comparison to Choice Band Hyperspace Fury) and it can be taken advantage of by Volcarona.

Choice Specs Latios is probably the most overrated set in the game. It is a breaker that loses to Magearna and Celesteela. Heatran are commonly running bulkier sets with Leftovers so it's not like you could do 50% to it when it was running offensive sets. Also, Tangrowth can just pivot in to scout and switch out. Yes, all these Pokemon lose to the right coverage move, but I want you to look in a mirror and ask yourself, is predicting that easy? Especially considering Draco Meteor and Psyshock have immunities? Idk, it's very risk/reward type, and I'd like to see Offensive over it because of its longevity with Roost allowing it to consistently check Pokemon such as Toxapex, Mega Charizard Y, and most Tapu Koko and Volcarona. It's a consistent Heatran check too if you use Surf. It Defogs well and its use as an offensive Defog user with Roost recovery has seen to be valued by many Volcarona and Pinsir builds in World Cup. Choice Specs Latios beats Tyranitar switching in, but that's not enough to outweigh its use over Offensive. So yes, Choice Scarf > Offensive > Choice Specs.

Stallbreaker Tapu Koko is a dead SPL relic. For one, it isn't like you can pair this with a certain breaker and expect to win against stall because now we have SPL stall (and its versions) AND double Defog stall (and its versions too lol). You also cannot touch Landorus-T, Garchomp, or Zygarde which blows. The set was cool when stall was linear a couple months ago, but using it now is forcing a niche that doesn't need to be put on to it, especially considering how good its other sets are like Z-Wild Charge, classic Zap Plate, Roost + 3 Attacks @ Life Orb / Fairium Z / Wise Glasses. I'd have it in A- (instead of B+) since I will give the set some props for its ability to pressure Assault Vest Magearna, Ferrothorn, Tapu Bulu, etc. for teammates, but that's all the credit I'm giving it.
 

Colonel M

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We'll discuss some of those listed above by Vertex, but due to the small update with VR I also made small changes with VR sets. This one is going to be rather quick and short:

- Minor tweak to set order and rankings:

Flyinium Z: S
Defensive: S
Rockium Z: A+
Choice Scarf: A
Double Dance: A


Small changes, but basically Rockium Z's performance is still solid but not quite to the level of Flyinium Z and Defensive as stated above. We also feel that Choice Scarf is a little more consistent in practice in comparison to Double Dance.

- Removed Rocky Helmet

I forgot to mention this last time. I'm sure you know why. AKA "who uses this set again?"

- Moved Scarf to A

I feel bad forgetting to bring this one up, but Scarf Lele has been pretty nice for offensive teams to have if they can afford it. Great revenge killer for Mega Pinsir, Ash-Greninja, etc and it fits fairly well on builds.

- Removed Whirlpool

Calm Mind is still not a set.

- Lowered CroCune

CroCune isn't a bad set, but currently (and much like before in ORAS) VinCune is the reason to use Suicune at the moment.

- Moved to corresponding tiers, Swords Dance Terrakion stays same rank as Scarf
 
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