Nog Blog #10
This is the fabled 10th Nog Blog and I'll be celebrating with my own person viability ranking. This is a much larger VR than any other MG2 VR, or any VR in any tier I've ever seen. I wanted to include all the Pokemon I thought were at all viable and give my thoughts on each one and what I think they can contribute and what niche they can find. I hope you enjoy, and I hope you let me know your thoughts and maybe post a VR of your own.
S1
Mew - Just on its own, Mew's Psychic Noise + Wisp + Spikes + Softboiled is probably the best individual set in the tier. Combine it with the fact that Mew can learn almost every move and run random mixup sets, work as a suicide lead, or setup sweeper, it just makes Mew the absolute best mon in the tier to the point where I think it deserves its own tier.
S2
Walking Wake - I'll be completely honest, I almost think that Wake is closer to S1 than it is to A1. I love just adding Wake onto balance teams where it serves a similar role as Dragapult did in being able to reliably deal with offense. With very few checks in the tier and the option to run either Knock or Flamethrower, wake is a good revenger and breaker.
A1
Blacephalon - Probably the only mon to have stayed in A on every single VR without either reaching S or dropping to B. The clown has little that can switch in and also can boom on everything. MG2 offense nearly always seems to have a Blacephalon on it and the entire concept of offense seems to revolve around Blacephalon.
Iron Boulder - I keep hearing mixed signals from people about how Boulder is either overrated or busted and might need to be banned. One of the best fastest mons in the tier, not much can really check it at +2 and it's a great late game cleaner on either offense or balance teams.
Iron Moth - We've been having a bit of an Iron Moth renaissance in recent weeks with the popularity and effectiveness of sunny day Moth increasing. Gone are the Moths of old with toxic spikes, u-turn, and even energy ball. Passing up on 1.5x boosted Fire Blasts and strong Solar Beam coverage for waters, and being able to heal 99.9% from Morning Sun combined with Sunny Day is too strong to pass on.
Melmetal - I would say the embodiment of Modern Gen 2. Melmetal is great for keeping offense, bulky offense, and balance teams stable with great speed control and bulk over the course of a long game. It's taking a hit in viability with the popularity of gliscor BUT it still certainly remains in top company for me. Literally hasn't changed its set in over a year. Theoretically can use twave bash eq boom on offense but I feel like even normal set is just more reliable, even on offense.
A2
Heatran - Previously my favorite mon in the tier, Heatran has fallen off in favorability for me. Its durability feels lacking more often than not and more difficult to fit on teams. I honestly think it fits best as a complementary role to Blacephalon on offense as another fire + boom user but with rocks.
Latias - Latias has progressively been dropping in the rankings for me. For what was once considered the best mon in the tier, the Gen9 and DLC mons make Latias much less threatening as a wincon and with so many balloon steels, making progress is more difficult than ever.
Latios - Probably the first ever MG2 VR that has Latios and Latias in the same tier, I think Latios is really neat now and I actually prefer it slightly more than Latias. If you're planning on having a lategame wincon, then Latias is still your bet. But the extra damage and access to Psychic Noise and even Psycho Shift as a surprising 3rd move I think gives Latios the edge.
Slither Wing - Probably my second most used mon behind Wake, I love being able to slap Slither Wing on the end of my teams which is why it's always in the 6th slot of my builder. The ability to click First Impression any turn makes up for its poor speed and with Close Combat gives it a solid coverage option. Wisp, U-Turn, Bulk Up, and Morning Sun make up the 3rd and 4th spots of your set which you can pick and choose from. Being able to revenge Mew and Iron Boulder from around 70% is valuable on every single team.
B1
Empoleon - If you somehow missed my longest ever post exclusively on Empoleon check it out
here. The TLDR is that Empoleon is a great defensive wall but at times can be too passive and has too many moves it wants to run. Great utility mon, and great Walking Wake check.
Garchomp - Extremely hard hitter + spikes is great. Unfortunately no knock puts it susceptible to balloon steels but you do have the option to run fire blast on a respectable 80spa stat.
Gliscor - The Gliscor bandwagon is absolutely real right now. A few months ago I did a deep dive on why Gliscor is good which you can also find
here. In essence, Gliscor is the best knock absorber in the tier, while also getting to set spikes/rocks and spam earthquake + its own knock throughout a battle.
Gholdengo - Pretty much the Melmetal of stall, Gholdengo is the glue that helps stall together and without it, stall would be much less viable. It's ability to check the tier is unparalleled as it's only weakness is to fire with air balloon and gen2 steel resistances. The only reason it's not higher is that it has a pretty horrid movepool relying essentially on thunder wave for much value.
Great Tusk - Not much likes switching into Tusk STABs + Knock. Getting to choose between rapid spin, substitute, and even stealth rocks can provide it some variability though you pretty much know what you're getting from it.
Starmie - The best spinner in the tier, and the best spinner at spinning (Tusk is a spinner but its not really a
spinner.) 32pp recover is always nice, solid defensive typing even if the stats aren't all there. Great speed tier will always keep it relevant and the ability to spin or throw on extra attacks makes Starmie incredibly versatile and a viable option on every type of team.
Volcanion - Blacephalon has little that can switch into it, but what can switch into it, it can't really make progress against with boom (see rock types.) However, nothing really in the tier can switch into STAB fire blast, steam eruption, and absorb a boom, making Volcanion a powerful breaker. It's only real downside is its low-middling speed tier.
B2
Blissey - Overhated mon, Bliss the best special check in any tier. While it can be pivoted on and doesn’t threaten offensively like Gholdengo, it’s strong on stall where it can shore up holes and provide heal bell support.
Garganacl - Probably the best Blacephalon check in the tier, Garg gets to click rocks and then spam salt cure. Unfortunately salt cure isn’t that great on its own so you really just need a single rock resist on your team. It does get boom though!
Iron Treads - Fallen off considerably in usage, perhaps due to Iron Boulder and Gliscor usage increasing, but treads is still a great knock distributor, great balloon steel, and strong spinner. Bring back treads.
Kommo-o - The guy who wins on paper every game, Soulblaze puts you in a speed tier of your own and bulks up Kommo considerably. Unfortunately hazing and psychic noise both exist, as does explosion, meaning Kommo doesn’t set up or sweep as freely as you might imagine.
Meowscarada - Good speed tier, spikes, foul play, knock, and one of two mons with a strong grass STAB.
Salamence - Both regular Salamence and Mega Salamence would find its way into the C tier, but the fact that you can run either on one mon has me put it in B2. Mega Salamence has a bunch of coverage options that it can run so you don’t really know what you’re getting hit with. Hone Claws is so much worse than Dragon Dance because sure you might be hitting your hurricanes but you’ll also be getting revenged by every fastmon in the tier. Regular mence is also fine with just boots, draco, fire blast, and whatever.
Shaymin Sky - Sub Protect Leech is solid on balance teams as it can farm with hazards up considering they do not get the chance to hit you. Boots sets on offense serve as your only real Wake switch-in while also getting to help revenge Iron Boulder with its near unparalleled speed.
Slowbro/Galar Slowbro - This combines both Slowbro and Galar Slowbro as both are mainly just viable as a mega, otherwise I think the Slowkings are better. Mega Bro gets to click CM and just not die. Counterplay revolves around status, psychic noise, taunt, encore, and trying to crit through it. It almost feels like regular Slowbro in RBY.
Sneasler - Used to be really decent with a good speed tier pre-Boulder but now with a Gliscor and Gholdengo on every team, Sneasler always has a rough matchup. SD, Dire Claw, CC, Pivot, I think it even gets tspikes.
Suicune - The boy who CM'd, come to die. It's running calm mind, surf if they're bad and scald if they're good, rest, and either roar or sleep talk. Think of it like slowbro but while it's not as strong you get to try to win more than once.
Tapu Fini - Previously a pult cope mon, now it's a wake cope mon. Fini is good as a bulky water but due to the fact that it's grounded and gets knocked easily, it can get chipped very quickly forcing you to be asleep and clicking stalk for the whole game which isn't inherently bad but you don't really have any control over the mon.
Terrakion - Boulder but if it were slower than all the good mons.
Toxapex - I think another overhated mon, pex is a really solid choice on stall for a primary fire and wake check. It gets to knock, scald, click recover 32 times, and even set up tspikes or haze.
Tyranitar - Same reason as mence, I think regular and mega ttar are both C but you get to choose either with it so it's going in B. It's a rare viable dark type and you can always consider pursuit on it. Mega gets to click a bunch of moves but isn't as strong as mence.
Zapdos - Rare viable electric type that's not banned, Zapdos is really underrated imo. Teams without a ground type can absolutely fold under thunderbolts and those with a garchomp/gliscor also will lose to hp ice sets. Combined with longevity in roost + boots, and options to run heat wave and u-turn makes zapdos excellent in the right matchup. If you ever plan on being the 2nd person to ever run rain, zapdos is great at that too with Thunder, Hurricane, and Weather Ball which offers no switch ins.
C1
Niche, certainly usable and can be good. C1 to me are not "bad," but they're not that good.
Aerodactyl - Like mega tyranitar but its regular form isn't good so it's going in C. Mega Aero does get to run hone claws with its great speed tier, you just struggle vs teams that have a balloon steel (so literally every team.)
Archaludon - Very tanky, balloon steel and dragon. It gets to click stuff.
Azelf - One of my personal favorite leads. Azelf gets psychic noise, fire blast, explosion, stealth rocks, and a very fast encore. Lots to choose from.
Celebi - Recover, rocks, twave, heal bell, the main issue is usually having to decide between psychic and grass STAB.
Chi Yu - Setup sweeper. Without its ability, Chi-Yu has less breaking power and you need some way of increasing your speed to avoid being revenged whether thats sub-salac or flame charge.
Dhelmise - Spinner and spinblocker in one, gets to click knock and poltergeist. Noobs use shadow ball. Running synthesis feels not great but so does rest.
Diancie - Like aerodactyl, great offensive sweeper as a mega but can't touch the balloon steels. Does get the option for mystical fire though. Also boom is really good. Regular set can just be used as an option on stall for hazards with stalk.
Ferrothorn - If you wanna click spikes, rocks, and knock but not have a recovery move. Can boom, can twave, can knock. No recovery hurts.
Genesect - Iron head, u-turn, boom, shift gear, likes to run flamethrower for the steels. I think it can even go ice beam for gliscor cope.
Glimmora - Overrated, happy usage is tanking. Either forced out by the most common 2 leads in the tier (Mew and now Gliscor) or gets up 1 layer of hazards and dies. Used on offense if you want to get up less hazards than if you used mew for the sake of lowering mew usage.
Goodra Hisui - I basically got 6-0d in back to back games during a Bo3 by curse stalk Hoodra so I'm not sure I'm legally allowed to put it lower than this. It's not really been used outside of that and with more fighting types I don't think it's got a great spot in the meta. But I was also 6-0d in back to back games during a Bo3 so here we are in C1.
Kyurem - Previously bundle cope, people like to use it now for whatever unknown reason. Gets to sub, dragon tail, freeze dry, and roost. It can actually be really difficult to force out as it can tank all the strong dracos in the tier and clap back with freeze-dry, or just roost it off. Can't even roar it out as gen2 roar is -1 priority (faster priority than whatever -5 or -6 dtail is) but fails if it isn't the last move.
Landorus Therian - Kinda just gliscor but if you didn't want to immediately die to HP ice or special moves, but also don't want spikes or recovery. Gets to knock, eq, sd, and rocks like gliscor with a nicer speed tier, but you only really get the option to boom (and gravity) instead of roost.
Metagross - Scary guy. I think the first time I've put it C and not the bottom of B. Another mon that feels like on paper it can farm most teams. While demongross and offensive sets are both real, it's held back by the fact every team basically has a fire type, one time mega mechanics, and gen6 mega mechanics.
Raging Bolt - Good CM user, might deserve to be higher, just haven't seen enough from it. Also walled by good mon treads.
Roaring Moon - Fast, knock, eq, u-turn, roost. Unfortunately it's one of the dark types that really needs its physical attack stat meaning you can't really bring it into mew wisps like you can with the others.
Scream Tail - Can go stored power or just use it as a fairy type wall. Hasn't been seen a ton.
Sinistcha - Same as scream tail where you can either choose CM setup, or use it as a defensive option with unique typing. Can't spin or knock like dhelmise, but you get stun spore and a solid grass STAB.
Slowking - Wake check, gets to click psychic noise, scald, and chilly reception. Bulky waters are good. Needs something to deal with Blacephalon on its team though.
Victini - I love victini. While you wish it were even just 1 speed point higher, you hate trying to switch into its vcreate + bolt beak. You can run psychic move, u-turn, and glaciate last.
Zapdos Galar - Strong boy, gets to click the CC move, the BB move, and the U-Turn move. Bulk up is an option. Dengo matchup sucks for it as does a middling speed tier, but it's probably underutilized.
C2
Not as good or consistent as C1, and usually has a smaller niche.
Archeops - It's like aerodactyl but with worse speed trading off for roost and boots (or acrobatics). SD can be real but I think you get revenged by too much.
Arctozolt - Nothing switches into freeze-dry + bolt beak. The one time I played it I learned that apparently clicking U-turn, even while faster, still gives a 2x bolt beak power boost vs the mon that switches in! Very cool.
Buzzwole - Do you like everything slither wing does? Well take them away and give it toxic and some defense. Buzz has solid defensive typing but it's not all that great. Solid physical wall but it's hard to slot into teams.
Camerupt - Yeah that's right. You might be thinking "where's x mon? Why hasn't that been ranked yet? Did he really just rank the camel over whatever stupid mon I like more?" Yep. Camel is so fun to use on offense. Super strong fire move, ground move, and sure just throw in a rock move cause why not. Everything's getting chipped. You get to claim, then you get to boom. Speed is laughable though. Shoutout camel.
Celesteela - Surprisingly resilient, also can run setup options. Needs to be experimented with more.
Clodsire - Another zera merchant. Might not be a reason to use it over gliscor right now unless people start overprepping with hp ice. 32pp recover means nog will be ranking it.
Electrode Hisui - I think another underrated tool on offense. Faster than everything ranked above it, and also it's somewhat difficult to switch into grass + electric STAB? Bad grass moves suck for it but hey at least you can just boom to cope. Volt + Tbolt + Grass + Boom.
Flutter Mane - Another fastmon but I'm not really sure what it does. Kinda just clicks non-stab special moves and stalk. Can be annoying.
Greninja - I always look at gren in the builder and it looks so solid with spikes, good special stabs, pivot, and speed. Unfortunately it just feels too frail and not strong enough when actually in game.
Houndoom - The doom is so back. Pursuit/crunch if you're asking for mew to be banned. Plot + flame charge + stabs if you're incredibly handsome.
Hydreigon - Plot + stabs if you're incredibly handsome. Roost/fire blast last usually.
Infernape - Yeah that's right. You might be thinking "where's x mon? Why hasn't that been ranked yet? Did he really just rank the monkey over whatever stupid mon I like more?" Yep. Monkey is so fun to use on offense. Pretty strong fire move, fighting move, and throw on U-turn cause why not. Everything's getting chipped. Rocks or coverage last. Shoutout monkey.
Jellicent - Cool defensive typing, wisp + scald means everything gets burned. 32pp recover means nog ranks.
Kartana - I think undertested, Kart absolutely needed physical grass to be strong but without leaf blade its meh. SD feels like mu fish, as does trying to use synthesis + knock utility.
Kingambit - Stalk, knock, foulplay. Can go rocks.
Lucario - SD + stabs + sub or coverage/priority. Luc is decent on offense.
Milotic - Gen8 mon but really bulky. Like fini it can be chipped really easily through hazards but it also gets to click its moves and hypnosis while awake.
Moltres - Gen8 mon that's pretty much been surpassed both other fires like moth. I think it might provide more defensive utility, and more importantly, its gen2 shiny sprite is top tier.
Pecharunt - If Pecharunt had moves it'd be good, but it doesn't, so it's not. You know what I'm saying? Treads eq being a 2HKO roll is a joke though.
Raikou - CM or rest+roar utility. Usually just want to use a ground though. Tbolt + hp ice is cool though.
Regieleki - Raikou but faster and no hp ice. Boom + spin though means it will technically always be usable.
Samurott Hisui - Feels like it should be better but without sharpness it's damage really isn't great. Can be annoyingly bulky for some teams to deal with.
Skarmory - Spikes are good. Also being neutral or resisting every physical move is good too. Gho but if it were worse and had spikes.
Slowking Galar - Regular Slowking if you had less desirable defensive typing in this meta.
Talonflame - Fast wisp + uturn + roost. Fire blast last but could experiment with brave bird or something. Struggling with talon? Try not letting it get knocked t1.
Ting Lu - More like Ting Who. Spikes + eq + ruination + rest I think is its best set. If it got foul play I would definitely put it higher.
Ursaluna - Very strong attacker with SD but balloon meta so...
Urshifu Rapid Strike - Wish it were faster and special water is slightly made up for by 2x crits. CC + Uturn is nice.
C3
Usable but while C1 and C2 are "not good" these are "
not good."
Alakazam - CM spam cope, good speed tier, 32pp recover (and encore) means nog ranks. Very frail.
Corviknight - Skarm but no spikes, gets to u-turn though.
Cyclizar - Shed tail mon. Max max ev meta though means that you don't really want to dedicate a whole slot to it. I can't even really think of what really wants this. Maybe boulder??
Excadrill - Treads if it were slower BUT could click swords dance. No knock.
Forretress - I actually used it a decent amount in gen8. Spin. spikes, rocks, tspikes, explosion, volt switch. But, better on paper than it is in game.
Gastrodon - Ultra melm cope, the reason some melms were delusional and ran body slam instead of twave. Good stabs, toxic, 32pp recover means nog ranks.
Gengar - Physical stabs means youre running like tbolt + fire punch + ice punch or whatever and nasty plot. Great speed tier after mega of course but bulk bulk meta so... even bulky steels can eat +2 fire punch.
Heracross - I love my fighting bugs. Undefeated mon heracross is used almost exclusively because its gen2 sprite is drippy af. Curse stalk megahorn is really the only set I like.
Hippowdon - Gliscor but if you said "I wish I couldn't hit anything with eq so I click whirlwind and toxic instead."
Hoopa Unbound - Breaker with stabs walled by the most common defensive type in the game. Focus punch is HIM though.
Hydrapple - Kinda just bulky CM cope, probably likes the multiple good ground types more than raging bolt, but I still don't think it's that good. Also has been used like one time so.
Mandibuzz - Gen 8 mon, kinda really bulky at times? Does nothing other than knock and u-turn. Mew cope mon tbh.
Mantine - Wake cope mon.
Necrozma - Hits harder than you think, but I think Photon Geyser always stays special.
Ribombee - Webs are not good but I included cyclizar so I feel like I need to include ribombee. Webs are not good. Everything has balloon or boots for the most part so you're already hitting very little. Webs are not good. You're also dedicating an entire team slot for a small advantage over 1-2 mons. Webs are not good. Spin also exists. Webs are not good. It's probably more effective clicking stun spore than webs. Webs are not good.
Rotom - I'm including all rotom forms in this even if they get the same defensive typing. I think it's usable with volt switch, wisp, pain split, and then you can throw on pump/overheat or whatever last. Hasn't really been touched since gen8 when we didn't have spinners with knock.
Snorlax - Feels wrong putting it UR when it's also underutilized. Curse might be real and we just don't know it. Also gets boom!
Tentacruel - Spin, toxic spike absorber and distributor, scald, knock. No recovery means nog don't like ranking it.
Toedscruel - Spin, toxic spike and spike distributor, knock, and spore. Probs better than tentacruel actually.
Tyrantrum - Hits hard but it's also like ttar and suffers from balloon steel meta.