Just a few small noms here
B -> B+
Boasting the same incredible power that had it held in high regard pre-home, I believe garchomp to still be a menace in the current state of ou. As of now it can choose to drop spikes on chain chomp in favour of stone edge for a 4 attacks set that can threaten just about the entire tier short of a couple of revenge killers. Most notable, however, are hisuian samurott ho teams, where it can use draco to take out their lead while blocking spikes thanks to rough skin, while also putting immense pressure on gholdengo - either doing immense damage and popping it’s balloon with fire blast, or outright killing with earthquake. Nothing is truly safe from this beast.
As much as I wish Chomp could succeed, I don’t second this nom. The issue with Chomp isn’t itself, its that whatever role it tries to fill, something else can do it with more efficiency while providing more defensive/offensive utility. Ground type spike setter? Ting-Lu. SD? Uhh, Valiant, Bax, and Sneasler. General offensive presence? Booster Tusk. Offensive spike setter? Samu-H, Glimm, Meow, and Sandy Shocks are right there. Even as a mixed attacker its outclassed by Lando who also boasts a better defensive presence with its two immunities, fighting resist, and Intimidate.
Defensively it doesn’t check anything besides Tran. Tankchomp gets OHKOd by Valiant, Sneasler, Enam, Bax, Pult, Shocks, Tusk, and more. The mons that don’t instantly drop it, don’t give a shit about Chomp. Zama just shits on it behind a Sub while Gambit can just Tera Flying or Tera Dark to break its spirit.
Unless Chomp gets Scale Shot back or gains DD for some reason, Chomp is gonna have a hard time finding a distinguishable niche other than being a jack of all trades with the ability to anti-lead Samu-H and Glimm.
Now for some extra noms cause alot has changed for me and the meta.
B+ > A-: Azu is criminally underrated rn. Not due part of its offensive capabilities, but for what it provides in the teambuilder. Its an offensive check to Bax, Wake, CC + Knock Valiant, and Samu-H that also threatens the popular HO teams with strong Aqua Jets. It also has the capacity of breaking holes itself vs teams lacking Amoonguss or Toxapex. The latter of which is not as common as before, plus there is always Future Sight support from Glowking. It is reliant on Glowking to break and it doesn’t have reliable recovery, but Azu is a great anti-meta pick that might also be meta itself.
B > B+: I honestly really like Glimm as an HO lead, sometimes more than Samu. Firstly, don’t bother with Toxic Debris. Glowking is everywhere and most of the metagame either is immune to Tspikes or runs Boots. Step up your game with Corrosion Toxic and absolutely mess up Glowking’s day since alot of ppl lead with it against Glimm. Spiky Shield + Energy Ball or Dgleam anti-leads opposing Samu. Its arguably more efficient at getting up spikes than Samu-H is due to people sometimes running Zapdos with RH Tusk. Samu-H is generally a better mon, but as a suicide lead, I prefer Glimm.
B- > B I’m gonna second this nom cause Gren has sort of been making a comeback recently. Water/Dark as demonstrated by Samu-H is a good ass offensive typing, plus the resistance to Sucker and Shard is always appreciated. At +1, Gren outspeeds the entire offensive metagame outside of Unburden Sneasler, Scarf Meow, and Floatzel. Most people’s go-to special wall is Glowking, and most people’s go-to dark resist is Gambit and Ting-Lu who have a bad mu into Gren for obv reasons. I wouldn’t rank it as high as the person who made the nom tho. Gren is still p inconsistent. It only gets one opportunity to boost in a game, its main STAB (Hydro Pump) is rather inaccurate, and it often has to chose between G-Knot for Tera Water Garg and Shuriken for Gambit while at low HP.
C+ > B-: One of the best defensive checks to Zapdos, Valiant, Wake, Rain, Specs Pult, and non-Sub Enamorus. It is inconsistent at checking the latter, but Clod provides alot on Balance teams over Ting-Lu such as a water immunity, reliable recovery, and the rare Toxic to cripple Tusk and Zapdos while getting up spikes. It isn’t splashable atm since BO/HO are more favorable rn than Balance/Stall, which is why I’m not nomming it higher than B-.
C+ > B-: Scizor has alot of bad mus, that’s undeniable, but the mus it does excel at are good enough to justify a rise. It can always switch into Bax once or twice and Valiant once to threaten with a strong BP. The abundance of checks it has on BO/Balance also lets it bait them in with U-Turn and generate momentum on a team. It can do the same vs non-Mystical Fire Enam which some players have been running in favor of Sub-CM. The overall meta trends of HO and voltturn cores are favorable to Scizor despite its bad mus and has a place in the metagame.
C > B-: Another mon I’m shoving into B- tier. I made an entire post about it in the discussion forums, but TL;DR, Thundurus-T acts as a more offensively leaning version of Zapdos that also checks it with the Choice Specs Tera Flying set. Its power is raw enough to 2HKO strong special walls like Glowking who otherwise laughs at other common special powerhouses of the tier. Sporting Zapdos’ fantastic typing, it also lets Thundy find opportunities to switch in and start shit. In conjunction with mons like Cinderace and Glowking, they can form a nasty Voltturn core while keeping rocks out. There is also AgiThundy which is a solid cleaner/breaker on HO teams, especially those that lack answers to Zapdos. Overall, Thundy is an underrated piece of CG OU that while not being as good or splashable as Zapdos, still can provide alot on the right kind of teams.
A- > B+: Not really fond of Tran in this meta. Other than the Ghosts, it doesn’t really check anything. Offensively its great and provides rocks, but often times it often ends up needing to use Tera to trap some of its targets and B+ is filled with mons that use it religiously (Cress, Hatt, etc).
B+ > B: Another fire type I’m not fond of in the current metagame. On paper its great against HO cause of Unaware + Wisp, in practice it ends up being overly reliant on Tera to do its job. Everything it is meant to check can beat it one way or another. Enam just snipes it with EP, Valiant clicks Knock and locks it into Encore, Sneasler 2HKOs with Tera Ground Tera Blast or haxes it with Dire Claw, Gambit these days mostly runs Lum and max speed Jolly, so forget about outspeeding and burning it. Dirge can either get 2HKOd by Glaive Rush or get flinched by Icicle Crash from Bax. Yes Skele can check Zama and very well, but so does like half the metagame. If I’m gonna use a bulky fire type that can spread burns, I’m gonna use Molt and if I’m gonna use an Unaware wall, I’m running Dozo, cause at least Dozo doesn’t die to Bax.
B- -> C+ / C
