When February began it became very apparent the big dog in the room was Entei. Because of Entei’s incredible speed, unless you wanted to outspeed Articuno-Galar, it would often just run Adamant with max speed or invest in bulk to live extra Scalds, switch into Vanilluxe, and into Entei. Choice Band made for very limited switches with Sacred Fire often shutting off and crippling would be checks like Rhyperior & Seismitoad, and Trailblaze allowing you to pick off the aforementioned checks as well as Blastoise. Bulky Flygon was truly the only consistent switch into Choice Band Entei, who would sometimes still get covered by Toxic or Weather Ball option alongside Vanilluxe on Heavy-Duty-Boots sets or by Natural Gift sets holding a Ganlon Berry. However Entei’s abuse of Toxic would not end there; Council Member Zetious with the help of also Council Member and Tierleader Typhon creating an abysmal Pressure, Substitute, Protect, Fire Spin, and Toxic set with max HP and max Speed Timid it could stall out nearly every defensive mons’ main attacks with Pressure, while Toxic stalling everything bar Goodra-Hisui & Weezing-Galar who were still vulnerable to the former PP stalling as well as Fire Spin chip. Entei would also sometimes run the classic Mirror Herb + Swagger combination in conjunction with Trailblaze to become a quickly threatening sweeper, or gimmicky Curse Extreme Speed sets.

Goodra-Hisui was by far the most used Pokemon at a whopping 63% on ladder, and for good reason. With Assault Vest Goodra was the best way to handle Articuno-Galar with Dragon Tail & Thunderbolt, Polteageist, Special Blastoise, Heliolisk, and the various other Special Attackers. Goodra-Hisui was very customizable with its EVs, being able to speed creep common bulky attackers such as Bewear, Hydrapple, Rhyperior, Seismitoad, and would be checks like Probopass, or you could just go max HP with a modest nature to hit as hard as possible while maintaining more longevity. Set up sets like Acid Armor to beat Probopass, and Curse also picked up, good nature Special Bulk combined with the Defense boosts made the sets difficult to answer if you didn’t have specific ways to shut it down such as Spiritomb or an immediately strong Physical breaker, often requiring you to throw different special threats at it before you could take down Set up Goodra-Hisui. 

Articuno-Galar is a Bulky Set-up Sweeper who threatened virtually any team, however it had the issue of Goodra-Hisui everywhere which immediately shut it down, making it inconsistent at its job often needing Special Breakers to help get Goodra-Hisui low first. Calm Mind, Recover, Stored Power, Hurricane/Substitute was by far its most common set, with Substitute allowing it to beat Lickilicky and under the right circumstances beat Goodra-Hisui if you outplayed Dragon Tail. On rarer occasions Articuno-Galar would tap into its utility with Defog, Future Sight, U-turn, Psychic Noise, or Roost, Choice Scarf had a case for itself in combination with Trick and U-turn, and Mirror Herb for Blastoise & Polteageist. Competitive is also great at punishing Defog Flygon & Weezing-Galar.

Flygon is the heart of the month, being very splashable and Physical Defense being the best check to Choice Banded Entei, with the option of running Yache Berry to catch Iron Thorns, Bewear, Rhyperior, and others off guard. Special Defense makes for an excellent check to the fast Electric Pokemon in the tier in Heliolisk & Regieleki. Flygon also has tons of set utility with mainly Defog, but also having the option of Stealth Rocks, Toxic, U-turn, Psychic Noise for Weezing-Galar, and the option of Ground or Dragon STAB, mimicking a Landorus-Therian type role. Offensive Flygon is also a force to be reckoned with, Dragon Dance easily ripping through teams especially in the late game with Haban/Lum Berry, Life Orb, Leftovers, or Covert Cloak, Choice Band serving much of a similar role but more as a breaker, and Choice Scarf as a great revenge killer. Despite having access to Iron Tail, DDance Flygon still had to be careful of Weezing-Galar because of its high defense allowing Weezing-Galar to eat a hit as well as the miss chance of Iron Tail.

Weezing-Galar’s Dragon Immunity made it great into the many Dragon Types in the tier; Weezing-Galar could go Psychically Defensive to check Dodrio, Iron Thorns, Falinks, and all the ground types, meanwhile Special Defense could check Hydrapple who is otherwise very difficult to wall. Most would use levitate for the Ground Immunity, though despite the weakness some even went Misty Surge to counter the popular archetype of Toxic Spikes Lickilicky, as well as Substitute Toxic Entei. Neutralizing Gas was another option to cancel Hydrapple’s Regenerator, Prevent Articuno-Galar from getting a Competitive Boost from Defog, Taunt Oblivious Lickilicky, turn off lead Vanilluxe’s Snow Warning, and match up better into Calm Mind Spiritomb. Weezing-Galar could clear hazards with Defog, heal with Pain Split, deal with set up with Clear Smog, spread status with Will-o-Wisp, Toxic, or the aforementioned Toxic Spikes, and use Taunt against other walls or Calm Mind Spiritomb with Weezing-Galar often running Strange Steam last to deal with Flygon.

Blastoise took up its typical role of a Bulky Rapid Spin user, Toxic let it wear down pretty much every bulky guy in the tier, Flip Turn for slow pivot, Haze or Roar for stopping set up, and Scald or Body Press were usually last. It would sometimes run Ice Beam to hit Flygon & Hydrapple, and speed depended on if you wanted slow pivoting or to be decently speedy after a Rapid Spin. Blastoise would sometimes even run Life Dew with Leftovers to wall physical attackers better Long Term. Heavy-Duty-Boots are nice into Toxic Spikes & Iron Thorns Spikes teams, and Assault Vest acts as a blanket wall for nearly every neutral attacker in the tier. Shell Smash given a turn to set up, could threaten nearly every major wall in the tier with Wave Crash as well as Earthquake for Goodra-Hisui, Ice Spinner/Ice Beam for Flygon, Hydrapple, and the niche grasses. Most of Shell Smash Blastoise’s Defensive checks were niche or couldn’t check it long term such as Assault Vest Seismitoad, Yache Berry Meganium, or Roar Blastoise. Offensive Blastoise checks consisted of Timid Regieleki, Scarf Heliolisk, random Mirror Herb users, or forcing damage on it during set up and picking Blastoise off with Extreme Speed Entei or Sucker Punch Spiritomb. Most of Blastoise’s Offensive checks could be overcome with Aurora Veil, and some even opted to run Life Orb instead of White Herb on Screen teams to beat their defensive checks.

Polteageist was an incredibly effective Shell Smash cleaner with Stored Power and Shadow Ball which could hit most of the metagame. Checks could be punished with counter-picked moves; Substitute for Lickilicky, and Dark Pulse for Wyrdeer & Indeedee. Polteageist often runs Focus Sash to pair with Weak Armor to guarantee set up, but may also run White Herb behind screens, or even Life Orb. Some gimmicky sets opted to run Bulky with Strength Sap, Will-o-Wisp, and Hex with Heavy-Duty-Boots to punish the many Physical attackers in the tier. 

Lickilicky serves as the premier Special Wall of the tier, effectively checking Polteageist, Articuno-Galar, Hydrapple, Regielki, Heliolisk, and Vanilluxe. Because of Oblivious you cannot Taunt it, and Cloud Nine notoriously lets it shut down Vanilluxe’s Snow, preventing Aurora Veil from being set. The incredible move diversity pushes Lickilicky’s Utility to the limit, with the most common moves being Wish & Protect as you would expect, with Toxic, Seismic Toss, Heal bell, or Knock Off usually taking those last slots. On rarer occasions you may see Lickilicky dig deeper into its movepool with Counter, Dragon Tail, Brick Break, or using it’s not so bad ATK & SPA stats with Shadow Ball for Polteageist, Ice Beam for Flygon & Hydrapple, or mixed defenses with Body Press. On some gimmicky Screen teams it may tap even into Swords Dance or Belly Drum to take advantage of its extensive Physical movepool, even running Explosion as a last resort to maximize value. Lickilicky finds itself running the obvious Heavy-Duty-Boots or Leftovers, with few exceptions in Rocky Helmet or Chopple Berry. 

Hydrapple developed past just a bulky pivot, into a strong Offensive Special Breaker. Choice Specs allowed it to dish out immediate damage, often forcing progress on Goodra-Hisui. Nasty Plot sets in combination with Life Orb give defensive cores lacking Special Defense Weezing-Galar a really tough time. Hydrapple would run a combination of Leaf Storm, Draco Meteor, Fickle Beam, Earth Power, Giga Drain, Hydro Pump, or Nasty Plot. While Choice Specs and Life Orb were Excellent Items, Haban Berry was also great for trading with Goodra-Hisui, Flygon, and opposing Hydrapple, Similarly Yache Berry was great for all the Ice Type moves naturally being thrown your way because of your 4x Weakness, and Heavy-Duty Boots had its own use on Boots spam teams. Most Hydrapples would invest all their Evs into Speed and Special Attack with a Modest Nature, however there was still a case for investing into HP and Speed creeping for Resist Berry sets. Hydrapple would also sometimes go Physically defensive to switch into Entei, and maximize Regenerator healing.

Seismitoad found value in being a soft check to Banded Entei, unfortunately having to regulate itself to its Special pool because of Sacred Fire’s burn chance, however even then it struggled dealing with Banded Trailblaze after being worn down. Offensive Flygon, Dodrio, Iron Thorns, and Rhyperior also found themselves being checked by Physically Defensive sets. Special/Mixed Defense or Assault Vest Seismitoad sets could also crucially check Shell Smash Blastoise, who otherwise was very difficult to deal with once it set up. Utility sets often included Stealth Rocks, Toxic, Power Whip, Earth Power/Earthquake, Scald, or Ice Punch. Seismitoad also has a niche on Semi Rain teams, with help from Life Orb and Regieleki setting up Rain Dance, it can take advantage of its other ability in Swift Swim to become a very effective cleaner. Liquidation is very spammable under rain and can pick off a worn down Weezing-Galar, Earthquake as your secondary STAB, Ice Punch to smack around Grasses & Flygon, and Power Whip for opposing Seismitoad. 

Spiritomb most commonly took up the role of a Crit-Me-Not sweeper with Max HP & Defense Bold Nature, Leftovers, Calm Mind, Rest, Sleep Talk, and Dark Pulse, sometimes carrying Psychic to snipe Weezing-Galar. Common special answers like Lickilicky & Goodra-Hisui would not be able to handle Spiritomb due to the combination of rest and pressure which could out stall Lickilicky preventing it from doing any meaningful damage, and Pressure on it’s own PP stalling Goodra-Hisui over time if it even brought Dragon Tail. Choice Band users like Entei, Flygon, and Rhyperior could give Spiritomb a hard time when trying to sweep, however with a solid back bone in teammates this weakness can be kept at bay. Life Orb was also a fairly common set because Sucker Punch matches up well into Articuno-Galar, and Polteageist while providing relevant Priority. Poltergeist, Pursuit, Shadow Sneak, Will-o-Wisp, and Destiny Bond also made this set excellent at guaranteeing progress. Assault Vest sets were good for similar reasons, matching up great into Articuno-Galar and Polteageist. Nasty Plot Spiritomb had some merit over Nasty Plot Hydrapple because of Spiritomb’s access to Taunt, Psyshock or Substitute letting you still beat Lickilicky, Trick Room, and Spiritomb’s generally less exploitable weakness. On top of Spiritombs' variety of sets, it also just made for a good Spin blocker against Blastoise & Regieleki.

Bewear would often run Choice Band to capitalize on its great offensive Dual Typing. Double-Edge/Body Slam, Close Combat, Darkiest Lariat, and Ice Punch could handle most of the metagame; Iron Head/Zen-Headbutt being used for Weezing-Galars as well. Bewear also utilized Swords Dance or Bulk Up with a Life Orb or Leftovers respectively; feasting on Bulky Teams with additional tools in Taunt or Roar. Fluffy was a huge dealmaker, allowing for Bewear to act as insurance against the many Physical attackers in the tier, and with Screens up it became more costly to take down Bewear. Assault Vest could take advanatge of Fluffy to make it very tanky on both the Special and partially Physical end. Most Bewear dumped their EVs into ATK & SPE with an Adamant nature to outspeed the most common walls while hitting as hard as possible. 

Vanilluxe spammed difficult to answer Blizzards due to the low Ice Resists in the tier, few of which the Water type in Blastoise folded to Freeze-Dry, The typical Special wall in Goodra-Hisui took an awful lot from Choice Specs Blizzard, and Entei had to deal with unreliable recovery paired with Stealth Rocks. However Vanilluxe had to deal with the dominance of Lickilicky in the tier who shut off Snow with Cloud Nine preventing Aurora Veil and reducing Blizzard Accuracy, and didn’t mind being taunted by Vanilluxe. To get around Lickilicky it wasn’t uncommon to see Vanilluxe run Toxic to punish non Heal Bell Lickilicky for switching in, and many strong Physical breakers stacked onto Aurora Veil teams could often overwhelm Lickilicky’s partner in Weezing-Galar. Vanilluxe’s moveset would consist of some version of Blizzard, Freeze-Dry, Flash Cannon, Toxic, Aurora Veil, Taunt, or the uncommon Ice Shard. Vanilluxe also notoriously gives Entei an Ice Type Weather Ball allowing Entei to hit its most common check in Flygon. 

Dodrio set up with Swords Dance to take advantage of its excellent Normal/Flying Typing, Brave Bird & Double-Edge hitting like a truck, Low Kick hitting pesky Rock Types, Quick Attack for Priority, or Trailblaze for picking off a worn down Seismitoad. Taunt or Roost were often picked as well to beat Physical walls, with Lum Berry or Covert Cloak pairing well to defeat Scald users, or Heavy-Duty-Boots to minimize the Stealth Rocks Weakness. Choice Band with Pursuit was also a decent option to pick off low HP mons, and also let it pivot with Baton Pass, with Choice Scarf filling a similar role but catching Modest Shell Smash Blastoise, and even Timid Polteageist off guard.

Heliolisk takes advantage of its wide coverage in Thunderbolt for STAB, Grass Knot for Seismitoad, & Rhyperior, and Focus Blast for Goodra-Hisui. More niche options include Dragon Pulse or Weather Ball under Snow to hit Flygon, and Glare to paralyze enemies. It’s great speed stat pairs well with Life Orb or Choice Specs sets aiming to utilize the momentum it generates with Volt Switch, with Choice Scarf sets acting similarly with the intent to check non Timid/Jolly Shell Smash Blastoise Offensively. Throat Spray sets aim to brute force its way into getting progress on the opposing team, utilizing Hyper Voice over Volt Switch and maximizing the value coming from the speed stat, punishing teams which lack Priority. 

Regielki ends up being a much more balanced Pokemon that you’d initially think; It’s most common use is as a Dual Screens Setter with Rapid Spin, Volt Switch, Thunderbolt, or Explosion, sometimes opting to run Rain Dance with Damp Rock to support Swift Swim Seismitoad. Alternatively Regieleki may run Choice Specs or Life Orb with Tera Blast to damage Seismitoad & Flygon.Most notably Regieleki defines the Speed Tiers, outspeeding Shell Smash Blastoise & Polteageist, and Articuno-Galar at +2 Speed.

Rhyperior is most commonly a Bulky Attacker using Earthquake, Ice Punch, Stone Edge/Heavy-Slam, and Stealth Rocks/Substitute. Weakness Policy in conjunction with Rock Polish and Screens turns Rhyperior into a threatening set up sweeper, or with Lum Berry Rhyperior can Dodge burns from Entei and Weezing-Galar. Alternatively Choice Band has merit as a Wallbreaker which notably can Pursuit trap Regieleki, guaranteeing the kill after a bit of chip. Rhyperior has a variety of alternative Item choices in Custap Berry, Life Orb, Leftovers, and Covert Cloak, as well as a deeper Physical movepool in Heavy Slam, Superpower, Heat Crash, and Counter. 

Iron Thorns Lacks Booster Energy however it can be made up with Air Balloon and its consistent sets. Dragon Dance with Ice Punch, Earthquake, and Supercell Slam/Thunder Punch becomes Difficult to stop for Seismitoadless teams especially with Iron Thorns resisting Entei’s Extreme Speed. Hazard Vomiting Iron Thorns is practically its own archetype of team structure, with it being the only actually good mon out of three which receive Spikes. Iron Thorns can be a very effective hazard lead with both Stealth Rocks and the aforementioned Spikes, while also packing Taunt for other Hazard leads and Defog users, Ice Punch for Flygon, and being decently sturdy considering Air Balloon. Spiritomb pairs well as a Spin Blocker against Blastoise, and the Defoggers in the tier in Flygon & Weezing-Galar are Taunt fodder.

Falinks runs its obvious Bulky No Retreat sets with Lum Berry, Leftovers, or Life Orb with Close Combat, Iron Head, Substitute, Knock Off, or Endeavor. Iron Defense was occasionally experimented with in conjunction with No Retreat because of how physically offensive a lot of the meta was, to varying success. Defiant is nice for punishing Defog and pairs well with Taunt or Lum Berry to turn off Weezing-Galars burn, and Iron Head to immediately threaten it.

Indeedee-Female Possesses the rare trait of being immune to Ghost and resisting Psychic, allowing it to tank a hit from non Dark Pulse or Life Orb Polteageist. Indeedee had quite a few different ways to take advantage of this while remaining it’s own Pokemon without solely being a counter pick, most commonly as a Choice Specs user with Expanding Force since there was only one Dark Type in the tier, and Articuno-Galar didn’t want to switch into Shadow Ball. Dual Screens Indeedee picked up as a common Indeedee set later on in the meta, since Psychic Terrain blocked Entei’s Extreme Speed & Spiritomb’s Sucker Punch which was great for Blastoise, Polteageist, Articuno-Galar, Rhyperior, and other set up Sweepers. Trick was good for crippling walls, especially if you were Choice Scarf against Goodra-Hisui. Healing wish is also unique utility to restore a worn down Pokemon to keep you in the game.

Probopass would initially see use as an Air Balloon user to trap Goodra-Hisui, however Goodra began running max speed Body Press to beat it, forcing Probopass to regulate itself to Choice Scarf trapping sets to guarantee damage on Goodra-Hisui, which is still quite powerful if played well. Stealth Rock setting Probopass with Toxic, Body Press, and either STAB would become the more common way to utilize Probopass, as it could also check Articuno-Galar, Articuno-Galar, Indeedee, Polteageist, and Vanilluxe. Finally Iron Defense + Body Press Substitute Flash Cannon picked up a little bit of steam as it became difficult to take down once your ground type died, and it would even appear in the finals where it PP stalled an Articuno-Galar.

Victreebel is the only mon in the tier excluding non-Levitate Weezing-Galar which can absorb the very common Toxic Spikes. Encore grants Victrebeel a way to soft check the several slow set-up Pokemon in the tier in Goodra-Hisui, Hydrapple, and Spiritomb. Knock Off naturally makes progress into all the mons looking to switch into Grass type moves, and Sludge Wave gives Victreebel a way to hit Physically Defensive Weezing-Galar, lastly Synthesis and Black Sludge are Victreebel’s way of healing. Victreebel is great into Lickilicky + Weezing-Galar teams which rely on keeping up Tspikes and winning with their Crit Me Not Sweepers, but Victreebel’s crippling weakness to Goodra-Hisui becomes an issue if your opponent is able to conserve it long term, especially if Victreebel is lacking Encore. 

Wyrdeer has a niche as a Polteageist & Articuno-Galar check. Assault Vest allows Wyrdeer to live non full SPA Articuno-Galar hits and 1v1 it, while Polteageist gets checked by Sucker Punch. Dark Pulse on Polteageist is quite annoying for Wyrdeer and it may have to gamble on not being prepped for at times, however Dark Pulse isn’t particularly common. Intimidate Wyrdeer checks Dragon Dance Flygon, Bewear, Rhyperior, and Iron Thorns. Bulky Calm Mind was also solid with the combination of Psychic Noise and Earth Power being annoying to answer. 

Auroras had leverage over Vanilluxe as an Aurora Veil setter with Stealth Rocks & Thunder Wave. Meteor Beam + Power Herb, Throat Spray Refrigerate + Hyper Voice, Choice Specs with Earth Power & Ancient Power for Ice resists was also great as a Wallbreaker. Weakness Policy with Rock Polish behind Screens can also be solid but is largely inconsistent and outclassed by Rhyperior. 

Meganium is a niche Bulky Attacker similar to Victrebeel; Shutting off common Bulky set-up mons with Encore, doing decent damage with Leaf Storm especially when hit into Overgrow range, Knock off or Toxic for progress, and being able to chip down Goodra-Hisui with Body Press, while healing with Synthesis or Leech Seed. Meganium’s biggest advantage is being able to check so many different sweepers, most notably Mixed Blastoise with a Yache Berry. Lesser-seen sets saw Swords Dance as a Wallbreaker with Earthquake for Goodra-Hisui and Zen-Headbutt for Weezing-Galar. Weezing-Galar is a huge issue for the average Meganium and prevents most of its progress making, as such teams with Meganium have to try to beat down on Weezing-Galar as much as possible. 

Slaking is one of the hardest hitting Pokemon in the month off of purely raw damage. With Choice Band, Normal STAB becomes very free with the few Ghosts in Sinistcha & Spiritomb taking massive damage from Knock Off & Play Rough respectively. Ice Punch lets Slaking hit Flygon & Hydrapple, and Low Kick snipes Iron Thorns. Slaking’s big HP stat lets it tank hits with enough defense investment, and its SPE is high enough to Speed creep common walls comfortably. Slaking’s biggest issue by far is Protect and Substitute, any Pokemon carrying either just farms Truant turns. 

Spidops’s selling point is as a Sticky Web setter, however Sticky Web as a play style tends to struggle in this meta. All the bulky team structures combined with Defog Weezing-Galar make it really difficult to take advantage and maintain Sticky Web, not helped by the fact that Spidops is quite a lackluster Pokemon outside of setting Sticky Web. Choice Band Spidops had a niche with Stakeout + First Impression, but struggled to be consistently threatening with Weezing-Galar, Articuno-Galar, Entei, and several other Bug resists in the tier. 

Written by Essence

QC By Mangoose

/challenge gen9nationaldex35pokes @@@ -All Pokemon, +Unobtainable, +Past, -ND Uber, -ND AG, -ND OU, -ND UUBL, -ND UU, -ND RUBL, -ND RU, -ND NFE, -ND LC, +seismitoad, +Dodrio, +Victreebel, +Rhyperior, +Blastoise, +wyrdeer, +Ludicolo, +Hydrapple, +Indeedee-F, +Spiritomb, +heliolisk, +flygon, +gumshoos, +weezing-galar, +Aurorus, +Articuno-Galar, +Shiinotic, +Bewear, +Unfezant, +Polteageist, +Entei, +Goodra-Hisui, +Slaking, +Vanilluxe, +Regieleki, +Iron Thorns, +Spidops, +Furret, +Bellossom, +Falinks, +Maractus, +Leavanny, +Lickilicky, +Probopass, +Meganium 

Tier Maker