Jorogumo

Hey. There's a more recent version of this thread here. However, it's not fully up-to-date anymore. There's been several metagame developments since the last update and I haven't had time to keep up with all of them. Z-Moves, Tapus, and other Pokemon are allowed in Ranked PvP for the time being, but they were announced as temporary additions, so I didn't feel the need to rework the other VR list yet.

This is another scenario that will almost never matter in practice. If your Ditto is slower than an opposing Ditto, the nature and the speed will help you in a Struggle war. Otherwise, any nature and speed IV can work as long as your Ditto has Imposter.

Hey. This is minor and will mostly never matter in practice. Basically, 29 HP IVs minimize Life Orb recoil. If Gengar has 30+ HP IVs, it will have 260+ HP and will lose 26 HP every time that Life Orb activates. However, with 29 HP IVs, it will have 259 HP and will only lose 25 HP with every hit because 25.9 is rounded down to 25 due to the way Pokemon mechanics work. This makes 29 HP IVs an optimal choice, but it's totally optional and having higher or lower HP IVs will work just as fine. For the purpose of this (now outdated) thread, I tried to optimize sets and spreads as much as possible.

Starmie Serperior Jynx

Small VR changes: Garchomp: A+ → A Breloom: B+ → B Cofagrigus: C- → C The reasons for these changes were mentioned in the #top25-pvp-chat channel of the PRO Discord server on June 8, 2022. I recommend reading them if you are curious about them. There was also some discussion about Landorus-T, Amoonguss, and Starmie. For now, they all remain in their respective tiers (S, B+, and B-). However, while I generally agree with their current placements, I haven't fully made up my mind one way or the other and would like to see them being discussed further. Kyurem-B is still a recent addition and more time is needed before ranking it. Feel free to discuss that one as well. Edit: Kyurem-B has been tentatively added to A- on August 17, 2022.

Here is the successful application of the newest council member, Nornornor444. About you Main account name: Nornornor444 Alternate account names (only if relevant): Rosani Main server: Silver Your PvP experience Highest rating ever achieved: 529 Highest ranking ever achieved: #5 Number of PRO tournaments (i.e., PRO Ladder Tours or PRO Summer Tours) won: 0 Highest placement in PRO tournaments: 3rd in ladder tournament You and PRO PvP What is your favorite Pokémon to use competitively, and why? Clefable. Clefable has all the good moves which makes it a great utility mon. Having great spatking moves along with Moonblast such as Flamethrower, Ice beam, Thunderbolt gives it great coverage. Access to Thunder wave and Knock Off allows it to cripple switch ins. Having Calm Mind gives Clefable a chance to sweep. Unaware Clef does its role in stall team, dealing with set up sweepers as well as Wish Pass. What is your least favorite Pokémon to face competitively, and why? Static Zapdos with defog. Self explanatory, no one wants their Mega Metagross to be paralyzed. How would you describe the current PRO metagame (i.e., Normal Ranked PvP) to a new PRO player who is familiar with competitive Pokémon in other games or platforms? It's uncompetitive and boring. PRO Meta is somewhat in between Gen6 and Gen7, with the worst mechanics coming from each gen. Gen6 with no defog makes it better for offensive teams to perform better, meanwhile in gen7 almost everything has defog, even static zapdos. Gen7 has better special attackers than PRO Meta which makes PRO mostly a physical meta. Archetype such as stall almost always has no answer for hard hitting wallbreakers such as Band Ttar, Specs keld, Mega Medicham, Band Crawdaunt etc as well as Stallbreaker Torn, Mew. About the PRO PvP Council Why are you interested in applying to join the PRO PvP Council? How do you feel about its current state? I'm interested in applying to the PRO PvP Council because I want to use my knowledge and help shape the meta. Currently, PRO PvP Council has some inactive members not playing the game as much as before, which is why I believe it needs to be shaped. According to you, what should be the role and duties of the PRO PvP Council? The main role of the PRO PvP Council is to help shape the meta, have the meta healthy and enjoyable for players to enjoy. About the current PRO PvP metagame What is your evaluation of the state of offensive, balanced and defensive teams in the current metagame? Do you believe that the PRO PvP Council should intervene and take action to change the situation or not? Hyper offense is not that good in the meta right now, with too many defoggers and static zapdos. The teams are most of the time fat which makes it difficult for hyper offense to perform very well. Bulky Offense is probably the best archetype in the meta right now, as it has ways to deal with most archetypes. Balance has never been good enough to use on ladder considering balance is always about making predicts to get momentum, and losing momentum due to defensive answers. Balance usually never has the upper hand in the match up which makes the player having to predict a lot to win, and definitely not something a new player should use. Stall teams in the meta right now is just bad. There are hardly any answer for Specs Keldeo + Banded Ttar, or mega medicham/banded crawdaunt in stall teams. Stallbreaker Torn usually always just wins vs stalls easily. There are too many ways to beat stalls. Volt Turn with rocks pressure is very hard to deal with for stalls. Addition of Mega Sableye would easily make stall very good but it's not really the way. There isn't much PRO PvP Council can do to fix the metagame, as the blame completely goes for not releasing more gen7 mons that could shape the meta more and make the metagame more healthy. In general, what makes something ban-worthy, and why? The lack of answers in the metagame for a certain mon makes it ban-worthy. Not having many reliable answers, and making teambuilding very limited, such as having to run a certain mon to check something. In your opinion, is Mega Metagross ban-worthy? Justify your answer. Mega Metagross is not ban-worthy in the metagame right now. But it is certainly one of the best megas in the game right now. Megagross was not banned in Gen6 but banned in Gen7. One of the major nerf for megagross in gen6 was the mega speed not being added the turn it megas. The difference between 262-350 is huge. Meanwhile in gen7, megagross would have been dominant with the addition of terrains. Mega Metagross can be simply put as 'Broken' with every terrain helping it somehow; Grassy Terrain helps with recovery every turn and half the damage from EQ, Misty Terrain saving it from Will O Wisps, Psychic Terrain for boosted power with Zen Headbutt and immune to sucker punch, Electric Terrain for that added thunder punch to two shot Skarmory and Slowbro. But right now, there are enough checks and ways to deal with megagross even though it's performance is top notch most of the times. Discuss one of the current PvP bans and explain why it is deserved or undeserved. Mega Mawile:- Mega Mawile honestly deserves to just go somewhere else. It's typing is ridiculous, with access to Pre Mega ability Intimidate let's it set up easily on a lot of pokemon. It has a great movepool, going with Play Rough, Fire Fang, Swords dance, Knock Off, Sucker Punch, Iron Head. It doesn't have much switch ins considering -1 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 112+ Def Landorus-Therian: 163-193 (42.6 - 50.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery. Lando-T can only come out once after rocks. 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Zapdos: 222-262 (57.8 - 68.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery; has to go on a mindgame after with whether Mega Mawile will Play Rough or Sucker Punch, as you don't want to be in the receiving end of Play Rough when you roost and you die, Sucker Punch on your Heat Wave and die, 0 SpA Zapdos Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mawile-Mega: 172-204 (71.3 - 84.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO do this and still die to play rough. 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 96+ Def Slowbro: 306-362 (77.8 - 92.1%) -- 31.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock. That's not it considering if your only Mawile Switch in is Slowbro, Mawile can simply set up Swords Dance and threat to Ohko. There really isn't enough to deal with Mega Mawile except if someone runs Arcanine with Intimidate and Will O Wisp? Considering competitive Pokemon is a team game and Mega Mawile just has a huge impact with a well built team around it, as it is pretty easy to build a solid VoltTurn around it. Mega Mawile destroys stall entirely unless you slap a Quagsire in it, considering +2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Fire Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 304-358 (91 - 107.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock. Quagsire still can't though; +2 252+ Atk Huge Power Mawile-Mega Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Unaware Quagsire: 222-262 (56.3 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery. It's lack of speed and not as much versatile makes it not too entirely 'broken' but still a reasonable ban.

The PvP Council is the entity in charge of overseeing the competitive side of PRO PvP. It currently caters to the higher end of the ladder, especially the top 25 players from each server, as well as ladder tournament participants. While we acknowledge that ladder tournaments display a higher skill cap, we cannot deny that the majority of PvP matches are played on the ladder and that the decisions of the PvP Council will impact the entire community. To promote an optimally healthy and competitive PvP environment, the PvP Council must take the necessary tiering actions when something is proven to negatively impact both the ladder and tournament play. This stems from the belief that it first has to become problematic before reaching a ban-worthy status, although exceptions, namely quick bans, can be made if the metagame otherwise runs the risk of being seriously compromised. It must be noted that the PvP Council must provide a justification for changing the status quo, that is, the (pre)existing state of affairs. The burden of proof should always lie with the side making a tiering proposal. That party should explain how something negatively affects both the ladder and ladder tournaments and why banning it is necessary. Conversely, said party should explain why unbanning something is possible and/or how it can positively impact PvP. While on the lookout for ways to improve the metagame, the PvP Council should consider different suggestions, use personal player experience, and keep an eye on new metagame additions. This period of scrutiny and informal observation should be followed by discussion surrounding the potential issue(s) to exchange arguments favoring or opposing metagame change(s). Following the debate period, the PvP Council should internally vote to determine whether any adjustment(s) should be made and, if so, what course(s) of action should be adopted. The bulk of these conversations takes place in the PvP Council channels of the official Pokémon Revolution Online Discord server. For further information regarding the PvP Council structure, please take a look at this thread: Introducing the PvP Council. Even if you do not meet all requirements, you may still be eligible for the Council position. However, overall, PvP Council applicants must: Have an extensive knowledge and understanding of the PRO PvP metagame. Be able to communicate and debate PvP matters in English efficiently and fluently. Have a relatively clean infraction history, particularly in relation to rank boosting and general behavior, as the infraction history of each applicant will be reviewed. Have an extensive PvP experience in PRO. Carefully follow all the rules of the official Pokémon Revolution Online Discord server. If you are interested in joining the PvP Council, please fill out the application form below and post it in the PvP Council Application section of the forums. We ask that you keep your application confidential and avoid sharing your answers with other members of the PRO community. Moreover, helping other applicants with their applications is not allowed and will result in the rejection of your own application.

6m.

5m.

Welcome to the Baby XD001 suspect test thread. Baby XD001 was first released during the 2021 Halloween event and has been an infamously controversial addition ever since, with its proponents seeing it as a welcome change and its opponents disagreeing with the path it seems to invite PRO to follow. Despite the preexistence of some unofficial Pokémon in the game, Baby XD001 is thought by many to cross a line as the first catchable one of the sort. Inspired by Shadow Lugia, it also possesses an unprecedented dual typing in Shadow / Flying, thus effectively introducing a new type to PRO. This left players both excited and perplexed by the prospect of using Baby XD001. The Shadow type works similarly to the way it operated in Pokémon Colosseum and Pokémon XD: Gale of Darkness. Offensively, it inflicts STAB-less super effective damage to every type except itself, since Shadow-type moves are not very effective against Shadow-type Pokémon. It is worth nothing that, while Shadow moves themselves do not receive STAB, other moves used by Baby XD001, like Aeroblast, do. Moreover, Shadow-type moves always deal x2 super effective damage, even to Pokémon with a dual typing. Defensively, all moves – with the exception of Shadow-type ones – deal neutral damage to the Shadow type. This means that Baby XD001 will virtually be receiving damage as a pure Flying type, making it weak to Electric-, Ice-, and Rock-type attacks. Baby XD001’s initial base stats were as follows: 20 ATK, 105 DEF, 100 SPD, 55 SPATK, 110 SPDEF, and 70 HP. The HP stat was recently buffed to 76 to prevent potential issues that could arise due to the conversion of Baby XD001 into Baby Lugia, its “purified” counterpart, in the future. As a result, DEF and SPDEF were respectively nerfed down from 105 to 100 and from 110 to 105. Thus, Baby XD001’s current base stats are as follows: 20 ATK, 100 DEF, 100 SPD, 55 SPATK, 105 SPDEF, and 76 HP. Baby XD001 possesses two Abilities: Marvel Scale and Multiscale. Marvel Scale multiplies the Pokémon’s Defense by 1.5 if it has a non-volatile status condition. While Baby XD001 is arguably prone to status, it can utilize Marvel Scale to take advantage of burns. In an effort to maximize the potential of this Ability while simultaneously avoiding other forms of status, Baby XD001 can wield a Flame Orb. The Hidden Ability, Multiscale, halves the damage taken from attacks if the Pokémon is at full HP. Considering Baby XD001’s primary Shadow typing, it can utilize Multiscale well, in conjunction with other moves, like Roost and Calm Mind, to become harder to take down. Baby XD001 learns four Shadow-type moves: Shadow Blast, Shadow Down, Shadow Shed, and Shadow Storm. From a PvP standpoint, Shadow Storm particularly stands out for having a Base Power of 95 coupled with perfect accuracy. Aside from Shadow moves, Baby XD001 possesses the same moves as Lugia – with the exception of four “purified” ones: Earthquake, Feather Dance, Hydro Pump, and Psycho Boost. While its offensive coverage is good and varied, Baby XD001 is likely to find itself in situations where clicking Shadow Storm is more beneficial. However, due to its limited PPs, ranging from 10 to 16, other options can be considered. Furthermore, Baby XD001 learns many utility moves, such as Calm Mind, Defog, Rest, Roost, Sleep Talk, Substitute, Tail Wind, Thunder Wave, Toxic, Trick, and Whirlwind. Despite a deceptively low SPATK stat of 55, Baby XD001 can take advantage of Choice Specs to run a specially offensive set capable of 2HKOing the vast majority of the metagame with just Shadow Storm. On that set, it can even use Trick to circumvent one of its main roadblocks in Chansey. While a Timid nature can viably be used to reach 328 Speed, a Modest nature allows Baby XD001 to have more immediate breaking power and transforms some 3HKOs into 2HKOs. Having said that, Baby XD001 can alternatively run other, viable sets revolving around moves like Calm Mind and Defog. For example, it can make use of Calm Mind with Multiscale and Leftovers or Marvel Scale and Flame Orb. On sets like those, which can be fully offensive, bulky or even fully defensive, Baby XD001 does not lack versatility. For instance, Marvel Scale Flame Orb sets with Calm Mind can run a move like Toxic to improve the match-up against defensive teams. Overall, depending on its set, Baby XD001 can choose its battles and accommodate its own needs or those of its teammates. It is also worth noting that, despite its name, Baby XD001 cannot use Eviolite because it is not considered unevolved. The list of Pokémon able to handle most or all of Baby XD001’s sets is both limited and somewhat set-dependent. Defensively speaking, Chansey and Baby XD001 itself stand out as the most reliable answers due to their ability to stomach powerful Shadow Storm attacks. Assault Vest Tornadus-T can switch into Baby XD001 and threaten to remove its item or generate momentum, although it is faster. Unaware Clefable can take on most Calm Mind sets but must be wary of moves like Toxic or sets such as Choice Specs, making Bold a far less reliable nature against Baby XD001. The same goes for Heatran, which cannot attempt to check Baby XD001 without a Calm nature. Common Pokémon, like Mega Scizor and Ferrothorn, can heavily invest into SPDEF to avoid the 2HKO at all times, but hazards and prior chip tend to make them shaky answers, especially in the long term. With or without Assault Vest, Tyranitar fears very little from Baby XD001 but has to choose between longevity and power. Mega Latias can reliably switch into it and attempt to beat it with Calm Mind and either Psyshock or Stored Power, though it cannot beat Toxic sets without Refresh or, at least, in some cases, Substitute. Amoonguss can threaten Baby XD001 with Spore and Clear Smog, but it should particularly watch out for Aeroblast. Some niche yet viable picks include Filter Mega Aggron, Alolan Muk, Ditto and specially defensive Clear Smog Gastrodon. While it is difficult to check Baby XD001 offensively, maintaining pressure and using faster threats can hinder its ability to retain Multiscale, stay healthy throughout the match or find opportunities to fire off its attacks. Finally, Stealth Rock, one of the most commonly used moves in PvP, prevents Baby XD001 from keeping said Multiscale intact by forcing it to take 25% damage every time that it comes into play. On paper, Baby XD001 can be used on a myriad of teams, ranging from semi-stall to hyper offense (e.g., Sticky Web, Veil…). It will be up to you to try to discover them and use them! When Baby XD001 was first released, it divided the PRO community and the PvP council. As a result, it was banned in October 2021 before ever being allowed in Ranked PvP. This suspect test will serve to determine whether the playerbase wants Baby XD001 to be legal or not. Many of those in favor of allowing Baby XD001 welcome the change it offers with open arms. They wish to give it a chance due to the overall staleness of the metagame, which has known no new, relevant additions since early 2021. They consider PRO as its own entity and separate it from other Pokémon games and platforms, thus appreciating the addition of unofficial Pokémon. While others are less vocal about allowing Baby XD001 just for the sake of implementing a change of any kind, they believe that it should at least be tested and given a fair trial solely based on its PvP performance. They find that Baby XD001 can benefit the game in the long term. Arguing in favor of a case-by-case basis, some even cite Timid Aura Sphere Raikou and Timid Eruption Heatran as unique examples that make PRO stand out. Several Baby XD001 proponents believe it would be manageable and far from ban-worthy since its average Speed tier and relatively low stats mitigate its potential and keep it in check by forcing the player to choose between bulk, power and speed. Those who oppose allowing Baby XD001 in Ranked PvP often cite the fact that it is an unofficial Pokémon with a unique, unprecedented typing that would discourage new or casual players from starting PvP and would demotivate veterans, possibly driving them away. They also view this addition as an unexpected and unwelcome surprise that goes against some of the reasons that prompted them to choose PRO in the first place. Moreover, they find that the Shadow type is an unnecessary complication with many practical repercussions, such as preventing players from properly running calculations or forcing them to learn all the characteristics of the Shadow type. To an extent, they even compare Baby XD001 to previously banned illegal combinations, like Soft-Boiled on Unaware Clefable, to justify a ban for the sake of consistency. Others, who do not necessarily oppose unofficial Pokémon, are against Baby XD001 due to the low opportunity cost of running it and spamming a single move: Shadow Storm. According to them, Baby XD001 is inherently broken because of its Shadow typing and does not contribute positively to the promotion of a skill-based metagame, as it might be too easy to use, too good at what it does, self-sufficient, or potentially overcentralizing. Once the suspect test begins, players will be able to interact with an NPC that will spawn a single Baby XD001. It will be guaranteed to have 31 SPD. Other IVs will be randomized but will at least be equal or superior to 20. When the season ends, every spawned Baby XD001 will be removed. This does not concern the ones previously caught during the Halloween event. The suspect test will last for the entirety of the February 2022 season, ending on February 28 – unless officially announced otherwise. In order to qualify and be eligible to vote, players will need to achieve a minimum rating of 300 over 30 (or more) games played. There will be no game limit or win rate requirement. 300+ rating and 30+ games will suffice. Players will only be able to qualify and vote once (i.e., on a single account). Moderators will make sure to double-check requirements and keep an eye on potential fraud attempts. Eligible voters will be able to vote in this thread after the season ends. It will remain locked until then. The qualified playerbase will vote to decide the outcome of this suspect test. There will be two options to choose from – BAN or UNBAN. The threshold to unban Baby XD001 must be ≥ 60% of the qualified votes cast (meaning that 60% would suffice to unban it). If this threshold is not met, Baby XD001 will remain banned. We hope that you will consider taking part in this suspect test. Good luck to everyone. Voting template: Vote (BAN or UNBAN): Account name: Server (Silver or Gold):

12 CCs.

10 CCs.

The banner on the initial post has been updated. It now includes different Pokémon and, most notably, 3 Mega Evolutions: Mega Alakazam, Mega Metagross, and Mega Scizor.

Suggestions and requests regarding current PvP bans Hello, everyone! The purpose of this thread is to allow players to formulate requests, proposals, and suggestions for potential change or improvement regarding current PvP bans in a manner that would indicate an alternative course of action. For example, if you disagree with a specific ban, please feel free to argue against it. I hope that this thread can serve as a way to better communication between the PvP Council and the rest of the players, especially those who may not frequently check Council-related PRO Discord channels. Moreover, this post should provide the playerbase with an exhaustive list of everything that is currently banned from Normal Ranked PvP, as well as the (brief) reasoning behind each individual ban. As there are several bans, there are multiple items to discuss one by one. I also plan to use the forums to publish future PRO PvP surveys and survey results in an effort to reach a larger number of players and organize all survey-related information in a single thread for more clarity and accessibility in the future. A third thread where players would be able to forward any suggestions or recommendations for PvP Council discussion or metagame improvement is potentially in the works, since this one is exclusively limited to current PvP bans. All of the following items are banned from the queue known as Normal Ranked PvP. Here they are in alphabetical order: Aegislash. At first, Aegislash was allowed with King’s Shield and quickly made a name for itself as the most centralizing Pokémon in the metagame. King’s Shield was then banned, in August 2020, in an attempt to keep it unbanned and in check by limiting its effectiveness. However, as it turned out, Aegislash was still a menace to most playstyles. Its versatility and unpredictability, combined with its unmatched offensive and defensive capabilities, ultimately pushed it over the top and made it an overcentralizing presence in the metagame, even without access to King’s Shield. It was banned in April 2021. Arena Trap. Arena Trap removed one of the main features of competitive Pokémon: the ability to switch. Unlike Magnet Pull, its targets were far greater in number (i.e., all grounded Pokémon that are not Ghost types). The main culprit, Dugtrio, enabled several offensive threats by removing their checks and counters from the game. Moreover, despite being an offensively oriented Pokémon, Dugtrio was able to fit on stall teams by eliminating some of the strongest stallbreakers and wallbreakers in the metagame, like Heatran and Choice Band Tyranitar. Other Arena Trap users were never seriously considered in PRO. When the mechanics of the game transitioned from being Gen 6-based to being Gen-7 based, Dugtrio’s Base ATK went from 80 to 100. This prompted many players to request its ban. Arena Trap was deemed uncompetitive and was consequently banned in April 2018. Baby XD001. Baby XD001 was the first unofficial Pokémon added to PRO. Inspired by Shadow Lugia, codenamed XD001, it had an unusual dual typing: Shadow / Flying. The Shadow type offensively allowed it to inflict STAB-less super effective damage to every other type except itself. Furthermore, all moves besides Shadow-type ones dealt neutral damage to it, thus virtually rendering it a pure Flying type from a strictly defensive perspective. Baby XD001’s base stats were as follows: 20 ATK, 105 DEF, 100 SPD, 55 SPATK, 110 SPDEF, and 70 HP. As far as the prospect of an unofficial Pokémon with a new, unfamiliar typing goes, the PvP Council and the polled community were both split. Therefore, Baby XD001 remained banned. This happened in October 2021. Baton Pass. Baton Pass referred to more than just a move; it represented a playstyle centered on passing accumulated boosts to Pokémon capable of taking advantage of them to sweep the opposition. This behavior was limited by the Baton Pass clause, which stated that teams could only carry a single Baton Pass user and that said user could not simultaneously boost its Speed and other stats. This effectively resulted in Speed Boost Scolipede becoming the main Baton Passer on Baton Pass teams. Speed abusers included Pokémon such as Manaphy and Togekiss. While Substitute was not yet coded at the time, Scolipede adapted and still managed to excel as a Baton Passer. Due to the uncompetitive, matchup-reliant, and luck-based nature of Baton Pass teams, the Staff team then decided, in April 2020, to revoke the Baton Pass clause and ban the move as a whole instead. This was initially announced as a test period, but the change, most likely deemed positive, remained in effect. Battle Bond Greninja. Battle Bond Greninja was released during the 2020 Halloween event and was only allowed for the PvP season of October 2020. The fastest Megas were still unreleased and Ash-Greninja ended up outpacing the entire viable metagame. Offensive and defensive countermeasures were insufficient, with some players resorting to gimmicky checks, like Poliwrath, or exploitable ones, like Chansey, even on offense. After activating Battle Bond, it even had access to one of the most powerful priority moves in the game in Water Shuriken. Overall, Ash-Greninja made steady progress throughout every match and promoted passive (counter)play, which facilitated laying down Spikes on telegraphed switches. It quickly became centralizing to an unhealthy extent and, before its presence could begin to hurt the viability of multiple playstyles, Battle Bond Greninja was banned in November 2020. Blazikenite. Unsurprisingly, Mega Blaziken was never allowed in Ranked PvP. Its Fire / Fighting coverage was bolstered by two powerful STAB moves in Flare Blitz and High Jump Kick. Its Ability, Speed Boost, perfectly complemented its offensive stats, allowing it to fulfill the dual role of a wallbreaker and a sweeper. Mega Blaziken had a good match-up against offensive and defensive teams, while totally dismantling balanced builds in the process. The list of Pokémon able to check it reliably was also too limited. The PvP Council almost unanimously agreed that it would put an unbearable strain on the teambuilder, would require futile overpreparation, would generate an unhealthy amount of unstoppable sweeps, and would hurt the growth of several playstyles in an ever-evolving metagame that had just undergone massive changes, including the release of the second wave of Megas. Blazikenite was swiftly banned in November 2020. Darkrai. Darkrai was on a list of pre-banned Pokémon before its release. Dark Void’s accuracy used to be 80% before dropping to 50% in the transition of PRO from Gen 6 mechanics to Gen 7 ones, thus making the move a low-risk, high-reward prospect that would have complemented the Ability Bad Dreams perfectly. Darkrai also had access to Nasty Plot, a move that would have allowed it to muscle past special walls with ease. Boasting high power and one of the best Speed tiers in the metagame (at the time), Darkrai would have undoubtedly terrorized the PvP scene with just a couple of damaging moves. Genesect. In July 2017, the pre-banned Genesect made its PRO debut with an Ability that worked in reverse. Players who met certain requirements were then asked to vote on Genesect – alongside Gothitelle and Blaziken – to gauge whether there would be sufficient support to test it. Unfortunately, the majority opposed this testing phase and Genesect has remained banned ever since. Aside from its power and typing, it could generate momentum in an unprecedented manner and make progress no matter what. Its versatility and unpredictability were also deemed outstanding. Indeed, Genesect boasted a wide array of viable items, moves, and sets. As a result, it was known for having almost no safe switch-ins. Gengarite. Gengarite, released during the 2020 Halloween event, was instantly banned due to Mega Gengar possessing the already banned Ability Shadow Tag. Usually at its best against defensive and, to a lesser degree, balanced teams, Shadow Tag Mega Gengar would be able to target and remove specific threats with extreme ease, thus paving the way for an easy victory. Its stats, power, and utility would allow it to excel at performing multiple roles at once. Had Shadow Tag somehow not been banned, Mega Gengar would have still almost certainly been banned on the spot due to the low-risk, (almost) guaranteed-reward nature of its kit. Gengarite was banned in October 2020. OHKO moves. The one-hit KO clause, implemented in July 2016, effectively banned the moves Fissure, Guillotine, Horn Drill, and Sheer Cold from Ranked PvP. Despite their low accuracy, these moves could drastically change the course of a match by potentially devaluing the importance of skill and rewarding the luckiest player instead of the most skillful one. Therefore, these specific high-risk, high-reward gimmicks were quickly ejected from a then primitive PvP environment striving for fairness and competitiveness. Lucarionite. Lucarionite was unanimously banned by the PvP Council in January 2022 as soon as its release became public knowledge. Aside from being an offensive powerhouse with limited, situational checks and almost no guaranteed switch-ins, Mega Lucario is notable for its unpredictability and versatility, which allow it to run physically and specially offensive sets. Furthermore, its good Speed tier of 112 and its access to Adaptability, boosting moves in Swords Dance and Nasty Plot, as well as priority moves in Bullet Punch, Extreme Speed, and Vacuum Wave, make it incredibly difficult to stop or revenge kill. Mega Lucario also possesses a wide movepool. Thus, figuring out the (physical or special) nature of its set would not suffice as its movepool can still remain undiscovered due to the number of viable moves that it is susceptible of carrying. Because of all the aforementioned factors, Lucarionite was deemed ban-worthy. Lunala and Solgaleo. Released in February 2021, Lunala and Solgaleo boast an impressive BST of 680. Defensively speaking, Lunala’s typing might be considered underwhelming, but the Pokémon’s various assets outweigh its rare drawbacks. Its bulk is impressive, its Ability is outstanding, and its diverse movepool would allow it to fulfill too many roles far better than anything else would. As for Solgaleo, aside from a passable Ability, it benefits from a good typing, a varied movepool, great defenses, and limited but reliable recovery. Offensively, its coverage is further boosted by the usability of its mixed offensive stats. Overall, both Lunala and Solgaleo were unsurprisingly deemed too powerful for Ranked PvP. Mawilite. When Mega Mawile was released, many thought its low Speed would keep it in check. However, this offensive behemoth turned out to be incredibly difficult to prepare for in a sufficient manner. It only had a handful of checks and counters, some of which served little to no purpose outside of handling Mega Mawile and weakened the team’s overall match-up against other threats. Due to its toolkit, which includes an amazing Fairy / Steel typing, useful pre-Mega Evolution Abilities, and the move Sucker Punch, Mega Mawile was able to bypass its low Speed and perform well against all major playstyles. There was also a discrepancy between the low cost of running Mega Mawile and the ensuing high rewards. Mawilite was banned in April 2021. Moves with a chance to reduce accuracy or raise evasion. Moves that continually increase the user’s evasion, like Double Team and Minimize, are banned due to their inherently uncompetitive nature. Likewise, those that decrease the target’s accuracy, such as Flash and Kinesis, are banned. Moreover, Acupressure, which raises a random stat by two stages, can coincidentally increase evasion and is banned as well. Protean Greninja. Protean Greninja was allowed from 2018 to 2021. There was some opposition to its release, but it fizzled out once it was out. Players had an easier time than expected handling it in PvP. However, as time went on, many realized the full potential of Protean Greninja and, ultimately, its Spikes / Hydro Pump / Ice Beam / Hidden Power Grass set pushed it over the top. Protean Greninja was able to control the hazard game extremely well and had almost no guaranteed offensive or defensive switch-ins, thanks to its Ability and its vast movepool. Protean Greninja also hindered the development of certain playstyles and archetypes. It was banned in April 2021. Sablenite. Stall is not the most popular playstyle. It is then unsurprising that the addition of a new tool to stall teams was met with backlash. This new tool, Mega Sableye, was a godsend to those teams. It allowed them to seize control of the hazard game to an unprecedented degree that made facing them a daunting task. Thanks to Magic Bounce and its overall toolkit, Mega Sableye was able to remove several ways of crippling Stall and defensive teams in general. Some even argued that it promoted unhealthy match-up reliance and centralization in terms of teambuilding and metagame development. Many deemed that Mega Sableye, one of the best Pokémon used on Stall, and Mega Mawile, one of the best offensive countermeasures to Stall teams, should be packaged together. Sablenite was banned in April 2021. Salamencite. The Staff team instantly banned Salamencite. Mega Salamence boasts incredible stats, which include a remarkable combination of power and Speed, as well as an offensively oriented Ability in Aerilate. Only gimmicky or niche Pokémon, like Eviolite Porygon-2 and Cresselia, can safely switch into it, which highlights the unhealthy and centralizing effects of its presence on the teambuilder and the metagame. Mega Salamence also possesses impressive physical bulk, further complemented by the possibility of running Intimidate as the pre-Mega Ability. Its wide offensive movepool allows it to pick its own checks and it even has access to highly valuable utility moves like Roost and Substitute, which respectively give it more longevity and allow it to bypass status. Salamencite was predictably banned in February 2021, shortly following its release. Shadow Tag. In March 2017, the Staff team organized a 3-week voting period on Shadow Tag. Gothitelle was the main culprit, while other Shadow Tag users were potential casualties that most players did not mind back then. The anti-ban side primarily cited the prevalence of Dark types, Gothitelle’s poor match-up against offensive teams, its inability to set up against relevant Pokémon, its proneness to common stallbreakers like Togekiss, and its much-appreciated ability to keep Stall teams in check. The pro-ban side focused on the lack of team preview (at the time), the removal of the fundamental switch mechanic, the uncompetitive and low-risk, high-reward nature of Shadow Tag, the absence of Pursuit from the game, and Gothitelle’s ability to enable certain threats by removing their main checks. Shadow Tag was banned with a 65% supermajority in April 2017. Shaymin-Sky. While Shaymin was initially banned due to a bug that allowed it to obtain illegal moves like TMs Flamethrower and Ice Beam, it was later unbanned. Shaymin-Sky, on the other hand, has remained banned ever since its first and only ban. Shaymin-Sky boasts high Speed, good Special Attack, and respectable bulk. It also possesses the Ability Serene Grace, which works perfectly with Air Slash and Seed Flare, turning the latter into a 120-BP Grass-type move with an 80% chance to lower the target’s Special Defense by two stages. Shaymin-Sky can then proceed to dispose of the sturdiest special walls. Furthermore, this Pokémon has access to various utility moves, like Substitute, Leech Seed, and Healing Wish. Shaymin-Sky was banned in April 2019. Sheer Force Landorus-Incarnate. Sheer Force Landorus-Incarnate is famed for only having two counters: Cresselia and Mega Latias. The latter was not even released when Landorus-I was roaming free in Ranked PvP. Thanks to an amazing Ability in Sheer Force, which grants it a recoil-free Life Orb boost, as well as its varied movepool, Landorus-I had both versatility and unpredictability. It was even able to choose whether to better its match-up against defensive teams with Calm Mind or improve the one against offensive builds with Rock Polish. Moreover, because Sheer Force Landorus-I had low usage, players had to decide whether to account for it at the risk of not encountering any or forego preparing for it altogether at the risk of running into one and suffering certain defeat. Sheer Force Landorus-I was, at first, only banned from PRO Ladder Tours; however, it was also banned from Ranked PvP in August 2020. Some illegal combinations, like Psywave Natural Cure/Serene Grace Chansey/Blissey or Curse Technician/Swarm Scizor. While the latter was solely enforced by the Staff team in August 2020, the community still had a say in previous illegal combinations that were banned, including Soft-Boiled Unaware Clefable in September 2017. Speed Boost Blaziken. When PRO’s mechanics shifted from being Gen 6-based to being Gen 7-based, Talonflame’s Gale Wings was effectively nerfed. This once popular Pokémon was no longer highly viable and, as a result, players realized that they had just lost one of the very few tools to keep Speed Boost Blaziken in check. Shortly thereafter, Blaziken was banned in April 2018, as it had become exceedingly hard to revenge kill or prevent from sweeping due to the shakiness of answers like Slowbro and Azumarill. Blaze Blaziken was unbanned in August 2018 thanks to the addition of a clear Speed Boost message that allowed differentiating between Speed Boost Blaziken and Blaze Blaziken. Swagger. The Swagger Clause was added to Ranked PvP in November 2016. SwagPlay teams were extremely uncompetitive and consisted of running Prankster Pokémon able to utilize the move Swagger, typically in conjunction with Thunder Wave and Foul Play. While this strategy never became popular in PRO, due to how quickly the Swagger Clause was borrowed from Smogon, some players still tried to experiment with similar tactics, including Prankster Confuse Ray Sableye, which were far less successful, consistent, and uncompetitive than SwagPlay teams. Please avoid including the following Pokémon in your comments and suggestions: Falinks, Skwovet, and Wooloo. Zacian and Zamazenta. Balance matters aside, these no longer obtainable Gen 8 Pokémon were released in 2021 with the intent of keeping them banned from Ranked PvP for the foreseeable future. Therefore, discussing them now would be pointless. Please make sure to use the following template to discuss any of the aforementioned items. Template: Example of a good submission: Discussed item: Protean Greninja. Course of action: Retesting. Justification: Protean Greninja deserves another shot. Offensive teams can handle it relatively well thanks to priority users and steadily or increasingly common Pokemon like Mega Scizor, Mega Manectric, Mega Alakazam, and even Keldeo and Scarf Lando. Stall is able to deal with Protean Greninja better than most playstyles, even though Spikes can make things tricky. Finally, while balanced teams might still struggle a bit against Protean Greninja, Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Rotom-W are among the most common ones in the metagame. If some players can afford to run HP Grass to beat Defog Rotom-W, you can immediately expect Spikes and Ice Beam, which immediately makes Protean Greninja easier to check. Moreover, many Pokemon that Greninja beats hard, like Volca, Exca, and Gliscor, have been seeing less and less usage, thus rendering Protean Gren less efficient than it used to be. Weavile is still common and can Pursuit trap Greninja to remove it from the game. Overall, 2/3 major playstyles can deal with Protean Greninja decently well. This is why I believe it should at least be considered for a retest. Example of a bad submission: Please unban Gren. It’s frail and has a lot of counters in the metagame like Chansey and Ferrothorn on every team. It also dies easily to Mach Punch and Bullet Punch. Now we have Lopunny, Manectric and Alakazam to outspeed it too, so it shouldn’t be a problem. Main sources: [Un]Banning Dugtrio & Wobbuffet An unhealthy Battle Bond: The Ash-Greninja case Arena Trap. Yes or No. Ban Blaziken Explaining the recent bans of Greninja, Mawilite, and Sablenite and the unbanning of Mega Metagross Genesect, Gothitelle and Blaziken testing phase PvP Feedback – Baton Pass PvP Feedback – Landorus Ranked PvP Rules. Shadow Tag Voting Softboiled and Unaware ability combined – Allow or Ban from ranked PvP? Time to unban normal ability Blaze Blaziken [Edit: Blaze Blaziken is unbanned | H.A Blaziken stays banned]

I would be in favor of an UU queue replacing OU every 3 months. However, we must address and resolve several practical issues before we can effectively implement UU. Usage and preemptive action: We already know that we will prevent Pokémon with more than 4.52% usage from being allowed in UU. However, we now must decide the months to take into account. If the rotation occurs every 3 months, will we consider all three or will we instead only account for the last month? This is important because UU might begin as soon as OU ends, thus leaving the PvP Council with virtually no time to decide whether to quickban something or not. For example, if an otherwise overpowered Pokémon with over 4.52% usage previously is suddenly UU by usage, we should be able to ban it. Alternatively, the PvP Council can preemptively work on a list of Pokémon that deserve a quick ban regardless of their current usage. We should be able to revisit said list in the future if necessary, as the metagame will continue to evolve and some Pokémon may become more or less bearable with time. Borderline Pokémon: Aside from the problem of Pokémon worthy of a preemptive ban, there also is the issue of more borderline, more contentious Pokémon. Those would typically warrant additional time and testing before the PvP Council could effectively reach a decision. In this case, as we would only have a single month on our hands, we might have to act differently. Should we then quickban those Pokémon or run the risk of letting them roam free? I find this to be a dilemma because both options come with drawbacks. Major tier shifts and usage changes: Likewise, if some Pokémon end up rising from UU to OU, some UU Pokémon may end up becoming much harder to deal with, perhaps even to the point of warranting a ban. I realize that some players dislike defensive Pokémon, but each balanced and healthy metagame has its fair share of those. Without them, some offensive Pokémon will become too strong. The same applies for a metagame where defensive Pokémon are too potent. If all the aforementioned issues seem like a lot to handle, we can ultimately decide to let UU turn into a chaotic, disorganized tier. I would like to keep it competitive, if possible. There are probably going to be UU tours, like the PRO Ladder Tour, so we should be careful with the way that we manage this tier. Should we just work on a list of UU Pokémon to ensure that the metagame can be somewhat healthy before its release? In this case, we would have to drop the 4.52% usage requirement. I do not have any definitive solutions to these problems, but I feel like they deserve further attention and discussion. Balancing issues: If UU is only available once every 3 or 4 months, it becomes nearly impossible to balance out the tier consistently. At best, the PvP Council can vote to quickban obvious culprits, but contentious ones will divide players, as well as the Council itself. Future changes: Moreover, the UU metagame will undergo major shifts and changes in the future, specifically with the introduction of Z-Moves and, later, more Gen 7 Pokémon that happen to be viable in the tier. Pokémon with a Mega Evolution: We will most likely need to know the usage percentages of the regular versions of Pokémon that have a Mega Evolution. It is hard to tell whether a Pokémon like Scizor would be OU by usage on its own or not. If there is an accurate way to distinguish between the usage stats of the regular Pokémon and those of their Mega Evolutions, this should not be a problem. Otherwise, Pokémon like Charizard will be unusable in UU. This can also be one of PRO’s many specificities. We do not have to follow Smogon or any other platform. We can establish our own UU rules if needed, as long as the Developers agree with doing so, of course! Two servers, two metagames? Another thing worth mentioning is that we have two servers with slightly different OU metagames. This may seem minor at first, but it will matter when it comes to UU, as we will effectively end up with two different UU metagames, unless we choose to opt for unique cross-server usage, which would not be consistent with the way we have been handling OU so far. With two OU metagames evolving simultaneously yet individually, Pokémon usage will be different no matter what. Consequently, the list of Pokémon allowed in UU will differ from one server to the other. This also means that the bans will be distinct as well, unless we choose a homogeneous tiering approach that allows us to ban the same Pokémon on both servers. Unfortunately, since the metagames would technically be different, it would be possible for a Pokémon deemed ban-worthy on one server to be tolerable on the other due to the presence of additional countermeasures unavailable on the server where said Pokémon would be too strong (e.g., OU by usage). Therefore, should we combine the OU usage stats of both servers or not? If so, should we do this over 1, 2 or 3 months? As you can tell, we should take into account many factors and variables to ensure the successful implementation of UU. The myth of UU diversity: I would also like to emphasize that, while UU will bring some diversity (in comparison to OU), it will not be a metagame where every single Pokémon is viable. Yes, of course, players can use whatever they want and, while this is already the case in OU, it will likely be less punishing in UU in most cases. UU will have its own viability rankings – if not concretely posted on the forums, then at least virtually. Some Pokémon will be much stronger than the rest and will dominate the usage charts. I am only putting extra emphasis on this because I know that some users expect UU to be a place where all non-OU Pokémon can finally thrive. That will not be the case, even if the metagame is relatively unbalanced at first. Some picks will always be more viable than most. This does not mean that you cannot use your favorite Pokémon; it just means that you will eventually start running into the same Pokémon, perhaps even the same teams and strategies. You can promote diversity on your own by trying out different things if you wish. However, please do not expect UU to be a disorganized tier, unless we willingly choose to let it be one. Please feel free to reply to any part(s) of my post. I am interested in reading everyone’s thoughts and opinions. I am sure that we can come up with satisfactory solutions to the aforementioned issues, too.

6m+15 CCs.

I won't elaborate too much on this, but it is a balanced team that focuses on stacking hazards (thanks to Donphan having Rapid Spin), although it is extremely outdated and unviable. I might work on a guide that explains what the different playstyles are and how they're built and used, but I make no promises!

Assuming that, by matches and PvP Quests, we are only referring to Normal Ranked PvP, here are my suggestions for PvP Quests, which take into account the fact that players who do not complete them are only missing out on additional, totally optional rewards: 3 Daily PvP Quests: Play 5 matches. Ideally, even if the number ends up being lower, players should always be able to finish all daily PvP Quests if they complete this one. Instead of 5 matches, we can also have X matches, with X being a number between 3 and 5. Win 3 matches. Likewise, instead of 3 matches, we can have X matches, X being 2 or 3. The last daily PvP quest can rotate between 1 of these quests: Play a game with X in your team, X being a random Pokémon. Here are some potential issues that could arise: Players not having X; X being absolutely terrible and almost always constituting a burden; players being forced to borrow Pokémon in order to complete this quest from time to time, which could also increase the risk of potential scammers, given that the lending function currently doesn't work. Having said that, X can be randomly chosen from the player's PC based on level-100 Pokémon, but some of those will be story Pokémon and will be extremely mediocre, while other players can make sure to have PvP-ready lvl-100 Pokémon just for the sake of doing this quest, so I don't think choosing a Pokémon that the player already has can work. Another suggestion is to make sure that only fully evolved Pokémon can be mentioned. Moreover, if certain Pokémon, like Unown, can be blacklisted in advance for being too mediocre, I think it is also worth considering. Play a game without X in your team, X being either the Pokémon that the player used the most the previous day (if there is a way to keep track of this) or a random Pokémon from the Top 25 list. Play a game with a X-type Pokémon, X being a random type, or play a game without a X-type Pokémon, X being either the type that the player used the most the previous day (if there is a way to keep track of this) or a random type. If considered, I would like certain types, like the Steel type, to have a higher chance to be chosen. Some other silly but maybe fun ideas: The "Play 5 matches" and "Win 3 matches" quests could rarely change to "Play 5 matches without X in your team" or "Win 3 matches without using X-type Pokémon." For these particular quests, I do not think imposing a must-have condition (e.g., "Win 3 matches with Bibarel") would necessarily be popular. Play or win 1 match with a Pokémon starting with the letter X, X being a random letter (Yes, I know X is already a letter, but...). Play or win 1 match with X Y-type Pokémon, X being the number of Pokémon and Y being the type. X should maybe be capped at 3 or 4, while Y can be any type. Something worth noting is that some players might be tempted to forfeit immediately in order to complete some of these daily quests. Is it possible to have them complete the match? I understand that it could be a long and frustrating one, though (e.g., against Stall), which is why I am in favor of changing most of these quests from play to win instead. 3 Weekly PvP Quests (that can be completed alongside daily and seasonal PvP quests): Get a minimum of 100 rating or get a minimum of X rating, X ranging from 80 to 120. Win X matches with at least Y OT Pokémon in your team, X being a slightly higher number than for daily PvP quests and Y being capped at 3 or 4. Defeat a player with 100 more rating than you. Defeat a player from a rival Top 10 guild. Win X matches with Pokémon that have a total of 600 Y, X being a random number of wins within a certain range and Y being a random Base Stat (HP, Atk, Def, etc.). "600" is an indicative number, but the main issue is Speed, which prevents me from picking something higher (since 6 115-Base Speed Pokémon would not even reach 700 BST). Alternatively, this can be changed to: Win X matches with Pokémon that have a total of Y Z, X being a random number of wins within a certain range, Y being the BST, and Z being the stat in question. This way, numbers can be tailored according to each stat. Win X matches with a Pokémon with the ability Y, X being a random number of wins and Y being a weather-inducing ability. Win X matches in a row, X being at least 3. Win X matches without using more than Y Pokémon from last season's list of Top 25 (or Top 50) most used Pokémon, X being a random number of wins and Y ranging from 1 to 3. OHKO X Pokémon, X being a random number. Note: OHKO=One-hit knockout. This means that a Pokémon taking 99% damage (because of Focus Sash or something else) would not count, so be careful with entry hazards, too! We can also have a different version of this achievement: Have X Pokémon faint without you dealing any direct damage to them, X being a random number. Win X matches without using any legendary or mythical Pokémon, X being a random number. Win X matches without using the item Y, X being a random number and Y ideally being one of the player's most regularly used items (e.g., Leftovers, Focus Sash...). Win X matches without any of your Pokémon having more than Y Z, X being a random number, Y ranging from 60 to 80, and Z being the base stat. An example would be: Win 3 matches without any of your Pokémon having more than 75 Base Speed. 3 Seasonal PvP Quests (that can be completed alongside daily and weekly PvP quests): Finish the PvP season in the Top 25 Normal Ranked PvP ladder. Achieve X rating without using your 5 most used Pokémon from last season. Achieve X rating without using more than Y Pokémon from last season's list of Top 25 most used Pokémon, X being at least 200 and Y ranging from 1 to 3. Achieve X rating without using any legendary or mythical Pokémon, X being at least 250. Defeat X players from a rival Top 3 guild, X being a random number (but at least 3). Win X matches with Y dealing the final blow, X being a random number (but at least 3) and Y being a random Pokémon. This could be really frustrating if Y is a bad Pokémon, but it might encourage some creativity. Win X matches with none of your Pokémon having a BST higher than Y, X being a random number and Y being a relatively low number as far as BST is concerned. The first listed seasonal PvP quest should always be present, in my opinion. I am not sure how players would receive their seasonal PvP rewards, though. For example, if they do not interact with a certain NPC (because, let's say, they have to wait for the end of the season to be confirmed as Top 25 players), how will they receive them? Maybe at the start of the next season? Let's assume 30 days in a given season. This means a total of 90 daily, 12 weekly, and 3 seasonal PvP Quests. I think that PvP daily quests should not grant players additional rewards for completing all of them every day. If each one grants the player 1 PvP Token (or 1 PvP Coin, which might be more appealing as a way to balance this out, since there is a currency exchange cap), 90 PvP Tokens (or 90 PvP Coins) can be earned every season through daily PvP quests alone. I think this is fine. Weekly PvP quests should then grant players 3 PvP Tokens (or 3 PvP Coins) for a total of 36 possible PvP Tokens (or PvP Coins) every season. Finally, as seasonal PvP quests are noticeably more difficult, they should maybe grant players 5 or 10 PvP Tokens (or PvP Coins). I am not sure about the individual number, but players can then earn 15 or 30 PvP Tokens (or PvP Coins) for completing all seasonal quests. However, this is still a relatively low number because I do not know if players will also earn additional rewards for completing all weekly and seasonal PvP quests every time. Assuming no extra Tokens or Coins, the 3 seasonal PvP quests should grant a total of 30 PvP Tokens or (PvP Coins). As such, players can earn up to 156 PvP Tokens (or PvP Coins) for completing every single PvP quests. The numbers can be tweaked later.

Hello there! For the sake of this argumentation, I am going to focus on why I believe that Landorus-I should remain banned. This does not mean that there are no valid counterarguments; it just means that I am, for the most part, not going to bring those up. 101 Speed is, indeed, unimpressive in our metagame. However, while Landorus-I is slower than several Mega Evolutions, it also pairs up super well with many of them. In fact, because it is able to choose what to beat (i.e., Calm Mind helping against more defensive teams, Rock Polish assisting it against offensive ones, and a 4th coverage move being useful in general or specifically against balance), Landorus-I can be used alongside Megas that are good against different teams and playstyles, which widens the range of its potential teammates. Therefore, it is far from being weaker just because faster Megas now exist. If anything, it has even more teammates to choose from. Landorus-I is also not easy to KO or revenge kill reliably. Since switching into it is a daunting task, you will often be trying to revenge kill it after it has already KO'd something (and you may or may not succeed in doing so). Sheer Force means that it can use Life Orb to boost its strength further without taking recoil damage, which keeps it relatively healthy throughout the match. The sole entry hazard that affects it is Stealth Rock; it is immune to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Sticky Web. It has two useful immunities and a good typing for what it does. It does not need many resistances, since it should not be taking unnecessary hits, but it only has two weaknesses, which means that only a small portion of the metagame is effective at forcing it out. I mentioned both of these moves before, but they are relevant here as well: Calm Mind makes it a nightmare against defensive teams and Rock Polish pretty much forces offensive teams to revenge kill it with Ice Shard or throw a Pokémon that is able to survive one of its hits once (like Keldeo or Latios) at it. Landorus-I's frailty is also exaggerated. While it is true that it will rarely be at full health (as is the case with most offensive Pokémon throughout the course of a match), it is still able to survive some relatively strong and, sometimes, even super effective hits. Rotom-W's Hydro Pump only has a chance to KO it from full, for example. Soul Dew Latios is not guaranteed to KO it with Draco Meteor. Moreover, Landorus-I is sturdier on the physical side. I am not pretending that it is tanky, but it is bulkier than many offensively-oriented Pokémon. It always survives a +2 Sucker Punch from Bisharp without Life Orb or Black Glasses. Choice Band Aqua Jet from Azumarill never OHKOs it. Aside from being difficult to KO, it also hits really hard and can OHKO many slower offensive Pokémon that would otherwise KO it. Assuming no Rock Slide (which certainly is niche but viable), Landorus-I has very limited guaranteed switch-ins and many of those are not too viable (Cresselia, specially defensive Mandibuzz, specially defensive Moltres, specially defensive Blissey, specially defensive Mantine, specially defensive Slowking, regular Gyarados...) and/or are unable to check it after Stealth Rock (like specially defensive Zapdos). Others may seem like appealing options at first (like Assault Vest Tornadus-T, Chansey or Lati@s), but they are either heavily crippled by a certain move (Knock Off in the case of Eviolite Chansey and Assault Vest Tornadus-T), thus rendered useless against Landorus-I and its teammates henceforth, or they are not solid, long-term answers because they lack reliable recovery, cannot outheal the damage or can lose if/when Landorus-I clicks the right move once. Mega Latias is the only answer that is both solid and viable. If we take into account all of Landorus-I's viable moves, it only really has 2 counters (not checks): Cresselia and Mega Latias. They both have recovery, but the former is barely viable, especially when used outside of Trick Room, and the latter is a good Pokémon but takes up the Mega slot. Some Pokémon, such as Rotom-W, can switch into some of Landorus-I's moves, but those must be at high health the entire time to stay out of range of Landorus-I's other moves. You also should not always have to rely on prediction and outplay potential in order to defeat a Pokémon. Those criteria do matter in practice, but only having 2 infallible answers is still a concern. If you forego Cresselia and/or Mega Latias, you will then have to dedicate more than one slot to checking Landorus-I, since none of the other answers would suffice alone. Some common Pokémon, like Rotom-W, Gliscor, and even Tornadus-T, can function together to try to fend off most Landorus-I sets, but those still rely on the right prediction and the right Landorus-I set (since HP Ice sets with Focus Blast or Sludge Wave and Rock Slide or even Knock Off could, for example, beat all three of the aforementioned Pokémon). Latios and Latias are more uncommon, despite being quite viable, but they are also not the most reliable answers since they struggle against common Landorus-I cores. An example of this would be Pursuit support from Pokémon like Tyranitar or Weavile, both of which excel against many of the more reliable Landorus-I checks and are able to threaten to remove them permanently from the match or dent them enough to prevent them from performing their roles effectively. This, in itself, is quite centralizing since you not only have a hard time against Landorus-I in 1-on-1 scenarios, but you also cannot properly prepare for all the Landorus-I cores that would be common. So, while Landorus-I might struggle against viable cores consisting of the likes of Rotom-W, Gliscor, Assault Vest Tornadus-T, and Latios, it does not have to beat an entire team singlehandedly and often requires one or two offensive partners to take care of all its issues. I cannot emphasize the previous point enough: Landorus-I doesn't have to be able to beat down a whole team on its own in order to be broken. It can pave the way for another teammate (like one of the many Mega Evolutions that work well with it) by weakening the opposition. Also, since Landorus-I's set is highly customizable, only truly mandating Earth Power (Focus Blast being arguable), it can choose moves that benefit the overall team, that is, either ones that help against specific targets, which it can easily lure in then surprise with unexpected coverage, or others that are useful for its teammates, like Stealth Rock, Knock Off, U-turn, etc. We already have some match-up issues in our current metagame and I believe that Landorus-I would exacerbate them further. If you choose to prepare for it as well as you should, you will lessen your match-up against other, perhaps more common, teams. If you do not account for it at all, you are then gambling with matchups and hoping that you will not encounter one, which is not very healthy, either. In fact, low Landorus-I usage might be problematic, because that would mean that all the already viable offensive threats would still see similar usage to now while simply adding an extra threat to the metagame. I am going to use Aegislash as a counterexample, but I am not saying to unban it at all (actually, quite the contrary). Aegislash would probably see far more usage than something like Landorus-I. What this means in practice is that some of the current threats, like Mega Medicham or Mega Metagross, will have to adapt or, if unable to, decrease in viability. Landorus-I would be an additional threat to handle alongside almost all the others, even though a few wallbreakers, like Nidoking, would understandably decline in usage and viability due to its presence. In the current metagame, where match-up issues very much exist, I don't think that unbanning Landorus-I would be a smart move, as it would warp teambuilding around it and make those problems even worse.

Insta.

2m.

1m.

700k.

Start.

First, I would like to thank all 19 participants who took the time to fill out and submit the PRO Viability Rankings survey that was posted in the PvP Council channel on the PRO Discord. I read every single response with much interest. In most cases, I went with the choice of the majority that I also happened to agree with. There will be two sections this time: VR changes (with as many explanations as I was able to provide on my own) and new discussion points (mostly comprised of common suggestions that I either understood but did not fully agree with or would like to have further discussion about). As usual, feel free to comment below this post to talk about changes and/or points that interest you. I will read every message, even if I do not always have the time to respond. Overall, while this was not my intent at all, I noticed a general downward shift, resulting in many Pokémon (most of which are—perhaps not so coincidentally—Mega Evolutions) dropping in viability with only two rising. New VR changes: Rises: Landorus-T: A+ → S Many players who completed the survey suggested this change and, after giving it some thought and looking at this nomination from a different perspective than one solely based on all the available Landorus-T countermeasures, I must say that I agree with it. While Landorus-T might be easier to check than some of the current A+ threats, it offers more than enough utility to make up for that flaw. Landorus-T is the cornerstone of most offensive teams and many balanced builds. In fact, its splashability is often the result of a necessity for several builds. This is due to the extreme role compression that it offers. Landorus-T is able to blanket check most physical threats (emphasis on “check”). It is one of the most consistent Stealth Rock setters in the metagame. It achieves an unparalleled combination of offensive presence and defensive utility thanks to its ability, Intimidate, and its typing, which grants it useful immunities and resistances. Both of these traits offer Landorus-T more opportunities to switch into many Pokémon. Overall, Landorus-T compresses many roles into one Pokémon and does this better than anything else in A+. Picking Landorus-T automatically strengthens your team and improves its matchup against many threats, which is a vital trait in a metagame characterized by as many matchup issues as the one we are currently playing in (due to the presence of an exceedingly high number of threats that are hard to prepare for properly). While Landorus-T may not constitute a guaranteed switch-in to several physical threats, it can still (practically and situationally) switch into (and force out or revenge kill) many Pokémon that sometimes carry a move that either heavily damages it or outright KOs it. Here are some examples: Dragonite, Mega Scizor, Tyranitar, Garchomp, Excadrill, Conkeldurr, Diggersby, Mega Charizard X, Mega Lopunny, Mega Metagross, Mega Diancie, Mega Medicham, Mega Pinsir, Mega Heracross… It goes without saying that Landorus-T is an extremely versatile Pokémon. It excels at many roles (e.g., revenge killer, defensive Stealth Rock setter, offensive Stealth Rock setter, sweeper…) and, outside of Stall, naturally fits on most builds. Depending on the set, Landorus-T can pressure almost all playstyles. SD Earth Plate sets are a hassle for defensive and fat teams, while Rock Polish and Choice Scarf sets pressure many offensive builds into never giving Landorus-T a free turn. While Pokémon such as Mega Metagross and Tornadus-T might constitute a bigger teambuilding constraint, Landorus-T still influences the teambuilding process considerably because so many builds must (or at least should) run it. Overall, Landorus-T is unquestionably meta-defining and, perhaps controversially, worthy of a rise from A+ to S. Serperior: A- → A On paper, it looks like Serperior would struggle in a metagame where Tornadus-T, Heatran, Zapdos, Dragonite, etc. are common. However, Serperior is still able to put in a tremendous amount of work and make progress even against some of its best answers. Substitute Serperior continues to thrive, with Glare gaining some traction over HP Fire for its ability to neuter the likes of Tornadus-T and Heatran, thus providing Serperior’s teammates with more opportunities to take advantage of them. SubSeed is an excellent set that fares relatively well against many balanced and bulky offensive teams. Serperior has its fair share of checks and counters, but it can opt for moves that prevent it from being deadweight against some of them or that provide the overall team with additional utility. Inspired by recent ORAS OU trends, some PRO players have even begun using Dual Screen Serperior with Light Clay. It has seen more usage (and some relative success) in the last PRO Ladder Tour as well, despite PRO having substantially more (and better) Defog options than ORAS OU—although it must be said that Serperior can drop Glare for Taunt on sets that use Light Screen and Reflect. Overall, Serperior’s versatility and utility cannot be understated. Drops: Mega Charizard X: A → A- Mega Charizard X should not be underestimated. An underexplored menace able to rip through many unprepared teams, Mega Charizard X can efficiently take advantage of common Pokémon like Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, and (to an extent) even Zapdos, while outspeeding and KOing Choice Scarf Landorus-T after 1 Dragon Dance, Intimidate, and Stealth Rock damage most of the time. Despite most Landorus-T sets being Choice Scarf sets, Mega Charizard X does not appreciate the rise of Rocky Helmet users, such as Landorus-T, Slowbro, Garchomp, Zapdos, etc. While hazards might seem easy to remove due to the prevalence of some good Defog users that pair well with Mega Charizard X, they are hard to keep off the field (without being taken advantage of or losing too much momentum) with sufficient offensive pressure. As such, Mega Charizard X cannot always use its typing to switch into some attacks if Stealth Rock is up. Moreover, +1 Mega Charizard X struggles to sweep the increasingly common balanced and bulky offensive teams before succumbing to Rocky Helmet chip and/or Flare Blitz recoil. Roost can increase its longevity, but losing coverage leaves it walled by even more Pokémon. Screens and Healing Wish are also two nice options that can be run alongside Mega Charizard X, although Mega Charizard X struggles to fit on as many teams as the Megas ranked in A. Because Mega Charizard X struggles more in the current metagame than it did in previous ones and because its checks are becoming more and more common, thus hindering its sweeping capabilities, it requires more support than the Megas in A and fits better with the other Megas in A-. Mega Venusaur: A- → B+ Many of the Pokémon that Mega Venusaur excels against are less viable and less common than they used to be (e.g., Mega Gyarados, Azumarill, Mega Diancie…). Mega Venusaur struggles in a metagame where Heatran and Tornadus-T are still common, while also being unable to afford luxury options like Earthquake. Moreover, it has to worry about Latios, Mega Medicham, Mega Metagross, and some other threats that are starting to shape the metagame. On paper, Mega Venusaur is a solid Keldeo answer that is not Pursuit-weak. Having said that, one of Keldeo’s best partners, Tyranitar, hinders Mega Venusaur’s overall efficiency by setting up Sand. Mega Venusaur does not appreciate a weakened Synthesis, a Scald burn from Keldeo, Sand chip, and hazards in general. In practice, Mega Venusaur alone does not suffice to answer Keldeo throughout the course of a match and, due to its limited longevity for the aforementioned reasons, often requires a secondary Keldeo check on the team. Mega Venusaur has always faced competition from Amoonguss, which has access to the coveted Spore, does not take up the Mega slot, and offers a Keldeo answer that can comfortably pivot in and out thanks to Regenerator. Furthermore, Mega Venusaur also has to compete with Tangrowth on the physical side, as the latter has Regenerator, checks some dangerous physical threats that Mega Venusaur cannot take on, such as Mega Metagross, and handles offensive Ground types, like Landorus-T and Garchomp, better. In truth, this drop could have happened before but is nigh mandatory now. Mega Venusaur is no longer one of the most consistent performers on balanced builds and only fits on more defensive and Stall-oriented teams, where it faces competition from other Megas, such as Mega Slowbro and Mega Altaria. Many Pokémon in the A ranks have proven to be able to adapt back to the trends of our ever-evolving metagame whenever it has adapted to them; Mega Venusaur has not done that yet. Mega Gardevoir: B+ → B Current meta trends are unfavorable to Mega Gardevoir, despite it never truly gaining any traction. Mega Scizor was the most used Mega across both servers for the PvP season of June 2021. Mega Metagross is also increasingly common and, while Mega Gardevoir can burn or beat some of its checks, it still has to hit Focus Blast against the likes of Ferrothorn and Heatran while often not KOing them from full and possibly fainting in the process. Moreover, Mega Gardevoir struggles in a metagame where its Speed tier puts it below many potent threats, such as Garchomp, Keldeo, Mega Diancie, Tornadus-T, and Weavile. Mega Gardevoir has a hard time against offensive builds in general and faces tough competition from other wallbreakers, like Mega Diancie on the special and Fairy sides and Mega Medicham (or even Mega Heracross, a Mega currently ranked in B+) on the Fighting side. Mega Gardevoir also has to compete for a Mega slot with Mega Alakazam, a much faster Mega with a better match-up against certain offensive builds. Overall, Mega Gardevoir is quite the situational pick and, while it can perform well against certain teams, it tends to perform poorly against many builds, including common ones or those with progressively more common Pokémon. As a result, Mega Gardevoir’s increasing inconsistency is now reflected in the Viability Rankings with a drop from B+ to B. Other drops that I currently do not have the time to comment on, but that I ended up agreeing with: Mega Alakazam: A+ → A Mega Medicham: A+ → A Latias: A → A- Tangrowth: A → A- Thundurus: A → A- Jirachi: A- → B+ Mega Pinsir: A- → B+ Gengar: B+ → B Conkeldurr: B → B- Mega Garchomp: B → B- Starmie: B → B- If anyone wants to explain (or argue against) any of them, please be my guest! New discussion points: Azumarill: A- → B+? It feels like Azumarill keeps struggling in the current metagame. Rotom-W was the most common Pokémon for the PvP season of June 2021 and Pokémon like Ferrothorn, Zapdos, and Mega Scizor give Azumarill a lot of trouble. On paper, Choice Band sets can heavily dent these Pokémon, but an Azumarill locked into the wrong move invites in many dangerous threats that can take advantage of it or set up on it. Belly Drum sets still have sweeping potential, although they have a harder time in this metagame because of how slow Azumarill is. There are common Pokémon that can live a +6 Aqua Jet and Jolly Azumarill sometimes fails to outspeed Rotom-W sets that specifically invest into Speed to outspeed it. As such, Azumarill’s overall efficiency has decreased and it is less consistent than it used to be. Its typing is still a great asset and Perish-trapping sets are worthy of a mention for their ability to eliminate some of Azumarill’s common checks to open up a door for one of its teammates. However, Azumarill now requires more support than before. Therefore, discussing whether it should consequently drop from A- to B+ is relevant. Mega Gyarados: A- → B+? While Mega Gyarados can be a fearsome sweeper, the current metagame is not very friendly towards it. Despite its bulk, Pokémon like Keldeo and Rotom-W force it to run Earthquake. With the metagame shifting towards more balanced and bulky offensive builds, Mega Gyarados struggles to sweep and often requires multiple boosts to get past common checks like Ferrothorn. Mega Gyarados cannot really afford to run Substitute to avoid Status or Leech Seed as freely as some claim, because it needs all the coverage moves that it can have in the current metagame. With Mega Charizard X dropping from A to A- and being ranked alongside Mega Gyarados, now is a good time to discuss whether Mega Gyarados should drop to B+ or remain in the same tier as Mega Charizard X. Volcarona: A- → A? This was one of the most nominated Pokémon for a rise, but I would like to give this nomination more time first. Volcarona can sweep several unprepared teams, sometimes only needing a single setup opportunity in order to do so. Some of its most common answers can lose to coverage options (e.g., Hidden Power Ground, Giga Drain…). Even Hidden Power Ice, which might seem gimmicky or unnecessary at first, can ease the way for Volcarona to sweep teams it would normally struggle to beat. With the rise of balance and bulky offense, it makes theoretical sense for Volcarona to rise in viability. However, in practice, the matchup moth still runs into more issues than expected. Chansey is not exclusively used on defensive teams; Pokémon like Garchomp, Keldeo, Dragonite, Azumarill, and even Tyranitar are commonly used; Heatran’s usage is quite high, which means that a non-HP Ground Volcarona will have a harder time against teams packing a Heatran. While Volcarona can beat some of the previously mentioned Pokémon, like Keldeo, after minimal chip, it often has to choose two moves out of 3 (Giga Drain, Bug Buzz, and HP Ground). HP Ice is even harder to fit, though it retains an element of surprise against some of Volcarona’s usual checks. Depending on the move selection, Volcarona will struggle to break past some Pokémon without a good amount of prior chip. For example, a Volcarona lacking Bug Buzz (or HP Ice) will have a harder time against a Psyshock Latios. Bulky sets are also worth considering, but they should probably invest more into Speed to avoid something like Choice Scarf Landorus-T halting them in their tracks at +1. Even with HP Ground, Volcarona still requires more team support than many of the Pokémon in A. For instance, it mandates solid hazard removal and something to take on Chansey on its behalf. Having said that, these issues are not necessarily specific to Volcarona; they rather stem from common team necessities that players should at least consider in the teambuilder, although it can be argued that Volcarona exacerbates them further. Some meta trends also work in Volcarona’s favor and it is not the easiest Pokémon to revenge kill. For example, +1 offensive Volcarona is able to outspeed and KO Choice Scarf Landorus-T with Fire Blast, while Flamethrower has a high chance to KO it after Stealth Rock damage. While Volcarona has the potential to beat certain teams after a single Quiver Dance, it must be stated that it can sometimes still put in some work against teams that can seemingly stop its set altogether. I personally find it to be too inconsistent for A (at least for the time being), but I am open to more discussion on this topic. Thundurus-T: B → B+? Thundurus-T is a threatening Pokémon and, although slower than its Incarnate counterpart, has the necessary positive traits to make up for that discrepancy. It hits harder and has a useful ability in Volt Absorb, which lets it take advantage of certain Electric types, such as Zapdos, an increasingly common Pokémon, and Magnezone, one of the most used Pokémon for the PvP Season of June 2021. Thundurus-T also makes Rotom-W more fearful of clicking Volt Switch over Hydro Pump. Thundurus-T’s sweeping potential cannot be understated, either. Agility, in conjunction with Electric-, Ice-, and Fighting-type coverage, turns Thundurus-T into a devastating Pokémon that can almost only be checked defensively (unless you are relying on a Focus Blast miss). Given Thundurus-T’s high Special Attack, not many Pokémon can check it defensively. Chansey is a stellar answer to sets lacking Nasty Plot, while the Lati twins, defensive Ground types (e.g., Hippowdon, Gastrodon…), and some Assault Vest users (e.g., Tangrowth) can beat it in a one-on-one scenario most of the time. Offensively speaking, Sucker Punch and Ice Shard users can attempt to revenge kill a weakened Thundurus-T after it has used Agility, with Choice Band Weavile only requiring minimal chip before being able to KO it. Thundurus-T can find setup opportunities against some Electric- and Steel-type Pokémon, like Ferrothorn, Zapdos, Skarmory, some Mega Scizor sets. Moreover, it can try to set up against Pokémon that it forces out due to its coverage moves KOing them, such as Gliscor, Slowbro, Tornadus-T… Agility helps Thundurus-T against more offensive and faster builds, while Nasty Plot gives it a boon against balanced and more defensive teams, where it can muscle past the likes of Chansey and Clefable more easily than Thundurus-I. Unlike its counterpart, it can sometimes afford to run a Modest nature. Ditto: C+? This one-dimensional Pokémon is one of the best revenge killers in the metagame. Ditto tends to perform relatively well on builds that struggle against setup sweepers and where it acts as a setup deterrent. Ditto can also help some defensive teams against other defensive and Stall teams because it replenishes its PPs every time that it switches in, thus giving the Ditto team the PP advantage in a scenario that could result in a PP war. Last but certainly not least, Ditto’s main application in PRO misuses the Pokémon on poorly built teams that should be rebuilt from scratch to avoid needing a Ditto to fix their problems in the first place. On those builds, ones that tend to suffer from the Chansey syndrome, also known as the “add this Pokémon for a quick and easy fix” afterthought, Ditto can perform well, too, preventing several dangerous threats from sweeping an otherwise almost fully dysfunctional team. In a metagame shifting towards balance and bulky offense, Ditto struggles to perform decently against some of the most common builds. Ditto is still an extremely niche Pokémon, but its niche is invaluable to some teams and many team builders. Considering that most suggestions recommended Ditto for a rise (sometimes even to the A ranks), I remain open to discuss a potential Ditto rise, as long as sufficiently convincing arguments are presented. Other discussion points that I currently do not have the time to comment on, but that might be worth debating: Mega Metagross: A+? Garchomp: A+ → A? Heatran: A+ → A? Mega Diancie: A → A-? Breloom: B+ → B? Mega Heracross: B+ → B? Mega Latios: B+ → B? Lucario: B- → C+? Heracross: C+ → C? Rotom-Heat: C → C-? Mega Ampharos: C- → Unranked? Porygon-Z: C- → Unranked? Sylveon: C- → Unranked? Venomoth: C- → Unranked? Haxorus: Unranked → C-? Krookodile: Unranked → C-? Swellow: Unranked → C-?