Pokémon Scarlet & Violet - Balance Beam - Jan 5 24 D
12So it seems I'm off by a day with the Epilogue. So you'll see this one instead!
Here are the single battle numbers for December 2023’s Pokémon Scarlet and Violet Ranked Battles, in order of usage. If you’re just tuning in, these are NOT the same as the ranks you’d see for Pokémon Showdown, which uses a different set of rules and makes some differences in which Pokémon winds up where, even though the criteria on the official games’ list and on Pokémon Showdown’s list are exactly the same: how often they’re used by the Ranked participants, and nothing more.
You’ll see that none of the Pokémon added to availability from Indigo Disk is on here. This is because December 2023 was still on Regulation E, meaning only Pokémon available in the base game and Teal Mask were allowed. Hence, you see Ogerpon here but not, say, Archaludon or Walking Wake.
1. Dragonite (±0)
2. Flutter Mane (±0)
3. Ogerpon (±0)
4. Gholdengo (±0)
5. Ushifu (Rapid Strike) (+1)
6. Ursaluna (Bloodmoon) (-1)
7. Chien-Pao (±0)
8. Chi-Yu (±0)
9. Ting-Lu (±0)
10. Iron Bundle (+4)
11. Landorus (Therian) (+2)
12. Roaring Moon (-2)
13. Scizor (-1)
14. Urshifu (Single Strike) (-3)
15. Garganacl (+1)
16. Glimmora (-1)
17. Ninetales (Alolan) (±0)
18. Annihilape (±0)
19. Dondozo (+3)
20. Garchomp (±0)
21. Toxapex (+3)
22. Iron Moth (+4)
23. Iron Hands (+16)
24. Mimikyu (+1)
25. Basculegion (Male) (-4)
26. Hippowdon (-7)
27. Dragapult (+1)
28. Meowscarada (+16)
29. Breloom (-6)
30. Azumarill (+2)
31. Zapdos (Kantonian) (+7)
32. Heatran (-3)
33. Rotom (Wash) (-2)
34. Corviknight (-7)
35. Baxcalibur (-5)
36. Scream Tail (+1)
37. Amoonguss (+8)
38. Skeledirge (+4)
39. Sneasler (-5)
40. Kingambit (+3)
41. Magnezone (-1)
42. Goodra (Hisuian) (-7)
43. Cresselia (-10)
44. Volcarona (+2)
45. Iron Valiant (+2)
46. Clodsire (+7)
47. Gliscor (-6)
48. Grimmsnarl (+12)
49. Rillaboom (+1)
50. Wo-Chien (-14)
Returning to the top 50 are Clodsire and Grimmsnarl. Gone from this top echelon are Tyranitar and Umbreon.
While the Indigo Disk Pokémon are not allowed yet, the Indigo Disk TMs are, and while the top spots have more or less settled into their spots (but will change again with Regulation F, in which Indigo Disk Pokémon are allowed, starting in January 2024), there have been a few Pokémon who have risen up.
One of them is Iron Hands, who got TM210, Supercell Slam, and no longer has to rely on Thunder Punch, which has pretty low base power, or Wild Charge, which deals recoil damage, for a physical Electric-type attack. Iron Hands also gets to use TM225, Hard Press, to have options against Fairy-type opponents. Another is Meowscarada, who gets TM221, Throat Chop and thus finally gets to have a physical Dark-type attack stronger than Knock Off. Meowscarada also gets TM212, Triple Axel, providing access to Ice-type moves to fight a greater variety of threats.
Unfortunately, Pokémon HOME’s usage charts are glitched right now, so I’m unable to check moves, Abilities, hold items, and such on these lists, as they redirect me to the current month’s top trainers in Japanese instead, so I can’t see why Grimmsnarl moved on up as well, as there’s no obvious reason behind it. For the same reason, this is also why I didn’t put in the usage lists for Ogerpon’s masks: because I can’t see the list.
Something I CAN look up is where Pokémon currently banned on Smogon are on the list. Besides the ones listed above, here are the ones ranked below 50th in the official games’ single battles for December 2023:
62. Espathra
77. Palafin
90. Greninja
95. Cinderace
107. Spectrier
133. Gothitelle (through Shadow Tag)
(And if we count Arena Trap, Kantonian Dugtrio has never entered the top 150.)
Type: Double Battle
Opponent: May
Battle Court: Naranja Academy/Uva Academy
Music: BB Academy Trainer
My Pokémon: Gigi (Farigiraf), Lena (Mightyena), Gustave (Feraligatr), Debra (Zebstrika)
Opponent's Pokémon: Talonflame, Porygon-Z, Incineroar, Iron Bundle
They began with Talonflame and Porygon-Z. Talonflame is one of the more popular Tailwind Pokémon after Landorus and Whimsicott due to also getting the priority boost from it, provided Talonflame is at full HP (and usually, at the beginning of a battle, it is). Meanwhile, Farigiraf is a constant looming presence, ready to fire off a Trick Room to counter Tailwind. Porygon-Z, in turn, loves to use stupid powerful Hyper Beams, which can destroy any non-Ghost Pokémon that gets caught in it.
It’s for that reason that the first turn caught me by surprise. I thought Porygon-Z was going to use Hyper Beam on Farigiraf, not Mightyena, so that Talonflame can freely use Tailwind and bestow Speed advantages without worrying about Trick Room on my end. Instead, my opponent targeted Mightyena with Porygon-Z’s Hyper Beam. I don’t know what they saw in Mightyena that they’d perceive one as a bigger threat than a Farigiraf, but I’m not a mind reader.
The music for this battle is a remix of the Unova trainer theme, which is my favorite in the series.
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