Thoughts and feedback on New Gym Defenders Tier List
1. Minor typo: Blissey is "the greatest defender IN (not IS) all of Pokemon Go". Funny cons though!
2. Metagross is handled well by Fire-types...except SA Moltres. The previous tier list described Metagross as "deceptively vulnerable to Tyranitar" despite both being super-effective against each other; what has changed?
3. Milotic does not cause many switches? It certainly walls Metagross and, depending on moveset, either Dragonite or Tyranitar.
4. Define "more practical to use" (Tier 2.5).
5. Is Exeggutor dominated by other Psychic-types? There are few viable Bug attackers and even fewer viable Flying attackers. Seed Bomb is super-effective against Tyranitar.
6. Slowbro also has to worry about Raikou.
7. Metagross cannot simply say "hi" to Snorlax and Slaking, which have Earthquake to counter it. On the other hand, this makes Dragonite a good counter to Snorlax, which lacks a Fairy charged move.
8. Hidden Power is a huge pro for Togekiss.
9. Honorable mentions?
10. The last paragraph of Methodology mentions "Tier 4 Pokemon can perform as well if not better than Blissey". Did the list accidentally miss out a tier or was that a typo?
Bonus question: Does the tier list consider the "berryability" of defenders?
Overall, great work, GamePress!
Answers
4. The "more practical to use" I understand it like they can offer you longer term performance (Steelix / Hypno) because the Tier 2 mons all have a fast motivation decay. From resistances point of view, Milotic has nothing to offer against Machamp, so a Confusion Eggy, Hypno or Slowdude may be more convenient to place in between normal types. I know, the strategy is still a bit questionable in this gym defense system anyway.
7. I would argue that Earthquake is practically no threat to anybody, least for Metagross who can dodge very easily with Bullet Punch and is likely to beat Snorlax and Slaking before they even fire one off.
8. Absolutely right. I have an "Ice" HP in my Togekiss and it's so good against Dragon types I almost don't care we're not getting a Fairy fast move.
Good points in general, by the way, thumbs up!
Part of the changes in this list are a response to the multiplier for weakness/resistance going from 1.4 to 1.6 (or 7/5 to 8/5), and the reciprocal for resistance (5/7 to 5/8).
Eggy was an adequate defender with a weakness for bugs before this change. Now, it's not an achilles heel, it's a critical vulnerability that's very visible. Any Pinsir, Scyther, or even Rhydon with Megahorn can destroy an Eggy in a heartbeat. A bug attacker doesn't need to be viable, just adequate. That 2.56x multiplier is brutal. I wouldn't be surprised if they toned it down a bit in the future, maybe 1.5 instead of 1.6, or went to a system where the multiplier was bigger for PvP than for gym and raid battles.
I don't agree with the tier list very much.
You can't put Snorlax in tier 3 because it's weak to machamp, but then put anything that resists machamp in 2.5.
I feel like the entirety of 2.5 should be shifted to a tier 3.5. or at least move Snorlax up - I can see Chansey and slaking bring below Gyarados and the SlowGuys.
I also don't agree AT ALL that Togekiss (and to a lesser extent Empoleon) belong at the bottom of this list. Togekiss is weak to Metagross but forces a swap on machamp for sure - so it should pair well with Snorlax/Chansey. You can't put them both so low and then not give Togekiss credit because of a weakness to Metagross. Likewise, if Metagross is such a core attacker you can't not value Empoleon who forces him to switch. A combo of Snorlax - Togekiss - Empoleon would force 2 switches using low tier Pokemon. Hence they should be higher tier.
To me the ideal gym is something like:
Blissey - dragonite - Empoleon - Togekiss - Snorlax - Milotic/Metagross.
That likely forces at least 3 switches (more if avoiding neutral matchups).
A combination of Blissey - dragonite - Milotic - slowbro - exeggutor - slowking would be weak
