Rate of the Week V2: Week 6

[Enki]

Rate of the Week
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Welcome to Rate of the Week! This is a project that looks to bring quality individual rates into the spotlight and recognizes the hard work of unbadged raters. Here's how it will work:

• Each week, official Team Raters will be paying close attention to the RMT forum and reading the rates posted in their respective tiers. They will then shortlist a few which will be in contention for the Rate of the Week award.
• From the pool of shortlisted rates, one will be chosen which most exemplifies the qualities of an excellent rate. That rater will be the winner for that particular tier!
• A post will be made by an official TR who specialises in that tier, explaining how and why the particular rate won. This will allow aspiring raters to gain an idea of what constitutes high-quality rates, and hopefully incorporate those aspects into their own rates.
• There will be multiple winners every week, one from OU and a couple from other tiers depending on the quality of the rates posted. We hope that in this way we can expand rating activity in less popular tiers, while maintaining a weekly OU winner.
• Official Team Raters are eligible to win, but not more than once. Unbadged raters can win the award multiple times.

So what's in it for the winners? Well, they will earn a place in the Hall of Fame, which will be kept in the OP of every thread, and their rates will be announced on Twitter. Winners also earn more consideration for the Ladybug

and Team Rater

badges.

We hope that this project will encourage people to put more effort into their rates and become better and more experienced raters, which will consequently increase the quality as well as the quantity of rates in the forum. Good luck to you all! :)

Hall of Fame

Week #1 - Nedor (OU) and fran17 (LC)

Week #2 - shui3 (OU), YABO (UU), and 49 (RU)

Week #3 - celes (OU), Serapis (VGC)

Week #4 - FlamingVictini (OU)

Week #5 - Albacore (OU), dodmen (UU), 49 (RU), and Corporal Levi (LC)

Week #6 - MrAldo (OU) and Kreme (UU)

 

[Enki]

This week winner is MrAldo, his rate is pretty good, and with a nice format. He begins talking about Volcarona, how it is in the team, and specified how it should work to not get swept by a top threat. He suggests a specific EV spread, which outspeeds Choice Scarf Landorus-Therian after a Quiver Dance boost and is able to pressure Mega Charizard-X and Mega Altaria with rocks up thanks to its offensive presence. Then he talks about Scizor, which lacked any kind of recovery, and he suggested a bulkier regular Scizor with Roost that allows Scizor to stay healthy throughout the match. Then he provides a more efficient EV spread for Celebi, explaining how it doesn't need that much of Special Attack investment. Thanks to his suggestions of Baton Pass it's now able to make a nice pivoting core with Magnezone.

Then he provided a secondary option for the team, which is a great idea, giving the OP a different choice to have. Latios over Celebi provides a more offensive solution to Electric types, such as Mega Manectric, which are pretty annoying for that build. It gives him more reliable hazard removal, a nice Keldeo switch-in, and similar resistances to Celebi. Thanks to that change he explains how it would be ideal if Volcarona runs Passho Berry with the offensive set in order to better deal with Azumarill, and how Scizor as a slow U-turn user gives the team a nice Volturn chain. Thanks to his great formatting and his multiple in depth options to improve the team, MrAldo was able to provide a great rate, and earned himself a spot in the Hall of Fame. Congrats!

 

[IronBullet]

This week's UU winner is Kreme! His rate was chosen for it's great structure and formatting, and well thought-out suggestions backed up by solid reasoning. He starts off by recommending a standard suicide lead Azelf over the TrickScarf set. This provides the team with a more consistent lead than the current one which is rather situational and concedes free turns to the opponent if it ends up being locked into Stealth Rock, which a hyper offense team can ill afford to do. He also proposes running Taunt and Knock Off on Azelf, two moves that provide a lot of utility to the team by preventing opposing hazards from being set up and crippling walls, respectively. His next two suggestions make Mega Sceptile and Crobat overall more efficient in their roles, with Energy Ball providing Mega Sceptile a more consistent STAB attack than Leaf Storm which is useful against the likes of CM Suicune and as a late-game sweeping tool. And anyway, using Substitute alongside Leaf Storm is rather counterproductive. Sky Plate Crobat over Choice Band importantly provides the team with a more consistent switch-in for Fighting-, Grass-, and Fairy-types with its ability to use Roost while gaining the ability to switch moves and still partly maintaining the power boost provided by Choice Band.

Kreme's last two changes are quite significant and go a long way towards improving the team's performance. Doublade over Honchkrow means that the team is no longer vulnerable to dangerous physical sweepers like Mega Aerodactyl, Curse Snorlax, and Belly Drum Slurpuff, which it previously could have been easily swept by. Doublade retains Honchkrow's access to priority while providing a strong wincon for the team thanks to Swords Dance. It also shores up the large Ice-type weakness the team had prior. His last suggestion is to replace Tentacruel with an offensive CM Suicune. Tentacruel's disappointing physical bulk means that it's not a reliable check to the likes of Entei, Mamoswine, and Mega Aggron, while Suicune's sky-high natural defenses remedy this. It also provides the team with another threatening wincon and a secondary check to Mega Aerodactyl and Salamence. Not having entry hazard removal isn't too much of an issue considering that Azelf can usually prevent hazards from being set up, and besides the team lacks a significant Stealth Rock weakness. Kreme's excellent rate has earned him a spot in the Hall of Fame, congrats!