Tier List Change Log: August 2022

Article by Ropalme1914 SparkazHS

Table of Contents

Tier Lists
August Update
Useful Links

Tier Lists

Damage Dealer Tier List

Hybrid Tier List

Utility Tier List

Pokemon Masters EX Tier List

Community Resources & Lists

Tier List Rules & Criteria

Tier Lists are inherently subjective by nature! This list should NOT be considered as the only source of information, and there are many players who have their own opinions on how to construct a Tier List. We strongly encourage players to discuss their opinions on Tier Lists and gameplay. Check out our Community Lists for more, and feel free to start a Community Discussion or comment on our latest Changelog article if you would like to discuss this Tier List in particular!

Criteria Overview

The goal is to rank the units on their own merits, regardless of the player's available roster, while still accounting for the overall metagame, therefore these are the main criteria for our Tier List (not ordered as we're trying to balance them together instead of focusing on specific aspects):

Team flexibility and versatility
Compositional strength and relevancy
Peak performance in an optimal environment
Role compression and self-sufficiency

Note: All units are considered fully maxed and access to EX is also taken into account (mostly relevant for Supports and Sync Nukers or pairs with some incentives to Sync).

Content Priority

While keeping in mind the criteria above, the in-game content is weighted in the following order:

Champion Stadium Master Mode
Legendary Arena / Gauntlet
Extreme Battles
Battle Villa & Full-Force Battles

Sub-groups

Those are essentially “Tiers inside the Tiers”. Although Sync Pairs are already ordered inside of the Tiers individually, some units are close enough to each other so that they can be grouped and even have interchangeable places between themselves. The sub-groups are identified by the background color of their icon (ie. all units with the same background color on the same Tier are on the same sub-group). This is done so that we have an even clearer distinction between the units without being too strict with the individual positions either.

August Update

Welcome to the August update for our Tier Lists! This time, we got quite a handful of changes, as August got not one, but two updates, including one unit that needed to be ranked four times! So, let’s just not lose any more time for the last update before the 3rd Anniversary!

Update by Ropalme1914#4339 with contributions from Spark#8888, Raven8#5530, Runner#7562, Mr.Smee#6764, Darkshark#0128, Droid#2145, Zoopy3000#0001, joek#1069, Berga#5180, Racer#4752, and Thegkhst (Help)#1395.

Category Changes

Reconsidering some Sync Pairs, we've changed the category that they’re ranked in - with Dojo Gloria, Kahili, Noland, and Karen (Houndoom) moving from Damage Dealer to Hybrid, Clemont moving from Utility to Hybrid, and Caitlin moving from Hybrid to Damage Dealer.

Damage Dealer

Tier 0 – Sygna Suit Steven & Deoxys-Attack have been added to the top subgroup by having instantaneous setup, the highest overall damage output in the game, and some of the best team comps available, only limited by its very low bulk. Lucas also now joins SS Lusamine’s subgroup.

Tier 1 – SS Giovanni has been moved to the top of the Tier, having now a pretty competent Sync Nuke with the addition of Ground Zone. SS Korrina has also been moved up after further discussion, and Cyrus now integrates the bottom subgroup of the Tier.

Tier 2 – SC Diantha has dropped to Tier 2 with her inferior damage output and smaller relevance of her self buffs with the constant addition of new supports. On the other side, the Tier has been slightly reordered to take into account less self-sufficient Sync Pairs being easier to support, like Leon.

Tier 3 – The top subgroup now also features Raihan and Silver. Cynthia and Zinnia have been moved up to this Tier in regards to their direct buffs, with Cynthia in particular fixing her main weakness in Sync nuking. Meanwhile, Marnie has dropped due to her unorthodox self buffs making her not that self-sufficient despite the apparent good buffs, and lack of consistency with Hunger Switch.

Tier 4 – Hala has been reapproached to Bea and Fall Hilbert with their similar niches, while Lance has been moved up.

Tier 6 – Blue & Arcanine moved slightly up with the addition of his EX, although keeping the same subgroup due to his lacking Nuke off-type and still not very impressive on-type.

Lower Tiers – AoE Sync Nukers gained slightly more weight, resulting in a move in favor of Sync Pairs like Siebold, Nate, and Guzma.

Hybrid

Tier 0 – Dojo Gloria is now part of the third subgroup alone, and Maxie has been moved to the second subgroup with the access to Ground Zone. SS May is added to the last subgroup with her powerful sync acceleration, team support, and Sync Nuke.

Tier 1 – SSR Cynthia is now the solo lead of the Tier. The Psychic Terrain setters now integrate the second subgroup of the tier with the great additions of SS Brendan and SS Steven as partners.

Tier 2 – The Tier has been reorganized, dropping SS Leaf, Palentine Serena and SC Ingo, aligning them with Courtney. Meanwhile, both Deoxys - Normal and Deoxys - Speed have been added with their strong niche on Legendary Gauntlet being their most notable selling point.

Tier 3 – Bertha and Volkner have been dropped in favor of more consistent Sync Pairs, aligning them closer to Holiday Nessa.

Lower Tiers – Karen & Houndoom are now part of mid Tier 4 recognizing her Bite builds. Plumeria has also been moved up, with her niches being similar to those of Karen. Noland and Kahili were added to Tier 6, being capable of some utility niches like tanking, generating gauge, and dropping defenses.

Utility

Tier 0 – SS Brendan has been added to the last spot alongside SS Dawn with his fast SpA and SpD buffs alongside dropping Sp. Def pretty well, although held back by his gauge and necessity of Sync to get full use of his kit.

Tier 2 – Falkner now leads the Tier with his extra consistency relative to Kiawe, with Classic Giovanni being ranked for similar reasons, exchanging the higher crit rate and better tankiness of Falkner for better gauge and faster buffs.

Tier 3 – Palentine Dawn has been moved down as Sp. Def drops start to become more common on Sync Pairs that can do more things than her, while Deoxys - Defense has been added to the bottom of the tier as an excellent tank that can buff both offenses and defenses for the entire team, but lacking crit, gauge, and EX Support.

Tier 4 – Skyla and Summer Hilda have been moved up a subgroup, although maintaining their overall position.

Lower Tiers – Sawyer has been moved down due to his lacking buffs without taking Sync, which has opportunity cost without his access to EX. There were some reordering also favoring defensive Supports like Swimsuit Misty and BP Morty while dropping Roxanne and Marley as their job can be more easily fulfilled by stronger units that outclass them. Drake and Liza have also moved up with their Sync Grid, with Drake in particular also receiving a EX, although his purely defensive support nature limits its use a bit.

Conclusion

This was quite a busy month with 2 updates and multiple Sync Pairs, but we’re finally done and ready to revisit the list after the upcoming Anniversary update!

Updates will often come shortly after each datamine and, if necessary, additional ones will be made mid-month too, such as a unit far surpassing our expectations or performing worse than expected. The Change Logs will also always keep track of the latest updates done so that you can follow all changes easily too, so we hope you stay tuned!