PokeDraft Power Rankings: July 2019

• CuttyWow (1): Top tier DPS vs Machamp, Hitmons. A one-mon Fire team.

• NoLucksGiven (1): Able to solo Machamp + a Fire attacker.

• yourcalcprof (1): Best Fire-type and now best Flying-type? The new king of PokeDraft, no question.

• DownWithTTP (2): Amazing Flying & Fire Damage.

Note: Classic

• TTP (1): Super strong vs Machamp & Raichu, excellent flexibility.

• CW (2): OP vs permanent bosses in rare weather, still impactful in neutral. Focus Blast a nice bonus.

• NLG (2): A top counter to two ever-present bosses; Machamp and A-Raichu. This ability will further be referenced as a “Mewtwo”.

• YCP (2): Still the best pick for covering both Machamp and Alolan Raichu.

• CW (3): Solves a permanent boss (A-Raichu), a frequent boss (Gengar), and a hard boss (Alakazam).

• NLG (3): Better than Groudon, considering it's a better Raichu counter.

• YCP (3): It's better than Groudon. Really. Fog is really nice, but not even necessary.

• TTP (7): Capable of handling so many bosses essentially on its own.

• NLG (4): The best start (after Moltres) to any Clear-boosted draft teams.

• TTP (4): 1v1s Raichu without dodging or hunting fog. Margin vs Jolteon. Flexibility with Grass.

• YCP (4): Jolteon phobia is real. Gets a big edge over Garchomp because of Solar Beam.

• CW (6): Round one Ground-type and round ten Grass-type (better than Meganium?).

• TTP (3): Reliance on rain is a con, but capable of outstanding times.

• CW (4): One of a small handful of true margin-builders. Held back by limited historic utility.

• NLG (5): Draft a full Water team in one pick.

• YCP (5): Water can be useful, and Kyogre is the best among them by far. Sometimes it’s a wasted pick.

• CW (5): Mewtwo with flying subtyping.

• NLG (6): The next best “Mewtwo” with poor defensive coverage.

• TTP (6): Absurdly fast Dark & Flying damage makes up fragility.

• YCP (6): Rivals Mewtwo in covering both Machamp and A-Raichu, but needs help due to low bulk.

• NLG (7): Practically unrivaled DPS that will usually hit twice in a season.

• YCP (7): Faster than Tina but needs help. Sludge Bomb sometimes can do some things.

• CW (8): Half a Giratina-O with Poison utility. With Rampardos, one of two remaining generalists in the game.

• TTP (11): Explosive Ghost with the benefit of Sludge Bomb

• CW (7): Top-tier super-effective damage against a wide variety of historical bosses. Appreciates a little help.

• TTP (8): Grass & Poison DPS gives flexibility in frequent weather.

• YCP (8): Top Grass and top Poison. With some backup, Roserade is a great pick.

• NLG (13): Opposite the Electric pool, Grass-types are so deep that I wouldn’t prioritize them heavily. You can always complete a Grass team. Roserade goes higher than the others because of Poison, but I don’t think that makes it a first pick.

• CW (9): Will need backup, but the top of the charts for 60% of a raid.

• TTP (10): Blast Burn is a game-changer. So fast. Fighting an obvious plus. Cannot do either alone though

• YCP (10): Sometimes you’ll use it a lot and love every second of it. Sometimes it’ll warm your bench the entire season.

• NLG (18): You’ll probably draft this alongside another Fire-type, but doing so can easily result in a top Fire time.

• TTP (9): Super-fast Fighting, dominates in a post rebalance world. GK a great option for Grass damage too

• CW (10): Fighting-weak bosses are frail enough for the low bulk not to matter. Mixed Grass Knot sets are successful.

• YCP (11): Grass Blaziken but less gambly. 

• NLG (19): Comparable to Roserade with a less relevant 2nd typing.

• NLG (8): A solid “Mewtwo”.

• YCP (9): Still a really good choice. Dazzling Gleam variant now has backup against Machamp if you can't find wind.

• CW (13): Mewtwo with half the bulk.

• TTP (19): Mewtwo light and also it Dazzling Gleams sometimes.

• NLG (12): Though untested, Swampert manages a passable Kyogre impression. Awkwardly needs Ground support.

• TTP (12): Hydro Cannon is STELLAR, and Ground a huge plus.

• YCP (13): Still somewhat lackluster as a Ground-type, but that's not why you want it.

• CW (15): The new hotness. Kyogre with a two-bar and Ground access!

• NLG (9): I respect Jolteon, but getting a Rock attacker too makes this worth IMHO.

• YCP (12): Excruciatingly painful to use, but will continue to be a top 20 pick as long as Jolteon and Scyther exist. Can Surf?

• CW (14): Will keep you in touch on Raichu, Scyther. Find margin elsewhere.

• TTP (18): Groudon & Rampardos light.

• TTP (5): It's a slightly slower Groudon with low key-generalist filler potential.

• CW (12): The fog-free choice for A-Raichu.

• YCP (15): Can 1v1 Jolteon and A-Raichu, but until Ground-types get some better moves, there will be better ways to beat pretty much everything else.

• NLG (24): Someone with more Jolteon fear or less fog access may pick this up higher.

• NLG (11): Ideally you pick this with Zap for an insane Electric team. Electric-types aren’t incredibly deep. Locking this in early can allow for some big wins.

• TTP (13): Shadow Ball takes a fine mon into one that borders elite. 

• CW (19): Solves set-dependent oddballs like Aerodactyl and Starmie. Contributes in fog. Beats Skarmory?

• YCP (19): Shadow Ball will come in handy. Maybe there’s hope for Electric-types in draft after all.

• CW (11): Instant margin on the increasingly common Bug-type bosses. A functional generalist besides.

• TTP (16): Capable of winning a league on the back of Scyther time. Reliance on PFC a minus.

• YCP (16): Wanna build a margin? You'll probably need to take a friend (Aerodactyl, anyone?).

• NLG (20): This guy just Rocks. I dislike having to commit 2 full picks to Rock-types, whereas other top options have more versatility.

• YCP (14): I want to hate it, but I can't. It's good at too many things. Take Banette or Absol, too.

• NLG (15): I like Ttar more than most. So tanky. Foggy Tyranitar can solo A-Raichu.

• CW (20): Bug and Fire bosses make Trapranitar look better. Needs a strong lead (Absol, Banette) to function vs Psychic/Ghost.

• TTP (20): Flexibility. Pairs well with a Glassy Fog Dude. Don't overpay though.

• TTP (14): Seasonal Star. Much better in winter.

• CW (18): No snow required for Aerodactyl, space rocks. Decent vs fighters in wind.

• YCP (18): A top 10 pick in the winter, but even I'm not getting snow in July. DPS is good enough to be viable without it. Too bad about Psy-quake, though.

• NLG (23): Hard to rank with such an awkward boost but it’s insane if it hits.

• CW (17): Get one with Confusion and learn to hotswap. Good against everything.

• TTP (17): Flexibility a massive plus. Requires Confusion of course.

• YCP (20): Falling behind in both of its types, but still solid a solid #2 on your Machamp team.

• NLG (22): Legacy Confusion required for this rating. Egg is still a fantastic Grass-type despite being the 5th best in DPS.

• NLG (14): Fire-types are generally hotly contested. Heatran allows you to get in and get out, with just enough bulk that it can solo bosses that the other Fire-types can’t.

• CW (16): 90% of Moltres for 100% of the raid. Iron Head helps cover Granbull.

• YCP (23): Slightly slower than Entei, but with better bulk against some bosses. Stone Edge is kinda nice.

• TTP (Not Rated): Awesome Poke with special TDO. I prefer to get Fire later in the draft.

• TTP (15): Seasonal Star with Ground flexibility.

• YCP (17): Wouldn't really be worth a mention in the summer without the threat of Jolteon.

• CW (24): Serviceable vs A-Raichu, Gengar. Eases Jolteon PTSD.

• NLG (NR): Mamoswine's horrible defensive type coverage holds it back for me. Snow-boosted types are also too unreliable to count on.

• NLG (17): Machamp being near guaranteed means it’s too important. All my picks from here start needing another Pokemon to 2v1. Espeon is the most generous while still allowing for fantastic times.

• CW (21): Beats Machamp and Gengar by a lot. Not much else. Pretty to look at.

• YCP (22): With more Machamp counters to contend with, Espeon's stock has dropped a bit.

• TTP (NR): Strong Machamp counter. Not far out of my top 25, argument can be made for higher if you expect the Hitmons to return.

• NLG (16): Can almost be a Heatran, though lacks some bulk and flexibility.

• CW (23): 90% of Moltres for 80% of the raid. Iron Head helps cover Granbull.

• YCP (24): Fire is one of the best types in the format, and Entei is all the Fire you’ll need.

• TTP (NR): Pretty awesome Poke with pretty special TDO. Lacks the flexibility or margin creation I want in the first couple rounds.

• TTP (21): Charm will bring the price above this. Great mon especially in cloudy. Some overlap with Fairy & Psychic uses though.

• YCP (21): Now with options. Yay!

• CW (NR): Belongs in the top 25 over Deoxys for raiders without wind access.

• NLG (NR): It's yet to be seen how effective Fairy teams can be. Some people draft this to complete a windy team while others draft it to start a cloudy team, meaning I think it goes higher than it should with such overlapping coverage.

• NLG (10): Electric-types out-DPS Grass-types, despite worse coverage. Zap now does Machamp just as well as Metagross.

• CW (NR): The role compression is nice, but it's second-tier in both roles. I dub it Yellow Tyranitar.

• TTP (NR): Drill Peck is neat. There are better fliers and better Electric-types available at 25, but Zapdos is much improved with the new sets.

• YCP (NR): Well, at least it’s usable now. Probably a fourth-round pick.