Unranked -> S

I know it will be quite controversial but I think Kecleon deserved the S rank. Since Kec has been arrived in ZU, i had the feelings it will be an amazing mon able to centralize a lot the meta around it and looks barely broken as I said in my precedent post. It was only intuitive at this moment, I tested a lot Kecleon and my opinion doesnt evolve on this subject. Before starting to explain why I think Kecleon deserves to be in the highest rank of the VR, I would like to invite everyone to test it in real battle, with several sets, and not only on paper. We can list easily the weaknesses of Kec only with a !dt on Showdown and analyse its movepool but it doesn't take into account the meta, the interaction Kecleon has with the other mons and the pressure it does into a real battle. If I said that, it's because I heard too much times stuff like "It's slow, it has low physical defense, its attack and base power moves aren't amazing, 4mss" which are mainstream opinions which could be prounounced by anyone which doesn't know the ZU just with a !dt or in looking at the movepool. However, I will try to answer to these arguments because they are often been presented. But first, let me say why Kecleon is S worthy.

I read a sentence on the OU VR which I like a lot and reflects fully what I think about our lizard. The main reason why I think Kecleon deserved the S rank is definitely the amount of support it doesn't need. Splashable, versatile, support, defensive ability, offensive pressure, speed control. Kecleon is an amazing role compresser which fits in whatever archetype, in whatever playstyle. It makes the team flexible for changes and easy to build in removing threats, in giving support to partners or in pressuring at the same time on bulky and offensive builds. It centralizes the meta around its utilization, mons like Mawile fit slighty better only for their ability to often check Kec. Same for mons like Tangela which normally became far less good than before due to the shifts but which gain usages thanks to Kec (and btw Tang is a bad mon to switch on it).

The most common set of Kecleon is the AV. Drain Punch + Koff + Shadow sneak is almost mandatory (Shadow Sneak can be switch by Sucker if you wish and even koff could be removed if your team doesnt need it), the last move is quite free. In my opinion, Power Up Punch is a nice last option but stuff like Fake Out/Fire Blast are good too. Its set is self-suffisent and needs nothing else special to perform. It's a nice tank able to deal with frosttom, deal with Vigo in its pup variant, bring speed control with its priority, weaken the opposite team with koff, etc. Thanks to its bulk, Kecleon has the ability to benefict a lot of the types change with Protean : offensively Shadow Sneak + Drain Punch is unresisted in the whole game, defensively Kecleon likes abusing of a fast ghost move to dont be hit by fighting/strong normal moves like Boomburst and a slow Drain punch to restore the life without being able to be hitted in this fighting form (by Mr.Mime, etc). Play against a Kecleon is always a story of 50/50 in the favor of the lizard which is rarely punished in chosing the safer option.

I will give a concrete example about the support Kecleon provides to a team. I built a team with Kec where I have other answers against Vigoroth and I didnt really need wincondition because I had already enough. However, I realize after few battles I didnt have a very good match up against HO, TR, and weather teams. I just switched PuP to Fake Out and the match up became very reasonnable against the offenses. I did that without changing any mons of my team. This doesn't prove only the support Kecleon gave but too how muck Kecleon is versatile and how much the opponent needs to check what sets it runs before reflexing about counterplay.

As I said earlier, Kecleon is a mon which doesn't need a big amount of support, i enjoy this part of the kecleon potential a lot. When I took a nice answer to Frosttom which isn't passive, I can add Regice which is a mon I appreciate a lot. Regice is by the way very strong against hail teams. But I dont have the flexibility I get with Kecleon with Regice. Regice is SR weak and needs good hazard removers to do not be caught by Frosttom, Regice doesnt have speed control and I need to balance its presence with a fast mon. Kecleon is spammable in a large part of teams, it's by the way the only Frosttom answer with recovery which is able to set up Rocks. Only that gives it an amazing niche outclassed by no mon in the tier.

I dont talk yet about the offensive presence Kecleon exerces in a battle. I could about that during hours but it could be misinterpreted. No mons like switching on Kecleon, it doesnt have real switch-in. I'm not saying that's a mon which 2HKO all the meta as Ursaring did. I say no mons are 100% safe to switch against Kec in a battle. The role of Kecleon isn't to sweep even if it could do that, the role of Kecleon isn't commonly to wallbreak even if it's able to do that. The role of Kecleon is to support your team in correcting its flaws and in weakening the opponent. If you want a wallbreaker, it's a wallbreaker, if you want a revenge killer, it's a revenge killer, if you want a cleaner, it's a cleaner.

We say generally Vallys, Golem, Mawile, Tangela, Muk and Mareanie are Kecleon switch in. On the 5, four doesn't like be koffed, one is the most common set simply loses to Kec. All lose to some lizard sets. I would like to highlight especially the last fourth moves which is a free choice for your team. A lot of people see with sceptisism the Fire Blast or Return sets which looks like more as an original set as a common Kecleon set but which will be anyway never played due to the famous "4mss". That's also what I thought at the beginning but finally, that's not original sets but one of the best options for the fourth moves of Kecleon, especially Fire blast.

The best Kecleon set is actually Drain punch/SS/Koff/Fire Blast with LO or AV. Return could be played instead of Fire Blast, the fourth moves is quite free as I said earlier (Note that it's possible to play as the same time FB + Return in a single set if you remove Koff/Priority even if it's less effective). It means one thing, you are never a safe switch against Kecleon. You always have to check what is the last move. These sets are for the moment quite rare but there are the best sets of Kec. The pression Kecleon provides with 50/50, its strength, the interrogation with the last moves makes it pretty annoying to deal with. It's also a mon which is difficult to get rid due to its very good special bulk and passable physical defense with EVs in HP.

Considering the influence Kecleon has on the meta, its own qualities to support the team, to be splashable and spammable in many teams, its ability to be versatible, its centralization, the flexibility it gives to teams and how easy it makes it to build, its general good bulk to handle some common very good mon, the specific niche it has in almost every of sets, the pressure it exerces to switch against it, its limited number of counters, its ability to disable its own counters, the 50/50 always in this favor it provides and the large amount of support it doesn't need, it doesn't appear for me particulary unreasonable to nominate Kecleon S rank. Yeah it has flaws with its low speed and physical def but we're in ZU, we cannot expect stuff with like Landorus-T to drop here.

Now, i will answer to some arguments I heard against Kecleon in general.

Answer against common arguments

​Low speed, low physical bulk​

I dont like much this kind of arguments because as I said above, it's

Low Attack