"GamePress updated their gym defender tier list! (#1 defender, Blissey or Error?)"

#PokemonGO: The attacker tier list will be updated soon. Likely within a week or two.Link to tier listHere's a joke graphic I made for the tier list since GamePress hasn't made an official one yet.About the tier list:Since nearly all of the Gen 1 and 2 Legendary Pokemon have rolled out, we felt it was high time we cleaned up the GP tier list (and put Muk in its place).The Quantitative ModelLike our previous tier list, we hand picked Pokebattler simulation results and gave extra weight to specific counters. Unlike our previous tier list, this model's quantitative side primarily considers the defender's performance against Dragonite, Tyranitar, Machamp, Mewtwo (Shadow Ball), and Mewtwo (Focus Blast). Since Entei, Moltres, Raikou, and Zapdos are all also very potent, neutral attackers, they were also added in but with less weight. In the event a counter's performance was ridiculously low, I removed their weight from the equation and placed a marker on their final result to indicate a switch. This was not done with Clefable. Finally, weight was given to their more optimal matchups (Vaporeon, Exeggutor, Articuno, etc).Why? Because of the motivation decay meta, most trainers don't really switch out their attackers that much and prefer to use 1-2 very powerful and pervasive neutral attackers to mow down a gym with little effort, even when the gym is at full motivation. It's how I play, how people (~3000) I polled reported they play, and people I interviewed during raids say they play.While this may not reflect every possible way of fighting gyms, the quantitative rankings are likely not all that different. For example, Pokebattler bases their rankings on defender's 5 most optimal match ups with even weight given to each. You'll find that we promote basically the same exact Pokemon, just arranged differently for the most part.Human TweaksFrom there I manipulated the rankings based on how many switches they could cause, their defensive synergy with other powerful defenders, the damage windows and animation times of their charge moves, and their performance at 0% motivation (small tweaks there).One thing that is unique to this tier list, compared to others, is the consideration of synergistic typing and causing switches. While we all know that it only takes ~3 seconds to switch, many don't consider the extra time sifting through PoGO's UI trying to find and select these counters to switch with when preparing to fight a gym, which, as a result of the current meta, most players aren't nearly as readily able to do.Final TouchesFrom there, I presented my model to the rest of the GP crew and made tweaks based on their input. While they were initially put off and resistant to Dragonite and Lapras' placement, once I explained the model more to them and pointed out how Lapras gets owned by Machamp, Tyranitar, all Mewtwos, Raikou, Entei, Zapdos, Moltres, and even Ho-Oh, and how Dragonite can even swag on its Hydro Pump set with impunity, they saw the light. Dragonite however, took a bit of extra convincing.Dragonite, A Tier???Yes, and this isn't even from the human hand tweaks! Based on the model, Dragonite is a cut below Steelix but is definitely a cut above B tier Pokemon. The human hand considerations only bolster its position.Ice-type counters? You mean the single Pokemon type that is used for absolutely nothing but countering Dragonite? The Pokemon that you're going to switch out after beating Dragonite? The extra Pokemon that you'll have to scroll to find, select, and later heal/revive because some jerk put a Dragonite in the gym? When you could just use a Dragonite, SB Mewtwo, Raikou, or Zapdos to counter, the same Pokemon you're using to beat the rest of the gym with? Their weight is in there but I hope you understand why they aren't weighed very heavily in consideration of the meta.Edit: Pokebattler does their rankings based on a defenders 5 most optimal counters, and overall, Dragonite is still #5 on their tier list (which is basically #2 if you remove the br0ke mons).B+ vs BB+ and B tier Pokemon all have identical, quantitative performances (aside from Clefable). The purpose for their division is because the B+ tier Pokemon are more likely to cause switching and synergize better with the higher tier Pokemon defensively. While Umbreon and Vaporeon may cause elongated battle times, even against their more optimal counters, they're a small speed bump on almost any attackers path to victory, where Pokemon like Slowbro will cause roughly half of them to switch out.Tyranitar, Donphan, and RhydonThese 3 were a complicated case. Their placement was shuffled around a bit a few times when reviewing the tier list with the GP crew. Ultimately, we felt Tyranitar's merits against Dragonite and Mewtwo got it the seat. Donphan is higher than most B+ Pokemon in quantitative performance, but like Vaporeon and Umbreon, it doesn't inspire switching. Rhydon, who you would think is the best of both worlds, is just too easily dealt with and doesn't threaten our new friend Mewtwo nearly as much as Tyranitar, even with Megahorn.ClosingPeople say gym defense is dead, but when you consider that using the better defenders can keep your gyms up longer (more coins, more passive defender points towards a gold badge) and can help with active defense pre-egg hatch, it is still alive.Overall, making tier lists like this is my passion and I really hope that Niantic brings us to a more competitive meta sooner than later.TL;DRIf you want this information in an audio-visual format or have questions on it, I will be hosting a livestream on the topic on Thursday 9/21 at 7pm CT on twitch.tv/swagtips. You can follow me on Twitter or FaceBook for updates! via /r/TheSilphRoad http://ift.tt/2ynwevG