Choice Band Tyranitar is one of the most monstrously powerful physical threats in the fourth generation. Crunch and Stone Edge both have massive power with the STAB boosts and will be Tyranitar's main method of attacking. Pursuit is one of the main draws of the set, as it allows Tyranitar to be effective counters to Rotom, Latias, and any other Ghost- or Psychic-type. With many sweepers opting to use Choice items, some good prediction and making use of Tyranitar's useful resistances can get it in for a free Pursuit to OHKO, or at least wear down many opponents. Aqua Tail allows Tyranitar to get past bulky grounds with surprising success. With Aqua Tail and a Choice Band equipped, even the mighty Hippowdon is 2HKOed, and thus the original 100% counter to the CB set can be dealt with. Gliscor is 2HKOed as well, but it can stall Tyranitar for a miss with Sand Veil reducing Aqua Tail's already less than perfect accuracy. Earthquake is still listed as an option to hit Steels such as Metagross and Jirachi, but is not needed, as Crunch already deals hefty damage to them. Another option for Tyranitar's fourth moveslot is Fire Punch, which allows Tyranitar to OHKO both Scizor and Forretress and to 2HKO Skarmory (assuming it is without Leftovers) without worrying about Stone Edge missing. The EV spread suggested makes Tyranitar fast enough to outspeed 4 Speed EV Skarmory, allowing Tyranitar to Stone Edge for a 2HKO before it can Roost. After maxing out Attack, the remaining of the EVs are placed into HP to bolster Tyranitar's already strong defenses. If you want a more specially bulky Tyranitar, you can use a 252 HP / 40 Attack / 216 Special Defense EV spread with a Careful Nature. This allows Tyranitar to survive Timid Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast in OU, and more effectively counter threats such as Latias and Zapdos. However, this spread fails to accomplish a 2HKO on Hippowdon or Gliscor with Aqua Tail, so Earthquake is the superior option in order to hit Steels harder.
This set may not pose the same immediate threat in the same way as the Choice Bander does, but it is capable of running through an entire team when played correctly. Dark and Rock provide the deadly dual STAB combination that Tyranitar is famous for. Fire Punch rounds off the set by giving an option to hit Steel-types, such as Forretress, Lucario, and perhaps most importantly Scizor, for super effective damage. However Aqua Tail is also a good option as it allows you to effectively deal with Hippowdon, Gliscor and Heatran as well as gaining better type coverage. Choosing between Adamant or Jolly is choosing whether you want to do more damage, or be able to outspeed more things respectively. If you choose Adamant, after one Dragon Dance you will reach 332 Speed, which is enough to outspeed neutral base 115s and positive natured base 100s. Jolly allows you to reach 364 Speed, which allows you to beat everything up to positive-natured base 115s, including Azelf and Starmie. Often the extra Speed is necessary to prevent you from being revenge killed by speedy threats such as Infernape and Latias, at the cost of losing the chance to OHKO or 2HKO many of the bulkier walls. The item choice is even more important this generation, mainly because Scizor is such a threat. Adamant Life Orb Scizor does 75.44% - 89.47% with a Bullet Punch. With Stealth Rock and no recovery, this could potentially kill Tyranitar, which is why Leftovers is the preferred item. However, Choice Band Scizor still has a good chance to OHKO Tyranitar after Stealth Rock damage, and since Scizor is often one of the most threatening Pokémon, it is often useful to run a Babiri berry, which will reduce Scizor's Bullet Punch damage to a maximum of 53%. Meanwhile, +1 Attack Tyranitar will always OHKO Scizor with both Stone Edge and Fire Punch after Stealth Rock damage. If the lack of power is frustrating, or you don't really care about Scizor revenge killing you, use Life Orb, which gives you the ability to 2HKO Swampert with Crunch after a Dragon Dance.
Boah is still a solid threat, especially to stall teams. Bringing Tyranitar out will often force switches, which gives you the opportunity to set up a Substitute and help lessen the need to predict correctly for your next move. From there, fire off Focus Punch or your Dark STAB move from behind your Substitute. The choice for a 4th move is dependent on your team. Ice Beam is a great choice; with the given EVs it will 2HKO a 252 HP/ 0 SpD Hippowdon, and deal massive damage to Gliscor, Donphan, Salamence, and Breloom. Flamethrower is a good option in order to hit Scizor and Forretress for an OHKO, as well as hitting Skarmory and Metagross for a 2HKO. Thunderbolt hits the aforementioned Skarmory as well, though it will be able to reduce the damage thanks to Roost. However, Thunderbolt is also your best option against Suicune, Milotic, and Gyarados. Dark Pulse is suggested over Crunch so Boah can preform its wall-breaking duties better. Choosing Dark Pulse gives you a good option against the physical walls you cannot hit super effective with your special move of choice. It also maximizes this EV spread's efficiency as you won't have to split the EVs. Crunch does have the advantage of operating off of Tyranitar's high attacking stat, and it works pretty well when coupled up with Ice Beam. Crunch should also be your STAB attack of choice if you use this version of Tyranitar in Uber battles thanks to most of your foes having much higher Special Defense than Defense. The Speed EVs above allow you to outspeed Blissey. If you want, you can put a few more EVs into Speed, in case the enemy Blissey also invests in Speed. It can be important to be faster than Blissey so you can Substitute before they get the chance to use Thunder Wave or Toxic on you. Maxing your HP gives you 404 HP, which creates Substitutes that are 101 HP. This means that Blissey's Seismic Toss cannot break your Substitute in one hit, letting you Focus Punch for free on the next turn. The Special Attack EVs put you at 297 Special Attack, which easily allows you to 2HKO 252 HP / 0 SpD Hippowdon with Ice Beam assuming you are running a Quiet nature. If you use Crunch, consider Brave over Quiet (and possibly raise Attack at the expense of Special Attack). Basically, adjust the spread to fit your needs.
While most players expect Tyranitar to be slow and hard hitting, this set attempts give it a much needed boost in Speed at the cost of some of its attacking power. With a Choice Scarf and the natures and EVs listed above, Tyranitar edges out many dangerous OU threats such Starmie, Azelf, Infernape, Gengar, Salamence, and Lucario, and scores an OHKO on all of them. Fire Blast and Ice Beam allow Tyranitar to hit many of its counters and take them down in one or two hits. Ice Beam is your best option against Bulky Grounds such as Hippowdon and Gliscor, 2HKOing and OHKOing them 100% of the time, respectively. Fire Blast hits Scizor, Forretress and Skarmory for super effective damage and OHKOes all of them barring Skarmory, who is always 2HKOed. Crunch and Stone Edge are Tyranitar's strongest options on this set because of STAB, and they allow you threaten Latias, Gyarados and many other Pokémon that normally would be comfortable switching in after a kill in order to chase Tyranitar away. Earthquake is a solid choice to hit Fire-types such as Infernape and Heatran. Fire Blast already hits most Steels (except for Heatran), and most Fire-types already have problems taking a Stone Edge, but Earthquake hits hard off of Tyranitar's high Attack stat, and ensures the KOes. It is an option over one of the STAB moves if you feel you have the threats that they hit covered already. Thunderbolt is a good option for those who feel stuck against Bulky Waters, and it comes with a nice OHKO on Gyarados as well. Superpower is a usable option for better coverage against Blissey, Snorlax, and opposing Tyranitar. The EV spread gives you 260 Special Attack, which is enough to 2HKO 252 HP/ 0 SpD Hippowdon with Ice Beam, factoring in Leftovers. The rest is poured into attack to hit as hard as possible with your STAB moves. 334 Attack just gives you enough power to 2HKO a Calm Blissey that runs 252 Defense EVs with Stone Edge 100% of the time, and OHKO the standard Starmie with Crunch. Max Speed with a boosting nature and Choice Scarf reaches 364 Speed, allowing you to outspeed positive-nature base 115s such as Azelf and Starmie by a few points.
This set gives Tyranitar a chance to get past some of his more common counters. By using the lure of a standard Dragon Dance Tyranitar, the likes of Hippowdon, Bronzong, Scizor, Gyarados and Gliscor will often switch in. However, you can quickly wipe that smug look off your opponent's face as you Counter their attack back at them for an OHKO. Having eliminated your opponent's Tyranitar counter, you should then be free to sweep. It is recommended that this set be played with reliable Wish support, as replenishing Tyranitar's health after pulling off a successful Counter will make sweeping much easier. Stone Edge is recommended over Crunch because most of the things that you will be hitting will take more damage from Stone Edge, and several common Tyranitar switch ins that resist it (Bronzong, Hippowdon, Swampert) are all easily OHKOed by Counter. However, if you want the harder hit on the likes of Celebi and Cresselia, then Crunch is a perfectly viable option; especially if you run Magnezone to take care of Skarmory. The given EVs ensure that Tyranitar will survive Scizor's Bullet Punch and then Counter for an easy OHKO. The Speed ensures that you are faster than neutral Lucario after a Dragon Dance, though you will need to be wary of the threat of Vacuum Wave or Bullet Punch. If you plan on using this set to get around the likes of Machamp and Hariyama, then a Chople Berry is a worthwhile item choice; if you decide to use it, then Tyranitar can survive a Machamp Dynamicpunch and OHKO in return with Counter. However, in the case of Dynamicpunch you've only got a 50% chance of pulling off a successful Counter due to confusion. In the case of Hariyama, most defensive variants use Thick Fat and Force Palm, which, with this EV spread, Tyranitar can usually survive anyway, so Chople Berry remains a lesser option.
This Tyranitar is designed to defeat most of the commonly used leads in the OU metagame, specifically, Bronzong, Gengar and Gyarados. Lum Berry helps you take a Sleep-inducing move, so Tyranitar can then deal with Gengar, Roserade, Yanmega and Bronzong. Focus Sash is also a viable option if you're not as worried about status, as it allows you to successfully use Counter, and it will help you better take on the common suicide leads. Counter is a great option on this Tyranitar. If you choose to use Counter, raise your Speed EV to 31, and use a Careful nature. With Counter and Taunt, Bronzong will have a hard time beating this set. Use Taunt to prevent Bronzong from setting up Stealth Rock, and Counter his Gyro Ball back at him if he stays in. Bronzong will then be in the KO range for Fire Punch. This process works against other Bulky Grounds, and even against Bulky Gyarados with a Dragon Dance up, dealing very heavy damage and possibly an OHKO. Taunt is especially useful if the opponent switches, since many incoming Pokémon expect to easily set up on Tyranitar. Taunt also debilitates Ninjask and other Baton Pass leads, while preventing Snorlax from setting up Curse on Tyranitar. Taunt also works against leads that use a Sleep move with Choice Scarf; Lum Berry will prevent you from being Statused, and Taunt will force them to switch out. Thunder is a good choice on this Tyranitar to deal with Gyarados. The reason Thunder is chosen over Stone Edge, in spite of the accuracy issues, is that Thunder has a chance to OHKO offensive Gyarados, while Stone Edge will not. Fire Punch is chosen over Fire Blast because Fire Punch has a chance to OHKO Roserade, while Fire Blast will not. Substitute is certainly a viable option over Taunt, as it will prevent most Bronzong from lowering Tyranitar's HP significantly, as Gyro Ball will do less than 25%, and it will give Tyranitar the advantage should certain counters switch in (such as Lucario or Breloom). 401 HP and 310 Special Defense + Sandstorm allow Tyranitar to survive a 359 Special Attack Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast over 97% of the time. 401 HP and 268 Defense allow Tyranitar to survive a Waterfall from a 383 Attack Choice Band Gyarados on average. If you elect to use Substitute, the 117 Speed is designed to minimize the damage Bronzong can do with Gyro Ball. With Tyranitar at 117 Speed, Bronzong's Gyro Ball will have a maximum power of 47, enough to never 4HKO this Tyranitar (assuming Bronzong has minimum Attack), which means Tyranitar can set up a Substitute that Bronzong can't break. Even if Bronzong runs 252 Attack EVs and Adamant nature, a 3HKO is only made possible if it manages to get maximum damage all three times; a highly unlikely scenario. There is also a slight EV change recommended if you opt for Substitute over Taunt. Instead of stopping at 401 HP, simply max out your HP to reach the crucial 404 HP in order to create Substitutes unbreakable by Seismic Toss or Night Shade. Take the 12 EVs necessary to do this from defense, giving you a final alternate spread of 252 HP / 36 Atk / 36 Def / 184 SpD.
Tyranitar's astounding offensive capabilities, together with its good HP, physical Defense, and phenomenal Special Defense (taking into account Sand Stream's boost) make Tyranitar a natural candidate for a Curse set. If your opponent no longer has powerful Fighting attacks or a Choice Specs/Band user with STAB super effective moves, Tyranitar will become nearly impossible to stop once it gets a couple boosts to its Defense. Rest and Sleep Talk aid in the ability of this to set up and help in its overall survivability. Crunch and Payback are your Dark STAB moves of choice and each have different advantages. Crunch has a 20% chance to lower the opponent's Defense one stage, meaning Tyranitar can hit even harder through dedicated walls should it get a Defense drop. However, Payback's power doubles if the opponent moves last or if they switch out. Since Tyranitar is lowering its Speed with Curse, Payback will almost always have 100 Base power, making it the primary choice on this set. Now, many of you may be reading this and asking, why wouldn't I use Regirock? It has superior physical defensive capabilities, arguably better typing, and only slightly worse special defensive abilities. However, for Curse Regirock to be effective it is necessary to pair it with a Pokémon with the Sand Stream ability to boost its Special Defense. So, you are forced to include a Pokémon with similar weaknesses and reduce the team's overall resistances to allow Curse Regirock to be effective. Curse Tyranitar does not have this problem, since Sand Stream is immediately activated, leaving more freedom in team building as opposed to using Curse Regirock. Also, the ability to use a mono attacker because of the Dark STAB is a positive, because it allows you to use Rest and Sleep Talk on the same set. Regirock would be hard pressed to do the same thing with its weaker attack stat. The given EVs are designed to allow Tyranitar to survive a Timid Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast 100% of the time and a Modest one, on average. The remaining EVs were delegated to Defense to take physical hits better while setting up Curse.
A combination of all the previous sets, this set is specifically designed to break down walls and hit as many of Tyranitar's prospective counters as possible while retaining the freedom to switch attacks. It is perhaps best used with support from an Agility or Rock Polish Baton Passer, such as Gliscor or Scizor. Earthquake means that you will have an easier time against other Tyranitar. However, Tyranitar's STAB Stone Edge will frequently be his most powerful attack option against those who take neutral damage from the entire set, most notably Gyarados. This set hits a wide range of types for super effective (Flying, Ground, Steel, Psychic, Ghost, Bug, Grass, Dragon, Fire, and Ice, plus Electric and Rock if you use Earthquake), so Expert Belt is the recommended item. While Life Orb provides more power for wall-breaking, your opponent will know the set you are running after the first attack. Without the recoil damage caused by Life Orb, depending on what your opponent does, they could think you are using either a Choice item, Lum Berry or something else, which will help you keep the surprise factor. Life Orb is a good choice it you aren't hitting hard enough, or if you're extremely confident in your ability to predict correctly.
Choice Specs Tyranitar has the potential to surprise your opponent, as they will likely expect it to be dishing out physical attacks. Dark Pulse is for reliable STAB and hits Swampert hard enough to 2HKO with prior damage, can OHKO even the Special Defense monster Latias after Stealth Rock damage, and has a 20% chance to cause the foe to flinch. Flamethrower helps against Bronzong, Skarmory, Heracross, and Lucario, while Thunderbolt hits Water-types like Gyarados, Suicune, and Milotic. Earth Power hits fellow Tyranitar and Heatran, and also hits Rhyperior fairly hard. Earth Power is also your best choice if you use Ice Beam over Flamethrower, so you still have a way to hit steels. The given Speed EVs put you at 177 Speed, just above the minimum Speed of Skarmory and Metagross. Because they can (and often will) carry some Speed EVs, you might want to invest some more EVs in Speed to have a greater chance of being faster than them. Ice Beam is a secondary option on the set because most of the time, Dark Pulse will hit Bulky Grounds hard enough that Ice Beam is unnecessary on the set. Hidden Power Grass is also a pretty good option, but its primary target, Swampert, is severely damaged by Dark Pulse also. For some numbers, Dark Pulse does 47-57% to Hippowdon and 47-55% to Swampert, meaning if they have some prior damage, or Stealth Rock / Spikes is in play, Dark Pulse will most likely 2HKO both of them, lessening the need to devote moves to hit them. However, Hidden Power Grass is your strongest option against Rhyperior, and if you don't use Thunderbolt, it is also your best bet against Bulky Waters such as Vaporeon. If you find a certain fat pink blob starts to switch into this Tyranitar after she learns you're using Choice Specs, you can use either Superpower or Focus Punch as the fourth move over Earth Power. If you use Superpower, a Quiet nature is optimal to score a 2HKO on both Calm Blissey and Snorlax. Focus Punch is a good option to predict a Blissey or Snorlax switch in, and has the potential to do more damage. Because Focus Punch doesn't quite KO with the given EVs, use 60 Atk / 252 SpA / 196 Spe with a Mild Nature, which deals a minimum 89% to a Calm Blissey. This EV spread also puts you 207 Speed, which outspeeds Bold Suicune and Cresselia. While using Focus Punch with this spread might help you deal with Blissey and Snorlax, it also reduces your Defenses and forces you to use a negative Defense nature, which isn't always ideal on a Pokémon that can take hits from both ends of the spectrum as well as Tyranitar. Because this set is meant to be a surprise to your opponent, you might find that people are unwilling to switch Blissey and Snorlax into a Pokémon that is in very other instance a strong physical attacker. Focus Punch is a good option to get those OHKOs that Superpower fails to accomplish some of the time.
Mixed Tyranitar with Dragon Dance? Although at first glance this set may seem to be nothing more than a gimmick, it tears apart Tyranitar's usual counters, giving openings for sweepers such as Lucario, Scizor, and the like. Even Tyranitar himself is able to sweep a lot more easily, though that is not the primary goal of the set. Crunch is the most reliable choice for your sole physical attack, but Stone Edge is a powerful STAB option to hit Heatran, Gyarados, and Salamence. Fire Blast is a necessity to take out the bulky Steel-types; it will OHKO Skarmory and Forretress, while 2HKOing the standard Bronzong and most Metagross. Ice Beam pummels the opponent's bulky Ground-types such as Gliscor and Hippowdon, but not Swampert. Hidden Power Grass is a great option over Ice Beam to hit Swampert harder, but it will leave you open to Salamence, which makes Stone Edge the best STAB to use with Hidden Power Grass. When playing this Tyranitar, the first move you use should usually be Dragon Dance, to mislead the foe into thinking it is a regular Dragon Dance Tyranitar. However, to your opponent's surprise, they will find their Hippowdon, Skarmory, or Bronzong either OHKOed or crippled to the point where it can no longer effectively wall, particularly Bronzong, which lacks reliable recovery. With 248 Speed EVs, Tyranitar can outrun the positive base 115's after a Dragon Dance. 144 Special Attack EVs guarantee a 2HKO on the standard Bronzong, while the remaining EVs are placed into Attack to help maximize damage dealt. Other OptionsSome people may use Rock Slide instead of Stone Edge because Stone Edge has such poor PP and accuracy. The problem with that is that you already have Crunch with more power and accuracy (and arguably a better side-effect, when you consider Tyranitar's low Speed) than Rock Slide. If you use Rock Slide, there are going to be very few situations in which you will find yourself using it. With Stone Edge, however, the increase in power can get you out of some tricky situations where Crunch / Rock Slide wouldn't do enough damage. It is a decent option on the DD set for the higher accuracy and the Choice Scarf sets for the flinch rate, but almost all the time you will find Stone Edge to be the superior option. There are many physical options that weren't mentioned on the other sets. Ice Punch destroys Flygon and in particular Gliscor. The main reason is isn't recommended over Aqua Tail is that it misses the 2HKO on Hippowdon that Aqua Tail provides. Using Ice Punch over Aqua Tail also takes away a good option for hitting Steels and enemy Tyranitar, but is still a great choice for its perfect accuracy and type coverage. Avalanche is an option, but Ice Punch is better in almost every situation that calls for a physical Ice-type Attack, with the exception of the Curse set. ThunderPunch takes out most Gyarados in one hit and deals a good amount of damage to Skarmory, but it is often an inferior option when compared to Stone Edge and Thunderbolt, which can take care of these threats fairly well and have much more utility overall. Aerial Ace destroys Breloom and Heracross, but is of little use otherwise. There are many other viable options on DDTar that could not fit with in the actual set listing. Taunt is a great option on this set to prevent Skarmory from using Whirlwind and to prevent status. Taunt is also ideal in the Uber tier to stop things from setting up and to force switches. Since Tyranitar often forces switches, using Substitute gives you a barrier to set up behind, and might fool some opponents into thinking you are using Boah. Putting a Substitute up also prevents Scizor or Dugtrio from revenge killing you, but it also limits your type coverage to only two moves. There are some options on the Special side that were not mentioned, and could work decently on the Choice Specs set. Hidden Power Rock or AncientPower could be used for a STAB move on the special end of the spectrum, but they rarely make up for the type coverage offered by the other moves because of their low base power. Surf is a good option against Rhyperior, but is less of an option when compared to Hidden Power Grass, which not only hits Rhyperior for massive damage, but Swampert as well. Overall though, you may find that the moves listed under the Choice Specs set work better than these other options. Rock Polish can be used over Dragon Dance. You trade the Attack boost from Dragon Dance in order to outspeed more threats, such as Timid Choice Scarf Heatran. This also has the advantage of not requiring as much initial Speed as the Dragon Dance set, allowing for more HP EVs to protect yourself against threats such as Scizor. It is a lesser option than the Dragon Dance set for the most part and is best used if you're carrying a Baton Passer to pass Attack boosts or if you want to use it on a special attacker, because the lack of power is quite noticeable. Thunder Wave is decent on Tyranitar, although many of its common switch-ins are Ground-types or don't mind the paralysis. Stealth Rock is useful for support but is best left to more defensive Pokémon that might have recovery moves. If you do use it though, it is best used on the lead set. Screech is a decent option to force switches, but many of Tyranitar's counters are faster than him and Tyranitar won't be able to take advanage of the opponent's lower Defense. EVsChoice Band: There are two main ways to EV Tyranitar. The most common way is to go 252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Special Defense Adamant. This gives you plenty of survivability without compromising Attack. The other option is to use 252 HP / 40 Attack / 216 Special Defense Careful. This puts your Special Defense up sky-high, and lets you live through a Timid Life Orb Gengar Focus Blast 100% of the time (and thus you will live through anything from most special attackers, although Modest Life Orb Gengar has a 38% chance to OHKO). You still have plenty of Attack thanks to Tyranitar's high base stats and Choice Band, but you will feel the power loss in some cases. Choice Specs follows a similar distribution set, except you'd obviously want Special Attack over Attack and a Calm nature instead of Careful. While Tyranitar is an OU Pokémon, it has massive utility in Ubers thanks to Pursuit and Crunch, which hammer the large amount of Psychics that reside in that tier. 252 HP / 56 Attack / 200 Special Defense and a Careful nature capitalizes on Tyranitar's neutrality to common Uber attacks such as Ice Beam and Thunder, and even lets it survive an Aura Sphere from a Timid Choice Specs Mewtwo. For a more offensive set up, you can switch to Jolly and use max Speed and Attack. This will outrun most Giratina and some slower versions of Groudon and Dialga. Life Orb: The given EVs allow Tyranitar to outpace Blissey, even with the -Spe nature. The Attack and Special Attack maximise the damage output for any and all walls that you are trying to break down. If you wish, you can change the nature to Lonely or Naughty and use 72 HP/ 252 Atk / 96 SpA / 88 Spe. The 88 Spe bests both CB Metagross and Skarmory, the latter of which you can OHKO with Fire Blast with the mere 96 Special Attack EVs. This also allows you to pump more EVs into HP and increase your overall survivability. OpinionMonstrous, both competitively and aesthetically, Tyranitar is easily one of the most dangerous Pokémon in the game, with its massive Attack stat, good defenses—aided by the Special Defense boost from Sand Stream—and passable Special Attack. Tyranitar's only mediocre stat is Speed, and Dragon Dance and Rock Polish help fix that. Not only does Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability grant it the aforementioned boost, but it negates Leftovers recovery on anything not immune to its effects, making staying alive against Tyranitar an even tougher proposition for many Pokémon. It also makes Tyranitar somewhat of a team player, granting an evasion boost to those with the Sand Veil ability, such as Gliscor. Tyranitar's incredible power is backed up by a huge movepool, with which it can hit anything attempting to counter it very hard. The fact that Tyranitar can also acquit itself well against many in the Uber metagame is testament to just how good this powerhouse of a Pokémon really is. CountersScizor has been mentioned a few times in this analysis, and for good reason. His high defense allows him to take a few hits from Tyranitar's Stone Edge, and Scizor can outspeed Tyranitar and deal serious damage with Superpower, STAB X-Scissor or U-Turn. It can also fire off a Bullet Punch to take out a weakened Dragon Dancer. However, be aware that Choice Band Stone Edge from max Attack Tyranitar does 80%-94% against a 248 HP / 0 Def Scizor, and has a chance to OHKO it if Stealth Rock is present. Any set that boasts a Fire-type attack can predict a Scizor switch-in and OHKO him. Forretress works the same way, but it doesn't outspeed Tyranitar and therefore is more vunerable to a Fire-attack from a non-choiced set. Choice Band Stone Edge can still hurt Forretress, potentially 2HKOing it. Bronzong is useful against the Dragon Dancer as it's immune to Earthquake, resistant to Rock, and neutral to Dark. Gyro Ball's power is boosted after a Dragon Dance, which helps both Forretress and Bronzong to kill off Tyranitar. Skarmory can't really threaten Tyranitar, but it can switch in on most sets, and set up Spikes or phaze Tyranitar. Bulky Ground-types are good counters for the physical sets, thanks to their Rock resist and high Defense. Donphan, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior all do a good job, although they have to be aware of a Choice Band Aqua Tail, which can 2HKO. Swampert doesn't have the same problem with Aqua Tail, but a Choice Band Crunch will 3HKO, and a Dragon Dance Life Orb Crunch can 2HKO. Steelix is a good option, but watch out for repeated Earthquakes, Focus Punches, or Aqua Tails. Gliscor can work very effectively as Sand Veil helps to avoid taking a hit and Roost can buy him a Rock resist, though it must be wary of the occasional Ice Beam. All of these can handle Tyranitar with STAB Earthquake. Although Breloom's poor defenses mean it's at risk from Stone Edge—which can 2HKO—it resists everything on the Choice Band set barring the occasional Ice Beam and has Mach Punch and Seed Bomb to kill off Tyranitar. Lucario is in a similar position, but boasts 4x resistances to both STAB moves. Earthquake or Focus Punch will finish Lucario, though, so be wary of that. Poliwrath is another fighter that has these useful resists, and in addition it is also immune to Water and resists Fire and Ice attacks. Hariyama and Machamp both have the defenses to handle Tyranitar's attacks, and resistances to both STAB attacks is a big help. Hariyama has the additional advantage of Thick Fat and Machamp has good Special Defense, which help these Pokémon take Special Attacks pretty easily. |
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