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https://pokepast.es/42ec205a6b74b671
What I like, Gouging is rly nice with Rayquaza and the rest of the mons in general. You dont want to bring Rayquaza every game, but its defensive typing and ability allow it to shine in some match ups. Ray aint in the best spot rn, working on another team rn.
Cyclizar gained one significant thing in the transition to regulation G: a friend ()
Shed Tail + Tera Shell do indeed go brrr. Starting a turn with full-health Terapagos behind a substitute is IME enough to reliably get multiple KOs, if not end the game outright. And this is not a profoundly difficult situation to set up, with supporting pressure from Fake Out, redirection, or even just a strong offensive mon.
What really stood out to me, though, is that Cyclizar isn’t useless outside of Shed Tail. Its speed is incredibly useful, with a Life Orb it deals some respectable damage, and it has coverage to hit a lot of common targets. My favorite atm is Power Whip, which easily 2HKOs Kyogre, but you also have Knock Off for Calyrex-Shadow, Iron Head for fairies, dragon moves for dragons, Overheat for ???, etc.
Overall, I’ve found it reliably able to deal Necessary Chip to important targets in critical situations, which is more than I asked for when shopping for a Shed Tail bot. I wouldn’t say I’ve optimized it, either, and think there’s some more exploration to be done with it.
TLDR, Cyclizar probably C rank in viability, certified Not Terrible when run specifically with Terapagos.
Today I wanna talk about a Pokémon that I think received a HUGE buff by getting Miraidon, and that is Iron Leaves. Iron Leaves in Reg F.. sucks. It’s just not good into the Reg F meta. However, while it’s still not getting that much usage in Reg G, I think it has incredible amounts of potential.
If you want to run Iron Leaves in Reg G, I suggest running this set:
Iron Leaves @ Life Orb
Ability: Quark Drive
Level: 50
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Psyblade
- Close Combat
- Tera Blast
- Protect
Psyblade is there for general stab damage if you don’t wanna use anything else. Close Combat is there for Dark coverage and by the way, an Iron Leaves CC with the Quark Drive boost is still doing absolutely insane damage even to a neutral target(And CC on Leaves isn’t even stab by the way) Finally, you have kind of the wild card move pick on this set, Tera Dark Tera Blast. And it’s simply to hit Caly-S as you probably figured. And of course Protect because its Protect.
I recommend those EVs specifically because going Jolly is valuable for out speeding things that you normally wouldnt outspeed if you went Adamant. And by the way, you’re basically Adamant already thanks to Life Orb and Quark Drive boosts. You also have a little bit of bulk investment which is nice if you want things to do a little less damage.
Of course Iron Leaves does have its flaws. It’s pretty frail and its typing is pretty bad. It can also be sort of a Tera hog in front of Caly-S. I’m personally fine with this as none of the other mons on my team that I’m using Leaves on necessarily need to tera in most scenarios. Plus Miraidon with Snarl can lower opposing Special Attackers damage and Flutter with Icy Wind is also very helpful in case you want to outspeed and deal massive damage to targets.
In conclusion, I recommend running Iron Leaves with Miraidon specifically. As the two make a great duo and Miraidon as well can do absolutely insane damage. I’d also recommend running Fire and Water members of the FWG core to compensate for Leaves weaknesses.
(Feel free to disagree, in my experience I’m kinda the boyt of the VGC room with my teambuilding lol)
I think both of these arguments fall into the same trap: Getting a buff ≠ Being Good
Both mons suffer from massive opportunity costs, where their small nieche just isen't worth running over another option.
With Cyclizar , your sacrificing basically 25% of your team for one or two subs on Terapagoss . Thats an insane price to pay for that amount of value, especially considering you can run say Amoonguss to heal back the same amount of health you will save from Sub, or you can run maybe Grimm and save 50% of its health with Screens. Just isen't worth it to run Cyclizar in any situation over another mon.
Iron Leaves also suffers from the same problem, why would you ever run it over say an Ogerpon. The buff it received cant solve its underlying problems, and even if it did its got stiff competition with other mons that want to run with Mirai . Like, Leaves needs Mirai but Mirai doesen't need Leaves and running it means your not running another useful mon.
Hi everyone, I've enjoyed Reg G a lot so far; it's the first format I've gotten really into for a bit. I think it's shaping up to be a very diverse format as the meta stabilizes and adapts to the crazier shit like Calyrex-S. It's obvious that Dark-types are going to be in VERY high demand thanks to the funny horse, and I predict that a lot of teams will stack multiple Dark- and/or Normal-types to check it despite the stacked weaknesses. Of course a lot of the obvious ones are already showing up on teams, like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Kingambit, Urshifu, Grimmsnarl, etc.
However, there's one Dark-type in particular that I'm really surprised hasn't gotten attention. I want to talk about Tyranitar.
What can Tyranitar bring over other Dark-types in Reg G? Quite a bit, in my opinion.
1. It's really bulky. Like, REALLY specially bulky. In sandstorm, Tyranitar hits a Special Defense stat of 180 with ZERO EVs. For reference, that's higher than most Ogerpon-W get after Tera, higher than Lunala gets with 252+ investment, and higher than Calyrex-I and Kyogrewill get with low/no investment. Combine this with its great resistances to Ghost, Dark, Fire, Psychic, and Flying, and TTar is a seriously competent special tank against a wide variety of threats, even tanking a lot of super effective hits with an Assault Vest.
252 SpA Choice Specs Calyrex-Shadow Astral Barrage vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 30-36 (14.4 - 17.3%) -- possible 6HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Glacial Lance vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 87-103 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice High Horsepower vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 124-146 (59.9 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 102-121 (49.2 - 58.4%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 67-81 (32.3 - 39.1%) -- 99% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 58-70 (28 - 33.8%) -- 98.1% chance to 4HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery Specs E-Terrain Drift + itemless or G-Terrain Drift will NEVER kill
252+ SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Rain: 174-206 (84 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 78-92 (37.6 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 104-126 (50.2 - 60.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Terastal Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 60-72 (28.9 - 34.7%) -- 4.6% chance to 3HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Terastal Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 66-78 (31.8 - 37.6%) -- 84.4% chance to 3HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 84-100 (40.5 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 128-152 (61.8 - 73.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 92-108 (44.4 - 52.1%) -- 11.3% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 134-160 (64.7 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Groudon Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 162-192 (78.2 - 92.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 151-178 (72.9 - 85.9%) -- not a KO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 145-172 (70 - 83%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 93-109 (44.9 - 52.6%) -- 22.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Adamant Crystal Dialga-Origin Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 86-104 (41.5 - 50.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fairy Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 152-180 (73.4 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Flutter Mane Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 68-84 (32.8 - 40.5%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
140 SpA Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 68-84 (32.8 - 40.5%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 87-103 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 84-98 (40.5 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Kingambit Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 134-158 (64.7 - 76.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
164 SpA Life Orb Walking Wake Hydro Steam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 73-88 (35.2 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
164 SpA Life Orb Walking Wake Hydro Steam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sun: 159-190 (76.8 - 91.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This leads into point #2 nicely:
2. It has a surprisingly good matchup spread in this meta. While it has some serious problem MUs with stuff like Zacian, Zamazenta and Koraidon running around, Tyranitar can make major contributions in nearly every kind of matchup, especially because it heavily threatens a lot of common support Pokemon like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Chien-Pao lacking Sacred Sword, Tornadus, Farigiraf, Ogerpon-H, the list goes on. This makes Tyranitar seriously threatening to a significant chunk of the meta as a bulky attacker, especially when it can Tera out of most bad matchups if you want.
Matchup Spread (restricteds):
Positive matchups:
Calyrex-S (eats hits for breakfast, invalidates sash with sand)
Calyrex-I (live two lances with some Defense EVs, 2HKO back with Knock Off)
Miraidon (avoids 2HKO from specs Electro Drift if you Knock Off or switch terrain)
Kyurem-W (Turn off snow, deny veil, hit hard with Rock Slide, eat Blizzard and Draco easily)
Lunala (lol lmao)
Ho-Oh (also lol lmao)
Rayquaza (Yet another lol lmao)
Lugia (might be ass but still lol lmao)
Neutral matchups:
Kyogre (need teammates to take advantage of weather disruption)
Groudon (turns off sun, lives pblades, can tera and hit back hard-ish)
Terapagos (You really annoy them by removing lefties + messing with tera shell thx to sand, but post-tera they can remove sand once and pressure a lot)
Dialga-Origin (slugfest, Flash Cannon hurts but you can EV to live two + discourage them from going for trick room)
Solgaleo (not sure how relevant this guy will be but it's kinda like the Dialga MU, only a bit worse)
Losing matchups:
Zamazenta (even with tera, good luck hurting it unless you tech Fire Blast or some shit)
Zacian (you actually live +0 BB and do good damage back, but fighting moves invalidate you)
Koraidon (forces you to Tera or die, TB flying can't kill back, but at least you turn off sun)
Matchup Spread (other notable mons):
Positive matchups:
Incineroar (Intimidate isn't as much of a problem when you wall the #1 Intimidator and bury it with rocks)
Chi-Yu
Raging Bolt
Tornadus
Thundurus
Indeedee
Armarouge
Farigiraf
Gouging Fire
Ogerpon-Hearthflame
Alolan Ninetales
Iron Bundle (yes, really. Hydro can't 2HKO you with AV)
Iron Jugulis
Torkoal
Volcarona
Articuno (probably won't exist in Reg G but fuck it we can pad the list)
Neutral/set-dependent matchups:
Flutter Mane(Moonblast bounces off AV without max investment and a boosting item, and even Modest specs can't OHKO you)
Chien-Pao (it all depends on Sacred Sword, which seems like it could get less common in Reg G!)
Kingambit (you live Iron Head but die to Low Kick, can't OHKO them back without Low Kick)
Landorus (EP is a roll to 2HKO if the second hit is itemless, they can get goobed in TR, with Ice Punch, or with a well-timed Tera)
Porygon2 (can't deny TR but removing eviolite is high-value)
Losing/Tera-forcing matchups:
Rillaboom (tera saves you big-time if you want to spend it)
Urshifu (You do annoy Darkshifu if it's sash/locks into wicked blow. Watershifu is hopeless)
Ogerpon-Wellspring (you live Cudgel without Tera and TB flying will usually OHKO them with sand, high-cost interaction tho)
Ursaluna
Mienshao (you break sash with sand and can OHKO with TB flying if you want)
Ting-Lu (bitch just won't die lmao)
Iron Hands(^^^^^^^)
Iron Treads
Iron Valiant (these guys will probably run sash so breaking that is nice, tera blast is an option)
Amoonguss (you annoy it a lot but can't kill fast enough. RP sucks to deal with)
3. Sand Stream is more useful than ever. Groudon and Kyogre should destroy your sorry Rock-type ass on paper, but in practice you can live at least one of their hits and severely annoy their weather-dependent partners, especially Protosynthesis mons like Flutter Mane. Shutting off a Speed booster Flutter is really good for enabling other forms of speed control like scarf Urshifu, Prankster Scary Face mons, etc., and removing the rain boost on a Kyogre Water Spout or Urshifu Surging Strikes is massive for playing around them. This can enable some really scary Tailwind, SC, or semiroom teams. You're also A9T's worst nightmare if the rest wasn't enough. Finally, Focus Sash usage is only climbing higher, and sandstorm is incredible for disrupting that if you can build your own team without one.
What restricteds work well with Tyranitar? From initial testing and theorycrafting, there are some interesting options.
1. Zacian: Sword dog is the best candidate by far, as it appreciates sandstorm nullifying Kyogre's rain to let it take a hit, turning off Flutter Speed boosts to outrun it, and breaking various sashes on stuff like Chien-Pao. It also needs help against Caly-S, Lunala, Ho-Oh, and other Fire-types, all of which are devoured by TTar. In exchange, TTar gets a teammate that annihilates or forces a Tera from Koraidon and threatens other fighters like Urshifu, Mienshao, and Iron Valiant, as well as stuff like Ting-Lu. You could run SD with redirection support or a fighting move to help with Ursa and Zamazenta.
2. Lunala: The downside to using Lunala here is that sand breaks Shadow Shield if you don't get hit on the first turn where TTar is in. The upside is basically everything else. With TTar, it gets a mon that shits on both Caly forms, opposing Lunala, and helps with Incineroar, and once again disrupts other weather to help against threats like Kyogre. TTar, meanwhile, gets an excellent Trick Room setter that can take on annoying stuff like Zamazenta, Amoonguss, Landorus and Koraidon, and generally be a threat with Meteor Beam. Heck, you could even use Tera Rock Lunala here for the SpDef boost, sand immunity, and Meteor Beam power, but that might be a little too spicy to fit on a truly good team. At least it OHKOes a ton of stuff.
3. Ho-Oh: Once again, a great abuser of sash-breaking and weather disruption. Did you know Ho-Oh barely needs any bulk investment to live Modest Kyogre Water Spout outside of rain? Pretty cool stuff. Ho-Oh also enjoys some help in the Miraidon matchup, and in exchange it shits on most restricteds that TTar dislikes and makes Amoonguss, non-Watershifu Fighters and sometimes Ogerpon regret their existence. It's a great option for Tailwind support or potentially Trick Room attacking, providing crucial speed control or offensive firepower with TTar. These two are also an incredible anti-Calyrex pairing. Ho-Oh even relieves the pressure to make TTar bringable against sun teams, since Big Bird enjoys some fun in the sun anyway.
What kind of set is best for Tyranitar?
I see Assault Vest as the way to go since it doubles down on what TTar is best at: eating hits and flexing its great coverage. TTar doesn't miss Protect THAT much because one of the most common things that it'd want to protect against is Urshifu, which obviously doesn't work, and it can Tera to beat nearly every other big counter. Clear Amulet is maybe worthwhile if you want to do more to support it as a Trick Room attacker, and something like a Rindo or Chople Berry can also have massive value in specific matchups.
Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Tera Type: Flying / Fairy / Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 68 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Low Kick / High Horsepower
- Tera Blast / Ice Punch
The Defense EVs let you survive two Glacial Lances, winning you the duel with Caly-I most of the time. You could also invest 20 SpD to live two Dialga-O Flash Cannons if that mon gets good, or add Spe to creep Incin. Knock Off has incredible utility beyond its damage, although that's also very good. If you remove Miraidon's specs, it's neutered for the rest of the game. If you remove Terapagos' Leftovers, you're putting even more pressure on it. If you remove Caly-I's clamulet, you can intimidate it and force Tera with the damage alone. A Rock move is important to hit all those Fire-types as hard as possible, I'd personally recommend Rock Slide for the spread damage (and occasional hax) but Stone Edge can be useful to hit stuff like Incin and Flutter harder. High Horsepower is a more reliable option for Fire-types that also hits Zacian, Raging Bolt, Miraidon, and most Steel-types, but Low Kick is good for Terapagos and opposing Dark-types like Kingambit and Ting-Lu. Tera Flying with Tera Blast is amazing for turning the tables on most Fighting-types as well as Grasses like Rillaboom, Waterpon, and Amoonguss. I could also see applications for Tera Fairy since that TB can still hit fighters while also OHKOing Koraidon and not dooming you against bolt/Mirai/Caly-I (which still doesn’t OHKO with Lance anyway!). Tera Dragon is pretty expensive in this meta but it’s amazing to resist Water/Grass/Elec in one type. Ice Punch > Tera Blast is useful to drop Lando and hit most Grasses without Tera. Maybe Tera Poison is worth it on non-AV sets that don’t tangle with boosted Flutter too well.
Edit: Future me here, Iron Head also exists! It lets you OHKO Flutter, hit Iron Valiant, and pressure all the stuff that will try to escape your wrath with Tera Fairy, especially Incin, Bolt, Lunala, and Caly-S.
What other teammates work well with Tyranitar?
1. Rillaboom: Grassy Terrain is great for passive recovery, pressuring Urshifu and screwing over Miraidon further. Good defensive synergy, especially with the Water, Grass and Ground resistances. Taunt is great for Amoonguss if you need it, otherwise U-turn and High Horsepower in that slot both prove their worth in other ways.
2. Flutter Mane: Shuts down Fighting-types and Koraidon hard, hits physically bulky mons like Zamazenta, Ursa, Ting-Lu quite hard as well. Speed control with Icy Wind or Trick Room.
3. Urshifu: Scarf is great speed control for stuff like Zacian. Ice spinner can remove E-terrain before Mirai moves. Coaching is a funny option that actually kinda works if you don't need spinner or AJ. U-turn helps get TTar in at the right time. Also chunks Groudon and checks Kingambit nicely. A fun interaction I like is that Tera Water Surging Strikes actually kills Groudon in sand pretty reliably, so if you get TTar in at the right time they're just boned.
4. Gouging FireFills Fire-type slot nicely without getting bonked by Waterpon or Watershifu. Howl is a great option for Tar and works well with Zacian/Ho-Oh too. Enjoys help against Lunala and Calyrex.
5. Farigiraf: Helping Hand Rock Slides under Trick Room? With no fear of Grassy Glide? On a mon that can pressure Amoonguss, Watershifu, and most Wide Guard users with Psychic STAB? Yes please!
Bonus: Landorus-T: Kinda niche rn but it's an intimidator that helps a TON against fighters, doesn't stack nearly as many weaknesses as Incin, and scarf is great speed control for all sorts of stuff. Also a great TB Flying spammer to ruin Grasses and Fighters, helps Tar run something else like Tera Dragon.
Thanks for reading, I enjoy making manifestos like these since it really gets my brain moving. Hope this does the same for someone else
Today I wanna talk about a Pokémon that I think received a HUGE buff by getting Miraidon, and that is Iron Leaves. Iron Leaves in Reg F.. sucks. It’s just not good into the Reg F meta. However, while it’s still not getting that much usage in Reg G, I think it has incredible amounts of potential.
If you want to run Iron Leaves in Reg G, I suggest running this set:
Iron Leaves @ Life Orb
Ability: Quark Drive
Level: 50
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 HP / 244 Atk / 4 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Psyblade
- Close Combat
- Tera Blast
- Protect
Psyblade is there for general stab damage if you don’t wanna use anything else. Close Combat is there for Dark coverage and by the way, an Iron Leaves CC with the Quark Drive boost is still doing absolutely insane damage even to a neutral target(And CC on Leaves isn’t even stab by the way) Finally, you have kind of the wild card move pick on this set, Tera Dark Tera Blast. And it’s simply to hit Caly-S as you probably figured. And of course Protect because its Protect.
I recommend those EVs specifically because going Jolly is valuable for out speeding things that you normally wouldnt outspeed if you went Adamant. And by the way, you’re basically Adamant already thanks to Life Orb and Quark Drive boosts. You also have a little bit of bulk investment which is nice if you want things to do a little less damage.
Of course Iron Leaves does have its flaws. It’s pretty frail and its typing is pretty bad. It can also be sort of a Tera hog in front of Caly-S. I’m personally fine with this as none of the other mons on my team that I’m using Leaves on necessarily need to tera in most scenarios. Plus Miraidon with Snarl can lower opposing Special Attackers damage and Flutter with Icy Wind is also very helpful in case you want to outspeed and deal massive damage to targets.
In conclusion, I recommend running Iron Leaves with Miraidon specifically. As the two make a great duo and Miraidon as well can do absolutely insane damage. I’d also recommend running Fire and Water members of the FWG core to compensate for Leaves weaknesses.
(Feel free to disagree, in my experience I’m kinda the boyt of the VGC room with my teambuilding lol)
leaf blade & psyblade are pretty consistent STAB, sacred sword is there for dark types with the defensive fairy tera. iirc this ev spread lives some flutter mane shadow balls, and this set was on a tailwind team hence the low speed invest.
sacred sword never kos incineroar, unless its nearly no bulk incineroar, 252+ Atk Quark Drive Iron Leaves Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Incineroar: 160-190 (79.2 - 94%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
close combat almost always kos some frailer incins, 252+ Atk Quark Drive Iron Leaves Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 188 Def Incineroar: 176-208 (87.1 - 102.9%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
the comp ive been running it on is miraidon, iron bundle, iron jugulis, iron leaves, thundurus (alternate speed control w prankster twave and keeps e-terrain up) and either incineorar or iron moth and its been okayish so far, definitely feels like the scarlet sun teams with koraidon, flutter mane and friends is stronger.
Hi everyone, I've enjoyed Reg G a lot so far; it's the first format I've gotten really into for a bit. I think it's shaping up to be a very diverse format as the meta stabilizes and adapts to the crazier shit like Calyrex-S. It's obvious that Dark-types are going to be in VERY high demand thanks to the funny horse, and I predict that a lot of teams will stack multiple Dark- and/or Normal-types to check it despite the stacked weaknesses. Of course a lot of the obvious ones are already showing up on teams, like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Kingambit, Urshifu, Grimmsnarl, etc.
However, there's one Dark-type in particular that I'm really surprised hasn't gotten attention. I want to talk about Tyranitar.
What can Tyranitar bring over other Dark-types in Reg G? Quite a bit, in my opinion.
1. It's really bulky. Like, REALLY specially bulky. In sandstorm, Tyranitar hits a Special Defense stat of 180 with ZERO EVs. For reference, that's higher than most Ogerpon-W get after Tera, higher than Lunala gets with max investment and a boosting nature, and higher than Calyrex-I and most Kyogre will get with their low investments. Combine this with its great resistances to Ghost, Dark, Fire, Psychic, and Flying, and TTar is a seriously competent special tank against a wide variety of threats, even tanking a lot of super effective hits with an Assault Vest.
252 SpA Choice Specs Calyrex-Shadow Astral Barrage vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 30-36 (14.4 - 17.3%) -- possible 6HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Glacial Lance vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 87-103 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice High Horsepower vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 124-146 (59.9 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 102-121 (49.2 - 58.4%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 67-81 (32.3 - 39.1%) -- 99% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 58-70 (28 - 33.8%) -- 98.1% chance to 4HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery Specs E-Terrain Drift + itemless or G-Terrain Drift will NEVER kill
252+ SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Rain: 174-206 (84 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 78-92 (37.6 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 104-126 (50.2 - 60.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Terastal Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 60-72 (28.9 - 34.7%) -- 4.6% chance to 3HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Terastal Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 66-78 (31.8 - 37.6%) -- 84.4% chance to 3HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 84-100 (40.5 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 128-152 (61.8 - 73.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 92-108 (44.4 - 52.1%) -- 11.3% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 134-160 (64.7 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Groudon Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 162-192 (78.2 - 92.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 151-178 (72.9 - 85.9%) -- not a KO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 145-172 (70 - 83%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 93-109 (44.9 - 52.6%) -- 22.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Adamant Crystal Dialga-Origin Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 86-104 (41.5 - 50.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fairy Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 152-180 (73.4 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Flutter Mane Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 68-84 (32.8 - 40.5%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
140 SpA Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 68-84 (32.8 - 40.5%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 87-103 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 84-98 (40.5 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Kingambit Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 134-158 (64.7 - 76.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
164 SpA Life Orb Walking Wake Hydro Steam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 73-88 (35.2 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
164 SpA Life Orb Walking Wake Hydro Steam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sun: 159-190 (76.8 - 91.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This leads into point #2 nicely:
2. It has a surprisingly good matchup spread in this meta. While it has some serious problem MUs with stuff like Zacian, Zamazenta and Koraidon running around, Tyranitar can make major contributions in nearly every kind of matchup, especially because it heavily threatens a lot of common support Pokemon like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Chien-Pao lacking Sacred Sword, Tornadus, Farigiraf, Ogerpon-H, the list goes on. This makes Tyranitar seriously threatening to a significant chunk of the meta as a bulky attacker, especially when it can Tera out of most bad matchups if you want.
Matchup Spread (restricteds):
Positive matchups:
Calyrex-S (eats hits for breakfast, invalidates sash with sand)
Calyrex-I (live two lances with some Defense EVs, 2HKO back with Knock Off)
Miraidon (avoids 2HKO from specs Electro Drift if you Knock Off or switch terrain)
Kyurem-W (Turn off snow, deny veil, hit hard with Rock Slide, eat Blizzard and Draco easily)
Lunala (lol lmao)
Ho-Oh (also lol lmao)
Rayquaza (Yet another lol lmao)
Neutral matchups:
Kyogre (need teammates to take advantage of weather disruption)
Groudon (turns off sun, lives pblades, can tera and hit back hard-ish)
Terapagos (You really annoy them by removing lefties + messing with tera shell thx to sand, but post-tera they can remove sand once and pressure a lot)
Dialga-Origin (slugfest, Flash Cannon hurts but you can EV to live two + discourage them from going for trick room)
Solgaleo (not sure how relevant this guy will be but it's kinda like the Dialga MU, only a bit worse)
Losing matchups:
Zamazenta (even with tera, good luck hurting it unless you tech Fire Blast or some shit)
Zacian (you actually live +0 BB and do good damage back, but fighting moves invalidate you)
Koraidon (forces you to Tera or die, TB flying can't kill back, but at least you turn off sun)
Matchup Spread (other notable mons):
Positive matchups:
Incineroar (Intimidate isn't as much of a problem when you wall the #1 Intimidator and bury it with rocks)
Chi-Yu
Raging Bolt
Tornadus
Thundurus
Indeedee
Armarouge
Farigiraf
Gouging Fire
Ogerpon-Hearthflame
Alolan Ninetales
Iron Bundle (yes, really. Hydro can't 2HKO you with AV)
Iron Jugulis
Torkoal
Volcarona
Articuno (probably won't exist in Reg G but fuck it we can pad the list)
Neutral/set-dependent matchups:
Flutter Mane(Moonblast bounces off AV without max investment and a boosting item, and even Modest specs can't OHKO you)
Chien-Pao (it all depends on Sacred Sword, which seems like it could get less common in Reg G!)
Kingambit (you live Iron Head but die to Low Kick, can't OHKO them back without Low Kick)
Landorus (EP is a roll to 2HKO if the second hit is itemless, they can get goobed in TR, with Ice Punch, or with a well-timed Tera)
Porygon2 (can't deny TR but removing eviolite is high-value)
Losing/Tera-forcing matchups:
Rillaboom (tera saves you big-time if you want to spend it)
Urshifu (You do annoy Darkshifu if it's sash/locks into wicked blow. Watershifu is hopeless)
Ogerpon-Wellspring (you live Cudgel without Tera and TB flying will usually OHKO them with sand, high-cost interaction tho)
Ursaluna
Mienshao (you break sash with sand and can OHKO with TB flying if you want)
Ting-Lu (bitch just won't die lmao)
Iron Hands(^^^^^^^)
Iron Treads
Iron Valiant (these guys will probably run sash so breaking that is nice, tera blast is an option)
Amoonguss (you annoy it a lot but can't kill fast enough. RP sucks to deal with)
3. Sand Stream is more useful than ever. Groudon and Kyogre should destroy your sorry Rock-type ass on paper, but in practice you can live at least one of their hits and severely annoy their weather-dependent partners, especially Protosynthesis mons like Flutter Mane. Shutting off a Speed booster Flutter is really good for enabling other forms of speed control like scarf Urshifu, Prankster Scary Face mons, etc., and removing the rain boost on a Kyogre Water Spout or Urshifu Surging Strikes is massive for playing around them. This can enable some really scary Tailwind, SC, or semiroom teams. You're also A9T's worst nightmare if the rest wasn't enough. Finally, Focus Sash usage is only climbing higher, and sandstorm is incredible for disrupting that if you can build your own team without one.
What restricteds work well with Tyranitar? From initial testing and theorycrafting, there are some interesting options.
1. Zacian: Sword dog is the best candidate by far, as it appreciates sandstorm nullifying Kyogre's rain to let it take a hit, turning off Flutter Speed boosts to outrun it, and breaking various sashes on stuff like Chien-Pao. It also needs help against Caly-S, Lunala, Ho-Oh, and other Fire-types, all of which are devoured by TTar. In exchange, TTar gets a teammate that annihilates or forces a Tera from Koraidon and threatens other fighters like Urshifu, Mienshao, and Iron Valiant, as well as stuff like Ting-Lu. You could run SD with redirection support or a fighting move to help with Ursa and Zamazenta.
2. Lunala: The downside to using Lunala here is that sand breaks Shadow Shield if you don't get hit on the first turn where TTar is in. The upside is basically everything else. With TTar, it gets a mon that shits on both Caly forms, opposing Lunala, and helps with Incineroar, and once again disrupts other weather to help against threats like Kyogre. TTar, meanwhile, gets an excellent Trick Room setter that can take on annoying stuff like Zamazenta, Amoonguss, Landorus and Koraidon, and generally be a threat with Meteor Beam. Heck, you could even use Tera Rock Lunala here for the SpDef boost, sand immunity, and Meteor Beam power, but that might be a little too spicy to fit on a truly good team. At least it OHKOes a ton of stuff.
3. Ho-Oh: Once again, a great abuser of sash-breaking and weather disruption. Did you know Ho-Oh barely needs any bulk investment to live Modest Kyogre Water Spout outside of rain? Pretty cool stuff. Ho-Oh also enjoys some help in the Miraidon matchup, and in exchange it shits on most restricteds that TTar dislikes and makes Amoonguss, non-Watershifu Fighters and sometimes Ogerpon regret their existence. It's a great option for Tailwind support or potentially Trick Room attacking, providing crucial speed control or offensive firepower with TTar. These two are also an incredible anti-Calyrex pairing. Ho-Oh even relieves the pressure to make TTar bringable against sun teams, since Big Bird enjoys some fun in the sun anyway.
What kind of set is best for Tyranitar?
I see Assault Vest as the way to go since it doubles down on what TTar is best at: eating hits and flexing its great coverage. TTar doesn't miss Protect THAT much because one of the most common things that it'd want to protect against is Urshifu, which obviously doesn't work, and it can Tera to beat nearly every other big counter. Clear Amulet is maybe worthwhile if you want to do more to support it as a Trick Room attacker, and something like a Rindo or Chople Berry can also have massive value in specific matchups.
Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Tera Type: Flying / Fairy / Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 68 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Low Kick / High Horsepower
- Tera Blast / Ice Punch
The Defense EVs let you survive two Glacial Lances, winning you the duel with Caly-I most of the time. You could also invest 20 SpD to live two Dialga-O Flash Cannons if that mon gets good, or add Spe to creep Incin. Knock Off has incredible utility beyond its damage, although that's also very good. If you remove Miraidon's specs, it's neutered for the rest of the game. If you remove Terapagos' Leftovers, you're putting even more pressure on it. If you remove Caly-I's clamulet, you can intimidate it and force Tera with the damage alone. A Rock move is important to hit all those Fire-types as hard as possible, I'd personally recommend Rock Slide for the spread damage (and occasional hax) but Stone Edge can be useful to hit stuff like Incin and Flutter harder. High Horsepower is a more reliable option for Fire-types that also hits Zacian, Raging Bolt, Miraidon, and most Steel-types, but Low Kick is good for Terapagos and opposing Dark-types like Kingambit and Ting-Lu. Tera Flying with Tera Blast is amazing for turning the tables on most Fighting-types as well as Grasses like Rillaboom, Waterpon, and Amoonguss. I could also see applications for Tera Fairy since that TB can still hit fighters while also OHKOing Koraidon and not dooming you against bolt/Mirai/Caly-I (which still doesn’t OHKO with Lance anyway!). Tera Dragon is pretty expensive in this meta but it’s amazing to resist Water/Grass/Elec in one type. Ice Punch > Tera Blast is useful to drop Lando and hit most Grasses without Tera. Maybe Tera Poison is worth it on non-AV sets that don’t tangle with boosted Flutter too well.
What other teammates work well with Tyranitar?
1. Rillaboom: Grassy Terrain is great for passive recovery, pressuring Urshifu and screwing over Miraidon further. Good defensive synergy, especially with the Water, Grass and Ground resistances. Taunt is great for Amoonguss if you need it, otherwise U-turn and High Horsepower in that slot both prove their worth in other ways.
2. Flutter Mane: Shuts down Fighting-types and Koraidon hard, hits physically bulky mons like Zamazenta, Ursa, Ting-Lu quite hard as well. Speed control with Icy Wind or Trick Room.
3. Urshifu: Scarf is great speed control for stuff like Zacian. Ice spinner can remove E-terrain before Mirai moves. Coaching is a funny option that actually kinda works if you don't need spinner or AJ. U-turn helps get TTar in at the right time. Also chunks Groudon and checks Kingambit nicely. A fun interaction I like is that Tera Water Surging Strikes actually kills Groudon in sand pretty reliably, so if you get TTar in at the right time they're just boned.
4. Gouging FireFills Fire-type slot nicely without getting bonked by Waterpon or Watershifu. Howl is a great option for Tar and works well with Zacian/Ho-Oh too. Enjoys help against Lunala and Calyrex.
5. Farigiraf: Helping Hand Rock Slides under Trick Room? With no fear of Grassy Glide? On a mon that can pressure Amoonguss, Watershifu, and most Wide Guard users with Psychic STAB? Yes please!
Bonus: Landorus-T: Kinda niche rn but it's an intimidator that helps a TON against fighters, doesn't stack nearly as many weaknesses as Incin, and scarf is great speed control for all sorts of stuff. Also a great TB Flying spammer to ruin Grasses and Fighters, helps Tar run something else like Tera Dragon.
Thanks for reading, I enjoy making manifestos like these since it really gets my brain moving. Hope this does the same for someone else
I was curious why Excadrill was not mentioned as it is the defacto tyranitar parnter. outspeeds zacian and ghosthorse, the classic rockslide spammer, and can threaten ohkos on zacian, miraidon, and can chunk zamazenta. It is frail and probably needs clear amulet, but I genuinely think it helps out tyranitar so much. Also hypothetically, 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Flying Excadrill Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Koraidon: 179-213 (102.2 - 121.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
I was curious why Excadrill was not mentioned as it is the defacto tyranitar parnter. outspeeds zacian and ghosthorse, the classic rockslide spammer, and can threaten ohkos on zacian, miraidon, and can chunk zamazenta. It is frail and probably needs clear amulet, but I genuinely think it helps out tyranitar so much. Also hypothetically, 252+ Atk Life Orb Tera Flying Excadrill Tera Blast (80 BP) vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Koraidon: 179-213 (102.2 - 121.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO.
I considered Excadrill but I think it just has too many problems in this meta. Did you know that Booster Bundle outruns max Speed Jolly Excadrill in sand by one point? I was depressed when I saw that, it means you need to Tera to actually beat Mirai a lot of the time when it should otherwise be free real estate. You also need Jolly to outspeed Booster Flutter, which means it has some power issues that are compounded by it being forced to run Clear Amulet instead of a boosting item. It does basically nothing to Groudon and Zamazenta, which makes tough matchups even worse and makes it less appealing in the Ground-type slot compared to something like Lando-I. In addition, neither TTar nor Drill can immediately threaten Watershifu or Waterpon without Tera, so it can just click Surging Strikes/Ivy Cudgel and either force a Tera instantly or delete your best speed control outright. Tera Grass vs. Tera Flying is a tough decision; the former helps you more defensively, the latter lets you delete Waterpon with Tera Blast. I guess SD could theoretically work with Amoonguss support or something, but you miss Tera Blast coverage + only have 5 turns of sand (potentially less in weather wars) and at that point I'd rather just use Zacian.
252 Atk Excadrill High Horsepower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Zacian-Crowned: 150-176 (89.8 - 105.3%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
252 Atk Excadrill High Horsepower vs. +1 196 HP / 44+ Def Zamazenta-Crowned: 74-90 (38.5 - 46.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Excadrill High Horsepower vs. 188 HP / 140 Def Raging Bolt: 156-186 (69.6 - 83%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Excadrill High Horsepower vs. 252 HP / 140 Def Incineroar: 158-188 (78.2 - 93%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Excadrill High Horsepower vs. 252 HP / 20 Def Gouging Fire: 140-168 (66 - 79.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 Atk Tera Grass Excadrill Tera Blast (Grass/Flying) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Urshifu-Rapid-Strike: 140-168 (80 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Hi everyone, I've enjoyed Reg G a lot so far; it's the first format I've gotten really into for a bit. I think it's shaping up to be a very diverse format as the meta stabilizes and adapts to the crazier shit like Calyrex-S. It's obvious that Dark-types are going to be in VERY high demand thanks to the funny horse, and I predict that a lot of teams will stack multiple Dark- and/or Normal-types to check it despite the stacked weaknesses. Of course a lot of the obvious ones are already showing up on teams, like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Kingambit, Urshifu, Grimmsnarl, etc.
However, there's one Dark-type in particular that I'm really surprised hasn't gotten attention. I want to talk about Tyranitar.
What can Tyranitar bring over other Dark-types in Reg G? Quite a bit, in my opinion.
1. It's really bulky. Like, REALLY specially bulky. In sandstorm, Tyranitar hits a Special Defense stat of 180 with ZERO EVs. For reference, that's higher than most Ogerpon-W get after Tera, higher than Lunala gets with max investment and a boosting nature, and higher than Calyrex-I and most Kyogre will get with their low investments. Combine this with its great resistances to Ghost, Dark, Fire, Psychic, and Flying, and TTar is a seriously competent special tank against a wide variety of threats, even tanking a lot of super effective hits with an Assault Vest.
252 SpA Choice Specs Calyrex-Shadow Astral Barrage vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 30-36 (14.4 - 17.3%) -- possible 6HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice Glacial Lance vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 87-103 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Calyrex-Ice High Horsepower vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 124-146 (59.9 - 70.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 102-121 (49.2 - 58.4%) -- 98.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Hadron Engine Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 67-81 (32.3 - 39.1%) -- 99% chance to 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Miraidon Electro Drift vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 58-70 (28 - 33.8%) -- 98.1% chance to 4HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery Specs E-Terrain Drift + itemless or G-Terrain Drift will NEVER kill
252+ SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Rain: 174-206 (84 - 99.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre Origin Pulse vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 78-92 (37.6 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ SpA Kyogre Water Spout (150 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 104-126 (50.2 - 60.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Terastal Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 60-72 (28.9 - 34.7%) -- 4.6% chance to 3HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Terastal Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 66-78 (31.8 - 37.6%) -- 84.4% chance to 3HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 84-100 (40.5 - 48.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
+1 156+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 128-152 (61.8 - 73.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 92-108 (44.4 - 52.1%) -- 11.3% chance to 2HKO
+1 252+ SpA Terapagos-Stellar Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 134-160 (64.7 - 77.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Groudon Precipice Blades vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 162-192 (78.2 - 92.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor over 2 turns vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 151-178 (72.9 - 85.9%) -- not a KO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 145-172 (70 - 83%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Turboblaze Kyurem-White Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar: 93-109 (44.9 - 52.6%) -- 22.3% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Adamant Crystal Dialga-Origin Flash Cannon vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 86-104 (41.5 - 50.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tera Fairy Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 152-180 (73.4 - 86.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Flutter Mane Dazzling Gleam vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 68-84 (32.8 - 40.5%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
140 SpA Flutter Mane Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 68-84 (32.8 - 40.5%) -- 99.9% chance to 3HKO
252+ Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Icicle Crash vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 87-103 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Iron Bundle Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 84-98 (40.5 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252+ Atk Kingambit Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 68 Def Tyranitar: 134-158 (64.7 - 76.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
164 SpA Life Orb Walking Wake Hydro Steam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 73-88 (35.2 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
164 SpA Life Orb Walking Wake Hydro Steam vs. 252 HP / 20 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sun: 159-190 (76.8 - 91.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
This leads into point #2 nicely:
2. It has a surprisingly good matchup spread in this meta. While it has some serious problem MUs with stuff like Zacian, Zamazenta and Koraidon running around, Tyranitar can make major contributions in nearly every kind of matchup, especially because it heavily threatens a lot of common support Pokemon like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Chien-Pao lacking Sacred Sword, Tornadus, Farigiraf, Ogerpon-H, the list goes on. This makes Tyranitar seriously threatening to a significant chunk of the meta as a bulky attacker, especially when it can Tera out of most bad matchups if you want.
Matchup Spread (restricteds):
Positive matchups:
Calyrex-S (eats hits for breakfast, invalidates sash with sand)
Calyrex-I (live two lances with some Defense EVs, 2HKO back with Knock Off)
Miraidon (avoids 2HKO from specs Electro Drift if you Knock Off or switch terrain)
Kyurem-W (Turn off snow, deny veil, hit hard with Rock Slide, eat Blizzard and Draco easily)
Lunala (lol lmao)
Ho-Oh (also lol lmao)
Rayquaza (Yet another lol lmao)
Neutral matchups:
Kyogre (need teammates to take advantage of weather disruption)
Groudon (turns off sun, lives pblades, can tera and hit back hard-ish)
Terapagos (You really annoy them by removing lefties + messing with tera shell thx to sand, but post-tera they can remove sand once and pressure a lot)
Dialga-Origin (slugfest, Flash Cannon hurts but you can EV to live two + discourage them from going for trick room)
Solgaleo (not sure how relevant this guy will be but it's kinda like the Dialga MU, only a bit worse)
Losing matchups:
Zamazenta (even with tera, good luck hurting it unless you tech Fire Blast or some shit)
Zacian (you actually live +0 BB and do good damage back, but fighting moves invalidate you)
Koraidon (forces you to Tera or die, TB flying can't kill back, but at least you turn off sun)
Matchup Spread (other notable mons):
Positive matchups:
Incineroar (Intimidate isn't as much of a problem when you wall the #1 Intimidator and bury it with rocks)
Chi-Yu
Raging Bolt
Tornadus
Thundurus
Indeedee
Armarouge
Farigiraf
Gouging Fire
Ogerpon-Hearthflame
Alolan Ninetales
Iron Bundle (yes, really. Hydro can't 2HKO you with AV)
Iron Jugulis
Torkoal
Volcarona
Articuno (probably won't exist in Reg G but fuck it we can pad the list)
Neutral/set-dependent matchups:
Flutter Mane(Moonblast bounces off AV without max investment and a boosting item, and even Modest specs can't OHKO you)
Chien-Pao (it all depends on Sacred Sword, which seems like it could get less common in Reg G!)
Kingambit (you live Iron Head but die to Low Kick, can't OHKO them back without Low Kick)
Landorus (EP is a roll to 2HKO if the second hit is itemless, they can get goobed in TR, with Ice Punch, or with a well-timed Tera)
Porygon2 (can't deny TR but removing eviolite is high-value)
Losing/Tera-forcing matchups:
Rillaboom (tera saves you big-time if you want to spend it)
Urshifu (You do annoy Darkshifu if it's sash/locks into wicked blow. Watershifu is hopeless)
Ogerpon-Wellspring (you live Cudgel without Tera and TB flying will usually OHKO them with sand, high-cost interaction tho)
Ursaluna
Mienshao (you break sash with sand and can OHKO with TB flying if you want)
Ting-Lu (bitch just won't die lmao)
Iron Hands(^^^^^^^)
Iron Treads
Iron Valiant (these guys will probably run sash so breaking that is nice, tera blast is an option)
Amoonguss (you annoy it a lot but can't kill fast enough. RP sucks to deal with)
3. Sand Stream is more useful than ever. Groudon and Kyogre should destroy your sorry Rock-type ass on paper, but in practice you can live at least one of their hits and severely annoy their weather-dependent partners, especially Protosynthesis mons like Flutter Mane. Shutting off a Speed booster Flutter is really good for enabling other forms of speed control like scarf Urshifu, Prankster Scary Face mons, etc., and removing the rain boost on a Kyogre Water Spout or Urshifu Surging Strikes is massive for playing around them. This can enable some really scary Tailwind, SC, or semiroom teams. You're also A9T's worst nightmare if the rest wasn't enough. Finally, Focus Sash usage is only climbing higher, and sandstorm is incredible for disrupting that if you can build your own team without one.
What restricteds work well with Tyranitar? From initial testing and theorycrafting, there are some interesting options.
1. Zacian: Sword dog is the best candidate by far, as it appreciates sandstorm nullifying Kyogre's rain to let it take a hit, turning off Flutter Speed boosts to outrun it, and breaking various sashes on stuff like Chien-Pao. It also needs help against Caly-S, Lunala, Ho-Oh, and other Fire-types, all of which are devoured by TTar. In exchange, TTar gets a teammate that annihilates or forces a Tera from Koraidon and threatens other fighters like Urshifu, Mienshao, and Iron Valiant, as well as stuff like Ting-Lu. You could run SD with redirection support or a fighting move to help with Ursa and Zamazenta.
2. Lunala: The downside to using Lunala here is that sand breaks Shadow Shield if you don't get hit on the first turn where TTar is in. The upside is basically everything else. With TTar, it gets a mon that shits on both Caly forms, opposing Lunala, and helps with Incineroar, and once again disrupts other weather to help against threats like Kyogre. TTar, meanwhile, gets an excellent Trick Room setter that can take on annoying stuff like Zamazenta, Amoonguss, Landorus and Koraidon, and generally be a threat with Meteor Beam. Heck, you could even use Tera Rock Lunala here for the SpDef boost, sand immunity, and Meteor Beam power, but that might be a little too spicy to fit on a truly good team. At least it OHKOes a ton of stuff.
3. Ho-Oh: Once again, a great abuser of sash-breaking and weather disruption. Did you know Ho-Oh barely needs any bulk investment to live Modest Kyogre Water Spout outside of rain? Pretty cool stuff. Ho-Oh also enjoys some help in the Miraidon matchup, and in exchange it shits on most restricteds that TTar dislikes and makes Amoonguss, non-Watershifu Fighters and sometimes Ogerpon regret their existence. It's a great option for Tailwind support or potentially Trick Room attacking, providing crucial speed control or offensive firepower with TTar. These two are also an incredible anti-Calyrex pairing. Ho-Oh even relieves the pressure to make TTar bringable against sun teams, since Big Bird enjoys some fun in the sun anyway.
What kind of set is best for Tyranitar?
I see Assault Vest as the way to go since it doubles down on what TTar is best at: eating hits and flexing its great coverage. TTar doesn't miss Protect THAT much because one of the most common things that it'd want to protect against is Urshifu, which obviously doesn't work, and it can Tera to beat nearly every other big counter. Clear Amulet is maybe worthwhile if you want to do more to support it as a Trick Room attacker, and something like a Rindo or Chople Berry can also have massive value in specific matchups.
Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
Level: 50
Tera Type: Flying / Fairy / Dragon
EVs: 252 HP / 180 Atk / 68 Def / 4 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Knock Off
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Low Kick / High Horsepower
- Tera Blast / Ice Punch
The Defense EVs let you survive two Glacial Lances, winning you the duel with Caly-I most of the time. You could also invest 20 SpD to live two Dialga-O Flash Cannons if that mon gets good, or add Spe to creep Incin. Knock Off has incredible utility beyond its damage, although that's also very good. If you remove Miraidon's specs, it's neutered for the rest of the game. If you remove Terapagos' Leftovers, you're putting even more pressure on it. If you remove Caly-I's clamulet, you can intimidate it and force Tera with the damage alone. A Rock move is important to hit all those Fire-types as hard as possible, I'd personally recommend Rock Slide for the spread damage (and occasional hax) but Stone Edge can be useful to hit stuff like Incin and Flutter harder. High Horsepower is a more reliable option for Fire-types that also hits Zacian, Raging Bolt, Miraidon, and most Steel-types, but Low Kick is good for Terapagos and opposing Dark-types like Kingambit and Ting-Lu. Tera Flying with Tera Blast is amazing for turning the tables on most Fighting-types as well as Grasses like Rillaboom, Waterpon, and Amoonguss. I could also see applications for Tera Fairy since that TB can still hit fighters while also OHKOing Koraidon and not dooming you against bolt/Mirai/Caly-I (which still doesn’t OHKO with Lance anyway!). Tera Dragon is pretty expensive in this meta but it’s amazing to resist Water/Grass/Elec in one type. Ice Punch > Tera Blast is useful to drop Lando and hit most Grasses without Tera. Maybe Tera Poison is worth it on non-AV sets that don’t tangle with boosted Flutter too well.
What other teammates work well with Tyranitar?
1. Rillaboom: Grassy Terrain is great for passive recovery, pressuring Urshifu and screwing over Miraidon further. Good defensive synergy, especially with the Water, Grass and Ground resistances. Taunt is great for Amoonguss if you need it, otherwise U-turn and High Horsepower in that slot both prove their worth in other ways.
2. Flutter Mane: Shuts down Fighting-types and Koraidon hard, hits physically bulky mons like Zamazenta, Ursa, Ting-Lu quite hard as well. Speed control with Icy Wind or Trick Room.
3. Urshifu: Scarf is great speed control for stuff like Zacian. Ice spinner can remove E-terrain before Mirai moves. Coaching is a funny option that actually kinda works if you don't need spinner or AJ. U-turn helps get TTar in at the right time. Also chunks Groudon and checks Kingambit nicely. A fun interaction I like is that Tera Water Surging Strikes actually kills Groudon in sand pretty reliably, so if you get TTar in at the right time they're just boned.
4. Gouging FireFills Fire-type slot nicely without getting bonked by Waterpon or Watershifu. Howl is a great option for Tar and works well with Zacian/Ho-Oh too. Enjoys help against Lunala and Calyrex.
5. Farigiraf: Helping Hand Rock Slides under Trick Room? With no fear of Grassy Glide? On a mon that can pressure Amoonguss, Watershifu, and most Wide Guard users with Psychic STAB? Yes please!
Bonus: Landorus-T: Kinda niche rn but it's an intimidator that helps a TON against fighters, doesn't stack nearly as many weaknesses as Incin, and scarf is great speed control for all sorts of stuff. Also a great TB Flying spammer to ruin Grasses and Fighters, helps Tar run something else like Tera Dragon.
Thanks for reading, I enjoy making manifestos like these since it really gets my brain moving. Hope this does the same for someone else
This an excellent post and something I think a lot of people have not realized in the regulation G metagame, Tyranitar is great into most of the restricteds. Tyranitar also is the best at controlling weather, since it's the slowest weather setter you are guaranteed to have your sand up on Turn 1. That control of weather as well as great matchups into the restricteds is super nice for Tyranitar and it's allies.
Something else not mentioned is Physical attackers are the main threat to Tyranitar, but since the restricted legendaries run clear amulet to negate Intimidate, Tyranitar is not threatened nearly as much by them since they lack that boosting item. Focus Sash is also everywhere right now with Mienshao, Clayrex-shadow, Chi-Yu, Urshifu-Single Strike so sand breaking that is exteremely clutch. Great post again and thanks for making note of this huge underrated threat in the regulation G metagame!
Bonus: Landorus-T: Kinda niche rn but it's an intimidator that helps a TON against fighters, doesn't stack nearly as many weaknesses as Incin, and scarf is great speed control for all sorts of stuff. Also a great TB Flying spammer to ruin Grasses and Fighters, helps Tar run something else like Tera Dragon.
I've been experimenting with non choice-item Lando because I feel like taunt is super valuable. Helps to shut down incin, spore, and improves the matchup versus trick room. Stomping tantrum hits most legends for neutral or supereffective damage. U-turn and protect round out your utility and tera grass lets you resist ogerpon and rain structures. I liked that it has a positive matchup into Mirai and Korai but the latter holds amulet and can sd to blow you up. Like you said choice items are still viable and I believe this mon can still see some usage.
I've been experimenting with non choice-item Lando because I feel like taunt is super valuable. Helps to shut down incin, spore, and improves the matchup versus trick room. Stomping tantrum hits most legends for neutral or supereffective damage. U-turn and protect round out your utility and tera grass lets you resist ogerpon and rain structures. I liked that it has a positive matchup into Mirai and Korai but the latter holds amulet and can sd to blow you up. Like you said choice items are still viable and I believe this mon can still see some usage.
I think Landorus-Therian only with Assault Vest can be very good. With every physical attacking Restricted using Clear Amulet, Landorus-Therian feels forced to go for more Specially Defensive sets to keep a defensive prescence. Groudon and Koraidon in Sun, Zacian-Crowned and Calyrex-Ice especially ignore Intimidate thanks to Clear Amulet and still do great damage to Landorus-therian even without a damage boosting item.
However as you noted Landorus-Therian does great into Miraidon, Calyrex-Shadow, and other special threats like Flutter Mane so I think hinging on that niche and using Assault Vest can be worth it. While losing Taunt sucks, I don't think Landorus-Therian had the moveslot space to run Taunt anyways. You want Stomping Tantrum then U-Turn and Rock Slide is still a must, and assuming this is not Assault Vest then you'd want Protect almost always. I think at that point you forgo the Protect and go Tera Blast Flying, and plop an Assault Vest for the longevity.
I think Landorus-Therian only with Assault Vest can be very good. With every physical attacking Restricted using Clear Amulet, Landorus-Therian feels forced to go for more Specially Defensive sets to keep a defensive prescence. Groudon and Koraidon in Sun, Zacian-Crowned and Calyrex-Ice especially ignore Intimidate thanks to Clear Amulet and still do great damage to Landorus-therian even without a damage boosting item.
However as you noted Landorus-Therian does great into Miraidon, Calyrex-Shadow, and other special threats like Flutter Mane so I think hinging on that niche and using Assault Vest can be worth it. While losing Taunt sucks, I don't think Landorus-Therian had the moveslot space to run Taunt anyways. You want Stomping Tantrum then U-Turn and Rock Slide is still a must, and assuming this is not Assault Vest then you'd want Protect almost always. I think at that point you forgo the Protect and go Knock Off or Tera Blast Flying, and plop an Assault Vest for the longevity.
Thanks for the input. I'm pretty new to vgc so info like this helps (Note: Lando doesn't get knock off anymore). From what I've seen the only non-prankster taunt users are Flutter (which loses to incin), and occasionally Moon and Annihilape.
I feel like lefto kyogre + cress makes a lot of sense in a disto-rain style. The idea is to have a slow calm mind setup kyogre with water spout + calm mind + coverage (right now i'm playing tera fairy + tera blast 'cause i always tera kyogre anyway), with a cress disto + lunar blessing + skill swap. Disto allow easy speed control with kyogre and counter the disto of slower mons such as calyrex-ice, lunar blessing heals your mons and allows water spout to remain a viable option through the game, and skill swap allows climat control by exchanging the ability of kyogre and cress and reactivating drizzle. The move may seem odd, but it's actually a great way to counteract a coming groudon/koraidon and click water sprout without much to worry about. It also allow the whole idea of a slow setup kyogre since thanks to that the end of the rain doesn't require you to lose your setup by leaving the terrain. Plus the small bonus of giving ground moves immunity to kyogre, but that's really negligeable obviously. Since kyogre has such incredible offensive power, basically only one calm mind is enough to threaten the entierity of the meta, even resistances, and with it's bulk and cress' help, it's really easy to setup.
I'm obviously not a very skilled player, but i still manage to do great things with this duo (well mainly because at low ladder nobody really expect the skill swap trick). I still struggle to find the perfect mons to complement it I must say (but I find gallame with disto + wide guard quite good with it, and rilla with its fake out and grassy terrain also seems a really good option on par with cress in term of increasing the staying power of kyogre and allowing easy setup). I really wonder if this duo have some future or not.
I feel like lefto kyogre + cress makes a lot of sense in a disto-rain style. The idea is to have a slow calm mind setup kyogre with water spout + calm mind + coverage (right now i'm playing tera fairy + tera blast 'cause i always tera kyogre anyway), with a cress disto + lunar blessing + skill swap. Disto allow easy speed control with kyogre and counter the disto of slower mons such as calyrex-ice, lunar blessing heals your mons and allows water spout to remain a viable option through the game, and skill swap allows climat control by exchanging the ability of kyogre and cress and reactivating drizzle. The move may seem odd, but it's actually a great way to counteract a coming groudon/koraidon and click water sprout without much to worry about. It also allow the whole idea of a slow setup kyogre since thanks to that the end of the rain doesn't require you to lose your setup by leaving the terrain. Plus the small bonus of giving ground moves immunity to kyogre, but that's really negligeable obviously. Since kyogre has such incredible offensive power, basically only one calm mind is enough to threaten the entierity of the meta, even resistances, and with it's bulk and cress' help, it's really easy to setup.
I'm obviously not a very skilled player, but i still manage to do great things with this duo (well mainly because at low ladder nobody really expect the skill swap trick). I still struggle to find the perfect mons to complement it I must say (but I find gallame with disto + wide guard quite good with it, and rilla with its fake out and grassy terrain also seems a really good option on par with cress in term of increasing the staying power of kyogre and allowing easy setup). I really wonder if this duo have some future or not.
If you're going with a lefties CM set on kyogre, you'd defo have to drop Water Spout for Origin Pulse just because it doesn't require Kyogre to be at full HP to take advantage of it.
If you're going with a lefties CM set on kyogre, you'd defo have to drop Water Spout for Origin Pulse just because it doesn't require Kyogre to be at full HP to take advantage of it.
I do not play at high ladder, so maybe in practice origin pulse is a better choice, but considering pure theory, water spout is stronger as long as you have more than ~70% of your health, and with cress that can heal 25% before you attack, that means as long as you end your turn with more than 40% health (before lefto), water spout is still theorically at least as powerful as o-pulse. And even if you're under that, you still have higher precision. Considering kyogre immense bulk, the possibility to heal twice while protecting it if you really need full power on water spout, tera blast which allows to still make damages anyway, all of that make water spout at least as viable as o-pulse on this set. This is also what I felt while playing. But again, considering my level, that may not say much, and while I hate moves that can miss, I totally get the point.
I think Landorus-Therian only with Assault Vest can be very good. With every physical attacking Restricted using Clear Amulet, Landorus-Therian feels forced to go for more Specially Defensive sets to keep a defensive prescence. Groudon and Koraidon in Sun, Zacian-Crowned and Calyrex-Ice especially ignore Intimidate thanks to Clear Amulet and still do great damage to Landorus-therian even without a damage boosting item.
However as you noted Landorus-Therian does great into Miraidon, Calyrex-Shadow, and other special threats like Flutter Mane so I think hinging on that niche and using Assault Vest can be worth it. While losing Taunt sucks, I don't think Landorus-Therian had the moveslot space to run Taunt anyways. You want Stomping Tantrum then U-Turn and Rock Slide is still a must, and assuming this is not Assault Vest then you'd want Protect almost always. I think at that point you forgo the Protect and go Tera Blast Flying, and plop an Assault Vest for the longevity.
In a vacuum, Incineroar is a strictly better intimidator, it has more bulk, it's better at pivoting, it's typing is better also. However, this doesn't make landorus-t bad. I think the biggest problem with Lando-T is that it's greatest asset - it's massive attack stat - is held back by the fact it doesn't get many decent STAB moves. It get's no good flying moves (although Tera Blast is a work around), stomping tantrum is a measly base 75, and earthquake has it's own problems as it hits allies. Another issue is that it fit's in an awkward speed tier where it is naturally slower than key threats like Urshifu, so wants to run Scarf. It could also run clear amulet, but like shaymin said you probrably want to use clam on your physical restricted. Only restricteds which don't want to run clam are Kyogre, Terapagos, Calyrex-S, Lunala and Zacian. Incineroar has much better pivoting synergy with Lunala and Calyrex-S while Terapagos prefer's it's fake out support to get calm minds off, while Kyogre needs Landorus-I to help against Miraidon and Raging Bolt. Zacian could be run with incineroar, though if you wanted to run it with Gouging Fire and didn't want to stack fire types I would recommend using landorus-T. In this case I would suggest running Goggles with taunt - Gouging Teams in Reg F had a pretty big amoonguss weakness and were often run with a single Spore immunity like Gholdengo or tried to counterplay with sand tomb ting lu + yawn dozo. Landorus-T could then both act as counterplay to Amoonguss as well as function as a intimidator and damage dealer with support from howl. Moreover, Landorus-T has better pivoting synergy with Zacian than incineroar, as it has no cross weaknesses.
I think Landorus-Therian only with Assault Vest can be very good. With every physical attacking Restricted using Clear Amulet, Landorus-Therian feels forced to go for more Specially Defensive sets to keep a defensive prescence. Groudon and Koraidon in Sun, Zacian-Crowned and Calyrex-Ice especially ignore Intimidate thanks to Clear Amulet and still do great damage to Landorus-therian even without a damage boosting item.
However as you noted Landorus-Therian does great into Miraidon, Calyrex-Shadow, and other special threats like Flutter Mane so I think hinging on that niche and using Assault Vest can be worth it. While losing Taunt sucks, I don't think Landorus-Therian had the moveslot space to run Taunt anyways. You want Stomping Tantrum then U-Turn and Rock Slide is still a must, and assuming this is not Assault Vest then you'd want Protect almost always. I think at that point you forgo the Protect and go Tera Blast Flying, and plop an Assault Vest for the longevity.
and its been a lifesaver so far, this specific set outspeeds base 135s by 2 points as long as they dont have a speed boost, and it picks up a near or garanteed ohko on most koraidon sets, and lives tera water surging strikes iirc
ive seen some run jolly/+speed nature which at i think 196(?) speed lets you outspeed calyrex-shadow, so lando T is still very good with scarf as a very fast pivot.
ive been running it in conjuction with incineroar, meaning if i say lead lando + incin, i can fake out and do like 90% to a incin or miraidon, or quickly pivot out into something in the back. if i lead it, and my opponent say leads caly ice, i can quickly pivot out into incin or something. i think those 2 work really well with eachother, incin can handle the tougher matchups for lando like kyurem, ice rider, etc. while lando can handle the fighting types incin doesnt like, ex. koraidon, mienshao.
- Calyrex-S is very good, the best restricted pokemon in the format. There are a few checks such as Terapagos, Farigiraf, Incineroar and Ting-Lu, but they are all checked by Mienshao, which makes it a very good partner for it. Mienshao can also make the Calyrex-S mirror match-up easier with Wide Guard, and stop other Wide Guard users with Feint, allowing Calyrex-S to fire off strong Astral Barrages freely.
- Even after the nerfs, Zacian-C is still really good. Chien-Pao is a really good partner for Zacian-C since it allows it to pick up a few OHKOs such as Kyogre (roll to ko), Tornadus, Landorus and both Calyrex formes. The Intrepid Sword nerf hurts it, but it can now take advantage of Terastellization to set up Swords Dance more easily. It has a bad match-up into Groudon Sun, but it can be fixed by using Urshifu-R and Tornadus with Rain Dance. Its a very underrated restricted in my opinion.
- Miraidon is not as strong as people make it out to be. Yes, it hits very hard with Electro Drift and Draco Meteor, but it struggles with the lack of good partners with Quark Drive, because while Koraidon and Groudon have partners like Flutter Mane and Raging Bolt, Miraidon enables less reliable Pokémon such as Iron Bundle, Valiant and Moth. Its also hurt a lot by the fact that it speed ties with Flutter Mane and Chien-Pao, since they can hit it with strong super effective hits while it can't threaten an OHKO back without a boosting item such as Life Orb or Choice Specs. Last but not least, it struggles to position well against opposing terrain setters such as Indeedee and Rillaboom, which can reposition easily against it because of their lower speed, which allows them to set up terrain first. Despite those flaws, its still a solid pick because of its raw power.
- Groudon is very strong because of its new partner, Gouging Fire, which can boost it with Howl and support it with Snarl and Breaking Swipe, with Groudon offering in return Sun, which activates its Protosynthesis ability and raising the damage of Heat Crashes. Raging Bolt and Flutter Mane are also very good partners, since they take advantage of Sun, are good picks on their own and don't rely on Fire-type attacks. Clear Amulet benefits it a lot because it allows Groudon to stay on the field even in the presence of opposing Incineroar, and with those indirect buffs, I think it is a very strong pick for some balance cores.
- Calyrex-S is very good, the best restricted pokemon in the format. There are a few checks such as Terapagos, Farigiraf, Incineroar and Ting-Lu, but they are all checked by Mienshao, which makes it a very good partner for it. Mienshao can also make the Calyrex-S mirror match-up easier with Wide Guard, and stop other Wide Guard users with Feint, allowing Calyrex-S to fire off strong Astral Barrages freely.
- Even after the nerfs, Zacian-C is still really good. Chien-Pao is a really good partner for Zacian-C since it allows it to pick up a few OHKOs such as Kyogre (roll to ko), Tornadus, Landorus and both Calyrex formes. The Intrepid Sword nerf hurts it, but it can now take advantage of Terastellization to set up Swords Dance more easily. It has a bad match-up into Groudon Sun, but it can be fixed by using Urshifu-R and Tornadus with Rain Dance. Its a very underrated restricted in my opinion.
- Miraidon is not as strong as people make it out to be. Yes, it hits very hard with Electro Drift and Draco Meteor, but it struggles with the lack of good partners with Quark Drive, because while Koraidon and Groudon have partners like Flutter Mane and Raging Bolt, Miraidon enables less reliable Pokémon such as Iron Bundle, Valiant and Moth. Its also hurt a lot by the fact that it speed ties with Flutter Mane and Chien-Pao, since they can hit it with strong super effective hits while it can't threaten an OHKO back without a boosting item such as Life Orb or Choice Specs. Last but not least, it struggles to position well against opposing terrain setters such as Indeedee and Rillaboom, which can reposition easily against it because of their lower speed, which allows them to set up terrain first. Despite those flaws, its still a solid pick because of its raw power.
- Groudon is very strong because of its new partner, Gouging Fire, which can boost it with Howl and support it with Snarl and Breaking Swipe, with Groudon offering in return Sun, which activates its Protosynthesis ability and raising the damage of Heat Crashes. Raging Bolt and Flutter Mane are also very good partners, since they take advantage of Sun, are good picks on their own and don't rely on Fire-type attacks. Clear Amulet benefits it a lot because it allows Groudon to stay on the field even in the presence of opposing Incineroar, and with those indirect buffs, I think it is a very strong pick for some balance cores.
i wanna make one more note with zacian, it also pairs very nicely with gouging fire support for howl boosts. swapping zacian in + setting up a howl in the same turn turns it into a threat, and gouging fire synergizes with partners zacian likes like chien pao who also like howl support to partially counter intimidates and boost their damage
- Even after the nerfs, Zacian-C is still really good. Chien-Pao is a really good partner for Zacian-C since it allows it to pick up a few OHKOs such as Kyogre (roll to ko), Tornadus, Landorus and both Calyrex formes. The Intrepid Sword nerf hurts it, but it can now take advantage of Terastellization to set up Swords Dance more easily. It has a bad match-up into Groudon Sun, but it can be fixed by using Urshifu-R and Tornadus with Rain Dance. Its a very underrated restricted in my opinion.
Would like to expand on this, the standard Zacian Balance that's popping up (Zacian, Chien-Pao, Urshifu-R, Tornadus, Rillaboom, and Incineroar.) has virtually no bad matchups. Some might recognise it because we've seen variations in earlier regulations, A fantastic FWG core that loves Tailwind and Sword of Ruin, with your consistent broken Fairy-type to better handle Dragons and to make use of arguably the best typing in the game. Same formula works great this Regulation with Zacian-C over Flutter Mane. Zacian's ridiculous stats and typing just make it so free to get up Swords Dance, especially with double Fake Out, people can't afford to play as passively against it which opens them up to Zacian and its partners under Tailwind. Can you really go wrong with this Pokemon? Incredibly slept on and I'd argue being part of the best team makes it one of if not the best restricted by far.
Saw a team yesterday on YouTube using Spicy Extract Scovillain to pump Koraidon up to plus 2 and dodging the -2 defense with Clear Amulet. I'm wondering if people think this will be the best way to boosting Koraidon's offense, or is sticking to Gouging Fire and Howl gonna be better?
Saw a team yesterday on YouTube using Spicy Extract Scovillain to pump Koraidon up to plus 2 and dodging the -2 defense with Clear Amulet. I'm wondering if people think this will be the best way to boosting Koraidon's offense, or is sticking to Gouging Fire and Howl gonna be better?
Skovillian unfortunately isn’t very good, although spicy extract is cool it’s rather gimmicky in my opinion, and it is not helpful that koriadon is faster so it doesn’t immediately get the boost. The best ways to boost koriadon’s attack is through swords dance koriadon with something like fake out support, or simply helping hand for more immediate pressure, as these options are more consistent as they do not rely on specific positioning like skovillian + koriadon. Howl gouging fire also sounds good, especially since you don’t need to give gouging booster energy - you could run very bulky with morning sun with something like goggles - since gouging teams are weak to amoonguss!
Skovillian unfortunately isn’t very good, although spicy extract is cool it’s rather gimmicky in my opinion, and it is not helpful that koriadon is faster so it doesn’t immediately get the boost. The best ways to boost koriadon’s attack is through swords dance koriadon with something like fake out support, or simply helping hand for more immediate pressure, as these options are more consistent as they do not rely on specific positioning like skovillian + koriadon. Howl gouging fire also sounds good, especially since you don’t need to give gouging booster energy - you could run very bulky with morning sun with something like goggles - since gouging teams are weak to amoonguss!
I believe they were running Chlorophyll Scovillain, so it was moving faster than Koraidon. Totally see the points you made though, will probably go the Gouging Fire route, thank you
I think the main thing I've noticed playing is that virtually all of the top tier restricted Pokémon I'm seeing are the ones that have strong, spammable spread moves: Groudon, Calyrex-Ice, Calyrex-Shadow, Kyogre, Terapagos (I am not saying Kyurem-White I do not think it is that great).
There's a really big lack of viable Wide Guard users available to stop them from running rampant. We've got Lunala, Zamazenta, Pelipper, Smeargle, Mienshao, etc., but most of these do not seem strong enough in a restricted format to merit using just for Wide Guard. Lunala/Zamazenta feels very difficult to justify since it takes up your one restricted slot; I see Lunala being great in a 2 restricted format with the ability to set TR consistently with Shadow Shield to help another restricted Pokémon shine. For Zamazenta it's hard to fit wide guard when it probably doesn't have room for it; Zamazenta wants to run Behemoth Bash/Body Press/Iron Defense/Protect all the time.
There are other restricted Pokemon that look usable that don't have strong spread moves, like Zacian-C, Miraidon, Koraidon, etc. They're okay, but it just feels too hard to compete with the pressure spread move restricteds have. With no solid wide guard users a lot of the times I get the impression that one has to use one of the spread move restricteds to be able to keep up with the others.
I'm curious to see what strong cores may come from these non-spread move abusing restricted Pokémon, but most things I've seen/tried seem to be lackluster. Someone better than me at the game can figure it out so I can steal their team.
I think the main thing I've noticed playing is that virtually all of the top tier restricted Pokémon I'm seeing are the ones that have strong, spammable spread moves: Groudon, Calyrex-Ice, Calyrex-Shadow, Kyogre, Terapagos (I am not saying Kyurem-White I do not think it is that great).
There's a really big lack of viable Wide Guard users available to stop them from running rampant. We've got Lunala, Zamazenta, Pelipper, Smeargle, Mienshao, etc., but most of these do not seem strong enough in a restricted format to merit using just for Wide Guard. Lunala/Zamazenta feels very difficult to justify since it takes up your one restricted slot; I see Lunala being great in a 2 restricted format with the ability to set TR consistently with Shadow Shield to help another restricted Pokémon shine. For Zamazenta it's hard to fit wide guard when it probably doesn't have room for it; Zamazenta wants to run Behemoth Bash/Body Press/Iron Defense/Protect all the time.
There are other restricted Pokemon that look usable that don't have strong spread moves, like Zacian-C, Miraidon, Koraidon, etc. They're okay, but it just feels too hard to compete with the pressure spread move restricteds have. With no solid wide guard users a lot of the times I get the impression that one has to use one of the spread move restricteds to be able to keep up with the others.
I'm curious to see what strong cores may come from these non-spread move abusing restricted Pokémon, but most things I've seen/tried seem to be lackluster. Someone better than me at the game can figure it out so I can steal their team. https://emojipedia.org/smiling-face-with-smiling-eyes
I feel like Lunala, Zamazenta, Mienshao are relevant enough wide guard users to deal with those spread moves abuser, especially Mienshao. Zamazenta doesn't need to run Protect, it can use Wide Guard instead, and Lunala is a strong restricted on its own because of Meteor Beam + Moongeist Beam combo
I feel like Lunala, Zamazenta, Mienshao are relevant enough wide guard users to deal with those spread moves abuser, especially Mienshao. Zamazenta doesn't need to run Protect, it can use Wide Guard instead, and Lunala is a strong restricted on its own because of Meteor Beam + Moongeist Beam combo
In a mono-restricted environnement, it's quite hard to drop Protect. You have one threat who's a power level above the rest. Forcing your opponent to think before double-targetting it is huge. Giving that up for a supporting move looks like a waste
In a mono-restricted environnement, it's quite hard to drop Protect. You have one threat who's a power level above the rest. Forcing your opponent to think before double-targetting it is huge. Giving that up for a supporting move looks like a waste
Debatable, A lot of Zama teams I see look very tough to break through, especially when Zamazenta's existence handles physical restricteds and Wide Guard handles the majority of the special restricteds. Miraidon sounds like the one issue which you can build against with Rillaboom and Ting-Lu, I've even seen Iron Bundle with it. I think if you have Protects on other things for positioning, you can get away with Wide Guard Zamazenta quite well.
)
, your sacrificing basically 25% of your team for one or two subs on Terapagoss 
to heal back the same amount of health you will save from Sub, or you can run maybe Grimm 
and save 50% of its health with Screens. Just isen't worth it to run Cyclizar 
also suffers from the same problem, why would you ever run it over say an Ogerpon. The buff it received cant solve its underlying problems, and even if it did its got stiff competition with other mons that want to run with Mirai 
. Like, Leaves needs Mirai but Mirai doesen't need Leaves and running it means your not running another useful mon.
. It's obvious that Dark-types are going to be in VERY high demand thanks to the funny horse, and I predict that a lot of teams will stack multiple Dark- and/or Normal-types to check it despite the stacked weaknesses. Of course a lot of the obvious ones are already showing up on teams, like Incineroar
, Chi-Yu
, Kingambit
, Urshifu
, Grimmsnarl
.
get after Tera, higher than Lunala
gets with 252+ investment, and higher than Calyrex-I
and Kyogre
will get with low/no investment. Combine this with its great resistances to Ghost, Dark, Fire, Psychic, and Flying, and TTar is a seriously competent special tank against a wide variety of threats, even tanking a lot of super effective hits with an Assault Vest.
, Zamazenta
and Koraidon
running around, Tyranitar can make major contributions in nearly every kind of matchup, especially because it heavily threatens a lot of common support Pokemon like Incineroar, Chi-Yu, Chien-Pao
lacking Sacred Sword, Tornadus
, Farigiraf
, Ogerpon-H
, the list goes on. This makes Tyranitar seriously threatening to a significant chunk of the meta as a bulky attacker, especially when it can Tera out of most bad matchups if you want.
(Turn off snow, deny veil, hit hard with Rock Slide, eat Blizzard and Draco easily)
(also lol lmao)
(Yet another lol lmao)
(might be ass but still lol lmao)
(turns off sun, lives pblades, can tera and hit back hard-ish)
(slugfest, Flash Cannon hurts but you can EV to live two + discourage them from going for trick room)
(not sure how relevant this guy will be but it's kinda like the Dialga MU, only a bit worse)
(yes, really. Hydro can't 2HKO you with AV)
(probably won't exist in Reg G but fuck it we can pad the list)
(Moonblast bounces off AV without max investment and a boosting item, and even Modest specs can't OHKO you)
(EP is a roll to 2HKO if the second hit is itemless, they can get goobed in TR, with Ice Punch, or with a well-timed Tera)
(can't deny TR but removing eviolite is high-value)
(tera saves you big-time if you want to spend it)
(you break sash with sand and can OHKO with TB flying if you want)
(bitch just won't die lmao)
(^^^^^^^)
(these guys will probably run sash so breaking that is nice, tera blast is an option)
: Kinda niche rn but it's an intimidator that helps a TON against fighters, doesn't stack nearly as many weaknesses as Incin, and scarf is great speed control for all sorts of stuff. Also a great TB Flying spammer to ruin Grasses and Fighters, helps Tar run something else like Tera Dragon.
