I'm going to nominate Tyranitar to A+/S because I strongly feel it should be there.
Tyranitar is A+/S because
lol okay even if someone convinced me that Tyranitar is A+ (good luck), there's just no way it will ever touch S rank. regular tyranitar has way, way too many flaws and, quite frankly, people treat sand offense like it's the holy grail of XY OU when it's not. is it a good playstyle? of course it is, I'm pretty sure no one is going to deny it. Tyranitar does make it viable, Tyranitar is arguably still better for the job than Hippowdon, Tyranitar still has a ton of other problems to deal with.
It's responsible for one of the most common playstyles in OU and that is Sand Offense:
Tyranitar consistently tops the usage lists both in ladder and tournaments and for good reason.
Considering that around 1/4 to 1/5 of those were Mega Tyranitar, regular Tyranitar really isn't that high up the usage list. Also, considering that not every regular Tyranitar on that list will have a Smooth Rock (or even some other item which barely even qualifies it for sand offense but more "hyper offense/bulky offense with an Excadrill splashed in"), and you can take a huge number out of that list. Yes, the other sets are still good, but not optimal if you're trying to actually support a Sand team. You are not carrying out a prolonged late-game sweep with Excadrill. Like I said, other sets, especially Choice Scarf, are still good but people kept praising Smooth Rock Tyranitar as one of the best things ever. You also said Tyranitar is responsible for it working, but I'd say that anything with an Excadrill in 3-4 turns of sand depending on how quickly you get it out barely even works against anyone who is not a) down to 2 Pokemon weak to EQ b) running a team so offensive and so weak synergistically that it's pretty much 6-0'd by Excadrill anyway in which case you probably wish you didn't have to switch it out to refresh sand turns but could just carry on your sweep unhindered or c) just randomly clicking buttons. Which brings me back to my original point:
Um what? I know you're a good battler but that's just a ridiculous claim that makes no sense what so ever..
Smooth Rock Tyranitar is terrible at everything except for providing Sand. It has Pursuit which is "nice", but considering that the only things you are mortally wounding is Latios/Latias because not much else is really weak to dark and frail enough to actually care about a weak-ass Pursuit off of an unboosted an probably not fully invested attack Stat. Good luck fitting Crunch on as well. It has Stealth Rock which is okay I guess. It still provides 0 offensive presence because outside of the "surprise kill" against Gliscor or Ferrothorn against someone who didn't expect Tyranitar to carry those moves for whatever reason you're not actually killing anything. Hell, you're more likely to give free switches to stuff Sand absolutely hates dealing with such as Azumarill, Keldeo, Terrakion or even stuff like Mega Venusaur that shrugs off anything (who should stay in A+ by the way, I've played plenty of sand teams with offensive Mega Venusaur; most of the time the opposite is the case. While you can't stay healthy with Synthesis most Pokemon on your standard sand team take a huge beating from Giga Drain which easily 2HKOs Excadrill, for example. If I need to make a bigger post on this I will but I honestly don't feel as if Mega Venusaur has fallen off a lot) your pathetic attack stats can throw at it. Choice Scarf and Choice Band are nice in their own right, but thats why Tyranitar is A rank and not lower. Smooth Rock is terrible at: not providing sand. Choice Scarf/Band are terrible at: providing sand. How am I not making sense? If you really think 3-4 turns of sand are enough for Excadrill to mortally wound any well built team in this metagame then you need to read the post
Jirachee made about how easy it is to beat Excadrill in such a situation. If you want to do actual damage with Excadrill then you can't afford to run anything but Smooth Rock unless you have a Hippowdon or whatever too. If you want to do damage or have actual utility outside of setting sand with Tyranitar then you need to run a boosting item or Tyranitarite or something. It can't even do the two things it desperately wants to do at the same time. I honestly can't see how this thing could be anywhere above A, especially considering that it isn't the only Pokemon able to set sand like it is the case with Politoed and rain.
The amount of support it provides is incredible:
Not only does it bring sandstorm to the table but it also has STAB Pursuit which is a godsend to Tyranitar as it goes like bread and butter with it's high 134 base attack stat. Tyranitar can deal huge damage or even OHKO Pokemon like Latios, Latias, Mega Manetric, Talonflame, Starmie, Raikou, Zapdos, Slowbro, Mew with it's CB or Scarf set. Pursuit is also really useful when you want to take out something at low health for example a Thundurus, Dragonite, Zard Y etc. It can also Pursuit stuff locked into something that doesn't do much to it like a CB Dragonite locked into Extremespeed or a Staraptor locked into Brave Bird.
Again, I explained why STAB Pursuit on a set that reliably provides sand is really not a big deal so I'll just respond to Choice Band or Choice Scarf Pursuit here. Yes, it can trap some Pokemon. Yes, it traps them more reliably than Bisharp. Problem is, you are not coming in on pretty much any of those Pokemon barring Latios, Latias and Zapdos safely. Mega Manectric/Raikou will just Volt Switch all over the place most of the time which not only makes you take damage but also lets them bring in one of the many Pokemon that have no problem handling Tyranitar. Talonflame can U-turn out or even burn you with a bulky set. If you catch it on Brave Bird then nice, Talonflame is dead I guess. If you don't, well, that's that. I don't think I have to rexplain why you can't come in on something with a STAB Scald such as Slowbro or Starmie, especially when you can't even OHKO Physically Defensive Slowbro so it can just scout your move with Slack Off and switch out if it's Choice Band Crunch and get all its health back with Regenerator. Mew just uses Knock Off or Will-o-Wisp or anything to just completely smush your Tyranitar. If you bring it in after one of these Pokemon kill something then... they got a kill and you still aren't guaranteed to take them out. And are locked into Pursuit. In a metagame that has Pokemon such as Mega Tyranitar, Mega Gyarados, Keldeo, Azumarill, Clefable, Mega Charizard X or one of the many other Pokemon that take advantage of Dark type attacks. Not like it's fatal if these Pokemon misjudge your set as Smooth Rock can't do fuck all to most of them with its standard set anyway, not to mention is probably needed to be kept alive for its oh-so-wonderful sand. That's why Bisharp's Pursuit was so powerful when it was a thing: nothing likes setting up on a 125 attack boosting item STAB Knock Off/Iron Head. I honestly still can't see how the Smooth Rock's set has any kind of useful utility 90% of the time especially considering you're supposed to keep it alive so you can't really afford to pursuit (m)any of these Pokemon. I already explained that Choice Scarf is probably its best set, but even then it's just another Choice Scarf user who trades off speed for Pursuit. Important speed for, oftentimes, not as important Pursuit. Hell, when I ran Choice Scarf Tyranitar I didn't even run Pursuit because one of the worst things you can do is getting locked in, especially when it's your only Scarfer and revenge killer outside of an Excadrill which gets 5 turns of sand max. Sound familiar? Yes, that's what you've been saying. It's still a good Pokemon in its own right but nothing special. Choice Band is pretty fucking strong and, again, it's a good set, but what kind of sand support locks itself into a move and only gives you 5 turns of sand? I outlined how Smooth Rock is absolutely pathetic at everything else and how Band/Scarf are absolutely pathetic at sand support so please tell me how Tyranitar does what it needs to do. Or does it well, rather.
Tyranitar prevents Pokemon like Cresselia and Mega Venusaur from healing reliably:
It's one of the reasons why Mega Venusaur is not so effective anymore and why Cresselia is not very viable.
I don't know why people think Mega Venusaur has become any less effective or why people think it gives more than a single fuck about sand ?_? Mega Venusaur is arguably one of the best Pokemon against any Sand team without Pinsir. Tyranitar takes a huge chunk from Giga Drain. Excadrill is 2HKO'd by Giga Drain. Common support Pokemon such as Azumarill, Keldeo and Thundurus obviously don't stand a chance. Landorus is 2HKOd. Why do you need Synthesis when, against your standard sand team, Giga Drain is more healing than you'd ever need? If anything, Mega Tyranitar without either Band or a ton of speed sucks against Mega Venusaur because it means it'll have even more free turns to Giga Drain and harrass the rest of your team. Cresselia has lots of other problems such as its vulnerability to status, complete lack of offensive presence, especially when running TWave over Toxic (at least Chansey has SToss), weakness to Knock Off from the likes of Bisharp and Azumarill and only 8 PP on its recovery move. Sand weakening it is just the cherry on the cake and not a big reason at all.
Tyranitar checks huge threats very nicely:
It checks flying spam while being also a nice check to Zard X, Charizard Y and bunch of other threats.
Not only does it kill or deal huge damage to all those Pokemon with Pursuit that I mentioned but at the same time it supports Pokemon like Charizard-Y and Keldeo making their jobs a lot easier.
How does anything but Choice Scarf Tyranitar check Flying Spam and especially Charizard Y? Even then, against Zard, on the first turn coming in you'll either take half from Fire Blast, 90% from Solarbeam, or an OHKO from Focus Blast. It's really not too good of a check and, like I said, this only applies to ScarfTar anyway. Pinsir just kills you and Charizard just kills you too.... if anything that sounds like an argument as to why Choice Scarf is its best set and not why it should be S-Rank. Also, since you were referring to Tyranitar's tournament usage, I'm pretty sure that Charizard X's most common sets are BulkyZard and SD + Tailwind in tournament play because DD hasn't been as good as those in quite a bit. I'd love to see your standard Tyranitar handle either of those. I guess ScarfTar checks it as it only takes like 40% from Flare Blitz and 80% from Outrage which is technically enough to beat it but yeah.
Tyranitar has many viable sets:
Tyranitar can be physically defensive, Scarf, Band, AV, SR though I'll admit Scarf is it's best set in the current meta but it the other sets are still very effective.
"Dragonite can run DD Lum, Specially Defensive, Weakness Policy, Agility, CB though I'll admit Band is it's best set in the current meta but it the other sets are still very effective."
Many sets being "viable" doesn't mean they're good or should necessarily see use. Especially when Assault Vest Tyranitar is not only completely unnecessary but also provides neither the Sand nor Stealth Rock nor offensive presence making it fail in every single department. Much like Agility Dragonite is garbage but, hey, I'll list it for the sake of filling up my list. And isn't Physically Defensive and SR kind of the same as in Smooth Rock? As far as I'm concerned, Tyranitar has 3 sets and I already explained why 2 of them fail at providing sand while the last one fails at doing anything else. If you can't even carry out two of your main "missions" to a worthwhile degree at the same time (and no, before anyone tries to compare this to Azumarill not being able to sweep with Belly Drum at the same time it "walls" with Assault Vest, that is not the same. That is Azumarill choosing a set based on what it prefers for itself and for indirect support for its team, not a set such as ScarfTar which is still expected to provide
direct support, in this case sand, but fails miserably at it much like how ScarfToed is a terrible rain setter), how does that make you an S-Rank Pokemon? Or an A+-Rank Pokemon?
Tyranitar fits the S-rank criteria perfectly:
no
It wants Smooth Rock
No it doesn't 8 turns of sand is nice and all but even 4-5 turns is more than enough for Excadrill to do it's job.
yes it does, and Jirachee's post made a pretty good effort of explaining it so I won't do it again here.
If you use Scarf Tyranitar you need another scarfer.
No you don't. This isn't 5th gen. Pokemon like Talonflame and Excadrill are already amazing revenge killers so no you don't need another scarfer.
That is true, if this was generation 5 you would have constant weather and wouldn't have to worry about something with the imposing name of "Mega Gyarados" or "Mega Tyranitar" or the slightly less imposing name "Azumarill" setting up on your weak Pursuit/moves in general and killing your Excadrill once the short 5 turns of sand inevitably end. Or your Tyranitar if you send it in to refresh those very same turns. Or, in Azumarril's case, just don't give a fuck either way. Talonflame is nice and all, but it can't revenge kill every single threat and definitely can't come in on any of them to prevent the damage before it occurs. While you don't need a secondary scarfer, in common battle conditions, it will almost always be a necessity at one point or another especially because Tyranitar being your fastest non-Excadrill-in-sand Pokemon also means that you'll be weak to stuff such as Greninja by default. Or Alakazam. Or Mega Aerodactyl.
CrashinBoomBang:
Um what? I know you're a good battler but that's just a ridiculous claim that makes no sense what so ever..
to sum this up tl;dr: scarf/band tyranitar are nice but bad at providing sand. smooth rock tyranitar is not nice and only provides sand. can't do both well at once. not even close to s-rank. only reason it's even A for me is because the non smooth rock sets are so "ok".
