Landorus-T: Underused Therian?

[TheStriker]

Landorus-T is one of those new form pokemon who have that power but not the speed. Otherwise, this would probably function great on a sandstorm team. Most likely the least used therian form but otherwise it s amazing at what it does. I got some sets here that work pretty well I guess. What pros?! Landorus-T is amazing with its own rights. That max c.430 Atk (lol history) is just amazing! Intimidate buffs its physical defense and makes only probably having to use SpD for covering it up. Swords Dance turns this thing into a beast and Bulk Up can be good too. Tornadus-T and Thundurus-T might give it competition but Tornadus-T is almost useless without rain and Thundurus-T has horrible coverage which means it carries Grass Knot which power varies, bad accuracy Focus Blast, and utterly weak Hidden Power which won't break through walls even super-effective. Therefore, Landorus wins power but with weather being completely dominant this generation, Landorus might have lost some niche. Wish it was alive last generation.

Stats: 89 HP / 145 Atk / 90 Def / 105 SpA / 80 SpD / 91 Spd

Wow, it has that amazing attack and decent SpA but it wont be using it too much. 91 Speed could be useful because of speed tying base 115 nuetrals with +Sps, but its still slow. Landorus really wanted to keep its base 101 Spd. That would be amazing but if your lietral, ground gorillas wont be swift like falcon so yeah.... there you go.

Ability: Intimidate - This will give Landorus-T a lot of physical bulk making a choice band set viable.

Okay here are the sets. This is working good and might be pretty viable. Tell me what you think.

Choice Band

Landorus-T @ Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn
- Superpower

Bulk Up

Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
Nature: Jolly (+Spd, -SpA)
EVs: 128 Atk / 124 SpD / 252 Spd
-Bulk Up
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Hammer Arm

Choice Scarf

Landorus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Gravity

Landorus-T @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
-Stealth Rock
-U-Turn
-Earthquake
-Gravity

Bulky Pivot

Landorus-T @ Expert Belt
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 64 Atk / 200 Def
Nature: Adamant (+Atk,-SpA)
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-turn
-Stealth Rock




What Else?: Wow, it has a strong physical movepool! Outrage is plain strong but it lacks STAB so Earthquake will have more power. Stealth Rock can be used with leftovers I guess on the Defensive Set, but it'll function better with Life Orb because it needs the immediate power. See FelixMinamimoto's post. Toxic is in there for anyone experimenting with Support Landorus and it also has a weird 105 SpA which is pretty bad becuase because it will only benefit with HP Coverage but still, HP Ice on this thing wont dent Gliscor severely. It'll just use Facade or Ice Fang to make you feel the pain. Gravity set seems like a gimmick but after testing from a poster, it works weel because of U-turn giving momentum, the EVs, earthquake hitting hard likea truck and stealth rock as support. Swords Dance would be deadly, but Landorus-T needs some defense and with intimidate's effect going away after a switch, Bulk Up is great for surviving priority such as Sucker Punch and possibly ice shard from life orb mamoswine if it gain +2, at +3 which is unlikely, it can be almost impossible to stop, even with Terrakion's Band set and Azumarill's rain aqua jet but it will be severely damage assuming without leftovers.

Here are the tiers
NU
BL3 (Only on PS)
RU
BL2
UU
BL
OU
Ubers

Which tier do you think it belongs too? I really go with BL. If its in UU, it'd be overpowered and being able to easily kill through teams with Choice Band, but the speed dominant OU will probably not let it get too far and it needs support or ninjask to help its speed issues. Also it lacks priority. I'm not saying the other forms have priority but they are much faster. What do you think? But I have hopes it stays OU. :)

[FelixMinamimoto]

I am a pretty strong proponent of Lando-T's bulky defensive set, actually. The sets you list are much more set-up heavy (or CB, so hit-and-run) but I like using Lando-T as a pivot that can gain me momentum. I always feel like I lose momentum with banded mons that aren't just u-turning or named Scizor, but that's just me.

Landorus-T (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 196 HP / 96 Atk / 216 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock

Stealth Rock is good because it puts on very strong offensive pressure when brought in properly. It has more opportunities to come in than do you think. It is very good at beating Terrakion unless the thing already has a substitute up...but most people don't run Sub anymore do they? It also beats numerous other physical attackers and can come in with impunity more than I thought it would be able to.

Lando-T is nowhere near Ubers but I think it's far too good to be UU. It will probably languish in the bottom of use for a while as people try to abuse choice sets but I think its beauty lies in being a top-notch defensive pivot with the added bonus of crazy offensive firepower.

You can also add rock polish to a defensive set to catch people off guard and sweep weakened teams. I haven't tested that enough to say if that works, that's just some theory. =)

[Baka Ki Eru Dogura]

Landorus-T (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power [Ice]

I rather like this set instead.
Choice Scarf helps with his below average speed revengekilling dangerous threat and even with no Hp Evs investments, Lando is still bulky thanks to 89/90/80 defenses combined with Intimidate.
Also Earthquakes, Stone Edges are more powerful outside sand compared to its counterpart.
Hp Ice coming out 105BP is still useful against other Landorus or Gliscor.

[TheStriker]

Anyone got good sets for Special Landorus. Incarnate form might use it better but who knows. Support landorus would be cool

[kRunsOverU]

Incarnate form does use it better due to the fact that it has better Special attack and Sheer Force. It also has that better speed. So Incarnate form is usually better, unless going for a gliscor type set, utilizing intimidate.

Landorus (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Rock Polish

[tehy]

See, when you use landorus-T, you have to tell me why i'm not using landorus-I. CB? Weaker with sand up, and slower. Cscarf? Same thing;the speed is much more important now.
I suppose RP is all right, since speed doesn't matter that much, and the bulky pivot set is nice, but that's really about it.

[UltiMario]

Intimidate is more than enough of a reason to use Landy-T over Landy-I. Stronger EQ/SE/Superpower without Sand being up is another nice bonus.

[FaceFaceFace]

I use T-dawg as an offensive pivot/scarfer on my hail team, and it does its job pretty well.

Intimidate is a great ability as it allows Landorus to switch into stuff Incarnate form cannot. Instant momentum.

[LordAlpaca]

If you're not on a sand team Landy-T is definitely the better choice, with a great ability plus better attack, bulk and movepool. Even on a sand team I usually prefer him, as I don't even find the extra speed very useful at all in most cases.

[Taylor]

You don't need Landorus-I on sand teams because the special set prefers the entry hazard support, where as residual damage from SS is the frosting on top of the cake.

Intimdate is the main selling point of Landorus-T and perhaps the only real competitive use it has over the original, Incarnate formes. Bulk Up with SDef investment sounds tempting because literally every physical attacker will have trouble with Intimidate, natural bulk and a set up move to go along with it, allowing you to set up at will against almost anything physically orientated.

[FaceFaceFace]

Landorus' typing synergises very well to run a boosting set. Like Taylor said, there are only about 3/4 common physically oriented Pokemon that Landorus T cannot set up on - Gyarados, Mamoswine, and Cloyster, and maybe Scizor if it's running SD. Gyarados and Cloyster aren't even very common anymore these days.

The scarf set isn't too shabby either - unlike Landy-I, Landy-T can actually come in on some attacks, rather than wait to revenge kill.
Given that it also has a whopping 145 attack, 600 BST, this thing is nowhere close to UU, albeit T-dawg's function is a rather niched one.

[Danger Mouse]

Yeah, I was also going to suggest that Lando-I getting Sheer Force is probably cutting into Lando-T's usage. Sheer Force Lando-I is pretty awesome. Lando-T does have some neat utility with Intimidate though, and that massive attack stat is nothing to sneeze at.

[GatoDelFuego]

Landorus-T is indeed in a similar boat to chandelure. When was the last time you saw a CB hippowdon running around? Anyone? How about CB Dugtrio minus arena trap? Ground is one of the worst types to lock yourself into, and I've found that most things to take landorus' ground attacks just force it out in general. Stone edge can't touch skarmory, and the only option is to u-turn away. I've also found that there is a gap between power and defense, and landorus is right in the middle. kind of like electrode. It doesn't gain any more KOs with that 145 attack, which is surprisingly not that much higher than scizor's. 15 points is really not that much. But, that extra power doesn't push it over the edge to OHKO things like forretress, so here it stays.

That being said, this defensive set is one of the greatest things to be using right now.

[BlankZero]

I'm a fan of the Gravity set.

Landorus-T @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
-Gravity
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-Turn

Suddenly, nothing is immune to that EQ, and Stone Edge becomes 100%? Throw in Intimidate and LO boosted UTurn to gtfo if need be.

91 Base speed is pretty god-awful, but as long as you can switch into something, then setup Gravity, you should be ok to let 'er rip on those Base 145 atk EQs.

Edit to add: Skarmory? HA! Eat EQ :)

[Joel]

Originally Posted by Fat BlankZero

I'm a fan of the Gravity set.

Landorus-T @ Life Orb
Trait: Intimidate
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
-Gravity
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-Turn

Suddenly, nothing is immune to that EQ, and Stone Edge becomes 100%? Throw in Intimidate and LO boosted UTurn to gtfo if need be.

91 Base speed is pretty god-awful, but as long as you can switch into something, then setup Gravity, you should be ok to let 'er rip on those Base 145 atk EQs.

Edit to add: Skarmory? HA! Eat EQ :)

Sort of rapes Rotom-W, as well.

[BlankZero]

Originally Posted by Fat Joel

Sort of rapes Rotom-W, as well.

And Bronzong to boot. But Skarmory takes a huge beating from STAB EQ when it gets hit.

[Zarco]

CB Landy-T has been doing me well. Predict the Dragonite/Tornadus/etc. the first time you come in and Stone Edge, then you can usually kill something with EQ each time you come in. U-turn and either Superpower or HP ice round it out, and are useful at times. It's notable that Intimidate lets you live some ridiculous hits, like Mamo's Ice Shard, without investment.

[TheStriker]

Joel, nice set. I used because it works very well and Stone Edge won't be needed because it would rather use its time setting up Stealth Rock. Nice work creating this!I've been testing a great VoltTurn combo:

Landorus-T @ Choice Band
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Nature: Adamant
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-Turn
-Superpower

Magnezone @ Choice Specs
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 80 Def / 252 SpA / 172 Spd
Nature: Modest
-Volt Switch
-Thunderbolt / Thunder
-Flash Cannon
-Hidden Power [Fighting] / Hidden Power [Fire]

HP Fighting would be good on rain team with Thunder but thunderbolt and HP [Fire] works so much better.

[Electrolyte]

Landorus-T is definitely my favorite therian. I love the bulky set; It can fit on nearly any team as a supporter, tank, and scout. I'm not going to post the set because Felix already did, but I use a spread of 200 HP / 64 Atk / 244 Def Adamant. Seriously, the thing is really really bulky; tanking CB Bullet Punches, Outrages, and Stone Edges all day. There really isn't a single pokemon that, unboosted, can OHKO Lando-T without using super effective moves. Rocks are easy to get up, because your opponent will switch from you a lot, or you can just point them with EQ or scout with U-Turn. It's a great pivot that should be considered on every kind of team.

EDIT: Oops lol you're right alex thanks

[alexwolf]

Electrolyte you are better of using 200 HP / 244 Def, to always survive 2 Stone Edge from CB Terrakion after SR, iirc. The set is posted by SDS in C&C if you want to check it.

[bubbly]

Eh, surviving 2 Stone Edge's seems kinda pointless unless you're using this on an otherwise frail team. This thing lives to take U-turns and SR damage, the chances of being at 100% to handle Terrakion are low. Switch in, if you get hit by a CB Stone Edge for 55%, switch to a Rock resist and set up. I always just go 252 HP Impish, enough speed to outrun the 244-247 cluster, and the rest in Defense.

[Uvood]

I love Landorus-T! I have been using the scarf set a lot and am loving it. Been running it on a Gyarados team, for double intimidate, comboing them for easier set up for Gyarados against physical pokes. Other than that, using him to check dragons and Terrakiaon, which he does reliably. Been a while since I played the team and the game, but when I did, people for some reason were running adamant or naughty nature, allowing me to take it on more easily. People should really be using speed boosting nature on him :P.

[AQuantumLeaf]

I agree, I consider Lando one of the most essential pokes on my team -- I wonder why it's so rare. It's slow, but is just fast enough when scarfed to outspeed litterally anything not also scarfed, making it an awesome scout -- u-turn hits maybe not like a truck without STAB, but off of 145 base attack like a Chevy at least. Plus, with ~135 base speed after scarf, anything that goes faster can be safely assumed to be scarf'd, as well. I use a scarf set with max attack/speed investment, adamant nature, and U-turn, EQ, Stone Edge, and Superpower, it's extremely effective.

@OP -- why does the scarf set have HP fighting? Superpower has almost twice the power, and its not like a choice poke expects to stay in long anyway. It also allows adamant/jolly natures to be used, making the -SDef nature necessary.

[TheStriker]

Good idea you pointed out AQuantumLeaf. HP Fighting was used only to hit forretress harder but Forretress take nuetral to Superpower and with Base 105 SpA then I should change it to Superpower.

[cmurph]

I've been using a double dance set with life orb on my rain team. It's surprisingly good. Intimidate gives it lots of chances to set up, especially against sand teams. I usually just use rock polish which is generally all you need to sweep, but I can often get both up because of the surprise factor.