Tyranitar (Full Revamp) +

This is obviously a work in progress. I'm copy+ pasting from the current analysis for alot of the parts, because hey, no reason to reinvent the wheel.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Stone Edge
move 2: Crunch
move 3: Pursuit
move 4: Aqua Tail / Earthquake
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 176 HP / 252 Atk / 80 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Choice Band Tyranitar is one of the most monstrously powerful physical threats in Platinum. Crunch and Stone Edge both have massive power with the STAB boost and will be your main methods of attack. Pursuit is an incredibly dangerous move on Tyranitar, for its foes anyway. Anything that doesn't enjoy taking a boosted Crunch "can run, but can't hide". Pursuit hits a fleeing enemy for the same damage as Crunch would and OHKOs almost everything that is weak to it. With many sweepers opting to use Choice items, some good prediction and making use of Tyranitar's useful resistances can get it in for a free Pursuit to OHKO, or at least wear down many opponents.</p>

<p>Aqua Tail allows Tyranitar to get past Bulky Grounds with surprising success. With Aqua Tail and a Choice Band equipped, the mighty Hippowdon is 2HKOed, and thus the original 100% counter to the CB set can be easily dealt with. Gliscor is 2HKOed as well, but it can stall Tyranitar for a miss with Sand Veil reducing Aqua Tail's already less than perfect accuracy. Earthquake is still listed as an option to hit Steels such as Metagross and Jirachi, but Crunch already does a pretty good job at denting them. Still, Earthquake is a great option to destroy those Steels reliably and effectively.</p>

<p>The EV spread suggested gives you enough Speed to beat those Skarmory that don't invest in speed, allowing you to Stone Edge them before they can Roost. The rest are placed into HP, which allow you to take hits with Tyranitar's great defenses. If you want to maximize the ability Tyranitar can take hits, use 252 HP / 40 Attack / 216 Special Defense with a Careful Nature. This spread allows you to survive a Timid Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast in OU, and more effectively counter threats such as Zapdos and Azelf. However, this spread does not accomplish a 2HKO on Hippowdon or Gliscor with Aqua Tail, so Earthquake is a superior option to hit Steels harder in this case.</p>

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Crunch
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Fire Punch / Aqua Tail
item: Leftovers / Life Orb
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 6 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set may not pose the same immediate threat in the same way as the Choice Bander does, but is capable of running through an entire team when played correctly. Dark and Rock provide the deadly dual STAB combination that Tyranitar is famous for. Fire Punch rounds off the set by giving an option to hit Steels, such as Forretress, Lucario, and prehaps most importantly Scizor, super effective.</p>

<p>Choosing between Adamant or Jolly is choosing whether you want to outspeed more threats, or do more damage. If you chose Adamant, after one Dragon Dance you will reach 332 Speed, which is enough to outspeed neutral base 115s and positive natured base 100s. Jolly allows you to reach 365 Speed, which allows you to beat everything up to positive nature base 115s, including Azelf and Starmie. Often the extra Speed is necessary to prevent you from being revenge killed by Infernape and Gengar, but may not provide enough power to deal with bulky walls.</p>

<p>The item choice is even more important this generation, mainly because of the threat Scizor is. Adamant LO Scizor does 75.66% - 89.74% with a Bullet Punch. With Stealth Rock and no recovery, this could kill Tyranitar, which is why Leftovers is the preferred item. Assuming Scizor switches into a Dragon Dance, Leftovers will allow Tyranitar to live through a Bullet Punch even if it switched into Stealth Rock, and continue your sweep. If the lack of power is frustrating, or you don't really care about Scizor revenge killing you, use Life Orb, which allows you to 2HKO Swampert with Crunch after a Dragon Dance.</p>

<p>There are many other viable options on DDTar that could not fit with in the actual set listing. Taunt is a great option on this set to prevent Skarmory from using Whirlwind and to prevent status. Taunt is also ideal in the Uber tier to stop things from setting up and to force switches. Since Tyranitar often forces switches, using Substitute gives you a barrier to set up behind, and might fool some opponents into thinking you are using Boah. Putting a Substitute up also prevents Scizor or Scarf Dugtrio from revenge killing you, but it also limits your type coverage to only two moves.</p>

[SET]
name: TyraniBoah
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Dark Pulse / Crunch
move 4: Ice Beam / Flamthrower / Thunderbolt
item: Leftovers
nature: Quiet / Brave
evs: 252 HP / 52 Atk / 176 SpA / 28 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Boah is still a solid threat, especially to stall teams. Bringing Tyranitar out will often force switches, which gives you the opportunity to set up a Substitute and ease prediction for your next move. From there, fire off Focus Punches or your Dark STAB move from behind your Substitute. The choice for a 4th move is dependent on your team. Ice Beam is a great choice; with the given EVs it will 2HKO a 252 HP/ 0 SpD Hippowdon, and deal massive damage to Gliscor, Donphan, Salamence, Shaymin-S and Breloom. With the new rising threats this generation, Flamethrower is a good option in order to hit Scizor and Forretress for a OHKO, as well as hitting Skarmory and Metagross for a 2HKO. It is also significant that Skarmory cannot shed its Flamethrower weakness with Roost. Thunderbolt hits the aforementioned Skarmory as well, and also has the benefit of hitting Suicune and Milotic.</p>

<p>Dark Pulse is suggested over Crunch so Boah can preform its wall breaking duties better. Choosing Dark Pulse gives you a good option against the physical walls you cannot hit super effective with your special move of choice. It also makes your EV spread more efficient, as there is less of a reason to split EVs. Crunch does operate off Tyranitar's higher attacking stat, and it pairs pretty well with Ice Beam. Crunch should also be your STAB attack of choice if you use this version of Tyranitar in Uber battles thanks to most of your foes having much higher Special Defense than Defense.</p>

<p>The Speed makes you just faster than Blissey. If you want, you can put a few more EVs in it in case the enemy Blissey also invests in Speed. It can be important to be faster than Blissey so you can Substitute before they Thunder Wave or Toxic. Max HP gives you 404 HP, which creates Substitutes that are 101 HP. This means that Blissey's Seismic Toss cannot break your Substitute in one hit, letting you Focus Punch for free on the next turn. The Special Attack EVs put you at 297 Special Attack, which easily 2HKOs Hippowdon with Ice Beam assuming you have a Quiet nature. If you use Crunch, consider Brave over Quiet (and possibly raise Attack at the expense of Special Attack). Basically, adjust the spread to fit your specific team needs, or check the EV section for more ideas for an EV spread.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Fire Blast
move 2: Ice Beam
move 3: Crunch / Stone Edge
move 4: Earthquake / Stone Edge
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Hasty / Naive
evs: 120 Atk / 132 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>While most people expect Tyranitar to be slow and hard hitting, this set attempts give Tyranitar a much needed boost in Speed. With a Choice Scarf and the natures and EVs listed above, Tyranitar edges out many dangerous OU threats such Starmie, Azelf, Infernape, Gengar, Salamence and Lucario and scores a KO on all of them.</p>

<p>Fire Blast and Ice Beam allow Tyranitar to hit many of his counters and take them down in one or two hits. Ice Beam is your best option against Bulky Grounds such as Hippowdon and Gliscor, 2HKOing and 1HKOing them all the time, respectively. Fire Blast hits Scizor, Forretress and Skarmory for Super Effective Damage and 1HKOs all of them barring Skarmory, who is 2HKOed 100% of the time. Crunch and Stone Edge gives Tyranitar his strongest options on the set because of STAB, and threaten Gengar, Gyarados and many other threats that normally would be comfortable switching in after a kill in order to chase Tyranitar away. Earthquake is a solid choice to hit Fire-types such as Infernape and Heatran. Fire Blast already most Steels, and both Fire-types them have problems taking a Stone Edge, but Earthquake hits with Tyranitar's higher stat, and insures the KOs. It is an option over one of the STAB moves, if you feel you have the threats that they hit covered already. Thunderbolt is a good option for those who feel stuck against Bulky Waters, and it comes with a nice OHKO Gyarados as well.</p>

<p>The EV spread gives you 260 Special Attack, which is enough to 2HKO 252 HP/ 0 SpD Hippowdon with Ice Beam, factoring in Leftovers. The rest is poured into attack to hit as hard as possible with his STAB moves. 334 Attack just gives you enough attack to 2HKO a Calm Blissey that runs 252 Defense EVs with Stone Edge 100% of the time, and 1HKO the standard Starmie with Crunch. Max Speed with a boosting nature and Choice Scarf allows you to reach 365 Speed, to beat positive nature base 115's such as Azelf by a few points.</p>

[SET]
name: Counter
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Counter
move 3: Stone Edge / Crunch
move 4: Earthquake
item: Leftovers
nature: Adamant
evs: 236 HP / 44 Atk / 112 Def / 116 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set gives Tyranitar a chance to get past some of his more common counters. By using the lure of a standard Dragon Dance Tyranitar, the likes of Hippowdon, Bronzong, Scizor, Gyarados and Gliscor are lured in. However, you can quickly wipe that smug look off their face as you Counter their attack back at you for a probable OHKO. For example, a Scizor Bullet Punch will not KO, and you can easily KO him back with Counter. Having eliminated your opponent's Tyranitar counter, you should then be free to sweep. It is recommended that, if using this set, it is played with reliable Wish support, just because replenishing Tyranitar's health after pulling off a successful Counter will make sweeping much easier.</p>

<p>Stone Edge is recommended over Crunch, because most of the things that you hit harder with Crunch than Stone Edge (Think Bronzong, Hippowdon, Swampert) are all easily Countered for an OHKO. Meanwhile, Stone Edge will prevent Skarmory from walling you quite so badly, who can come in for free and phaze you otherwise. However, if you want the harder hit on the likes of Celebi and Cresselia, then Crunch is a perfectly viable option; especially if you run Magnezone to take care of Skarmory. The given EV's will allow you to survive an Adamant Garchomp's Earthquake easily (even after Stealth Rock damage) and counter for an easy OHKO, whilst still taking enough damage from a Gliscor Earthquake to guarantee an OHKO in return with Counter. The Speed ensures that you are faster than neutral Lucario after a Dragon Dance; still, be wary of the threat of Vacuum Wave.</p>

<p>If you plan on using this set to get around the likes of Machamp and Hariyama, then a Chople Berry is a worthwhile item choice; if you decide to use it, then Tyranitar can survive a Machamp Dynamicpunch and OHKO in return with Counter. However, in the case of Dynamicpunch you've only got a 50% chance of pulling off a successful Counter due to confusion, and if Machamp doesn't use Dynamicpunch then it's going to be using Guts. A Guts boosted Cross Chop will almost always OHKO Tyranitar unless Machamp runs next to no Attack EVs, so tread carefully. In the case of Hariyama, most defensive variants use Thick Fat and Force Palm, which, with this EV spread, Tyranitar can generally survive anyway, so Chople Berry remains a lesser option.</p>

[SET]
name: Lead Tar
move 1: Taunt / Substitute
move 2: Counter / Thunder
move 3: Fire Punch
move 4: Crunch
item: Lum Berry
nature: Sassy / Careful
evs: 252 HP / 36 Atk / 38 Def / 184 SpDef
ivs: 3 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This Tyranitar is designed to defeat most of the commonly used leads in the OU metagame, specifically, Bronzong, Gengar and Gyarados. Lum Berry helps this take a Sleep-inducing move, so Tyranitar can then deal with Gengar, Roserade, Yanmega and Bronzong.</p>

<p>401 HP and 310 Special Defense + Sandstorm allow Tyranitar to survive a 359 Special Attack Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast over 97% of the time. 401 HP and 268 Defense allow Tyranitar to survive a Waterfall from a 383 Attack Choice Band Gyarados on average. If you elect to use Substitute, the 117 Speed is designed to minimize the damage Bronzong can do with Gyro Ball. With Tyranitar at 117 Speed, Bronzong's Gyro Ball will have a maximum power of 47, enough to never 4HKO this Tyranitar (assuming Bronzong has minimum Attack), which means Tyranitar can set up a Substitute that Bronzong can't break. Even if Bronzong runs 252 Attack EVs and Adamant nature, a 3HKO is only made possible if it manages to get maximum damage all three times; a highly unlikely scenario.</p>

<p>Counter is a great option on this Tyranitar. If you choose to use Counter, raise your Speed EV to 31, and use a Careful nature. With Counter and Taunt, Bronzong will have a hard time beating this set. Use Taunt to prevent Bronzong from setting up Stealth Rock, and Counter his Gyro Ball back at him if he stays in. Bronzong will then be in the KO range for Fire Punch. This process works against other Bulky Grounds, and even against Bulky Gyarados with a Dragon Dance up, for heavy damage or an OHKO.</p>

<p>Taunt is especially useful if the opponent switches, since many incoming Pokemon expect to easily set up on Tyranitar. Taunt also debilitates Ninjask and other Baton Pass leads, while preventing Snorlax from Cursing up on Tyranitar. Taunt also works against leads that use a Sleep move with Choice Scarf; Lum Berry will prevent you from being Statused, and Taunt will force them to switch out.</p>

<p>Thunder is a good choice on this Tyranitar to deal with Gyarados. The reason Thunder is chosen over Stone Edge, in spite of the accuracy issues, is that Thunder has a chance to OHKO offensive Gyarados, while Stone Edge will not. Fire Punch is chosen over Fire Blast because Fire Punch has a chance to OHKO Roserade, while Fire Blast will not. Substitute is certainly a viable option over Taunt, as it will prevent most Bronzong from lowering Tyranitar's HP significantly, as Gyro Ball will do less than 25%, and it will give Tyranitar the advantage should certain counters switch in (such as Lucario or Breloom).</p>

[SET]
name: CurseTar
move 1: Curse
move 2: Payback / Crunch
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Tyranitar's astounding offensive capabilities coupled with its good HP, physical Defense, and phenomenal Special Defense (taking into account Sand Stream's boost) make Tyranitar a natural candidate for the use of Curse. If your opponent no longer has powerful Fighting attacks or a Choice Specs/Band user with STAB super effective moves, Tyranitar will become nearly impossible to stop once it starts boosting its Defense with Curse. Rest and Sleep Talk aid in the ability of this to set up and help in its overall survivability. After a few Curses, even resisted hits will start to take their toll. Crunch and Payback are your Dark STAB moves of choice and each have different advantages. Crunch has a 20% chance to lower the opponent's Defense one stage, meaning Tyranitar can hit even harder through dedicated walls should it get a Defense drop. However, Payback's power doubles if the opponent moves last, or they switch out. Since Tyranitar is lowering its Speed with Curse, Payback with almost always have 100 Base power, making it the primary choice on this set.</p>

<p>Now, many of you may be reading this and asking, why wouldn't I use Regirock? It has superior physical defensive capabilities, arguably better typing, and only slightly worse special defensive abilities. However, for Curse Regirock to be effective it is necessary to pair it with a Pokemon with the Sand Stream ability to boost its Special Defense; your options being either Hippowdon or Tyranitar. So, you are forced to include a Pokemon with similar weaknesses and reduce the team's overall resistances to allow Curse Regirock to be effective. Curse Tyranitar does not have this problem since Sand Stream is immediately activated, leaving more freedom in team building as opposed to using Curse Regirock. Also, the ability to use a Mono attacker because of the Dark STAB is a positive, because it allows you to use Rest and Sleep Talk on the same set. Regirock would be hard pressed to do the same thing with its weaker attack stat.</p>

<p>The given EVs are designed to allow Tyranitar to survive a Timid Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast 100% of the time and a Modest one, on average. The remaining EVs were delegated to Defense to take physical hits better while setting up Curse.</p>

[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Earthquake / Stone Edge
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Ice Beam
item: Expert Belt / Life Orb
nature: Brave
evs: 252 Atk / 232 SpA / 24 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>A combination of all the previous sets. This is designed to break down walls and hit many prospective counters, while retaining the freedom to switch attacks. Best used with support from an Agility or Rock Polish Baton Passer, such as Gliscor.</p>

<p>Earthquake means you'll have an easier time against your fellow Tyranitar, although Tyranitar's STAB Stone Edge will frequently be his most powerful attack option against those neutral to the entire set.</p>

<p>This Tyranitar's attacks hit a wide range of types for super effective (Flying, Ground, Steel, Psychic, Ghost, Bug, Grass, Dragon, Fire, and Ice, plus Electric and Rock if you use Earthquake), so Expert Belt is the recommended item. While Life Orb provides more power for wallbreaking, your opponent will know the set you are running after the first attack. Without the recoil damage caused by Life Orb, depending on what your opponent does, they could think you are using either a Choice item, Lum Berry or something else, which will keep the suprise factor. Life Orb is a good choice it you aren't hitting hard enough, or you're extremely confidant in your prediction.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Dark Pulse
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Flamethrower / Ice Beam
move 4: Earth Power / Hidden Power Grass / Superpower
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest / Quiet
evs: 180 HP / 252 SpA / 76 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Choice Specs Tyranitar has the potential to surprise your opponent, as they will likely expect it to be dishing out physical hits. Dark Pulse is for reliable STAB and hits Swampert (who usually focuses on physical Defense) hard enough to 2HKO with prior damage and you may get some luck with the flinch rate. Flamethrower helps against Bronzong, Skarmory, Heracross, and Lucario, while Thunderbolt hits Water-types like Gyarados, Suicune, and Milotic. Earth Power hits fellow Tyranitar and Heatran, and also hits Rhyperior hard. Earth Power is also your best choice if you use Ice Beam over Flamethrower, so you still have a way to hit steels. The given Speed EVs put you at 177 Speed, just above the minimum Speed of Skarmory and Metagross. Because they can (and often will) carry some Speed EVs, you might want to invest some more EVs to have a greater chance of being faster than them.</p>

<p>Ice Beam is a secondary option on the set because most of the time, Dark Pulse will hit Bulky Grounds hard enough that Ice Beam is unnessary on the set. Hidden Power Grass is also a pretty good option, but its primary target, Swampert, is severly hurt by Dark Pulse also. For some numbers, Dark Pulse does 47-57% to Hippowdon and 47-55% to Swampert, meaning if they have some prior damage, or Stealth Rock / Spikes is in play, Dark Pulse will most likely 2HKO both of them, lessing the need to devote moves to hit them. However, Hidden Power Grass is your strongest option against Rhyperior, and if you don't use Thunderbolt, it is also your best bet against bulky waters such as Vaporeon.</p>

<p>If you find a certain fat pink blob starts to switch into this Tyranitar after she learns your using Choice Specs, you can use either Superpower or Focus Punch as the forth move over Earth Power. If you use Superpower, a Quiet nature is optimal to score a 2HKO on both Calm Blissey and Snorlax. Focus Punch is a good option to predict a Blissey or Snorlax switch in, and has the potential to do more damage. Because Focus Punch doesn't quite KO with the given EVs, use 60 Atk / 252 SpA / 196 Spe with a Mild Nature, which deals a minimum 89% to a Calm Blissey. This EV spread also puts you 207 Speed, which outspeeds Bold Suicune and Cresselia. While using Focus Punch with this spread might help you deal with Blissey and Snorlax, it also reduces your Defenses and forces you to use a negative Defense nature, which isn't always ideal on a Pokemon that can take hits from both ends of the spectrum as well as Tyranitar. Because this set is meant to be a suprise to your opponent, you might find that people are unwilling to switch Blissey and Snorlax into a Pokemon that is in very other instance a strong physical attacker. Focus Punch is a good option to get those OHKOs that Superpower fails to accomplish some of the time.</p>

[SET]
name: Mixed Dancer
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Crunch / Stone Edge
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Ice Beam / Hidden Power Grass
item: Life Orb / Expert Belt
nature: Hasty / Naive
evs: 116 Atk / 144 SpA / 248 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Mixed Tyranitar with Dragon Dance? Although at first glance this set may seem to be nothing more than a gimmick, this set tears apart Tyranitar's usual counters, giving openings for sweepers such as Lucario, Garchomp, and the like. Even Tyranitar itself is able to sweep a lot more easily, though that is not the primary goal of the set.</p>

<p>Crunch is the most reliable choice for a sole physical attack, but Stone Edge is a powerful STAB option to hit Heatran, Gyarados, and Salamence. Fire Blast is a necessity to take out the bulky Steel-types; it will OHKO Skarmory and Forretress, while 2HKOing standard Bronzong and most Metagross. Ice Beam pummels the opponent's bulky Ground such as Gliscor and Hippowdon, but not Swampert. Hidden Power Grass is a great option over Ice Beam to hit Hippowdon and Swampert harder, but it will leave you open to Salamence, which makes Stone Edge the best STAB to use with Hidden Power Grass.</p>

<p>When playing this Tyranitar, the first move should usually be Dragon Dance, to trick the foe into thinking it is a regular Dragon Dance Tyranitar. However, to your opponents surprise, they will find their Hippowdon, Skarmory, or Bronzong either OHKOed or crippled to the point where it can no longer effectively wall.</p>

<p>With 248 Speed EVs, Tyranitar can outrun base Speed 115 Pokemon after a Dragon Dance. 144 Special Attack EVs guarantee a 2HKO on standard Bronzong, while the remaining EVs are placed into Attack to help maximize damage dealt.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Some people say to use Rock Slide instead of Stone Edge because Stone Edge has such poor PP and accuracy. The problem with that is that you already have Crunch with more power and accuracy (and arguably a better side-effect, when you consider Tyranitar's low Speed) than Rock Slide. If you use Rock Slide, there are going to be very few situations in which you will find yourself using it. With Stone Edge, however, the increase in power can get you out of some tricky situations where Crunch / Rock Slide wouldn't do enough damage, but Stone Edge's massive power will get you through it. It is an decent option on the DD set for the higher accuracy and the Choice Scarf sets for the flinch rate, but almost all the time you will find Stone Edge to be the superior option.</p>

<p>There are many physical options that weren't mentioned on the other sets. Ice Punch destroys Flygon and in particular Gliscor. The main reason is isn't recommended over Aqua Tail is that it misses the 2HKO on Hippowdon that Aqua Tail provides. Using Ice Punch over Aqua Tail also takes away a good option for hitting Steels and enemy Tyranitar, but is still is a great choice for its perfect accuracy and type coverage. Avalanche is an option, but Ice Punch is better in almost every situation that calls for a physical Ice-Type Attack, with the exception of the Curse set. ThunderPunch takes out Gyarados in one hit and deals massive damage to Skarmory, but it is often an inferior option when compared to Stone Edge, which can take care of these threats fairly well and has much more utility overall. Aerial Ace destroys Breloom and Heracross in one hit, but is of little use outside of those two. </p>

<p>There are some options on the Special side that were not mentioned, and could work decently on the Choice Specs set. Hidden Power Rock or AncientPower could be used for a STAB move on the special end of the spectrum, but their low base power rarely make up for the type coverage offered by the other moves. Surf is a good option to destroy Rhyperior, but is less of an option when compared to Hidden Power Grass, which not only hits Rhyperior for massive damage, but kills Swampert as well. Overall though, you may find that the moves listed under the Choice Specs set work better to these other options.</p>

<p>Rock Polish can be used over Dragon Dance. You trade the Attack boost from Dragon Dance in order to outspeed more threats, such as Shaymin-S and Timid Choice Scarf Heatran. This also has the advantage of not requiring as much initial Speed as the Dragon Dance set, allowing for more HP EVs to protect against threats such as Scizor. It is a lesser option than the Dragon Dance set for the most part and is best used if you're carrying a Baton Passer to pass Attack boosts or if you want to use it on a special attacker, because the lack of power is difficult.</p>

<p>Thunder Wave is decent on Tyranitar, although many of its common switch-ins are Ground-types or don't mind the paralysis. Stealth Rock is useful for support but is best left to more defensive Pokémon that might have recovery moves. If you do use it though, it is best used on the lead. Screech is a decent option to force switches, but many of Tyranitar's counters are faster than him and Tyranitar won't be able to take advanage of the opponent's lower Defense.</p>

[EVs]

<p>Choice Band: There are two main ways to EV Tyranitar. The most common way is to go 252 HP / 252 Attack / 4 Special Defense Adamant. This gives you plenty of survivability without compromising Attack. The other option is to use 252 HP / 40 Attack / 216 Special Defense Careful. This puts your Special Defense up sky-high, and lets you live through a Timid Life Orb Gengar Focus Blast 100% of the time (and thus you will live through anything from most special attackers, although Modest Life Orb Gengar has a 38% chance to OHKO). You still have plenty of Attack thanks to Tyranitar's high base stats and Choice Band, but you will feel the power loss in some cases. Choice Specs follows a similar distribution set, except you'd obviously want Special Attack over Attack and a Calm nature instead of Careful.</p>

<p>While Tyranitar is an OU Pokemon, it has massive utility in Ubers thanks to Pursuit and Crunch, which hammer the large amount of Psychics that reside in that tier. 252 HP / 56 Attack / 200 Special Defense and a Careful nature capitalizes on Tyranitar's neutrality to common Uber attacks such as Ice Beam and Thunder, and even lets it survive an Aura Sphere from a Choice Specs Timid Mewtwo. For a more offensive set up, you can switch to Jolly and use max Speed and Attack. This will outrun most Giratina and some slower versions of Groudon and Dialga.</p>

<p>Life Orb: The given EVs allow Tyranitar to outpace Blissey, even with the -Spe nature. The Attack and Special Attack maximise the damage output for any and all walls that you are trying to break down. If you wish, you can change the nature to Lonely or Naughty and use 72 HP/ 252 Atk / 96 SpA / 88 Spe. The 88 Spe bests both CB Metagross and Skarmory, the latter of which you can OHKO with Fire Blast with the mere 96 EVs. This also allows you to pump HP and increase overall survivability.</p>

[Opinion]

<p>Monstrous, both competitively and aesthetically, Tyranitar is easily one of the most dangerous Pokémon in the game, with its massive Attack stat, good defenses—aided by the Special Defense boost from Sand Stream—and passable Special Attack. Tyranitar's only mediocre stat is Speed, and Dragon Dance and Rock Polish help fix that. Not only does Tyranitar's Sand Stream ability grant it the aforementioned boost, but it negates Leftovers recovery on anything not immune to its effects, making staying alive against Tyranitar an even tougher proposition for many Pokémon. It also makes Tyranitar somewhat of a team player, granting an evasion boost to those with the Sand Veil ability, such as Gliscor. Tyranitar's incredible power is backed up by a huge movepool, with which it can hit anything attempting to counter it very hard. The fact that Tyranitar can also acquit itself well against many in the Uber metagame is testament to just how good this powerhouse of a Pokémon really is.</p>

[Counters]

<p>Scizor has been mentioned a few times in this analysis, and for good reason. His high defense allows him to take a few hits from Tyranitar's Stone Edge, and Scizor can outspeed Tyranitar and deal serious damage with STAB X-Scissor or U-Turn. It can also fire off a Bullet Punch to take out a weakened Dragon Dancer. Any set that boasts a Fire attack can predict a Scizor switch-in and OHKO him. Forretress works the same way, but it doesn't outspeed Tyranitar and therefore is more vunerable to a Fire-attack from a nonchoiced set. Bronzong is useful against the Dragon Dancer as it's immune to Earthquake, resistant to Rock, and neutral to Dark. Gyro Ball's power is boosted after a Dragon Dance, which helps both Forretress and Bronzong to kill off Tyranitar. Skarmory can't really threaten Tyranitar, but it can switch in on most sets, and set up Spikes or phaze Tyranitar.</p>

<p>Bulky Ground-types are good counters for the physical sets, thanks to their Rock resist and high Defense. Donphan, Hippowdon, and Rhyperior all do a good job, although they have to be aware of a Choice Band Aqua Tail, which can 2HKO. Swampert doesn't have the same problem with Aqua Tail, but a Choice Band Crunch will 3HKO, and an Dragon Dance Life Orb Crunch can 2HKO. Steelix is a good option, but watch out for repeated Earthquakes, Focus Punches, or Aqua Tails. Gliscor can work very effectively as Sand Veil helps to avoid taking a hit and Roost can buy him a Rock resist. All of these can handle Tyranitar with STAB Earthquake.</p>

<p>Although Breloom's poor defenses mean it's at risk from Stone Edge—which can 2HKO—it resists everything on the Choice Band set barring the occasional Ice Beam and has Mach Punch and Seed Bomb to kill off Tyranitar. Lucario is in a similar position, but boasts 4x resistances to both STAB moves. Earthquake or Focus Punch will finish Lucario, though, so be wary of that. Poliwrath is another fighter that has these useful resists, and in addition it is also immune to Water and resists Fire and Ice attacks. Hariyama and Machamp both have the defenses to handle Tyranitar's attacks, and resistances to both STAB attacks is a big help. Hariyama has the additional advantage of Thick Fat and Machamp has good Special Defense, which help these Pokemon to take Special Attacks pretty easily.</p>

So here's what I'm thinking overall for the writeup.

-CB set now uses Crunch/ Stone Edge/ EQ/ Pursuit with Aqua Tail and probably Ice Punch as strong options. EQ is probably the weakest link in my mind.

-DD set: I'm going to say that DD/ Stone Edge/ Fire Punch/ Crunch is the best set I've used for Tar ever, and even though it doesn't make much since its swept most teams I've played against (by not making since, i mean that why does it work lol with scizor and skymin). This set would have Ice Punch and Aqua Tail as strong options. Substitute is also a good option; Taunt is not that good anymore, espically because Skarm would be hit by Fire Punch.

-Choice Specs: The addition of Earth Power makes this set more deadly. Caelum mentioned the possibilty of Superpower on this set so I should test that out.

-Choice Scarf: Fire Blast needs to be a primary option, as Scizor is such a beast right now. I can see the choice in natures being a problem now, because you are either screwed against Tran or Scizor. Obviously Fire Blast needs to be used carefully, but it's suprise value is more worth it now.

-Lead: Needs to have Counter as an option, as this set can use its bulk to beat some Gyarados with Counter, instead of relying on Thunder's bad accuracy to do it. Counter + Taunt also shuts down Bronzong entirely, which is awesome.

-Mixed Dancer: Platinum's changes really allow you to use physical moves in order to get the same coverage as the mixed dancer (Ice Punch and Aqua Tail noteably). I'm not sure about how this set is too much better than the current DD set with the updated moves but feel free to prove me wrong about that.

Boah: I would run Fire Blast over Ice Beam or Thunderbolt and put it as the primary option on the set. Heatran can eat a Focus Punch, and Gliscor has suffered popularity issues after Scizor figured out it can 2hko with Bullet Punch.

Life Orb: It doesn't seem too much different than what the Scarf set does, and espically in Platinum, you won't get too much of an oppitunity to hit more than once. Prediction needs to be empasised, as well as Expert Belt (I would put it as a main option). The best thing Expert Belt has going for it is the fact that it looks like it could be a Choice item, so your opponent's second switch could be suprised as well. Expert Belt is the thing that would make this a wall breaker, and not Life Orb. Feel free to prove me wrong on this one too.

I think Jibaku's spread really needs to be empiased more, as it makes a great Heatran counter among other things.

In the counters section, Scizor needs to be empiased, as it not only work well to counter most forms of Tyranitar, but it also is popular as well. Gliscor and Hippo aren't iron solid counters anymore thanks to Aqua Tail. All the Garchomp references need to be removed, and some EV spreads need to be changed as a result.

I'm definitely going to be testing out Specs Tyranitar, something which I've always touted as a decent-to-great wall-breaker in DP. I'm also planning on testing a Mixed DD set.

"tangerine's" curse set needs to be added.... max hp/sdef +curse/crunch is pretty much gg against teams without metagross/scizor/fighting type

Thanks Darkie that would be a big help. Also, some people in the discussion thread were mentioning Curse and Rest/ Sleep Talk as possible sets seperately or even together. If anybody has tried them, weighing in would be nice, but I think I'm just going to let somebody do a peer edit later with a more complete discription than I can give.

@Gorm: Thanks for showing that. I can go ahead and test that. Did "Tangerine" use Rest or Sleep Talk, and what were the other moves?

curse AND resttalk is the set im referring to so im not sure what "seperate" would entail. I can write up a peer edit if you like and post it itt.

just so we're clear the set is

Tyranitar@Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Attack / 252 SDef
Nature: Careful
~Curse
~Rest
~Sleep Talk
~Crunch

Last time Curse Tar was brought up the topic was closed for being an inferior Regirock. I have this that I never posted though if anyone cares though.

[SET]
name: CurseTar
move 1: Curse
move 2: Crunch / Payback
move 3: Rest
move 4: Sleep Talk
item: Leftovers
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Tyranitar's astounding offensive capabilities coupled with its good HP, physical Defense, and phenomenal Special Defense (taking into account Sandstream's boost) make Tyranitar a natural candidate for the use of Curse. If your opponent no longer has powerful fighting attacks or a Choice Specs/Band user with STAB super effective moves, Tyranitar will become nearly impossible to stop once it starts boosting its Defense with Curse. Rest and Sleep Talk aid in the ability of this to set up and help in its overall survivability. After a few Curses, even resisted hits will start to take there toll. Crunch and Payback are your Dark STAB moves of choice and each have different advantages. Crunch has a 20% chance to lower the opponents Defense one stage, meaning Tyranitar can hit even harder should it get a Defense drop. However, Payback's base power is doubled if Tyranitar is attacked first. Since Tyranitar is using Curse it is almost always going to go last; effectively making Payback's base power 100, 20 points higher then Crunch. Payback's drawback is that it is easier for the opponent to choose to set up themselves since the move will only have a 50 base power if the opponent chooses to set up rather then attack.</p>

<p>Now, many of you may be reading this and asking, why wouldn't I use Regirock? It has superior physical defensive capabilities, arguably better typing, and only slightly worse special defensive abilities. However, for Curse Regirock to be effective it is necessary to pair it with a Pokemon with the Sandstream ability to boost its Special Defense, your options being either Hippowdon or Tyranitar. So, you are forced to include a Pokemon with similar weaknesses, reducing the teams overall resistances, to allow Curse Regirock to be effective. Curse Tyranitar does not have this problem since Sandstream is immediately activated leaving more freedom in team building as opposed to using Curse Regirock.</p>

<p>The given EVs are designed to allow Tyranitar to survive a Timid Life Orb Gengar's Focus Blast 100% of the time and a Modest one, on average. The remaining EVs were delegated to Defense. </p>

that would be great thanks gorm, does caelum's work?.

also, (seperate note) LO cannot be used on the DD set anymore, as Tyranitar takes 75.66% - 89.74% from a Scizor Bullet Punch (LO and Adamant factored in). Which means, Scizor cannot be an opponent's only answer to a DD set, which is nice to know. Leftovers would probably be the prefered item, with Expert Belt as a close second (although we would need to add some defense to make sure this doesn't kill after SR imo)

@Caelum: Fair enough

You can mention that but I'd still honestly use Life Orb. I don't care that much about Scizor to give up the power boost :/

Holy crap that was only up there for 3 minutes before grammar stuff was fixed. Thanks misaki

Yeah misaki is on a roll.

After testing Tyranitar I've felt that Aqua Tail is superior to Earthquake almost all the time. The only time I've felt it as useful is Steel-types which Crunch will hit most of them neutral anyways (and the Defense drop makes it better too). The ability to be blocked less by Gliscor and Hippowdon is also welcome here (provided the former isn't common) while still hitting Heatran for SE damage.

I'm not sure about Ice Punch though. If it's just for Gliscor I'd just opt Aqua Tail instead.

DDTar might need a small change-up. As I've said Substitute and Dragon Dance on the same set can prove to be useful as revenge killing is more difficult this way (especially with Bullet Punch Scizor). Perhaps a seperate set for it?

I kinda like my explanation for why Curse deserves its own spot (and why the argument of Regirock outclasses is only just a component of it) and if everyone else is okay with it I don't see why it should be included but anyway.

Now, to address Maddog.

- CB: Aqua Tail should probably be slashed in over Earthquake. Both have there uses.

- DD: Taunt needs to be left as an option, if only for uber Tyranitar since Taunt is invaluable in that tier on DD Tar.

- Specs: Superpower should be an option over Focus Punch. IIRC (please check) neutral nature & no Attack EVs can 2HKO 4 HP / 252 Def Calm Blissey 100% of the time. Should get some kind of mention.

-Mixed Dance: should probably just stay as is. While the actual move coverage may be there, the moves have different uses. For example, Fire Punch doesn't OHKO Skarmory but Fire Blast will. Mixed DD Tar is too act as a lure to open a sweep for something else, not to necessarily sweep on its own. Should just stay as is. I've still used it in Platinum and it has advantages over the DD'r. For example. Let's say you are trying to open a sweep for Lucario (lets assume you don't run Ice Punch). Gliscor will come in on your DD Aqua Tail and realize its a 2HKO. It'll switch out and still be a nuisance to your sweep later. However, if it comes in on Ice Beam. It's gone. That's why it functions differently. They accomplish different goals. Again, should stay as is.

Caelum said:

- Specs: Superpower should be an option over Focus Punch. IIRC (please check) neutral nature & no Attack EVs can 2HKO 4 HP / 252 Def Calm Blissey 100% of the time. Should get some kind of mention.

Click to expand...

neutral nature does 67.64% - 79.60% the first hit, a definite 2hko since the second hit will do 45.25% - 53.22%. For the record, modest nature is 60.89% - 71.47% first hit, 40.64% - 47.85% on the second hit; also a 2HKO if my math is right..



I also did some calcs for 4 HP/252 Bold earlier today:

modest 0 attack vs 4 hp/252 def Bold bliss:

Damage: 55.67% - 65.49% first time, 37.27% - 43.87% second hit.

neutral does 61.96% - 72.85% to that same Bliss, 41.56% - 48.77% after the second Superpower

by the way Life Orb from Modest does 72.39% - 85.28% and will definitely 2hko without attack EVs, so a Life Orb ttar could just run Modest/Timid and max speed and special attack, with superpower and three special moves, essentially making it and the choice specs set the same as for what four moves to pick :S

Caelum said:

I kinda like my explanation for why Curse deserves its own spot (and why the argument of Regirock outclasses is only just a component of it) and if everyone else is okay with it I don't see why it should be included but anyway.

Now, to address Maddog.

- CB: Aqua Tail should probably be slashed in over Earthquake. Both have there uses.

Click to expand...

Fair enough. I was kind of thinking that would be what I would slash for Aqua Tail. Thanks for the conformation, and I will go ahead and do that.

- DD: Taunt needs to be left as an option, if only for uber Tyranitar since Taunt is invaluable in that tier on DD Tar.

Click to expand...

Yeah I agree with that, having played against DD tar in Ubers (its a beast). I do think Taunt is not too great in OU though except for Skarmory, which realisticly you should weaken anyway before you attempt to sweep. So right now, I'll probably make a mention of the uses of DD Tar in ubers (like using it with dual screen), having Taunt as a main option, ect.

- Specs: Superpower should be an option over Focus Punch. IIRC (please check) neutral nature & no Attack EVs can 2HKO 4 HP / 252 Def Calm Blissey 100% of the time. Should get some kind of mention.

Click to expand...

I was thinking it would be a main option over Focus Punch, as it does do what you wanted it to accomplish anyway.

-Mixed Dance: should probably just stay as is. While the actual move coverage may be there, the moves have different uses. For example, Fire Punch doesn't OHKO Skarmory but Fire Blast will. Mixed DD Tar is too act as a lure to open a sweep for something else, not to necessarily sweep on its own. Should just stay as is. I've still used it in Platinum and it has advantages over the DD'r. For example. Let's say you are trying to open a sweep for Lucario (lets assume you don't run Ice Punch). It will come in on your DD Aqua Tail and realize its a 2HKO. It'll switch out and still be a nuisance to your sweep later. However, if it comes in on Ice Beam. It's gone. That's why it functions differently. They accomplish different goals. Again, should stay as is.

Click to expand...

Ok. When I rewrite the analysis (soon), I will go ahead and emphasize this point that the set is really meant to take out counters for other pokes and not necessarily going to sweep itself. That's a good enough reason for it to stay.

Thanks for the comments guys, keep them coming!

Cool maddog, it looks like you have a solid foundation to get this started (were you cool with my Curse write up btw, I was never sure?).

One issue that I wanted to bring up that isn't about Platinum specifically but if we are updated mine as well, is there any merit in discussing a faster EV spread in the Set Comments for the CB set. I mean leave the same EVs as the main option but mention that spread that outruns Skarmory so you can Stone Edge it before it Roosts. Just a thought.

Also, just reminding you about the Life Orb comments and Scizor. They should be mentioned in the set comments since that is significant enough.

maddog said:

-CB set now uses Crunch/ Stone Edge/ EQ/ Pursuit with Aqua Tail and probably Ice Punch as strong options. EQ is probably the weakest link in my mind.

Click to expand...

EQ can be replaced by Fire Blast, as even with Adamant and no EVs, it will OHKO max HP Scizor and Forretress, and 2HKO Skarmory easily. If you still want the OHKO on Lucario and a 2HKO on Metagross (Fire Blast doesn't do either), Fire Punch can go in that spot instead. Heatran still really, really does not enjoy a CB Stone Edge to the face.

I thought the Curse set was well written, and I'll go ahead and add some stuff to it (espically why it isn't outclassed by Regirock), like Dark STAB is nice to have coming off of base 131 attack, which obviously Regirock can't do. I can also mention beating Skarm in the set comments, as I have no problems with that at all.

It's good that I have some solid opinions on this before I start with the actual writing of it, because something as good as Tyranitar should be handled with care.

@Syberia: That's pretty cool, I was going to do ahead and mention Fire Punch in the set comments. The only problem is that Heatran might be greedy, and I have always been against choice Fire attacks, espically that Heatran is waiting in the wings even more than it has been in the past. Overall, I think I'll mention it in the set comments, but not give it an actual slash, as many of the things you mentioned can be accomplished with Stone Edge or EQ (or Aqua Tail) just as well. For example, if I have enough speed to beat Skarm, I can beat its Roost and possibly 2hko with Stone Edge just as well as Fire Blast, but with more utility.

Actually as far as EV changes I recommend something like Max Attack, 80 Speed EVs, and the rest into HP on the Choice Bander. IIRC this outpaces neutral Skarmory who would otherwise could PP-Stall Stone Edge.

The Careful spread won't manage a 2HKO on Hippowdon, so Aqua Tail loses much of its appeal in that case and can be swapped out for something else. On the Adamant set, it's probably a better option than Earthquake most of the time.

I'm going to test the Dragon Dancer with Substitute and if it works I'll repost it here. I feel that Substitute is useful nowadays with Scizor and Dugtrio revenge killing you with few worries.

Dragon Dance with Lum Berry certainly deserves a mention. And it really should always be Jolly, otherwise you've got rediculous stuff like Gengar, Infernape, and Starmie who still outspeed you and, in the case of the first two, kill you.

Syberia said:

The Careful spread won't manage a 2HKO on Hippowdon, so Aqua Tail loses much of its appeal in that case and can be swapped out for something else. On the Adamant set, it's probably a better option than Earthquake most of the time.

Click to expand...

Sure, that sounds reasonable.

Colonel M said:

I'm going to test the Dragon Dancer with Substitute and if it works I'll repost it here. I feel that Substitute is useful nowadays with Scizor and Dugtrio revenge killing you with few worries.

Click to expand...

Sounds fine to me. Bullet Punch from an LO Scizor won't KO, but I guess alot of Duggies are running Scarf now for Scarf Heatran.

Syberia said:

Dragon Dance with Lum Berry certainly deserves a mention. And it really should always be Jolly, otherwise you've got rediculous stuff like Gengar, Infernape, and Starmie who still outspeed you and, in the case of the first two, kill you.

Click to expand...

I would rather use Taunt than Lum Berry, because the item is so important for Tyranitar (1 keeps you from dying to Scizor, the other makes you more powerful). I can see the case for Jolly (and that's why I listed it), so when I finish out the set I'll go ahead and mention what you said.

Finished writing the Dragon Dance set. Should I mention Taunt, Substitute and other moves that would work for this set in the set comments, or would other options be a more appropiate place for them?

If you want mention it in the [SET COMMENTS]. I don't really see the merit of either having a moveslot (they're just useful options alongside the set) and have their niche uses.