[2013] Landorus-T (QC 0/2)





Woof

[Overview]
-The introduction of Black and White 2 has brought three new formes to the Kami trio, and Landorus is one of the most improved
-Titanic base 145 Attack stat and access to the most powerful STAB Earthquake in the metagame is nothing to shake off
-Intimidate is one of the best abilities in the game, providing Landorus-T and its allies with added defense
-Weaknesses to Ice and Water, two of the most common special attacking types, still remains unfortunately
-Lower speed than Landorus-I can also seem offsetting, but there are ways to get around it
-With proper team building, Landorus-T can become a valuable ally

[SET]
name: Standard
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide / Stone Edge
move 3: Imprison / Substitute / U-Turn
move 4: Protect
item: Yache Berry
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
-Earthquake and Rock Slide are your standard attacking moves
-Stone Edge is an alternative for Rock Slide if Landorus-T becomes intimidated, however the loss in accuracy is notable
-Imprison prevents the opponent from using Protect, which can be incredibly useful
-Substitute, with the proper prediction, can make Landorus incredibly hard to take down
-U-Turn is good for switching out against Cresselia and into something that can take an incoming Ice Beam
-Protect is a standard move in this metagame, and is required to use with Imprison.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
-Yache Berry allows Landorus to live an Ice-type move, and hit back harder
-Jolly maximizes speed so that it can guaranteed outrun max speed Heatran
-An alternative Calm 252 HP / 212 SpDef EV spread allows Landorus to survive a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor from Hydreigon, but the loss in power is noticeable
-Ground Gem can power Earthquake to ridiculous levels, but the loss of survivability is noticeable
-Focus Sash is a decent alternative item as it survives surprise moves such as Specs Politoed's Ice Beam or Gem or Helping Hand-boosted super effective moves

-Speed control is needed to maximize this set's possibilities. Cresselia with Icy Wind or Thundurus with Thunder Wave can help out with this
-Partners such as Hitmontop or Cresselia with Helping Hand boost Earthquake or Rock Slide's power enough to get a KO in certain situations

[Other Options]
-Bulldoze can alleviate Landorus' speed issues, but it's pathetically underpowered
-Gravity is an interesting move on Landorus, and it can provide good support for teammates. However, everyone including Landorus' partner will be hit by Earthquake
-Hammer Arm is a decent Fighting-type move, but can be counterproductive as it makes Landorus' speed even lower
-Swords Dance can make Landorus incredibly powerful, but is hard to set up in the fast-paced Doubles format
-Normal Gem Explosion can be a powerful surprise move

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Rock Slide / Stone Edge
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Explosion / Superpower
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
-Choice Scarf alleviates Landorus' speed issues, allowing it to hit fast and hard
-Earthquake and Rock Slide form the dreaded "QuakeSlide", hitting numerous Pokemon for super effective damage
-Stone Edge is a good alternative for Rock Slide if you fear Intimidate, however one must account for the loss in accuracy
-U-Turn allows Landorus to deal damage and quickly retreat to reset its Scarf, and hits Cresselia and Hydreigon well
-Explosion with 145 Attack is amazingly powerful, but requires proper prediction due to the abundance of Protect
-Superpower allows Landorus to hit Ferrothorn better than Earthquake

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
-72 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spd alternate EV spread allows it to outspeed Aerodactyl and others in its speed tier

-Cresselia, Hydreigon, and other Levitating Pokemon are fantastic partners, avoiding Earthquake
-Flying-types are a similar case, but both Pokemon will be majorly weak to Blizzard
-Musharna is also another great partner, able to set up Gravity and support Landorus with Helping Hand while being immune to its earthquakes

[Checks and Counters]
-The Choice Scarf set fears Ice-type moves such as Ice Beam, Hidden Power Ice, or Blizzard for its life, as it usually can't survive one hit
-Rain is also one of Landorus-T's biggest fears, as it will be outsped by Swift Swim Pokemon and OHKO'd by a boosted Water-type move
-Sableye can shut down Landorus-T's tank-like power with Will-o-Wisp, so having a Safeguard user on your team is good
-Intimidate Pokemon such as Hitmontop and Scrafty cause problems to Landorus
 

Biosci

Danger!?
is a Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnuswon the 3rd Smogon VGC Tournamentis a Past SCL Champion
Just because it's standard, doesn't make it the best set. However in this case I have to agree, the "Standard" set should definitely go first. Scarf is incredibly underwhelming.

Along with the set changes, I would really like to see some changes in the sets.

Standard:
-U-Turn deserves a mention in the third slot over the other current options. Gaining that damage on Cresselia and switching out before it can Ice Beam or Icy Wind you is way more useful than Imprison or Sub.
-Make an AC mention of a bulkier spread that can take Hydreigon's Modest Dragon Gem Draco
-Mention Jolly in AC
-Either slash Stone Edge with Rock Slide, or mention it in AC. If you're intimidated, you really aren't doing much with non-STAB Rock Slide.

Scarf:
-Move the current spread to AC and have just a 252/252 spread listed on the set.
-Either slash Stone Edge with Rock Slide, or mention it in AC. If you're intimidated, you really aren't doing much with non-STAB Rock Slide.

I guess that's it for now.

Also don't write up analyses until they pass the QC stage, it just makes it easier for everyone.
 
Standard:
-U-Turn deserves a mention in the third slot over the other current options. Gaining that damage on Cresselia and switching out before it can Ice Beam or Icy Wind you is way more useful than Imprison or Sub.
-Make an AC mention of a bulkier spread that can take Hydreigon's Modest Dragon Gem Draco
-Mention Jolly in AC
-Either slash Stone Edge with Rock Slide, or mention it in AC. If you're intimidated, you really aren't doing much with non-STAB Rock Slide.

I guess that's it for now.

Also don't write up analyses until they pass the QC stage, it just makes it easier for everyone.
Landorus-T needs pretty heavy investment to live that. 252 HP / 212 SpDef Calm barely does. (252+ SpA Dragon Gem Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 212+ SpD Landorus-T: 165-195 (84.18 - 99.48%) -- guaranteed 2HKO)
 

R Inanimate

It's Lunatic Time
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I wasn't aware that stuff still happened on this board.

-For the Scarfer, the chance of Rock Slide flinching one or both opponents probably puts it way ahead of Stone Edge. So unless you can come up with an example of something that you really want to be using Stone Edge against, I can't really see it being used over Rock Slide.

-for Other Options, while its Attack stat rose, and Sp.Atk dropped. 105 SpA is still more than enough to make a Special Attack Landorus-T potentially viable. While probably not the best of ideas, it's still something worth mentioning

-for counters, Defiant Tornadus is a pretty serious threat to Landorus-T, turning its Intimidate into a boost that allows it to easily outrun and OHKO with Gem Acrobatics. Has to watch out for Scarfer though.

-also for counters, Rotom-W avoids Earthquakes and takes fairly small amounts for its other moves. Threatening back with Hydro Pump
 
i know nothing goes on here but w/e

stone edge should definitely NOT be a slash over rock slide, but rather slashed in the third slot. in my experience, stone edge grabbing that OHKO on a genie turn 1 (the only thing it doesn't kill is bulky thund, but maybe this is because I use Jolly??) can put your opponent in a very tight spot, not to mention it's one of the more attractive moves you can lock yourself into lategame since explosion and superpower limit what you can do in such a situation. rock slide is kind of staple, but hits things differently enough imo to warrant using them both in the same set. slash or at least jolly nature and mention a spread of 30 HP / 252 atk / rest in speed because you outspeed neutral +1 volcarona so you can kill it with rock slide or something, along with modest scarf salamence, thund-t, and some other stuff i'm not remembering
 

Biosci

Danger!?
is a Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnuswon the 3rd Smogon VGC Tournamentis a Past SCL Champion
Ok so there really isn't a whole lot wrong here as far as the sets go. Make an AC Mention on the standard set of Focus Sash which lets you play a whole lot care free against loads of things and you don't cry like me when they end up having Ice Gem Ice Beam Politoed or Choice Specs Ice Beam Latios which both OHKO through Yache. Ground Gem deserves a mention too to let you nab some extra kills on things without needing an HH partner(Which also needs a mention in the teammates section.)

After these changes and another quick look I'll approve this.

edit: oh and either AC mention or OO mention, but Normal Gem Explosion deserves a mention
 
oo is in the wrong spot lol

Mention Choice Band in OO as well, since it can nab KOs on stuff like Thundurus-T, Tyranitar and Metagross but is kinda slow, needs more support and is easily OHKO'd by ice moves.

I'm going somewhere now, but I'll give this a better look through and probably stamp it when I get back.

E:

1/2
 
I think a slight tweak to the standard EV spread may be beneficial. Try 248 speed, 252 Attack and 8 HP. It only needs 248 speed EVS to outpace Adamant/Modest Lucario. It won't help too much, but you're wasting valuable EVS otherwise.
 

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