Radioactive

[Tyranical]

Radioactive​

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Introduction​

Hey smogon this is The Tyranitar! Recently as many of you probably know, Landorus-I was banned (I'm glad I voted ban) and we're back to OU instead of OU current. I used this team in the old metagame of Landorus-I and since Showdown is down and I have nothing better to do, I thought I would share the team with you. When smogonites build a team and want to add a Dragon type, there is usually one pokemon that is overlooked. Its name is Hydreigon and it is far deadlier than you would expect. I read a post in the smogon OU metagame forum that was about how Hydreigon is underused and is incredibly strong against stall. I was intrigued by this article and I wanted to create a team around Hydreigon. Hydreigon has fantastic attacking stats, a great movepool, immunity to spikes, and toxic spikes (which is great against stall) and surprise value to help it succeed in BW OU. The goal of this team was to prove to the community that Hydreigon is a viable pokemon in the metagame. Anyway, I used this team to help me get suspect voting rights and I peaked in the top 20. I am very proud of this team. Hopefully I can enlighten you in the ways of Hyrdeigon and how truly terrifying it can be.​

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Night Visions (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Rocky helmet​

Trait: Intimidate​

EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 Def​

Adamant Nature​

- Stealth Rock​

- Earthquake​

- Stone Edge​

- U-turn​

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The most obvious weakness Hydreigon has in the metagame is Terrakion and other physical fighting types. Landorus therian can easily check and dispatch of Terrkaion, using its fantastic ability; intimidate. In addition Landorus-T sets up Stealth Rock which obviously weakens huge threats like Dragonite and Volcarona. Earthquake has great coverage and can hit special walls such as Blissey for good damage. Unfortunately, Landorus-T has problems with rain teams so be prepared to switch a lot against Politoed, Ferrothorn, and of course Starmie. Landorus-T is necessary for this team, and is a priority to keep alive. The lack of recovery really hurts Landorus-T so play it conservatively. Landorus also can't check Keldeo but it can absorb Secret Sword. Stone Edge hits any Volcarona trying to set up, Salamence, and Dragonite. U-turn keeps momentum going and hits Latios for good damage as well as Celebi. Landorus-T fills an important niche on this team and is one of the most valuable players. MCBarrett suggested a Rocky Helmet for Landorus-T I was surprised with its effectiveness and I am happily trolling U-turners with this item so thanks MCBarrett!​

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Radioactive (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Specs​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 224 Spd​

Modest Nature​

- Hydro Pump​

- Volt Switch​

- Trick​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

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For maximum coverage against threats I changed Latios to Rotom-Wash. Why? Well I was undecided with Heatran vs Rotom-Wash in one spot, as they both countered different things and lacking either Heatran or Rotom-Wash leaves me vulnerable to some common sweeper. Finally, I ended Heatran vs Rotom-Wash and abandoned Latios' power for better defensive synergy. With Celebi and Heatran, Rotom-Wash forms the famous Fire, Water, and Grass core. Rotom-Wash has a very powerful Hydro Pump that can be used repeatedly unlike Draco Meteor. It's accuracy is a put off some times but it usually works fine. In the rain, Hydro Pump is stupidly powerful doing good damage to almost anything. Volt Switch is nice to keep momentum going and scores OHKOs on Skarmory, Gyarados, and most flying types. The HP evs make Rotom-Wash slightly more bulky while retaining max special attack. 224 speed lets me speed creep any Rotom-Wash that runs 220 speed, and obviously outruns Jolly Breloom. I could use Timid instead but I love the power boost of Modest. Rotom-Wash checks Mamoswine, Gliscor, and Landorus-Therian and I think it's worth losing Latios.​

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Imagine (Hydreigon) @ Life Orb​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd​

Mild Nature​

- Draco Meteor​

- Fire Blast​

- Superpower​

- Earthquake​

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Hydreigon is the star of the team and for good reason. Hydreigon completely dismantles stall, and can crush any offensive pokemon slower than it. Ferrothorn falls prey to Fire Blast, Blissey to Superpower, and Jellicent to Draco Meteor. Practically any defensive pokemon in OU will be OHKOd or 2HKOd by this monster. Not to mention, most players aren't prepared for Hydreigon so it can get the jump on unprepared players. Draco Meteor is the STAB move of choice, doing massive damage to anything that doesn't resist it. Fire Blast will OHKO the majority of steel types in the game, and has great coverage overall, Superpower OHKOs Tyranitar no matter what and after Draco Meteor it will OHKo Blissey and even Ferrothorn. Earthquake slams Heatran and Jirachi in the rain. Hydreigon cannot be switched into without the risk of being KOd by one of its awesome coverage moves. To give you some perspective on how powerful Hydreigon really is here are some damage calculations;​

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252+ SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Ninetales: 317-374 (90.57 - 106.85%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

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252+ SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Politoed: 317-374 (82.55 - 97.39%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

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252+ SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 168 SpD Ferrothorn: 556-655 (157.95 - 186.07%) -- guaranteed OHKO

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4 Atk Life Orb Hydreigon Superpower vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Blissey: 465-549 (71.31 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

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252+ SpA Life Orb Hydreigon Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 236+ SpD Jirachi: 265-315 (65.59 - 77.97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

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The River (Celebi) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Natural Cure​

EVs: 220 HP / 252 SAtk / 36 Spd​

Modest Nature​

- Nasty Plot​

- Giga Drain​

- Baton Pass​

- Psychic​

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Meet Celebi the teams main water resist and rain check. Nasty Plot Celebi has a few bothersome counters which are all removed by Hydreigon bar Lati@s making it a frightening sweeper when paired with Hydreigon. Giga Drain is a great move, sporting fairly decent coverage and the ability to heal Celebi. Psychic is mainly for Dragonite and Salamence. Do not let Volcarona come in on Celebi or it will set up and become a huge threat. Celebi is also fairly bulky with a 220 HP investment, its capable of tanking Starmie's Ice Beam and OHKOing back with Giga Drain. Celebi has a fiendish trick up its sleeve in the form of Baton Pass. +2 Celebi can easily baton pass out of a given situation to Hydreigon or Rotom-Wash (which can tank a fire move directed at them) and then become insanely powerful at +2. Heatran shares good synergy with Celebi and appreciates a +2 boost as well. Many teams will crumble under Celebi's foot and any of its nasty plot recipients.​

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Hear Me (Heatran) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Flash Fire​

EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk​

Calm Nature​

- Lava Plume​

- Roar​

- Protect​

- Toxic​

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Martian Manhunter suggested an offensive Life Orb Heatran over Rotom-Wash, and I see why Heatran is preferable in today's metagame. However, I opted to use a Specially Defensive Heatran instead, which trades power for defense. Heatran is a superb special wall, with a myriad of resistances and great defensive stats. 130 special attack is still high enough to inflict good damage without much investment is SAtk evs. Heatran can easily roar Volcarona out, letting it take 50% more damage from Stealth Rock and it can take Bug Buzz all day. Any sweeper that attempts to set up on Heatran will quickly be roared out. Heatran is also great against many Sun abusers like Venusuar. It can tank Giga Drain and OHKo back with Sun boosted Lava Plume. Toxic is for any bulky water trying to switch in on Heatran, and is great against opposing walls. Heatran itself is immune to toxic, so it cannot be stalled out in that way. I also appreciate Heatran's ability to swicth in to Lati@s and sponge Dragon moves. Heatran is a useful tank for the team and spices up the team's resistances.​

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Round and Round (Tyranitar) @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Sand Stream​

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd​

Jolly Nature​

- Stone Edge​

- Crunch​

- Pursuit​

- Superpower​

For most teams nowadays, Latios and Latias are problems that need to be dealt with in the best way possible. Meet Tyranitar, my favorite check to the Lati twins, Celebi, and Espeon. Tyranitar puts many pokemon in checkmate with Crunch and Pursuit, and has great STAB. With a Scarf, Tyranitar reaches 364 speed which outruns base 115s. Tyranitar also OHKOs Dragonite with Stone Edge and Stone Edge has good overall coverage. Sandstorm can take care of harmful sun and rain while and doesn't bother the rest of the team too much. Hydreigon can wreck teams far easier with Lati@s gone and the rest of the team appreciates the removal of psychic teams. Landorus-T is a great partner with Tyranitar as it can come in on fighting moves. Starmie is less of a problem with Scarf Tar as it can outrun and kill it. Tyranitar also does good damage to Ferrothorn with Superpower and Terrakion is OHKOd after stealth rock or any other prior damage. Tyranitar tackles a hard role on this team and makes a solid contribution.​

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Afterword​

This is a fun team to use, and is a breath of fresh air from all of the incredibly standard teams out there. I am happily surprised with Hydreigon and I encourage you to try him out so you too can use the awesome might of the Hydra. I will probably continue to ladder with this team for a while now that the ladder is reset, and I will repot back to you if I get even higher on the ladder. If you want to know why I used the name "Radioactive" its a song I like from ImagineDragons and Hydreigon is a Dragon that has 3 heads (in cartoons you grow an extra head when exposed to radiation). Anyway, this team is one of my faves and definitely my best to date and if you too want to use it I have an importable. Thanks for reading, drop a rate or like and have a great day!​

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Importable ​

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Night Visions (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Rocky Helmet​

Trait: Intimidate​

EVs: 252 HP / 56 Atk / 200 Def​

Adamant Nature​

- Stealth Rock​

- Earthquake​

- Stone Edge​

- U-turn​

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Radioactive (Rotom-Wash) @ Choice Specs​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 32 HP / 252 SAtk / 224 Spd​

Modest Nature​

- Hydro Pump​

- Volt Switch​

- Trick​

- Hidden Power [Ice]​

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Imagine (Hydreigon) @ Life Orb​

Trait: Levitate​

EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd​

Mild Nature​

- Draco Meteor​

- Fire Blast​

- Superpower​

- Earthquake​

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The River (Celebi) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Natural Cure​

EVs: 220 HP / 252 SAtk / 16 Spd​

Timid Nature​

- Nasty Plot​

- Giga Drain​

- Baton Pass​

- Psychic​

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Hear Me (Heatran) @ Leftovers​

Trait: Flash Fire​

EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SAtk​

Calm Nature​

- Lava Plume​

- Roar​

- Protect​

- Toxic​

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Round and Round (Tyranitar) @ Choice Scarf​

Trait: Sand Stream​

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd​

Jolly Nature​

- Stone Edge​

- Crunch​

- Pursuit​

- Superpower​

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[MCBarrett]

Hey Tyranitar, awesome team, can't wait to try it out myself!

I can tell you put a lot of time into this team since it has really nice synergy and takes on the major threats of the meta quite well, however I do have a couple suggestions to hopefully help this team out. First of all, you are slightly Venusaur weak, since after one Growth boost, it can OHKO your entire team after SR damage. To help combat this I would suggest running a Scarf Tyranitar over your current CB set. This allows you to switch in while Venusaur is setting up, get rid of the sun, and fire off big damage with Stone Edge. This set also puts a lot of pressure on Ninetales so sun is even less likely to stay up against your team. Next, your team really does not appreciate U-Turn, as you have 4 weaknesses and only one resist. Therefore, I would suggest using a Rocky Helmet over Leftovers on your Landorus-T to really punish those fast U-Turners that can give your team a lot of trouble.

Hope you find my suggestions useful! Nice job and good luck with the team!

 

[Tyranical]

Hey man thanks for the rate,
I'll give scarf tar a go I think that would work pretty well so I will definitely try it out. Leftovers is the only way Landorus can recover so I might stick to that but I'll still test your change. Thanks man and I hope you have fun using the team!

 

[Martian Manhunter]

Hey Tyranitar, really like the team and the concept of Hydreigon hope it inspires lots of people.

I love the team but if I could add anything I would replace Rotom- W with Heatran. Like MCBarrett said your a little weak to Venusaur and Heatran can help you with this. Plus you have a volc problem this being said sun is a troll to you. So Heatran will be very helpful and like Rotom- W it has great synergy with Celebi. I think you should use this Heatran.

Heatran@Leftovers or Life Orb​

-Fire Blast​

-Earth Power​

-Hidden Power Rock​

-Dragon Pulse​

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This allows you to easily dispatch of The moth and just sun in general. The moves are weird but for certain situations. Fire Blast to wreck steels and is just Heatran's go to move because its great in sun. Earth Power to hit other Heatran's. The EV's are missing because it is clearly and fast special sweeper that runs a timid nature. Also you have no dragon resist which can be crucial in some cases. Heatran provides all the services you need and more! Hope the team gives you even more success best wishes Martian Manhunter.​

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[MCBarrett]

Hey man thanks for the rate,
I'll give scarf tar a go I think that would work pretty well so I will definitely try it out. Leftovers is the only way Landorus can recover so I might stick to that but I'll still test your change. Thanks man and I hope you have fun using the team!

I've been testing the team out and I really like it, I'm sitting around a 1990 Glicko2 rating right now so it's doing pretty well. One thought I had though was that it would be nice to outspeed Jolly Breloom with Celebi and you could do that simply by running a Timid Nature with 16 EV's in speed, allowing you to give it more bulk as well.

 

[Tyranical]

@martian manhunter I am using a specially defensive heatran on the team and I really like it so thanks for suggesting Heatran.

@MCBarret yeah outrunning jolly breloom would be nice so I'll try out the new spread you suggested. I'm glad you like the team and I am really enjoying Rocky Helmet Landorus-T and Scarf tar. Thanks for your help!

 

[Olliert]

Hey, nice team you have here, I like the way it puts a ton of pressure on your opponent's counters such as tyranitar etc.. I notice you're pretty weak to ice, and maybe bug type moves; not many sweepers sweep with these moves however, and you have a pretty offensive team in general which mitigates any weakness from a lack of defensive synergy. It's probably something just to keep in mind. Also, your Landorus may come under a bit of pressure from things like physical dragons as it's your only real physical check so you may have to play it pretty carefully.

As far as changes: something you could consider is changing specs latios to specs latias (exact same set, just different poke). It may seem counter intuitive but it means you can feel a lot safer coming in on things and specs Latios often has a lot of superfluous damage anyway -latias still hits like truck. Also, you want to be eliminating counters with latias and in this situation the surprise factor can really come in useful. e.g. vs stall: Opponent is saving scarftar to check celebi - he would be reluctant to send ttar in on latios but may be more inclined to send in on latias which is when you chunk him with draco or w/e. Also, I would suggest sleeptalk>dragon pulse as Latios becomes a good breloom switch in then.

A further note: sticking sr on heatran could give you greater choice for landorus's place if you needed it in the future (e.g. if you wanted to change to Gliscor or w/e) as it doesn't take too much away from heatran. Though as it is I think that sr is better on Landorus.

 

[Matt Tuck]

If by any chance you lose Lando-T i see SD Scizor as a huge problem and i'd recommend a small change in the team since i don't wanna mess up the synergy so i'd suggest you stick to your heatran set but with a spread of 252 HP / 96 SDef / 160 Spd so you can outspeed anything other than scarf scizor which you wont need to worry about since it doesnt hit as hard as band or SD. Otherwise solid team :]

Hope I Helped.

 

[Tyranical]

Hey everyone thanks for the rates

@ instynct yeah ice is a bit of a problem, I do worry about physical sweepers more than special ones so I already play Lando conservative. Celebs is the best breloom switch in thanks to natural cure which lets Latios come in as they never spore twice. Anyway I'll consider Latias as more of an offensive pivot so thanks.

@matt tuck sd Scizor is annoying so if I see one I always keep Lando alive. I am currently using Rotom wash over Heatran which can will-o-wisp or hydro pump it. But yeah if I use heatran again I'll try your spread so thanks!

 

[Delko]

Hi

You're extremely weak to Mamoswine, especially the Life Orb versions. Your only "check" atm is ScarfTar but that's shaky at best. An option you have here, is to run something like Rotom-W over Latios, to also let you keep your check to Keldeo and Landorus-I (even though he's banned :p) but also covers Mamoswine and the aformentioned SD Scizor. You can play around with its moveset, but something offensive can work for sure.

Good luck !

 

[Tyranical]

Hey delko,
I've been running rotom-w over heatran recently so I'm not really as Mamoswine weak. But yeah it's still a problem and I am very careful playing against it.

 

[Cicada]

Hey man, kudos for using Hydreigon in the current meta. However, there are some things that bother me :

- Keldeo non-choice @hp bug, which is pretty common imo. It's a pain to face for your team, since it outspeeds your entire team bar Tyranitar and ko all your mons (Rotom is actually 2hko'd by Secret Swords, even without SR).

- Sun teams w/ Dugtrio are also troublesome, since dug traps Tyranitar/Heatran, and Hydreigon doesn't have a recovery move to bear the sheer force of the sun abusers in the long run.

- Alakazam, especially the CM variant, can be annoying due to its coverage.

- Agility Thundurus (with 3 attacks, or the double dance set with Focus Blast), since Tyranitar can't revenge-kill it anymore, plus he can actually set up on Celebi which can't do anything to it. It's often tricky to check it with sandstorm teams anyways.

- Volcarona HP Ground can be annoying, though Rotom-W can take a hit and cripple it with Trick. Be weary though, it actually has chances to ohko it after quiver dance with sr on your field if modest. If it has Life Orb, Rotom-W is always ohko'd after sr, even if timid. In general, you have to keep Rotom in good health.

Now, I have some nitpicks which can help your team to overcome these weaknesses :

- First, I would advise you to replace Celebi by Latias, with a bulky spread. You can use the Calm Mind set, or an offensive set with Thunder Wave. Its ability to cripple threats like Volcarona is really useful imo. Plus, it can help greatly Hydreigon, since the main issue when using it is his average speed in the metagame. I find it better against Thundurus-T since it doesn't him set-up etc. The fact that you're using two dragons isn't really bothering imo, since your team can overcome their weaknesses.

- I would've seen a Specially Defensive set on Rotom-W, for the reasons I listed above (see volcarona), and to check a bit better LO Mamoswine on the long run, tho you still have to be careful since it really don't like to take Superpower. Maybe with Thunder Wave over the common Will-O-Wisp to check Volcarona and Alakazam better and, again, helping Hydreigon, though it's more a matter of preference i suppose.

- Maybe a Choice Scarf set on Heatran to help against SD Scizor and Mamoswine, can be useful against most physical threats like Garchomp if your Landorus-T has fainted. If you make this change, you can use another item on Tyranitar, like Chople Berry with a bulkier spread i think.

- I prefer to run more speed on Landorus-T to sit at a more profitable speed tier, like hitting 245 speed (aka 108 Evs in Speed)to outspeed Tentacruel, Jirachi Spdef, Celebi Spdef etc. It's still really bulky with Intimidate etc, so the drop in bulk doesn't matter.

tl;dr :
Latias w/ bulkier spread -> Celebi
SpDef Rotom-W -> Choice Specs Rotom-W
Choice Scarf Heatran -> SpDef Heatran
More speed on Landorus-T, like 108 Evs Spe

I'm not used to comment on other teams so bleh, hope I helped ! Good luck :)

 

[Tyranical]

Hey man thanks for the rate,​

yeah Celebi can be a bit... weak for lack of a better term sometimes. I'll try Latias out, it sounds pretty appealing and its bulk does help the team a lot. I'll try your Idea of Scarf tran over SPDef and SpDEf Rotom-W over Choice Specs. Yeah, landorus could outspeed Jirachi that would be nice I'll try that too. Again thanks for the rate man!​