Overview
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Rhyperior is the epitome of a tank in the UU metagame; its high Attack, Defense, and HP combined with a great defensive ability in Solid Rock allow it to take almost any hit the tier has to offer - even with its unfortunate 4x weaknesses to Water and Grass. However, its paltry Special Defense and Speed makes it hard for Rhyperior to sweep, even though it has access to boosting moves such as Rock Polish and Swords Dance. Instead, it's better suited as a supportive attacker with Stealth Rock, or as a wallbreaker with its Assault Vest and Choice Band sets. In this role, it still faces competition from Swampert, but it distinguishes itself with its higher damage output and different set of resistances.
Tank
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name: Tank
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Blast / Stone Edge
move 4: Roar / Megahorn / Toxic
ability: Solid Rock
item: Leftovers
evs: 248 HP / 16 Atk / 244 SpD
nature: Adamant
Moves
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Rhyperior' works as a great Stealth Rock user due to its incredible bulk, makesing it incredibly easy to find opportunities to set up entry hazards, making it a great Stealth Rock user. Even with little investment in Attack, Rhyperior's fantastic coverage in Earthquake and, Rock Blast, or Stone Edge allows it to do significant damage to any Pokemon in the tier. Rock Blast deserves a special mention for its potential to OHKO Froslass on the first turn. Finally, Rhyperior can choose to run a phazing move such as Roar or Dragon Tail to rack up hazard damage and remove scary set-up sweepers, or it can run extra coverage in Megahorn to hit key threats such as Mew, Slowbro, and Umbreon. Roar is generally preferred over Dragon Tail due to its ability to phaze through Substitute, Protect, and against Fairy types. Toxic is also a useful option foras its ability to can cripple bulky Water-types such as Swampert or Slowbro, which are otherwise keen ono might try to switching into Rhyperior.
Set Details
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The EV spread is tailored to patch up Rhyperior's underwhelming Special Defense to make sure it can take every hit necessary. Sixteen16 Attack EVs with an Adamant nature make Rhyperior a formidable offensive presence with minimal investment - just enough for the first jump point. Finally, Leftovers provides recovery to keep Rhyperior healthy.
Usage Tips
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As Rhyperior can force a lot of switches and has a good amount of bulk, it can set up Stealth Rock fairly easily in the first few turns. It can switch in on a lot of powerful Pokemon, such as Darmanitan or Honchkrow, and easily force them out. This provides more opportunities for Rhyperior to put Stealth Rock on the field again, deal damage, or rack up more hazard damage with Roar.
Team Options
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Rhyperior needs a teammate to take the dangerous Grass- and Water-type attacks that will come its way. Rotom-H and Roserade is a perfect partnerare both great options as itthey scares both of these types out, and Roserade can augment Rhyperior's Stealth Rock damage with Spikes. Rotom-H can also scare out these Pokemon. A spinblocker, such as Sableye, also makes a good pair with Rhyperiortner, as it can ensure that Rhyperior's entry hazard stays on the field.
Choice Band
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name: Choice Band
move 1: Stone Edge
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Megahorn
move 4: Aqua Tail / Rock Blast
ability: Solid Rock
item: Choice Band
evs: 156 HP / 252 Atk / 100 Spe
nature: Adamant
Moves
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Stone Edge and Earthquake, which form the infamous EdgeQuake combination, deal massive damage when boosted by a Choice Band. Megahorn is great for extra coverage, and heavily punishes threats such as Celebi, Shaymin, Mew, and Slowbro. Aqua Tail will rarely be used, but it allows Rhyperior to hit opposing Rhyperior as well as Gligar slightly harder. Alternatively, Rock Blast can be used for Pokemon behind Substitutes or any Pokemon carrying a Focus Sash.
Set Details
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The majority of Rhyperior's EVs go into HP and Attack in order to ensure it can dish out heavy deal massive damage as often as possible. An Adamant nature is used to further boost Rhyperior's impressive Attack, and 84 EVs in Speed allow it to outspeed uninvested base 50s, most notably Donphan. An Adamant nature is used to further boost Rhyperior's impressive Attack. If you choose to run Choice Band Rhyperior under Trick Room, you may benefit more from 0 Spe EVs, 0 Spe IVs, and a Brave Nature.
Usage Tips
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Banded Rhyperior should be used solely as a wallbreaker. It has tremendous power, which is shown in its ability to 2HKO Slowbro with Earthquake, and this should not be diminished as it is one of the best stallbreakers in the tier. Don't forget to use Rhyperior's handy resistances and bulk; just because it's carrying a Choice Band doesn't mean it can't switch in to powerful attacks such as Victini's V-create or Darmanitan's Flare Blitz.
Team Options
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Choice Band Rhyperior works extremely well on dedicated Trick Room teams, as well as teams with only one Trick Room user. Its naturally low Speed lends itself to sweeping under Trick Room. Choice Band Rhyperior also appreciates a cleric that can restore its health, remove any harmful status, and allow it to continue wreaking havoc.
Assault Vest
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name: Assault Vest
move 1: Stone Edge
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Megahorn
move 4: Metal Burst
ability: Solid Rock
item: Assault Vest
evs: 252 HP / 224 Atk / 32 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
nature: Brave
Moves
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The EdgeQuake combo is too good to pass up on any Rhyperior set due to its great coverage. Like before, Megahorn is used to nab extra damage on Pokemon such as Slowbro, Umbreon, and Mew. Metal Burst is the distinguishing factor of this set - it allows Rhyperior to take incredibly damaging hits such as Slowbro's Scald and return with 1.5x the damage.
Set Details
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The EVs are specific to make sure that Rhyperior accomplishes two things. First of all, it will never die to a Timid Black Sludge Roserade from full HP. More importantly, however, it guarantees that the amount of damage Rhyperior takes from Slowbro's Scald will be enough so that Metal Burst OHKOes it in return. Zero Speed IVs and a Brave Nature allow Slowbro to outspeed Rhyperior so that it can OHKO Slowbro with Metal Burst. Assault Vest allows Rhyperior to take other special hits better as well.
Usage Tips
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With the special bulk granted from Assault Vest, Rhyperior can stay in on almost anything and deal devastating amounts of damage. Remember to use Metal Burst to lure and OHKO key threats such as Slowbro or +1 Suicune. Be wary that you don't put too much faith in Assault Vest; you can still be OHKOed by powerful threats such as Life Orb Roserade or Mega Blastoise. You can run max HP and Special Defense EVs to avoid this, but the loss of damage and inability to OHKO Slowbro makes it not worth it.
Team Options
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Assault Vest Rhyperior appreciates the work of a cleric that can tidy up its bruises and eliminate any nasty status. Sand support is especially helpful for Assault Vest Rhyperior. As a Rock-type, its Special Defense is boosted to ridiculous levels and allows it to weather practically all attacks the tier can throw at it.
Other Options
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A Swords Dance set can be used to help break stall even further, but Rhyperior is far too slow to sweep, and the set is much less useful against offensive teams. Weakness Policy and Rock Polish is an option that attempts to make Rhyperior into a sweeper, but it struggles due to Rhyperior's low Speed. Even at +2, it's outsped by a slew of offensive Pokemon who can take advantage of it's lowered HP (due to Weakness Policy being activated) and easily revenge kill it. Protect can be used on the Tank set to scout for surprise coverage such as Grass Knot, as well as to increase the effectiveness of Leftovers. Dragon Tail can also be used over Roar on the Tank Set, but it's generally inferior this generation due to Sound mechanics and Fairy-types. Rhyperior can run Ice Punch on the Choice Band set, but this is mainly for Gligar. Substitute or Substitute + Swords Dance sets are now viable withalongside Blissey in the tier. Speed investment allows Rhyperior to outspeed and set up a 101 HP sub (with 132 HP EVs) to use the pink blob as set-up fodder. Finally, a more physically defensive EV spread can be used on the Tank set, but it loses out on extremely important special bulk.
Checks & Counters
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**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types can sponge a couple of hits from Rhyperior and threaten it out with their STAB moves. Although many of them, such as Slowbro and Suicune, can be 2HKOed by Rhyperior's Choice Band set and lured by the AV set, such as Slowbro and Suicune, they significantly threaten the Tank set.
**Grass-types**: Similar to Water-types, Grass-types can take advantage of Rhyperior's weaknesses and threaten it out. Shaymin has to worry about switching in on Megahorn, and Roserade can't safely switch in on any attacking move, but both of them threaten it offensively.
**Chesnaught**: Chesnaught deserves a special mention for its ability to hard counter every single Rhyperior set. Its typing and bulk allows it to dodge the 2HKO even from the Choice Band set, and it can set up Spikes and threaten Rhyperior with Wood Hammer.
**Rapid Spin Users**: Rapid Spin users such as Donphan and Forretress can weather blows from Rhyperior and remove its entry hazards while setting up their own entry hazards. Blastoise (and Tentacruel to a lesser extent) deserve a special mention for threatening Rhyperior out offensively as well.
**Bulky Ground-types**: Bulky Ground-types such as Hippowdon and Donphan are relatively unaffected by Rhyperior's STABs and can threaten him out with their own Earthquake.
**Status**: Status such as burn can be devastating to Rhyperior, and its low Speed means it often has no way to avoid it. Sableye deserves a special mention for its ability to prevent Stealth Rock and cut down on damage with Will-O-Wisp.
**Strong Special Attackers**: Even if itRhyperior isn't 4x weak to their STAB moves, strong Special Attackers such as Nidoking, Nidoqueen, and Mega Ampharos can deal heavy damage to Rhyperior. Some of them can, however, be used as bait for the Metal Burst set.
**Strong Fighting-types**: Although many of them can't OHKO him, some Pokemon such as Choice Band Mienshao can ignore Rhyperior's incredible bulk and nab the surprise KO. Rhyperior offensively threatens most frail Fighting-types, but if they can come in safely, it's usually not willing to take the hit.
**Mew**: Mew can switch in, provided Rhyperior doesn't Megahorn, and can proceed to threaten Rhyperior out with the threat of Will-O-Wisp. It can also Defog Rhyperior's entry hazards.
**Random Coverage**: Random Grass-type coverage in the form of Energy Ball or Grass Knot on Pokemon such as Victini can surprise Rhyperior and potentially OHKO him.
