pulsar512b
ss ou fangirl
I'll answer ausma's questions later, but right now I would like to bring yall's attention to a potentially good option on specially defensive landorus-therian.
What the hell? Why are you using specially defensive landorus-therian????
This has been answered much more competently by others (and I'm sure if you asked a top player, they'd be able to explain this better). Basically, if you look at the main physical threats in the metagame currently, many of them have good matchups versus defensive landorus-therian- Bisharp appreciates it due to defiant boosts, garchomp can easily wear it down if it's not a life orb set, Kartana 2hkos it, watershifu and Weavile both obviously eviscerate it, and Zeraora can wear it down easily. Thus, physical defense on lando is less "worth it", and as such, it makes sense to put investment in spdef for threats such as Heatran and (most importantly for this post) Volcarona.
Spdef and Physdef Landorus-Therian's matchup vs Volcarona
As most of you probably know, the typical bulky landorus set is rocks, eq, uturn, and knock/toxic.
A regular physdef lando struggles to check Volcarona, as if you swap into it as it QDs even bulky Volcarona does a lot:
+1 0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 228-268 (59.6 - 70.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
And of course, if it flamethrowers on the swap:
0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 153-180 (40 - 47.1%) -- 38.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
even with lefties (which is standard, dunno why the calc has a rocky helmet set)
0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 153-180 (40 - 47.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
(Note that this is plenty of chip for Volc to ensure that it can no longer check it, and that the rare sets with spatk investment will beat it even harder)
These calcs can, of course, be improved by putting spdef investment on. Here are the calcs with 164 spdef (the maximum amount you can put on, with max hp and enough speed for Bisharp, spdef heatran, and base 60s such as Zone and Aegislash)
0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 114-135 (29.8 - 35.3%) -- 22.9% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 171-202 (44.7 - 52.8%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
This is much better! Of course, it's not ideal and it will again only require a little more chip than couple sets of stealth rock and one unboosted flamethrower to get it into range.
The true problem with using this as your main volcarona check is that volcarona (esp under screens) often doesn't really care about Landorus's means of damaging it- it can easily tank an EQ and can do safeguard shenanigans versus toxic (albeit, only at great risk).
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 210-247 (56.3 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(Note that often volcaronas will run significant physical defense investment)
As such, Landorus-T is not a great check to Volcarona, even if it's specially defensive.
The Option
So uh I lied a little- this is not just one option, it's numerous.
Basically the idea is to run a rock move (Stone Edge, Rock Slide, or even potentially smack down/rock tomb), for the primary purpose of targeting volcarona and improving that matchup.
Annoyingly, you cannot KO bulkarona with smack down. but you can with the other moves (although rock tomb is a roll):
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Smack Down vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 280-332 (75 - 89%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 420-496 (112.6 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 560-660 (150.1 - 176.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Rock Tomb vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 336-396 (90 - 106.1%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
You require near-full attack investment to KO it.
The main reason you may prefer rock slide is for the accuracy, and also I suppose the flinch chance (Although that shouldn't particularly matter?)
Rock coverage is also generally useful against other threats (I will be using Stone Edge for these calcs as I feel that's the best)
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 220 Def Zapdos: 180-212 (46.9 - 55.3%) -- 69.5% chance to 2HKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tornadus-Therian: 238-282 (65.7 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 60+ Def Mandibuzz: 164-194 (38.7 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 104-123 (32.1 - 38%) -- 96.1% chance to 3HKO
The last of these is probably the most important one, with it being able to serve as counterplay to DD Dragonite.
Downsides
Landorus-T already has some degree of 4MSS, and having to drop Toxic/Knock off/Uturn only worsens the problem.
The innacuracy of rock moves also annoys it.
Conclusion
Stone edge on bulky landorus (particularly spdef) is a valuable option, although not as good in general as toxic/knock off/u-turn. If your team is particularly weak to Volcarona, Zapdos, Torn, or Dragonite, it may be useful.
Thank you for reading my post, and I hope you have a great day :)
What the hell? Why are you using specially defensive landorus-therian????
This has been answered much more competently by others (and I'm sure if you asked a top player, they'd be able to explain this better). Basically, if you look at the main physical threats in the metagame currently, many of them have good matchups versus defensive landorus-therian- Bisharp appreciates it due to defiant boosts, garchomp can easily wear it down if it's not a life orb set, Kartana 2hkos it, watershifu and Weavile both obviously eviscerate it, and Zeraora can wear it down easily. Thus, physical defense on lando is less "worth it", and as such, it makes sense to put investment in spdef for threats such as Heatran and (most importantly for this post) Volcarona.
Spdef and Physdef Landorus-Therian's matchup vs Volcarona
As most of you probably know, the typical bulky landorus set is rocks, eq, uturn, and knock/toxic.
A regular physdef lando struggles to check Volcarona, as if you swap into it as it QDs even bulky Volcarona does a lot:
+1 0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 228-268 (59.6 - 70.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
And of course, if it flamethrowers on the swap:
0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 153-180 (40 - 47.1%) -- 38.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
even with lefties (which is standard, dunno why the calc has a rocky helmet set)
0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-Therian: 153-180 (40 - 47.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
(Note that this is plenty of chip for Volc to ensure that it can no longer check it, and that the rare sets with spatk investment will beat it even harder)
These calcs can, of course, be improved by putting spdef investment on. Here are the calcs with 164 spdef (the maximum amount you can put on, with max hp and enough speed for Bisharp, spdef heatran, and base 60s such as Zone and Aegislash)
0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 114-135 (29.8 - 35.3%) -- 22.9% chance to 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
+1 0 SpA Volcarona Flamethrower vs. 252 HP / 164+ SpD Landorus-Therian: 171-202 (44.7 - 52.8%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
This is much better! Of course, it's not ideal and it will again only require a little more chip than couple sets of stealth rock and one unboosted flamethrower to get it into range.
The true problem with using this as your main volcarona check is that volcarona (esp under screens) often doesn't really care about Landorus's means of damaging it- it can easily tank an EQ and can do safeguard shenanigans versus toxic (albeit, only at great risk).
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Earthquake vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 210-247 (56.3 - 66.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
(Note that often volcaronas will run significant physical defense investment)
As such, Landorus-T is not a great check to Volcarona, even if it's specially defensive.
The Option
So uh I lied a little- this is not just one option, it's numerous.
Basically the idea is to run a rock move (Stone Edge, Rock Slide, or even potentially smack down/rock tomb), for the primary purpose of targeting volcarona and improving that matchup.
Annoyingly, you cannot KO bulkarona with smack down. but you can with the other moves (although rock tomb is a roll):
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Smack Down vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 280-332 (75 - 89%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Rock Slide vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 420-496 (112.6 - 132.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 560-660 (150.1 - 176.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Rock Tomb vs. 248 HP / 8 Def Volcarona: 336-396 (90 - 106.1%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO
You require near-full attack investment to KO it.
The main reason you may prefer rock slide is for the accuracy, and also I suppose the flinch chance (Although that shouldn't particularly matter?)
Rock coverage is also generally useful against other threats (I will be using Stone Edge for these calcs as I feel that's the best)
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 220 Def Zapdos: 180-212 (46.9 - 55.3%) -- 69.5% chance to 2HKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Tornadus-Therian: 238-282 (65.7 - 77.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 60+ Def Mandibuzz: 164-194 (38.7 - 45.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
0 Atk Landorus-Therian Stone Edge vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Multiscale Dragonite: 104-123 (32.1 - 38%) -- 96.1% chance to 3HKO
The last of these is probably the most important one, with it being able to serve as counterplay to DD Dragonite.
Downsides
Landorus-T already has some degree of 4MSS, and having to drop Toxic/Knock off/Uturn only worsens the problem.
The innacuracy of rock moves also annoys it.
Conclusion
Stone edge on bulky landorus (particularly spdef) is a valuable option, although not as good in general as toxic/knock off/u-turn. If your team is particularly weak to Volcarona, Zapdos, Torn, or Dragonite, it may be useful.
Thank you for reading my post, and I hope you have a great day :)