Old analysis
[Overview]
<p>Tauros is arguably the best offensive Normal-type available in RU, eclipsing the competition thanks to his wonderful combination of power, coverage, speed, and durability. Looking at his stats, the first thing that strikes the eye is his excellent base Speed stat, which is high enough to let him outpace a large portion of the unboosted metagame. Although his base Attack stat is not sky-high, Tauros has access to Sheer Force, an ability that boosts the power of all moves with a secondary effect by 30%, so most of his moves hit fairly hard. Luckily, his movepool is wide enough to make use of his ability, and the coverage moves at his disposal, most notably Fire Blast, hit a large portion of the metagame for super effective damage. Moreover, Sheer Force allows Tauros to run Life Orb without having to worry about recoil damage slowly wearing him down. This is particularly important because he has good bulk when compared to the many fast and frail attackers in the tier, and preserving it can help him survive weaker attacks or even attempts to revenge kill him. Despite all of these positive traits, Tauros is not a flawless Pokemon; in fact, his potential in the tier is hindered by the fact that he is countered by several rather common Pokemon, such as Alomomola and Spiritomb, and checked by a number of other prominent threats, most notably Golurk and Rhydon. Another thing that keeps Tauros from being an unstoppable force is the fact that he usually relies on moves with imperfect accuracy, and this can sometimes limit what he can accomplish throughout a battle. That said, Tauros is still an outstanding Pokemon in the tier that has the ability to tear apart teams when properly supported by his teammates.</p>
[SET]
name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Rock Climb
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Zen Headbutt / Rock Slide
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>An all-out attacking set is the most appropriate way to make use of Tauros's qualities, as he has the power and coverage to wallbreak and the Speed to perform a late-game sweep, provided that his counters have been removed. Rock Climb, albeit inaccurate, is Tauros's best option as a STAB move, and hits quite hard thanks to the boost from Sheer Force. The opponent's Pokemon must have impressive physical bulk and/or a resistance to Normal-type moves to avoid being 2HKOed. Earthquake is a mandatory coverage move that hits the Rock-types that resist Tauros's STAB moves for super effective damage, dealing a considerable amount of damage to most of them. In the third slot, Tauros runs Fire Blast, which is an important selling point of this set and allows him to differentiate himself from his competitors. In fact, in spite of his measly base 40 Special Attack, Tauros can use the move to 2HKO some otherwise problematic physical walls, such as Steelix, Tangrowth, and Ferroseed, and OHKO Durant and Escavalier lacking Occa Berry (the latter only after Stealth Rock damage). The fourth slot is basically a matter of preference: Zen Headbutt, provided that Stealth Rock is up, has a chance to 2HKO Poliwrath and Golurk and a better chance, compared to Earthquake, to 2HKO Qwilfish, whereas Rock Slide mainly targets Flying-types such as Moltres, Sigilyph, and Aerodactyl.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV distribution listed in the set is in practice the only one Tauros can afford to run, and a Naive nature is compulsory as well, given that Special Defense is his only expandable stat. More specifically, a Special Attack-lowering nature would diminish the power output of Fire Blast, which is barely adequate to begin with, and an Attack-boosting nature would deprive Tauros of the ability to outspeed important threats such as Durant and Manectric. If moves with low accuracy aren't your cup of tea, Tauros has other powerful and more reliable STAB options, namely Double-Edge and Return. The first has the obvious advantage of a higher Base Power, but the recoil combined with the damage from Life Orb can steadily reduce Tauros's staying power, which is quite good. Another option for the fourth moveslot is Substitute, which can help ease prediction, especially when your opponent has multiple checks to Tauros, and shield him from priority users and revenge killers. Lastly, Toxic allows Tauros to cripple many of its common switch-ins, such as Alomomola, Quagsire, Rhydon, and Regirock. The last two are damaged by Toxic the most because their standard sets don't include recovery moves. Unfortunately, giving up on any of Tauros's coverage moves will significantly expand his list of checks and counters.</p>
<p>Tauros, like many offensive Pokemon, really appreciates entry hazard support. One layer of Spikes is enough to secure 2HKOs on Steelix, Poliwrath, and Golurk, all of which resist Stealth Rock, with the appropriate move. On the other hand, Stealth Rock will suffice for Tauros to be able to obtain the OHKO on Escavalier and give Tauros a chance to 2HKO Qwilfish. Qwilfish has good defensive synergy with Tauros and can set up Spikes in the face of some of its counters. Roselia is also a good choice for this role, and it is particularly good at taking advantage of Alomomola. On more offensively inclined teams, you may prefer setting up hazards through a dedicated lead; notable examples of suicide leads are Smeargle, Crustle, and Omastar. Bulky Psychic-types such as Uxie and Mesprit can cover Tauros's weakness, are able to set up Stealth Rock, and are particularly troublesome for Fighting-type Choice Scarf users that threaten Tauros. Other countermeasures for Choice Scarf users include Druddigon and specially defensive Torterra, both of which fare well against the most common of them, Rotom-C, and can offer Stealth Rock support. Choice Scarf Medicham can work as a great teammate for Tauros, as it has good defensive synergy with him and can clean up the opponent's team after Tauros has weakened its counters. In addition, Medicham's access to Trick can come in handy in order to cripple counters, such as Spiritomb and Alomomola, with a Choice Scarf. When using this offensive core though, finding a way to get past Ghost-types becomes even more important.</p>
<p>Grass-types such as Sceptile, Lilligant, and Tangrowth get many switch-in opportunities against Alomomola and other bulky Water-types, and can also take care of the sturdy Rock-types that resist Tauros's STAB moves. Fearing a Scald burn, Rock Polish Torterra cannot switch into Alomomola directly, but nonetheless has particularly good offensive synergy with Tauros. Tauros can easily defeat Torterra's best counters, namely Tangrowth and Ferroseed, and appreciates its ability to get past Alomomola. Lastly, Fire-types such as Moltres and Emboar are good partners for Tauros, as they can take advantage of the bulky Ghost-types that wall him and put additional pressure on the Pokemon that Tauros is supposed to hit with Fire Blast.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Thanks to his generous movepool and usable stats, Tauros has some other sets he can run, even though they are not as dangerous as the one listed above. Thanks to his awesome Speed stat, Tauros can run a decent Choice Scarf set that outspeeds most of the other relevant Choice Scarf users, even with an Adamant nature. Intimidate should be the ability of choice in this case, given that this set runs the more reliable Double-Edge as a STAB move. A set employing Substitute and Endeavor, albeit rather gimmicky, can help Tauros in dealing with Alomomola, as long as he is adequately supported via Toxic Spikes and possibly Pursuit to trap Ghost-types, which are immune to Endeavor. This set must resort to Rock Slide to hit most of the Ghost-types in the tier, but sadly, Golurk hard walls this move combination. Tauros can also make use of his secondary ability, Intimidate, when equipped with a Choice Band. Choice Band Tauros functions as an offensive pivot, coming in on physical attackers and scaring them away with powerful moves, and is capable of netting safe 2HKOs with Earthquake on Pokemon such as Qwilfish and Rhydon.</p>
<p>Apart from Fire Blast, Tauros has an expansive special movepool that unfortunately goes wasted for the most part due to his meager Special Attack stat. The only special move that adds to Tauros's coverage is Thunderbolt, which is his only way of ensuring a 2HKO on Alomomola, although he needs Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes to do so. These entry hazard requirements can be lowered by moving some Attack EVs into Special Attack, but this will hamper his overall effectiveness. Tauros has some other physical Sheer Force-boosted moves to choose from, namely Iron Head and the more powerful but less accurate Iron Tail. Both of these moves can supply Tauros with a recoil-free move that hits Rock-types (barring Aggron) harder than Earthquake does. Earthquake has more general utility on this set, but it must be noted that Iron Tail allows Tauros to 2HKO Rhydon after Stealth Rock damage. The only boosting move available to Tauros is Work Up, but its use is generally not recommended, as in most cases, he is better off attacking. As a side note, Sheer Force Tauros can't use Body Slam over the somewhat inaccurate Rock Climb due to legality issues.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>The best way to deal with Tauros is by using a Pokemon that outright walls him, and there are several of them that can perform this task. Bulky Ghost-types, most notably Spiritomb and Misdreavus, can tank any of his moves and proceed to cripple him with Will-O-Wisp. Other Ghost-types such as Golurk and bulky Rotom are less safe as counters, because they have a chance to be 2HKOed by Zen Headbutt after entry hazard damage. With Regenerator and its massive physical bulk, Alomomola can switch in comfortably on any attack and support its teammates with Wish. Poliwrath can wall Tauros, as it cannot be 2HKOed by any of his moves and can phaze him out with Circle Throw. However, it needs to be wary of switching into Tauros if Spikes are on the field, seeing that Tauros can predict the switch and 2HKO with Zen Headbutt. Physically defensive Slowking risks getting 2HKOed by Rock Climb after Stealth Rock damage, but takes negligible damage from his other moves and can function as a pivot, switching out to recover health with Regenerator. Rock-types such as Rhydon and Regirock are incredibly bulky on the physical side, can tank an Earthquake on the switch as Tauros can't 2HKO them, and retaliate with their move of choice. Another common Pokemon that can endure Tauros's attacks is Uxie; however, its below average offensive presence means that it can only incapacitate him with status.</p>
<p>Most faster Pokemon, such as Sceptile, Accelgor, and Aerodactyl, the latter of which takes little damage from his STAB moves, can reliably revenge kill Tauros. This is obviously valid for Choice Scarf users as well; Fighting-types in particular, such as Medicham and Emboar, are solid answers to Tauros, easily OHKOing him with their STAB moves. Bulky Fighting-types such as Hariyama and Gurdurr are competent checks as they can, in most cases, OHKO him with their STAB moves. The former can use Close Combat, while the latter has Drain Punch and can pick off a weakened Tauros with Mach Punch. Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan are more common users of Mach Punch, but they need Tauros to be weakened beforehand as they cannot OHKO him from full health, and will be OHKOed in return by Rock Climb. Moreover, Hitmonlee most commonly runs an offensive Unburden set that has to consume its only opportunity to sweep in order to beat Tauros reliably, which can prove to be counterproductive if its counters are still around. In general, Tauros is not overly afraid of other priority moves. The only notable exception is Choice Band Entei's ExtremeSpeed, which will 2HKO him with just a little bit of prior damage, whereas Tauros can't OHKO a fully healthy Entei.</p>
The skelly is up! ^^
[Overview]
<p>Tauros is arguably the best offensive Normal-type available in RU, eclipsing the competition thanks to his wonderful combination of power, coverage, speed, and durability. Looking at his stats, the first thing that strikes the eye is his excellent base Speed stat, which is high enough to let him outpace a large portion of the unboosted metagame. Although his base Attack stat is not sky-high, Tauros has access to Sheer Force, an ability that boosts the power of all moves with a secondary effect by 30%, so most of his moves hit fairly hard. Luckily, his movepool is wide enough to make use of his ability, and the coverage moves at his disposal, most notably Fire Blast, hit a large portion of the metagame for super effective damage. Moreover, Sheer Force allows Tauros to run Life Orb without having to worry about recoil damage slowly wearing him down. This is particularly important because he has good bulk when compared to the many fast and frail attackers in the tier, and preserving it can help him survive weaker attacks or even attempts to revenge kill him. Despite all of these positive traits, Tauros is not a flawless Pokemon; in fact, his potential in the tier is hindered by the fact that he is countered by several rather common Pokemon, such as Alomomola and Spiritomb, and checked by a number of other prominent threats, most notably Golurk and Rhydon. Another thing that keeps Tauros from being an unstoppable force is the fact that he usually relies on moves with imperfect accuracy, and this can sometimes limit what he can accomplish throughout a battle. That said, Tauros is still an outstanding Pokemon in the tier that has the ability to tear apart teams when properly supported by his teammates.</p>
[SET]
name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Rock Climb
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Zen Headbutt / Rock Slide
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>An all-out attacking set is the most appropriate way to make use of Tauros's qualities, as he has the power and coverage to wallbreak and the Speed to perform a late-game sweep, provided that his counters have been removed. Rock Climb, albeit inaccurate, is Tauros's best option as a STAB move, and hits quite hard thanks to the boost from Sheer Force. The opponent's Pokemon must have impressive physical bulk and/or a resistance to Normal-type moves to avoid being 2HKOed. Earthquake is a mandatory coverage move that hits the Rock-types that resist Tauros's STAB moves for super effective damage, dealing a considerable amount of damage to most of them. In the third slot, Tauros runs Fire Blast, which is an important selling point of this set and allows him to differentiate himself from his competitors. In fact, in spite of his measly base 40 Special Attack, Tauros can use the move to 2HKO some otherwise problematic physical walls, such as Steelix, Tangrowth, and Ferroseed, and OHKO Durant and Escavalier lacking Occa Berry (the latter only after Stealth Rock damage). The fourth slot is basically a matter of preference: Zen Headbutt, provided that Stealth Rock is up, has a chance to 2HKO Poliwrath and Golurk and a better chance, compared to Earthquake, to 2HKO Qwilfish, whereas Rock Slide mainly targets Flying-types such as Moltres, Sigilyph, and Aerodactyl.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV distribution listed in the set is in practice the only one Tauros can afford to run, and a Naive nature is compulsory as well, given that Special Defense is his only expandable stat. More specifically, a Special Attack-lowering nature would diminish the power output of Fire Blast, which is barely adequate to begin with, and an Attack-boosting nature would deprive Tauros of the ability to outspeed important threats such as Durant and Manectric. If moves with low accuracy aren't your cup of tea, Tauros has other powerful and more reliable STAB options, namely Double-Edge and Return. The first has the obvious advantage of a higher Base Power, but the recoil combined with the damage from Life Orb can steadily reduce Tauros's staying power, which is quite good. Another option for the fourth moveslot is Substitute, which can help ease prediction, especially when your opponent has multiple checks to Tauros, and shield him from priority users and revenge killers. Lastly, Toxic allows Tauros to cripple many of its common switch-ins, such as Alomomola, Quagsire, Rhydon, and Regirock. The last two are damaged by Toxic the most because their standard sets don't include recovery moves. Unfortunately, giving up on any of Tauros's coverage moves will significantly expand his list of checks and counters.</p>
<p>Tauros, like many offensive Pokemon, really appreciates entry hazard support. One layer of Spikes is enough to secure 2HKOs on Steelix, Poliwrath, and Golurk, all of which resist Stealth Rock, with the appropriate move. On the other hand, Stealth Rock will suffice for Tauros to be able to obtain the OHKO on Escavalier and give Tauros a chance to 2HKO Qwilfish. Qwilfish has good defensive synergy with Tauros and can set up Spikes in the face of some of its counters. Roselia is also a good choice for this role, and it is particularly good at taking advantage of Alomomola. On more offensively inclined teams, you may prefer setting up hazards through a dedicated lead; notable examples of suicide leads are Smeargle, Crustle, and Omastar. Bulky Psychic-types such as Uxie and Mesprit can cover Tauros's weakness, are able to set up Stealth Rock, and are particularly troublesome for Fighting-type Choice Scarf users that threaten Tauros. Other countermeasures for Choice Scarf users include Druddigon and specially defensive Torterra, both of which fare well against the most common of them, Rotom-C, and can offer Stealth Rock support. Choice Scarf Medicham can work as a great teammate for Tauros, as it has good defensive synergy with him and can clean up the opponent's team after Tauros has weakened its counters. In addition, Medicham's access to Trick can come in handy in order to cripple counters, such as Spiritomb and Alomomola, with a Choice Scarf. When using this offensive core though, finding a way to get past Ghost-types becomes even more important.</p>
<p>Grass-types such as Sceptile, Lilligant, and Tangrowth get many switch-in opportunities against Alomomola and other bulky Water-types, and can also take care of the sturdy Rock-types that resist Tauros's STAB moves. Fearing a Scald burn, Rock Polish Torterra cannot switch into Alomomola directly, but nonetheless has particularly good offensive synergy with Tauros. Tauros can easily defeat Torterra's best counters, namely Tangrowth and Ferroseed, and appreciates its ability to get past Alomomola. Lastly, Fire-types such as Moltres and Emboar are good partners for Tauros, as they can take advantage of the bulky Ghost-types that wall him and put additional pressure on the Pokemon that Tauros is supposed to hit with Fire Blast.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Thanks to his generous movepool and usable stats, Tauros has some other sets he can run, even though they are not as dangerous as the one listed above. Thanks to his awesome Speed stat, Tauros can run a decent Choice Scarf set that outspeeds most of the other relevant Choice Scarf users, even with an Adamant nature. Intimidate should be the ability of choice in this case, given that this set runs the more reliable Double-Edge as a STAB move. A set employing Substitute and Endeavor, albeit rather gimmicky, can help Tauros in dealing with Alomomola, as long as he is adequately supported via Toxic Spikes and possibly Pursuit to trap Ghost-types, which are immune to Endeavor. This set must resort to Rock Slide to hit most of the Ghost-types in the tier, but sadly, Golurk hard walls this move combination. Tauros can also make use of his secondary ability, Intimidate, when equipped with a Choice Band. Choice Band Tauros functions as an offensive pivot, coming in on physical attackers and scaring them away with powerful moves, and is capable of netting safe 2HKOs with Earthquake on Pokemon such as Qwilfish and Rhydon.</p>
<p>Apart from Fire Blast, Tauros has an expansive special movepool that unfortunately goes wasted for the most part due to his meager Special Attack stat. The only special move that adds to Tauros's coverage is Thunderbolt, which is his only way of ensuring a 2HKO on Alomomola, although he needs Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes to do so. These entry hazard requirements can be lowered by moving some Attack EVs into Special Attack, but this will hamper his overall effectiveness. Tauros has some other physical Sheer Force-boosted moves to choose from, namely Iron Head and the more powerful but less accurate Iron Tail. Both of these moves can supply Tauros with a recoil-free move that hits Rock-types (barring Aggron) harder than Earthquake does. Earthquake has more general utility on this set, but it must be noted that Iron Tail allows Tauros to 2HKO Rhydon after Stealth Rock damage. The only boosting move available to Tauros is Work Up, but its use is generally not recommended, as in most cases, he is better off attacking. As a side note, Sheer Force Tauros can't use Body Slam over the somewhat inaccurate Rock Climb due to legality issues.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>The best way to deal with Tauros is by using a Pokemon that outright walls him, and there are several of them that can perform this task. Bulky Ghost-types, most notably Spiritomb and Misdreavus, can tank any of his moves and proceed to cripple him with Will-O-Wisp. Other Ghost-types such as Golurk and bulky Rotom are less safe as counters, because they have a chance to be 2HKOed by Zen Headbutt after entry hazard damage. With Regenerator and its massive physical bulk, Alomomola can switch in comfortably on any attack and support its teammates with Wish. Poliwrath can wall Tauros, as it cannot be 2HKOed by any of his moves and can phaze him out with Circle Throw. However, it needs to be wary of switching into Tauros if Spikes are on the field, seeing that Tauros can predict the switch and 2HKO with Zen Headbutt. Physically defensive Slowking risks getting 2HKOed by Rock Climb after Stealth Rock damage, but takes negligible damage from his other moves and can function as a pivot, switching out to recover health with Regenerator. Rock-types such as Rhydon and Regirock are incredibly bulky on the physical side, can tank an Earthquake on the switch as Tauros can't 2HKO them, and retaliate with their move of choice. Another common Pokemon that can endure Tauros's attacks is Uxie; however, its below average offensive presence means that it can only incapacitate him with status.</p>
<p>Most faster Pokemon, such as Sceptile, Accelgor, and Aerodactyl, the latter of which takes little damage from his STAB moves, can reliably revenge kill Tauros. This is obviously valid for Choice Scarf users as well; Fighting-types in particular, such as Medicham and Emboar, are solid answers to Tauros, easily OHKOing him with their STAB moves. Bulky Fighting-types such as Hariyama and Gurdurr are competent checks as they can, in most cases, OHKO him with their STAB moves. The former can use Close Combat, while the latter has Drain Punch and can pick off a weakened Tauros with Mach Punch. Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan are more common users of Mach Punch, but they need Tauros to be weakened beforehand as they cannot OHKO him from full health, and will be OHKOed in return by Rock Climb. Moreover, Hitmonlee most commonly runs an offensive Unburden set that has to consume its only opportunity to sweep in order to beat Tauros reliably, which can prove to be counterproductive if its counters are still around. In general, Tauros is not overly afraid of other priority moves. The only notable exception is Choice Band Entei's ExtremeSpeed, which will 2HKO him with just a little bit of prior damage, whereas Tauros can't OHKO a fully healthy Entei.</p>
[Overview]
- Great ability in Sheer Force (significant power boost+negating LO recoil)
- His base Attack is not stellar, but Sheer Force makes up for it
- Decent bulk for an offensive mon
- Vast movepool (especially on the special side lol)
- The best offensive Normal-type in the tier
- With his coverage moves, it has ways around some of the Pokemon that can usually wall Normal-types
- SF cancels out LO recoil, so Tauros is not that susceptible to residual damage and can preserve his nice (physical) bulk, all while still packing an enormous punch
- Hits a beautiful speed tier, outspeeding Durant with a Speed-boosting nature
- Although Tauros remains a very dangerous mon to face, the relative popularity of counters like Alomomola and Ghost-types and his overreliance on inaccurate moves hinder his potential in RU
[SET]
name: All-out attacker
move 1: Rock Climb
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Zen Headbutt / Rock Slide
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Rock Climb is his best STAB move and hits quite hard; only mons with great physical bulk and/or a resist to Normal will avoid the 2HKO
- Earthquake doesn't get a SF boost, but offers necessary coverage on the Rock-types that resist its STAB
- Fire Blast is an important selling point of this set, even with Tauros' measly 40 base SpA; with this move, Tauros is capable of 2HKOing some physical walls (Steelix, Tangrowth, Ferroseed) that would otherwise force him out, and OHKOing Durant and Esca (which needs to be a bit weakened, SR damage will suffice)
- The fourth slot is a matter of preference: Rock Slide hits Flying-types such as Moltres, while Zen Headbutt has a good chance to 2HKO Qwilfish and Poliwrath after SR
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- EVs are standard, nature is Naive because you really don't want to lower your SpA; an attack-boosting nature is ill-advised, because outspeeding Durant (and everything slower than it) is a big plus
- If you don't like Rock Climb's shaky accuracy, Double-Edge and Return are viable alternatives, albeit not boosted by SF. Double Edge is the more powerful of the two, but the recoil can somewhat reduce Tauros' staying power (which is pretty good for an offensive mon)
- A Rock Climb-less Tauros could theoretically benefit from Intimidate, In this case, you should use Stone Edge>Rock Slide to make up for the power loss. His other moves will really suffer from the lack of SF, though.
- Substitute in the fourth slot could ease prediction at the cost of coverage
- Another option for the last slot is Toxic, which allows Tauros to cripple some switchins, such as Mola, Quagsire, Regirock, and Rhydon (especially the last two, because they usually don't carry recovery moves)
- Like all offensive mons, Tauros really likes entry hazard support; one layer of Spikes is enough to gain 2HKOes on Steelix, Poliwrath, Quagsire, and Golurk with the right move. SR will ensure the OHKO on Esca and give Tauros a good chance to 2HKO Qwilfish.
- Qwilfish resist Fighting and can setup Spikes in the face of many mons that trouble Tauros (Mola, Spiritomb). Roselia also is great at using Alomomola as setup fodder
- More offensive team can get up hazards via a dedicated lead (Crustle, Smeargle, Omastar, Accelgor)
- Bulky Psychic-types such as Uxie and Mesprit can take Fighting-type attacks aimed at Tauros and set up SR: in particular, they are solid answers to the Scarfed Fighting-types, that threaten Tauros the most; other countermeasures to scarfers are Emboar, SpDef Torterra, and Druddigon (the latter two can also set up SR), all of which fare well against the most common scarfer, Rotom-C
- Another SR setter that works well alongside Tauros is Golurk
- Grass-types (Sceptile, Lilligant, Tangrowth, Torterra) are great switchins to Mola and other bulky Water-types and are in general useful to kill the sturdy Rock-type and Ground-types that resist Tauros' STAB
- RP Torterra shares a particularly good synergy with Tauros, which can get rid of its best counters (Tangrowth and Ferroseed) with Fire Blast, paving the way for a Torterra sweep
- Fire-types (Moltres, Emboar) get a free switch-in against bulky ghosts and can put additional pressure on the mons you're supposed to hit with Fire Blast
[Other Options]
- SubEndeavor → can somewhat scratch Mola, still cockblocked by Ghosts
- Adamant Scarf
- Choice Band with Intimidate → offensive pivot
- Incredible special movepool, but his SpA is too terrible to use it properly
- Wild Charge, Bulldoze, Iron Head/Tail (can 2HKO Rhydon wow)
- Work Up is its only boosting move (and it's not very good)
- Body Slam would be a lot better than Rock Climb, but it's unfortunately illegal with Sheer Force
[Checks and Counters]
- Ghost-types (Spiritomb, Misdreavus, bulky Rotom and even Dusknoir) are immune to his STAB and usually pack WoW
- Bulky waters. Mostly Alomomola, but also Poliwrath, Quagsire, and physically defensive Slowking can wall him under the right conditions
- Rock-types such as Rhydon and Regirock don't like switching in on Earthquake, but they have great physical bulk and Tauros' other moves won't damage them significantly
- Physically defensive Uxie can take a hit, but the best it can do is to cripple him with status (Psychic is just a 3HKO)
- Golurk is only rarely 2HKOed by Zen Headbutt and can force Tauros out with a powerful Drain Punch
- Faster mons such as Sceptile, Accelgor, and Aerodactyl (which, in addition, doesn't fear Rock Climb) can revenge kill it; the same goes for Choice Scarf users. In particular, Scarfed Fighting-types, such as Emboar, will usually have an easy time OHKOing Tauros with their STAB, even from full health.
- Thanks to its decent physical bulk, the only priority attack that really scares Tauros is Mach Punch (common users → Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee); also CB Entei's Extremespeed is a pretty safe 2HKO on Tauros, while he can't OHKO in return.
- Great ability in Sheer Force (significant power boost+negating LO recoil)
- His base Attack is not stellar, but Sheer Force makes up for it
- Decent bulk for an offensive mon
- Vast movepool (especially on the special side lol)
- The best offensive Normal-type in the tier
- With his coverage moves, it has ways around some of the Pokemon that can usually wall Normal-types
- SF cancels out LO recoil, so Tauros is not that susceptible to residual damage and can preserve his nice (physical) bulk, all while still packing an enormous punch
- Hits a beautiful speed tier, outspeeding Durant with a Speed-boosting nature
- Although Tauros remains a very dangerous mon to face, the relative popularity of counters like Alomomola and Ghost-types and his overreliance on inaccurate moves hinder his potential in RU
[SET]
name: All-out attacker
move 1: Rock Climb
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Zen Headbutt / Rock Slide
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Rock Climb is his best STAB move and hits quite hard; only mons with great physical bulk and/or a resist to Normal will avoid the 2HKO
- Earthquake doesn't get a SF boost, but offers necessary coverage on the Rock-types that resist its STAB
- Fire Blast is an important selling point of this set, even with Tauros' measly 40 base SpA; with this move, Tauros is capable of 2HKOing some physical walls (Steelix, Tangrowth, Ferroseed) that would otherwise force him out, and OHKOing Durant and Esca (which needs to be a bit weakened, SR damage will suffice)
- The fourth slot is a matter of preference: Rock Slide hits Flying-types such as Moltres, while Zen Headbutt has a good chance to 2HKO Qwilfish and Poliwrath after SR
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- EVs are standard, nature is Naive because you really don't want to lower your SpA; an attack-boosting nature is ill-advised, because outspeeding Durant (and everything slower than it) is a big plus
- If you don't like Rock Climb's shaky accuracy, Double-Edge and Return are viable alternatives, albeit not boosted by SF. Double Edge is the more powerful of the two, but the recoil can somewhat reduce Tauros' staying power (which is pretty good for an offensive mon)
- A Rock Climb-less Tauros could theoretically benefit from Intimidate, In this case, you should use Stone Edge>Rock Slide to make up for the power loss. His other moves will really suffer from the lack of SF, though.
- Substitute in the fourth slot could ease prediction at the cost of coverage
- Another option for the last slot is Toxic, which allows Tauros to cripple some switchins, such as Mola, Quagsire, Regirock, and Rhydon (especially the last two, because they usually don't carry recovery moves)
- Like all offensive mons, Tauros really likes entry hazard support; one layer of Spikes is enough to gain 2HKOes on Steelix, Poliwrath, Quagsire, and Golurk with the right move. SR will ensure the OHKO on Esca and give Tauros a good chance to 2HKO Qwilfish.
- Qwilfish resist Fighting and can setup Spikes in the face of many mons that trouble Tauros (Mola, Spiritomb). Roselia also is great at using Alomomola as setup fodder
- More offensive team can get up hazards via a dedicated lead (Crustle, Smeargle, Omastar, Accelgor)
- Bulky Psychic-types such as Uxie and Mesprit can take Fighting-type attacks aimed at Tauros and set up SR: in particular, they are solid answers to the Scarfed Fighting-types, that threaten Tauros the most; other countermeasures to scarfers are Emboar, SpDef Torterra, and Druddigon (the latter two can also set up SR), all of which fare well against the most common scarfer, Rotom-C
- Another SR setter that works well alongside Tauros is Golurk
- Grass-types (Sceptile, Lilligant, Tangrowth, Torterra) are great switchins to Mola and other bulky Water-types and are in general useful to kill the sturdy Rock-type and Ground-types that resist Tauros' STAB
- RP Torterra shares a particularly good synergy with Tauros, which can get rid of its best counters (Tangrowth and Ferroseed) with Fire Blast, paving the way for a Torterra sweep
- Fire-types (Moltres, Emboar) get a free switch-in against bulky ghosts and can put additional pressure on the mons you're supposed to hit with Fire Blast
[Other Options]
- SubEndeavor → can somewhat scratch Mola, still cockblocked by Ghosts
- Adamant Scarf
- Choice Band with Intimidate → offensive pivot
- Incredible special movepool, but his SpA is too terrible to use it properly
- Wild Charge, Bulldoze, Iron Head/Tail (can 2HKO Rhydon wow)
- Work Up is its only boosting move (and it's not very good)
- Body Slam would be a lot better than Rock Climb, but it's unfortunately illegal with Sheer Force
[Checks and Counters]
- Ghost-types (Spiritomb, Misdreavus, bulky Rotom and even Dusknoir) are immune to his STAB and usually pack WoW
- Bulky waters. Mostly Alomomola, but also Poliwrath, Quagsire, and physically defensive Slowking can wall him under the right conditions
- Rock-types such as Rhydon and Regirock don't like switching in on Earthquake, but they have great physical bulk and Tauros' other moves won't damage them significantly
- Physically defensive Uxie can take a hit, but the best it can do is to cripple him with status (Psychic is just a 3HKO)
- Golurk is only rarely 2HKOed by Zen Headbutt and can force Tauros out with a powerful Drain Punch
- Faster mons such as Sceptile, Accelgor, and Aerodactyl (which, in addition, doesn't fear Rock Climb) can revenge kill it; the same goes for Choice Scarf users. In particular, Scarfed Fighting-types, such as Emboar, will usually have an easy time OHKOing Tauros with their STAB, even from full health.
- Thanks to its decent physical bulk, the only priority attack that really scares Tauros is Mach Punch (common users → Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee); also CB Entei's Extremespeed is a pretty safe 2HKO on Tauros, while he can't OHKO in return.
The skelly is up! ^^
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