You idiot. That isn't where my thunderbolt was supposed to go
QC APPROVED: BKC, PK GAMING
GP APPROVED: Calm Pokemaster, Ender
Overview
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In a metagame where fast, powerful Electric-types have become valuable, Thundurus is pretty much as good as gold. While faster choices such as Raikou and Mega Manectric exist, Thundurus is often the preferred choice for most teams due to his fantastic stat distribution and wide, effective movepool. With beefy attacking stats and awesome assets such as Knock Off, Superpower, Focus Blast, Psychic, Nasty Plot, and Prankster Thunder Wave and Taunt at his disposal, Thundurus can easily overpower a majority of OU threats at a moment's notice. Although average defensively, Thundurus's typing also gives him a list of handy resistances and immunities to common attacks, especially Thunder Wave, Earthquake, and priority moves such as Mach Punch, Bullet Punch, and Aerilate Quick Attack, meaning he acquires plenty of opportunities to switch in and steal games. On top of all this, Thundurus is also exceptionally fast, having just enough Speed to outrun a large number of important and common threats including Latios, Keldeo, and Garchomp.
With all these solid traits, Thundurus doesn't really have any overbearing flaws, just some relatively trivial ones: his frailty, Stealth Rock weakness, vulnerability to neutral priority attacks, and mild four-moveslot syndrome. Indeed, Thundurus is an ideal, near-perfect specimen of an offensive Pokemon in OU, and teams that only casually prepare for him will certainly suffer dearly.
Prankster Attacker
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name: Prankster Attacker
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Focus Blast / Psychic
ability: Prankster
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moves
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Prankster Thunder Wave instantly paralyzes nearly any non-Electric- and Ground-type threat, allowing Thundurus to check most boosted or naturally fast threats he comes across. Thunderbolt is the main attacking move thanks to STAB typing and its good coverage against common Flying- and Water-type threats. Hidden Power Ice provides important coverage in conjunction with Thunderbolt against certain Ground- and Dragon-type threats, especially Garchomp, Landorus, Gliscor, and Dragonite. It also hits the rare, but occasional Grass-type when needed.
In the last slot, Focus Blast further improves Thundurus's coverage, giving him a better fighting chance against threats such as Tyranitar, Heatran, Ferrothorn, Kyurem-B, and opposing Electric-types. Psychic can be used as an alternative coverage option to hit Poison- and Fighting-types hard, especially Mega Venusaur, Amoonguss, and Conkeldurr. Taunt provides great utility against teams and threats that are reliant on status moves, mostly for stallbreaking. Taunt lets it beat Hippowdon without a Rock move and prevent hazards, status, and recovery, which is hell for defensive teams.If both moves are unreliable or unnecessary to you, then they can be replaced with Volt Switch to scout, escape from, and ease prediction against checks and counters. U-turn is a less effective alternative, but it comes with the benefit of hitting Ground-types that Volt Switch can't hit. Substitute can also be used to protect Thundurus from revenge kills and status, blocking stat-dropping moves such as Draco Meteor, thus allowing Thundurus to win against Latios, and perhaps fish for full paralysis in desperate situations. It also lets it Life Orb stall weakened threats like Greninja.
Set Details
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This Thundurus is a simple special attacker and thus simply requires maximized Special Attack and Speed. A Timid nature is recommended to make Thundurus as fast as possible, and while a Naive nature is an option for a slight boost in U-turn damage, the boost is arguably negligible, so it is fine to use it with Timid. As this set does not employ physical attacks and relies on Prankster to give priority to Thunder Wave, so don't even consider Defiant.
Life Orb gives Thundurus a sharper edge, allowing him to force switches more often and potentially rack up even more entry hazard damage. It lets it 2HKO Latios after Stealth Rock damage, OHKO Garchomp, OHKO Landorus-T, 2HKO Quagsire, 2HKO most Zapdos, and much more. Leftovers is an equally useful option that grants Thundurus more longevity, allowing him to come in, attack, and cripple things more often. Finally, Expert Belt is a decent compromise between the aforementioned items, providing Thundurus significant power for super effective attacks while not affecting longevity. Expert Belt's boost is less than Life Orb's, but it nevertheless lets Thundurus achieve some very important KOs that he can't with Leftovers; for instance, Hidden Power Ice can now OHKO 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp and 252 HP / 4 SpD Landorus-T and 2HKO Latios. Expert Belt-boosted Focus Blast also OHKOes Ferrothorn after it takes one Thunderbolt, even after one turn of Leftovers.
Usage Tips
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This set is best used as a supporting attacker, as Thundurus can hit hard while using his priority Thunder Wave as a clutch check against dangerous fast threats, especially boosted sweepers and Choice Scarf users. Use Thunder Wave scarcely and only when necessary, as Thundurus is already naturally fast, and paralysis would prove redundant in many situations where it is preferable to attack outright against slower targets. If the opposing team has a threat that your team badly needs paralyzed, try to be conservative when switching Thundurus in until he successfully does the job. Outside of paralyzing threats, simply keep attacking to maintain offensive pressure, but also be aware of which targets Thundurus can't afford to stay in against.
Team Options
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This set doesn't need many teammates because it's a supporting attacker, although on many occasions, it requires teammates that can make up for its coverage issues, which tend to crop up horribly if it uses U-turn over other moves. If lacking Psychic, Gothitelle is a great teammate to use, as it can trap counters such as Mega Venusaur, Chansey, Quagsire, and Conkeldurr and use the appropriate move to deal with them. Gothitelle is notably slow, so Thundurus's ability to paralyze his targets makes the partnership solid. Aside from this, many offensive Pokemon in general appreciate Thundurus's ability to paralyze things; to be safe, however, it is recommended to employ Pokemon that are naturally fast so your team doesn't become too reliant on paralysis. Mega Gardevoir, Mega Charizard Y, and Sheer Force Landorus are just a few examples of powerful Pokemon that appreciate paralysis but are also fast enough to stand on their own in desperate situations. Although not too necessary, this set also appreciates entry hazard support to amplify offensive pressure. Even a single layer of Spikes or Stealth Rock helps in the long run, and this can easily be provided by Chansey, Hippowdon, and many others, depending on your team.
Nasty Plot
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name: Nasty Plot
move 1: Nasty Plot
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Hidden Power Flying / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Thunder Wave / Substitute / Focus Blast
ability: Prankster
item: Leftovers / Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Moves
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Nasty Plot makes the impending thunderstorms extra nasty; after a boost, all of Thundurus's attacks deal disastrous damage to nearly all unresisted threats, and some can even break through a few special walls, allowing Thundurus to act as both a sweeper and wallbreaker. Thunderbolt is the main attack due to its reliability and accuracy; it also achieves good neutral coverage against the majority of the tier. Hidden Power Flying offers the best two-move neutral coverage alongside Thunderbolt, benefitting from STAB typing and being able to hit Amoonguss and Venusaur super effectively. Hidden Power Ice is another great coverage to hit certain Grass-, Ground-, Flying-, and Dragon-type threats, and it especially helps to KO Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Gliscor without relying on a boost. Hidden Power Ice should be used over Hidden Power Flying if super effective coverage and KOs on these threats is a concern.
Thunder Wave gives Thundurus valuable utility against faster threats in desperate situations and makes him useful outside of attempting to sweep. Of course, this leaves Thundurus more vulnerable to threats such as Excadrill, Tyranitar, Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Chansey, so team support is required for these Pokemon. Substitute is a good alternative, as it prevents status and revenge kills. However, like Thunder Wave, it limits Thundurus's coverage, making him reliant on alternative offensive support. If coverage is a concern, Focus Blast is mainly for coverage against a few significant defensive threats, especially Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Blissey. Psychic can alternatively be used to hit Mega Venusaur and Conkeldurr if you want Thundurus to keep Hidden Power Ice and retain coverage against Gliscor and Garchomp.
Set Details
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This set should ideally be as fast and powerful as possible without relying on boosts, so maximizing Special Attack and Speed with a Timid nature is required. For items, Leftovers gives Thundurus great flexibility and doesn't wear him down as often as Life Orb. However, Life Orb gives Thundurus initial power and allows him to hit hard regardless of a boost. Lum Berry is specifically useful against threats that are reliant on status, giving Thundurus an opportunity to KO walls and support Pokemon at +2, such as Chansey, Gastrodon, Breloom, and Mega Venusaur. However, these situations are decidedly rare, and Thundurus appreciates durability or extra power more. Expert Belt is also a decent item, allowing Thundurus to grab some extra KOs, such as an OHKO on Latios with +2 Hidden Power Ice and Chansey with +6 Focus Blast, while making him less vulnerable to being worn down and stalled out, as would happen with Life Orb.
Usage Tips
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Thundurus forces out plenty of threats and has decent defensive typing, giving him plenty of opportunities to set up in front of threats that can't do much damage to him, such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Mandibuzz, and -2 Latios and Latias. Remember that Thundurus is perfectly strong without a Nasty Plot boost, so determine whether or not he actually needs one in specific situations. This applies if a threat needs to be eliminated immediately or if a boost wouldn't achieve any extra KOs. This set also works best as a late-game sweeper after checks and counters have been weakened or eliminated, although it can also operate as an early- to mid-game wallbreaker if you have alternative offensive Pokemon to clean up.
Team Options
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This set appreciates teammates that can compensate for possible coverage issues, which tend to crop up if it uses a specific Hidden Power, Substitute, or Thunder Wave. Depending on the attack(s) used or lack thereof, Thundurus will require offensive support against threats such as Latias, Goodra, Chansey, specially defensive Hippowdon, Mega Venusaur, Tyranitar, and Heatran. Bisharp easily handles a majority of these Pokemon and can tailor its set to either trap Latias with Pursuit or set up its own sweep with Swords Dance. Life Orb Latios is also good against these Pokemon due to its power, Speed, and good coverage, with the additional benefit of being able to use Defog. Offensive lures are also solid teammates for this; Knock Off Landorus and Taunt Mega Gardevoir, for example, cripple defensive walls, to preventing them from healing and functioning properly, and do huge damage to the aforementioned counters. Shadow Tag Gothitelle is also a more direct and effective response to most of these threat, as it can either KO or cripple them. Finally, dual screens support isn't too necessary, but nevertheless helps Thundurus attain opportunities to set up and protects him from potential revenge kills. Klefki is notable for being able to set up Reflect and Light Screen reliably while also being able to lay down an entry hazard or two.
Speaking of entry hazards, one particular hazard that helps this set sweep successfully besides Stealth Rock and Spikes is Sticky Web. Most of Thundurus's faster checks are typically grounded, and fortunately at the same time, Thundurus is fast enough to outrun and KO a majority of non-Scarved airborne threats (they aren't affected by Sticky Web). Smeargle and Shuckle are both viable choices for this, depending on your team.
Mixed Attacker
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name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Superpower / Thunder Wave
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
ability: Defiant / Prankster
item: Life Orb
nature: Naive
evs: 76 Atk / 180 SpA / 252 Spe
Moves
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As usual, Thunderbolt is the main move on this set, as it provides a STAB move, power, and coverage in one slot. Knock Off is a reasonably useful option that not only hits Latias, Latios, Aegislash, and other Psychic- and Ghost-types very hard, but also deprives other targets of their precious items, meaning bulky Pokemon such as Zapdos and Chansey lose their Leftovers and Eviolite, respectively. It is also a fail-safe option in case there is a Pokemon that can easily switch into Thundurus's other moves. Superpower provides Thundurus a somewhat reliable means of beating Blissey, Chansey, Tyranitar, and Heatran, all of which are important parts of defensive cores. Thunder Wave is another useful move that can paralyze fast opponents last-minute Hidden Power Ice is very important for hitting Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Gliscor, all of which tank this set's other attacks with ease.
U-turn, on the other hand, allows Thundurus to escape these same counters, as well as others, and switch to another teammate to keep up momentum. Taunt prevents walls such as Quagsire, Hippowdon, and Chansey from stalling Thundurus out with Life Orb recoil by healing themselves. With Prankster, Taunt also instantly stops hazard setters and boosting threats in their tracks. Grass Knot is an option to lure in Hippowdon and Quagsire if you would prefer to get rid of them instantly, while Psychic hits Conkeldurr and Mega Venusaur, two important checks to this set.
Set Details
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76 EVs in Attack are used to juice up Knock Off, enabling Thundurus to OHKO Latios with it after Stealth Rock damage. Speed is maximized so that Thundurus can outrun base 110 Speed Pokemon as well as tie with opposing Thundurus and Tornadus, and the rest is put into Special Attack for more special offense. A Life Orb is required on this set, as it maximizes this set's offensive potential, and the physical moves are quite weak without it.
Prankster is the preferred ability if Thundurus happens to use any status moves, as it increases its utility, and the Defiant boost is not worth obtaining if Knock Off is the only physical move used. If this is not the case, however, Defiant is the better ability to use, as the occasional Attack boosts for Superpower and Knock Off might actually come in handy against teams with Defog and Intimidate. More importantly, it also helps Thundurus handle King's Shield Aegislash with Knock Off more easily.
Usage Tips
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Mixed Thundurus is particularly skilled at breaking down common defensive cores while still operating as a solid threat against balanced and offensive teams. Specifically, this set performs especially well against teams reliant on Chansey, Blissey, Skarmory, Tyranitar, Keldeo, and Celebi. As such, it is best to use Thundurus early- to mid-game, when his checks and counters will likely be present and thus more vulnerable to being lured and killed or crippled by this set. As a note, don't be afraid to attack head-on, as Thundurus has the power, Speed, and freedom to overpower most switch-ins. Also keep in mind this set suffers from coverage issues against Ground-types without Grass Knot, so it is recommended to play around threats such as Quagsire and Hippowdon before going full-force.
Team Options
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This set thrives greatly with entry hazard support on offensive teams, as it forces a great number of switches and appreciates the extra damage to achieve KOs on designated targets; Blissey, for example, isn't OHKOed without at least one layer of Spikes on the field. Several Pokemon, especially Landorus, Talonflame, and Latios, appreciate Thundurus's ability to weaken defensive cores involving Blissey, Celebi, Chansey, Skarmory, Tyranitar, and others. Finally, backup insurance against these threats is required if Thundurus gets KOed too early to take care of them; again, Landorus is a good choice for this, in addition to other offensive Pokemon such as Keldeo and Aegislash.
Other Options
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Choice Specs is a considerable option; however, like most Electric-types, Thundurus greatly appreciates the ability to switch attacks, and he doesn't have many spammable moves to begin with. On a similar note, both Choice Specs and Choice Scarf are better worn by Thundurus-T, who has more power and a useful immunity to Electric-type moves thanks to Volt Absorb. Dark Pulse offers neutral coverage and hits some of Thundurus's checks and counters, including Trevenant, Gourgeist, Aegislash, Celebi, Latias, and Latios, quite hard without forcing him to rely on the weaker Hidden Power Ice. However, it is outclassed by Knock Off most of the time and is only really better on the Nasty Plot set where its power can be boosted. Thundurus also has access to Rain Dance, which can be used on dedicated rain teams to change the weather in case Drizzle Politoed has fainted. Additionally, Thunder can be used to deal even more wicked damage, but only on rain teams with proper timing and support.
Checks & Counters
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**Faster Attackers**: Because Thundurus is quite hard to switch into, a reliable way of getting rid of him is by revenge killing. This includes naturally fast Pokemon such as Alakazam and Greninja, threats with a Choice Scarf, or priority users. However, most risk taking heavy damage on the switch-in, or being paralyzed and thus rendered mostly useless by Prankster Thunder Wave. Choice Scarf Landorus-T is worth special mention, as it is immune to both Thunderbolt and Sticky Web, enabling it to successfully KO with Stone Edge most of the time.
**Specially Defensive Pokemon and Tanks**: Thundurus commonly uses special attacks. Therefore, Pokemon with a naturally high Special Defense stat or an Assault Vest can tank several attacks and respond by wearing him down. Blissey, Chansey, Hippowdon, Conkeldurr, Raikou, Goodra (with or without Assault Vest), and Mega Venusaur are great candidates for this, as they take very little damage from Thunderbolt, Hidden Power Ice, and Focus Blast. Latias and Celebi also apply as well, though they risk being hit and perhaps KOed by a fast U-turn or Knock Off. Generally, all of the aforementioned threats also have to watch out for sets that employ Fly and other physical moves, and they can even be defeated by the Nasty Plot set with proper play and timing.
**Residual Damage**: Contrary to what those average defenses might say, Thundurus actually likes being preserved throughout the match. In other words, while status, sandstorm, hail, and Leech Seed aren't too particularly threatening for Thundurus initially, he does not enjoy being hit by these due to them shortening his lifespan quite significantly. Additionally, Stealth Rock is always annoying to switch into, and burn and poison severely cripple sets that are reliant on physical attacks and/or Life Orb.
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