Pokémon Tyrantrum

[Kairyu_Gen1]

Tyrantrum @ Choice Scarf
Jolly Narute, Trait: Strong Jaw/Rock Head
252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP (or w/e)
- Head Smash
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw / Crunch / Fire Fang (depending on ability)
- Ice Fang / Fire Fang / Stone Edge

Any thoughts on that?

Once rock head is released, I'll probably be running this set. I really doubt he'll see much usage though.

Even if I make this set, I doubt I'll ever use it until he gets outrage via move tutor in the next game. If that happens, I think Tyrantrum will become a completely viable choice for an OU team.

 

[Zazazaki]

Once rock head is released, I'll probably be running this set. I really doubt he'll see much usage though.

Even if I make this set, I doubt I'll ever use it until he gets outrage via move tutor in the next game. If that happens, I think Tyrantrum will become a completely viable choice for an OU team.

Outrage would be quite a fine addition. Anyway, I've used this set for a couple of times, it worked pretty well, can't complain. Wouldn't call it OU material, either, but it has it's viability imo.

 

[Kejmur]

Once rock head is released, I'll probably be running this set. I really doubt he'll see much usage though.

Even if I make this set, I doubt I'll ever use it until he gets outrage via move tutor in the next game. If that happens, I think Tyrantrum will become a completely viable choice for an OU team.

I still prefer Choice Band. Yeah, you may need to provide more support for it, but raw power it provides with STAB Head Smash is ridiculous. And Tyrantrum for a scarfer is kind of slow for this meta, you don't really outspeed that much stuff. When Gyarados outspeed you after Dragon Dance, than something is wrong (if he goes Jolly that is or you are Adamant). And it's one of the slowest DD users out there.

 

[thedotwalks]

Jesus Christ Tyrantrum has some of the worst 4MSS I've ever seen. Anyways, I've put together two semi-unusual sets together; do you guys think it will work?

Bulky Offence@Assault Vest
Strong Jaw
Impish
252 Atk / 252+ Def / 4 HP
Stone Edge
Fire Fang
Dragon Claw/Dragon Tail/Crunch
Earthquake

The idea behind this is that since most of Tyrantrum's counters are physical priority users, Speed investments are wasted. Instead, it focuses on his strong suits. With the posted EV's, it has 306 HP, 341 Atk, and 370 Def, which I believe is sufficient for Bullet Punches and their ilk. With the Assault Vest, SpD reaches a meh 231, (347 in sand) which should suffice for non-STAB non-super effective moves. Maybe. Stone Edge and EQ make the excellent EdgeQuake combo, and he gets STAB on the former. Fire Fang/Dragon Claw gets perfect neutral coverage except for Heatran, Azumaril, and Carbink, none of which resist EQ. Dragon Tail is a possibility for phazing, and Crunch is if Ghosts are a problem.

Gleaming Dinosaur@Leftovers/Weakness Policy
Strong Jaw
Impish
212 Atk / 252+ Def / 44 Spe
Rock Polish/Dragon Dance
Stealth Rock/Ice Fang/Crunch
Stone Edge/Dragon Claw
Earthquake/Fire Fang

Forget about special defense; don't even try to pretend that you can take a special hit. The idea behind this set is to set up SR in the beginning, switch out, do stuff, switch in when there's a physical attacker who doesn't have STAB super effective moves, then make yourself gleam or do a jig. Making yourself gleam makes you outspeed positive nature base 122 (Greninja). Doing a jig allows you to outspeed positive nature base 100.

I'm extremely conflicted on the offensive moves. All of the follwing have niches/merit, and I really can't decide which would work best.
Stone Edge (STAB)
Dragon Claw (STAB)
Earthquake (Coverage)
Fire Fang (Coverage)
Ice Fang (Garchomp, Gliscor, and Dragonite)
Crunch (Gengar)
Thunderfang (Azumaril)
Poison Fang (Other Faries)

I would really appreciate feedback on the merit of these two sets, especially the latter.

 

[Kairyu_Gen1]

its ability to get "stab" on biting moves is not to be overlooked, and I think if you thought of it with a focus on biting moves, with dragon claw for coverage, you couldn't go wrong. Fire Fang + Dragon Claw is resisted only by Heatran, meaning your other slots can be what ever would help your team the most

 

[thedotwalks]

It's also resisted by Azumaril and Carbink

 

[Kairyu_Gen1]

It's also resisted by Azumaril and Carbink

Ugh! stupid fairies. So he's pretty much creamed by azumaril and its +6 aqua jet, and it should be afraid of some stall sets from carbink, but both of those can be felled by a stab Stone Edge or Head Smash that most sets carry, so they don't particularily need to fear them

 

[LoDart210]

It's also resisted by Azumaril and Carbink

While Heatran can be taken care of with earthquake, for Azumarill and Carbink, at that point, it's just time to send in a different pokemon.

 

[Zazazaki]

Well, a STAB Head Smash, it should take care of Azumarill, assumin it hasn't set up yet to respond with Aqua Jet. It should also deal some damage on a Carbink switchin in, although after that you should probably be switchin, unless Carbink is already weakened. Don't underestimate the sheer power of Head Smash, I'd say.

 

[Zazazaki]

And Tyrantrum for a scarfer is kind of slow for this meta, you don't really outspeed that much stuff. When Gyarados outspeed you after Dragon Dance, than something is wrong (if he goes Jolly that is or you are Adamant). And it's one of the slowest DD users out there.

Well, it is true that he's not very fast .. but he's still not base 60 slow, so maybe it could work. Obviously not your best idea for a revenge killer, of course. But when Aggron's Head Smash, without boost outside of a positive nature, deals 95,68% minimum on offensive Latios, OHKO's offensive Starmie, and does a good deal of damage even to things that resist it, you may consider it an option to run scarf on Tyrantrum, who pretty much does the same amount of damage with a neutral nature, simply to outspeed and break down such fast pokemon. Not the greatest of sets or idea, but still viable, I believe.

 

[Banryu]

So I've been running a DDance Tyrantrum, but found that it suffers a bit from 4MSS. I miss coverage from Fire Fang, which I'd prefer to use over Head Smash in certain situations, and also, ferrothorn.

I rarely, if ever, send out tyrantrum before my speed boosting scolipede. Do you think it'd be okay to drop Ddance for Fire Fang, and rely on baton passes from Scolipede? Or is this increased reliance only going to make him weaker?

You, and all the other people who claim Tyrantrum has 4MSS, what moves are you running?
If y'all are packin' any Dragon moves on him at all, this doesn't surprise me in the least. Tyrantrum is blessed with two great attacking types, and one of them gets a LOT more supereffective coverage than the other-- not to mention that it gets enough pseudo-STAB on Ice Fang to be… what was it, 98 BP?

Seriously, if you're not running at LEAST one biting move on him, you're using him wrong. Two is ideal IMO (Fire/Ice Fang unless Crunch hits anything important); I don't think EQ is that important on him, since neutral STAB Head Smash and Crunch are liable to do plenty to most things you want to hit with EQ.

Choice Band also sounds pretty good.

 

[LoDart210]

You, and all the other people who claim Tyrantrum has 4MSS, what moves are you running?
If y'all are packin' any Dragon moves on him at all, this doesn't surprise me in the least. Tyrantrum is blessed with two great attacking types, and one of them gets a LOT more supereffective coverage than the other-- not to mention that it gets enough pseudo-STAB on Ice Fang to be… what was it, 98 BP?

Seriously, if you're not running at LEAST one biting move on him, you're using him wrong. Two is ideal IMO (Fire/Ice Fang unless Crunch hits anything important); I don't think EQ is that important on him, since neutral STAB Head Smash and Crunch are liable to do plenty to most things you want to hit with EQ.

Choice Band also sounds pretty good.

Ahaha no I find Dragon type moves on Tyrantrum to be lacking.

Mine has Ice Fang, Edgequake, and Ddance. I'm just considering dropping Ddance for Fire Fang to get ferrothorn and scizor and forry. However, that would mean I'd have to run choice which I don't want to do. However, I don't want to have to rely even more on my scolipede to pass swords dance and speed boost.

 

[Edgar81539]

Ahaha no I find Dragon type moves on Tyrantrum to be lacking.

Mine has Ice Fang, Edgequake, and Ddance. I'm just considering dropping Ddance for Fire Fang to get ferrothorn and scizor and forry. However, that would mean I'd have to run choice which I don't want to do. However, I don't want to have to rely even more on my scolipede to pass swords dance and speed boost.

I find using Dragon type moves other than Outrage lacking. Since Dragon is only super effective against itself, and with Ice Fang you basically get that coverage up, I think you're better running two elemental fangs + EdgeQuake coverage.

 

[thedeafelectrician]

DD simply doesn't make tyrantrum fast enough, if you're going to boost it needs to be rock polish. All the power in the world doesn't matter when anything over 100 base speed switches in and ruins you anyway.

And yeah dragon claw is pointless on him when you have boosted fang moves for coverage. EQ + Fire fang + ice fang hits basically everything for neutral damage and have added effects to boot.

Assault vest is pretty pointless, it shouldn't be taking special hits anyway, and the 240ish SpDef without investment isn't avoiding any 2HKOs

 

[Aldrius]

The only benefit to using Dragon moves is on a choice set you don't have to switch out as much because it hits every type really hard except for two, so once those pokemon are out of the way he can get a really good sweep out. Dragon Claw just doesn't justify that, though, Head Smash hits so much harder and has good coverage anyway. Only three types resist it vs Dragon Claw's 2. And nothing is immune to it, and there aren't even many 4x resistant (Lucario who'll take massive damage anyway, Excadrill, and neither of those want to take an Earthquake.)

The set I've been trying out lately is Earthsmash and Ice and Fire Fang with a Choice Band. Ice and Fire fang hit the better physical walls together (Gliscor, Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Foretress) Earthquake for solid coverage on anything that's not immune and then Head Smash just to smack the tar out of just about anything. Even when Rock Head comes out I'd still probably run this set. Tyrantrum is bulky enough to take at least one hit (even a super-effective physical one depending, though he's afraid of Scizor's Bullet Punch, MLucario's Bullet Punch/Close Combat and Breloom's Mach Punch obviously) and I think Fire and Ice Fang still hits reasonably well 4x SE even without the Jaws boost.

 

[LoDart210]

I find using Dragon type moves other than Outrage lacking. Since Dragon is only super effective against itself, and with Ice Fang you basically get that coverage up, I think you're better running two elemental fangs + EdgeQuake coverage.

I'd rather I didn't choice band him. He's not tank material. If hes banded, he'll take out a poke or two in exchange for his own life. At least with two Ddance boosts he can solidly sweep a team

DD simply doesn't make tyrantrum fast enough, if you're going to boost it needs to be rock polish. All the power in the world doesn't matter when anything over 100 base speed switches in and ruins you anyway.

And yeah dragon claw is pointless on him when you have boosted fang moves for coverage. EQ + Fire fang + ice fang hits basically everything for neutral damage and have added effects to boot.

Assault vest is pretty pointless, it shouldn't be taking special hits anyway, and the 240ish SpDef without investment isn't avoiding any 2HKOs

I would agree but his attack does leave something to be desired.. a boost. Two Dragon Dances are enough to get the hammer falling with this guy. If he were stronger, like, base 130 attack, I wouldn't hesitate to drop Ddance for RP, but loosing the attack boosts makes him noticeably weaker.

 

[Aldrius]

I'd rather I didn't choice band him. He's not tank material. If hes banded, he'll take out a poke or two in exchange for his own life. At least with two Ddance boosts he can solidly sweep a team

he can take a hit easily even without investment, and KO back. There's also a lot of walls he outruns and straight-up takes out with Head Smash.

 

[Centaurion]

Tyrantrum could really benefit from an Expert Belt with the right set up if Life Orb/Leftovers aren't an option (such as with Battle Spot rules allowing only one of each). I was thinking something like this might work:

Tyrantrum Strong Jaw
Adamant Nature, Expert Belt
4hp/252atk/252speed
- Dragon Dance
- Ice Fang
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Earthquake

Dragon Dance is an amazing boosting move and when used twice can really make Tyrantrum a strong physical sweeper. Ice Fang provides better coverage (works better with Expert Belt) than Dragon Claw, and it still gets the bonus from Strong Jaw. Stone Edge is a necessity, as it is a STAB with 100 BP, although Rock Slide may be more reliable due to its higher accuracy. Earthquake hits Steel types hard after two DD, making Tyrantrum scarier than ever.

 

[LoDart210]

he can take a hit easily even without investment, and KO back. There's also a lot of walls he outruns and straight-up takes out with Head Smash.

Right. Like I said, he may be able to reliably take a hit and return the favor, but with no recovery out of leftovers, which I think is the weaker choice of item, and especially with a lack of investment, he may only get that one shot in before being KO'd. What's the good in a pokemon that's only in for a turn or two and doesn't really do much besides hit once and get hit and KO'd twice?

I played Choice Band and Scarf and Ddance sets. I won't pretend for a second to be some kind of expert theorycrafter or mon tester or even battler, but I can attest that with Ddance, Tyrantrum stuck around much longer and did more that just take out an opponent or two.

 

[Aldrius]

Taking out an opponent or two reliably (which Choice Band Tyrantrum does do) is better than having to use a turn, take the hit anyway and then start sweeping with poorer coverage. I haven't tested it myself, so I don't know for certain, but I like the idea of having four coverage moves (especially with the elemental fangs) more than having Dragon Dance personally.

 

[LoDart210]

Taking out an opponent or two reliably (which Choice Band Tyrantrum does do) is better than having to use a turn, take the hit anyway and then start sweeping with poorer coverage. I haven't tested it myself, so I don't know for certain, but I like the idea of having four coverage moves (especially with the elemental fangs) more than having Dragon Dance personally.

To each his own, I suppose. I'm not going to having a fruitless argument about which set is obsolete, because neither is. If you think the Choice with Coverage Tyrantrum is working best for you, then I won't bother arguing that's an inferior option, because it isn't. I only wanted to share my experiences with the two sets and why I used one over the other.

I will disagree on one thing though, is that Choice band is better for coverage. While you may add that fourth attacking move, you're more likely to be forced to switch out, while Ddance has the Smashquake coverage, which is excellent, and an added fang move of your choice for whatever you can't cover otherwise. ex) I use ice fang to take out opposing dragons and forgo Fire Fang because I run a Yzard and I ignore Crunch because I have Scolipede and let's face it... dragon type moves are surprisingly useless on Tyrantrum (unless of course he gets Outrage. In which case BandedRage makes a strong case.)

 

[LordRandomness]

My feeling is that Rock Head Smash sets are better suited for sweeping and general offense, while Strong Jaw sets will function as effective wallbreakers with a wide array of SE coverage on common walls available. The coverage is needed to wallbreak given that STAB NVE Head Smash drops to 112.5 while SE Strong Jaw fangs hit for around 190, and Steel- and Ground-type walls are not that uncommon. The important thing to note though is that a mere x2 difference in damage is not sufficient to differentiate the two: STAB Head Smash will be more effective than SE fangs if not resisted, or neutral fangs if it IS resisted, and therefore can function as an effective coverage move all by itself.

With respectable defensive typing (Dragon covers for a lot of Rock's weaknesses), a passable support movepool including rocks and Dragon Tail for phazing, and defenses that are characterized by a gaping hole in SpD which can be patched up with a sandstorm (or AssVest if rocks are not being used), Tyrantrum can run a pretty solid tank set capable of dishing out heavy damage or providing team support as the situation requires. It even gets Sandstorm itself, making Head Smash/Stealth Rock/Dragon Tail/Sandstorm a reasonable option on Sandstorm teams, letting it do practically whatever is needed at any given time, be it weather, hazards, phazing, or simply wrecking switch-ins horribly. The terrible damage it's capable of means it's liable to force things out, too, giving it a free turn to use a supporting move or simply phaze the switch-in to rack up hazard damage. Assault Vest support might seem like a terrible idea, but access to Poison Fang and Dragon Tail let Tyrantrum provide useful supporting options via damaging moves which lets it benefit from the SpD it sorely needs.

 

[Deatheggx56]

Personally, I think this Pokemon is pretty good. However I don't think it will be OU due to its speed. If this pok was faster it could of had a chance. However I do think it can hit UU due to its great attack and defense state. Also both it's ability's are very good. (Also this Pokemon was my first x and y shiny). I think it can do well in sand teams and normal teams them selfs as a good hard attacker.

 

[Garrus01]

Thing is, we got a fairly decent speed booster in the form of scoliopede, and blaziken should it stay OU. I think they would form a great synergy with tyrantum, especially scoliopede-tyrantum can easily switch in on at least two of its weaknesses, fire and flying.

 

[Blaydrex]

I dunno. I've been thinking about this one. Currently my Tyrunt has the nature that decreases special attack but increases special defense. EV'd 252 SpD, 252 Spe, 4 HP. Given Sharp Claw. Ability is Strong Jaw. Moves include Ice Fang, Fire Fang, Poison Fang, and Rock Slide. STAB the Rock Slide, all his other moves have 10% chance to flinch and 10% for status as well as 50% bonus due to Strong Jaw. The SpD EV prevents special moves from one shotting him as easily while boosting his speed makes him more reliable. Ice Fang covers Dragons (which outpowers Dragon Claw in most cases), Flying, and Ground types. That's 2 weaknesses. Fire Fang covers Steel, Ice, Grass, and Bug; another 2 weaknesses and makes him more reliable against foes like Aegislash, Metagross, and Scizor. Poison fang takes care of pesky Fairy types. This move set seems a lot more balanced and reliable than relying heavily on Headsmash and Rock Head.