Perhaps the greatest thing about the Ubers tier is how broad it gets. You can use ANY Pokémon with nearly ANY legal moveset, ability, and item combination. However, there are only small groups of Pokémon that can really deserve a spot on your team; only a few are viable. Then come beasts such as Kyogre and Arceus that are so strong that they define the metagame, quickly finding spots on many teams. These Pokémon are both useful and powerful, but they can often overshadow individuals that can really add a better buff to your team. In both this, and future posts, I’m going to take a look at Pokémon who are true gems and should, without doubt, come into consideration when crafting an Ubers team.
Thundurus (Incarnate)
[pimg]672[/pimg]
Overview
Thundurus is, perhaps my favorite overlooked Ubers ‘Mon and can really shine in terms of his raw Special Attack power, great Speed, and his incredible ability, Prankster. His priority-boosted Thunder Waves can cripple entire teams, while his sped-up Taunts can shut down entry-hazard users before they even set up one layer. Meanwhile, his fantastic Special Attack can be quickly doubled through just one Nasty Plot (which is also helped by Prankster), allowing him to smite just about anything with Thunder. In addition, Thundurus can easily utilize U-Turn, STAB Volt Switch, and priority Substitutes to scout out the opposing team. Lets learn more about him, shall we?
His Role On Your Team
Thundurus can serve as many roles on your team. He makes an excellent lead, attacker, and scout.
As a Lead
Moveset:
-Thunder Wave
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Taunt
Preferred IV Spread:4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Preferred Nature: Timid or Naive
Preferred Item: Life Orb
When leading, Thundurus can paralyze Darkrai before it can use Dark Void and can Taunt Dexoys-S, ruining any stealth rock or dual screen attempts. Making your opponent unable to attack on their first turn gives a strong early-game advantage, allowing you to quickly switch in a counter, set up a sweeper, or lay down some entry hazards or screens.
As an Attacker
-Nasty Plot
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Focus Blast/Hammer Arm
Preferred IV Spread:4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Preferred Nature: Timid
Preferred Item: Life Orb or Expert Belt.
Thundurus’ attacking ability though is what really makes him shine as a top-tier threat in todays Uber environment. Possessing a great 125 base Special Attack stat and solid 115 base Attack stat, he can him tear through teams with a little effort. After a Nasty Plot boost, his Special Attack reaches epic heights and allows him to fry threats such as Ho-Oh, Lugia, Kyogre and Manaphy with STAB Thunder. In addition, his Hidden Power Ice gives him great coverage, with it being able to hit dragons hard, and down Shaymin-S in one hit. Meanwhile, should you decide to utilize his physical power, his hammer arms can knock out Tyranitar and do nice damage to Chansey, Blissy, and other walls with poor Defense. If you’re looking for an attacker, Thundurus will fit the bill and more!
As a Scout
Moveset:
-Thunder Wave
-Substitute
-Thunder
-Volt Switch/U-Turn
Preferred IV Spread: 252 Spe/ 200 SpA/ 56 SpD
Preferred Nature: Timid
Preferred Item: Leftovers
It must be mentioned that Thundurus serves great scout too, having access to U-Turn, STAB Volt Switch, and priority Substitutes. Thunder Waving a threat while then U-Turn/Volt Switching away is a great way to give your team some early game momentum. If you paralyze, switch to a counter, and then repeat, you’ll find yourself quite a few victories.
Team Options
Should you decide to give Thundurus a spot, here are some good team options. First and foremost, Kyogre support is awesome. Drizzle makes Thunder unable to miss, negating any newly-reinstated evasion boosts. The blue beast also helps bring down Groudon, something that can ignore his electric attacks and fire back a stone edge.
Consider a spinner such as well. Stealth rock strips away 25% of Thundurus’ health each switch in, and can really hurt his longevity. Forretress and Tentacruel are great; they can easily switch in and stomach a rock/ice type attack fired by an enemy, and then proceed to use Rapid Spin, followed by setting up their own hazards to help turn the battle in your favor.
Honestly, Thundurus doesn’t require much support, but if you give him help, he’ll really shine.
Threats
No Pokémon is perfect, and Thundurus users must watch out for the following dangers:
As mentioned earlier, stealth rock is truly dangerous-25% HP loss on each switch-in makes him able to be taken down by many unboosted attacks. Ice and Rock type moves in general really put the nail in his coffin, with, for example, the Kyurem forms being able to down him without any real effort. The wide distribution of Ice Beam in general makes him hard to keep alive while Stone Edge shoots him down like a clay Pidgey. Truth be told, Thundurus’ defenses are nothing to boast about, with Draco Meteor killing him flat, regardless of whom is using it assuming you don’t give him any defensive IVs.
There’s two final things to lookout for: Magic Coat/Magic Bouce. Magic Coat can reflect back Thunder Waves and Taunts, potentially paralyzing him and severely diminishing his offensive prowess. Note if paralyzed, he can still disrupt teams-prankster will still work-but he loses a lot of might. Latias, Latios, and the Deoxys Forms are the common carriers of Magic Coat, so watch out. Xatu and Espeon are really the only Pokemon with Magic Bounce that are used in the tier. If you see them, predict accordingly. Keep all these threats in your mind and your Thundurus will do just fine.
Wrap Up
Thundurus is, without doubt, a superb Pokémon that fits right into the tier. Despite this, he is one of the many overlooked creatures that deserve more use. This Pokémon is a great lead, attacker, and scout, being able to bring down threats such as Kyogre with little effort. However, he needs to avoid stealth rock, stone edge, and ice moves, while watching out for Magic Coat and the mighty Draco Meteor. Still, he’s a great addition to nearly any team.
Consider adding Thundurus to your team; he's like lightning in a bottle!
Have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions about using Thundurus? Any personal ideas who should be my next featured overlooked Uber? Please post your ideas!
Thundurus (Incarnate)
[pimg]672[/pimg]
Overview
Thundurus is, perhaps my favorite overlooked Ubers ‘Mon and can really shine in terms of his raw Special Attack power, great Speed, and his incredible ability, Prankster. His priority-boosted Thunder Waves can cripple entire teams, while his sped-up Taunts can shut down entry-hazard users before they even set up one layer. Meanwhile, his fantastic Special Attack can be quickly doubled through just one Nasty Plot (which is also helped by Prankster), allowing him to smite just about anything with Thunder. In addition, Thundurus can easily utilize U-Turn, STAB Volt Switch, and priority Substitutes to scout out the opposing team. Lets learn more about him, shall we?
His Role On Your Team
Thundurus can serve as many roles on your team. He makes an excellent lead, attacker, and scout.
As a Lead
Moveset:
-Thunder Wave
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Taunt
Preferred IV Spread:4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Preferred Nature: Timid or Naive
Preferred Item: Life Orb
When leading, Thundurus can paralyze Darkrai before it can use Dark Void and can Taunt Dexoys-S, ruining any stealth rock or dual screen attempts. Making your opponent unable to attack on their first turn gives a strong early-game advantage, allowing you to quickly switch in a counter, set up a sweeper, or lay down some entry hazards or screens.
As an Attacker
-Nasty Plot
-Thunder
-Hidden Power (Ice)
-Focus Blast/Hammer Arm
Preferred IV Spread:4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Preferred Nature: Timid
Preferred Item: Life Orb or Expert Belt.
Thundurus’ attacking ability though is what really makes him shine as a top-tier threat in todays Uber environment. Possessing a great 125 base Special Attack stat and solid 115 base Attack stat, he can him tear through teams with a little effort. After a Nasty Plot boost, his Special Attack reaches epic heights and allows him to fry threats such as Ho-Oh, Lugia, Kyogre and Manaphy with STAB Thunder. In addition, his Hidden Power Ice gives him great coverage, with it being able to hit dragons hard, and down Shaymin-S in one hit. Meanwhile, should you decide to utilize his physical power, his hammer arms can knock out Tyranitar and do nice damage to Chansey, Blissy, and other walls with poor Defense. If you’re looking for an attacker, Thundurus will fit the bill and more!
As a Scout
Moveset:
-Thunder Wave
-Substitute
-Thunder
-Volt Switch/U-Turn
Preferred IV Spread: 252 Spe/ 200 SpA/ 56 SpD
Preferred Nature: Timid
Preferred Item: Leftovers
It must be mentioned that Thundurus serves great scout too, having access to U-Turn, STAB Volt Switch, and priority Substitutes. Thunder Waving a threat while then U-Turn/Volt Switching away is a great way to give your team some early game momentum. If you paralyze, switch to a counter, and then repeat, you’ll find yourself quite a few victories.
Team Options
Should you decide to give Thundurus a spot, here are some good team options. First and foremost, Kyogre support is awesome. Drizzle makes Thunder unable to miss, negating any newly-reinstated evasion boosts. The blue beast also helps bring down Groudon, something that can ignore his electric attacks and fire back a stone edge.
Consider a spinner such as well. Stealth rock strips away 25% of Thundurus’ health each switch in, and can really hurt his longevity. Forretress and Tentacruel are great; they can easily switch in and stomach a rock/ice type attack fired by an enemy, and then proceed to use Rapid Spin, followed by setting up their own hazards to help turn the battle in your favor.
Honestly, Thundurus doesn’t require much support, but if you give him help, he’ll really shine.
Threats
No Pokémon is perfect, and Thundurus users must watch out for the following dangers:
As mentioned earlier, stealth rock is truly dangerous-25% HP loss on each switch-in makes him able to be taken down by many unboosted attacks. Ice and Rock type moves in general really put the nail in his coffin, with, for example, the Kyurem forms being able to down him without any real effort. The wide distribution of Ice Beam in general makes him hard to keep alive while Stone Edge shoots him down like a clay Pidgey. Truth be told, Thundurus’ defenses are nothing to boast about, with Draco Meteor killing him flat, regardless of whom is using it assuming you don’t give him any defensive IVs.
There’s two final things to lookout for: Magic Coat/Magic Bouce. Magic Coat can reflect back Thunder Waves and Taunts, potentially paralyzing him and severely diminishing his offensive prowess. Note if paralyzed, he can still disrupt teams-prankster will still work-but he loses a lot of might. Latias, Latios, and the Deoxys Forms are the common carriers of Magic Coat, so watch out. Xatu and Espeon are really the only Pokemon with Magic Bounce that are used in the tier. If you see them, predict accordingly. Keep all these threats in your mind and your Thundurus will do just fine.
Wrap Up
Thundurus is, without doubt, a superb Pokémon that fits right into the tier. Despite this, he is one of the many overlooked creatures that deserve more use. This Pokémon is a great lead, attacker, and scout, being able to bring down threats such as Kyogre with little effort. However, he needs to avoid stealth rock, stone edge, and ice moves, while watching out for Magic Coat and the mighty Draco Meteor. Still, he’s a great addition to nearly any team.
Consider adding Thundurus to your team; he's like lightning in a bottle!
Have any questions, comments, concerns or suggestions about using Thundurus? Any personal ideas who should be my next featured overlooked Uber? Please post your ideas!
