A History of Landorus-T Throughout VGC

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Introduction

Landorus-T has a vast and impressive history throughout VGC. It's known for being a staple pick for many top teams, including being on all top eight teams at the 2015 Pokémon World Championships. What's equally interesting is that it commonly switches up its playstyle between formats, adapting to whatever it's needed for the most. This article will serve as a retrospective of Landorus-T's evolution throughout its time in VGC, from pivot to offensive powerhouse and many things in between. Formats prior to VGC 13, as well as VGC 14, 17, and 20, will not be covered, as Landorus-T was not legal in these metagames.

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VGC 13

Landorus-T was first available to use in the winter regionals wave in VGC 2013. With its unique access to U-turn and Intimidate, it became the first real pivot in VGC. Before its introduction, players mostly stuck with Garchomp as their Ground-type of choice, but they quickly picked up Landorus-T thanks to its excellent utility and noticeably higher Attack, useful for checking both physical attackers like Conkeldurr and Scizor while also offensively pressuring Ground-weak Pokémon like Heatran and Tyranitar. It typically ran Focus Sash to keep itself safe from strong special attacks like Latios's Draco Meteor, Rotom-W's Hydro Pump, and Cresselia's Ice Beam.

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Examples of common team structures:

              

              

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VGC 15

After swarming the Japanese-dominated 2015 World Championships, Assault Vest Landorus-T quickly became a staple in the western scene. Its ability to switch moves and better respond to special attackers like Mega Charizard Y and Sylveon allowed it to be considered the superior Landorus-T variant by many towards the format's end, especially because the format became much bulkier, meaning the Speed boost from Choice Scarf was much less needed. Another notable innovation was its common use of Knock Off, which was great for removing common items like Sitrus Berry, Safety Goggles, and Rocky Helmet for partners such as Mega Kangaskhan and Amoonguss.

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Choice Scarf Landorus-T acts as both a quick pivot and a soft check to the likes of Mega Kangaskhan, Terrakion, and Mega Charizard Y. It outpaces the entire metagame, which is even more useful considering the fact that it cannot be paralyzed by Thundurus's Thunder Wave. Because of this, it's also infamous for scoring crucial Rock Slide flinches in numerous important matches, including the 2015 World Championships finals. Most were EV trained to survive a Life Orb Bisharp's Sucker Punch after a Defiant boost while also outspeeding Mega Manectric.

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Examples of common team structures:

                    (Assault Vest, Choice Scarf)

                     (Assault Vest)

                  (Assault Vest, Choice Scarf)

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VGC 16

Landorus-T took a much different route in VGC 2016 due to the high presence of Primal Kyogre, Mega Salamence, and Bronzong, which either walled it or outright destroyed it. Its Choice Band set functioned as a way for fast-paced teams to outspeed, chunk, and cripple Primal Groudon with its powerful Earthquake and Intimidate. As it also outsped both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, it could act as a pivot with U-turn to help maintain weather control. VGC 2016 World Champion Wolfe Glick managed to win the 2016 Florida regional with Explosion Landorus-T paired with Telepathy Dialga, creating openings for Trick Room sweeps. Other players opted for a Life Orb set, possessing similar power with the freedom to switch moves and less focus on being a one-time Primal Groudon check.

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Examples of common team structures:

               

               

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VGC 18

The introduction of Z-Moves blessed Landorus-T with a physical, single-target Ground-type move. Not only is it insanely powerful when used with Earthquake, but Tectonic Rage was capable of OHKOing the likes of Incineroar at -1 Attack as well as Mega Metagross and Tyranitar. This increase in power also allowed players to invest more in its bulk, which led to EV spreads like the one above, with enough HP to survive a Final Gambit from maximum HP Staraptor. While most players opted for 3 Attacks and Protect, some, like Latin American Internationals Finalist Alberto Lara, chose to run Swords Dance to take Landorus-T's damage output to the next level.

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Choice Scarf Landorus-T took a new direction in VGC 2018 with the advent of a mixed attacking set. Earth Power let it pick up quick KOes on Mega Gengar and Tapu Koko while not having to worry about being crippled by Intimidate and Grassy Terrain. This was paired with Hidden Power Ice to punish Mega Salamence and opposing Landorus-T for trying to defensively check it. Stone Edge primary allowed it to quickly check Mega Charizard Y, while Sludge Bomb gave it the ability to hit the other Tapus, even KOing Tapu Bulu.

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Assault Vest Landorus-T was extremely prevalent in the VGC 2018 metagame, functioning as a bulky pivot. With the prevalence of 50% berries like Figy Berry and Mago Berry, having reliable item removal could often provide a huge advantage, and Landorus-T was one of the best at doing so. The decline of Mega Kangaskhan in 2018 meant that Superpower was no longer a required move, freeing up space for U-turn and allowing it to pivot in and out even more reliably. Extremely bulky EV spreads like the one above were quite common, letting it always survive an Ice Punch from Mega Metagross at -1 Attack while also outrunning Modest Heatran and most Tapu Fini variants.

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Examples of common team structures:

                       (Z-Move, Assault Vest, Choice Scarf)

                  (Assault Vest, Choice Scarf)

                       (Z-Move)

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VGC 19

Landorus-T in VGC 2019 had pretty much one purpose: nuke Fire- and Steel-types to create a path for Xerneas. Thanks to its powerful Tectonic Rage, Landorus-T is capable of OHKOing Incineroar, Stakataka, and even Primal Groudon in Ultra Series. As teams normally used these Pokémon to check Xerneas, Landorus-T's ability to provide a solid answer to them turned the tables on these teams. By utilizing both Earthquake and Earth Power, it could still score OHKOs with Attack drops thanks to Earth Power or OHKO Assault Vest Incineroar with Earthquake-based Tectonic Rage.

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Examples of common team structures:

                      (Moon Series)

                

              

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VGC 21

Swords Dance gives Landorus-T the perfect opportunity to take advantage of its excellent combination of Max Moves, with Max Airstream also allowing it to rack up Speed boosts quickly. Max Quake allows it to make up for a lack of Assault Vest and bulk investment, and Max Rockfall lets it blow past Pokémon like Rotom-H and Celesteela that resist its STAB combination. It's also one of the few true setup users in SS, as most Dynamax Pokémon tend to use Weakness Policy as their means of stat boosting. Lum Berry allows it to stay safe against the likes of Spore from Amoonguss, Yawn from Torkoal, and Burning Jealously from Incineroar, while Life Orb grants it even more damage output.

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Just like its predecessors, Assault Vest Landorus-T in SS aims to put consistency above all else, functioning both in and out of Dynamax and balancing bulk and power quite nicely. With Max Quake on top of Assault Vest, Landorus-T is capable of boosting its Special Defense to ridiculous levels, making it a great check to the likes of Heatran, Gigantamax Venusaur, and Coalossal. Even with the buffs to abilities such as Oblivious and Inner Focus allowing them to now ignore Intimidate, Landorus-T is important as ever for keeping physical attackers like Glastrier, Garchomp, and Cinderace in check.

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Examples of common team structures:

                     (Swords Dance)

                     (Assault Vest, Swords Dance)

                    (Swords Dance)

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Final Thoughts

Landorus-T has been one of the most dominant Pokémon in VGC's history since its introduction, and it's very likely that it will continue to do so. It has made excellent use of both Z-Moves and Dynamax, so it's safe to say that it will have no time adapting to any future mechanics either. Some players hypothesize that the power creep will eventually come for all Pokémon, but Landorus-T has stood the test of time for nearly a decade now, and it's hard to see that changing anytime soon.

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