Pokémon Landorus-Therian

[ReadTheMango]

Landorus-Therian

Typing: Ground / Flying type

Base Stats: 89 HP | 145 Atk | 90 Def | 105 SpA | 80 SpD | 91 Spe

Ability: Intimidate

[Newly Obtainable Moves]

- Body Slam
- Endure
- Leer
- Sand Tomb
- Scary Face
- Self Destruct
- Weather Ball

[Notable Moves]

- Earthquake
- Defog
- U-Turn
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Super Power
- Swords Dance
- Toxic
- Smack Down
- Rock Polish
- Substitute
- Explosion
- Bulk Up
- Body Slam
- Sand Tomb


[Pros]

- Phenomenal typing, boasting an immunity to Ground / Electric type moves.
- The strongest un-boosted STAB Earthquake in the tier
- Decent speed tier, able to outspeed everything up to Jolly Excadrill.
- Intimidate, which shores up its otherwise average defensive stat and gives Lando-T extra utility.
- Able to run a variety of set options, both offensively and defensively
- Access to solid support options in the form of Stealth Rock, Defog, and Toxic
- Able to gain easy momentum through U-Turn due to the pressure this mon outputs.
- The removal of Hidden Power Ice means that Lando-T has become even harder to kill
- Very splashable onto teams, and also easy to fit in defensive / offensive cores.

[Cons]

- Extremely vulnerable to ice type coverage, which is decently common. Also weak to water type moves, which are also decently common.
- Speed tier, while good, leaves it outsped by an ever increasingly fast metagame
- Intimidate can be taken advantage of by certain mons like Galarian Zapdos and Bisharp with defiant
- Not as bulky on the special side, which can make it difficult to switch in to strong neutral moves
- Lost Hidden Power Ice, which was its best option to deal with opposing Landorus, and things like Garchomp, Zygarde etc.
- The loss of Z-Moves means that Landorus lacks a consistent, strong flying type move outside of Fly, which is not ideal.

[Potential Movesets]

Scarf Landorus-Therian

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 80 HP / 148 Atk / 84 Def / 196 Spe OR 232 Atk / 68 Def / 208 Spe OR 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge / Explosion
- Defog / Knock Off

Note: Quick Explanation for the EVs. The first allows you to avoid a 2HKO from banded Kartana leaf blades after rocks. The second lets you live a +2 Hawlucha's Acrobatics after rocks. The third is the more standard max atk / max spe set which is just as effective if you aren't concerned about these hits.

Defensive Landorus-Therian

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 248 Def / 8 Spe OR 252 HP / 112 Def / 144 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock / Defog
- U-turn / Toxic
- Stone Edge / Toxic / Knock Off

Note: Quick Explanation for the EVs. The first is standard max hp / max def, pretty simple and efficient. The second allows you to outspeed things like Modest Heatran and Timid Magearna.

Double Dance Landorus-Therian

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate / Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish

Offensive Stealth Rock Landorus-Therian

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge / Smack Down
- Swords Dance / U-Turn / Knock Off

Offensive Gravity

Landorus-Therian @ Earth Plate
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Gravity
- Swords Dance
- U-Turn / Knock Off / Stealth Rock / Stone Edge / Toxic

 

[Martin]

Body Slam

I… just noticed this…

It won’t use it but they really gave it a way to spread paralysis huh…

Also total theorymon for a sec—no clue whether this’ll work in practice—but Weather Ball Lando+Regileki on rain to lure and remove Lando?

 

[ReadTheMango]

I… just noticed this…

It won’t use it but they really gave it a way to spread paralysis huh…

Also total theorymon for a sec—no clue whether this’ll work in practice—but Weather Ball Lando+Regileki on rain to remove Lando?

I REALLY thought about including Body Slam into one of the potential sets, but figured I would open it to the floor. Will probably work best on defensive Lando if anything. I can see ABR running it :^)

Weather Ball + Rain definitely sounds workable and I'll be giving it a shot in future.

 

[Martin]

I REALLY thought about including Body Slam into one of the potential sets, but figured I would open it to the floor. Will probably work best on defensive Lando if anything. I can see ABR running it :^)

Weather Ball + Rain definitely sounds workable and I'll be giving it a shot in future.

It might even be better on Veil offence honestly. Water WB doesn’t KO max health phat lando, tho obviously it can be pressured into range fairly easily, and is a little more constrained wrt team structure than veil is imo.

 

[nameless90]

I think that the initial post can include other 5 sets at least:

• Choice Band thanks to the access to U-turn;
• Scary Face support, which is not a bad move because it allows Landorus-T to have some strong Spe control (Rock Tomb is "only" a -1 Spe on the opponent's threat);
• Suicide lead with SR + Explosion for example;
• Calm Mind + special attacks that might be strange, but it really unpredictable;
• Rest + Rocky Helmet even though Knock Off/Trick on the OU environment is a thing without Zgems and megastones.

===> Landorus-T is always a top tier threat with a ton of sets.

 

[Shmirko]

I am happy I found out that I has Body Slam this threat, before it's too late.

 

[Red Raven]

I'm genuinely curious to see how Landorus Therian is gonna fare in ou. I wasn't into competitive pokemon yet in gen six but according to false swipe gaming, Bisharp was a major threat because it turned Landorus' intimidate into a boost but was stuffed by the presence of z crystals and Tapu Lele in gen seven. This time though, there is another menace whose name is Galarian Zapdos who also has defiant and isn't necessarily destroyed by Lele. Maybe Landorus will drop in viability as the last thing anyone wants is a scarfed Galarian Zapdos getting a temporary choice band boost

 

[Akiironzo]

Yo, IIRC Earth Plate is not available this gen. Maybe replace it with Soft Sand instead?