[OVERVIEW]
Landorus-T finds its niche in the CAP metagame over Garchomp as a Ground-type Stealth Rock setter that is capable of handling Arghonaut and Grass-types. Because of this asset, it often excels more than Garchomp as a wallbreaker. In addition to this, it's a good lead for hyper offensive teams because it can easily set Stealth Rock, keep it up against Tornadus-T, and maintain momentum with Explosion. However, Landorus-T is often overlooked due to its lacking Speed tier, which barely misses out on a bunch of threatening wallbreakers like Tapu Lele and Jumbao. Additionally, it lacks Garchomp's resistance to Fire and Rock, making it unable to check Pokemon like Heatran and Mega Tyranitar, unlike Garchomp. Because of these 2 reasons, Landorus-T faces massive competition from Garchomp. Landorus-T also suffers from weaknesses to common typings in Water and Ice, which leaves it highly susceptible to Pokemon like Greninja, Weavile, and Syclant. As a lead, Landorus-T also faces slight competition from Excadrill, which can keep hazards off the field thanks to Rapid Spin.
[SET]
name: Offensive Z-Move
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Fly
move 3: Stealth Rock
move 4: Gravity / Swords Dance
item: Flyinium Z
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fly in tandem with Flyinium Z allow Landorus-T to overwhelm Arghonaut, Tornadus-T and Grass-types like Tangrowth and Jumbao. Additionally, it's just a nice hard-hitting move in general. Gravity is preferred to enable Landorus-T to OHKO Celesteela, Equilibra, and Rotom-W with Earthquake, which can otherwise wall it completely. It's preferred to Smack Down because of its longer lasting effect, meaning that it's not as prediction reliant as Smack Down. Alternatively, Swords Dance is an option to break through slower bulky builds, though this leaves Landorus-T very open to Celesteela and Rotom-W. U-turn is also an option for more defensively geared variants that aim to deal with Hawlucha. It's only really an option on these variants because they don't need Gravity or Swords Dance to aid in breaking down teams. Stone Edge can be run with Rockium Z instead of Fly and Flyinium Z, respectively, to deal with Celesteela, Rotom-W, and Zapdos while freeing up Swords Dance because Gravity is no longer needed to overwhelm these Pokemon. However, it does make Landorus-T miss out on Arghonaut, which is a significant draw back.
Set Details
========
A Jolly nature is mandatory to outspeed Pokemon like Excadrill, Moltres, and Modest Aurumoth. Flyinium Z is needed to to ignore Fly's charging turn. A more defensive EV spread of 252 HP / 68 Atk / 40 Def / 144 Spe with an Adamant nature can be run in order to live a +2 Acrobatics from Hawlucha after 2 rounds of Stealth Rock damage and to outspeed Modest Heatran.
Usage Tips
========
Landorus-T's main objective throughout the game should be to set and keep Stealth Rock up while simultaneously putting dents into the opposition. Swords Dance should be used on forced switches against Pokemon like Magearna, Heatran, and Mega Tyranitar, though you should be wary of them staying in. Landorus-T should use its Z-Move carefully, as it can be played around rather easily; Arghonaut, Tornadus-T, and Grass-types will often scout for Supersonic Skystrike before attempting to check Landorus-T. This is especially important when considering that Fly is basically useless.
Team Options
========
Landorus-T is able to deal with Arghonaut and Grass-types such as Tangrowth and Jumbao, so Pokemon like Tapu Koko, Ash-Greninja, and Greninja are good teammates because they benefit from this. Solid checks to Heatran like Arghonaut, Tapu Fini, and Mega Latios are basically mandatory, as there's little reason to use Landorus-T instead of Garchomp otherwise. Landorus-T is vulnerable to Ice-types like Weavile and Syclant, so having checks to them like Arghonaut and Toxapex is important. Pivots such as Tornadus-T, Magearna, and Tapu Koko are very useful to safely get Landorus-T on the field while preserving HP.
[SET]
name: Suicide Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Explosion
move 4: Rock Tomb
item: Focus Sash
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Explosion is important to keep up the tempo of the game, giving the opponent no opportunity to remove Stealth Rock with slower Defoggers like Rotom-W. Rock Tomb is incredibly important to prevent Tornadus-T from freely removing Stealth Rock without having to use Explosion.
Set Details
========
Focus Sash is important to guarantee that Landorus-T will be able to set Stealth Rock.
Usage Tips
========
Landorus-T is very straight forward to use. You should lead with Landorus-T to set Stealth Rock as early as possible, unless the opponent has a Pokemon that may prevent Landorus-T from setting Stealth Rock up, like Mega Sableye. Unless a Pokemon like Tornadus-T is present, Landorus-T should use Explosion the following turn to keep the flow of the game going.
Team Options
========
Landorus-T fits best on hyper offensive teams that aim to set screens with Tapu Koko or to stack hazards in tandem with Focus Sash Greninja. On these type of teams, having setup sweepers like Magearna, Necturna, and Caribolt is imperative.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A Choice Scarf set with Earthquake / U-turn / Stone Edge and one of Defog, Explosion, Hidden Power Ice, or Punishment can be run to pressure a bunch of faster offensive Pokemon like Krilowatt, Mega Medicham, and Tapu Lele, while also acting as a fast pivot that can force many switches. However, it's a poor option for a Choice Scarf user because of its inability to deal with some of the metagames most threatening sweepers, with the most notable being Aurumoth. Substitute is an option on Z-Move variants that can be run to ease prediction, but having to give up a slot for it is often undesirable. Groundium Z can be run instead of Flyinium Z as a general nuke, but being unable to hit Pokemon like Tornadus-T and Mega Latios on a reliable basis isn't very desirable. Rock Tomb can be run on Flyinium Z Landorus-T instead of Gravity to minimize mind games against Tornadus-T. However, being unable to hit Rotom-W and Celesteela is often undesirable.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Offensive Pokemon**: Because of Landorus-T's awkward Speed tier, it'll find itself outsped by offensive Pokemon like Tapu Lele, Mega Alakazam, Tornadus-T, and Mega Medicham.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Ash-Greninja, Naviathan, and Mega Swampert can outspeed Landorus-T and easily threaten it with their STAB moves. Other Water-types such as Rotom-W and Pelipper can defensively check Landorus-T, though Gravity and Stone Edge can be annoying.
**Ice-type Pokemon and Coverage**: Due to its typing, Landorus-T finds itself highly susceptible to Ice-type Pokemon like Weavile and Syclant as well as Ice-type coverage from Pokemon such as Krilowatt, Aurumoth, and Mega Tyranitar.
**Tornadus-T**: Tornadus-T gets a special mention because, even though both listed sets have the potential to beat it, it affects the way in which Landorus-T is played very heavily, often forcing Z-Move variants into awkward situations, while forcing Suicide Lead variants to play a lot more conservatively.
**Equilibra**: Equilibra is capable of walling any set without Gravity or Swords Dance thanks to Levitate and its great defensive typing.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Jordy, 395754]]
- Quality checked by: [[snake_rattler, 227784], [xavgb, 231402], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
Landorus-T finds its niche in the CAP metagame over Garchomp as a Ground-type Stealth Rock setter that is capable of handling Arghonaut and Grass-types. Because of this asset, it often excels more than Garchomp as a wallbreaker. In addition to this, it's a good lead for hyper offensive teams because it can easily set Stealth Rock, keep it up against Tornadus-T, and maintain momentum with Explosion. However, Landorus-T is often overlooked due to its lacking Speed tier, which barely misses out on a bunch of threatening wallbreakers like Tapu Lele and Jumbao. Additionally, it lacks Garchomp's resistance to Fire and Rock, making it unable to check Pokemon like Heatran and Mega Tyranitar, unlike Garchomp. Because of these 2 reasons, Landorus-T faces massive competition from Garchomp. Landorus-T also suffers from weaknesses to common typings in Water and Ice, which leaves it highly susceptible to Pokemon like Greninja, Weavile, and Syclant. As a lead, Landorus-T also faces slight competition from Excadrill, which can keep hazards off the field thanks to Rapid Spin.
[SET]
name: Offensive Z-Move
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Fly
move 3: Stealth Rock
move 4: Gravity / Swords Dance
item: Flyinium Z
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fly in tandem with Flyinium Z allow Landorus-T to overwhelm Arghonaut, Tornadus-T and Grass-types like Tangrowth and Jumbao. Additionally, it's just a nice hard-hitting move in general. Gravity is preferred to enable Landorus-T to OHKO Celesteela, Equilibra, and Rotom-W with Earthquake, which can otherwise wall it completely. It's preferred to Smack Down because of its longer lasting effect, meaning that it's not as prediction reliant as Smack Down. Alternatively, Swords Dance is an option to break through slower bulky builds, though this leaves Landorus-T very open to Celesteela and Rotom-W. U-turn is also an option for more defensively geared variants that aim to deal with Hawlucha. It's only really an option on these variants because they don't need Gravity or Swords Dance to aid in breaking down teams. Stone Edge can be run with Rockium Z instead of Fly and Flyinium Z, respectively, to deal with Celesteela, Rotom-W, and Zapdos while freeing up Swords Dance because Gravity is no longer needed to overwhelm these Pokemon. However, it does make Landorus-T miss out on Arghonaut, which is a significant draw back.
Set Details
========
A Jolly nature is mandatory to outspeed Pokemon like Excadrill, Moltres, and Modest Aurumoth. Flyinium Z is needed to to ignore Fly's charging turn. A more defensive EV spread of 252 HP / 68 Atk / 40 Def / 144 Spe with an Adamant nature can be run in order to live a +2 Acrobatics from Hawlucha after 2 rounds of Stealth Rock damage and to outspeed Modest Heatran.
Usage Tips
========
Landorus-T's main objective throughout the game should be to set and keep Stealth Rock up while simultaneously putting dents into the opposition. Swords Dance should be used on forced switches against Pokemon like Magearna, Heatran, and Mega Tyranitar, though you should be wary of them staying in. Landorus-T should use its Z-Move carefully, as it can be played around rather easily; Arghonaut, Tornadus-T, and Grass-types will often scout for Supersonic Skystrike before attempting to check Landorus-T. This is especially important when considering that Fly is basically useless.
Team Options
========
Landorus-T is able to deal with Arghonaut and Grass-types such as Tangrowth and Jumbao, so Pokemon like Tapu Koko, Ash-Greninja, and Greninja are good teammates because they benefit from this. Solid checks to Heatran like Arghonaut, Tapu Fini, and Mega Latios are basically mandatory, as there's little reason to use Landorus-T instead of Garchomp otherwise. Landorus-T is vulnerable to Ice-types like Weavile and Syclant, so having checks to them like Arghonaut and Toxapex is important. Pivots such as Tornadus-T, Magearna, and Tapu Koko are very useful to safely get Landorus-T on the field while preserving HP.
[SET]
name: Suicide Lead
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Explosion
move 4: Rock Tomb
item: Focus Sash
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Explosion is important to keep up the tempo of the game, giving the opponent no opportunity to remove Stealth Rock with slower Defoggers like Rotom-W. Rock Tomb is incredibly important to prevent Tornadus-T from freely removing Stealth Rock without having to use Explosion.
Set Details
========
Focus Sash is important to guarantee that Landorus-T will be able to set Stealth Rock.
Usage Tips
========
Landorus-T is very straight forward to use. You should lead with Landorus-T to set Stealth Rock as early as possible, unless the opponent has a Pokemon that may prevent Landorus-T from setting Stealth Rock up, like Mega Sableye. Unless a Pokemon like Tornadus-T is present, Landorus-T should use Explosion the following turn to keep the flow of the game going.
Team Options
========
Landorus-T fits best on hyper offensive teams that aim to set screens with Tapu Koko or to stack hazards in tandem with Focus Sash Greninja. On these type of teams, having setup sweepers like Magearna, Necturna, and Caribolt is imperative.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A Choice Scarf set with Earthquake / U-turn / Stone Edge and one of Defog, Explosion, Hidden Power Ice, or Punishment can be run to pressure a bunch of faster offensive Pokemon like Krilowatt, Mega Medicham, and Tapu Lele, while also acting as a fast pivot that can force many switches. However, it's a poor option for a Choice Scarf user because of its inability to deal with some of the metagames most threatening sweepers, with the most notable being Aurumoth. Substitute is an option on Z-Move variants that can be run to ease prediction, but having to give up a slot for it is often undesirable. Groundium Z can be run instead of Flyinium Z as a general nuke, but being unable to hit Pokemon like Tornadus-T and Mega Latios on a reliable basis isn't very desirable. Rock Tomb can be run on Flyinium Z Landorus-T instead of Gravity to minimize mind games against Tornadus-T. However, being unable to hit Rotom-W and Celesteela is often undesirable.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Faster Offensive Pokemon**: Because of Landorus-T's awkward Speed tier, it'll find itself outsped by offensive Pokemon like Tapu Lele, Mega Alakazam, Tornadus-T, and Mega Medicham.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Ash-Greninja, Naviathan, and Mega Swampert can outspeed Landorus-T and easily threaten it with their STAB moves. Other Water-types such as Rotom-W and Pelipper can defensively check Landorus-T, though Gravity and Stone Edge can be annoying.
**Ice-type Pokemon and Coverage**: Due to its typing, Landorus-T finds itself highly susceptible to Ice-type Pokemon like Weavile and Syclant as well as Ice-type coverage from Pokemon such as Krilowatt, Aurumoth, and Mega Tyranitar.
**Tornadus-T**: Tornadus-T gets a special mention because, even though both listed sets have the potential to beat it, it affects the way in which Landorus-T is played very heavily, often forcing Z-Move variants into awkward situations, while forcing Suicide Lead variants to play a lot more conservatively.
**Equilibra**: Equilibra is capable of walling any set without Gravity or Swords Dance thanks to Levitate and its great defensive typing.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Jordy, 395754]]
- Quality checked by: [[snake_rattler, 227784], [xavgb, 231402], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
Last edited:
in general.
