Pokémon Landorus-Therian

[skies]

Landorus - #645 - Landlos ランドロス
Abilities: Intimidate: Upon entering battle, the opponent’s Attack lowers one stage. In a Double Battle, both opponents’ Attack are lowered. Pokémon with the Clear Body, Hyper Cutter, or White Smoke ability are unaffected. In a link battle, if both sides switch on the same turn, and first player sends out a Pokémon with Intimidate, the opponent’s Attack will be lowered before the opponent’s Pokémon switches.
Stats: 89 // 145 // 90 // 105 // 80 // 91

Overview:
Landorus-Therian has great stats and an awesome ability, with Intimidate giving it a huge boost in bulk every time it switches in, along with a massive Attack stat that will leave a dent on anything not named Skarmory! Landorus-Therian also has access to U-Turn, giving it ample opportunities to switch in and Intimidate. Landorus-Therian gained some new buffs this Generation, with an improved Knock Off, a great Talonflame check, and a great Pokemon to keep up momentum. It also wields one of the most powerful Earthquakes, just falling short of the all might Groudon's! Landorus-Therian also has access to Stealth Rock, which is a great addition to any team! You might be asking yourself: It sounds great, why it's only #26 on the usage charts (below Klefki, smh!)? Well, it has a few crippling flaws. For one, it has a 4x weakness to a very common typing, Ice, along with not the greatest Special Bulk. It also doesn't have the best Speed, needing a Scarf to be an effective sweeper. It does get Rock Polish, but that limits its moves severely, unless you are running EdgeQuake. It also doesn't have a Flying STAB, which kind of sucks, it would enjoy one very much! It also struggles with the very common Rain, even with the nerf! Overall, Landorus-Therian is a great Pokemon, but it has a few issues.

Possible Sets:
Assault Vest
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Assault Vest
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 124 Atk / 252 HP / 52 SDef / 80 Def
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off

This Landorus-Therian set takes advantage of Intimidate, utilizing U-turn and Assault Vest to make Landorus-Therian as bulky as can possibly be! The EVs are to ensure a OHKO on Mega Charizard X, while retaining some power, with the rest being poured into bulk. Earthquake is a mandatory STAB that hits like a truck, even with minimal investment! Stone Edge is to get that delicious neutral coverage with Earthquake! U-Turn keeps up momentum and can safely bring Landorus-Therian out of its threats. Knock Off is great, crippling things as they try to switch in and actually gets pretty great coverage alonside Landorus-Therian's other moves! Here is a calc that I think is worth noting:
252 SpA Life Orb Greninja Hydro Pump vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 276-328 (72.2 - 85.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Here it is taking a move from a fearsome OU sweeper, which it is weak against. I just wanted to bring this up, as it shocked me how bulky it was!

Stealth Rock
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

This set is to captilize on Landorus-Therian's great movepool and access to Stealth Rocks. There is so much I've already said about the staple moves, so I am not going to bother writing again lol.

Other Possible Sets, but I was too lazy to type for each one:
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 HP / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- U-turn
- Knock Off

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 HP / 4 SDef
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Knock Off

Landorus-Therian (M)
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 HP / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Stone Edge
Final Thoughts:
I'm surprised there hasn't been one of these yet! But anyways, ya, discuss this majestic Pokemon!

 

[El Coqui]

I think Landorus-T will do exactly what it did last gen...and counter Talonflame lol. No but in all seriousness yeah still a great teammate with Rotom-W since thats one of its major foes in the meta

 

[zachmac]

It's resistances and weaknesses are heavily biased towards physical walling, and at that, it does spectacularly.

Special walling, on the other hand? It has no real important resistances besides electric, but even then, pretty much every electric attacker in existences carries HP ice. I don't think an Assault Vest really uses Lando to the best of it's ability.

Losing 70% of it's health against Greninja does nothing to prove it's ability as a special wall. In fact, it does the exact opposite.

Also, it's too slow to swords dance. I think it's better off double dancing.

 

[Machi]

Losing 70% of it's health against Greninja does nothing to prove it's ability as a special wall. In fact, it does the exact opposite.

Also, it's too slow to swords dance. I think it's better off double dancing.

That and Greninja likely carries Ice beam, which would have dispatched of him anyways. But yes as you've noted Lando's resists and immunities are towards typings and attacks that tend to be physical so concerning Lando-T with special attacks is just not as effective in using him as a pivot, especially when the most common typing used against him on the special side tends to be his x4 weakness. Then again it is contentious enough to claim Greninja as a "fearsome OU sweeper" when if anything that is not the best way to utilize him.

I think the reason why there just isn't much discussion on him as noted by El Coqui he is more or less the same, he did not gain any new toys. Perhaps he does have added utility in that Intimidate becomes more sought after to check the plethora of Physical threats, but otherwise nothing much to add. Personally I would promote the scarf set more than anything since it makes for a fairly reliable check to some speedy megas, e.g. MPinsir, MLucario, MManetric, etc.

 

[Pentao]

In the past, people would recommend hidden power Ice and Naive for Landorus-T on pivoting sets to break through Dragon types, but after playing around with it for a bit, simply pairing Landorus-T with some strong fairy type tends to reduce the need for hidden power ice on him. Other teammates can also pick up that slack, so you don't have to sacrifice any special bulk.

Furthermore it lets him use Smack Down or Gravity, which opens up Pokemon like Skarmory to a world of hurt, or even things like Knock Off, to cripple incoming opponents.

 

[Raikaria]

'Landorus-Therian has great stats and an awesome ability, with Intimidate giving it a huge boost in bulk every time it switches in'

No it dosen't. Aside from the fact that the ability is useless on any special attacker; or even most walls; Intimidate does not give Landorus a +Defense boost; it lowers the enemy's attack; meaning the change is bound to the enemy and not you.

It makes switching into physical attackers easier. It certainly does not give you a huge boost in bulk on every switch-in.

 

[the rcoon]

just saying, the SR set you listed is more often played as a defensive pivot, with max HP, a lot of def EVs, and some speed creep.

 

[Ilan]

Best paired with M-manectric to make every physical attacker -2(unless set up then he will be +0)

 

[TM13IceBeam]

land-t is the most boring pokemon in existence

honestly it hasn't really changed much from gen 5, the only thing really notable it got was knock off

it's basically still the same shit as before

also the assault vest set is kind of average since you don't really have recovery options so land-t will need quite a lot of support =/

 

[November Blue]

I wasn't around during B2W2, so I have very little experience with stuff like the Therians, Keldeo, Black Kyurem, ect.

I tried Lando-T for the first time a few days ago and wow! It's really good!

What I gleaned from the last few days is that Lando-T is a bulky pivot that U-turns everywhere and supports with Intimidate. Its typing, bulk, and power are all great, but it really needs its Leftovers. Lando's job isn't to tank hits, but to switch into a resisted physical move, force a switch, and U-turn out while taking as little damage as possible. Running an Assault Vest on it is an awful idea.

 

[JustLetMePlay]

Where's the Offensive Pivot set from last gen? Landorus-T hasn't changed enough that it's become obsolete and in fact, the more physically oriented meta means that it's even better than last gen.

Landorus-Therian (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 172 Def / 88 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Knock Off/Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- U-turn

Knock off recieving its buff has given Lando-T a really nice option to use if the SR moveslot can be shifted to another member of the team punishing many of Lando-T's common switch-ins heavily. Rotom-W, Trevenant, Gourgeist, Mandibuzz, Vaporeon, other Lando-T and Ferrothorn all absolutely hate having their items knocked off on the switch and there's nothing quite as satisfying as knocking off Gliscor's Toxic Orb before it can activate. You could run just a teensy bit more speed to outspeed Smeargle if you wanted, but it's not exactly the most important benchmark in the world. EVs give fantastic physical bulk and base 145 attack hits hard even without investment. For perspective, uninvested Lando-T reaches a higher attack than non-Mega 252 Atk Jolly Lucario.

 

[skies]

It's resistances and weaknesses are heavily biased towards physical walling, and at that, it does spectacularly.

Special walling, on the other hand? It has no real important resistances besides electric, but even then, pretty much every electric attacker in existences carries HP ice. I don't think an Assault Vest really uses Lando to the best of it's ability.

Losing 70% of it's health against Greninja does nothing to prove it's ability as a special wall. In fact, it does the exact opposite.

Also, it's too slow to swords dance. I think it's better off double dancing.

252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 234-276 (61.2 - 72.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Life Orb Thundurus-T Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 260-307 (68 - 80.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Mega Manectric Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 188-224 (49.2 - 58.6%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Raikou Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 168-200 (43.9 - 52.3%) -- 16% chance to 2HKO
252+ SpA Choice Specs Magnezone Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 296-352 (77.4 - 92.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Heliolisk Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 160-192 (41.8 - 50.2%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO
252 SpA Galvantula Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 152-180 (39.7 - 47.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Jolteon Hidden Power Ice vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 244-288 (63.8 - 75.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
4 SpA Rotom-F Blizzard vs. 252 HP / 52+ SpD Assault Vest Landorus-T: 340-408 (89 - 106.8%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO

No Electric-Types can OHKO it with Hidden Power [Ice], and even the one who gets STAB on Blizzard, who will never be OU, cannot ensure a OHKO with the likely Special Wall set.

 

[effyouzion]

I would never use an assault vest Lando. Having such a common 4x weakness means you won't be able to handle the majority of special attackers. What Greninja is gonna use hydro pump on you when they can hit ice beam instead? Hydro pump can miss, ice beam can't, and it does more damage.

Anyway, I like to use max physical def Lando. Keeps him healthy for repeated Talonflame hits if necessary, and also lets him survive a stray ice punch from a physical mega Luke then KO in return.

 

[Jaroda]

Assault Vest doesn't mean you have to be a special wall its better for tanks. The fact that Mega Manectric would stay in and hope to OHKO Lando with HP Ice but now can't means it automatically dies from Earthquake. It's not a useless item, and with Knock Off, U-Turn and Intimidate plus his two immunities he's an extremely good pivot. No, you're not supposed to switch into Ice and Water attacks willingly, but he can sure handle a Flamethrower or two now.

 

[effyouzion]

Assault Vest doesn't mean you have to be a special wall its better for tanks. The fact that Mega Manectric would stay in and hope to OHKO Lando with HP Ice but now can't means it automatically dies from Earthquake. It's not a useless item, and with Knock Off, U-Turn and Intimidate plus his two immunities he's an extremely good pivot. No, you're not supposed to switch into Ice and Water attacks willingly, but he can sure handle a Flamethrower or two now.

Of course he's a good pivot, but he's a better pivot with leftovers healing and switching in on physical attackers rather than trying to do it all with assault vest. What special attackers would you be trying to tank a flamethrower from anyway? Genesect has ice beam, Manectric/Zapdos have HP ice, and Tornadus-T is gonna be pivoting away from you anyway. I guess it means you could take something like a Charizard-Y attack and try and KO in return, but I just think that's a really poor use of Lando.

If you want a flying AV user, slap Torn-T with it. He still has U-Turn, regenerator makes up for the lack of leftovers and the lack of any 4x weaknesses means he can survive even the strongest super effective hits.

 

[Jaroda]

I don't disagree that Leftovers are more worthwhile on Lando and what I use myself even, just that AV has merit and a set Lando can pull off better than most. Honestly he's one of the best candidates for the item.

 

[skies]

Not every single defensive Pokemon absolutely needs Leftovers, Assault Vest is to make a good mixed tank to take on some Special moves. It isn't supposed to stay in on Ice/Water, that would be absolutely stupid! Just like Scarf Rotom-W, it doesn't have reliable recovery either, neither does Assault Vest Rotom-W, which were common earlier on, just because it has common weaknesses, doesn't mean you should stay in on them. Like Celebi, who had the most weaknesses, was still a very solid OU for a different reason, but no competent player will stay in on sometihng their pokemon are weak to.

 

[effyouzion]

My point is that if you switch out of attackers with ice type moves, the list of special attackers Lando will actually stay in on is very small. You're basically limited to tanking giga drains, shadow balls, and powerful fire moves like from Char-Y. Most worthwhile special attackers (Genesect, any electric type, any water type) will have an ice type move to hit you with. The one use I see is that it does make you a solid counter to special mega Lucario, but then you're fucked against a physical variant with ice punch. Lando shouldn't be losing to that; he should be beating that one, and you let another specially defensive poke handle special Luc.

But anyway, if you guys wanna keep it up there, cool. It doesn't hurt me if people use that set. I just think it's bad.

 

[56k]

This guy has a really frustrating speed tier because the bulky sets can be unexpectedly outsped by the likes of MegaTar and Heatran and Venusaur and Breloom etc (basically everything from base 70 to 90 that might be speedy or might not be, no way for you to know) but without the bulk investment you can't switch into neutral hits even with the intimidate.

-1 252 Atk Jolly Garchomp (no item) Outrage vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: (45 - 52.81%)

Obviously some bulk investment is in order, and it probably has to come at the cost of Atk EVs because that speed is crucial down in Speed Tier 3 where all the other bulky powerhouses are lurking. Without ATK you cant ohko things like Aegislash, Mawile, and Tyranitar. But look at this

252+ Atk Adamant Landorus-T (no item) Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tyranitar: 360-426 (89.1 - 105.44%)

Jesus Christ that's appealing.

Basically what I'm saying is this guy has all the tools to do a specific job very well, he's a top tier threat for sure. But the speed game is fucking bonkers right now and you should pick a solid but reasonable tier to outspeed (base 71 all MegaTars and Tyrantrums is a very good choice), don't get caught up in speed creeping stick to your guns, and let a different mon on your team handle the base 90s. Don't overextend with this guy, he can't do everything all at once!

 

[ImaLazyProcrastinator]

The most prominent set is usually a physically defensive set with SR, but I found the Choice Scarf one is can be a nasty surprise with fast and powerful Earthquakes, and the ability to U-turn out. I've been using it as a check to Mega Lucario, and it also gives good momentum.

 

[Calm_Mind_Latias]

I wasn't around during B2W2, so I have very little experience with stuff like the Therians, Keldeo, Black Kyurem, ect.

I tried Lando-T for the first time a few days ago and wow! It's really good!

What I gleaned from the last few days is that Lando-T is a bulky pivot that U-turns everywhere and supports with Intimidate. Its typing, bulk, and power are all great, but it really needs its Leftovers. Lando's job isn't to tank hits, but to switch into a resisted physical move, force a switch, and U-turn out while taking as little damage as possible. Running an Assault Vest on it is an awful idea.

I primarily run one because of Excadrill's role in the metagame. Excadrill is a nice rapid spinner, has Mold Breaker for Rotom-W, and Iron Head for Fairies. I think it is the best setter of Stealth Rock in OU, simply because it doesn't have an Earthquake weakness. Still, it struggles against Rotom-W and Genesect leads (and even a Deoxys-S with Ice Beam), but Garchomp does too. Unlike Heatran, this doesn't have a crippling ground weakness,

Lando-T can u-turn out of Rotom-W.

 

[ATH]

So, I'd like to mention that, for the Scarfset, you only need 184 EVs in Speed to outspeed max speed Aerodactyl and M-Ala. I put the rest into HP for now, but it may be more usefull in Special Defense.

 

[effyouzion]

So, I'd like to mention that, for the Scarfset, you only need 184 EVs in Speed to outspeed max speed Aerodactyl and M-Ala. I put the rest into HP for now, but it may be more usefull in Special Defense.

Max speed and jolly gets you the jump on +1 adamant mega Char X, which is pretty common. I recommend max speed on scarf for that reason.

 

[ATH]

Max speed and jolly gets you the jump on +1 adamant mega Char X, which is pretty common. I recommend max speed on scarf for that reason.

Understandable, then. Seems pretty important too in this meta.

 

[Rafael J. Feliciano]

I don't disagree that Leftovers are more worthwhile on Lando and what I use myself even, just that AV has merit and a set Lando can pull off better than most. Honestly he's one of the best candidates for the item.

I agree with Jaroda... you just can't slap AV on Landorous and say.. "I eat Ice Beams."

Special Ice attacks still hurt it alot but what we should glean from some of the data that many people... in this thread Chesnaught in particular... have put forward is... if it takes a 2HKO to knock it out with some examples like both Thundurus forms and Jolteon, then think about some of the other special attacks that it can switch into and take significantly less damage from now that its equipped with an AV...

Some Special attacker pokemon like Modest Heatran, Hydreigon, Gengar and Alakazam might not get the OHKO they are thinking they can net when battling, especially when looking at team preview and trying to determine how the game might play out.

Leftovers is the preferred item, no one disputes that, but the merits of a AV Landorous set are much more viable than some of us might want to give it credit for... just some food for thought...