[overview]
**Draft Order**: Late round 1 onwards
**Price Range**: 16-17 points
**Overview**: Landorus is a powerful wallbreaker that uses its mixed attacking stats and coverage options to punch holes in teams. Using Sheer Force + Life Orb to boost its attacking power, it can put out extremely high damage, and with multiple ways of setting up, it also has potential be a sweeper or cleaner. It is naturally bulky enough to handle taking a couple of weaker neutral attacks, and its defensive typing gives it opportunities to switch in against resisted or immune attacks. However, most neutral attacks deal lots of damage, and its key weaknesses to Water- and Ice-type moves leaves it vulnerable. It is fast enough to outspeed most walls that it wants to break through, but it is still outsped by key offensive threats, meaning it often cannot sweep through teams with using a Speed-boosting move.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wallbreaker**: Using Sheer Force + Life Orb with its coverage options to deal massive damage, Landorus is a fantastic wallbreaker against most teams. It can use non-damaging options such as Substitute and Taunt to catch foes off guard and put itself in favorable positions to severely weaken opposing teams.
**Setup Sweeper**: Using Rock Polish or the varied ways it has to boost its offensive stats, Landorus can also serve as a late-game sweeper that picks off damaged foes very easily. In rare situations, it can serve as a Double Dance sweeper, which can make it into a legitimate wincon.
**Revenge Killer**: Although it takes a big hit to its damage output, Landorus can use Choice Scarf with its Speed tier to serve as a revenge killer.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Earth Power, Earthquake
**Setup Moves**: Rock Polish, Calm Mind, Swords Dance, Bulk Up
**Utility Moves**: Stealth Rock, Taunt, U-turn, Knock Off, Substitute, Brick Break, Defog
**Coverage**: Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Hidden Power, Psychic, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Sludge Wave, Superpower
Niche Moves
========
**Smack Down / Gravity**: Gravity is most useful against Pokemon like Rotom-W and Skarmory that are weak to Ground-type moves while under the effect of these moves. Also notably, Landorus likes using Focus Blast, and under Gravity, it does not miss.
**Explosion**: Since Landorus is often a mixed attacker anyways, Explosion is an option to deal massive damage and safely pivot to another teammate once it is not needed anymore.
**Fly**: Fly is mostly used with Flyinium Z to give Landorus a one-time use powerful Flying-type STAB option.
Common Items
========
**Life Orb**: Generally the best item Landorus can hold by far, the interaction with Sheer Force + Life Orb allows it to double-dip in damage boosts while not taking the Life Orb recoil damage.
**Choice Scarf**: Taking advantage of its natural strength, Choice Scarf can be used to both revenge kill and catch faster threats that could KO Landorus. Additionally, it can act as a fast, offensive pivot with U-turn.
Niche Items
========
**Resistance Berries**: While Landorus much prefers increased damage output, being able to survive a super effective move could save it in a pinch. Resistance Berries these are helpful in particular to avoid being OHKOed by Hidden Power Ice, a common way opponents try to deal with it.
**Z-Crystals**: While Landorus should not be a first choice for a Z-Move user, it does still have options that give it a one-time powerful attack. Most notably is Flyinium Z, which makes Fly one-time reliable Flying-type STAB move, which it otherwise does not have outside of Hidden Power Flying.
**Leftovers**: On setup sets, especially those with Substitute, Leftovers can be a way that Landorus keeps itself healthy while setting up.
**Assault Vest**: Taking advantage of Landorus's already-usable bulk and raw power, Assault Vest can be used to help it better deal with the often-brought Hidden Power Ice as well as bulky Water-types that want to hit it with special Water-type moves like Scald.
**Pinch Berries**: Excluding powerful Ice-type attacks, Landorus is extremely hard to bring down in one move, meaning that pinch Berries can bring it back up from the brink, effectively giving it an extra life.
Draft Strategy
========
Landorus's flexibility as a wallbreaker allows it to fit on a myriad of team compositions, but it works best on teams that appreciate and can enable its ability to deal with defensive Pokemon.
**Defensive Pivots**: Pokemon that can switch into Water- and Ice-type attacks such as Tapu Fini, Manaphy, and Rotom-W are all especially useful teammates for Landorus, but any Pokemon that it can pivot to are important so that it can leave the field safely.
**Setup Sweepers**: Pokemon such as Zeraora, Mega Gallade, and Mega Scizor can take advantage of Landorus's ability to break down defensive Pokemon, allowing them to finish off the game so that it is not reliant on a Rock Polish set to sweep every game.
**Offensive Pivots**: Thanks to U-turn, Landorus is able to form a pivot core with the likes of Tapu Koko, Greninja, and Infernape in order to constantly put offensive pressure on opponents.
**Ground-weak Teammates**: Thanks to Landorus's Flying typing, having Pokemon weak to Ground like Heatran, Mega Mawile, and Zeraora that bait in Ground-type moves can allow it to safely switch in while providing a pivot for the aforementioned Pokemon.
**Entry Hazard Support**: While Landorus does get access to Stealth Rock, having other entry hazard setters such as Uxie, Necrozma, and Mew to help chip down Flying-type Pokemon that it can not hit with its Ground-type moves is a big help. They also let it focus on wallbreaking rather than forcing it to set entry hazards.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ice-types and Ice-type Moves**: Pokemon that Landorus otherwise beats, such as Tapu Koko, Zeraora, and Zapdos, can carry Hidden Power Ice to deal with it. Additionally, Ice Shard and Ice-type coverage from Pokemon like Weavile, Mamoswine, and Mega Glalie can easily threaten it out or KO it.
**Faster Pokemon**: Pokemon that are faster than Landorus such as Mega Gallade, Greninja, and Mega Lopunny can all outspeed and KO it with their Ice-type coverage moves.
**Bulky Flying-type Pokemon**: Flying-type Pokemon that do not mind Landorus's Rock-type coverage options such as Celesteela and Landorus-T can all switch into it safely, but they still have to be concerned about Gravity and Hidden Power Ice, respectively.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Late round 1 onwards
**Price Range**: 16-17 points
**Overview**: Landorus is a powerful wallbreaker that uses its mixed attacking stats and coverage options to punch holes in teams. Using Sheer Force + Life Orb to boost its attacking power, it can put out extremely high damage, and with multiple ways of setting up, it also has potential be a sweeper or cleaner. It is naturally bulky enough to handle taking a couple of weaker neutral attacks, and its defensive typing gives it opportunities to switch in against resisted or immune attacks. However, most neutral attacks deal lots of damage, and its key weaknesses to Water- and Ice-type moves leaves it vulnerable. It is fast enough to outspeed most walls that it wants to break through, but it is still outsped by key offensive threats, meaning it often cannot sweep through teams with using a Speed-boosting move.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wallbreaker**: Using Sheer Force + Life Orb with its coverage options to deal massive damage, Landorus is a fantastic wallbreaker against most teams. It can use non-damaging options such as Substitute and Taunt to catch foes off guard and put itself in favorable positions to severely weaken opposing teams.
**Setup Sweeper**: Using Rock Polish or the varied ways it has to boost its offensive stats, Landorus can also serve as a late-game sweeper that picks off damaged foes very easily. In rare situations, it can serve as a Double Dance sweeper, which can make it into a legitimate wincon.
**Revenge Killer**: Although it takes a big hit to its damage output, Landorus can use Choice Scarf with its Speed tier to serve as a revenge killer.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Earth Power, Earthquake
**Setup Moves**: Rock Polish, Calm Mind, Swords Dance, Bulk Up
**Utility Moves**: Stealth Rock, Taunt, U-turn, Knock Off, Substitute, Brick Break, Defog
**Coverage**: Focus Blast, Grass Knot, Hidden Power, Psychic, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Sludge Wave, Superpower
Niche Moves
========
**Smack Down / Gravity**: Gravity is most useful against Pokemon like Rotom-W and Skarmory that are weak to Ground-type moves while under the effect of these moves. Also notably, Landorus likes using Focus Blast, and under Gravity, it does not miss.
**Explosion**: Since Landorus is often a mixed attacker anyways, Explosion is an option to deal massive damage and safely pivot to another teammate once it is not needed anymore.
**Fly**: Fly is mostly used with Flyinium Z to give Landorus a one-time use powerful Flying-type STAB option.
Common Items
========
**Life Orb**: Generally the best item Landorus can hold by far, the interaction with Sheer Force + Life Orb allows it to double-dip in damage boosts while not taking the Life Orb recoil damage.
**Choice Scarf**: Taking advantage of its natural strength, Choice Scarf can be used to both revenge kill and catch faster threats that could KO Landorus. Additionally, it can act as a fast, offensive pivot with U-turn.
Niche Items
========
**Resistance Berries**: While Landorus much prefers increased damage output, being able to survive a super effective move could save it in a pinch. Resistance Berries these are helpful in particular to avoid being OHKOed by Hidden Power Ice, a common way opponents try to deal with it.
**Z-Crystals**: While Landorus should not be a first choice for a Z-Move user, it does still have options that give it a one-time powerful attack. Most notably is Flyinium Z, which makes Fly one-time reliable Flying-type STAB move, which it otherwise does not have outside of Hidden Power Flying.
**Leftovers**: On setup sets, especially those with Substitute, Leftovers can be a way that Landorus keeps itself healthy while setting up.
**Assault Vest**: Taking advantage of Landorus's already-usable bulk and raw power, Assault Vest can be used to help it better deal with the often-brought Hidden Power Ice as well as bulky Water-types that want to hit it with special Water-type moves like Scald.
**Pinch Berries**: Excluding powerful Ice-type attacks, Landorus is extremely hard to bring down in one move, meaning that pinch Berries can bring it back up from the brink, effectively giving it an extra life.
Draft Strategy
========
Landorus's flexibility as a wallbreaker allows it to fit on a myriad of team compositions, but it works best on teams that appreciate and can enable its ability to deal with defensive Pokemon.
**Defensive Pivots**: Pokemon that can switch into Water- and Ice-type attacks such as Tapu Fini, Manaphy, and Rotom-W are all especially useful teammates for Landorus, but any Pokemon that it can pivot to are important so that it can leave the field safely.
**Setup Sweepers**: Pokemon such as Zeraora, Mega Gallade, and Mega Scizor can take advantage of Landorus's ability to break down defensive Pokemon, allowing them to finish off the game so that it is not reliant on a Rock Polish set to sweep every game.
**Offensive Pivots**: Thanks to U-turn, Landorus is able to form a pivot core with the likes of Tapu Koko, Greninja, and Infernape in order to constantly put offensive pressure on opponents.
**Ground-weak Teammates**: Thanks to Landorus's Flying typing, having Pokemon weak to Ground like Heatran, Mega Mawile, and Zeraora that bait in Ground-type moves can allow it to safely switch in while providing a pivot for the aforementioned Pokemon.
**Entry Hazard Support**: While Landorus does get access to Stealth Rock, having other entry hazard setters such as Uxie, Necrozma, and Mew to help chip down Flying-type Pokemon that it can not hit with its Ground-type moves is a big help. They also let it focus on wallbreaking rather than forcing it to set entry hazards.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ice-types and Ice-type Moves**: Pokemon that Landorus otherwise beats, such as Tapu Koko, Zeraora, and Zapdos, can carry Hidden Power Ice to deal with it. Additionally, Ice Shard and Ice-type coverage from Pokemon like Weavile, Mamoswine, and Mega Glalie can easily threaten it out or KO it.
**Faster Pokemon**: Pokemon that are faster than Landorus such as Mega Gallade, Greninja, and Mega Lopunny can all outspeed and KO it with their Ice-type coverage moves.
**Bulky Flying-type Pokemon**: Flying-type Pokemon that do not mind Landorus's Rock-type coverage options such as Celesteela and Landorus-T can all switch into it safely, but they still have to be concerned about Gravity and Hidden Power Ice, respectively.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/drizzle.313217/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
