
[OVERVIEW]
Thanks to its amazing typing, Intimidate, and great moves like Stealth Rock and U-turn, Landorus-T is able to provide an incredible amount of role compression, making it one of the best defensive Pokemon in the tier. It is able to function on bulky offense teams as a bulky pivot and short-term check to a myriad of dangerous physical attackers, including Koraidon, Zacian-C, Arceus-Ground, and Kingambit. Being able to compress so many roles into one slot allows its team more freedom to handle the rest of the metagame. Landorus-T is also one of the few good Choice Scarf users, being able to revenge kill several fast offensive Pokemon like Zacian-C and Eternatus even when Sticky Web is up. However, Landorus-T lacks any form of recovery, leaving it prone to get overwhelmed throughout the course of a game. Its power, while serviceable against uninvested Ground-weak targets, is quite disappointing by Ubers standards, which in conjunction with Landorus-T's subpar special bulk and below-average Speed leaves it prone to being taken advantage of by sweepers like Kyogre, Arceus-Fairy, Lunala, and Arceus-Ghost. Despite that, Landorus-T is a Pokemon whose good traits and role compression lends itself well to many offensive teams.
[SET]
Defensive Pivot (Landorus-Therian) (M) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Fairy / Water
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Rock Tomb / Taunt
[SET COMMENTS]
This is the most common Landorus-T set as it compresses several valuable roles into one slot. Landorus-T is one of the best defensive users of Stealth Rock user on bulky offense, as it's easy to fit and frees up teammates like Arceus-Fairy to run more threatening sets. Earthquake hits Zacian-C, Necrozma-Dusk-Mane, non-Air Balloon Kingambit, and Tera Fire foes like Koraidon and Calyrex-I super effectively, though it needs some chip damage to actually KO them. U-turn in conjunction with Landorus-T's below-average Speed allows it to easily switch out of disadvantageous matchups and give teammates like Koraidon and Kyogre free switches. Rock Tomb slows down faster Pokemon and speed-boosting sweepers without needing paralysis support, like Tera Flying Zacian-C, Koraidon, and Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground, as well as dealing respectable damage to Ho-Oh. More rarely, Taunt is useful to halt or prevent setup from Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground, Kingambit, and Stored Power Necrozma-DM. It can also be used to prevent moves like opposing Landorus-T's Stealth Rock, Giratina-O's Defog, and Ting-Lu's Spikes or Whirlwind. Maximum physical bulk and an Impish Nature allows Landorus-T to best take on Koraidon, Zacian-C, and Arceus-Ground, while 8 Speed outspeeds paralyzed Deoxys-A. Rocky Helmet is used to gain the chip damage necessary to OHKO Zacian-C from full with Earthquake. Rocky Helmet also punishes U-turns from Choice Scarf Koraidon and Landorus-T. Tera Fairy is preferred to block Koraidon's Scale Shot, which is likely to 2HKO Landorus-T at +1 and guaranteed after Stealth Rock. Tera Fairy is also useful to block Eternatus' Dynamax Cannon and resist Kingambit's Dark STAB. However, it should be noted that if Landorus-T is the most relied upon Zacian-C check, Tera Fairy should not be used until Zacian-C is removed. Tera Water gives Landorus-T resistances to Steel and Ice, allowing it to be safer against Zacian-C and flip its otherwise disadvantageous matchup against Calyrex-I.
Landorus-T is best used on teams that can stack checks to Koraidon as a short-term check to Zacian-C, a common Koraidon partner. In addition to Choice Scarf Koraidon, Kyogre and Arceus-Fairy are great for this purpose, as they make for an incredibly safe core against most Koraidon variants and love having Landorus-T's Intimidate to shore up their matchup into Koraidon variants that can beat them, such as Iron Head or Choice Band. Pairing Landorus-T with Kyogre and Arceus-Fairy not only allows Landorus-T to focus more on checking Zacian-C, it also provides them free switches with U-turn and allows Arceus-Fairy to more freely run Calm Mind sets. Landorus-T is also a good partner for Eternatus, as it alongside Koraidon can help check Kyogre. In addition to being the best offensive Kyogre check in the tier, Eternatus is a good check for other special threats like Arceus-Fairy and Arceus-Ghost that might take advantage of Landorus-T. Eternatus can also absorb Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire decently thanks to its good bulk, Fire resistance, and Pressure.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Tera Steel can be used to resist Extreme Killer Arceus' Exteme Speed, Arceus-Fairy's Judgment, and Zacian-C's STABs, but is not worth giving up Tera Water for as it forfeits Landorus-T's ability to handle Koraidon and Arceus-Ground, which is especially debilitating as Arceus-Ground is commonly paired with Koraidon and Zacian-C.
Checks and Counters
====
**Special Attackers**: Landorus-T's subpar special bulk, below-average Speed, and disappointing power leaves it prone to being taken advantage of by the tier's special attackers, most notably Kyogre, Arceus-Fairy, Lunala, and Eternatus.
**Residual Damage**: Landorus-T's lack of recovery makes it prone to being overwhelmed through repeated hits, entry hazards, and status. Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire and Eternatus' Toxic in conjuction with Stealth Rock can accelerate damage on Landorus-T incredibly quickly, and the former is especially ruinous as it compromises Landorus-T's ability to hit back. The combination of Koraidon, Zacian-C, and Arceus-Ground can potentially overwhelm Landorus-T over time, paving the way for one of them to clean up. However, this can be mitigated by pairing with Pokemon that can handle one or more of them in isolation.
**Ground-immune Pokemon:** Giratina-O, opposing Landorus-T, Tera Flying Zacian-C, Ho-Oh, Air Balloon Kingambit, and the rare Gliscor all exploit Landorus-T's reliance on Earthquake to actually do damage, allowing them to force out Landorus-T. However, all of these Pokemon must be wary of either Taunt or Landorus-T's coverage.
**Ice-type moves:** Calyrex-I, Kyurem-B, and the rare Chien-Pao naturally threaten Landorus-T with their STAB, though they dislike seeing Tera Water. Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground can also use Ice Beam to immediately dispatch Landorus-T, paving the way for Zacian-C and Koraidon to sweep.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/oreospeedruns.597293/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/taka.595062/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lana.374620/
Grammar checked by:
[GP checker's profile link]
Last edited: