[QC READY 2/3] Tyranitar

hyperbeem

is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
tyranitar.png

Pokedex Number - #248
​

[Pros]
<ul>
<li>High Attack and overall bulk</li>
<li>Powerful STAB Crunch and Pursuit are neutral to Steel</li>
<li>Unpredictable mixed attacking movepool, Stealth Rock</li>
<li>Assault Vest and nerfs to Leaf Storm, Aura Sphere, and Surf allow Tyranitar to take special hits even better than before</li>
<li>Incredibly tanky Mega-Evolution</li>
</ul>

[Cons]

<ul>
<li>Sand Stream only activates sandstorm for 5 turns</li>
<li>Weakness to common Fighting-type attacks as well as the new Fairy-type</li>
<li>Low Speed</li>
<li></li>
</ul>


<p>Tyranitar@Assault Vest/Smooth Rock<br />
Ability: Sand Stream<br />
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef<br />
Careful Nature<br />
- Pursuit <br />
- Earthquake / Stealth Rock<br />
- Crunch<br />
- Rock Slide / Ice Beam / Fire Blast</p>

<p>
  • Assault Vest and sandstorm's boost to Special Defensive allow Tyranitar to tank nearly any special attack
  • Cannot use support moves, but Tyranitar is best off attacking anyways
  • Pursuit traps various Psychic-type Pokemon as well as Gengar
  • Rock Slide provides a secondary STAB, but Ice Beam and Fire Blast are useful to deter most hazard setters from setting up
  • Tyranitar sorely misses a strong Fighting-type option, but Earthquake hits for decent neutral coverage and has good synergy with Stone Edge
</p>

<p>
  • Max HP and Special Defense along with a Careful nature allow Tyranitar to compete with Blissey and Chansey in terms of special bulk
  • Smooth Rock is an option that sacrifices a lot of special bulk to use Stealth Rock and maintain sand for 8 turns
  • Tyranitar is best used as a bulky trapper; it cannot repeatedly wall attacks due to a lack of recovery
  • Best paired with Pokemon that can take advantage of the removal of Psychic- and Ghost-types, such as Terrakion
  • Can be used with sand-dependent sweepers like Excadrill but be wary of 5 turn sand
</p>

<p>Tyranitar@Choice Scarf<br />
Ability: Sand Stream<br />
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe<br />
Jolly/Hasty Nature<br />
- Pursuit<br />
- Crunch<br />
- Earthquake<br />
- Stone Edge / Ice Beam</p>

<p>
  • With a Choice Scarf equipped, Tyranitar can outspeed and trap Pokemon that normally could retaliate with powerful attacks
  • Crunch KOs Pokemon attempting to predict a weak Pursuit
  • Earthquake and Stone Edge can revenge a wide variety if Pokemon with nearly unparalleled neutral coverage
  • Tyranitar cannot switch in to attacks as easily as with Assault Vest; however, once it is in, the opponent is in checkmate
</p>

<p>
  • Maximum Speed is necessary to ensure Tyranitar can outspeed Starmie and other base 115 Pokemon
  • Can take one or two attacks with natural bulk, allowing Tyranitar to switch in many foes it can then trap
  • Use a Hasty nature with Ice Beam to take out Landorus, Gliscor, and other physically bulky Ground-type Pokemon
  • Entry hazards help Tyranitar score OHKOs and 2HKOs on bulkier Psychics and compensate for the lack of an Attack boost
</p>

<p>Tyranitar@Choice Band<br />
Ability: Sand Stream<br />
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SDef<br />
Adamant Nature<br />
- Pursuit<br />
- Crunch<br />
- Stone Edge<br />
- Earthquake / Ice Fang</p>

<p>
  • Choice Band Tyranitar retains some special bulk while hitting like a truck
  • Crunch and Stone Edge pack a big punch; in addition, Steel-type Pokemon can no longer tank Crunch very easily
  • Earthquake KOs Lucario and Excadrill, who might attempt to switch in and set up
  • Tyranitar can trap bulkier Pokemon with its boosted Pursuit
</p>

<p>
  • Maximum Attack and an Adamant nature allow Tyranitar to unleah the most damage possible
  • With 252 HP EVs, Tyranitar is no defensive slouch and can tank most special attacks
  • Ice Fang is an option that eliminates Gliscor and 2HKOs specially defensive Hippowdon
  • Pokemon that can set up on Crunch need to be dealt with in order to use Tyranitar to its best effectiveness
</p>
248-m.png


<p>Tyranitar@Tyranitarite<br />
Ability: Sand Stream<br />
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe<br />
Jolly Nature<br />
- Dragon Dance / Rock Polish<br />
- Stone Edge<br />
- Crunch<br />
- Earthquake / Fire Blast / Ice Beam </p>

<p>
  • Mega-Tyranitar best utilizes its gargantuan attack with Speed boosting moves; Rock Polish outpaces the unboosted Metagame, while Dragon Dance gets the jump on positive-natured base 130 Pokemon
  • Stone Edge and Crunch are powerful STAB moves, especially since Crunch is no longer resisted by Steel-types
  • Earthquake rounds out the fabled EdgeQuake combination, which is nearly unresisted
  • Despite the lack of defensive investment, Tyranitar can easily set up on weaker Special Attack and tank a Bullet Punch or Aqua Jet with natural bulk
</p>

<p>
  • Tyranitarite does not provide Tyranitar as much power as Life Orb; however, the increased survivability and Speed are worth the transformation
  • Ice Beam prevents Gliscor from walling the set, while Fire Blast quickly eliminates Ferrothorn and Forretress
  • Bulker EV spreads can be used to increase Mega-Tyranitar's opportunities to set up; for example, 232 EVs still outspeeds Choice Scarf Terrakion after a Rock Polish boost
  • Entry hazards are extremely helpful to wear down the foe for a clean sweep
  • Tyranitar has different counters based which move it uses in the last slot, so partners that lure or break these counters are recommended
</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Hippowdon is probably the most reliable Tyranitar counter because it can easily stall out physical attacks with Slack Off and lacks a 4x weakness to Ice-type moves. Tyranitar lacking Ice Beam are generally shut down by Gliscor, while those lacking Fire Blast have trouble breaking through Skarmory, Ferrothorn, and other bulky Steel-type Pokemon. Fighting-types resist both of Tyranitar's STABs and can retaliate with powerful super-effective moves. Terrakion in particular has a chance to gain an Attack boost from Crunch but must watch out for stray Earthquakes. Another example, Chesnaught, can use Leech Seed and Spiky Shield to drain Tyranitar's health.</p>

<p>Any faster Pokemon packing a Fighting-type move or other super-effective physical move can easily dispatch defensive Tyranitar sets. Speed boosting Tyranitar is revenged by Mach Punch, and with a bit of prior damage, Bullet Punch and Aqua Jet. Garchomp and Lucario can set up by forcing out Tyranitar with their powerful Close Combat and Earthquake, respectively. Jirachi takes little damage from most of Tyranitar's moves, while hitting back with a STAB Iron Head. Dugtrio is worthy of mention because it can guarantee Tyrantar's removal through Arena Trap.</p>
 
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I would slash Fire Punch / Blast in their somewhere, as EQ has limited utility for the time being and I think killing Ferrothorn would be much more useful as well. Give it a slash.
 
Due to the nature of Tyranitar being unable to obtain Fire Punch until December, you're stuck with Fire Fang as your physical option.

Same with Superpower and Low Kick. Currently illegal.
 
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I think there should be some sort of Stealth Rock set, especially since right now the number of them in the metagame is really small due to the lack of poketransfer. Ttar got Stealth Rock as an egg move last gen and it can get it off a Tyrantrum, and I don't think they've ever removed an egg move from previous gens so its pretty safe to say its still an egg move.

Its the only thing that can set rocks that was OU last gen other than Ferrothorn and Forry so the fact it gets Stealth Rock is extremely important until December.
 
<p>Tyranitar@Assault Vest<br />
Ability: Sand Stream<br />
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef<br />
Careful Nature<br />
- Pursuit <br />
- Earthquake<br />
- Crunch<br />
- Stone Edge / Ice Beam / Fire Blast</p>


Remember that Lati@s and Celebi are still unavailable, so Pursuit/Crunch mindgames are less useful as a whole. Heatran is unavailable too, which is the main target for EQ. What are available however are Ferrothorn, Gliscor, Salamence, etc. I think this set would be done best done with Stone Edge, Pursuit, Crunch, Ice Beam/Fire Blast. Pursuit/Crunch mindgames, while less good, are still super helpful vs Mega Gengar.

252 SpA Mega Gengar Focus Blast vs. +1 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in sand: 204-244 (50.49 - 60.39%)
0 Atk Tyranitar Pursuit vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Mega Gengar: 134-158 (51.34 - 60.53%)

Also, with this set, I'd probably use Sassy nature, dropping Speed and keeping both Atk and SpA at their best.
 
That'd be a good idea, Ttar is one of the few viable mons that can actually set up Stealth Rock currently, and one of three offensive mons (the others being Mamoswine and Tyrantrum). Plus with sandstorm, Ttar still has massive bulk, but it can't tank dat Mega Gengar as well.
 
Hawlucha, (Mega) Lucario, Chesnaught, Zygarde

These counters/checks can always be checks, but how counter-y they are depends on what moves Tyranitar is running. Great coverage.
 
srk1214 said:
Hawlucha, (Mega) Lucario, Chesnaught, Zygarde

These counters/checks can always be checks, but how counter-y they are depends on what moves Tyranitar is running. Great coverage.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much! Hawlucha really falls in that general Fighting-type category and Zygarde seems redundant with Garchomp, but I added the other two.
 
Swamp-Rocket said:
Skarmory is in the Flying group. Everything that learns it by level up is in Mineral, Bug, Monster, or Dragon. (Same goes with stuff like Mamoswine)
Click to expand...
As the writer of Mamoswine's preview, I just wanted to remind you that Mamoswine gets SR through Smeargle in the field group, even though this doesn't belong in this thread... Anything in Field that could get it via Egg can still do so via Smeargle.
 
Rock Slide is viable over stone edge as iirc it's an AoE move, so gives tyranitar an extra niche in double battles, has more PP than stone edge, doesn't miss as much making it more reliable and isn't so easily PP stalled.
 
Unless Stone Edge is really needed for some crucial OHKOes on the first set i would replace it with Rock Slide, which deals more reliably with special sweepers such as Volcarona.

No Choice Band or support Mega Tyranitar sets?
 
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Hm, I faced a RestTalk Curse Payback MegaTTar on the ladder and it was very aggravating. Quite a few of the best Fighting types in the game aren't available yet (read: musketeers) and so it has fewer things to worry about than normal.

Don't know if this would work well with regular TTar with Lefties too or not.
 
That would be mostly future OO material, and it would probably work better with MegaTar overall just because of the additional SDef added to its base stats. Fighting types are still prevalent, and I don't think that set would deserve a main set yet.
 
yea i agree curse is a bit too niche.

mention smooth rock on the support set if you intend on supporting offensive excadrill with it. once youve done that, approved
 
We need Mega Tyranitar's stats before we are able to make a decision about the viability of the Curse set. However, i am inclined to say that it deserves a set right now as Fighting-types outside of Lucario are really rare, and not so many Pokemon use Fighting moves for coverage, at least those that can do notable damage back to a +1 Mega Tyranitar with 252 HP / 252 SpD+. After you trap or eliminate a few Pokemon such as Azumarill and Mega Lucario, Curse Mega Tyranitar can be incredibly difficult to take down. Even phazers lose if Mega Ttar is the last Pokemon standing and it's not like Mega Tyranitar doesn't have a lot of set up opportunities. The sand stream nerf may leave it a bit more vulnerable to special attackers than it would want though...

Also, the QC team agreed that there should be a CB set. Those are the moves it should have:

move 1: Crunch
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Pursuit
move 4: Earthquake / Ice Fang

Earthquake is to OHKO Excadrill and Lucario while Ice Fang OHKOes Gliscor and 2HKOes SpD Hippowdon after SR.
 
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Before you write this up i would like to see some discussion about support Mega Tyranitar. Unlike Assault Vest Tyranitar it can use Stealth Rock, a major boon in the pre-PokeBank metagame and it has better all around stats than Leftovers Tyranitar. I think it's worth a set.

Also, add a few partners for each set.
 
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