A quick little préambule before getting into the team, I play pokemon a lot and do know "how to play competitive pokemon", but I never got into the science of team building and how teams actually work. I usually always end up using a team I find online. I want to get better at team building and thought posting an RMT would benefit me a lot in learning, better than just trial and error and reading generic tips found all over the interwebs (which I have done, but like I said this should benefit me more). Without further ado, here's my first take.
Also, yes, I noticed I used wayyy too much color here but it helped me get through the whole writting process without giving up half way by spicing up my time a bit haha.
Introduction :
After a lenghtly hiatus, I got back on showdown and decided to build a team revolving around Tyranitar, albeit his typing is very weak nowadays (Notably : Fairy, Fighting, Steel, Water and Ground), he can eat up a lot of super effective hits with the right investment, with some exceptions like powerful fighting moves such as Secret Sword from Keldeo. For example, Tyranitar can potentially live a hit from hard hitting threats such as Mega-Metagross. Moreover, his 134 base Attack stat poses a huge threat and has great OhKO potential against many threats such as (Mega-)Metagross, Latios, Zapdos etc.
With this in mind, Tyranitar can be considered an A to S tier bulky offensive threat in OU.
(Correct me if I'm wrong here with my reasoning please, I feel like this would help me a lot at better judging power)
Now that we've established Tyranityar's strengths and weaknesses, it's time to find the set that would bring out the most in him in OU nowadays, to me that would be a Choice Banded set with heavy investments in bulk to live hits from threats and OhKO them. The set would also run pursuit for Mons that won't necessarily OhKO Tyranitar, but can't hurt him much and demand to be switched out (Latios, Gengar, any crippled Mons in range of Pursuit that can't hurt Tyranitar). I found speed to be unnecessary, and even to be detrimental against Skarmory, as letting it Roost first and lose its flying type can come in handy with a coverage move such as Superpower.
The Team :
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 164 HP / 236 Atk / 108 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
I've talked about his "live and OhKO" ability, but more importantly (as it's less "clutch" and reliant on survivng a hit), Tyranitar is also a fantastic wallbreaker with his Attack stat especially paired with a Choice Band. It can leave huge dents on, if not KO, defensive threats such as Skarmory, Toxapex, Chansey, Ferrothorn, Heatran and more.
-Stone Edge is perhaps unreliable but is his heaviest STAB move, Stone Edge is important for his wallbreaking capabilities and imperitive to OhKO defensive Zapdos.
-Crunch is his next biggest STAB move and is solid to finish off Mons and OhKO Mega Metagross. (It seems I've put this focus on "countering mega-Metagross" but I must say in no way is Tyranitar an efficient counter to this beast on his own, but coupled with the right stats and the right partners such as an intimidate pokémon can be an option to deal with mega-Metagross)
-Pursuit is the base of any Pursuit trapper. Pursuit trapping is a solid strategy in OU to deal with a lot of threats such as Latios. But more importantly, Mons who can't stay in against Tyranitar, Pursuit ensures a hard hit on them before they switch out. A counter to Pursuit is a Focus Blast from the pesky Psychic-types, but with it having 70% accuracy, even lower than Stone Edge, there is a good chance you're winning the face-off.
-Superpower is in the coverage slot and is my preferred move as it OhKOs the same pokémon you would earthquake on and has higher damage for the wallbreaking ability.
As for the choice of the ability, Sand Stream is a good counter to Rain teams and gives some extra damage. Not only that, Tyranitar benefits from a 50% Special Defense boost (All Rock-types benefit from this) in the sand hence boosting his bulk.
For the team members I have chosen, I started by choosing an appropriate sweeper, as CB Tyranitar should (in my humble opinion) be considered as a support monster. I ended up quickly adding in two sweepers instead of one that compliment each other to an extent.
I chose Choice Scarf Keldeo and Life Orb Excadrill :
Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Scald
- Hyper Beam
Keldeo has a good base Special Attack stat, with a choice scarf, he pretty much outspeed most of the metagame, but doesn't have enough damage to sweep everything at full HP. I'll come back to this later as we pick our other team members that will have to setup entry hazards / be able to chip some damage off to enable a Keldeo sweep in the late game. Also, Keldeo truly appreciates Tyranitar as a team member, being able to deal with Keldeo counters.
The chosen moves are pretty standard:
-Hydro Pump is his most powerful STAB, although can miss, is necessary at times to ensure OhKOs.
-Secret Sword is the fighting STAB I went for, much more reliable than Focus Blast and suffices for OhKOing Dark-types. This move also damages based on Defense similar to Psyshock allowing Keldeo to better get over Specially Defensive walls.
-Scald is our second Water STAB and is solid for finishing off Mons without risking Hydro Pump and for Mons that resist Fighting type moves / Are more Physically Defensive. And clutch burns are always welcome.
-Our coverage slot goes to Hyper Beam as Hidden Powers generally get outclassed by our STAB moves (Scald > HP Ice vs Landorus, Secret Sword > HP Fire vs Tangrowth) and sometimes Hyper Beam is better than Hydro Pump in the late game dealing with Water-Types and having the added Accuracy helps "ensure" a final blow.
(I opted out of Icy Wind as I find it redundant with the Choice Scarf and we have other Mons to deal with Latios)
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Excadrill's ability Sand Rush alongside Tyranitar allows it to consistantly outspeed pretty much everything. Excadrill has even higher Attack than Tyranitar at 135 and it's Steel-typing covers Fairy types against whom we already have two weaknesses to. I go for the Jolly nature to make sure I'm outspeeding the Choice Scarfers out there.
-Earthquake is a powerful Ground-type STAB, a go to move for many pokémon even for coverage.
-Iron Head is our Steel-type STAB, effeciently dealing with pesky Fairy-types.
-I chose Rapid Spin to give Excadrill more utility during the battle, I'd rather have a spinner than a defogger since we will be using entry hazards in our team. Plus, removing hazards is important to help Tyranitar survive.
-Swords Dance is to give us the option to finish games quickly, given the right circumstances, Excadrill can potentially take out 2-3 Pokes in the early games giving us a huge advantage. I also find it is needed to deal with stall teams.
I've been talking about how we need entry hazards, so let's pick one that will cover some of our weaknesses such as Fairy, Bug and Grass.
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Iron Head
- Whirlwind
Enter Skarmory, a very bulky Pokémon that will deal with Tangrowth, Tapus (Bar Koko), setup and stall teams with whirlwind etc. Skarmory is very capable at throwing out hazards and neutralizing threats.
I run a Specially Defensive Skarmory because I already decided on my Defensive mon, Landorus-Therian. Also, Specially Defensive Skarmory helps in tanking more against Fairies, Grass-ies? and also in surviving against Firies and Electricities (Yes, I've gone overboard with this -ies thing but I need to entertain myself after half an hour of typing out). A notable example of how the Specially Defensive route helps me more is versus Tangrowth, Hidden Power fire becomes a 5hKO with Leftovers.
-Spikes is here to help Keldeo and Excadrill with the sweep, help Tyranitar with the kills and there is no Stealth Rocks as Landorus covers that.
-Roost is the best way Skarmory can deal with the Fairy and Grass types threatening my team. Roost also allows Skarmory to deal with stall coupled with the Whirlwind
-Iron Head is chosen over Brave Bird as I don't appreciate the chip damage and prefer the flinch potential against slower Mons.
-Whirlwind in my humble opinion is very powerful, it completely shuts down setup teams, on a predicted switch-in can mess up the opponent's strategy and deals free hazard damage to support Keldeo and Excadrill.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Landorus brings great support to our team with his Defensive capabilities, his bulk is great for dealing with certain Pokes, the Rocky Helmet puts in chip damage and the Intimidate ability gives Tyranitar more capability to revenge kill. Not only that, his Offense is nothing to laugh at, being able to put in big damage with Earthquake and 4x effective Hidden Power Ice and being able to create momentum through U-turn. He is also our Stealth Rocker, we need the extra damage for our sweepers and he is a solid way to ensure we get our rocks up.
It was very hard choosing a final Pokémon to cover all my weaknesses but at the same time bring more coverage to the team. At this point I realize I have a major weakness to Grass, Water and Ice.
A couple of notable choices were :
-Marowak-Alola for Grass, Fighting and more Electric coverage and at the same time bring amazing Offensive power.
-Tangrowth for Grass, Water and Electric coverage and at the same time bring more Defense.
After playing around with the two, I decided to throw in a Dragon-type that would cover these weaknesses barring Ice and bring both Offense and Defense as Dragons are known to be capable of.
My first two picks were Latios and Mega Charizard X seeing as how I lack a mega.
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 72 SpD / 172 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
I have no Fire-types and went for bulky Charizard X. With this sort of investment, he is solid enough to deal with Water-types and Grass is a given seeing his typing. The Fire-Dragon matching also mitigates the weakness to Ice and Fairy. Bulky Charizard X is also a great tool for bluffing in OU, surprising foes with Will-O-Wisp is always pleasant and helps with the late game sweeps.
-Will-O-Wisp cripples Offensive threats and puts in extra chip damage for the team.
-Roost is needed for regeneration to ensure Charizard keeps being annoying.
-Flare Blitz is picked as even with the 0 investment in Offense, with his high 130 Base Attack, Charizard X still manages to be a formidable wallbreaker and has the ability to OhKO many 2x(after hazards)-4x weak to fire threats that are present in the metagame.
-I picked Earthquake over Dragon-Type Stab as I don't feel the need to deal with opposing Dragons as much with my team composition. Earthquake is great coverage against other Fire-types and gives the damage needed to finish off Water-types such as Tapu Fini that would have otherwise resisted the Dragon Claw.
Closing Words :
Thank you for making it this far, I think I went to much into detail for my first post seeing as how I have pretty much 0 knowledge when it comes to team building. I await your replies to see how I did and the changes I can make to the team to make it better as it's been faring pretty well on ladder right now (Went 6-0 yesterday at around 1400).
Again, I am still a begginer and hope to learn much from this first post to get better and better in order to post more insightful teams in the future.
I didn't do much proofreading so I hope what I was trying to say is clear enough allthough I realize it is all over the place.
Team export :
Also, yes, I noticed I used wayyy too much color here but it helped me get through the whole writting process without giving up half way by spicing up my time a bit haha.
Introduction :
After a lenghtly hiatus, I got back on showdown and decided to build a team revolving around Tyranitar, albeit his typing is very weak nowadays (Notably : Fairy, Fighting, Steel, Water and Ground), he can eat up a lot of super effective hits with the right investment, with some exceptions like powerful fighting moves such as Secret Sword from Keldeo. For example, Tyranitar can potentially live a hit from hard hitting threats such as Mega-Metagross. Moreover, his 134 base Attack stat poses a huge threat and has great OhKO potential against many threats such as (Mega-)Metagross, Latios, Zapdos etc.
With this in mind, Tyranitar can be considered an A to S tier bulky offensive threat in OU.
(Correct me if I'm wrong here with my reasoning please, I feel like this would help me a lot at better judging power)
Now that we've established Tyranityar's strengths and weaknesses, it's time to find the set that would bring out the most in him in OU nowadays, to me that would be a Choice Banded set with heavy investments in bulk to live hits from threats and OhKO them. The set would also run pursuit for Mons that won't necessarily OhKO Tyranitar, but can't hurt him much and demand to be switched out (Latios, Gengar, any crippled Mons in range of Pursuit that can't hurt Tyranitar). I found speed to be unnecessary, and even to be detrimental against Skarmory, as letting it Roost first and lose its flying type can come in handy with a coverage move such as Superpower.
The Team :
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 164 HP / 236 Atk / 108 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
I've talked about his "live and OhKO" ability, but more importantly (as it's less "clutch" and reliant on survivng a hit), Tyranitar is also a fantastic wallbreaker with his Attack stat especially paired with a Choice Band. It can leave huge dents on, if not KO, defensive threats such as Skarmory, Toxapex, Chansey, Ferrothorn, Heatran and more.
-Stone Edge is perhaps unreliable but is his heaviest STAB move, Stone Edge is important for his wallbreaking capabilities and imperitive to OhKO defensive Zapdos.
-Crunch is his next biggest STAB move and is solid to finish off Mons and OhKO Mega Metagross. (It seems I've put this focus on "countering mega-Metagross" but I must say in no way is Tyranitar an efficient counter to this beast on his own, but coupled with the right stats and the right partners such as an intimidate pokémon can be an option to deal with mega-Metagross)
-Pursuit is the base of any Pursuit trapper. Pursuit trapping is a solid strategy in OU to deal with a lot of threats such as Latios. But more importantly, Mons who can't stay in against Tyranitar, Pursuit ensures a hard hit on them before they switch out. A counter to Pursuit is a Focus Blast from the pesky Psychic-types, but with it having 70% accuracy, even lower than Stone Edge, there is a good chance you're winning the face-off.
-Superpower is in the coverage slot and is my preferred move as it OhKOs the same pokémon you would earthquake on and has higher damage for the wallbreaking ability.
As for the choice of the ability, Sand Stream is a good counter to Rain teams and gives some extra damage. Not only that, Tyranitar benefits from a 50% Special Defense boost (All Rock-types benefit from this) in the sand hence boosting his bulk.
For the team members I have chosen, I started by choosing an appropriate sweeper, as CB Tyranitar should (in my humble opinion) be considered as a support monster. I ended up quickly adding in two sweepers instead of one that compliment each other to an extent.
I chose Choice Scarf Keldeo and Life Orb Excadrill :
Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Scald
- Hyper Beam
Keldeo has a good base Special Attack stat, with a choice scarf, he pretty much outspeed most of the metagame, but doesn't have enough damage to sweep everything at full HP. I'll come back to this later as we pick our other team members that will have to setup entry hazards / be able to chip some damage off to enable a Keldeo sweep in the late game. Also, Keldeo truly appreciates Tyranitar as a team member, being able to deal with Keldeo counters.
The chosen moves are pretty standard:
-Hydro Pump is his most powerful STAB, although can miss, is necessary at times to ensure OhKOs.
-Secret Sword is the fighting STAB I went for, much more reliable than Focus Blast and suffices for OhKOing Dark-types. This move also damages based on Defense similar to Psyshock allowing Keldeo to better get over Specially Defensive walls.
-Scald is our second Water STAB and is solid for finishing off Mons without risking Hydro Pump and for Mons that resist Fighting type moves / Are more Physically Defensive. And clutch burns are always welcome.
-Our coverage slot goes to Hyper Beam as Hidden Powers generally get outclassed by our STAB moves (Scald > HP Ice vs Landorus, Secret Sword > HP Fire vs Tangrowth) and sometimes Hyper Beam is better than Hydro Pump in the late game dealing with Water-Types and having the added Accuracy helps "ensure" a final blow.
(I opted out of Icy Wind as I find it redundant with the Choice Scarf and we have other Mons to deal with Latios)
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Excadrill's ability Sand Rush alongside Tyranitar allows it to consistantly outspeed pretty much everything. Excadrill has even higher Attack than Tyranitar at 135 and it's Steel-typing covers Fairy types against whom we already have two weaknesses to. I go for the Jolly nature to make sure I'm outspeeding the Choice Scarfers out there.
-Earthquake is a powerful Ground-type STAB, a go to move for many pokémon even for coverage.
-Iron Head is our Steel-type STAB, effeciently dealing with pesky Fairy-types.
-I chose Rapid Spin to give Excadrill more utility during the battle, I'd rather have a spinner than a defogger since we will be using entry hazards in our team. Plus, removing hazards is important to help Tyranitar survive.
-Swords Dance is to give us the option to finish games quickly, given the right circumstances, Excadrill can potentially take out 2-3 Pokes in the early games giving us a huge advantage. I also find it is needed to deal with stall teams.
I've been talking about how we need entry hazards, so let's pick one that will cover some of our weaknesses such as Fairy, Bug and Grass.
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Iron Head
- Whirlwind
Enter Skarmory, a very bulky Pokémon that will deal with Tangrowth, Tapus (Bar Koko), setup and stall teams with whirlwind etc. Skarmory is very capable at throwing out hazards and neutralizing threats.
I run a Specially Defensive Skarmory because I already decided on my Defensive mon, Landorus-Therian. Also, Specially Defensive Skarmory helps in tanking more against Fairies, Grass-ies? and also in surviving against Firies and Electricities (Yes, I've gone overboard with this -ies thing but I need to entertain myself after half an hour of typing out). A notable example of how the Specially Defensive route helps me more is versus Tangrowth, Hidden Power fire becomes a 5hKO with Leftovers.
-Spikes is here to help Keldeo and Excadrill with the sweep, help Tyranitar with the kills and there is no Stealth Rocks as Landorus covers that.
-Roost is the best way Skarmory can deal with the Fairy and Grass types threatening my team. Roost also allows Skarmory to deal with stall coupled with the Whirlwind
-Iron Head is chosen over Brave Bird as I don't appreciate the chip damage and prefer the flinch potential against slower Mons.
-Whirlwind in my humble opinion is very powerful, it completely shuts down setup teams, on a predicted switch-in can mess up the opponent's strategy and deals free hazard damage to support Keldeo and Excadrill.
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Landorus brings great support to our team with his Defensive capabilities, his bulk is great for dealing with certain Pokes, the Rocky Helmet puts in chip damage and the Intimidate ability gives Tyranitar more capability to revenge kill. Not only that, his Offense is nothing to laugh at, being able to put in big damage with Earthquake and 4x effective Hidden Power Ice and being able to create momentum through U-turn. He is also our Stealth Rocker, we need the extra damage for our sweepers and he is a solid way to ensure we get our rocks up.
It was very hard choosing a final Pokémon to cover all my weaknesses but at the same time bring more coverage to the team. At this point I realize I have a major weakness to Grass, Water and Ice.
A couple of notable choices were :
-Marowak-Alola for Grass, Fighting and more Electric coverage and at the same time bring amazing Offensive power.
-Tangrowth for Grass, Water and Electric coverage and at the same time bring more Defense.
After playing around with the two, I decided to throw in a Dragon-type that would cover these weaknesses barring Ice and bring both Offense and Defense as Dragons are known to be capable of.
My first two picks were Latios and Mega Charizard X seeing as how I lack a mega.
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 72 SpD / 172 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
I have no Fire-types and went for bulky Charizard X. With this sort of investment, he is solid enough to deal with Water-types and Grass is a given seeing his typing. The Fire-Dragon matching also mitigates the weakness to Ice and Fairy. Bulky Charizard X is also a great tool for bluffing in OU, surprising foes with Will-O-Wisp is always pleasant and helps with the late game sweeps.
-Will-O-Wisp cripples Offensive threats and puts in extra chip damage for the team.
-Roost is needed for regeneration to ensure Charizard keeps being annoying.
-Flare Blitz is picked as even with the 0 investment in Offense, with his high 130 Base Attack, Charizard X still manages to be a formidable wallbreaker and has the ability to OhKO many 2x(after hazards)-4x weak to fire threats that are present in the metagame.
-I picked Earthquake over Dragon-Type Stab as I don't feel the need to deal with opposing Dragons as much with my team composition. Earthquake is great coverage against other Fire-types and gives the damage needed to finish off Water-types such as Tapu Fini that would have otherwise resisted the Dragon Claw.
Closing Words :
Thank you for making it this far, I think I went to much into detail for my first post seeing as how I have pretty much 0 knowledge when it comes to team building. I await your replies to see how I did and the changes I can make to the team to make it better as it's been faring pretty well on ladder right now (Went 6-0 yesterday at around 1400).
Again, I am still a begginer and hope to learn much from this first post to get better and better in order to post more insightful teams in the future.
I didn't do much proofreading so I hope what I was trying to say is clear enough allthough I realize it is all over the place.
Team export :
Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 164 HP / 236 Atk / 108 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Iron Head
- Whirlwind
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 72 SpD / 172 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 164 HP / 236 Atk / 108 Def
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Superpower
Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 216 Def / 24 SpD / 16 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn
Keldeo @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hyper Beam
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Scald
Skarmory @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Spikes
- Roost
- Iron Head
- Whirlwind
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 248 HP / 16 Def / 72 SpD / 172 Spe
Impish Nature
- Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Flare Blitz
- Earthquake
Excadrill @ Life Orb
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- Iron Head
- Rapid Spin
- Swords Dance
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