Thundurus [QC: 2/3]

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MMII

MMII

Overview
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- Prankster allows it to pester offensive teams with fast thunder wave
- Also allows Thundurus to anti-lead suicide spikes setters like Deoxys-S with Taunt (watch out for Magic Coat)
- Fairly high spatk and access to Taunt allows it to pester more defensive pokemon as well
- Naturally high speed and STAB Volt Switch helps in maintaining momentum while Grass Knot nails the ground types immune to Volt Switch
- Very frail
- Weak to Stealth Rock and reliant on LO so passive damage racks up quickly

Prankster
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name: Prankster
move 1: Volt Switch / Thunderbolt
move 2: Taunt
move 3: Thunder Wave
move 4: Grass Knot / Hidden Power [Ice]
ability: Prankster
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Timid

Moves
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- STAB Volt Switch hits hard and keeps momentum. Thunderbolt can be used if you want to hit harder and not be forced to switch out.
- Taunt stops the enemy from setting up their own hazards, statusing you, or Defogging
- Thunder Wave cripples offensive threats like Xerneas or Mewtwo and cuts off their sweeps and leave them vulnerable to slower attacks
- Grass Knot nails ground types like Groudon and Ground Arceus but HP Ice OHKOs Landorus-T and Gliscor and does actual damage to Zekrom
- Focus Blast can be used to hit Excadrill and Dialga

Set Details
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- Max spatk and speed is needed to hit as hard and fast as possible as Thundurus is very fragile
- Timid nature is a must to outspeed slower defensive Arceus formes as well as Palkia

Usage Tips
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- Bring it in on predicted EQs and scare out the ground type with Grass Knot
- Can often lead thanks to Prankster Twave and Taunt being very threatening early game and cutting off any potential early advantage
- Volt Switch can easily get Thundurus out of a unfavorable matchup
- Overall, thundy can't switch in on much but you can take advantage of it's prankster options to stop your opponent's momentum and start your own

Team Options
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- Other U-turn users can help keep momentum and get Thundurus in more often
- A ground-type and fairy-type can help keep Zekrom in line as the dragon can switch into Thundurus very easily
- Ground-types also help with KOing Dialga while Fairy-types can switch in on Dialga's Draco Meteors and force it to use one of it's coverage options
- Volt Switching into Shadow Tag is very good
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Fireburn said:
Excadrill is a very good partner for this, it spins SR and checks Dialga/Zekrom/Eleceus in one mon which are Thundy's biggest checks. It can also set up SR if you want. Thundy packs Fight/Ground resists and can OHKO Groudon/scare Kyogre away so the two have very good synergy + VSwitch buys Drill chances to come in
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Other Options
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- Toxic can cripple more defensive pokemon like bulkky arceus
- Nasty Plot can boost spatk but thundurus is too slow and fragile to sweep
- Knock Off can pester switch-ins by getting rid of their items
- Superpower hits blissey and it doesn't miss but overall inferior to Focus Blast which is already an unorthodox coverage choice
- Thunder's power drop and the lack of permanent makes it a very inconsistent, albeit, strong STAB move
- Zap Plate, Focus Sash, or Leftovers can be used to reduce the passive damage Thundurus suffers but it doesn't like taking even resisted attacks while Stealth Rock will put it on a very limited timer anyways. The drop in power is pretty significant as well making it far less threatening in general.
-Sludge Wave nails Fairies and Grass-types

Checks & Counters
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**Zekrom**: By far the biggest drawback to using Thundurus. Zekrom comes in extremely easily as it resists Thundurus's attacks and can't be paralyzed. It also applies massive pressure on whatever attempts to switch in thanks to its powerful STABs.
**Electric Arceus**: Immune to paralysis and resists Volt Switch. Grass Knot can hurt some but overall Thundurus can't really stick around to fight this Arceus forme.
**Dialga**: Resists Thundurus's attacks and can easily KO it with Draco Meteor and setup Stealth Rock to limit Thundurus's switches, doesn't mind being paralyzed much
**Ferrothorn**: Resists Electric- and Grass-type attacks and giggles at Hidden Power Ice. Thundurus may resist Ferrothorn's STABs and can stop hazards and status with Taunt but it is far too fragile to actually come close to winning.
**Excadrill**: Immune to Thundurus's Electric-type STAB and isn't weak to his main coverage options
**Stealth Rock**: Greatly limits the number of times Thundurus can switch in
**Blissey**: Can easily sponge just about any special attack and natural cure means paralysis isn't a problem at all. It doesn't like Taunt much and it's a Pokemon that is very easy to take advantage of so Volt Switch can lead to pretty strong punishes.
**Grass Arceus**: Like Electric Arceus except prone to paralysis and generally mediocre
**Ground / Flying-types**: Gliscor and Landorus are immune to Volt Switch and Thunderbolt while not being weak to Grass Knot, although their low special defense still means they take a decent chunk.
**Kyurem-W**: Dislikes Thunder Wave and having to switch out right from Volt Switch right after taking heavy damage from Stealth Rock but, otherwise, Kyurem-W doesn't fear much from Thundurus and can easily OHKO it with any of its attacks.
**Reshiram**: Very similar to Kyurem-W in that it takes Thundurus's attacks well but has to deal with a crippling Stealth Rock weakness and being paralyzed.
**Mega Charizard X**: Has no difficult in switching in and KOing Thundurus. Although, does not like being paralyzed by Thunder Wave. Charizard's weakness to Stealth Rock is also bothersome as it will often have to switch out right after coming in on Volt Switch. Also needs to be already mega evolved.
 
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Looks good (since I did plan on taking it :/), but there are two slight things that I would want to bring up.

1) No mention of Thunder? At all? I just feel that Thundy should just have Thunder at least mentioned bare minimum in OO, max in Moves section, as the overall power combined with STAB and the 2nd most powerful non-Mega specially offensive Electric type in the game should at least leave some mark, and the fact that Kyogre is still a thing on either team can patch up the acc. I do understand Tbolt tho, as its accuracy and PP are more than Thunder, and STAB Tbolt is more powerful than non-STAB Thunder (using Pokemon that use it as coverage as a comparison), so Tbolt would be the more reliable option, but idk

2) Probably remove the mention of Thundy being slow in the NP section in OO, as compared to most Ubers, Thundy's Speed is extremely good, and priority status moves like T-Wave can work wonders to make Thundy even faster.
 
I think the absence of Thunder is due to the fact that this is primarily an anti-lead set and as a result it will most likely not be raining when it is first sent out. A better question is why does Focus Miss have a bullet in the moves section when it doesn't have a slash and why does HP Ice have a slash without a bullet.
 
Melee Mewtwo I was trialling Thundurus on WiFi and came across a fun deoxys-s with magic coat which bounced the taunt right back (arceus can also learn magic coat but I'd say that that is kindof a crap option on Him) so id say that you should exercise caution when antileading. I also have a couple ideas which may be analysis worthy:

Agility with modest nature might work as a lategame cleaner?

Double dancer sounds interesting too, although finding the turns to get them would be fun. Obviously you could pick which boost to use depending the opponent's team - nasty plot against a defensive team agility against ho etc. The issue with this is no prankster thunder wave and hp ice would have to be the coverage move (and we all know hp ice's base power makes everyone sad...).

Mentioning the chance of a free turn when t-waving is a good Idea imo, 25% is quite high and can allow you to damage or even kill something like an opposing scarf for free (eg twave scarfogre, it gets paryzed, it gets thunderbolted)

Im not sure about these moves as I may be thinking more like an OU player when It comes to Thundurus, but I think that agility is still a good option :).

canman98 I think thunder is subpar this generation, thundurus is not gonna get many safe turns under rain to throw around thunder. Your own kyogre is not gonna want to hold a rock, and thundurus is better off paralyzing opposing kyogre anyway, as scarfed ones will be crippled, and you may get that free turn to kill them anyway. Thunderbolt will nicely chink slower kyogre anyway as well :)
 
LustrousPalkia said:
Agility with modest nature might work as a lategame cleaner?

Double dancer sounds interesting too, although finding the turns to get them would be fun. Obviously you could pick which boost to use depending the opponent's team - nasty plot against a defensive team agility against ho etc. The issue with this is no prankster thunder wave and hp ice would have to be the coverage move (and we all know hp ice's base power makes everyone sad...).

Mentioning the chance of a free turn when t-waving is a good Idea imo, 25% is quite high and can allow you to damage or even kill something like an opposing scarf for free (eg twave scarfogre, it gets paryzed, it gets thunderbolted)

Im not sure about these moves as I may be thinking more like an OU player when It comes to Thundurus, but I think that agility is still a good option :).

canman98 I think thunder is subpar this generation, thundurus is not gonna get many safe turns under rain to throw around thunder. Your own kyogre is not gonna want to hold a rock, and thundurus is better off paralyzing opposing kyogre anyway, as scarfed ones will be crippled, and you may get that free turn to kill them anyway. Thunderbolt will nicely chink slower kyogre anyway as well :)
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It lacks the power and coverage for Agility, and setting up once is difficult, while twice is virtually impossible.

As for the analysis, I like canman98's points.

I think some less suicidal item in OO could be nice, although I realize the power is nice and often necessary for the coverage move. But still Leftovers or maybe like Zap Plate?

Also, I dislike having effects (like SR) in the midst of Pokemon in Checks & Counters, even if I can see where you're coming from. But I guess that's just my view of aesthetics.

QC: 1/3
 
Ferro as a check?
It 2HKOs with Gyro Ball after rocks and it punishes volt switching with Iron Barbs which along with Life Orb causes even more residual damage to Thundurus. Ferro doesn't really mind T Wave that much and it can lay rocks as well. Really the only thing Thundurus can do is 2HKO with Focus Miss if it's even running it, assuming it even hits.
 
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Minority Suspect said:
Ferro as a check?
It 2HKOs with Gyro Ball after rocks and it punishes volt switching with Iron Barbs which along with Life Orb causes even more residual damage to Thundurus. Ferro doesn't really mind T Wave that much and it can lay rocks as well. Really the only thing Thundurus can do is 2HKO with Focus Miss if it's even running it, assuming it even hits.
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Volt Switch doesn't make contact, unlike U-Turn, so Iron Barbs isn't an issue there :)
 
I would probably put Eleceus over Dialga just because Eleceus can't be paralyzed (so it has zero fear coming in really).

Excadrill is a very good partner for this, it spins SR and checks Dialga/Zekrom/Eleceus in one mon which are Thundy's biggest checks. It can also set up SR if you want. Thundy packs Fight/Ground resists and can OHKO Groudon/scare Kyogre away so the two have very good synergy + VSwitch buys Drill chances to come in. Dialga also works pretty well.

Sludge Wave in OO for hurting Grassceus/SpD Fairies (though VSwitching out is normally better).

QC: 2/3
 
Added most comments with the exception of removing the bit about Thundurus being too slow for Nasty Plot. With its shitty bulk, not outspeeding Arceus is too slow. Also didn't mention the bit about Twave hax cause it's hax, not strategy.

Forgot about Ferrothorn, thanks for catching it.
 
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