Overview
########
With access to an amazing offensive ability in Regenerator, Tornadus-T returns to OU as a fantastic offensive pivot. Regenerator offsets both Life Orb and Stealth Rock damage, reducing the overall damaging effect of entry hazards, and works fantastically with U-turn. With its blazing Speed stat and good movepool, Tornadus-T is able to outspeed most of the unboosted metagame and hit hard with its good Special Attack stat. The main downside to using Tornadus-T is its over-reliance on rain if it wants to use its most powerful STAB, Hurricane. Also, while Flying may be a fantastic offensive typing, it is fairly lackluster defensively, limiting the amount of Pokemon Tornadus-T can switch into. While Tornadus-T can do a lot of damage once its on the field, it requires proper team support and planning to get in, limiting its overall use in the metagame.
Pivot
########
name: Pivot
move 1: Hurricane / Air Slash
move 2: Superpower / Focus Blast
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: U-turn
item: Life Orb
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Naive
Moves
========
Hurricane serves as the main move of this set, being Tornadus-T's most powerful attack, and also has a confusion chance to potentially help break through walls. However, if Tornadus-T isn't being used in conjunction with Politoed or manual Rain Dance, Air Slash can be used for a reliable Flying-type STAB. Superpower completes Tornadus-T's coverage, beating common Flying-type resists such as Heatran or Tyranitar, while also hitting common specially defensive walls such as Blissey hard. Knock Off allows Tornadus-T to neuter special walls such as Blissey or Chansey by removing their Leftovers or Eviolite, respectively, allowing them to be worn down easier through the course of the match. Tornadus-T also serves as one of the best Knock Off users, threatening nearly every Mega Evolution that would commonly switch into the move. Focus Blast can be used to give Tornadus-T a more powerful attack; while it does worse against common special walls, it generally gets more damage against the rest of the metagame. U-turn allows Tornadus-T to make full use of Regenerator and deal valuable chip damage. Rain Dance can be used over Knock Off if Tornadus-T is not paired with Politoed and still wishes to use Hurricane. However, it is important to note that Tornadus-T has a much harder time cleaning up without Knock Off as it hits otherwise hard counters such as Aegislash while also being able to remove passive healing from special walls.
If Tornadus-T is used outside of rain, Heat Wave can be used in order to reliably take down Scizor, Skarmory, and Ferrothorn. Taunt can also be used, preventing entry hazard leads as well as special walls from healing themselves.
Set Details
========
The EVs are focused on maximizing Tornadus-T's Special Attack and Speed stats, allowing it to hit as hard as possible while maintaining its crucial Speed tier. A Life Orb is used to increase Tornadus-T's damage output, with Regenerator healing the Life Orb damage. An Assault Vest can be used instead of Life Orb in order to bolster Tornadus-T's Special Defense. This, when paired with U-turn and Regenerator, makes Tornadus-T less of a powerful wallbreaker and more of a bulky pivot.
Usage Tips
========
When using Tornadus-T, you always need to be cognizant of how many turns of Drizzle are left. If Tornadus-T is weakened, U-turn + Regenerator is not only a great way to gain momentum, but also a great way to slowly heal Tornadus-T back to full health. Early in the match, it is often best to start by using Knock Off, as this allows Tornadus-T to neuter its checks' passive healing, meaning after a few more confrontations where Tornadus-T U-turns on them, they should be within KO range. This strategy will only work if Tornadus-T is paired with partners which can threaten common checks to it, preventing said checks from healing the U-turn chip damage.
Team Options
========
If Hurricane is used, Politoed is an almost mandatory partner, giving the attack 100% accuracy. Tornadus-T pairs well with other momentum move users, allowing it many chances to switch in; (Mega) Scizor, Landorus-T, and Rotom-W are thus excellent partners. Even with Regenerator, Tornadus-T appreciates Defog or Rapid Spin support, making Latios a very good partner, with it also resisting Tornadus-T's Electric-type weakness. Due to the amount of switches Tornadus-T causes, it pairs very well with common Stealth Rock users such as Garchomp and Mega Aggron, both of which resist its Rock-type weakness.
Other Options
########
A Bulk Up + Acrobatics set can be used, with its main allure being that it is not rain dependent; however, without Flying Gem it is quite difficult to use. The lack of Life Orb power also greatly reduces Tornadus-T's wallbreaking capabilities. Alternatively, a Choice Specs set can be used, but this is generally inferior due to the inability to switch attacks and lack of Knock Off. Grass Knot can instead be used to hit specially defensive Hippowdon, while Hidden Power Ice can be used to target Dragon-types such as Garchomp and Dragonite.
Checks & Counters
########
**Specially Defensive Walls**: Perhaps the best answer to Tornadus-T is Mega Ampharos, which resists Tornadus-T's STAB while also being immune to Knock Off. Specially defensive walls such as Skarmory and Zapdos also make for good checks to Tornadus-T, being able to reliably take every attack. Heatran also makes for a decent check, being able to take an attack and threaten back with Toxic or a STAB Fire-type attack. Specially defensive pivots such as Rotom-W and Rotom-H make for good checks as well, resisting Tornadus-T's STAB attack and threatening back with STAB Electric-type attacks.
**Steel-types**: Resisting Tornadus-T's STAB moves, Steel-types such as Aegislash and Assault Vest Escavalier are good checks if it lacks Knock Off. Specially defensive Mega Scizor also works quite well, only fearing a possible Heat Wave.
**Offensive Checks**: Due to its heavy reliance on its Speed stat, Tornadus-T does not invest in its bulk very much, making faster threats such as Aerodactyl, Greninja, and Choice Scarf users reliable checks. Tornadus-T can also be checked by priority users such as Ice Shard Mamoswine and Bullet Punch Scizor.
Last edited by a moderator:
