Torterra (WIP)

Taken over from Silentverse. It needs general updates around the skeleton due to metagame changes atm

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Torterra

[Overview]

- Torterra's fantastic stats, unique typing, and extensive movepool allow it to perform a variety of roles in RU effectively, including, but not limited to, a lethal Rock Polish set that can tear apart offensive and defensive teams alike and a bulkier attacker that can last throughout the match while dishing out incredibly hard-hitting attacks.
- However, Torterra is hindered by the fact that it has no way of getting past certain common defensive threats in the current metagame, such as Tangrowth, the fact that it has many common weaknesses that are easily exploitable, and its relatively low Speed, which all make it so that he may not be as strong as you'd like.
- Essentially, Torterra is a decent Pokemon in RU who is hindered by very noticeable flaws; however, if you can lure out and remove its key counters, Torterra can become a tremendous threat.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Stealth Rock
move 2: Wood Hammer
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Synthesis / Stone Edge
item: Leftovers
ability: Overgrow
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Rock Polish
move 2: Wood Hammer / Seed Bomb
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Stone Edge
item: Leftovers / Life Orb
ability: Overgrow
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

- This is Torterra's trademark set for good reason; once you have removed the opponent's revenge killers, after a single Rock Polish, Torterra suddenly becomes a monster capable of single-handedly tearing apart frail offensive teams in a blink of an eye.
- Furthermore, thanks to Torterra's fantastic STAB combination in Wood Hammer and Earthquake, Torterra can also dismantle many defensive cores with ease, though Tangrowth does give it some severe issues.
- To top it all off, Torterra's great bulk and fantastic typing lets it set up on a myriad of opponents on both defensive and offensive teams, making it a very potent force.
- Wood Hammer is Torterra's most deadly attack; with a whopping 120 Base Power that is further boosted by a STAB boost, and potentially an Overgrow boost, Wood Hammer will inflict huge damage onto a significant portion of the RU metagame.
- However, because of the nasty recoil that Wood Hammer causes, Earthquake will generally be the attack that you should turn to in most situations. Earthquake still receives a nice STAB boost, is still reasonably powerful, and hits most foes for neutral coverage.
- Stone Edge complements Wood Hammer and Earthquake nicely, rounding off Torterra's coverage by hitting foes such as Moltres and other Flying-types extremely hard.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

- Adamant is generally the preferred nature because it gives Torterra a much-needed boost in power, but Jolly is an option so Torterra can outspeed Pokemon such as Accelgor after a Rock Polish boost.
- Leftovers are also the preferred item in order to capitalize on Torterra's great natural bulk and help it shrug off the recoil from Wood Hammer; however, Life Orb is an option if you want extra power, though the recoil, especially in tandem with Wood Hammer, will cause Torterra to faint very very quickly.
- Seed Bomb can be used over Wood Hammer if you use Life Orb to avoid the devastating recoil.
- Swords Dance is not a completely terrible option to let Torterra pull off a double boosting set of sorts, using Swords Dance to steamroll through slower teams while Rock Polish demolishes faster ones. However, the loss of coverage that Swords Dance will cause is way too crippling for Torterra.
- Overgrow is the ability of choice because getting Torterra down to Overgrow and range and using Wood Hammer will utterly demolish almost anything, though this will often cause Torterra to faint as well.
- Fuk Tangrowth. Use teammates like Escavalier / Emboar / Magmortar to destroy it. These guys also help check fast Grass-types who give Torterra lots of issues.
- Levitating Psychics are also very irritating. Escavalier and Spiritomb help a lot with those.

[SET]
name: Tank
move 1: Wood Hammer
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Synthesis
item: Leftovers
ability: Overgrow
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

- Like Rock Polish, this set takes advantage of Torterra's great Attack and offensive STABs, but instead focuses on Torterra's bulk rather than attempting to sweep.
- This set makes a more reliable check to stuff like Aggron while still posing a formidable offensive threat.
- Synthesis gives Torterra a fairly reliable recovery option; while it is neutered by Hail, Torterra is probably going to be completely useless against Hail anyway, so this isn't much of a detriment.
- Wood Hammer is once again Torterra's strongest attack; however on this set, you can afford to spam it a bit more because Synthesis helps with the recoil immensely.
- Earthquake gives Torterra a nice, recoilless secondary STAB attack that compliments Wood Hammer nicely.
- Stone Edge rounds off Torterra's coverage by hitting the Flying-types that are resistant / immune to Wood Hammer and Earthquake.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

- Adamant gives an extra kick to Torterra's powerful moves, while max Speed allows Torterra to outpace neutral natured base 55s like Bouffalant, as well as Pokemon who such as Qwilfish who run just enough speed to beat that benchmark. Jolly is mostly unnecesary because this Torterra doesn't need to sweep.
- Leftovers are a natural choice for this set to increase Torterra's longevity, though Life Orb is certainly an option since Synthesis can be used to mitigate the recoil.
- Overgrow can let Torterra get in that one last, extremely powerful Wood Hammer needed to OHKO a specific Pokemon in a desperate situation, but Shell Armor is also a nice option to prevent critical hits, which are always irritating.
- This set fits onto bulky offense teams who need Torterra to check certain threats while posing a strong offensive threat.
- Escavalier is thus once again a good partner as it has similar bulk to Torterra and has enough strength to muscle through the troublesome Grsas- and Psychic-types that stop Torterra in its tracks. The fact that Escavalier also essentially gives Aggron a free switch in also makes Torterra a good partner for it.
- Kabutops also makes a good partner due to its ability to handle Fire-types and spin away the spikes that can vastly limit Torterra's longevity.


[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Wood Hammer
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Synthesis
move 4: Stealth Rock / Roar
item: Leftovers
ability: Shell Armor
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

- Unlike Rock Polish or Offensive Synthesis, this set focuses purely on Torterra's ability to tank hits and counter Pokemon, rather than its ability to dish out tremendous damage.
- Torterra is capable of doing this in large part due to its massive bulk, access to a reliable recovery move in Synthesis, and access to useful support moves like Stealth Rock and Roar.
- However, even with no offensive investment, Torterra can still pose a decent threat; this, in addition to Torterra's unique set of resistances, is what makes this set a worthy candidate for a teamslot.
- Wood Hammer and Earthquake act as Torterra's main STABs, and are strong enough to dish out some solid damage to the Pokemon Torterra is able to check, such as Aerodactyl, Aggron, Gallade, and Druddigon.
- Synthesis gives Torterra a reliable form of recovery to help it combat those incredibly hard-hitting physical threats throughout the match.
- The last slot mostly depends on your team's needs; if you lack a Stealth Rock user on your team, Torterra can easily set up the hazard for you. However, if you already have a Stealth Rock user on your team, Roar is also a very respectable option in order to phaze out the rare Magnet Rise Aggron and Magneton, as well as Substitute + Bulk Up Gallade.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

- Use Seed Bomb over Wood Hammer if you hate recoil.
- Torterra's resistances are mostly physical based, so physically defensive is generally the way to go.
- However, using a specially defensive spread is not a bad option either; this would allow Torterra to tackle stuff like Rotom-C and Rotom more effectively, but makes Torterra a much shakier check against something like Choice Band Aggron.
- Shell Armor is the recommended ability to prevent the critical hits that could easily spell doom for Torterra.
- Torterra ability to check various threats makes it a better fit on slower, defensive teams.
- Bulky waters such as Slowking and Lanturn make great partners as they can tackle the troublesome Fire- and Ice-types that can pose a threat to Torterra.
- Will add more when I actually write this up.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Wood Hammer
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Superpower / Toxic
item: Choice Band
ability: Overgrow
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

- The aim of this set is simply to smash things as hard as possible, and with Torterra's great STABs, it will often demolish most things that it hits neutrally.
- However, because each of Torterra's moves aren't really "safe" moves to spam, this set requires a large amount of prediction to work effectively.
- Wood Hammer, while easily Torterra's strongest STAB move, unfortunately is resisted by a slew of Pokemon in RU; furthermore, the recoil seriously limits Torterra's ability to switch in and out of the match. However, this is Torterra's safer STAB option when there are still things that are immune to Earthquake.
- Earthquake offers a recoil-less option to Wood Hammer; however, while it lacks recoil, there are still quite a few Pokemon who resist it, and the large number of Levitating / Flying-type Pokemon in RU makes this a pretty unsafe option. The lack of recoil makes this generally the better move to use once levitators / flying-types have been removed however.
- Stone Edge rounds off Torterra's coverage by smashing the Flying-types that are resistant to Wood Hammer / immune to Earthquake; only use Stone Edge for this purpose however, because the lack of STAB and poor accuracy makes this a poor option in most cases, barring an expected switch to a Flying-type.
- Since those three moves already give Torterra all the coverage it needs, the last slot is essentially filler. Superpower allows Torterra to smash through the likes of Ferroseed, while Toxic can help wear down Tangrowth.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

- Max Attack is obvious in order to give this set its much needed power, while max speed is also used in order to let Torterra outspeed almost all of RU's major walls. However, max HP is certainly an option to help mitigate the effect of Wood Hammer's recoil and give Torterra some longevity.
- Seed Bomb is also an option in the last slot to give Torterra a recoil-less Grass STAB, but it is incredibly weak so it's not really a great option.
- Overgrow gives Torterra the ability to unleash a devastatingly powerful Wood Hammer when Torterra is low on health; the power boost from Overgrow makes Wood Hammer so strong that Torterra gains a chance to OHKO Entei after Stealth Rock with it.
- Will add teammates after testing this more.

[Other Options]

- RestTalk defensive set
- Curse
- SubSeed
- Swords Dance
- Dual Screens
- Stockpile
- Amnesia
- Rock Slide, Seed Bomb, Bulldoze
- Mix set with Hidden Power Fire to SMASH Tangrowth / Durant / Escavalier

[Checks and Counters]

- Tangrowth. FUK Tangrowth.
- Physically Defensive Amoonguss also beats non Life Orb / Choice Band Torterra, though those variants will 2HKO with Earthquake.
- Levitating physically defensive Pokemon like Uxie are also problematic.
- Sceptile / Lilligant / Rotom-C can all survive Stone Edge from a Rock Polish Torterra and retaliate with either Leaf Storm or Sleep Powder. Sawsbuck wins too.
- Fast scarfers like Manectric / Rotom-C / Typhlosion can all outspeed and revenge kill Torterra after a Rock Polish.
- Flying-types such as Moltres can be decent options to use against Torterra, though watch out for Stone Edge.
- Escavalier can take a hit from Torterra and OHKO back with Megahorn, but watch out for Choice Band-boosted Earthquakes, which can potentially OHKO after Stealth Rock and a layer of Spikes.
 
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Might need some more updates before you write. For example it's missing the specially defensive set, which is its best imo.
 
y'know I'm just going to ask for 2 more QC checks before I write this up. The metagame is a lot different than in June.

Will add a specially defensive set in a moment, probably reorganize the sets in general too.
 
Ok, here's my thoughts on set order and my reasoning behind it:

1. Specially Defensive - DC mentioned this, but being able to counter and/or check most Electric-types in the tier is pretty big. Being able to not give 2 shits about Rotom-C is really cool, and blocking Volt Switch entirely is nice. One of few Ground-types that isn't screwed over by Rotom-C's Leaf Storm, and it can stomach Scarf Manectric's Overheat:

252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Torterra: 212-250 (53.8 - 63.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
-2 252 SpA Manectric Overheat vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Torterra: 106-126 (26.9 - 31.9%) -- 41.7% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery

So, it can't 2HKO you while you can use Synthesis to get back in shape. Oh, and HP Ice fails to OHKO from the Special Attacker set while Flamethrower only has a 10.9% chance to 2HKO with SR.

2. Tank - This is a tough one, but considering that Bulky Offense is more common in RU than fast, frail offensive teams, I feel Tank should be over Rock Polish (though I wouldn't be opposed to RP over Tank) I have used this set quite a bit, and I love its ability to beat non-Fire Punch Druddigon, Aggron, and Slowking quite handily. I personally run a 72 HP / 224 Atk / 212 Spd EV spread to ensure that even Fire Punch from Aggron fails to 2HKO. Speed EVs ensure that Adamant Aggron is always outsped and KOed by EQ. Being able to switch into Aggron with impunity is something few other Pokemon in the tier can boast.

3. Rock Polish - With Tangrowth removed, this set kills a lot of shit. Sadly, killing Tangrowth is a lot easier said than done considering it gets Regenerator healing every time it switches out. Still, having only one true hard counter is a big plus for a sweeping set and is the reason I wouldn't argue it going over the Tank set. Maybe a stronger mention of Life Orb if you go with Jolly to make up for the power loss.

4. Defensive - These middle sets are killing me as they all have very distinct merits. Anyway, best hard counter to Aggron in the tier. Dgaf about Fire Punch, resists Head Smash, and is heavy enough to handle Heavy Slam without many problems. You can also stall out Outrage turns from Druddigon... as you switch in.... without a resistance. That's cool. (Shell Armor negats criticals and you outspeed and use Synthesis before the 2nd Outrage)

5. Choice Band - Really hard to recommend moving this up when its hard countered by Tangrowth and has to risk the many Levitate Pokemon switching in on a predicted EQ (think Rotom-C, Uxie, Mesprit, etc.) Dropping to 212 Speed EVs is probably the lowest I would go to still be able to hard check Aggron. (44 HP / 252 Atk / 212 Spe)
 
I understand this is a work in progress, but it's for that reason I thought it'd be best to bring this up here; I feel as though having a Specially Defensive, Tank, and Physically Defensive set is painfully redundant, and really doesn't need to be there. Personally, I feel as though it would be for the best that Physically Defensive is dropped outright, with perhaps a re-adjustment of the Tank's EV spread. At least from my perspective, a lot of boons to the physically defensive set can be similarly yielded by one of the alternate sets currently proposed, or at the very least serves in its desired role no better. For instance, Physically Defensive boasts the ability to take on Aggron well, but with its investment in Speed, Tank Torterra altogether forgoes the necessity to sponge back-to-back hits from it as the Physically Defensive set does, handling the scenario in a similar, if not superior fashion. CB Druddigon 2HKOs any given variant of Torterra unconditionally (with the exception of totally uninvested variants, being a notable reason for my desire to tinker w/the Tank set's EV spread), while Leftovers variants struggle to 2HKO Specially Defensive Torterra all the same, though this can be more attributable to the ability to Synthesis before it moves and thereby force it into confusion. The only outstanding point I see for it is switching into coverage moves from Rhydon / Golurk better and perhaps handling Gallade (though switching into an SD from Bulky SD variants does force some 50-50's unless it's packing Roar), and by that point I have to question why it's being used over something like Power Whip Tangrowth, which is much more self-sustaining at the very least.

In term of specific thoughts, Synthesis shouldn't be debatable on SpDef imo, recovery is far too valuable to it. I'd consider something to the effect of Synthesis / EQ / (Wood Hammer / Edge) / (SR / Toxic), with Roar for AC; move choice all kind of depends on how much you're willing to concede to Moltres / Sigilyph switch-ins really, so it should be stressed as such and addressed when mentioning partners.

On Tank, I'd really like to see SD mentioned in AC (usable over basically any attacking move, though it's inadvisable to drop Wood Hammer since physical Grass STAB is a pretty significant commodity for it), as well as Lum Berry, since as great as its high BP attacks are, a vanilla attacker without some kind of boosting item will struggle to break through defensive cores, and Torterra can pretty feasibly do that on a set such as this if need be. I'd also give mention of offensive Aerodactyl, since provides very solid offensive synergy alongside Torterra (it weakens up defensive cores for Aero to clean late-game, offers a solid fallback to Aqua Jet users / fat Ground-types / sorta bulky Water-types, etc.) and offers a sponge for the occasional hit from Moltres, which Torterra inevitably will concede free turns to. In terms of spread, I'm leaning towards 152 HP / 144 Atk / 208 Spe @ Adamant; this yields a Leftovers #, a jump point in Attack, and allows it to outpace max Speed Adamant Aggron down (which, while uncommon, is something Torterra would be wanting to outspeed should it come across it). The bulk also ensures CB Druddigon fails to OHKO after SR damage, which is useful in a pinch, and strictly off the "official level" of the analysis, no Qwilfish really runs such a minimal Speed investment for it to be worth shooting for, and Torterra's good offensive match-up vs. most of the lingering "outpace min Speed Lanturn" bulky attackers of the tier is almost wasted in risking the Speed tie with them.

As for order, I'm inclined to agree with EonX-'s, with the obvious exception of Physically Defensive being removed, though other QC folk / avid Torterra users might have other thoughts on the matter, so take of it what you will x_x
 
I personally still really like CB, I used it recently and having a physical grass STAB (which pretty much nothing in RU has) and still demolishing Amoonguss are really helpful perks. Grass/Ground pretty much is a 2HKO on most Pokemon in RU including most walls... except Tangrowth.

Skeleton will be completed over the weekend - right now this was literally copied from SilentVerse aside from Specially Defensive, so the set order will be updated. I'm not removing sets or pushing them down a lot just because they get walled by Tangrowth though because literally all the sets get walled by Tangrowth... really, really hard.
 
Bullet Seed ctrl + F not founded in the Choice Band set, add it in Aditional comments, can be useful to break some substitutes or if you need a grass move but you cant recoil (especially if you have overgrow activate), just mention that is kinda situational.

As well mention in AC Leech Seed + Protect on the defensive set, not reliable recovery like Synthesis but is definitely nice to support other mons in your team and to scout possible set / moves.

In C&C mention flying types with a decent bulk like Sigyliph, Drifblim and Moltres (this last specially Scarf to RK Rock Polish Torterra and lure him as well), since they actually only are worried about Stone Edge which not every Torterra runs him and bad accuracy.
 
Ok, some better organized thoughts this time:

After trying out the Physically Defensive spread some more, I really just found myself wanting to just use the Tank set. I mean, the greatest trait it has is being able to hard counter stuff like Aggron, Rhydon, and Golurk. While the Tank set can't outright counter them due to the possible threat of Fire Punch and Megahorn, it isn't OHKOed and outspeeds all of them with just 208 Spe EVs. From there, Wood Hammer and EQ do a number on them. I'd probably remove the set, but AC mention the spread in the Specially Defensive set.

Ok, Tank set needs one of two spreads. Either 76 HP / 252 Atk / 208 Spe (the spread I mentioned) or 152 HP / 144 Atk / 208 Spe (col49's spread) with the spread not used as the primary one going into AC. The former spread is better with just 3 Attacks + Synthesis while col49's spread is definitely the better route to go with SD. I'd probably slash SD with EQ since not having anything to threaten Moltres (and Flying-types in general) with whether it be passively or offensively is kinda bad imo.

On the CB set, I would honestly run Toxic over Superpower. You can already do a solid amount to Ferroseed with EQ (21.4% chance to 2HKO with SR and you don't incur stat drops or Iron Barbs damage) and Toxic royally fuks with Tangrowth, Torterra's only true hard counter.
 
I'm going to have to drop this. Looking back at it there are a lot of sets I don't have enough experience with here and I can't be bothered to write up so many.

Sorry about the irresponsibility...
 
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