Please note that this is not a tiering discussion.
Torunerosu
Type:
Base Stats: 79/115/70/125/80/111
Ability: Mischievous Heart (Non-attacking moves have a priority of 1)
Dream World Ability: Competitive Spirit (As its stats are lowered, its Attack increases)
0x Resistance:
0.25x Resistance: None
0.5x Resistance:
2x Weakness:
4x Weakness: None
Angry at Game Freak for serving it the short straw, that is. With everyone and their mother eyeing up Randorosu and Borutorosu's excellent stats, typing and boosting moves, it's easy to forget that there's actually a trio of legendaries in BW. Torunerosu has the honour of being the first pure Flying-type Pokemon in any of the games if one discounts Flying-type Arceus, but the historical honour of being the first of its typing is overshadowed by the awesome Ground/Flying and Electric/Flying dual typings of its genie brethren. Torunerosu also posesses the worst movepool of the three genies, as well as the smallest number of boosting moves and the least useful STAB in the standard OU environment. Torunerosu still poses a massive threat to unprepared teams due to its excellent attacking stats, but will it fall into disuse in the BW metagame due to it being so outclassed? Only time will tell.
Notable moves are bolded.
New moves are italicised.
Notable new moves are therefore bolded and italicised. These will be explained at the bottom of each codeset.
Dream World Ability: Competitive Spirit (As its stats are lowered, its Attack increases)
0x Resistance:
0.25x Resistance: None
0.5x Resistance:
2x Weakness:
4x Weakness: None
Angry at Game Freak for serving it the short straw, that is. With everyone and their mother eyeing up Randorosu and Borutorosu's excellent stats, typing and boosting moves, it's easy to forget that there's actually a trio of legendaries in BW. Torunerosu has the honour of being the first pure Flying-type Pokemon in any of the games if one discounts Flying-type Arceus, but the historical honour of being the first of its typing is overshadowed by the awesome Ground/Flying and Electric/Flying dual typings of its genie brethren. Torunerosu also posesses the worst movepool of the three genies, as well as the smallest number of boosting moves and the least useful STAB in the standard OU environment. Torunerosu still poses a massive threat to unprepared teams due to its excellent attacking stats, but will it fall into disuse in the BW metagame due to it being so outclassed? Only time will tell.
Notable moves are bolded.
New moves are italicised.
Notable new moves are therefore bolded and italicised. These will be explained at the bottom of each codeset.
Level Up Learnset:
Code:
- Uproar
- Astonish
- Gust
Level 7 - Swagger
Level 13 - Bite
Level 19 - Revenge
Level 25 - Air Cutter
Level 31 - Extrasensory
[B]Level 37 - Agility
Level 43 - Air Slash[/B]
[B]Level 49 - Crunch [/B]
Level 55 - Tailwind
[B]Level 61 - Rain Dance
[I]Level 67 - Gale[/I][/B][B]
Level 73 - Dark Pulse[/B]
Level 79 - Hammer Arm
Level 85 - Thrash
Gale - Flying-type Special move, 120 BP/70 Acc/10 PP. Has a 30% chance of confusing the opponent. Accuracy is boosted in Rain.
Code:
[B]TM06 - Toxic
TM08 - Bulk Up
TM10 - Hidden Power
TM12 - Taunt[/B]
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM17 - Protect
[B]TM18 - Rain Dance[/B]
TM21 - Frustration
[I]TM23 - Knock Down[/I]
TM27 - Return
TM29 - Psychic
[B]TM31 - Brick Break[/B]
TM32 - Double Team
TM34 - Sludge Wave
TM36 - Sludge Bomb
TM40 - Aerial Ace
[B]TM41 - Torment[/B]
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM45 - Attract
TM46 - Thief
[I]TM48 - Sing A Round[/I]
[B]TM52 - Focus Blast[/B]
TM56 - Fling
[I][B]TM58 - Free Fall[/B]
TM59 - Incinerate
TM62 - Acrobat[/I]
TM63 - Embargo
TM66 - Payback
TM68 - Giga Impact
[B]TM86 - Grass Knot[/B]
TM87 - Swagger
[B]TM89 - U-turn
TM90 - Substitute[/B]
TM94 - Rock Smash
HM02 - Fly
HM04 - Strength
Free Fall - Flying-type Physical move, 60 BP/100 Acc/10 PP. The opposing Pokemon is picked up on Turn 1, then dropped down on Turn 2 for damage. If the opposing Pokemon is faster, it loses its move on Turn 2. If the opposing Pokemon is slower, it loses its move on Turn 1.Pros
- Excellent attacking stats. 115/125 are nothing to scoff at even in the fast 'n' furious world of the fifth generation. With those stats, Torunerosu can hit hard from both sides of the spectrum and even dare to attempt a mixed attacking set.
- Excellent Speed. 111 Speed is a single point higher than base 110s including Gengar and the Lati twins, meaning Torunerosu can safely outspeed these threats and set up on them, or deal serious damage. This Speed stat is also very helpful when running a Choice set.
- Access to Rain Dance. Drizzle Politoed is a big deal at the moment, but many experienced battlers have stated that they would still run a backup Rain inducer on their Rain Dance teams in case Politoed goes down and the weather has changed. This is a good idea, since Sandstorm was extremely common in Gen IV OU and Gen V also throws instant sunlight into the ring with Drought Ninetales. Torunerosu is a powerful, fast and fairly stable user of Rain Dance which should make it a great weather abuser.
- Access to U-turn. An incredible move in Gen IV, U-turn looks like it'll always be a very useful move for scouting switches and keeping momentum going, and Torunerosu is lucky to have it.
Cons
- Pretty meh typing. Flying has some useful resistances (most notably a Fighting resistance and Ground immunity) and allows Torunerosu to avoid damage from Spikes/Toxic Spikes, but ultimately the Stealth Rock weakness is going to hurt a lot. Weakness to Electric and Ice-type moves aren't helping Torunerosu's case either, especially with its average 79/70/80 defences.
- Poor STAB. Flying-type moves didn't see a lot of use in Gen IV OU since Grass-types were rare, the top Bug-type (Scizor) is neutral to Flying and most Pokemon simply had better attacking options. Of course, a lack of viable Flying-type moves outside of the rare Air Slash didn't really help the cause. Still, though, Flying-type moves don't have great coverage and tend to be easily walled by common Steel and Rock-type threats.
- Fairly shallow movepool. Torunerosu's movepool is easily the worst one out of all the genies, making it quite predictable.
- Lack of boosting moves. Torunerosu gets Agility and Bulk Up. That's it. Seriously, that's it! This is another area where Torunerosu really gets short-shafted compared to its counterparts. The Electric/Flying Bonutorosu gets both of those moves along with Nasty Plot, whilst the Ground/Flying Randorosu gets Bulk Up, Swords Dance, Calm Mind and also Rock Polish.
Moveset Ideas
These sets will focus on things that Torunerosu can do that the other genies can't. Whilst there are a lot of viable sets for Torunerosu such as ToxiStall, Substitute/Protect/Torment and Agility sweeping, these sets can be done just as well or even better by one or both of the other genies and thus won't be mentioned.
Choice
Torunerosu@Choice Scarf/Specs
Ability: Competitive Spirit
Naive or Hasty/Timid Nature
EVs: 8 HP/252 SpA/248 Spe (Timid)
EVs: 68 Atk/192 SpA/248 Spe (Naive/Hasty)
~ Gale/Air Slash
~ Focus Blast/Hidden Power Ice/Grass Knot
~ Crunch/Hidden Power Ice
~ U-turn
Apologies for this fairly muddled set, but Torunerosu has a surprising amount of options to use. Flying-type STAB actually looks like it's gonna be better in BW than it ever was in DP; Drought Ninetales will undoubtedly cause a massive rise in Sun teams and these teams will be choc-a-bloc with Grass-types abusing Chlorophyll; Grass-types which Torunerosu can massacre with STAB 120 BP Gale. The 30% confusion chance is very useful as well. If the 70% accuracy outside of rain is a big no-no, Air Slash is a good option as well. U-turn is a must-have on almost any Choice user that can learn the move and it is incredibly useful for scouting, hence its presence on the set here. The last two moves depend on what you want to hit, and what your team needs. Focus Blast lays waste to Tyranitar and Heatran, both of whom resist Flying-type moves and take pathetic damage from U-turn (despite Tyranitar's weakness to the move). Crunch hits Latias harder than Gale and 68 Attack EVs with a neutral nature guarantee that it'll always 2HKO 4/0 Latias. It's also a more reliable move than Gale against Gengar, Starmie, Shanderaa and numerous other Ghost/Psychic-types. HP Ice destroys Dragons and allows Scarf Torunerosu to act as an effective revenge killer to Dragon Dancers, though its coverage outside of the Dragon-types is pretty poor. Finally, Grass Knot is a great move to smack Bulky Waters around with, though it is generally an inferior option to the other moves.
Specs can be used for power, but I personally think 111 Speed with a Choice Scarf is too tempting to pass up. 248 Speed EVs are used because the only thing you're doing with 252 is tying with Scarf Borutorosu, which you can't do anything to (whilst it sits there laughing as you die to Thunderbolt). Speaking of Scarf Borutorosu, it too can make an effective Choice Scarf user. However, Torunerosu does have a few distinct advantages:
- It's better in weather. Seriously, this thing should destroy Sun teams and a large portion of Hail and Rain teams too. Scarf Borutorosu can destroy Rain Teams, but that's about it.
- Its STAB hits Urugamoth for SE damage. Urugamoth is the incredible Bug/Fire-type with Butterfly Dance; Gale will easily OHKO Urugamoth after SR even at +1 Special Defence, whilst Borutorosu's Thunder cannot boast the same ability.
- Whilst by no means better than Thunder, Gale is still an excellent move. One thing it has over Thunder is a higher chance of making a slower target unable to attack on any given turn that the move is used. Thunder and Gale both have a 21% chance of making their secondary effects happen, factoring in the 70% accuracy. Thunder causes paralysis, which means that the opponent has a 5.25% chance of not attacking if they get paralysed by Thunder, and then fully paralysed. Gale however causes Confusion, which means that the opponent has a 10.5% chance of not attacking if they hurt themselves.
- Nothing incredibly threatening is immune to Flying, making Gale a safer move than Thunder/bolt. If Garchomp switches in on your Scarf Borutorosu's Thunderbolt to take advantage of its immunity and SD up, you're screwed. If Zapdos switches in to get a Lightningrod boost, you're in a bad position. Basically, a Flying-STAB is probably going to be safer in BW than an Electric STAB. Also, since nothing is immune to Gale you can still use it even if a Flying resist comes in thanks to the useful Confusion chance; try to keep using Thunder on an Electric immunity!
Oh God, not another Weather abuser
Torunerosu@Damp Rock
Ability: Mischievous Heart
Timid Nature
EVs: 8 HP/252 SpA/248 Spe
~Rain Dance
~ Gale
~ Focus Blast/Taunt
~ U-turn/Taunt/Toxic
Torunerosu makes a fine user of Rain Dance, as Mischievous Heart ensures that it gets to go before most other moves. Gale is here for the accuracy increase as well as generally being a great STAB. Focus Blast is important on this set to stop Torunerosu from being raped by Sand Stream Tyranitar, who will just love to switch in to ruin your rainy fun. U-turn is always useful and should be used in the last slot, but Taunt can be great to turn things like Blissey into setup fodder; in fact, Taunt/U-turn is a great combination, so it could be used over Focus Blast. Toxic is mentioned because it's on the TM list, really; it's pretty good against Bulky Waters and the like, but is definitely a lesser option. A bulkier EV spread could be used here if you want more survivability; just shift SpA EVs to HP as you see fit.
Mix it up
Torunerosu@Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Mischievous Heart
Naive/Hasty Nature
EVs: 88 Atk/172 SpA/248 Spe
~ Bulk Up/Taunt
~ Gale
~ Brick Break
~ Crunch
A very simple set, mentioned only because Gale is an excellent tool against Stall. It hits Nattorei and Forretress pretty hard, as well as hitting Hippowdon. Brick Break is an all-around good move which puts the hurt on Blissey, Tyranitar and Heatran. Crunch smacks Latias around, who was very common on Gen IV Stall before she got banned. Bulk Up is a great move for increasing survivability as well as the power of Brick Break, and a +1 Leftovers Torunerosu will always 2HKO Blissey with 88 Attack EVs, SR or not. Dark/Fighting is a great attacking combo resisted only by Heracross and Toxicroak (the former of which is weak to Gale) so with enough Bulk Ups it might be possible to get a sweep going. The Speed EVs are purely for Latias, whilst the Attack EVs are specialised for killing Blissey. The rest of the EVs are dumped into Special Attack. If you want more power behind Brick Break and Crunch, feel free to shift Special Attack EVs over to Attack.
That's about it for Torunerosu; what do you all think of him? Personally I believe it's gonna be shunned for the more versatile (and, let's be honest, just plain better) Borutorosu for quite a while, but let's not forget about Torenerosu's advantages; namely, being the more useful Choice Scarf user and weather abuser thanks to the brilliant Gale. Don't forget this Flying-type menace!
