Pokémon Tyranitar

[Tressed]

approved by AM
current analysis / now in two parts
smogon dex entry (somewhat outdated)

Name: Tyranitar
Type: Dark / Rock
Abilities

• Sand Stream - Summons a sandstorm for 5 turns
• Unnerve - Opponents are unable to eat Berries

Stats

Name: Mega Tyranitar
Mega Stone: Tyranitarite
Type: Dark / Rock
Ability: Sand Stream - Summons a sandstorm for 5 turns
Stats

Notable Moves (STABs are underlined)

• Stone Edge
• Crunch
• Pursuit
• Stealth Rock
• Fire Blast
• Ice Beam
• Fire Punch
• Ice Punch
• Earthquake
• Superpower
• Dragon Dance

The transition to ORAS was interesting for Tyranitar. On the one hand, it's Mega counterpart is considerably worse. Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar was a feared set thanks to it's incredible bulk and power, but the impressive speed creep from the new Megas has made that set less threatening, as it fails to outrun several notable threats. On the other hand, Regular Tyranitar is as useful as ever. It's ability as a support Pokemon is as useful as ever, as it still makes for an excellent Stealth Rock setter and Pursuit trapper.


Sets


Choice Scarf

Tyranitar @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Pursuit
- Crunch / Ice Punch
- Earthquake / Superpower
- Stone Edge

Choice Scarf Tyranitar makes for a solid revenge killer, thanks to it's incredible attack power and access to Pursuit. With a Choice Scarf and a Jolly nature, Tyranitar is able to outrun every positive natured mon with Base 115 Speed or lower, including Starmie, Thundurus-I, and the Lati twins, as well as guarantee damage targets with low defense, softening them up for other members of the team. Stone Edge is going to be your main STAB attack thanks to it's absurd power. Crunch can serve as a second, more reliable STAB, but Ice Punch also offers coverage on switch ins such as Gliscor and Landorus-T. Earthquake provides coverage on Steel types. Superpower offers similar coverage, trading lasting presence for the ability to nail other Rock types.

This set pairs extremely well with Keldeo, Landorus-I and Charizard-Y, as it can trap and kill Latias and Latios, some of the most popular switch ins, with Pursuit.


Choice Band

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def / 172 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit / Ice Punch
- Superpower / Fire Punch

Banded Tyranitar trades the ability to outrun threats in order to hit like a truck. Stone Edge and Crunch, backed by STAB, an Adamant nature, maximum attack investment, and a Choice Band completely trashes anything that isn't either extremely bulky or resistant. Pursuit, again, is intended to trap physically weak targets, while Superpower rounds out your coverage. Ice Punch and Fire Punch are both valid options, the former hitting targets such as Gliscor and Landorus-T, while the latter nails Scizor and Ferrothorn. 172 Speed EVs outruns 16 speed Mandibuzz and everything slower than that. The remaining EVs work on increasing your bulk while minimizing entry hazard damage. The Speed investment for this set can be adjusted for specific targets, so feel free to change it up based on your team.

Like the Scarf set, Choice Band Tyranitar excels at removing the counters of Keldeo, Landorus-I, and Charizard-Y. However, because of the increase in power, sweepers of all kinds appreciate Tyranitar's ability to trap all kinds of defensive Pokemon, pressuring defensive cores so that it's teammates can sweep.


Support

Tyranitar @ Leftovers / Smooth Rock
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Def / 224 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Stone Edge
- Ice Beam / Fire Blast / Crunch
- Pursuit

Support Tyranitar makes for an important defensive cornerstone in many teams. Thanks to it's typing and enormous bulk, it makes for a solid switch in to Talonflame and Latios, while also providing Stealth Rock support for it's team. Crunch is your mandatory STAB, with Earthquake being your coverage move of choice. Ice Beam is useful for breaking past Landorus-T and Gliscor, while Fire Blast gives you a way to break past Ferrothorn and Scizor. The EV spread makes sure you survive Dragonite's +1 Earthquake, even after Stealth Rock damage, while maximizing your special bulk in order to take hits from that side more effectively.

The classic partner to this set is Excadrill, who greatly enjoys the sand, support, and luring abilities Tyranitar provides. If you choose to run Excadrill, Smooth Rock is an excellent choice, as it allows Drill more turns at double speed. If you aren't using Excadrill, Leftovers is preferred, as Tyranitar has no other form of recovery.



Dragon Dance

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Crunch / Ice Punch
- Superpower / Earthquake

Dragon Dance Mega Tyranitar serves as a strong lategame win condition for offensive teams. Thanks to it's enormous natural bulk, Tyranitar can easily find time to get up a Dragon Dance, boosting it's Speed and Attack. Stone Edge is your primary STAB, while Crunch can be used as a secondary STAB thanks to it's accuracy and neutral coverage. However, Ice Punch allows you to break through Gliscor and Landorus-T far more easily. Superpower provides excellent neutral coverage and allows Tyranitar to break through Steel types. However, the Attack and Defense drop from Superpower make sweeping more difficult, so Earthquake can be used as a suitable replacement.

For Tyranitar to sweep, it needs it's checks and counters to be eliminated or sufficiently weakened. Physical walls such as Skarmory and Hippowdon need to be whittled down before attempting a sweep, while Scarfers or fast Pokemon such as Landorus-T and Mega Lopunny need to be killed, or they'll be able to revenge kill it. Tyranitar is also weak to common priority attacks, such as Azumarill's Aqua Jet and Scizor's Bullet Punch. However, Tyranitar's bulk means that it can take the above hits if needed, so long as it isn't weakened from prior attacks.


Other Options

• Mega Rock Polish - Circumvents it's slow Speed by doubling it, but the loss of attacking power can hurt at times. Plays like the Dragon Dance set, but with a better matchup against offense and Hyper Offense, although it doesn't break through defensive cores quite as easily.
• The support spread can be run with a physically defensive spread. It fairs better against Flying types spam, but loses out on some of the special bulk that makes it such a great switch in against special attackers.

 

[Kurona]

Nice as this thread looks; I'd take at least one of the Mega T-Tar sets out of Other Options and into a main set, because it seems rather silly for a Mega with completely different roles to it's base form to have it's sets relegated completely to OO.

 

[dramadrama]

i think you should mention superpower in notable move's

 

[Wargreymon]

Nice as this thread looks; I'd take at least one of the Mega T-Tar sets out of Other Options and into a main set, because it seems rather silly for a Mega with completely different roles to it's base form to have it's sets relegated completely to OO.

Agreed. Mega Tyranitar is still extremely powerful after a DD because of its sheer bulk, offensive output, and speed. It's worse in ORAS yeah, but it's still a frightening win condition that is nearly impossible to revenge. It would be ridiculous to exclude it from the main sets.

 

[Tressed]

Nice as this thread looks; I'd take at least one of the Mega T-Tar sets out of Other Options and into a main set, because it seems rather silly for a Mega with completely different roles to it's base form to have it's sets relegated completely to OO.

Agreed. Mega Tyranitar is still extremely powerful after a DD because of its sheer bulk, offensive output, and speed. It's worse in ORAS yeah, but it's still a frightening win condition that is nearly impossible to revenge. It would be ridiculous to exclude it from the main sets.

Alright, I'll get a set up when I get a moment.

i think you should mention superpower in notable move's

Done.

 

[Vengeance417]

I would also like Taunt, Thunder Wave and even Foul Play to be added as potential move options as well.

 

[Kurona]

Earthquake should also be in there; there's no reason Notable Moves shouldn't include moves listed in your sets. Rock Slide might also be something to consider putting in due to the power vs accuracy argument.

 

[bludz]

Earthquake is there.

I would add Dragon Dance, Stealth Rock and perhaps Dark Pulse to notable moves. I don't really see the merit in adding Foul Play (Tyranitar's attack stat is pretty high) and Taunt seems better on other pokemon IMO. Maybe mention the choice to customize the Band EV spread to be a little slower but bulkier based on what you want to outspeed (I personally creep min Skarms). Also IMO Ice Beam is an option on the scarf set (I wouldn't add it as a slash but maybe a mention if you think this isn't a dumb idea)

Looks great though, I like that you pasted the base stats as graphics, real clean :)

 

[Wargreymon]

Earthquake is there.

I would add Dragon Dance, Stealth Rock and perhaps Dark Pulse to notable moves. I don't really see the merit in adding Foul Play (Tyranitar's attack stat is pretty high) and Taunt seems better on other pokemon IMO. Maybe mention the choice to customize the Band EV spread to be a little slower but bulkier based on what you want to outspeed (I personally creep min Skarms). Also IMO Ice Beam is an option on the scarf set (I wouldn't add it as a slash but maybe a mention if you think this isn't a dumb idea)

Looks great though, I like that you pasted the base stats as graphics, real clean :)

What is dark pulse being used for? I thought the only special attacks Tyranitar used were ice beam and sometimes fire blast.

 

[bludz]

I'm sorta iffy on Dark Pulse and that's why I said maybe. The most notable niche it has is hitting Slowbro harder than Crunch with investment and not losing power after getting burned. Personally I run Crunch, but I have seen Tyranitars that go full special with Dark Pulse / Ice Beam / Fire Blast since most people see Ice Beam and think it won't have one of the others. Not sure if this is actually that great but yeah

 

[astroshagger]

There should definitely be a DD Mega Tar set. It works amazing in sand offence.

Tyranitar @ Tyranitarite
Jolly, 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 Def

DD
Stone Edge
Crunch/EQ
Ice Punch/Fire Punch

 

[Tressed]

I've added Dragon Dance to the notable moves, and mentioned the flexibility of Speed EVs on the Band set, so thanks bludz!

I'm going to hold off on adding Thunder Wave and Dark Pulse in the notable moves section, and instead stuff the Brazilian TTar set in the other options (as soon as I figure out what the EVs for this thing is, I've seen it mentioned several times around the forums but it's never paired with a full set or replays to reverse engineer it with). On top of being a discussion thread, these threads serve as resources too, and we don't need new players throwing Dark Pulse on their Tyranitars without knowing why it's there.

Not adding Taunt, Foul Play, or Rock Slide. The former two are bad, the latter is alright but loses out on quite a bit of power.

DD set will be added eventually, stay tuned.

 

[dramadrama]

with 248 hp 216 SpDef you survive gengar's (lo) focus blast 100% of the time you can mention that

 

[firehusky]

I'd probably change Mega ttars dd set to dragon dance / crunch / ice punch / EQ or superpower, as I don't really feel stone edge is needed that much. Ttar basically walls the majority of flying-types, and +1 ice punch has a solid chance to OHKO mega pinsir:

+1 252 Atk Mega Tyranitar Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 250-296 (92.2 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

The other uses are for unaware clefable and skarmory, but that's assuming you can actually hit 2 stone edges in a row, while skarm can just spam roost, and when you go dd, it could go whirlwind, so against skarmory, it's just down to mindgames. Mega ttar's counters should be weakened before it attempts to sweep anyways, and pairing it up with something like keldeo is usually good. Unaware clefable is handled fairly well by excadrill (commonly seen on sand teams with mttar as a sand sweeper), so tbh I don't really see too much use for stone edge.

 

[MaestroDeSWAG]

I'd probably change Mega ttars dd set to dragon dance / crunch / ice punch / EQ or superpower, as I don't really feel stone edge is needed that much. Ttar basically walls the majority of flying-types, and +1 ice punch has a solid chance to OHKO mega pinsir:

+1 252 Atk Mega Tyranitar Ice Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mega Pinsir: 250-296 (92.2 - 109.2%) -- 56.3% chance to OHKO

The other uses are for unaware clefable and skarmory, but that's assuming you can actually hit 2 stone edges in a row, while skarm can just spam roost, and when you go dd, it could go whirlwind, so against skarmory, it's just down to mindgames. Mega ttar's counters should be weakened before it attempts to sweep anyways, and pairing it up with something like keldeo is usually good. Unaware clefable is handled fairly well by excadrill (commonly seen on sand teams with mttar as a sand sweeper), so tbh I don't really see too much use for stone edge.

The power of stone edge is important. Also, it's not like it's just a trash STAB type either; you'll probs be spamming it as much as possible since rock is such a solid type offensively (though it's awful defensively).

 

[firehusky]

You're actually right on that point; the power is quite impressive on neutral targets. I overlooked Azumarill when making that argument, as ttar actually lacks a way past it without stone edge.

 

[teamjohto]

Dragon Dance Mega T-tar can be devastating, but a lot of work needs to be done in order for him to be that win condition, namely clearing out Fighting types. Common opinion shows that the gen 6 items T-tar can utilize are mostly more effective than his mega.

What's great about the addition of the mega stone and all the 6th Gen items such as Assault Vest and Weakness Policy make Tyranitar a very unpredictable monster, an advantage it didn't really have in previous gens, where Choice Band/Choice Scarf were really its bread and butter.

Here's a set I've used to great success over the past year just to throw that out.

Tyranitar @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 196 HP / 60 ATK / 252 SPD
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance/Rock Polish
- Crunch
- Rock Slide
- EQ / Brick Break

The large HP investment makes sure that T-tar can survive essentially any Super Effective hit outside of Fighting moves or Play Rough from Choice Band Azumarill or Mega Mawile. But you're not looking to go against them anyway. This allows you to reliably set up your dragon dance and prop the Weakness Policy by turn 1 if you're hit by any normal SE move. Suddenly your opponent is staring at a +3 ATK +1 SPD T-tar, a scary, scary thing to deal with if you're not packing mach punch.

I also choose Brick Break over Superpower to avoid that pesky ATK and DEF drop, and it can still be used as a fine coverage move as well, especially against other Tyranitars. It's also good to have that surprise screenbreaker where it isn't expected as well.

Or you can replace DD with Rock Polish to make sure that you're outspeeding threats such as Scarf'd Garchomp after the set up, Now your opponent is looking at +2 ATK +2 SPD, still scary, but T-tar really wants that Attack power behind him without that Adamant nature to back it up, both DD and Rock Polish are very viable though.

If you want just that pure bulk that can take hits all day and dish out the pain even harder, Assault Vest is always a viable item to use to stack his SP. DEF on top of that Sandstorm.

Tyranitar @ Assault Vest
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def /
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge/Rock Slide
- Payback
- Pursuit
- Brick Break/EQ

With essentially doubled Special Defense with no setup required, Assault Vest T-tar is known for becoming that special wall that just refuses to go down, Even being able to tank out Aura Spheres and Focus Blast's from the scariest of special sweepers.

252 SpA Mega Gengar Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 Sp. Def Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 250-296 (71.2 - 84.1%) -- GUARANTEED 2HKO

252 SpA Adaptability Mega Lucario Aura Sphere vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tyranitar in Sand: 328-392 (81.1 - 97%) -- GUARANTEED 2HKO

Of course you're not even going against these guys in OU, the fact that AV T-tar can tank these hits even without Sp. Def investment shows how much punishment it can take, allowing T-tar to dish hits out again and again for normal special threats.

With no speed investment, you can reliably replace Crunch with Payback for that 150 Base Power dark move after STAB, giving your attack for that extra push that would be needed to OHKO pokemon where Crunch couldn't.

I generally go with Stone Edge over Rock Slide with a slow set, Seeing as Rock Slide is run for the flinch chance. Stone Edge's accuracy is shaky, but when it hits, if your opponent isn't a defensive tank, it usually goes down.

Downside to this is that you know you're always going last, with recovery options sacrificed for the bulk Assault Vest provides, T-tar can get worn down pretty easily with repeated physical hits, but it's still a very doable thing for AV T-tar to trade a 1 for 1 and even a 2 for 1 KO.

to add one more thing, if you don't like the godawful speed of uninvested AV T-tar, Trick Room is always a great option for him in doubles, There you'll want to equip Crunch and Rock Slide back on him and be an enormously bulky sweeper.

 

[astroshagger]

What's the real point of running 252+ Spe on Mega DDance Tyranitar? It doesn't hit a notable speed tier does it? Why not just go 200+ Spe so that it outpaces Torn-T and Weavile after 1 DD? You can invest the rest into Def to handle physical priority (which T-Tar HATES) better.

 

[Golden009]

Has anybody tried Mega Rock Polish? It seems like a downgrade from the DD set, considering that Mega T-Tar is a cleaner, and most things that Mega Tar's going to be cleaning up are going to be outsped anyway.

 

[AM]

What's the real point of running 252+ Spe on Mega DDance Tyranitar? It doesn't hit a notable speed tier does it? Why not just go 200+ Spe so that it outpaces Torn-T and Weavile after 1 DD? You can invest the rest into Def to handle physical priority (which T-Tar HATES) better.

Because if you're in a position where you haven't DDanced yet, say you just mega evolved to get a hit off, you're prone to jolly bisharp with that speed investment.

 

[MaestroDeSWAG]

What's the real point of running 252+ Spe on Mega DDance Tyranitar? It doesn't hit a notable speed tier does it? Why not just go 200+ Spe so that it outpaces Torn-T and Weavile after 1 DD? You can invest the rest into Def to handle physical priority (which T-Tar HATES) better.

Uh, no, you don't. Torn T doesn't even need to run max speed to put speed +1 Ttar, and most don't. In fact, Torn T only needs 216+ to do so

 

[AM]

Uh, no, you don't. Torn T doesn't even need to run max speed to put speed +1 Ttar, and most don't. In fact, Torn T only needs 216+ to do so

Mega Tyranitar runs Jolly, not Adamant.

 

[MaestroDeSWAG]

Mega Tyranitar runs Jolly, not Adamant.

Oh, ok. I swore he was talking about VanillaTar.

 

[Yamborski]

Is there any merit to running Adamant on DD Mega TTar? You speed tie with Starmie and Raikou at + 1, though neither can hurt you much. Adamant can't outrun pre-Mega Alakazam and Tornadus that Jolly can't but I think that's pretty much it. You also miss out on beating things at +0 like Bisharp and Adamant Gyarados but gain a 10% power boost.

 

[astroshagger]

Is there any merit to running Adamant on DD Mega TTar? You speed tie with Starmie and Raikou at + 1, though neither can hurt you much. Adamant can't outrun pre-Mega Alakazam and Tornadus that Jolly can't but I think that's pretty much it. You also miss out on beating things at +0 like Bisharp and Adamant Gyarados but gain a 10% power boost.

I kinda feel like your post (and the numerous examples you posted) answered your own question..