Ash Borer
I've heard they're short of room in hell
Come and see.
[OVERVIEW]
*Tyranitar's Sand Stream provides a sandstorm for Excadrill and acts as an emergency stop against rain sweepers.
*Its Pursuit is extremely strong, being capable of removing threats such as Choice-locked Hoopa-U and Tapu Lele as well as as Latios, Xurkitree, Nihilego, Starmie, Alolan Marowak and even Genesect locked into the wrong move.
*With a Choice Band, it becomes a frightening wallbreaker.
*Rock / Dark is a rather poor typing defensively and grants it a lot of weaknesses, for example letting Psychic-types such as Mega Alakazam blow past it with Fighting-type coverage.
*Base 61 Speed is quite bad for an offensively minded Pokemon, meaning it is usually going to have to take a hit before moving.
*In a power creeping metagame full of new Fighting- and Fairy- types, Tyranitar is in general just struggling to keep up.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Stone Edge
move 2: Crunch
move 3: Pursuit
move 4: Superpower / Earthquake
item: Choice Band
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
*Stone Edge and Crunch provide dual STAB moves with stellar wallbreaking power and good neutral coverage, only missing out against a few Fighting- and Fairy- types that can be covered with the final move.
*Pursuit is outrageously powerful, being capable of OHKOing many neutral targets such as Tapu Lele as they switch out.
*The last moveslot can be customized to get past certain checks and counters.
*Superpower is able to OHKO Breloom while being Tyranitar's best option for hurting Bewear, and Keldeo.
*Earthquake gets past Magearna, Klefki, and Conkeldurr more easily. It also helps when attempting to revenge kill Electric Porygon-Z.
*Fire Punch can be used to knock out Scizor, and Ice Punch lets Tyranitar beat Gliscor, Landorus-T and Garchomp more easily, though these threats are pressured pretty hard by both of Tyranitar's STAB attacks as it is.
Set Details
========
*Maximum Attack EVs, a Choice Band, and an Adamant nature maximize Tyranitar's wallbreaking abilities.
*Maximum Speed EVs let Tyranitar outpace Modest Magnezone, Jolly Azumarill, fully defensive Skarmory, Landorus-T, Rotom-W, Heatran, and Mandibuzz, letting it avoid being stalled out, burned, or attacked first in a one-on-one situation.
Usage Tips
========
*Read the opponent's team, and ask yourself if they have a good switch-in to Tyranitar's power and if wallbreaking is needed to win. If this is the case, play around this, do not play loose with Tyranitar, and make an effort to create momentum that cleanly brings it in, and then start the barrage.
*Another role Choice Band Tyranitar can perform a team is trapping. Scout for Choice items and then try to bait certain Choice item users into locking themselves into the wrong moves so that Tyranitar can trap them.
*Leverage Tyranitar's trapping abilities to your advantage. For example, freely attack with Keldeo when the enemy has Latios, even if you have Stealth Rock on the field. The opponent will be reluctant to switch it in. Call the enemy Genesect's Choice Scarf Ice Beam bluff; often they will U-turn hoping you will switch out. Even if you lose that bet, Pursuit will nearly OHKO Genesect as it switches out.
*Try to conceal Tyranitar's set until it's necessary that you reveal it. Often you can bluff Choice Scarf or support sets and catch an enemy by surprise, dealing immense damage when they expected Stealth Rock.
Team Options
========
*Genesect and Pheromosa will often be brought in as checks. Being able to sponge their strong U-turns is valuable. Toxapex, Alolan Marowak, and Heatran can perform well here against what they respectively counter.
*Landorus-T is also a very good U-turn sponge. Although it may be threatened by Ice Beam, both Genesect and Pheromosa are often Choice item users and as such will be trapped by Tyranitar on the next turn should they KO Landorus-T.
*Heatran and Alolan Marowak are both good partners for another reason; Tyranitar is setup bait for Magearna, and both Heatran and Alolan Marowak are capable of switching into Magearna as it boosts and KOing it in return.
*Sand Rush Excadrill is an excellent partner, forming a strong wallbreaker + sweeper core. Tyranitar puts immense pressure on physically defensive keystones such as Landorus-T and Skarmory.
*Keldeo, Mega Charizard Y and Tapu Koko all appreciate Tyranitar's trapping talents, taking advantage of teams that rely on Marowak Alola, Latios or Latias to deal with these threats.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Stone Edge
move 2: Pursuit
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Superpower
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
*Stone Edge hits the hardest of any move Tyranitar has access to and hits a few key Pokemon such as Charizard super effectively.
*Pursuit traps and KOes foes which Tyranitar can check.
*Superpower is able to revenge kill Bisharp and Terrakion and scores a strong neutral hit on Keldeo.
*Crunch hits some important Ghost- and Psychic-types super effectively and can be used in situations where Stone Edge's poor accuracy could be catastrophic.
Set Details
========
*Maximum Speed, a Choice Scarf and a Jolly nature are necessary for outpacing Starmie, Latios, Metagross, Thundurus, and other threats around the base 115 Speed mark
*Maximum Attack EVs maximize damage so that Tyranitar can be an effective revenge killer.
Usage Tips
========
*Set concealment and predating on the opponent's uncertainty should be used. Leading with Choice Scarf Tyranitar may fool the opponent into believing it is much slower.
*Aggressively switching into Pursuit-weak threats is encouraged, it is Choice Scarf Tyranitar's main function, as the extra Speed lets it perform its duty without worry about being 2HKOed.
Team Options
========
*Mega Charizard-Y, Tapu Koko, and Keldeo are strong attackers that will benefit the most from Tyranitar's trapping removing problematic Alolan Marowak, Latios, and Latias.
*Choice Scarf Tyranitar is U-turn bait. Heatran, Toxapex, and Volcanion again are good potential answers for Genesect. Toxapex also handles Pheromosa.
*Buzzwole eats up a lot of Fighting-, Steel-, Ground- and Bug-type attacks sent Tyranitar's way. They form a decent core of specially and physically defensive tanks.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
*Dragon Dance is a rather poor option, as Tyranitar is simply too slow at +1 and has too many common checks and counters to ever be able to exceute a sweep.
*Babiri and Chople Berry can net surprise KOs such as Fire Blast against a Genesect or Scizor, and Crunch against Mega Alakazam, but the resources required and unreliability of this tactic make it fairly inefficient.
*An Assault Vest set might seem attractive, giving Tyranitar an outrageous Special Defense stat, however its inability to set Stealth Rock, heal, be fast, or hit particularly hard makes it simply ineffective.
*A Smooth Rock support set was a standard set in ORAS OU; however, with the advent of so many new offensive threats Tyranitar cannot deal with, it's rather poor when acting defensively.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fighting-types**: Fighting-types are Tyranitar's natural enemy, being resistant to both its STAB types and effortlessly OHKOing in return. Keldeo, Conkeldurr, Terrakion, Breloom, and Bewear are large threats, though they can be maimed by coverage moves quite heavily.
**Genesect and Pheromosa**: Though they cannot switch directly into Tyranitar, both force out Tyranitar and generate momentum effortlessly and do a lot of damage simultaneously. Without a good answer to these two, Tyranitar's team will suffer heavily.
**Steel-types**: Scizor, Ferrothorn and Magearna are serious challenges for Tyranitar and its team, being able to switch in and use dangerous set up moves. They must be careful of stray Fire-, Fighting-, and Ground-type coverage moves, however.
**Dedicated Physical Walls**: Hippowdon, Landorus-T, Skarmory, and Buzzwole, to name a few are usually capable of soaking up anything Tyranitar can throw at them and either KOing int or setting up entry hazards in return, though stray coverage moves and Choice Band-boosted STAB attacks will deal considerable damage.
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