Project SM OU Weekly Research [Round 16: Greninja & Mega Latios]

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Ah finally, I have time for this. Sorry this took so long, as I said in my earlier post I have been unusually busy the past few days. But, I still have found time to build and play a bit with Chandelure, so lets get into it!



Overview:
Chandelure is a really cool breaker in the OU tier. Chandelure was blessed with one of the best offensive typings in the tier, as both Fire and Ghost are ridiculous offensive typings atm. With specs, very little wants to switch in on this beast, as it is capable of 2HKOing or OHKOing most of the tier not named Chansey. The combination of an insane offensive typing, the boost of power from Specs, and a base 145 special attack makes this thing a fearsome breaker in the tier. It is able to check things like Magearna, Bulu (doesn't like switching in on it though), Kartana, and is one of the best checks out there to Zard Y. Most balances consisting of fat cores like Celesteela + Pex + Venu just crumble to this thing. It can be annoying to stall thanks to Specs + Trick, but it isn't advised for this to be your main stallbreaker. It does have some downsides though. Its lacking bulk and middling speed make it hard for Chandelure for get the opportunity to fire of hits. This combination gives it a poor matchup vs Offense, which is pretty common. It also can be revenge killed easily by common OU mons like Lando, Gren, and Zygarde. Also, its fire typing is a curse and a blessing, as it makes it weak to rocks. Despite this, Chandelure is a pretty solid breaker in the tier that has a niche over other Fire type breakers because of its added ghost typing.

What changed for Chandelure from last gen?:
Chandelure didn't have a large effect on the meta-game last gen due to the prevalence of Pursuit trappers like Ttar and Weavile. While those mons are still around this gen, they are much aren't nearly as prevalent as in ORAS. Ghost and Fire have also become much better as offensive typings from ORAS due to things like Azu, Weavile, and Ttar being much less common. Fire and Ghost also don't really have very many resistances in the tier atm, making Chandelure have a lot of fun in some matchups.

Teambuilding with Chandelure:
Building with Chandelure was pretty tricky, but I think I made a pretty decent team. First of all, I'll go over the set I used with Chandelure.
Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Energy Ball / Flamethrower

This set is pretty self explanatory. Specs Chandy hits like a damn freight train, and having a crazy high BP move like Overheat really helps it. Overheat basically nukes something unless it is a bulky resist or Chansey. I chose to use Overheat over Fire Blast since Chandelure usually gets one hit in and switches always, so the extra BP is nicer imo. Shadow Ball is a much more spammable STAB move, as there aren't very many resists in the tier atm. Trick cripples Chansey and other fat mons that cant do much to Chandy. I like Energy Ball as the filler move since it hits Ttar hard and Gren for super effective damage. Flamethrower is nice as a more spammable fire move, but I really like Energy Ball.


The Chandelure team:
Chandelure @ Choice Specs
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Overheat
- Shadow Ball
- Trick
- Energy Ball

Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Wild Charge
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Taunt

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Trick

Magearna @ Leftovers
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Shift Gear
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 248 HP / 124 Def / 136 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Venusaur-Mega @ Venusaurite
Ability: Overgrow
EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 156 SpD / 16 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leech Seed
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Sludge Bomb
- Synthesis

I wanted to make a voltturn style team to help get in Chandelure easily. I decided to start with Specs Chandy + Z Wild Koko, as Z Wild Koko blows through Chansey for Chandy. It also lures in fat grasses and uturns on them, which can give Chandy free opportunities to break. Chandy is the main breaker on the team, capable of beating most balances. It also can annoy stall sometimes with trick. Z Wild Koko with taunt is able to annoy most stall builds. Scarf Defog Lati can remove hazards for Chandy, while also rkilling things like Volc. SG + CM Magearna takes advantage of Specs Chandy's breaking, Koko's terrain, and Koko's ability to beat Chansey. Magearna is a great late game cleaner of the team. Defensive Lando is nice as my answer to Zygarde, Chomp, Ttar, and Lando. It also provides rocks and forms a voltturn core with Koko. The speed is for max speed magearna. Finally, Mega Venusaur is able to beat stuff like Koko, Gren, Magearna, Clef, and Bulu pretty easily. HP Fire hits Scizor and non-CM mage. Pretty cool team overall imo, but a bit Lele weak from I've found.

Koko can get in Chandy with U-turn/volt, beat chansey with Z Wild Charge, and can lure in fat grasses for chandy.
Any mage set is great for chandy. SG/TR sets appreciate chandys breaking power, while AV can beat ttar and get it in safely with volt.
Scizor can Defog away hazards, U-turn for momentum, or potentially clean up for chandy with SD.
Hazards in general are great for Chandy, as they can turn 2hkos into OHKO's on some mons.


Calcs:
252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 64 SpD Toxapex: 150-177 (49.3 - 58.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Heatran: 202-238 (53.7 - 63.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Overheat vs. 248 HP / 156+ SpD Thick Fat Venusaur-Mega: 236-282 (65 - 77.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Energy Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyranitar: 316-374 (92.6 - 109.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Overheat vs. 252 HP / 24 SpD Landorus-Therian: 403-475 (105.4 - 124.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Mew: 426-504 (105.4 - 124.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Overheat vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Clefable: 375-442 (95.1 - 112.1%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Overheat vs. 252 HP / 124 SpD Celesteela: 606-714 (152.2 - 179.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Shadow Ball vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Zygarde: 222-262 (62 - 73.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Choice Specs Chandelure Overheat vs. 248 HP / 144+ SpD Sableye-Mega: 246-289 (81.1 - 95.3%) -- 50% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock


Conclusion:
Chandelure is pretty cool in OU. Its insane offensive typing and great sp. atk gives it the ability to demolish most balance oriented teams. While it faces competition from other fire types like Zard Y and Heatran, its secondary Ghost typing gives it a niche over those. Its flaws of having low speed and bulk do hold it back though, as this gives it a poor matchup vs offense. It also is prey to some of the most common mons in OU like Gren and Zygarde. It's rocks weakness also sucks, since rocks are basically on every team. Despite this, I highly recommend using this thing, it is a really solid and slept on breaker.

That's all I got for now, hopefully I didn't make too many typos since I am extremely tired. Also, I'll take Victini for this upcoming week (using my main account, Riddikulusness). Thanks for reading!
 
Yeah I hate to have to do the same as the post above me, but I really can't finish it. I am overloaded with work, and I would rather not stay up until 3 am again. I'm trying my best not to make this a habit, but the situations this week and last week have been so bad for me. So sorry, I'll have the post up tomorrow I promise!
 
This was a really fun challenge, and I've spent a good amount of time to make this, so I feel I have a really good understanding the place and use of M-Gardevoir in the current meta. I did this in the suspect test ladder, so I won't use Dugtrio in this review. Also, I didn't face any stall team in all my games. I'll copy your format, Riddikulusness :). So, let's go ahead:



Overall Thoughts

I really enjoyed using M-Gardevoir and building some good and fun stuff with it. As a Wallbreaker, it still hits hard and can put pressure on more defensive builds, as well as, against offense, if they don't carry a Magearna or Celesteela -both of them hate being burned by WoW-, however both of them in its offensive variants can be 2HKOed by Focus Blast after a little chip, and these teams sometimes doesn't carry a M-Garde answer. Virtue of its typing and solid Special Bulk, it can check top-tier threats like non Z-Wild Charge Tapu Koko, Ash-Greninja, Latios, M-Latias, Keldeo, and almost any variant of Tapu Lele, and also can chip SG Magearna in order to make it more easy to revenge kill. A good thing about this mon is the access to WoW, which is very useful to cripple most checks and counters such as M-Scizor, Ferrothorn, Celesteela, and Skarmory while chipping away its best counter, AV Magearna. However, this mon is outclassed by Tapu Lele, which doesn't take your Mega slot and can use a lot of viable sets, as Wallbreaker/Stallbreaker and needs more support to function properly. Also, the tier infested of Steel-types prevents M-Gardevoir spam its strong Fairy-type STAB, and it struggle to touch them if misspredict a coverage move (or fail the Focus Miss) or a WoW.


What Changed from Last Gen for it?:

I feel M-Gardevoir got worse from last gen. To be honest -and with all the pain in my soul-, there is no reason to use it if Tapu Lele can do the same thing better: breaking with its Specs -or even LO- set, cleaning with its scarf set, handling stall (without Duggy) with its Taunt+3 Attacks set or luring Celesteela with Electrium Z. So, you need to have a good reason to use it and build with it properly in order to play to its strenghts.


Building with M-Gardevoir

It was funny and such a challenge build with this mon, but I feel I've made a pretty decent team. So, first, start with the set I've been using in this research.

Gardevoir-Mega (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast

I decided run Timid over Modest with this because it lets you outspeed Max Speed Naive Kyurem-B, non-Scarf Tapu Lele and Jolly Zygarde (I've seen some of them) letting you check them as well as speed tie with unboosted Volcarona and M-Medicham. Attack moves are self explanatory, and I decided to run WoW to cripple most switch-ins bar Heatran, and is a pretty good way to chip away AV Magearna.


Gardevoir-Mega (F) @ Gardevoirite
Ability: Trace
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Will-O-Wisp
- Hyper Voice
- Psyshock
- Focus Blast

Greninja-Ash @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes

Landorus-Therian @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Fly
- Earthquake
- Smack Down

Kartana @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Beast Boost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Leaf Blade
- Smart Strike
- Sacred Sword
- Night Slash

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off

Mantine @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 248 HP / 136 Def / 124 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Defog
- Roost
- Haze


I started the team with a core of M-Garde+Spikes Ash-Ninja+SD Smack Down Flyinium Z Lando-T; I feel these 3 mons have neat offensive sinergy and works really well together. M-Garde beats most checks to Ash-Ninja such as Keldeo, M-Venu, Toxapex, and Fini and burn Magearna and Mantine while AshNinja beats Heatran, Gengar and M-Diancie, pressure Celesteela and offers Spikes support which is great to the wallbreakers/cleaner of the team, then LandoT rounds off the core beating Tangrowth, Ferrothorn and Magearna. Next I added Kartana as the main rkiller, and it is my team best answer against Aurora Veil teams and Webs Teams, also It enjoys Steel, Grass, Fire and Dragon-type gone, so it can clean with its STAB. The former 4 mons doesn't want to face Z-Wild Charge Koko so Ferrothorn. The team was weak to M-ZardY and Z-Celebrate Victini, so I added Haze Mantine to counter those threats. This two last mon gives to the team a great backbone with nearly perfect sinergy, as well as Stealth Rock and Defog support, which comes handy against opposing Spikes/TSpikes stack. The team works very well IMO, but I feel is a bit weak against Z-Focus Blast SG Magearna, Double Dance Magearna with BoltBeam is countered by Ferrothorn.


Another good Partners
Momentum partners are good too, giving free switch-ins to fire off strong STAB moves or cripple mons with WoW. Z-Wild Charge Koko is amazing, forming between those two mons a powerful stallbreak core as well as destroying AV Magearna.

Priority users are great because of M-Garde average speed tier. These two mons with M-Garde forms a good DFS core with neat sinergy.

SG Fightinium Z Magearna is a strong wincon who enjoys M-Garde wallbreaking power wearing down mutual checks and counters.

Partners to take on Steel-types are mandatory. Heatran is good because it can beat any Steel-type in the tier, and Choice Specs Keldeo form a great balance wallbreak core, between these two, can break PexVenuSteela or CelePexTang defensive cores.


Final Thoughts
M-Gardevoir isn't in a good spot right now in OU, facing fierce competition from Tapu Lele and, with the tier filled with Steel-Types, It can have a hard time. However, with the proper support It can put a shit ton of pressure in common cores (PexVenuSteela or CelePexTang), burning and wearing down Celesteela and taking out M-Venu and Toxapex. I would recommend this Pokémon if you're willing to support this mon and play to its strengths, otherwise, Tapu Lele is more self-sufficient.

That's all I have right now. I'm sorry for this late. Thanks for reading! :)
 

Leo

after hours
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MPL Champion
I didn't exactly ladder for this project but I've been spamming Z Victini a lot as of late (I got reqs with it and got to 8 chips in Battle City) so I guess I know enough about it to post something. I didn't see any set formating for this anywhere so I'm just gonna use Riddikulusness' thing.


Overall Thoughts
Victini is a surprisingly effective sweeper in the current meta. It shares some qualities with the superior Volcarona such as the amazing Fire typing, a good set up move and the ability to break past Toxapex with its Psychic STAB. That's where the similarities end though, because Victini has some of its own advantages that give it an edge in some matchups where Volcarona wouldn't be able to do anything. First and foremost, Victini's set up move gives it both a Defense and a Special Defense boost, which, combined with its solid natural bulk, allows it to tank a number of super effective moves aimed at it such as Keldeo's Hydro Pump and Garchomp's Earthquake, as well as being less susceptible to priority moves like Pinsir's Quick Attack and Medicham's Fake Out. Its weakness to Stealth Rock isn't as problematic as Volcarona's, as it usually doesn't need to be at full to set up and doesn't get put in range of priority that easily. Its access to Focus Blast helps it too because it can pop Tyranitar, which would usually wall shattered psyche Volcarona. Despite all of this, it still faces heavy competition from Volcarona due to the latter's versatility, but it shouldn't be considered just another niche sweeper like Porygon Z or Mega Altaria because it's far more effective than that.

What changed from last gen for it?

The introduction of z-moves pretty much made this mon viable, as its Choice Band or mixed sets were considered pretty niche in oras. Right now I wouldn't consider using any of these on a serious team.

Building with Victini

Tiny (Victini) @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Celebrate
- Searing Shot
- Stored Power
- Focus Blast

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 164 SpD / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
- Power Whip

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Trick
- Defog

Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam

Diancie-Mega @ Diancite
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
- Moonblast
- Diamond Storm
- Earth Power
- Nature Power

Landorus-Therian @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 20 SpD / 24 Spe
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- U-turn

Straight forward bulky offense built around zvictini, standard moveset with Celebrate, Searing Shot, Stored Power, and Focus Blast (yes, tbolt is no move). Paired it with Ferrothorn because it can get residual damage on a lot of mons with the combination of Spikes and Leech Seed, provides a Water resist for the team and is a solid mon in general. I still wanted an emergency Defoger in case I needed Victini at full for a sweep so I added Scarf Latios, which also provides crucial Speed control, a Fire resist and something to annoy Chansey. I wanted another Spikes abuser that could pressure offense so I went with Specs Koko. Diancie+Koko was getting some hype at the time I built this so I figured it'd be a cool addition. Also forces mindgames vs opposing hazard setters which gives me an edge in some scenarios. Lastly I needed a Ground resist and rocks so I added defensive Landorus-T, who also acts as a second pivot for Diancie and Victini.

Final Thoughts
Victini is a very effective sweeper in the current meta and I expect it to get more usage as it gets noticed by the playerbase. For now it's still a novelty, which helps it keep its surprise factor and makes it an excellent antimeta pick.
 
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Indigo Plateau

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UU Leader
Tagging analysis geek for the Serp post, but we'll get going with this next week. Sorry for the short delay. I'll be adding this post Mega Garde by PrideMustang and this post on Victini by Leo to the HoF. I'll also add Ditto to the list of mons that you can still choose from any week.


This week we have two mons that enjoy Duggy being gone. Zard-X has seen a bit of a rise in usage, as a lot of things like Toxapex are now running SpDef, more Lando-T's are running offensive, and things like Fini which troubled it before are nowhere to be seen. Terrakion is an interesting breaker and can run sets such as Band, Scarf, and even SD + Rockium. You have until Wednesday, September 27 at 11:59 PM EST GMT -5. Good luck!
 
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I think Leo made a great post on Victini, but I'll leave my thoughts on it here too. Here we go!



Overview:
Victini is a pretty neat late game cleaner in the current meta because of its omni-boosting move, Z-Celebrate. Fire is still a great offensive typing, and Victini stands out from a majority of other fire types as its Psychic typing allows it to actually break through Toxapex. Because its boosting move gives boosts in both defenses, this makes Victini surprisingly hard to revenge kill, with things like CB Zygarde Espeed and Mega Pinsir Quick Attack do very little. After a boost, it makes Stored Power become a 120 BP move that hits very hard with a +1 boost. Victini can set up on common mons like Magearna, Scizor, Tangrowth, Ferrothorn, and Lele. Unfortunately for Victini there are many things that annoy Victini in the current meta. While it has a good offensive typing, its defensive typing leaves a lot to be desired. It's typing leaves it weak to common mons like Greninja, Tyranitar, Zygarde, and Diancie, making it hard for Victini to set up on a lot of non-Passive mons. Its typing also leaves it weak to all forms of entry hazards, meaning hazard removal is almost always necessary with this mon. It faces competition from other late game cleaners, specifically Volcarona, as they share a fire typing. It has its benefits over Volcarona, like not being as weak to hazards as well as being able to hit both Tyranitar and Toxapex at one time, but usually Volc is the better option. Victini also has to rely on Focus Blast to hit mons like Heatran and Tyranitar, and we all know that move will never hit. But overall, Victini is a nice late game cleaner that can surprise a lot of people.

What changed for it from last gen?:
Victini really benefitted from the inception of Z-moves, and in combination with its recent access to Celebrate, makes it a much more viable Pokémon than last gen. Its sets from ORAS aren't really great anymore, pretty much Z-Celebrate is its only good set.

Building with Victini:
Building with Victini was actually harder than I imagined, but I made what I believe to be a pretty solid team. First, here is the set I used:
Z-Celebrate:

Victini @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Searing Shot
- Celebrate
- Focus Blast
- Stored Power

Z-Celebrate gives it a +1 in every stat, making a late game sweep from this thing a lot easier. At +1, it is hard to revenge kill while also hitting pretty hard. Searing Shot is basically a 100 BP Lava Plume, as it also has a 30% burn rate. Focus Blast hits stuff like tyranitar and Heatran hard, which otherwise wall it. Stored power hits a high BP of 120 after Z-Celebrate, allowing it to blow through stuff like Pex and Diancie.

Victini @ Normalium Z
Ability: Victory Star
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Searing Shot
- Celebrate
- Focus Blast
- Stored Power

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Will-O-Wisp
- Ice Beam
- Roost

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Crunch
- Pursuit
- Fire Punch

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Gyro Ball

Tapu Lele @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Psychic Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Moonblast
- Psyshock
- Psychic
- Hidden Power [Fire]

I decided to start off with Victini + Tspikes, so Toxapex fit the bill there. Tspikes help Victini a ton as they residually wear things down to make Victini's job a whole lot easier. I'm running phys def pex since gren is covered by Ferro, and Mega Ttar is scary. I then added Mew, as it deals with Zygarde as well as removing hazards. Banded ttar is the main breaker for the team, and it doubles as a pursuit trapper capable of trapping things that annoy Victini like Chansey and Heatran. It also can trap choice locked Lele, which is annoying for this team. Sp. Def ferrothorn was added to take on Koko, Ash Gren, and non-HP Fire Kyurem, as well as set up rocks. Finally, Scarf Lele was added as a nice form of speed control. A base 101 scarfer isn't needed since Ttar and Toxapex take on Volc just fine. This team is a bit Lele weak, but other than that its solid imo.

Hazards (specifically tspikes and spikes) are so good for victini, as it really enjoys things being worn down.
Pursuit is nice for Victini as trapping Chansey is so nice for it.
Defog support is so nice as Victini is very weak to hazards.
Wallbreakers are great for Victini as they soften things up for a potential late game clean up. Lele in particular is nice since it powers up its Stored Power.


Final Thoughts:
Victini is a surprisingly effective late-game cleaner. Its access to Z-Celebrate makes it a very difficult mon to handle, especially late game. It is very hard to revenge kill because of its boost to both defenses. Stored Power lets it blow through stuff like Pex and Diancie after a boost, which are usually mons that annoy fire types. Unfortunately, Victini finds it hard to set-up due to its lacking defensive typing coupled with its weakness to hazards. It also faces competition from other late game cleaners like Volcarona. Regardless, Victini is a really cool mon atm, and I recommend using this thing if you haven't. Thanks for reading! :]

Apologies for this being late, this wont be a habit I swear! Also, I'll take Charizard-X this week. Ill be using my main account, Riddikulusness.
 

Ktütverde

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The pokemon who only needed two moves



Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

- Iron Head / Earthquake
- Rock Slide / Quick Attack / Earthquake / Double Kick / Toxic

Base stats
HP 91
Attack 129
Defense 90
Sp. Atk. 72
Sp. Def. 90
Speed 108



Intro(quite useless)
Let's have a look at the current meta:
1)there's offense, but offense is the funniest playstyle to build against (some scarfer and priority and bulk and it's ok)
2)Fatbalance ft. CeleToxaTangoClefa and friends
3)Stall
4)Stall

So let's say you are busy and want to play quickbattles without trying to ppstall toxapexes, without getting a headache trying to guess what move to click cuz your opponent has different possible switchins. I can offer you something cool. If you pay me with a 20% luck (tax included), you may get a funny tool that will teach respect to your opponent: the pure beast called terrakion, a legend who has got the best offensive typing and coverage possible, FightingRock (don't forget the luck you accepted to give away concerning the Rock part).



What is Terrakion for in OU?
As many players realized in late ORAS, Banded Stone Edge has become a very unique role, the antistall role. Indeed, there is no pokemon in OU able to consistently tank Banded Stone Edge while helping his stall team a lot: the only good one is Quagsire, and still Clefable is often a better choice over it. The threat of Banded TTar and Banded Terrakion became very serious while ABR stall was rising, because both had a secondary typing allowing them to catch quagsire on the switch and send him back into his pokeball. What made terrakion even more scary was the above average speed, allowing him to act as a revenge killer breaker at the same time, and teams like DANN3 's double banded team made use of this almost perfect wallbreaking capability.

With dugtrio, beating stall with terrakion was impossible, but dug is gone. So our fiery fighting friend deserves a new chance to shine.



Strategies
What can terrakion run effectively to help his team? Here are the best choices:

1)Choice Band: without doubt terrakion's best set, it works just like in ORAS. I used it a lot in SM and is literally awesome, because it packs just enough power to achieve an incredible number of 2hkos, notably versus toxapex and celesteela after rocks, skarm too, clefable sableye tangrowth, to put it in a word, there's almost no switchin to terrakion excepted leftovers Landorus!
Banded Rak is THE breaker and you won't be disappointed. However he is slower than in ORAS (koko gren kartana outspeed him), so you can't put it in every team, I think that the best playstyle for Banded Rak is Balance where you often need ONE breaker since you already have slots for pivots and tanks and have to put powerful mons in few slots. Terrakion is also able to RK bisharp, mimikyu and pinsir which are very troublesome for balance/semistall.

2)Scarf: quite niche imo, simply because infernape is better at this and has the same speed, and a scarfer with 108 speed unable to hit magearna hard enough isn't worth it. However Scarf terrakion outspeeds all the members of common sticky web teams with sticky UP, which is absolutely amazing, and he can click Stone or CC and always get heavy damage due to how good this moves are.

3)SD+RockiumZ (and Rockpolish in last slot): it's the best boosting set imo, and rockpolish is there bc: why not? Terrakion only needs two offensive moves! +2 Continental Crush is a nuke and free kill, however this set is extremely hard to use simply because there are very few opportunities to get a switch and boost, and you get instantly revenge killed: to be honest I quickly stopped using this and brought Banded Rak which had a better synergy in most teams.

4)Stealth rock+Taunt+Double Kick: 252 Atk Terrakion Double Kick (2 hits) vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Excadrill: 300-352 (83.1 - 97.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO awesome



What I did with Terrakion (no one loss)


Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge
- Iron Head
- Quick Attack

Landorus-Therian @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Explosion

Tangrowth @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 28 Def / 228 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Giga Drain
- Knock Off
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Earthquake

Latias @ Latiasite
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Stored Power
- Thunderbolt

Heatran @ Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
EVs: 248 HP / 220 SpD / 40 Spe
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Lava Plume
- Toxic
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock

Togekiss @ Normalium Z
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Air Slash
- Roost
- Heal Bell
- Defog


Here is a build that hasn't lost yet in the SMOU ladder, and is extremely easy to use: Terrakion has an incredible synergy with LandorusT and Latias Mega, since he annihilates their counters: celesteela, toxic clefable, tangrowth, scizor, tyranitar etc. Latias provides a ground immunity, wincondition, Landorus speed control and Terrakion wallbreaking power, so they form the offensive trio with awesome synergy. Then Tangrowth+Tran provide pivot+rocks+multiple resists, and lastly togekiss brings the mandatory healbell and defog to a team were Rak and Tias fear every status ailments.


Main strength+Weakness=Niche
Terrakion is the ideal physical breaker in OU and it's the best reason to use him. However he is forced out very easily making sets like SD hard to use and outshone by kartana. However in a fat meta like the current one, Terrakion has the niche of the best Choice Band user (Banded Zygarde targets bulky offense and balance but is falling in usage due to tangrowth, clefable and the attraction for DD easy wins) and will probably never lose it.

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 244+ Def Scizor-Mega: 139-165 (40.5 - 48.1%) -- 60.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 192+ Def Toxapex: 135-160 (44.4 - 52.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Skarmory: 139-165 (41.7 - 49.5%) -- 85.5% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 132+ Def Celesteela: 229-270 (57.5 - 67.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 214-253 (54.3 - 64.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Quagsire: 234-276 (59.3 - 70%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Choice Band Terrakion Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Medicham-Mega: 166-196 (63.6 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

lol


I hope I showed how good Terrakion can be! I will try to update replays when they are available :)
 
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Terrakion

Overview
Before using Terrakion, I was sceptical. Surely there would be other threats, such as Zygarde and Lando-T, which could do it's job better? However, upon testing it, I was pleasantly surprised. Despite the fact that of the sets I tried, the first was hot garbage, the other two, band and dual dance, were quite effective. Due to its good speed tier, it can be a threat to offensive, balanced and bulky teams alike, and at +2 or with a choice band it has very little defensive counterplay. I'm not going to post a wall of calcs but really switchins are limited to fully defensive Mega Scizor and defensive Lando-T. Additionally, at +2 Terrakion reaches 692 speed which outspeeds every relevant scarfer, although it is still weak to Water Shuriken from Greninja and Bullet Punch from Mega Scizor. Finally, Terrakion's STAB coverage is simply insane- it is only resisted by 3 even remotely OU-relevant mons (MMedi, Mgallade, Nidoking), none of which have the bulk to tank many hits. So overall, despite its flaws, Terrakion can easily be deadly on the right team and is certainly something worth trying.
Additionally, the banning of Arena Trap has benefited Terrakion immensely. Now, it can continue to rack up kills against fatter teams instead of being revenge killed, and can actually pull its weight against stall, although it must rely on the shaky Stone Edge to kill Clefable. Thus, it can continue doing what it does best- being a crazy breaker that is almost impossible to switch into thanks to it's insane STAB coverage. Unfortunately, I have no replays of Terrakion in action, but I will try to fix this at some later time.

Sets
@

Terrakion @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Toxic / Earthquake

+Good speed tier
+Good STAB coverage allows utility moves
-Loses to lando super hard
-Lacking defensive niches
-Underwhelming damage output
Verdict: Do not recommend


@

Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Rock Slide
- Toxic / Earthquake

+Insane damage output 2hkos everything not called defensive lando
+Decent speed tier for such a strong breaker
+Pressures common defensive threats
-Lacks defensive niches
-Prone to revenge killing
-Relies on Edge to break clefable etc.
Verdict: Recommend


@

Terrakion @ Rockium Z / Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

+Good utility- can be a breaker or a cleaner
+Rockium-Z gives z-move to break many checks
+Only needs 2 moves
+Pressures offensive and fatter teams alike
-Even at +2 it still gets killed by Ashninja
-Uses z-move slot, or gets worn too fast with life orb
-Hard to find setup opportunities due to poor typing
-Faces competition from Lando, Zygarde, etc
-Relies on Edge
Verdict: Recommend


Of the sets used, choice band was arguably the most consistent and easiest to fit onto a team, thanks to Terrakion's decent speed tier and insane damage output, however dual dance did have its merits and was still certainly usable. The fact that dual dance does burn a zmove slot unless you want to run Life Orb is annoying, however. Scarf, on the other hand, was really just bad to be honest. Pretty much any other scarfer in the tier does what it does better, bringing better damage output, defensive utility, or the ability to pivot to the table.

Teams
So I built a bunch of teams of varying quality, but I'll just show 2 of them today, each showcasing a different Terrakion set. Couldn't get replays for any cos they were down when I did the majority of testing



Terrakion @ Rockium Z
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Rock Polish
- Close Combat
- Stone Edge

Mawile @ Mawilite
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Play Rough
- Sucker Punch
- Knock Off

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off

Greninja (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Rock Slide
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 156 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled
- Defog

Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Heat Wave
- Roost

So basically I started with DD Terrak + Maw, as Terrak really appreciates the sheer breaking power that Maw brings to the table, weakening common defensive cores so that Terrak can get a rock polish and win at the end of the game. Both appreciate the ability to pressure lando, too. Ferrothorn was added for a spiker to put even more pressure on the defensive backbones of teams, and as a solid ashninja check (something terrakion really struggles with). Greninja was added to help with volc and just generally be a nice revenge killer, and the rest of the team rounds off defensive coverage and helps with a number of threats



Terrakion @ Choice Band
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stone Edge
- Close Combat
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide

Scizor @ Scizorite
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 248 HP / 64 Atk / 124 Def / 16 SpD / 56 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bullet Punch
- U-turn
- Roost

Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Haze
- Recover
- Toxic Spikes

Zygarde @ Leftovers
Ability: Aura Break
EVs: 240 HP / 152 SpD / 116 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Thousand Arrows
- Protect
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SpD
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Power Whip
- Knock Off



Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 240 HP / 156 Def / 112 Spe
Timid Nature
- Ice Beam
- Will-O-Wisp
- Soft-Boiled
- Defog

This team was built around using tspikes + terrak to whittle the other team down, faciliting a sweep from either zygarde or scizor. Building is pretty self explanatory so yeah. Was initially DD Terrak but lacked the immediate breaking power needed so I switched to CB which worked a whole heap better. Could prb play around with sets and whatnot


(yes i've ignored scarf terrakion that's bc its bad)
Hazard setters-

These make breaking easier for CB Terrak, or allow DD Terrak to perform either of it's roles with ease. The former 2 provide offensive utility and enjoy having things weakened while the latter 2 can check ashninja, a big threat to terrak, whilst setting spikes / tspikes
Stuff checked by Lando-
etc
Given that Defensive Lando is the only "true" defensive switchin to Terrakion, mons that are checked by it make good teammates. They can either chip lando to the point where terrak kills or terrak can do the same for them.
Strong Defensive Backbones-
/
/
/
etc.
Terrakion is super prone to getting revenge killed by the likes of SD Scizor, Ash Greninja, Protean Ninja, Koko, Scarf Lele, etc. These defensive backbones allow the player to have something to fall back on to check the fast revenge killers that threaten terrak. I'm not saying make every terrak team balance but using a core such as the above is certainly one way to ensure that terrak won't get revenge killed as easily.
Cleaners-
etc. (I'm sure you know what a cleaner is)
These mons can all benefit from Terrakion's lack of switchins to clean up a team late game. In addition most scarfers do a similar job.

Breakers-
etc.
Strong breakers can do one of 2 things for Terrak. If the set is CB, or one was to intend on clicking SD in a game, these breakers can work in tandem with terrak to absolutely shred fat teams. On the other hands, if one was to intend on clicking Rock Polish these breakers simply make Terrakion's job easier. Bear in mind that if the breaker requires a zmove then Terrak must run LO.


Conclusion
Terrakion is surprisingly effective in the SM OU metagame. It has benefited immensely from the removal of dugtrio, allowing it to actually pressure bulkier teams now, and is very difficult for practically every build to switch into. Even dual dance sets can put in work, and can both break and clean. However, Terrakion falters due to the ease at which it can be revenge killed by faster threats and priority, most notably ashninja and scizor-m. I would highly recommend trying this mon out, as you may well be pleasantly surprised as I was.

 
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Indigo Plateau

is a Community Leaderis a Top Tiering Contributoris a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion
UU Leader
Unfortunate that we couldn't get a Zard-X submission, but I'll leave it open, making the list now Ditto, Serperior, and Zard-X. I'll try to take Zard-X whenever I can but have been pretty busy as of lately. After talking over it, we decided to add this post by Qplaz on Terrakion to the HoF.



This week we have two hard hitters. Tyranitar has seen a spike in usage after the Arena Trap ban, being able to now run Choice Band and break past bulky teams without getting easily revenge killed. Gengar enjoys the lack of ghost resists in the tier, being able to fire off powerful Shadow Balls and also enjoys coverage like FB / TBolt / Icy Wind. The deadline for this week is Wednesday, October 4 at 11:59 PM EDT GMT -4. Good luck!
 

"Oh, how the mighty has fallen"
Mega Charizard X
Synopsis
Mega Charizard X, once a Mega that reigned supreme, is now condemned to a state of mediocrity. As always, it is a superbly powerful 'Mon and has the ability to demolish a few teams from the get go. Flare Blitz is still savage strike that blows back anyhing that doesn't resist it, with Dragon Claw as a reliable, strong, consistent alternate STAB. However as of now, that it's not easy for it to operate anymore with a wide array of Scarfers, fast mons in general, actual switch-ins, and increased opportunity cost. Despite it's many hardships, it has recently seen a slight surge in usage with the potency of it's 3 Atks + Roost set which may be enough to legitimize it as a prevalent threat.

Thoughts and Set
Dragon Dance kinda blows when there are other 'Mons that sweep a lot more efficiently than it such as, Z-Gyarados, Volcarona, even Z-Celebrate Victini. As I said before, 3 Atks + Roost is where it's at. It's nigh unwallable with the extra moveslot for Earthquake so it can threaten Heatran, (Mega) Tyranitar, and Toxapex, the latter of which is donning more specially defensive inclined sets. It's also a pretty nice emergency switch-in to threats such as, Mega Scizor, Kartana, Magearna, Tapu Koko, Tapu Bulu, Zapdos, Volcarona, the list goes on.
Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Roost

Team

Magearna @ Leftovers
Ability: Soul-Heart
EVs: 200 HP / 56 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Shift Gear
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt

Landorus-T @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 240 HP / 216 Def / 52 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stealth Rock
- Hidden Power Ice

Charizard @ Charizardite X
Ability: Blaze
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Flare Blitz
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Roost

Tapu Koko @ Electrium Z
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Wild Charge
- Volt Switch
- Taunt
- Hidden Power Ice

Latios @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Psyshock
- Trick
- Defog

Greninja @ Choice Specs
Ability: Battle Bond
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Dark Pulse
- Water Shuriken
- Spikes

This team was built around a core of Mega Charizard X + DD Magearna, as it smashes through a large portion of Magearna's checks. I wanted to implement Spikes since it makes the aforementioned teammates all the more deadlier, so Choice Specs Ash-Greninja came next to form a wicked wallbreaking duo with Charizard. Landorus-T was an easy addition for it's defensive qualities and Stealth Rock, while Choice Scarf Latios offered Defog and immediate speed control. Finally, Z-Tapu Koko was a cool addition to apply extra pressure on stall + offense and another source of raw speed. An alternative is: Z-Hydro Pump Ash-Greninja then moving Choice Specs to Tapu Koko. This change would make setting Spikes less punishing for you while maintaining a wallbreaker.

Teammates


Charizard greatly appreciates residual damage so Flare Blitz takes out the target quicker and brings about less recoil onto you (basically breaking becomes easier). Spikes and Toxic Spikes are an excellent way to achieve chip damage. All four of the displayed 'Mons are decent teammates that set those entry hazards. Ash-Greninja forms a nice wallbreaking core, Greninja can possibly lure in a few of Charizard's obstacles with it's movepool, while Ferrothorn and Toxapex pose good defensive synergy.


A defensive backbone to fall back on is crucial, lest Charizard falls prey to the many 'Mons faster than it, that it's excellent typing does not naturally check. Landorus-T and Magearna cover a large portion of the metagame defensive, the latter of which also sets up Stealth Rocks. Mew can setup Stealth Rocks or Defog them away to make life easier for Zard, while Tangrowth is an alright overall glue.


Defog is mandatory and these are just three examples that can provide it. Latios can function as a Scarfer that draws in Steel-types and slow Fairies that Charizard can prey on, while Zapdos weakens bulky Water-types and beats common hazard setters.

Conclusion
Mega Charizard X is indeed a very cool mon, but it has a few difficulties to solidify itself as a constant threat. However, it's on a rise with the effectiveness of it's 3 Atks set and will, quite possibly, soon prove to be a devastating menace
 
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Tyranitar has quickly become one of my favorite mons to use in the meta, so let's get talking about it!



Overview:
Tyranitar has been a mon that is getting very popular compared to early SM. Its ability to Pursuit trap many threats like the Latis, choice locked Lele, and other weakened mons like Kyub and Heatran. Backed with a choice band and a massive attack stat, this mon hits like a truck. Because of this combined with Pursuit, Tyranitar forces a lot of bad situations for the opponent. Its offensive typing is pretty solid, with only fighting types, magearna, and mega mawile resisting its dual STAB combo. Because of the banning of Dugtrio, it can actually get more than one kill vs. stall now. Its defensive typing, while not good, allows it to check stuff like Heatran, non-Bug Buzz Volc, and the Latis. Its ability, Sand Stream, gives ttar (along with all rock types) a 1.5x boost to its Sp. Def, allowing it to better take hits from Volc, Kyub, and Heatran. Not everything is great for ttar though. It is incredibly slow, being outsped by stuff like Magearna and Specs Pelipper. As stated before, its defensive typing is not good, leaving it weak to common types like Fairy, Steel, and Water. Some Pokémon like Lopunny, Greninja, Lele, and Lando are all common, and can all beat ttar 1v1. Despite this, ttar is a really solid mon in the current meta that teams should be prepped for.

What changed for it from last gen?:
A lot has changed for ttar from last gen, both good and bad. Starting off with the good changes, Ttar now has to deal with Keldeo much less now, as it is not nearly as common or viable as last gen. It takes advantage of mons that are much more common this gen, like Kyub, Heatran, and Volc. It also no longer has to deal with Dugtrio like last gen. Most of the changes from last gen weren't great though. It now has to deal with top-tier threats that weren't around last gen like Ash Gren, Mega Mawile, Magearna, and Bulu. Sand as a playstyle, while still somewhat viable, is nowhere near as good, since non-Lead Excadrill isn't very viable. Rain is much more common, and while it can mess with rain with sand, it does get annoyed by Swampert and Specs Pelipper. There are probably more I'm missing, but these are all I'm putting for now. Overall, Ttar has changed a lot, mainly getting worse from last gen.

Teambuilding with Tyranitar:
I've used this mon a lot recently, so I have a good amount of teams for it. I'll add more teams later, I'm pressed for time rn. This is the team I mainly used on the ladder and had the most fun with.

Team 1:
Volcarona @ Buginium Z
Ability: Swarm
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Fire Blast
- Quiver Dance
- Bug Buzz
- Substitute

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stone Edge
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Fire Punch

Mew @ Leftovers
Ability: Synchronize
EVs: 252 HP / 72 Def / 184 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Defog
- Ice Beam
- Roost
- Earth Power

Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Sassy Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Stealth Rock
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Leech Seed

Tapu Koko @ Choice Specs
Ability: Electric Surge
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Dazzling Gleam

Greninja @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protean
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- U-turn
- Ice Beam
- Gunk Shot
- Rock Slide

So sub swarm volc is a pretty heat set that sacrifices the ability to hit stuff like Toxapex and Heatran, and in return gains a way to lower its own health to put it into swarm range so it can nuke something with a Z-Bug Buzz (+1 z bug buzz ohkos stuff like Zard X and Gyarados for example). Ttar is a great partner for it since it can weaken and potentially trap Heatran. Ferro provides rocks and a gren/koko check. Specs Koko and Scarf Gren provide voltturn and solid breakers/revenge killers, respectively. Defog 2 atks mew helps with Heatran while also removing hazards.

Cleaners that benefit from Ttars trapping and breaking are ttars best partners.
Tspikes + pursuit is pretty nasty from what ive found, making Pex a great partner. Pex also checks a lot of things ttar is weak to like Lopunny and Keldeo.
Voltturn + heavy hitter has been a great core since BW, and with ttar its no different.


Conclusion:
Tyranitar is a very solid and splashable mon with limited defensive counterplay in the meta. It can bring great support to a lot of mons with pursuit and its great wallbreaking power. While it has fallen a bit from grace from ORAS, it is still incredible atm, and should be utilized even more in my opinion.
 
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