ADV OU Spotlight: Tyranitar

Introduction

Tyranitar is the best Pokémon in ADV, no questions asked. But, if you play ADV even a little, you probably already know that. You might know that Tyranitar has a BST equal to or greater than over 50% of Uber Pokémon in ADV. You might know that Tyranitar has an excellent movepool. You might know that Tyranitar is by far the best sweeper in ADV OU with no tried and true complete stop to the Dragon Dance set. But, how can a Pokémon with such mediocre defensive typing truly be the undisputed king of ADV? Yes, Rock / Dark typing gives Tyranitar useful resistances to Normal- and Flying-type attacks, as well as a very useful Psychic-type immunity. However, one would think that being weak to Surf would leave Tyranitar weak to bulky Water-types such as Milotic and Suicune, or that being weak to Earthquake would make Dugtrio and Swampert premier answers to Tyranitar. Why isn't this necessarily the case?

Before looking at Tyranitar's movepool, stats, and common sets, we need to look at Sand Stream. Tyranitar's sand does so much in ADV. Sand Stream prevents Endure + Reversal teams from being viable; if you don't believe me, look at ADV UU. Sand Stream is also a major detriment to the defensive capabilities of a ton of Pokémon in ADV, most notably bulky Water-types. With sand, Suicune and Milotic are poor answers to Dragon Dance and Choice Band Tyranitar, especially since they're always a flinch away from death. Tyranitar's sand obviously doesn't just affect its checks, though. With sand, suddenly Choice Band Pokémon that aren't immune to sand are on a clock, common examples including Salamence and Heracross. With sand, suddenly Raikou is a less dangerous special sweeper, while Snorlax and Regice are less effective special walls. Finally, Sand Stream greatly benefits Aerodactyl and Flygon because a lot of their checks lose Leftovers in the sand.

Sets to Use

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 16 HP / 204 Atk / 120 Def / 168 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Dragon Dance
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power Bug

Tyranitar is the best Pokémon in ADV, and its Dragon Dance set is the best sweeper in the tier. There are no hard counters to this set. Tyranitar's excellent stats and interesting defensive typing give it many chances to set up against common Pokémon in the metagame, such as Jirachi, Snorlax without Earthquake, Choice Band Salamence locked into Hidden Power Flying, and dozens of other things. Let's talk about the moveset. Earthquake + Rock Slide provide excellent neutral coverage, while Hidden Power Bug clocks Claydol and Flygon, both of whom are immune and resistant to Earthquake and Rock Slide, respectively. The EV spread allows Tyranitar to survive Jolly CB Dugtrio Earthquake while also giving it a 69% chance to survive Meteor Mash from Metagross without Choice Band, as well as Choice Band Salamence's Earthquake.

The difficulty of defeating this set is that it requires zero or very little team support to cut through a team. Other than bulky Ground-types such as Swampert and Flygon, nothing else can continually switch into and check Dragon Dance Tyranitar. Most other checks are demolished. However, Tyranitar is so diverse that even its own Dragon Dance set is diverse! Swampert and Flygon need to watch out for the admittedly uncommon Hidden Power Grass and Ice Beam, respectively, that may be used over Hidden Power Bug. Also, if Tyranitar uses a Liechi Berry and Double-Edge over Hidden Power Bug, then Swampert and Flygon will both lose.

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 188 HP / 240 Atk / 80 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power Grass
- Rock Slide

Mixed Tyranitar is a very interesting Pokémon. It's obviously not trying to sweep you, but it's very hard to switch into if you don't have a Milotic or a Suicune. Unlike Dragon Dance Tyranitar, you will probably only see this guy on more bulky/stall teams. This set's two main functions are trapping Gengar and breaking down walls. Trapping Gengar is easy since it can't defeat Tyranitar without Focus Punch, which is uncommon, a Modest nature with a lot of Special Attack and Giga Drain, which is also uncommon, or some luck with Hypnosis and sleep turns. After Tyranitar has defeated Gengar, hopefully without a burn from Will-O-Wisp, then mixed Tyranitar truly begins to do work. With the exception of Flygon, who has to watch out for an Ice Beam that may be used over Rock Slide, not much can switch into this set. Sure, Milotic and Suicune are safe switch-ins on paper, but mixed Tyranitar is almost always used with Spikes, thus making them unreliable answers over time.

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SpA)
- Earthquake
- Focus Punch
- Hidden Power Bug
- Rock Slide

Choice Band Tyranitar is a monster capable of 2HKOing the entire ADV OU metagame. There isn't much to see about this set, other than the fact that with correct prediction, Choice Band Tyranitar is going to be doing serious damage. Bulky Water-types, with the exception of Swampert, can't switch in for fear of being destroyed by Rock Slide; Focus Punch 2HKOs Flygon, Skarmory, and Swampert on a predicted switch; Hidden Power Bug defeats Claydol and Celebi, while Earthquake is a good coverage move alongside Rock Slide.

Beating Tyranitar

Before you can beat Tyranitar, you have to know what set it is running. Other than the sets outlined in this article, there are other sets you need to watch out for, like a set with Substitute and Focus Punch, whether it be the specially oriented TyraniBoah or just a physical attacker. Once you have a good idea of what Tyranitar your opponent is using, then you need to formulate a plan. Stall teams generally don't have a proactive way of dealing with Dragon Dance Tyranitar. Keeping your primary Tyranitar answer healthy and saving Gengar to status Tyranitar are some good ways for a stall team to deal with this threat. Poisoning Tyranitar or phazing it around with Spikes works too. More offensive teams don't have the luxury of being able to near-perfectly counter every Pokémon like stall does; they generally want to limit the number of opportunities that Tyranitar can set up a Dragon Dance, thus limiting its sweeping potential.

Against mixed Tyranitar, it is largely a prediction game if you don't have a bulky Water-type that isn't Swampert, or Flygon if the mixed Tyranitar lacks Ice Beam. Milotic and Suicune can consistently check mixed Tyranitar while forcing it to switch out; Flygon can as well, but it never uses a recovery move. If you don't have Milotic, Suicune, or Flygon, then you have to predict well. The same can be said for Choice Band Tyranitar, but Choice Band Tyranitar is a much more devastating attacker than mixed Tyranitar.

Two great initial switch-ins to Tyranitar are Swampert and Flygon. Both of these guys can switch into any of the 3 listed sets with ease and retaliate with a strong, STAB Earthquake. Although mixed Tyranitar carries Hidden Power Grass, it is important to know that Hidden Power Grass doesn't OHKO Swampert. This may not seem important, but Hidden Power Grass will put Swampert into Torrent range, thus allowing it to OHKO with Hydro Pump. As mentioned earlier, Flygon just needs to watch out for Ice Beam. Bulky Water-types are decent answers to Tyranitar in the early-game, but, as the game progresses, bulky Water-types will have a difficult time continuously checking Tyranitar while also performing other roles for their team.

Dugtrio is also an excellent answer to Tyranitar, especially if it is an Adamant Dugtrio. Dragon Dance Tyranitar only has one move that will OHKO a Dugtrio switch-in, mixed Tyranitar can't OHKO Dugtrio without a crit, and Dugtrio can switch into a predicted Rock Slide from the Choice Band set. Jolly Dugtrio doesn't have the luxury of OHKOing Tyranitar, but Tyranitar will die most of the time after a layer of Spikes.

Get Out There!

And watch out for Tyranitar.

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