Week 8--Tyranitar: Or the Godzilla of Pokemon

Tyranitar
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Vulpix says:

This week’s Pokemon of the Week is Tyranitar! Thank goodness, as it’s one of my favorites!!!

I’ve always loved the Pokemon that basically look like giant tanky dinosaurs. For Gen 1 it was Lapras. Gen 2 it was Tyranitar. I also love Aggron, Haxorus, Tyrantrum, Krookodile, etc… just because of how cool they LOOK. Tyranitar and other tanky dino types often tend to have pretty high defenses and HP, but low speed. That’s usually the kind of Pokemon I’ve enjoyed running the most without being super competitive, though they become even more terrifying when you start tacking on all those extra stats.

Tyranitar is a Gen 2 Pokemon who is Rock and Dark dual typed. It’s signature ability is Sandstream, though it has Unnerve as a hidden ability. As a Mega, however, Sandstream is all that it gets. Its base stats are 100/134/110/95/100/61 for a total of 600, one of the highest non legendary numbers in the game. As a Mega, the base stats rise to 100/164/150/95/120/71 (kind of a waste to give it speed, if you ask me, but there you have it). This one of the beastliest pokemon there is, particularly when you consider its extra high defenses. Properly raised, Tyranitar can pretty much withstand its weaknesses, and is nothing to sneeze at, either.

I'm way too cool for your Close Combat. 

There are a couple of ways to build this one (well, hundreds really, but two really good ones, in my book). You can set up Tyranitar as a Trick Room monster, or you can raise it as a stall/wall/tank. In either case you can take or leave the Mega, depending on the requirements of the team that you are using. Tyranitar has a GOOD Mega, but there are others that might better suit your purposes, and that’s fine too.

Tankitar “Hannibal”

Item: Leftovers

Nature: Impish (Down SpAtk, Up Defense)

Ability: Sandstorm

EVs: 252 Def, 252 HP, 6 SpDef,

Moveset:

Earthquake/Stealth Rock

Stone Edge

Crunch/Roar

Protect

You can run this one of two ways. You can either set it up as an attacker with Earthquake and Crunch, or set up your Stealth Rock entry hazard and use roar to make them walk all over it. Rock Slide is awesome on Tyranitar, but generally speaking, since you lose out on the flinch opportunity due to Tyranitar’s low speed it’s kind of wasted on him. Protect is a must to get the best usage out of your leftovers.

Tyranitar, giving not even one.

Trick Room Tyranitar

Item: Iron Ball

Nature: Brave (Down Speed, Up Attack)

Ability: Sandstorm

EVs: 252 Attack, 252 HP, 4 Def

Moveset:

Earthquake

Rock Slide

Fling

Thunder Fang

Fling was Raikou's idea, but after I looked it up I didn't even mind stealing it. With Dark type STAB and the base power of Iron Ball as a Fling item, the strength of this attack is 195. That's ridiculously overpowered. Earthquake because Earthquake. Thunder Fang for type coverage. Rock Slide instead of Stone Edge now because in a TR situation, you'll get the flinch chance. Tyranitar is BEAST on a Trick Room team. Enjoy!

"IRON BALL! GO!!!"

Raikou says:

Raikou here once again for another POTW. Side note, my promotion is going well, I got transferred to a new store, so that is awesome!

Now let's get to the  Pokémon of the week! This week it's none other than…..TYRANITAR! This Generation 2 Pseudo Legendary-Power House has been known be able to fulfill many necessary spots on teams. Ever since he was introduced in Gold and Silver he has ben my fav poke from that gen. With it's unique Dark-Rock type, it gives it good stab options, as well as a pretty decent move pool for coverage. He is lovable beast that can do so many different things.

I have several builds that I like to run. Hopefully you enjoy these sets, and as always, if you ever want help building one, or want certain egg moves, I can give you an egg that'll have the egg moves you need! :)

Speedy-Power House (T-tar) @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Sandstream-Unnerve

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed

Jolly/Adamant

- Rock Slide/Stone Edge

- Crunch

- Earthquake

- Ice Fang/Ice Punch

This set is a fun one to use, and is decently common. The ability is depending on preference, as well as how it will sync in with the rest of your team. Nature wise, it again depends on what you think you need. I opt for Jolly most of the time because his attack is already pretty awesome, but it needs as much speed as possible to make sure it outspends a good majority of the threats on other teams. Rockslide or Stone Edge can be your own personal choice, lack of power for accuracy, or vise versa. Its all up to you. As for Ice punch or Ice Fang, Ice Punch is strictly a previous gen move tutor, so if you can obtain that as well as good IVs, then more power to you. You have another option you can do here, which is opt in for Choice Band for more damage.

Special-Power House (T-tar) @ Life Orb

Ability: Sandstream-Unnerve

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Sp Atk / 252 Speed

Timid/Modest

- Dark Pulse

- Flamethrower

- Ice Beam

- Thunderbolt

This set here is always fun! Most of the time this set will catch your opponent of guard because they will mostly expect T-tar to either be a scarf or d-dance/mega set. And this is one huge advantage for you. Upon Team preview, you ail be able to see which their Physical wall is, and make predictions accordingly. This set here can be used as a specs set if you want, but LO does its work on its own, and it gives you options, which is always nice. If you want a slower set you can run it 252 HP, 252 Sp Atk rest in one of the defenses. If you do this I recommend running Sandstream over unnerve just because it boosts your Sp Def, and gives you a little more staying power, and although it doesn't need to be said, this second option for Special T-tar is good for TR.

They'll never see me coming. 

D-Dance (T-tar) @ Life Orb/Tyranitarite

Ability: Sandstream-Unnerve

EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed

Jolly/Adamant

- Rock Slide/Stone Edge

- Crunch

- Dragon Dance

- Earthquake

- Ice Fang/Ice Punch

Now yes, I do realize I put 5 moves up. The reason for that it is your choice what move you sacrifice in order to have Dragon Dance on here. This set can be used for either a regular D-dance sweeper, or for set-up for mega t-tar, which is also fun. On this set for a sweeper, I prefer Unnerve so that the opponent can't catch you off guard and living your next attack after living a sitrus berry, or if you run into a harvest rest-o chesto set poke. Rest is self explanatory

Oooo... somebody's in trouble!

Special Wall (T-tar) @ Assault Vest

Ability: Sandstream

EVs: 156 HP / 200 Atk / 200 Sp Def

Careful

- Rock Slide/Stone Edge

- Crunch

- Earthquake

- Ice Fang/Ice Punch

This set here is one of my favorites, and it is the one I am currently running. Between the Assault Vest, and the Sand being up, this set can make it so T-tar can take pretty much any special hit, while still hitting everything really hard. Now if you prefer to be more of a wall with less power behind it, you can take some out of its attack and put them in HP and Sp def to add to the bulk. I like to Baton Pass Aqua ring onto this T-tar to give it some healing power as well. :)

Hit me. I dare ya. I'll even let you.

Some closing comments. T-tar can also be used as a Stealth Rocks set up support, and it even has TR options, which our Admin Vulpix will be going into, so I didn't want to cover that set at fear of making things a little to redundant. You guys can always ask any of us for help. And if you like these let us know, we will do our best to keep these things coming your way.

Remember, for a limited time, if you share our Facbeook page on your timeline and comment on our POTW post, you can receive a free Pokemon all perfectly bred and ready to be added to your team. Don't miss out!
See you next week!