Gen 8 Tornadus [WIP]

[GoldCat]

[OVERVIEW]

• Most of RU's Flying resistant Pokemon such as Rhyperior, Registeel, and Stakataka lack reliable recovery and are heavily dependent on Leftovers to stay healthy, which Tornadus takes advantage of like no other with Knock Off. Furthermore, Tornadus has a wide arsenal of coverage options to make it even harder to fully wall.
• Sporting a great Speed tier, Tornadus outspeeds key Pokemon such as Flygon, Mimikyu, and Celebi.
• Tornadus can either run a physical-based wallbreaker set that uses reliable STAB in Acrobatics and coverage to wallbreak at the cost of taking damage from Stealth Rock, or an offensive pivot set that whittles down the opposition throughout the game with Knock Off and relies more on its teammates to deal heavy damage.
• It also has two great abilities in Defiant and Prankster. The former can be used to gain an Attack boost from Defog and prevents Incineroar's Intimidate from lowering its Attack stat. While Prankster isn't seen as often, it brings utility in priority Tailwind and Defog to certain builds.
• Tornadus's pure Flying-typing lacks the useful resistances compared to Crobat and Noivern, which can make it harder to get onto the field and makes it a worse check to Pokemon such as Golisopod and Roserade.
• What's more, Tornadus falls short of outspeeding common Pokemon such as Crobat, Noivern, Starmie, and Raikou.

[SET]
name: Acrobatics
move 1: Acrobatics
move 2: Superpower
move 3: Knock Off
move 4: U-turn
item: No Item
ability: Defiant
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

• Superpower deals a heavy blow to the many Steel- and Rock-types like Steelix, Registeel, and Rhyperior, and outright 2HKOes Stakataka.
• Knock Off removes crucial items such as Leftovers and Heavy-Duty Boots from defensive Pokemon such as Steelix, Diancie, and Gastrodon, which makes it much easier to put them in the KO range of Tornadus's attacks. It also hits Steel-types such as Metagross and Bronzong that aren't weak to Superpower for super effective damage.
• Tornadus forces switches which it can take advantage of by providing free switches with U-turn to teammates.
• No item gives Acrobatics full power and comes with the added bonus of weakening Knock Off and making Poltergeist fail.
• Defiant gives an Attack raise from Incineroar's Intimidate and common moves like Defog.

[SET]
name: Offensive Pivot
move 1: Hurricane
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Grass Knot
item: Heavy-Duty Boots
ability: Defiant
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

• Knock Off removes critical items such as Leftovers and Heavy-Duty Boots from Tornadus's common switch-ins such as Registeel, Diancie, and Milotic, which make it much easier for Tornadus to eventually outlast them.
• U-turn is perfect for free switches to Tornadus's wallbreaker teammates on its switch-ins.
• Grass Knot 2HKOes Rhyperior and hits Stakataka for decent damage. It also lets Tornadus 2HKO or OHKO bulky Water-types such as Milotic, Jellicent, and Gastrodon.
• Tailwind and Defog are also viable support options in the last slot. Tailwind is a great tool for more offensive builds to aid a slower teammate or let one of its teammates, revenge kill a threat, or clean up late-game when it otherwise wouldn't be possible without the Speed boost. Defog, on the other hand, can come in clutch if emergency hazard removal is ever needed but Tornadus shouldn't ever be a team's sole hazard remover due to its poor matchup against most entry hazard setters.
• Defiant raises Tornadus's Attack from Incineroar's Intimidate and Defog for an extra sting to its Knock Off and U-turn. When using Tailwind or Defog, Prankster should be used instead for the added priority.
• A Timid nature is preferred to not reduce Tornadus's already average bulk, and Knock Off and U-turn aren't meant to do a high amount of damage in the first place.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Checks and Counters
===================

**Rock-types**: Diancie, in particular, is one of the sturdiest answers to Tornadus, as it takes little from Superpower, and Grass Knot is a meager 20 Base Power against it. Rhyperior and Stakataka are never OHKOed and easily KO back but they can't directly switch into Grass Knot and Superpower, respectively. However, none of them enjoy losing Leftovers to Knock Off and are much more easily worn down without them.

**Steel-types**: Common Steel-types such as Registeel, Steelix, Metagross, and Bronzong can stomach any blow from Tornadus, and either cripple it with a status move or retaliate with a heavy hit of their own.

**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-types such as Milotic, Seismitoad, Gastrodon, and Jellicent comfortably switch into physical Tornadus but need to watch out for Grass Knot on the pivot set because they're either 2HKOed, OHKOed, or, in Milotic's case, 2HKOed once its item is removed. Vaporeon is less common but can take on any Tornadus set with ease.

**Faster Pokemon**: Common Pokemon such as Crobat, Noivern, Starmie, and Raikou and Choice Scarf users like Flygon, Heracross, and Gardevoir can all outspeed and revenge kill Tornadus if weakened, which it often will be without Heavy-Duty Boots.

**Stealth Rock**: Acrobatics Tornadus will quickly get worn down by Stealth Rock if they're kept up on the field and likewise for pivot sets if its Heavy-Duty Boots are ever removed by Knock Off, Corrosive Gas, or other means from Pokemon like Golisopod and Vileplume.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[GoldCat, 359771]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]