Tyranitar

Tyranitar is a Pokemon that has proven to be valuable since he first came into the game. I was introduced to him in 4th generation where his sand was fierce and the most commonly used weather. In 5th generation we all know that Tyranitar is necessary more than just extremely viable because of the weather wars that were introduced with Drizzle and Drought being available in OU. I refer to Tyranitar as Mr. Inelastic, because now not only does he play his versatile and demanding roles on several teams, but he is needed to control the weather. With his sand stream comes the Pokemon that are extremely effected by sand. In DW OU there are more Pokemon available that abuse his Sand for bulk, doubling speed, evasion, or even just as solely a weather controller. Tyranitar's HP, Attack, Defense, Special Defense, Special Attack, move pool, ability, and Special Defense sand boost all make him very versatile. So in this thread I will point out sets that are standing out in DW OU.



Base Stats
HP: 100
Attack: 134
Defense: 110
Special Attack: 95
Special Defense: 100
Speed: 61

Mr.Inelastic (Tyranitar) (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 104 Def / 152 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Pursuit
- Crunch / Fire Blast / Stone Edge
- Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam / Roar / Super Power

Tyranitar is the rock on which many teams stand literrally. We all know his Sand in necessary for winning a weather war, however this set provides much more as you can see. First it provides the team with Stealth Rocks, which are nearly as Inelastic (The demand won't fall for this object no matter what state the meta-game is in) as Tyranitar on the majority of teams. It is so necessary because it breaks sturdy, multiscale, sashes, and may do from 6.25% damage to 50% damage on various threats. With Chandelure running about in the meta-game Pursuit on Tyranitar is a must instead of a pleasure. Crunch is always a great stab that deals enough damage to break the average substitute. Without many Scizor right now in the meta, because Genesect is so much more popular, Tyranitar can add to his coverage by having the move Ice Beam for the various dragons that are still commonly used. Tyranitar's over all bulk allows each move to be very effective. Roar is a personal favorite of mine which roars out sweepers that your team just might not want to handle at maximum HP. This allows you to use SR and watch the opponent set up their potential sweeper only to be roared out. When in doubt use roar. Tyranitar is a Pokemon people will attempt to set up on constantly so why not? Don't think about dragon tail because SR+ Roar does damage and phases out substitute Pokemon. Super Power is the last slash, because it serves a purpose to dent many teams and can do major damage to Terrakion, Tyranitar, and Excadrill on the switch or if they choose to set up.

(Tyranitar) (F) @ Choice Scarf/Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Pursuit
- Crunch
- Stone Edge
- Superpower

Choice Scarf Tyranitar might not be the first pick for many people, but its still viable in DW OU just because of the surprise factor. Its not as effective as it is in BW OU currently, but still does his job in most cases. I've seen a few Choice Scarf Tyranitars, which means regardless of all the power whores in the meta-game he is still useful to many people. A mixed Scarf tyranitar with either Fire Blast or Ice Beam in Pursuits place is always an option for more coverage with Hasty/Naive Nature Tyranitar.

Tyranitar (F) @ Chople Berry
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Crunch
- Fire Blast / Stealth Rock
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave

This Tyranitar set is often unexpected and hated by most. Tyranitar is slow but the odds are if the opponents speed is 1/6 of what it is and their chances of being mobile are crippled then he's extremely fast. This set provides him with bulk and coverage, which is all Tyranitar needs to make a huge dent in a team. If your team needs rocks of course this set can do that while still crippling the speed of extremely fast Pokemon that think they can handle a simple lead Tyranitar. Tyranitar in this meta-game needs to either serve one purpose or be diverse and this is great coverage and has great utility on a team.

Counters/Checks

Tyranitar has an enormous amount of Checks, but fewer completely counters. For example: Plenty of Pokemon can OHKO Tyranitar, but not every check can switch into Tyranitar without fearing a base 95 super effective attack or base 134 Crunch/Super Power.
Counters: Terrakion, Conkeldurr, Heatran, Bulky Breloom, Bulky Waters, and Hippowdon. They all have the potential to switch in on Tyranitar and nearly OHKO him even with Chople Berry.
Everyone knows that Tyranitar isn't hard to check at all, but at the same time he's still a great Pokemon, because of what he adds to the team.
Checks: Fighting types, Ground types, Steel types, and powerful Grass types. Although this is true Tyranitar still has the capability to roar a team around and cripple the opponents team with Thunder Wave so he can still be hard to deal with for those reasons and his massive bulk.

I tried to gather all of the most viable Tyranitar sets with standard spreads, however lets be cognizant or aware at the fact that Tyranitar has a large amount of sets and variations. Many people can still run custom spreads and sets such as Sub, Dragon Dance, or Defensive Tyranitar. The goal for this discussion thread is to collect Tyranitar's most viable sets and best ev spreads. Please don't ridicule the ev spreads I have posted or that anyone else has posted. Tyranitar can literrally do whatever he wants and still fulfill the purpose he has on anyone's team. He is one of the most diverse Pokemon in the game. So discuss about all of his best sets or personal sets that are nearly always effective in DW OU.
 

alamaster

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Fire Blast should be slashed in for Crunch on the main set, possibly Stone Edge as well since that's a great stab move. I've been using some speed on my Tar sets to always have an edge on opposing ones (Not band/scarf of course) which works great. Tyranitar is as good as ever with his buddies Garchomp and Excadrill in the picture again and probably the best weather starter in the game.
 
Thanks ala I honestly forgot about it on the lead set because scizor isn't common anymore and all Genesect will do is Uturn/Specs Bug Buzz. Stone Edge is good but why not go with a decent stab that has better accuracy. All the slashes on Tyranitar won't be surprising due to his great versatility.

I appreciate the positive feedback also. The Pokemon he "buddies" would be the ones I mentioned in the introduction.
 
So if I had to put an estimate on the type of Ttars I see I'd say like 90% of them are support Tar, and with good reason. The most important one is of course fucking over Chandelure, as even without Attack investment it's OHKOed by Pursuit as it flees and really can't do shit to specially defensive Ttar. Stealth Rock is just as important as ever, as well, and in such an offensive metagame cutting down on the Pokemon you need to give up offensive moveslots on in order to run hazards, etc. can be invaluable. Fire Blast and Superpower are the most common moves I see after Pursuit and SR, but Ice Beam is also cool for fucking up overconfident Garchomps.

Of course, support Tyranitar is not the only Tyranitar in existance, or even the only viable one. Choice Scarf Tyranitar can be a nice little surprise, outspeeding Pokemon such as Thundurus for a swift OHKO. Choice Band Tyranitar is also very, very useful mid- to lategame in weather wars, as hitting a fleeing Politoed or Ninetales with a Banded Pursuit is game-changing.
 

Taylor

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Right now, I'd say the standard Tyranitar build that was prominent in the beginning of OU (like Sassy varients) are best suited on Excadrill teams based around sand and getting your mole in a position to set up and sweep.

ScarfTar holds its own weight very well but once you outspeed their Thundurus, for example, the surprise factor is gone and it then depends on how cruel looking their team is for setting up on Choice-locked Pokemon.

I'm happy with SashTar and Pursuit, supported by Chandelure. I expect Stealth Rocks to get set up, and use Pursuit in conjunction with Chandelure to help win those weather wars. This then allows Excadrill, who carries Air Balloon and Rapid Spin just in case.

The only RS user I should fear is Excadrill (though I have considered Air Balloon Chandelure with some HP EVs to survive Rock Slide (including Life Orb varients). It isn't the most practical set for universal purposes, but I can use a Timid nature, invest maybe around 176 SAtk EVs and rely on its naturally high Special Attack to hit things as hard as it was meant to.
 
Tyranitar works really good as a check to alot of counters in sun teams... Even though it's a crappy ability, how come no one has thought up an Unnerve set so that he can blend in with other weather teams and be a stop to a lot of threats and gimmicky set ups like Natural Gift and such?

Old SpecsTar is a set that still works with him, mainly because he can still learn the moves with the Unnerve ability... though I'd really like a defensive/tanky set on him kinda like...

Tyranitar @ Lefties
Nature: Brave
Ability: Unnerve
252 HP/252 Atk/4SpAtk

- Pursuit
- Fire Blast/ Flamethrower/Surf/Ice Beam/Earthquake
- Stealth Rock/Taunt/Thunderwave
- Dragon Tail/Surf/Flamethrower/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Thunder


This set pretty much gives him a presence on any weather team and provides coverage against alot of counters, checks latios, and even checks counter weather
 

Jukain

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Tyranitar works really good as a check to alot of counters in sun teams... Even though it's a crappy ability, how come no one has thought up an Unnerve set so that he can blend in with other weather teams and be a stop to a lot of threats and gimmicky set ups like Natural Gift and such?

Old SpecsTar is a set that still works with him, mainly because he can still learn the moves with the Unnerve ability... though I'd really like a defensive/tanky set on him kinda like...

Tyranitar @ Lefties
Nature: Brave
Ability: Unnerve
252 HP/252 Atk/4SpAtk

- Pursuit
- Fire Blast/ Flamethrower/Surf/Ice Beam/Earthquake
- Stealth Rock/Taunt/Thunderwave
- Dragon Tail/Surf/Flamethrower/Ice Beam/Thunderbolt/Thunder


This set pretty much gives him a presence on any weather team and provides coverage against a lot of counters, checks latios, and even checks counter weather
I have a bit of bias, but this set is kind of stupid. Sand Stream is way better than Unnerve, even on other weather teams. Tyranitar loses A LOT of special defense w/o Sand Stream. Tyranitar beats special threats because of Sand Stream. A mixed set with 0 Spe EVs? At least run 4 to beat normal Tyranitar. You need SpA EVs. On iPod atm, but at least enough to OHKO Gliscor, if not more. Atk needs minimal EVs, and at least run enough HP to take two Surfs from Latios. Oh and slashitis?

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: enough HP for Latios's Surf / 4 Spe / enough SpA to OHKO Gliscor
Brave
- Pursuit
- Fire Blast / Ice Beam
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower

a lot simpler
 

Taylor

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If simplicity is what you're looking for in Tyranitar, then EV him in just one side of the attacking spectrum because reducing its Speed , in a metagame where Tyranitar dominates both ladders in usage statistics, means that you need to ensure you can set up Stealth Rock swiftly before fainting.

Ice Beam won't OHKO Garchomp, and some Gliscor survive Ice Beam depending on the spreads, so for Dream World I think you're better off sticking with Ice Punch; that is, however, suited for when you wish to use an Ice-type move on Tyranitar.

We all look to hit those Dragons/Grounds for sometimes x4 super effective damage, but that can still be accomplished with your physical stat, as it is one of the tiers most dangerous.

Tyranitar has perfect coverage in Crunch + Superpower/Low Kick and a strong Ice Punch is more likely to OHKO Breloom's that fail to get by Chople Berry when using Mach Punch, but ultimately your spread will be able to handle the high demands of our dynamic DW metagame.
 

Nix_Hex

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Unfortunately, it's not too difficult to bring in a counter while even +Spe Tyranitar Dragon Dances. Jolly Dugtrio with Focus Sash can come in and 2HKO with Earthquake, or even do something like Hone Claws. Timid Choice Scarf Politoed gets up rain, outspeeds, and OHKOes Tyranitar with Hydro Pump. Also bad is defensive Politoed who can whittle away with Scald. Just sending in Politoed is enough to send Tyranitar scurrying away.
 
Unfortunately, it's not too difficult to bring in a counter while even +Spe Tyranitar Dragon Dances. Jolly Dugtrio with Focus Sash can come in and 2HKO with Earthquake, or even do something like Hone Claws. Timid Choice Scarf Politoed gets up rain, outspeeds, and OHKOes Tyranitar with Hydro Pump. Also bad is defensive Politoed who can whittle away with Scald. Just sending in Politoed is enough to send Tyranitar scurrying away.
I noticed.

That's why i'm running CBTar now.

Either that or standard Ttar.

Idk yet, though.
 

Nix_Hex

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Another set I was trying a while ago was a mixed ScarfTar that goes like this:

Tyranitar (F) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 196 Atk / 60 SAtk / 252 Spd
Hasty Nature (+Spd, -Def)
- Pursuit
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Ice Beam

This makes Tyranitar as fast as possible. A Hasty nature does the trick, stopping Genesect from getting that Special Attack boost, but you may wish to go with Naive so Genesect doesn't get a boost on U-turn. Those SpA IVs are there to outspeed and OHKO 252 HP / 0 SpD / 72 Spe Gliscor with Ice Beam, allowing you to switch into a Gliscor not behind a Substitute using Swords Dance and take it out of the match while it fails to even outspeed you, much less KO. Pursuit is standard for taking out Chandelure, Stone Edge is nice STAB, and Earthquake rounds out your coverage, especially against stuff like Heatran.
 
For the support ttar, an standard max hp almost max sdef and a few atk and spd evs is more useful, because lowering SDef risk you getting 2hkoed by latios (i guess) and special strikers will do just more damage and those are whats ttar for. Better have a good counter to the ground club (i guess thats whats the def for) and leave ttar for a safer crunch/pursuit on the psyghost club who are all big assholes if ttar gets weakned or something even though handleable

For the move slot it probably depends on what your team needs ttar to kill. If the team has skarm weakness use fblast, a bit psychics/ghosts weak use crunch and pursuit together, etc. I find ttar to be more productive with dark/fighting/fire moves along with sr but that's my personal preference.

Maybe add boah ttar in that list. Hell I have never tested that, but looking at the current metagame it looks really good with dark/ice/fighting coverage under sub and a nice bulk and wrecking power. Going to actually test that when I feel like to.
 
I worked a long time on this set for my team:

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP/96 Atk/24 Def/64 SpA/72 SpD
Nature: Sassy

-Stealth Rock
-Pursuit
-Fire Blast
-Ice Beam

OK, this set took me almost two hours to craft. 252 EVs are placed into HP to maximize bulk, while 28 EVs in defense allow it to avoid the OHKO from adamant Choice Band Scizor U-turn. 96 attack EVs lets it OHKO chandelure with double-damage pursuit. 64 special attack EVs lets it OHKO 252/4 Gliscor with Ice Beam, and consequentially OHKO landorus. 44 special defense EVs let it dodge a 2HKO from Modest Choice Specs chandelure's energy ball, and the rest of the EVs are tossed into special defense to increase bulk. This set works very well, and it took me a long time to decide what attacks I wanted to make it my priority to survive and how to best survive them. I use this set to great effect with Scarf landorus.
 
Erm, why are you worrying about Energy Ball when most Chandelure will either flee or use Hidden Power Fighting? Modest Choice Scarf Chandelure can 2HKO with HP Fighting, so what does that say about Choice Specs? Also, your EVs add up to 512.
 
Oops, meant 24 def EVs. I worry about Energy Ball because any smart Chandelure won't flee, because it knows it'll get OHKOed by pursuit. And HP [Fighting] isn't a very common Chandelure move, since it already has 4MSS. Not saying HP [Fighting] isn't important, just I'm making Energy Ball the priority.
 
Heatran isn't a Tyranitar counter; in fact, I would say it's the other way around because Heatran is never able to OHKO Tyranitar, even a DD or Scarf variant. Tyranitar's Sand Stream kind of acts like Drizzle because it allows Tyranitar to take Heatran's STABs better. Heatran can burn Tyranitar, but Tyranitar can OHKO max HP Heatran with Superpower and it'd still do a lot.

I actually rarely see Tyranitar in DW, don't get why. It is the best Chandelure counter (possibly one of the few) in the metagame, provides Excadrill, Landorus and Garchomp with their preferred weather and unlike Politoed, Abomasnow, and Ninetales, its utility goes beyond weather. I figure it's possibly due to the Pokemon it provides weather for, and some other DW threats, that reduce Tyranitar's usage. Technican Breloom always beats Tyranitar, and bulky Breloom actually has nothing to fear from Tyranitar. It is never OHKO'd by Fire Blast, and after Poison Heal can avoid a 2HKO, assuming the Bulk Up spread. It's also worth noting Tyranitar vs. other weather inducers is a mixed bag. Ninetales can burn Tyranitar, but cannot OHKO with HP Fighting while Tyranitar severely dents Ninetales with any of its moves. Meanwhile, because of Stealth Rock, Ninetales can lose to even a burned Tyranitar. Abomasnow's Grass STABs can fail to OHKO a full health Tyranitar, but Tyranitar can OHKO back with Stone Edge, Fire Blast, or Superpower. Focus Blast and SubPunch Abomasnow can beat Tyranitar as well, but the former requires prior damage. Politoed needs its rain up to hurt Tyranitar, and can burn it. Focus Blast is very rare on it. Politoed defitnely fares better against Tyranitar due to its lack of a Rock weakness (in fact, Tyranitar can't even hit it super effectively) superior bulk, and its SE STAB being boosted by its own weather. Also, Encore Politoed can take advantage of a Tyranitar that used Ice Beam, Fire Blast, or Stealth Rock, forcing it out. Tyranitar has no business with Hippowdon, only winning with Choice Band Aqua Tail (the accuracy, and possible damage variations make this unreliable) while Hippowdon dents it with Earthquake, forces it out Roar or can Toxic. But really, no one should leave in Tyranitar against Hippowdon because you will likely ruin your chances of winning in the process.

In all, Tyranitar will always remain one of the top Pokemon in the game. It's only downfalls are its weaknesses, low speed, and in some cases ability but it is quite easy to work around. It's a shame it gained nothing from this generation.
 
Heatran isn't a Tyranitar counter; in fact, I would say it's the other way around because Heatran is never able to OHKO Tyranitar, even a DD or Scarf variant. Tyranitar's Sand Stream kind of acts like Drizzle because it allows Tyranitar to take Heatran's STABs better. Heatran can burn Tyranitar, but Tyranitar can OHKO max HP Heatran with Superpower and it'd still do a lot. I actually rarely see Tyranitar in DW, don't get why.
First of all Tyranitar in DW OU plays a completely different role. He is usually bulky and has Pursuit, and Stealth Rock by default. The move is probably a fire move and then the last slot can be filled by a large amount of moves. Heatrans counter’s 3/4 of Tyranitar’s moves and may even receive a boost. Earth Power from offensive Heatrans 2hkos Tyranitar after rocks and some before. I haven’t seen many choice Tyranitars because Bulky Tyranitar has been pretty necessary if you ask me. If Excadrill and Garchomp are OU then you are going to see plenty of Tyranitars. Heatran isn’t a 100% check to T-tar, but he’s good enough to list considering Tyranitar’s responsibilities in the metagame.

The rest of your post is either already listed in the post or is just a testimony to Tyranitar's versatility and his large amount of weakness. Except Abomasnow who I haven't seen in the meta really at all. CB would be the only Check to Tyranitar it can't really come in on Tyranitar so it's not a counter.

Thanks for the contribution!
 

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