[Overview]

<p>Looking at Landorus, its stats stand out above all else. 101 base Speed puts it just above a number of extremely dangerous threats, while 125 base Attack makes it one of the most powerful physical attackers in OU. 115 base Special Attack is really good and makes it more powerful than Latias, Salamence and Starmie for example. But this is forgetting Sand Force, which turns it into the premier sand sweeper in the tier by giving it almost unmatched power. On top of this, Landorus receives an amazing ability known as Sheer Force which raises its effect moves like Earth Power or Focus Blast. With the combination of Sheer Force, Landorus is maybe the most threatening Pokemons in OU. It is able to OHKO or 2HKO almost everything and is extremely hard to predict. Perhaps even more problematic for the opponent is Landorus's use of U-turn, which allows it to maintain momentum while wearing the opponent down; merely countering Landorus is not enough. With its immunity to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, Landorus can continue to do this almost indefinitely. In addition, Landorus isn't affected by the Life Orb damage when using an effect move which makes it extremely hard to stall out.</p>

<p>Landorus even receives an excellent coverage from Earthquake and Stone Edge, leaving very few Pokemon able to wall it. Even those able to deal with these two moves have to contend with Hidden Power Ice from Landorus's base 115 Special Attack stat or the possibility of Gravity nullifying any immunity to Earthquake. Perhaps even more problematic for the opponent is Landorus's use of U-turn, which allows it to maintain momentum while wearing the opponent down; merely countering Landorus is not enough. With its immunity to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, Landorus can continue to do this almost indefinitely.</p>

<p>Landorus is not impossible to beat, though. Its Speed, while good, is far from enough to outright sweep most teams. Its defenses are average, and its typing leaves it weak to Water and Ice, two very common attacking types. Its movepool is also lacking in places; it misses out on every Flying-type move except for Fly and Hidden Power Flying, and it has a strange special movepool that forces it to rely on moves like Psychic and Focus Blast. Even so, Landorus is a force to be reckoned with, and countering it completely is nigh-on impossible.</p>













[SET]
name: Rock Polish
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Rock Polish
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 56 HP / 252 SpA / 200 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Rock Polish Landorus is one of the most fearsome sweepers in the metagame, and for good reason. With the addition of Sheer Force, Landorus-I is now without a doubt one of the best and most threatening Pokemons in OU. The crux of this set is Sheer Force; It provides a major boost to Earth Power and Focus Blast and cancels Life Orb damage when using these moves which makes it extremely difficult to stall out Landorus. Sheer Force boost Earth Power is pretty much capable of OHKOing or 2HKOs almost everything that isn't Chansey, Blissey and Celebi. Focus Blast and Hidden Power take care of the few Pokemon that happen to resist Earth Power such as Latias, Latios, Rotom-W and Hydreigon. Rock Polish gives Landorus the oppurtunity to decimate an entire team when executed correctly. Unlike other offensive Pokemon, Landorus is ridiculously powerful from the get go, so it does not need to boost its offense to fully sweep a team. There are only a few things that aren't OHKO'd by Landorus that are typically found on offensive teams, such as, Latios, Latias, Rotom-W, Gengar and Gyarados. These threats should be weakened or KOed (in the case of Latias and Latios, Tyranitar is a good partner to remove them, and Gyarados is vulnerable to Stealth Rock) before Landorus should attempt to sweep. This set should be exclusively used as a Late Game Sweeper because it's easier to sweep through weakened teams, though at the same time, its also a great mid game attacker can make big holes in the opponent team..

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread on this set allows Landorus-I to be faster than Jolly Gyarados with a Modest Nature and to outrun everything in OU +2. Special Attack is maximized in order to maximize damage output while the rest goes in HP to raise its bulk and allows for more attacks through Life Orb recoil.  A Modest Nature is the only recommended on this set because it makes Landorus that muchpowerful and doesn't really need more Speed. That said, if you're paranoid about outspeeding positive natured base 90-100 Pokemon, a Timid nature with max Speed can be used.</p>



This set usually has problems with Blissey, Chansey, and Latias, which tend to wall it, as well as Latios and Gengar, which will outrun Landorus and heavily damage it. Therefore, effective partners include Jirachi, Scizor, and Tyranitar. Entry hazard damage is extremely helpful since it can grant a 2HKO on the aforementioned pink blobs with Focus Blast. Alternatively, you could try to lure them in with something like Choice Specs Latios and then assault them with Trick or Psyshock. Despite its near limitless power, Landorus struggles to get by Celebi, who is only 3HKO'd by Hidden Power Ice at best, and can easily stall it out since Landorus-I still loses 10% when using HP Ice because of Life Orb recoil. Tyranitar and Scizor are capable of easily switching into Celebi and Pursuit trapping it, to prevent it from fleeing. Expert Belt Keldeo with HP Bug and Ice Wind or Choice Specs Keldeo with HP Bug is an especially good partner since it lures Celebi, Latios and Latias and cripples them, allowing Landorus to sweep unhindered.</p>

<P>Focus Blast's subpar accuracy must always be taken into account. Landorus has no choice but to rely on Focus Blast's poor accuracy in order to KO some threats like Rotom-W, Ferrothorn, Blissey,and Hydreigon, and this arguably the biggest weakness of this set. While each of those threats are either OHKO'd or 2HKO'd by Focus Blast, they're also able to OHKO it if Focus Blast misses. This an element of luck that must always be taken into account when using Landorus so keep that in mind when using it.

















<p>Some Calcs:

252+ SpA Life Orb Landorus Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 185-218 (61.25 - 72.18%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 273-321 (84.52 - 99.38%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Focus Blast vs. 248 HP / 232+ SpD Rotom-W: 155-183 (51.15 - 60.39%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Hippowdon: 243-289 (57.85 - 68.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 220+ SpD Jellicent: 179-212 (44.3 - 52.47%) -- 84.38% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock </p>




[SET]
name: Special U-Turn
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
item: Life Orb
ability: Sand Force
nature: Naive
evs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>While the above one is a late game sweeper and needs to set up to decimate an entire Team, this set is used as a wallbreaker. This set is arguably the reason why Stall is seen as unviable; Stall teams has an extremely hard time getting a grip on Landorus, as its immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, it usually doesn't take recoil from Life Orb, and its notoriously difficult to counter. Latias, Latios, Celebi are all good checks (or counter in Celebi's case) to the Rock Polish Set but as you can see it, they're destroyed by U-Turn. With U-Turn, Landorus lures out and cripples its checks and counters which allows to attack unhindered at a later point in the Keep in mind that since Landorus-I doesn't carry Rock Polish, it can't sweep a team like the above one since it is slower than some threats like Keldeo, Garchomp, ScarfJirachi, etc but it is still capable punching holes in the opponents team. For instance, Landorus is capable of luring out and weakening nearly all of Keldeo's checks, which allows it to sweep at a later point in time. Landorus is a phenomenal partner to Landorus; Landorus can't OHKO things like Latias, Latios and Celebi with U-Turn but still does heavy damage to and top of switch into Tyranitar, who can finish them off with Pursuit. Jirachi is also a great partner since it forces them to switch out and so won't be able to take another hit from Landorus. </p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Speed is maximized because this time Landorus-I needs to be faster since it doesn't run Rock Polish. A Naive Nature is recommended here because it doesn't drop the Attack and drops the Special Defense which isn't really important on Landorus-I. Psychic and Sludge Wave can be used over U-Turn for additional coverage against against the likes of Gyarados (and in Sludge Wave's case, Celebi). Both of these moves also has a 100% accuracy can sometimes be extremely useful against Rotom-W or other low hp things that can be only killed with Focus Blast and its poor accuracy.</p>

<p>Tyranitar, Scizor and Jirachi are all great partners to this Set since they can all either trap or force Landorus checks and counters to switch out. Keldeo is probably the most helped Pokémon by this Set since Landorus-I removes its counters like Celebi, Latias and Latios.</p>

<p>Zapdos, Chansey, Blissey, Gyarados and faster Pokemons are all good checks or counters to this Set since it is unable to raise its speed which means it is outrun by some threats like Keldeo, ScarfJirachi, Garchomp, Alakazam, etc</p>

[SET]
name: Expert Belt
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Gravity / Smack Down
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
item: Expert Belt
ability: Sand Force
nature: Naive
evs: 228 Atk / 28 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set was arguably Landorus's best one in BW1, and although it's now somewhat outclassed by Special Landorus but it's still a really powerful and useful set. Sand Force boosted Earthquake's are still extremely hard to handle. Because Landorus is often assumed to be a Special Attacker, this set will surprise your opponent and will massacre Special Landorus checks and counters such as Latias, Latios, Blissey etc. This set excels at luring common switch-ins such as Gliscor and Dragonite, thinking that they can come in for free on a Choice-locked Earthquake only to eat a super effective Expert Belt-boosted Hidden Power Ice. Landorus benefits significantly from the coverage provided by four attacks and from Expert Belt's power boost. An impressive base 101 Speed means Landorus can be a dangerous late-game sweeper once physical walls have been weakened enough.</p>

<p>Utilizing Gravity well is the key of this set's success. Your opponent will likely bring his Skarmory in an attempt to wall Landorus, but with a properly time usage of Gravity will cancel Skarmory's Ground immunity and will force it to switch out or risk getting destroyed by Earthquake. With the combination of Stealth Rock and other entry hazards, this set is extremely potent, since it forces your opponent to switch in an attempt to preserve Skarmory; It's rare to see more than 2 ground resists in a team, which basically means, once you've used Gravity to rid their ground immunity, you'll have the opportunity to fire off a free Earthquake which equates to a KO or 2HKO most of the time. Smack Down is a decent alternative to Gravity; it only works on a single target, but the chip damage it provides can be useful in the long run. Hidden Power Ice allows Landorus to eliminate Gliscor, which is one of Choice Scarf Landorus's primary counters, and also hits Breloom, Dragonite, Salamence, and opposing Landorus hard. U-turn may seem like a filler attack, but it's very useful for feigning a Choice Scarf, preserving momentum, and OHKOing Celebi.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Maximum Speed is necessary to make use of Landorus's goodSpeed tier, as it outpaces common threats such as Salamence, Celebi, Jirachi, and Volcarona. The slight investment in Special Attack lets Landorus OHKO Gliscor even without Stealth Rock, while the rest of the EVs are dumped into Attack to give Landorus all the power it needs.</p>

<p>There are a few other options for Landorus on this set. You could also consider Superpower for Ferrothorn and Air Balloon Pokemon or even Stealth Rock if you're unable to fit it elsewhere on your team. Replacing the Expert Belt with Soft Sand is even a possibility, as Landorus's super effective coverage is not brilliant, and the boost to Earthquake's power is certainly appreciated.</p>

<p>The first Pokemon you'll likely want to pair Landorus with is Tyranitar or Hippowdon, as their ability, Sand Stream, provides Landorus with eternal sandstorm weather to boost its attacks. Due to the nature of its counters, Landorus functions exceptionally well on trap teams, especially those with Magnezone and a Pursuit user. Magnezone can trap and eliminate pesky Steel-types, especially Skarmory, which will often facilitate a sweep for Landorus at the end of matches. Similarly, Pokemon like Choice Band Scizor or Choice Scarf Tyranitar can effectively eliminate the likes of Latios, Celebi, and Gengar and can often come in for free thanks to Landorus's U-turn. Bulky Pokemon that resist Water-type moves can also be good partners, especially if Landorus is being used on a sand team. Rotom-W is an excellent choice because it counters Steel-types very well, while Starmie also deserves mention because it can spin away the hazards laid by Skarmory. As Landorus can lure and OHKO Gliscor, Terrakion makes a very good partner; it can spam its powerful Close Combat with near impunity once Gliscor is out of the equation.</p>


[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sand Force
nature: Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>With its excellent Attack and Speed, immunity to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, and access to U-turn, Landorus is a very strong Choice Scarf user. With the item, it becomes an excellent revenge killer, as it is able to outrun most boosted threats, including +1 Volcarona, Salamence, and Haxorus, and take them out. Additionally, U-turn allows Landorus to maintain momentum even when faced with a reliable counter. Landorus is so effective as a scout that it is commonly seen on dedicated "VoltTurn" teams alongside Pokemon such as Rotom-W and Scizor. Though its STAB move, Earthquake, might lack neutral coverage, it is exceptionally powerful in sandstorm thanks to Sand Force. As such, should the opponent's Ground-immune Pokemon be removed, Landorus can even sweep in the late-game. Otherwise, Stone Edge hits almost every Pokemon Earthquake cannot and is also potentially boosted by Landorus's ability. Finally, Hidden Power Ice nails Gliscor, and opposing Landorus extremely hard and hits Dragonite and Salamence accurately.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>It is important that Speed is maximized for this set, as Landorus will otherwise fail to outrun positive-natured +1 Salamence, Volcarona, Haxorus, and Jirachi and will fail to tie with other Scarf Landorus and Thundurus-T. Notably, Naughty Landorus is also slower than positive-natured Landorus-T, which would almost certainly be the superior option if you weren't using sand thanks to greater power and Intimidate.</p>

<p>There are also a few other moves that could be considered. As Stone Edge is infamous for its poor accuracy, Rock Slide could be used instead. The power drop is very noticeable, and the still-imperfect accuracy is still irritating, but the 30% flinch chance is very helpful given Landorus's impressive Speed. Alternatively, you can choose to forgo Hidden Power Ice, allowing Landorus to preserve its acceptable defenses by running a Jolly nature, and instead run Explosion for one last bang. Superpower could be considered to hit Ferrothorn and Air Balloon users such as Heatran. Also, since Breloom and Virizion can be somewhat problematic, you could attempt to make use of Landorus's Flying STAB. Sadly, the only moves it gets in this respect are Fly and Hidden Power Flying, both of which are far from ideal, but they can be useful in some sticky situations.</p>

<p>As far as partners are concerned, your first consideration should be providing Landorus with sand in order to boost the power of Earthquake and Stone Edge. Both Tyranitar and Hippowdon can do this while providing additional support with Stealth Rock; entry hazards are extremely helpful for building up damage as Landorus uses U-turn. Also, you could consider using more U-turn or Volt Switch Pokemon such as Scizor and Rotom-W, allowing you to preserve momentum almost endlessly while wearing your opponent's team down. Finally, since Skarmory and Bronzong can be rather problematic for this set, Magnezone is a good partner.</p>


[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Calm Mind
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Yes Landorus can learn Calm Mind and don't laugh too much because when you'll see how amazing it is, you will stop laughing. This can be seen as a Gimmick Set but this is absolutely not the case. Pretty underrated, CMLandorus is a real threat. I'm even going to be clearer: this thing never loses against Stall and is amazingly strong and bulky after 1 Calm Mind. Keldeo can't OHKO it with Surf or HP Ice and it can even survive Hydropump. Latios and Latias obviously cannot kill it at +1 and Sheer Force Landorus can't OHKO it with HP Ice at +1. Did you stop laughing? Stall Teams absolutely can't do anything against this thing. Even Chansey and Blissey are powerless against it since they're both 2HKO'd... The best thing they can do is to Toxic it. They are maybe the only ones who have a chance against it, the rest are OHKO'd or can't even 2HKO'd it at +1. Scald from Jellicent doesn't even 2HKO it. It's a bit different against offensive teams since it is slower than some threats, but those ones like Keldeo, Latios and Latias cannot OHKO it and are OHKO'd or take like 90%. This thing shouldn't be underrated because it's amazingly powerful.</p>

<p>Some Calcs:

+1 252 SpA Life Orb Landorus Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Latios: 252-299 (83.44 - 99%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Life Orb Latios Draco Meteor vs. +1 88 HP / 4 SpD Landorus: 239-282 (70.08 - 82.69%) --
+1 252 SpA Life Orb Sheer Force Landorus Focus Blast vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Eviolite Chansey: 390-460 (55.39 - 65.34%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Keldeo Hidden Power Ice vs. +1 88 HP / 4 SpD Landorus: 248-292 (72.72 - 85.63%) --
252 SpA Life Orb Landorus Hidden Power Ice vs. +1 88 HP / 4 SpD Landorus: 291-348 (85.33 - 102.05%) -- 12.5% chance to OHKO
252 SpA Gengar Shadow Ball vs. +1 88 HP / 4 SpD Landorus: 105-124 (30.79 - 36.36%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
252 SpA Thundurus-T Hidden Power Ice vs. +1 88 HP / 4 SpD Landorus: 268-316 (78.59 - 92.66%)</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Checks and Counters are basically the same as the other Special Sets although this one is bulkier at +1 and so can be able to resist and kill some of its checks and counters. Keldeo, Latios, Latias and Scarfers like Jirachi or still good to deal with it. Mamoswine and priority moves users like Scizor and Dragonite are also very useful to finish it off. Leftovers is really interesting because you'll be bulkier and harder to take down but you'll lose some power though.</p>

<p>Tyranitar, Jirachi, Scizor and Keldeo as always work very well with Landorus. They all remove its checks and counters and let it sweep the rest of the Team. This is maybe even more important for this Set since it's almost unstoppable at +1/+1.</p>



[SET]
name: Substitute
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Focus Blast
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Without a doubt, it can be said that Substitute is one of the best moves in the game&mdash;so good that it's rare to see an offensive Pokemon that can't use the move effectively.  And yet, the move appears so innocuous; one might have initially thought it was designed for stalling. But the advantages of Substitute are so much greater. By setting up as Landorus forces an opponent's Pokemon out, you get to choose the appropriate attacking move to hit the switch-in after it is on the field while remaining safe from practically every move in the game. In other words, Substitute reduces the need for "prediction." Should the opponent not have an answer to Landorus, it prevents them from sacrificing a slower Pokemon to deal with it; Landorus will come out behind the safety of a Substitute. Should the opponent attempt to take out Landorus with an inaccurate move, such as Rotom-W's Hydro Pump, Substitute allows Landorus to take advantage of a miss without risking being KOed. Should the opponent attempt to cripple Landorus with a status move, Substitute will block it and give Landorus another free turn with which to attack. Essentially, if the opponent does not carry a solid Landorus counter, they are going to find themselves in all kinds of trouble.</p>

<p>The remaining three moves give Landorus near-perfect neutral coverage, ensuring that it is very difficult to deal with. Earth Power, boosted by STAB and Sheer Force is extremely powerful and cannot be so easily avoided when Landorus is behind the safety of a Substitute. Focus Blast almost completes Landorus's coverage, hitting most Levitating Pokemon for at least neutral damage. Landorus's last move, Hidden Power Ice, does a very large amount of damage to Gliscor, Salamence, Breloom, and opposing Landorus.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EV spread on this set is very simple, maximizing Speed to let Landorus tie with opposing Thundurus-T and other Landorus while outrunning Salamence, Jirachi, and Volcarona. In terms of moves, this set is not really flexible, although it is possible to form a hybrid with this set and one of the others, such as Gravity, Expert Belt, or Swords Dance. Just be aware that it will achieve neither of its goals better than the dedicated sets.</p>

<p>Of all the occasionally seen Landorus sets, this dislikes Latias and Chansey the most, which is definitely saying something. It lacks even U-turn to maintain momentum when facing both of them and can be either oustalled with LO Recoil or PP Wasted with Focus Vlast. Therefore, Tyranitar support is more important than ever. Tyranitar is the best choice here since it can deal with some problematic opponents for this set, including Latios, Latias, and Celebi.</p>


SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Swords Dance
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Explosion
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Sand Force
nature: Naive / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Although Landorus's Speed is usually not enough to sweep outright, Swords Dance can still be an extremely useful move, allowing it to beat or at least heavily weaken most of the game's physical walls. Unlike some of the other sets, this one does not rely on the element of surprise to do so; instead, the idea is simply to overwhelm your opponent. After a Swords Dance, Landorus reaches 698 Attack, which is itself impressive, but with a Life Orb and Sand Force boost, this increases beyond the reach of any other Swords Dance sweeper in the game. This allow Landorus to achieve feats such as using Earthquake to OHKO Slowbro and using Stone Edge to OHKO 252 HP Celebi after Stealth Rock damage and deal upwards of 70% to physically defensive Skarmory. Together, these two moves hit almost every Pokemon in the game at least neutrally; even exceptions such as Breloom and Virizion taking very heavy damage. Hidden Power Ice allows Landorus to hit a few troublesome Pokemon very hard; it OHKOes Gliscor and Landorus-T and 2HKOes Tangrowth. However, since even these Pokemon will take heavy damage from boosted attacks, you could instead consider Explosion. The additional power and coverage can allow Landorus to take out opponents such as Cresselia after a Swords Dance and even Bronzong with a little prior damage.</p>

<p>Although this may be a Swords Dance set, it shouldn't be forgotten that Landorus is still extremely useful against more offensive teams without setting up. Landorus is still...well, Landorus; it still has good power, good coverage and excellent Speed, as well as immunities to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Thunder Wave. It might not be able to set up every game, but it should still pull its weight the vast majority of the time.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The spread on this set maximizes Landorus's Speed, as this is its main weakness as a Swords Dance sweeper. With maximum Speed, Landorus is guaranteed to outrun Volcarona, Salamence, and Jirachi and tie Thundurus-T. A Naive nature is preferred if running Hidden Power Ice, as although it OHKOes standard Gliscor even with a Jolly nature, the extra power is helpful against Pokemon such as Hippowdon, Breloom, and Tangrowth. If using Explosion, Jolly is clearly the superior option. </p>

<p>As previously mentioned, this set can function well even when not using Swords Dance. As such, U-turn is an option in the last slot, letting Landorus maintain momentum and rack up damage on the opponent. Substitute is generally a useful move, allowing Landorus to protect itself from status moves. It's best used with Leftovers, though. Rock Polish can be used to fix Landorus's Speed problem; setting up both Swords Dance and Rock Polish is very difficult, but you can choose the right option depending on the situation. Superpower could be used to provide coverage on some Air Balloon users and Bronzong but offers little else. As for items, you could consider one that allows Landorus to bluff the common Scarf set, allowing it to surprise Gliscor, for example. Expert Belt is the obvious choice, as it allows Landorus to OHKO the aforementioned Gliscor. Yache Berry or Passho Berry could allow Landorus to survive an attack it otherwise wouldn't and continue its sweep. </p>

<p>Once again, including Tyranitar or Hippowdon on the team is almost mandatory for setting up the sand that Landorus loves. Also, given Landorus's ability to weaken or even KO physical walls, you'll want to pair Landorus with more physical sweepers, such as Haxorus, Scizor, Lucario, Breloom, and Terrakion.</p>


[Other Options]

<p>There are several other tempting sets that Landorus can potentially run, including a couple of other boosting options. Perhaps the most notable of these is Rock Polish. Though Landorus's Speed is already more than decent, it is not quite fast enough for an outright sweep against most teams. After a Rock Polish, Landorus will outrun absolutely everything, but it will only really be able to sweep if the opponent's team is heavily weakened. Swords Dance can be run in addition if you wish, letting you choose your boosting move depending on the opponent's team. Bulk Up is also an option, but Landorus will still be vulnerable on the special side and will still be rather weak.</p>

<p>Instead of setting up, Landorus can instead simply hit as hard as possible by using a Choice Band set. Unfortunately, Earthquake has poor neutral coverage, and therefore Landorus may simply find itself spamming U-turn, which is still not especially powerful even with the Choice Band boost. The set will still fail to take out many of Landorus's checks, including Gliscor, Skarmory, and Bronzong. Altogether, a Life Orb set (such as the Gravity set) is more effective.</p>

<p>Landorus can also run a few other moves to get past some of its usual checks. Hidden Power Fire allows physical sets to 2HKO Skarmory on the switch, but Gravity is usually the better choice for this. Hidden Power Flying or Fly can be used to get past Virizion and Breloom, but both have their drawbacks. Hidden Power Flying is boosted by neither of Landorus's abilities, has poor Base Power, and prevents the use of Hidden Power Ice, while Fly is rather exploitable (as are all two-turn moves). Lastly, the Special Attacker set can be adapted into a mixed set with Superpower to help beat Chansey and Blissey, but Focus Blast already does good damage to them, and the splitting of EVs will leave Landorus somewhat weaker.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>As with many top OU threats, Landorus doesn't really have any reliable counters. Skarmory and Bronzong can counter most Landorus physical sets, but they will fall to the Expert Belt set and are 2HKOed by Focus Blast from the Special Attacker set. Rotom-W is immune to Earthquake/Earth Power but will be 2HKOed by Focus Blast or Life Orb Boosted Stone Edge . Choice Scarf sets can be OHKOed by Focus Blast after Stealth Rock and don't enjoy Stone Edge or U-turn, but they can outrun and OHKO Landorus. Celebi, Chansey, Blissey, Latios and Latias check or even counter Special Landorus quite well although they have to be careful to U-Turn or even to Physical Landorus. EBelt Landorus also beats all of the other sets. Breloom and Virizion are the most notable Pokemon to resist Earthquake and Stone Edge, but Earthquake, Psychic, and Hidden Power Ice will still deal enormous damage to them. Virizion can outrun Landorus to OHKO with its own Hidden Power Ice and isn't OHKOed by Psychic itself, while more defensive Breloom sets can counter the Choice Scarf set. Slowbro can take almost anything from physical Landorus sets but fears a 2HKO from Life Orb sand-boosted Earthquake. Slowking can take the Special Set thanks to its great Special Defense and Regenerator. Tangrowth can also take Landorus's physical moves, but it fears being 2HKOed by Hidden Power Ice, even from the Choice Scarf set. Gliscor is a common switch-in to Scarf Landorus since it takes negligible damage from all but Hidden Power Ice, which doesn't OHKO without some sort of boost.</p>

<p>Though Landorus is not exactly slow, there are a number of more offensive checks that can outrun it. Notably, Latios and Latias can take any move Landorus throws at them, outrun it, and hit back with Draco Meteor or Surf. However, neither will enjoy taking U-turn at all. Gengar can take anything but Stone Edge or Psychic and can hit back with Shadow Ball.</p>

<p>Given that Landorus has average defenses and a Speed stat that is far from unbeatable, it is not especially difficult to revenge kill. Faster Pokemon such as Starmie, Keldeo, and almost every Choice Scarf user can deal with Landorus. Ice Shard users such as Mamoswine and Weavile can take it out with ease, while even a Choice Band Scizor's Bullet Punch will do good damage.</p>


<p>Landorus-I has in addition an extremely good double typing which offers it an immunity to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, Ground and Electric Moves. With the Life Orb damage cancelled, it is almost impossible to stall it out, which is reason why it is so hard to beat it with a Stall Team (or even with an Offense!). Although people are now always expecting a Special Landorus-I, it is extremely unpredictable which makes it even better. Skarmory is maybe the best counter to the Physical Set but can absolutely do nothing against the Special Set, indeed it's OHKO'd by Focus Blast (or comfortably 2HKO'd if it's Specially Defensive Skarmory). Even if you know that it is Special Landorus-I you will have a hard time handling it perfectly and you will often be forced to sac something. It is definitely one of the best, perhaps the best, sweepers of this tier and has to be considered when building a Team...</p>