ttar

[OVERVIEW]

Tyranitar is one of the bulkiest offensive Pokemon you can find. Sand Stream is an amazing ability; it gives Tyranitar a Special Defense boost and having weather on your team is always nice to combat opposing weather teams. STAB Rock Slide is great for coverage and deals with a lot of relevant Pokemon such as Talonflame, Charizard, and Thundurus. Tyranitar has some good resistances and great Special Defense under sand, making it a good switch-in to a lot of attacks. Excadrill also becomes a great partner under sand and becomes a huge threat when Sand Rush is activated. However, Tyranitar's typing gives it a lot of weaknesses to common attacking types, such as Fighting, Fairy and Ground. Tyranitar's low speed also gives it some issues; Choice Scarf can make up for this but Tyranitar still won't outspeed the most common Choice Scarf user, Landorus-T.

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Rock Slide
move 2: Crunch
move 3: Ice Punch / Ice Beam / Fire Blast
move 4: Low Kick / Superpower
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Rock Slide is a great spread STAB move and is even better with Choice Scarf because there will be more Pokemon you can outspeed and potentially flinch. Crunch is an excellent STAB move that has good neutral coverage. Ice Punch hits a lot of Pokemon super effectively, most notably Landorus-T and Mega Salamence. Ice Beam can be used instead to avoid the Intimidate drops from both of those Pokemon, if you don't mind running a Naive nature. Low Kick or Superpower is good for the extra coverage, Fighting attacks hit a lot of things super effectively. Fire Blast can be used if your team desperately needs Fire coverage to hit something that would be hard to deal with otherwise, such as Ferrothorn.

Set Details
========

Maximum Attack EVs are used to get the most power out of your moves, Maximum Speed EVs are used because Tyranitar has a low base speed and needs as much investment as possible to perform well. Choice Scarf is used to help out Tyranitar's low speed and turn it into a fast threat, outspeeding most Pokemon in the metagame. Jolly nature, or Naive if you run Ice Beam, is used to ensure you outspeed Pokemon like Thundurus, Gengar and many more. Sand Stream is Tyranitar's best ability; it's great for breaking opposing Focus Sashes, giving Tyranitar a Special Defense boost, and aiding teammates.

Usage Tips
========

Tyranitar is used well as a lead to immediately set up Sand and start dealing out damage with Rock Slide. Tyranitar's Sand helps out teammates that can abuse it like Sand Rush Excadrill and can weaken opposing Pokemon with chip damage. Tyranitar has good coverage so it can deal with Pokemon that its teammates struggle against. Tyranitar has great bulk and some good resistances that make it a good switch-in to Pokemon like Talonflame, Mega Charizard Y, and Mega Salamence.

Team Options
========

Excadrill becomes a major threat with Sand Rush and Tyranitar's Sand Stream. Mega Salamence works well with Tyranitar and Excadrill, Flying coverage and an Earthquake immunity work very well with the Sand duo. Amoonguss resists many of Tyranitar's weaknesses and provides redirection support. Aegislash provides Wide Guard support to block Earthquakes for Tyranitar and Excadrill.

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Protect
item: Tyranitarite / Lum Berry
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Adamant
evs: 204 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 4 SpD / 236 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Dragon Dance is a great move that can help Tyranitar sweep teams or clean up weakened teams. Rock Side is a great spread STAB move. Crunch is another STAB move and has good neutral coverage. Protect is used to scout the opponent's moves and ward off damage for a turn.

Set Details
========

This EV spread, 204 HP / 4 Atk / 60 Def / 4 SpD / 236 Spe, was made by Mrbopper who used this at Worlds 2014. With these EVs you outspeed Mega Lucario after a Dragon Dance and can survive 2 Earthquakes from Garchomp. These EVs in bulk are very useful to help Tyranitar setup. Tyranitarite is used on Dragon Dance sets because Mega Tyranitar gains a good boost to its Speed as well as Defense and Attack which is very useful when used with Dragon Dance. Lum Berry can be used as an alternative to avoid burns and paralysis. Sand Stream is great to help your bulk and when Tyranitar mega evolves it can set Sand up again which is useful against opposing weather teams.

Usage Tips
========

Redirection support should be used alongside Tyranitar in order to set up Dragon Dances safely. Tyranitar can use Dragon Dance late game to clean up a weakened team.

Team Options
========

Amoonguss resists many of Tyranitar's weaknesses and provides very useful redirect support while Tyranitar Dragon Dances. Aegislash provides Wide Guard support to block Earthquakes and has a good matchup against Fighting-types that threaten Tyranitar. Excadrill can abuse Tyranitar's Sand with its Sand Rush Ability and can deal with Fairy-types Tyranitar struggles against.

[SET]
name: Tank
move 1: Rock Slide
move 2: Crunch / Ice Punch
move 3: Low Kick / Superpower / Ice Punch
move 4: Protect
item: Lum Berry / Chople Berry / Tyranitarite
ability: Sand Stream
nature: Adamant / Brave
evs: 252 HP / 244 Atk / 12 Def

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Rock Slide is a great spread STAB move. Crunch is a good STAB move and has great neutral coverage. Low Kick or Superpower hits Steel-types like Bisharp and Heatran for good damage. Ice Punch can be used because it hits a lot of Pokemon super effectively and makes Tyranitar a good check to Mega Salamence. Protect is used to scout moves, ward off damage for a turn, and help keep Sand around longer.

Set Details
========

This bulky spread is for keeping Sand around as long as possible and also allows Tyranitar to be a threat under Trick Room. 252 HP / 12 Def gurantees Tyranitar will live an Iron Head from Bisharp at full health, the rest of the EVs went into Attack for the best possible damage output. Sand Stream gives your team weather, it gets useful chip damage and can support a team very well. With the bulk in this set, Tyranitar can withstand more hits and stay in the battle longer to keep sand up. A slower spread means Tyranitar will get Sand up after a Politoed if they're lead against each other. Lum Berry is used to avoid burns that would cripple Tyranitar. Chople Berry allows Tyranitar to live a Fighting attack and catch the opponent off guard when they expect Tyranitar to faint. Tyranitarite makes Tyranitar much bulkier and gives it a second opportunity for sand to go up when it mega evolves.


Usage Tips
========

Tyranitar works well as a lead to immediately get Sand on the field. When playing opposing weather Tyranitar should be trying to keep sand up as much as possible, switching in and out. Make good use of protect and switching to keep Tyranitar healthy when you need sand in your battle and don't lose Tyranitar too early.

Team Options
========

Excadrill is a major threat with Sand Rush and bulky Tyranitar can keep sand up as much as possible for it. With this slow spread Tyranitar can work well on a Trick Room team, especially with a threatening STAB Rock Slide. Most Trick Room setters also deal with Fighting-types that beat Tyranitar reasonably well. Wide Guard support helps deal with threats to Tyranitar such as Landorus-T and Sylveon. Amoongus can redirect many of Tyranitar's weaknesses, if used with Trick Room Amoonguss can be a very useful partner with a "fast" spore. Rotom-W can check Landourus-T and Water-types that threaten Tyranitar, while also providing Will-o-Wisp support to aid Tyranitar's bulk even further.


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

A Life Orb mixed attacker set can be used to deal good damage with all of Tyranitar's useful coverage. Chople Berry ensures Tyranitar lives a Fighting attack and can mess with your opponent's plan against it. Shuca Berry is nice to surprise Landorus-T, make sure you use an Ice attack to deal with it when using Shuca Berry. Assault Vest makes Tyranitar incredibly bulky on the special side and makes it a good check to almost any Special Attacker. A bulky Weakness Policy set can be used to take advantage of the many weaknesses Tyranitar has. Smooth Rock is useful for keeping sand up for a few more turns. Stone Edge is a useful move when Rock Slide's low damage output just isn't enough.

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

**Fighting-types**: Tyranitar is 4x weak to Fighting and will go down to almost any Fighting attack. Fighting-types, such as Terrakion and Scrafty, resist both of Tyranitar's STAB moves and threaten to KO it back. Fighting is also a very common type for coverage and many pokemon will normally carry Fighting-type moves, such as Mega Kangaskhan and Landorus-T.

**Fairy-types**: Sylveon and Mega Gardevoir can take Tyranitar's attacks and threaten to KO it back with boosted STAB Hyper Voices that also hit Tyranitar's partner. This also can't be redirected which makes it even more troublesome.

**Intimidate and Burns**: Intimidate can cripple Tyranitar by lowering its Attack. Most Intimidate Pokemon also have a good matchup against Tyranitar, such as Landorus-T, Scrafty, Mawile, and Hitmontop. Similar to intimidate, burns cripple Tyranitar's attack but much more severely and permanently. Rotom-W can take Tyranitar's attacks and Will-o-Wisp it. Other bulky Water-types, such as Suicune, can tank Tyranitar's attacks and potentially burn with Scald, while hitting Tyranitar for super effective damage.