Tornadus-T (Flying) [QC 1/3]

[DoW]

Tornadus-Therian (Flying) [QC 1/3]

Overview

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Tornadus-T is a pokemon rarely seen in Monotype, for a number of reasons. Firstly, its pure flying typing is somewhat uninspiring, presenting exactly the same weaknesses as the rest of the type, and giving it no new STABs to provide strong coverage for the team. As a pivot, it faces tough competition from both Landorus-T and Thundurus-T, which provide an electric immunity and can be very strong VoltTurn users. As a special tank, it faces tough competition from Togekiss, which boasts better typing, good bulk and the ability to occasionally win a game through hax, and even Articuno which can take ice attacks better than most pokemon.

However, Tornadus-T has a number of things in its favour still. For one, it has the ability Regenerator which effectively nullifies Stealth Rock damage, one of the biggest weaknesses that Flying teams can face, and provides recovery of a sort especially without Stealth Rocks on the field. It has a decent movepool, allowing it to hit a number of things hard if they’re not expecting it, and although Greninja outspeeds it, base 121 speed is far from slow. These things combined allow it a niche as a pivot on more offensive teams, where some recovery without wasting a turn to roost helps it a lot.

Offensive Pivot

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Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 88 Atk / 252 SpA / 168 Spe

Hasty Nature

- Hurricane

- Superpower / Focus Blast

- U-turn

- Taunt / Knock Off

Moves

========

Hurricane is the main STAB move, and although it has a shaky 70% accuracy its ability to blast holes in unsuspecting targets makes this worthwhile. For the second slot Superpower is a strong choice capable of OHKOing Assault Vest Tyranitar and 2HKOing Specially Defensive Heatran after Stealth Rock. It also deals well in general with types that can prove a threat for Flying, such as Rock, Ice and Steel. Focus Blast is another option which takes advantage of Tornadus-T’s larger Special Attack stat while not dropping its Attack and Defense stats, however running two moves with only 70% accuracy on the same set can cause problems.

U-turn is a key move on the set, giving Tornadus-T the ability to grab momentum and gain HP through Regenerator at the same time. Moreover, it hits reasonably hard and the combination of Fighting and Bug attacks can put a lot of pressure on Dark teams especially, while combined with Hurricane, Grass types can struggle to answer it. Taunt is a strong option for stallbreaking, especially if combined with super-effective coverage as this can easily shut down walls such as Chansey by hitting hard and stopping their recovery. Knock Off is also very useful, as it can threaten both Eviolite walls such as Chansey and pokemon weak to Dark-type attacks, especially Psychic-types that often struggle to deal with a combination of Knock Off and U-Turn.

Other moves such as Heat Wave, Sludge Wave, and Grass Knot can also be considered as each provides useful coverage, hitting certain types hard. While these moves give worse coverage overall, if your team has a particular weakness to Ground’s Hippowdon / Gastrodon core then Grass Knot is a move to consider; if your team struggles with steel then Heat Wave might be worthwhile. Sludge Wave is useful for dealing with Fairies, while alongside Hurricane it is capable of decimating Grass and Bug teams. These moves are best run over Superpower or Taunt, as Hurricane and U-turn are extremely useful to Tornadus-T.

Set Details

========

168 Speed EVs with a Hasty nature allow Tornadus-T to outspeed max speed base 110s such as Gengar, although more speed can be used to outspeed particular targets if needed. Full investment is put into Special Attack with the remainder put into Attack as this gives Tornadus-T the most offensive presence and makes it capable of dealing damage both Physically and Specially; however if U-turn is the only Physical attack used then more investment can be put into bulk instead. Both Hasty and Naïve natures are usable, however as flying boasts very strong physical walls such as Skarmory, Zapdos, and Gliscor, a Hasty nature is generally preferred. 

Team Options

========

Obviously this set is designed to fit well onto a more offensive Flying team, as the momentum it gains the team is incredibly useful while the free recovery and ability to shut down walls help a huge amount as well. Other VoltTurn pokemon such as Landorus-T and Choice Scarf Thundurus-T are strong options, while Gliscor deserves a mention as a bulky u-turn user. Strong wallbreakers such as Landorus-I and Choice Band Dragonite appreciate the momentum gained by U-turn as it allows them to come in on a wall and in many cases guarantee a kill. Setup Sweepers such as Mega Charizard X and Nasty Plot Thundurus-I also appreciate the momentum as it can give a free setup opportunity. Mostly, this pokemon supports other offensive pokemon, so is often best added to the team as a glue to hold the team together, rather than an integral part of the team’s core; as such it can support a wide range of pokemon and does not really need much support of its own to work well.

Bulky Pivot

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Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 88 Atk / 252 SpA / 168 Spe

Hasty Nature

- Hurricane

- Focus Blast / Heat Wave

- Knock Off / Heat Wave / Sludge Wave

- U-turn

Moves

========

Hurricane is Tornadus-T’s standard STAB move, and while it isn’t particularly powerful it is still capable of denting most attackers, although the 70% accuracy can be annoying. Focus Blast provides strong coverage, hitting the Rock-, Ice- and Steel-types that can prove annoying for Flying teams to deal with at times. Heat Wave is an option over this, providing a stronger attack against Ferrothorn while also giving better accuracy and alongside Hurricane helping to decimate Grass and Bug teams, however it should be noted that this leaves Tornadus-T weak to the ever-present Heatran and can cause it to struggle with Tyranitar, so Heat Wave should only replace Focus Blast if the team already has a solid answer to both of these.

Knock Off is a decent support move, capable of threatening Normal teams’ Eviolite walls such as Chansey and Porygon2, while also being useful against some offensive pokemon (slowing down scarf mons or removing Landorus-I’s Life Orb for example), and dealing decent damage to teams weak to it such as Psychic or Ghost, despite the lack of investment. Heat Wave is a decent choice to replace this for the reasons given above, though it should be noted that when used alongside Focus Blast there is very little on Steel and Ice teams that can switch in. Sludge Wave is a reasonable option that allows Fairy-types to be hit hard, while alongside Hurricane can cause a lot of trouble for Grass and Bug teams to deal with. Grass Knot is also an option as it can force switches against Water teams and also deals with Ground’s Hippowdon / Gastrodon core somewhat well. Moreover it’s often unexpected, helping to get a kill from time to time. U-turn finishes off the set, allowing Tornadus-T to get free momentum and recovery from Regenerator, while also adding chip damage which is especially notable against Dark-types, who also dislike Focus Blast, and Psychic-types, who also dislike Knock Off.

Set Details

========

Assault Vest is the chosen item to give Tornadus-T a usable amount of Special bulk, which lets it tank hits such as Choice Specs Keldeo’s Hydro Pump. 168 Speed with a Hasty nature is used to outspeed max speed base 110 Speed pokemon such as Gengar and Latios, although more can be invested if faster targets need to be outsped. A Timid nature can also be used in order to preserve Tornadus-T’s physical bulk, however the loss of power on Knock Off and U-turn, both of which provide very useful chip damage on common types (namely Psychic and Dark) means this often isn’t worthwhile. Maximum investment is put into Special Attack in order for Tornadus’ Hurricanes and special coverage to deal decent damage and allowing targets such as Mega Gallade to be OHKO’d, with the remaining EVs placed into HP to increase Tornadus’ bulk. More investment can be put into HP if hitting that hard isn’t needed, although running at least 160 Special Attack EVs is recommended in order for Hurricane to OHKO standard Keldeo. If running Grass Knot, maximum investment into Special Attack is needed as otherwise Gastrodon is 3HKO’d by Grass Knot even after Stealth Rock, although it should be noted that this is a roll even after investment and some prior damage is recommended before revealing the move.

Team Options

========

Tornadus-T makes a good bulky pivot and U-turn user, allowing it to fit well on most offensive teams that need a Special tank, especially VoltTurn teams. This makes pokemon such as Choice Scarf Thundurus-T, and Landorus-T good partners, as well as wallbreakers such as Landorus-I and Choice Band Dragonite and setup sweepers such as Mega Charizard X. Other bulky pokemon, especially Physically bulky pokemon with some offensive presence such as Gliscor and Zapdos, also make good partners and can form a core with Tornadus-T to help support more offensive members of the team. This pokemon mostly supports other pokemon however, so it should be added to teams in order to help provide some support rather than being seen as an integral part of the team itself in most cases. As such, it works well alongside almost any pokemon found on a more offensive Flying team.

Other Options

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Tornadus-T would appear to be useful on stall teams due to its access to Regenerator and decent defensive stats, however outside of a role as bulky pivot it struggles to provide any defensive support due to lack of reliable recovery and generally being outclassed by other pokemon such as Togekiss. As an all-out attacker its offensive stats seem somewhat uninspiring when compared to the power displayed by the likes of Sheer Force Landorus-I. Thus, its only two real options are as an offensive pivot or bulky pivot. While the moves listed in the sets provide a relatively large amount of coverage, Tornadus-T has a somewhat small movepool outside of these moves so has few other options. Dark Pulse is generally outclassed by Knock Off so Tornadus-T has very little reason to run it, and no Hidden Power is particularly useful to it. It has no setup moves of any real value, and a RestTalk set simply isn’t needed due to Regenerator. Thus, the sets shown are really the only viable options Tornadus-Therian has.

Checks & Counters

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**Stealth Rock:** While Regenerator essentially negates Stealth Rock damage, the opposite is also true: While Stealth Rock is up, Regenerator no longer heals Tornadus-T. Coupled with other chip damage such as that from Life Orb, Tornadus becomes somewhat easier to wear down, and only a little of its bulk needs to be taken away before it is no longer capable of switching in on common attacks.

**Strong Attacks:** As with most VoltTurn users, the hardest part about making Tornadus-T faint is hitting it in the first place, as even with a bulkier set it struggles to tank even the weakest Super Effective attacks. Predicting when it will switch in or when it will attack rather than switching out will often give an opportunity to KO or cripple it, although predicting these times isn’t always easy.

**Priority or Fast Pokemon:** Tornadus-T relies on its high speed in order to do its job well. Priority such as Sucker Punch, or faster pokemon such as Greninja or most Scarf pokemon can cause Tornadus-T trouble as it fails to U-turn out before it can take a hit.

**Paralysis:** As with the previous point, when Tornadus-T is outsped it struggles to do its job well. Thus, if paralysed Tornadus-T is all but incapable of doing its job, as hitting it with powerful or super effective attacks becomes far easier and it will faint quickly. Beware of inflicting it with another status if Paralysis is possible, as neither burns nor poison are likely to cause much concern for the Flying player.

**Most Walls:** As long as Tornadus-T doesn’t boast Super Effective coverage, most walls are capable of stopping Tornadus-T in its tracks. However, beware that it will most likely simply U-turn out in these circumstances to a Wallbreaker, gaining both chip damage and momentum. It should also be noted that it can often carry unexpected Super Effective coverage: For example, be sure to scout for Grass Knot before trying to wall it with Gastrodon.

[RZL]

Hello, DOW this is a great analysis which I see you did not write yourself. 

Remove mentions of  Greninja.

Remove mentions of anything else currently banned that I missed over my skim through.

[Sae Sae]

I have a couple of things you might want to consider. An ev spread with 48/252/208  can outrun base 115s which can outrun Starmie and Raikou both which are very big threats to MonoFlying. If you have enough speed, you can potentially revenge them while still being able to take a hit. 

252 SpA Life Orb Starmie Thunderbolt vs. 48 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tornadus-T: 156-185 (50.1 - 59.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Raikou Thunderbolt vs. 48 HP / 0 SpD Assault Vest Tornadus-T: 198-234 (63.6 - 75.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Another thing you might want to consider is adding Grass Knot to other options. This allows it to beat Ground and Water Pokemon which can be a problem (and also gives you that better option against Starmie). I personally use it over Knock Off, but GK should just be an OO. Although I think Sludge Wave should be moved to OO cause I feel GK and Sludge Wave both aren't main slash worthy. 

*Edit: Grass knot can replace Focus Blast also since this patches the Rock weakness and Heat Wave covers the Steel and Ice.*

252 SpA Tornadus-T Grass Knot (80 BP) vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Starmie: 178-210 (68.1 - 80.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Last nitpick but I think Heat Wave should be the primary slash over Focus Blast.

[scpinion]

Awesome write-up! See below for my comments/suggestions.

Implement or tell me why I'm wrong and you've got yourself the 1st QC check. 

Make sure you add the [QC 0/3] text to the subject next go round btw.

On Monday, June 22, 2015 at 12:36:13 PM UTC-4, DoW wrote:

For the second slot Superpower is a strong choice capable of OHKOing 4 Def Mega Tyranitar, and also deals large amounts of damage to types that can prove a threat for Flying, such as Rock, Ice and Steel.

4 Def Mega-ttar is an obscure benchmark to hit (it doesn't out-speed Jolly DDance mega-Ttar after one DDance, so you can't switch it in). Does this spread it OHKO 248 HP Ttar? Can it 2HKO Heatran on the switch? If not, it is probably worth taking evs from HP to ensure the KOs, which should be mentioned in the set details.

 

Set Details

========

168 Speed EVs with a Hasty nature allow Tornadus-T to outspeed max speed base 110s such as Gengar, although more speed can be used to outspeed particular targets if needed.

Going to agree w/ Sae, outspeed 115s, Starmie and Raikou are threats. 

 

Full investment is put into Special Attack with the remainder put into Attack as this gives Tornadus-T the most offensive presence and makes it capable of dealing damage both Physically and Specially;

You put the rest into HP on the set. :p

 

 

Team Options

========

Obviously this set is designed to fit well onto a more offensive Flying team, as the momentum it gains the team is incredibly useful while the free recovery and ability to shut down walls help a huge amount as well. Other VoltTurn pokemon such as Landorus-T and Choice Scarf Thundurus-T are strong options, while Zapdos deserves a mention as a pokemon that can act both as a bulky defogger and a slow Volt Switch user.

Remove references to Zapdos. There is one in the Set Details as well.

 

Strong wallbreakers such as Landorus-I and Choice Band Dragonite appreciate the momentum gained by Volt Switch as it allows them to come in on a wall and in many cases guarantee a kill.

 ...momentum gained by U-turn...

Bulky Pivot

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Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe

Hasty Nature

- Hurricane

- Focus Blast / Heat Wave

- Knock Off / Heat Wave / Sludge Wave

- U-turn

 

Assault Vest is the chosen item to give Tornadus-T a usable amount of Special bulk, which lets it tank hits such as Choice Specs Keldeo’s Hydro Pump.

It can tank it after SR, which is pretty nice b/c it forces the Keldeo out, whereas some of flying's other spdef walls just die if it lands 2 in a row.

 

168 Speed with a Hasty nature is used to outspeed max speed base 110 Speed pokemon such as Gengar and Latios, although more can be invested if faster targets need to be outsped.

115s again

 

Team Options

========

Tornadus-T makes a good bulky pivot and U-turn user, allowing it to fit well on most offensive teams that need a Special tank, especially VoltTurn teams. This makes pokemon such as Choice Scarf Thundurus-T, and Landorus-T good partners, as well as wallbreakers such as Landorus-I and Choice Band Dragonite and setup sweepers such as Mega Charizard X. Other bulky pokemon, especially Physically bulky pokemon with some offensive presence such as Gliscor and Zapdos, also make good partners and can form a core with Tornadus-T to help support more offensive members of the team.

remove reference to Zapdos

 

Other Options

########

Tornadus-T would appear to be useful on stall teams due to its access to Regenerator and decent defensive stats, however outside of a role as bulky pivot it struggles to provide any defensive support due to lack of reliable recovery and generally being outclassed by other pokemon such as Togekiss. As an all-out attacker its offensive stats seem somewhat uninspiring when compared to the power displayed by the likes of Sheer Force Landorus-I. Thus, its only two real options are as an offensive pivot or bulky pivot. While the moves listed in the sets provide a relatively large amount of coverage, Tornadus-T has a somewhat small movepool outside of these moves so has few other options. Dark Pulse is generally outclassed by Knock Off so Tornadus-T has very little reason to run it, and no Hidden Power is particularly useful to it. It has no setup moves of any real value, and a RestTalk set simply isn’t needed due to Regenerator. Thus, the sets shown are really the only viable options Tornadus has.

...only viable options Tornadus-Therian has.

 

Checks & Counters

######## 

**Priority or Fast Pokemon:** Tornadus-T relies on its high speed in order to do its job well. Priority such as Sucker Punch, or faster pokemon such as Greninja or most Scarf pokemon can cause Tornadus-T trouble as it fails to U-turn out before it can take a hit.

Worth mentioning it dies to scarf Keldeo's 2nd Hydro Pump after rocks since you talk about checking the specs set.

**Most Walls:** As long as Tornadus-T doesn’t boast Super Effective coverage, most walls are capable of stopping Tornadus-T in its tracks. However, beware that it will most likely simply U-turn out in these circumstances to a Wallbreaker, gaining both chip damage and momentum. It should also be noted that it can often carry unexpected Super Effective coverage: For example, be sure to scout for Grass Knot before trying to wall it with Gastrodon.

This should be phrased so it is coming from the perspective of the Torn-T user, not someone up against Torn-T. (Change my text to be in your "voice", so it matches the rest of the analysis)

....its tracks. However, Tornadus-T's best feature is the ability to reliably pivot with U-turn, so good play can negate this weakness in many battles. Conversely, Tornadus-T has just the right amount of coverage to catch specific walls on the switch: For example.....  

[Anttya]

Great writeup, I'd remove things about Zapdos since it's banned and I have to bandwagon Sae about outspeeding 115s. Once you do this, QC 2/3. Good job!

On Monday, June 22, 2015 at 9:36:13 AM UTC-7, DoW wrote:

Tornadus-Therian (Flying)

Overview

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Tornadus-T is a pokemon rarely seen in Monotype, for a number of reasons. Firstly, its pure flying typing is somewhat uninspiring, presenting exactly the same weaknesses as the rest of the type, and giving it no new STABs to provide strong coverage for the team. As a pivot, it faces tough competition from both Landorus-T and Thundurus-T, which provide an electric immunity and can be very strong VoltTurn users. As a special tank, it faces tough competition from Togekiss, which boasts better typing, good bulk and the ability to occasionally win a game through hax, and even Articuno which can take ice attacks better than most pokemon.

However, Tornadus-T has a number of things in its favour still. For one, it has the ability Regenerator which effectively nullifies Stealth Rock damage, one of the biggest weaknesses that Flying teams can face, and provides recovery of a sort especially without Stealth Rocks on the field. It has a decent movepool, allowing it to hit a number of things hard if they’re not expecting it, and although Greninja outspeeds it, base 121 speed is far from slow. These things combined allow it a niche as a pivot on more offensive teams, where some recovery without wasting a turn to roost helps it a lot.

Offensive Pivot

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Tornadus-Therian @ Life Orb

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 88 Atk / 252 SpA / 168 Spe

Hasty Nature

- Hurricane

- Superpower / Focus Blast

- U-turn

- Taunt / Knock Off

Moves

========

Hurricane is the main STAB move, and although it has a shaky 70% accuracy its ability to blast holes in unsuspecting targets makes this worthwhile. For the second slot Superpower is a strong choice capable of OHKOing 4 Def Mega Tyranitar, and also deals large amounts of damage to types that can prove a threat for Flying, such as Rock, Ice and Steel. Focus Blast is another option which takes advantage of Tornadus-T’s larger Special Attack stat while not dropping its Attack and Defense stats, however running two moves with only 70% accuracy on the same set can cause problems.

U-turn is a key move on the set, giving Tornadus-T the ability to grab momentum and gain HP through Regenerator at the same time. Moreover, it hits reasonably hard and the combination of Fighting and Bug attacks can put a lot of pressure on Dark teams especially, while combined with Hurricane, Grass types can struggle to answer it. Taunt is a strong option for stallbreaking, especially if combined with super-effective coverage as this can easily shut down walls by hitting hard and stopping their recovery. Knock Off is also very useful, as it can threaten both Eviolite walls such as Chansey and pokemon weak to Dark-type attacks, especially Psychic-types which can struggle to deal with a combination of Knock Off and U-Turn.

Other moves such as Heat Wave, Sludge Wave, and Grass Knot can also be considered as each provides useful coverage, hitting certain types hard. While these moves give worse coverage overall, if your team has a particular weakness to Ground’s Hippowdon / Gastrodon core then Grass Knot is a move to consider; if your team struggles with steel then Heat Wave might be worthwhile. Sludge Wave is useful for dealing with Fairies, while alongside Hurricane it is capable of decimating Grass and Bug teams. These moves are best run over Superpower or Taunt, as Hurricane and U-turn are extremely useful to Tornadus-T.

Set Details

========

168 Speed EVs with a Hasty nature allow Tornadus-T to outspeed max speed base 110s such as Gengar, although more speed can be used to outspeed particular targets if needed. Full investment is put into Special Attack with the remainder put into Attack as this gives Tornadus-T the most offensive presence and makes it capable of dealing damage both Physically and Specially; however if U-turn is the only Physical attack used then more investment can be put into bulk instead. Both Hasty and Naïve natures are usable, however as flying boasts very strong physical walls such as Skarmory, Zapdos, and Gliscor, a Hasty nature is generally preferred. 

Team Options

========

Obviously this set is designed to fit well onto a more offensive Flying team, as the momentum it gains the team is incredibly useful while the free recovery and ability to shut down walls help a huge amount as well. Other VoltTurn pokemon such as Landorus-T and Choice Scarf Thundurus-T are strong options, while Zapdos deserves a mention as a pokemon that can act both as a bulky defogger and a slow Volt Switch user. Strong wallbreakers such as Landorus-I and Choice Band Dragonite appreciate the momentum gained by Volt Switch as it allows them to come in on a wall and in many cases guarantee a kill. Setup Sweepers such as Mega Charizard X and Nasty Plot Thundurus-I also appreciate the momentum as it can give a free setup opportunity. Mostly, this pokemon supports other offensive pokemon, so is often best added to the team as a glue to hold the team together, rather than an integral part of the team’s core; as such it can support a wide range of pokemon and does not really need much support of its own to work well.

Bulky Pivot

########

Tornadus-Therian @ Assault Vest

Ability: Regenerator

EVs: 88 HP / 252 SpA / 168 Spe

Hasty Nature

- Hurricane

- Focus Blast / Heat Wave

- Knock Off / Heat Wave / Sludge Wave

- U-turn

Moves

========

Hurricane is Tornadus-T’s standard STAB move, and while it isn’t particularly powerful it is still capable of denting most attackers, although the 70% accuracy can be annoying. Focus Blast provides strong coverage, hitting the Rock-, Ice- and Steel-types that can prove annoying for Flying teams to deal with at times. Heat Wave is an option over this, providing a stronger attack against Ferrothorn while also giving better accuracy and alongside Hurricane helping to decimate Grass and Bug teams, however it should be noted that this leaves Tornadus-T weak to the ever-present Heatran and can cause it to struggle with Tyranitar, so Heat Wave should only replace Focus Blast if the team already has a solid answer to both of these.

Knock Off is a decent support move, capable of threatening Normal teams’ Eviolite walls such as Chansey and Porygon2, while also being useful against some offensive pokemon (slowing down scarf mons or removing Landorus-I’s Life Orb for example), and dealing decent damage to teams weak to it such as Psychic or Ghost, despite the lack of investment. Heat Wave is a decent choice to replace this for the reasons given above, though it should be noted that when used alongside Focus Blast there is very little on Steel and Ice teams that can switch in. Sludge Wave is a reasonable option that allows Fairy-types to be hit hard, while alongside Hurricane can cause a lot of trouble for Grass and Bug teams to deal with. Grass Knot is also an option as it can force switches against Water teams and also deals with Ground’s Hippowdon / Gastrodon core somewhat well. Moreover it’s often unexpected, helping to get a kill from time to time. U-turn finishes off the set, allowing Tornadus-T to get free momentum and recovery from Regenerator, while also adding chip damage which is especially notable against Dark-types, who also dislike Focus Blast, and Psychic-types, who also dislike Knock Off.

Set Details

========

Assault Vest is the chosen item to give Tornadus-T a usable amount of Special bulk, which lets it tank hits such as Choice Specs Keldeo’s Hydro Pump. 168 Speed with a Hasty nature is used to outspeed max speed base 110 Speed pokemon such as Gengar and Latios, although more can be invested if faster targets need to be outsped. A Timid nature can also be used in order to preserve Tornadus-T’s physical bulk, however the loss of power on Knock Off and U-turn, both of which provide very useful chip damage on common types (namely Psychic and Dark) means this often isn’t worthwhile. Maximum investment is put into Special Attack in order for Tornadus’ Hurricanes and special coverage to deal decent damage and allowing targets such as Mega Gallade to be OHKO’d, with the remaining EVs placed into HP to increase Tornadus’ bulk. More investment can be put into HP if hitting that hard isn’t needed, although running at least 160 Special Attack EVs is recommended in order for Hurricane to OHKO standard Keldeo. If running Grass Knot, maximum investment into Special Attack is needed as otherwise Gastrodon is 3HKO’d by Grass Knot even after Stealth Rock, although it should be noted that this is a roll even after investment and some prior damage is recommended before revealing the move.

Team Options

========

Tornadus-T makes a good bulky pivot and U-turn user, allowing it to fit well on most offensive teams that need a Special tank, especially VoltTurn teams. This makes pokemon such as Choice Scarf Thundurus-T, and Landorus-T good partners, as well as wallbreakers such as Landorus-I and Choice Band Dragonite and setup sweepers such as Mega Charizard X. Other bulky pokemon, especially Physically bulky pokemon with some offensive presence such as Gliscor and Zapdos, also make good partners and can form a core with Tornadus-T to help support more offensive members of the team. This pokemon mostly supports other pokemon however, so it should be added to teams in order to help provide some support rather than being seen as an integral part of the team itself in most cases. As such, it works well alongside almost any pokemon found on a more offensive Flying team.

Other Options

########

Tornadus-T would appear to be useful on stall teams due to its access to Regenerator and decent defensive stats, however outside of a role as bulky pivot it struggles to provide any defensive support due to lack of reliable recovery and generally being outclassed by other pokemon such as Togekiss. As an all-out attacker its offensive stats seem somewhat uninspiring when compared to the power displayed by the likes of Sheer Force Landorus-I. Thus, its only two real options are as an offensive pivot or bulky pivot. While the moves listed in the sets provide a relatively large amount of coverage, Tornadus-T has a somewhat small movepool outside of these moves so has few other options. Dark Pulse is generally outclassed by Knock Off so Tornadus-T has very little reason to run it, and no Hidden Power is particularly useful to it. It has no setup moves of any real value, and a RestTalk set simply isn’t needed due to Regenerator. Thus, the sets shown are really the only viable options Tornadus has.

[DoW]

Yeah, I wrote this analysis a while ago when snaquaza was trying to get a similar thing going, so I've still got the occasional mention of Zapdos and Greninja in there while it's possible the sets are a little out-of-date. I'm somewhat busy right now so I'll hopefully get those things sorted out between today and tomorrow, otherwise it'll be Sunday that I get round to fixing those things. Thanks for the feedback.

Also, regarding speed 115s: Raikou isn't exactly common, while offensive Starmie is only somewhat common and can often be played around with pokemon such as Zard X. Should I slash the EVs or put one of the two sets as the main one and the other as another option in set details? The power loss is noticable when increasing speed, for example the Ttar and Heatran KOs for superpower are missed out.

[scpinion]

Keep the one you think is better and mention the other in the set details.

[scpinion]

[Sae Sae]

Offensive Starmie is on the rise due to the popularity of HO water and ideally these dex entries should at least keep track of current trends. Raikou might not be as popular, but that's to be expected with an already low usage of Electricity at higher level play. Leave yours as the main set, but the EV spread to outpace base 115s needs to be mentioned somewhere in set details yeah.

I still say that Grass Knot should be listed under OO  over even a Dark Pulse mention because at least GK has an actual use for hitting many Rock mons and common Water mons without having to afford a Hurrimiss. 

Also does Tornadus-T strictly need to OHKO Ttar or Heatran (or is the set supposed to 2HKO I didn't check the damage calc)? Doing enough damage after rocks should be fine since Tornadus-T really should be used for pivoting. I guess if it's a DD TTar you don't want it setting up, but in most situations you're not likely to go straight for the OHKO when you have Skarm, Gyara, or Landorus in the back?