[OVERVIEW]
With pretty decent offensive stats, combined with the item Life Orb, its ability Sheer Force, and access to various coverage moves, Landorus acts as a powerful wallbreaker in the Ubers metagame, easily breaking major walls such as Ho-Oh and Toxapex. Its base 101 Speed stat allows it to outspeed many common threats such as Mega Salamence and Yveltal. As it does a lot of damage to hazard-removing support Arceus formes with STAB Earth Power, Landorus also acts as a pretty solid Stealth Rock user. However, while it may have a good matchup against bulky offensive and balanced teams due to its pretty decent Speed, access to many different coverage moves, and raw power, it has a bad matchup against hyper offensive teams, as it easily gets revenge killed by Pokemon present on such teams, like Xerneas and Yveltal. Moreover, it struggles against many defensive Pokemon such as Giratina-O and Lugia, as they have enough bulk to outlast all of Landorus's moves. Despite being immune to Ground-type moves, it is unable to check the tier's most common Ground-types, namely Primal Groudon and Arceus-Ground, effectively. Due to these problems, it faces competition from other wallbreakers, which either have better wallbreaking potential or provide the team with notable defensive utilities, to gain a slot in an Ubers team.
[SET]
name: Life Orb Attacker
move 1: Earth Power
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Stealth Rock / Knock Off
item: Life Orb
ability: Sheer Force
nature: Naive / Rash
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Earth Power is a strong Sheer Force-boosted STAB move and has a chance to OHKO specially defensive Primal Groudon and 2HKO various Arceus formes after Stealth Rock damage. Rock Slide is a physical move that gets boosted by Sheer Force and hits most Flying-type Pokemon super effectively, allowing Landorus to OHKO Ho-Oh and 2HKO offensive variants of Yveltal. Although Hidden Power Ice does not benefit from Sheer Force unlike most of Landorus's other attacks, it is mandatory to take on certain threats, helping it by OHKOing Salamence and Rayquaza, 2HKOing Zygarde-C, and 3HKOing Giratina-O, which easily takes all of Landorus's other attacks. By taking advantage of its ability to force switches, Landorus can easily set up Stealth Rock on the opponent’s field. Knock Off rids walls such as Chansey, Celesteela, Skarmory, Lugia, and Bronzong of their items, thus maximizing Landorus's wallbreaking potential. It also OHKOes Lunala after Shadow Shield is deactivated.
Set Details
========
Full investment of EVs in Special Attack and Speed maximizes Landorus's offensive potential. A Naive nature helps Landorus outspeed all Pokemon with base 100 Speed or lower, which includes the non-Choice Scarf variants of Yveltal, Lunala, and Xerneas, as well as all variants of Primal Groudon. Landorus can also effectively use a Rash nature, which provides it with more power, allowing it to 2HKO support Arceus formes even without the requirement of any prior damage from entry hazards or the sort, as well as giving it higher chances to OHKO specially defensive Primal Groudon. However, it becomes slower than Timid Yveltal, allowing Yveltal to check Landorus better.
Usage Tips
========
Landorus functions as a good early- or mid-game wallbreaker, so bringing it out as soon as possible to weaken or break the opponent's defensive core is advised. However, getting Landorus into play is a bit difficult due to its average bulk, so try to use double switches or U-turn support to safely switch it in. Landorus has the ability to force switches, so you should take advantage of this to set up Stealth Rock easily on the opponent's field. However, if the opponent still has their entry hazard remover healthy, it's better to weaken them first before setting up the entry hazard. Removing Flying-types and Pokemon with Levitate early on in the game with Landorus's coverage moves allows it to spam Earth Power freely. Unfortunately, for certain bulky and physically defensive Flying-types such as Lugia and Celesteela, you may have to switch Landorus out. However, it could also strip them of their items using Knock Off to make them less of a threat to your team. Be careful of using Knock Off and Hidden Power Ice very often, though, as it makes Landorus take recoil damage from Life Orb, making it easier for foes to KO it.
Team Options
=========
Offensive teams appreciate the presence of a wallbreaker, especially when they fail to take care of certain defensive Pokemon, such as Ho-Oh and Toxapex, that Landorus may be able to take care of easily. Primal Groudon shares some common checks with Landorus, and the two can work together to take them out. Primal Groudon's ability to switch into Primal Kyogre is also greatly appreciated, and Landorus's access to Stealth Rock frees up Primal Groudon's move options. Dark-types such as Yveltal, Arceus-Dark, and Darkrai take care of threats to Landorus such as Lugia and Giratina-O. Geomancy Xerneas handles some of the checks of Landorus pretty well, as it takes care of Giratina-O and Yveltal with Moonblast as well as Primal Kyogre and certain Ground-immune defensive walls like Skarmory and Celesteela with Thunder. In return, Xerneas appreciates Landorus's ability to switch into Primal Groudon, take care of certain Steel-type threats, and provide Stealth Rock support. Mega Gengar can trap and take down most defensive Pokemon that wall Landorus, including Lugia, Blissey, and Celesteela. It can also assist Landorus by removing support Arceus formes or using Taunt on them, ensuring Stealth Rock stays on the opponent's field. Mega Lucario is immune to Toxic due to its Steel typing and hence can easily set up on those Pokemon that wall Landorus, namely Lugia, Chansey, and Celesteela. Landorus may have a decent Speed stat, but it is still outsped by many offensive threats in the metagame; Sticky Web support from Shuckle or Smeargle is always appreciated for this reason. Mega Salamence and Extreme Killer Arceus appreciate it when Lugia and Celesteela lose their Leftovers, which can be done by Knock Off Landorus. Some of Marshadow's major threats are taken care of by Landorus with ease; Landorus can OHKO Primal Groudon and Toxapex with Earth Power, as well as OHKO Ho-Oh and 2HKO Yveltal with Rock Slide. In return, Marshadow helps to take care of threats such as Extreme Killer Arceus and do some major damage to walls like Chansey and Blissey. U-turn support can help get Landorus into play safely most of the time; Mega Scizor and Tapu Koko are the best options, since both lure in Primal Groudon, which Landorus can promptly force right back out for a free attack.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=========
Focus Blast gives Landorus a chance to OHKO Ferrothorn as well as 2HKO Skarmory and Celesteela, which would otherwise check it. It also helps to OHKO Extreme Killer Arceus and Shuca Berry Dialga if required. Sheer Force-boosted Sludge Wave does major damage to Xerneaswhile still doing a decent amount of damage to other Flying-type Pokemon. However, it fails to OHKOGeomancyXerneas even after Stealth Rock damage, allowing it to set up and revenge kill Landorus in return. Explosion allows Landorus to block Defog for one turn by sacrificing itself, which can benefit entry hazard-stacking teams. However, it offers little in terms of coverage and causes an unnecessary loss of a Pokemon on the team. Superpower is useful in defeating Blissey and Chansey, but it's almost useless against other threats. U-turn helps Landorus pivot out of checksbut provides no useful coverage and makes it take unnecessary damage from Life Orb. Rock Polish takes care of Landorus's Speed problem against faster threats; however, it loses a useful coverage move for it, thus decreasing its wallbreaking capacity. Gravity is useful in terms of hitting Ground-immune Pokemon with Landorus's strong STAB Earth Power, which would probably do much more than what Hidden Power Ice or Rock Slide would normally do. The bad part of it is that it also makes Landorus and the rest of the team vulnerable to Ground-type moves for five turns, which could backfire.
Checks and Counters
==============
**Giratina-O**: Thanks to its ability Levitate, Giratina-O is immune to Landorus's strongest STAB move in Earth Power and easily evades the 2HKO from even Hidden Power Icewhile easily destroying Landorus with Draco Meteor or clearing off entry hazards set up by Landorus with Defog.
**Lugia**: Although Knock Off strips Lugia of its Leftovers, Lugia easily walls all of Landorus's moves and can Toxic stall it.
**Chansey and Blissey**: Both have excellent sheer special bulk, enabling them to wall most of Landorus's moves. However, neither of them enjoys losing their item due to Knock Off.
**Skarmory and Celesteela**: Both of these Pokemon can comfortably switch into the non-Focus Blast variants of Landorus and stall it with Toxic and Roost.
**Bronzong**: Bronzong can check the non-Knock Off variants of Landorus, as it is immune to Earth Power due to its ability Levitate, can tank all of Landorus's other moves, and can pressure it with Toxic.
**Primal Kyogre**: Defensive Primal Kyogre is able to avoid the 2HKO from Earth Power and OHKOes Landorus back with Scald, Origin Pulse, or Ice Beam. However, Primal Kyogre can potentially lose if it gets bad Sleep Talk rolls or if Landorus has entry hazard support.
**Yveltal**: In spite of the fact that Rock Slide from Landorus 2HKOes it, Yveltal's immunity to Earth Power and ability to OHKO Landorus with Dark Pulse makes it one of the biggest threats to Landorus. Defensive Yveltal stalls out Landorus with Toxic and Roost and can avoid the 2HKO from Rock Slide, though damage from Stealth Rock could bring it in KO range.
**Faster Support Arceus Formes**: Landorus has a significantly harder time dealing with support Arceus formes if they outspeed it, especially if they run Ice Beam, such as Arceus-Ground. Arceus-Water can finish it off with STAB Judgment, making it risky for Landorus to stay in.
**Revenge Killers**: Landorus's moderate bulk causes most powerful offensive threats faster than 331 Speed to revenge kill it. Common examples include Mega Lucario, Mewtwo, Mega Salamence, Deoxys-A, Pheromosa, and Choice Scarf users or boosted offensive threats such as Lunala and Xerneas. In addition, priority move users such as Arceus and Rayquaza can easily evade the Speed difference.
**Ferrothorn**: In spite of the fact that Earth Power does a decent amount of damage to Ferrothorn, it narrowly avoids the 2HKO and can stall out Landorus with Leech Seed and Protect. However, Ferrothorn takes a lot of damage from Focus Blast, so it needs to be careful about that.
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