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Community POTW #120

Serebii

And, as if by magic, the webmaster appeared...
Staff member
Admin
Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and this week we go to Unova

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It's Thundurus!


Go nuts
 

Divine Retribution

Conquistador de pan
Thundurus is among a slew of Electric-types that feels the removal of Hidden Power sorely. No longer does it have a viable weapon in Hidden Power Ice against the likes of Garchomp, Gliscor, and its cousin Landorus, and Hidden Power Flying was, hilariously enough, its only option for a special Flying STAB (and only Flying STAB in general outside of the unreliable Fly). However, with a fairly colorful array of coverage options such as Grass Knot, Focus Blast, Sludge Wave, Psychic, Dark Pulse, Superpower, Knock Off, and Weather Ball (and even Incinerate if you have a particular hatred for Ferrothorn), as well as some support options in the form of Thunder Wave, Defog, and both Volt Switch and U-Turn, it can still manage to pull its weight against many teams.

Here's a Therian set that's designed to work on Rain teams.


thundurus-therian.gif

Thundurus-Therian @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Timid - Volt Absorb
252 Sp. Atk, 252 Speed, 4 Def
-Thunder
-Weather Ball
-Focus Blast / Sludge Wave
-Nasty Plot / Volt Switch

This set relies on a teammate (usually Pelipper) to set up Rain, giving his Thunders perfect accuracy and transforming Weather Ball into a viable Water-type move, perfect for hitting bulky Grounds like Landorus-Therian, Gliscor, and Excadrill that otherwise wall him. Focus Blast nails Tyranitar, a potential switch-in to remove Rain, as well as Ferrothorn, and is his strongest option against Chansey/Blissey and the admittedly fairly rare Zarude. Sludge Wave, however, offers a better match-up against certain Grass-types like Tangrowth and Rillaboom while retaining a solid hit on Zarude. The last slot is dependent on what role you want Thundurus to fulfill. Nasty Plot lets him sweep unprepared teams, however Thundurus-Therian sports a just-barely-above-average 101 base Speed, which means it's not hard for many offensive teams to revengekill him and he will rarely pull off a clean sweep unless the opponent's team has been significantly weakened. It does admittedly let him do a number on bulkier teams. Volt Switch lets him pivot, which can be extremely useful in the match-up against faster hyper offense teams, but lacks the raw breaking power of a Nasty Plot set.

Pelipper is damn near a mandatory teammate for this set, as it relies on Rain and Pelipper is the best setter short of Kyogre. As you've already got the beginnings of a Rain team between these two, it's highly likely that you will want to fill out the rest of your team with other Rain staples, like Ferrothorn, Barraskewda, Tapu Koko, Tornadus-Therian, and Gastrodon.


 
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Mestorn

Wandering Battler
Thundurus, one of the legendary genies. While an overwhelming force in its debut generation thanks to its blistering speed, amazing Electric Flying typing and access to both Prankster and Defiant to keep your opponent guessing, passing generations have knocked Thundurus-Incarnate further and further down. Faster Electric types like Tapu Koko, Zeraora and Regieleki rule the roost now, and their more specialized stats, favorable typings or sheer utility with Electric Terrain make them more attractive picks over Thundurus-Incarnate. While Electric Flying is a fantastic typing defensively, Tundurus lacks the bulk and roost to pull it off the same way Zapdos does.

Losing Hidden Power in the generational shift has hit Thundurus-Incarnate hard. Now lacking the near perfect coverage of BoltBeam, it now has to run several moves to compensate for Electric's resists. Additionally Thundurus-Incarnate suffers in the same way that Tapu Koko does in that it has non-existent options for its secondary STAB, only having Fly, leaving its superior Special Attack to languish. Weather Ball and Rising Voltage are neat new toys, but the coverage they offer is situational, relying on conditions that Thundurus-Incarnate or a team mate has to set up. At the end of the day, Thundurus is still a legendary, and should not be underestimated at your own peril.

A Storm of Mischief
Thundurus-Incarnate
Ability
: Prankster
Item: Life Orb
-Nasty Plot
-Thunderbolt
-Grass Knot/Focus Blast
-Grass Knot/Focus Blast/Sludge Bomb/Taunt/Thunder Wave
Nature: Timid (+SPE, -ATK)
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SATK / 252 SPE

Thundurus-Incarnate differentiates itself from Zapdos with sheer offensive force. Prankster Nasty Plot is incredibly difficult to stop and Thundurus-Incarnate's base 111 Speed gets the jump on many, many Pokémon, enabling easy sweeps in the late game provided the checks have been moved out of the way. Thunderbolt is preferred for reliable STAB. Grass Knot and Focus Blast are the coverage moves of choice. Grass Knot hits most Ground types hard, but leaves Thundurus-Incarnate struggling against Dragon and Grass types. Focus Blast hits Tyranitar and the many part Rock and Steel Ground types hard, as well as Dragons and Grass Neutrally, but is inaccurate. Last move is up to preference. In addition to the previous moves, Sludge Bomb is a decent choice, covering some Grass types as well as hitting Unaware Clefable hard. Prankster Taunt prevents opposing setup from non-Dark types while Thunder Wave gives Thundurus valuable speed control against faster opponents.
 
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