Pokemon of the Week #11 - Tornadus-T

Professor Palutena

Professor Palutena

The Queen
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tdl's favorite thing to ever exist

When we first saw Tornadus-T, I think we were all kinda thinking the same thing "ew". Yeah, it has 121 base speed. But it just didn't hit as hard as the original forme. We were told it was going to be bulkier, but it really wasn't. The stats were meh, and all it really had it its favor was Regenerator.

Then something happened, and I'm not too sure what it was. It was as if overnight people decided "woah, this thing rocks!" Suddenly, Tornadus-T was everywhere, and the fun thing is that it turned out to be awesome. The original Tornadus didn't have much of a need for Prankster, so people welcomed Regenerator with open arms. Yes, it may have lower offenses, but Regenerator is easily worth the trade off. The base 121 speed, while seemingly overkill at first glance, is an immense help. That speed outpaces ScarfTar and Starmie, two common checks to the original forme. Hitting 375 Speed also ties with 212 Spe Adamant +1 Dragonite. With Breloom running rampant in the metagame, and Amoonguss being everywhere to counter Keldeo, Tornadus-T's Flying STAB is wonderful in this metagame.

So how have you been using this new guy? What counters have you found for it?

Also, have an idea for a future installment of PotW? Send me a profile comment with your suggestion.

Keldeo
Amoonguss
Breloom
Thundurus-T
Landorus-T
Hydreigon
Kyurem
Wobbuffet
 
Try Choice Specs with Sleep Talk. You rarely ever need the fourth move, HP Ice, since the only thing that's useful for is Landorus and bulky Dragonite. Sleep Talk makes Tornadus-T one of the best answers to Amoonguss and Breloom outside of maybe Xatu and Skarmory, the former probably gets Stolen by Bullet Seed while the latter of which needs something to get Spored first. Even if you mispredict and get hit five times by Bullet Seed, Regenerator can always save you provided you keep SR off the field.

I've had games where Sleep Talk screws me over (ex: selecting Focus Blast two times in a row), but having a useful answer to SD Breloom and Amoonguss is too good to turn down.

On a related note, keep SR off the field at all cost. Tornadus, especially the LO versions, perform the best with SR gone. It also helps versus Mamoswine since Ice Shard will never kill a full health Tornadus-T. Plus, only gaining 8% of your health upon switching out (or loosing 2% if you're a LO set) is not as good as getting back 33%.

yes it is my fav pokemon now shutup lol
 
I like a Choice Scarf set with U-Turn. It allows me to use mixed attacks, as well as letting me outspeed everything that isn't scarfed. You can just switch in, and while they put in something to take a hurricane, you U-Turn into whatever can take what they're gonna throw at you. It wreaks havoc on their predictions, all while being immune to SR damage, as well as being able to switch in on special attacks from psychics and the like and U-Turn into Keldeo/Jellicent/Whatever to take their HP Ice.
 
why would you run scarf tornadus when it already has 121 speed

all while being immune to SR damage
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what, you're technically not immune

as well as being able to switch in on special attacks from psychics and the like and U-Turn into Keldeo/Jellicent/Whatever to take their HP Ice.
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... what
 
I told you, just to outspeed EVERYTHING. The speed gets so redundantly huge. It makes Terrakion not wreck you after a Rock Polish or 2.
 
... what. Not only does +2 Terrakion outspeed, Tornadus also fails to OHKO with Focus Blast. Thundurus-T isn't even OHKO'd by HP Ice after SR.

I hope you realize how redundant and weak Scarf Tornadus is.
 
It may be redundant, but it's saved me in many a BW2 match when they put all their speed investment in one pokemon and I just take it out.
 
I saw this guy on Smogon get to around #15 on PS with a Sleep Talk/Hurricane Tornadus-T. Yep, just two moves. To me, that's really ingenius. Mono-Flying is really good offensively. Most of the time with Tornadus, all you do is spam Hurricane, so might as well guarantee it with a two attack set.

And a Scarf set is absolutely redundant and is bad. It's like running Scarf Deoxys-S. You have priority attacks for a reason, so use them.
 
I still like having U-Turn on my Sleep Talk Tornadus just for offensive momentum. Even slapping a Breloom with a Focus Blast will OHKO, and if Sleep Talk picks U-Turn you can switch in to Jolly Mamoswine (since Jolly Breloom is a troll) or Amoonguss to take on Breloom.
 
Just out of curiosity, why aren't you running Superpower? It's a nuke against any Tyranitar wanting to come in and sponge your Hurricane, while also changing the weather (and its alright against Blissey/Chansey).
 
I think it just took a while for people to understand why having a bulkier Tornadus would be a good thing. Like you said, that speed, along with Regenerator meant that Tornadus-T will be slapping around anything it wants to with Hurricane, provided you make smart switches. And even with limited offensive options, it can still run a variety of sets, like Specs or the Sleep Talk one mentioned earlier. In short, it's my personal favorite of the new forms, both competitively and aesthetically. I mean look at it. It's the "Come at me Bro" Pokemon.
 
I tried a 252 HP / 252 Speed Tornadus with Amoonguss and Slowbro one time just to get the most out of its ability and defences. I found it okay as a defensive pivot; the lack of power and so-so defenses made me wish for more. It does screw with defensive teams if you can keep SR off the field. I even ran it with Taunt to do so since it can take a Gyro Ball from Ferrothorn if it needs to. Still, the drop in power was noticeable and I felt it to be a terrible Tornadus set.

Bippa said:
Just out of curiosity, why aren't you running Superpower? It's a nuke against any Tyranitar wanting to come in and sponge your Hurricane, while also changing the weather (and its alright against Blissey/Chansey).
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I really don't like it on Specs Tornadus since it has a very weird feel, especially with Sleep Talk. Focus Blast is statistically more powerful than Superpower when you factor everything in (it even has a higher chance to beat bulky Tyranitar). Hitting Breloom with a 33% chance of Superpower is a death sentence; if the fool didn't fall for the bluff and went for the SD, you're screwed if SR was on the field. Another reason I run Focus Blast is that I feel a bit silly only running one special move on a Specs attacker.

Hell to the yes to Superpower on LO Tornadus-T though. I have yet to run Focus Blast on that set yet since I prefer consistancy and wallbreaking ability over more damage and no need for naive nature.
 
I've only been using LO Tornadus, so I'm so used to selecting Superpower in the teambuilder all the time. Granted, I still find Sleep Talk useful on the LO set, but sometimes I wish I had Taunt.

I've never used Specs Tornadus-T yet, but you're making it sound awesome.
 
Heh, Tornadus-T was that Pokemon that I thought was going to be really bad and nearly unplayable but its so fantastic. Flying STAB is annoy to deal with (it only has something like 7-9 resist in the entire OU tier o.o) and some of those have to have a dedicated set to battle against it such as a 0/0 Heatran isn't going to last long switching into those Hurricanes. It has just enough moves to get by as well: the mentioned Hurricane, Hidden Power, U-Turn, Focus Miss, Superpower, Sleep Talk, and Taunt. One of the best pivots and revengers in the game and certainly one of the most annoying to deal with if Stealth Rocks isn't up.
 
I know some people like to run Heat Wave on the Specs set just to eliminate its usual checks and counters. If you can keep rain out of play to lure these guys in, they will all be swiftly 2HKO to even being OHKO'd. Iirc, Ferrothorn and Scizor are even OHKO'd by it in rain.

If you really look at its movepool, you see a lot of neat options. Even Tailwind + U-Turn is nifty for passing a teamate a free Agility for two turns. With Regenerator Tornadus can, theoretically, do this over and over again, a major boon for offensive teams. Regenerator is the main reason why you would run this combo over normal Tornadus (although a priority Tailwind for a needed revenge kill is still a pro).

It gets Knock Off which is great for beating down Chansey. Like I said in my first post, you can find room for all of thes moves (Heat Wave, Tailwind, Taunt, Rain Dance, Knock Off, HP Ice, etc) in that fourth slot since you never need more than Hurricane, Fighting-type move, and U-turn.
 
Specs Heat Wave in rain guarantees a KO on CB Scizor, with LO having a 93.75% chance to get the KO, doing 99% minimum.

On Ferro though, both of them 2HKO, with LO having a chance for a 3HKO.

CB Scizor Bullet Punch has a small chance (12.5%) to KO Tornadus-T after Stealth Rock damage, so staying in on a Scizor is pretty risky.
 
121 Speed is insane! 110 SpA with this speed is pretty nice balance along with high base power moves. I haven't used it yet, but from the sounds of these posts, it must be pretty good.

The bulk part of Tornadus is that it got +20 in its defenses while Landorus got +20 in Attack and Thundurus +20 Sp. Attack. The statement made about it focusing on defenses refers to it getting defense boosts.
 
I don't really get Heat Wave. Focus Blast is stronger in Rain for Ferro and Hurricane more or less OHKOs Scizor.

This guy is such a pest for offensive teams to handle due to a lack of robust Flying resists to switch in. Jolteon is looking mighty fine right about now, as well as scarf Thundy. Jirachi is an OK choice but taking two Hurricanes just to try an attack is painful man. And of course it's hard to wear down.

Really good mon, not sure why people didn't think it was gonna be good at first.. Too bad it's Rain only.

Tornadus + Dugtrio is a pretty good combo. It pressures you opponent to not bring in their flying resists lest you U-turn and kill then with Dugtrio. As you obviously have Politoed it aids the weather war too. A really brutal combo in the right hands.
 
The point of Heat Wave is to lure in Jirachi and Metagross and eliminate them. I myself have never run it because you have to keep rain off the field to do it. When that's the case you're better off having rain on the field and beating them around with Hurricane + U-turn.
 
Yeah, that's what I mean. You have to work against rain if you want to use Heat Wave, and Tornadus-T requires rain to use its primary spam move. To be honest most of the time you're wearing things down with Hurricane anyway, so there's no need to be fancy.
 
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