Generation 9 National Dex Great Tusk bait
Landorus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 32 SpA / 224 Spe
Naive Nature
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Rock Slide / Stone Edge
- Grass Knot
This is basically a standard Scarf Landorus, except it has certain modifications that allow it to easily dispatch Great Tusk. Tusk can be a problem for all manner of teams, and with the popularity of Mega Charizard Y, using Sun to boost Speed thanks to Protosynthesis has allowed Great Tusk to run a totally different set than what standard offensive Tusk would usually run. This Landorus-T solves that problem, while accomplishing many tasks a standard Scarf Landorus would complete. The choice between Rock Slide and Stone Edge is basically down to whether you want this Landorus to be more threatening against defensive Moltres or to let it dispatch Charizard Y as reliably as possible. Grass Knot is the main star of set. On standard offensive Tusk with no special bulk investment, you can guarantee a KO on Great Tusk from as high as 82% health. On Speed booster sets that run maximum HP, Grass Knot still hits for 70% minimum. 224 Speed along with Scarf allows Landorus to outspeed boosted Great Tusk, whether from Protosynthesis or a Rapid Spin boost.
The reason this set can be effective is because Landorus usually doesn't have anything to deal with Great Tusk, especially if Tusk is at high health. Tusk, on the other hand, usually carried Ice Spinner, a move that can deal massive damage to Landorus, even after an Intimidate, and can outright KO if it is a +Speed Bulk Up set after a boost. Therefore, most Tusk within Grass Knot range would stay in on Landorus, even if Scarf is already revealed. Although rare, Grass Knot also has uses outside of nuking Great Tusk. Certain mons it targets are Dondozo, who gets 2HKOed with physically defensive sets and 3HKOed with specially defensive sets, and Zamazenta, who notably takes minimum 25% from Grass Knot with no special bulk, thus meaning it cannot safely Substitute and spam Iron Defense in front of Landorus.
This Landorus set is better on teams that both don't require Landorus to be a sturdy wall and have some form of hazard removal. As you have probably noticed by now, this Landorus has no bulk investment, meaning its longetivity is purely based off of Intimidate and its immunities. Yes, it can still soften hits for its team thanks to Intimidate, but you would probably want to have teammates that can still take hits without Landorus. Scarf Landorus usually runs Defog as a means of hazard control, but because that is omitted on this set, a reliable hazard remover may be desirable. A variety of Defoggers can work alongside Landorus, but for Rapid Spin, because of the type overlap with Great Tusk and Iron Treads, Terapagos is probably the best remover to pair with Landorus, as it can also dispatch Flying-types using Ice Beam and Flamethrower to allow for a late game Landorus cleanup thanks to maximum Attack and strong Earthquakes.
