Is Tyrantrum viable in Gen 8 OU?

Question

Since Tyrantrum is not in Gen 9, I'm asking for Gen 8. Tyrantrum has Strong Jaw with all elemental fangs/Psychic fangs/Crunch going crazy while it also has Rock Head making Head smash go insane making Choice scarf a must have. It does have 6 weaknesses and very low Special defense & Speed stats is the problem. You can put in doubles or singles & include movesets if you want.

Comments

Alright, after chatting through Smogon chat, I got this:

1-It’s Outclassed by moms such as Tyranitar

2-Fairy-Steel countered, meaning Tapu-countered and countered by the steel bird, steel weed, and steel magma creature(and other steel things).

I can’t tell you exactly why(I’ve personally never tried to play Gen 8 OU with Tyrantrum and don’t know that Metagame really well) but hope this helped.

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@ferrari Yes, was referring to OU. It's not very good and hard to justify over Tyranitar. I remember there were a few attempts to make it work in OU though, but they werent very succesful to my knowledge. I'll ask about it in smogon.

This is what I was referring to by attempts to make it work in OU: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/tyrantrum-mew-bo.3696743/

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It's not that good in singles OU simply because it adds nothing defensively to a team. Dragon types are not good defensively due to their fairy allergy. It also competes heavil with Tyranitar as a rock type because Tyranitar has defensive utility with its list of resistances that's just as long as its list of weaknesses and sand, which means you're almost never gonna lose to weather teams immediately. The only niche Tyrantrum would have is head smash because that would two shot everything, even specially defensive Garchomp, and it can close combat Melmetal, and its destroys Buzzwall. This is highly specific and shouldn't really be used outside of this at all. Tyrantrum also has the trouble of being a physical attacking dragon, which isn't good because you don't have a viable dragon stab. Dragon claw is too weak and you might as well permanently block pokemon showdown on your browser if you use outrage

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What about Doubles and should I use it in a sand team(I'm making one and using ttar in it)

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tyrantrum just isn't good in general. It's probably NU for a reason

Answer 1

No, Tyrantrum is not viable

Why? 1: It’s outclassed by Tyranitar. Tyranitar is a more bulky and efficient defensive Pokémon that also has access to Sand Stream. Tyranitar soaks hits Tyrantrum would die to.

252 SpA Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyrantrum: 324-384 (106.2 - 125.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252 SpA Tapu Koko Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 140-168 (41 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Tyrantitar is also a more efficient Dragon Dancer. It can Dragon Dance and survive a hit Tyrantrum would die to.

252+ SpA Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyrantrum: 303-357 (99.3 - 117%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Volcanion Steam Eruption vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 264-312 (77.4 - 91.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Imagine that Tyranitar with a Weakness Policy! Anyway, Tyrantrum is just plain outclassed by Tyranitar.

2: It’s countered by a lot!:

Here’s a few examples. This is even with a Dragon Dance.

Uber Defensive Ferrothorn(especially if you don’t carry Fire Fang):

+1 252 Atk Tyrantrum Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 104-123 (29.5 - 34.9%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery and Leech Seed recovery

252+ Def Ferrothorn Body Press vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Tyrantrum: 168-198 (55 - 64.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leech Seed damage

Bulky Physical Wall, Special Sweeper Tapu Fini:

+1 252 Atk Tyrantrum Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Tapu Fini: 280-330 (81.3 - 95.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

120+ SpA Tapu Fini Dazzling Gleam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyrantrum: 312-368 (102.2 - 120.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Bulky Special Sweeping Heatran(Air Balloon):

+1 252 Atk Tyrantrum Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 4+ Def Heatran: 322-380 (83.4 - 98.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

252 SpA Heatran Earth Power vs. -1 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyrantrum: 450-530 (147.5 - 173.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Physical Wall Clefable:

+1 252 Atk Tyrantrum Head Smash vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clefable: 306-361 (77.6 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

0 SpA Clefable Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Tyrantrum: 300-354 (98.3 - 116%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

So yeah….. Tyrantrum isn’t viable in Gen 8 OU.

About doubles, Tyrantrum could be good with access to Rock Slide and Earthquake, but Tyranitar also has both of those, so…….. yeah. I would choose Exadrill with Tyranitar. It uses Ttar’s Sand Stream extremely well with Sand Rush and a fat 135 Atk.