Landorus Analysis

Landorus	Abundance Pokemon	Sheer Force
	4x 2x 1x --- 1/2x 0x	HP 89 288-382 Atk 125 229-383 Def 90 166-306 SpA 115 211-361 SpD 80 148-284 Spe 101 186-331
	Sand Force	---

Overview

Landorus (regular version) has certainly lived up to its 'legendary' billing, as it is a solid Pokemon. In particular, it has great offensive stats, few weaknesses, access to stabbed Earthquake, and access to the good scouting move U-turn. Landorus also has a great base 101 speed, allowing it to outspeed threats like Salamence, Volcarona, Haxorus, and others. Landorus also gets two great abilities. Landorus' main ability, Sand Force, boosts many of Landorus' moves' power by 33% in a sandstorm, making Landorus that much more potent. Landorus' Dream World ability, Sheer Force, allows Landorus to become a potent special attacker as well. Sheer Force boosts the power of Landorus' special moves, like Earth Power, Focus Blast, and Psychic. As an added bonus, Landorus with Sheer Force don't receive Life Orb recoil from moves that get the Sheer Force bonus. Now, Landorus does have its flaws. It has average defenses at best, and it doesn't have too many helpful resistances. Play Landorus to its strengths though, and you will have a great Pokemon.

Sets

Scarfed Genie
Breakdown (Landorus) (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpA
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Earthquake
- U-turn
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice

This set is probably Landorus' most common set, and for good reason. It has a great attack stat, and its base 101 speed stat allows Landorus to outspeed many Pokemon while equipped with the Choice Scarf. Landorus' typing certainly doesn't hurt it either, giving it some key resistences and immunities to Fighting, Ground, and Electric moves, while only giving Landorus two weaknesses. Landorus also is not affected by Spikes or Toxic Spikes, and only takes neutral damage from Stealth Rock, so it can switch into battle many times. Because of its good typing, good stats, and its access to U-turn, this Landorus set is often seen on Volt-turn teams. For Landorus' first two moves, Earthquake and U-turn are the obvious choices. Earthquake is a strong move, coming from Landorus' base 125 attack stat. It can also get boosted by Sand Force during a sandstorm, which can really make Earthquake a hard attack for foes to deal with. U-Turn is also needed for this set, as it allows Landorus to maintain offensive pressure on the opponent by switching Landorus for a suitable replacement. Stone Edge is recommended for the third slot. It gets great coverage with Earthquake, and it can also be boosted by Sand Force. Finally, for the last slot, Hidden Power Ice is preferred, as it enables Landorus to effectively deal with Gliscor, a Pokemon that would normally trouble Landorus. Hidden Power Ice also comes with the benefit of dealing major damage to Pokemon like Dragonite and Salamence without needing to use Stone Edge. Superpower is a viable alternative here though, as it hits Air Balloon Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Hydreigon harder than Landorus' other moves. Landorus tends to switch into battle many times, so the lowered stats from Superpower won't affect it too much.

The nature is dependent on Landorus' last move. If Landorus is running Hidden Power Ice, then Landorus wants a Naive nature. If Landorus is running Superpower, then a Jolly nature should be used. In both cases, a positive speed nature should be run, along with max speed and attack EVs.

Expert Belt Lure
Breakdown (Landorus) (M) @ Expert Belt
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Spe / 228 Atk / 28 SpA
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice
- U-Turn

Though this set is nearly indentical to the Choice Scarf set, this set plays entirely differently from the Scarfed set. This set is actually very effective, because many people assume that this Landorus is running a choice item, because of the lack of Leftovers recovery and Life Orb recoil. This Landorus aims to lure in some common Landorus counters, like Gliscor and Dragonite, and KO them with the appropiate move. Luring and knocking out a Pokemon can be very important to the success of battles. For example, if Landorus lures and KOs Gliscor, then Terrakion will have a much easier time sweeping later in the match. This Landorus isn't limited to just being a lure though; it still possesses great offensive stats, and it can be a potent sweeper on its own near the end of battles. Landorus' moves are fairly self-explanatory here. Earthquake is Landorus' strongest stab move, and Stone Edge gets good coverage with Earthquake. Rock Slide is not really an option here, as it doesn't have enough power for this kind of set. Hidden Power Ice is important as well, as it lets Landorus get those KOs on Gliscor and Dragonite. U-Turn is important as well, as it can be used to both fake having a choice item and to keep offensive pressure on the opponent by switching to a suitable counter.

Landorus needs max speed EVs in order to outspeed the many base 100 Pokemon. The 28 special attack EVs are needed so that Landorus can always KO Gliscor in all circumstances, while the rest of the EVs are put into attack to make Landorus as strong as possible.

Sheer Force Sweeper
Breakdown (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sheer Force
EVs: 252 Spe / 252 SpA / 4 Def
Timid nature (+Spe, -Atk)
- Earth Power
- Hidden Power Ice
- Focus Blast
- Psychic

Unlike the previous Landorus sets, this set focuses on Landorus' special moves. Landorus does have a base 115 special attack, and many of its special moves are boosted from its ability, Sheer Force. Though Landorus doesn't have very many Special moves, it has enough options to make it a good threat. Landorus' first move should be Earth Power, since it would be Landorus' strongest move in most cases and Landorus gets STAB from it. The next slot should be Hidden Power Ice, as many Pokemon like Gliscor, Dragonite, and Salamence are hit hard by it. Focus Blast works well for the third slot because it gets the Sheer Force bonus, and it enables Landorus to hit foes like Tyranitar, Ferrothorn, and Scrafty for good amounts of damage. Psychic is preferred for the final slot. Psychic gets the Sheer Force bonus, and it enables Landorus to hit foes like Gengar and Conkeldurr for super-effective damage. Gravity can be used here as well, as then Landorus can hit more foes with Earth Power, and Focus Blast becomes 100% accurate.

Landorus should be running a Timid nature, along with max Speed and Special Attack EVs to increase its effectiveness to the best possible level. A Life Orb should be used to increase Landorus' power.

Rock Polish Sweeper
Breakdown (Landorus) (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Sand Force
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpA
Naive nature (+Spe, -SpD)
- Earthquake
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge
- Hidden Power Ice

Landorus is a good Rock Polish Sweeper. It out-speeds many Pokemon after a Rock Polish, like scarfed Starmie and Jolteon. Landorus also has very high power in Sandstorm conditions because of Sand Force, making it a potent sweeper. As always, Earthquake should be included. Stone Edge is preferred for the third slot, because this set needs all of the power that it can get. In other words, Rock Slide just doesn't 'cut it' for this set. For the last slot, Hidden Power Ice is the best option for KOing Gliscor, which Landorus would have trouble with otherwise. Superpower could potentally be used instead of Hidden Power Ice, so that Landorus could deal heavy damage to foes like Air Balloon Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Hydreigon.

For this set, Labdorus wants max Speed and Attack with a Naive nature, so that its Hidden Power Ice will have enough power to KO certain Pokemon. It also wants a Life Orb, as Landorus loses out on many sure KOs (particularly with Hidden Power Ice) if it is not holding the Life Orb. Landorus should also use a Jolly nature if it has Superpower instead of Hidden Power Ice.

Damage Calculations

Landorus' Hidden Power Ice vs 252 HP / 0 SpD Impish Gliscor: 106.2% (minimum)
Landorus' Hidden Power Ice vs 0 HP / 0 SpD Jolly Salamence: 108.8% (minimum)

Spoiler:

Counters

For the physical sets, most physical walls can stop Landorus cold. Physical walls like Skarmory, Hippwodon, Forretress, and Quagsire can work well here. Skarmory and Bronzong are generally considered to be the best Landorus counters, since they don't take much damage from most of Landorus' attacks, barring Earthquakes under Gravity conditions. Gyarados can intimidate Landorus and set up a Dragon Dance, but has to watch out for a Stone Edge. Latios can switch in on an Earthquake, and force Landorus out with its high powered moves. Vaporeon can take a hit and either use Scald or Ice Beam to maim Landorus, and Ferrothorn can also take a hit (barring Superpower or Focus Blast), and either set up hazards or hit Landorus with Power Whip or Gyro Ball. For the special attacking sets, Latios becomes an excellent counter, as Latios doesn't take much from Landorus' moves (Hidden Power Ice does around 60% damage) and can Surf Landorus to oblivion. Reuniclus, Gyarados, Blissey, and Jellicent can also work well against special variants of Landorus. Keep in mind that some high powered attackers, like Starmie, scarfed Rotom-W, and Latios can easily force Landorus out, since they are faster and Landorus can't handle their attacks. Just also keep in mind that many Landorus are scarfed, so proper prediction can also force Landorus out.

Teammates

For the physical Landorus sets, Tyranitar is a great partner. Despite sharing a water weakness with Landorus, Tyranitar's Sand Stream powers up Landorus' main attacks. Tyranitar can also use Fire Blast to dispatch Skarmory and Ferrothorn, two Pokemon that trouble Landorus. In terms of defensive synergy, Water Pokemon in general work well, as Water Pokemon for the most part resist Water and Ice moves while Landorus resists Electric moves. Some good partners include Keldeo, Jellicent, and Gastrodon. Thundurus can also be a good partner, as Thundurus can get rid of some of the defensive Water Pokemon, like Slowbro and Vaporeon, that cause Landorus problems. Ferrothorn also pairs well with Landorus, as Ferrothorn can set up hazards while being a nuisance to many of Landorus' counters. Ferrothorn doesn't take much damage from Water and Ice attacks, while Landorus takes little damage from Fighting attacks.

I'm starting to get seriously pissed off that you're not following our format, obviously we aren't going to be making anything official if it doesn't follow the official analysis format. The analysis is great from what I've read of it, but it needs to be correctly formatted. I know you think your format is better, but there are 2 reasons you should be posting the correct format on this site.

1: Not everyone thinks that, in fact you are the only person who has expressed that view to me.
2: The formats in the Official Section need to match. In any other circumstance like this improper formatting wouldn't be reasonable. If you were supposed to turn in a Job Application would you turn in a Resume instead? If you had to write an article for a Newspaper would you give them a Haiku? If you had to turn in a Chapter for a Book would you provide a Screen Play instead? These are the things that compare to what you're doing.

Oh and the nitpicks. never imply that you're reserving an analysis, analysis can't be reserved as there can be multiple analysis for one Pokemon. Break this up into 2 Analysis, they are different enough to be considered different Pokemon.

Quote :

I'm starting to get seriously pissed off that you're not following our format, obviously we aren't going to be making anything official if it doesn't follow the official analysis format. The analysis is great from what I've read of it, but it needs to be correctly formatted. I know you think your format is better, but there are 2 reasons you should be posting the correct format on this site.

Well, if it is that big of a deal, then I'll change them.

Quote :

1: Not everyone thinks that, in fact you are the only person who has expressed that view to me.

I'm just wondering have you asked anyone if there is anything that they would change about the analysis format? I wasn't there for the analysis format discussion, and i'm just wondering if everyone is satisfied with it. Just because that someone hasn't said anything about this doesn't mean that they agre with it.

Quote :

2: The formats in the Official Section need to match. In any other circumstance like this improper formatting wouldn't be reasonable. If you were supposed to turn in a Job Application would you turn in a Resume instead? If you had to write an article for a Newspaper would you give them a Haiku? If you had to turn in a Chapter for a Book would you provide a Screen Play instead? These are the things that compare to what you're doing.

That's understnadable.

Quote :

Oh and the nitpicks. never imply that you're reserving an analysis, analysis can't be reserved as there can be multiple analysis for one Pokemon. Break this up into 2 Analysis, they are different enough to be considered different Pokemon.

Ok, I didn't know that you couldn't reserve analysis; I'll remember that. However, I was working on a computer that, if given enough time, when I hit the 'submit'' button, it wouldn't accept the changes to the post half the time. True, I could have done a copy-paste job, but it was easier for me to just do that.

thanks

Ok, I am now finished with the editing. I have a few questions for all of you:

Should the Swords Dancer even be included here? It just seems to me that most of the sets are better than the Swords Dancer.

Should any more Landorus sets be included here?

Ok, I think that this can go in the 'offical analysis' section. Anyone have any objections?

Also, any answers to the questions in the previous post? Again, I appreciate your input.

Steel Dragons, I'm pretty sure you've confused 'not super effective' and 'bad'. Also, I find it hard to believe you find Swords Dance outclassed and gravity a good idea. Stop listing it, it's not good at all, honest. And your teamates and counters need some work. How exactly do rotom and latios deal with special landorus? Latios is a check at the very least, and every form of rotom who isn't scarfed is focus deathed. Learn your facts.

Ok, I'll try to answer your questions.

kingtrace wrote:

Steel Dragons, I'm pretty sure you've confused 'not super effective' and 'bad'.

Could you elaborate on this please?

Quote :

Also, I find it hard to believe you find Swords Dance outclassed and gravity a good idea. Stop listing it, it's not good at all, honest.

I don't see why you think that the Gravity set is bad, really. It makes everything get hit by its earthquake, coming from its high attack stat, and it also deals with unscarfed Rotom-W and Skarmory. As for the Swords Dancer, I just think that some of its other sets are better (like scarfed, Gravity, and the specia sets), but I guess it isn't really outclassed in that role (Terrakion can do that too though with better speed)

Quote :

And your teamates and counters need some work. How exactly do rotom and latios deal with special landorus? Latios is a check at the very least, and every form of rotom who isn't scarfed is focus deathed. Learn your facts.

I didn't think that Rotom-W got hit that hard by Focus blast, so I will remove that from the counters (or but 'scarfed' next to it. As for Latios, It can switch in on Landorus' Earth Power and Focus Blast, and only gets hit by a 70 base power HP Ice, which I know does not KO. (56.5 - 66.4%, assuming Landorus is Timid) Also, Latios is faster than Landorus, and Landorus can't take a Surf, and its not like Landorus is going to be using HP Ice that much. Also, besides the Latios / Rotom-W that you mentioned, anything else wrong with the checks / counters section?

It just seems like you think every move that isn't super effective won't kill. Gyrados, which you mention as a reason that ferrothorn is a good special landorus partner, is killed by psychic, I believe. And Gravity doesn't have to be useless for it to be bad. The things that primarily deal with landorus will still deal with landorus, and skarmory (and maybe even bronzong) can still tank EQ even under gravity. It only solves one problem, and you have to waste the turn setting it up. Scenario: You switch in Landorus, I switch in Skarmory, on my switch you use Gravity, then, lo and behold, I predict the complete obvious Earthquake and switch to a resister or switch to a mon who can tank it better. Hell, if you used it on my team, you'd likely use it on rotom, where I'd promptly switch to Landy-T and intimidate, or breloom who resists basically the whole set, minus u-turn that gives me spore turn. I'm not saying usless, I'm saying predictable. You absolutely must use earthquake after gravity, there's no other option. Stalling out gravity is fairly easy.

steel dragons wrote:

Ok, I think that this can go in the 'offical analysis' section. Anyone have any objections?

Also, any answers to the questions in the previous post? Again, I appreciate your input.

Just for future records, I did in fact see this. However as someone who doesn't know much about this poke, I didn't feel qualified to comment. I'm hoping to expand our staff to contain people with a greater array of knowledge to avoid situations like this. If you feel your analysis is ready but it hasn't been looked at for a long period of time, seek someone out and ask them if they have the knowledge on the particular subject to read it over for you. As long as it's up to par, it can still be moved to official. However, people can still debate and discuss it there. So if people are criticizing your sets, that doesn't mean the analysis "isn't good enough" for official. Not to imply that you or any others felt this way, I was just putting it out there in case.

I'm not sure why this got moved to official without any of the changes I, a person with a great deal of knowledge on Landorus, recommended. If gravity has a weird place anywhere, it'd be in spoilers, not in the official analysis about the much better Special set. And I am extremely confused why you say Ferrothorn can't do anything to a landorus without superpower or focus blast, because it can do lots. Gyro Ball, Power Whip, and if you're feeling like Invalid you can Leech Seed and Protect stall all day. Also, last I checked, setting up hazards counted as doing something.

I moved this back. This is obviously not of the quality that is expected, and also doesn't match some of the format. You can probably get frost and Invalid to move your stuff cause they're busy and don't want to deal with you, but I, on the other hand, have all fucking day.

kingtrace wrote:

I moved this back. This is obviously not of the quality that is expected, and also doesn't match some of the format. You can probably get frost and Invalid to move your stuff cause they're busy and don't want to deal with you, but I, on the other hand, have all fucking day.

For the record, I didn't specifically ask Invalid or Frost if this could be moved; I think Frost saw it and thought that it should be moved.

Also, what format parts aren't right? I specifically checked this analysis to correct the format, so I'm not sure where you are coming from on that.

Anyway, I'll make the changes, just give me a few minutes. I just haven't gotten around to changing this lately, so I guess I'll do it now.

EDIT:
- I got rid of the Gravity set and moved it to other options.
- I did check how much Gyarados took from Psychic (47.1 - 5.6% damage). So, Gyaraods can live a Psychic with Stealth Rock damage, so it can be considered a good counter to the special set, if only actually being able to counter it once.
- I revamped the teammates section, as some of the info was just old (using Gyarados with Taunt isn't that common anymore)

I think that in general, the sets are in the right order. Please tell me if you feel otherwise.

Ok, is this analysis ready to be moved now??? Will this saga continue??? Find out on the next few posts!!!

Gyrados is not a counter, it is a check. You can't switch in on Psychic or you'll die because Landy is faster, and since it can only succeed a specific situation it is a check.

Yeah, true, I'll change that now.

Here are the things I noticed that are off about the formatting:
The importables are not importable.
Our format has no such thing as "Other Options" list your other options in each individual set, if the move is helpful but not recommended.
There are issues with the chart, I'll fix those myself.
There are still 5 sets listed outside of spoilers, there are supposed to be a maximum of 4 sets, listed in order from most to least viable, then the rest of the sets are to be in spoilers.
Pokemon's names that are in a lower tier than the analysis is for are supposed to be in italics, (Gastrodon)

Ok, I think that the formatting stuff is right besides the chart. I think that this can go in the offical analyses section now.

Again, if anyone has any comments / suggestions / thoughts, please let me know.