Tyranitar

Rock/Dark · Sand Stream · S tier · base 100/134/110/95/100/61 · the tier’s gravity well — it sets the default weather, breaks walls nothing else can touch, and doubles as the single best Dragon Dance sweeper in the format. Almost every aggressive team in ADV either runs Tyranitar or is built to answer it.

Format role

Tyranitar is the most-used Pokemon in ADV OU and the Pokemon every other team is balanced around. Three things stack to make it the spine of offense. First, Sand Stream is the default weather: the moment Tyranitar touches the field it chips every non-Rock/Ground/Steel Pokemon for 1/16 each turn, which quietly turns your opponent’s 2HKOs-against into OHKOs and grinds recovery-spamming walls. (Note the Gen-3 quirk — sand does not boost Rock-type Special Defense here; that is a Gen-4 change. See mechanics fundamentals.) Second, its 134 Attack and 95 Special Attack let it threaten the entire tier off one Pokemon — physical Rock Slide and Earthquake on one side, special Crunch on the other, all without splitting EVs because Crunch hits off the same mon’s respectable SpA. Third, Rock/Dark is a phenomenal offensive type that walls almost nothing relevant but punches Psychics, Ghosts, and Flyers for free.

The flip side, and the reason Tyranitar is also a defensive piece you must respect: it hard-answers the tier’s Ghost- and Psychic-type special attackers. It is immune to Psychic STAB and resists Gengar’s Ghost/Poison outright, so Alakazam and Gengar bounce off it while it threatens them back with Crunch or Pursuit for 2×; it also takes Zapdos’s Thunderbolt at neutral and menaces it with a 2× Rock Slide. What it pointedly does not answer — and mistaking this is a classic builder error — are the bulky Waters: Starmie’s and Suicune’s Water STAB is 2× into Rock/Dark, and even an uninvested Starmie’s Hydro Pump cleanly OHKOes Tyranitar (see Starmie). Lean on Tyranitar as a Ghost/Psychic answer, never as a Water check. If your aggressive plan runs through special breakers, you have to have a plan for the opposing Tyranitar before it pivots in and starts clicking buttons. For where it sits in the pecking order, see the viability tiers.

The site embeds a TypeProfile widget above this section showing the full Rock/Dark resist/weakness spread.

Sets

Tyranitar flexes three distinct offensive jobs from one chassis: a setup sweeper (DD), an immediate physical wallbreaker (CB), and a mixed wallbreaker that beats the walls built to stop the first two. Sand Stream is the only ability and is non-negotiable.

Dragon Dance — the best sweeper in the tier

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Jolly Nature
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Dragon Dance
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power Bug

This is the Fast Dragon Dance sweeper: max Speed, max Attack, Jolly nature, and Lum Berry. At +1, Tyranitar’s already-huge 134 Attack becomes terrifying and a Jolly max-Speed base 61 (243, ~364 at +1) leaps past the bulky and mid-speed field — though not the base-130 revenge killers (Aerodactyl/Jolteon), whose unboosted 394 still outruns even a +1 Tyranitar. Rock Slide and Earthquake give near-perfect neutral coverage — only a handful of bulky Steels and Grounds resist both — and Hidden Power Bug is the tech slot that hits Celebi for 4× super effective (Grass/Psychic) and Claydol/Starmie for 2× (Bug is super effective on both Psychic-types), denying the most common Tyranitar “answer” a free switch. Lum Berry lets it set up through a Thunder Wave, Body Slam paralysis, or a Toxic on the turn it clicks Dragon Dance. The pure 252/252 spread is the offensive build — no defensive investment, all in on outspeeding and OHKOing after the boost.

Choice Band — the hardest immediate breaker

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Stream
Adamant Nature
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
- Rock Slide
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake
- Hidden Power Bug

No setup turn required — this is the most violent first-hit in the tier. The canonical Choice Band spread is the textbook max-Attack, max-Speed offensive build (Adamant 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe). Choice Band only boosts physical-type moves, so every slot here is correctly physical (Rock, Fighting, Ground, Bug). Focus Punch is the wallbreaking trump card: it hits Blissey and Snorlax for 2× super effective and threatens to delete the special wall on a predicted switch-in. Earthquake nukes Steels (Metagross, Jirachi, Magneton 4×) and Rock Slide handles the Flyers and other Tyranitar. Because there is no Choice Scarf in Gen 3, CB Tyranitar’s 61 Speed means it gets revenge-killed if it stays in — use it as a hit-and-run breaker, not a cleaner.

Mixed wallbreaker

Tyranitar @ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Stream
Naive Nature
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Fire Blast
- Hidden Power Grass
- Rock Slide
- Focus Punch

The mixed attacker that ruins the physical walls built to stop the CB and DD sets. Fire Blast torches the Steels — Skarmory, Metagross, Forretress, Jirachi — that wall the physical variants cold, while Hidden Power Grass smashes the bulky Grounds and Waters (Swampert most of all) that otherwise sponge Rock Slide and Earthquake all day. Rock Slide keeps a physical STAB for the Flyers and other Tyranitar, and Focus Punch is the trump card on the predicted Blissey/Snorlax switch. Naive max-Speed with full Special Attack investment runs Fire Blast and HP Grass off the 95 SpA while keeping Rock Slide and Focus Punch threatening physically; Lum Berry insures the attacking turn against status. This is the set that turns Tyranitar’s “answers” into setup fodder.

What it does for aggressive offense

Tyranitar’s job on an aggressive team is to open the hole, then close the game. The two breaker sets exist to crack the SkarmBliss/bulky-Water backbone so a teammate can sweep; the DD set exists to be that sweep.

The cleanest aggressive engine is trap-support enabling Tyranitar. Because Tyranitar’s only consistent answers are bulky Grounds/Waters and the occasional Skarmory, removing those with Dugtrio (traps and Earthquakes weakened Tyranitar-checks, and Tyranitar itself) or Magneton (deletes Skarmory) leaves a +1 Tyranitar with no switch-in. This is the core of the Double Dragon Dance idea: pair DD Tyranitar with a second setup threat (Salamence, Gyarados) so the opponent cannot keep checks for both alive. See the common cores and sample teams chapters for DD Tyranitar offense and special-Spikes builds.

CB Tyranitar is the wallbreaker of choice when you want immediate physical value without a setup turn — lead with it or bring it in on a forced switch, then Focus Punch the Blissey or Earthquake the Metagross. The mixed set is the answer when the opponent has stacked physical walls against you: Fire Blast melts the Steels and HP Grass melts Swampert, so the SkarmBliss/Swampert backbone that stonewalls CB folds instead. Pursuit (a common option on slower, Leftovers-based Tyranitar) traps fleeing Gengar and Starmie for 2× damage, removing the spinblocker so your own Starmie can keep hazards live.

When you are building around it: Tyranitar wants a partner that beats the bulky Waters and Grounds that check it. A Magneton to remove Skarmory, a Dugtrio to trap, or a strong special breaker like Suicune or Jolteon to overload the Water that walls it. See building aggressive offense.

Load-bearing type matchups

Tyranitar’s coverage is what makes it builder-warping. The numbers below drive every prediction you make with it.

Two of these are common misconceptions worth burning in. The physical sets cannot break the Steels with their STABs — Rock Slide is only neutral on Skarmory and Earthquake is walled by its Flying immunity, so Skarmory hard-stops CB and DD; it is the mixed set’s Fire Blast (2×) that actually melts the bird. And Focus Punch is only neutral on Skarmory (Fighting 2× on Steel × 0.5× on Flying = 1×), so it dents but does not delete it — don’t bank on Focus Punch as a Skarmory remover.

What threatens Tyranitar

Tyranitar’s defensive profile is the cost of its offense: Rock/Dark has a brutal 4× Fighting weakness and 2× weaknesses to Water, Grass, Ground, Bug, and Steel.

• Swampert — the premier check to the physical sets. Resists Rock Slide (Rock vs Water/Ground), tanks Earthquake comfortably, and Roars Tyranitar out before it snowballs. But it is blown apart by the mixed set’s Hidden Power Grass (4×), so it only walls CB and DD — not Tyranitar as a species.
• Bulky Waters — Suicune, Milotic — Surf is 2× (Water vs Rock/Dark) and they recover off the chip; but they must respect a +1 DD set’s Rock Slide and the mixed set’s HP Grass, and Suicune fears nothing it isn’t 2HKO’d by.
• Skarmory — walls the physical sets (Rock Slide neutral, Earthquake immune via Flying) and phazes with Roar — but it folds to the mixed set’s Fire Blast (2×), to Focus Punch chip + Spikes pressure, and gets deleted by Magneton, the standard way aggressive teams pry it off Tyranitar.
• Dugtrio — the hard stop on a weakened Tyranitar: Arena Trap means a chipped Tyranitar cannot flee, and Earthquake is 2× (Ground vs Rock/Dark) for the OHKO. This is the answer to a sweeping +1 Tyranitar once it has taken any damage.
• Heracross — if it is faster (or after Tyranitar is chipped), CB Brick Break exploits the 4× Fighting weakness (with Megahorn a still-brutal 2× Bug hit) for a clean revenge. Tyranitar cannot switch into Heracross at all.
• Faster Fighting/Ground/Water attackers in general — anything that lands a 4× Fighting hit or a 2× Earthquake/Surf revenges it, since 61 Speed and no Choice Scarf in the format means Tyranitar rarely outruns the relevant revenge killers unless it has a DD up.

The throughline for aggressive play: you almost never wall Tyranitar long-term — you race it, trap it, or revenge it. Keep a Fighting/Ground answer healthy, keep Dugtrio in the back for the weakened-Tyranitar endgame, and never let a Lum DD set get a free turn against your status.

See also

• Skarmory — the physical wall Tyranitar’s Focus Punch and Magneton support exist to pry open.
• Dugtrio and Magneton — the trappers that turn a checked Tyranitar into an unanswerable one.
• Salamence / Gyarados — Double Dragon Dance partners.
• Building aggressive offense · Common cores · Sample teams · Mechanics & calc reference