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The staff at the battle center has decided to post more "pokemon of the week" threads to generate discussion. If you would like to submit a write up for a pokemon, please feel free to PM me!
Early in April, the beta for the Rarely Used tiers was released on Pokemon Showdown. The tier immediately started taking shape around its more bulky members and slow members. Among these, Rhyperior stands alone offensively. Alone, his stats are impressive. 115 HP and 130 Base Defense allow him to sponge physical hits with ease. His ability, Solid Rock, weakens the blow of special attacks, giving Rhyperior the opportunity to hit back hard with a terrifying base 140 attack and great coverage. Rhyperior has a couple great sets to choose from.
Bulky Offense/Trick Room
Rhyperior @ Leftovers/Assault Vest
Solid Rock
Brave/Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
~Earthquake
~Rock Blast/Stone Edge
~Megahorn
~Fire Punch/Stealth Rock
Rhyperior's flagship set, it takes punches and punches back harder. Solid Rock gives it the ability to eat physical Super Effective hits from even premier wallbreakers like Hitmonlee like they were salted breakfast meats as opposed to Reckless-boosted High Jump Kicks, then OHKO in return with his delicious STAB EdgeQuake combo.
252+ Atk Hitmonlee High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 265-312 (61 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Hitmonlee: 315-372 (130.1 - 153.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
When using Leftovers, Rhyperior becomes an incredibly threatening offensive Rocker, as would-be spinners such as the aforementioned Hitmonlee, Kabutops (whose 4x effective Waterfall will never OHKO without Life Orb, and even then it's not a guarantee), etc are often threatened off by Rhyperior's stupidly powerful Earthquakes, and Defog, which is synonymous with Flying types, is pretty much a suicide mission against the best Rock type in RU. Not even Skuntank, who boasts of being a Defogger who lacks the weaknesses common to his aerial brethren, can Defog against Rhyperior, as he packs STAB Ground moves as well as Rock. The only spinner or Defogger you really need to watch out for is Shiftry, who will not take any of your shenanigans and can OHKO with Leaf Storm. Should you choose Assault Vest over Lefties, Rhyperior moves from being an offensive Rocker to a Trick Room sweeper. The Vest, in conjunction with Solid Rock, beefs up his Special Defense enough to make him functional against most Ice types and one or two of the weakest Grass and Waters. Under Trick Room, he becomes blazing fast and can power through opposing teams in the blink of an eye. Stealth Rock is replaced by Fire Punch to defeat the king of XY RU Trick Room, Escavalier. The other moves remain the same - EdgeQuake for STAB and Megahorn for Cresselia. Good partners include Reuniclus, Aromatisse, MAbomasnow, and maybe even an Escavalier of your own.
Weakness Polish
Rhyperior @ Weakness Policy
Solid Rock
252 Atk /4 SpD/252 Spe
Jolly
~Earthquake
~Rock Blast/Stone Edge
~Rock Polish
~Megahorn
This is my favorite set, and the one I use most often. Rhyperior has the bulk to switch into and survive with ease physical SE attacks and weak special SE attacks. Given the opportunity to set up himself up, a +2 Rhyperior can OHKO a lot of major threats. In a tier full of slow, bulky pokemon, Rhyperior can (very slowly) outpace his competition and clean up. Rhyperior needs to run Jolly to outspeed key threats like Froslass, non-Scarf Delphox, Hitmonlee if Unburden hasn't already been procced, Zoroark (scarf-less), Cobalion, Moltres, etc. Rhyperior can then proceed to OHKO with the appropriate move. Rock Blast is preferred over Stone Edge as it will OHKO Froslass (by far one of the best Pokémon in RU) through its Focus Sash. Rhyperior can also set up on most Froslass:
252 SpA Froslass Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Solid Rock Rhyperior: 256-303 (69 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Earthquake is your primary STAB move, netting the OHKO on threats such as Cobalion and Delphox without accuracy issues like Stone Edge or the risk of hitting too few times like Rock Blast. Megahorn rounds out your coverage by netting a SE hit on Cresselia and Tangrowth, who would otherwise wall you for days:
+2 252 Atk Rhyperior Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 350-414 (78.8 - 93.2%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Rhyperior Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 340-402 (84.1 - 99.5%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Crunch can be used as well, but it will never OHKO. The major benefit of using Crunch is that you can hit Bronzong for a possible OHKO, but Bronzong is both handily 2HKOed by Megahorn and far less threatening and common than Cresselia. Rhyperior's ability to sweep, unlike most other Pokémon, is not hindered too much by walls - he muscles through Doublade, Cofagrigus, Cresselia, Registeel, etc quite handily, but there are a couple you need to watch out for: Alomomola can eat a +2 Earthquake and retaliate with Scald, which will do ~50% damage to you and also possibly stop your sweep with a burn. It can also Knock Off your Weakness Policy before Scalding so as to thwart any hope for a sweep to begin with. Amoongus cannot stomach a boosted Earthquake, but it has a 50% chance to one shot you with Giga Drain - trying to use it to set up will not work out most of the time. Mega Banette can Burn you and Knock Off your Weakness Policy before you can proc it. None of your moves, even boosted, will even come close to breaking through Eviolite Gligar, who can gleefully Roost and Toxistall you to death while sprinkling in an Earthquake or two for good measure. Gastrodon can eat a boosted attack and OHKO with Scald. Rhyperior should thus be paired with a strong Ice or Grass special attacker to break these walls - Mega Abomasnow is an excellent choice, as Amoongus, Gligar, and Gastrodon will fall to its STAB and it can play around MBanette's priority Destiny Bond by allowing its Hail to do the killing for it. Aside from these handful of walls, Rhyperior's biggest fear is revenge killers as it utterly lacks priority and most Scarfers can outspeed it. Another huge issue is Speed Boost - Yanmega and Sharpedo are both pivotal Pokémon in RU, and both can with ease throw up a Protect on Rhyperior, OHKO with Waterfall or Giga Drain, and get a countersweep rolling against you. You'll want a strong priority user, a bulky mixed wall, or a focus Sash Pokémon to fend off these threats. Once again, MAbomasnow is a fantastic choice to deal with these problems, due to its Ice Shard handily OHKOing Yanmega after Stealth Rock and it being able to eat a Crunch from Sharpedo and OHKO in return with Giga Drain. As such, MAbomasnow is one of the best partners for a sweeper Rhyperior build, able to wallbreak for it and remove its checks while also covering its Water, Ground, and Grass weaknesses as Rhyperior takes on Fire, Flying, Poison, Rock and Bug types that threaten Abomasnow. This core would be well rounded out by a Pokémon that can handle Steel and Fighting Pokémon, such as Gligar, Gallade, Moltres, or Reuniclus.
Defensive
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Solid Rock
248 HP/16 Def/244 SpD
Impish Nature
~Stealth Rock
~Fire Punch
~Earthquake
~Roar
Rhyperior is also one of the most reliable setters of Stealth Rock in the tier. It can eat physical hits like no-one's business even without much investment (because of his high base defense, we prefer to dump the additive EV investments in the lower SpD where we will see greater returns and slap the multiplicative Nature boost on Defense to see a sizable boost). Fire Punch and Earthquake allow Rhyperior to break common Specially oriented walls and tanks like Assault Vest Escavalier, and Roar is used to phase. We prefer Roar to Dragon Tail because most or all of the common Taunt users in the tier (Drapion, Skuntank, Cobalion, etc) fear Rhyperior's Super Effective STAB and thus will not attempt to thwart his phazing shenanigans, thus Roar is chosen for its perfect accuracy and its ability to phase Substitute Cresselia (you'll notice that Rhyperior runs moves in both the last set (Megahorn) and this one (Roar) specifically for Cresselia - that is because not only is it common as dirt, it's also one of the most annoying goddamn pieces of shit in the world. Thus, while we typically encourage experimentation and tweaking the given sets to your own personal playstyle, such as slashing Stone Edge after Rock Blast, we strongly discourage using Dragon Tail because it will cause you only tears and suffering at the hands of the pink, lunar goddess of hate and despair.) This Rhyperior pairs exceedingly well with Special sweepers like Yanmega and Special walls like Slowking, as they complement its high physical stats.
How do you guys use Rhyperior? Have you tried different sets that work better?
Early in April, the beta for the Rarely Used tiers was released on Pokemon Showdown. The tier immediately started taking shape around its more bulky members and slow members. Among these, Rhyperior stands alone offensively. Alone, his stats are impressive. 115 HP and 130 Base Defense allow him to sponge physical hits with ease. His ability, Solid Rock, weakens the blow of special attacks, giving Rhyperior the opportunity to hit back hard with a terrifying base 140 attack and great coverage. Rhyperior has a couple great sets to choose from.
Bulky Offense/Trick Room
Rhyperior @ Leftovers/Assault Vest
Solid Rock
Brave/Adamant
252 HP/252 Atk/4 Spd
~Earthquake
~Rock Blast/Stone Edge
~Megahorn
~Fire Punch/Stealth Rock
Rhyperior's flagship set, it takes punches and punches back harder. Solid Rock gives it the ability to eat physical Super Effective hits from even premier wallbreakers like Hitmonlee like they were salted breakfast meats as opposed to Reckless-boosted High Jump Kicks, then OHKO in return with his delicious STAB EdgeQuake combo.
252+ Atk Hitmonlee High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Solid Rock Rhyperior: 265-312 (61 - 71.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Rhyperior Earthquake vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Hitmonlee: 315-372 (130.1 - 153.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
When using Leftovers, Rhyperior becomes an incredibly threatening offensive Rocker, as would-be spinners such as the aforementioned Hitmonlee, Kabutops (whose 4x effective Waterfall will never OHKO without Life Orb, and even then it's not a guarantee), etc are often threatened off by Rhyperior's stupidly powerful Earthquakes, and Defog, which is synonymous with Flying types, is pretty much a suicide mission against the best Rock type in RU. Not even Skuntank, who boasts of being a Defogger who lacks the weaknesses common to his aerial brethren, can Defog against Rhyperior, as he packs STAB Ground moves as well as Rock. The only spinner or Defogger you really need to watch out for is Shiftry, who will not take any of your shenanigans and can OHKO with Leaf Storm. Should you choose Assault Vest over Lefties, Rhyperior moves from being an offensive Rocker to a Trick Room sweeper. The Vest, in conjunction with Solid Rock, beefs up his Special Defense enough to make him functional against most Ice types and one or two of the weakest Grass and Waters. Under Trick Room, he becomes blazing fast and can power through opposing teams in the blink of an eye. Stealth Rock is replaced by Fire Punch to defeat the king of XY RU Trick Room, Escavalier. The other moves remain the same - EdgeQuake for STAB and Megahorn for Cresselia. Good partners include Reuniclus, Aromatisse, MAbomasnow, and maybe even an Escavalier of your own.
Weakness Polish
Rhyperior @ Weakness Policy
Solid Rock
252 Atk /4 SpD/252 Spe
Jolly
~Earthquake
~Rock Blast/Stone Edge
~Rock Polish
~Megahorn
This is my favorite set, and the one I use most often. Rhyperior has the bulk to switch into and survive with ease physical SE attacks and weak special SE attacks. Given the opportunity to set up himself up, a +2 Rhyperior can OHKO a lot of major threats. In a tier full of slow, bulky pokemon, Rhyperior can (very slowly) outpace his competition and clean up. Rhyperior needs to run Jolly to outspeed key threats like Froslass, non-Scarf Delphox, Hitmonlee if Unburden hasn't already been procced, Zoroark (scarf-less), Cobalion, Moltres, etc. Rhyperior can then proceed to OHKO with the appropriate move. Rock Blast is preferred over Stone Edge as it will OHKO Froslass (by far one of the best Pokémon in RU) through its Focus Sash. Rhyperior can also set up on most Froslass:
252 SpA Froslass Ice Beam vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Solid Rock Rhyperior: 256-303 (69 - 81.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Earthquake is your primary STAB move, netting the OHKO on threats such as Cobalion and Delphox without accuracy issues like Stone Edge or the risk of hitting too few times like Rock Blast. Megahorn rounds out your coverage by netting a SE hit on Cresselia and Tangrowth, who would otherwise wall you for days:
+2 252 Atk Rhyperior Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 350-414 (78.8 - 93.2%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Rhyperior Megahorn vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Tangrowth: 340-402 (84.1 - 99.5%) -- 75% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Crunch can be used as well, but it will never OHKO. The major benefit of using Crunch is that you can hit Bronzong for a possible OHKO, but Bronzong is both handily 2HKOed by Megahorn and far less threatening and common than Cresselia. Rhyperior's ability to sweep, unlike most other Pokémon, is not hindered too much by walls - he muscles through Doublade, Cofagrigus, Cresselia, Registeel, etc quite handily, but there are a couple you need to watch out for: Alomomola can eat a +2 Earthquake and retaliate with Scald, which will do ~50% damage to you and also possibly stop your sweep with a burn. It can also Knock Off your Weakness Policy before Scalding so as to thwart any hope for a sweep to begin with. Amoongus cannot stomach a boosted Earthquake, but it has a 50% chance to one shot you with Giga Drain - trying to use it to set up will not work out most of the time. Mega Banette can Burn you and Knock Off your Weakness Policy before you can proc it. None of your moves, even boosted, will even come close to breaking through Eviolite Gligar, who can gleefully Roost and Toxistall you to death while sprinkling in an Earthquake or two for good measure. Gastrodon can eat a boosted attack and OHKO with Scald. Rhyperior should thus be paired with a strong Ice or Grass special attacker to break these walls - Mega Abomasnow is an excellent choice, as Amoongus, Gligar, and Gastrodon will fall to its STAB and it can play around MBanette's priority Destiny Bond by allowing its Hail to do the killing for it. Aside from these handful of walls, Rhyperior's biggest fear is revenge killers as it utterly lacks priority and most Scarfers can outspeed it. Another huge issue is Speed Boost - Yanmega and Sharpedo are both pivotal Pokémon in RU, and both can with ease throw up a Protect on Rhyperior, OHKO with Waterfall or Giga Drain, and get a countersweep rolling against you. You'll want a strong priority user, a bulky mixed wall, or a focus Sash Pokémon to fend off these threats. Once again, MAbomasnow is a fantastic choice to deal with these problems, due to its Ice Shard handily OHKOing Yanmega after Stealth Rock and it being able to eat a Crunch from Sharpedo and OHKO in return with Giga Drain. As such, MAbomasnow is one of the best partners for a sweeper Rhyperior build, able to wallbreak for it and remove its checks while also covering its Water, Ground, and Grass weaknesses as Rhyperior takes on Fire, Flying, Poison, Rock and Bug types that threaten Abomasnow. This core would be well rounded out by a Pokémon that can handle Steel and Fighting Pokémon, such as Gligar, Gallade, Moltres, or Reuniclus.
Defensive
Rhyperior @ Leftovers
Solid Rock
248 HP/16 Def/244 SpD
Impish Nature
~Stealth Rock
~Fire Punch
~Earthquake
~Roar
Rhyperior is also one of the most reliable setters of Stealth Rock in the tier. It can eat physical hits like no-one's business even without much investment (because of his high base defense, we prefer to dump the additive EV investments in the lower SpD where we will see greater returns and slap the multiplicative Nature boost on Defense to see a sizable boost). Fire Punch and Earthquake allow Rhyperior to break common Specially oriented walls and tanks like Assault Vest Escavalier, and Roar is used to phase. We prefer Roar to Dragon Tail because most or all of the common Taunt users in the tier (Drapion, Skuntank, Cobalion, etc) fear Rhyperior's Super Effective STAB and thus will not attempt to thwart his phazing shenanigans, thus Roar is chosen for its perfect accuracy and its ability to phase Substitute Cresselia (you'll notice that Rhyperior runs moves in both the last set (Megahorn) and this one (Roar) specifically for Cresselia - that is because not only is it common as dirt, it's also one of the most annoying goddamn pieces of shit in the world. Thus, while we typically encourage experimentation and tweaking the given sets to your own personal playstyle, such as slashing Stone Edge after Rock Blast, we strongly discourage using Dragon Tail because it will cause you only tears and suffering at the hands of the pink, lunar goddess of hate and despair.) This Rhyperior pairs exceedingly well with Special sweepers like Yanmega and Special walls like Slowking, as they complement its high physical stats.
How do you guys use Rhyperior? Have you tried different sets that work better?
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