Pokémon Sword & Shield Surprise Trade Week 42: Tauros

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Meta375

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Published on October 24, 2020 9:00:01 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Th0SZAWIxM

Game:

Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019)

Duration: 22:19

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6

The Crown Tundra is now out, so I could get some Pokémon that were added in the update, and before starting Surprise Trades, I show two new Cap Pikachu events, in the Mystery Gift, you can get Kalos Cap Pikachu and Alola Cap Pikachu. I have also put my Sword & Shield online battles on hold again, as I will possibly be doing a playthrough on the Crown Tundra, so once that is done, I can go back to doing online battles.
Now for this week's Surprise Trade, it will be Tauros. I did breed some with Sheer Force, its Hidden Ability, and some have Intimidate or Anger Point. I went with Jolly for the Nature, as Tauros's best stats are Speed and Attack, and since this is a male only Pokémon, Tauros cannot get any Egg Moves, so they have the basic Tackle and Tail Whip moves. I usually breed for 31 IVs in at least 4 or 5 stats, but in some rare cases, I sometimes get ones with 31 IVs in all 6 stats.
I could go over Tauros's level up moves next, it can get Work Up, Payback, Assurance, Horn Attack, Scary Face, Zen Headbutt, Take Down, Rest, Swagger, Thrash, Double-Edge, and Giga Impact.
Then it is TMs and TRs, starting with TMs, it can get Rock Slide, Facade, Revenge, Rock Tomb, Retaliate, Bulldoze, Smart Strike, and Stomping Tantrum for its possible moves, and for TRs, it can get Earthquake, Body Slam, Reversal, Outrage, Megahorn, Iron Tail, Close Combat, Iron Head, Stone Edge, Wild Charge, High Horsepower, and Throat Chop. Since Tauros does get some nice Special moves, like Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Surf, Thunderbolt, and Fire Blast, it should never be taught those moves, as Tauros's Special Attack stat is too low to use them, this isn't Gen 1 where Tauros had a decent Special stat, back when Special Attack and Special Defense was a single stat.
Time for the competitive scene, Tauros used to be the competitive king back in Gen 1, back when Hyper Beam was a common move on Physical attackers, and if you knocked out an opponent with Hyper Beam, you didn't need to recharge, and Tauros had access to Body Slam, and paralysis was a common status condition in Gen 1 competitive battling.
This isn't Gen 1, and for Tauros in the competitive scene, it is no longer the competitive king that it used to be due to powercreep, that title now goes to Dragapult, as it is the most used Pokémon in the OU tier, alongside Rillaboom, Clefable, Excadrill, and Urshifu. In the current format for Battle Stadium, Tauros is outclassed by other Physical Normal-type Pokémon, like Diggersby, Snorlax, Braviary, Obstagoon, and a few others, but Tauros isn't that bad of a Pokémon, it's just outclassed. With Sheer Force, it can make use of some good Physical moves like Body Slam and Iron Head, when Tauros got Sheer Force in Gen 5, the only Normal-type move it got was Rock Climb, which was exclusive to Tauros from the Dream World, as Tauros couldn't get Rock Climb as a level up move. Life Orb is a popular item, as Tauros does not take recoil from the Life Orb along with Sheer Force if it uses Body Slam. Some other good Physical moves Tauros can use are Earthquake, Close Combat, Iron Head, Rock Slide, and Wild Charge, it has good versatility in terms of moves.
Now for Double Battles, and Tauros has a special strategy with Anger Point, the strategy is to have Froslass as a teammate and have it use Frost Breath on Tauros to activate Anger Point, maximizing Tauros's Attack, and when Tauros is Dynamaxed, it can sweep the opposing team, and Froslass can use Ally Switch if the opponent has a Fighting-type Pokémon. For moves, Tauros can use Double-Edge, Rock Slide, High Horsepower, and Iron Head for some powerful moves, Wild Charge, Throat Chop, and Close Combat are other notable coverage options. While Tauros is decent enough, it is outclassed by better Normal-type Pokémon in Double Battles, like Braviary, Porygon-Z, Kangaskhan, Diggersby, and a few others according to Pikalytics, but it sees more usage than Stoutland.
Tauros might have been the best Pokémon in Gen 1 competitive battling, but it was a pain to catch, because the only place you could get it was in the Safari Zone, and Tauros was hard to catch there, but at least some other powerful Gen 1 Pokémon, like Starmie or Alakazam remained top-tier threats throughout the generations.

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