Pokémon Sword & Shield Surprise Trade Week 46: Larvitar

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Meta375

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Published on November 21, 2020 10:00:05 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HbzgplvqkAs

Game:

Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019)

Duration: 21:14

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2

Here is possibly the first Pseudo Legendary Pokémon that I will be Surprise Trading, and it is Larvitar. While it evolves very late, which makes it harder to use when going through the main story, its final evolution has been one of the top Gen 2 Pokémon throughout the many games.
For Surprise Trade, I breed for 31 IVs in at least 4 or 5 stats and some Egg Moves, and these Larvitar have an Adamant Nature, and I did recently find out that my Tyranitar had a Modest Nature, so I ended up using a Mint to change it to Adamant.
For Egg Moves, Larvitar can only get three, it gets Stomp, Curse, and Ancient Power, which I feel is a downgrade to Gen 7, because I remember it getting Dragon Dance as an Egg Move, I guess it's because Dragon Dance is now a TR, but this feels like a step back for a Pokémon that becomes really powerful when fully evolved. I will list which parents in the Monster Egg Group that can learn those moves.
Ancient Power: Tyrunt, Tyrantrum, Amaura, Aurorus
Curse: Slowpoke, G-Slowpoke, Slowbro, G-Slowbro, Slowking, G-Slowking, Bergmite, Avalugg
Stomp: Lickitung, Rhyhorn, Rhydon, Whismur, Loudred, Exploud, Lickilicky, Rhyperior, Tyrunt, Tyrantrum

Before the Crown Tundra update, Ancient Power had to be chain bred from the Charmander line and Lapras, because the Gen 6 Fossil Pokémon were not available before then. Curse is a good move, although it was quite popular back in Gen 2.
Larvitar has been a tough Pokémon to use in the main story, because in Gold & Silver, it was not available until Mt. Silver, and it was the final area in the game. The only time Larvitar has been available earlier was in Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon, and even then it would take a long time to get it fully evolved. It becomes Pupitar at Level 30, but it isn't until Level 55 that it will be fully evolved into Tyranitar.
For level up moves, it can get Rock Throw, Payback, Bite, Rock Slide, Stomping Tantrum, Screech, Dark Pulse, Crunch, Earthquake, Stone Edge, Thrash, and Hyper Beam. Once it becomes Tyranitar, it can relearn the Elemental Fangs and Iron Defense.
With high Attack and Defense, Tyranitar is a fearsome Pokémon, and as it is the Pseudo Legendary of Gen 2, it has a wide TM and TR movepool, it can get the Elemental Punches, Thunder Wave, Dig, Brick Break, Rock Tomb, Rock Blast, Assurance, Bulldoze, Brutal Swing, and Breaking Swipe through TMs, and with TRs, it can get Flamethrower, Ice Beam, Surf, Thunderbolt, Fire Blast, Hydro Pump, Blizzard, Thunder, Low Kick, Outrage, Iron Tail, Superpower, Dragon Dance, Muddy Water, Dragon Claw, Dragon Pulse, Focus Blast, Earth Power, Iron Head, Stealth Rock, Heavy Slam, High Horsepower, Foul Play, and Body Press, and it can get Lash Out as a Tutor move.
Not only does Tyranitar have great stats, Attack and Defense being its best stats, its Sand Stream Ability gives it a 50% Special Defense boost, and Tyranitar has remained a top-tier competitive Pokémon throughout the generations. It is mainly used as a Physical Attacker with Stone Edge and Crunch, and it gets some good coverage options, like Earthquake, Iron Head, Superpower, and Ice Punch. Tyranitar can use Dragon Dance to give it a boost in Speed and Attack so it can sweep foes. Assault Vest and Weakness Policy are great items for it, as the Assault Vest gives Tyranitar a boost to Special Defense so it can take hits better in a sandstorm, and the Weakness Policy works well with Tyranitar's many weaknesses, including a 4x weakness to Fighting, and making Tyranitar a powerful Dynamax user.
In Double Battles, Tyranitar's most popular teammate is Excadrill, the main reason is Excadrill's Sand Rush Ability, allowing it to outspeed many threats, and for Tyranitar's moves, Rock Slide and Lash Out see more use in Double Battles. Superpower, Ice Punch, and High Horsepower work well for coverage options. Out of the Pokémon with Sand Stream, Tyranitar is the most used in Double Battles, while in Single Battles, Hippowdon sees almost more use than Tyranitar. Even though Gigalith can set Sand Stream as well, it is much slower than Tyranitar and Hippowdon, and compared to Hippowdon, Gigalith has more weaknesses.
While Gen 2 has had some good Pokémon, very few have stood out in the games, and Tyranitar is one of those Pokémon, some others include Azumarill, Blissey, Kingdra, Skarmory, Scizor, and a few others, and Gen 2 did only introduce 100 new Pokémon, and it was the least amount of Pokémon introduced before Gen 6, which introduced around 70 new Pokémon, and that was less than Gen 2. Tyranitar was also one of the main Pokémon for Sand Stream starting with Gen 3, and has remained that way ever since.

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