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Description

*This summary includes sets for Landorus's Incarnate and Therian formes! As he is competitively viable no matter which forme he is in!

Landorus {Incarnate} functions as a strong wallbreaker in the metagame thanks to getting the combination of Life Orb and Sheer Force, which provides him with a great amount of power while negating Life Orb recoil. He also has many coverage moves, making it difficult to switch into; however, he cannot run all of its coverage moves at the same time. Landorus's typing gives him immunity to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Ground-type attacks, as well as neutrality to Stealth Rock. On top of that, Landorus's typing also gives him immunity to both Ground and Electric-type attacks. He has a decent base 101 speed, which allows him to outspeed the many Pokemon that have base speed stats between 90 and 100, such as Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Xerneas. Unfortunately, Landorus is relatively frail, so he has difficulty switching in and doesn't offer much defensive utility. Landorus also faces fierce competition with other stronger special attackers and wallbreakers in the metagame, making him nearly impossible to fit on a team. He also faces extreme competition with his own Therian Forme, as it is capable of doing a lot more things better than its Incarnate Forme can do because of its higher attack stat. On top of it all, Sheer Force is Landorus's hidden ability and obtaining one with his hidden ability is no easy task. In fact, the only way of obtaining a Sheer Force Landorus is through the Pokemon Dream Radar game. In this game, you are able to catch a Landorus-T that has his Hidden Ability when you change him into his Incarnate forme. Though you have no control over what nature he'll have, so you'll need to be extremely lucky that you get one with the right nature.

Here’s a Landorus {Incarnate}'s summary.
Nature: Rash or Naive
Held Item: Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 6 Atk / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
-Rock Slide
-Earth Power
-Knock Off
-Hidden Power {Ice}

Earth Power is a strong Sheer Force-boosted STAB move and has a chance to OHKO specially defensive Primal Groudon and a majority of the metagame. Rock Slide is a physical move that gets boosted by Sheer Force and hits most Flying-type Pokemon super effectively, allowing Landorus to OHKO Ho-Oh and 2HKO offensive variants of Yveltal. Although Hidden Power Ice does not benefit from Sheer Force unlike most of Landorus's other attacks, it is mandatory to take on certain threats, helping him by OHKOing Salamence and Rayquaza, 2HKOing Complete Zygarde, and KOing Giratina Origin Forme, which easily takes all of Landorus's other attacks, after 3 hits. Knock Off rids Landorus of walls such as Chansey, Celesteela, Skarmory, Lugia, and Bronzong of their items, thus maximizing Landorus's wallbreaking potential. It also OHKO's Lunala after its Shadow Shield ability is deactivated.

Full investment of EVs in Special Attack and Speed maximizes Landorus's offensive potential. A Naive nature helps Landorus outspeed all Pokemon with base 100 Speed or lower, which includes any non Choice Scarf variants of Yveltal, Lunala, and Xerneas, as well as all variants of Primal Groudon. Landorus can also effectively use a Rash nature, which provides him with more power, allowing him to 2HKO support Arceus formes even without the requirement of any prior damage from entry hazards or the sort, as well as giving him higher chances to OHKO specially defensive Primal Groudon. However, he becomes slower than Timid Yveltal, allowing Yveltal to check Landorus better.

Of course Landorus {Incarnate} can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions:
-Running Earthquake is always an option if you want to give Landorus a powerful physical Ground STAB move. Though keep in mind that it will not receive the boost from Sheer Force and lost HP from Life Orb. Running Bulldoze is an option to get all the boosts, but it is still weaker than Earthquake. This move frankly works better on Landorus-T sets due to him not running Sheer Force as his ability.
-Explosion allows Landorus to block Defog for one turn by sacrificing itself, which can benefit entry hazard-stacking teams. However, it offers little in terms of coverage and causes an unnecessary loss of a Pokemon on the team. Superpower is useful in defeating Blissey and Chansey, but it's almost useless against other threats.
-U-turn helps Landorus pivot out of checks but provides no useful coverage and makes him take unnecessary damage from Life Orb.
-Rock Polish takes care of Landorus's Speed problem against faster threats; however, he loses a useful coverage move for it, thus decreasing his wallbreaking capacity. It's especially good to run this move on Landorus-T as he needs a boost in speed.
-Gravity is useful in terms of hitting Ground-immune Pokemon with Landorus's strong STAB Earth Power, which would probably do much more than what Hidden Power Ice or Rock Slide would normally do.
-By taking advantage of his ability to force switches, Landorus can easily set up Stealth Rock on the opponent’s field.
-Running an Assault Vest on Landorus-T is an excellent option to give him some much needed special bulk.
-Running either a Choice Band or a Choice Scarf provides Landorus-T with considerably more power. Though its a matter of whether you want Landorus-T to have more power or more speed.
-The advent of Z-Moves gives Landorus access to some powerful Z-Move options. But be aware that you should only run Z-Moves on Landorus's Therian forme since his Incarnate Forme already runs the Sheer Force + Life Orb combo. Plus Landorus-T has a much higher attack stat.
-Rockium-Z can provide Landorus-T with a surprise Continental Crush that will take out most Mega Salamence and Zapdos sets.
-Flyinium-Z and Fly give Landorus-T a means of using a powerful physical Flying STAB Z-Move.

*Landorus is also capable of running special movesets, as his special attack stat isn't that far behind his physical attack stat (though this is NOT the same case for his Therian forme)!
-Focus Blast gives Landorus a chance to OHKO Ferrothorn as well as 2HKO Skarmory and Celesteela, which would otherwise check him. It also helps to OHKO Shuca Berry Dialga if required.
-Sheer Force-boosted Sludge Bomb or Sludge Wave does major damage to Xerneas while still doing a decent amount of damage to other Flying-type Pokemon. However, it fails to OHKO Geomancy Xerneas even after Stealth Rock damage, allowing it to set up and revenge kill Landorus in return.

Now that we've covered Landorus's Incarnate forme, let's talk about his Therian forme…

Landorus's Therian forme is one of the best Pokemon in the metagame. You see him practically all the time you battle online, being used by practically everyone. We certainly saw him tons of times in the VGC 2016 World Championships where practically everyone who participated in it had one on their team. While it's extremely annoying to see him everywhere you turn, there's a very good reason why Landorus-T is so popular. Thanks to his amazing combination of traits, such as his Intimidate ability, immunity to Ground, a powerful base 145 Attack, and a very diverse movepool, he can efficiently perform a variety of roles, easily fitting on many kinds of teams. Landorus-T can function as an excellent pivot, being able to set up Stealth Rock and check threats such as Zygarde and Garchomp while getting momentum with U-turn. His access to different boosting moves in Swords Dance and Rock Polish and the introduction of Z-Moves also allow him to become a fearsome wallbreaker and setup sweeper, with the ability to defeat offense or stall with the appropriate move. However, Landorus-T's weakness to Water and x 4 weakness to Ice means he easily is defeated by common Pokemon such as Protean Greninja. He also lacks any form of recovery, meaning he can't constantly switch into opposing Pokemon's attacks throughout the entire match. Lastly, his mediocre base Speed without boosts leaves him outsped by many offensive threats, such as Tapu Lele. Needless to say, Landorus-T is never to be underestimated. There's a reason he's used so commonly in the metagame and that's because he's both powerful and versatile. Never underestimate a Landorus-T if you ever have to go up against one (which will probably be 9/10 of the times you battle online).

Here’s my Landorus {Therian}'s summary.
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Groundium-Z or Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge / Rock Slide
-Knock Off / Superpower
-Protect / U-Turn

Earthquake provides Landorus-T with the ability to deal STAB boosted spread damage. When used in conjunction with Groundium-Z, it becomes an extremely powerful single-target Tectonic Rage, allowing Landorus-T to take out Ground-weak foes protected by Wide Guard like Aegislash or weakened bulky foes that could otherwise shrug off Landorus-T's attacks like Tapu Fini. Earthquake's main drawback is its inability to hit Flying-type foes, so Stone Edge gives Landorus-T a way to take them on. Alternatively, Rock Slide is a more accurate though considerably less powerful option that deals spread damage and has a solid 30% chance to cause foes to flinch. Though I never run it with Earthquake since I don't want half of my Landorus-T's moveset completely walled by Wide Guard. To round out his coverage, Landorus-T has a couple of solid options; Superpower can help him cover Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, and Snorlax. Though Knock Off is quite useful against item-reliant foes such as Snorlax and Chansey. Finally, Protect shields Landorus-T from attacks while a partner takes out a threat, stalls out field conditions, and allows Landorus-T to scout incoming attacks. Though U-Turn is another option to pivot Landorus-T out of battle should it ever need to (and can utilize it better than his Incarnate Forme can).
Groundium-Z and Life Orb help Landorus-T break through bulkier foes in different ways; Groundium-Z grants a one-time-use incredibly strong attack, while Life Orb boosts all Landorus-T's attacks at the cost of some recoil damage. Maximum attack and speed back up this set's goal of moving fast and dealing heavy damage. With an Adamant nature, Landorus-T is still able to outspeed Timid Heatran and hits as hard as he possibly can.

Of course Landorus {Therian} can run a variety of other moves, but they're pretty much all the moves that his Incarnate forme could use. So it's not worth repeating.

Do you have your own Landorus moveset and strategy {Incarnate or Therian}? Comment below with your moveset!

Description

*This summary includes sets for Landorus's Incarnate and Therian formes! As he is competitively viable no matter which forme he is in!

Landorus {Incarnate} functions as a strong wallbreaker in the metagame thanks to getting the combination of Life Orb and Sheer Force, which provides him with a great amount of power while negating Life Orb recoil. He also has many coverage moves, making it difficult to switch into; however, he cannot run all of its coverage moves at the same time. Landorus's typing gives him immunity to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Ground-type attacks, as well as neutrality to Stealth Rock. On top of that, Landorus's typing also gives him immunity to both Ground and Electric-type attacks. He has a decent base 101 speed, which allows him to outspeed the many Pokemon that have base speed stats between 90 and 100, such as Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Rayquaza, and Xerneas. Unfortunately, Landorus is relatively frail, so he has difficulty switching in and doesn't offer much defensive utility. Landorus also faces fierce competition with other stronger special attackers and wallbreakers in the metagame, making him nearly impossible to fit on a team. He also faces extreme competition with his own Therian Forme, as it is capable of doing a lot more things better than its Incarnate Forme can do because of its higher attack stat. On top of it all, Sheer Force is Landorus's hidden ability and obtaining one with his hidden ability is no easy task. In fact, the only way of obtaining a Sheer Force Landorus is through the Pokemon Dream Radar game. In this game, you are able to catch a Landorus-T that has his Hidden Ability when you change him into his Incarnate forme. Though you have no control over what nature he'll have, so you'll need to be extremely lucky that you get one with the right nature.

Here’s a Landorus {Incarnate}'s summary.
Nature: Rash or Naive
Held Item: Life Orb
Ability: Sheer Force
EVs: 6 Atk / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
-Rock Slide
-Earth Power
-Knock Off
-Hidden Power {Ice}

Earth Power is a strong Sheer Force-boosted STAB move and has a chance to OHKO specially defensive Primal Groudon and a majority of the metagame. Rock Slide is a physical move that gets boosted by Sheer Force and hits most Flying-type Pokemon super effectively, allowing Landorus to OHKO Ho-Oh and 2HKO offensive variants of Yveltal. Although Hidden Power Ice does not benefit from Sheer Force unlike most of Landorus's other attacks, it is mandatory to take on certain threats, helping him by OHKOing Salamence and Rayquaza, 2HKOing Complete Zygarde, and KOing Giratina Origin Forme, which easily takes all of Landorus's other attacks, after 3 hits. Knock Off rids Landorus of walls such as Chansey, Celesteela, Skarmory, Lugia, and Bronzong of their items, thus maximizing Landorus's wallbreaking potential. It also OHKO's Lunala after its Shadow Shield ability is deactivated.

Full investment of EVs in Special Attack and Speed maximizes Landorus's offensive potential. A Naive nature helps Landorus outspeed all Pokemon with base 100 Speed or lower, which includes any non Choice Scarf variants of Yveltal, Lunala, and Xerneas, as well as all variants of Primal Groudon. Landorus can also effectively use a Rash nature, which provides him with more power, allowing him to 2HKO support Arceus formes even without the requirement of any prior damage from entry hazards or the sort, as well as giving him higher chances to OHKO specially defensive Primal Groudon. However, he becomes slower than Timid Yveltal, allowing Yveltal to check Landorus better.

Of course Landorus {Incarnate} can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions:
-Running Earthquake is always an option if you want to give Landorus a powerful physical Ground STAB move. Though keep in mind that it will not receive the boost from Sheer Force and lost HP from Life Orb. Running Bulldoze is an option to get all the boosts, but it is still weaker than Earthquake. This move frankly works better on Landorus-T sets due to him not running Sheer Force as his ability.
-Explosion allows Landorus to block Defog for one turn by sacrificing itself, which can benefit entry hazard-stacking teams. However, it offers little in terms of coverage and causes an unnecessary loss of a Pokemon on the team. Superpower is useful in defeating Blissey and Chansey, but it's almost useless against other threats.
-U-turn helps Landorus pivot out of checks but provides no useful coverage and makes him take unnecessary damage from Life Orb.
-Rock Polish takes care of Landorus's Speed problem against faster threats; however, he loses a useful coverage move for it, thus decreasing his wallbreaking capacity. It's especially good to run this move on Landorus-T as he needs a boost in speed.
-Gravity is useful in terms of hitting Ground-immune Pokemon with Landorus's strong STAB Earth Power, which would probably do much more than what Hidden Power Ice or Rock Slide would normally do.
-By taking advantage of his ability to force switches, Landorus can easily set up Stealth Rock on the opponent’s field.
-Running an Assault Vest on Landorus-T is an excellent option to give him some much needed special bulk.
-Running either a Choice Band or a Choice Scarf provides Landorus-T with considerably more power. Though its a matter of whether you want Landorus-T to have more power or more speed.
-The advent of Z-Moves gives Landorus access to some powerful Z-Move options. But be aware that you should only run Z-Moves on Landorus's Therian forme since his Incarnate Forme already runs the Sheer Force + Life Orb combo. Plus Landorus-T has a much higher attack stat.
-Rockium-Z can provide Landorus-T with a surprise Continental Crush that will take out most Mega Salamence and Zapdos sets.
-Flyinium-Z and Fly give Landorus-T a means of using a powerful physical Flying STAB Z-Move.

*Landorus is also capable of running special movesets, as his special attack stat isn't that far behind his physical attack stat (though this is NOT the same case for his Therian forme)!
-Focus Blast gives Landorus a chance to OHKO Ferrothorn as well as 2HKO Skarmory and Celesteela, which would otherwise check him. It also helps to OHKO Shuca Berry Dialga if required.
-Sheer Force-boosted Sludge Bomb or Sludge Wave does major damage to Xerneas while still doing a decent amount of damage to other Flying-type Pokemon. However, it fails to OHKO Geomancy Xerneas even after Stealth Rock damage, allowing it to set up and revenge kill Landorus in return.

Now that we've covered Landorus's Incarnate forme, let's talk about his Therian forme…

Landorus's Therian forme is one of the best Pokemon in the metagame. You see him practically all the time you battle online, being used by practically everyone. We certainly saw him tons of times in the VGC 2016 World Championships where practically everyone who participated in it had one on their team. While it's extremely annoying to see him everywhere you turn, there's a very good reason why Landorus-T is so popular. Thanks to his amazing combination of traits, such as his Intimidate ability, immunity to Ground, a powerful base 145 Attack, and a very diverse movepool, he can efficiently perform a variety of roles, easily fitting on many kinds of teams. Landorus-T can function as an excellent pivot, being able to set up Stealth Rock and check threats such as Zygarde and Garchomp while getting momentum with U-turn. His access to different boosting moves in Swords Dance and Rock Polish and the introduction of Z-Moves also allow him to become a fearsome wallbreaker and setup sweeper, with the ability to defeat offense or stall with the appropriate move. However, Landorus-T's weakness to Water and x 4 weakness to Ice means he easily is defeated by common Pokemon such as Protean Greninja. He also lacks any form of recovery, meaning he can't constantly switch into opposing Pokemon's attacks throughout the entire match. Lastly, his mediocre base Speed without boosts leaves him outsped by many offensive threats, such as Tapu Lele. Needless to say, Landorus-T is never to be underestimated. There's a reason he's used so commonly in the metagame and that's because he's both powerful and versatile. Never underestimate a Landorus-T if you ever have to go up against one (which will probably be 9/10 of the times you battle online).

Here’s my Landorus {Therian}'s summary.
Nature: Adamant
Held Item: Groundium-Z or Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 6 Def / 252 Spe
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge / Rock Slide
-Knock Off / Superpower
-Protect / U-Turn

Earthquake provides Landorus-T with the ability to deal STAB boosted spread damage. When used in conjunction with Groundium-Z, it becomes an extremely powerful single-target Tectonic Rage, allowing Landorus-T to take out Ground-weak foes protected by Wide Guard like Aegislash or weakened bulky foes that could otherwise shrug off Landorus-T's attacks like Tapu Fini. Earthquake's main drawback is its inability to hit Flying-type foes, so Stone Edge gives Landorus-T a way to take them on. Alternatively, Rock Slide is a more accurate though considerably less powerful option that deals spread damage and has a solid 30% chance to cause foes to flinch. Though I never run it with Earthquake since I don't want half of my Landorus-T's moveset completely walled by Wide Guard. To round out his coverage, Landorus-T has a couple of solid options; Superpower can help him cover Ferrothorn, Tyranitar, and Snorlax. Though Knock Off is quite useful against item-reliant foes such as Snorlax and Chansey. Finally, Protect shields Landorus-T from attacks while a partner takes out a threat, stalls out field conditions, and allows Landorus-T to scout incoming attacks. Though U-Turn is another option to pivot Landorus-T out of battle should it ever need to (and can utilize it better than his Incarnate Forme can).
Groundium-Z and Life Orb help Landorus-T break through bulkier foes in different ways; Groundium-Z grants a one-time-use incredibly strong attack, while Life Orb boosts all Landorus-T's attacks at the cost of some recoil damage. Maximum attack and speed back up this set's goal of moving fast and dealing heavy damage. With an Adamant nature, Landorus-T is still able to outspeed Timid Heatran and hits as hard as he possibly can.

Of course Landorus {Therian} can run a variety of other moves, but they're pretty much all the moves that his Incarnate forme could use. So it's not worth repeating.

Do you have your own Landorus moveset and strategy {Incarnate or Therian}? Comment below with your moveset!