Battle Moveset

A Good Moveset for Tyranitar would have to be this:

Attacks:

Rock Slide
Earthquake
Dragon Dance
Taunt / Substitute

Items Attached:

Leftovers

Preferred Nature:

Adamant

Strategy Using Tyranitar

Classic Tyranitar. When properly set-up it can storm through teams with ease and even without a Dragon Dance set-up it can inflict large amounts of damage. Similarly to Gyarados the strategy revolves around building a Dragon Dance or 2 and Taunting any attempts to Haze or inflict status, and with resistance to a lot of attacks it can overcome many of the common physical walls (Skarmory and Weezing in particular) with ease.

Substitute is an option over Taunt for what was referred to as "Fake Boah" (in reference to a popular set that will be mentioned later in this article), goading people into believing it wasn't a DD-Tar set. Even though Boah use has died down Sub is still an option over Taunt, it spares Tyranitar repeatedly Taunting Pokémon with status attacks and acts as a buffer against an unexpected surprise attack. In exchange however it means DD-Tar can be stopped by Roar/Whirlwind Skarmory and Haze Weezing and will require a suitable counter on the team to support it.

One thing to keep in mind when using Tyranitar is that the team needs to be built around it due to it's Sandstream trait. Pokémon with Choice Band who aren't immune to Sandstream will be slowly picked away by the damage and any Pokémon not immune who isn't holding Leftovers will suffer similarly. On top of that the tanking capabilities of some of your Pokémon will be weakened due to being unable to receive Leftover recovery (which would be cancelled out by Sandstream). Immediate self-recovery is something to consider when picking a Tank since a Wall that needs to Rest a lot will be a lot less useful to a team than a Pokémon who can quickly Recover.

EV Corner:

EVs: 44 HP / 252 Atk / 44 Def / 168 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

A very loose layout for DD-Tar EVs. 200 speed is the bare minimum stat for a DD-Tar, the Dragon Dance boost will put it above Pokémon like Adamant Salamence. Less Attack can be used to boost defences, this is especially advised if Tyranitar is your only resistance to certain attacks (such as being the only Flying resistance).

Other Optional Sets

Tyranitar @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 HP / 68 Spd / 188 SAtk
Quiet Nature (+SAtk, -Spd)
- Focus Punch
- Crunch
- Thunderbolt
- Substitute

The Tyrani-Boah, generally used as the "Anti-Metagame" Pokémon. Back in the days of Skarmory-Blissey when Tyranitar was almost always a DD-Tar indefinitely this Pokémon shocked the Metagame (to the point that people started to indefinitely have a counter for this set as well as the DD set). Thunderbolt 2KOs Skarmory and does a lot of damage to most Waters. Focus Punch does large amounts of damage to Blissey, Snorlax, Regice and a lot of other Pokémon, special walls in particular. Crunch gets STAB and covers Claydol, Gengar etc and does plenty of damage regardless. While most players have evolved to be able to handle this set there's plenty of room for it to work presently. 252 HP is a necessity for this set to give it 101 point Substitutes (which will only break on a Second Seismic Toss) and the IV must be 31 (making this a lot more difficult to create in-game).

Tyranitar @ Choice Band
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Focus Punch
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Hidden Power [Bug]

CB-Tar. When I first encountered this set I lost two Pokémon just from surprise. When it used Focus Punch I expected Tyrani-Boah and didn't expect any other physical moves. By the time I'd fully figured out what it was I'd already lost the game. Obviously this set has become a somewhat expected set nowadays but as with all Choice Banders with proper prediction it'll always pack a hard punch and be capable of picking apart teams.

Other Optional Moves

Hidden Power [Rock], Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Ice Beam, Thunder, Counter, Curse, Pursuit, Roar, Screech, Thunder Wave, Hidden Power [Grass].

HP Rock is an option over Rock Slide, you sacrifice Flinch and a little bit of damage for 100% accuracy, it depends if your paranoid or not but your just as likely to lose a game by missing a Rockslide and getting KOed as you are to win by getting a lucky flinch.

Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Ice Beam and Thunder are just generally good special attacks and "some-what" options on the Boah set (or if you were to go for a crazy Special-Tar), Ice Beam also does super-effective damage on Ground types who are usual counters to the DD set so it could be considered an option on DD-Tar with proper EV set-up.

Pursuit is usable over Crunch and has the possibility of a surprise KO, catching a weakened Pokémon on the switch.

Thunder Wave is a good move and can easily be incorporated on sets for the potential to cripple counters, unfortunately many of the common Counters are Ground types.

HP Grass was a move I recall some people trying to use to counter Swampert (which is commonly used to counter T-Tar) but is highly situational.

Counter, Curse, Roar and Screech are mainly just good moves that are just too difficult to cram onto a normal T-Tar set.

Strategy Against Tyranitar

Against the DD set defensive Ground types are particularly effective, Swampert and Donphan in particular. Claydol and Flygon are particularly effective due to immunity to Earthquake and resistance to Rock Slide as well as STAB Earthquake. Very defensive Water types are also viable, Suicune and Milotic (especially with the Marvel Scale boost) are examples, although unlike Ground types they take damage from Sandstream. Before it gets off any Dragon Dances: Adamant Choice Band Dugtrio can KO it with Earthquake and a properly EVed Umbreon can Taunt it and Trap it, although both need proper prediction since neither should be switching into Tyranitar.

Against Tyrani-Boah Light Screen Zapdos and Swampert are popular counters, both capable of taking it's attacks and dishing out damage in return effectively. Water types with adequate special defence can survive Thunderbolts are usable counters. Earthquake Snorlax isn't countered by Tyrani-Boah but can't switch in against it. Most Ground types with reasonable special defence (to survive Crunch) can fair decently against Boah.

The Choice Band set simply requires predication to counter it. Weezing is particularly safe against it however since the only attack that hit's it neutrally is Rock Slide, although the risk of Flinch can result in an unlucky KO.

Heracross and Flygon can counter almost every variation of Tyranitar but neither are particularly tough so they shouldn't be taking too many hits when switching in and neither can be considered particularly reliable due to their fragility.

Contest Moveset

A good Contest Moveset for Tyranitar would have to be this for the Beauty Contest best with Modest, Mild, Rash or Quiet Nature:

Attacks:

Sunny day
Earthquake
Fireblast
Hyper Beam

Items Attached:

Blue Scarf

Strategy Using Tyranitar

If you do the attacks in this following order you should have very few problems; 1st - Sunny day, 2nd - Fireblast, 3rd - Earthquake, 4th - Fireblast, 5th - Hyper Beam

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Trade from FRLGCXD Colosseum/XD Snagged from Evice in Realgam Tower (Col.) Evolve Pupitar (XD) Fire Red/Leaf Green Evolve Pupitar

Animé Appearences

Tyranitar has had a fair few Anime Appearences. First a Rocket Member, The Iron Masked Marauder, stole one and used it to try and help him capture Celebi. After that Some Poachers attempted to take one which happened to be the mother of the Larvitar that Ash found and befriended. After that another poacher used one to try and steal a load of Ekans & Koffing. Movie 4: Celebi: Voice of the Forest Episode 265: Address Unown Episode 266: Mother Of All Battles Episode 282: A Poached Ego!