Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are in an interesting situation when compared to Gen 8 games because they feature a total of 103 new critters against the 89 of Pokemon Sword and Shield, but they both retain the same base Pokedex size of 400. This is a relevant detail because it means that Gen 9 brought back a total of 297 critters versus the 319 of Gen 8, and Pokemon Scarlet and Violet also feature the lowest number of regional forms ever since the gimmick was introduced, with only four. While Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's DLC is rumored to include more new critters and possibly the return of Mega Evolutions, there are already many exciting Pokemon to use right now.
Some fans believe that Tyranitar is becoming the new Charizard because of how it got new forms over the years, from a Mega Evolution in Gen 6 to the current Paradox version called Iron Thorns, but the same could be argued in favor of Salamence. However, the main difference is that Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Roaring Moon, which is the ancient Paradox version of Salamence, is actually a really powerful creature that was even banned from competitive battles, whereas Iron Thorns is a bit disappointing. This, combined with the fact that Tyranitar hasn't aged well now that The Pokemon Company has introduced a lot of great pocket monsters, makes its existence in Gen 9 a strange case.
Why Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Tyranitar and Iron Thorns Are Riding the Bench
Tyranitar is not a bad Pokemon by all means, but it does have its shortcomings. Chief among them, a 4x weakness against Fighting moves and a base Speed of 61, which make it both very susceptible to some opposing Pokemon and quite slow to set up its own game. The main reason Tyranitar sees play often resides in its great bulk combined with its ability to start a Sandstorm just by entering a match, which then enables other Pokemon like Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Houndstone, for example, which has access to Sand Rush.
Because Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's current meta is shifted toward a fairly aggressive playstyle, Tyranitar's place in competitive battles is a hard one to find. Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's top 5 best Pokemon at the moment include creatures like Murkrow, which is a fantastic Tailwind setter and a generally amazing support Pokemon, or Gholdengo, a Gen 9 critter that has access to one of the best Abilities in the game and also an OP signature move.
Tyranitar needs a more slow-paced environment to really shine, and it doesn't help that one of the best Pokemon in Gen 9 is currently Garchomp, which is already fairly powerful on its own and can deal massive damage to the Gen 2 pseudo-Legendary via Earthquake. Paradox Tyranitar is not an improved version of its base self, too, as its type combination is Electric and Rock, which makes it four times weak to Ground, an already very popular offensive type. Admittedly, Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's Terastallization can help both Tyranitar and Iron Thorns with defensive Tera types, but they both still struggle to really fit into the meta.
Yet again, it does seem like Game Freak wants Tyranitar to be a more interesting choice, to the point that the first featured event after the one for Charizard actually includes Tera Raids for both Tyranitar and Salamence, with the former typically coming with a Ghost Tera type. This is probably meant to highlight how much of a great defensive tool Terastallization can be for Tyranitar, which goes from 4x weakness to Fightning to being immune to it when its type changes to Ghost. Overall, however, both versions of Tyranitar in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet are not really among the very best critters out there, which leaves this iconic creature in a rather unique predicament.
PokemonScarlet and Violet are available now on Nintendo Switch.
