Pokémon Great Tusk

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Great Tusk
Type - Ground / Fighting
Stats - 115/131/131/53/53/87
Ability - Protosynthesis

Notable Moves
Physical - Headlong Rush, Close Combat, Ice Spinner, Rapid Spin, Stone Edge, Rock Slide, Body Press, Heavy Slam, Iron Head, Knock Off, Play Rough, Earthquake, Zen Headbutt, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang
Special - Don't Use Special Sets
Status - Sunny Day, Endeavor, Bulk Up, Stealth Rock, Substitute, Taunt

Protosynthesis
If Sunny Day is active or Booster Energy held, the highest stat is 1.5x if speed or 1.3x if any other stat.

Pros

- Great Physical Bulk. 115 hp + 131 defense is amazing.

- Incredible Offensively. 131 attack with two excellent and complimenting 120 bp stab moves and incredible coverage from moves like stone edge and ice spinner, and combine that with 87 base speed and rapid spin or even choice scarf for +1 speed to become a potent sweeping/cleaning threat.

- Protosynthesis. When under sun or carrying a booster energy, it can give itself a life orb boost or even defense boost if so desired (though not recommended due to booster energy being a one time boost). When going with its incredible offensive profile and rapid spin or choice scarf, this pokemon is absolute terrifying to face without a proper revenge killer.

- Electric Immune. Pretty self explanatory. Being immune to volt switch and any other strong electric type move is very useful.

- Hazard clearing/setting. Rapid spin doesn't only boost its speed, but also one of the more limited ways of clearing hazards so far this gen. In addition, it has stealth rocks, so if you don't have any other users on your team you can fit it on this at the cost of coverage.

Cons

- Poor overall defensive typing. Asides from the electric immunity and also a 4x resist to rock and a 2x resist to dark, this pokemon has to use its naturally good physical defense and hp to really eat any hits. With so many strong special attackers in the meta and even more of them having super effective hits against Great Tusk, it is very unsurprising to see it get revenge killed by something like Flutter Mane or unable to switch into battle in the first place.

- Pitiful special defense. 53 is extremely lackluster, and coupled with the previous point, this pokemon very often is unable to do anything against the opponent's powerful threats if they outspeed Great Tusk.

- Lack of recovery. Unfortunately, if you want to use it as a physically defensive wall, even if you are able to make use of its resists, Great Tusk will just get worn down over time, especially with its spikes weakness.

Tera Potential?

Great Tusk makes for a solid tera user on more offensive teams/sets. Utilizing fighting tera, its already very strong close combat gets jacked up to new heights, and with rapid spin or choice scarf can potentially allow it to sweep. However, it by no means has to tera to be effective, allowing you to delegate the tera of the battle to another strong offensive threat while maintaining Great Tusk's offensive potency. Meanwhile, you should probably not Tera this if running a more defensive spread, as it won't make as great use of it as other pokemon on your team likely could.

General Offensive
Great Tusk @ Assault Vest / Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots / Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner / Stone Edge / Knock Off / Stealth Rock
- Rapid Spin / Stealth Rock / Substitute

This is the set I've used the most, with my personal choice being the two stabs, ice spinner, and rapid spin. This can pose as a wallbreaker, a sweeper, a cleaner, an emergency check to certain physical attackers, and/or a hazard setter/remover. Overall very effective and relatively splashable set. As for the items, they should be something that can keep Great Tusk alive, even if for only one more turn, so that it can fire off another attack, or in the case of booster energy, to ease its time blowing through a team that may have one or two pokemon unable to be ko'd by Great Tusk.

Choice Scarf
Great Tusk @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Headlong Rush
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner / Stone Edge / Knock Off
- Knock Off / Stone Edge / Rapid Spin

Pretty overall basic set, you have your stabs, you have your coverage moves for flying types, and then the last slot is pretty whatever. Knock off for utility, extra useful due to the limited distribution this gen, stone edge for more damage on certain things where ice spinner won't be as effective, and rapid spin if you're in a pinch where you absolutely need hazards gone.

Bulk Up
Great Tusk @ Leftovers / Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe OR EVs: 248 HP / 4 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bulk Up
- Headlong Rush / Earthquake
- Close Combat / Body Press
- Rapid Spin

May seem a bit weird, with the below average defensive typing and clash between its stabs dropping defenses and bulk up boosting them, but the point of this set is to make Great Tusk a sweeping threat if given a free turn or two. The two spreads do different things. The first one is to work as the general offensive set with rapid spin and stabs, but can use bulk up if given a free turn. The second spread is more dedicated to sweeping but harder to pull off. Booster energy for guaranteed speed boost (hence the basically no attack evs), rapid spin for another one to make sure you outpseed things like booster energy Flutter Mane, and bulk up to provide a boost so Great Tusk can hit hard enough. Bulk Up Great Tusk is overall more experimental and definitely harder to fit though, so don't expect to use or see it much.

Physically Defensive
Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Body Press
- Rapid Spin
- Knock Off / Stealth Rock / Protect (?)

With its great hp and defense stat, it can pose as a solid defensive piece with rapid spin and knock off or stealth rocks for good utility. With its great defenses, body press makes for a great stab move. Unfortunately, Great Tusk also lacks any recovery outside of leftovers and is spikes weak, so it'll have trouble staying alive long term.

Overall
Great Tusk is an awesome pokemon, with a great offensive toolkit and typing, and can remove and set hazards with rapid spin and stealth rocks. Great Tusk also has potential as a bulk up sweeper or a defensive piece. However, it has very poor special defense, has common weaknesses, no recovery, and can sometimes need a free turn or two do be able to do everything it wants. All in all, Great Tusk has plenty of flaws, but plenty of pluses, and might be exactly what you need on a team.
 
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One thing I’d like to add that probably wasn’t missed but I forgot to read is Great Tusk’s excellent role in Ubers.
Currently, it is the tier’s greatest counter to Koraidon as just about every set aside from Choice Band Tera Fighting cannot even scratch physically defensive Great Tusk.

Great Tusk @ Leftovers
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Play Rough
- Rapid Spin
- Stealth Rock / Knock Off
075F86D4-FD6B-4EDE-AA3B-025F1923D282.png

This set effortlessly comes in on and messed with Koraidon, especially with the sun boost to its defence.
Play Rough is the most important part of this set as otherwise, Bulk Up Koraidon effortlessly turns Great Tusk into an opportunity to sweep.

I personally think Great Tusk at the moment is one of the most important parts of Ubers due to how it’s capable of handling what is quite possibly the most threatening sweeper [Koraidon].
 
Probably my favourite new mon to use this gen because the pool of good defensive Ground types are so limited. Teams honestly just don't feel complete without either Great Tusk of Iron Treads.

For defensive sets, I like to run a fast build of 252 HP / 56 Def / 200 Spe to outrun Adamant Dragonite, and by extension Jolly Breloom and Scizor.
More importantly, this outspeeds Cyclizar at +1, so you can take it out before it can Shed Tail out on you.

However, I do think that offensive sets better exemplify what Great Tusk can do. It is bulky enough to tank dangerous physical threats without defensive investment and retaliate hard. Currently Great Tusk to me feels like an auto win against Sun because you come in, Spin away rocks, and are in position to threaten a sweep with what is effectively a DD boost under your belt.
 
In a meta where shit's absolutely wild right now, having the Paradox Donphans is still a breath of fresh air. These don't come across as too egregious at the moment (this is the one that has the most potential to get a bit excessive though) and they offer so much necessary role compression that I firmly believe that the tier will be better off with them existing currently.

In other words, this thing's pretty quickly establishing itself as one of the most important mons of the tier. This thing offers a metric fuckton of role compression with Spin, Knock, and its godlike typing and physical stats and legitimately good Speed tier. I agree with escarlata's post above mine: I don't think it's necessarily SUPER mandatory on all teams, but having one of Iron Treads or Great Tusk on a team offers you Lando-T levels of flexibility with a single teamslot. Whenever I'm struggling to build a team, one of these guys is usually the definitive answer to the age-old "what mon should my 6th teamslot be?" question.
 
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This thing is awesome. I ran an unconventional mixed defense set with AV.

Physically Defensive
Great Tusk @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 12 HP / 8 Attack / 252 Def / 232 Special defense / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Rapid Spin
- Headlong Rush
- Ice Spinner

Needed max defense for the STAB Body Press. But I wanted to survive some special moves so I invested in AV and special defense. I'm pretty sure this could be done more efficiently with more HP investment and less special defense investment. I liked the nice even numbers of the 300 attack and 200 special defense, which would become 300 with AV. I don't know if this is actually optimal, though.

I had Headlong Rush for the extra power, but it was a mixed bag. There were times when Terastallizing ground got me KOs with Headlong Rush. There were also times where I got knocked out or had to switch because of defense drops. Earthquake might be better.

Edit: I originally misquoted Bold nature when it should have been Impish.
 
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Bold School said:
This thing is awesome. I ran an unconventional mixed defense set with AV.

Physically Defensive
Great Tusk @ Assault Vest
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 12 HP / 8 Attack / 252 Def / 232 Special defense / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
- Body Press
- Rapid Spin
- Headlong Rush
- Ice Spinner

Needed max defense for the STAB Body Press. But I wanted to survive some special moves so I invested in AV and special defense. I'm pretty sure this could be done more efficiently with more HP investment and less special defense investment. I liked the nice even numbers of the 300 attack and 200 special defense, which would become 300 with AV. I don't know if this is actually optimal, though.

I had Headlong Rush for the extra power, but it was a mixed bag. There were times when Terastallizing ground got me KOs with Headlong Rush. There were also times where I got knocked out or had to switch because of defense drops. Earthquake might be better.
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Ice Spinner is a physical attack -- you can use an Impish or Careful nature.
 
For some reason this Pokémon feels like it would be apart of the "in-canon team" for the main character. I know in-canon teams are usually a fantasy but it's the first paradox we encounter and I always like guessing which Pokémon are the ones most likely to be used by main characters if they were "in-canon or seen later on in prominent media".
 
On the Bulk Up set, any reason Earthquake and Body Press don't warrant a slash for the "full bulk" spread at least? Obviously the power on the Dual STABs is valuable but it feels like letting GT drop its defenses might not always be preferable since it makes him a bit more vulnerable to priority (he's not that fast but there are some slower users of it) or just opens up more revenge killers. EQ vs Headlong Rush also eliminates contact if that's a concern for Rocky Helmet chip.

lionace said:
For some reason this Pokémon feels like it would be apart of the "in-canon team" for the main character. I know in-canon teams are usually a fantasy but it's the first paradox we encounter and I always like guessing which Pokémon are the ones most likely to be used by main characters if they were "in-canon or seen later on in prominent media".
Click to expand...
I definitely could see it as the mon they'd put on Ash's team as part of the "marketing checklist", akin to how his Gen 8 team included 2 heavily requested Gen 1 Mons, Lucario who people clamored for since the movie and Aura connection, Sirfetched to show off a regional form, and Dracovish for the Fossil's Gimmick and a Generation native.

Besides a story appearance, Great Tusk fits how the character battles, ties into one of the very influential roster mechanics of the gen, and has generally solid performance for the kids who want to go out and try it in game because they saw it on TV.
 
pika pal said:
On the Bulk Up set, any reason Earthquake and Body Press don't warrant a slash for the "full bulk" spread at least? Obviously the power on the Dual STABs is valuable but it feels like letting GT drop its defenses might not always be preferable since it makes him a bit more vulnerable to priority (he's not that fast but there are some slower users of it) or just opens up more revenge killers. EQ vs Headlong Rush also eliminates contact if that's a concern for Rocky Helmet chip.


I definitely could see it as the mon they'd put on Ash's team as part of the "marketing checklist", akin to how his Gen 8 team included 2 heavily requested Gen 1 Mons, Lucario who people clamored for since the movie and Aura connection, Sirfetched to show off a regional form, and Dracovish for the Fossil's Gimmick and a Generation native.

Besides a story appearance, Great Tusk fits how the character battles, ties into one of the very influential roster mechanics of the gen, and has generally solid performance for the kids who want to go out and try it in game because they saw it on TV.
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sure
also removed roseli berry from the list of items because flutter mane got banned
 
For the Atk invested Bulk up set why not slash brick break instead of body press? There’s no way the 5 bp difference outweighs full atk investment.
 
Seems to me that this is one of the few ground types ever where Protective Pads could be a legit option. Headlong Rush, Close Combat, Ice Spinner, Knock Off, and Rapid Spin being contact moves means Chomp, helmet users, and Volc's Flame Body (I guess fat Talonflame's too) can be annoying. If Rapid Spin hits a helmet / Rough Skin user and you die in the process, hazards are not removed. If you run pads, you evade all of this. It's also nice for junk like Baneful Bunker. Probably kinda niche and overshadowed by other item choices in most cases but I thought it was interesting.
 
Giometry said:
For the Atk invested Bulk up set why not slash brick break instead of body press? There’s no way the 5 bp difference outweighs full atk investment.
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a quick way to math it is the attack stat (the real number, not the base stat) multiplied by the base power of the move.
 
viol and bass said:
Seems to me that this is one of the few ground types ever where Protective Pads could be a legit option. Headlong Rush, Close Combat, Ice Spinner, Knock Off, and Rapid Spin being contact moves means Chomp, helmet users, and Volc's Flame Body (I guess fat Talonflame's too) can be annoying. If Rapid Spin hits a helmet / Rough Skin user and you die in the process, hazards are not removed. If you run pads, you evade all of this. It's also nice for junk like Baneful Bunker. Probably kinda niche and overshadowed by other item choices in most cases but I thought it was interesting.
Click to expand...
Headlong Rush is a punching move for some reason, so a fringe option could be Punching Gloves, but that won't prevent Rapid Spin or its other moves from making contact. In practice, it is probably simpler to run Earthquake than either item, which has the added benefit of not cutting into Great Tusk's defense and having twice the amount of PP. I'm not sure if there is any notable benchmark that Headlong Rush gets but Earthquake fails to reach.
 
MagikaripIsOP said:
a quick way to math it is the attack stat (the real number, not the base stat) multiplied by the base power of the move.
Click to expand...
Ok so
MagikaripIsOP said:
a quick way to math it is the attack stat (the real number, not the base stat) multiplied by the base power of the move.
Click to expand...
ok so Body press (261x80) is at 21360 and brick break (75x361) is at 27075, the point at which brick break out powers body press would be anything above 71.2 (72) Evs in attack
 
LouisCyphre said:
with the text highlighted, click on the droplet / color tool and click the eraser button. this will return the text to its default color on each theme.
Click to expand...
done, hope it's fixed now
lmk if I messed up
bit unfortunate that I have to sacrifice the colors but it's for the greater good
 
You got rid of the colors but not the black text, when what you needed was the opposite:

Screenshots_2022-11-25-19-18-16.png


You can toggle your theme (after saving your chages) at the very bottom of the webpage here:

Screenshots_2022-11-25-19-18-32.png


Every color you used was kosher, except for the black text. Try swapping to another theme (after saving your changes) and you should be able to fix it up pretty quickly!
 
LouisCyphre said:
You got rid of the colors but not the black text, when what you needed was the opposite:

View attachment 468503

You can toggle your theme (after saving your chages) at the very bottom of the webpage here:

View attachment 468504

Every color you used was kosher, except for the black text. Try swapping to another theme (after saving your changes) and you should be able to fix it up pretty quickly!
Click to expand...
so from what I understand, the text is the problem, not the headings. (want to confirm before making changes)
 
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