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Just a heads up, a new set of SV OU Sample Teams are up to keep up with the new wave of bans. Please check them out.
A big s/o to everyone that works hard to bring teams for all of us to enjoy. Please go to the SV OU RMT subforum to give some love to a few of the teams. Also a massive s/o to all of the OU Room staff and particularly Mimikyu Stardust for always updating all of this stuff.
Just a heads up, a new set of SV OU Sample Teams are up to keep up with the new wave of bans. Please check them out.
A big s/o to everyone that works hard to bring teams for all of us to enjoy. Please go to the SV OU RMT subforum to give some love to a few of the teams. Also a massive s/o to all of the OU Room staff and particularly Mimikyu Stardust for always updating all of this stuff.
There won't be since they usually happen on Monday but the bans happened just yesterday. The new samples have 6 new teams though, 3 from the RMT subforum, 1 posted in the bazaar, and 2 more from Storm Zone so I hope that's enough for this week.
I forgot to talk about this earlier, but cases like Cyrogonal here help illustrate why I think keeping Tera is going to be a net positive for the game going forward. While Dynamax largely benefited sweepers that were already good, a Pokémon with unique attributes and its own role to fill but held back by its typing has been able to shine in OU for the first time thanks to the nuances of Tera.
Who knows what other Pokémon are waiting to be rediscovered? I hope to see more diamonds in the rough like Cyro in the future.
On that note, when I was looking at pokemon similar to Garganacl the other day, there was actually one that really stood out to me:
Obviously, Garg is better, at least on a traditional team, but it's got 108 / 112 / 72 bulk, Slack Off, and some options that make it more like Ting-Lu in Whirlwind and stab EQ. I don't know if there's a place for it while those two are still both in the tier, but that combination of traits seems pretty good for where we're headed.
I think it's fair to say Gen 9 OU has been fairly "action-packed" from a tiering perspective. Flutter and Houndstone got banned like 3 days after release, Palafin and Bundle were booted like 5 days after that, shortly thereafter there was the Tera suspect which took up the entire month of December, and then as soon as that ended we saw the most recent wave of quick bans. Currently, there are still a few controversial elements in the meta--namely Chien, Garg, and Espathra--but none of them were super close to getting support for a quick ban and I don't think that's going to change spontaneously. With that said, I think we're about to see a period of relative stability, as SPL and OST are right around the corner and I don't think anything is gonna be identified as outright broken unless it gains traction in one of those arenas.
Honestly, though, I wouldn't be surprised if we're just done with quick bans pre-Home. Whatever is next on the chopping block may very well be more fit for a suspect test than a quick ban unless it ends up drastically warping the SPL/OST meta in an unhealthy way. I don't think anyone enjoys the suspect process all that much, so I'm in no rush to see one happen, but personally I do see potential for Chien-Pao or Garganacl to reach that level of brokenness warranting a suspect.
Of course this is all just speculation, but to encourage some more discussion on how OU will be tiered going forward in the pre-Home meta, I'll end off with a question. So far, the list of Pokemon that have appear On the Radar but not been banned includes:
Chien-Pao, Roaring Moon, Iron Valiant, Gholdengo, Garganacl, Dragonite, and Espathra
Is there any Pokemon not on this list that you think has potential to be banned to Ubers? In the Tera suspect thread anti-Tera arguments often cited Kingambit, Volcarona, and Dragapult as some of the Pokemon that would ultimately need to be banned if Tera remained unrestricted (and it did). Do you buy that? Or are there any other Pokemon that have gone under the radar thus far that you think will need to be looked at later on?
With that said, I think we're about to see a period of relative stability, as SPL and OST are right around the corner and I don't think anything is gonna be identified as outright broken unless it gains traction in one of those arenas.
On that note, when I was looking at pokemon similar to Garganacl the other day, there was actually one that really stood out to me:
Obviously, Garg is better, at least on a traditional team, but it's got 108 / 112 / 72 bulk, Slack Off, and some options that make it more like Ting-Lu in Whirlwind and stab EQ. I don't know if there's a place for it while those two are still both in the tier, but that combination of traits seems pretty good for where we're headed.
i can see it working if more sand abusers ever come back, but not as of right now. sure, it's one of the only mons that you can feasibly run tera rock on without ending up on a "worst sets of 2023" compilation video, but i wouldn't compare it to ting and garg. those mons aren't just good because of their bulk and movepools, they also have some of the strongest abilities in the game, which happen to work extremely well with their base stat spreads. sand stream is disruptive against weather teams but aside from that it doesn't do anything for hippowdon itself besides causing chip damage to the opponent. (if it got shore up like it fucking should have since gen 7, maybe things would be different.) weather abilities also need strong abusers to succeed, and the only good sand abuser got taken behind the shed and newbery-medal'd 3 days into the meta. hippo and ttar are both solutions looking for a problem—they're fantastic sand setters, but they have no solid sand abusers to back them up. it's basically the opposite problem that snow has
I think it's fair to say Gen 9 OU has been fairly "action-packed" from a tiering perspective. Flutter and Houndstone got banned like 3 days after release, Palafin and Bundle were booted like 5 days after that, shortly thereafter there was the Tera suspect which took up the entire month of December, and then as soon as that ended we saw the most recent wave of quick bans. Currently, there are still a few controversial elements in the meta--namely Chien, Garg, and Espathra--but none of them were super close to getting support for a quick ban and I don't think that's going to change spontaneously. With that said, I think we're about to see a period of relative stability, as SPL and OST are right around the corner and I don't think anything is gonna be identified as outright broken unless it gains traction in one of those arenas.
Honestly, though, I wouldn't be surprised if we're just done with quick bans pre-Home. Whatever is next on the chopping block may very well be more fit for a suspect test than a quick ban unless it ends up drastically warping the SPL/OST meta in an unhealthy way. I don't think anyone enjoys the suspect process all that much, so I'm in no rush to see one happen, but personally I do see potential for Chien-Pao or Garganacl to reach that level of brokenness warranting a suspect.
Of course this is all just speculation, but to encourage some more discussion on how OU will be tiered going forward in the pre-Home meta, I'll end off with a question. So far, the list of Pokemon that have appear On the Radar but not been banned includes:
Chien-Pao, Roaring Moon, Iron Valiant, Gholdengo, Garganacl, Dragonite, and Espathra
Is there any Pokemon not on this list that you think has potential to be banned to Ubers? In the Tera suspect thread anti-Tera arguments often cited Kingambit, Volcarona, and Dragapult as some of the Pokemon that would ultimately need to be banned if Tera remained unrestricted (and it did). Do you buy that? Or are there any other Pokemon that have gone under the radar thus far that you think will need to be looked at later on?
I think Dragapult is a good one to keep an eye on. Really just similar issues to what made it obnoxious last generation. I don't know about Volcarona or Kingambit. I haven't seen anything too problematic from them. I think they are great mons but have considerable counterplay.
i wanted to try tinkaton. its stats suck, but man its utility is undeniable and it checks some really cool things **garganacl** (one of imo, if not the most threatening mon currently on team preview up there with chien-pao and gholdengo)
Tinkaton @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 200 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
- Gigaton Hammer
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Mold Breaker allows tinkaton to status gholdengo and garganacl which invalidates garganacl 9/10 times except for the eq sets with covert cloak. it helps against certain gholdengo sets specifically bulky gholdengo, but scarf is scary. 32 Atk EVs are able to 0hko offensive glimmora (focus sash you need to play around differently) and tinkaton is pretty tanky on the special side, able to tank an earth power.
furthermore, specs dragapult is checked by tinkaton because of knock off/gigaton guaranteeing a 2hko, and dragapult being scared of thunder wave. it can also check chien-pao. Sacred Sword which is the only move chien-pao generally runs that hits tinkaton for neutral damage only 3hkos this.
Glimmora Calcs:
32 Atk Mold Breaker Tinkaton Gigaton Hammer vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Glimmora: 308-366 (100.3 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Glimmora Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 204+ SpD Tinkaton: 214-252 (57.2 - 67.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Garganacl Calcs:
32 Atk Mold Breaker Tinkaton Gigaton Hammer vs. 252 HP / 228 Def Garganacl: 188-224 (46.5 - 55.4%) -- 15.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Chien-Pao Calcs:
32 Atk Mold Breaker Tinkaton Gigaton Hammer vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chien-Pao: 342-404 (113.6 - 134.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tinkaton: 154-182 (41.1 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
summary: it serves a niche role as a knocker, twave user and rocker. gigaton hammer is an insane stab move too which can absolutely ruin some things.
here's a team i built around this, if anyone has anything to add or any feedback that'd be cool but wanted to make a contribution to this thread rather than shitposting!
I forgot to talk about this earlier, but cases like Cyrogonal here help illustrate why I think keeping Tera is going to be a net positive for the game going forward. While Dynamax largely benefited sweepers that were already good, a Pokémon with unique attributes and its own role to fill but held back by its typing has been able to shine in OU for the first time thanks to the nuances of Tera.
Who knows what other Pokémon are waiting to be rediscovered? I hope to see more diamonds in the rough like Cyro in the future.
Thank you so much for the kind words about my Cryogonal post! In all honesty, most of the reason why I absolutely love Gen 9's overall competitive meta is because of Terastallization and the freedom it has given me and many others in team building. Someone earlier in the thread brought up how much faster things are being banned/voted on in Gen 9, and I think that's one of the biggest signs of a healthy, diverse meta. So many Pokemon have had new life breathed into them by sheer virtue of being able to change their typing. Whereas in Gen 8 and 7 (especially 7), it felt like everything was wrapped around particular cores to a suffocating point (without being broken in of itself), so the only things that would get the ol' Uber scoot quickly were things that pretty much everyone recognized as broken such as Deoxys-N and Shaymin-Sky.
Long story short, I'm having more fun in Generation 9 than I've had since I first started playing competitive Pokemon over a decade ago. So in the spirit of that, I'd like to pose three questions for all of you!
1. Chien-Pao or Garganacl? Do you think they're broken, just one of them, or none of them?
2. Have you used any Sub-OU Pokemon in OU so far in this generation? If you have, was it because of Terastallization or another reason?
3. With the recent trifecta ban of Annihilape, Chi-Yu, and Cyclizar, do you expect any archetypes to make a resurgence, such as Sand? Do you expect any Pokemon to rise up from any lower tier into OU?
1. Chien-Pao or Garganacl? Do you think they're broken, just one of them, or none of them?
2. Have you used any Sub-OU Pokemon in OU so far in this generation? If you have, was it because of Terastallization or another reason?
3. With the recent trifecta ban of Annihilape, Chi-Yu, and Cyclizar, do you expect any archetypes to make a resurgence, such as Sand? Do you expect any Pokemon to rise up from any lower tier into OU?
1. I feel like Chien-Pao is way scarier than Garg. Sure, Garganacl is a pain in the ass to deal with cause of Tera and Salt Cure, but if you have the right offensive threat on the field you can play around it or even OHKO it. Specs Iron Valiant, Banded Moon, Specs Moth with Energy Ball, Gholdengo and many other wallbreakers can mess it up real bad, and if you run Covert Cloak in any of your mons you obviously wall it forever. Pao on the other end feels like a nuke and it's an immediate threat, so you always gotta be careful. This does not mean that Garg is not dangerous on its own, but between the two I'd rather face a Garg.
2. I've used a couple of UU mons for fun, mainly Sandy Shocks, Slither Wing, Gastrodon and Wo-Chien, and they've all benefitted immensely from Terastallization. Sandy Shocks loves to Tera Ice for opposing ground types, Slither Wing's Flare Blitz or Acrobatics hit like crazy in the sun after Terastallizing, and offensive Wo-Chien is a funny meme set I've tried that has actually worked thanks to Tera Fire. Overall, lower tier mons feel way more solid thanks to the fact that you can change their typings. Btw I would LOVE to try Tera Steel or Tera Poison Hydreigon in the future, so again I'm very hyped about some mons that aren't currently in OU.
3. I'm not really sure about this one, but I think that Snow has a chance to resurge now that neither Chi-Yu nor Annihilape with Drain Punch are around to threaten Ice types (specifically Baxcalibur, which we all know is the big boss of Snow teams). I could see some mons rising up in usage during the next weeks, specifically Pelipper, Slowking and Magnezone, but I guess we'll have to see.
I've used a fair bit of Coalossal thanks to terastal allowing you to throw its shitty typing away. It has great bulk, two fantastic abilities in Flash Fire and Flame Body depending on the tera type chosen, Rapin Spin alongside a Fire STAB to hit Gholdengo, and the ability to toss spikes around. I liked using Water Tera with Flame Body while Palafin was around, and Steel Tera with Flash Fire looks interesting (immune to both of Iron Moth's STABs funnily enough). The lack of recovery is really sad for it though. I'm admittedly pretty crap at this game though so I have no idea how it fares against players other than low ladder goons.
On that note, when I was looking at pokemon similar to Garganacl the other day, there was actually one that really stood out to me:
Obviously, Garg is better, at least on a traditional team, but it's got 108 / 112 / 72 bulk, Slack Off, and some options that make it more like Ting-Lu in Whirlwind and stab EQ. I don't know if there's a place for it while those two are still both in the tier, but that combination of traits seems pretty good for where we're headed.
Hippowdon has been a big comfort pick for me in a lot of teams throughout the generations, and I have been using it with moderate success this generation as well.
Sand without any abusers still functions pretty well as a great anti-meta tech with it removing Sun and chipping down on Dragonite.
Whirlwind wass especially great when Cyclizar was still around as you can phase things behind a Sub, and having reliable recovery alongside it allows you to consistently answer slow boosters like Dondozo, Corviknight and Body Press Garg.
Teraing into a type that is not naturally immune to Sand might be counterintuitive, but I actually like Water and Dark a lot. The former is just a solid defensive typing that Sun/Rain HO have a really hard time making progress against, whereas the latter just completely stops Grimmsnarl on Screens HO from proactively doing anything.
i wanted to try tinkaton. its stats suck, but man its utility is undeniable and it checks some really cool things **garganacl** (one of imo, if not the most threatening mon currently on team preview up there with chien-pao and gholdengo)
Tinkaton @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Mold Breaker
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 252 HP / 32 Atk / 200 SpD / 24 Spe
Careful Nature
- Gigaton Hammer
- Knock Off
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Mold Breaker allows tinkaton to status gholdengo and garganacl which invalidates garganacl 9/10 times except for the eq sets with covert cloak. it helps against certain gholdengo sets specifically bulky gholdengo, but scarf is scary. 24 Atk EVs are able to 0hko offensive glimmora (focus sash you need to play around differently) and tinkaton is pretty tanky on the special side, able to tank an earth power.
furthermore, specs dragapult is checked by tinkaton because of knock off/gigaton guaranteeing a 2hko, and dragapult being scared of thunder wave. it can also check chien-pao. Sacred Sword which is the only move chien-pao generally runs that hits tinkaton for neutral damage only 3hkos this.
Glimmora Calcs:
32 Atk Mold Breaker Tinkaton Gigaton Hammer vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Glimmora: 308-366 (100.3 - 119.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Glimmora Earth Power vs. 252 HP / 204+ SpD Tinkaton: 214-252 (57.2 - 67.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Garganacl Calcs:
32 Atk Mold Breaker Tinkaton Gigaton Hammer vs. 252 HP / 228 Def Garganacl: 188-224 (46.5 - 55.4%) -- 15.2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Chien-Pao Calcs:
32 Atk Mold Breaker Tinkaton Gigaton Hammer vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Chien-Pao: 342-404 (113.6 - 134.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Sword of Ruin Chien-Pao Sacred Sword vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Tinkaton: 154-182 (41.1 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
summary: it serves a niche role as a knocker, twave user and rocker. gigaton hammer is an insane stab move too which can absolutely ruin some things.
here's a team i built around this, if anyone has anything to add or any feedback that'd be cool but wanted to make a contribution to this thread rather than shitposting!
Encore is also a great option and can force switches if they try and take you as too passive and try and set up/recover health. Honestly I've found more success with Encore over Stealth Rocks but the role compression with Rocks is kinda nice too.
1. Chien-Pao or Garganacl? Do you think they're broken, just one of them, or none of them?
2. Have you used any Sub-OU Pokemon in OU so far in this generation? If you have, was it because of Terastallization or another reason?
3. With the recent trifecta ban of Annihilape, Chi-Yu, and Cyclizar, do you expect any archetypes to make a resurgence, such as Sand? Do you expect any Pokemon to rise up from any lower tier into OU?
i think chien-pao's pretty fucking absurd and ought to at least see a suspect. scouting it is easier than scouting chi-yu because pao basically only runs band and boots so if it takes hazard damage it's not a 50/50 like the fish was, but it's horrific to try and switch into, especially when most of its bad matchups become good matchups 20% of the time because crunch. garganacl is very good but i still don't want to call it broken, especially since people are finally figuring out that covert cloak exists and actually works outside of it (although it'll never get the credit it deserves because you can't see when it's blocking things). garganacl's main weakness besides covert cloak gholdengo is that it's probably the most tera-reliant mon in the meta. it becomes significantly more dealwithable if you can force your opponent to tera something else.
aside from stuff that really should be ou, like blissey and espathra, i've experimented with a couple mons that i refuse to reveal because if they catch on and start gaining usage then i won't be able to steamroll tier shift with them when it comes out. cryogonal is one of them, but that cat's already out of the bag. i can tell you, though, that every single one is very reliant on tera to rid themselves of unfortunate typings.
i still don't think sand has much merit with the current lineup of abusers. we've got garg pre-tera, palossand, lycanroc and that's basically the whole list. i think trick room teams with orthworm as a bootleg cyclizar replacement might see some more usage, and of course stall is going to make a bit of a comeback. one of the pink blobs should rise back into ou now that they don't have to worry about being 2hko'd by a special attack or feeding annihilape anymore
Has anyone experimented with tera dark skeledirge? its probably worse than fairy, but in theory it would be a phenomenal answer to espathra while still handling mons like dnite + you're less weak to gholdengo.
Has anyone experimented with tera dark skeledirge? its probably worse than fairy, but in theory it would be a phenomenal answer to espathra while still handling mons like dnite + you're less weak to gholdengo.
For a couple games, yeah. The resistance to dark and ghost is really nice, but you need a good uturn punisher, since they end up stinging a lot more than without tera / with tera fairy. I think it has potential
1. Chien-Pao or Garganacl? Do you think they're broken, just one of them, or none of them?
2. Have you used any Sub-OU Pokemon in OU so far in this generation? If you have, was it because of Terastallization or another reason?
3. With the recent trifecta ban of Annihilape, Chi-Yu, and Cyclizar, do you expect any archetypes to make a resurgence, such as Sand? Do you expect any Pokemon to rise up from any lower tier into OU?
1- I'm fine with Garganacl, as it's too reliant on Tera to be "broken", yet he's not a pokemon that can decide the whole match with a tera like any of the banned mons or remaining set-up sweepers, and having to spend tera on Garganacl makes you lose more than you gain imo.
Chien-Pao, though, I felt it was easier to deal with prior to the bans, but after playing a bit after them, it would seem I was just numb from the other broken stuff. He feels very ridiculous in power with CB and while he has more answers and counterplay than Chi-Yu, that's not much of an argument. Fully understand and agree with not Quick-banning it, but I don't think it can escape a suspect and could really end either way.
2- Just used Gardevoir a bit in the early days of mayhem because she's one of my favorite pokemons and we didn't have many fast, strong fairy types after Flutter Mane (she outspeeds and OHKOs Chien Pao and Dragapult with a scarf, and could take a non-CB attack with some physical bulk investment that I always run anyway), but barely ever got to Tera her. Most of the pokemons I like to use/experiment with, I'm satisfied with doing so in their own tiers, like how I was playing around with Ice Sandy Shocks before it was cool in early UU and so on.
Would've loved to play around Tera on OU with some of my other favorite pokemons like Latias, Togekiss, Chandelure or Aggron (specially Aggron, he desperately needed Tera), but GF had other plans for them -.-U
3- hard to tell. Could see defensive and bulky staples of OU like Magnezone, Blissey or even Slowbro come back with some of these bans, but really hard to tell. Rather than "stuff that was checked/stopped by those mons coming back", it's more an issue of what mons would try to replace the banned ones and what mons that checked them will fall in usage and what would replace those and so on. And Cyclizar and Annihilape had very specific traits that are too hard to replace, and we already have strong Fire users in OU to replace Chi-Yu, so honestly, maybe nothing changes too much.
While I agree with the drop, I think the fact that it has better matchups into Dragapult and Gholdengo is worth noting, specifically because of the Sand SpD boost and STAB Crunch. 0 investment CB Tyranitar lives Gholdengo MiR and easily OHKOs with Crunch for example. I think Sand in general just doesn't have good abusers and as a result just isn't an archetype worth building around, meaning Tyranitar loses value and synergy with other mons. TWave is pretty fun tech on HDB variants but sadly most switch ins are Ground type and Great Tusk is everywhere and COMPLETELY dumpsters every Tyranitar set that doesn't rely on strange Tera options that lose Rock Sand SpD boosts.
The last point of this post in the Viability thread makes me wonder if Tyranitar might want to try running Ice Beam on its offensive sets as a lure option (Not a disagreement with the drop persay but something I want to propose for potential discussion). Even univested, it can do a sizeable chunk to Great Tusk, potentially 2HKO Defensive Leftovers Variants with a layer of Spikes or a solid chance against HDB variants, and max-Speed Neutral Ttar outspeeds defensive Tusk to secure such (offensive outspeeds but could be identified by damage rolls since 0 HP vs 252 HP only overlap roll range by like 0.8%) as a potential lure tech given Tusk is a massive presence. One other side benefit is hitting Tankchomp for 67-80% without any contact recoil that Crunch risks for a 2HKO.
I don't expect this to suddenly avert Ttar's tumbling down in usefulness without Sand buddies, but it makes me wonder if he or other mons are sleeping on the potential of Special Lure moves for Great Tusk the same way a lot of mons would throw one in for Lando-T (Tusk lacks the double weakness but does have the dumpier SpD stat that, while still bulky overall, keeps special moves as a concern on non-AV sets). Not like the big wheel lacks presence to justify moves-mostly-for-him on potentially-checked targets.
Chien-Pao is ridiculous and the only reason it hasn't been banned yet is because the tier was filled with Pokémon that were even more ridiculous due to the insane power creep this gen.
The last point of this post in the Viability thread makes me wonder if Tyranitar might want to try running Ice Beam on its offensive sets as a lure option (Not a disagreement with the drop persay but something I want to propose for potential discussion). Even univested, it can do a sizeable chunk to Great Tusk, potentially 2HKO Defensive Leftovers Variants with a layer of Spikes or a solid chance against HDB variants, and max-Speed Neutral Ttar outspeeds defensive Tusk to secure such (offensive outspeeds but could be identified by damage rolls since 0 HP vs 252 HP only overlap roll range by like 0.8%) as a potential lure tech given Tusk is a massive presence. One other side benefit is hitting Tankchomp for 67-80% without any contact recoil that Crunch risks for a 2HKO.
I don't expect this to suddenly avert Ttar's tumbling down in usefulness without Sand buddies, but it makes me wonder if he or other mons are sleeping on the potential of Special Lure moves for Great Tusk the same way a lot of mons would throw one in for Lando-T (Tusk lacks the double weakness but does have the dumpier SpD stat that, while still bulky overall, keeps special moves as a concern on non-AV sets). Not like the big wheel lacks presence to justify moves-mostly-for-him on potentially-checked targets.
When I started teambuilding for the tier I wanted a solid Chi-Yu answer so I used this Ttar set:
Tyranitar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sand Stream
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD
Sassy Nature
- Rock Blast
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave
- Stealth Rock
Ice Beam was nice to hit Tusks and Garchomps that switch into you, and T-Wave hit all the non-Ground types. Nevertheless though, I found the set to be pretty ass since it didn't even check Tera Fairy Chi-Yu, could do nothing to Gholdengo, couldn't keep Rocks up against anybody, very rarely even wanted to put up Rocks since Great Tusk immediately forces you out, so instead you chip it for ~50% with one Ice Beam but you still don't get Rocks up. Sand was also just annoying, there are no good sand abusers at the moment and how many sand immunities can you realistically fit on a team? No more than 4 I would say without stacking up too many common weaknesses on your team, but you end up chipping your non-sand immune Pokemon. All I can say about that set is that its bulk on the special side is pretty impressive, it does let you do things like live a +1 offensive Volc Bug Buzz and OHKO in return but it's just not worth it. I switched out Tyranitar for Garg on that team and never looked back, it keeps up Rocks better, lives longer, checks more things after Terastallizing, and makes much more progress just by clicking Salt Cure. Also doesn't hurt your team with its annoying Sand.
All in all, I've nothing good to say about defensive Ttar in this gen. I know your post was asking about offensive Ttar but I just had to get this off my chest. If you really want to use Ttar, I suppose offensive sets could have some merit for providing a Ghost and Fire resist and good special bulk, but even then you're probably better off picking a mon with better speed and fewer crippling weaknesses. Ice Beam helps against Tusk, but unlike Hurricane Dnite the damage isn't that great and you're immediately forced out anyway so I find that its utility is still pretty limited.
