Typing:
Base Stats: 75/110/105/30/70/100 (490 BST)
Abilities: Intimidate / Anger Point / Cud Chew
Notable Moves:
Specific to Tauros-Paldea-Fire: Flare Blitz, Flame Charge
Specific to Tauros-Paldea-Water: Wave Crash, Aqua Jet
Specific to Tauros-Paldea-Fire: Will-O-Wisp
Endure
Reversal
Endeavor
Fire Spin (specific to Tauros-Paldea-Fire)
Chilling Water (specific to Tauros-Paldea-Water)
Reversal
Endeavor
Fire Spin (specific to Tauros-Paldea-Fire)
Chilling Water (specific to Tauros-Paldea-Water)
New Ability: Cud Chew (If this Pokemon eats a berry, it will consume the berry again at the end of next turn)
New Moves: Wave Crash (120 BP physical Water-type move, has 33% recoil), Raging Bull (90 BP physical Normal-type move, destroys screens; type depends on user's form. For example, if Tauros-Paldea-Fire has Raging Bull, it becomes a Fire-type move)
Pros:
-75/105 physical defenses, alongside Intimidate and generally solid defensive typings, grant Paldean Tauros a surprising degree of physical bulk.
-110 Attack and 100 Speed are also quite respectable, allowing Paldean Tauros to hit very hard with its strong STAB moves, while the Water forme even gets Aqua Jet for priority.
-Fighting, especially when paired with Fire or Water, is an exceptional offensive typing as well, and Paldean Tauros gets just enough coverage to nail Pokemon able to switch into its STAB moves.
-Intimidate also makes it very easy for Paldean Tauros to set up with Bulk Up to boost its power even further and turn it into a potent win condition.
Cons:
-70 Special Defense lets Paldean Tauros down against special attackers, which its typing compounds by being weak to prominent specially offensive types, such as Psychic and Fairy.
-Paldean Tauros' strongest attacks generally have some form of drawback, such as recoil or lowering Tauros' defenses.
-Paldean Tauros is also vulnerable to all kinds of passive damage, meaning attacking sets can struggle greatly with staying power. It should be noted, though, that the normal and Water formes do resist Stealth Rock, and the Fire forme cannot be burned.
Terastal Potential:
-Tera Fire or Water give Tauros-Paldea-Fire and -Water, respectively, massive nukes of STAB moves for extra wallbreaking power. Dropping its Fighting typing also gives it a marginally better matchup against the many Flying- and Psychic-types of UU.
-Tera Electric or Grass can surprise bulky Water-types and knock them out with Tera Blast or Wild Charge, something very important for both Fire and Water formes.
-Lastly, Tera Steel or Ghost are useful on pure Fighting Paldean Tauros to completely flip its weaknesses and give it some of the best defensive typings in the game.
Potential Sets:
Tauros-Paldea-Water (M) @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Water / Electric
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Wave Crash
- Wild Charge
- Aqua Jet / Raging Bull
Standard wallbreaking set. You switch Tauros in on a resisted move or a free switch, and hit whatever comes out. Close Combat and Wave Crash are the main STABs, hitting even resistant targets for good damage. Wild Charge is good coverage against Flying-types and opposing Water-types, and Aqua Jet serves as priority. Choice Band makes CC and Wave Crash absolutely unholy, 2HKOing some of the sturdiest Pokemon in the metagame with just a bit of prior damage. Choice Scarf is also an option that notably lets Tauros outpace Adamant Cloyster at +2 and anything slower. If Scarf is chosen, Aqua Jet is less important, and can be replaced with Raging Bull.
Tauros-Paldea-Fire (M) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 240 Def / 20 Spe
Impish Nature
- Body Press
- Raging Bull
- Will-O-Wisp
- Bulk Up / Endeavor
A complete 180 from the last set, this is a physically defensive set for the Fire forme, capable of switching into Pokemon like Bisharp and Slither Wing practically for free. Pokeaim viewers will recognize this set: it's taken right from the video on his first tournament game in S/V, with slightly modified EVs to speed creep positive-natured base 60s. Body Press is the main move here because of the Defense investment, Raging Bull is a solid no-drawbacks secondary STAB, Will-O spreads burns so you can take 25% from a Donphan Earthquake, and the last move is a toss-up. Bulk Up boosts Body Press and Raging Bull simultaneously, but Endeavor can be useful to get one big hit in on something before dying. Heavy-Duty Boots block hazard damage, helping Tauros come in to blanket check physical attackers, and Tera Grass turns Tauros' weaknesses to Ground and Water into resistances.
Tauros-Paldea @ Liechi Berry
Ability: Cud Chew
Tera Type: Ghost / Steel / Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Endure
- Reversal
- Raging Bull
- Tera Blast / Iron Head
Lastly, here's a spicy meme: the tried-and-true Endure + Reversal set! Endure lets Tauros live hits that would otherwise KO it, and has the added niche of blocking Slither Wing from trying to revenge kill you with First Impression. When Tauros is down to 1 HP, Reversal goes up to its full power and destroys anything that dares oppose it. Raging Bull is there for a more consistent STAB move, and the last slot can be either Tera Blast or Iron Head, depending on which Tera type you're running. Ghost Tera Blast provides perfect coverage, but Iron Head hits Fairy-types harder and doesn't require Terastallizing. Now, you may have noticed that this is the first set on this post to not run Intimidate. Instead, Cud Chew is used with a Liechi Berry, which lets the berry activate two turns in a row, effectively giving Tauros a Swords Dance boost. The main problem is that when your opponent sees a Tauros without Intimidate, they'll suspect that something funky is going on. If you win a battle with this set, you deserve your place among the gods.
Overall Thoughts:
Once the metagame settles down, I think Paldean Tauros will have a very real niche in UU, simply because of how hard it is to switch into. I could personally see the Water and Fire variants staying UU, or maybe dropping to RU later on. The pure Fighting variant is mostly just worse, but it has its niche. How has your experience been with Paldean Tauros? I'd love to hear your thoughts and discussions!
