Rhyperior

[WouW]

#464 Rhyperior
Ground/Rock
Lightningrod: In doubles, all Electric attacks will target this Pokémon.
Solid Rock: Super effective moves on this Pokémon will have their damage decreased by 1/4.
115HP/140Atk/130Def/55SpA/55SpD/40Spe

Choice Band

Rhyperior @ Choice Band
Adamant/Solid Rock
252Atk/252Spe/4SpD
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Aqua Tail
Fire Punch

Rhyperior with Choice Band has 624 Attack and two base 100 STAB attacks that have very good coverage. Aqua Tail has the notable ability to 2HKO Hippowdon, doing a minimum of 59%. Fire Punch 2HKOs most Levitate Bronzongs.

Rock Polish

Rhyperior @ Life Orb
Adamant/Solid Rock
252Atk/252Spe/4SpD
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Aqua Tail
Rock Polish

Take the previous set, add Rock Polish and give it a Life Orb and you have a powerful attacker who can boost its speed to 358, outspeeding all up to base 112 +nature opponents. Jolly can be used to get 392 Speed after 1 boost, beating base 125 +nature, like Jolly Weavile.

Speed Baton Pass Recipient

Rhyperior @ Expert Belt
Adamant/Solid Rock
252Atk/252Spe/4SpD
Earthquake
Stone Edge
Fire Punch
Crunch/Aqua Tail

Rhyperior is a good but overlooked recipient of Baton Passed speed. The primary advantage it has over Marowak is STAB Stone Edge and it's very good physically defensively. Crunch is actually a good option as you can KO it (if you outspeed) if it switches into Stone Edge, for example. Its 20% chance to lower defense may also help. Aqua Tail will still hurt Hippowdon but less than the other sets. Fire Punch is there for pokés like Breloom who resist everything else. Expert Belt is used because Baton Pass recipients should defeat several pokés, and Choice restricts your moves and Life Orb will wear you down too much. Like the Rock Polish set, Jolly can also be used.

Extra options

Rhyperior has great defensive stats even outclassing Hippowdon statwise (however, his Ground and Fighting weaknesses don't really make up for it), it has Solid Rock and it gets a Special Defense boost in Sandstorm. A defensive set can be made with Substitute and defensive EVs. If you don't like Stone Edge's 80% accuracy, you may want to use Rock Slide. Counter works well with Solid Rock and his great physical Defense.

EVs

Max attack with Adamant will make Rhyperior do a lot of damage. Max speed allows Rhyperior to outspeed min speed Skarmory, but most EV themselves to outspeed you so you could also use 132HP/124Spe/252Atk to outspeed min speed Blissey.

Troublesome Pokémon

Bulky Waters can switch in on a lot and threaten with x4 STAB Surf, which can probably KO Rhyperior. Gyarados has Intimidate and a powerful x4 Waterfall, but needs to watch out for Stone Edge. Breloom resists Rhyperior's STABs and Aqua Tail and can outspeed and Spore and proceed to set up. Celebi has good defensive stats and can use moves like Energy Ball to take Rhyperior down. In general, special super effective moves will hurt a lot.

Written by WouW