"[Analysis] Terrakion can situationally perform better than Rampardos (e.g. against some upcoming Gen 5 legendary bosses)."

#PokemonGO: Ok, don't get me wrong... If you were to ask me, "what's the single best rock-type attacker?" I would definitely answer Rampardos. Its DPS is so insane (17.3% higher than Terrakion) that Terrakion's 36.2% more TDO just can't make up for it in most cases. (For reference, Gengar has 14.4% more DPS than Giratina-O but the latter has 89.3% more TDO.)But does being #2 rock attacker means Terrakion is useless? Absolute not, despite that some people occasionally say so. Of course, even if a #2 is strictly outclassed in all situations by the #1, that in no ways means it's bad. But what I will show in this post is that, even if you only care about the absolute best counter for every single raid, there are legitimate situations where Terrakion performs better, sometimes much better, than Rampardos. Why? Better bulk.I examine all past and future (Gen 5) legendary bosses that are weak to rock (without another double weakness), and do a comparison of Rampardos and Terrakion for all possible movesets of the boss. Unfortunately, for this post I only have time to do a quick look at Pokebattler using one set of conditions. Thus, I'm using level 35 counters, best friend bonus, extreme weather, no dodging. (Level 35 because that's the default on Pokebattler, and very few people can afford a full team of level 40 Rampardos or Terrakion.) I do try to bring up weather boost if possible.​Future Gen 5 T5 bosses, in alphabetical order:Kyurem - Terrakion wins against 4 out of 8 movesets and is better on average.Terrakion wins against Draco Meteor or Blizzard, and Rampardos wins against Dragon Claw or Icy Wind.In partly cloudy weather, Terrakion is #1 on average, despite Rampardos being better against Dragon Claw or Icy Wind. This is because Rampados does very badly against the 1-bar charged moves, falling outside of duo threshold.Black Kyurem - Terrakion wins against 5 out of 8 movesets and is much better on average.Terrakion wins all Outrage and Blizzard movesets, and Dragon Tail/Stone Edge. In these situations, Rampardos ranges from slightly worse to not making top 30. Rampardos wins against Iron Head and Shadow Claw/Stone Edge.In partly cloudy weather, Terrakion is #1 on average and is better than Rampardos against 7/8 movesets.White Kyurem - Terrakion wins against the Blizzard movesets (2 out of 8).Otherwise, either Rampardos is in the top 8 but Terrakion is not (against Dragon Pulse or Ancient Power), or they are equally bad (against Focus Blast).On average, Rampardos is better. This is largely because White Kyurem has more weaker, 2-bar or 3-bar moves that allows it to survive a hit.Reshiram - Terrakion wins against the Draco Meteor movesets (2 out of 8).Otherwise, Rampardos wins (and counter-intuitively is the best counter against Stone Edge).On average, Rampardos is better.Thundurus - Rampardos wins against all movesets.Thundurus-Therian - Terrakion wins against 2 out of 8 movesets.Terrakion wins against Astonish/Thunder and Thunder Shock/Crunch in Estimator. Against the former Rampardos has too many deaths that makes it fall outside of the duo threshold (despite 582.9s TTW); against the latter, Rampardos isn't far behind. in estimator.On average, Rampardos is still much better.Tornadus - Terrakion wins against 3 out of 8 movesets.Terrakion wins against both Grass Knot movesets and Bite/Dark Pulse. (Grass Knot destroys Rampardos.)Electric types are all better against Grass Knot but they sit between Rampardos and Terrakion against Hurricane. Rampardos and Terrakion are the best counters against Dark Pulse and Hyper Beam.Tornadus-Therian - Rampardos wins against all movesets.Yes, even against Grass Knot. And yes, even against Bite/Dark Pulse where Terrakion resists.​Past T5 bosses, in alphabetical order:Articuno - Rampardos wins against all movesets.Entei - Rampardos wins against all movesets. (Terrakion is worse than Kyogre, Kingler, and occasionally Swampert.)Ho-Oh - Rampardos wins against all movesets.Lugia - Terrakion wins against both Hydro Pump movesets.However, this particular scenario doesn't have much practical use. Against Hydro Pump, ghost, dark and electric types are much better. Moreover, Terrakion does much worse than Rampardos against Lugia's other two charged moves (Future Sight and Sky Attack) due to its fighting subtyping.Moltres - Rampardos wins against all movesets.T4.5 Regice - Terrakion wins against 5 out of 9 movesets.Most of these are not particularly meaningful since Terrakion is still constantly ranked #8 or lower counter, sometimes worse than Flareon. Rampardos on the other hand is very hit or miss depending on the moveset. In partly cloudy weather, Terrakion is #1 against 6/9 movesets and Rampardos is #1 against 3/9 movesets (although on average Rampardos is slightly better).Zapdos - Terrakion wins against Zap Cannon.Against all other movesets, Rampardos wins.Mamoswine is better than Terrakion in almost all cases.On a side note, Terrakion does outclass Smack Down Tyranitar in most cases with very few exceptions.​So what's the takeaway here? On average, Rampardos is still a lot better than Terrakion; however, Terrakion is way more consistent and can handle heavy-hitting movesets that Rampardos struggle with (e.g. Draco Meteor Reshiram and Blizzard Kyurem). Against these movesets, Rampardos is very hit-or-miss and can perform terribly in the worst case. Even though some of these bosses have better counters (e.g. Metagross against Kyurem), Terrakion is still a good anchor and a nice addition to anyone's team, especially considering the huge number of Gen 5 bosses weak to rock.Take note that Terrakion does have a signature move Sacred Sword (a fighting-type move), which has already been added to the game code without stats. However, this shouldn't affect its place as a rock-type attacker (unless you're planning to get one with Sacred Sword and unlock Rock Slide as a second move), and depending on how many Rampardos you have, how good you are at dodging and how many revives you typically get, chances are you will find a need for Terrakion at some point, potentially soon. And while the T5 rare candy nerf is a huge bummer, don't forget you can still get up to 6 candies from catching the boss, which should help you if you decide to power one up. Have fun raiding, everyone! via /r/TheSilphRoad https://ift.tt/2pXHeAu