Pok�mon of the Week

Thundurus, The Bolt Strike Pok�mon. Countless charred remains mar the landscape of places through which Thundurus has passed.The spikes on its tail discharge immense bolts of lightning. It flies around the Unova region firing off lightning bolts.As it flies around, it shoots lightning all over the place and causes forest fires. It is therefore disliked.

Thundurus Incarnate is one of the better legendaries to have been introduced in 5th generation. Not only does it have a blistering base 111 speed, but it has good offensive stats as well. At 125 Special Attack, Thundurus-I can rip through most teams that don't have a special wall. The defining point of Thundurus-I may be its ability Prankster, which gives it priority on its non-damaging moves, specifically Thunder-Wave, which allows it to cripple faster sweepers. With defensive stats of 79/70/80, Thundurus-I is quite frail and won't be able to take very many hits, if even more than two. But Thundurus-I overcomes this and is an extremely effective sweeper. His role has been diminished a bit since his banning in competitive play to Ubers by most majoring tiering systems, but still plays a key part in the metagame.

Prankster: Gives +1 speed priority to non-damaging moves, a very good ability one Thundurus-I thanks to Thunder Wave and Nasty Plot to a certain extent.
Defiant: Boosts Attack by +2 whenever an opponent lowers one of Thundurus-I's stats, not nearly as good as Prankster as Thundurus hardly ever runs a physical moveset, though it could be used as a free boost from intimidate Pokemon.

-Thunder Wave
-Thunderbolt / Thunder
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Taunt / Volt Switch / Focus Blast / Hammer Arm
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

One of two of Thundurus-I's staple sets, and very effective at what it does. Thunder Wave is very effective at crippling an opponent's sweeper, and with priority becomes a very deadly weapon. Thunderbolt or Thunder are used for STAB, Thunderbolt over Thunder outside of rain. HP Ice is used for coverage on Dragon types and the occasional Gliscor. The last slot is whatever you want to fill it with. Priority Taunt is nice for stopping stall Pokemon in their tracks. Volt Switch allows Thundurus-I to scout out an opponent and escape if needed. Focus Blast is for coverage on Steel types, but has shaky accuracy. Hammer Arm utilizes Thundurus' decent attack stat, and allows it to deal with Blissey and co. If you use Naive Nature should be used in conjunction with Hammer Arm as it doesn't lower the Attack stat.

-Nasty Plot
-Thunderbolt / Thunder
-Hidden Power [Ice]
-Focus Blast
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Prankster
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

This is the set you use when you want Thundurus to destroy most everything in its path. Nasty Plot boosts its already good Special Attack to enormous levels, making it able to take on a majority of the metagame. Thunderbolt and Thunder are used for the same reasons for the above set, though it is worth mentioning that Thunder at +2 can nearly KO Pokemon that resist it even. HP Ice is powerful coverage at +2, putting a large dent in Dragonite and KOing some variants. Focus Blast is used for coverage on Steels, and even hits Chansey and Blissey for decent damage.

Agility, Substitute, Superpower
Agility can be used to boost Thundurus' speed even further, but isn't too great as its speed is already good to start with and the +2 doesn't allow it to outrun too many Choice Scarf users.
Substitute can be useful in tandem with Prankster, as it allows some scouting and prediction (can be used well on the T-Wave set).
Superpower is an alternative to Hammer Arm if you want to have more initial power.

Thundurus-I is actually a very good Pokemon in Doubles / Triples as it get priority Rain Dance, Thunder Wave, Taunt and whatnot. The most common sets are generally similar t the Thunder Wave set provided here, but with different coverage / support moves.

Politoed or Kyogre make very good partners for Thundurus as they set up permanent rain which allows Thundurus to fire off perfect accuracy Thunders with impunity. Other partners that could help are anything that can eliminate special walls so Thundurus can sweep without having to worry about them, as well as possibly a choice scarf user to deal with anything faster than it.

Anything faster than Thundurus can do severe damage to it (Choice scarf Pokemon, Alakazam, Tornadus-T, Jolteon, or Darkrai / Mewtwo in Ubers), as its defenses are minimal and Life Orb recoil will wear it down. Chansey and Blissey can stall the heck out of Thundurus and heal off any damage in return (or if Taunted just Seismic Toss it to death). Priority from other Prankster users can hurt Thundurus, or attacking priority users (Dragonite, Scizor, Breloom, etc) can weaken or KO Thundurus without worrying about being outsped.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game

Black/White:
Roaming Unova (White)
Trade from White (Black)

Black 2/White 2:
Transfer from Dream Radar