Thundurus, The Bolt Strike Pokémon. They say this wielder of electricity has waged war with its nemesis, Tornadus, since time immemorial. The lightning bolts it hurls pierce the very earth and enrich the soil. 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.

Overview

The removal of Hidden Power hit Thundurus hard as it removed one of the most reliable coverage moves at its disposal. However, don't let that fool you because Thundurus is still a massive threat on the hands of a competent player. Thanks to Dynamax, it becomes a fearsome sweeper capable of abusing Max Airstream while utilizing it's good support moves in Taunt and Thunder Wave as priority moves thanks to Prankster. However, despite this, Thundurus struggles to break past physical walls like Hippowdown. Due to the loss of Hidden Power, Special sets are even less reliable albeit they still pack a punch. Positives
It's base 111 Speed makes Thundurus sit on an unique Speed tier but it is fast enough to outpace Lati@s, Gengar and anything slower than that.
Prankster transforms its status moves into priority moves at the expense of failing vs Dark types. Despite a barren support movepool in Taunt and Thunder Wave, it does well with what it has under its disposal.
It's great offensive stats and movepool is what makes Thundurus so threatening. Having access to moves such as Focus Blast and Grass Knot complements excellently it's Electric STAB. While on the physical spectrum, it can effectively use Fly for Max Airstream and Wild Charge as its main STAB.

Negatives
It's base 79 HP and coupled with its base 70 Defense and base 80 SpD makes it overall frail despite its good defensive typing.
Outside Dynamax, Thundurus cannot effectively use Fly due to its one charge turn while it struggles against bulkier physical walls. Special sets are dealt with by special walls such as Blissey.
It's weakness to Stealth Rock is a huge problem on 6v6 formats as it takes away a significant portion of its health and considering it's average bulk, it reduces its chances to switch-in more frequently.

Movesets

THORON

- Bulk Up
- Fly
- Wild Charge
- Taunt
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Defiant
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Bulk Up is Thundurus's only means of boosting its Attack outside of Dynamax, and makes it harder to revenge kill with physical attackers. Fly becomes its main STAB once Dynamax is activate as it becomes Max Airstream and will allow Thundurus to hit its opponents for huge damage while it increases its Speed, making it even harder to revenge kill. Wild Charge it's its secondary STAB and while it is unfortunate that Thundurus cannot use the advantages of Max Lightning since it is not grounded, it still becomes a respectable STAB capable of denting threats such as Corviknight, Celesteela and Tapu Fini. Taunt is great for punishing more passive Pokemon such as Ferrothorn. Superpower gives Thundurus another means to boost its Attack while Dynamaxed, while Iron Tail becomes a way to boost Thundurus's Defense while Dynamaxed.

EVs and Items

Other Options

VGC & Double Battle Options

Thundurus has had a history right from its start in Doubles. The Electric Flying typing is amazing, being an Electric type not weak to Earthquake and thus abuser of the DisQuake Combo would give Thundurus at least a footnote in history. However, Thundurus stands out from Zapdos with two incredibly good abilities. Prankster turns Thundurus into an amazing support partner while Defiant makes gives Thundurus an effective punishment in a format laden with Intimidate users. All while possessing balanced offenses to keep your opponent guessing on what you are running. However, Regieleki offers incredibly stiff competition as a support option and Defiant Thundurus is incredibly reliant on Dynamax to excel which can restrain options during a match.

Dauntless Storm

-Fly
-Wild Charge
-Brick Break
-Lash Out
Item Attached: Assault Vest
Ability: Defiant
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly Nature

With Intimidates, Parting Shots, Electrowebs and Max Moves flying every which way, Thundurus can brutally punish such moves and turn them into fueling its own offense with Defiant. This set is meant to Dynamax and start stacking Boosts with Fly-Max-Airstream and Brick Break-Max Knuckle to help his team snowball and roll over the opposition. Brick Break also has a use in breaking Screens from Grimmsnarl, Regieleki, and Lapras ensuring that your opponent can’t safely blunt your team’s damage. Wild Charge is reliable Physical STAB and is a reliable answer to Kyogre, Charizard and Yveltal. Lash Out rounds out the set, not only giving Thundurus a way to boost special attacking partners offense while Dynamaxed, but is a potential extra punishment to predicted stat drops from a predicted Landorus-Therian switch-in or a forced drop from an opposing Max move, as well as a guaranteed OHKO against Calyrex Shadow Rider. Assault Vest gives Thundurus a modicum of bulk, enabling it to survive a Scarf Kyogre’s Water Spout out of Dynamax.

Other Options & Partners

Physically inclined partners like Rillaboom, Zacian Crowned, Landorus Therian, Groudon, etc. love Thundurus’ ability to punish Intimidates as well as bolster their Speed and Attack with Max Airstream and Knuckle.
Superpower -Significantly Stronger than Brick Break, but lacks utility and out of Dyanamax, the forced stat drop hurts.
Prankster -Thundurus has a decent support movepool and priority Speed Control in Thunder Wave and setup denial in Taunt never hurts. However, this set faces fierce competition from Regieleki and is blocked by common Dark types like Incineroar, Grimmsnarl and Yveltal.

Countering Thundurus

Ground types such as Hippowdon and Swampert usually have the bulk required to deal with physical sets as Thundurus will need more than a boost to get past them. They also carry Roar which can easily phaze it out. However, both must be wary of special variants that can run Grass Knot to hit them hard. Blissey deals with any special set and usually does a good job on checking mixed sets without Superpower.

Faster Pokemon such as Cinderace, Weavile and Dragapult are capable of revenge killing Thundurus due to its lack of bulk and hit it extremely hard with their STAB. Weavile deserves a mention since it can easily outspeed with STAB Icicle Crash or use Ice Shard to bypass any Speed boosts Thundurus might hae gained.

Therian Corner

Thundurus, The Bolt Strike Pokémon. Quick as a flash, it materializes out of nowhere. It pulverizes foes into nothingness with showers of devastatingly powerful lightning bolts launched from the string of orbs on its tail.

Overview

Thundurus-Therian is an amazing special attacker, able to lay waste to many Pokémon thanks to its absurd Special Attack, above average Speed, wide coverage and access to Nasty Plot. Weather Ball is a welcome new option, giving Thundurus access to a powerful Water or Ice coverage move depending on its teammates.

However, the generational shift brought changes that more harmed than helped Thundurus-Therian. The loss of Hidden Power hurts even more than in its incarnate form, depriving Thundurus-Therian of not only reliable Ice coverage, but a Special Flying STAB, which prevents active abuse of Dynamax. Without reliable Ice coverage, Thundurus-Therian struggles to fit all his coverage options into one set leaving gaps depending on what he is lacking. Additionally, Base 101 Speed, while above average, is easily outsped by the numerous faster threats in the format. Thundurus-Therian also faces incredibly stiff competition for an Electric type from its Incarnate-Form, Zapdos, Regieleki, Tapu Koko and Xurkitree, who possess greater Speed, Bulk, Typing and/or Power. Make no mistake, Thundurus-Therian is a threat that can sweep given the chance, but there are other Pokémon that can do so much more.

Positives
Base 145 Special Attack is nuts, and being able to boost it means that few, if any can withstand Thundurus-Therian.
Wide range of coverage gives Thundurus-Therian an answer for most situations.
Above Average Speed and great defensive typing makes Thundurus-Therian hard to stop once it gets going.

Negatives
Below Average bulk and lack of Roost prevents Thundurus-Therian from taking many hits. Is still liable to be outsped by faster threats, requiring team support to take out said threats. Incredibly stiff competition as an Electric type and a Special Sweeper makes it harder to justify.

Movesets

Azure Lightning

-Thunderbolt
-Volt Switch
-Grass Knot
-Focus Blast
Item Attached: Choice Scarf
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Thundurus-Therian’s insane Special Attack and above Average Speed make it an excellent Choice Scarf revenge Killer. Thunderbolt is bread and butter STAB, reliable and damaging. Volt Switch is a natural fit, enabling Thundurus-Therian to both scout for predicted switch-ins and chunk whatever is out before switching to a counter. Grass Knot prevents Ground types from being a safe switch-in, ravaging what would normally be a reliable Electric counter. Focus Blast rounds out the set, giving Thundurus-Therian a coverage option against Dragon and Electric types as well as smacking Blissey hard..

Dynamax

Thundurus-Therian can make use of Dynamax to break the choice lock and become a standard attacker, but one must be wary as that negates the speed boost from the Choice Scarf and leaves Thundurus-Therian prone to being outsped. If expecting to Dynamax regularly, consider swapping out Focus Blast for Sludge Wave or Dark Pulse, both of which become options that buff Thundurus-Therian’s Special Damage, enabling Thundurus to ramp up as it attacks. Being part Flying prevents Thundurus from taking advantage of Electric Terrain from Max Lightning, preventing it from being the go to Dynamax Sweeper on a team.

EVs & Items

Standard Sweeper Array of Max Special Attack and Speed. Timid Nature is recommended to outspeed as many foes as you can if Thundurus-Therian eats a Knock Off or Dynamaxes, as well as to outspeed slower Choice Scarfers such as Mimikyu, Urshifu, and Hydreigon. .

Other Options

Sludge Wave -Answers Grass types and provides a strong neutral hit vs Dragons and a Special Attack Boosting Max Move
Dark Pulse -gives a strong option against Spectrier and just wide neutral coverage as well as a Special Defense dropping Max Move.
Weather Ball -Excellent on Hail and Rain teams, giving Thundurus-Therian valuable Ice and/or Water Coverage.
Psychic -covers the Poison Grass types and Nihilego
Heavy Duty Boots -great option for any Stealth Rock weak Pokémon, but better on your Defogger.
Nasty Plot -gives Thundurus-Therian to blow past walls, but it is rather frail and outclassed by its Incarnate form as a Nasty Plot sweeper due to Incarnate's higher Speed.

Azure Lightning

- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Grass Knot / Weather Ball
- Focus Blast
- Nasty Plot / Thunder Wave
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Volt Absorb
EVs and Nature:
4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Thunderbolt allows Thundurus to hit for decent damage anything that is not a Ground type while threatening on toasting Corviknight and Tapu Fini with its STAB. Grass Knot grants Thundurus coverage against bulky Ground types such as Swampert and Hippowdon. However, if you are using Thundurus with a Hail team, Weather Ball becomes a great option as it allows Thundurus to hit Pokemon such as Garchomp (in hail) even harder. Focus Blast rounds up the coverage allowing it to hit Ferrothorn for super-effective coverage preventing it from walling Thundurus.

Partners

Due to the amount of switching Scarf Thundurus-Therian must do, Hazard Control is a must. Landorus-Therian stands out, being able to deal with opposing Electric types (and Grass types with Max Airstream), possessing Intimidate as a great Volt Switch option. Tapu Fini also excels, answering Dragon types, while enjoying Thundurus-Therian being able to blank opposing Electric attacks. Answers to Special Walls, Dragon and Electric types that can stymie an Thundurus-Therian assault. Mamoswine checks most of these attributes while not stacking a Rock weakness.

Countering Therian Thundurus

Nihilego is as close to a counter as you can get. On any sets lacking Psychic, Nihilego can switch in, eat an attack and OHKO with a STAB Power Gem or Meteor Beam. On sets lacking Nasty Plot, sponges tend to excel. Blissey and Goodra can sit on Thundurus-Therian. Diancie can even eat a Nasty Plot boosted attack and OHKO with Diamond Storm. Otherwise, faster threats and priority users can make quick work of Thundurus-Therian. Mamoswine and Lycanroc have super effective Priority. Weavile, Dragapult and Katana all natively outspeed and can maim Thundurus if not outright KO it

Animé Appearences

Thundurus has made a few appearances in the anime. Most notably, it was awakened by Giovanni during one of his plots. # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics M14 White: Victini & Zekrom Victini & The Black Hero: Zekrom Pics 720 Stopping the Rage of Legends! (Part 1) Tornadus VS Thundurus VS Landorus!! (Part One) Pics 721 Stopping the Rage of Legends! (Part 2) Tornadus VS Thundurus VS Landorus!! (Part Two) Pics 758 Unova's Survival Crisis Advance of the Therian Formes! Unova's Greatest Crisis!! Pics