Thundurus-Therian Duo Guide


Overview

Thundurus-Therian's Base Attack is 295, higher than Rayquaza's. If it had received Wild Charge, Thundurus-I would have had approximately 25% more DPS than Raikou, with bulk roughly equal to Electivire's.

Unfortunately, Niantic chose to give it Thunder and Thunder Punch instead, making Thundurus-T one of the biggest disappointments of Gen 5. It's still a great Pokemon, landing just below Raikou's performance, but it's nowhere near as good as it could be.

Compared to Thundurus-Incarnate, Thundurus-Therian is very slightly squishier, but will hit much harder. It's still fairly easy by duo standards, but it will be more taxing on your Revive stores compared to Thundurus-I.


Thundurus' Movesets
Thundurus
Astonish
Brick Break
Thundurus
Thunder Shock
Brick Break
Thundurus
Astonish
Thunder
Thundurus
Thunder Shock
Thunder
Thundurus
Astonish
Crunch
Thundurus
Thunder Shock
Crunch
Thundurus
Astonish
Thunder Punch
Thundurus
Thunder Shock
Thunder Punch
  • Thunder Shock and Astonish are roughly equal in difficulty. Thunder Shock is boosted by STAB, but Mamoswine and Rhyperior sport Immunity-level resistances to Electric, making Thunder Shock much easier to face if you're using those 2.
  • Brick Break comes out very frequently and hits both Rock- and Ice-types for super effective damage, making it the hardest Charge Move to face. However, its Base Power is very low, and even Rampardos can survive a Brick Break and instantly use its own Charge Move.
  • Thunder hits decently hard and is difficult to dodge; however, Mamoswine and Rhyperior have no problems absorbing Thunders, making this an easier moveset to face than Brick Break.
  • Crunch has higher Base Power than Thunder Punch, even factoring in STAB, and comes out frequently due to being a 3-Bar move. Coming off Thundurus-T's Base 295 Attack, even a neutral Crunch will hurt quite a bit.
  • Thunder Punch is boosted by STAB and comes out frequently, but its Base Power is low, and it is 4x resisted by Mamoswine and Rhyperior, making this the easiest Charge Move to go against if you're using primarily those 2.

Weather
  • Snow boosts the power of your Ice-type attacks, making the duo much easier if you're using Ice-types.
  • Partly Cloudy boosts the power of your Rock-type attacks, making the duo much easier if you're using Rock-types.
  • Rain boosts the power of Thundurus' Electric-type attacks. Under Rain, Thunder hits much harder, and Rampardos becomes non-viable against Thunder if you don't dodge it. If you do dodge Thunders, Rampardos is still the best counter.

Viable Counters

Minimum viable levels assume Best Friends, no Weather, no Dodging.

Italics indicate a Legacy move.

vs. Thunder Punch

Rampardos
Min. Level: 30
Smack Down
Rock Slide
Mamoswine
Min. Level: 30
Powder Snow
Avalanche
Weavile
Min. Level: 40
Ice Shard
Avalanche
Rhyperior
Min. Level: 40
Powder Snow
Avalanche
Tyranitar
Min. Level: 40
Smack Down
Stone Edge
Glaceon
Min. Level: 40
Frost Breath
Avalanche

Rampardos and Mamoswine are significantly above the rest in performance; the more high-level Rampardos and Mamoswine you have, the easier this fight will be.

Level 40 Rampardos wins in ~230 seconds on average; Level 40 Mamoswine wins in ~260 seconds.

The next-best option after Mamoswine, Weavile, wins in ~270 seconds on average, out of the given 300 seconds.

Level 40 Psycho Cut/Ice Beam Mewtwo falls a little short of duo-viability on its own, but if you have enough Rampardos and Mamoswine carrying, you can afford to slot in a few Mewtwos without causing the run to fail.

vs. Crunch

Rampardos
Min. Level: 30
Smack Down
Rock Slide
Mamoswine
Min. Level: 35
Powder Snow
Avalanche
Weavile
Min. Level: 35
Ice Shard
Avalanche
Tyranitar
Min. Level: 40
Smack Down
Stone Edge

Against Crunch, Level 40 Rhyperior falls a little short of duo-viability on its own; again, with enough Rampardos and Mamoswine doing the heavy lifting, you can afford to slot in a couple Rhyperior.

If you're using primarily Rampardos, you will probably have to relobby twice; Rampardos faints an average of 30 times against Crunch, or 15 faints per trainer. If you can dodge all Crunches, you can cut down the death toll to 10 deaths, or 5 deaths per trainer, allowing you to avoid relobbying entirely.

vs. Thunder

Mamoswine
Min. Level: 30
Powder Snow
Avalanche
Rampardos
Min. Level: 40
Smack Down
Rock Slide
Rhyperior
Min. Level: 40
Powder Snow
Avalanche
Weavile
Min. Level: 40
Ice Shard
Avalanche
Glaceon
Min. Level: 40
Frost Breath
Avalanche

Sub-Level 40 Rampardos is not viable against Thunder with no Dodging. If you can consistently dodge Thunders, Rampardos becomes viable against Thunder at Level 30.

Level 40 Smack Down/Stone Edge Tyranitar is duo-viable against Astonish/Thunder, but not Thunder Shock/Thunder. If you have enough Rampardos and Mamoswine, you can slot in some Tyranitars against Thunder Shock/Thunder, if you have nothing better.

If you're using primarily Rampardos, you will probably have to relobby twice; Rampardos faints an average of 26 times against Thunder, or 13 faints per trainer. Dodging some (but not all) Thunders will allow you to avoid a 2nd relobby without sacrificing too much DPS.

vs. Brick Break

Rampardos
Min. Level: 30
Smack Down
Rock Slide
Mamoswine
Min. Level: 35
Powder Snow
Avalanche
Glaceon
Min. Level: 40
Frost Breath
Avalanche

Against Brick Break, Level 40 Confusion/Ice Beam Mewtwo falls a little short of duo-viability on its own. The more high-level Rampardos and Mamoswine you have, the more safely you can slot in a Mewtwo without causing the run to fail.

Level 40 Rhyperior is duo-viable against Thunder Shock/Brick Break, but not Astonish/Brick Break.