The Bug That Ate a Mountain

 

 I have gone back and forth on whether I should include these guys in the game so many times at this point it has made my head spin. There really is not a specific kind of insect that the Tyranitar family is based off of, and indeed its name and final evolution are much more dinosaur-esque than insectoid. On the other hand, no other animals on Earth besides insects go through the classic Larva -> Pupa -> Adult lifecycle, so Tryanitar is clearly pulling some inspiration from the Bug world. Its design with segments and armor sections is also pretty reminiscent of the insect exoskeleton. And since Armaldo has shown us that Pokemon is not going to shy away from the Bug/Dinosaur/Monster combo, why should we? Let's look at how everyone's favorite Sand Stream menace will work in the world of Bugmerald.

1. Stats and Typing

Tyranitar famously has some of the best stats and stat spreads for any Pokemon since its debut way back in Gold and Silver. We won't be touching those.

For typing, I've waffled quite a bit around Bug/Dark, Bug/Rock, Bug/Ground or something else. I ended up settling on Bug/Ground for Larvitar and Pupitar and a change to Bug/Rock once it evolves into Tyranitar. Larvitar is born deep underground, so it makes sense that it would be more associated with Ground typing at that point in life. But by the time it gets to the adult Tyranitar stage, it has absorbed enough minerals in the dirt to burst out as a full-fledged Rock type to get that sweet sweet 1.5x Special Def. boost in Sandstorm. Aw yeah.

2. Abilities

Unnerve is pretty boring. I like Bulletproof much better to reference how its "body can't be harmed by any sort of attack." We'll also throw in Own Tempo to give it an option to both resist Intimidate and click on Thrash with impunity. I think Bulletproof is the better ability here so we'll stick that in the Hidden Ability slot.

3. Movepool

Being a Bug type family now, we obviously need to add some new options scattered throughout the level-up learnset. Pounce, Bug Bite, and Silver Wind at lower levels and X-Scissor, and Bug Buzz at higher levels. Otherwise, you can't pack much more into the movepool that Tyranitar doesn't already have.

Conclusion

Tyranitar is ironically in a very bad place in the current games of Scarlet and Violet. The rise of the fairy type, power creep, and its own 7 weaknesses making it very hard to utilize its bulk. Bug/Rock Tyranitar suddenly becomes much more threatening with its typing alone. It adds a Rock weakness but its total weaknesses drop to only 3 types. If running Sand Stream, Water becomes pretty manageable with Tyranitar's staggering Sp. Def. in a sandstorm, leaving only Rock and Steel to worry about. But Steel, at least, is not a terribly common attacking type. Hopefully there aren't any professional trainers that specialize in Steel types in the Hoenn region! 

Either way, if you've been bummed by Tyranitar's performance in recent games, I hope that Bugmerald can be a breath of fresh air for you! If you can figure out how to find it, that is.