Introduction
Since day 1, tauros-b has established itself as a premier offensive threat in the February metagame. With great stats including a very respectable 100 base speed, solid offensive and defensive typing in fire/fighting, access to intimidate, and fantastic coverage, tauros-b has proven to be a highly versatile, solid addition to nearly any team.
Part I: Offense
At a blazing (heh) 100 speed, jolly tauros-b naturally outspeeds a vast majority of the metagame. The 5 mons faster than it, wugtrio, zebstrika, serperior, maushold, and raichu, do not dare switch in for fear of being annihilated by one of its mighty stab moves. Because of this fact alongside its ability, intimidate, all tauros-b sets can reliably force out almost anything in the meta and hit the switch-in hard. This includes meta defining offensive threats such as ceruledge, opposing tauros-b, zebstrika, serperior, and nidoqueen alongside almost every niche offensive pick. Also, its signature move raging bull allows it to switch in on vanilluxe and immediately remove aurora veil (assuming that the opponent does not have flash fire ceruledge). This allows tauros-b to effectively shut down such teams as long as it stays alive.
With a choice band, tauros-b becomes one of the metagames most frightening wallbreakers, allowing it to 2HKO every single mon in the meta, assuming the right move is clicked. Supposed "switch-ins" such as air balloon ceruledge with flash fire or physically defensive primarina are blown back by stone edge and wild charge respectively. Quagsire gets 2HKOd by close combat even with leftovers, and physically defensive aromatisse is 2HKOd by flare blitz. This means that every game with a banded tauros-b comes down to predictions, and every time you guess wrong you will almost certainly lose a mon. Life orb sets sacrifice the sheer power and longevity of choice band for the valuable ability to switch moves. With access to great coverage and trailblaze, life orb tauros-b can be used as a threatening late game cleaner. However, running trailblaze means you sacrifice valuable coverage and open yourself up to being forced out by air balloon ceruledge or primarina. A choice scarf allows tauros-b to act as a revenge killer; however, tauros-b already threatens out almost everything faster than it, and so this set is comparatively niche. Regardless of this it can be a solid answer to dragon dance tyrantrum, maushold that has not used tidy up, and serperior that has amassed multiple boosts. -
Part II: Defense
Intimidate alongside solid defensive typing and bulk allow tauros-b to switch in on a wide assortment of threats in a pinch such as ceruledge, zebstrika, vanilluxe, growth/tailwind-boosted shiftry, tyrantrum, snorlax, and opposing tauros-b. It can also switch in on serperior sets that are running HP evs instead of SpAtk, allowing it to live the second leaf storm and OHKO in return. This ability to blanket check many threats at once makes it quite versatile, remniscent of a certain genie, giving it a valueable niche on offensive teams. Leftovers/heavy duty boots sets allow tauros-b to further bolster its longevity by switching in on threats repeatedly and breaking down opposing teams with repeated hits. Bulk up can also be run to punish physical attackers and threaten OHKOs against a large portion of the metagame after a boost. Trailblaze can also be run with this set, although this sacrifices valuable coverage. -
Part III: Checks/Counters
Although it is very powerful, tauros-b is very reliant on prediction to break the opposing team. Choice band sets must be answered with proper predictions. Air balloon flash fire ceruledge is a common switch-in, with immunities to all 3 of tauros-b's most common attacks. Physically defensive primarina can be used to reliably check sets lacking wild charge. Quagsire can switch in on any of its attacks except for banded close combat and life orb trailblaze, allowing it to be a somewhat reliable answer. Physically defensive aromatisse can switch in on choice band sets lacking flare blitz, giving it free turns to use wish and heal bell. Skarmory sets running rocky helmet can also switch in assuming a fire move is not clicked and proceed to force it out by spamming roost. Maushold can also force out tauros-b after a clean switch, threatening an OHKO with population bomb. Opposing tauros-b can force it out with intimidate alongside a speed tie, turning it into an unfavorable matchup. -
Part IV: Sample sets
Choice band: https://pokepast.es/2046229ebda22f11
Life orb: https://pokepast.es/900e98700cdc0999
Leftovers: https://pokepast.es/63c8e234f2401d10
Written by Shifty