Analysis
Turtonator stands out as one of November's most impactful Pokemons thanks to its great stats and move distribution, which give it great sweeping capability and decent utility. At first glance, Turtonator may not look intimidating; base 36 Speed and 91 Sp.Atk are not particularly remarkable. However, after Shell Smash and maximum Speed investment, Turtonator is able to outspeed the metagame's entire roster not factoring abilities, Items or Sticky Web. Its good dragon/fire STAB combination allows it to pose an enormous threat to whatever opponent it faces. It’s capable of knocking out the vast majority of the remaining 34 Mons in one or two hits--not to mention it's ability to go physical and great coverage against the metagames most prominent Bug-Types in Head Smash. Not only does Turtonator hit incredibly hard, but it also can live hits often thanks to its Fire/Dragon typing, high Defense stat and the metagame's shortage of Rock and Ground types (the only STAB-boosted move of these types come from Trapinch or Gabite). Other than as a Shell Smash sweeper against weakened teams, Turtonator shines in the role of an utility support by way of Rapid Spin, Will-o-wisp, Dragon Tail/Roar, Toxic and Taunt. However, Turtonator is not without flaws. As a sweeper it requires team support to be able to safely set up Shell Smash, as it is otherwise vulnerable to be damaged or phased out. It either needs to commit to White Herb, leaving it vulnerable to hazard damage or miscellaneous stat drops, or use Heavy Duty Boots which don't prevent the negative stat changes from Shell Smash. It also has to choose between the extremely powerful but crippling Draco Meteor, which is prone to miss, and Dragon Pulse which is significantly weaker, but 100% accurate, and faces a similar situation between Fire Blast and Flamethrower .
Turtonator also faces some competition both as a hazard cleaner and as a sweeper from mons such as Tsareena and Frosmoth and can have its ability to deal damage limited if it finds itself in rain, after Draco Meteor Sp.Atk drops, or if its stronger but missing-prone attacks don’t hit. It has no reliable means of recovery by itself, is vulnerable to Status conditions and can be potentially brought down or crippled by specially defensive pokemon such as Araquanid, Ampharos, Kecleon, Wigglytuff, Trapinch, Gabite, any Water-type Pokemons, and any fast scarfers that can outspeed it even after a shell smash.
Written by Beposx