Aurorus Guide: An Icy Relic Of The Prehistoric Era

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Jesus Cruz, Lifelong Pokémon Fan

It all started in 2010 when Jesus was 10 years old. His dad gifted him a Nintendo DS and let him choose a game for it. A weird, enormous, and grey serpent caught my attention on the box art for Pokémon Platinum, and since that moment he's been hooked! He can only thank his 10 years old self for choosing the game that he loves the most in the series

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Aurorus, the tundra Pokémon, is a Rock/Ice-type Fossil Pokémon introduced in Gen 6. It is the evolution of Amaura, which comes from reviving a Sail Fossil. It is the counterpart of Tyrantrum.

Aurorus is based in the Amargasaurus, a sauropod from the Early Cretaceous epoch, the aurora borealis phenomenon, and a victorian queen. Aurorus, unlike its counterpart, Tyrantrum, is really kind and docile; training and treating it is relatively easy. It is hard to get angry, but when it does, it can create ice walls to cage their rivals. It can create auroras by howling.

It is a quadrupedal, primarily blue, Pokémon. Aurorus’s body is covered in icy crystals; it can expel a gelid air through those crystals, which is at -240º F. It has a long neck and a small head, as well as two blue eyes. It has a V-shaped white fur in its head, in which two crests (which look like auroras) start, ending in the base of its neck. The lower part of its body is light-blue colored, while the back of its body is dark-blue colored, and its long tail ends in a little tip.

Aurorus’ name comes from the union of Aurora and amargasaurus.

Aurorus Summary of Appearances in Pokémon Versions and Media (Games, Anime, Movies)

In the games, you can find Aurorus in the following places:

• Gen 6: In the Glittering Cave, you can choose between the Sail Fossil (which contains Amaura) and the Jaw Fossil (which includes Tyrunt, the Tyrantrum pre-evolution). Choose the Sail Fossil, and then you have to revive it in the Ambrette Town Fossil Lab.
• Gen 7: Only in Ultra Moon you can find the Sail Fossil in the Olivia’s Jewelry Shop, and then revive it in the Fossil Restoration Center, on Route 8.
• Gen 8: You can only find it after the Expansion Pass. It is in Snowslide Slope (as a wanderer).

Amaura and Aurorus have an episode dedicated to them in the anime, named Coming Back Into the Cold! Where they were revived after being found in the ice.

In the manga, Aurorus debuted under the ownership of Grant in PS572.

In the TCG, Aurorus has three cards, A rare one in Furious Fists, a rare holo in Forbidden Lights, and an Aurorus EX in the XY Black Star Promos.

Aurorus Evolution Line: When Does Aurorus Evolve?

You have to revive the Soil Fossil to obtain Amaura, which can evolve into Aurorus at Level 39, only at night. Aurorus doesn’t evolve.

Aurorus Stats

Aurorus can work in various tiers, but it does its best job in PU. This is a powerful Pokémon, with a great Special Attack, but contrary to what it may seem from its large size, great HP, and Special Defense, it can’t work as a wall; it actually hates walls because it prefers to act like a wall breaker.

Aurorus has two of the best abilities in the meta; let’s see them:

Abilities

Aurorus can have the following abilities:

• Refrigerate: With this ability, Aurorus can transform every Normal-type move it uses into an Ice-type move. Every attack that gets affected by Refrigerate also receives a 20% power buff.
• Snow Warning (As a Hidden Ability): Snow Warning allows Aurorus to summon a hailstorm in a battle for five turns. It fails to activate if there’s Heavy Rain, an Extremely Harsh Sun, or Strong Winds.

Refrigerate is such a great ability, not only for the Ice-type changing, if not because of that 20% power buff too. We are using it in our build.

Natures

We want to use its best stat, Special Attack. The big problem about Aurorus as a wall breaker is its extremely low Speed, so we have two options: preferring increasing its Special Attack or its Speed.

• Modest (increases Special Attack, reduces Attack)
• Mild (increases Special Attack, reduces Defense)
• Quiet (increases Special Attack, reduces Speed)
• Rash (increases Special Attack, reduces Special Defense)

Well, in this case, Aurorus’ work will be to stay in the field, hanging there doing strong attacks, so we don’t want to reduce its defenses at all. Quiet will not be an option either, because it will be better if it’s faster than its foe.

We can also use the following natures if we want Aurorus to be faster:

• Timid (Increases Speed, reduces Attack)
• Hasty (Increases Speed, reduces Defense)
• Jolly (Increases Speed, reduces Special Attack)
• Naive (Increases Speed, reduces Special Defense)

Timid will be our option if we go for a fast Aurorus because Hasty, Jolly, and Naive natures will not work for our blue dinosaur.

Stats

Aurorus has the following stats:

Its best stat is its HP; that’s why Aurorus isn’t a sweeper. Its Speed is really deficient, and its Attack and Defense and its best job will be doing and handling Special Attacks. Aurorus is that typical Pokémon that needs the help of a Stealth Rock or Sticky Web setter, so think about that when you are building your team. Its total base points are 521, and it will give your Pokémon two EVs in HP.

Moves list per level (Gen 8)

Aurorus can learn the following moves by levelling up:

We have some exciting moves here, like Aurora Beam, Ancient Power, and Blizzard. Imagine just for a second an Ice-type Hyper Beam with STAB executed by Aurorus, it would be cool, but we can’t let Aurorus be in the field without attacking in a turn since it can potentially fall in any moment. Now, let’s check its moves per TM or TR:

Moves list per TM or TR (Gen 8)

Rock Slide, Hyper Voice, and Calm Mind are some good options here, but we don’t recommend using Calm Mind in the build we are gonna showcase since this Aurorus in specific can’t be in the field for that much. If you want to use it, you have to search for nature that buffs its defense and train Aurorus with some EVs in Special Attack, Special Defense, and Defense.

Aurorus Strengths

Aurorus is a Rock/Ice-type Pokémon, which means it can resist the following types:

• It gets only ½ of the damage against Ice-type.
• It gets only ½ of the damage against Normal-type.
• It gets only ½ of the damage against Poison-type.
• It gets only ½ of the damage against Flying-type.

Aurorus can resist a wide range of exciting Pokémon into PU, like Skuntank, Haunter, Articuno, Abomasnow, and Cryogonal. But, it can also get rid of those defensive walls with great Ice-type attacks, like Turtonator or Altaria. Aurorus is a great wall breaker, and it can get rid of Special Attack Sweepers since it can handle those attacks.

Aurorus Weaknesses

Aurorus has a big problem: a big list of weaknesses. Let’s see it:

• It takes x4 damage against Steel-type.
• It takes x2 damage against Water-type.
• It takes x4 damage against Fighting-type.
• It takes x2 damage against Grass-type.
• It takes x2 damage against Rock-type.
• It takes x2 damage against Ground-type.

While being a Rock/Ice-type Pokémon looks cool since it is the only Pokémon with this type combination, the main issue is that it is a bad mix. Also, Aurorus has another unfortunate coincidence: It has a bad Defense, and all its Weaknesses are known for having great Physical attacks.

Gurdurr, Hitmonchan, Primeape, the Alolan Sandslash, Aggron, Torterra, and the list can go on. As you can see, Aurorus can work but only in a specific situation: against Flying, Poison, or even Fire-types. The rest are a big problem for Aurorus.

Aurorus Moveset

Aurorus can work with the next setup:

• Blizzard/Hyper Voice (Depending on which ability will you use; Blizzard if Snow Warning, Hyper Voice if Refrigerate).
• Freeze-Dry
• Earth Power
• Ancient Power

With Choice Specs as its Item, whichever ability you want, and Timid as its Nature (Don’t worry, the Choice Specs will do the work).

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe.

Let’s see, Blizzard will work if you use Snow Warning because Blizzard can’t fail when the attacker is in a Hailstorm. Otherwise, if you don’t want to risk that, we choose the best Special and Normal-type attack, Hyper Voice, to make it an Ice-type Hyper Voice with STAB.

Freeze-Dry is in its move set because it can help Aurorus do a great amount of damage to Water-types, covering another type. Earth Power is the strongest Special Ground-type attack that Aurorus can learn; it will help sweeping Fire and Steel-types quickly. Fire-types are a common threat in PU, so Aurorus is a perfect counter to those Pokémon.

Ancient Power is the strongest Special Rock-type attack that Aurorus can learn, and it is a good move to have, mostly because it has STAB and can sweep Fire and Flying-types.

The Choice Specs will buff its Special Attack by an x1.5, but the problem is that you can only use the first move you use. If you want to use another one, you have to switch Aurorus and get it in the field again. This will compensate for the absence of a Nature that buff Aurorus’ Special Attack.

Dedicate Aurorus’ EVs to buff the Special Attack and the Speed of Aurorus. The faster, the better. Lastly, Aurorus needs a Lead that sets up Sticky Webs and some Stealth Rocks, something that helps Aurorus win a match against Fighting or Steel-types.

Aurorus in video

Aurorus and any other Pokémon (Except for Ditto) can be built in a lot of ways. In this video, we can see excellent teaching of another way of building Aurorus perfectly.

Here, we can see Aurorus in action, as well as a team designed to help it in battle.

FAQs

Aurorus is a great Pokémon, with an excellent ability but with bad types. Nonetheless, using Aurorus isn’t hard at all, and it isn’t common either, so fun is guaranteed if you have it in your team. Remember, you have to prepare the field to use it properly. Otherwise, it will be hard for Aurorus to work at its best.