np: XY UU Stage 2 - Light Em Up

[SmashBrosBrawl]

-1 252 Atk Reckless Mienshao High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Staraptor: 150-177 (40.1 - 47.3%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

lol nb also it walls mixnape wtf n_n

-1 252 Atk Life Orb Infernape Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Staraptor: 133-156 (35.5 - 41.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

Too bad im not a stall player but this could actually become a thing.

 

[Rotosect]

I wholeheartedly agree with Volcarona being sent to BL.
You either carried Fletchinder, an absolutely horrible NFE who didn't even reach 400 BST and had flying priority as its only niche, or you had no safe answer for it.
Infernape is the other reason you'd even consider carrying the bird, but it's much easier to deal with compared to Volcarona since it doesn't have a stupidly good set-up move and its bulk sucks on both ends of the spectrum.
Good riddance I say.

 

[Machi]

I wholeheartedly agree with Volcarona being sent to BL.
You either carried Fletchinder, an absolutely horrible NFE who didn't even reach 400 BST and had flying priority as its only niche, or you had no safe answer for it.
Infernape is the other reason you'd even consider carrying the bird, but it's much easier to deal with compared to Volcarona since it doesn't have a stupidly good set-up move and its bulk sucks on both ends of the spectrum.
Good riddance I say.

Fletch is by no means a horrible mon it may not have that high of a BST but its ease of being able to sweep teams being one of the few priority users in UU and the lack of popularity against flying spam makes it a very viable Pokemon in the tier. It is grossly underrated and can find some very easy set up opportunities and can serve as a very easy win condition. If you simply used Fletch solely as a revenge killer you are missing out big time on how potent he really is.

 

[TM13IceBeam]

fletch can actually sweep HO teams with an SD up

it's mentioned a lot of times already but it's way more legitimate than it looks, especially when you have one of the strongest priority attacks in the tier.

 

[Patrick1088]

So who is everybody using to combat staraptor? doublade is the most obvious counter in every sense, but is too obscure?

252 Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Doublade: 52-62 (16.1 - 19.2%) -- possible 6HKO

Mega aggron stands out as a decent check but has a chance to be 2hko by banded close combat

252+ Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Filter Mega Aggron: 145-172 (42.1 - 50%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

As far as checks faster threats like shao and ape can rk. Priority users are okay checks. I ran the calcs and most of them fail to OHKO staraptor with their priority move with sr;lucario, entei, adamant mega snows ice shard (6,3% chance after sr, but is probably guaranteed after hail), arcanine, fletchinder. The only one that can outright ohko with sr is honchkrow.

252+ Atk Life Orb Honchkrow Sucker Punch vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 243-289 (77.8 - 92.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Mega aero with 4/0 can actually tank the brave birds close combats from the banded set. Banded adamant close combat does qbout 45% to mega aero, but it easily ohko with stone edge. And since it is the fastest poke in the tier, it can afford to run more bulk.

Im kind of on the fence on raptor. It has solid counters and good checks, but it just hits so hard...

Oh and sash zam can rk duh i forgot about it lol

 

[silenced]

I think the biggest issue with staraptor is that despite the ability to RK it, it will usually do its job of taking out an opposing pokemon, short of some consistent prediction (presuming you go up against choice locked sets). Even then, STAB flying attacks, especially ones further boosted by ability are not at all easy to tank in UU. It might be slightly less powerful than a CB reckless HJK from mienshao, but flying has much fewer checks to it in UU. The most reliable Single Pokemon Check, asides from mega-aero, I can see is a physically defensive jirachi set with wish/protect

Just as an example
252 Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Jirachi: 169-199 (41.8 - 49.2%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
Not the most optimal spread for jirachi, but its about as good as you'll get unless you're fine with restalk or wish support.

 

[kokoloko]

this is what ive been using to check raptor:

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Taunt
- Roost
- Stealth Rock

speed is for froslass before mevo and crobat after. its never 2hko'd by scarf STABs after rocks and only 2HKOd by scarf close combat 6.6% of the time. this is kind of a nice thing though cause i needed a fast taunter that checked raptor /and/ fire types and had rocks so lol. you can run 2 attacks if you already have rocks elsewhere obv.

other calcs:

252+ Atk Staraptor Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 164 Def Mega Aerodactyl: 130-153 (35.8 - 42.1%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 164 Def Mega Aerodactyl: 194-229 (53.4 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

so not a hard counter by any means but given that it outspeeds it unless its running a scarf and adamant raptor is simply retarded, its a really good check.

 

[Ernesto]

Have fun starting with rocks up against Azelf offense :o

 

[Nysyr]

this is what ive been using to check raptor:

Aerodactyl @ Aerodactylite
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 164 Def / 96 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Aerial Ace
- Taunt
- Roost
- Stealth Rock

speed is for froslass before mevo and crobat after. its never 2hko'd by scarf STABs after rocks and only 2HKOd by scarf close combat 6.6% of the time. this is kind of a nice thing though cause i needed a fast taunter that checked raptor /and/ fire types and had rocks so lol. you can run 2 attacks if you already have rocks elsewhere obv.

other calcs:

252+ Atk Staraptor Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 164 Def Mega Aerodactyl: 130-153 (35.8 - 42.1%) -- 82.4% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock
252+ Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 164 Def Mega Aerodactyl: 194-229 (53.4 - 63%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock

so not a hard counter by any means but given that it outspeeds it unless its running a scarf and adamant raptor is simply retarded, its a really good check.

You should be running a minimum of 136+ jolly for the spread if you are going to invest in speed... No sense being outsped by 115s before MEvo. Also lets you outspeed Adamant scarf Hera.

 

[DiscoDucky]

You should be running a minimum of 136+ jolly for the spread if you are going to invest in speed... No sense being outsped by 115s before MEvo. Also lets you outspeed Adamant scarf Hera.

It has the bulk to take some hits while for Mega-Evolving, and that free bulk's gonna help MegaAero as a Stallbreaker.

 

[Nysyr]

It has the bulk to take some hits while for Mega-Evolving, and that free bulk's gonna help MegaAero as a Stallbreaker.

Yeah, Good luck taunting that lead azelf when you are slow.

 

[panamaxis]

i don't see the issue vs azelf lead? can't you just aerial ace turn one (it 2hkos) and mega, now you're faster. spam defog for a while. If azelf wants to stay in and spam SR throw a taunt in somewhere and then defog and it's all good?

 

[Ernesto]

Except the set koko posted doesn't have Defog (because of his team), which is the reason I commented the Azelf matchup in the first place... I mean you can argue that he has Sableye or Crobat for the pixie, but the point is if one wants to take advantage of Lead Mega Aero, then outspeeding Azelf is important.

 

[Kingpoleon]

Has nobody thought of using Doublade? It looks like its the go to counter for this Staraptor+Lucario core. Staraptor can hit it with Double Edge and CC all it wants. But the calcs:
252 Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Eviolite Doublade: 52-62 (16.1 - 19.2%) -- possible 6HKO
0 Atk Doublade Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 126-148 (40.3 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
244 Atk Doublade Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 156-184 (50 - 58.9%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
120 Atk Doublade Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 141-166 (45.1 - 53.2%) -- 30.9% chance to 2HKO(Staraptor is 2HKO'd after BB recoil)

Lucario can use Crunch at best:
252+ Atk Life Orb Lucario Crunch vs. 252 HP / 116 Def Eviolite Doublade: 96-114 (29.8 - 35.4%) -- 23.3% chance to 3HKO
144 Atk Doublade Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Lucario: 214-254 (76.1 - 90.3%) -- 25% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

Overall, It can't take repeated hits too well, but it is an AMAZING check for Lucario and an absolute counter for Staraptor.
tl;dr: Staraptor hates Doublade, and Lucario doesn't exactly <3 Doublade either.

 

[Eddie2013]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-132128416

An earlier replay of staraptor pretty much destroying some of the best walls in UU hes just too powerful to be in the tier in my opinion

 

[kokoloko]

re: my set.

I think the extra 30% chance raptor has to 2HKO mega aero after rocks outweighs the slim chance I might feel like leading with aero over sable or froslass or crobat lol.

I don't mind playing with rocks on my side from turn one anyway.

but anyway let's not discuss specifics about my team here lol

in general Ernesto's right, you should be running 136 on aero but my team prefers the bulk.

 

[Machi]

http://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/uu-132128416

An earlier replay of staraptor pretty much destroying some of the best walls in UU hes just too powerful to be in the tier in my opinion

Uh... you do realize a banded raptor is pretty much supposed to be a wall breaker so it isn't all that unusual that he'd perform so well against walls and he does have the coverage and brute force to do so. I can't say he exactly performed unexpectedly well since that is what banded sets are supposed to do, and that said the player totally choked there with Sableye.

 

[Ununhexium]

I just played a few games with Band Staraptor and I remembered what an awesome wallbreaker it was. It does 57 - 67% on max Defense Slowbro, easily 2HKOing it! I know the recoil sucks, but seriously it can remove any wall in UU. Also, it has pretty good coverage between Brave Bird and Close Combat. The only viable thing in UU it doesn't hit for neutral damage is Doublade.

Also, I run Brave Bird / Close Combat / U-turn / Quick Attack. What sets do you use (I basically just spam Brave Bird)

 

[Eddie2013]

I just played a few games with Band Staraptor and I remembered what an awesome wallbreaker it was. It does 57 - 67% on max Defense Slowbro, easily 2HKOing it! I know the recoil sucks, but seriously it can remove any wall in UU. Also, it has pretty good coverage between Brave Bird and Close Combat. The only viable thing in UU it doesn't hit for neutral damage is Doublade.

Also, I run Brave Bird / Close Combat / U-turn / Quick Attack. What sets do you use (I basically just spam Brave Bird)

I run double edge instead of quick attack but might change it

 

[Ununhexium]

I think Double Edge or Return would be good on a Scarf set but I am using band which I think appreciates the priority over another move that to be honest gets pretty redundant coverage.

 

[Eddie2013]

I think Double Edge or Return would be good on a Scarf set but I am using band which I think appreciates the priority over another move that to be honest gets pretty redundant coverage.

Yea true that priority in a must in uu right now

 

[UU ALL DAY]

Return/DE is a pretty good option to hit Eletric types that try to switch in, such as Rotom-H and Raikou. Return could be used for a relatively safe STAB with no drawbacks, kind of like EQ. No boost from Reckless, so if you want to go all out, can easily use Double Edge to hit electric types and that's about it.

 

[Kingpoleon]

Is Quick Attack all that good?

Anyway, on Aero:
I have a set I was using. I call it the Fast Taunter XY Remix
Aerodactyl@Aerodactylite
Jolly Nature
EVs:252 Spe/252 HP/4 Atk
- Roost
- Defog
- Taunt
- Stone Edge
I considered a SubRoost version, but then I realized Sub+Weak to SR=not a good combination. Anyway, the EVs need some tweaking, but I really like it. Anyone have any advice for it?

 

[Jacks0n]

Dude, raptor is the most broken BL poke in uu. Ban asap.

 

[Petrico94]

Dude, raptor is the most broken BL poke in uu. Ban asap.

Why?