Gen 6 Rayquaza

Approved by based Fireburn

The past is now behind us...
Type: Dragon/Flying
Base Stats: 105/150/90/150/90/95
Ability: Air Lock

Dragon Ascent
V-create
Earthquake
Swords Dance
Dragon Dance
Draco Meteor
Extremespeed
Outrage
Dragon Claw
Fire Blast
Overheat


Dragon Ascent: After soaring upward, the user attacks its target by dropping out of the sky at high speeds, although it lowers its own Defense and Sp. Def in the process.
- Type: Flying
- Base Power: 120
- Attack Method: Physical

Overview: Though its Mega Evolution has departed from Ubers, Rayquaza was left with 2 important improvements that ORAS brought it: Dragon Ascent and even more utility with Air Lock. Despite Delta Stream being removed from play, Rayquaza still serves as a good soft check to both Primals, in addition to its already insane wallbreaking power. All of this is exemplified with a whole new slew of Mega Evolutions to support and break through. Underestimate this ozone-dwelling beast at your own risk.

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake


Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Extreme Speed / Fire Blast
- Draco Meteor
- Earthquake



~"Soar ever onward, to heights that no Pokemon could ever achieve."
-Some Scrub, 2014
 
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I'm not sure how I feel about reg SD Ray now.

It lacks a lot of power its Mega-Evolution had and just generally...kinda sucks? I mean, Dragon Ascent is nice and all, but now it requires way more support to actually "sweep" teams. MixQuaza is probably more interesting, as LO DMeteor is able to demolish PDonner and deal a ton of damage off the bat.

I would rather use M-Mence at this point though > Ray
 
I'm not sure how I feel about reg SD Ray now.

It lacks a lot of power its Mega-Evolution had and just generally...kinda sucks? I mean, Dragon Ascent is nice and all, but now it requires way more support to actually "sweep" teams. MixQuaza is probably more interesting, as LO DMeteor is able to demolish PDonner and deal a ton of damage off the bat.

I would rather use M-Mence at this point though > Ray
tbh Ray was usually a support mon with SD, since it couldnt really clean teams with ESpeed like EKiller could, so it just decided to beat some walls up. The main draw of Ray rn would most likely be Double Dragon with MegaMence, since Ray can just smash through the walls that MegaMence can't. MixQuaza applies the same philosophy.
 

haxiom

God's not dead.
is a Top Team Rater Alumnusis a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I'm not sure how I feel about reg SD Ray now.

It lacks a lot of power its Mega-Evolution had and just generally...kinda sucks? I mean, Dragon Ascent is nice and all, but now it requires way more support to actually "sweep" teams. MixQuaza is probably more interesting, as LO DMeteor is able to demolish PDonner and deal a ton of damage off the bat.

I would rather use M-Mence at this point though > Ray
The thing is, you're not limited to one or the other. Running Mega Mence+Regular LO Ray with Dragon Ascent seems pretty scary to me.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about reg SD Ray now.

It lacks a lot of power its Mega-Evolution had and just generally...kinda sucks? I mean, Dragon Ascent is nice and all, but now it requires way more support to actually "sweep" teams. MixQuaza is probably more interesting, as LO DMeteor is able to demolish PDonner and deal a ton of damage off the bat.

I would rather use M-Mence at this point though > Ray
How does it lack power? lmao. It still has higher attack stats and better movepool/stronger moves than Arceus. It's just easier to check thats all. Dragon Ascent is a godsend move btw. Mega Salamence + LO Rayquaza is going to be an interesting core combo.
 

SparksBlade

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Community Leader
but now that mray is banned, LO Ray+MMence is lethal, like they were in DPP days, though i agree SD is very difficult to pull off and mix is it's best set atm
 
So DD is actually more viable than it was in XY Ubers. +1 LO Dragon Ascent hits hard as hell. Remember the DD Outrage spam days of BW Ubers? well this is basically a comeback. LO Dragon Ascent hits harder than Mega Salamence's Return and IIRC slightly harder than Double Edge. Not to mention it doesn't take up the Mega slot so you can use something like Mega Gengar instead. Otherwise Salamence outclasses it as a DD sweeper.

EDIT:

+1 252 Atk Aerilate Mega Salamence Double-Edge vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 354-417 (79.7 - 93.9%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 364-429 (81.9 - 96.6%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock

I think most people will run Return/Frustation because Double Edge does have the nasty recoil drawback so Rayquaza does have the advantage of hitting harder unboosted/after one DD. Not to mention Life Orb boosts all moves unlike Aerilate. However Mega Salamence has access to Roost, Intimidate, 120 base speed and a buffed defense stat so it's easier to find a window for DD or multiple DDs. It also won't be as easily revenge killed (looking at you Arceus Normal). The only problem it has it's Pokemon surviving it's attacks.
 
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How about a scarf quaza, with dragon ascent + v create + eq + outrage , just hit and run, not sure if it would that good but i guess it's worth a shot.
 

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
Ok so this is my set for Rayquaza. I really like Mega Rayquaza but oh well. Most of the time you're not going to pull off a Dragon Dance sweep successfully but that's fine, you don't need to set up to hit hard. However, Dragon Dance is still used here because it allows you to break through bulkier teams, without Dragon Dance it gets stall out by the likes of Lugia. Extreme Speed gives it something over Mega Salamence. Futhermore, Rayquaza hits harder than Mega Salamence without resorting to recoil move. Extreme Speed is really useful, one of it's use is to pick off threatening but frail sweepers such as Darkrai.
 
the mega might be banned but you shouldn't underestimate ray's power 150 base offensives is still pretty decent for ubers and with high power stab and coverage moves ray is still a pretty lethal mon it still 2hkos primal groudon with boosted DA so don't think rayquaza got nerfed too much because it's more than capable of making you regret doing so.
 

Inspirited

There is usually higher ground.
is a Contributor Alumnus
idk how many times I've posted in RMTs recently for people to stop using this exact set haha, it's just incredibly redundant and silly and I've seen similar variations of it since DPP. Conceptually it's flawed; the whole point of using Dragon Dance over Swords Dance is to be faster than things, and you have +2 priority faster than everything except Arceus and the occasional Deoxys-A and you think a Speed boost will help you hit something new suddenly with Extreme Speed? +1 neutral-natured Rayquaza isn't even faster than +spe-natured Deoxys-A (standard) and it's better to just smack Extreme Killer with coverage assuming you're at decent HP since two +1 Extreme Speeds isn't even a guaranteed 2HKO on 0 HP / 0 Def Extreme Killer, so you can't really say that's the purpose of it. You could say that you'd use Extreme Speed in some games and Dragon Dance in others, but then you're having a wasted slot in maybe half your games on something that REALLY likes having its coverage. I don't even like Dragon Dance Rayquaza much in general, and you hinted as to why it's bad yourself; it rarely sets up and shouldn't even need the setup to wreak havoc on opposing teams, making the Dragon Dance slot outclassed by a coverage move. Or Swords Dance; Swords Dance Rayquaza is flexible and can be good versus stall, balance, and offense, while Dragon Dance is only good versus certain stall and poorly-built offense (offense without some countermeasure to Mega Salamence, which is actually a far better Dragon Dance Pokemon for reasons I'll explain if you really want me to).

Oh yeah and the thing about outspeeding Lugia with a Dragon Dance isn't really a good example since standard 96 speed Lugia (at least, I hope that's standard; that 204 Spe spread is just a waste of 100+ EVs) is already slower than 252 Speed Rayquaza without a speed boost haha. Sorry for nitpicking so much but I've really hated this set for a while and want people to stop using it.
The Dragon Dance set ran E-Speed in XY because it allowed it to revenge kill Xerneas after Geomancy, and because it was using V-Create to wall-break and make sure Xerneas couldn't set up on it. Even though Dragon Ascent and Earthquake are being used over Dragon Claw and V-Create, E-Speed could still be very useful if your team packs the punch to knock Xerneas into its range whenever it tries to set up. The other attacking moves, along side Dragon Dance, give it extremely nice sweeping potential, making the last slot flux. Besides, if E-Killer is weakened, it won't be able to revenge kill Rayquaza after a Dragon Dance and Dragon Ascent... I really don't see why you hate the set so much. It is only redundant if you tunnel vision it that way, but to each there own I guess.
 

Karxrida

Death to the Undying Savage
is a Community Contributor Alumnus
Lol at that quote in then OP.

Is V-Create necessary anymore now that Ray has DA? It hits neutral targets just as hard without the speed drop and Fire Blast/Earthquake can take care of its resists
 
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Inspirited

There is usually higher ground.
is a Contributor Alumnus
Not really, DA is the same base power and has better offensive typing without the Speed reduction. I haven't used it in ORAS yet at least... even when Mega Ray was allowed.
 
idk how many times I've posted in RMTs recently for people to stop using this exact set haha, it's just incredibly redundant and silly and I've seen similar variations of it since DPP. Conceptually it's flawed; the whole point of using Dragon Dance over Swords Dance is to be faster than things, and you have +2 priority faster than everything except Arceus and the occasional Deoxys-A and you think a Speed boost will help you hit something new suddenly with Extreme Speed? +1 neutral-natured Rayquaza isn't even faster than +spe-natured Deoxys-A (standard) and it's better to just smack Extreme Killer with coverage assuming you're at decent HP since two +1 Extreme Speeds isn't even a guaranteed 2HKO on 0 HP / 0 Def Extreme Killer, so you can't really say that's the purpose of it. You could say that you'd use Extreme Speed in some games and Dragon Dance in others, but then you're having a wasted slot in maybe half your games on something that REALLY likes having its coverage. I don't even like Dragon Dance Rayquaza much in general, and you hinted as to why it's bad yourself; it rarely sets up and shouldn't even need the setup to wreak havoc on opposing teams, making the Dragon Dance slot outclassed by a coverage move. Or Swords Dance; Swords Dance Rayquaza is flexible and can be good versus stall, balance, and offense, while Dragon Dance is only good versus certain stall and poorly-built offense (offense without some countermeasure to Mega Salamence, which is actually a far better Dragon Dance Pokemon for reasons I'll explain if you really want me to).

Oh yeah and the thing about outspeeding Lugia with a Dragon Dance isn't really a good example since standard 96 speed Lugia (at least, I hope that's standard; that 204 Spe spread is just a waste of 100+ EVs) is already slower than 252 Speed Rayquaza without a speed boost haha. Sorry for nitpicking so much but I've really hated this set for a while and want people to stop using it.
1. The extreme speed isnt necessary to be used after you dd up. It's to provide ultility as a priorty move throughtout the game but you still want to have dd for a possible late game sweep.

2. Note: After a SD, ES cannot kill certain things such as xern. This is where you want to have dd and outspeed and kill with Dragon Ascent.

3. Without using Extreme Speed, I would rather use Mega Mence as a dd sweeper.

4. Dd with ES also lets it outspeed arceus ES to prevent it sweep from possibly being cut short in the case that both have taken prior damage.


Edit: also why do you need coverage so bad when DA already kills most stuff?
 
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Gonna address these one-by-one since you gave me a nice little template to do so.

I kind of figured this was the purpose since it seemed really redundant otherwise. Please tell me how you're gonna safely get up a Dragon Dance and then actually proceed to do something with the boosts versus any archetype but stall. If it tries to set up versus offense, it's gonna take some damage and then get rk'd by a Scarfxern or, say, a Yveltal, or get Paralyzed by a Klefki. SD Rayquaza minds these things less because of +2 Extreme Speed hurting faster targets more than +1 Extreme Speed, simple as that. Or just run more coverage over the setup move and hit more things.

252 Speed neutral-natured Rayquaza is faster than standard 124 Speed GeoXern already (and the spreads I've seen theorized for ORAS tend to be slower than this as opposed to faster), actually test these things before theorymonning and pretending you've been through these scenarios before.

You should be doing this anyway.

This is a highly specific scenario and isn't enough to justify using Dragon Dance + Extreme Speed

I don't mean to be rude but I think you should back your arguments with better evidence =|
Yes, i did mention than it would be difficult to set up with ray but it can find some opportunity late game.

Ok xern may be a bad example, i think i was still thinking of mray, a better example may be support arceus. Anyway, the point is there are some things you cannot kill with +2 ES that you can kill with +1 DA.

I dont want to think that mega mence completely outclass ray. For instance maybe my team need a strong priorty user but i cannot use ekiller.

It is actually quite common for ekiller to pick off dangerous set up sweepers.
 

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 40/0 SpA / 216/252 Spe
Naive/Naughty Nature
- Swords Dance
- Dragon Ascent
- ExtremeSpeed
- Draco Meteor​

MixQuaza with a twist, this is becoming my favorite set the more I use it. I've found that EQ isn't that useful since the only things you hit are Dialga and Primal Groudon but Draco Meteor already does a lot to them. The rare Arceus Rock/Steel and Klefki are taken care of by a Primal Groudon of your own. This set is primarily meant to play like MixQuaza which is to wall break. SD is just there if you actually find a window to set up but most of the time you're not going to use the move. However it's really helpful to break trough things like Lugia and possibly sweep late game. I've also found that once your opponent knows you have Draco Meteor, they don't really expect SD so they try playing around with switches which you can use to your advantage.
 

Haruno

Skadi :)
is a Tiering Contributor Alumnus
Hi I'm here as a public deputy stating that dragon dance is fucking garbage on Ray. Since base 95 speed is fucking terrible and forces you to run a +speed nature and even then scarf xern is everywhere and scary as fuck. Not to mention standard Ray is both weak and frail so lol since Ray is essentially dead/crippled if it doesn't get a ko.

Don't use whatever experience you had with mega Ray and try to justify it for standard rayquaza cuz 115 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 95 and delta stream >>>>>> air lock. Saying otherwise is laughable.

Edit: sd is also trash because Ray is overly reliant on espeed due to the fact that it's speed tier is fucking trash and espeed is kinda weak.
 
Yeah the tldr of this discussion is kinda that SD ray is better than DD and you probably should just run SD in most cases as DD is highly situational. If you do decide to run DD and your mega-slot is filled, then espeed does have its perks such as soft checking xerneas and darkrai. I don't think it really needs its coverage that bad btw (ascend+eq hits most stuff bar like skarm).
 
dice posted this set awhile back in the mega ray thread:

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Dragon Dance
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake

sd to threaten stall and wallbreaks in general. dragon ascent allows ray to dd and sweep lategame far more effectively than it ever could. while espeed has excellent general utility, there are definitely builds that can forgo it for the versatility of having both setup moves.
 
dice posted this set awhile back in the mega ray thread:

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Dragon Dance
- Swords Dance
- Earthquake

sd to threaten stall and wallbreaks in general. dragon ascent allows ray to dd and sweep lategame far more effectively than it ever could. while espeed has excellent general utility, there are definitely builds that can forgo it for the versatility of having both setup moves.
I thought that set was good for Mega Rayquaza, although I'm not sure how well it does now, with the reduced speed. Does it play similarly to gen 5 double dance Groudon where it use one of the two boosting moves depending on the opponent team.

Do you really feel like you need to tell someone who made it to the finals of the most recent Ubers Open
I was going to provide answers to your questions until I saw this sentence. This makes you seem like a superficial elitist and so I'm not going to bother responding further. But note that i told you that Ekiller is often used on offense to revenge kill threats because if you look back at your post, you said using dd + es to kill off ekiller before it kills you is "a highly specfic scenario."
 

PISTOLERO

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
I personally have always thought that Mixed Rayquaza is the best set in any generation it has been in. in Generation IV DD was probably the best as the only real revenge killers were Scarf Palkia and Scarf Jirachi, and you could just Wobbuffet trap them. In BW Scarf Genesect just easily revenged any boosting Rayquaza and we all know how good Scarf Genesect was last generation. in XY SD was revenge killed easily, whilst DD couldn't OHKO support Arceus formes or defensive Xerneas. Mixed Rayquaza on the other hand has always been a solid wallbreaker, and can once more pair off with Salamence.

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast / Earthquake / V-Create
- ExtremeSpeed

The third slot is seriously annoying to decide on, V-Create is probably the worst option due to Dragon Ascent being the same base Power and not lowering Speed. Draco Meteor wipes the floor with Landorus-Therian / Gliscor / Groudon / etc, and Draco Meteor + Earthquake KOes any variant of Primal Groudon i do believe.

From experience I have always found that Rayquaza works fantastically on Sticky Web teams. It also pairs off nicely with Arceus-Electric, and I'm sure this is still the case seeing as Rayquaza can blast Primal Groudon with Draco Meteor. Hell you could even run Dragon Tail (I did this in Gen V) to scout switchins and deal a heavy amount of damage.

Stop being such a superficial elitist Steeljackal<3 XOXO

On a more serious note, he's mine Steel (I'm going to respond to him so that you don't get banned)

I thought that set was good for Mega Rayquaza, although I'm not sure how well it does now, with the reduced speed. Does it play similarly to gen 5 double dance Groudon where it use one of the two boosting moves depending on the opponent team.

I was going to provide answers to your questions until I saw this sentence. This makes you seem like a superficial elitist and so I'm not going to bother responding further. But note that i told you that Ekiller is often used on offense to revenge kill threats because if you look back at your post, you said using dd + es to kill off ekiller before it kills you is "a highly specfic scenario."
Hi.

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 161-191 (42.2 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Xerneas: 198-233 (50.3 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 140 Def Xerneas: 170-201 (43.2 - 51.1%) -- 5.5% chance to 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Outrage / Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Groudon: 220-259 (54.4 - 64.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Compared to: +1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Groudon: 315-372 (77.9 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 248 Def Giratina-O: 337-398 (76.4 - 90.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Outrage vs. 0 HP / 248 Def Giratina-O: 673-795 (152.6 - 180.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 248 Def Giratina-O: 447-530 (101.3 - 120.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

With Extremespeed, the things that will be revenge killing you will STILL be revenge killing you. Rayquaza will take 25% damage from Stealth Rock. Then it will potentially take an attack as it sets up, I literally can't even think of anything it would want to set up on to be honest. The revenge killers will still be revenge killing you easily, with Life Orb + SR + Extremekiller's Extremespeed getting rid of Rayquaza.

________​

Let's discuss move choices on Dragon Dance Rayquaza (and I guess to a lesser extent Rayquaza in general)

The moves that are obligatory on Dragon Dance are Dragon Dance and Dragon Ascent.

In slots 3 and 4 you can pick from Draco Meteor, Earthquake, Outrage / Dragon Claw, V-Create, Fire Blast, Extremespeed, Aqua Tail, or Swords Dance (for double boosting).

________​

A rundown of all the moves:

1. Earthquake serves against Primal Groudon, grounded Steel-types, Arceus-Rock. 8.5/10 useful

2. Draco Meteor lets you break through something like Landorus-Therian, and also does significant damage to other physical walls, such as Giratina-Origin or even Giratina-Altered. 6.5/10 useful

3. Outrage / Dragon Claw to blast through Giratina formes, as well as to clean lategame if fairies are gone and you don't want to drop your defenses. 6/10 useful.

4. V-Create to break Steel-types. Dragon Ascent has the same base power and doesn't drop Speed. Earthquake already kills Steel-types. 3/10 useful

5. Fire Blast to get through Mega Aggron, and OHKO Mega Scizor. Also does sizeable damage to other Steel-types, and can get through regular Groudon, and does a lot of damage to Gliscor and Landorus-Therian. 5/10 useful

6. Aqua Tail to OHKO Primal Groudon, and do significant damage to regular Groudon and Arceus-Rock. 6/10 useful.

7. Swords Dance for double boosting. Helps against Stall and Offense meaning Rayquaza is quite versatile. Interesting if hard to pull off. 7/10 useful.

8. Extremespeed to revenge kill weakened threats and stop things from preventing your sweep. How is the opposing Extremekiller at 50%, and why did you not Dragon Ascent it if it was at full health (it can't KO Rayquaza even after Stealth Rock damage). 4/10 useful.

________​

We can see from this that the third move should almost definitely be Earthquake, with the 4th move being relatively flexible. Personally I would run Outrage or Draco Meteor, as Giratina-Origin is common and checks Rayquaza nicely otherwise. Draco Meteor + Dragon Ascent also KOes defensive Lugia after Stealth Rock, and defensive Mega Salamence gets wiped if you run a Dragon move, whereas it can take a hit otherwise due to intimidate and the Mega's huge physical bulk.

It is also not very smart, as a new user, to go around insulting experienced players, and to continually refuse that you are wrong. We are here to help discussion and to aid newer players in bettering their understanding of the metagame, so you would be wise to listen to what we have to say and to actually go out and play the tier instead of theorising.

________​

I got you Steeljackal<3
 
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I personally have always thought that Mixed Rayquaza is the best set in any generation it has been in. in Generation IV DD was probably the best as the only real revenge killers were Scarf Palkia and Scarf Jirachi, and you could just Wobbuffet trap them. In BW Scarf Genesect just easily revenged any boosting Rayquaza and we all know how good Scarf Genesect was last generation. in XY SD was revenge killed easily, whilst DD couldn't OHKO support Arceus formes or defensive Xerneas. Mixed Rayquaza on the other hand has always been a solid wallbreaker, and can once more pair off with Salamence.

Rayquaza @ Life Orb
Ability: Air Lock
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Dragon Ascent
- Draco Meteor
- Fire Blast / Earthquake / V-Create
- ExtremeSpeed

The third slot is seriously annoying to decide on, V-Create is probably the worst option due to Dragon Ascent being the same base Power and not lowering Speed. Draco Meteor wipes the floor with Landorus-Therian / Gliscor / Groudon / etc, and Draco Meteor + Earthquake KOes any variant of Primal Groudon i do believe.

From experience I have always found that Rayquaza works fantastically on Sticky Web teams. It also pairs off nicely with Arceus-Electric, and I'm sure this is still the case seeing as Rayquaza can blast Primal Groudon with Draco Meteor. Hell you could even run Dragon Tail (I did this in Gen V) to scout switchins and deal a heavy amount of damage.

Stop being such a superficial elitist Steeljackal<3 XOXO

On a more serious note, he's mine Steel (I'm going to respond to him so that you don't get banned)



Hi.

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus: 161-191 (42.2 - 50.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Xerneas: 198-233 (50.3 - 59.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Extreme Speed vs. 0 HP / 140 Def Xerneas: 170-201 (43.2 - 51.1%) -- 5.5% chance to 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Outrage / Dragon Ascent vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Groudon: 220-259 (54.4 - 64.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Compared to: +1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Groudon: 315-372 (77.9 - 92%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 248 Def Giratina-O: 337-398 (76.4 - 90.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Outrage vs. 0 HP / 248 Def Giratina-O: 673-795 (152.6 - 180.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

+1 252 Atk Life Orb Rayquaza Dragon Claw vs. 0 HP / 248 Def Giratina-O: 447-530 (101.3 - 120.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

With Extremespeed, the things that will be revenge killing you will STILL be revenge killing you. Rayquaza will take 25% damage from Stealth Rock. Then it will potentially take an attack as it sets up, I literally can't even think of anything it would want to set up on to be honest. The revenge killers will still be revenge killing you easily, with Life Orb + SR + Extremekiller's Extremespeed getting rid of Rayquaza.

________​

Let's discuss move choices on Dragon Dance Rayquaza (and Rayquaza in general)

The moves that are obligatory on Dragon Dance are Dragon Dance and Dragon Ascent.

In slots 3 and 4 you can pick from Draco Meteor, Earthquake, Outrage / Dragon Claw, V-Create, Fire Blast, Extremespeed, Aqua Tail, or Swords Dance (for double boosting).

________​

A rundown of all the moves:

1. Earthquake serves against Primal Groudon, grounded Steel-types, Arceus-Rock. 8.5/10 useful

2. Draco Meteor lets you break through something like Landorus-Therian, and also does significant damage to other physical walls, such as Giratina-Origin or even Giratina-Altered. 6.5/10 useful

3. Outrage / Dragon Claw to blast through Giratina formes, as well as to clean lategame if fairies are gone and you don't want to drop your defenses. 6/10 useful.

4. V-Create to break Steel-types. Dragon Ascent has the same base power and doesn't drop Speed. Earthquake already kills Steel-types. 3/10 useful

5. Fire Blast to get through Mega Aggron, and OHKO Mega Scizor. Also does sizeable damage to other Steel-types, and can get through regular Groudon, and does a lot of damage to Gliscor and Landorus-Therian. 5/10 useful

6. Aqua Tail to OHKO Primal Groudon, and do significant damage to regular Groudon and Arceus-Rock. 6/10 useful.

7. Swords Dance for double boosting. Helps against Stall and Offense meaning Rayquaza is quite versatile. Interesting if hard to pull off. 7/10 useful.

8. Extremespeed to revenge kill weakened threats and stop things from preventing your sweep. How is the opposing Extremekiller at 50%, and why did you not Dragon Ascent it if it was at full health (it can't KO Rayquaza even after Stealth Rock damage). 4/10 useful.

________​

We can see from this that the third move should almost definitely be Earthquake, with the 4th move being relatively flexible. Personally I would run Outrage or Draco Meteor, as Giratina-Origin is common and checks Rayquaza nicely otherwise. Draco Meteor + Dragon Ascent also KOes defensive Lugia after Stealth Rock, and defensive Mega Salamence gets wiped if you run a Dragon move, whereas it can take a hit otherwise due to intimidate and the Mega's huge physical bulk.

It is also not very smart, as a new user, to go around insulting experienced players, and to continually refuse that you are wrong. We are here to help discussion and to aid newer players in bettering their understanding of the metagame, so you would be wise to listen to what we have to say and to actually go out and play the tier instead of theorising.

________​

I got you Steeljackal<3
Hmm. That is some nice analysis, but i feel extreme speed should be higher than 4/10 as i think it is one of the few advantage Ray has over mega mence other than mega mence taking up a mega slot. I think this opportunity cost is slightly mitigated by the fact that it is viable to run both on a HO team.

I am not trying to insult anybody, if anybody is offended by my comments please know that it is not my intention to insult you. However, it should be noted that winning a tour does not qualify you to be overly arrogant in your post and come off as "i won a tour, i know alot more than you scrub, listen up." Apologizes if I took this out of content and completely the different way. I am actually not a new player and played since BW. But, being an experience player, you should have somewhat of a responsiblity to show newer players how to post in these forum in a mature and civilized matter.

Edit: in most cases i would say that mixquaza is the most effective set. As ray doesnt not have the bulk to pull of a sweep most of the time and it performs best in a hit and run situation. However, like most pokemon, this is hughly dependent on teambuilding and what you need your heavy hitter to perform. I feel dd ray niche over dd mega mence is it ability to use priorty and having a strong late game sweeper without taking up a mega slot.
 
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8. Extremespeed to revenge kill weakened threats and stop things from preventing your sweep. How is the opposing Extremekiller at 50%, and why did you not Dragon Ascent it if it was at full health (it can't KO Rayquaza even after Stealth Rock damage). 4/10 useful.
Except espeed is half the reason sd rayq is good. It also has great utility in checking lowered mons (darkrai, xerneas etc) like I brought up earlier. Without espeed, you get revenged by scarfers and things that are naturally faster which is something you really don't want, so espeed is kinda necessary on SD sets (which we established to be the best set pretty much). My list would look like this:


1. Earthquake: 8.5 9/10 useful. (most/all sets should run this)

2. Draco Meteor: 6.5/10 useful.

3. Outrage / Dragon Claw: 6 4/10 useful. (this is 90% outclassed by its other moves)

4. V-Create: 3 5/10 useful. (see below)

5. Fire Blast: 5 3/10 useful. (sd+vcreate does the same, if not then eq does)

6. Aqua Tail: 6 3/10 useful. (sd+eq does the same, if not then draco does)

7. Swords Dance: 7 9/10 useful. (half the reason rayq is good at all; sd is its best set)

8. Extremespeed:. 4 8/10 useful. (sd is the best set, this move is close to mandatory. also viable on dd)



e: im like really really smart js. errrrrmmmm. THIS WAS FOR SD NOT DD. I guess .__.
 
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