OU Pidgeot



Overview
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Mega Pidgeot has a good base 135 Base Special Attack stat and a great base 121 Speed, which allows it to outpace a plethora of base 110 Speed Pokemon. Mega Pidgeot also has STAB on Flying, which is an incredible attacking type, and with its ability, No Guard, Hurricane becomes a 100% accurate 110 Base Power move with no drawbacks. However, many ORAS OU Pokemon still exceed base 121 Speed, and Pidgeot still has very lackluster bulk after Mega Evolving. Pidgeot also has a very scarce movepool, which leaves it wanting for more coverage options and makes it predictable.

All-Out Attacker
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name: All-Out Attacker
move 1: Hurricane
move 2: Heat Wave
move 3: Roost / Hyper Beam
move 4: U-turn
ability: Big Pecks
item: Pidgeotite
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
nature: Timid

Moves
========
Hurricane is a high-powered STAB move that has 100% accuracy with Mega Pidgeot's ability and a 30% chance to confuse the foe. Heat Wave is the best coverage option that Mega Pidgeot has given its small movepool. Due to the ubiquity of Stealth Rock and Mega Pidgeot's relative lack of bulk, Mega Pidgeot struggles with longevity, and consequently Roost is a good move to use. Hyper Beam is an option that can be used as a last-ditch effort to heavily damage or KO an opposing Pokemon. Last but not least, U-turn is good because it allows Mega Pidgeot to switch out and damage the foe.

Set Details
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4 EVs are put into Defense rather than HP to give Pidgeot an odd HP number, allowing Pidgeot to switch into Stealth Rock four times without fainting. Maximum Special Attack investment is used for maximum damage output. Maximum Speed investment and a Timid nature are used to allow Mega Pidgeot to outpace as much as possible with its good Speed tier.

Usage Tips
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It is advised to try to keep Stealth Rock off the field as long as Mega Pidgeot is healthy, as the entry hazard takes away a quarter of its health upon switching in. Thanks to Mega Pidgeot's great combination of Speed and power, it is an effective late-game cleaner when the opponent's bulky Pokemon have been worn down.

Team Options
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Entry hazard removers such as Latias, Latios, Starmie, Tentacruel, and Excadrill keep Mega Pidgeot from losing a fourth of its health upon switching into battle. Focus Sash Dugtrio is a great partner because it can trap Heatran and Tyranitar for Mega Pidgeot. Mega Pidgeot's U-turn can also break the Air Balloon of a Heatran as it switches in, allowing Dugtrio to successfully trap it. Celebii can take Electric-type attacks, scare out Rock-types such as Rhyperior and Mega Diancie, set up Stealth Rock to help Mega Pidgeot clean late-game, or Baton Passing a Nasty Plot to Mega Pidgeot for formidable power.


Other Options
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Work Up can be used to give Mega Pidgeot very high power and allow it to clean up late-game, but in most scenarios it is better to attack twice rather than set up a Work Up. Defog is an option, but is not that great on Pidgeot because it is weak to Stealth Rock. Mega Pidgeot can use Tailwind to assist Pokemon on its team, which can sometimes change the tide of a match altogether. Hidden Power Grass can hit Rhyperior and Rotom-W very hard, which can normally take on Mega Pidgeot with ease. Hidden Power Ground and Hidden Power Fighting can be used for the same purpose against Heatran and Tyranitar, respectively, if your team has a particularly hard time against either of these Pokémon, but it's mostly optimal to just use U-turn with Dugtrio on your team.


Checks & Counters
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**Electric-types**: Electric-types such as Rotom-W, Zapdos, and Mega Manectric are common checks to Mega Pidgeot. The first two are hard counters to Mega Pidgeot, as they take minimal damage from its attacks and are able to KO it with little difficulty. Mega Manectric can switch into a Hurricane then proceed to outspeed and subsequently KO Mega Pidgeot.

**Heatran**: Heatran completely walls Mega Pidgeot if Hidden Power Ground isn't being used.

**Rock-types**: Tyranitar stops Mega Pidgeot dead in its tracks if Hidden Power Fighting isn't being used; Rhyperior can do the same if Mega Pidgeot lacks Hidden Power Grass. Mega Diancie and Mega Aerodactyl in particular beat Mega Pidgeot regardless of its moves.

**Blissey and Chansey**: Blissey and Chansey completely stop Mega Pidgeot. Their unparalleled special bulk and reliable recovery allow them to eat up Hurricanes; they can also chip away at Mega Pidgeot's health with Seismic Toss or Toxic or cripple it with Thunder Wave.

**Faster Attackers**: Mega Pidgeot is fast, but Pokemon such as Mega Manectric, Mega Aerodactyl, Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and Choice Scarf Garchomp can check Mega Pidgeot because they are capable of switching into at least one of its moves then outspeeding and KOing it.
 
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SM979

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Honestly I don't think Naive should be used even with U-turn as it's just to keep momentum.
 
Honestly I don't think Naive should be used even with U-turn as it's just to keep momentum.
Well, what moderately powerful special attackers would Mega Pidgeot be switching into more than once anyways? I can't imagine Naïve nature causing any opposing Pokémon to 2HKO Mega Pidgeot as opposed to 3HKO. Tbh it seems mostly arbitrary and purely a personal preference in Timid vs. Naïve when U-turn is being used. If someone shows me that Naïve causes Mega Pidgeot to miss out on beating a Pokémon altogether than I'll agree with you.
 

SM979

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Well, what moderately powerful special attackers would Mega Pidgeot be switching into more than once anyways? I can't imagine Naïve nature causing any opposing Pokémon to 2HKO Mega Pidgeot as opposed to 3HKO. Tbh it seems mostly arbitrary and purely a personal preference in Timid vs. Naïve when U-turn is being used. If someone shows me that Naïve causes Mega Pidgeot to miss out on beating a Pokémon altogether than I'll agree with you.
I'm having trouble finding some decent examples but you have a point. Modest MegaZam will outspeed and have a 25% chance to OHKO with Psychic when Naive but when Timid it's a 2HKO.
It's really up to you, as you said, it's personal preference.
 
Maybe an agility set? Kind of like Porygon-Z's, you give it that modest nature and even some Hit points to increase it's bulk and it could function as a late game sweeper. It's probably better as an OO but I think it's worth a mention
 

Martin

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When talking about its speed, make a special mention of how it falls 1 point short of speed tying with Greninja.

Also, I don't see any use what-so-ever for HP Fighting or Ground as you are almost always better off U-Turning out anyway.

Additionally, I see little reason to run naive>timid as you won't be doing shit with it and it gains no notable, if any kos from running naive, while timid at least has the somewhat useful chance of never being OHKOed by M-Zam's Psychic before rocks.
 

Jukain

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Roost is a poor option on Mega Pidgeot. I think experience will tell you that you really rarely get any opportunity to use Roost, and having U-turn is pretty crucial to Mega Pidgeot's success as it allows it to keep up momentum, even in the face of its counters, and gives it a risk-free option in pretty much any scenario. I would make the set Hurricane / Heat Wave / U-turn / Hidden Power. I vastly prefer Hidden Power Grass + Dugtrio as the setup for a Mega Pidgeot team. Dugtrio is just such a good partner for Mega Pidgeot that pretty much all of the effective Pidgeot teams that you will see run it, as it traps Heatran and Tyranitar, both of which are pretty big problems for it, and can be brought right in by U-turn. Therefore I think that HP Grass is the best option in that slot, but if you don't want to assume Dugtrio support then keep HP Ground slashed first. Either is fine, but the big thing is removing Roost and shifting U-turn down to that slot.
 
Roost is a poor option on Mega Pidgeot. I think experience will tell you that you really rarely get any opportunity to use Roost, and having U-turn is pretty crucial to Mega Pidgeot's success as it allows it to keep up momentum, even in the face of its counters, and gives it a risk-free option in pretty much any scenario. I would make the set Hurricane / Heat Wave / U-turn / Hidden Power. I vastly prefer Hidden Power Grass + Dugtrio as the setup for a Mega Pidgeot team. Dugtrio is just such a good partner for Mega Pidgeot that pretty much all of the effective Pidgeot teams that you will see run it, as it traps Heatran and Tyranitar, both of which are pretty big problems for it, and can be brought right in by U-turn. Therefore I think that HP Grass is the best option in that slot, but if you don't want to assume Dugtrio support then keep HP Ground slashed first. Either is fine, but the big thing is removing Roost and shifting U-turn down to that slot.
Hidden Power Grass is a very good idea actually. What do you think about the way I have the 3rd moveslot configured now?
 
You mention that Mega Pidgeot has good special attack, but without any way to boost it, Mega Pidgeot is actually rather weak, as needing a Timid Nature for speed brings it special attack to, at maximum, 369 points of Special Attack (368 with Hidden Power Grass IVs), which can be very underwhelming when facing bulkier Pokemon. Against offense, Mega Pidgeot 2HKOs things like Garchomp fine, but the fact that you fail to OHKO something like Rhyperior with Hidden Power Grass even after Stealth Rock is not a good sign:

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Solid Rock Rhyperior: 327-387 (77.1 - 91.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 128-152 (42.1 - 50%) -- 28.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Whereas if Pidgeot had at least even a 10% boost to its Special Attack:

252 SpA Wise Glasses Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Solid Rock Rhyperior: 357-423 (84.1 - 99.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Wise Glasses Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 140-166 (46 - 54.6%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

So really, you need to say that it has a good base Special Attack, but is plagued by being unable to boost it with an item, which can give it difficulties dealing damage against bulkier targets.
 
You mention that Mega Pidgeot has good special attack, but without any way to boost it, Mega Pidgeot is actually rather weak, as needing a Timid Nature for speed brings it special attack to, at maximum, 369 points of Special Attack (368 with Hidden Power Grass IVs), which can be very underwhelming when facing bulkier Pokemon. Against offense, Mega Pidgeot 2HKOs things like Garchomp fine, but the fact that you fail to OHKO something like Rhyperior with Hidden Power Grass even after Stealth Rock is not a good sign:

252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Solid Rock Rhyperior: 327-387 (77.1 - 91.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 128-152 (42.1 - 50%) -- 28.9% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

Whereas if Pidgeot had at least even a 10% boost to its Special Attack:

252 SpA Wise Glasses Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 212 HP / 0 SpD Solid Rock Rhyperior: 357-423 (84.1 - 99.7%) -- 37.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 SpA Wise Glasses Mega Pidgeot Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Rotom-W: 140-166 (46 - 54.6%) -- 97.7% chance to 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

So really, you need to say that it has a good base Special Attack, but is plagued by being unable to boost it with an item, which can give it difficulties dealing damage against bulkier targets.
Well this entire post was relatively pointless because a good base Special Attack is exactly what I meant, but if it really matters I guess I'll add the word "base" into the OP.
 

Colonel M

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Does this thing even have an opportunity to use Work Up? I'm sure a +1 STAB Hurricane is nothing to fuck with.

(Obviously - OO material).
 
I'm thinking that mega pidgeot could make a good late game sweeper with agility. You can go max special attack with the modest nature and max hit points and after one agility you can pretty much outspeed the entire metagame while hitting realitively hard. It's probably better as OO material but just something I was thinking about.
 
Does this thing even have an opportunity to use Work Up? I'm sure a +1 STAB Hurricane is nothing to fuck with.

(Obviously - OO material).
Hm, that sounds interesting to me. I think the way one could look at it is a +1 Hurricane from Mega Pidgeot hits about as hard as a +2 Life Orb Tornadus-T Air Slash would hit.

+1 252 SpA Pidgeot Hurricane vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Arceus: 237-280 (62.2 - 73.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

+2 252 SpA Life Orb Tornadus-T Air Slash vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Arceus: 242-286 (63.5 - 75%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Such power is definitely formidable and Work Up seems like it definitely deserves an OO mention imo.

I'm thinking that mega pidgeot could make a good late game sweeper with agility. You can go max special attack with the modest nature and max hit points and after one agility you can pretty much outspeed the entire metagame while hitting realitively hard. It's probably better as OO material but just something I was thinking about.
I would honestly rather use Tailwind so Mega Pidgeot can also allow one of its teammates to clean up late-game if it's incapable of doing that itself. I don't see much of a reason to use Agility over Tailwind.
 
What about Substitue in OO? I'm not quite sure, but this does allow it to avoid paralysis, as well as Mega-Venusaur's Sleep Powder. Additionally, it prevents it from being revengekilled after it gets off a KO.
 
What about Substitue in OO? I'm not quite sure, but this does allow it to avoid paralysis, as well as Mega-Venusaur's Sleep Powder. Additionally, it prevents it from being revengekilled after it gets off a KO.
That sounds like it might be viable enough for OO, but idk if Mega Pidgeot hits hard enough to sufficienty punish foes with Substitute when Mega Pidgeot loses 1/4 health from Sub and 1/4 health if SR is up.
 

AccidentalGreed

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Also, I thought smogon was OBJECTIVE, like it should be. Not subjective. It's like if you saw in the newspaper "Josh Morales is an asshole" and their excuse would be "it's a joke, and I can say shit like that alright"
Anything above the Overview is obviously not going to be in the actual analysis, and people are allowed to discuss/make a few joking quips in a thread without affecting the quality of the analysis at their own expense. This will not be an issue, so drop it.
 
can we slash hyper beam as filler for pidgeot :D? ik jukain will support me n_n. from my experience, there are times when pidgeot has to switch out because although it is fast, it is too weak to ko a threat before it kos back. some specific examples off the top of my head would be koing thundurus, landorus, megaman, mamoswine and 2hkoing rotom on the switch with cane+beam (hp grass fails to do this). i found beam to be a lot more clutch especially when paired with duggy. this should obviously be used if you can afford the recharge turn or for last-ditch damage and its a nice move to have if you need to eliminate certain threats.
 

aim

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man i'm not a huge fan of a weak hidden power on pidgeot. i've actually found roost to be more helpful lmao and hyper beam is a nice option as well for what ben gay said. 1/3
 
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I'd say M-Aerodactyl could be put down as a strong check to M-Pidgeot, only take 34-41% from Hurricane, and being able to ko with Stone Edge.
 
man i'm not a huge fan of a weak hidden power on pidgeot. i've actually found roost to be more helpful lmao and hyper beam is a nice option as well for what ben gay said. 1/3
Aight, you think I should remove Hidden Power altogether or just add it into the moves or OO? And where do you think Hyper Beam should be slashed?
 
yeah roost is viable. while it doesn't find use against offense, it is useful against bulkier teams since pidgeot dies faster and needs to be played more carefully without it. some situations i can see it be useful would be bisharp's sucker, rotom/raikou's volt switch, ferrothorn's protect or just predicting them to switch and uturn out after to live another day. it's not like torn in which it can heal just by switching out, so having roost can alleviate the issue. as for hidden powers, i'd just mention them in moves but don't slash any of them as filler p: 2/3
 

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