Moltres @ Life Orb
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Fire Blast
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Grass]
- Hurricane
This is probably the standard Moltres set, and quite possibly the most consistently dominating pokemon in the tier since BW2. Moltres is ridiculously overpowered, being able to 2HKO almost anything in the tier bar Lanturn, and arguably the only reason it ISN'T broken is because of Stealth Rock. While its true that Moltres essentially requires a Rapid Spinner, it is also true that Kabutops makes an excellent addition to almost any team, and it keeps up offensive pressure against opposing teams thanks to 361 Attack, STAB Stone Edge, Swords Dance, and priority.
One reason that Moltres is so good is that nearly all of its counters are grounded. Unlike Nidoqueen, who has trouble with Uxie, Clefable, etc who are immune to Spikes, Moltres abuses Spikes to their fullest extent. Prior to BW2, even Spikes + Moltres teams had trouble with Regen Slowking, but now thanks to Hurricane, Moltres can easily bypass Slowking in conjunction with Spikes. Lanturn, arguably the best switch into Moltres currently, takes 25% each time it switches in from just 1 layer of Spikes and Stealth Rock on the field, making repeated switch ins very difficult. Moltres also functions as an awesome anti spinner, as it easily OHKOes Sandslash and Cryogonal, while forcing Kabutops to Aqua Jet due to the threat of HP Grass.
Due to its ability to easily get 2 layers up, Smeargle makes an excellent team mate for Moltres. Since Lanturn is a common switch in to Moltres, a double switch to Smeargle allows the Moltres user to get more layers which will force more pressure through out the match. An offensive Grass-type like Lilligant or Special Sub Sceptile also makes an excellent team mate, especially since most of their checks/counters are forced out by a smart double switch to Moltres (Escavalier, Roselia, Garbodor, Ferroseed etc). I personally like Quiver Dance Lilligant with Moltres because I find it more threatening once its checks are eliminated / weakened, but Sceptile is also very good at wearing down its checks with Spikes. Kabutops is a good team mate for obvious reasons, and Nidoqueen also makes a very good team mate thanks to a Volt Switch immunity to prevent it from being revenge killed by Scarf mons like Rotom-c, Rotom, Manectric etc.
I love Moltres
