Braviary
[OVERVIEW]
<p>Braviary's excellent Attack stat, access to STAB Brave Bird, and Sheer Force ability, along with access to Whirlwind, gives it a niche in VGC 2011 as a powerful attacker that can also support the team. Its respectable bulk and decent Speed allow it to pose a threat to many common Pokemon, while its STAB Brave Bird allows it to OHKO most Amoonguss and do huge damage to almost anything. Braviary's relatively low Speed means that it is easily outsped and KOed by many common Pokemon, but it can still pose a severe threat with the right support.</p>
[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Brave Bird
move 2: Rock Slide
move 3: Superpower
move 4: Protect / Whirlwind
nature: Adamant
ability: Sheer Force
item: Life Orb / Flying Gem
evs: 196 HP / 252 Atk / 28 Def / 28 SpD / 4 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Brave Bird is an excellent STAB move, doing huge damage to a large number of common Pokemon, and allows Braviary to provide an excellent check to Amoonguss that lack a Coba Berry, easily OHKOing it. Rock Slide gives Braviary a way to hit Thundurus and Archeops for good damage, OHKOing both of them with boosts from Life Orb and Sheer Force. Superpower hits everything that resists Brave Bird and Rock Slide for huge damage, KOing or doing severe damage to most Rock- and Steel-types. The EVs grant the best overall bulk, allowing Braviary to almost always survive a Life Orb Terrakion's Rock Slide or Thundurus's Discharge, while allowing Braviary to hit as hard as possible. Life Orb gives Braviary a boost to its attacks, while Sheer Force boosts the power of Rock Slide, making it an extremely powerful attack.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Whirlwind allows Braviary to prevent Trick Room from being set up, even against opponents with Mental Herb, but the loss of Protect really hurts Braviary, with its relatively low Speed and weaknesses to Rock Slide and Discharge. A Flying Gem is a viable option over Life Orb, as it allows Braviary to get off a very powerful Brave Bird while avoiding recoil damage from Life Orb; however, the decrease in power after using the Flying Gem generally makes Life Orb the better item. A Jolly nature with an EV spread of 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe is also an option, allowing Braviary to outspeed faster opponents, such as Krookodile and Excadrill, that do not use a boosting nature, but this significantly reduces its bulk and power. Braviary makes an excellent attacker for Tailwind teams thanks to its powerful STAB Brave Bird and its ability to stop Trick Room teams from setting up with Whirlwind. To this end, teammates such as Conkeldurr or Krookodile are recommended when not running Superpower, to deal damage to the Rock- and Steel-types that resist Brave Bird, and to avoid the Attack drop from Superpower. Tornadus may find Braviary an especially useful partner, as its Rock Slide OHKOes Thundurus, a Pokemon with which Tornadus has significant trouble. Thundurus easily OHKOes Braviary with Thunderbolt before it can make a move, so a Tailwind user such as Tornadus or Whimsicott allows Braviary to bypass this, as with Tailwind up, Braviary can outspeed and OHKO Thundurus with Rock Slide. A fast Amoonguss can also help, using Rage Powder to divert the Thunderbolt and taking advantage of Tailwind to outspeed and use Spore on the opposing team. Many Rock Slide users can outspeed and OHKO Braviary, so Thundurus with Grass Knot and Hidden Power Ice makes a good partner, KOing most Rock Slide users before they can attack.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Braviary has access to Tailwind, but is generally a poor user of it because of its sub-par Speed and bulk. Mandibuzz, Tornadus, and Whimsicott are all better users of Tailwind due to their ability to set it up with priority or with vastly greater bulk. A Charti Berry can help Braviary take less damage from Rock Slide, but the extra power Life Orb provides is necessary for Braviary to do significant damage. Thrash is a very powerful STAB move, but hits a random opponent, and as such is very unreliable when looking to deal damage to a specific Pokemon. Sky Drop is banned due to a gamebreaking glitch. Hone Claws, Work Up, or Bulk Up are options to boost Braviary's Attack, but with its weakness to Rock Slide and use in Tailwind teams, it's much more effective attacking straight off. Shadow Claw allows Braviary to deal good damage to many common Trick Room users, but a neutral Brave Bird outdamages a super effective Shadow Claw, making it useless. Rain Dance or Sunny Day can allow Braviary to support a weather team, but Whimsicott or Thundurus outclass it in this role due to their ability, Prankster, which allows them to set up the weather with priority. Keen Eye is an option in the unlikely case your opponent decides to lower accuracy, but is generally inferior to Sheer Force unless Braviary does not run a move boosted by Sheer Force.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Thundurus OHKOes Braviary with Thunderbolt before it can do anything, but if Braviary is under Tailwind, it will outspeed and KO Thundurus with Rock Slide. Many Rock Slide users outspeed Braviary and can do severe damage to it, but must watch out for Tailwind, which will allow Braviary to outspeed and smash them with Superpower. Opposing Amoonguss with a Coba Berry can easily take a Brave Bird and use Spore on Braviary to put it to sleep.</p>
