religiousjedi
Old man.
Status: Implemented November Blue's GP Check
QC Approval: (In Leman's analysis)
GP Checks: November Blue, sirndpt
Leman's Analysis
[Overview]
<p>The only fully evolved Dragon-type in NU, Altaria is an oddity in terms of your typical Dragon-type. Whereas most Dragon-types in the upper tiers concentrate their efforts on a powerful onslaught through superb base Attack or Special Attack stats (or sometimes both!), Altaria is more of a bulky Dragon-type, with 75 / 90 / 105 defenses. Subpar base 70 attacking stats are the reason for the tier drop, and indeed, Altaria starts off by hitting like a fluffy cloud. However, dismissing it outright would be a huge mistake. Altaria is the only fully evolved Dragon-type in NU capable of using Dragon Dance to bolster its Attack and decent Speed to sweeping levels, and with the powerful Outrage and Earthquake, it has near-perfect coverage in just two moves. Roost complements Altaria's defensive prowess by healing any damage taken, while Natural Cure ensures that Altaria isn't dead weight when afflicted with status. Altaria may not start off strong, but it is a potent attacker when set-up, and is even a decent defensive team member capable of providing cleric support if needed.</p>
[SET]
name: Offensive Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage / Dragon Claw
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roost
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>As mentioned, Altaria's Attack is subpar, while its Speed, though far from depressing, is not something to write home about. Dragon Dance fixes those two issues, turning Altaria from a fluffy cloud into a terrifying hurricane. This is further emphasized by its access to one of the most powerful Outrages in the NU tier. However, the hurricanes it summons can be weathered by a strong Rock- or Steel-type, such as Regirock or Bastiodon. For that reason, Earthquake is the chosen coverage move, granting Altaria a near-perfect attacking combo, which scores a neutral hit on all of NU bar Bronzor and Shedinja. Finally, as mentioned before, Altaria is quite the bulky Pokemon, able to shrug off resisted and uninvested neutral attacks. Therefore, it has ample opportunities to recover any damage taken, which makes Roost the premier option for healing. In addition, Roost removes Altaria's Flying typing the turn it is used, granting it a resistance to Electric-type attacks, a neutrality to Rock-type ones, and only a single weakness to Ice-type attacks for the duration of the turn. This allows Altaria to survive weaker and unboosted attacks, and if it manages to recover full health, allows it to survive an Ice Beam from neutral natured base 95 Special Attackers, accounting for STAB. Examples of this include Timid Cryogonal and Timid Articuno.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Dragon Claw is a possibility over Outrage. While the damage output is much lower, it is a conservative choice for those who fear locking their Altaria into Outrage, an invitation for a Steel-type to come in. Substitute protects Altaria from status and enables it to gain a boost more easily. However, Altaria hardly has the room to give up a crucial coverage move or Roost. As for the item choice, Life Orb increases Altaria's damage output while Leftovers supplements its natural bulk. If you do decide to go use Substitute, the item choice should definitely be Leftovers, especially if you use Substitute over Roost. The given EVs maximize Altaria's damage output while making it as fast as possible. The choice of nature comes down to if one wants to outspeed more foes or if one wants more power behind their Altaria's attacks.</p>
<p>Regardless of one's choices, Altaria despises the prospect of Stealth Rock on the field. Therefore, a Rapid Spin user is highly recommended. With Ice-types the bane of Altaria, Torkoal and Armaldo are great teammates to consider. Both can scare away Ice-types with their respective STAB move, which gives them ample opportunity to spin entry hazards away. Meanwhile, Altaria is immune to Ground-type attacks and resists Fighting-type ones. In addition, entry hazards of your own help Altaria's sweep, and both Torkoal and Armaldo are capable of laying Stealth Rock. Finally, even with a +1 boost, Altaria will struggle to muscle through bulkier Pokemon. A wallbreaker such as Magmortar or Emboar helps in this regard, as both have a wide movepool and can severely weaken opposing foes for Altaria to set up and sweep.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Roost
move 2: Dragon Pulse
move 3: Roar / Perish Song / Toxic
move 4: Heal Bell
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Altaria's bulk, particularly its Special Defense, makes it a superb specially defensive sponge. It can sponge specially based Fire-, Water-, and Grass-type attacks while taking little from physical Fighting- and Grass-type attacks, and nothing at all from Ground-type attacks. These resistances and immunities make it a really good check to threatening sweepers such as Exeggutor and Magmortar, as long as they do not carry Hidden Power Ice. Roost keeps Altaria healthy while Dragon Pulse is chosen over Dragon Claw due to the former's slightly better Base Power.</p>
<p>The third slot is up for grabs. Roar eliminates any stat boosts a foe has gained, and in addition to shuffling your opponent's Pokemon, it works superbly with entry hazards. Perish Song is a pseudo-phazing move, which also puts pressure on potentially threatening opponents: do they really want to risk KOing themselves by trying to break through Altaria? It is also far more useful than Roar against a last-Pokemon Calm Mind user, such as Musharna and Misdreavus. Toxic is another option to consider as it is useful for bulkier Pokemon such as Calm Mind Musharna, Cryogonal, and Alomomola. The final slot is reserved for Heal Bell, which allows Altaria to serve as a cleric for its teammates, as well as getting rid of any status affliction it may have received without having to switch out.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>If one desires a stronger hit on Grass-types, Flamethrower is an option over Dragon Pulse. This also does more damage against incoming Ice-types, such as Cryogonal and Jynx. Haze is an option over Roar, as it doesn't require moving last in order to eliminate stat changes. A Careful nature is an option if one prefers to hit on the physical side, but Altaria will be restricted to Dragon Claw in order to deal any meaningful damage. Cotton Guard serves a niche in making Altaria a difficult wall to take down from either side, as the move boosts its Defense by three levels. However, Altaria is hard-pressed to make room for it.</p>
<p>This Altaria set relies on entry hazard to be effective. Generally, one will want at least Stealth Rock on the field in order to make best use of Roar or Perish Song. If one does pass up on Cotton Guard, a Pokemon able to spread burns is greatly appreciated to Altaria to take physical hits better. Frillish in particular is a great Pokemon to complement Altaria, as it can cause burns with Will-O-Wisp, as well as lure in Grass-types such as Leafeon and Exeggutor. In addition, Frillish provides excellent spinblocking support, while also taking Ice-type attacks aimed at Altaria. Rapid Spin support is also greatly appreciated. Cryogonal and Torkoal are excellent choices to take Ice-type attacks and spin away entry hazards, and the latter can lay Stealth Rock as well. Armaldo and Regirock can both set up Stealth Rock and deter Ice-type foes with their STAB Rock-type attacks; the former can provide Rapid Spin support too. Finally, Garbodor can lay Toxic Spikes. In return, Altaria provides immunity and resistance to Ground- and Fighting-type moves, respectively.</p>
[SET]
name: Bulky Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Dragon Claw
move 3: Roost
move 4: Heal Bell / Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set combines the benefits of both an offensive and a defensive set, in that this Altaria can both pose an offensive threat with Attack and Speed boosts, while being a useful defensive pivot. The idea is to come in on something that doesn't threaten Altaria and use Dragon Dance on the switch. Dragon Claw is used over Outrage to avoid locking Altaria into one move and avoiding confusion. Roost takes advantage of Altaria's bulk, recovering any damage received. The choice of Heal Bell or Earthquake comes down to a matter of cleric support or additional coverage. It should be noted that the EV spread given aims to give Altaria as much bulk as possible as it attempts to gain multiple boosts for a sweep. Therefore, it does not hit hard even after one boost.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread favors Altaria's special bulk in order to serve as a decent specially defensive against the myriad of special attackers in the tier, such as Rotom-S and Calm Mind Musharna. However, one may try to take a physically defensive route by shifting the Special Defense EVs into Defense and using an Impish nature. The 28 Speed EVs let Altaria outrun up to neutral +1 base 85 Speed foes after two boosts. If one wishes to outspeed scarfed Rotom-A, 112 Speed EVs are required; remove the EVs from Altaria's Special Defense. This, however, means a good amount of loss to Altaria's special bulk. This particular Altaria also wouldn't mind using Cloud Nine as its ability, as it ruins Swift Swim and Chlorophyll users, not to mention Water- and Fire-types relying on Rain Dance and Sunny Day, respectively. It should be noted that Heal Bell is illegal with Cloud Nine, so in addition to Earthquake, Roar or Substitute can be worth considering in the last moveslot.</p>
<p>Cotton Guard makes Altaria particularly difficult to take out. One boost is enough to make Altaria a particularly bulky wall as it sets up Dragon Dance all night long. However, it should be noted that powerful Ice-type attacks will make this particular cloud fall apart. Therefore, strong wallbreakers such as Emboar and Magmortar are great teammates for Altaria, as they rip through Articuno, Cryogonal, and Lapras before most can launch an attack. Sawk can also take care of these Ice-type foes with STAB Close Combat or a super effective Stone Edge. Unaware Quagsire is possibly the greatest counter to this set, as it ignores any stat boosts and can wear Altaria down with Ice Beam. A Grass-type, such as Exeggutor, Tangela, or Meganium, can scare Quagsire—and most other bulky Water-types—away with the threat of a STAB attack. Entry hazard support is also a necessity, with Armaldo and Cradily good choices for providing Stealth Rock. Cradily also has the benefit of forcing Quagsire and a myriad of Water-types to switch out, thanks to both Storm Drain and its part-Grass typing.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Fire Blast—and to a lesser extent, Flamethrower—attains perfect coverage in the NU tier alongside a Dragon-type move and Earthquake. However, the main targets of said Fire-type move, Bronzor and Shedinja, are rarely seen, while other potential targets, such as Tangela and Exeggutor, won't particularly enjoy a boosted Outrage. In addition, resorting to a Fire-type attack not only sacrifices a moveslot, but also means that EV investment in Special Attack and a defense-lowering nature is necessary for Altaria to do any meaningful damage. It can be considered if Sunny Day support is provided, though.</p>
<p>Choice Specs allows Altaria to wield a powerful Draco Meteor in a tier sorely lacking such punishment. However, outside of that, there are very few moves to make it a worthwhile set. In all, the previously mentioned Flamethrower / Fire Blast, Dragon Pulse, and Ice Beam are really the only worthwhile moves to fill such a set. Similarly, Altaria generally lacks the moves to fill a good Choice Band set. Both sets also require constant switching, so Stealth Rock becomes an even greater nuisance. Cloud Nine is aesthetically fitting for a cloud-covered Pokemon like Altaria, but in reality, Altaria has very little use for the ability. There are no permanent weather inducers in the NU tier, and using Cloud Nine means that Altaria has no way of healing itself of status, whether freely through Natural Cure, or via the use of Heal Bell.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Even with max investment, Altaria's offenses are rather weak. After a Dragon Dance boost, Altaria is still a bit of a lightweight, so as long as entry hazards are avoided, bulky Pokemon such as Tangela and Weezing can take it on reliably. If Altaria lacks Earthquake or Fire Blast, Steel-types are the best counters, with Bastiodon and Probopass tanking Outrage without breaking a sweat. Rock-types such as Regirock and Carracosta can comfortably take a boosted Altaria's Earthquake and threaten it with STAB Stone Edge. Special variants of Altaria are easily countered by Regice and Articuno, and both scare Altaria away with STAB Ice Beam. Priority is another way to eliminate Altaria, with Piloswine threatening a KO with STAB Ice Shard.</p>