marilli
With you
Skeleton's hidden. I'm working.
[Overview]
<p>Altaria
[Checks and Counters]
<p>It is difficult, if not impossible to fully counter Altaria with a single Pokemon. Most importantly, it is hard to resist Altaria's STAB Dragon moves, as NU sees a significant shortage of Steel-types. Those that are NU easily fall to its Ground-type coverage. This restricts you to purely statistical defenses to switch into Altaria. Fortunately, no superhuman—or, super-Pokemon—stats are necessary to counter Altaria. For the Choice Specs set, dedicated special walls such as Lickilicky, Regice, and even Hypno can easily take a Draco Meteor and recover their health. As for the Dragon Dance sets, physical walls such as Amoonguss, Regirock, and Alomomola has no problem tanking a boosted Outrage and deal with the threat accordingly. Probopass, one of the most common Steel-type of NU, can deal with an Altaria locked into a Dragon-type move for whatever reason. On the other hand, Piloswine has all-around bulk to take a strong hit at full health, and also has Ice Shard to revenge Dragon Dance variants if necessary.</p>
<p>The main difficulty in countering Altaria is that the special and physical sets have totally different counters. In fact, the Choice Specs set uses the counters to the Dragon Dance set, such as Alomomola and Amoonguss, as an opportunity to switch in. The crux step in dealing with Altaria is recognizing Altaria's moveset according to the way the opponent plays it. All of its sets are unique and each set has a characteristic playstyle that can be easily recognized. For example, if your opponent hesitates to switch in Altaria on Alomomola, you can be pretty confident that it is a physical variant. If your opponent switches in on your Tangela, you can be almost certain that it is a special variant. Without great teambuilding and some gutsy plays, it will be hard for your opponent to disguise Altaria's set.</p>
<p>It may be hard to take on Altaria without suffering any losses, but taking down Altaria is not all that difficult. Without a Speed boost, Altaria is outsped by majority of the offensive metagame, and is easily OHKOed by strong physical attackers such as Cinccino and Zangoose. Even with a Speed boost, most Choice Scarf users are still faster than Altaria; Scarf Sawk or Electabuzz has no trouble revenging a boosted Altaria locked into Outrage. Of course, most things with Ice Beam can easily kill even the most specially defensive of all Altaria. Finally, Stealth Rock cuts down on Altaria's lifespan significantly, so wearing it down should not be very difficult with some smart switches.</p>
[Overview]
<p>Altaria
[Checks and Counters]
<p>It is difficult, if not impossible to fully counter Altaria with a single Pokemon. Most importantly, it is hard to resist Altaria's STAB Dragon moves, as NU sees a significant shortage of Steel-types. Those that are NU easily fall to its Ground-type coverage. This restricts you to purely statistical defenses to switch into Altaria. Fortunately, no superhuman—or, super-Pokemon—stats are necessary to counter Altaria. For the Choice Specs set, dedicated special walls such as Lickilicky, Regice, and even Hypno can easily take a Draco Meteor and recover their health. As for the Dragon Dance sets, physical walls such as Amoonguss, Regirock, and Alomomola has no problem tanking a boosted Outrage and deal with the threat accordingly. Probopass, one of the most common Steel-type of NU, can deal with an Altaria locked into a Dragon-type move for whatever reason. On the other hand, Piloswine has all-around bulk to take a strong hit at full health, and also has Ice Shard to revenge Dragon Dance variants if necessary.</p>
<p>The main difficulty in countering Altaria is that the special and physical sets have totally different counters. In fact, the Choice Specs set uses the counters to the Dragon Dance set, such as Alomomola and Amoonguss, as an opportunity to switch in. The crux step in dealing with Altaria is recognizing Altaria's moveset according to the way the opponent plays it. All of its sets are unique and each set has a characteristic playstyle that can be easily recognized. For example, if your opponent hesitates to switch in Altaria on Alomomola, you can be pretty confident that it is a physical variant. If your opponent switches in on your Tangela, you can be almost certain that it is a special variant. Without great teambuilding and some gutsy plays, it will be hard for your opponent to disguise Altaria's set.</p>
<p>It may be hard to take on Altaria without suffering any losses, but taking down Altaria is not all that difficult. Without a Speed boost, Altaria is outsped by majority of the offensive metagame, and is easily OHKOed by strong physical attackers such as Cinccino and Zangoose. Even with a Speed boost, most Choice Scarf users are still faster than Altaria; Scarf Sawk or Electabuzz has no trouble revenging a boosted Altaria locked into Outrage. Of course, most things with Ice Beam can easily kill even the most specially defensive of all Altaria. Finally, Stealth Rock cuts down on Altaria's lifespan significantly, so wearing it down should not be very difficult with some smart switches.</p>
Altaria
[Overview]
• The Neverused Dragon returns again!
• Balanced stats, nothing special
• DM; Still a Dragon
• A wide variety of supporting moves, like Roar, Heal Bell, Cotton Guard, Perish Song, Roost, etc. and that warrants a defensive set.
• Offensively threatening typing. Too bad it hits like a fur ball without a boost.
• No worries! It can either boost itself or carry a Choice item for destruction.
• Defensively niche typing. Switches into Grassers, and other resisted attacks. Only gripe: WHY U SR WEAK.
• Metagame shift abandons Fire-types and SD Samurott. Grim day for Altaria use.
• Also, fast physical attackers rule the world now. Altaria has no business up against them.
• I’ve never seen a fur ball hit so hard
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Hidden Power Ground
move 3: Dragon Pulse / Fire Blast
move 4: Rest
item: Choice Specs
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Modest
evs: 80 HP / 252 SAtk / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
• Draco Meteor kills.
• I mean it
• A viable pivot thanks to unique resists and mighty power
• HP Ground hits Probopass + Bastiodon. That’s really all coverage you need
• Dragon Pulse for more reliable hits, Fire Blast is not as useful.
• Rest allows it to live on vs. slower / defensive teams and continue nuking off its members. Natural Cure removes sleep upon switch, so it can also help Altaria pivot around resisted moves.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• EV Spread: outspeeds Torterra.
• Or: 64 speed EVs to outspeed adamant Torterra + modest Ludicolo.
• Or: Max speed. Using Cloud Nine with Max speed can revenge weather sweepers really easily. Rest is useless then, so Fire Blast keeps the fourth slot.
• Great teammates: SD Samurott for setting up on special walls and Ice-type attacks etc.
• Torterra can switch in on defensive replies to Altaria and smash them.
• What else?
• LO with Roost > Rest? Loses power for
• It’s kind of slow so pair it with some faster attackers on an offensive team.
• It punishes Grassers like Tangela and Amoonguss. Think physical attackers like Cinccino in order to U turn into them and get more hits in. Golurk likes Tangela gone, can switch into Probo if you predict wrong
• Wartortle can technically spin… but it sucks.
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Roost
move 2: Roar / Perish Song
move 3: Heal Bell
move 4: Dragon Pulse
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
• Great defensive typing, albeit with a SR weakness
• Acceptable specially defensive stats, but a lot of resistances to common special attacking types
• Without HP Ice, some great attackers like Exeggutor, Musharna, whatever are stuffed.
• Your choice of Roar or Perish song for your pHazing needs. Stuff that everybody knows: both removes setup sweepers, but Roar is more proactive. P-song is better against last mon boosters, especially Duosion, which you cannot even Toxic stall.
• Heal Bell is just a general support move, removes status effects and stuff. Great if you have a stall member with Rest.
• Dragon Pulse is a bit stronger than Dragon Claw, just an attacking move to not be taunt bait and deal damage when necessary.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• Leftovers and the 252 / 252 spread, typical stuff.
• COTTON GUARD deserves a mention (but don’t use with perish song rofl)
• Toxic too maybe, but Altaria’s got niche support moves and if you’re using defensive altaria you might as well use them
• Instead of pHazing you got the true-blue haze but it kind of sucks, as it can’t exactly kill last-mon setup users like Perish Song, nor does it have the immediacy of Roar.
• Physically not very strong. Rock-type attacks and Ice-type attacks are dangerous.
• Rock moves are often seen with EQ (and with no STAB). Physical walls like Tangela are your best bet. Shared Ice weakness, though
• Really appreciates Spikes support because it Roars and pHazes stuff out. Garbodor, Omanyte, w/e.
• Appreciates spin support especially so because it's a defensive set, meaning the battle will be drawn out and you'll have more switches. Without Rapid Spin you'll lose a lot of HP in the long run. Cryo
[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]
• Great coverage in 2 high Base Power moves. Deserves a DD set!
• Weakest DD’er in the tier. What a shame
• Faster speed makes up for it though. The fastest dragon that can dance!
• Also, unlike those preevos, Altaria has acceptable bulk even without Eviolite, so it can carry Life Orb which makes up for its offensive woes. That needs to go first slash along with Outrage.
• EQ gets perfect coverage with Dragon. Other than Bronzor, of course.
• It really has no need for any other attacking moves so Roost comes in handy for more setup stuff.
• Dragon Claw, along with Lefties gives it some flexibility / bulk. Both together is way too weak, though.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• Dragon Claw / Outrage without Roost might be viable because you’ll rarely use roost
• You really just need 1 or 2 dds to go sweep, but stuff like Tangela, Regirock, etc. are a pain.
• Who beats Tangela and / or Regirock?
• Emboar? Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh
• Amoonguss and stuff like that too, but shared Ice weakness.
• Really appreciates Spikes support because it wishes it were stronger. Garbodor, Omanyte. Garbodor can spike up vs. Tangela.
• A lot harder to check in theory, but in practice, SR weakness, (still) low power, and so-so speed does not help.
• Best set against fast teams that try to revenge Altaria with non scarfers.
[SET]
name: Bulky Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Dragon Claw
move 3: Roost
move 4: Heal Bell / Earthquake / Cotton Guard
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
• Tries to juggle the specially defensive duty with the dragon dancer.
• Weakest offensive set from the weakest dragon dancer of the tier. Enough said.
• Dragon Dance / Dragon Claw is the bread & butter of this set
• Roost recovers HP and is 100% necessary on this set because it needs to stack a couple of DD’s if you want to be remotely threatening.
• EQ gets perfect coverage with Dragon. Other than Bronzor, of course.
• Instead of EQ, Heal Bell provides team support and allows Altaria to heal status without having to switch out and undo its hard work.
• Cotton guard is notable for buffing its defense and making it a great overall tank.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• EV spread: the speed evs allow it to outpace adamant scarf sawk after TWO boosts.
• Well to be fair it doesn’t sound like all that usable, but the next probable benchmark is ouspeeding scarf rotoms, which needs 112 EVs in speed.
• This leads to significant loss in special bulk, so think wisely.
• Who beats Tangela and / or Regirock? You need some serious help busting through walls.
• CB Emboar does that for you. OK type synergy, too.
• Or, you could fit this altaria in an otherwise defensive team with typical stall members, but with 1 setup sweeper so that you can win with your own offense.
• Appreciates spin support especially so because it's a defensive set, meaning the battle will be drawn out and you'll have more switches. Without Rapid Spin you'll lose a lot of HP in the long run. Cryo
• Really appreciates Spikes support because it REALLY REALLY REALLY wishes it were stronger. Garbodor, Omanyte. Garbodor can spike up vs. Tangela.
[Other Options]
• Cotton Guard
• Special LO set with roost? I really think the special set that goes along the lines of LO Draco Meteor + Power Swap is a pretty good gimmick
• Fire Blast on the offensive DD set to roast Tangela.
• Its viable offensive moves are limited. Not because its movepool sucks or anything, but mostly because it doesn’t need any other attacking move other than Dragon STAB, EQ, and Flamethrower / Fire Blast.
• I didn’t mention Cloud Nine much… it’s good vs. sun, but Altaria loses against rain anyways.
• Band instead of specs, but the lock in effect kind of sucks
• what else….?
[Checks and Counters]
• It’s hard to resist Altaria’s attacks. Those darn dragons.
• That leaves you with statistical defenses if you want any defensive replies to Altaria.
• Fortunately, you don't need superhuman (or super-Pokemon) defensive stats to counter Altaria.
• The difficulty is that Specs and DD set has totally different counters. Also, some counters to DD set like Tangela and Amoonguss is actually countered by Specs variant…
• Tangela, Regirock, Piloswine etc. for DD so anything with high defense.
• Lickilicky, Hypno, Probopass, etc. for Specs and anything with high special defense.
• Typical disadvantage vs. Ice and stuff
[Overview]
• The Neverused Dragon returns again!
• Balanced stats, nothing special
• DM; Still a Dragon
• A wide variety of supporting moves, like Roar, Heal Bell, Cotton Guard, Perish Song, Roost, etc. and that warrants a defensive set.
• Offensively threatening typing. Too bad it hits like a fur ball without a boost.
• No worries! It can either boost itself or carry a Choice item for destruction.
• Defensively niche typing. Switches into Grassers, and other resisted attacks. Only gripe: WHY U SR WEAK.
• Metagame shift abandons Fire-types and SD Samurott. Grim day for Altaria use.
• Also, fast physical attackers rule the world now. Altaria has no business up against them.
• I’ve never seen a fur ball hit so hard
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Hidden Power Ground
move 3: Dragon Pulse / Fire Blast
move 4: Rest
item: Choice Specs
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Modest
evs: 80 HP / 252 SAtk / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
• Draco Meteor kills.
• I mean it
• A viable pivot thanks to unique resists and mighty power
• HP Ground hits Probopass + Bastiodon. That’s really all coverage you need
• Dragon Pulse for more reliable hits, Fire Blast is not as useful.
• Rest allows it to live on vs. slower / defensive teams and continue nuking off its members. Natural Cure removes sleep upon switch, so it can also help Altaria pivot around resisted moves.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• EV Spread: outspeeds Torterra.
• Or: 64 speed EVs to outspeed adamant Torterra + modest Ludicolo.
• Or: Max speed. Using Cloud Nine with Max speed can revenge weather sweepers really easily. Rest is useless then, so Fire Blast keeps the fourth slot.
• Great teammates: SD Samurott for setting up on special walls and Ice-type attacks etc.
• Torterra can switch in on defensive replies to Altaria and smash them.
• What else?
• LO with Roost > Rest? Loses power for
• It’s kind of slow so pair it with some faster attackers on an offensive team.
• It punishes Grassers like Tangela and Amoonguss. Think physical attackers like Cinccino in order to U turn into them and get more hits in. Golurk likes Tangela gone, can switch into Probo if you predict wrong
• Wartortle can technically spin… but it sucks.
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Roost
move 2: Roar / Perish Song
move 3: Heal Bell
move 4: Dragon Pulse
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
• Great defensive typing, albeit with a SR weakness
• Acceptable specially defensive stats, but a lot of resistances to common special attacking types
• Without HP Ice, some great attackers like Exeggutor, Musharna, whatever are stuffed.
• Your choice of Roar or Perish song for your pHazing needs. Stuff that everybody knows: both removes setup sweepers, but Roar is more proactive. P-song is better against last mon boosters, especially Duosion, which you cannot even Toxic stall.
• Heal Bell is just a general support move, removes status effects and stuff. Great if you have a stall member with Rest.
• Dragon Pulse is a bit stronger than Dragon Claw, just an attacking move to not be taunt bait and deal damage when necessary.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• Leftovers and the 252 / 252 spread, typical stuff.
• COTTON GUARD deserves a mention (but don’t use with perish song rofl)
• Toxic too maybe, but Altaria’s got niche support moves and if you’re using defensive altaria you might as well use them
• Instead of pHazing you got the true-blue haze but it kind of sucks, as it can’t exactly kill last-mon setup users like Perish Song, nor does it have the immediacy of Roar.
• Physically not very strong. Rock-type attacks and Ice-type attacks are dangerous.
• Rock moves are often seen with EQ (and with no STAB). Physical walls like Tangela are your best bet. Shared Ice weakness, though
• Really appreciates Spikes support because it Roars and pHazes stuff out. Garbodor, Omanyte, w/e.
• Appreciates spin support especially so because it's a defensive set, meaning the battle will be drawn out and you'll have more switches. Without Rapid Spin you'll lose a lot of HP in the long run. Cryo
[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]
• Great coverage in 2 high Base Power moves. Deserves a DD set!
• Weakest DD’er in the tier. What a shame
• Faster speed makes up for it though. The fastest dragon that can dance!
• Also, unlike those preevos, Altaria has acceptable bulk even without Eviolite, so it can carry Life Orb which makes up for its offensive woes. That needs to go first slash along with Outrage.
• EQ gets perfect coverage with Dragon. Other than Bronzor, of course.
• It really has no need for any other attacking moves so Roost comes in handy for more setup stuff.
• Dragon Claw, along with Lefties gives it some flexibility / bulk. Both together is way too weak, though.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• Dragon Claw / Outrage without Roost might be viable because you’ll rarely use roost
• You really just need 1 or 2 dds to go sweep, but stuff like Tangela, Regirock, etc. are a pain.
• Who beats Tangela and / or Regirock?
• Emboar? Yeahhhhhhhhhhhh
• Amoonguss and stuff like that too, but shared Ice weakness.
• Really appreciates Spikes support because it wishes it were stronger. Garbodor, Omanyte. Garbodor can spike up vs. Tangela.
• A lot harder to check in theory, but in practice, SR weakness, (still) low power, and so-so speed does not help.
• Best set against fast teams that try to revenge Altaria with non scarfers.
[SET]
name: Bulky Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Dragon Claw
move 3: Roost
move 4: Heal Bell / Earthquake / Cotton Guard
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 228 SpD / 28 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
• Tries to juggle the specially defensive duty with the dragon dancer.
• Weakest offensive set from the weakest dragon dancer of the tier. Enough said.
• Dragon Dance / Dragon Claw is the bread & butter of this set
• Roost recovers HP and is 100% necessary on this set because it needs to stack a couple of DD’s if you want to be remotely threatening.
• EQ gets perfect coverage with Dragon. Other than Bronzor, of course.
• Instead of EQ, Heal Bell provides team support and allows Altaria to heal status without having to switch out and undo its hard work.
• Cotton guard is notable for buffing its defense and making it a great overall tank.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
• EV spread: the speed evs allow it to outpace adamant scarf sawk after TWO boosts.
• Well to be fair it doesn’t sound like all that usable, but the next probable benchmark is ouspeeding scarf rotoms, which needs 112 EVs in speed.
• This leads to significant loss in special bulk, so think wisely.
• Who beats Tangela and / or Regirock? You need some serious help busting through walls.
• CB Emboar does that for you. OK type synergy, too.
• Or, you could fit this altaria in an otherwise defensive team with typical stall members, but with 1 setup sweeper so that you can win with your own offense.
• Appreciates spin support especially so because it's a defensive set, meaning the battle will be drawn out and you'll have more switches. Without Rapid Spin you'll lose a lot of HP in the long run. Cryo
• Really appreciates Spikes support because it REALLY REALLY REALLY wishes it were stronger. Garbodor, Omanyte. Garbodor can spike up vs. Tangela.
[Other Options]
• Cotton Guard
• Special LO set with roost? I really think the special set that goes along the lines of LO Draco Meteor + Power Swap is a pretty good gimmick
• Fire Blast on the offensive DD set to roast Tangela.
• Its viable offensive moves are limited. Not because its movepool sucks or anything, but mostly because it doesn’t need any other attacking move other than Dragon STAB, EQ, and Flamethrower / Fire Blast.
• I didn’t mention Cloud Nine much… it’s good vs. sun, but Altaria loses against rain anyways.
• Band instead of specs, but the lock in effect kind of sucks
• what else….?
[Checks and Counters]
• It’s hard to resist Altaria’s attacks. Those darn dragons.
• That leaves you with statistical defenses if you want any defensive replies to Altaria.
• Fortunately, you don't need superhuman (or super-Pokemon) defensive stats to counter Altaria.
• The difficulty is that Specs and DD set has totally different counters. Also, some counters to DD set like Tangela and Amoonguss is actually countered by Specs variant…
• Tangela, Regirock, Piloswine etc. for DD so anything with high defense.
• Lickilicky, Hypno, Probopass, etc. for Specs and anything with high special defense.
• Typical disadvantage vs. Ice and stuff