OU Altaria

[OVERVIEW]

Mega Altaria has a good offensive and defensive typing, useful coverage moves, and a way to boost its already-proficient offensive stats, giving it a niche as a sweeper of unprepared teams. However, several checks to Mega Altaria are very common, meaning it requires quite a large amount of support in entry hazard removers, Steel-type checks, and Mega Venusaur checks to fully become a threat. Due to its bulk and access to reliable recovery in Roost, it can find more opportunities to set up. Although Altaria is immune to all entry hazards besides Stealth Rock, after Mega Evolving, it's very vulnerable to hazard stacking, being worn down and pressured much easier. One of Altaria's glaring flaws is its somewhat lackluster base 80 Speed, meaning that it needs to obtain boosts from Dragon Dance to distinguish itself as a threat. In addition to its extremely average Speed stat, the tier is littered with viable Steel- and Fairy-types that deter and prove detrimental towards Altaria.

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Return
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roost
item: Altarianite
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Dragon Dance enables Mega Altaria to pose as a much bigger threat. Thanks to Pixilate, Return is Mega Altaria's most reliable Fairy-type STAB move, hitting any unresistant foes for appreciable damage. Earthquake in tandem with Return offers great coverage across a lot of the metagame, hitting all of the Pokemon that resist Fairy-type moves, notably problematic Steel-types as well as Fire- and Poison-types like Heatran, Magearna, and Toxapex. Roost provides reliable recovery, increasing Mega Altaria's overall longevity, allowing it to take more hits and enabling it to set up easier. Roost also allows Mega Altaria to take on a lot of Pokemon that it wouldn't be able to otherwise, such as Ash-Greninja without Ice Beam, Mega Charizard Y, and Zapdos. Double-Edge can be used over Return to provide more offensive presence to pressure your opponent earlier on in the game as well as foes like Mew and Clefable, but recoil can prove troublesome to Altaria.

Set Details
========

Maximum EVs invested into Attack and Speed alongside a Jolly nature maximize Mega Altaria's potential as offensive threat. An Adamant nature could be ran to better deal with Magearna, but Jolly is usually preferred, enabling Altaria to outspeed Timid Heatran and Jolly Tapu Bulu before a Dragon Dance; Tapu Koko, Mega Lopunny, and Choice Scarf Heatran after one Dragon Dance; and Choice Scarf Kartana and Kingdra in rain after two Dragon Dances. Natural Cure is the ability of choice to heal Altaria of any status infliction by switching out before Mega Evolving, which could be crucial, as this set is crippled by status ailments.

Usage Tips
========

Altaria should wait until its prominent counters have either been weakened or eliminated, giving it a much easier time in setting up and sweeping. Additionally it can come in against passive Pokemon that really can't touch it, like Mega Sableye, forcing a switch to get a free Dragon Dance off. If revenge killers like Choice Scarf Tapu Lele are still in the back, Altaria should probably wait until they've been KOed, or at least make sure it has enough boosts to outrun its revenge killers. Mega Altaria can be brought out against foes that are weak to it such as Garchomp, and it can switch out into Magnezone or Dugtrio to trap incoming checks like Celesteela or Toxapex. On top of that, although it has decent overall bulk, without defensive investment Altaria struggles to be brought directly out against powerful foes like Tapu Lele and Mega Mawile, it's advised to wait until a teammate has been KOed to bring it in or via VoltTurn. Altaria needs to start attacking as soon as it can, so don't set up any more Dragon Dances than what is required to sweep.

Team Options
========

Steel-types that can deal with other Steel-types make fantastic partners, as a partner able to take on Fariy-types while being immune to Poison is great for Mega Altaria. Magnezone is arguably the best partner for it, trapping all Steel-types with Magnet Pull and firing off super effective coverage in Hidden Power Fire or STAB Thunderbolt to foes like Celesteela and Skarmory. Magnezone also pressures Toxapex and can switch Mega Altaria in safely with Volt Switch. Altaria appreciates entry hazard support provided by Ferrothorn, which wears down Mega Altaria's foes to enable it to sweep or clean up better. Ferrothorn also handles Fairy-types well. Adding onto the point above, Fire-types handle Steel-types effectively and resist Fairy. Heatran takes on other pessimistic Steel-types as well as the majority of Fairy-types and bulky Poison-types like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss effectively with its STAB attacks. Depending on the Dugtrio variant, it can trap the annoying Steel-, Poison- and Fairy-types like Toxapex, Magearna, Heatran, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Magnezone, Jirachi, and Nihilego. Some of these are more effectively trapped with a Choice Scarf, (AC) but sometimes the sheer force of Groundium Z is nice to OHKO Pokemon like Tapu Lele or Toxapex. Due to how susceptible Mega Altaria is to hazards and how easily it's worn down by them, hazard removers such as Mew, Latios, and Latias make good partners, as they can also take care of Poison-types like Venusaur efficiently. Zapdos can remove hazards throughout the match with Defog and can handle Steel-types with Fire coverage and hit Toxapex with its Electric-type STAB moves. Excadrill has Rapid Spin to eliminate hazards while taking on Steel-, Poison-, and Fairy-types with its STAB attacks. A Pokemon to lure Venusaur in would be appreciated for Altaria; some examples would include Extrasensory Greninja, Guardian Of Alola Tapu Koko, Zen Headbutt Tapu Bulu, and Steelium Z Magearna. Landorus-T can pressure Steel-types as well as Celesteela with Gravity or Smack Down and Mega Venusaur with Flyinium Z. Defensive partners like Tangrowth, bulky Landorus-T, and Alomomola can assist Altaria by being a reliable answer to Pokemon like Zygarde or Mega Pinsir, which Altaria fall short to without the necessary boosts.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Fire Blast exploits the numerous Steel-types that Earthquake fails to hit super effectively. Some examples include Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Scizor, Kartana, and Skarmory. Body Slam can be used as Mega Altaria's choice of Fairy-type STAB move over Return or Double-Edge, having a 30% to paralyze foes, but lacks the immediate power that both Return and Double-Edge offer. Additionally, Facade is an option to use over any other Fairy-type STAB move to take advantage of status ailments inflicted onto Altaria after it Mega Evolves. A specially based mixed set with Hyper Voice, Fire Blast, Roost, and Earthquake can be ran but is typically underwhelming; lacking the Speed boosts from Dragon Dance leaves it highly susceptible to a numerous amount of threats and is outclassed by other special attacking Fairy-types like Magearna and Tapu Lele. Heal Bell could be used to heal Mega Altaria and its teammates from status ailments that could otherwise cripple them, Refresh can be utilized over Heal Bell for more PP, enabling Mega Altaria to beat Toxic users by stalling them out of PP. A set including Cotton Guard, Dragon Dance, Roost, and Return or Facade lets Altaria set up against Pokemon like Choice Band Tyranitar and a boosted Zygarde, also beating Choice Scarf Excadrill and most variants of rain teams considering most of the time their best answer to Altaria is Gyro Ball Ferrothorn. Although all of these traits sound desirable, its only attacking move is Fairy-type, leaving it highly vulnerable to Pokemon like Heatran, Toxapex, and Magearna. An optimal EV spread would be 240 HP / 128 SpD / 140 Spe with a Jolly nature, which lets it outrun the likes of Choice Scarf Garchomp at +2, as well as Adamant Tapu Bulu before a boost. The remaining EVs are implemented into its defensive stats to increase its bulk.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Steel-types**: Even though Altaria has useful coverage in Earthquake or Fire Blast to exploit Steel-types, they still pose great threats. If it opts not to run Fire Blast, it leaves itself highly susceptible to some of the tier's most prominent Steel-types. Celesteela is one of its best counters in the tier, completely walling Mega Altaria if it lacks Fire Blast, but even then Fire Blast's damage output is generally underwhelming, barely 4HKOing the specially defensive set. Much like Celesteela, Mega Scizor, Kartana, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory can take all of Altaria's hits well without Fire Blast and either hit it with their respectable super effective STAB attacks, phaze it out, or cripple it with status. Kartana, Excadrill, and Jirachi are all troublesome to an unboosted Altaria, outpacing it without the Speed boosts necessary and exploiting it with STAB moves. It's also worth noting that Magearna has access to Shift Gear, which boosts its Speed stat to the point where it outruns Altaria even at +1 and can KO Mega Altaria with STAB in Flash Cannon or Fleur Cannon or coverage in Ice Beam.

**Poison-types**: Altaria struggles to do virtually anything to bulky Poison-types; Mega Venusaur can tank any hit from Altaria even after boosts from Dragon Dance and fire back with super effective STAB moves or recover off all of the damage dealt. Toxapex can take Altaria's Earthquakes somewhat well if it's not already weakened or if Altaria isn't excessively boosted, and mitigate the damage output by removing Altaria's boosts with Haze. Amoonguss can be pessimistic if Mega Altaria opts to not run Fire Blast, either putting it to sleep or removing its stat boosts with Clear Smog. Other offensive Poison-types like Gengar and Nihilego can prove troublesome to Altaria, both utilizing Choice Scarf to outspeed it even after Speed boosts and OHKOing it with their STAB attacks.

**Fairy-types**: Quite a number of Fairy-types can deter Altaria. Unaware Clefable can beat Mega Altaria, ignoring its stat boosts and firing back with super effective Fairy STAB moves or recovering off damage. Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Mega Diancie, Mimikyu, and Mega Gardevoir all outrun Altaria before boosts and can hammer it with their respectable STAB attacks.

**Revenge Killers**: A lot of common Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele, Kartana, Tapu Koko, Greninja, Gengar, Excadrill, Heatran (only if Altaria is Adamant), and Jirachi all outrun Altaria even after +1 boost in Speed and can exploit it with super effective STAB attacks. Priority like Mega Scizor's Bullet Punch or Weavile's Ice Shard can deal hefty damage or even KO Altaria once it's been weakened. Weather abusers like Jolly Excadrill under sand can outrun Altaria even at +2 and OHKO it with Iron Head, while Kingdra and Mega Swampert can outrun it at +1 and exploit it with the correct coverage moves.
 
Last edited:
Stan Soojung

[Overview]
Mega-Altaria bears a good offensive and defensive typing, and in tandem with useful coverage moves and a way to boost it's already proficient offensive stats, Mega-Altaria carves itself a niche in the meta as a decent sweeper or breaker to unprepared teams.
Shorten this sentence and stress "unprepared teams." I like how you phrased the end of that sentence.
Thanks to it's great ability Pixilate, it converts Normal-types attacks into boosted Fairy STAB, forcing out a lot of Pokemon in the tier and making Altaria difficult to switch into, especially combined with it's great coverage
Altaria is not difficult to switch into. The Pixalate nerf made it much weaker this generation and the metagame has become very bulky, meaning cores such as Landorus-T + Magearna, Celesteela + Toxapex, any core on stall,...will deal with it easily. Talk about how it needs heavy support to be a threat.

Talk about how it's grounded which means its super easy to pressure with hazards.

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Return
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roost
item: Altarianite
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[Moves]

Roost is definitely mandatory. It allows Mega Altaria to switch into non-Ice Beam Ash Greninja and beat Mega Charizard Y, Zapdos, and Tangrowth 1v1. Also important since Mega Altaria is a decent Heatran check. Jolly nature is the best option. Adamant is cool on paper to OHKO Shift Gear Magearna after Stealth Rock, but being slower than Tapu Koko (Dazzling Gleam sets picking up rapidly) and now Mega Lopunny is pathetic. You also want to switch into Heatran and be faster than it, not slower.

Mention Double-Edge in Moves, not OO.
Earthquake in tandem with Return offer great coverage across a lot of the meta, Earthquake hitting all the Fairy-resists, notably hitting the abundance of problematic Steel-types as well as Fire and Poison-types.
Mention Heatran and Magearna as the prime Earthquake targets. Talk about how Earthquake lets Mega Altaria beat Haze Toxapex 1v1 after Stealth Rock if it comes in as it Dragon Dances.

[Team Options]

Altaria teams tend to be weak to Zygarde so mention Tangrowth, defensive Landorus-T, and Alomomola in Team Options.

A Venusaur lure will be required. Extrasensory Ash Greninja, Zen Headbutt Tapu Bulu, and Guardian of Alola Tapu Koko can do massive damage if not remove it with prior damage. Steelium Z Magearna is a fun tech as well.

Hazard removal? Mew, Latios, Tapu Fini,...

[Other Options]

- Fire Blast goes here.
- Cotton Guard / Dragon Dance / Roost / Return or Facade deserves a special mention since it allows you to set up on Pokemon such as Choice Band Tyranitar and a boosted Zygarde which is pretty ridiculous. The main draw is it completely fucks HO since that normal Bird SPAM (or was lol :ripbird:) loses to this with ease because it beats Choice Scarf Excadrill 1v1 and the rest of the team can't do shit since Cotton Guard boosts way faster than Swords Dance. Rain also gets destroyed because their best answer is Gyro Ball Ferrothorn which loses to Cotton Guard Altaria 1v1. This set is mono-Fairy and removing Heatran and Toxapex isn't the easiest thing to do, so mention that because this set will obviously sound really good on paper.
- Remove Perish Song, Haze, and even Heal Bell. They're not that good this generation. Refresh is better because of the PP.
- Remove Dragon coverage since it doesn't do shit to Venusaur lol.

C&C looks good.
 
- Cotton Guard / Dragon Dance / Roost / Return or Facade deserves a special mention since it allows you to set up on Pokemon such as Choice Band Tyranitar and a boosted Zygarde which is pretty ridiculous. The main draw is it completely fucks HO since that normal Bird SPAM (or was lol :ripbird:) loses to this with ease because it beats Choice Scarf Excadrill 1v1 and the rest of the team can't do shit since Cotton Guard boosts way faster than Swords Dance. Rain also gets destroyed because their best answer is Gyro Ball Ferrothorn which loses to Cotton Guard Altaria 1v1. This set is mono-Fairy and removing Heatran and Toxapex isn't the easiest thing to do, so mention that because this set will obviously sound really good on paper.
What is the spread and Nature of this set? Also, I think this would be a good option (may be a second set, stressing the requirements to being useful).
 

Gary

Can be abrasive at times (no joke)
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I allowed Vertex to basically give you an am QC check because he's used Mega Altaria quite a bit while I've only really gone up against it or seen others use it, so I wanted someone with far more experience to give it an initial once over. I still have a few things to add myself, but I'll check it after you implement Vertex's changes.
 


Altaria @ Altarianite
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 252 HP / 136 Def / 92 SpD / 28 Spe
Impish Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Roost
- Return
- Heal Bell

This is a set that was used a lot in gen 6, but i think it still has some relevance in todays meta. With typing alone it resists a bunch of Pokémon such as Bulu, Ash-Greninja, even Zygarde.

This set is more bulky and has a slow set up while still being able to support itself and its teammates.
This defensive dragon dance set also makes a great knock off absorber for some pokes that heavily rely on their items.
Pokémon like Alolan Marowak who need their thick club to be a threat appreciate this quality.

Speaking of teammates:
  • Alolan Marowak in my opionion makes a solid teammate. Due to its Fire/Ghost it resists all of Mega Altaria's weaknesses. It also checks Pokémon like Tapu Koko and Magearn, and Magnezone. Three pokes that give Mega Altaria trouble if its not carrying Earthquake. In exchange for resisting Mega Altaria's weaknesses. It can cover Alolan Marowak's water and dark weakness. Especially its weakness to knock off.

  • Another teammate thats great is Magnezone. Obviously steel and fairy types are like best friends when used on the same team and Magnezone is always a classic teammate. With magnet pull you can trap steel types like celesteela, scizor, magearna (lacking fighting moves), and other magnezones.

  • Another teammate thats great is Landorus-T. Most notably its Flyinium Z set. This set lures in Pokémon like Mega Venusaur. Mega Altaria's biggest nemesis. Landorus punches huge holes in the opponents team allowing Mega Altaria to sweep late game.

  • The final teammate ill mention is Volcarona. Especially if it uses Psychium Z. Much like Landorus its mentioned to act as a lure for Pokémon like Mega Venusaur.

Hope what i said helps out in this quality control. Mega Altaria is my favorite mega and I hope that my contribution helps. Thanks and have a great day
 
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Gary

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Earthquake in tandem with Return offer great coverage across a lot of the meta, Earthquake hitting all the Fairy-resists, notably hitting the abundance of problematic Steel-types as well as Fire and Poison-types.
Mention some examples. Big ones are obviously Heatran, Magearna, and Pex.

  • In team options, mention some of the Pokemon that Vertex mentioned, mainly Tangrowth and fat Lando-T. Also talk about hazard removers because of how prone Altaria is to them, as well as potential ways to lure Mega Venu through Sensory Gren or Zen Bulu.
  • Remove the Defensive set mention and replace it with what Vertex mentioned; Facade or Return / Dragon Dance / Cotton Guard / Roost. It's not good enough for a set, but it's the most viable OO mention IMO, and it deserves an honorable mention. An optimal EV spread for it is 240 HP / 128 SpD / 140 Spe with a Jolly nature, which lets it outrun the likes of Scarf Garchomp at +2, as well as Adamant Bulu before a boost. Rest is just thrown into bulk.
  • Remove Dragon coverage in OO, those moves are trash and just don't hit hard enough to justify sacrificing coverage for it
  • Remove all the utility options in OO bar Heal Bell and Refresh
QC 1/3
 

Colonel M

I COULD BE BORED!
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Okay so:
Due to it's sustainable bulk of 75 / 110 / 105 and access to reliable recovery in Roost, increasing it's longevity, it can find more opportunities to set up or just all-out attack.
No need to mention the base stats of a Pokemon as the reader can view that above. You can state it's bulky still.
An Adamant nature could be ran to better deal with Magearna, but Jolly is usually preferred, enabling Altaria to outspeed; Tapu Koko at +1, Scarf Kartana at +1, Scarf Heatran, Celesteela at +2, Mega-Loppunny, Jolly Zygarde at +1, Modest Kingdra in the rain and Adamant Excadrill in the sand.
None of this sentence makes sense. First off, you're not outspeeding Scarf Kartana at +1 (maybe regular Kartana) and I'm not even sure what the Celesteela statement is for. You're only outspeeding Modest Kingdra and Adamant Excadrill in sand at +2. I don't even know why you mention Excadrill since very few run Choice items and they're just going to Iron Head your fucking face in if they can. Excadrills are also Jolly if it's in Sand.

I highly advise to re-word this. Let me give some examples:

- Before DD: Jolly Bulu, Timid Heatran
- After 1 DD: Tapu Koko, Mega Lopunny

Honestly, though, I would only note that Jolly is important to outspeed some of the listed threats above before a DD and after one DD.
Steel-types that can deal with other Steel-types make fantastic partners, being able to take on Fairies while being immune to Poison is great for Altaria. Magnezone is arguably the best partner for it, trapping all Steel-types with Magnet Pull and either firing off super-effective coverage in Hidden Power Fire or STAB Thunderbolt to foes like Celesteela or Skarmory, Magnezone also pressures Toxapex while providing momentum in Volt Switch. Autotomize Celesteela with Earthquake can be used to beat Fairy-types as well as other Steel and Poison-types, Celesteela also helps out better against the like of Venusaur and Tapu Lele. Altaria appreciates hazard stack support provided by Ferrothorn, wearing down foes enabling it to sweep or clean up better, as well as Ferrothorn handling Fairy-types well.
I... don't know about this sentence. I would just stick to mentioning Magnezone and leave it at that. No Celesteela.
Depending on the Dugtrio variant, it can trap the annoying Steel, Poison and Fairy-types like; Toxapex, Magearna, Heatran, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Magnezone, Gengar, Jirachia and Nihilego.
Gengar is only trapped by Pursuit - I would just remove it or mention that Gengar is only trapped by Pursuit. Also mention that some of these are trapped more effectively by Scarf Dugtrio (Koko).
A Pokemon to lure Venusaur in would be appreciated for Altaria, some examples would include Extrasensory Greninja, Guardian Of Alola Tapu Koko, Flyinium Z Lando-T, Zen Headbutt Tapu Bulu and Steelium Z Magearna.
In the past I may have agreed with it, but nowadays Flyinium Z Lando-T is super common and Mega Venusaur will go for its Celesteela teammate anyway. You can mention that Flyinium Lando-T can pressure Celesteela / Mega Venusaura cores with Smack Downor Gravity.

Everything else... looks fine for the most part.

2/3
 
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GatoDelFuego

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REMOVE CHANGE COMMENTS

[OVERVIEW]

Mega Altaria bears has remove the hyphens on all them pls, not going to highlight them all a good offensive and defensive typing, and in tandem with useful coverage moves, (AC) and a way to boost its already-proficient offensive stats, Mega-Altaria carves itself giving it a niche in the meta as a decent is it decent or not? Your first sentence sort of oversells it sweeper or breaker to of unprepared teams. However, several checks to Mega Altaria are very common, meaning it put the sentence outline ((in parenthesis)) here! Due to its sustainable bulk and access to reliable recovery in Roost, its bulk is sustainable due to its reliable recovery. Saying both are redundant. increasing its longevity, it can find more opportunities to set up or just all-out attack. Although Altaria before Mega Evolving is immune to entry hazards besides Stealth Rock, after Mega Evolving it's very vulnerable to hazard stacking, wearing it down and pressuring it being worn down and pressured much easier. Furthermore, it (((((requires quite a large amount of support in hazard removers, Steel-type checks, (AC) and Mega Venusaur checks to fully become a threat.)))))) One of Altaria's glaring flaws it its somewhat lackluster base 80 Speed stat, meaning it needs to obtain boosts from Dragon Dance to distinguish itself as a threat. In addition to its extremely average Speed stat, the tier is littered with viable Steel- and Fairy-types which deter and prove detrimental towards Altaria.

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Return
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roost
item: Altarianite
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Dragon Dance boosts Mega Altaria's appreciable Attack stat and its mediocre Speed stat, enabling it enables Mega Altaria to pose as a much bigger threat. Thanks to Pixilate, Return is its Mega Altaria's most reliable Fairy STAB move, STAB isn't a noun hitting any unresisted foes for appreciable damage. Earthquake in tandem with Return offers great coverage across a lot of the metagame, with Earthquake hitting all the Fairy-resists Pokemon that resist Fairy, notably hitting the abundance of problematic Steel-types as well as Fire- and Poison-types like Heatran, Magearna, (AC) Smogon uses the serial comma at all times. Please be sure to know that for the future. and Toxapex. Roost provides reliable recovery, increasing its Mega Altaria's roost is the subject of the sentence; by saying "it" you're not referring to Altaria, especially since Altaria wasn't the subject of the previous sentence either overall longevity, (AC) allowing it to take more hits and enables enabling enabling + allowing, not allowing and enables it to set up easier. Roost also allows it to 1v1 a lot of mons that it wouldn't be able to if it opt not to run Roost, such as non Ice Beam Ash-Greninja, Charizard-Y, Zapdos, Tangrowth or Ferrothorn if it's lacking Gyro Ball or Thunder Wave. Roost also allows Mega Altaria to take on a lot of Pokemon that it wouldn't be able to otherwise, such as Ash-Greninja without Ice Beam, Mega Charizard Y, and Zapdos. Don't ever say "mons" again in a GP-ready analysis, please. It takes little effort to write something up well the first time and saves everybody effort in editing marking it out like this. Double Edge can be used over Return to provide more offensive presence to pressure your opponent earlier on in the game, but recoil can prove troublesome to Altaria. What important targets does Double Edge hit? Why should I use it instead of Return? Be specific

Set Details
========

Maximum EVs invested into Attack and Speed alongside a Jolly nature maximize its Mega Altaria's potential as offensive threat. An Adamant nature could be ran to better deal with Magearna, but Jolly is usually preferred, enabling Altaria before a Dragon Dance to outspeed; (remove) Timid Heatran and Jolly Tapu Bulu before a Dragon Dance; (SC) After 1 Dragon Dance to outpace Tapu Koko, Mega Lopunny, and Choice Scarf Heatran after one Dragon Dance; (ASC) and After 2 Dragon Dances outruns Choice Scarf Kartana and Kingdra in rain after two Dragon Dances. Natural Cure is the ability of choice pre-mega, healing itself from to heal Altaria of any status infliction by switching out before Mega Evolving, which could be crucial as this set is crippled by status ailments.

Usage Tips
========

Mega Altaria can be brought out against foes that are weak to it such as Garchomp, and switch out into Magnezone or Dugtrio to trap incoming checks like Celesteela or Toxapex. And although it has decent overall bulk, without defensive investment Altaria struggles to be brought directly out against foes, it's advised to wait till a teammate has been KOed to bring it on or throughout VoltTurn. Altaria doesn't need that many Dragon Dance's set up to become a threat, so it's advised to only set up the amount necessary for it to put in work. Altaria should wait until either its prominent counters have either been weakened or eliminated, giving it a much easier time in setting up and sweeping. Additionally it can come in against passive Pokemon that really can't touch it, like Mega-Sableye, forcing a switch to get a free Dragon Dance off. If revenge killers like Choice Scarf Tapu Lele are still in the back, Altario should probably wait until they've been KOed, or at least make sure it has enough boosts to outrun its revenge killers.

Sorry to break it to you but there is so much in this paragraph for me to go through, and I have some other comments regardless. How can you say that Altaria can be brought out against foes weak to it, then immediately in the next sentence say that it should not be brought out against things directly?

You say Altaria doesn't need many DDs to be threatening, which you sort of say the opposite of in the opening. How strong is it?

"Alt should wait for its counters to be weakened to set up" should be sentence #1. In fact, put everything before that at the end of the paragraph and move everything after that sentence up. That gets the useful information out there right away.



Team Options
========

Steel-types that can deal with other Steel-types make fantastic partners, as a partner being able to take on Fairies Fariy-types while being immune to Poison is great for Mega Altaria. Magnezone is arguably the best partner for it, trapping all Steel-types with Magnet Pull and either firing off super effective coverage in Hidden Power Fire or STAB Thunderbolt to foes like Celesteela or Skarmory. (period) Magnezone also pressures Toxapex while and can switch Mega Altaria in safely with providing momentum in Volt Switch. Altaria appreciates hazard stack entry hazard support provided by Ferrothorn, wearing down foes enabling which wears down Mega Altaria's foes to enable it to sweep or clean up better. (period) Ferrothorn also handles as well as Ferrothorn handling Fairy-types well. Adding onto the point above, Fire-types handle Steel-types effectively as well as resisting and resist handle + resist, not handle and resisting Fairy. Heatran takes on other pessimistic Steel-types as well as the majority of Fairy-types and bulky Poison-types like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss effectively with its STAB attacks. Depending on the Dugtrio variant, it can trap the annoying Steel-, Poison- and Fairy-types like: (colon) Toxapex, Magearna, Heatran, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Magnezone, Jirachi, (AC) and Nihilego. Some of these are more effectivle trpped ?????????????????????????????? with a Choice Scarf but sometimes the sheer force of Groundium Z is nice to OHKO Pokemon like Tapu Lele or Toxapex. Due to how susceptible Mega Altaria is to hazards and how easily it's wore worn down by them, hazard removers such as Mew, Latios, (AC) or Latias make good partners as they can also take care of Poison-types like Venusaur efficiently. Zapdos can remove hazards throughout the match with Defog and can handle Steel-types with Fire coverage as well Electric STAB hitting Pokemon like Toxapex and hit Toxapex with its Electric STAB moves. Excadrill has Rapid Spin to eliminate hazards whilst taking on Steel-, Poison-, (AC) and Fairy-types within its STAB attacks. A Pokemon to lure Venusaur in would be appreciated for Altaria; (SC) some examples would include Extrasensory Greninja, Guardian Of Alola Tapu Koko, Zen Headbutt Tapu Bulu, (AC) and Steelium Z Magearna. Landorus-T can pressure Steel-types as well as Flying Steel-types like Celesteela with Gravity or Smack Down and Mega Venusaur with Flyinium Z. Defensive partners like Tangrowth, bulky Landorus-T, and Alomomola can assist Altaria by being a reliable answer to Pokemon like Zygarde or Mega Pinsir, which Altaria fall short to without the necessary boosts.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Fire Blast exploits the numerous Steel-types that Earthquake fails to hit super effectively, some examples would include; Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Scizor, Kartana, (AC) and Skarmory. Body Slam can be used as its choice of Fairy STAB move over Return or Double Edge, having a 30% to paralyze foes, but lacks the immediate power that both Return and Double Edge offer. Additionally, Facade is an option to use over any other Fairy STAB move to take advantage of status ailments inflicted onto Altaria. A specially orientated set with Hyper Voice, Fire Blast, Roost, (AC) and Earthquake can be ran, but is typically underwhelming; (SC) lacking the Speed boosts from Dragon Dance leaving leaves it highly susceptible to a numerous amount of threats and is outclassed by other special attacking Fairies Fairy-types like Magearna or Tapu Lele. Heal Bell could be used to heal itself and teammates from status infliction which could otherwise cripple it, Refresh can be utulised utilized over Heal Bell for more PP, enabling it Mega Altaria to beat Toxic users by stalling them out of PP. Or, A set including Cotton Guard, Dragon Dance, Roost, (AC) and Return or Facade lets Altaria set up against Pokemon like Choice Band Tyranitar and a boosted Zygarde, also beating Choice Scarf Excadrill and most variants of rain teams considering most of the time their best answer to Altaria is Gyro Ball Ferrothorn. Although all of these traits sound desirable, its only attacking move is Fairy STAB, leaving it highly vulnerable to Pokemon like Heatran, Toxapex, (AC) and Magearna. An optimal EV spread for the spread would be 240 HP / 128 SpD / 140 Spe with a Jolly nature, which lets it outrun the likes of Choice Scarf Garchomp at +2, as well as Adamant Tapu Bulu before a boost. (Period) The remaning EVs are implemented into its defensive stats to increase its bulk.


Checks and Counters
===================

**Steel-types**: Even though Altaria has useful coverage in Earthquake or Fire Blast to exploit Steel-types, they still pose as great threats. If it opts not to run Fire Blast, it leaves itself highly susceptible to some of the tiers most prominent Steel-types. Celesteela is one of its best counters in the tier, completely walling it if lacking Fire Blast but even then Fire Blast's damage output is generally underwhelming, barely 4HKOing the specially defensive set. Much like Celesteela, Mega Scizor, Kartana, Ferrothorn, (AC) and Skarmory can take all of Altaria's hits well without Fire Blast and either hit it with their respectable super effective STAB attacks, phaze it out, (AC) or cripple it with status infliction. Kartana, Excadrill, (AC) and Jirachi are all troublesome to an un-boosted Altaria, outpacing it without the Speed boosts necessary and exploiting it with STAB moves. It's also worth noting that Magearna has access to Shift Gear, which boosts its Speed stat to the point where it outruns Altaria even at +1 and can KO Mega Altaria with STAB in Flash Cannon or Fleur Cannon or coverage in Ice Beam, makes Magearna a potent potential threat.

**Poison-types**: Altaria struggles to do virtually anything to bulky Poison-types; (SC) Mega Venusaur can tank any hit from Altaria even after boosts from Dragon Dance and fire back with super effective STAB moves or recover off all the damage dealt. Toxapex can take Altaria's Earthquakes somewhat well if it's not already weakened or if Altaria isn't excessively boosted, and mitigate the damage output by removing Altaria's boosts with Haze. Amoonguss can be pessimistic if it Mega Altaria opts to not run Fire Blast, either putting it to sleep or removing its stat boosts with Clear Smog. Other offensive Poison-types like Gengar and Nihilego can prove troublesome to Altaria, both utilizing Choice Scarf to outspeed it even after Speed boosts and OHKOing it with their STAB attacks.

**Fairy-types**: Quite a number of Fairy-types can deter with Altaria. Unaware Clefable can 1v1 beat Mega Altaria, ignoring its stat boosts and firing back with super effective Fairy STAB moves or recovering off damage with its recovery. Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Mega Diancie, Mimikyu, (AC) and Mega Gardevoir all outrun Altaria before boosts and can hammer it with their respectable STAB attacks.

**Revenge Killers**: A lot of common Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele, Kartana, Tapu Koko, Greninja, bv ?????? Gengar, Excadrill, Heatran (only if Altaria is Adamant) and Jirachi all outrun Altaria even after +1 boost in Speed and can exploit it super-effectively with super effective STAB attacks. Priority like Mega Scizor's Bullet Punch or Weavile's Ice Shard can deal hefty damage or even OHKO Altaria once it's been weakened. Weather abusers like Jolly Excadrill under sand can outrun Altaria even after at +2 and OHKO it with Iron Head, while Kingdra and Mega-Swampert can outrun it after at +1 and exploit it with the correct coverage moves

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There was a lot of simple stuff here that could have been fixed by glancing over the spelling & grammar standards.
 
Last edited:

dhelmise

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[OVERVIEW]

Mega Altaria has a good offensive and defensive typing, useful coverage moves, and a way to boost its already-proficient offensive stats, giving it a niche as a sweeper of unprepared teams. However, several checks to Mega Altaria are very common, meaning it requires quite a large amount of support in entry hazard removers, Steel-type checks, and Mega Venusaur checks to fully become a threat. Due to its bulk and access to reliable recovery in Roost, it can find more opportunities to set up. Although Altaria before Mega Evolving is immune to all entry hazards besides Stealth Rock, after Mega Evolving, (AC) it's very vulnerable to hazard stacking, being worn down and pressured much easier. One of Altaria's glaring flaws it is its somewhat lackluster base 80 Speed, meaning that it needs to obtain boosts from Dragon Dance to distinguish itself as a threat. In addition to its extremely average Speed stat, the tier is littered with viable Steel- and Fairy-types which that deter and prove detrimental towards Altaria.

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Return
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roost
item: Altarianite
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

Dragon Dance enables Mega Altaria to pose as a much bigger threat. Thanks to Pixilate, Return is Mega Altaria's most reliable Fairy-type STAB move, hitting any unresisted unresistant foes for appreciable damage. Earthquake in tandem with Return offers great coverage across a lot of the metagame, with Earthquake hitting all of the Pokemon that resist Fairy-type moves, notably problematic Steel-types as well as Fire- and Poison-types like Heatran, Magearna, and Toxapex. Roost provides reliable recovery, increasing Mega Altaria's overall longevity, allowing it to take more hits and enabling it to set up easier. Roost also allows Mega Altaria to take on a lot of Pokemon that it wouldn't be able to otherwise, such as Ash-Greninja without Ice Beam, Mega Charizard Y, and Zapdos. Double-Edge (AH) can be used over Return to provide more offensive presence to pressure your opponent earlier on in the game as well as foes like Mew and Clefable, but recoil can prove troublesome to Altaria.
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Set Details
========

Maximum EVs invested into Attack and Speed alongside a Jolly nature maximize Mega Altaria's potential as offensive threat. An Adamant nature could be ran to better deal with Magearna, but Jolly is usually preferred, enabling Altaria to outspeed Timid Heatran and Jolly Tapu Bulu before a Dragon Dance; Tapu Koko, Mega Lopunny, and Choice Scarf Heatran after one Dragon Dance; and Choice Scarf Kartana and Kingdra in rain after two Dragon Dances. Natural Cure is the ability of choice to heal Altaria of any status infliction by switching out before Mega Evolving, which could be crucial, (AC) as this set is crippled by status ailments.
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Usage Tips
========

Altaria should wait until either its prominent counters have either been weakened or eliminated, giving it a much easier time in setting up and sweeping. Additionally it can come in against passive Pokemon that really can't touch it, like Mega Sableye, forcing a switch to get a free Dragon Dance off. If revenge killers like Choice Scarf Tapu Lele are still in the back, Altaria should probably wait until they've been KOed, or at least make sure it has enough boosts to outrun its revenge killers. Mega Altaria can be brought out against foes that are weak to it such as Garchomp, and it can switch out into Magnezone or Dugtrio to trap incoming checks like Celesteela or Toxapex. And On top of that, (AC) although it has decent overall bulk, without defensive investment Altaria struggles to be brought directly out against powerful foes like Tapu Lele or and Mega Mawile, it's advised to wait till until a teammate has been KOed to bring it on in or throughout via VoltTurn. Altaria doesn't need that many Dragon Dances set up to become a threat, so it's advised to only set up the amount necessary for it to put in work.
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Team Options
========

Steel-types that can deal with other Steel-types make fantastic partners, as a partner able to take on Fariy-types while being immune to Poison is great for Mega Altaria. Magnezone is arguably the best partner for it, trapping all Steel-types with Magnet Pull and either firing off super effective coverage in Hidden Power Fire or STAB Thunderbolt to foes like Celesteela or and Skarmory. Magnezone also pressures Toxapex and can switch Mega Altaria in safely with Volt Switch. Altaria appreciates entry hazard support provided by Ferrothorn, which wears down Mega Altaria's foes to enable it to sweep or clean up better. (period) (remove leftover comment) Ferrothorn also handles Fairy-types well. Adding onto the point above, Fire-types handle Steel-types effectively and resist Fairy. Heatran takes on other pessimistic Steel-types as well as the majority of Fairy-types and bulky Poison-types like Mega Venusaur and Amoonguss effectively with its STAB attacks. Depending on the Dugtrio variant, it can trap the annoying Steel-, Poison- and Fairy-types like: (remove colon) Toxapex, Magearna, Heatran, Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Magnezone, Jirachi, and Nihilego. Some of these are more effectively trapped with a Choice Scarf, (AC) but sometimes the sheer force of Groundium Z is nice to OHKO Pokemon like Tapu Lele or Toxapex. Due to how susceptible Mega Altaria is to hazards and how easily it's worn down by them, hazard removers such as Mew, Latios, or and Latias make good partners, (AC) as they can also take care of Poison-types like Venusaur efficiently. Zapdos can remove hazards throughout the match with Defog and can handle Steel-types with Fire coverage and hit Toxapex with its Electric-type STAB moves. Excadrill has Rapid Spin to eliminate hazards whilst while taking on Steel-, Poison-, and Fairy-types with its STAB attacks. A Pokemon to lure Venusaur in would be appreciated for Altaria; some examples would include Extrasensory Greninja, Guardian Of Alola Tapu Koko, Zen Headbutt Tapu Bulu, and Steelium Z Magearna. Landorus-T can pressure Steel-types as well as Celesteela with Gravity or Smack Down and Mega Venusaur with Flyinium Z. Defensive partners like Tangrowth, bulky Landorus-T, and Alomomola can assist Altaria by being a reliable answer to Pokemon like Zygarde or Mega Pinsir, which Altaria fall short to without the necessary boosts.
(remove blank line)

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Fire Blast exploits the numerous Steel-types that Earthquake fails to hit super effectively. (comma into period) Some examples would include; (RSC) Celesteela, Ferrothorn, Scizor, Kartana, and Skarmory. Body Slam can be used as its Mega Altaria's choice of Fairy-type STAB move over Return or Double-Edge (AH), having a 30% to paralyze foes, but lacks the immediate power that both Return and Double-Edge (AH) offer. Additionally, Facade is an option to use over any other Fairy-type STAB move to take advantage of status ailments inflicted onto Altaria after it Mega Evolves. A specially orientated based mixed set with Hyper Voice, Fire Blast, Roost, and Earthquake can be ran, (RC) but is typically underwhelming; lacking the Speed boosts from Dragon Dance leaves it highly susceptible to a numerous amount of threats and is outclassed by other special attacking Fairy-types like Magearna or and Tapu Lele. Heal Bell could be used to heal itself and Mega Altaria and its teammates from status infliction which ailments that could otherwise cripple it them, Refresh can be utilized over Heal Bell for more PP, enabling Mega Altaria to beat Toxic users by stalling them out of PP. A set including Cotton Guard, Dragon Dance, Roost, and Return or Facade lets Altaria set up against Pokemon like Choice Band Tyranitar and a boosted Zygarde, also beating Choice Scarf Excadrill and most variants of rain teams considering most of the time their best answer to Altaria is Gyro Ball Ferrothorn. Although all of these traits sound desirable, its only attacking move is Fairy-type, leaving it highly vulnerable to Pokemon like Heatran, Toxapex, and Magearna. An optimal EV spread would be 240 HP / 128 SpD / 140 Spe with a Jolly nature, which lets it outrun the likes of Choice Scarf Garchomp at +2, as well as Adamant Tapu Bulu before a boost. The remaining EVs are implemented into its defensive stats to increase its bulk.
(remove blank line)

Checks and Counters
===================

**Steel-types**: Even though Altaria has useful coverage in Earthquake or Fire Blast to exploit Steel-types, they still pose great threats. If it opts not to run Fire Blast, it leaves itself highly susceptible to some of the tier's most prominent Steel-types. Celesteela is one of its best counters in the tier, completely walling it if lacking Mega Altaria if it lacks Fire Blast, (AC) but even then Fire Blast's damage output is generally underwhelming, barely 4HKOing the specially defensive set. Much like Celesteela, Mega Scizor, Kartana, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory can take all of Altaria's hits well without Fire Blast and either hit it with their respectable super effective STAB attacks, phaze it out, or cripple it with status infliction. Kartana, Excadrill, and Jirachi are all troublesome to an unboosted (RH) Altaria, outpacing it without the Speed boosts necessary and exploiting it with STAB moves. It's also worth noting that Magearna has access to Shift Gear, which boosts its Speed stat to the point where it outruns Altaria even at +1 and can KO Mega Altaria with STAB in Flash Cannon or Fleur Cannon or coverage in Ice Beam.

**Poison-types**: Altaria struggles to do virtually anything to bulky Poison-types; Mega Venusaur can tank any hit from Altaria even after boosts from Dragon Dance and fire back with super effective STAB moves or recover off all of the damage dealt. Toxapex can take Altaria's Earthquakes somewhat well if it's not already weakened or if Altaria isn't excessively boosted, and mitigate the damage output by removing Altaria's boosts with Haze. Amoonguss can be pessimistic if Mega Altaria opts to not run Fire Blast, either putting it to sleep or removing its stat boosts with Clear Smog. Other offensive Poison-types like Gengar and Nihilego can prove troublesome to Altaria, both utilizing Choice Scarf to outspeed it even after Speed boosts and OHKOing it with their STAB attacks.

**Fairy-types**: Quite a number of Fairy-types can deter Altaria. Unaware Clefable can beat Mega Altaria, ignoring its stat boosts and firing back with super effective Fairy STAB moves or recovering off damage. Tapu Koko, Tapu Lele, Mega Diancie, Mimikyu, and Mega Gardevoir all outrun Altaria before boosts and can hammer it with their respectable STAB attacks.

**Revenge Killers**: A lot of common Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele, Kartana, Tapu Koko, Greninja, Gengar, Excadrill, Heatran (only if Altaria is Adamant), (AC) and Jirachi all outrun Altaria even after +1 boost in Speed and can exploit it with super effective STAB attacks. Priority like Mega Scizor's Bullet Punch or Weavile's Ice Shard can deal hefty damage or even OHKO KO Altaria once it's been weakened. Weather abusers like Jolly Excadrill under sand can outrun Altaria even at +2 and OHKO it with Iron Head, while Kingdra and Mega Swampert can outrun it at +1 and exploit it with the correct coverage moves. (Add period)
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