[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.
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.
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