References:
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/moltres
http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-dp/146.shtml
March Shoddy Statistics
Background Info:
In the month of March Moltres was used in 1.1% of all battles in OU! Let's raise that up a bit.
Most Moltres were Modest with the most common attack being... Air Slash!? Although being a STAB attack it has terrible coverage, being resisted still by Rock and not gaining much neutral coverage either. Only 23% were running Toxic, that saddens me. =(
Toxic stalling is one of Moltres' niches which I'll discuss soon.
As you can see, Moltres has a rather unique typing like its brethren legendary flyers, shared only by Charizard and Ho-oh. This gives it some notable resistances but many weaknesses, especially that one to Rock. What goes through your head when you are reminded of good old Moltres in OU?
-Stealth Rock shits in his face!
-lol, no. Only in UU
-Cool but bad
I'm going to share with you what should go through your mind when you think of the flame Pokemon.
1. The BEST Toxic staller in the game, beside possibly Ho-oh but that's Ubers and it usually has something better to do. This in addition to being one of the best stall Pokemon there is.
2. The BEST counter to Scizor you can have besides Ho-oh, again.
This is if Stealth Rock is off the field. Not as hard as you might think.
Now, the first thing that will probably go through your mind when using Moltres is getting past that terrible Stealth Rock weakness. Being 4x weak, a Rapid Spinner would definately be helpful. Otherwise Moltres will have trouble performing its jobs. For some reason, using a spinner is generally regarded as a poor idea in the OU metagame. That just makes using one all the better! You will find trouble seeking out a spinner that does no share a weakness with Moltres, in fact, the only one you should consider who doesn't share a weakness is Forretress. They make a pretty pair. Be sure to give it Payback to deal with Rotom-A! Donphan is another good choice since it resists Rock and is immune to Electric attacks which plague Moltres. It can also use a Choice Band with Assurance or Earthquake to clear the way of Rotoms and Dusknoir. Starmie and Tentacruel resist Water but share a weakness to Electric. However, both of these Pokemon tend to counter similiar Pokemon Moltres would, such as Infernape and Heatran. Another way to stop Stealth Rock is to simply prevent your foe from setting it up. Faster Taunt leads work decently at this, although most of them are part Flying, thus share weaknesses with Moltres. A Choice Scarf Breloom however can easily Spore a lead to prevent it from setting up and that is usually their only Pokemon that knows the move. Well, now that you've got rid of Stealth Rock, you can put Moltres to the test.
1. The best Toxic staller
Moltres @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 Spe
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Roost
- Flamethrower
What makes Moltres the best Toxic staller when Stealth Rock is off the field?
- Good speed, unlike Blissey and Porygon2, allows it to set up a fast Subsitute. 184 Speed makes you faster than Adamant Gyarados and Milotic, who you can possibly stall out if it has been posioned previously. You can also switch in on Mamoswine as long as they don't use Stone Edge and beat it with Flamethrower.
- Reliable recovery in Roost. This is very important. Roost buys you an Ice resist, in addition to making you neutral to Electric attacks. Obviously, it allows you to keep Toxic stalling and even recover off Stealth Rock damage.
- STAB Flamethrower lets you beat Steel-types immune to Toxic. Even though Zapdos now has Heat Wave, it has to choose between STAB or a Fire attack. Even then, Heat Wave can't get past CM Jirachi or Bronzong very easily. Along with Toxic, only Heatran, Tentacruel and Qwilfish resist your moves. Forget Qwilfish, Heatran can easily be stalled out. You only have to worry about Taunt Tran and Explosion. Tentacruel will usually stop your rampage but it isn't all that common or difficult to kill.
- The Pressure is on! The usually useless ability Pressure allows you to stall out almost any Pokemon. In comes CB Tyranitar to Stone Edge you. After 4 turns of using it, it will be forced to Struggle. Although you can't use Subsitute four times (or die to sandstorm), it is quite likely it will miss at least once. Then you are free to use Toxic and stall it out.
I've come back from 4-0 to 0-1 with just Moltres. Stall teams without a bulky Water-type that knows Rest dread this guy. The only Pokemon that can't be stalled out is Starmie because it is faster and has Natural Cure.
2. The best Scizor counter
Moltres @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
- Flamethrower
- Toxic / Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Hidden Power Grass / Ground
What makes Moltres the best Scizor counter around when Stealth Rock is absent?
- A STAB super effective attack for one thing. This lets him perform the role of counter by posing not just a great threat, but a death sentence to any Scizor adamant enough.
- Lots of defense. Moltres possesses more defense than Rotom-A or Zapdos (by 5 base stat points). Let us compare to the defenses of these two "great Scizor counters".
Stat order: HP / X / Def / SpA / SpD / Spe
Rotom-A: 304 / X / 344 / 246 / 250 / 218 Spe
Zapdos: 384 / X / 287 / 286 / 216 / 244
Moltres: 383 / X / 306 / 288 / 206 / 216
Rotom's superior defenses are undermined by its very poor Hit Points. Zapdos only really has a higher speed stat, but against a slower Pokemon like Scizor, it doesn't really matter.
- His cool typing. Moltres is x4 resisted to U-turn which allows it to switch in repeatedly where Rotom-A and Zapdos would slowly be worn out. Other counters such as Heatran and Magnezone fear a Fighting move which Moltres resists. Both Rotom-A and Zapdos, aswell as even Heatran and Magnezone (Scizor 'checks') fear Heatran however Moltres welcomes its appearance.
This Moltres also has some unique things that make it a good counter to many other Pokemon. For instance, it doesn't have to worry about an Ice Punch or Crunch from Lucario. Since only 11.5% of them run Stone Edge, you can often times switch in with impunity. Since you are not weak to Ice, you can also switch in on Mixape where his strongest attack is Fire Blast which usually does 41% at maximum to Moltres even without any SpD EVs.
The only users of STAB Stone Edge in OU are Tyranitar and the uncommon Rhyperior. If you can hit them on the switch with Will-O-Wisp, you can often times stall them out of PP without using Substitute but just Roost. People really underestimate Will-O-Wisp. They freely switch in their Gyarados only to get burned, then managing under 50% with a LO Waterfall. Your choice of Hidden Power 2HKOes Swampert and Rhyperior or Heatran and Infernape, whichever you have more trouble against.
Conclusion:
Moltres is a niche Pokmeon. Next time you're racking your brain to find a counter to Scizor, Heatran, Lucario AND Infernape why not take a gandar at Moltres. Just remember to get rid of Stealth Rock. Thanks for reading!
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/moltres
http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-dp/146.shtml
March Shoddy Statistics
Background Info:
In the month of March Moltres was used in 1.1% of all battles in OU! Let's raise that up a bit.
Most Moltres were Modest with the most common attack being... Air Slash!? Although being a STAB attack it has terrible coverage, being resisted still by Rock and not gaining much neutral coverage either. Only 23% were running Toxic, that saddens me. =(
Toxic stalling is one of Moltres' niches which I'll discuss soon.
As you can see, Moltres has a rather unique typing like its brethren legendary flyers, shared only by Charizard and Ho-oh. This gives it some notable resistances but many weaknesses, especially that one to Rock. What goes through your head when you are reminded of good old Moltres in OU?
-Stealth Rock shits in his face!
-lol, no. Only in UU
-Cool but bad
I'm going to share with you what should go through your mind when you think of the flame Pokemon.
1. The BEST Toxic staller in the game, beside possibly Ho-oh but that's Ubers and it usually has something better to do. This in addition to being one of the best stall Pokemon there is.
2. The BEST counter to Scizor you can have besides Ho-oh, again.
This is if Stealth Rock is off the field. Not as hard as you might think.
Now, the first thing that will probably go through your mind when using Moltres is getting past that terrible Stealth Rock weakness. Being 4x weak, a Rapid Spinner would definately be helpful. Otherwise Moltres will have trouble performing its jobs. For some reason, using a spinner is generally regarded as a poor idea in the OU metagame. That just makes using one all the better! You will find trouble seeking out a spinner that does no share a weakness with Moltres, in fact, the only one you should consider who doesn't share a weakness is Forretress. They make a pretty pair. Be sure to give it Payback to deal with Rotom-A! Donphan is another good choice since it resists Rock and is immune to Electric attacks which plague Moltres. It can also use a Choice Band with Assurance or Earthquake to clear the way of Rotoms and Dusknoir. Starmie and Tentacruel resist Water but share a weakness to Electric. However, both of these Pokemon tend to counter similiar Pokemon Moltres would, such as Infernape and Heatran. Another way to stop Stealth Rock is to simply prevent your foe from setting it up. Faster Taunt leads work decently at this, although most of them are part Flying, thus share weaknesses with Moltres. A Choice Scarf Breloom however can easily Spore a lead to prevent it from setting up and that is usually their only Pokemon that knows the move. Well, now that you've got rid of Stealth Rock, you can put Moltres to the test.
1. The best Toxic staller
Moltres @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 76 Def / 184 Spe
- Substitute
- Toxic
- Roost
- Flamethrower
What makes Moltres the best Toxic staller when Stealth Rock is off the field?
- Good speed, unlike Blissey and Porygon2, allows it to set up a fast Subsitute. 184 Speed makes you faster than Adamant Gyarados and Milotic, who you can possibly stall out if it has been posioned previously. You can also switch in on Mamoswine as long as they don't use Stone Edge and beat it with Flamethrower.
- Reliable recovery in Roost. This is very important. Roost buys you an Ice resist, in addition to making you neutral to Electric attacks. Obviously, it allows you to keep Toxic stalling and even recover off Stealth Rock damage.
- STAB Flamethrower lets you beat Steel-types immune to Toxic. Even though Zapdos now has Heat Wave, it has to choose between STAB or a Fire attack. Even then, Heat Wave can't get past CM Jirachi or Bronzong very easily. Along with Toxic, only Heatran, Tentacruel and Qwilfish resist your moves. Forget Qwilfish, Heatran can easily be stalled out. You only have to worry about Taunt Tran and Explosion. Tentacruel will usually stop your rampage but it isn't all that common or difficult to kill.
- The Pressure is on! The usually useless ability Pressure allows you to stall out almost any Pokemon. In comes CB Tyranitar to Stone Edge you. After 4 turns of using it, it will be forced to Struggle. Although you can't use Subsitute four times (or die to sandstorm), it is quite likely it will miss at least once. Then you are free to use Toxic and stall it out.
I've come back from 4-0 to 0-1 with just Moltres. Stall teams without a bulky Water-type that knows Rest dread this guy. The only Pokemon that can't be stalled out is Starmie because it is faster and has Natural Cure.
2. The best Scizor counter
Moltres @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
- Flamethrower
- Toxic / Will-O-Wisp
- Roost
- Hidden Power Grass / Ground
What makes Moltres the best Scizor counter around when Stealth Rock is absent?
- A STAB super effective attack for one thing. This lets him perform the role of counter by posing not just a great threat, but a death sentence to any Scizor adamant enough.
- Lots of defense. Moltres possesses more defense than Rotom-A or Zapdos (by 5 base stat points). Let us compare to the defenses of these two "great Scizor counters".
Stat order: HP / X / Def / SpA / SpD / Spe
Rotom-A: 304 / X / 344 / 246 / 250 / 218 Spe
Zapdos: 384 / X / 287 / 286 / 216 / 244
Moltres: 383 / X / 306 / 288 / 206 / 216
Rotom's superior defenses are undermined by its very poor Hit Points. Zapdos only really has a higher speed stat, but against a slower Pokemon like Scizor, it doesn't really matter.
- His cool typing. Moltres is x4 resisted to U-turn which allows it to switch in repeatedly where Rotom-A and Zapdos would slowly be worn out. Other counters such as Heatran and Magnezone fear a Fighting move which Moltres resists. Both Rotom-A and Zapdos, aswell as even Heatran and Magnezone (Scizor 'checks') fear Heatran however Moltres welcomes its appearance.
This Moltres also has some unique things that make it a good counter to many other Pokemon. For instance, it doesn't have to worry about an Ice Punch or Crunch from Lucario. Since only 11.5% of them run Stone Edge, you can often times switch in with impunity. Since you are not weak to Ice, you can also switch in on Mixape where his strongest attack is Fire Blast which usually does 41% at maximum to Moltres even without any SpD EVs.
The only users of STAB Stone Edge in OU are Tyranitar and the uncommon Rhyperior. If you can hit them on the switch with Will-O-Wisp, you can often times stall them out of PP without using Substitute but just Roost. People really underestimate Will-O-Wisp. They freely switch in their Gyarados only to get burned, then managing under 50% with a LO Waterfall. Your choice of Hidden Power 2HKOes Swampert and Rhyperior or Heatran and Infernape, whichever you have more trouble against.
Conclusion:
Moltres is a niche Pokmeon. Next time you're racking your brain to find a counter to Scizor, Heatran, Lucario AND Infernape why not take a gandar at Moltres. Just remember to get rid of Stealth Rock. Thanks for reading!