Base Stats : 78 HP / 81 Atk / 71 Def / 74 SAtk / 69 SDef / 126 Spe
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Ability 1 : "Flame Body" - The opponent has a 30% chance of being induced with BURN when using an attack, that requires physical contact, against this Pokémon.
Hidden Ability : "Gale Wings" - All Flying-type moves have their Speed Priority increased by 1.
Overview - **I knew this thing was gonna be amazing**Notable Moves
Brave Bird | Flare Blitz | Roost | Acrobatics | Tailwind | Steel Wing | Bulk Up | Taunt | Will O Wisp | Swords Dance | U Turn
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Don't judge a book by its cover.
Talonflame looked pretty disappointing ever since it was revealed back in 2013. 4x weakness to Stealth Rock was the most glaring flaw that popped out for any competitive player. To make things worse, Talonflame's only 100+ stat was its Speed. Otherwise, Talonflame was the living epitome of below average. Talonflame was just starting to look like every other Bird Starter out there.
However, Talonflame had one attribute that, surprisingly, didn't shock players as much as when people started to realize how OP it was. Gale Wings. The ability to provide +1 priority to any Flying Move in its arsenal immediately made it a relevant threat. Priority STAB Brave Bird is now one of the most effective revenge-killing tools in its arsenal, resisted only by Steel, Rock and Electric Type Pokemon. In addition, STAB Flare Blitz provides near perfect coverage for Talonflame resisted only by Rotom-Wash, Rotom-Heat, Heatran and Tyranitar.
Talonflame is one of the few offensive Pokemon who have the liberty to run an Attack boosting nature due to its ridiculously high base Speed and ability in Gale Wing.
Talonflame fits right into this Generation perfectly, revenge killing offensive threats with one hit and sweeping late-game with priority Brave Bird if presented the chance. One just make sure to play conservatively with Talonflame early-game and to provide anti-hazard support. Doing so will reward the player immensely as a fully healthy Talonflame is definitely a potent Pokemon, late-game.
Moveset - **credits to alexwolf !**
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Choice Band
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name: Choice Band
move 1: Brave Bird
move 2: Flare Blitz
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Tailwind / Will-O-Wisp
ability: Gale Wings
item: Choice Band
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moves
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Set Details
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- Brave Bird gets priority, making Talonflame one of the best revenge killers and late-game cleaners in OU
- Flare Blitz covers Steel- and most Electric-types that resist Brave Bird
- U-turn damages Talonflame's checks and keeps momentum
- Tailwind should be used as a last ditch effort against Pokemon that you can't revenge kill with Brave Bird, such as Mega DD Ttar, Mega Aero, Autotomize Aegislash, and Thundurus.
- WoW permanently cripples physically based checks to Talonflame, such as Tyranitar and Hippowdon
Set Details
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- Max Speed to speed tie opposing Talonflame and outprioritize Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack with Brave Bird
- Jolly + enough Speed to outrun Mega Lucario and Flare Blitz it, as Brave Bird can't KO it if it's healthy. Outspeeding Thundurus is nice too, to KO it with Flare Blitz before it KOs back
- Sharp Beak + Roost can be used if you don't like being locked into one move. Priority Roost is always great too.
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Swords Dance
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name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Brave Bird
move 3: Flare Blitz
move 4: Roost
ability: Gale Wings
item: Sharp Beak / Life Orb
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Moves
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Set Details
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- Swords Dance makes Talonflame a great sweeper
- Brave Bird does work after a boost and gets priority
- Flare Blitz covers some of the stuff that BB can't
- Roost allows Talonflame to play as an all out attacker in early-game, and act as a good check to Pokemon that it can easily switch into, such as Scizor, Stone Edge-less Landorus-T, and Volcarona. Finally, it somewhat mitigates the SR weakness and makes setting up easier
Set Details
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- Max Speed to speed tie opposing Talonflame and outprioritize Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack with Brave Bird
- Sharp Beak is the best option, but Life Orb gets some significant OHKOes at +2 (more on this on the write-up)
- Jolly + enough Speed for Mega Lucario and Thundurus
- Taunt for phazers (Hippo and SpD Heatran) and hazard users (Deo-D)
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Bulk Up
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name: Bulk Up
move 1: Bulk Up
move 2: Brave Bird
move 3: Roost
move 4: Taunt / Substitute
ability: Gale Wings
item: Leftovers
nature: Careful
evs: 248 HP / 184 SpD / 76 Spe
Moves
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Set Details
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- Bulk Up makes Talonflame really difficult to take down and gives it the power to sweep through teams
- Brave Bird stings after a few boosts, and outruns almost everything
- Roost allows you to live long enough to be a threat
- Taunt prevents phazing, hazards, and status from Pokemon such as Hippowdon, Ferrothorn, Tentacruel, and Heatran
- Sub helps stall out Stone Edge users such as Tyranitar and Landorus-T, and also helps stall out Rotom-W's Hydro Pump. It also helps against revenge killers.
- Staraptor
Set Details
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- Enough Speed to outrun positive base 90s (Deo-D, Rotom-W, and Excadrill), rest in special bulk
- WoW can be used to cripple the physically oriented switch-ins such as Ttar and Hippowdon, but the other moves on the 4th slot are better suited for a sweeping role
- Flare Blitz can be used on the last slot for a way to deal immeditely with threatening Steel-types, such as Lucario and Excadrill, but it leaves Talonflame very prone to its usual checks and counters
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Easily one of Generation VI's most interesting additions to the OU metagame, Talonflame will be staying in OU for the foreseeable future. Gale Wing is simply too good of an ability and provides Talonflame with certain liberties other offensive Pokemon cannot afford.
How should Talonflame be played? Who are its best partners? Discuss!
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