Champions VGC Spotlight: Aerodactyl

Art by skype.

Upon the release of Pokémon Champions, most VGC players concluded the Mega Evolution to beat in its early days would be Mega Charizard Y—and they were right! Mega Charizard Y became the most used Mega Evolution likely because of how easily accessible it is in comparison to Mega Floette; additionally, Regulation M-A is on such a low power scale that Mega Charizard Y is capable of OHKOing and 2HKOing every Pokémon in the metagame, including Pokémon that resist Mega Charizard Y's attacks like Garchomp. Players adapted to this hostile takeover by turning to an ancient Pokémon (quite literally) that hasn't seen significant usage since the 3DS era: Aerodactyl.

Aerodactyl's Role and Strengths in the Regulation M-A Metagame

Aerodactyl uses its Rock- and Flying-type STAB attacks, Rock Slide and Dual Wingbeat, to easily threaten Mega Charizard Y and Sneasler, respectively. Aerodactyl is also the fastest non-priority-boosted Tailwind setter in the format with an amazing base 130 Speed stat. While Aerodactyl does have a mediocre Attack stat by modern-day standards, this Attack stat is more than enough to let it KO Sneasler with little bulk investment, which it naturally outspeeds, with Dual Wingbeat. This even lets Aerodactyl KO the rarer Focus Sash Sneasler sets! Outside of Aerodactyl's great stats and typing matchups, the ol' reliable Rock Slide is a dreaded spread attack that, despite having an overall middling damage output, is capable of deciding which player wins and loses. The Pokémon Works nerfed the flinch chance of notorious moves like Iron Head from 30% to 20% in Champions; however, they left Rock Slide untouched. A very fast Pokémon with the ability to make both opposing Pokémon flinch can easily turn the tide in a bad position or just outright prevent your opponent from playing the game. This luck-based strategy is balanced out by Rock Slide's 90% accuracy, which can provide the opponent a free turn should it miss. Aerodactyl is also risky to use offensively, as all of its damaging moves are inaccurate.

The Prehistoric Bird's Historic Usage in VGC

2014 was the first year Aerodactyl saw significant usage in VGC, where the format only allowed Pokémon from the XY regional Pokédex to be used. Aerodactyl was used on various teams that top cut major events such as Baris Akcos's German Nationals Top 16 and UK Nationals Top 8 team. Aerodactyl functioned as a fast support Pokémon, threatening Mega Charizard Y and Talonflame with Rock Slide as well as providing nice utility like Sky Drop to prevent the foes from acting for a turn, Taunt to disrupt Amoonguss, Tailwind for speed control, and Wide Guard to protect itself and its allies from the plethora of spread attacks like Earthquake from Garchomp and Heat Wave from Mega Charizard Y. Aerodactyl also had a spectacular top 8 finish in the 2014 World Championships on Ryosuke Kosuge's team.

In 2015, the VGC format allowed Pokémon from the National Dex and the new Mega Evolutions introduced in ORAS. This resulted in Aerodactyl's usage dropping significantly after a strong performance in the World Championships, since it could not hold its own against the reintroduction of Thundurus and Landorus-T. In particular, Aerodactyl had a very bad matchup against the infamous CHALK team. Aerodactyl cannot sufficiently damage Landorus-T, Heatran, and Cresselia, while Thundurus and Mega Kangaskhan disrupt it with Thunder Wave and Fake Out, respectively, which let Thundurus easily KO it.

It wasn't until 2017 that Aerodactyl saw some usage in the metagame again. Aerodactyl excelled mostly in Oceania, having great performances in Sydney Regionals and OCIC. Brian Amedee's team finished in top 8 at Sydney Regionals, and Daniel Parks's team achieved a top 16 placement at OCIC. Aerodactyl was used in a similar manner as it was in 2014. Because Mega Charizard Y was not available in this format, Aerodactyl didn't require Rock Slide to threaten any dominant threats, though the flinch chance from Rock Slide remained useful. The primary use for Aerodactyl in this format was its Speed. Aerodactyl shares the same Speed stat as Tapu Koko, one of the fastest Pokémon in the format. Should Tapu Koko not be fully invested in Speed with a positive nature, Aerodactyl could easily outspeed and disrupt it with Sky Drop. Thanks to Focus Sash, it also could survive a Thunderbolt from Tapu Koko to set up Tailwind for its allies. Aerodactyl's usage was short-lived, however. In 2018 with the introduction of the National Dex, Aerodactyl's usage dropped as the general power scale increased with the introduction of more options, including Mega Evolutions as well as sub-legendaries like Zapdos and Landorus-T. These new additions provided better options for Pokémon that fulfill Aerodactyl's roles: Landorus-T was better at spamming Rock Slide thanks to its bulk and Intimidate being a better supportive ability; Mega Gengar also shared Aerodactyl's base 130 Speed stat and could easily threaten Tapu Koko, as opposed to disrupting it; and Mega Salamence dealt significantly more damage than Aerodactyl while having access to Tailwind. Generation 7 also reworked pinch Berries such as the Figy Berry, so often enough Aerodactyl would barely miss out on a KO and do overall low damage thanks to the huge recovery the pinch Berries provided.

Generation 8 wasn't welcoming to Aerodactyl either. Aerodactyl became available after the Crown Tundra DLC was released in Series 7, where the format once again was at a high power scale with Dynamax increasing the bulk and damage of every Pokémon as well as the introduction of a new sub-legendary in Urshifu-R, which easily threatens Aerodactyl with Surging Strikes. Speed interactions also changed in Generation 8, as Speed changes were now effective immediately. This popularized more speed control options such as Max Airstream as well as Prankster-boosted Tailwind from Whimsicott and Tornadus, which allowed their partners and themselves to outspeed Aerodactyl.

What does Aerodactyl's Future in Pokémon Champions Look Like?

Heading into the next ruleset, Aerodactyl will likely still be able to hold its own, as it will still be the most straightforward Mega Charizard Y check. While the rules of the next format have not been confirmed at the time of writing, it is speculated that more Pokémon will become available in Champions, notably Pokémon like Mega Metagross and Mega Salamence, as well as a few of the new Mega Evolutions that were introduced in Legends Z-A but not available in Champions at launch, such as Mega Scrafty, Mega Tatsugiri, Mega Baxcalibur, and the Z Mega Evolutions. While all of these new Mega Evolutions hinder Aerodactyl via damage reduction or threatening to KO it, and Aerodactyl cannot sufficiently damage them back, these Pokémon are not likely to be featured on teams with Mega Charizard Y.

However, Aerodactyl will definitely drop in usage when Mega Charizard Y does. This will likely occur when sub-legendaries are added into Champions's available Pokémon pool. Particularly powerful Pokémon, like Landorus-T, Thundurus, and Raging Bolt, are all troublesome for Mega Charizard Y; they either threaten to KO it or are difficult for Mega Charizard Y to defeat, and they also threaten Aerodactyl in the same manner. Furthermore, Generation 9 introduced a lot of new Pokémon that have a higher Speed stat than Aerodactyl, notably Flutter Mane, Chien-Pao, and the Z Mega Evolutions. All of these options can threaten a higher damage output than Aerodactyl, and Flutter Mane can even provide speed control with Icy Wind and Thunder Wave. The expansion of item choices will also negatively affect Aerodactyl, in particular the reintroduction of Covert Cloak to prevent flinches from Rock Slide.