[OVERVIEW]
- Utility in moves, power, and bulk makes it a great choice as a legendary as it fills many criterias.
- Offensive power is hard to check without having a great amount of bulk or a resisted typing.
- Supports teammates with just its presence due to Dark Aura boosting the power of dark-type moves, Yveltal also has Taunt and Tailwind to further prove Yveltal is great on the supportive side.
- Carries two immunities which on its own makes pokemon not a threat to it.
- On the contrary Yveltal biggest flaws are in its defensive typing, making it weak to some of the most popular types in VGC such as Fairy and Ice. Outside of obscure moves it has nothing to hit said types.
- Yveltal is also weak to common spread moves like Dazzling Gleam as well as Eruption and Water Spout which it doesn't resist.
- Occasionally Yveltal's ability can backfire onto its team mates as well since it boost Dark-type moves to everyone.
- Speed is off by 1 point making able to speed tie with much more of the Metagame.
[SET]
name: Bulky Utility
move 1: Foul Play
move 2: Snarl
move 3: Sucker Punch
move 4: Protect
item: Black Glasses
ability: Dark Aura
nature: Timid
evs: 244 HP / 36 SpD / 228 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Foul Play allows Yveltal to punish heavy physical attackers and attack boosting Pokemon like Sword Dance Rayquaza and Power-up-Punch Mega Kangaskhan as well as the restricted legendaries.
- Snarl lower's both of the opponents special attack and gets some chip damage, this is extremely useful for Primal Groudon and Kyogre as it lowers there special attack and decreases the power of Eruption and Water Spout respectively.
- Sucker Punch allows Yveltal to get the edge against faster pokemon and secure safe revenge kills.
- Protect is solid for getting off a little bit of the Leftovers recovery as well as scouting but Yveltal.
- Tailwind could be nice for making slower team mates like Ho-oh and Kyurem-White outspeed the unboosted metagame as well as just helping out against speed ties
Set Details
========
- Black Glasses helps to provide extra damage to all of Yveltal moves and it doesn't cost recoil unlike Life Orb.
- Life Orb can make OHKOing Mega Ray with Foul Play much easier.
- Dark Aura is mandatory as it is Yveltal's only ability but it does have the amazing perk of being able to add more damage to your Dark-type moves as well as your teammates.
- 228 speed with a Timid nature allows Yveltal to outspeed Kyurem-White and Rayquaza before mega evolving with.
- The rest if the EVs go into HP and special defense allowing it to withstand more hits, most notably, Primal Groudon's and Kyogre's Eruption and Water Spout from full.
Usage Tips
========
- As Yveltal is a good in pretty much every category it can be brought along to most games with ease. Although if the match up isn't to favorable, like when going against Xerneas, then it should be left behind
- Yveltal can be used pretty much anytime during the game as has it just has the role of launching powerfull attacks as well as supporting its team mates.
- Yveltal's presence boost the power of any dark-type move so if its teammate is not good at taking hits Sucker Punches or Knock Off such as Rayquaza then try to keep Yveltal off the field, but on the contrary your teammates can also abuse this like Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Mawile get their Sucker Punches boosted.
Team Options
========
- As a precaution Pokemon that aren't hurt too much by Dark-type moves are prefered so Yveltal's ability doesn't backfire.
- Liepard with a Priority Swagger can be used in conjunction of Yveltal's Foul Play to double your damage output.
- Yveltal hates to deal with any Fairy-type so Steel-types like Mega Mawile, Ferrothorn and Aegislash are great partners for Yveltal.
- Anything with Rock-type coverage is also a nuisance for Yveltal so having pokemon like Primal Kyogre who can remove examples like Primal Groudon and Landorus-T work greatly.
- Wide Guard users might be a strange mention but they are able to block Xerneas's Dazzling Gleam, Primal Kyogre's Eruption and Rock Slides from Mega Kangaskhan and Primal Groudon.
[SET]
name: Special Utility
move 1: Oblivion Wing
move 2: Dark Pulse
move 3: Taunt / Protect / Roost
move 4: Tailwind / Protect / Roost
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
ability: Dark Aura
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 32 HP / 252 SpA / 228 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Oblivion Wing is not only Yveltal's signature move but also deals an extreme amount of damage while also healing itself.
- Dark Pulse is Yveltal's main way of spreading thanks Dark Aura boosting it.
- Taunt can be used to put a stop to opposing supportive Pokemon.
- Tailwind helps to boost the speed of yourself and team mates allowing them to get the edge in battle.
- Protect is a nice move for blocking incoming hits as well as gaining extra Leftovers.
- Roost with conjunction of Life Orb can help Yveltal stay longer on the field.
- Foul Play can be used to hit anything with a high attack. It is also unaffected by an attack dropping nature.
- Sucker Punch can be used to pick of faster pokemon but somtimes requires changing the nature to a defense dropping one.
- Focus Blast or Heat Wave can be used to hit Steel-types like Dialga, Mega Mawile and Ferrothorn.
Set Details
========
- Life Orb boost the power of all of Yveltal's attacks at the cost of HP.
- Leftovers can be used to help Yveltal in the long run.
- Dark Aura helps to boost the power of Yveltal's Dark-type moves as well as its teammates.
- 228 speed allows it to outspeed max speed Kyurem-White and Rayquaza with Jolly always outspeeding and Adamant only being able to outspeed if they don't have a speed boosting nature.
- 252 Evs are dumped into special attack making Yveltal hit as hard as possible and the remaing EVs go into HP so Yveltal has a little bit more HP to work with.
Usage Tips
========
- Yveltal is a catch all user so it an be used any time during the match usually. With this said if it has an unfavorable match up during team preview it shouldn't be brought.
- It's supportive options, Tailwind and Taunt, with the former should only be used when needed avoiding speed ties against and the latter to avoid getting messed up by pokemon such as Cresselia and Smeargle.
- Dark Aura allows you teammates to get a boost to their Dark-type attacks. Most notably Sucker Punch, Knock Off and Dark Pulse. So when combined with a Pokemon like Mega Mawile and Mega Kangaskhan who enjoy having a boosted Sucker Punch alongside any stat boost they have produce themselves allows you to overwhelm an opponent.
- If using Life Orb, any opportunity to use Roost (as long as you aren't at full or near full) you should do it to preserve Yveltal's longevity.
Team Options
========
- Many players will try to exploit Yveltal's Fairy weakness so bringing pokemon like Scizor and Ferrothorn who can deal with Xerneas pretty easily make for excellent teammates.
- Teammates who can abuse Dark Aura for their own advantage are excellent partners for providing Offensive Pressure, Pokemon that also resist Dark are also nice just to make sure that the opponent can not abuse Dark Aura too much for themselves.
- Wide Guard can help to protect Yveltal from spread damage moves that most of the time Yveltal is weak to.
- Primal Kyogre can usually pressure a lot of Yveltal's Check and Counters and the raw power that both of them bring makes it very hard to deal with.
Other Options
=============
- Yveltal can also run a bulkier spread but with its weaknesses being so common it would often have a hard time taking hits anyways.
- 164 speed with a Jolly nature allows it to outspeed base 100 without without a speed boosting nature.
- Charti Berry can be used to live a Primal Groudon's Stone Edge or Rock Slide but generally Yveltal cannot 2HKO Primal Groudon back so it isn't as usefull.
- Knock Off can be used to disrupt opponents like Knocking Off Power Herb on Xerneas who thinks can use Yveltal as set-up bait.
- Hurricane has a higher damage output than Oblivion Wing but has unreliable accuracy and it doesn't recover HP.
- Rock Slide hits both opponents as well but it generally can't fit this into its moveset most of the time.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types** Most viable Fairies are scared by anything Yveltal does to it. Mega Mawile has a large amount of bulk and is resistant to Foul Play while Xerneas uses Yveltal as set-up bait if it in't carrying Taunt.
**Ice-types** Ice-types such as Kyurem-White and Weavile often scare Yveltal out with a powerfull Ice move. Not to mention Weavile can use Yveltal's Dark Aura against its teammate.
**Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre** They can tank hits from either the physical set and the special set respectively and have a high damage output that leaves Yveltal to getting pressured easilly. But neither one likes to deal with the other set.
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