[OVERVIEW]
Spacing's off at multiple parts. Mentioning it here to avoid redundancy.
- Great 75 / 90 / 105 bulk, a good defensive typing, and access to Defog gives Altaria a niche as a special wall and hazard remover for defensive and balanced teams in need of a check to Grass-, Fire-, and Fighting-types, such as Magmortar, Lurantis, and Passimian.
- A great ability in Natural Cure allows Altaria to shrug off status when it switches out. This also gives it the advantage of being able to use Toxic without fear of being poisoned back. (technically, it can be poisoned back. it needs to switch to activate this, though.)
- Unfortunately, despite Altaria's typing giving it very useful resistances to popular Fighting- and Fire-type moves, it gives Altaria a nasty 4x weakness to Ice-type moves and a weakness to Stealth Rock, with the latter hampering its ability to remove hazards.
- Altaria is very passive, which makes it very susceptible to Taunt from Pokemon such as Sableye, and to set up sweepers, such as Swords Dance Zangoose.
- Altaria is somewhat easy to pressure offensively, especially if its Leftovers have been knocked off. This is not helped by Altaria's generally passive nature.
- Something about how Toxic + Defog can be annoyance to certain hazard setters such as Regirock, non-Ice Beam Mesprit, and Palossand a lot of common hazard setters. Ofc not right here, but with the other positives.
[SET]
name: Defensive Defog
move 1: Defog
move 2: Roost
move 3: Flamethrower
move 4: Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Natural Cure
nature: Calm
evs: 248 HP / 244 SpD / 16 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
- Defog gives Altaria a way to clear hazards for its team. Ataria also has an advantageous matchup against Ferroseed and Weezing (Flamethrower for threatening Ferroseed, and pseudo status immunity for Weezing, respectively). (not gp, but take the second half of this sentence out of parentheses.)
- Roost is self-explanatory (don't say something is self-explanatory, as this may not be smth new players know.), as it recovers Altaria's HP, and helps it keep the field clear throughout the battle. (it also lets it switch in on special attacks throughout the battle.)
- Flamethrower is used to hit a variety of targets, especially Steel-types. It also prevents Altaria from being complete Taunt fodder. Keep in mind that it isn't very powerful, though, and can only do significant damage against targets with a Fire weakness, such as Ferroseed.
- Toxic allows Altaria to cripple opposing Pokemon while also putting them on a timer. (nitpicking, but 'while' implies that there is contrast. say 'by putting them on a timer'.) This is especially helpful against opposing defensive Pokemon, such as Regirock, as they have no way to cure status besides Heal Bell support or Rest. It is also Altaria's best method of inflicting meaningful damage to the opposing Pokemon.
Set Details
========
- 244 HP, 248 Special Defense EVs, and a Calm nature are run to maximize Altaria's special bulk, while 16 Speed EVs are run to outpace Adamant Mawile and other base 50 speed threats.
- Leftovers
are is (a bit early for that kind of stuff, ik, but just in case no one else noticed it.) used to give Altaria passive recovery, while also making Altaria less dependent on Roost long-term.
- Natural Cure removes poison and burn from Altaria when it switches out, which is especially useful against Pokemon that rely on status to do any meaningful damage, such as Weezing.
Usage Tips
========
- If entry hazards are on the field, Defog should be used as soon as it is safe to do so. Furthermore, be wary of Pokemon with Defiant, such as Pawniard, as they can capitalize on Altaria's usage of Defog.
- Altaria is best used to check Fighting-, Grass-, and Fire-types, as they can't really do much to Altaria. Magmortar and Lilligant in particular are hard walled (aside from Breakneck Blitz from Lilligant). (just say 'magmortar and non-bnb lilligant are walled', no need for the parentheses here, either.) However, be careful of the coverage moves Fighting-types typically carry for Flying-types, such as Hitmonchan's Ice Punch, as they can be deadly.
- Altaria can absorb status by using Natural Cure if necessary, but this can give free momentum to the opposing team, while also sacrificing your own momentum. For example, if the opponent brings in a set up sweeper on the turn Altaria switches out, their set up sweeper gets a free chance to either double switch or set up.
- Spamming Toxic is not a bad idea if the opponent does not have a Steel- or Poison-type Pokemon.
- Scout for Ice-type coverage on Mesprit, as it becomes a prime target for Defog if it lacks Ice Beam.
- It is generally a safe bet to switch into Passimian and Primeape, is they can't do much to Altaria if they are locked into a move other than Stone Edge.
- Try to catch Regirock and other Stealth Rock setters on a switch using Toxic, as it makes it easier for Altaria to beat them 1v1 if necessary.
- Something about when to use Roost should go here.
Team Options
========
- Fire- and Fighting-types are great partners, as they can deal with the Steel- and Ice-types that threaten Altaria. Special mention goes to Primeape, as it benefits from the removal of entry hazards greatly. Keep in mind that Fire-types stack a Stealth Rock weakness, though.
- Pokemon that benefit from entry hazard removal, such as Pyroar and Jynx, make good teammates.
- Other special walls, such as Lanturn and Eelektross, can check the Ice-, Electric- and Water-types that threaten Altaria. In return, Altaria can absorb status conditions, which Lanturn and Eelektross despise. (idk if these are really the most reliable specially bulky mons to check ice types since aurorus 2hkos both of them with freeze-dry and blizzard, respectively, and mild aboma 2hkos eel after rocks.)
- Lilligant and other Grass-types appreciate Altaria's ability to switch into and check Magmortar. (this point's a bit too short for my liking. what do the grass-types do for altaria?)
- Physical walls, such as Weezing, benefit from Altaria absorbing special attacks, and in return can sponge physical hits. In particular, Weezing serves as hard check (weezing's not really a hard stop to archeops since arch can taunt it and proceed to spam acro.) to Archeops, which can easily K.O Altaria.
- Set up sweepers, like Me First Pinsir, greatly appreciate Altaria's ability to slowly chip away at the enemy team.
- You handwave that the special walls can check Ice-types, but I feel like a point specifically dedicated to Ice-type checks needs to be here since they're the thing Altaria fears most.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
- A Dragon Dance Set with Dragonium Z can be run to take advantage of Altaria's good offensive typing and decent movepool. However, the set is still weak after a single Dragon Dance, and is generally outclassed by other set up sweepers.
- In a similar vein, a Choice Specs set can surprise Altaria's checks and deal heavy damage. However, it is mostly outclassed by Drampa and Alolan Exeggutor.
- A Life Orb set can be used to exploit Altaria's great offensive move pool while giving it the freedom to switch moves. However, the set faces the same problems as the Choice Specs set.
- A set utilizing Heal Bell can be used if a team is in need of a cleric. (like haze, this can be annoying to drop a move for since it's completely passive w/o flamethrower and can't threaten certain stuff w/o toxic.)
- Haze can be used to make Altaria less susceptible to set up sweepers. However, Altaria would have to give up either Flamethrower or Toxic, both of which Altaria depends on to not be Taunt bait and have a way to deal meaningful damage to the enemy Pokemon, respectively.
- A physically defensive spread to better check stuff like Primeape should definitely have a mention here.
- Roar
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ice-types and Ice-type Coverage**: Due to Altaria's 4x weakness to Ice-type moves, any decently strong Ice-type move be deadly. Abomasnow in particular is very dangerous, as it can OHKO Altaria before it can even move with Blizzard.
(the point is called ice-types and ice-type coverage, and there's only one specific example of either. mention stuff like aurorus, mesprit, maybe even magmortar w hp ice.)
**Pokemon Immune To Toxic**: Poison and Steel types, such as Qwilfish
(rip qwilfish) and Aggron, are immune to Toxic, and can set up Hazards in Altaria's face. Qwilfish
(rip qwilfish) in particular can shut down Altaria with Taunt. However, other Steel-types will take heavy damage from Flamethrower, especially Ferroseed.
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types deal super effective damage to Altaria with their STAB moves, and force Altaria out. Granbull can use Heal Bell to nullify Toxic, while Carbink is resistant to Flamethrower and can set up Stealth Rock.
(clefairy needs a mention here above all else since it's immune to toxic and can either stall alt out with its own toxic or moonblast it.)
**Rock-types**: Rock-types resist Flamethrower and can heavily damage Altaria with their STAB Rock-type moves. In particular, Carracosta has a quadruple resistance to Flamethrower, and can use Altaria as set up fodder. However, Carracosta and other Rock-types don't appreciate being
heavily poisoned by Toxic.