Pokémon Aurorus

[Katja]

I'm testing out Aurorus in the OU metagame (on a pretty good simulator filled with subs + protects, mach punches, and bullet punches..) and he can actually play his part pretty well sometimes. I fell in love with its design and hoped until the very day they revealed his stats that he'll have an over 100 SP AT and at least 70 speed and cool moves, and although i was quite disappointed... if he finds the right niche...
I don't know if he really is worth trading for a Greninja/Breloom on my Team (choice scarfed technician breloom is downright cool) (Charizard/Garchomp/Togekiss/Swampert/Tyranitar) , but he suprised me a few times:

He managed to take an earthquake from a Choice Scarfed Tyrantrum, OHKO it with Hail Blizzard, OHKO Dragalge, then take a Flamethrower from Mega Manectric, hit him with Blizzard again almost OHKO'ing him, and then it is taken out by Thunderbolt, and there were spikes on the field...

Aurorus @ Choice Scarf
Snow Warning | Modest (+Sp A; -At) | 252 SpA / 132 HP / 88 Spe/ 24 Sp Def/ 12 Def (offensive works better for my style)
- Blizzard
- Freeze Dry
- Thunderbolt
- Ancientpower

Though i am a little bugged by how weak T-Bolt and Ancientpower can be sometimes...: ( There should eb at least one usable/good Special Rock type move. Over 80-90 in power at least..
He feels much better in UU though...

 

[DTC]

I'm not really sure why people are suggesting paraflinch Aurorus. Not only is that strategy incredibly gimmicky and inconsistent in and of itself, Aurorus has no particularly good traits to take advantage of it with.

Anyways, Aurorus is not good at all in OU, but if you want to use it, this is the set you should use:

Aurorus @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: 68 HP / 252 SAtk / 188 Spd
Modest Nature
- Rock Polish
- Nature Power
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Hidden Power [Ground]

This set best takes advantage of Aurorus's attributes. Aurorus has pretty awesome coverage for an Ice-type Pokemon (most special attacking only get Ice / Hidden Power), and Ice is a pretty good offensive type. The goal of this set is to set up a Rock Polish on something that hits you SE and then sweep. Aurorus takes advantage of Weakness Policy well because it's weak to so much, but has good enough bulk where it can usually survive a moderately strong single SE hit, provided it is not a Fighting- or Steel-type attack. Nature Power is your STAB move, Thunderbolt covers Water-, Fire-, and certain Steel-types, and Hidden Power Fire / Ground depends on what Steel-type you want to hit hardest, as they are your main threats. Freeze Dry is also an option for hitting Water-types harder than Thunderbolt. 188 Speed EVs outspeed base 130's after a Rock Polish, while the rest of the EVs are thrown in Special Attack and then HP for maximum damage and bulk possible.

Note that this set needs to be executed perfectly for it to sweep. If you do not get the weakness policy boost, you are incredibly weak. You probably have to keep SR off the field, otherwise you may not be able to survive the SE hit needed to get the weakness policy boost. Common revenge-killers like Scizor, Azumarill, Conkeldurr, etc. also easily kill Aurorus, so you have to get rid of those first, although at least you do well vs Talonflame and special Choice Scarf Genesect. If you are not able to sweep, this set really cannot do much else, as it's slow as hell and not very strong without boosts.

 

[Cheeze Ballz]

I like Aurorus. First I was like. TYRUNT! WooH! Then I was like- ....hyper beam Ice.... ...Freezedry... Awwww Yeeeah. Aurorus has an arsanel to spare but still like all pokemon has the 4 move syndrome or disability or whatever and has a fear of steel and fighting types. Freezedry was a must to take down not just most dragons with x4 but now. Some people have already said it but Not even Kindra and that damn Palkia is even safe (Now we need a x4 on Dialga and Giratina).

70BP, 100% Freeze dry for water coverage
140BP, 90% Hyper beam STAB becomes 210 BP... Yes
--BP, 100%/ 90BP, 100%/ 110BP, 70% Thunder wave or Psychic or Thunder or... IDK
60BP, 100% and Ancient Power. But why not power gem with 100% and 80BP with stab.

I've used Power gem through nature power but nature power has to rely on the field doesn't it. IDK. But I hate having to rely on Ancient powers ALL stat boost thing. I say Build in Hp and phys Defence because most Fighting and Steels are physical. Id don't think this pokemon will go to far in metagames. pokemon like Lucario and Scizor will dominate and simply brush aside this pokemon. I thought earthquake to at least punch in Lucario a little maybe but I can't seem to get a good view on this pokemon.

I don't care becuase they became rocks. Why are all fossil pokemon PART ROCK or STEEL!!

 

[Banryu]

I'm not really sure why people are suggesting paraflinch Aurorus. Not only is that strategy incredibly gimmicky and inconsistent in and of itself, Aurorus has no particularly good traits to take advantage of it with.

I assume you mean me when you say 'people'?
I guess you could call me afraid of his horrible defensive typing *shrug*

Incidentally, I do really like your RP set, but eliminating anyone with Bullet Punch and Mach Punch (which, unfortunately for Aurorus, are all over the place) is an absolute necessity in order for it to be successful-- I assume you're already well aware of this, though. I wonder if Mega Gengar and Magnezone would be good partners to pull the strategy off; Zone can handle things like Scizor with Magnets and HP Fire, but shouldn't even think of going up against the likes of Lucario and Megacham and what have you… So maybe Mega Gengar would be good for that (although he probably still dies to Bullet Punch, though maybe with a bulky spread…)

 

[Plasma.EXE]

Would choice band work on this thing? I know it has below average physical attack, but considering Refigerate boosts normal attacks by 30% and changes their type to Ice type (which also get's STAB), I think it would work well.

Aurorus@ Choice Band
Ability: Refigerate
EV's: 252HP/252 Atk/6 speed, or a somewhat altered spread for outspeeding certain things.
Return
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Filler *Facade maybe? if you get statused, I'm sure it'd hurt quite a lot, though not really with Burn*

Those 3 moves alone give it complete neutral coverage over everything that's not a Bronzong or air ballooned steel type.

It still has really awful weaknesses though, maybe a UU pokemon or lower.

 

[Szayel]

I usually don't post much here, so if I break any inconspicuous rules, forgive me. If Aurous can learn tri-attack with nature power, but it becomes ice type, will it still get the chance to freeze, burn, or paralyze an opponent?

 

[Mario With Lasers]

I usually don't post much here, so if I break any inconspicuous rules, forgive me. If Aurous can learn tri-attack with nature power, but it becomes ice type, will it still get the chance to freeze, burn, or paralyze an opponent?

Yes. Refrigerate, Aerilate and Pixilate only change the type and increase the BP, they don't change anything else.

 

[StallMandibuzz]

Aurorus seems to have gotten the short end of the stick... Two of the best types offensively together equal two of the worst defensive types in the game. So Aurorus has a blistering double weakness to not only Fighting, but to Steel too. It also gets hit SE with Ground, Water, Grass, and Rock, all very common types. Poor Aurorus... I thought it would be good, but alas, its' defensive typing is abysmal, and its' stats aren't too good either. I wonder if it'll even get any use in PU..

 

[Plasma.EXE]

I've been trying out this set and while it has tons of problems, it still hits very hard with Return and Refrigerate.

Aurorus@ Weakness Policy (expert belt or life orb if you want more reliable damage).
Ability: Refigerate
Adamant
EV's: 252 atk/180 Speed/78 HP

Return
Earthquake
Rock Slide
Rock Polish

It's base physical attack is lower than it's special, but it really should make use of that ability which boosts return's power by 30% (including STAB, Return is a 195 base attack ice move which is powerful even with just 273 atk). The EV's are for outspeed base 130 pokemon after a rock polish. Weakness Policy is very hard to take advantage of though against any sweeper so I put expert belt and life orb as options (even Greninja OH-KO's it with anything super effective without any boosting items). Maybe could run facade and toxic orb as well, the thing isn't surviving priority or any boosted super effective attack no matter what you do anyway from what I've tested (it survived a defensive Politoed Scald though under rain). Gimmicky, but this is a gimmicky pokemon no matter how you look at it.

 

[Alopex]

I don't care becuase they became rocks. Why are all fossil pokemon PART ROCK or STEEL!!

They are all part Rock. Some are also part Steel, but all are part Rock. That's just GF's theme. They're... fossils... and fossils are just imprints on rocks, really. The only time they release a truly dangerous OU worthy fossil pokemon, they also gave it the third worst ability in the entire game.

I reckon the only place Aurorus could even stand a chance of being viable is in doubles, where Quick Guard got a ridiculous buff and where Hail can actually still matter. Even then, though, it's not going to get anywhere until a move tutor or something fixes the ridiculously stupid oversight of no Power Gem...

 

[ZeeZee]

I've been researching on what potential Pokemon can run great RestTalk sets and Aurorus looks to be a great candidate. Not only is Ice typing already a great mono-attacking type, but with Freeze Dry hitting water types super effectively it becomes significantly better. Aurorus is slow and very bulky, and yet it lacks any form of reliable recovery, this means that Rest is basically necessary for it to function properly. Rest is also good for dedicated Hail teams or to counter other weather teams because keeping your weather inducer alive is important.

Dryrorus (Mono-Attacker)

Aurorus @ Leftovers
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 248HP / 8SpA / 252SpD
Calm
Rest
Sleep Talk
Calm Mind
Freeze Dry/Blizzard

As mentioned earlier, freeze dry makes for a really good mono-attacking move as it hits many Pokemon for 4x super effective, only the uncommon Shedinja is immune to it, only Heatran has a 4x resistance to it and it has great coverage over all. Blizzard is also an option as its much stronger and has 100% accuracy because of snow warning. Bold nature and investing in Def EV's is an option as it gives it physical bulk while it sets up Calm Mind to increase its SpD, however, Aurorus is weak to the most common offensive physical types in the game. On top of that, it has a 4x weakness to Fighting and Steel type moves. This essentially means that investing in Def EV's is pointless and its better off investing in SpD, as its not weak to many offensive special types. Finally, Max HP investment is necessary to maximize its high bulk.

RestTalk + 2 moves

Aurorus @ Leftovers
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 248HP / 8SpA / 252SpD
Calm or Gentle/Sassy Nature
Rest
Sleep Talk
Freeze Dry / Blizzard
Dragon Tail / HP water / Thunderbolt

If you dislike the idea of a mono set, including two attacks could work as well. Freeze Dry with a water type move have pretty much perfect coverage, with only Shedinja being immune to it, and only Jynx (Dry Skin) resisting it. Thunderbolt is the most powerful alternative offering the classic BoltBeam coverage combo, but because thunderbolt already hits water types super effectively, you may want to pair up with blizzard instead. Dragon tail makes Aurorus a decent phazer, but if you're gonna run dragon tail, it might be better to make it sassy or gentle nature, as it would increase dragon tails power over calm nature. Pick sassy if you don't mind the speed drop and need the physical bulk, or Gentle if you prefer to out-speed certain threats and feel the defensive bulk isn't necessary due to its weakness to the most common physical types.

ChestoRest

Aurorus @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Refrigerate / Snow Warning
EVs: 248HP / 252SpA / 8SpD or 248HP / 8SpA / 252SpD
Modest or Calm
Rest
Calm Mind
Freeze Dry / Blizzard / Nature Power
HP water / Thunderbolt

A chesto rest set helps aurorus to maximize the potential of its only way to heal; Rest. It also helps it deal with problematic residual damage from status moves and entry hazards. Its also good on Aurorus because it has great options for near perfect coverage moves in Freeze Dry / HP water or BoltBeam. Its better to run a modest set, specially if you choose the combination of Freeze Dry / HP water, as both moves lack the power of Blizzard / Nature Power in conjunction with Thunderbolt.

All in all, the typing is certainly very crippling for Aurorus. As mentioned before, the typing gives it a weakness to the most common physical moves in the game, with a 4x weakness to fighting and steel. This means its always a bad idea to invest in def, as it wont be taking any physical moves to save its life. However, its not weak to too many common special moves aside from grass and water type attacks, but Aurorus can also hit both of them hard with stab Freeze Dry so Grass / Water types can't always switch in safely. It needs a lot of support to get its job done, spinners and pokemon that can deal with physical sweepers, but it has some potential.

 

[Banryu]

Restalk + 2 attacks looks okay, but I don't think Aurorus has ANY business running Calm Mind on any set. It is WAY too slow to make effective use of it, and with all the physical attackers running physical Fighting and Steel (as well as plenty of the other types Aurorus is weak to) moves, it either has to get scared out or just die. Rock Polish could work because it fixes that problem, but I can't imagine that Calm Mind would be any good on it. At least the RestTalk 2 attacks set can run away without having to worry about getting more boosts later.

Actually, RestTalk + Weakness Policy might be an interesting strategy.

 

[ZeeZee]

Restalk + 2 attacks looks okay, but I don't think Aurorus has ANY business running Calm Mind on any set. It is WAY too slow to make effective use of it, and with all the physical attackers running physical Fighting and Steel (as well as plenty of the other types Aurorus is weak to) moves, it either has to get scared out or just die. Rock Polish could work because it fixes that problem, but I can't imagine that Calm Mind would be any good on it. At least the RestTalk 2 attacks set can run away without having to worry about getting more boosts later.

Actually, RestTalk + Weakness Policy might be an interesting strategy.

That's essentially why I didn't bother investing any EV's into its Def. I mentioned that it needed a lot of support in order to function properly, it needs for physical sweepers to be taken care of first before it can set up. I don't think a rock polish set would be as effective as its just way too slow and it has a 4x weakness to basically the two most common priority moves in Mach Punch and Bullet Punch, and a weakness to Aqua Jet. Its better of being a special wall given its the best it can do with its type combination.

 

[Banryu]

That's essentially why I didn't bother investing any EV's into its Def. I mentioned that it needed a lot of support in order to function properly, it needs for physical sweepers to be taken care of first before it can set up. I don't think a rock polish set would be as effective as its just way too slow and it has a 4x weakness to basically the two most common priority moves in Mach Punch and Bullet Punch, and a weakness to Aqua Jet. Its better of being a special wall given its the best it can do with its type combination.

...right. Well, once you've tested that, you can let us know how it works.

 

[ZeeZee]

I dunno it just seems like its a bit of a waste to invest into its awful speed and run like a timid nature which would either make Aurorus lose potential power from Modest nature or bulk from Calm nature. I'm not saying its a bad choice, I just don't think its the most optimal one. Both sets require you to eliminate physical attacking threats first before setting up which only leaves tanks and special sweepers, and that's where Rest Talk / Calm Mind Aurorus would really shine in handling well. And while Rock Polish might help deal with physical attackers that lack priority, even with max speed EV's / nature it has to deal with scarfers as low as 95 base speed. Even in NU's most common scarfers, Primeape with a choice scarf will always barely out-speed one rock polish.

You mentioned how physical attackers would scare it out but that is also fine early game, as its primary function before physical sweepers are cleared out could be to just come in and sponge a hit from special attackers, and just being able to do that gets you free hail in or cancels your opponents weather. This is especially the case this generation as weather is no longer permanent, so having a weather inducer than can take a hit and switch into something is crucial, whereas with a rock polish set, you would give up bulk for speed and risk loosing your weather inducer to a scarfer.

 

[Rolepgeek]

I run an Ice mono team, and Aurorus has been pretty good for me, mostly as a lead. She's good for taking out pokes that would be good counters to the ret of my team, and means that while I still hate steel types, they're less of an issue. I've swept teams with her almost single-handedly, without a boosting move(though, granted, those are usually the times when Ancient Power gave her a boost). The only other mon on my team to do that is Mega-Abomasnow, and every once in a while, Mamoswine. Anyway, here's how I run her. Haven't done much experimenting with EVs or nature, though.

Aurorus @ Focus sash
Ability: Snow Warning
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spd
Modest
Blizzard
Freeze Dry
Ancient Power
Hidden Power Fire

I lead with either her or Abomasnow based on the typings of my opponent's team and who I think they'll lead with. HP Fire is my only real means of dealing with some steel types, but it does so very well, and she has the room to take it. Blizzard makes for a good reliable STAB, whle Freeze Dry lets me giggle when I kill their Rotom-W or Kingdra. Ancient Power is just for finishing off stragglers, another STAB move, and if I get the boost from it, she suddenly becomes very dangerous. Focus Sash is just to let her survive those Bullet Punches and such long enough to kill whatever hit her(I really hate Scizor). I would run Refrigerate and Tri Attack it if wasn't an Ice mono, but then, I'd run a lot of things differntly on her if it wasn't an Ice mono.

 

[Szayel]

So far, I have done this strategy with Aurorus.

Aurorus @ Weakness policy (Let's face it, someone is going to have a super effective move up their sleeve, so you might as well take advantage of it.)
Ability: Refrigerate
EVs: Cannot remember the current spread, but it's pretty evenly spread on HP,Spd, and SpA.
Quiet
Thunderbolt
Sandstorm
Tri-attack.
Toxic

So I actually tried to go for a more of defensive set with my Aurorus, and it appears to be working out for me. First, Freeze-dry is there for the extra coverage, plus it hits pretty hard after the almost inevitable Weakness-Policy boost. Then I have the move Rain Dance which helps buffer some of the fire Pokmeon and give my Vivillon 100% Hurricane accuracy. It also gives Thunder 100% accuracy, and that comes with the bonus of possibly getting a paralyze on the opponent. Lastly I have Toxic, which is used to soften up other defensive/stall threats that take all of his moves well.
I know some of you will probably flame me for this set, but like I said, it seems to work really well for me.

(I updated the moveslot, because the new one works much better. I don't need rain anymore since my Vivollon got compound eyes courtesy of ability capsule.

 

[crystalblur]

do we know what the deal is with snow warning?

as in when will it be released?

 

[Golemman]

I noticed discussion about the use of hyper beam. I didn't see any calcs done so I did a few (even though I am fairly new to using it). I picked a few common mons and just saw how much damage could be done. I entered the refrigerate ability so that should have counted the boosts right?

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Skarmory: 330-388 (98.8 - 116.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Latias: 402-474 (110.4 - 130.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kyurem-B: 364-430 (80.1 - 94.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Genesect: 174-205 (61.2 - 72.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 3 layers of Spikes

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 297-349 (99.6 - 117.1%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gliscor: 1696-1996 (479 - 563.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO
That one was just for lols

 

[Kairyu_Gen1]

do we know what the deal is with snow warning?

as in when will it be released?

No guarantee it ever will. Several pokemon still haven't had there's released from last gen. So far the only way to get hidden abilities on fossile pokemon have been the dream world and an in game trade for cranidos. Since neither of those are available in x and y, we'll probably have to wait for a nintendo distribution or the next game :(

 

[crystalblur]

such a shame, i was excited to try out a new hail-setter

 

[M BLADE]

Maybe Echoed Voice could be of any use with Aurorus?

Aurorus@Weakness Policy
252 SPA/252 Spe/ 4 HP
Refrigerate

-Rock Polish
-Freeze Dry
-Echoed Voice
-Hidden Power Ground

Wekness Policy because Aurorus is actually bulky despite getting the worst defensive typing ever. And by having this typing Aurorus can make great use of it. Freeze Dry hits water types that Echoed Voice can't (and it's very reliable once you can't spam Echoed Voice, especially with the WP boost), while HP Ground is the best option to hit steel types (do not care about hitting Scizor with HP Fire: you can't do anything to it except getting murdered by Bullet Punch). Echoed Voice gets boosted by Refrigerate, and it's kinda spammable because Refrigerate turns it into a Ice attack; 2 uses and it gets nice power. 3 and you won't even need the WP boost to go on a possible sweep. Rock Polish fixes the poor speed so it won't just roll over and die to anything faster.

It has severe problems with priority and bulky steel types. Pairing it with Magnezone is a good idea despite the number of shared weaknesses (really, Aurorus is weak to everything lol).

 

[Torty73]

snow warning will help this thing so much

 

[Kadabrium]

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Genesect: 174-205 (61.2 - 72.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock and 3 layers of Spikes

252+ SpA Choice Specs Aurorus Hyper Beam vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Gliscor: 1696-1996 (479 - 563.8%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Which means 252/0 gliscor only has as much spd as 4/0 genesect does.
Interesting.

 

[NoStatusPlz]

aurorus is amazing in inverse battles, and unfortunately that's the only place it will ever shine. Hopefully it goes to NU where it stands a fighting chance to get use, as it would never get picked in RU. a 4x weakness on something that slow and so physically frail is just too much considering how prevalent fighting moves are. not even taking into account all its other weaknesses. Tyranitar shows how good you have to be to be able to get away with 4x fighting weakness