Braviary
Normal/Flying
Base Stats:
HP: 100
Attack: 123
Defense: 75
Sp. Attack: 57
Sp. Defense: 75
Speed: 80
BST: 510
Abilities:
Keen Eye
Sheer Force
DW: Defiant
With another Normal/Flying bird with a very similar movepool also lounging around UU, Braviary sometimes finds itself difficulty on a team. Staraptor, who boasts 120/50/100 attacking stats seems like it outclasses Braviary offensively, especially due to the notable speed difference. However, in terms of bulk, Braviary's very solid 100/75/75 beats out Staraptor's meager 85/70/50. Should Staraptor forgo reckless for Intimidate, the physical bulk becomes more comparable, but Braviary instantly wins in terms of sheer damage output. Despite similar actions for the two birds, Braviary can still carve itself a spot on a team with the right support.
Set Ideas
Scarfed
Braviary @ Choice Scarf
Adamant: 252 Attack, 192 Speed, 66 HP or
Jolly: 252 Attack, 166 HP, 92 Speed
Ability: Sheer Force / Keen Eye
+Brave Bird
+Rock Slide / U-Turn
+Return / Retaliate / U-Turn
+Superpower / U-Turn / Rock Slide
Notes: With these EV investments, Braviary hits 243 Speed, which after a scarf, let's it outpace base 130s, allowing you to get the jump on Jolteon, Crobat and Aerodactyl (all foes who could pose a threat to Braviary otherwise), the choice between Jolly or Adamant is a choice between bulk or attack power. You can also pool more speed EVs to beat other scarfers or speed boosted Pokemon, but typically, once you get stuck on a move, you'll switch out soon after anyway.
Brave Bird and U-Turn are the crux of the set, and the most commonly used moves in this set. Forcing switches only to U-Turn really helps offensive momentum, and Brave Bird dissuades most Pokemon from staying in. U-Turn beats out switch ins like Steelix, Regirock, and many other defensive Pokemon.
If you run Rock Slide, you should probably run U-Turn in the third slot. While it is tempting to use Retaliate for revenge kills (140 Base Power after a teammate faints, which becomes 210 Base Power after STAB), it is never really a good thing to be locked into a 70 BP move afterward, especially if you don't predict correctly. U-Turn is almost essential on these sets, as Braviary very often forces switches, and it is always useful to gain momentum.
If you don't run Rock Slide, you can run U-Turn in that slot instead, and use a normal attack of choice in the third slot. Superpower's stat drops really suck, but having the option there is much better than not having it there in most cases, otherwise you have no answer to Steel Types, and some rock types. Being able to break through the many ice types in hail teams is great as well, though most of them lose to Brave Bird anyway.
The HP EVs from the Adamant set let it survive with over 50% HP from unSTABed Ice Shards from the likes of defensive Donphan.
Bulk Up
Braviary @ Leftovers / Life Orb / Lum Berry
Adamant: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 6 HP or 252 HP, 252 Attack, 6 Defense
Ability: Keen Eye / Sheer Force (Defiant would probably be best, but it is unreleased)
+Bulk Up
+Brave Bird
+Superpower / U-Turn
+Rock Slide / Crush Claw / U-Turn
Notes: The EV spread depends on if you want bulkiness or if you want to speed tie with things like Togekiss. Braviary is overall rather slow to pull this set off, but with Bulk Ups, Braviary becomes VERY powerful, and not much can actually safely tank a +1 Brave Bird, especially with a LO backing it. This set generally should be used for late game cleaning unless your opponent just has a slow team.
The reason why you would even run Crush Claw instead of Return is simply because Sheer Force + Crush Claw + LO prevents LO recoil, and such a thing is pretty nice to have a bulky set.
Leftovers is the recommended item, as your HP will go down very quickly with a Life Orb, in addition to Brave Bird recoil.
Braviary can also attempt to fix it's middling speed using Scary Face as a pseudo-agility, and it can run all-out attacking sets or a choice band set. Discussion, go?
