Altaria (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 80 HP / 252 SDef / 176 Spd
Calm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)
- Hidden Power [Flying]
- Roost
- Haze
- FeatherDance
Against Samurott, Altaria does quite well:
252 Atk Life Orb
Samurott (+Atk) Waterfall vs 80 HP/0 Def
Altaria:
27.33% - 32.48% (4 hits to KO)
252 +1 Atk Life Orb
Samurott (+Atk) Waterfall vs 81 HP/0 Def
Altaria:
41.16% - 48.23% (3 hits to KO)
0 SpAtk Altaria Hidden Power Flying vs 4 HP/0 SpDef Samurott:
22.89% - 27.11% (4-5 hits to KO)
Altaria can come in safely on any of its moves and proceed to use Haze and, since Altaria outspeeds, keep Samurott at +0 or below making it very manageable. Because Altaria outspeeds, the flinch chance from Waterfall is negated too. Haze also means that any crit will only do a maximum of 64.96%, since Samurott will only ever be at +0, ensuring that Altaria can Roost and escape even the worst hax. Haze also has the same number of PP as Swords Dance so it can never be PP stalled since Altaria will only ever use Haze after the opponent has used SD. FeatherDance is to be used when the opponent realises that they cannot boost up and begin attacking Altaria. This buys Altaria time to use Roost freely as they struggle to get back to +0 again and protect Altaria from Megahorn while it is roosting.
If Samurott gets into Torrent range then Altaria has a good chance to OHKO thanks to the LO recoil, but it can fall to a crit in this situation since it ignores negative boosts from FeatherDance. Still, all things considered Altaria wins relatively easily here.
Next up is Magmortar who's worst attack is Thunderbolt against Altaria:
252 SpAtk Life Orb
Magmortar Thunderbolt vs 80 HP/252 SpDef
Altaria (+SpDef) :
29.58% - 35.05% (3-4 hits to KO)
252 SpAtk Life Orb
Magmortar Fire Blast vs 80 HP/252 SpDef
Altaria (+SpDef) :
27.97% - 32.8% (4 hits to KO)
0 SpAtk
Altaria Hidden Power Flying vs 4 HP/0 SpDef
Magmortar:
19.86% - 23.97% (5-6 hits to KO)
Altaria can come in relatively safely to Magmortar. Altaria will have at least 42% health after two shots thanks to Leftovers and be able to fire back doing at least 20% damage. The 2 rounds of LO recoil on Magmortar will take it down to at most 60% HP. On Turn 3 and 4, Altaria will need to Roost twice to get to at least 84% health and be able to fire back again on Turn 5. Magmortar will have taken 3 rounds of LO recoil and at least another 20% damage by the end of Turn 5 which puts it at 10% health at most and within range of a self KO on its next shot in Turn 6 while Altaria Roosts up to at least 76% health. At this health, it is safe from both Samurott and Vileplume and has only used 3 Roost PP.
Note that Magmortar had a total of 6 shots at Altaria at maximum, a chance for a crit being 1 in 16 puts a crit chance at 37.5%. This is assuming max damage rolls for Magmortar and min damage for Altaria. Not ideal but still a low enough chance that, even if the opponent acts perfectly and gets everything their way, Altaria is still favourite to win at 62.5% chance.
Vileplume offers a different problem for Altaria. This is Vileplume's best attack and what Altaria does in return:
48 SpAtk
Vileplume Sludge Bomb vs 81 HP/252 SpDef
Altaria (+SpDef) :
23.15% - 27.33% (4-5 hits to KO)
0 SpAtk
Altaria Hidden Power Flying vs 252 HP/0 SpDef
Vileplume:
34.75% - 41.53% (3 hits to KO)
Altaria can come in quite safely on everything apart from Sleep Powder and then proceed to put a lot of pressure on Vileplume. Vileplume unfortunately has access to healing but it only has 8 PP compared to 16 PP for Altaria's Roost, this coupled with Altaria's higher damage output and higher speed should see it win easily with plenty of health to spare.
If Altaria comes in on Sleep Powder and the opponent switches to Magmortar then the opponent could get two clean shots at Altaria if it sleeps for 3 straight turns. This doesn't really affect Altaria much because Altaria can take 3 shots from Magmortar and proceed to Roost up again. However this does affect the crit chance because Altaria could be spending 3 extra turns Roosting and then it will take 6 turns to beat Magmortar as outlined above putting the chances of a crit at 9/16 or 56%. If Altaria wakes up in 2 turns then it will win against Magmortar. So yeah, a 3 turn sleep will see Altaria lose to the combination of Vileplume and a crit from Magmortar.
Note that if Altaria gets Paralysed or Poisoned or Burned, it will actually appreciate it because it then cannot be put to Sleep. Being Paralysed just means Altaria will have to Roost earlier and play more cautiously against Magmortar and Samurott. Being Poisoned or Burned means Altaria loses 6% health at the end of every turn, thanks to Leftovers, a very manageable number looking at the calculations.
If a crit doesn't happen against Magmortar or Torrent Samurott then Altaria wins comfortably against all three no matter which order they come and regardless of other hax.
