Goodbye Blue Sky [OU/Flying Monotype]

[Bug Boy]

Goodbye Blue Sky: At A Glance

Overview
I've often been told that mono flying is just not viable. I've decided to challenge that and see if I can't come up with the best damn mono flying ever. I've been running this team in normal OU, and it's done very well, all things considered.

Covering all of flying's weaknesses is difficult, and it still has an issue with boltbeam, but with good prediction this team really shines.


Offensive Core

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 248 Atk / 204 Spd / 56 HP
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Dragon Dance
- Stone Edge
- Waterfall

This bad boy is very predictable on a mono flying team, but very reliable. The idea is simple- Just switch him in on an opponent he scares away, substitute on the switch, dragon dance once and sweep what you can. Waterfall/Stone Edge provides pretty decent coverage, and hits fairly hard. Moxie is amazing for this set, because if he can net one kill after a dragon dance, not much can stop him.

Thundurus-Therian (M) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Timid Nature
- Volt Switch
- Thunderbolt
- Grass Knot
- Hidden Power [Ice]

Thundurus-T is a godsend for a mono flying team. Not only is he immune to electric attacks, any stealth rock damage is healed away, provided he's switched in on a predicted thunderbolt/thunder/volt switch. He hits insanely hard, but he's a little on the slow side. This forced him to use Agility before he could do much, and led to him dying too often or the team being swept by Starmie. However, a scarfed timid Thundurus outspeeds quite a lot of threats, allowing him to be a potent revenge killer. Thunderbolt and Hidden Power form a pseudo boltbeam, and allow him to revenge kill huge threats like Starmie and Hydreigon. Grass Knot is for bulky Water/Ground types that would otherwise give the team trouble. Volt Switch keeps up offensive momentum, and does quite a bit of damage with Thundurus-T's massive Sp Atk.

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Trait: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 Atk / 4 HP
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Fire Punch
- Outrage
- ExtremeSpeed

Good ol' Dragonite was an obvious choice for the last sweeper. Dragon Dance allows him to outspeed most threats barring a few such as scarfed Hydreigon after one boost, and OHKO most of the tier with Outrage. Fire Punch is the coverage move of choice here, allowing him to obliterate pesky ice types such as Mamoswine as well as the dreaded Ferrothorn and Scizor. I took Extremespeed over Roost to deal with frail, faster Pokemon and annoying things such as sashed Cloyster. Lum Berry can either be to cure Outrage's confusion, or to foil any attempt to paralyze or burn him, which would otherwise put his sweep to a halt.




Defensive Core

Skarmory @ Shed Shell
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 232 Def / 252 HP / 24 Spd
Impish Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Roost
- Whirlwind
- Brave Bird

Skarmory has proven to be a very amazing wall on almost any team, and this one is no exception. He can tank nearly any non-fire physical attack and roost of the damage, as well as Whirlwind away any boosting foes. Stealth Rock is used over Spikes, and is amazing for crippling Volcarona and Dragonite, as well as breaking any sashes. Brave Bird is the obvious attacking option, giving him some offensive presence and making Heracross and Conkeldurr fear him. Shed Shell is for Magnezone, allowing him to switch into Gliscor or Thundurus and avoid the incoming KO.

Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Poison Heal
EVs: 184 Def / 252 HP / 72 Spd
Impish Nature
- Substitute
- Protect
- Earthquake
- Toxic

Skarmory covers rock and ice weaknesses, but not electric. Gliscor is here to cover rock and electric, but not ice. He works amazingly well with Skarmory, spamming Protect every other turn for insane healing. Substitute is for when he forces a switch, so he can have more cushion. Earthquake is the obvious STAB move and despite Gliscor's mediocre offenses it hits rather hard. Toxic was put in over Ice Fang with much success. While he loses any way to hurt opposing Gliscor, he's now perfectly capable of crippling most other opposing walls.


Utility

Xatu @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 240 SDef / 252 HP / 16 Spd
Calm Nature
- Toxic
- U-turn
- Roost
- Heat Wave


Xatu REALLY shines on this team, and ties it all together. A mono flying team has no rapid spinner outside of the terrible Delibird, so Magic Bounce is the next best thing. Common hazard setters such as Metagross, Forretress, and Skarmory all fear this little bird thanks to his considerable bulk, Magic Bounce, and the ability to obliterate them with Heat Wave. He can hit surprisingly hard, and has Toxic to cripple foes such as Jellicent who would otherwise give him a lot of trouble. Roost is the obvious healing move, and little explanation is needed there. U-Turn is to keep momentum and weaken foes that fail to ohko him, such as Alakazam and Starmie, as well as get a free hit on Tyranitar.



Threats

Most threats are taken care of with good prediction, but one that really stands out is Starmie. He's too fast to handle, and can ohko the entire team if I'm not careful. Jolteon is very similar, but slightly more manageable. Essentially any speedy special sweeper with access to boltbeam is going to cause a lot of problems without very good prediction.


Suggestions are extremely welcome, as I don't trust myself to make a flawless team in the slightest. I think it's halfway decent, though.

 

[Organization Member XIV]

Hello Bug Boy, this is a pretty decent team, and its nice to see something that is not generic for once. First, I feel concerned by your lack of a Scarfer. While Thundurus-T does have Agility on it, if it doesn't find an opportunity to use Agility faster threats will run rampant over your team. Therefore, I suggest changing Thundurus-T to a Scarfed one, and giving it Volt Switch instead of Agility. This allows it to outspeed some threatening Pokemon such as non-Scarf Latios and Scarf Hydreigon. Hope I helped.

 

[Prinz]

Hey Bug Boy!

Monotype teams are an original and creative concept, so props for it, however, I think that you can improve a lot your monotype team so let's go with the rate. Well, first of all, I see that your team lacks an revenge-killer and this is pretty bad since revenge-killers are really useful to deal threats such as Dragonite, Salamence, Volcarona, Terrakion and so on more easily. Therefore, I'd go with Organization Member's suggestion to change Thundurus-T's set in a Choice Scarf one and to change Agility into Volt Switch accordingly. I'd use also Timid nature replacing Modest nature because it allows to outspeed threats such as Salamence, Haxorus, and Volcarona after a boost and Choice Scarf users such as Salamence, Haxorus, Jirachi, and Hydreigon as well. In short, Choice Scarf Thundurus-T allows you to revenge-kill a lots of threats after their setup move so it would work fine on your team since it seems quite slow and a Choice Scarf user would give strength to it. Then, on Dragonite I'd use ExtremeSpeed replacing Roost because it would allow Dragonite to continue its sweep against faster revenge-killers such as Keldeo, Salamence, Latios, Thundurus-T and Haxorus so it's a better move than Roost on a sweeper like Dragonite in my opinion. After that, I suggest you to use Stealth Rock replacing Spikes on Skarmory because Stealth Rock is really important in the current bw ou metagame since it allows to beat threats such as Dragonite, Salamence, Thundurus-T, Tornadus and Volcarona more easily so it's in general more useful than Spikes nowadays. Next, I suggest you to change Xatu's EV spread into 252 HP / 240 SpD / 16 Spe and I'd change its nature into Calm as well. This EV spread allows Xatu to switch into Skarmory, Forretress and Ferrothorn more easily and I think it's useful since Xatu usually switches into them to prevent entry hazards the setting of entry hazards. As last thing, I suggest you to use Toxic replacing Ice Fang on Gliscor because Toxic with Substitute and Protect is a great move since it allows to stall opponents' pokemon very well. Don't worry about dragon-types because you have already Skarmory which is a great check for all of them and Thundurus-T which can revenge-kill them easily with Hidden Power Ice.

Good luck.

 

[Bug Boy]

Okay, I've tried the advice given to me by both Organization Member and Alexander, and I have to say the team works a lot better. There is no longer a crippling weakness to speedy boltbeamers such as Starmie, and overall the team performs very well in OU. Reuniclus is the only thing that is difficult to deal with no matter what, but it's not impossible.

 

[Episode36]

I would change Thundurus-T into either a choice scarf user with Volt Switch, or a dual threat with Agility+Nasty Plot and BoltBeam coverage so you can beat Chansey/Blissey.