#146 Moltres -
Moltres, of the the legendary birds, it has massive Special attack, and good overall stats, however, Stealth rock effectily neuters it. In order to make the most of Moltres, a Spinner is required, since Stealth rock takes 50% from it each time.
Base Stats: Hp 90 - Atk 100 - Def 90 - SAtk 125 - SDef 85 - Spe 90 (BST: 580)
Abilities:
Pressure: Moves that affect this Pokémon (including Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Stealth Rock) lose one extra PP per turn. When a Pokémon with this ability is first in the party, wild encounters have a higher chance of occurring.
Flame Body (Dream World): When this Pokemon is damaged by a contact move the Pokemon which used the move has a 30% chance of becoming burned. If the attack does no damage, Flame Body does not activate.
Movepool:
- Level-Up Moves: Lv1: Wing Attack, Lv1: Ember, Lv8: Fire Spin, Lv15: Agility, Lv22: Endure, Lv29: AncientPower, Lv36: Flamethrower, Lv43: Safeguard, Lv50: Air Slash, Lv57: Roost, Lv64: Heat Wave, Lv71: Solarbeam, Lv78: Sky Attack, Lv85: Sunny Day
- Learnable TMs; , TM05 - Roar, TM06 - Toxic, TM10 - Hidden Power, TM11 - Sunny Day, TM15 - Hyper Beam, TM17 - Protect, TM18 - Rain Dance, TM20 - Safeguard, TM21 - Frustration, TM22 - Solar Beam, TM27 - Return, TM32 - Double Team, TM35 - Flamethower, TM37 - Sandstorm, TM38 - Fire Blast , TM40 - Aerial Ace, TM42 - Facade, TM43 - Nitro Charge, TM44 - Rest, TM48 - Troll, TM50 - Overheat, TM58 - Free Fall, TM59 - Complete Burn, TM61 - Will-O-Wisp, TM68 - Giga Impact, TM87 - Swagger, TM88 - Pluck, TM89 - U-Turn, TM90 - Substitute, TM94 - Rock Smash, HM02 - Fly
TM43 - Nitro Charge
Special Fire PP: 20 Power: 50 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: Raises speed by one stage.
TM48 - Troll
Special Normal PP: 15 Power: 60 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: The more pokemon on your team that have the move troll, the Base power rises
TM58 - Free Fall
Physical Flying PP: 10 Power: 60 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: Raises the opponent up in the air, when the opponent is up in the air, it cannot move.
TM59 - Complete Burn
Special Fire PP: 15 Power: 30 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: Burns the opponent's berry, so it can't use it.
Special Fire PP: 20 Power: 50 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: Raises speed by one stage.
TM48 - Troll
Special Normal PP: 15 Power: 60 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: The more pokemon on your team that have the move troll, the Base power rises
TM58 - Free Fall
Physical Flying PP: 10 Power: 60 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: Raises the opponent up in the air, when the opponent is up in the air, it cannot move.
TM59 - Complete Burn
Special Fire PP: 15 Power: 30 / Accuracy: 100 Effect: Burns the opponent's berry, so it can't use it.
Traits:
- Quadruple Weakness to Stealth Rock: With Stealth Rock being so prevalent, it really hampers Moltres effectiveness, and because of stealth rock, Moltres absolutely needs a rapid spinner, or else, Moltres probably won't hold its own,
- Great Special attack: With up to 383 Special attack, it is sure to put a dent in just about anything that is not called Blissey, Chansey, Heatran or bulky water types. It also has the sheer power of 2koing most water types with Hidden power grass.
- Versatile: Moltres is one of the most versatile fire types out there, it can be used on Stall teams with with a sub roost set, or it can be a deadly sweeper with Nitro Charge. Moltres can take one quite a few roles, it is a pretty effective lead, when it's scarfed.
Potential Sets:
Sweeper
Set #1
Moltres @ Life Orb
Nature: Modest/Timid
Ability: Flame Body
6 Def/252 SAtk/252 Spe
~Nitro Charge
~Fire Blast
~Air Slash
~Roost/Hidden power Grass/Ground
After it's gotten a speed boost through Nitro charge it is pretty difficult to take down. Fire blast is the very powerful STAB move the will do horrendous damage to just about anything that doesn't resist it. Air slash is also very powerful, OHKOing most fighting types, and gets great coverage along side Fire Blast. In the last slot If you want Moltres to stay around for a while there's roost, but Hidden power grass destroys the ground type such as Swampert, and Donphan. Hidden Power ground is primarily to OHKO Heatran who otherwise can laugh at this set, and roar out or set up on you.
SubRoost
Set #2
Moltres @ Leftovers
Nature: Bold
Ability: Pressure
248 HP/252 Def/8 Spe
~Substitute
~Roost
~Flamethrower
~Toxic
The fire bird's defensive set. This set works phenomenally with Toxic spikes, as most of it's checks/counters are grounded water/ground types. The Pokemon that are immune to toxic spikes or absorb, are usually weak to flamethrower. A few Pokemon wall this set though, and they are Heatran, who you can't do any damage at all to, so your only option is to try to stall out it's PP. Another pokemon that walls this is Tentacruel, that Pokemon can absorb the toxic spikes if you have set them up and can easily take flamethrowers because of it's massive 120 base Special defense. Snorlax though, is probably the most dangerous Pokemon that walls this set, since flamethrower is halved, and it can easily set up curses on you. Other than that, this Moltres can be very effective since it's so bulky, many people underestimate Motlres's bulk. it has 90/90/85 defenses, which is quite bulky and this set generates 383 HP, and 305 defense so it can easily wall quite a few physical threats.
Conclusion:
I think Moltres won't be quite as used as it was back in the 4th generation metagame, it appears that there will be tons of weather oriented teams going around, and Stealth rock will be as prevalent as it ever was. Moltres did get a boost through Nitro Charge, so it can attempt to sweep teams with with well over 400 speed, and massive special attack. It is outclassed by Heatran for the most part since, it has better overall stats, Steel typing and a neutrality to Stealth Rock. I just don't think Moltres can stand up to many of the new threats that has arisen in the 5th generation. What kind of niche do you expect Moltres to fill this generation?
