
Scizor may rule UU with an iron claw, but 2019 has been the year of Altaria. While it has always been a top-tier mega, it started the year off particularly strong with a dominant showing in SPL, where it had a 60% win rate (higher than any other top-10 pokemon bar Scizor), including multiple games where it proved to win more or less single-handedly. Since then it has continued to take the tier by storm, shooting up to 15% ladder usage and firmly planting itself as the premier Mega Evolution in UU.
Though it is primarily seen as a late-game sweeper with Dragon Dance, the secret to Altaria’s success lies in its defenses. With a fantastic defensive typing, above-average 75/110/105 defenses and reliable recovery in Roost, Mega Altaria is surprisingly difficult to stop once it gets started. While its Speed tier is below average, very few Scarf users or faster pokemon have the ability to stop this fluffy cloud of destruction. And with most sets running moves like Refresh or Facade to further take advantage of more passive pokemon that rely on status to stop setup sweepers, Alt has very little difficulty in finding turns to set up. It has even proved to be an effective stallbreaker with its offensive Facade set, as Facade is a guaranteed 2HKO against Quagsire once Altaria is statused.
Furthermore, unlike most late-game sweepers, Mega Altaria’s good defensive utility and reliable recovery allows it to pull its weight throughout the game, checking top threats like Latias, Terrakion, Hydreigon and Infernape. It also has developed a strong niche on stall teams thanks to its access to utility moves such as Defog, Heal Bell and Perish Song and its ability to stop several troublesome stallbreakers in their tracks.
With so much going well for Mega Altaria, why hasn’t it come up for a ban before? Well, for the single biggest answer, take a look at the very top of the usage stats: Scizor, currently sitting at 43% usage, is the best check to almost every variety of Alt thanks to its powerful Bullet Punch. While there are only a scant few reliable defensive answers to DD Alt (Amoonguss, Mega Aggron, Doublade), Scizor’s omnipresence almost single-handedly keeps Altaria in check. Teams with Altaria often must rely on punishing Scizor with entry hazards and Rocky Helmet users or sometimes trapping it outright with Magneton to bypass the bug.
And so, we put it to the community: should Mega Altaria remain UU? This suspect test will operate similarly to the Scizor and Mega Sableye suspect tests. There will be no suspect ladder. Instead, the standard UU ladder will remain open. Those who wish to participate in this suspect test will instead use a fresh, suspect-specific alt. The requirements for the suspect will be as follows:
- All games must be played on the Pokemon Showdown! UU ladder on a fresh alt with the following format: "UUAS (Nick)." For example, I might register the alt UUAS Hogg to ladder with. You must meet the listed format in order to qualify.
- To qualify for voting, your alt must play a minimum of 45 games, and
- You must have a minimum GXE of 81.