[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Defog
move 3: Roost
move 4: Fire Blast / Toxic
item: Dragonium Z
ability: Cloud Nine
nature: Timid
evs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Draco Meteor allows Altaria to unleash Devastating Drake, which can severely dent many Pokémon that don't resist it, notably OHKOing Simisear and Swanna add more examples here, mons that get ohkod after rocks are are also relevant to mention. notable calcs from non-z draco meteor are also important, like draco meteor ohkoing specs drampa after stealth rock. With Fire Blast, Altaria can reliably threaten out Ferroseed and prevent it from setting up entry hazards. It also hits Sandslash-Alola, OHKOing its offensive variants, and makes Altaria less reliant on Devastating Drake against Grass-types like Lurantis. Alternatively, Toxic makes Altaria a more well-rounded threat, as it can cripple a variety of bulkier Pokémon like Jellicent, Cryogonal or Gastrodon which would otherwise hopelessly wall Altaria.
i'm admittedly not super experienced with offensive alt but would there be circumstances in which flamethrower would be fine over fire blast as a more reliable alternative? flamethrower still ohkos slash, fire blast doesn't ohko ferro anyway, flamethrower has a 50% chance to ohko aboma while fire blast guarantees the ohko. can't immediately think of scenarios where the 2hko would matter.
Set Details
========
Dragonium Z is needed to turn Draco Meteor into Devastating Drake, a one-time nuke that makes up most of this set's offensive capabilities. A Timid Nature with 176 Speed EVs lets Altaria outspeed positive-natured base 70-Speed Pokémon like Victreebel and Ludicolo, as well as Sandslash-Alola. Cloud Nine is used primarily to outspeed and OHKO Sandslash-Alola while hail is active. Furthermore, it allows Altaria to check Rain Dance Ludicolo and several other sweepers found on rain and sun teams, like Adamant Shiftry, Exeggutor or Omastar.
Usage Tips
========
To check key threats, this set relies mostly on Altaria's natural bulk, its set of resistances and the power of its Z-Move. After expending Devastating Drake, Altaria becomes significantly more passive, no longer being able to beat sweepers like Z-Rain Dance Swanna z-rain swanna is niche so i'd find a better example, i'd also mention that altaria is not particularly strong in general and that double switches can be useful if anticipating mons like costa and sd fairyvally that can use alt as setup fodder to switch in and finding it harder to force out bulkier Pokémon like Mudsdale. Switch Altaria in on resisted hits from Pokémon that it can force out, such as Victreebel or Primeape, but be mindful of dangerous coverage moves like Primeape's Ice Punch or Simisear's Hidden Power Ice. If there is no particular threat that you'd need to preserve your Z-move for, try to use it at the right moment to weaken special blanket checks like Eelektross or Silvally-Poison, pick off chipped wallbreakers like Kangaskhan or overcome sufficiently weakened walls like Jellicent.
Team Options
========
This set works as a decent glue on bulky offense or offensive teams. As a Defog user, Altaria supports Pokemon like Simisear or Dodrio which are prone to being worn down by entry hazards. However, since this set tends to be less reliable at keeping Stealth Rock off the field than other hazard removal options like Lurantis, try to avoid using too many Rock-weak Pokemon and making your team too entry hazard-weak as a whole. Altaria appreciates hazard setters like Mudsdale or Regirock, which can help it revenge kill bulkier threats like Stoutland and wallbreak more effectively. In turn, Altaria can alleviate some pressure from them by switching into Primeape and Gurdurr, as well as check Grass-types like Lurantis every mon benefits from rocks being on the field and 99% of teams run rocks anyway so that by itself is not worth mentioning in team options, what you're looking for here is a particular synergy that altaria has with specific rocks setters - in other words, what do mudsdale and regirock do for altaria besides just setting rocks? you can also tie in the aggron mention here. Aggron in particular works well with Altaria, as it can also counter Swords Dance Silvally-Fairy, which uses Altaria as setup fodder, while Altaria can handle the Ground- and Fighting-types that threaten Aggron, such as Mudsdale and Primeape. Physical wallbreakers like Crabominable and Aggron are good teammates for Altaria, taking advantage of specially defensive walls that Altaria invites in, like Cryogonal and Clefairy. Crabominable can also easily switch into Aurorus, which Altaria struggles with.
in addition to aggron, expand on revenge killers/defensive counters that can synergize with altaria by dealing with setup sweepers like costa
one of alt's biggest draws as a glue mon, even with an offensive spread, is the excellent simisear mu so i'd like to see mentions of partners like vic and physdef jelli that directly benefit from alt dealing with sear
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sugar-ovens.383140/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user2.102/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.103/
name: Offensive
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Defog
move 3: Roost
move 4: Fire Blast / Toxic
item: Dragonium Z
ability: Cloud Nine
nature: Timid
evs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Draco Meteor allows Altaria to unleash Devastating Drake, which can severely dent many Pokémon that don't resist it, notably OHKOing Simisear and Swanna add more examples here, mons that get ohkod after rocks are are also relevant to mention. notable calcs from non-z draco meteor are also important, like draco meteor ohkoing specs drampa after stealth rock. With Fire Blast, Altaria can reliably threaten out Ferroseed and prevent it from setting up entry hazards. It also hits Sandslash-Alola, OHKOing its offensive variants, and makes Altaria less reliant on Devastating Drake against Grass-types like Lurantis. Alternatively, Toxic makes Altaria a more well-rounded threat, as it can cripple a variety of bulkier Pokémon like Jellicent, Cryogonal or Gastrodon which would otherwise hopelessly wall Altaria.
i'm admittedly not super experienced with offensive alt but would there be circumstances in which flamethrower would be fine over fire blast as a more reliable alternative? flamethrower still ohkos slash, fire blast doesn't ohko ferro anyway, flamethrower has a 50% chance to ohko aboma while fire blast guarantees the ohko. can't immediately think of scenarios where the 2hko would matter.
Set Details
========
Dragonium Z is needed to turn Draco Meteor into Devastating Drake, a one-time nuke that makes up most of this set's offensive capabilities. A Timid Nature with 176 Speed EVs lets Altaria outspeed positive-natured base 70-Speed Pokémon like Victreebel and Ludicolo, as well as Sandslash-Alola. Cloud Nine is used primarily to outspeed and OHKO Sandslash-Alola while hail is active. Furthermore, it allows Altaria to check Rain Dance Ludicolo and several other sweepers found on rain and sun teams, like Adamant Shiftry, Exeggutor or Omastar.
Usage Tips
========
To check key threats, this set relies mostly on Altaria's natural bulk, its set of resistances and the power of its Z-Move. After expending Devastating Drake, Altaria becomes significantly more passive, no longer being able to beat sweepers like Z-Rain Dance Swanna z-rain swanna is niche so i'd find a better example, i'd also mention that altaria is not particularly strong in general and that double switches can be useful if anticipating mons like costa and sd fairyvally that can use alt as setup fodder to switch in and finding it harder to force out bulkier Pokémon like Mudsdale. Switch Altaria in on resisted hits from Pokémon that it can force out, such as Victreebel or Primeape, but be mindful of dangerous coverage moves like Primeape's Ice Punch or Simisear's Hidden Power Ice. If there is no particular threat that you'd need to preserve your Z-move for, try to use it at the right moment to weaken special blanket checks like Eelektross or Silvally-Poison, pick off chipped wallbreakers like Kangaskhan or overcome sufficiently weakened walls like Jellicent.
Team Options
========
This set works as a decent glue on bulky offense or offensive teams. As a Defog user, Altaria supports Pokemon like Simisear or Dodrio which are prone to being worn down by entry hazards. However, since this set tends to be less reliable at keeping Stealth Rock off the field than other hazard removal options like Lurantis, try to avoid using too many Rock-weak Pokemon and making your team too entry hazard-weak as a whole. Altaria appreciates hazard setters like Mudsdale or Regirock, which can help it revenge kill bulkier threats like Stoutland and wallbreak more effectively. In turn, Altaria can alleviate some pressure from them by switching into Primeape and Gurdurr, as well as check Grass-types like Lurantis every mon benefits from rocks being on the field and 99% of teams run rocks anyway so that by itself is not worth mentioning in team options, what you're looking for here is a particular synergy that altaria has with specific rocks setters - in other words, what do mudsdale and regirock do for altaria besides just setting rocks? you can also tie in the aggron mention here. Aggron in particular works well with Altaria, as it can also counter Swords Dance Silvally-Fairy, which uses Altaria as setup fodder, while Altaria can handle the Ground- and Fighting-types that threaten Aggron, such as Mudsdale and Primeape. Physical wallbreakers like Crabominable and Aggron are good teammates for Altaria, taking advantage of specially defensive walls that Altaria invites in, like Cryogonal and Clefairy. Crabominable can also easily switch into Aurorus, which Altaria struggles with.
in addition to aggron, expand on revenge killers/defensive counters that can synergize with altaria by dealing with setup sweepers like costa
one of alt's biggest draws as a glue mon, even with an offensive spread, is the excellent simisear mu so i'd like to see mentions of partners like vic and physdef jelli that directly benefit from alt dealing with sear
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sugar-ovens.383140/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user2.102/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.103/
Last edited:
