Pokémon Staraptor

[TaBuu]

Staraptor
The Predator Pokémon
X Flavor Text - "The muscles in its wings and legs are strong. It can easily fly while gripping a small Pokémon."
Y Flavor Text - "When Staravia evolve into Staraptor, they leave the flock to live alone. They have sturdy wings."

Pokédex Number - #398 (National) | #101 (Coastal)
Type -

Base Stats - 85 HP / 120 Atk / 70 Def / 50 SAtk / 60 SDef / 100 Spe​

Abilities
[Intimidate] : Upon entering battle, the opponent’s Attack lowers one stage. In a Double Battle, both opponents’ Attack are lowered. Pokémon with the Clear Body, Hyper Cutter, or White Smoke ability are unaffected. In a link battle, if both sides switch on the same turn, and first player sends out a Pokémon with Intimidate, the opponent’s Attack will be lowered before the opponent’s Pokémon switches.
[Reckless (Hidden)] : The power of moves that have recoil damage is increased by 20%.

Notable Moves (Bold indicates STAB)
- Quick Attack (Start)
- Endeavor (Lvl 18)
- Close Combat (Lvl 34)
- Agility (Lvl 41)
- Brave Bird (Lvl 49)
- Roost (TM 19)
- Frustration (TM 21)
- Return (TM 27)
- U Turn (TM 89)
- Substitute (TM 90)
- Double Edge (Egg Move)
- Pursuit (Egg Move)
- Tailwind (Transfer)
- Defog (Transfer)

General Analysis
Ever since it's introduction back in Diamond/Pearl (Generation IV), Staraptor has lingered in BL. Too powerful for UU but not viable enough for OU. With the advent of X/Y (Generation VI), the Predator Pokemon finally has a chance to break free of its BL status and fly into the competitive environment of OU.

One of Staraptor's most defining qualities has to be its brute strength. Boasting one of, if not, the strongest Brave Bird in the entire game, Staraptor is not a trivial Pokemon to be overlooked.

Staraptor possesses an average Base 100 Speed, a tier that seems to grow larger with each passing generation. While Staraptor is not the fastest Pokemon out there, it is definitely faster than any relevant defensive threat and a handful of offensive threats as well.

If one were to classify Staraptor's playstyle, one word comes to mind : kamikaze. At the cost of being able to 2HKO/OHKO a majority of the OU metagame, Staraptor suffers from a very short life-span. Staraptor's main STAB moves induce massive amounts of recoil, hindering its longevity severely. It's extreme susceptibility to passive damage doesn't help either. Regardless, Staraptor is an extremely rewarding Pokemon in the right hands, whether its breaking down defensive Pokemon or cleaning up late-game.

Staraptor has become much more viable in OU this generation than any other because of the introduction of Talonflame. The infamous "Double Bird" core is very effective when utilizing Staraptor's raw power and Talonflame's high base speed and priority Brave Bird. The fact that Staraptor can easily 2HKO any of Talonflame's counters with the appropriate move, makes it such a viable threat in Generation VI.
The raw strength of Banded Brave Bird does not stop with Talonflame (although Talonflame is one of Staraptor's ideal partners). Physical Lucario, Gyarados, Genesect, etc. all appreciate Staraptor's ability to soften up walls that impede their sweeps.

Movesets
"YoloRaptor"
[Choice Banded Staraptor]
move 1: Brave Bird
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Double Edge
ability : Reckless
item : Choice Band
nature : Jolly / Adamant
evs : 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Set Description :
With a Choice Band equipped, Staraptor possesses an immediate +1 boost in Attack.
Brave Bird is its primary STAB and Flying has a deceptively good offensive coverage resisted only by Steel, Rock and Electric.
Close Combat is a god-send for this thing allowing Staraptor to pummel would-be counters for Staraptor such as Tyranitar.
U-Turn is great for maintaining offensive momentum, scouting how the opponent will respond and allowing Staraptor to escape unfavorable situations.
Double Edge is also STAB and while it lacks the coverage of Brave Bird, it allows Staraptor to potentially OHKO certain Brave Bird switch-ins, mainly Rotom Wash and Rotom Heat.
Jolly Nature is the primary nature. It allows Staraptor to beat +Spe Genesect, Lucario (base), +Spe Kyurem-B and speed tie other base 100 Pokemon.
A simple offensive ev spread of 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe is to utilize Staraptor's true power to the fullest while optimizing its speed. 4 Defense evs allow Staraptor to switch in 5 times maximum into Stealth Rock, should such a rare scenario ever occur.

"The Janitor"
[Choice Scarf Staraptor]
move 1: Brave Bird
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Double Edge
ability : Reckless
item : Choice Scarf
nature : Jolly / Adamant
evs : 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

Set Description :
Scarfed Staraptor is outclassed in terms of revenge-killing due to the existence of Choice Banded Talonflame. However, as a cleaner, Staraptor actually works better because it boasts significantly more power over its counterpart allowing Staraptor to be a much more efficient late-game cleaner.
The set is pretty much identical to its Choice Band counterpart. The only difference is the preference in Jolly nature over Adamant ; this allows Staraptor to outspeed and score an OHKO on Scarfed Genesect, a very popular Scarfed Pokemon.

I feel it should be mentioned that scarfed staraptor also performs well as a dedicated team lead since most leads don't want to eat one of staraptors moves turn one and if they comfortably can you can u-turn to the appropriate answer.

Last Thoughts :
What do you think? Just how well can Staraptor perform in this environment considering the various buffs (such as Defog, Talonflame and the re-introduction of Excadrill)? Discuss!

 

[alexwolf]

Ever since it's introduction back in Diamond/Pearl (Generation IV), Staraptor has lingered in BL. Too powerful for UU but not viable enough for OU. With the advent of X/Y (Generation VI), the Predator Pokemon finally has a chance to break free of its BL status and fly into the competitive environment of OU.

You say that it became more viable in 6th gen, but you don't explain why. You just described Staraptor's strong points, without explaining what is its role in this metagame and how it benefited or became worse from the advent of X and Y.

So, to help you add some content in the OP, here is some advice: stress the fuck out of Talonflame!!! Talonflame is one of the biggest reasons why Staraptor is very viable atm, as Staraptor is one of its best wallbreaking partners. Staraptor has very similar checks and counters with Talonflame, such as Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Gliscor, Mandibuzz, Slowbro, Hippowdon, and Landorus-T. However, unlike Talonflame, CB Staratpor can OHKO/2HKO all of them with the right move, and usually prediction is not even needed, as Brave Bird deals with all of them except from Tyranitar and 100% healthy physically defensive Rotom-W. So, CB Staraptor softens up the opposition, making it much easier for Talonflame to clean up late-game. This is the most important role of Staratpor in OU atm, and you need to stress this, as it's the main reason to use Staraptor imo.

That said, be sure to mention Staraptor's downsides too. It's still not that hard for an offensive Pokemon to outspeed, is KOed by anything faster, is weak to SR, lacks switch-in chances, and is very vulnerable to priority. Furthermore, 6th gen introduced one of its best counters, Aegislash, which is a very big pain in the ass for the predator bird and something that needs to be heavily accounted for by every team that carries Staraptor .

 

[ryan]

CB Staraptor fucking wrecks, but Scarf is trash. It doesn't hit that hard at all and misses out on loads of OHKOes and 2HKOes it gets with Band. The whole reason to use Staraptor is because it wallbreaks incredibly easily. If you're trying to clean, just use Talonflame. LO might be ok, but I'd only want to run it with Roost (and it would suck to miss out on any of its moves).

 

[JackTheGordie]

Like alexwolf said, staraptor is really good because of the great synergy with talonflame. The fact that CC/Double Edge cleans out Talon's 2 biggest counters (Rotom-W and Tyranitar)and helps out with all of it's other checks gives Staraptor such a huge niche. Hopefully that core becomes a thing and Staraptor will actually become OU.

 

[alexwolf]

CB Staraptor fucking wrecks, but Scarf is trash. It doesn't hit that hard at all and misses out on loads of OHKOes and 2HKOes it gets with Band. The whole reason to use Staraptor is because it wallbreaks incredibly easily. If you're trying to clean, just use Talonflame. LO might be ok, but I'd only want to run it with Roost (and it would suck to miss out on any of its moves).

Scarf Staraptor + CB Talonflame is an ok core against offensive teams. CB Staraptor is obviously better vs anything else, but against offense, the power from CB is usually overkill, and Staraptor can already get past Rotom-W with Double-Edge, the most common Flying-type resist on offensive teams. That said, CB is way better than Scarf for sure, as Scarf Raptor has to be used with CB Talonflame to not be outclassed, while CB Staraptor is still a good wallbreaker that can work even without Talonflame as a partner. Skarmory being on every single defensive team due to Mega Pinsir being such a huge pain in the ass makes it harder for CB Raptor to wallbreak on its own though.

 

[Primary]

Edited the OP to stress the "Double Bird" core.
Regarding its downsides, I think I pretty much summed it up when I said that Staraptor is frail and dies quickly due to recoil-based moves (Brave Bird + Double Edge).
Tank Aegislash is a straight-up counter to Staraptor which I admit is a huge pain in the ass. Otherwise other variants are easily 2HKO'd by Brave Bird after Stealth Rock. And let's be real, Aegislash is a straight-up stop to a bunch Pokemon it's unreal lol.

Staraptor has become much more viable in OU this generation than any other because of the introduction of Talonflame. The infamous "Double Bird" core is very effective when utilizing Staraptor's raw power and Talonflame's high base speed and priority Brave Bird. The fact that Staraptor can easily 2HKO any of Talonflame's counters with the appropriate move, makes it such a viable threat in Generation VI. The raw strength of Banded Brave Bird does not stop with Talonflame (although Talonflame is one of Staraptor's ideal partners). Physical Lucario, Gyarados, Genesect, etc. all appreciate Staraptor's ability to soften up walls that impede their sweeps.

CB Staraptor fucking wrecks, but Scarf is trash. It doesn't hit that hard at all and misses out on loads of OHKOes and 2HKOes it gets with Band. The whole reason to use Staraptor is because it wallbreaks incredibly easily. If you're trying to clean, just use Talonflame. LO might be ok, but I'd only want to run it with Roost (and it would suck to miss out on any of its moves).

I haven't personalized utilized Scarf Staraptor, but I heard on the analysis page that Scarfed Staraptor deserves a set because it actually cleans deceptively well late-game, due to its substantially more powerful Brave Bird.

 

[Ninetale3]

I feel it should be mentioned that scarfed staraptor also performs well as a dedicated team lead since most leads don't want to eat one of staraptors moves turn one and if they comfortably can you can u-turn to the appropriate answer.

Edit: Thank you Primary for quoting me in the OP.

 

[Aragorn the King]

Just a very minor point - Staraptor now has 60 base special defense instead of 50. I doubt this'll have any large significance, but you should still change it in the OP.

 

[SpaceFlare]

So is the idea with Staraptor akin to the Rayquaza-Salamence core in Gen IV ubers?

 

[Shroomisaur]

It's nice to see Staraptor getting some well-deserved recognition. It seems that Brave Bird is the new Outrage of XY!

CB Talonflame + CB Staraptor are an incredibly powerful wallbreaking duo and absolutely wreck unprepared teams, and also clean up late-game as well. Staraptor not only breaks down things like Rotom with Double Edge, but has Close Combat to take out most Rock-types that frustrate Talon as well. I have actually tested CB Braviary as well, which gives up speed and some power on its STABs for better survivability and the ability to beat Aegislash with Shadow Claw and Defiant (which also craps on Lando-T and Defoggers). They're both very similar and either way, a dual BB-spamming wallbreaking core is extremely effective this generation.

 

[Mood4food77]

get out of here with your braviary shenanigans, real men use staraptor

i also feel double birding (what i'm going to call it now) might be more effective with life orb talonflame and choice band staraptor, mostly because talonflame lacks a 4th move and would love to freely roost up but anyways

yea i don't think we can stress it enough that staraptor needs talonflame to function as weird as it sounds while both physically attacking flying types, they do hit different things

talonflame hits scizor, ferrothorn, and genesect for crazy damage
staraptor hits heatran, tyranitar, and blissey for crazy damage

the list is longer but those threats are the key as to why this core works amazingly well, the pure power they bring is amazing and nothing likes switching into them, talonflame also gets teh extra boost of being nigh impossible to revenge kill, this duo pairs amazingly well with mega venusaur who takes care of pesky rotoms and azumarills who would ruin this duo, all you need is a spinner (excadrill works wonderfully here) and just two other pokes to compliment and then you can start fucking bitches up

seriously, the combo is deadly and practically a must use if you want to use staraptor, i'm tempted to make my talonflame female just so i can say that they're married

 

[JackTheGordie]

So is the idea with Staraptor akin to the Rayquaza-Salamence core in Gen IV ubers?

Basically. Staraptor helps chip away at checks and destroys Talon's #1 and #2 Counters, letting it clean up late game.

 

[Oranos]

CB Staraptor fucking wrecks, but Scarf is trash. It doesn't hit that hard at all and misses out on loads of OHKOes and 2HKOes it gets with Band. The whole reason to use Staraptor is because it wallbreaks incredibly easily. If you're trying to clean, just use Talonflame. LO might be ok, but I'd only want to run it with Roost (and it would suck to miss out on any of its moves).

Afraid I have to disagree about scarf being trash. While you do lose out on some power, you can catch many people off guard who are expecting a band set and leave in a frail sweeper assuming they will strike first. Even without band, Raptor serves as an excellent cleaner, boasting more power than talonflame. This means your other pokemon need to do less damage for it to complete a sweep. It depends on how you're using raptor, but I wouldn't dismiss the scarf set out of hand. As many have pointed out in other threads, it can be effective!

 

[ryan]

You don't lose out on "some" power. You lose out on a ton of power.

252 Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 144-169 (34.2 - 40.2%) -- 38.8% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Hippowdon: 213-252 (50.7 - 60%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 151-178 (38.3 - 45.1%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 225-265 (57.1 - 67.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 78-93 (24 - 28.7%) -- 0.4% chance to 4HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 117-138 (36.1 - 42.5%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 133-157 (37.7 - 44.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO
252 Atk Staraptor Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 148-176 (42 - 50%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Ferrothorn: 198-234 (56.2 - 66.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

Band and Scarf both 2HKO Rotom-W with Double-Edge, but Band can also just spam Brave Bird and deal a ton of damage to Rotom-W even with Brave Bird.

252 Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Rotom-W: 114-135 (37.5 - 44.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

I'm dismissing the Scarf set because it's trash. It's not stronger than CB Talonflame, which also doesn't have to worry about being taken out by any of the many priority moves in OU barring Dragonite/Mega Lucario Extreme Speed and opposing CB Talonflame that run more Speed/win the Speed tie. There's a reason why Genesect is one of the only Scarfers used anymore. Priority is everywhere. You're much better off running powerful and fast priority in a priority meta than running a Scarfer that could clean an offensive team if only it didn't get taken out by Azu's Aqua Jet or Scizor's Bullet Punch or Mega Lucario's Bullet Punch/Vacuum Wave or Mamoswine's Ice Shard or etc.

252 Atk Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 222-262 (65.1 - 76.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Mew: 235-277 (68.9 - 81.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

I realize that we're comparing an Adamant Talonflame to a Jolly Staraptor, but Talonflame, unlike Scarf Staraptor, can afford to run Adamant.

You're also not catching anyone off guard with Scarf Staraptor because Choice Scarf is Staraptor's most used item for reasons far beyond what I can possibly comprehend.

 

[roawr]

I think the drop in power from band to scarf is noticeable but scarf has the nice ability to just outspeed scarfed genesect and OHKO it with Brave Bird. I think that fact gives scarf some credit.

 

[Nubbins]

Just use talonflame for that.

 

[alexwolf]

Scarf Staraptor should always be used with CB Talonflame, so there is no point in comparing them.

 

[JackTheGordie]

I think the drop in power from band to scarf is noticeable but scarf has the nice ability to just outspeed scarfed genesect and OHKO it with Brave Bird. I think that fact gives scarf some credit.

252 Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs 0/-0 Genesect: 91.1-107.4% (43.8% chance to OHKO)
252 Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs 0/0 Genesect: 81.9-96.8% (Guarnteed 2HKO)

Not factoring Adamant Staraptor because i haven't seen any neutral speed nature Genesects, so +spe Gene outspeeds it and U-Turns out or or OHKO's with ice beam. So unless Gene runs Hasty, which why would you with all the priority, Raptor always loses. Even if it is hasty you still lose 56.2% of the time.

 

[Nubbins]

Scarf Staraptor should always be used with CB Talonflame, so there is no point in comparing them.

I mean there's no point in using genesect as a justification for scarf staraptor when CB talonflame already covers it. You're already using both of them.

 

[Cutie Caitlyn]

Staraptor's both abilities are really useful. Uturn + Intimidate is a good tactic. As well as Revenge Killing using Brave Bird + Reckless.
Even if it lacks Bulk, It's Attack and Speed stat compensates with it. Glass Cannon

 

[Terminate421]

I still utilize my Staraptor, giving him Intimidate to soften sweeps and then hitting hard with Choice Banded Brave Birds.

I understand fully Staraptor rarely lives, often I pair him with Garchomp (Who is scarfed) on doubles. That intimidate drops the effectiveness of Ice Shards and both pokemon are able to hammer the opponent with whatever is necessary.

 

[Mood4food77]

I go adamant choice band staraptor with CB talonflame for one reason and one reason alone

252+ Atk Choice Band Staraptor Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 386-456 (100 - 118.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

staraptor should be used as a wall breaker, not a revenge killer, not something with speed, you got talonflame for that. even with an adamant nature, staraptor outruns all the bulky pokemon you need and 2HKOs pretty much all of them minus gliscor or hippowdon or something honestly, i don't know

screw that, adamant choice band fucking murks aegislash
252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 128-151 (39.5 - 46.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Reckless Staraptor Brave Bird vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Blade: 317-373 (97.8 - 115.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

which pretty much means aegislash takes a huge risk in attacking you

oh by the way, even if he does attack you, he's very unlikely to get the KO

252+ Atk Aegislash-Blade Sacred Sword vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 161-190 (51.6 - 60.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ SpA Aegislash-Blade Hidden Power Ice vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Staraptor: 242-286 (77.5 - 91.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252+ Atk Aegislash-Blade Iron Head vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Staraptor: 214-253 (68.5 - 81%) -- guaranteed 2HKO

aegislash can't even just blindly switch-in, although HP ice does do a lot of damage, but aegislash isn't a problem when you got CB talonflame or excadrill with you, this just makes aegislash that much easier

seriously, adamant CB raptor is the way to go, blast holes while you can

 

[Schpoonman]

When would Aegislash EVER be in Blade Forme when you're attacking? If you switch in on Shadow Sneak, King's Shield. If you switch in on the revenge, King's Shield.

 

[Kairyu_Gen1]

Under no circumstances have I seen a time where Staraptor can go 1 on 1 with Aegislash. You're best bet is to hope is to switch out praying you predict the move, or death fod hoping he doesn't set up in your face.

 

[Mood4food77]

it's not that staraptor can't really deal with aegislash, it's that aegislash literally can't do anything except king's shield or else it will die, pretty much giving you a free switch into something that can OHKO aegislash (or deal a buttload of damage to it) like talonflame, excadrill, or even mega venusaur who neuters it entirely

it lures it and forces it to use one move, uses anything else and it becomes death fodder