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Other The OU Theorymon Project (CLOSED)

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To go along with what higglybiggly said, here are the typing changes that come with the Dragon/Fairy typing:
+Loses 4x Ice Weakness
+Loses Dragon Weakness/Gains Immunity
+Rock Neutrality/No SR Weakness
+Resists Electric now
-Loses Ground Immunity
-Gains Poison/Steel Weakness
 
So, Altaria (252 HP/252+ Def) checks Charizard, Garchomp, Rotom-W, Dragonite, Gyarados, Infernape, Volcarona, and Lati@s very consistently, what else?

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Altaria: 98-116 (27.6 - 32.7%) -- 74.8% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Altaria in Sun: 149-176 (42 - 49.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Altaria: 127-150 (35.8 - 42.3%) -- 93% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Gyarados Ice Fang vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Altaria: 118-140 (33.3 - 39.5%) -- 17.1% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ SpA Volcarona Bug Buzz vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Altaria: 79-93 (22.3 - 26.2%) -- possible 5HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
Regular Ttar is checked:

252+ Atk Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Altaria: 142-168 (40.1 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Bisharp lacking Iron Head is checked as well:

+2 252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Altaria: 140-165 (39.5 - 46.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
I vote for Dragon/Fairy Altaria because Porygon2 can already get Protean by tracing Greninja.

Oh. Okay. Yeah, that's good logic.

Let's not suggest any more abilities for Pokemon that get Trace already, guys. I can't believe the solution was right in front of us the whole time.

Moving on...

  • What kind of playstyle will Altaria's presence benefit and hurt more?
  • What will Altaria's most successful set look like, and how many effective sets will it have?
  • Which Pokemon would benefit the most from Altaria's newfound viability in OU, and which Pokemon would be hurt the most?
  • Which would be the best checks and counters to Altaria's best sets?

I think we need to figure out viable sets first.

I'm assuming all-out offensive sets and bulky offensive sets are right out, because seriously look at those stats. Base 70 in both offenses and 80 Speed isn't making Altaria's DD or Choice sets viable anytime soon. However, she needs some kind of damaging move to not be Taunt bait. Seeing as her defensive sets will likely only have one attack, they'll need to be STAB, so her choices are Dragon Claw or Dragon Pulse (Outrage and Draco Meteor too, I suppose,) and Moonblast. Moonblast is the best option so other Fairies can't wall it. The Dragon STAB's are usable for hitting the Zards better, but keep in mind this means absolutely any Fairy can come in on it.

(On a related note, Fairy doesn't resist itself, so Altaria is still weak to Fairy. Keep that in mind.)

Her other options include Roost, Haze, Heal Bell, Perish Song, Roar, and Tailwind. Of those, I think only Roost is necessary (and maybe Roar.)

So, standard Altaria may look something like this;

Altaria w/ Leftovers
Bold Nature
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
- Moonblast
- Roost
- Roar/ Toxic/ Perish Song
- Heal Bell/ Tailwind

Honestly, the biggest problem I see with Altaria is what it can do once it's in. Uninvested, Moonblast does pretty negligible damage against a lot of threats. This means that at least one slot needs to be devoted to forcing switches or hurting the opponent over time. It's not quite bulky enough where you can really forgo bulk investment, either.

Altaria looks okay, but not good enough where it could really impact the metagame meaningfully. Adding a Fairy-typing helps, but doesn't really solve the underlying issues in its pitiful offensive presence and not quite good enough bulk.
 
Oh. Okay. Yeah, that's good logic.

Let's not suggest any more abilities for Pokemon that get Trace already, guys. I can't believe the solution was right in front of us the whole time.

Moving on...



I think we need to figure out viable sets first.

I'm assuming all-out offensive sets and bulky offensive sets are right out, because seriously look at those stats. Base 70 in both offenses and 80 Speed isn't making Altaria's DD or Choice sets viable anytime soon. However, she needs some kind of damaging move to not be Taunt bait. Seeing as her defensive sets will likely only have one attack, they'll need to be STAB, so her choices are Dragon Claw or Dragon Pulse (Outrage and Draco Meteor too, I suppose,) and Moonblast. Moonblast is the best option so other Fairies can't wall it. The Dragon STAB's are usable for hitting the Zards better, but keep in mind this means absolutely any Fairy can come in on it.

(On a related note, Fairy doesn't resist itself, so Altaria is still weak to Fairy. Keep that in mind.)

Her other options include Roost, Haze, Heal Bell, Perish Song, Roar, and Tailwind. Of those, I think only Roost is necessary (and maybe Roar.)

So, standard Altaria may look something like this;

Altaria w/ Leftovers
Bold Nature
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
- Moonblast
- Roost
- Roar/ Toxic/ Perish Song
- Heal Bell/ Tailwind

Honestly, the biggest problem I see with Altaria is what it can do once it's in. Uninvested, Moonblast does pretty negligible damage against a lot of threats. This means that at least one slot needs to be devoted to forcing switches or hurting the opponent over time. It's not quite bulky enough where you can really forgo bulk investment, either.

Altaria looks okay, but not good enough where it could really impact the metagame meaningfully. Adding a Fairy-typing helps, but doesn't really solve the underlying issues in its pitiful offensive presence and not quite good enough bulk.

I think ToxiStalling is definitely the way to go in terms of damage. With great resistances, respectable bulk, instant healing and two pretty nice abilities (Cloud Nine is niche but helps it to shut down MZard and Ttar) it can hang around and wall some common OU threats. I would say Fire Blast/Heat Wave is a pretty good option for its one offensive move so it can hit Steels, though again, Altaria really doesn't want to attempt to hurt anything with that sucky SpA. If only it got CM…
 
Oh. Okay. Yeah, that's good logic.

Let's not suggest any more abilities for Pokemon that get Trace already, guys. I can't believe the solution was right in front of us the whole time.

Moving on...



I think we need to figure out viable sets first.

I'm assuming all-out offensive sets and bulky offensive sets are right out, because seriously look at those stats. Base 70 in both offenses and 80 Speed isn't making Altaria's DD or Choice sets viable anytime soon. However, she needs some kind of damaging move to not be Taunt bait. Seeing as her defensive sets will likely only have one attack, they'll need to be STAB, so her choices are Dragon Claw or Dragon Pulse (Outrage and Draco Meteor too, I suppose,) and Moonblast. Moonblast is the best option so other Fairies can't wall it. The Dragon STAB's are usable for hitting the Zards better, but keep in mind this means absolutely any Fairy can come in on it.

(On a related note, Fairy doesn't resist itself, so Altaria is still weak to Fairy. Keep that in mind.)

Her other options include Roost, Haze, Heal Bell, Perish Song, Roar, and Tailwind. Of those, I think only Roost is necessary (and maybe Roar.)

So, standard Altaria may look something like this;

Altaria w/ Leftovers
Bold Nature
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
- Moonblast
- Roost
- Roar/ Toxic/ Perish Song
- Heal Bell/ Tailwind

Honestly, the biggest problem I see with Altaria is what it can do once it's in. Uninvested, Moonblast does pretty negligible damage against a lot of threats. This means that at least one slot needs to be devoted to forcing switches or hurting the opponent over time. It's not quite bulky enough where you can really forgo bulk investment, either.

Altaria looks okay, but not good enough where it could really impact the metagame meaningfully. Adding a Fairy-typing helps, but doesn't really solve the underlying issues in its pitiful offensive presence and not quite good enough bulk.

Haze is a must or else it becomes complete set up bait for dragons. Moonblast really doesn't do much at all to dragons, and if it lacks Haze then Adamant Char-X at +1 can 2HKO it with Flare Blitz. Heal Bell and tailwind is nice and all but there are better pokemon for that. Altaria isn't really trying to be a utility mon, just one that can toxic stall the shit out of the meta. It's sort of comparable to Gliscor, except checking different mons. A better set imo would be

Altaria w/ Leftovers
Bold Nature
252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 SpD
- Moonblast
- Roost
- Toxic
- Haze

If you're running Haze there's no need to run Roar or Perish song. It's just that Toxic and Haze is much better one on one, and I think that's really what Altaria is trying to do. Altaria really doesn't need much team support but IS the team support. Not to mention spreading status is very nice and is much better in a stall fest.
 
It could become a serious monster with Cotton Guard and maximum Special defense investment. Strikes me as entertaining, for sure. Perhaps something like...


Altaria @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Calm Nature
- Cotton Guard
- Roost
- Toxic
- Moonblast

Cotton Guard turn one, Toxic and Moonblast stuff until you need to heal. The main things she'd have a problem with would be steel types and poison types, of course. It's an interesting idea that probably sucks in practice.
Haze is a must or else it becomes complete set up bait for dragons.
Which is why my set sucks. Bleh.
 
I think ToxiStalling is definitely the way to go in terms of damage. With great resistances, respectable bulk, instant healing and two pretty nice abilities (Cloud Nine is niche but helps it to shut down MZard and Ttar) it can hang around and wall some common OU threats. I would say Fire Blast/Heat Wave is a pretty good option for its one offensive move so it can hit Steels, though again, Altaria really doesn't want to attempt to hurt anything with that sucky SpA. If only it got CM…

Toxic is definitely one of Altaria's better options, but it's tough to use effectively when Steels are so prominent. A Fire-type move is theoretically nice, but like you said, it's not doing much with a SpA stat just 12 base points above Farfetch'd.

I think, no matter what, there's going to be a few good answers to Altaria, and highly-used ones at that. You could say she has a bit of 4MSS.
 
I was honestly really shocked that Altaria didn't get slapped with the Dragon/Fairy typing this gen. It's easily the "friendliest" Dragon type around and is the only Dragon capable of learning Moonblast and the only non-fairy to learn it besides Cresselia. Honestly, I think we'll see a mega evo down the line. Could you imagine Dragon/Fairy with Fur Coat for the mega ability? I'd be nuts.
 
Scizor will always be there to shit on Altaria, as will basically all Steel types. Altaria is a stallish mon and the set I posted above has a lot of similarities with Gliscor. So like Gliscor there are going to be Pokemon that completely shut down Altaria. Heatran could toxic stall Altaria back lol, unless it has Natural Cure but then it'd have to run a less bulky set to avoid the 2HKO from mega char-Y. Gliscor ironically enough poops on it, and other bulky toxic immune Pokemon. Those are it's real counters. Also like Gliscor there are Pokemon such Cube, where if he gets a free switch in would also poop on Altaria. However Cube would not like switching into a toxic. Overall Altaria would mainly contribute to stall/semi stall/bulky offense. And since not many people like to use stall, in order to combat it powerful wall breakers would be promoted. Such as Cube, Mamo, Mega T-Tar, and Mega Mawile. Mega Gardevoir could possibly see more usage, as well as Mega Medicham.
 
It could become a serious monster with Cotton Guard and maximum Special defense investment. Strikes me as entertaining, for sure. Perhaps something like...


Altaria @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Calm Nature
- Cotton Guard
- Roost
- Toxic
- Moonblast

Cotton Guard turn one, Toxic and Moonblast stuff until you need to heal. The main things she'd have a problem with would be steel types and poison types, of course. It's an interesting idea that probably sucks in practice.
Highly disagree about the sucks in practice part. I remember back in 5th gen I tried using a Cotton Guard Altaria to see what happened. With the huge Fairy buff I would wager that Altaria would become nigh impossible to kill if used by a competent player who can remove its counters (The steel/poisons you mentioned). Its typing would make it very easy to get in and force a switch, at which point you can Cotton Guard to make it a brick wall, or use it as a defensive pivot to counter the predicted switch into a Steel/Poison type. Also note that with Natural Cure a Toxic or Spore doesn't spell the end for Altaria. Here are some calcs to give an idea of how it takes some dangerous hits:

252+ Atk Aegislash-Blade Iron Head vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 140-168 (39.5 - 47.4%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Life Orb Bisharp Iron Head vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 159-190 (44.9 - 53.6%) -- 2% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Aerilate Mega Pinsir Return vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 109-129 (30.7 - 36.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 158-188 (44.6 - 53.1%) -- 0.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 103-123 (29 - 34.7%) -- 99.9% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Life Orb Protean Greninja Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Altaria: 229-273 (64.6 - 77.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Scizor will always be there to shit on Altaria, as will basically all Steel types.
lolno. A stalemate isn't being shit on.
252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 144-170 (40.6 - 48%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

Remember you just have to hit Cotton Guard one more time to get to +6 and start Roosting off in some threats' pathetic faces. You can also forget about Special bulk and run a Bold nature and Def EVs to make it truly disgusting against physical threats.

Just gear your team to smash the few threats that smash your Altaria after you lure them out through its good role as a defensive pivot and your win condition becomes the Great Wall of Altaria.
 
Cotton Guard stuff

A) If you get hit with Toxic or Spore, you need to switch out to cure them (or sit through sleep turns.) If you switch out, you lose those boosts. I don't see how that isn't an issue.

B) You get 16 PP with Roost. Bullet Punch gets 48. Good luck stalling that out.

C) Crits ignore defensive boosts. It only takes one.

D) There are really good reasons defensive boosting moves are rare. They don't give you the required tools to actually take on foes (unless Stored Power is being used,) just the ability to take hits better. You still can't do crap to most Pokemon (Steels and Poisons in particular,) you don't have the required special bulk to take on really powerful special threats, and you're still total Taunt bait.
 
A) If you get hit with Toxic or Spore, you need to switch out to cure them (or sit through sleep turns.) If you switch out, you lose those boosts. I don't see how that isn't an issue.

B) You get 16 PP with Roost. Bullet Punch gets 48. Good luck stalling that out.

C) Crits ignore defensive boosts. It only takes one.

D) There are really good reasons defensive boosting moves are rare. They don't give you the required tools to actually take on foes (unless Stored Power is being used,) just the ability to take hits better. You still can't do crap to most Pokemon (Steels and Poisons in particular,) you don't have the required special bulk to take on really powerful special threats, and you're still total Taunt bait.
(A) They are an issue, but not a critical one. For most Pokemon in a similar role, they are a critical issue. For Altaria it's just a forced switch.

(B) I admit I probably overstated what I was getting at. I'm not suggesting that you use Altaria to beat Scizor, but its presence does not negate Altaria's when the best it can do is stall it out (this is assuming no SD set, which is a big assumption). Also I think running Fire Blast over Moonblast on the set would be a viable option for stopping pesky Toxic-immune Steels.

(C) OK. Wouldn't call it a nail in the coffin.

(D) I'm aware of those things, but most Pokemon aren't in a position to abuse a defense boosting move like Altaria is. It has so few things that can threaten it after it sets up that a well built team can happily put it into a position to cripple lots of teams. I can only think of Greninja, Landorus-I, and Sludge Bomb Gengar as Special OU threats which Altaria would have to run from.
 
It could become a serious monster with Cotton Guard and maximum Special defense investment. Strikes me as entertaining, for sure. Perhaps something like...


Altaria @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 SAtk / 4 HP
Calm Nature
- Cotton Guard
- Roost
- Toxic
- Moonblast

Cotton Guard turn one, Toxic and Moonblast stuff until you need to heal. The main things she'd have a problem with would be steel types and poison types, of course. It's an interesting idea that probably sucks in practice.

Which is why my set sucks. Bleh.


YES, THIS. The pokemon is just screaming Cotton Guard (no more x4 weakness BS, SR or DragonZ), but if I'll make this minor adjustment:

Altaria @ Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 SDef / 252 HP / 4 SpA
Calm Nature
- Cotton Guard
- Roost
- Toxic
- Fire Blast

Use cotton guard, fire blast the incoming steels, toxicate everything else, roost. It's really that simple. Of course you need to get rid of Heatran and MVenu but that is doable by a Choice Specs Goth if you really want.

Edit: Prolly needs EV tampering to guarantee a 2HKO on standard MScizor sets.
 
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There is of course the problem with boosting dragon types, but that leaves three "counters":
Poison types, which, bar Megasaur, are uncommon in OU
Steel types, unless you run Fire Blast, which can lead to hilarity
Boosting Dragons, unless you run Moonblast, probably.

We'll see how this works out when the Theorymon tier is released on some testing server, which I think happens after this week, right?

EDIT: whoops it's 8 pokemon not 4
 
alright then, you can run Cotton Guard, but that's basically begging for a crit especially when Altaria is gonna be in for an extended amount of time just stalling stuff. AND the pokemon I listed still hard counter it with the exception of Scizor and Medicham.

252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 242-288 (68.3 - 81.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery while...

4 SpA Altaria Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mega Mawile: 124-148 (40.7 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

0- SpA Teravolt Kyurem-B Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Altaria: 288-340 (81.3 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (clean OHKO if actually invested which most are)

252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Icicle Crash vs. +6 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 218-265 (61.5 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (lol)

+1 252+ Atk Mega Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. +6 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 176-210 (49.7 - 59.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, sandstorm damage, and Leftovers recovery (complete set up bait for this bitch)

252 SpA Pixilate Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Altaria: 320-378 (90.3 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

So as you can see it's hard checks and counters still check and counter it. Altaria is definitely a great addition to stall but making a defensive pokemon your win condition is sort of a stretch.
 
(A) They are an issue, but not a critical one. For most Pokemon in a similar role, they are a critical issue. For Altaria it's just a forced switch.

(B) I admit I probably overstated what I was getting at. I'm not suggesting that you use Altaria to beat Scizor, but its presence does not negate Altaria's when the best it can do is stall it out (this is assuming no SD set, which is a big assumption). Also I think running Fire Blast over Moonblast on the set would be a viable option for stopping pesky Toxic-immune Steels.

(C) OK. Wouldn't call it a nail in the coffin.

(D) I'm aware of those things, but most Pokemon aren't in a position to abuse a defense boosting move like Altaria is. It has so few things that can threaten it after it sets up that a well built team can happily put it into a position to cripple lots of teams. I can only think of Greninja, Landorus-I, and Sludge Bomb Gengar as Special OU threats which Altaria would have to run from.

I still have too much trouble believing the Cotton Guard set is really viable.

I think you're downplaying the issues the set encounters a bit. For starters, a forced switch is a pretty big problem for a boosting defensive mon. Altaria isn't fast enough to get that Cotton Guard up before being smacked hard in most cases, which means if it needs to come back and try again, it's left open. Obviously you can't really afford to not switch, which puts it in a terrible position late-game. If you don't have something good to switch to, you're either gonna lose Altaria to Toxic/Sleep or make a dangerous switch. "Just a forced switch," is a lot worse than it sounds for a lot, if not all, Pokemon. Worst of all is that it essentially gives your opponent a free turn that they can exploit by setting up or double-switching to a big threat.

Without investment, that Fire Blast is kind of pathetically weak (and easy to stall out, which is pretty problematic for a staller.) To wit, without investment, Scizor will not be OHKO'd by that Fire Blast. It's not even guaranteed with SR damage. It's even worse if you're up against Mega Scizor. You can move EV's to SpA, but even with maximum investment Altaria isn't doing much to Pokemon that aren't 4x weak to Fire Blast. It still won't OHKO Ferrothorn (and Mega Scizor can survive,) Mega Mawile takes a maximum of 65.1% without SpD investment, Aegislash-Blade is only OHKO'd 6.3% of the time, and neutral or better Pokemon laugh it off. Keep in mind that running Fire Blast means you need to get rid of something else, and Altaria is strapped for moveslots as is.

Again, you're downplaying the crit issue. You're aiming to stall out your opponents with this set. When you stall, you give your opponent more chances to get a crit. Eventually it becomes a matter of when they'll crit, not if they'll crit. That's one of the biggest problems with defensive boosters. If the opponent's move has 8 PP, and the crit chance is 1/16, there's about a 64% chance at least one of those will be a crit. That's hugely problematic.

Altaria is in no better a position to abuse the move than other recipients of Cotton Guard. The problems with the strategy in general still apply to Altaria. Being forced to switch by status is still huge, and as far as checks and counters go there are still a lot of them. Greninja 2HKO's with Ice Beam, without investment you won't OHKO back with Moonblast (using Fire Blast on Greninja is an option once it becomes Ice-Type, but it'll fail to OHKO even with max investment and Life Orb recoil. Wow.) Mega Venusaur 2HKO's with Sludge Bomb. Gengar does the same and takes at most 45.8% from a Fire Blast. Espeon 3HKO's with Psychic, but is only 3HKO'd by Moonblast in return and can switch in on Toxic to screw you up. Landorus-I actually only has a tiny chance of 2HKOing with Earth Power, but it still isn't 2HKO'd back. Togekiss takes nothing from Moonblast or Fire Blast and can set up Nasty Plot to end Altaria's days, though it does fear Toxic if it isn't running Substitute. Lati@s can't do anything with their standard sets if Altaria already has Cotton Guard up, but both survive Moonblast and 2HKO with Ice Beam. Standard Trevenant, despite being weak to Fire Blast, is only 3HKO'd by it and can otherwise set up Leech Seed or Sub. The Pink Blobs literally don't care what Altaria does at all and can Seismic Toss/Ice Beam it until it runs out of Roosts while using Natural Cure to remove Toxic (or they can use Toxic themselves.) In general, defensive teams don't care even a little bit about this Altaria. Sylveon's Hyper Voice 2HKO's, and it has Heal Bell for Toxic. Clefable is a full-stop to Altaria with Magic Guard and can heal itself. Moonblast lets Clefable 3HKO.

I think that's enough for now.
 
Alright guess I'll start something. Altaria with a Dragon/Fairy typing allows it to check if not counter almost all of the dragons in OU. However it will need a physically defensive spread in order to check Char-X reliably. That Dragon/Fairy typing also allows it to check/counter a variety of Fire types including but not limited to Infernape, Char-Y, and Volcarona. Going through the Viability rankings, I'll just list off the Pokemon that it could check. These include Garchomp/Garchomp-Mega, Char-Y/Char-X, variants of Thundurus-I (as long as not life orb), Rotom-W (although it could just volt switch out), variants of Landorus-T (as long as not max attack which is pretty rare), Dragonite, Keldeo, Lati@s, and variants of Terrakion (as long as not band). So as you can see if it is fully invested in defensive bulk it can avoid 2HKO's from all of these. Altaria would definitely be used much more often with this amazing defensive typing. Seeing as it now has only weaknesses to Steel, Poison, and Ice. That's not a lot to be worried about. This bitch would definitely impact the metagame, and give us all a nice check to all the threats roaming around.

This is just right, as is your comments about the set it should run. Altaria would not be running an offensive set. Ever. 70/70/80 offenses? Pathetic.

75/90/105 defenses on the other hand... now you're talking. Altaria would come in on the above pokemon, haze away any set up, toxic, and proceed to press roost.

It might not even be necessary to run a coverage move, because Altaria has no business staying in on pokemon that can taunt. It's a check for the prominent offense mons who, also, have no business running taunt.

0 SpA Altaria Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Garchomp: 176-210 (49.1 - 58.6%) -- 98% chance to 2HKO

0 SpA Altaria Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X: 88-105 (29.5 - 35.2%) -- 15.6% chance to 3HKO

0 SpA Altaria Moonblast vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Volcarona: 37-44 (11.8 - 14.1%) -- possibly the worst move ever

0 SpA Altaria Moonblast vs. 0 HP / 4 SpD Keldeo: 168-198 (52 - 61.3%) -- 93.4% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

0 SpA Altaria Moonblast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Tyranitar in Sand: 74-90 (18.3 - 22.2%) -- possible 5HKO

My point being, not really worth it, and not really needed. Altaria is a toxic stall mon. We're looking at the gliscor we need to handle the pokemon listed above.

By ignoring the need for coverage, you can instead run another support move to help your team instead of wasting time firing pitiful spits of flame at an incoming steel mon that probably won't get KO'd anyway.

Something like:

Altaria @ leftovers
Ability: Cloud Nine/Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Def/ 4 Sp. Def
Bold
- Roost
- Toxic
- Haze
- Heal Bell/Safeguard/Roar/Perish Song

Also, what do you guys think of Altaria running Dragonbreath as it's only coverage move? I say this only for the 30% paralysis which, as we know from Scald, is mildly reliable.
 
I think Moonblast and its 30% SpA drop is better than Dragonbreath, since Moonblast is not quite in the "tickling" range of damage, and nothing is immune (fuck shedinja)
 
I think Moonblast and its 30% SpA drop is better than Dragonbreath, since Moonblast is not quite in the "tickling" range of damage, and nothing is immune (fuck shedinja)

Not to mention paralysis chance is also pointless when your main form of damage is Toxic...
 
Cotton Guard might be usable, but I don't think Altaria's stats make it worth using even with such a good defensive typing. It's certainly a novel idea though.
 
If he had a way to damage meaningfully, id like the idea of being a defensive cleric. I mean, enough resistances to come in and just have at it doing what you do isn't bad but not great either. A specialized counter if you will.

I like the idea, but if only he had a decent way to damage outside Toxic. Does he even get something with burn chance (outside of the 10% range)?
 
alright then, you can run Cotton Guard, but that's basically begging for a crit especially when Altaria is gonna be in for an extended amount of time just stalling stuff. AND the pokemon I listed still hard counter it with the exception of Scizor and Medicham.

252+ Atk Huge Power Mega Mawile Play Rough vs. +3 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 242-288 (68.3 - 81.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery while...

4 SpA Altaria Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Mega Mawile: 124-148 (40.7 - 48.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

0- SpA Teravolt Kyurem-B Ice Beam vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Altaria: 288-340 (81.3 - 96%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (clean OHKO if actually invested which most are)

252+ Atk Life Orb Mamoswine Icicle Crash vs. +6 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 218-265 (61.5 - 74.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (lol)

+1 252+ Atk Mega Tyranitar Stone Edge vs. +6 252 HP / 0 Def Altaria: 176-210 (49.7 - 59.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock, sandstorm damage, and Leftovers recovery (complete set up bait for this bitch)

252 SpA Pixilate Mega Gardevoir Hyper Voice vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Altaria: 320-378 (90.3 - 106.7%) -- 43.8% chance to OHKO

So as you can see it's hard checks and counters still check and counter it. Altaria is definitely a great addition to stall but making a defensive pokemon your win condition is sort of a stretch.
im 99.9% sure these calcs are for dragon flying altaria
 
im 99.9% sure these calcs are for dragon flying altaria
yeah that's my bad.

Mega T-Tar can't actually do much to Altaria, so scrap that.
Mamo still 2HKO's +3 Altaria
and invested Cube (which is standard) 2HKO's it as well

If he had a way to damage meaningfully, id like the idea of being a defensive cleric. I mean, enough resistances to come in and just have at it doing what you do isn't bad but not great either. A specialized counter if you will.

I like the idea, but if only he had a decent way to damage outside Toxic. Does he even get something with burn chance (outside of the 10% range)?

He does not. The only thing he can do is toxic stall. really nothing else. The only move he has that can actually do decent damage in this metagame is Draco Meteor. That's always an option. He also does not have any moves that have a significantly high chance to spread status, so toxic stall is the only thing he should mainly be used for.
 
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Since nobody has yet I'll give calcs of Altaria vs. Mega Zard X and Y:

252 Atk Tough Claws Mega Charizard X Flare Blitz vs. 252 HP / 252 Def Altaria: 108-127 (30.5 - 35.8%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Altaria Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard X: 240-284 (80.5 - 95.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Air Slash vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Altaria: 136-162 (38.4 - 45.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 SpA Mega Charizard Y Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 4 SpD Altaria: 99-117 (27.9 - 33%) -- 88.6% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
0 SpA Altaria Draco Meteor vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Charizard Y: 93-111 (31.2 - 37.2%) -- 79.4% chance to 3HKO


That is quite impressive walling of the Mega Zards, and Altaria can even OHKO Mega Charizard X with no investment at all! Unfortunately she's too weak to hurt Mega Zard Y, but she can still toxic stall him out.
 
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