Zapdos
[Overview]
<p>Thanks to its unique typing, good overall stats, and interesting movepool, Zapdos manages to hold a definite niche in OU. It is one of the few Pokemon capable of handling Sheer Force Landorus, countering it if Stealth Rock is off the field. In addition, Zapdos has Roost to take repeated assaults, and can take on other threatening special sweepers, such as Volcarona (provided it is raining) and Tornadus. Furthermore, the combination of Zapdos's Electric typing, good coverage, Roost, and useful resistances allow it to threaten the ubiquitous rain offense teams and put big pressure on them. However, Zapdos has many flaws that prevent it from being a prevalent threat in OU. Offensively, Zapdos is mostly outclassed by Thundurus-T, which has slightly higher Speed, higher Special Attack, a better ability, and access to Nasty Plot. Zapdos is an appropriate offensive choice only if you take advantage of its better bulk and access to Heat Wave and Roost. Defensively, Zapdos's biggest flaw is its Stealth Rock weakness, which hampers its overall performance and makes it very team-reliant. Finally, even though Zapdos has great all-around stats, its special bulk is somewhat lacking in comparison to OU's premier special walls, such as Celebi, Jirachi, and Heatran.</p>
[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Thunderbolt / Volt Switch
move 2: Roost
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Toxic
item: Leftovers
nature: Calm
evs: 248 HP / 240 SpD / 20 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Zapdos is a decent special wall that deals with a few key threats that many teams struggle against, namely Sheer Force Landorus and Tornadus. Thanks to its wide coverage and favorable match-up against most Pokemon found on rain teams, Zapdos is also a good anti-rain Pokemon. A STAB move is essential on Zapdos, taking advantage of Electric's great neutral coverage and super effective hits against the plethora of Water-type Pokemon found in OU, and there are two options. Thunderbolt is strong and reliable, while Volt Switch enables Zapdos to control the pace of the game and makes it a better pivot. Roost keeps Zapdos healthy throughout the game, helps alleviate its Stealth Rock weakness, and lets Zapdos PP stall some dangerous moves when combined with Pressure. Heat Wave lets Zapdos dent or OHKO the various Steel-types that it checks, such as Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Magnezone. Heat Wave also OHKOes Breloom, a Pokemon that Zapdos checks very well. Hidden Power Ice deals with Landorus and Dragon-types and gives Zapdos great neutral coverage when combined with its Electric STAB. On the other hand, Toxic cripples many common switch-ins to Zapdos, namely Hippowdon, Tyranitar, Latias, Kyurem-B, Gastrodon, and Mamoswine.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The Speed EVs allow Zapdos to outspeed Adamant Breloom in order to OHKO it with Heat Wave before it has a chance to act. Roar is an option on Zapdos that makes it a pretty good check to boosting special attackers such as SubCM Jirachi, CM Latias, and any Nasty Plot Celebi variant. Thunder can be used as Zapdos's STAB if Politoed is a teammate, while Discharge is a good STAB option if your team really appreciates paralysis support. Baton Pass should be used on teams that rely solely on Zapdos to deal with Landorus, as without Baton Pass, Choice Band Tyranitar, a common teammate of Landorus, can easily weaken Zapdos with Pursuit, rendering it unable to deal with Landorus anymore.</p>
<p>Zapdos needs Stealth Rock off the field in order to work properly, so physically defensive Forretress makes a good partner, spinning away hazards while sporting good synergy with Zapdos and covering many physical attackers that Zapdos can't. If Zapdos is used on a rain team, Tentacruel is the best spinner to use with Zapdos, as it can take the boosted Water-type attacks that Zapdos can't handle and is exceptional at spinning. Hippowdon is one of the best partners for Zapdos, as it handles most physical attackers that Zapdos has troubles with, such as Terrakion, Jirachi, and Tyranitar, while Zapdos checks most of the few physical attackers that can break through Hippowdon, such as Scizor, Breloom, and Gyarados. Furthermore, Hippowdon removes rain, allowing Zapdos to check offensive Starmie and Keldeo instead of easily getting 2HKOed by their STAB attacks. Celebi takes on the strong and potentially rain-boosted Water-type attacks that Zapdos can't handle, counters SubCM Jirachi with Perish Song, can make for a good check to Terrakion with a physically defensive spread, and can even form a VoltTurn combo with Zapdos.</p>
[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: Roost
item: Leftovers / Expert Belt
nature: Modest
evs: 104 HP / 228 SpA / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Using its good bulk and access to Roost and Heat Wave, Zapdos can pull off an offensive set in OU, despite the major competition from Thundurus-T. By virtue of the above, Zapdos can check many dangerous offensive Pokemon that Thundurus-t can't, such as Scizor, Breloom, Landorus, and Tornadus, all the while being very hard to switch into thanks to its good power and coverage. Thunderbolt is the STAB move of the set and deals with Water- and Flying-types, such as Keldeo, Gyarados, and Tornadus. Hidden Power Ice covers the Grass-, Dragon-, and Ground-types that resist or are immune to Thunderbolt, and Heat Wave takes care of the few Grass-types that don't mind Hidden Power Ice, namely Ferrothorn and Celebi, and some other Pokemon that Zapdos checks, such as Lucario and Scizor. Roost allows Zapdos to stick around long enough to check the threats it is supposed to check, counteracts any Stealth Rock damage that Zapdos may incur, and is the main trait that differentiates Zapdos from Thundurus-T.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread gives Zapdos enough Speed to outrun Adamant Lucario, enough bulk to survive an HP Ice from Modest Landorus after Stealth Rock, and Special Attack is maximized to hit as hard as possible. Leftovers is the preferred item to further enhance Zapdos's bulk, help Zapdos focus on attacking instead of healing, and keep Zapdos as healthy as possible when conditions are not in Zapdos's favor (sandstorm or Stealth Rock being up for example). On the other hand, Expert Belt gives Zapdos a respectable power boost that allows it to 2HKO specially defensive variants of Jirachi, Celebi, and Ferrothorn after Stealth Rock (assuming rain is up in Ferrothorn's case) with Heat Wave, OHKO physically defensive variants of Jellicent, Politoed, and Tentacruel after Stealth Rock, always OHKO Thundurus-T after Stealth Rock, and 2HKO offensive Latias and specially defensive Hippowdon (the latter 73.44% of the time with Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes). Life Orb could be used for the increased power on Zapdos's STAB, but it cuts into Zapdos's lifespan significantly, taking away one of its main advantages over Thundurus-T. Thunder should be used on rain teams, while Volt Switch can be used as the STAB move of choice to have better momentum control. U-turn is also an option over Roost to gain momentum even against Ground-types and hit Celebi hard, but forgoing Roost is not recommended.</p>
<p>Terrakion breaks through most Pokemon that wall Zapdos, such as Gastrodon, Heatran, Blissey, Chansey, and Kyurem-B, while Zapdos returns the favor by taking care of Breloom and Scizor, two of Terrakion's biggest troubles. Tyranitar and Scizor help against most special walls and can both take care of Latias with Pursuit. Breloom is another excellent physical attacker that beats most of the Pokemon that trouble Zapdos, and has the added benefit of checking Terrakion, one of Zapdos's biggest enemies. Rapid Spin support greatly helps Zapdos do its job of checking dangerous threats and allows Zapdos to focus more on attacking. Starmie and Tentacruel are the best options for rain teams, while Forretress has the best synergy overall with Zapdos, making it the best spinner to use alongside Zapdos outside of rain teams. Forretress can also provide Spikes for Zapdos, helping it get certain KOs while Zapdos discourages any spinner from switching in. If using Forretress, Tyranitar is an exceptional teammate due to its ability to trap and kill Jellicent (which prevents Forretress from spinning and thus hinders Zapdos indirectly), Latios, and Latias (two of Zapdos's checks). Entry hazard support also helps Zapdos obtain certain KOs, such as the 2HKO on Mamoswine with Heat Wave, the 2HKO on physically defensive Hippowdon with Hidden Power Ice, and the 2HKO on Ferrothorn with Heat Wave in rain, all with the help of Stealth Rock or one layer of Spikes. Terrakion and Tyranitar can both set up Stealth Rock and have good synergy with Zapdos. Landorus-T is another excellent user of the move and can also protect Zapdos from Terrakion and help deal with physical attackers in general.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Zapdos can use a SubRoost set with Thunderbolt and Toxic, which when coupled with the PP stalling that Pressure speeds up can have modest success. While it has the potential to be effective, especially with Toxic Spikes support, it loses much of the appeal of Zapdos in OU in the first place such as great coverage, ability to threaten rain teams, and the ability to check Landorus. Damp Rock coupled with Rain Dance and Volt Switch allow Zapdos to become an effective supporter for manual Rain Dance teams. While Agility sets are largely outclassed by Thundurus-T, Zapdos has access to Baton Pass and Roost, meaning it can become a blend of sweeper and tank with an Agility + Roost set, and a blend of sweeper and supporter with an Agility + Baton Pass set. Substitute and Charge Beam can fit in this set, too, if Zapdos runs Baton Pass. Hidden Power Grass can be used on any team that struggles against Gastrodon and Mamoswine, two Pokemon that normally give Zapdos problems, but has no use otherwise. Finally, Tailwind can be used on any offensive set, imitating Agility but helping the whole team, something that Thundurus-T can't do. However, Tailwind is not reliable enough to be worth it most of the time.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Chansey and Blissey are the best counters to any Zapdos set. Hippowdon, Gastrodon, and Mamoswine counter Zapdos, too, as they wall its attacking moves, and have the added benefit of blocking Volt Switch. Tyranitar, Latias, Kyurem-B, specially defensive Jirachi, and any variant of Celebi and Jirachi in rain all wall Zapdos as well, and can either set up on it or OHKO it, with the exception of specially defensive Celebi, which can only use Perish Song to force it out. However, except for Chansey, Blissey, and Jirachi, all these Pokemon are crippled by Toxic.</p>
<p>As for checks, anything that either resists Electric-types moves or is specially bulky and neutral to them can check Zapdos well, provided it isn't very susceptible to Zapdos's coverage moves and can hurt Zapdos back. This includes Pokemon such as Latios, specially defensive Heatran, and Terrakion in sand. In addition, if Zapdos lacks either Hidden Power Ice or Heat Wave, Dragon- and Ground-types (examples include Garchomp, Gliscor, and Landorus-T) and Steel- and Grass-types (examples include Ferrothorn, Celebi, and Jirachi) respectively become good checks.</p>
