Altaria

[Eeyore]

Overview
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Altaria's Mega Evolution gives it good stats and an amazing new ability in Pixilate, but the metagame around it has many answers for it or better options to use. However, poor Defense and HP plague the other two Pixilate users, while Mega Altaria's amazing 110 Defense and 105 Special Defense along with an astounding 7 resistances allow it to survive incredibly powerful moves. These include max Special Attack Mega Charizard Y's Overheat in sun as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge. Altaria also has access to moves such as Draco Meteor, Ice Beam, and Fire Blast that Gardevoir and Sylveon do not. Altaria also has an extensive support movepool and an interesting niche ability in Cloud Nine, being the only viable passive weather stop in the VGC metagame. This ability halts Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Rain Dish, and Solar Power in their tracks, as well as forcing Mega Charizard Y's Solar Beam to take two turns to use, leaving Mega Charizard Y open for a whole turn. However, Altaria's terrible base 80 Speed leaves it too fast for Trick Room while slightly too slow for standard playstyles, and its loss of its Flying typing leaves it vulnerable to Earthquake and other Ground-type moves.

Special Attacker
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name: Special Attacker
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 3: Tailwind / Draco Meteor
move 4: Protect
ability: Cloud Nine
item: Altarianite
evs: 252 HP / 196 SpA / 60 Spe
nature: Modest

Moves
========
Altaria is one of only three Pokemon in the game to receive Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice, one of the strongest special spread attacks in the game, and Altaria's natural bulk allows it to survive long enough to use it. A Fire-type move is for coverage on common Grass- and Steel-types, which otherwise wall Hyper Voice. Fire Blast deals the most damage, ensuring KOs on Ferrothorn, Amoonguss and Bisharp, but Flamethrower's 100% accuracy is hard to pass up, and it still hits hard. Tailwind is used to supplement Altaria's base 80 Speed, allowing it to outspeed a majority of the unboosted metagame, and support Altaria's teammates, while Draco Meteor is Altaria's single most powerful e moveand hits a majority of the metagame for neutral damage. However, the -2 Special Attack drop often forces Altaria out, and the 90% accuracy is just shy of desired. Protect is a staple of VGC, allowing Altaria to scout, stall Trick Room and weather pre or post Mega-Evolution, and retain some longevity in a fast-paced game.

Set Details
========
252 HP EVs allow Altaria to survive max Special Attack Mega Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge. 60 Speed EVs under Tailwind are enough for Mega Altaria to outspeed Choice Scarf Adamant Landorus-T and all other Pokemon under 215 Speed, with Mega Altaria only being outsped by+1 Sharpedo, and positive-natured Mega Alakazam, Mega Sceptile, and Mega Aerodactyl. The rest of the EVs are put into Special Attack to allow Altaria to hit as hard as possible, OHKOing threats such as Mega Salamence and Bisharp.

Usage Tips
========
Altaria is not a standalone Pokemon and will need a good amount of team support and prediction to use effectively. However, users should not be afraid of leaving Altaria out of the fray if needed. Altaria is also best not used as a lead, so that it can use its Cloud Nine ability after weather has been activated, or come in as a bulky sweeper after some damage has already been dealt to opponents. However, despite its bulk, it doesn't always need to be the last Pokemon to survive either, and can be effectively used to deal massive amounts of damage to allow another Pokemon to clean up and secure the win.

Team Options
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Speed control is necessary. Suicune is a good Tailwind user, and its Ice Beam can often KO Mega Salamence with some investment, while Scald threatens Mega Metagross and Mega Mawile with a 30% burn chance. Cresselia also offers a lot of bulk and Icy Wind alongside Thunder Wave and Helping Hand, ensuring Altaria gets that extra boost in damage to hit neutral targets harder. Other priority users such as Thundurus and Talonflame help in a similar fashion, with priority speed control in Thunder Wave and Tailwind, respectively. Gengar also offers interesting support, with Icy Wind and Disable alongside great Speed.
Intimidate is also good team support, ensuring longevity. Teammates such as 88 Speed Landorus-T often tempt out Bisharp, and Altaria can OHKO Bisharp before it uses Iron Head while resisting Sucker Punch. Arcanine can spread burns, has reliable healing in Morning Sun, and scares away Steel-types. Gyarados also has synergy with Altaria, offering different types of support, including Thunder Wave, Taunt, and Toxic alongside Intimidate, or offensive presence from offensive variants, while Mega Altaria's Electric resistance complements Gyarados's Steel resistance.

Other Options
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Roost can offer Altariaa bulkier set. Safeguard works if Altaria wants to become a bulky support variant, which is possible with max defenses, that can still hit decently with Hyper Voice. Altaria also learns Rain Dance and Sunny Day to act as a weather inducer as well as a weather halter. Ice Beam threatens Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Assault Vest Rhyperior, Togekiss, and Salamence more than Hyper Voice, hitting a larger portion of the metagame for neutral damage than Altaria's other moves. Altaria also runs a RestTalk set quite well, with some combination of Hyper Voice, Ice Beam, Fire Blast,and Dragon Pulse as attacking moves as well as reliable recovery. However, this sort of set is much more predictable than Protect sets, and the 33% chance of Rest being chosen under Sleep Talk gives opponents a chance to give Altaria a strong hit or two that becomes difficult to recover from.

Altaria can also run a physical Dragon Dance set with an Adamant nature, a spread of 64 HP / 192 Atk / 252 Spe, and Return / Facade and Earthquake. However, a physical set, however tempting, often falls short. The coverage provided is nearly identical to Mega Salamence, whose superior stats win out over Altaria. Flying-type moves also offer just as much, if not more, utility than Fairy-type ones, when hitting a major part of the physically defensive metagame neutrally.

Checks & Counters
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**Mega Mawile and Metagross**: Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross can both OHKO Altaria with their STAB moves. Both have priority moves that, though don't OHKO, also whittle away at Altaria's health, and both can often take a Fire Blast with a small amount of investment.

**Gengar**: With STAB Sludge Bomb, Levitate, and Icy Wind, Gengar is a speed control giant that fears no Landorus and no amount of opposing speed control.

**Pixilate + Hyper Voice Users**: Gardevoir and Sylveon can outspeed and OHKO Mega Altaria. Mega Gardevoir has base 100 Speed and often runs Speed EVs to nearly guarantee outspeeding an unboosted Altaria, and super effective Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice needs a lot of investment to survive; while Sylveon can run a variety of EVs to either outspeed or out-damage Altaria, while its naturally high Special Defense makes it difficult to KO.

**Speed Control**: 80 is a terrible base Speed tier, and both fast Pokemon and Trick Room teams can usually beat Altaria without a lot of team support. Speed control Pokemon such as Cresselia and Gothitelle can often take hits and set up speed control before Altaria can stop them. Trick Room sweepers such as Mega Mawile and Bisharp can then beat Mega Altaria before being hit.

**Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur**: Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur are incredibly specially bulky, use sleep moves, and have Sludge Bomb to hit Altaria super effectively. The only semi-reliable way to beat them is Fire Blast, which suffers from accuracy problems, and both Pokemon have incredible bulk and reliable recovery anyway.

 

[tofucocoa]

i know this (probably) isn't done, but the title should just be 'altaria'. i'll give it a full check when you're done.

 

[Laurel]

I don't think Trick Room should be mentioned in Team Options when Camerupt and Mawile are so much better for that.

Altaria just has a horrible speed tier like you mentioned. You also need to fix the format of the checks & counters you can see the format in finished analyses on the forums (click on one of the pokemon in my signature)

Other than that this looks very good.

Is ass vest ludicolo ice beam always a 3hko? I think Kingdra will be dropped for Mega Swampert in rain a lot so I'm not sure how important the 80 speed tier creep is to hard hard counter rain. Ass Vest Ludicolo is more important to rain defensively than Kingdra for Rotom-W which is why I ask.

QC approved: 1/2

 

[tofucocoa]

there are way too many damage calcs there imo. pick out the most relevant ones and mention them in-text. like, you have mega blastoise scald in there; i highly doubt anyone has ever run scald on their blastoise, for example. you also mention that 252 HP survives 'threshold attacks' anyway, so why bother with the special defense and just put it in special attack? there's no shame in having a 252/252 spread in the main set; in fact, i'd encourage it. if you want your custom spreads, put them in additional comments.

in OO, take out refresh, and heavily mention a physical set with return. i think this deserves a full set, but we can just edit in a new set later if need be.

in checks/counters, just put all of the mons that you mentioned into one tab that discusses just hitting its weaknesses. note some other methods to KO altaria, such as wide guard, some trick room/its attackers, etc. add bisharp and amoonguss to the list too for some non-mega options. Keep in mind the existence of specific checks and counters tags we use for Doubles analyses.

 

[Mymble]

It's also probably worth mentioning (in OO?) that Mega Altaria can comfortably forgo its Dragon-type STAB move for Tailwind. Draco Meteor (is better than Tailwind generally) is a good move for nuking Garchomp and Salamence, but outside of that it doesn't improve Altaria's coverage and is less reliable than Hyper Voice. Tailwind provides Mega Altaria a clear role that Sylveon can't preform, justifying using it as your mega outside of Fire Blast and slightly better Speed.

 

[Eeyore]

I don't think Trick Room should be mentioned in Team Options when Camerupt and Mawile are so much better for that.

Altaria just has a horrible speed tier like you mentioned. You also need to fix the format of the checks & counters you can see the format in finished analyses on the forums (click on one of the pokemon in my signature)

Other than that this looks very good.

Is ass vest ludicolo ice beam always a 3hko? I think Kingdra will be dropped for Mega Swampert in rain a lot so I'm not sure how important the 80 speed tier creep is to hard hard counter rain. Ass Vest Ludicolo is more important to rain defensively than Kingdra for Rotom-W which is why I ask.

QC approved: 1/2

Thank you, I've updated appropriately. According to calcs, yes Ludicolo's Ice beam is a 3HKO. I also don't worry too much about Kingdra, and the 80 speed tier creep is not for a specific reason other than what the OP said. Regardless, I'm recalculating stats as per one of the later replies

there are way too many damage calcs there imo. pick out the most relevant ones and mention them in-text. like, you have mega blastoise scald in there; i highly doubt anyone has ever run scald on their blastoise, for example. you also mention that 252 HP survives 'threshold attacks' anyway, so why bother with the special defense and just put it in special attack? there's no shame in having a 252/252 spread in the main set; in fact, i'd encourage it. if you want your custom spreads, put them in additional comments.

in OO, take out refresh, and heavily mention a physical set with return. i think this deserves a full set, but we can just edit in a new set later if need be.

in checks/counters, just put all of the mons that you mentioned into one tab that discusses just hitting its weaknesses. note some other methods to KO altaria, such as wide guard, some trick room/its attackers, etc. add bisharp and amoonguss to the list too for some non-mega options. Keep in mind the existence of specific checks and counters tags we use for Doubles analyses.

I just picked common doubles pokemon that give common pokemon trouble, and did calcs based on that. I did a couple dozen more calcs, and I put the ones that surprised and interested me. I've taken them out, because they are far too many. Refresh is gone, I just wanted to show that there are several defensive options
I also mentioned the physical set, but I don't want to put in a new full set for the reason mentioned-- its inferiority to Mega-Salamence.
On the one tab that discusses hitting weakness, I think I understand. I just went through the 50 most common pokemon in VGC 2015 right now, and said which ones are a serious problem to Altaria. IT's my fault for not condensing them into reasons why. Bisharp tends not to be a problem, with almost no physical defense investment, but Amoonguss is, and will be mentioned. As per my spread, it was only to survive Mega-Gengar's Sludge Wave, as mentioned in the OP. Otherwise Gengar is a perfect counter to Mega-Altaria, and for some reason I was afraid of anything being a perfect counter.

It's also probably worth mentioning (in OO?) that Mega Altaria can comfortably forgo its Dragon-type STAB move for Tailwind. Draco Meteor (is better than Tailwind generally) is a good move for nuking Garchomp and Salamence, but outside of that it doesn't improve Altaria's coverage and is less reliable than Hyper Voice. Tailwind provides Mega Altaria a clear role that Sylveon can't preform, justifying using it as your mega outside of Fire Blast and slightly better Speed.

The reason I did not mention this is that the set I'm running for Mega-Altaria isn't a support set. Support Altaria falls short of better support mons, and having Tailwind instead of a reliable Mence kill is not what I think is a good trade with Mence's common place. The niche that Mega Altaria forms is its bulk, not its speed. Otherwise, it's still outclassed by Mega-Gardevoir, as mentioned. Hyper Voice also gets a decrease in power, so reliability in hitting is traded for Draco's reliability in power. It's a strange trade, and I didn't use it for a long time on my Altaria, but I often do now. Tailwind is a good move, but not using Mega-Altaria to attack would mean more EVs put into defenses, like the original OP's spread of 252 HP, 4 Def, 52 Special Attack, 196 Special defense. The newer update of more special attack means Altaria is meant more for attacking-- though your niche is still a good one, and still a defensive and support Mega. EDIT: realized you said OO, not OP. Disregard.

 

[tofucocoa]

I just picked common doubles pokemon that give common pokemon trouble, and did calcs based on that. I did a couple dozen more calcs, and I put the ones that surprised and interested me. I've taken them out, because they are far too many. Refresh is gone, I just wanted to show that there are several defensive options
I also mentioned the physical set, but I don't want to put in a new full set for the reason mentioned-- its inferiority to Mega-Salamence.

As per my spread, it was only to survive Mega-Gengar's Sludge Wave, as mentioned in the OP. Otherwise Gengar is a perfect counter to Mega-Altaria, and for some reason I was afraid of anything being a perfect counter.

i still don't see why you need so much special bulk. mega gengar is rarely used exclusively as an attacker and often runs something along the lines of 252 hp / 252 speed for perish song, and if it isn't running bulk, it's easy to remove anyway unless you're stuck with two fighting types or something. regular gengar commonly uses sash and can't ohko altaria anyway, which is the most common variant of gengar. i'd like to see something closer to 252 hp / 252 spa as the main EV spread with your bulkier one in set details. i get that you don't want it to be outclassed by mega gardevoir, but it already survives most of the things it's meant to survive (notably kang/mence double edge; it's already immune or resistant to a lot of the most powerful special moves in the format) as you've stated, altaria can't even OHKO bisharp 100% of the time with fire blast with just 52 EVs (which is less when you factor in accuracy); just think of what that does to its damage output on other moves.

i did a few matches on battle spot last night with special altaria, and i'll have to agree with Chenkovsky with tailwind being useful. i'd say slash it with draco meteor, since draco meteor was still useful for getting a KO on neutral targets like kang, but without speed control tailwind is pretty valuable. according to my stats, i brought tailwind altaria more often than i did draco altaria, so i definitely think both moves have their merits and are deserving of filling the third slot. with tailwind though, it needs at least 20 speed EVs to outspeed mega manectric and 44 EVs to outspeed adamant choice scarf landorus-t.

and i kind of disagree with you with mence outclassing altaria, but i don't have the experience with DD altaria to really argue the point and again we can always just add another set later. but for now this looks good for the most part; just don't include all of those damage calcs in the final write up and just mention what altaria can live/can kill in-text.

once tailwind is slashed with d-meteor, i'm inclined to stamp this.

 

[Eeyore]

i still don't see why you need so much special bulk. mega gengar is rarely used exclusively as an attacker and often runs something along the lines of 252 hp / 252 speed for perish song, and if it isn't running bulk, it's easy to remove anyway unless you're stuck with two fighting types or something. regular gengar commonly uses sash and can't ohko altaria anyway, which is the most common variant of gengar. i'd like to see something closer to 252 hp / 252 spa as the main EV spread with your bulkier one in set details. i get that you don't want it to be outclassed by mega gardevoir, but it already survives most of the things it's meant to survive (notably kang/mence double edge; it's already immune or resistant to a lot of the most powerful special moves in the format) as you've stated, altaria can't even OHKO bisharp 100% of the time with fire blast with just 52 EVs (which is less when you factor in accuracy); just think of what that does to its damage output on other moves.

i did a few matches on battle spot last night with special altaria, and i'll have to agree with Chenkovsky with tailwind being useful. i'd say slash it with draco meteor, since draco meteor was still useful for getting a KO on neutral targets like kang, but without speed control tailwind is pretty valuable. according to my stats, i brought tailwind altaria more often than i did draco altaria, so i definitely think both moves have their merits and are deserving of filling the third slot. with tailwind though, it needs at least 20 speed EVs to outspeed mega manectric and 44 EVs to outspeed adamant choice scarf landorus-t.

and i kind of disagree with you with mence outclassing altaria, but i don't have the experience with DD altaria to really argue the point and again we can always just add another set later. but for now this looks good for the most part; just don't include all of those damage calcs in the final write up and just mention what altaria can live/can kill in-text.

once tailwind is slashed with d-meteor, i'm inclined to stamp this.

I took this suggestion, adding 60 EVs to Speed to outspeed Lando-T (otherwise you're 2 points short =/), and I'm laughing and frustrated that it works better than Draco- Altaria. I'm slashing it, and changing the order. Tailwind just works better, Sorry Chenkovsky . I'll cut a few more calcs as well. I still want to perfect the Evs though. I've spent too long on them.

I'll debate setting up a physical set-- it needs Physical defense, and I rand a 132+ Attack, 124 defense Physical set that worked pretty well. But I ran the same exact set on Mega-Mence and it worked better. I love Altaria, but I have seen Mence do it better. I fully encourage people to try it though, and I'll still work on the set. I found the set I included works a bit better

 

[tofucocoa]

ok, this looks good to me. QC 2/2

 

[Martin]

Psuedo-Amcheck:

• You need to write up the overview, moves and set details section
• If something is OO, don't include a set for it within. Just make a point to mention it in sentence form (looking at you Dragon Dance)
• In VGC analyses, 'name:' needs to match the tag above. In this case, I feel that you should change the tag to "Special Attacker" as there isn't really anything particularly standard about Altaria, being largely eclipsed by Sylveon as a Pixilate Fairy-type.

 

[Eeyore]

Psuedo-Amcheck:

• You need to write up the overview, moves and set details section
• If something is OO, don't include a set for it within. Just make a point to mention it in sentence form (looking at you Dragon Dance)
• In VGC analyses, 'name:' needs to match the tag above. In this case, I feel that you should change the tag to "Special Attacker" as there isn't really anything particularly standard about Altaria, being largely eclipsed by Sylveon as a Pixilate Fairy-type.

suggestions taken. I wrote up all of necessary places, but left in the bullet points and calcs to keep it QC legal. Also went through and changed every "Mega-Altaria" to just "Altaria" unless it needed the clarification of stats, like in calculations and in calc summaries

 

[Martin]

suggestions taken. I wrote up all of necessary places, but left in the bullet points and calcs to keep it QC legal. Also went through and changed every "Mega-Altaria" to just "Altaria" unless it needed the clarification of stats, like in calculations and in calc summaries

but you are past QC, so the bullet points are completely unnecessary at this point.

Also, damage calcs really don't add much to the analysis. Just say what the EVs do and leave it at that, as they don't add any substance to the analysis

 

[boltsandbombers]

Yeah, gamer boy is right - it is a rule of thumb that you don't include damage calcs in an analysis. Also, remove all bullet pointed sections where that information has been moved to paragraph form and post this in the grammar-prose team queue.

 

[Eeyore]

Thank you. As it is obvious, this is my first real analysis.

 

[boltsandbombers]

Thank you. As it is obvious, this is my first real analysis.

No prob. Once you have got everything to paragraph form, post the link to your analysis here: http://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/grammar-prose-team-queue-here-we-go-again.3489979/
Edit: oh also change the title tag to copyediting
Edit 2: click edit title on the top right on the thread and change the tag, which the dropdown menu for that is on the left - copyediting doesn't go in the text part of the title.

 

[Laurel]

Yo Eeyore you're going to need to work on this (not much but a little) before QC people look at this (message from QC people)

Here are some problems: 4 paragraphs overview... you can condense that... a lot of random 1 sentence paragraphs condense that... random fragments like "With Disable, this cripples many mons in the game." that can be turned into a longer sentence with some other stuff.

They're really happy to help with the grammar issues just fix up the fragments, condense everything, and remember there shouldn't be any slang so "mons" -> "pokemon" once you make my changes I'll tell the QC people to look at it again. Sorry bro, but shouldn't take too long considering the effort you already put in!

 

[Eeyore]

Yo Eeyore you're going to need to work on this (not much but a little) before QC people look at this (message from QC people)

Here are some problems: 4 paragraphs overview... you can condense that... a lot of random 1 sentence paragraphs condense that... random fragments like "With Disable, this cripples many mons in the game." that can be turned into a longer sentence with some other stuff.

They're really happy to help with the grammar issues just fix up the fragments, condense everything, and remember there shouldn't be any slang so "mons" -> "pokemon" once you make my changes I'll tell the QC people to look at it again. Sorry bro, but shouldn't take too long considering the effort you already put in!

I'm happy to put it in. Don't apologize, I want it to be right. I fixed it to the best that I could think of. Let me know any more before you resubmit it.

 

[VenBombadil]

Hey Eeyore , I have also built a team around mega Alty and I can already confirm that Cune and Cress play really well with it for the reasons you mention. I am almost exclusively playing in the battle spot, but a couple of things you may want to consider: an EV spread of 76 HP / 252 S Att / 180 Speed has the salient advantage of out-speeding (and OHKOing with you fire move of choice) 252 speed Adamant Bisharp without support, while at the same time hitting everything with the strongest possible Hyper Voice. Bisharp is still a threat in this metagame (and for a good reason, even though Milotic is also really good) and you should expect to see it against your mega Altaria.

edit: I see that you put much work to converge to an EV spread approved by the QC team, and perhaps outspeeding Bisharp isn't that much of a priority, given you will always have another speed supporter (or a redirector to have your own Tailwind up).

 

[Laurel]

Looks much better Eeyore! People will probably look at this later today, and they'll help with the Grammar. Some simple things to remember "fairy type" should be "fairy-type" no capital letters in the middle of sentences unless its a Pronoun eg: Altaria, Alex, Shaymin, Boston Red Sox. Things like "Adamant Max Attack" should not be capitalized.

 

[Eeyore]

Hey Eeyore , I have also built a team around mega Alty and I can already confirm that Cune and Cress play really well with it for the reasons you mention. I am almost exclusively playing in the battle spot, but a couple of things you may want to consider: an EV spread of 76 HP / 252 S Att / 180 Speed has the salient advantage of out-speeding (and OHKOing with you fire move of choice) 252 speed Adamant Bisharp without support, while at the same time hitting everything with the strongest possible Hyper Voice. Bisharp is still a threat in this metagame (and for a good reason, even though Milotic is also really good) and you should expect to see it against your mega Altaria.

edit: I see that you put much work to converge to an EV spread approved by the QC team, and perhaps outspeeding Bisharp isn't that much of a priority, given you will always have another speed supporter (or a redirector to have your own Tailwind up).

I'm glad you're trying out Mega Altaria, and that you've found a set you like! Of course, this set is a suggestion to work in a vacuum, and is designed to be a good starting place, as it can't interpret how the metagame may change, your playstyle, or your teammates! If that set works, use it!
However, I hesitate using it myself, as even with max Special Attack, Altaria will always be shy in damage of Mega Gardevoir or Life Orb/Choice Specs Sylveon, and without maximum or near maximum HP, it doesn't survive threshold attacks as explained, making it a lot weaker, and losing the niche ability of its bulk. Regardless, as previously stated, if you like your set, and it works, then by all means, use it!

 

[GatoDelFuego]

Eeyore

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Overview
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Altaria's Mega Evolution gives it is one of ORAS's new mega's that seemed doomed to overshadow, giving an obsolete pokemon good stats and an amazing new ability in Pixilate, but having the metagame around it seems to have many answers for it, or better options to use instead of it. However, poor Defense and HP plague the other two Pixilate users that could outclass it, but while Mega Altaria's amazing 110 Defense and 105 Special Defense along with an astounding 7 resistances allow it to survive incredibly powerful moves. (period) These include like max Special Attack Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge and max Attack Mega Salamence Double-Edge, and coverage moves like such as Draco Meteor, Ice Beam, and Fire Blast. (period) to get rid of common threats, as well as Altaria also has an extensive support movepool, and the interesting niche ability in Cloud Nine, being the only viable passive weather stop in the VGC metagame. This ability halts Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Rain Dish, (AC) and Solar Power in its tracks, as well as forcing Charizard Y's Solar Beam to take two turns to use be augmented into another turn, leaving one of the largest threats Charizard Y open for a whole turn. However, Altaria isn't without fault, as a Altaria's terrible base 80 Speed stat leaves it too fast for Trick Room, while slightly too slow for standard gameplay, and its loss of its Flying typing leaves it vulnerable to Earthquake and other Ground moves.

Special Attacker
########
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 3: Tailwind / Draco Meteor
move 4: Protect
ability: Cloud Nine
item: Altarianite
evs: 252 HP / 196 SpA / 60 Spe
nature: Modest

Moves
========

Altaria is one of only three Pokemon in the metagame to receive Pixelate-boosted Hyper Voice, one of the strongest special spread attacks in the game, and Altaria's natural bulk allows it to survive long enough to use it. A Fire-type move is for coverage of common Grass-Types and Steel-types, who which could otherwise wall Hyper Voice. Fire Blast deals the most damage, ensuring KOs on X, Y and Z that otherwise may not have occurred, this is just fluff at the moment, so be sure to include notable examples Fire Blast gets that Flamethrower doesn't but Flamethrower's 100% accuracy over Fire Blast's 85% is hard to pass up, and the damage it still hits hard, (RC) threatening many would-be counters to Altaria. Tailwind is to supplement Altaria's base 80 Speed, allowing it to outspeed a majority of the unboosted metagame, and support Altaria's teammates, while Draco Meteor is Altaria's single highest damage move, and hits a majority of the metagame for neutral damage, crippling a Pokemon in only 1 move. However, the -2 Special Attack drop often forces Altaria out, and the 90% accuracy is just shy of desired. Protect is a staple of VGC, allowing Altaria to scout, stall Trick Room and weather in or out of the Cloud Nine ability, and retain some survivability in a fast-paced game.

Set Details
========

252 HP EVs allows Altaria to survive all threshold EVed attacks like max Special Attack Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge and max attack Mega Salamence Double-Edge without any investment in anything other than HP, leaving room for EVs in other stats. 60 Speed EVs under Tailwind is are enough for Mega Altaria to outspeed Choice Scarf 252 speed Adamant Landorus-Therian (maxing at 214), and all other Pokemon under 215 Speed, with Mega Altaria only being outsped by positive-natured Speed Mega Sceptile, +1 Sharpedo, and positive-natured speed Mega Alakazam and Mega Aerodactyl. The rest of the EVs are put into Special Attack to allow Altaria to hit as hard as possible, OHKOing threats like such as Mega Salamence, (RC) and Bisharp.

Usage Tips
========

Altaria is not a stand-alone Pokemon, and will need a good amount of team support and prediction to use capitalize upon: users should not be afraid of leaving Altaria out of the fray Can you explain this bit after the colon? You say Altaria needs support, but then say that it's OK to leave it to take hits, which kind of clash with each other. Should these be separate sentences?. Altaria is also best not used in the back, not as a lead, so that it can use its Cloud Nine ability after weather has been activated, or come in as a sweeper after some damage has already been dealt to opponents. However, it isn't doesn't always need to be the last Pokemon to survive either, and can be effectively used to deal massive amounts of damage, (RC) and to allow another Pokemon to clean up and secure the win.

Team Options
========

Speed control is necessary. Suicune is a good Tailwind user, and Ice Beam can often KO Mega Salamence with some investment, while Scald threatens Mega Metagross and Mega Mawile with a 33% burn chance. Cresselia also offers a lot of bulk and Icy Wind, (RC) alongside Thunder Wave and Helping Hand, ensuring Altaria gets that extra boost in damage to tip in its favor. Other priority users like such as Thundurus and Talonflame help in a similar fashion, with priority speed control in Thunder Wave and Tailwind, respectively. Gengar also offers interesting support, with Icy Wind and Disable alongside incredibly fast great Speed.

Intimidate is also a good team support, boosting what is already good Altaria's already good Defense to great levels, and ensuring survivability. Members like Teammates such as 88 Speed EV Landorus-Therian often tempts out Bisharp, and Altaria can OHKO it Bisharp before it uses Iron Heads while resisting Sucker Punch, while a resisted Sucker Punch is no match. At least I think this is how this scenario plays out with Altaria KOing Bisharp, correct me if I'm wrong Arcanine can spread burns and has reliable healing in Morning Sun, as well as scaring and scares away Steel-types away. Even Gyarados also has synergy, offering different types of support either way, including Thunder Wave, Taunt, and Toxic alongside Intimidate, or offensive presence in the offensive variants, while Mega Altaria's Electric resistance compliments Gyarados's Steel resistance.


Other Options
########

Roost can offer Altaria many options to get bulkier sets. (period) Safeguard also works if Altaria wants to become a bulky support variant, which is possible with max defenses, and that can still hit decently with Hyper Voice. Altaria also learns Rain Dance and Sunny Day to act as a weather inducer as well as a weather halter. Ice Beam also threatens Ground-types such as like Landorus-Therian, Assault Vest Rhyperior, Togekiss, (AC) and Salamence more than Hyper Voice, hitting a larger portion of the metagame for neutral damage than Altaria's other moves at the expense of spread damage or Steel-type coverage depending on the move substituted. Altaria also runs a RestTalk set quite well, with some combination of Hyper Voice, Ice Beam, Fire Blast, (AC) or and Dragon Pulse as being attacking moves under reliable recovery. However, this sort of set is much more predictable than Protect sets, and the 33% chance of Rest being chosen under Sleep Talk is enough to warrant a caution, as it gives opponents a chance to give Altaria a strong hit or two that becomes difficult to recover from.

Altaria can also run a physical Dragon Dance set with as Adamant 64 HP / 192 Atk / 252 Spe with Return/Facade and Earthquake, 252 Speed, 64 HP and 192 adamant attack. However, a physical set, however tempting, often falls short. The coverage moves Altaria provides would need to run is nearly identical to Mega Salamence, and Mega Salamence's superior stats win out over Altaria a depressing 30 BP lower Attack and 40 BP Speed makes Mega Salamence Outspeed, Out-damage and Outperform almost every time. Flying as a type also offers just as much many, if not more, (AC) utility, hitting a major part of the physically defensive metagame neutrally, (RC) and for more damage with Salamence's attack stats.


Checks & Counters
########

**Mega-steel types Mega Mawile and Metagross**: Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross can both have reliable OHKOs on Altaria with their STAB moves that cannot be EVed away. Both have priority moves that, though don't OHKO, also whittle away at Altaria's health, and both can often take a Fire Blast with a small amount of investment.

**Gengar**: As though Gengar wasn't threatening enough as a Mega, Icy Wind reminded everyone of the scourge of VGC 2013, and Gengar without a stone is now equally as popular, and just as deadly. With STAB Sludge Bomb, Levitate and Icy Wind, Gengar it is a speed control giant that fears no Landorus, and no amount of opposing speed control.

**Pixilate + Hyper Voice Users** The other two Pixilate + Hyper Voice users, whatever their names are, members have a great Clean up job, and without proper investment, can often outspeed and OHKO their way to attacking first, and dealing massive amounts, if not OHKOing Mega Altaria. Mega Gardevoir has base 100 Speed, and often runs Speed EVs, nearly guaranteeing an it can outspeed Altaria without team support, and base a 165 Base Power super effective Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice needs a lot of investment to survive.

**Speed Control** Base 80 speed is a terrible Speed tier, and both fast Pokemon and Trick Room teams any extreme of speed, whether incredibly fast, or Trick Room, can usually beat Altaria without a lot of team support. Users like Speed control Pokemon such as Cresselia and Gothitelle can often take hits and implement it before Altaria can stop them it. Trick Room sweepers like such as Mega Mawile and Bisharp can then beat Mega Altaria before being hit.

**Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur** the two Poison/Grass monsters Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur are incredibly specially bulky defensive, and cause use sleep moves and Spore, as well as often running and have Sludge Bomb to hit Altaria super effectively. The only semi-reliable way to beat them is Fire Blast, which suffers from accuracy problems, and both Pokemon have incredible bulk and reliable recovery anyway whose inconsistency often still is overshadowed by both pokemon's incredibly bulk and reliable healing.

1/2

You've got a bit of an odd writing style for smogon analyses, which are unfortunately designed to be easily skimmed for information. There were also some simple grammatical mistakes, such as not capitalizing stats and the like, but I know this is your first analysis and those will all come with time. Check out the spelling and grammar standards and practice some more concise/clear writing and I'm eager to see your future contributions!

 

[Eeyore]

Eeyore

REMOVE CHANGE COMMENTS

Hide

Overview
########

Altaria's Mega Evolution gives it is one of ORAS's new mega's that seemed doomed to overshadow, giving an obsolete pokemon good stats and an amazing new ability in Pixilate, but having the metagame around it seems to have many answers for it, or better options to use instead of it. However, poor Defense and HP plague the other two Pixilate users that could outclass it, but while Mega Altaria's amazing 110 Defense and 105 Special Defense along with an astounding 7 resistances allow it to survive incredibly powerful moves. (period) These include like max Special Attack Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge and max Attack Mega Salamence Double-Edge, and coverage moves like such as Draco Meteor, Ice Beam, and Fire Blast. (period) to get rid of common threats, as well as Altaria also has an extensive support movepool, and the interesting niche ability in Cloud Nine, being the only viable passive weather stop in the VGC metagame. This ability halts Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Rain Dish, (AC) and Solar Power in its tracks, as well as forcing Charizard Y's Solar Beam to take two turns to use be augmented into another turn, leaving one of the largest threats Charizard Y open for a whole turn. However, Altaria isn't without fault, as a Altaria's terrible base 80 Speed stat leaves it too fast for Trick Room, while slightly too slow for standard gameplay, and its loss of its Flying typing leaves it vulnerable to Earthquake and other Ground moves.

Special Attacker
########
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 3: Tailwind / Draco Meteor
move 4: Protect
ability: Cloud Nine
item: Altarianite
evs: 252 HP / 196 SpA / 60 Spe
nature: Modest

Moves
========

Altaria is one of only three Pokemon in the metagame to receive Pixelate-boosted Hyper Voice, one of the strongest special spread attacks in the game, and Altaria's natural bulk allows it to survive long enough to use it. A Fire-type move is for coverage of common Grass-Types and Steel-types, who which could otherwise wall Hyper Voice. Fire Blast deals the most damage, ensuring KOs on X, Y and Z that otherwise may not have occurred, this is just fluff at the moment, so be sure to include notable examples Fire Blast gets that Flamethrower doesn't but Flamethrower's 100% accuracy over Fire Blast's 85% is hard to pass up, and the damage it still hits hard, (RC) threatening many would-be counters to Altaria. Tailwind is to supplement Altaria's base 80 Speed, allowing it to outspeed a majority of the unboosted metagame, and support Altaria's teammates, while Draco Meteor is Altaria's single highest damage move, and hits a majority of the metagame for neutral damage, crippling a Pokemon in only 1 move. However, the -2 Special Attack drop often forces Altaria out, and the 90% accuracy is just shy of desired. Protect is a staple of VGC, allowing Altaria to scout, stall Trick Room and weather in or out of the Cloud Nine ability, and retain some survivability in a fast-paced game.

Set Details
========

252 HP EVs allows Altaria to survive all threshold EVed attacks like max Special Attack Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge and max attack Mega Salamence Double-Edge without any investment in anything other than HP, leaving room for EVs in other stats. 60 Speed EVs under Tailwind is are enough for Mega Altaria to outspeed Choice Scarf 252 speed Adamant Landorus-Therian (maxing at 214), and all other Pokemon under 215 Speed, with Mega Altaria only being outsped by positive-natured Speed Mega Sceptile, +1 Sharpedo, and positive-natured speed Mega Alakazam and Mega Aerodactyl. The rest of the EVs are put into Special Attack to allow Altaria to hit as hard as possible, OHKOing threats like such as Mega Salamence, (RC) and Bisharp.

Usage Tips
========

Altaria is not a stand-alone Pokemon, and will need a good amount of team support and prediction to use capitalize upon: users should not be afraid of leaving Altaria out of the fray Can you explain this bit after the colon? You say Altaria needs support, but then say that it's OK to leave it to take hits, which kind of clash with each other. Should these be separate sentences?. Altaria is also best not used in the back, not as a lead, so that it can use its Cloud Nine ability after weather has been activated, or come in as a sweeper after some damage has already been dealt to opponents. However, it isn't doesn't always need to be the last Pokemon to survive either, and can be effectively used to deal massive amounts of damage, (RC) and to allow another Pokemon to clean up and secure the win.

Team Options
========

Speed control is necessary. Suicune is a good Tailwind user, and Ice Beam can often KO Mega Salamence with some investment, while Scald threatens Mega Metagross and Mega Mawile with a 33% burn chance. Cresselia also offers a lot of bulk and Icy Wind, (RC) alongside Thunder Wave and Helping Hand, ensuring Altaria gets that extra boost in damage to tip in its favor. Other priority users like such as Thundurus and Talonflame help in a similar fashion, with priority speed control in Thunder Wave and Tailwind, respectively. Gengar also offers interesting support, with Icy Wind and Disable alongside incredibly fast great Speed.

Intimidate is also a good team support, boosting what is already good Altaria's already good Defense to great levels, and ensuring survivability. Members like Teammates such as 88 Speed EV Landorus-Therian often tempts out Bisharp, and Altaria can OHKO it Bisharp before it uses Iron Heads while resisting Sucker Punch, while a resisted Sucker Punch is no match. At least I think this is how this scenario plays out with Altaria KOing Bisharp, correct me if I'm wrong Arcanine can spread burns and has reliable healing in Morning Sun, as well as scaring and scares away Steel-types away. Even Gyarados also has synergy, offering different types of support either way, including Thunder Wave, Taunt, and Toxic alongside Intimidate, or offensive presence in the offensive variants, while Mega Altaria's Electric resistance compliments Gyarados's Steel resistance.


Other Options
########

Roost can offer Altaria many options to get bulkier sets. (period) Safeguard also works if Altaria wants to become a bulky support variant, which is possible with max defenses, and that can still hit decently with Hyper Voice. Altaria also learns Rain Dance and Sunny Day to act as a weather inducer as well as a weather halter. Ice Beam also threatens Ground-types such as like Landorus-Therian, Assault Vest Rhyperior, Togekiss, (AC) and Salamence more than Hyper Voice, hitting a larger portion of the metagame for neutral damage than Altaria's other moves at the expense of spread damage or Steel-type coverage depending on the move substituted. Altaria also runs a RestTalk set quite well, with some combination of Hyper Voice, Ice Beam, Fire Blast, (AC) or and Dragon Pulse as being attacking moves under reliable recovery. However, this sort of set is much more predictable than Protect sets, and the 33% chance of Rest being chosen under Sleep Talk is enough to warrant a caution, as it gives opponents a chance to give Altaria a strong hit or two that becomes difficult to recover from.

Altaria can also run a physical Dragon Dance set with as Adamant 64 HP / 192 Atk / 252 Spe with Return/Facade and Earthquake, 252 Speed, 64 HP and 192 adamant attack. However, a physical set, however tempting, often falls short. The coverage moves Altaria provides would need to run is nearly identical to Mega Salamence, and Mega Salamence's superior stats win out over Altaria a depressing 30 BP lower Attack and 40 BP Speed makes Mega Salamence Outspeed, Out-damage and Outperform almost every time. Flying as a type also offers just as much many, if not more, (AC) utility, hitting a major part of the physically defensive metagame neutrally, (RC) and for more damage with Salamence's attack stats.


Checks & Counters
########

**Mega-steel types Mega Mawile and Metagross**: Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross can both have reliable OHKOs on Altaria with their STAB moves that cannot be EVed away. Both have priority moves that, though don't OHKO, also whittle away at Altaria's health, and both can often take a Fire Blast with a small amount of investment.

**Gengar**: As though Gengar wasn't threatening enough as a Mega, Icy Wind reminded everyone of the scourge of VGC 2013, and Gengar without a stone is now equally as popular, and just as deadly. With STAB Sludge Bomb, Levitate and Icy Wind, Gengar it is a speed control giant that fears no Landorus, and no amount of opposing speed control.

**Pixilate + Hyper Voice Users** The other two Pixilate + Hyper Voice users, whatever their names are, members have a great Clean up job, and without proper investment, can often outspeed and OHKO their way to attacking first, and dealing massive amounts, if not OHKOing Mega Altaria. Mega Gardevoir has base 100 Speed, and often runs Speed EVs, nearly guaranteeing an it can outspeed Altaria without team support, and base a 165 Base Power super effective Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice needs a lot of investment to survive.

**Speed Control** Base 80 speed is a terrible Speed tier, and both fast Pokemon and Trick Room teams any extreme of speed, whether incredibly fast, or Trick Room, can usually beat Altaria without a lot of team support. Users like Speed control Pokemon such as Cresselia and Gothitelle can often take hits and implement it before Altaria can stop them it. Trick Room sweepers like such as Mega Mawile and Bisharp can then beat Mega Altaria before being hit.

**Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur** the two Poison/Grass monsters Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur are incredibly specially bulky defensive, and cause use sleep moves and Spore, as well as often running and have Sludge Bomb to hit Altaria super effectively. The only semi-reliable way to beat them is Fire Blast, which suffers from accuracy problems, and both Pokemon have incredible bulk and reliable recovery anyway whose inconsistency often still is overshadowed by both pokemon's incredibly bulk and reliable healing.

1/2

You've got a bit of an odd writing style for smogon analyses, which are unfortunately designed to be easily skimmed for information. There were also some simple grammatical mistakes, such as not capitalizing stats and the like, but I know this is your first analysis and those will all come with time. Check out the spelling and grammar standards and practice some more concise/clear writing and I'm eager to see your future contributions!

I comes from reading a lot of dissertations. I'm still mastering writing (as most of us are), and your corrections and comments made it much easier to understand what is needed and expected from an analysis. The direct comparison helps a lot as well. Thank you for your corrections, and I hope your compliment was sincere. I'm hoping to contribute to the Smogon community in whatever way I can.

 

[Aurorusite]

Just saying that you would add Natural Cure to OO. I know, it itself is entirely useless for Mega Altaria, but the fact if you have weather setter in your team, like i did have Sunny Day Cress and later Tyranitar. Cloud Nine has negative affect on these teams, so if you dont want to reset the (possible) weather, it is option. Otherwise though, Cloud Nine is better.

 

[frenzyplant]

2/2 Eeyore :)

Hide

add remove (comments)

Overview
########
Altaria's Mega Evolution gives it good stats and an amazing new ability in Pixilate, but the metagame around it has seems to have many answers for it, (remove comma) or better options to use. However, poor Defense and HP plague the other two Pixilate users, while Mega Altaria's amazing 110 Defense and 105 Special Defense along with an astounding 7 resistances allow it to survive incredibly powerful moves. These include max Special Attack Mega Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, (remove comma) as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge. Altaria also has access to coverage moves (STAB moves usually don't go under the umbrella of "coverage") such as Draco Meteor, Ice Beam, and Fire Blast that Gardevoir and Sylveon do not. Altaria also has an extensive support movepool, (remove comma) and the an interesting niche ability in Cloud Nine, being the only viable passive weather stop in the VGC metagame. This ability halts Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Rain Dish, and Solar Power in its their tracks, as well as forcing Mega Charizard Y's Solar Beam to take two turns to use, leaving Mega Charizard Y open for a whole turn. However, Altaria's terrible base 80 Speed leaves it too fast for Trick Room, (remove comma) while slightly too slow for standard playstyles gameplay, and its loss of its Flying typing leaves it vulnerable to Earthquake and other Ground-type moves.


Special Attacker
########
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 3: Tailwind / Draco Meteor
move 4: Protect
ability: Cloud Nine
item: Altarianite
evs: 252 HP / 196 SpA / 60 Spe
nature: Modest


Moves
========

Altaria is one of only three Pokemon in the game to receive Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice, one of the strongest special spread attacks in the game, and Altaria's natural bulk allows it to survive long enough to use it. A Fire-type move is for coverage of on common Grass- (dash) and Steel-types, which could otherwise wall Hyper Voice. Fire Blast deals the most damage, ensuring KOs on Ferrothorn, Amoonguss and Bisharp, but Flamethrower's 100% accuracy is hard to pass up, and it still hits hard. Tailwind is used to supplement Altaria's base 80 Speed, allowing it to outspeed a majority of the unboosted metagame, and support Altaria's teammates, while Draco Meteor is Altaria's single most powerful highest damage move, (remove comma) and hits a majority of the metagame for neutral damage. However, the -2 Special Attack drop often forces Altaria out, and the 90% accuracy is just shy of desired. Protect is a staple of VGC, allowing Altaria to scout, stall Trick Room and weather in or out of the Cloud Nine ability (this doesn't make much sense: the only slash for ability is Cloud Nine?), and retain some longevity survivability (survivability means how fatal something is, e.g. "some types of accidents have more survivability than others") in a fast-paced game.


Set Details
========

252 HP EVs allow Altaria to survive max Special Attack Mega Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge. 60 Speed EVs under Tailwind are enough for Mega Altaria to outspeed Choice Scarf Adamant Landorus-T and all other Pokemon under 215 Speed, with Mega Altaria only being outsped by positive-natured Mega Sceptile, +1 Sharpedo, (remove comma) and positive-natured Mega Alakazam, Mega Sceptile, and Mega Aerodactyl. The rest of the EVs are put into Special Attack to allow Altaria to hit as hard as possible, OHKOing threats such as Mega Salamence and Bisharp.


Usage Tips
========

Altaria is not a standalone Pokemon, (remove comma) and will need a good amount of team support and prediction to use effectively when in battle. However, users should not be afraid of leaving Altaria out of the fray if needed. Altaria is also best not used as a lead, so that it can use its Cloud Nine ability after weather has been activated, or come in as a bulky sweeper after some damage has already been dealt to opponents. However, despite its bulk, it doesn't always need to be the last Pokemon to survive either, and can be effectively used to deal massive amounts of damage to allow another Pokemon to clean up and secure the win.


Team Options
========

Speed control is necessary. Suicune is a good Tailwind user, and its Ice Beam can often KO Mega Salamence with some investment, while Scald threatens Mega Metagross and Mega Mawile with a 33% 30% burn chance. Cresselia also offers a lot of bulk and Icy Wind alongside Thunder Wave and Helping Hand, ensuring Altaria gets that extra boost in damage to tip a (insert thing here: damage roll? matchup?) in its favor. Other priority users such as Thundurus and Talonflame help in a similar fashion, with priority speed control in Thunder Wave and Tailwind, respectively. Gengar also offers interesting support, with Icy Wind and Disable alongside great Speed.
(remove one line break)
Intimidate is also good team support, ensuring longevity survivability. Teammates such as 88 Speed Landorus-T often tempt out Bisharp, and Altaria can OHKO Bisharp before it uses Iron Head while resisting Sucker Punch. Arcanine can spread burns, (comma) and has reliable healing in Morning Sun, and scares away Steel-types. Gyarados also has synergy with Altaria, offering different types of support, (comma) including Thunder Wave, Taunt, and Toxic alongside Intimidate, or offensive presence from in the offensive variants, while Mega Altaria's Electric resistance complements Gyarados's Steel resistance.



Other Options
########

Roost can offer Altaria many options to get a bulkier sets. Safeguard works if Altaria wants to become a bulky support variant, which is possible with max defenses, that can still hit decently with Hyper Voice. Altaria also learns Rain Dance and Sunny Day to act as a weather inducer as well as a weather halter. Ice Beam threatens Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Assault Vest Rhyperior, Togekiss, and Salamence more than Hyper Voice, hitting a larger portion of the metagame for neutral damage than Altaria's other moves. Altaria also runs a RestTalk set quite well, with some combination of Hyper Voice, Ice Beam, Fire Blast, and Dragon Pulse as attacking moves as well as under reliable recovery. However, this sort of set is much more predictable than Protect sets, and the 33% chance of Rest being chosen under Sleep Talk gives opponents a chance to give Altaria a strong hit or two that becomes difficult to recover from.
(remove one line break)
Altaria can also run a physical Dragon Dance set as with an Adamant nature, a spread of 64 HP / 192 Atk / 252 Spe, and with Return / Facade and Earthquake. However, a physical set, however tempting, often falls short. The coverage provided is nearly identical to Mega Salamence, whose and Mega Salamence's superior stats win out over Altaria. Flying-type moves as a type also offers just as much, if not more, utility than Fairy-type ones, when hitting a major part of the physically defensive metagame neutrally.



Checks & Counters
########

**Mega Mawile and Metagross**: Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross can both OHKO Altaria with their STAB moves. Both have priority moves that, though they don't OHKO, also whittle away at Altaria's health, and both can often take a Fire Blast with a small amount of investment.

**Gengar**: (add space) With STAB Sludge Bomb, Levitate, (serial comma) and Icy Wind, Gengar is a speed control giant that fears no Landorus, (remove comma) and no amount of opposing speed control.

**Pixilate + Hyper Voice Users**: Gardevoir and Sylveon, (remove comma) can outspeed and OHKO Mega Altaria. Mega Gardevoir has base 100 Speed, (remove comma) and often runs Speed EVs, (remove comma) to nearly guarantee outspeeding an unboosted Altaria without its own team support, and super effective Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice needs a lot of investment to survive; (comma to semicolon) while Sylveon can run a variety of EVs to either outspeed or out-damage Altaria, while its naturally high Special Defense makes it difficult to KO.

**Speed Control**: (colon) 80 is a terrible base Speed tier, and both fast Pokemon and Trick Room teams can usually beat Altaria without a lot of team support. Speed control Pokemon such as Cresselia and Gothitelle can often take hits and set up speed control implement it before Altaria can stop them. Trick Room sweepers such as Mega Mawile and Bisharp can then beat Mega Altaria before being hit.

**Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur**: (colon) Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur are incredibly specially bulky, cause use sleep moves, (comma) and have Sludge Bomb to hit Altaria super effectively. The only semi-reliable way to beat them is Fire Blast, which suffers from accuracy problems, and both Pokemon have incredible bulk and reliable recovery anyway.

 

[Eeyore]

2/2 Eeyore :)

Hide

add remove (comments)

Overview
########
Altaria's Mega Evolution gives it good stats and an amazing new ability in Pixilate, but the metagame around it has seems to have many answers for it, (remove comma) or better options to use. However, poor Defense and HP plague the other two Pixilate users, while Mega Altaria's amazing 110 Defense and 105 Special Defense along with an astounding 7 resistances allow it to survive incredibly powerful moves. These include max Special Attack Mega Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, (remove comma) as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge. Altaria also has access to coverage moves (STAB moves usually don't go under the umbrella of "coverage") such as Draco Meteor, Ice Beam, and Fire Blast that Gardevoir and Sylveon do not. Altaria also has an extensive support movepool, (remove comma) and the an interesting niche ability in Cloud Nine, being the only viable passive weather stop in the VGC metagame. This ability halts Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, Rain Dish, and Solar Power in its their tracks, as well as forcing Mega Charizard Y's Solar Beam to take two turns to use, leaving Mega Charizard Y open for a whole turn. However, Altaria's terrible base 80 Speed leaves it too fast for Trick Room, (remove comma) while slightly too slow for standard playstyles gameplay, and its loss of its Flying typing leaves it vulnerable to Earthquake and other Ground-type moves.


Special Attacker
########
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Hyper Voice
move 2: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 3: Tailwind / Draco Meteor
move 4: Protect
ability: Cloud Nine
item: Altarianite
evs: 252 HP / 196 SpA / 60 Spe
nature: Modest


Moves
========

Altaria is one of only three Pokemon in the game to receive Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice, one of the strongest special spread attacks in the game, and Altaria's natural bulk allows it to survive long enough to use it. A Fire-type move is for coverage of on common Grass- (dash) and Steel-types, which could otherwise wall Hyper Voice. Fire Blast deals the most damage, ensuring KOs on Ferrothorn, Amoonguss and Bisharp, but Flamethrower's 100% accuracy is hard to pass up, and it still hits hard. Tailwind is used to supplement Altaria's base 80 Speed, allowing it to outspeed a majority of the unboosted metagame, and support Altaria's teammates, while Draco Meteor is Altaria's single most powerful highest damage move, (remove comma) and hits a majority of the metagame for neutral damage. However, the -2 Special Attack drop often forces Altaria out, and the 90% accuracy is just shy of desired. Protect is a staple of VGC, allowing Altaria to scout, stall Trick Room and weather in or out of the Cloud Nine ability (this doesn't make much sense: the only slash for ability is Cloud Nine?), and retain some longevity survivability (survivability means how fatal something is, e.g. "some types of accidents have more survivability than others") in a fast-paced game.


Set Details
========

252 HP EVs allow Altaria to survive max Special Attack Mega Charizard Y's Overheat in sun, as well as max Attack Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Salamence's Double-Edge. 60 Speed EVs under Tailwind are enough for Mega Altaria to outspeed Choice Scarf Adamant Landorus-T and all other Pokemon under 215 Speed, with Mega Altaria only being outsped by positive-natured Mega Sceptile, +1 Sharpedo, (remove comma) and positive-natured Mega Alakazam, Mega Sceptile, and Mega Aerodactyl. The rest of the EVs are put into Special Attack to allow Altaria to hit as hard as possible, OHKOing threats such as Mega Salamence and Bisharp.


Usage Tips
========

Altaria is not a standalone Pokemon, (remove comma) and will need a good amount of team support and prediction to use effectively when in battle. However, users should not be afraid of leaving Altaria out of the fray if needed. Altaria is also best not used as a lead, so that it can use its Cloud Nine ability after weather has been activated, or come in as a bulky sweeper after some damage has already been dealt to opponents. However, despite its bulk, it doesn't always need to be the last Pokemon to survive either, and can be effectively used to deal massive amounts of damage to allow another Pokemon to clean up and secure the win.


Team Options
========

Speed control is necessary. Suicune is a good Tailwind user, and its Ice Beam can often KO Mega Salamence with some investment, while Scald threatens Mega Metagross and Mega Mawile with a 33% 30% burn chance. Cresselia also offers a lot of bulk and Icy Wind alongside Thunder Wave and Helping Hand, ensuring Altaria gets that extra boost in damage to tip a (insert thing here: damage roll? matchup?) in its favor. Other priority users such as Thundurus and Talonflame help in a similar fashion, with priority speed control in Thunder Wave and Tailwind, respectively. Gengar also offers interesting support, with Icy Wind and Disable alongside great Speed.
(remove one line break)
Intimidate is also good team support, ensuring longevity survivability. Teammates such as 88 Speed Landorus-T often tempt out Bisharp, and Altaria can OHKO Bisharp before it uses Iron Head while resisting Sucker Punch. Arcanine can spread burns, (comma) and has reliable healing in Morning Sun, and scares away Steel-types. Gyarados also has synergy with Altaria, offering different types of support, (comma) including Thunder Wave, Taunt, and Toxic alongside Intimidate, or offensive presence from in the offensive variants, while Mega Altaria's Electric resistance complements Gyarados's Steel resistance.



Other Options
########

Roost can offer Altaria many options to get a bulkier sets. Safeguard works if Altaria wants to become a bulky support variant, which is possible with max defenses, that can still hit decently with Hyper Voice. Altaria also learns Rain Dance and Sunny Day to act as a weather inducer as well as a weather halter. Ice Beam threatens Ground-types such as Landorus-T, Assault Vest Rhyperior, Togekiss, and Salamence more than Hyper Voice, hitting a larger portion of the metagame for neutral damage than Altaria's other moves. Altaria also runs a RestTalk set quite well, with some combination of Hyper Voice, Ice Beam, Fire Blast, and Dragon Pulse as attacking moves as well as under reliable recovery. However, this sort of set is much more predictable than Protect sets, and the 33% chance of Rest being chosen under Sleep Talk gives opponents a chance to give Altaria a strong hit or two that becomes difficult to recover from.
(remove one line break)
Altaria can also run a physical Dragon Dance set as with an Adamant nature, a spread of 64 HP / 192 Atk / 252 Spe, and with Return / Facade and Earthquake. However, a physical set, however tempting, often falls short. The coverage provided is nearly identical to Mega Salamence, whose and Mega Salamence's superior stats win out over Altaria. Flying-type moves as a type also offers just as much, if not more, utility than Fairy-type ones, when hitting a major part of the physically defensive metagame neutrally.



Checks & Counters
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**Mega Mawile and Metagross**: Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross can both OHKO Altaria with their STAB moves. Both have priority moves that, though they don't OHKO, also whittle away at Altaria's health, and both can often take a Fire Blast with a small amount of investment.

**Gengar**: (add space) With STAB Sludge Bomb, Levitate, (serial comma) and Icy Wind, Gengar is a speed control giant that fears no Landorus, (remove comma) and no amount of opposing speed control.

**Pixilate + Hyper Voice Users**: Gardevoir and Sylveon, (remove comma) can outspeed and OHKO Mega Altaria. Mega Gardevoir has base 100 Speed, (remove comma) and often runs Speed EVs, (remove comma) to nearly guarantee outspeeding an unboosted Altaria without its own team support, and super effective Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice needs a lot of investment to survive; (comma to semicolon) while Sylveon can run a variety of EVs to either outspeed or out-damage Altaria, while its naturally high Special Defense makes it difficult to KO.

**Speed Control**: (colon) 80 is a terrible base Speed tier, and both fast Pokemon and Trick Room teams can usually beat Altaria without a lot of team support. Speed control Pokemon such as Cresselia and Gothitelle can often take hits and set up speed control implement it before Altaria can stop them. Trick Room sweepers such as Mega Mawile and Bisharp can then beat Mega Altaria before being hit.

**Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur**: (colon) Amoonguss and Mega Venusaur are incredibly specially bulky, cause use sleep moves, (comma) and have Sludge Bomb to hit Altaria super effectively. The only semi-reliable way to beat them is Fire Blast, which suffers from accuracy problems, and both Pokemon have incredible bulk and reliable recovery anyway.

For explanations sake, the in or out of Cloud Nine is pre- and post- mega-evolution, where ability changes to Pixilate.

Other than that, thank you! It was wonderful doing this and having much better people than I look it over and approve it! It was a thrill!