Flying Mono-type Team

[Yzpo Z.]

Guys, chill.

Look, Yzpo Z., it's fine if you want to use non-Smogon tiers, and anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is a moron. But the point I believe randomspot555 was trying to get across was that "Wi-Fi Rules" just isn't specific enough. There are multiple ways people can play over Wi-Fi, and each banlist is different. Now, the way you're talking, it sounds like you're playing on Random Matchup. If that's the case, you can tell us that and we'll know exactly what you're talking about. If you're using a custom ruleset, you'll probably have to explain that in detail so that we can understand. It's not that people want you to use a certain ruleset, it's just that it's hard for people to rate a team when they don't know what the restrictions are for the Pokemon they can suggest.

No more arguing over rulesets, anyone. But while I'm here, I could offer a little advice.

Flying teams tend to hate Stealth Rock, so I definitely recommend you run Xatu to help keep that at bay. I prefer this set over Noctowl.

Xatu @ Leftovers
Trait: Magic Bounce
EVs: 248 HP / 204 Def / 56 Spd
Bold Nature
- U-turn
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Toxic / Thunder Wave / Featherdance

This is actually a great support Pokemon. In fact, I usually prefer Xatu over Espeon as an OU Magic Bounce user. Heat Wave lets it manhandle common hazard setters like Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory. 56 Spe EVs beats Adamant Breloom, so it stops him pretty well too. I like Featherdance as a filler for helping curbstomp SD TechniLoom and weakening an incoming Terrakion, but it also has a few status moves to choose from.

Try Gyarados over Swanna. It has the same typing, but more bulk for soaking up Ice attacks, which will give you a little more cushioning there. I think a classic Bulky DD set would fit well over it.

Gyarados @ Leftovers
Trait: Intimidate
EVs: 176 HP / 128 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Taunt
- Waterfall
- Bounce

Running Choice Scarf Salamence or Thundurus-T over Yanmega would make you a bit less Electric weak (the latter moreso than the former), while also giving you a decent check to a lot of stuff. The sets are:

Salamence @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Moxie
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Naive Nature
- Outrage
- Earthquake
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Claw

Thundurus (Thundurus-T) @ Choice Scarf
Trait: Volt Absorb
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Thunderbolt
- Volt Switch
- Hidden Power [Ice]
- Focus Blast

SD Skarmory is very underwhelming in power. Honestly, I think you'd be better off abusing its best talents, its great typing and bulk. A specially defensive set of Stealth Rock / Roost / Whirlwind / Brave Bird would give you a good sponge for random Draco Meteors and Outrages, while also offering easier support and more survivability.

Lastly, run a Choice Band on Staraptor. Not only are you hitting harder, but you also avoid the recoil associated with the Life Orb, which can really add up quickly alongside the recoil from your STABs. Besides, prediction isn't so much of an issue when you're as ridiculously strong as a Reckless Staraptor.

Just a few tips. Flying monotype teams are tough to make, so I hope this helps! ^_^

Yes, it took me a long time to figure out a good competitive strategy for mono-flying type team. So much that everyone's suggestions of stealth rock seems to be old news I might look into making xatu more status support than a sweeper. That way it gives me a reason to switch out noctowl. I do tend to switch back and forth between life orb and choice band on staraptor, however i do find that keeping her in their with life orb supported me better. Salamence as a scarfer seems interesting, especially if im going to end up outraging everything for the moxie boost. I just don't want to get stuck into a situation where outrage won't work. Ill give the scarf a try and get back to you. Thundurus-T i always wanted to try, but since I'm also trying to make the team for other competitions, it is hard for me to get a hold of a good one. Ill test it in smogon though to see if I like it. Gyarados, my good friend, I trained one as a sweeper before it turned out well. I always wanted to see if I can raise its bulk somehow, and gyarados could be used as my taunter. I always was thinking maybe giving it thunder wave instead of taunt? If its a replacement for swanna, i would need some way of ensuring my team is faster. Ill add your gyarados and thudurus suggestions to my suggested pokemon replacements list.

Thanks for ending the little argument. It was one of my main reasons for asking him to PM me instead. As stated before, I will try to make it more clear as to what I'm using it for. Its not just for random match ups either, I have used this set on smogon, PO, and was even considering VGC tourneys. I just hate it when people only expect it to be one standard rule set without considering other options. Again though, its my fault for not being clear enough.

[randomspot555]

This is a genuine question. What in the world is "Wifi rules" and what specifically are you playing under. You can't just say "Well, I'll use it in WiFi, in Random Match, maybe even VGC" because then you just posted three drastically different rule sets of the following:

1. Imagingary/unknown ruleset.
2. Single/Double/Triple/Rotation (needs to be specificed what you're using it for) and 3-4 Pokemon, with a ban list of events and cover legendaries.
3. VGC, which is 4v4 Doubles and you should specificity which VGC rulesset you're going by since they do change every year.

[Yzpo Z.]

This is a genuine question. What in the world is "Wifi rules" and what specifically are you playing under. You can't just say "Well, I'll use it in WiFi, in Random Match, maybe even VGC" because then you just posted three drastically different rule sets of the following:

1. Imagingary/unknown ruleset.
2. Single/Double/Triple/Rotation (needs to be specificed what you're using it for) and 3-4 Pokemon, with a ban list of events and cover legendaries.
3. VGC, which is 4v4 Doubles and you should specificity which VGC rulesset you're going by since they do change every year.

How about this. If you guys really need a set of rules to follow, then use the VGC rule set. Most often I look at the lastest rule set, the last couple being Unova region only. Typically event pokemon are banned from VGC tournaments as well as common legendaries such as Mewtwo, Dialga, Lugia, and Ho-oh. The rulesets don't vary much with VGC tournaments. The only thing that really changes is the type of battling, whether its singles, doubles, triples, or rotation and maybe some region-based exclusive tournaments. If you guys don't know the ruleset than you can look at the VGC Discussions thread on the Competitive Pokemon page. I didn't think that a general CRMT would be that complicated to rate without a specific ruleset for that person. Honestly though this all started because I said Genesect was banned in most tournaments, I tried clarifying my opinions and I got slammed for it because my example was based on a seperate rule set. In the future, as I have stated, I will make sure to state what I'm using the team for because everyone does tend to lean toward Smogon rules. I will place in the subject line VGC, Smogon, PO, or custom-set so that everyone knows exactly how to rate my team. Can we now please move on from this, I am honestly trying to come up with a good competitive flying type team and this thread seems to be avoiding that greatly. And I do greatly appreciate feedback on my teams.

[randomspot555]

Well yeah, we "really need" a set of rules to follow. The default rules are Smogon standard 6v6 singles. If you are using some alternate set of rules, that needs to be specified. And generally, most people don't believe that a team made for one rulesset can just be copy/pasted and successfully used in another. 6v6 Doubles with Smogon standard is different enough. Saying it is for VGC 4v4 is a WHOLE different ballgame.

So this team is built for Doubles 4v4 VGC? And you say "Unova only", but your team clearly violates that, but then you go on to say "the latest" and 2012 VGC allowed non-Unova Pokemon. So what are the four Pokemon you'd likely be using in each match and which ones do you consider your reserves?

See, this is why a rulesset, if it isn't the one that 95% of the RMT in this forum use, is important. Everyone (many of whom are much better raters than me) has given you this info that you're at least doing this in some type of Singles format, but now you're saying VGC Doubles.

Moving onto a suggestion, what about a Trick-Scarf Togekiss? Thunder Wave on the switch, then you can either hack it away with Air Slash or Aura Sphere/Flamethrower/Fire Blast. Pair it up with Gliscor or Salamence who can help with Earthquake hitting both opponents.

[Yzpo Z.]

Well yeah, we "really need" a set of rules to follow. The default rules are Smogon standard 6v6 singles. If you are using some alternate set of rules, that needs to be specified. And generally, most people don't believe that a team made for one rulesset can just be copy/pasted and successfully used in another. 6v6 Doubles with Smogon standard is different enough. Saying it is for VGC 4v4 is a WHOLE different ballgame.

So this team is built for Doubles 4v4 VGC? And you say "Unova only", but your team clearly violates that, but then you go on to say "the latest" and 2012 VGC allowed non-Unova Pokemon. So what are the four Pokemon you'd likely be using in each match and which ones do you consider your reserves?

See, this is why a rulesset, if it isn't the one that 95% of the RMT in this forum use, is important. Everyone (many of whom are much better raters than me) has given you this info that you're at least doing this in some type of Singles format, but now you're saying VGC Doubles.

Moving onto a suggestion, what about a Trick-Scarf Togekiss? Thunder Wave on the switch, then you can either hack it away with Air Slash or Aura Sphere/Flamethrower/Fire Blast. Pair it up with Gliscor or Salamence who can help with Earthquake hitting both opponents.

You know what? I hate switching my ideas around on you but, I'm really tired of everyone not understanding how i am going to use my pokemon. All I said was Genesect was banned from most tourneys and people flipped it around and thought I said it was banned from smogon. Thats how this whole thing started. Go ahead and use Smogon standards, I honestly don't care anymore. Ill just tell you yes or no, and reason from now on. I won't include any other tourneys so that way no one gets confused and everyone is happy.

As for togekiss, I never thought togekiss could learn trick, but i don't really think I would risk swapping a scarf to someone on Smogon. I saw someone do that once on Smogon and they got their whole team handed to them 6-0.

[Divine Retribution]

You know what? I hate switching my ideas around on you but, I'm really tired of everyone not understanding how i am going to use my pokemon. All I said was Genesect was banned from most tourneys and people flipped it around and thought I said it was banned from smogon. Thats how this whole thing started. Go ahead and use Smogon standards, I honestly don't care anymore. Ill just tell you yes or no, and reason from now on. I won't include any other tourneys so that way no one gets confused and everyone is happy.

As for togekiss, I never thought togekiss could learn trick, but i don't really think I would risk swapping a scarf to someone on Smogon. I saw someone do that once on Smogon and they got their whole team handed to them 6-0.

TrickScarf is a viable tactic as long as you're not careless with it. Most bulky walls don't appreciate the Scarf, or Pokemon that are too slow (or fast) to use the Scarf effectively.

[Yzpo Z.]

TrickScarf is a viable tactic as long as you're not careless with it. Most bulky walls don't appreciate the Scarf, or Pokemon that are too slow (or fast) to use the Scarf effectively.

Ill give it a try, replacing encore with trick, especially since it will force a switch on the opponent if guessed correctly.

[Divine Retribution]

If you're using it on Togekiss you can use Thunder Wave too to really screw with opponents.

[randomspot555]

^^^ The reason I'm not recommending traditional flinch-hax Togekiss is because that doesn't play well in Doubles.

You know what? I hate switching my ideas around on you but, I'm really tired of everyone not understanding how i am going to use my pokemon.

It would help if the poster of the topic (IE: you) actually try to be consistent with what you're playing. First you're playing "Wifi rules", then you're playing Random Matchup, then you're playing VGC but give no indication in the OP that your team is built for Doubles or that you even thought about it. I'm sorry I'm not guessing the correct environment you're playing in, but you aren't helping my refusing to identify what you're playing in either.

It doesn't have to be aScarf. You can try swapping a Specs as well. The problem with swapping any item with Trick is you risk benefitting the player. But Specs swapping could hinder a whole lot of those Fighting Pokemon.

[Yzpo Z.]

^^^ The reason I'm not recommending traditional flinch-hax Togekiss is because that doesn't play well in Doubles.



It would help if the poster of the topic (IE: you) actually try to be consistent with what you're playing. First you're playing "Wifi rules", then you're playing Random Matchup, then you're playing VGC but give no indication in the OP that your team is built for Doubles or that you even thought about it. I'm sorry I'm not guessing the correct environment you're playing in, but you aren't helping my refusing to identify what you're playing in either.

It doesn't have to be aScarf. You can try swapping a Specs as well. The problem with swapping any item with Trick is you risk benefitting the player. But Specs swapping could hinder a whole lot of those Fighting Pokemon.

I just want to make a team that works across the board. Not just one specific ruleset. I'm sorry that doesnt appeal to people but that's how i make teams. Whether its single smogon, double vgc, or triple Random wifi. But that doesnt seem to fit in this competitive forum so if you want a specific ruleset then go with smogon since thats the go-to on serebii.

I had switcheroo on manectric for a while with choice specs. I would rather work with a specs or band then a scarf. scarf only insures that i pull off trick before they use a move.