Altaria

Status
Not open for further replies.

Altaria--Dragon/Flying
75-70-90-70-105-80
Natural Cure: Heals status upon switching out
Dream World Cloud Nine: All weather effects are negated when this pokemon is out on the field

Level up moves
-Pluck
-Peck
-Growl
-Astonish
-Sing
5 Astonish
9 Sing
13 Fury Attack
18 Safeguard
23 Mist
28 Take Down
32 Natural Gift
35 Dragonbreath
39 Dragon Dance
46 Cotton Guard
54 Refresh
62 Dragon Pulse
70 Perish Song
77 Sky Attack


Egg Moves
Agility
Haze
Pursuit
Rage
Featherdance
Dragon Rush
Power Swap
Roost
Hyper Voice
Steel Wing


TM + HM
Claw Sharpen
Dragon Claw
Roar
Toxic
Hidden Power
Sunny Day
Ice Beam
Hyper Beam
Protect
Rain Dance
Safeguard
Frustration
Solarbeam
Earthquake
Return
Double Team
Flamethrower
Fire Blast
Aerial Ace
Facade
Rest
Attract
Thief
Sing Around
Echo Voice
Incinerate
Giga Impact
Psych Up
Level Ground
Dream Eater
Swagger
Pluck
Substitute
Rock Smash
Fly


Moves from 3rd and 4th Gen
Body Slam
Double Edge
Mimic
Heal Bell
Draco Metoer
Air Cutter
Ominous Wind
Snore
Swift
Uproar
Heat Wave
Mud Slap
Outrage
Tailwind


The other dragon: the one that didn't quite make it into OU. Nevertheless, Altaria is a great wall in UU that's about to get better. With 75/90/105 defenses, this thing is already pretty bulky. Add resistances to Bug, Fighting, Fire, Grass, Ground, and Water amd you've got a pretty solid tank. Altaria also has one thing that many pokemon lost in the Generation shift: Roost. Roost gives Altaria instant recovery (as well a resistance to Electric). It has a great movepool with moves such as Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Dragon Dance, and Dragon Pulse. It also has a great support movepool with Roost, Haze, Heal Bell, Toxic, Psych Up, Refresh, and Roar. But two things make Altaria particularly amazing this Gen.

I) Cotton Guard
Cotton Guard gives Altaria +3 Defense, which makes it the ultimate wall. After one tun of boosting, Altaria's defense (assuming it's maxed out) becomes 765. Holy shit.

II) Cloud Nine
Weather's going to be huge this time around, and many are scrambling for weather checks. Well look no further, because Cloud Nine stops all weather effects. I know that the choice between this and Natural Cure is a tough one, but this makes Altaria a great weather check (not to mention that it resists Water, Fire, Grass, and is immune to Doryuzuu's main STAB)

Some Sets

Physical Tank

Altaria @ Leftovers/Rugged Helmet
252 HP/252 Def/4 SpDef Bold
Natural Cure/Cloud Nine

--Cotton Guard
--Roost
--Roar/Toxic/Haze/Heal Bell
--Dragon Pulse

Not much to say except boost Defense, recover with Roost, use the third slot for utility, then attack with Dragon Pulse



Boosting Sweeper

Altaria @ Life Orb
252 SpAtk/252 Spe/4 HP Modest/Timid
Natural Cure/Cloud Nine

--Agility
--Ice Beam/Roost
--Fire Blast/Flamethrower
--Dragon Pulse

Once you boost your speed with Agility, you're pretty much set to sweep. Although you may seem underpowered, you still have reasonable bulk which allows you to take a hit. You can also Roost off all the damage from the Life Orb. Dragon Pulse + Fire Blast has perfect coverage outside of Heatran.


Bulky Dragon Dancer

Altaria @ Life Orb
252 HP/128 Atk/128 Spe Impsih/Adamant/Jolly
Natural Cure/Cloud Nine

--Dragon Dance
--Dragon Claw/Outrage
--Earthquake
--Aerial Ace/Draco Metoer/Return

Again, somewhat underpowering but it's bulky enough to pull it off. I don't like being locked into Outrage, especially on a bulky pokemon like this, but some do. Draco Meteor is fun because it lowers your special attack, which you won't be needing anyway. It also helps break physical walls.


Support

Altaria @ Leftovers
252 HP/ 128 Def/128 SpDef Bold
Natural Cure/Cloud Nine

--Haze/Roar/Perish Song
--Roost
--Heal Bell/Toxic/Cotton Guard
--Dragon Pulse

All around tank with great support movepool. Haze, Roar, and Perish Song are for phazing. Roost is for recovery. Third moveslot is for spreading/healing status or gaining even more bulk. Dragon Pulse is for attacking.
 
I think a physical wall set should probably have SpD maxed out to make the most out of Altaria stats.
Max HP+max SpD+Cotton Guard= 354HP, 339 SpD and 540 Def with one boost. Idk, I think it'd be more of an overall wall, instead of the special people (me at least) use today.
 

Focus

Ubers Tester Extraordinaire
How about a Claw Sharpen set with Dragon Rush? This could be similar to the "Dragon Dance" set:

Altaria@Life Orb/Leftovers
[need help with EVs and Nature!]

Claw Sharpen
Dragon Rush
Earthquake
Draco Meteor/Fire Blast/Roost
 
I'd suggest you to remove Ice Beam from the agility set.
Dragon Pulse + Agility seems too redundant. Other than that, I'm totally loving altaria's new toys. :3
 

Focus

Ubers Tester Extraordinaire
I'd suggest you to remove Ice Beam from the agility set.
Dragon Pulse + Agility seems too redundant. Other than that, I'm totally loving altaria's new toys. :3
Ice Beam hits more things for SE damage (Grass, Ground, Flying) than the more neutral Dragon Pulse. Besides, I always feel happy inside when my opponent gets Frozen! ^_^
 
I'd suggest you to remove Ice Beam from the agility set.
Dragon Pulse + Agility seems too redundant. Other than that, I'm totally loving altaria's new toys. :3
I agree. Dragon is only resisted by 1 type (Steel).

As for the bulky Dragon Dance sweeper set, I feel that Fire Blast/Flamethrower is better in the last slot in order to deal with physical walls. Aerial Ace's base power is just too low.
 
Since Tailwind lasts 4 turns now, it may be possible for Altaria to use it in order to support it's team. Could replace Agility, maybe? Though it would probably be better used on the support set:

--Haze/Roar/Perish Song/Tailwind
--Roost
--Heal Bell/Toxic/Cotton Guard
--Dragon Pulse

You could also use any Hidden Power over Ice Beam on the Agility set, but which one really depends on what types you want to hit. Don't have much more to add - Altaria got a nice little boost in Cotton Guard and Cloud Nine this gen, hopefully it'll see some more usage.
 
Just pointing out, on the first set, you DO NOT want to run Haze AND Cotton Guard. I'm thinking this thing will see a lot more use in the coming days as a Ninetales check. Counters weather, resists Ninetales two main moves, and can kill with a SE EQ.
 
Wow, this thing can stop a lot of weather abusers in their tracks, outspeeding most swift swimmers and thus essentially being impervious to physical attacks thanks to Cotton Guard. Ice Beam is the prevailing issue though, so maybe Yache berry will have to become standard. Either that or Substitute on attackers.
 

ginganinja

It's all coming back to me now
is a Community Leader Alumnusis a Community Contributor Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnusis a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
yeah Altaria looks more like a supporter now rather than a weaker DD dragon. Its nice to see it get Cotten guard and Cloud Nine which should at the very least give it 'niche' value
 
Altaria has always been more of a support dragon than an attacker.

Now that it has the moves and ability...I believe it's finding a niche now.
 
Can Altaria OHKO Doryuuzu with Fire Blast or something?

Regardless, nice new toys for her. I really hope she, like the user above said, finds her niche in this metagame.
 
I'm also agreeing that you want special defense maxed on the wall set. The difference between 540 def and 765 def is negligible in terms of damage done. The best moveset would be roost/cotton guard/dragon pulse and either fire blast or heal bell in the last slot. Dragon pulse and toxic don't mix because Altaria is going to see alot of steels. You could also go physical with dragon claw + earthquake to get better coverage in the lower tiers.

Definite leftovers and not rugged helmet. Noone is gonna hit altaria with a physical move after a cotton guard.

And natural cure is the best ability. Sleep absorbers will be invaluable this gen due to the new sleep mechanics. Also, drought ninetales and drizzle politoed are both dream world abilities, so we may not see them for years, or possibly not at all. With natural cure, rest should get a mention as the healing move (although roost is still perfectly viable to remove the 4x weakness).
 
Can Altaria OHKO Doryuuzu with Fire Blast or something?
Nope - 252 SAtk Altaria does 61.2% - 72.1% to 20 HP / 0 SDef Doryuuzu, and Altaria is 2HKOed by Rock Slide, so it can't switch into a SD. With Specs, Altaria does have the possibility of OHKOing it, as it does 91.3% - 107.7%, but that seems way too situational. Swords Dance is still a pretty huge problem, unfortunately. I don't think you could use Altaria as a Doryuuzu check. Actually, I'm not sure if it can do much against most weather teams at all.
 
I'd take roost over rest almost any day.

Although rest can restore all your health, being able to use roost as a "shield" move makes it much more interesting, especially combined with cotton guard.

Of all the sets, I'd be reluctant to cut cotton guard since the tankish aspect of her is what really makes altaria shine regardless if you're going for tanking or support.

Although slower to setup.... the following moveset might be interesting:
Dragon Dance
Cotton Guard
Outrage/Dragon Claw
Roost

You end up with a very bulky sweeper that's an utter nightmare to kill.
 
Nope - 252 SAtk Altaria does 61.2% - 72.1% to 20 HP / 0 SDef Doryuuzu, and Altaria is 2HKOed by Rock Slide, so it can't switch into a SD. With Specs, Altaria does have the possibility of OHKOing it, as it does 91.3% - 107.7%, but that seems way too situational. Swords Dance is still a pretty huge problem, unfortunately. I don't think you could use Altaria as a Doryuuzu check. Actually, I'm not sure if it can do much against most weather teams at all.
I see. It's probably a good check to Sun teams, but that's it, really. Oh well. ):

edit; Unless you switch on SD and use Cotton Guard. Maybe that could work? Like, if you Cotton Guard twice and Doryuuzu SDs twice, he'll be at +4 Attack and you'll be at +6 Defense and you can then 2HKO with Fire Blast. If they switch out, well, you've forced it out and you have a +6 Def Altaria.
 
Its sad since Altaria is double weak to ice, he cant really counter most raindance teams as a good chunk of water users run ice beam.
 
Although slower to setup.... the following moveset might be interesting:
Dragon Dance
Cotton Guard
Outrage/Dragon Claw
Roost

You end up with a very bulky sweeper that's an utter nightmare to kill.
I like. Just have to make sure you get rid of all the Steels before trying this. :P
 
edit; Unless you switch on SD and use Cotton Guard. Maybe that could work? Like, if you Cotton Guard twice and Doryuuzu SDs twice, he'll be at +4 Attack and you'll be at +6 Defense and you can then 2HKO with Fire Blast. If they switch out, well, you've forced it out and you have a +6 Def Altaria.
I thought about this as well, but even without a Sandstorm, Doryuuzu will outspeed most Altaria... unless said Altaria has max Spd (Positive nature and 252 EVs), because apparently Doryuuzu is usually Adamant with 236 Spd. It's certainly possible, as Altaria takes at most 30% or so from Rock Slide so after a Cotton Guard boost, and if it's faster it can just Roost off the damage. As long as you're not facing some kind of Jolly variant, it could probably work.

Edit: yep, +4 Atk Doryuuzu does 52.2% - 61.9% with Rock Slide to a +6 Def Altaria without any defensive investment.
 
Well, if you're faster, you can probably stall it for Life Orb damage with Roost (predicting around Rock Slide and Earthquake of course) and then finish Doryuuzu with Fire Blast.

It's not exactly reliable but it sounds useable.
 
Altaria speed is 80, doryuzu is 88. Doryuzu only have to use jolly and 192 speed to beat every single altaria. I'll rather run max speed to atleast speed tie with others doryuzu, and if im going to take in count obscure checks for my speed i'll use 232 speed to beat all golducks. Dont considerate altaria as a check because she isnt, the only semi-decent thing she can do is beat some sun sweepers, and even for countering sun sweepers her best ability to use is natural cure to avoid random status. Cloud nine is pointless on a pokemon who cant counter wheater

Also people stop suggesting claw sharpen on pokemon with much better boosting methods, in this case dragon dance. A boost in accuracy never will be better than a speed boost, specially on slow pokemons like altaria
 
I agree. Dragon is only resisted by 1 type (Steel).

As for the bulky Dragon Dance sweeper set, I feel that Fire Blast/Flamethrower is better in the last slot in order to deal with physical walls. Aerial Ace's base power is just too low.
Also, the only Poke that resists Dragon + Fire is Heatran, which 4x resists Ice. So Ice Beam is pretty much useless.
 

Mario With Lasers

Self-proclaimed NERFED king
is a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnus
Well, if you're faster, you can probably stall it for Life Orb damage with Roost (predicting around Rock Slide and Earthquake of course) and then finish Doryuuzu with Fire Blast.

It's not exactly reliable but it sounds useable.
Roosted Earthquake has the same BP of a super effective Rock Slide, so you don't even *need* to predict Doryuuzu's next move. It would be better, actually, to mispredict it so you make Doryuuzu take even more Life Orb damage lol.
 
I hate to bump, but how about if we could make some progress with the Claw Sharpen set?

Altaria @ Leftovers
Ability: Cloud Nine

Claw Sharpen
Earthquake
Dragon Rush
Fire Blast

This set would be an amazing check for Sunny Day teams, and I'm constructing a team to oppose all of the common 5th gen teams, so I feel like this guy would actually be a huge benefit.
 
Roosted Earthquake has the same BP of a super effective Rock Slide, so you don't even *need* to predict Doryuuzu's next move. It would be better, actually, to mispredict it so you make Doryuuzu take even more Life Orb damage lol.
I don't... understand? If Dory quakes on a roost, I take 100 x 1.5 stab boost for an effectively 150bp attack. If it uses Rock Slide on a roost I should take a 75bp attack rather than 75 x 2 = 150bp, right? Since Roost removes my Flying type?

Or does he outspeed me? Dory can outspeed all Altaria with the spread stated above, so if he outspeeds and I roost, the roost lasts until my next move, giving him a free EQ and removing the need for prediction?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top