Community POTW #142

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and we have yet another classic, and the second Dragon in a row.

It's Altaria, the classic Blue Bird. It's a decent Pokémon with decent defences and a wide movepool

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/334.shtml

Go nuts

 

[Minedreigon]

Altaria@Leftovers
Careful nature
Trait:Natural Cure
EV:248 attack/ 180 sp defence, / 80 speed
-Dragon Dance
-Dragon Claw
-substitute
-Roost

Standard sub DD set. Gain power, then go nuts with Dragon claw spam.

 

[Mestorn]

Altaria, one of the first pokemon I used in my Ruby playthrough. A reliable pokemon, if underpowered compared to other dragons.

Pros: The strengths of a dragon-flying typing are well known, with 5 resistances and 1 immunity. Combine that with decent defenses, and you have the start of a dragon tank. Altaria excels at defensive roles, having a expansive support moveset including Heal Bell, Haze, Roost, Tailwind, Rain Dance, Sunny Day and Toxic. Cotton Guard and Feather Dance add to its usability, making it more resilient to physical onslaughts, while Perish Song is good at pseudo hazing/racking up entry hazard damage. Finally, Altaria is blessed with two good abilities in the form of Natural Cure and Cloud Nine, either making it even more resilient to statuses or providing a check against weather sweepers.

Cons: The weaknesses of a dragon-flying type are also well known. Altaria has the misfortune of being weak to three of the more offensive types in the game including a glaring 4x weakness to ice. A Stealth Rock weakness severely hurts Altaria’s otherwise significant longevity. In addition, Altaria lacks in offenses and cannot hope to KO much even with several dragon dances under its wing.

The Verdict: Cloudy, with a chance of dragons. Altaira has many things that other Pokemon would kill to have, but seems lackluster compared to others that share its type.

 

[Kraleck]

Altaria. Such versatility for a Flying Type and much more so for a Dragon Type. Granted, your offense is as atrocious as Gyarados's classification, but you have more Move options than a Farfetch'd can shake a Stick at.

Stats:
-HP - Above Average - Base 75 is rather decent for a Flying Type, but less so for a Dragon Type. Still a solid Stat, though.
-Attack - Below Average - Base 70 isn't doing you much in the way of favors, but a lot of your Physical Moves are going to have an added effect like Bulldoze lowing Speed, Pluck stealing Berries, and Body Slam inflicting Paralysis.
-Defense - Good - The lower of the two defenses isn't too shabby. Base 90 boosted by a +Defense Nature that isn't Lax nearly-equalizes the two defenses if they're EV trained equally.
-Sp.Atk - Below Average - Much like your Attack, Base 70 isn't doing much in the way of damage, but your Special Moves also have some good effects like Ice Beam Freezing an opponent or Flamethrower Burning them.
-Sp.Def - Great - Base 105 emphasizes Altaria's Tank-like role. Granted, Ice is going to hit you like a Howitzer no matter which defense is hit, but most Moves will be easy to manage.
-Speed - Borderline (non-Trick Room) - For non-HP and non-Speed Stats, I vowed to just put "Base 80." and leave it at that. This happens to be Base 80 Speed. You're at the lowest end of non-Trick Room viability. Considering you're very Tank-like on most Stats, you're rather fast.

Abilities:
-Natural Cure - Great Ability. Tanks and Tank-likes are often hassled by Poison, Burns, and Paralysis (especially from Synchronize Ability), so it really helps to have this way out. Plus, a Rest-switch tactic keeps you topped off for later.
-Cloud Nine (DW) - Another great Ability. Tanks and Tank-likes are often supporters and this is great for support. Nerfing Drizzle-toed, Drought-tales, Sand Stream-tar, Sand Stream-don, and Abomasnow-Warning is a huge way to support the team.

Using Altaria offensively boils down to two methods - Boost-n-Bust and Tank-n-Spank. Boost-n-Bust is just like it sounds - Boost your Speed and Attack with Dragon Dance or Accuracy and Attack with Hone Claws and hammer away. Tank-n-Spank is, likewise, just as it sounds - whittle away with chips from Toxic and attacking Moves with Debuffs (like Bulldoze) while keeping your HP high and defenses buffed. Altaria is a great target for Baton Passed Defense and Sp.Def for all occasions. Actually, any of Altaria's Stats can benefit from Baton Pass - Attack, Sp.Atk, and Speed buffs from the (often frowned upon) Smash-Pass combo greatly benefit Altaria.

 

[Ib4]

Altaria is never going to become a powerhouse with its poor offensive stats, but can pass as a special (or even physical) tank and has a diverse move pool.


Cumulus Ferrous
---------------------
Altaria@Leftovers/White Herb
Ability: Natural Cure
Hardy/Docile/Bashful/Serious/Quirky Nature (No stat increase/decrease)

Roost/Substitute/Tailwind/Flamethrower
Roost/Substitute/Tailwind/Flamethrower
Steel Wing/Iron Tail
Draco Meteor

This may sound Farfetch'd, but bear with me here. Altaria has a weakness to 3 types-Rock, Ice, and Dragon. A combination of Steel and Dragon-type attacking moves enables it to hit all 3 of these types with at least neutral damage and typically better. Steel Wing has accuracy and may boost Defense, while Iron Tail is stronger and may lower the foe's defense. Draco Meteor's usefulness will quickly diminish, but can provide at least one strong STAB usage (Two with White Herb). Roost and Substitute are there for tanking, and Tailwind can be used to set up a sweeper. Flamethrower can be thrown in for greater coverage, especially taking out Steels. Flamethrower, Draco Meteor, and a Steel move combined offer universal neutral coverage.

A neutral nature should be used as this set employs every stat, however particular emphasis should be placed on increasing Speed and Defenses, as these are Altaria's stronger stats.
Cloud Nine is undeniably useful but Natural Cure has an increased usage. Leftovers provides steady healing, and can be particularly beneficial with Substitute and Roost. White Herb is single-use, but can be more effective when used with a more offensive set after a Draco Meteor.


Partners to Altaria: Heavy hitting attackers that can remove walls and Steels (If no Flamethrower)

Counters: Altaria's stats aren't exceptional, and many strong neutral attacks can wreak havoc on it. Steels such as Ferrothorn and Skarmory can crush Altaria easily without Flamethrower, and sometimes despite it. Most common walls or sweepers can safely outlast or destroy Altaria, and any speedy Ice, Rock, or Dragon type will wreck it.

 

[Furret Master]

Overview:
Altaria has some stiff competition from its fellow Dragon-types and sadly is one of the lesser of the mighty hoard of Dragons. This does not mean Altaria is useless, however. Altaria is a more defensive Dragon, with 75/90/105 defenses being quite good and a Dragon/Flying typing that gives it 5 resistances and one immunity. It also has Natural Cure and Roost to make it an even better defensive wall. However, Altaria suffers from lower 70/70/80 offenses, which means outside of Dragon Dance and Hone Claws, it can do little back. Also, it's typing leaves a nasty Stealth Rock weakness and a double weakness to Ice. Still, as all Dragon-types have shown us, you cannot underestimate their awesome might, even if this particular Dragon's might is as a wall.

Abilities:
Natural Cure: Altaria is cured of major status conditions (Sleep, Poison, etc.) when it switches out. Awesome ability that works well with Altaria playing a defensive role.
Cloud Nine: Weather effects are negated when Altaria is out on the field. A good ability in any tier with weather, but unless Altaria is in Ubers or OU, Natural Cure usually is the better choice. Good to check rain teams, though.

Movesets:

Defending Dragon
-Dragon Pulse
-Toxic
-Roost
-Cotton Guard
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Calm (+Sp. Defense, -Attack)
EVs: 252 HP, 4 Defense, 252 Sp. Defense

This is a basic outline for a tank, though Altaria makes it work a bit differently. Dragon Pulse has awesome coverage and hits decently hard (for no investment). Toxic is the standard move on many walls to wear out the opposition with Toxic Poison. Roost heals Altaria for 1/2 of its max HP and also makes it lose its Flying-type for the turn, which is good if the slower opponent tries an Ice-type move or something. Cotton Guard raises Altaria's Defense by three stages, making it really tough to take out. Leftovers are for HP recovery, Calm maxes out Sp. Defense, and EVs maximize special bulk.

Because Steel-types wall this set hardcore, an alternate Careful nature (+Sp. Defense, -Sp. Attack) with Dragon Claw over Dragon Pulse and Bulldoze over Cotton Guard can be used. If you have Steel coverage elsewhere, however, the first set works just fine.

Sweeping Cottonwing
-Dragon Dance
-Dragon Claw/Outrage
-Earthquake
-Roost
Item: Life Orb
Ability: Natural Cure
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -Sp. Attack)
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Attack, 252 Speed

This set turns Altaria into a sweeper that has natural bulk. Dragon Dance boosts Altaria's Attack and Speed by one stage each, which makes Altaria quite deadly after enough boosts. Dragon Claw and Outrage are both awesomely powerful moves with excellent coverage. Dragon Claw is the safer choice that doesn't lock you into a move for 2-3 turns, but Outrage has a lot more power behind it. Earthquake basically gives Altaria perfect neutral coverage and is powerful to start. Roost helps Altaria stay alive and helps fight against Life Orb recoil and such. Speaking of which, Life Orb boosts the power of Altaria's attacking moves at the cost of some HP, and the nature and EVs maximize Speed and Attack for better sweeping capabilities.

Other Options:
-Heal Bell can be good for team support by healing major status conditions your other Pokemon might have, but since Altaria already has Natural Cure, it's not as useful for Altaria itself.
-Perish Song would be fun to stop opposing set-up sweepers, but Altaria runs into the four-moveslot-syndrome somewhat.
-Roar fits the same description as above.
-Hone Claws is another boosting move that does Attack and accuracy, but Dragon Dance is usually better.
-Sing could shut down an opposing Pokemon, but 55 accuracy just sucks.

Checks and Counters
Piloswine. Priority Ice Shard that gets same-type-attack-bonus (STAB) targeting Altaria's lower defense can and will shut Altaria down fast. Actually, any faster Ice-type Pokemon, and Ice-type moves in many cases, will really give Altaria a lot of issues. Stealth Rock is another way to get Altaria into KO range. Finally, Toxic and Burn can wear Altaria down if it can't afford to switch out or if Altaria has Cloud Nine for some reason.

Overall, Altaria is not my favorite of my dear Dragon-types, but one cannot say that Altaria is useless, as it has the right tools to do an excellent job.

 

[Melonhead215]

;334;
Overview
Ah, Altaria. With so many Dragons being Pseudo-Legendary OU gods, Altaria is a unique one. Having Decent-ish stats that are leaning toward Defense (75/95/105 AND Cotton Guard? It's like a flying Mega Ampharos) And good enough bases to lead a sweep with the ever-popular Dragon Dance. Altaria can fit a good amount of roles, and is one if its strengths.

Cumulus Dracus
Altaria @ Leftovers
Impish
Ability: Natural Cure
252 HP/ 252 Def /4 Atk
- Cotton Guard
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Steel Wing/Iron Tail/Fire Blast
Pretty much a setup set, Altaria can use cotton guard to reach a godly 750+ Defense on the first turn of battle. (use it again and it's over 1200) This and a Dragon typing already deters a good amount of the Pokemon Population from OHKOing outside of Ice types, allowing you to set up a bit more. Dragon Dance is kind of optional, which makes for a good sweeping move, but if you don't want it it's another slot. It's good for an all around setup, and with Cotton Guard it's a shame Altaria doesn't have Baton Pass. Dragon Claw is STAB, although you probably won't be seeing many Dragons in NU-Although you won't be seeing many Steels either, so it's good coverage. The last one is really up in the air for dealing with Ice types-Steel Wing is more reliable, Iron Tail has more power, and Fire Blast will also take out Steels at the expense of the Dragon Dance Attack boost.

Other Options: Altaria has a lot of other options, including Rest, FeatherDance for more Physical Walling and sub-phasing, Toxic, Earthquake, and much more. Sadly, Altaria won't be the best at anything-it just does a lot of things.
Air Loc-I mean, Cloud Nine is a pretty cool ability, but isn't that helpful considering Natural Cure is awesome for a wall and you don't see that much weather in NU. Still, it's an option, and is viable if you need a weather wall for some reason.

Counters: Really, all you need is one look at Altaria's common typing to figure this one out: Ice types. Really, anything that is Ice will do. Even Ice Shard will freeze this Cottonball. Steel types also deserve a mention resisting both STABS, but Fire Blast and Earthquake are pretty common on Altaria, so be careful switching in.

 

[DGatrz Master]

I literally came up with this name off the top of my head, so I want to give it a set. It just seems too funny not to have one.

That cloud is shooting at me.

Altaria@White Herb
Draco Meteor
Flamethrower
Cotton Guard
Dragon Dance

This set is simple. Power up with Dragon Dance and Cotton Guard then take out your opponent with whichever move. There may be better options than this, but it could probably work well, just not in a long battle.

 

[Meowmeow]

Altaria is a completely different dragon from the others. Altaria lacks significant offensive presence. It has it, but at a minimal level.
Altaria does have a nifty support movepool and nice bulk. This is not typical for a dragon. Altaria also has two fantastic abilities. Natural Cure relieves status upon switching and Cloud Nine ignores weather. If you wish, give Altaria a try. You will be disappointed though.

Support
Nature: Brave
Ability: Either, Natural Cure preferred
EVs: 252 HP, 100 defense, 100 sp defense, rest speed
@: Leftovers

Dragonbreath
Roost
Tailwind
Perish Song/Haze/Roar

This is probably different from other support sets for Altaria. However, I kind of like this one. Dragonbreath gives you something to do if you are Taunted and has a decent paralysis rate. It also gets STAB, making it stronger than Body Slam and hits Ghosts. Roost is obvious. Tailwind provides nice speed support. Perish Song can force switches, especially with Stealth Rock's help, but Haze can shut down stat boosters and Baton Pass chains. Roar can also force switches, but has negative priority. What sucks is that Altaria lacks Dragon Tail.

Bulky Dragon Dance
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Either, both are just as good. In OU, Cloud Nine is better
EVs: 252 attack and HP, 4 speed (there are probably better EV spreads than this)
@: Leftovers

Dragon Dance
Dragon Claw/Outrage
Earthquake/Substitute
Roost

If you ask me, offensive Altaria is a poor idea. Oh well, whatever floats this cloud. It's a pretty basic bulky boosting setup.

 

[Shinzan]

Altaria@Leftovers
Careful
Trait:Natural Cure
EV:252 HP/ 252 SDf/ 4 Def
- Dragon Dance
- Cotton Guard
- Roost
- Dragon Claw

This Altaria set is more for the purpose of defending than attacking. Dragon Dance allows Altaria to set up for sweeps, but also allows it to pull off its buffs faster than other speedy mons. Cotton Guard buffs up its defense in order to take on physical dragon moves such as Outrage and Dragon Claw as well as physical ice moves such as Ice Shard and Ice Punch. Roost serves as its primary source of recovery as well as mitigate its 4x weakness to ice into a 2x weakness, assuming it is faster with DD boosts. Dragon Claw gives Altaria some offensive capabilities without any negative drawbacks.

In terms of EV spreads, the distribution to the HP and Special Defense stats is intended to give Altaria some bulkiness, while a miniscule portion to its Defense due to it having Cotton Guard. Careful nature is selected since Altaria needs the Special Defense Boost for handling Ice Beam users and does not need the Special Attack Stat due to it being more physically-oriented. Leftovers ensures Altaria receives some form of healing when it is not using Roost. Natural Cure is preferred since none of Altaria's moveset covers the scenario where it is hit with Toxic. While Cloud Nine is beneficial in that it prevents weather teams from benefiting from a possible speed boost, not many pokemon that utilizes the boosts from weather can harm a fully-boosted Altaria (Kingdra is that one exception, but then it might not survive against a boosted Altaria).

 

[Kraleck]

Any Ice-Type Pokémon with a modicum of Attack or any Pokémon with lots of Attack that uses a Physical Ice-Type Move will make Altaria have a really bad day. In fact, many Rock Types can probably put a sizeable dent in Altaria with Rock STAB, too. Then there's Cloyster, who's just "bad news Beartic" for Altaria with Ice-Type STAB, Shell Smash, and Rock Blast access. Altaria has many fears for a Dragon Type, and Gen 6 will not be a pleasant one to realize, but for now, let's look at a few things Altaria's offense will actually help.

1. Guts Pokémon. Toxic is by far the most reliable Move if you want Altaria to dish out damage, but a Guts user will make you pay dearly.
2. Magic Guard Pokémon. Guts can help for only so long against Toxic until you faint, but being outright immune to the damage will make Altaria wary about staying.
3. Soundproof Pokémon. Being immune to Perish Song is a real hassle for Altaria.
4. Shadow Tag Pokémon and Trapping Moves. Altaria will have to eat a Perish Song if it is unlucky to get stuck at worst case, or have to suffer an ailment like Toxic Poison in the best case.
5. Dragon Types. Altaria doesn't have the raw power to KO one of the other Dragons nor make them worried, but they certainly have the capability to KO Altaria.
6. Steel Types. Altaria doesn't have much variety in its Moves to use against them, and the Moves that it can use have pitiful Stats behind them.

 

[Pokemon1998Ash]

Altaria
It flies gracefully through the sky. Its melodic humming makes you feel like you're in a dream.

Altaria @ Choice Specs
Timid - Natural Cure
252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
~Draco Meteor
~Hidden Power Ground / Fire Blast
~Dragon Pulse
~Rest

 

[Rayofquazar]

Altaria is a decent bulky/support pokemon with good enough stats and a wide movepool. Although, for a dragon type, altaria is very underpowered, I really think that we need more dragon types like altaria. Every dragon is either a legendary or semi-legendary or have some overwhelming stats except for altaria, kingdra, flygon and druddigon. These are the only fully evolved dragon types that aren't OU or uber.

Altaria excels as a supporter or a wall and does a nice job in taking and tanking multiple hits. Although, altaria's typing comes with a painful 4x weakness to ice type attacks, they can be managed with the right team support. Messing with it's defensive prowess is that weakness to rock type attacks notably stealth rock that will take 25% off of altaria's health on each switch in. That aside, with a multitude of options and in the right hands, altaria can become a pain to get rid off. Also, altaria has natural cure that cures it from any status upon switching out notably toxic or burn. This also means that altaria can rest and switch out getting back later with full health and ready to roll again. Moves like toxic, roost, substitute, featherdance, etc... can bve used to great effect as well as cotton guard to make your altaria really physically resilliant tanking with relative ease piloswine's ice shard with just one use.

Altaria can also use an attacking set with dragon dance although inferior to the defensive set but it can also work. With a wide attacking movepool including outrage, earthquake and dragon claw, altaria also has a good coverage, just don't expect altaria to sweep teams with a physical set.

Altaria has also access to a variety of hazing or pseudo-hazing with moves like roar, whirlwind, haze and perish song.

Despite it's nice capabilities, altaria is easily checked by steel types cz it can't touch them (except mabe haze them) cz even it a boosted EQ, most steel types have massive defense and will take minimal damage. A fire/fight/ground types are essential at eliminating this type.

 

[sbktdreed]

Physical
Cloud Nine w/ Lum Berry OR Natural Cure w/ Escape Button/Life Orb/Power Herb/Dragon Gem
252 Attack, 130 Sp Defense, 128 Defense
Dragon Rush/Outrage
Pluck/Sky Attack
Earthquake
Dragon Dance/Roost

Special
Natural Cure w/ Escape Button/Life Orb/White Herb/Dragon Gem
252 Sp Attack, 130 Sp Defense, 128 Defense
Dragon Pulse/Draco Meteor
Ice Beam
Flamethrower
Roost/Hidden Power [Fighting/Rock]

Countering-NU
High Attack with Ice/Rock/Dragon-type moves like Ice Punch Muk. Other Pokémon includes Frost Rotom or Vanilluxe.

 

[Silvershark]

How about a set I came up with for doubles.

Altaria @ Power Herb
Ability: Cloud Nine
EVs: 236 Spd / 236 SAtk / 4 Def / 30 HP / 4 SDef
Naive Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Sky Attack
- Perish Song / Fire Blast
- Protect

The forgotten dragon, no doubt due to it's sub par attack and somewhat common typing (and the fact that it doesn't look very much like a dragon also probably has something to do with it). Even among Cloud Nine users it's overlooked with all it's common weaknesses and rather low Hp stat. However I see some potential for a hard Rain counter here. With Rain nullified, Altaria outspeeds both Kingdra and Ludicolo, and can 1HKO both with Draco Meteor and Sky Attack respectively. Sky Attack is a one-off with Power Herb, but lacking a better flying move (HP Flying is pitiful even with a flying gem) it's all the cotton swab dragon's got. Perish Song could mean a guaranteed win after two pokemon are gone and is useful for a perish trap team, but Fire Blast hits Steel types relying on the rain extra hard. The EV's make it so she speed ties with max speed adamant Landorus-T and the Sp. Atk. EV's put out just as much power as 252 so the leftover EV's get put towards maximizing bulk.