The Return Of Aerodactyl
Hi, I made a new team and Aerodactyl is in it.
I never played 4th gen when it was the main metagame, but I do know that Aerodactyl was an OU pokemon, so to think that it is now RU, and not even a main feature in this tier, is a sad thought. So, one day I was watching a youtube battle, although a lot of the youtube players aren't brilliant, I still enjoy watching the videos. Anyway, In this battle the youtuber's opponent had an Aerodactyl, this Aerodactyl was burned and it still did a whopping 39% to the Youtuber's Tentacruel. After this I stopped and thought about Aerodactyl, the main thing to Notice is that it has the ability to outspeed Adamant Gyara's and Dnite's, and it also can outspeed the new threat Tornadus-T. At that point I decided I would try and make a team that features Aerodactyl. Later on that same day, I was watching one of my friends ladder (Mefesto - He is not a regular user of these forums), and his opponent had Aerodactyl. After this, Mefesto said to me that he wanted to use Aero. So that is the story, from this we created an Aerodactyl team.
At a glance
Team Building
So obviously we started with Aerodactyl and went with the CB set, and then added Tyranitar as Stealth Rock and Weather support. Tyranitar is also and excellent special sponge and it's Sandstream gives Aerodactyl a nifty boost in it's Special Defence.
It's clear that to achieve the goal of this team which is to pull off a Late Game Aerodactyl sweep, a pokemon that can remove Steel types is a necessity, Magnezone fits this bill perfectly with it's Magnet Pull ability. It even has good Synergy with Aerodactyl.
Mefesto decided that we needed a Dragon, so he decided to go for Latias who also has the ability to tank Fighting Hits decently well. At first we opted for Defensive Calm Mind Reflect, but I made a personal change to the fast Calm Mind sweeper with HP Fire.
Now we agreed that we could do with a rapid spinner, first poke that came to my mind was Starmie, and since we had both not used the Bulky Starmie set, we decided to go with it.
Lastly, we figured another Steel type would be a good idea. We chose Ferrothorn because it goes well with Starmie and is generally an annoying poke to face.
Not the most convincing team building whatsoever, in turn not a perfect team. That of course is the reason why I am posting it here, to improve it!
Team In Depth:
Aerodactyl (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Crunch
So, Aerodactyl, the poke that my team is based around. The goal of the team is to wear down the opponents team to a point where Aerodactyl can finish it off with it's most Powerful STAB move Stone Edge. To do this I opted for a Choice Banded Aerodactyl, the EV's are just all out offense and with Jolly Max Speed Aerodactyl is able to outspeed Adamant Dragonite and Gyarados at +2. The rest of the moves are barely clicked but sometimes I need to use Aerodactyl to finish off an opponent's poke mid-game. For instance, a Jirachi is a very annoying Poke to this team so Earthquake is there to handle that. Crunch can hit Latias and Latios for good damage without having to risk a Stone Edge miss. Aerial Ace might seem a bit Jokey but It is really the only thing I have to do to Conkeldurr and Keldeo, these two are in my opinion the biggest threats to my team. (Conkeldurr more so). Also thanks to Tyranitar, Aerodactyl's SDef stat gets an appreciated boost that actually allows it to survive some Special Hits. Aerodactyl can even provide a good switch in to Tornadus (Both Formes).
Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Tyranitar, my weather inducer. Of late I have opted to use Hippowdon as my sandstorm support but this time I decided on Tyranitar just because it is an excellent switch in to many Special Attacker's like Heatran and particularly the Lati "Twins". The EVs are chosen to maximise Tyranitar's Special Defence. The moveset is pretty standard, I have contemplated adding Ice Beam and/ or Fire Blast over Crunch to hit the likes of Landorus, Gliscor, and Scizor respectively so give me thoughts on that. Stealth Rock is of course the best move in the game netting free damage on every Pokemon that switches in and is especially used to break the Multiscale of Dragonite. Lastly Superpower is used to hit Opposing Tyranitar's, Heatran, and Terrakion on the switch. As previously mentioned the sand support gives Aerodactyl a boost in SDef.
Magnezone @ Life Orb
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
With the goal of the team revolving around Aerodactyl, it was a given that something would be needed to deal with Steel types like Ferrothorn and Skarmory who are able to tank Stone Edge pretty comfortably . Enter Magnezone, with it's amazing ability Magnet Pull, Steel type opponent's are unable to escape meaning they will rapidly fall allowing my teams goal to be pulled off alot easier. The moveset is simple; Thunderbolt is a STAB move that easily OHKO's Skarmory, HP Fire can be used to hit Ferrothorn for a 2HKO Flash Cannon is a secondary STAB move that is Super Effective against Tyranitar and can do decent chunks to pokes like Hippowdon and Latios. Substitute is a really good move on Magnezone because Magnezone can usually get a free sub up on Ferrothorn (unless Bulldoze), KO it and have another Free attack on the next poke the opponent sends in. Magnezone also has decent synergy with Aerodactyl, and beats Scizor who is one of Aerodactyl's greatest enemies. Finally, I use Life Orb because the power boost is appreciated when facing Hippowdon and sometimes Magnezone can outspeed breloom and do excellent damage with Hidden Power Fire.
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire]
With a Glaring weakness to Water Moves and Fighting moves, something was needed to be able to tank these hits. We also decided that we needed to use a Dragon Type and Thus we chose Latias who fits the description nicely and possesses more bulk than it's counterpart Latios. Myself I don't often use Latias because I used to see Tyranitar all the time, but with this new metagame the use of Tyranitar has decreased alot so Latias can have a much better time. With new threat's such as Thundurus-T and Keldeo, Latias makes an excellent addition to any team. This set right here is my favourite, The Fast Calm Mind user. With it's good resistances, Latias has plenty of chances to get a boost and put pressure on the opponent. I always opt for Hidden Power Fire when I use Latias, because usually it is a Scizor or Ferrothorn who switch in to take on this poke, only to find themselves being severely damaged, again making it easier for my Aerodactyl to sweep late game. Sometimes as a last resort Latias is able to sweep teams because of its amazing ability to take hits. This is complimented by recover allowing Latias to gain more and more boosts setting up on Pokes Like Starmie, and Virizion. Recover can also allow Latias to recover off U-Turns from faster pokes like Scarf Landorus and Tornadus-T.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 8 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunderbolt
With Aerodactyl's weakness to Stealth Rock we decided we need a Rapid Spinner. Starmie also has a resistance to Fighting. We chose this over other spinners such as Tentacruel because it has more Reliable recovery and it can actually do something to the Spin Blocker's. Another one of Starmie's perks is it's Speed making it faster than Pokes such as Terrakion, Infernape and non-scarfed Landorus and Thundurus. The EV spread is taken from the site, I wanted to use the Bulky Starmie because I had never used it before, I might possibly change it to offensive, thought's on this would be appreciated. I chose Thunderbolt to hit Jellicent, Tentacruel and especially Gyardos. I might be tempted to change Thunderbolt to Psyshock in order to hit Gengar because for some reason people decide to switch them in to spin block. Scald is a STAB move that has a tendency to Burn switch ins like Rotom and Ferrothorn.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
The final Poke to be added was Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn is a good partner for Starmie and has many chances to lay up Spikes which will help the team achieve it's goal of a Late game sweep. The EV spread is standard. With Ferrothorn's good defences it can switch in on many common pokes like Landorus and Starmie. Landorus is often going for U-Turn meaning Ferrothorn will be able to get of Free damage every time. Ferrothorn is also my main answer to bulky water types like Gastrodon, Vaporeon, and Politoed. The Moveset allows me to hit these pokes and also can hit Latios and Latias with Gyro Ball for good damage. To be honest I am not a big fan of Ferrothorn but it works here. If you feel you have a better poke for this spot, Please tell me.
So that is the team, please leave any helpful suggestions you have to make this team more effective.
Importable:
Hi, I made a new team and Aerodactyl is in it.
I never played 4th gen when it was the main metagame, but I do know that Aerodactyl was an OU pokemon, so to think that it is now RU, and not even a main feature in this tier, is a sad thought. So, one day I was watching a youtube battle, although a lot of the youtube players aren't brilliant, I still enjoy watching the videos. Anyway, In this battle the youtuber's opponent had an Aerodactyl, this Aerodactyl was burned and it still did a whopping 39% to the Youtuber's Tentacruel. After this I stopped and thought about Aerodactyl, the main thing to Notice is that it has the ability to outspeed Adamant Gyara's and Dnite's, and it also can outspeed the new threat Tornadus-T. At that point I decided I would try and make a team that features Aerodactyl. Later on that same day, I was watching one of my friends ladder (Mefesto - He is not a regular user of these forums), and his opponent had Aerodactyl. After this, Mefesto said to me that he wanted to use Aero. So that is the story, from this we created an Aerodactyl team.
At a glance
Team Building
So obviously we started with Aerodactyl and went with the CB set, and then added Tyranitar as Stealth Rock and Weather support. Tyranitar is also and excellent special sponge and it's Sandstream gives Aerodactyl a nifty boost in it's Special Defence.
It's clear that to achieve the goal of this team which is to pull off a Late Game Aerodactyl sweep, a pokemon that can remove Steel types is a necessity, Magnezone fits this bill perfectly with it's Magnet Pull ability. It even has good Synergy with Aerodactyl.
Mefesto decided that we needed a Dragon, so he decided to go for Latias who also has the ability to tank Fighting Hits decently well. At first we opted for Defensive Calm Mind Reflect, but I made a personal change to the fast Calm Mind sweeper with HP Fire.
Now we agreed that we could do with a rapid spinner, first poke that came to my mind was Starmie, and since we had both not used the Bulky Starmie set, we decided to go with it.
Lastly, we figured another Steel type would be a good idea. We chose Ferrothorn because it goes well with Starmie and is generally an annoying poke to face.
Not the most convincing team building whatsoever, in turn not a perfect team. That of course is the reason why I am posting it here, to improve it!
Team In Depth:
Aerodactyl (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Crunch
So, Aerodactyl, the poke that my team is based around. The goal of the team is to wear down the opponents team to a point where Aerodactyl can finish it off with it's most Powerful STAB move Stone Edge. To do this I opted for a Choice Banded Aerodactyl, the EV's are just all out offense and with Jolly Max Speed Aerodactyl is able to outspeed Adamant Dragonite and Gyarados at +2. The rest of the moves are barely clicked but sometimes I need to use Aerodactyl to finish off an opponent's poke mid-game. For instance, a Jirachi is a very annoying Poke to this team so Earthquake is there to handle that. Crunch can hit Latias and Latios for good damage without having to risk a Stone Edge miss. Aerial Ace might seem a bit Jokey but It is really the only thing I have to do to Conkeldurr and Keldeo, these two are in my opinion the biggest threats to my team. (Conkeldurr more so). Also thanks to Tyranitar, Aerodactyl's SDef stat gets an appreciated boost that actually allows it to survive some Special Hits. Aerodactyl can even provide a good switch in to Tornadus (Both Formes).
Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Tyranitar, my weather inducer. Of late I have opted to use Hippowdon as my sandstorm support but this time I decided on Tyranitar just because it is an excellent switch in to many Special Attacker's like Heatran and particularly the Lati "Twins". The EVs are chosen to maximise Tyranitar's Special Defence. The moveset is pretty standard, I have contemplated adding Ice Beam and/ or Fire Blast over Crunch to hit the likes of Landorus, Gliscor, and Scizor respectively so give me thoughts on that. Stealth Rock is of course the best move in the game netting free damage on every Pokemon that switches in and is especially used to break the Multiscale of Dragonite. Lastly Superpower is used to hit Opposing Tyranitar's, Heatran, and Terrakion on the switch. As previously mentioned the sand support gives Aerodactyl a boost in SDef.
Magnezone @ Life Orb
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
With the goal of the team revolving around Aerodactyl, it was a given that something would be needed to deal with Steel types like Ferrothorn and Skarmory who are able to tank Stone Edge pretty comfortably . Enter Magnezone, with it's amazing ability Magnet Pull, Steel type opponent's are unable to escape meaning they will rapidly fall allowing my teams goal to be pulled off alot easier. The moveset is simple; Thunderbolt is a STAB move that easily OHKO's Skarmory, HP Fire can be used to hit Ferrothorn for a 2HKO Flash Cannon is a secondary STAB move that is Super Effective against Tyranitar and can do decent chunks to pokes like Hippowdon and Latios. Substitute is a really good move on Magnezone because Magnezone can usually get a free sub up on Ferrothorn (unless Bulldoze), KO it and have another Free attack on the next poke the opponent sends in. Magnezone also has decent synergy with Aerodactyl, and beats Scizor who is one of Aerodactyl's greatest enemies. Finally, I use Life Orb because the power boost is appreciated when facing Hippowdon and sometimes Magnezone can outspeed breloom and do excellent damage with Hidden Power Fire.
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire]
With a Glaring weakness to Water Moves and Fighting moves, something was needed to be able to tank these hits. We also decided that we needed to use a Dragon Type and Thus we chose Latias who fits the description nicely and possesses more bulk than it's counterpart Latios. Myself I don't often use Latias because I used to see Tyranitar all the time, but with this new metagame the use of Tyranitar has decreased alot so Latias can have a much better time. With new threat's such as Thundurus-T and Keldeo, Latias makes an excellent addition to any team. This set right here is my favourite, The Fast Calm Mind user. With it's good resistances, Latias has plenty of chances to get a boost and put pressure on the opponent. I always opt for Hidden Power Fire when I use Latias, because usually it is a Scizor or Ferrothorn who switch in to take on this poke, only to find themselves being severely damaged, again making it easier for my Aerodactyl to sweep late game. Sometimes as a last resort Latias is able to sweep teams because of its amazing ability to take hits. This is complimented by recover allowing Latias to gain more and more boosts setting up on Pokes Like Starmie, and Virizion. Recover can also allow Latias to recover off U-Turns from faster pokes like Scarf Landorus and Tornadus-T.
Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 8 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunderbolt
With Aerodactyl's weakness to Stealth Rock we decided we need a Rapid Spinner. Starmie also has a resistance to Fighting. We chose this over other spinners such as Tentacruel because it has more Reliable recovery and it can actually do something to the Spin Blocker's. Another one of Starmie's perks is it's Speed making it faster than Pokes such as Terrakion, Infernape and non-scarfed Landorus and Thundurus. The EV spread is taken from the site, I wanted to use the Bulky Starmie because I had never used it before, I might possibly change it to offensive, thought's on this would be appreciated. I chose Thunderbolt to hit Jellicent, Tentacruel and especially Gyardos. I might be tempted to change Thunderbolt to Psyshock in order to hit Gengar because for some reason people decide to switch them in to spin block. Scald is a STAB move that has a tendency to Burn switch ins like Rotom and Ferrothorn.
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
The final Poke to be added was Ferrothorn. Ferrothorn is a good partner for Starmie and has many chances to lay up Spikes which will help the team achieve it's goal of a Late game sweep. The EV spread is standard. With Ferrothorn's good defences it can switch in on many common pokes like Landorus and Starmie. Landorus is often going for U-Turn meaning Ferrothorn will be able to get of Free damage every time. Ferrothorn is also my main answer to bulky water types like Gastrodon, Vaporeon, and Politoed. The Moveset allows me to hit these pokes and also can hit Latios and Latias with Gyro Ball for good damage. To be honest I am not a big fan of Ferrothorn but it works here. If you feel you have a better poke for this spot, Please tell me.
So that is the team, please leave any helpful suggestions you have to make this team more effective.
Importable:
Aerodactyl (M) @ Choice Band
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Crunch
Magnezone @ Life Orb
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 8 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunderbolt
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Leech Seed
Trait: Pressure
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Aerial Ace
- Crunch
Magnezone @ Life Orb
Trait: Magnet Pull
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Flash Cannon
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Thunderbolt
Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Dragon Pulse
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Fire]
Tyranitar (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Stream
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SDef / 8 Spd
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Stealth Rock
- Superpower
- Crunch
- Pursuit
Starmie @ Leftovers
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 252 HP / 24 Def / 8 SAtk / 224 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Scald
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Thunderbolt
Ferrothorn (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 88 Def / 168 SDef
Relaxed Nature (+Def, -Spd)
- Gyro Ball
- Power Whip
- Spikes
- Leech Seed