Bologo
Have fun with birds and bees.
Alright, so this is going to be a thread to discuss the much neglected bulky Staraptor.
Now, I emphasize that this will be PHYSICALLY bulky.
With that, the key factor in his bulkiness is Intimidate. He can then abuse Featherdance and Roost, then just U-Turn out to come back later.
This is the set that I was thinking:
Staraptor @Leftovers
EVs: 228 HP/240 DEF/40 SPD
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
Ability: Intimidate
~ Featherdance
~ Roost
~ Brave Bird/Aerial Ace
~ U-Turn
Now, this is how this set would work - Staraptor comes out, and Featherdances. Now the opponent has -3 attack and does very little to Staraptor while he can easily Roost off the damage. Even just the intimidate screws up many opponents and causes them to switch.
If the opponent is going to switch as a result, since this set can force a lot of switches, then Staraptor can U-Turn. U-Turning while the opponent is switching means that they switch first and then you U-Turn whatever comes in and you can just bring in a counter with ease since they won't have to take an attack on the switch in.
With Roost, it can turn Rock attacks neutral which can sometimes be vital. IE. I'll admit, this set has trouble with Relicanth and Rampardos Head Smashes, and it is extremely hard to survive those. But with Roost, it can survive them perfectly fine.
Featherdance can be used on the switch to lower another opponent's attack putting them at -2, which will most likely force another switch if they're not a special attacker, or they're going to stay in and not be doing much damage at all.
Brave Bird is still a very good attack even with a bulky Staraptor because now Staraptor has a nice fast Roost to work with to recover the recoil. However, Aerial Ace can be used if Brave Bird is too much of a risk. Kind of like the Skarmory dilemma.
Now, the EVs. With these EVs, Staraptor gets a defense tier of 119.31 without intimidate in play, and 123.56 with it in play. 119.31 is alright, in the same tier as a 0/0 Skarmory, and with intimidate in play, just a little over a 252/252 Skarmory.
40 speed EVs and a +speed personality still let it beat out +speed base 85s which is quite handy because there's so damn many of them, while it still keeps that nice 276 attack even with no EVs.
Now for some calculations, I'll take these from the offensive threats page. If Roost actually changes anything, I'll include that:
Calculations
(With Intimidate factored in and 252 attack EVs +personality)
Tyranitar Stone Edge - 67.93% - 79.89%
(In the Middle of a Roost) - 33.70% - 39.67%
Crunch - 27.45% - 32.07%
Gyarados Stone Edge - 43.21% - 50.82%
(Middle of a Roost) - 21.47% - 25.27%
Ice Fang - 28.26% - 33.42%
(Roost) - 14.13% - 16.58%
Infernape Flare Blitz - 33.97% - 39.95%
Close Combat after a Roost (adds weak) - 66.85% - 78.80%
Rhyperior Stone Edge - 69.84% - 82.07%
(After Roost) - 34.78% - 40.76%
Garchomp Outrage - 39.67% - 46.47%
Weavile Ice Punch - 47.28% - 55.71%
Medicham Thunderpunch - 40.49% - 47.55%
(After Roost) - 20.11% - 23.64%
Heracross Megahorn - 19.29% - 22.55%
(Neutrality after Roost) - 38.32% - 45.11%
Rampardos Stone Edge - 78.80% - 92.66%
(Roost neutrality) - 47.01% - 55.16%
Heatran Explosion - 84.78% - 99.73% (just put in to show that actually CAN survive an explosion)
Alright, those are the basic things that can normally annihilate Staraptor thanks to super-high attack and super-effective attacks.
Now, the reason I factored Intimidate in there is because this guy is designed to come in several times (spinner recommended) and if something is going to switch from Intimidate, you can either Featherdance the switch-in, which will neuter them even more, or you can just U-Turn out as they switch anyway. There's also the option of Roosting during the switch-in. The main thing is screwing with things using Featherdance and scouting with U-Turn.
Roost is an incredible asset to a physically bulky Staraptor because it gets rid of his huge Ice/Rock weaknesses, while although adding the Fight weakness, fight attacks are mostly on Fight type pokemon who really shouldn't be staying in on Staraptor since they're gonna get destroyed by Brave Bird.
Now see, the most powerful Stone Edge in the game, from Rampardos doesn't even OHKO. This just shows how tough Staraptor actually is with Intimidate and very respectable HP. It takes hits better than Togekiss on the physical side with the same base HP and Intimidate. The 70 base defense compared to the 95 base defense isn't as much of a difference that Intimidate can't make up for.
Obviously, you do not want to send this out against special attackers unless they're stuck on Shadow Ball, because they WILL kill you.
Counters
- Special attackers obviously
- Metagross and the other Regis thanks to Clear Body
- Incorrect prediction obviously, if Roost isn't used at a cruicial point, to make a neutrality from a weakness, it will get the bird killed
- Steel types in general are pretty annoying but can still get neutered by Featherdance
There's probably a lot more, but I'll leave that to you guys for now, it's late as heck right now.
Heh, so let's discuss Physical Bulk Staraptor. If there's anyway I can polish the set a little more in any way. Hopefully I covered most of the important calculations, and I hope this can convince you to give it a try. :]
Now, I emphasize that this will be PHYSICALLY bulky.
With that, the key factor in his bulkiness is Intimidate. He can then abuse Featherdance and Roost, then just U-Turn out to come back later.
This is the set that I was thinking:
Staraptor @Leftovers
EVs: 228 HP/240 DEF/40 SPD
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
Ability: Intimidate
~ Featherdance
~ Roost
~ Brave Bird/Aerial Ace
~ U-Turn
Now, this is how this set would work - Staraptor comes out, and Featherdances. Now the opponent has -3 attack and does very little to Staraptor while he can easily Roost off the damage. Even just the intimidate screws up many opponents and causes them to switch.
If the opponent is going to switch as a result, since this set can force a lot of switches, then Staraptor can U-Turn. U-Turning while the opponent is switching means that they switch first and then you U-Turn whatever comes in and you can just bring in a counter with ease since they won't have to take an attack on the switch in.
With Roost, it can turn Rock attacks neutral which can sometimes be vital. IE. I'll admit, this set has trouble with Relicanth and Rampardos Head Smashes, and it is extremely hard to survive those. But with Roost, it can survive them perfectly fine.
Featherdance can be used on the switch to lower another opponent's attack putting them at -2, which will most likely force another switch if they're not a special attacker, or they're going to stay in and not be doing much damage at all.
Brave Bird is still a very good attack even with a bulky Staraptor because now Staraptor has a nice fast Roost to work with to recover the recoil. However, Aerial Ace can be used if Brave Bird is too much of a risk. Kind of like the Skarmory dilemma.
Now, the EVs. With these EVs, Staraptor gets a defense tier of 119.31 without intimidate in play, and 123.56 with it in play. 119.31 is alright, in the same tier as a 0/0 Skarmory, and with intimidate in play, just a little over a 252/252 Skarmory.
40 speed EVs and a +speed personality still let it beat out +speed base 85s which is quite handy because there's so damn many of them, while it still keeps that nice 276 attack even with no EVs.
Now for some calculations, I'll take these from the offensive threats page. If Roost actually changes anything, I'll include that:
Calculations
(With Intimidate factored in and 252 attack EVs +personality)
Tyranitar Stone Edge - 67.93% - 79.89%
(In the Middle of a Roost) - 33.70% - 39.67%
Crunch - 27.45% - 32.07%
Gyarados Stone Edge - 43.21% - 50.82%
(Middle of a Roost) - 21.47% - 25.27%
Ice Fang - 28.26% - 33.42%
(Roost) - 14.13% - 16.58%
Infernape Flare Blitz - 33.97% - 39.95%
Close Combat after a Roost (adds weak) - 66.85% - 78.80%
Rhyperior Stone Edge - 69.84% - 82.07%
(After Roost) - 34.78% - 40.76%
Garchomp Outrage - 39.67% - 46.47%
Weavile Ice Punch - 47.28% - 55.71%
Medicham Thunderpunch - 40.49% - 47.55%
(After Roost) - 20.11% - 23.64%
Heracross Megahorn - 19.29% - 22.55%
(Neutrality after Roost) - 38.32% - 45.11%
Rampardos Stone Edge - 78.80% - 92.66%
(Roost neutrality) - 47.01% - 55.16%
Heatran Explosion - 84.78% - 99.73% (just put in to show that actually CAN survive an explosion)
Alright, those are the basic things that can normally annihilate Staraptor thanks to super-high attack and super-effective attacks.
Now, the reason I factored Intimidate in there is because this guy is designed to come in several times (spinner recommended) and if something is going to switch from Intimidate, you can either Featherdance the switch-in, which will neuter them even more, or you can just U-Turn out as they switch anyway. There's also the option of Roosting during the switch-in. The main thing is screwing with things using Featherdance and scouting with U-Turn.
Roost is an incredible asset to a physically bulky Staraptor because it gets rid of his huge Ice/Rock weaknesses, while although adding the Fight weakness, fight attacks are mostly on Fight type pokemon who really shouldn't be staying in on Staraptor since they're gonna get destroyed by Brave Bird.
Now see, the most powerful Stone Edge in the game, from Rampardos doesn't even OHKO. This just shows how tough Staraptor actually is with Intimidate and very respectable HP. It takes hits better than Togekiss on the physical side with the same base HP and Intimidate. The 70 base defense compared to the 95 base defense isn't as much of a difference that Intimidate can't make up for.
Obviously, you do not want to send this out against special attackers unless they're stuck on Shadow Ball, because they WILL kill you.
Counters
- Special attackers obviously
- Metagross and the other Regis thanks to Clear Body
- Incorrect prediction obviously, if Roost isn't used at a cruicial point, to make a neutrality from a weakness, it will get the bird killed
- Steel types in general are pretty annoying but can still get neutered by Featherdance
There's probably a lot more, but I'll leave that to you guys for now, it's late as heck right now.
Heh, so let's discuss Physical Bulk Staraptor. If there's anyway I can polish the set a little more in any way. Hopefully I covered most of the important calculations, and I hope this can convince you to give it a try. :]