Altaria

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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.
Claw Sharpen is a pure gimmick at best, best to stick to Dragon Dance for your attack boost move.

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?
Average Dory even without his speed boost outspeeds all variations of Altaria except the DD version after +1 boost. Though you'll probably get annihilated by a +2 Rock Slide before you can DD if you switch in...

Cloud Nine is a great ability but I do worry about its actual practicality, it only really checks Sun teams. Hail teams would tear you apart anyway, Rain teams always pack ice anyway and most Sand teams could probably stone edge/rock slide their way to victory. This is very different from Lickilicky who is much bulkier with less obvious weaknesses or Golduck who is faster with priority.

Personally I find Cotton Guard is possibly Altaria's best new toy making him the most physically bulky dragon available in the game giving you an excuse to run full s.def or offense.
 
Yeah, about Claw Sharpen I was gonna say that it's pretty much a joke compared to DD. :0 You never use Claw Sharpen on anyone who already gets Dragon Dance/Swords Dance/Bulk Up/any better Attack-boosting move (IE, everything but Sharpen).

I'm liking the bulky sets the most with this, especially the bulky DDer. The Agility set should probably be removed from the OP, as it doesn't have a lot going for it compared to both its other sets and Dragonite doing the same thing only better. :0
 

CTNC

Doesn't know how to attack
I see Altaria being a decent weather check this time round
As much as I love Altaria, Rain teams have Ice Beam on (almost) every special attacking water Pokemon and Sandstorm stones Altaria to death. Hail = o_0 and sun means... well, any Dragon is a good counter.
 
For the main Defensive set, I think that it would be much more realistic using a Careful Nature and Dragon Claw. It may seem stupid due to the drop of 10 in Base Power, but has more PP, (Dragon Pulse has 16 at max, Dragon Claw has 24 at max), and as this Altaria is designed to stay in for a long period of time, would prove to be more beneficial than Dragon Pulse.

Mixed Wall Altaria
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Cloud Nine
Nature: Careful (+Def -Sp Atk)
Ev's: 252 Hp, 252 Sp Def, 4 Spe
Cotton Guard
Roost
Dragon Claw
Roar / Heal Bell / Toxic

This Altaria is a complete and utter BEAST to take down. Its amazing Walling prowess has been further boosted by Cotton Guard this Gen, making it an amazing mixed wall. Cotton Guard is obvious as it is the main attraction of this set. Gaining +3 defense with a single use makes it easy to accomplish the task of getting max defense, especially as Altaria has so many wonderful resists to types that are very common. It can just switch in on any resisted attack, or on something that cannot touch it, and use Cotton Guard on the predicted switch.
Roost is essential as it lets Altaria regain health while removing its flying type for a turn, as long as it goes first. This is useful for removing its 4x Ice weakness for a turn. Dragon Claw is Altaria's STAB move, and hits every type (bar steels) for neutral damage. As for the fourth slot, it all depends on what Utility you wish to use. Roar is for any opposing steel types, and allows Altaria to remove them with relative ease. Heal Bell is also a great option, as Natural Cure is pretty much pointless on it, as Altaria doesn't want to switch out and lose it's Defense boosts because of pesky status. Toxic is a viable option as well, as it allows Altaria to weaken opposing walls and generally spread around status.
Leftovers is for added survivability, and the Ev's given give it great walling prowess. The random 4 Speed Ev's are to out speed other Base 80 speed Pokemon with no investment is Speed, and those without a speed boosting nature.
 
Due to all the new toys I think altaria might make it into OU in wich it would be a shame.
I'm not too sure, to be honest. Gets owned by Skarmory when it comes to physical walling and it can get phazed out pretty quickly. Its stats aren't the highest out there, and it might not be able to support itself in the higher tiers where base 130 offenses aren't that special.

I love Altaria though and Cotton Guard is badass. I want a dragon to be in the lower tiers anyway...
 
I love Altaria though and Cotton Guard is badass. I want a dragon to be in the lower tiers anyway...
Well, Kurimugan isn't going to be top-tier OU any time soon.

The Cotton Guard staller does what? Sets up a +6 only for it to get destroyed by a fast Ice Beam, or gets phazed out? The only thing that it can do is Toxic, and even then the Pokemon that easily beat it aren't affected by poison.

As usual, there are better Dragon-Flyings and better Cloud Niners.
 
Agreeing with Zangoose


Cotton Guard is only going to be prolonging its life... Not helping it do anything more
 
That's what I was saying. I like Cotton Guard as a move but Altaria can't do jack to most phazers, especially Skarm.

And I forgot about Kurimugan, good point.
 
Altaria is a terrible Pokémon who badly wishes it were NFE so it could become semi-viable in NU with the Evolution Stone.

That out of the way, really, the only thing it was good for was the only fully evolved UU Dragon. And even that was pushing it. Though it can be defensive, it has major issues with SE moves, and with Rock and Ice weaknesses, no Multi-Scale like DNite has, no Intimidate to switch in, no Mold Breaker, a complete lack of anything noteworthy except its being a dragon.

Also, you would know the opponent has Monmen, so you could use Cotton Guard to bait the switch, getting something like Entei in unscathed, and because it's Monmen you just destroyed it with an Extremespeed off of 110 Attack. I could see Altaria being a way to bait in Monmen, though the opponent is probably better off just switching to whatever on their team has Ice Beam, as Altaria can't do shit to bulky waters until it gets up 2 or 3 DDs.
 
Altaria is no Dragonite, but will do just fine in UU this generation. He's got great utility in UU as a bulky dragon.
 
I've always liked Altaria as an in-game team member, even though raising it took forever

If only it learned Extremespeed or had higher atk/spatk
 
I tried running Altaria in Sandstorm with Natural Cure (was standard, not DW team). I used Cotton Guard, Heal Bell, Roost, and Flamethrower/Dragon Pulse. Didn't work well AT ALL....I stalled everything but once I set up there was nothing for Altaria to do but sit there and wait...with Steels and Shandalure everywhere, neither of these attack options were of any use....Even on a neutral Poke it deals little damage without large Sp Attack investment and any other stall based Poke can stall you out.
 
Yeah without Toxic or something it can't do much, and without Roar anything with a little bulk or a recovery move can set up on it. Oh, and Skarmory can Spikes/Roar your team while you sit there hitting it with resisted Dragon Pulse (unless you happen to be running flamethrower, in which case they'd just roar you outright)
 
The problem is you're running Heal Bell AND Cotton Guard. Without Roar, naturally, Altaria WILL get walked all over by Steels. You really have to choose one or the other.

-Great Special Wall

or

-Good Overall Wall

He unfortunately can't do everything. "Good" is certainly enough for UU, but not enough for OU.
 
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