Ubers [Ubers] Zapdos [QC 0/2]

[Eledyr]

[OVERVIEW]

Zapdos's powerful STAB moves in Thunderbolt and Drill Peck make it a good mixed attacker in the metagame. They lets it threaten most of the metagame bar Rhydon and Golem. Its great bulk makes it especially good to take on common threats such as Slowbro and Starmie as well as spreading paralysis against common leads and threats like Tauros, Mew, and Mewtwo, and its good critical hit rate is valuable in order to take down Chansey and Mew. However, in a metagame filled with strong attackers, Zapdos find trouble switching in safely as it is sensitive to Ice-type attacks, which are extremely common. It has no way to beat Rock-types in Rhydon and Golem, thus it absolutely needs its teammate to patch this weakness.

[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Drill Peck
move 3: Thunder Wave
move 4: Agility

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

Thunderbolt and Drill Peck are Zapdos's best STAB options, which are difficult to switch into thanks to Zapdos's high Special and Speed, granting it a good critical hit rate. In particular, Zapdos easily 2HKO Water-types in Slowbro and Starmie, and has a chance to OHKO Cloyster with Thunderbolt. It has a 66.02% chance to 2HKO non-Reflect Chansey assuming one critically hit Drill Peck and a solid chance to critical hit OHKO Exeggutor after slight chip damage, and it has a guaranteed 3HKO against Mew and Snorlax if it critically hits one Thunderbolt. Thunder Wave is an excellent tool to hobble most threats, and is particularly useful to let Zapdos spam its STAB moves even more. Agility suppresses the Speed drop from paralysis and lets Zapdos outrun the entire metagame, including Mewtwo and Alakazam.

Zapdos is usually seen as a mid- to late-game wallbreaker. It especially likes paralyzed foes, as most threats it targets, including Tauros, Mew, and Starmie, either Speed tie or are faster than it. Spreading paralysis with Thunder Wave on predicted switch-ins is especially useful against Chansey, as it is one of the best switch-ins (AH) to Zapdos, but critical hits, full paralysis chances, and low damage output from Chansey grant Zapdos far more chances to win the duel. Thanks to its sheer power and STAB moves, it can take advantage of Rest user such as Cloyster, Slowbro, and Snorlax and forces them out. This is essential because Zapdos has no way to recover its HP, and so each hit it takes is permanent. The switch-ins (AH) it forces are useful for teammates such as Mewtwo, Exeggutor, Mew, and Tauros, which can punish Rhydon and the opposing Mewtwo. Paralyzing Mewtwo with Thunder Wave can also be a backup strategy with Stomp users like Tauros and Rhydon.

Zapdos can also be used as lead. Its Speed tier lets it outrun Jynx, while Thunder Wave and its STAB combination lets it threaten most common leads, including Chansey, Tauros, and Alakazam. It's important to notice that Drill Peck can never OHKO Jynx even with a critical hit, and that Gengar is a faster lead, meaning Zapdos can be put to sleep easily against these two threats via Lovely Kiss and Hypnosis, respectively.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Reflect could be used to better deal with Mew, but Zapdos has no room to use it without sacrificing an important move, being either the ability to paralyze a target or to outrun the entire metagame and pull off a potential sweep. Moreover, a paralyzed Mew is put under pressure by Zapdos, and it will want to switch out anyway unless it is already set up at +6.

Rest could be a good idea to shrug off some HP, but similarly to Reflect, it's at the cost of a crucial move, and Zapdos will have little to no room to wake up, as it can't switch in against most attackers without being 3HKO. A sleeping Zapdos is also a free opportunity for Mewtwo and Mew to switch in and set up, making it a setup fodder for the most important sweepers of the tier.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Rock-types**: Zapdos has no way to deal with Rhydon and Golem. Both can use Zapdos to either set up a Subsitute, or use Body Slam on the switch and try to catch a potential paralysis.

**Mewtwo**: Not only that neither Thunderbolt nor Drill Peck can 3HKO Mewtwo with a critical hit, but it can also use Zapdos as setup fodder with Amnesia, and threatens Zapdos for big damages with Psychic and Ice Beam. Mewtwo should take care however, as it cannot paralyze Zapdos with Thunderbolt, and once itself paralyzed, physical wallbreakers like Mew, Tauros, Snorlax, and Rhydon can take advantage of its reduced Speed to put it under pressure with Explosion, Self-Destruct or Stomp.

**Jolteon**: Jolteon can easily switch in on Zapdos's STAB moves. It doesn't like being paralyzed by Thunder Wave though, and thus can be forced to Rest.

**Ice-types**: While they can't switch in on Zapdos's STABs, Zapdos is easily 2HKOed and can't either switch in on Jynx and Cloyster's STAB Blizzard. They are both prone to use Rest once they have been weakened though, so Zapdos can use this occasion to switch in safely.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Eledyr, 415367]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

 

[Sabelette]

Initial feedback, I will do QC 1/2 after we discuss some of these things. I also did some early GP work to help get this done sooner. Mainly I just want to make sure the overview covers enough info then I'll officially stamp this!

Addition Removal Comment
(AC) (AH) Add Comma/Add Hyphen, (RC) (RH) Remove Comma/Remove Hyphen

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[OVERVIEW]

Zapdos's powerful STABs STAB moves in Thunderbolt and Drill Peck makes it a good mixed attacker in the metagame. Its options are limited, but lets it threatens most of the metagame bar Rhydon and Golem. Its great bulk makes it especially good to take on common threats such as Slowbro, (RC) and Starmie, and its good critical hit rate is valuable in order to take down Chansey and Mew. However, in a metagame filled with strong attackers, Zapdos find trouble switching in safely as it is sensitive to Ice-type attacks, which are extremely common. It has no way to beat Rock-types in Rhydon and Golem, thus it absolutely needs its teammate to patch this weakness.

I think this whole section needs to be longer - Zapdos is one of the most common Pokemon in Ubers and I think we could have more of an overview of its strengths and weaknesses. A brief mention of Thunder Wave and Agility would be good, as would talking about its ability to wallbreak or lead. If you can split this into two paragraphs, one about its strengths and uses and the other about its weaknesses, I think we have a solid section.

[SET]
name: Mixed Attacker
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Drill Peck
move 3: Thunder Wave
move 4: Agility

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

Thunderbolt and Drill Peck are Zapdos's best STAB options, which are difficult to switch into thanks to Zapdos's high Special and Speed, granting it a good critical hit rate. In particular, (I would start each discussion with its non-crit KO chances then follow with the chance to 2HKO/OHKO with crits) Zapdos has approximately a 66.02% chance to 2HKO non-Reflect (AH) Chansey with one assuming one critically hit Drill Peck and a solid chances to critical hit OHKO Exeggutor after slight few chip damage, while and it has a guaranteed 3HKO against Mew and Snorlax if it critically hits one of its Thunderbolt. Thunder Wave is an excellent tool to cripple hobble most threats, (RC) and is particularly useful to let Zapdos spams its STABs moves even more. Agility suppresses the Speed drop from paralysis and lets Zapdos outrun the entire metagame, including Mewtwo and Alakazam.

Zapdos is usually seen as a mid- to late-game wallbreaker. It especially likes to hits paralyzed targets foes, as most threats it targets, including Tauros, Mew, and Starmie, are either in Speed tie or are faster than it. Spreading paralysis with Thunder Wave on predicted switch-ins (AH) is especially useful against Chansey, as it is one of the best switch-ins (AH) to Zapdos, but the combined high critical hit rate, critical hits, full paralysis chances, (AC) and low damage output from Chansey grant Zapdos far more chances to win the duel. Thanks to its sheer power and STABs moves, it can take advantage of Rest user such as Cloyster, Slowbro, and Snorlax and forces them out. It's especially relevant, This is essential because Zapdos has no way to recover its HP, and so each hits it takes is permanent will be HP definitively lost. The switch-ins (AH) it forces are useful for teammates such as Mewtwo, Exeggutor, Mew, and Tauros, which can punish Rhydon and the opposing Mewtwo. Paralyzing Mewtwo with Thunder Wave can also be a backup strategy with Stomp users like Tauros and Rhydon.

Zapdos can also be used as an anti-lead. (IMO, it's just a lead in general. It's very common and the analysis should reflect this. I would also talk about the much more common lead threats before rare ones like Jynx and Chansey - Gengar, Egg, Tauros being by far the most common ones followed by the Twave Psychics) Its Speed tier lets it outrun Jynx, while Thunder Wave and its STAB combination lets it threaten most common leads, including Chansey, Tauros, and Alakazam. It's important to notice that Gengar is faster, however, and Drill Peck can never OHKO Jynx even with a critical hit, and that Gengar is a faster lead, meaning Zapdos can be put to sleep easily against these two both threats can easily put it to sleep. via Lovely Kiss and Hypnosis, respectively.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Reflect could can be used to better deal with Mew, but Zapdos has no room to use it without sacrificing an important move, being either the ability to paralyze a target or to outrun the entire metagame and pull off a potential sweep to sacrifice either Thunder Wave or Agility to fit it, both of which it values highly. Moreover, a paralyzed Mew is already put under pressure by Zapdos, and it will want to switch out anyway unless it is already set up at +6. Rest could be a good idea to shrug off some HP seems like a passable way to restore HP, but similarly to Reflect, (RC) it's at the cost of it costs a crucial moveslot. (add period), and Zapdos will also have little to no room to wake up, as it can't switch in against most attackers without being 3HKOed . A sleeping Zapdos is also and is a free opportunity for Mewtwo and Mew to switch in and set up, making it a setup fodder for the most important sweepers of the tier.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Rock-types**: Zapdos has no way to deal with Rhydon and Golem. Both can use Zapdos to either set up a Subsitute Substitute, (RC) or use Body Slam on the switch and try to catch land a potential paralysis.

**Mewtwo**: Not only that neither Neither Thunderbolt nor Drill Peck can 3HKO Mewtwo without a two or more critical hits, but and it can also use Zapdos as setup fodder with Amnesia, (RC) and then threatens Zapdos for big damages with Psychic and Ice Beam. Mewtwo should take care however, as it cannot paralyze Zapdos with Thunderbolt, and once Mewtwo itself is paralyzed, physical wallbreakers like Mew, Tauros, Snorlax, and Rhydon can take advantage of its reduced Speed to put it under pressure with Explosion, Self-Destruct, (AC) or Stomp.

**Jolteon**: Jolteon can easily switch in on Zapdos's STAB moves. It doesn't like being paralyzed by Thunder Wave, (AC) though, and thus can be forced to Rest.

**Ice-types**: While they can't switch in on Zapdos's STABs STAB moves, Zapdos is easily 2HKOed and can't either switch in on Jynx and Cloyster's STAB Blizzard. However, they They are both prone to use Rest once they have been weakened though, so Zapdos can use this occasion opportunity to switch in safely.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Eledyr, 415367]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

Keep it up! I'm excited for this one to get done.

 

[Enigami]

Zapdos absolutely has room to play with a 4th move in Ubers. Agility is rarely the game ending sweep it can be in OU, so Zapdos can afford to get creative with its other moves. To name a few:

-Hyper Beam in the lead position lets it 2HKO Jynx following a Drill Peck + Lovely Kiss Miss.
-Reflect vastly improves its Snorlax and Mew matchups, giving Zapdos a decent advantage in a 1v1 fight.
-Substitute lets Zapdos fish for full paralysis against a 999 Special Mewtwo that would otherwise OHKO it.
-Rest lets it abuse Earthquake / Body Slam / Substitute / Rest Rhydon by actually walling Rhydon with DP / TBolt / TWave / Rest Zapdos having 32 more PP total.
Rhydon Body Slam vs. Zapdos: 81-96 (21.1 - 25%) -- 0% chance to 4HKO

And on the lower end of usability but possibly still useful:
-Thunder for 26% more damage (will check some calcs for this later)
-Light Screen can buy Zapdos more time to break through Special attackers like IB Chansey, Slowbro and paralyzed Mewtwo
-Flash lets it annoy boosted Pokemon, could be handy with still alive teammates and a opposing lastmon Mew or Mewtwo.

 

[Volk]

I'll try to stick mostly to content here, but I'll throw in some GP too.

Zapdos's powerful STABs in Thunderbolt and Drill makes it a good mixed attacker in the metagame.

Zapdos's powerful STAB moves in Thunderbolt and Drill Peck make it a good mixed attacker in the metagame.

Its options are limited, but lets it threaten most of the metagame bar Rhydon and Golem.

Honestly, by RBY standards, I wouldn't really call Zapdos all that limited. I think you can just say these moves allow it to threaten the whole metagame aside from Rhydon and Golem.

Its great bulk makes it especially good to take on common threats such as Slowbro, and Starmie, and its good critical hit rate is valuable in order to take down Chansey and Mew. However, in a metagame filled with strong attackers, Zapdos find trouble switching in safely as it is sensitive to Ice-type attacks, which are extremely common. It has no way to beat Rock-types in Rhydon and Golem, thus it absolutely needs its teammate to patch this weakness.

Okay, I have a few things I'd like to cover here, some of which Sabelette already hit.
Thunder Wave should absolutely be mentioned somewhere in the opening. I think paralysis as a status might be at its most potent in the context of Ubers, so any Pokemon that gets it should have that feature noted immediately. Access to Thunder Wave (on top of the good bulk you mention) is what allows Zapdos to pressure, or at least weaken, a lot of really important offensive threats, namely Tauros, Mew, and Mewtwo. The last two are especially important. Between Thunder Wave, Agility, and the critical hit rate you mention, Zapdos has a decent chance to muscle through some really important Pokemon. In brief, make this part a bit more detailed.
You don't necessarily need to mention it here, but this whole section does kind of set up nicely for introducing Zapdos as a lead. While not super common, Zapdos matches up pretty well against several leads and sending it out immediately ameliorates the whole "tough to switch around Ice-type moves" thing you mention.
You should probably elaborate on these teammates. I suppose you could save them for later, but it'd be nice to know out of the gate what kind of concessions I'll need to make if I want to run Zapdos.

Thunder Wave is an excellent tool to cripple most threats, and is particularly useful to let Zapdos spams its STABs even more.

I'm going to stress this again because we're out of the Introduction now. You should mention some specific targets for Thunder Wave and explain how landing Thunder Wave on a key Pokemon (Mew or Mewtwo, mainly) can change a game. Backing this Thunder Wave up with some of the best offenses in the tier make Zapdos one of the harder Pokemon to switch in to if you don't have Rhydon or Golem. This fact pairs nicely with some of the calcs you provide, as traditional "blanket checks" like Chansey and Snorlax aren't exactly the most reliable answers.

Agility suppresses the Speed drop from paralysis and lets Zapdos outrun the entire metagame, including Mewtwo and Alakazam.

I don't think you really need to mention Mewtwo and Alakazam here, it's pretty strongly implied. Anyhow, this can be detailed a bit more. Agility in the early game is quite useful for allowing Zapdos to stay useful after knocking something out. For example, if Zapdos fights a Tauros and comes out with very little health and paralysis, Zapdos can still be very useful if it used Agility first, as it'll probably be able to get a Thunder Wave off before it goes down. In the mid-game, Agility gives Zapdos a useful tool to try to muscle through sturdier Pokemon like Chansey, Mew, and Mewtwo. In the endgame, Agility sometimes lets Zapdos just sweep, though this is a bit less common than in OU (where it is already not super common).

Spreading paralysis with Thunder Wave on predicted switch in is especially useful against Chansey, as it is one of the best switch in to Zapdos, but the combined high critical hit rate, full paralysis chances and low damage output from Chansey grant Zapdos far more chances to win the duel.

I'm a bit confused by this. Are you saying that Zapdos is good at drawing in Chansey? If so, there are probably better Pokemon for doing that. And while Zapdos can face Chansey and win, I don't think it will always want to engage as paralysis can be a little annoying for Zapdos (though not the end of the world). If anything, I think the more interesting Chansey interaction is that Chansey can't really keep switching into Zapdos because of how much Drill Peck can do. I think you have the right ideas here, but they need to be reordered and rephrased.

Thanks to its sheer power and STABs, it can take advantage of Rest user such as Cloyster, Slowbro, and Snorlax and forces them out. It's especially relevant, because Zapdos has no way to recover its HP, and so each hits it takes will be HP definitively lost.

I don't really see how these two sentences are related.

Paralyzing Mewtwo with Thunder Wave can also be a backup strategy with Stomp users like Tauros and Rhydon.

I think for a lot of players, paralyzing Mewtwo is the main gameplan and not the backup strategy. While Freeze Spam is valid, it's definitely not the only way to beat Mewtwo. Also, are we implying Rhydon is using Stomp here? Like, I guess Rhydon could run Stomp but I can't say I've seen that a lot. It might be more clear to say "physical attackers like Stomp Tauros and Rhydon." Mew should also be mentioned here, as paralyzing Mewtwo usually means a healthy Mew can mow through it.

Zapdos can also be used as an anti-lead. Its Speed tier lets it outrun Jynx, while Thunder Wave and its STAB combination lets it threaten most common leads, including Chansey, Tauros, and Alakazam. It's important to notice that Drill Peck can never OHKO Jynx even with a critical hit, and that Gengar is a faster lead, meaning Zapdos can be put to sleep easily against these two threats via Lovely Kiss and Hypnosis, respectively.

Basically what Sabelette said. My other comment is that this section should mention Zapdos's synergy with Gengar. Because of their types, you can usually lead with one and then bring in the other. Most often this manifests as lead Gengar switching out to Zapdos to catch a Tauros Earthquake.

Other Options

I'm not really going to comment here because I think Enigami hit everything already. That being said, I think Agility is going to be the right choice the majority of the time. So while some of these options are neat and probably worth mentioning, I think you should stick with saying Zapdos doesn't really want to part with any of its moves. Setting yourself up to be easily revenge killed just kind of sucks so you should generally keep Agility.

**Rock-types**: Zapdos has no way to deal with Rhydon and Golem. Both can use Zapdos to either set up a Subsitute, or use Body Slam on the switch and try to catch a potential paralysis.

Rock Slide, if they have it, also obviously does a ton of damage. I'd also further stress Substitute, because giving either of these Pokemon a free Substitute can be a real issue, especially in some endgames. Also, I don't know, but maybe you can mention Sandslash here too as a soft check? It's rare though, so you can ignore it.

**Mewtwo**: Not only that neither Thunderbolt nor Drill Peck can 3HKO Mewtwo with a critical hit, but it can also use Zapdos as setup fodder with Amnesia, and threatens Zapdos for big damages with Psychic and Ice Beam. Mewtwo should take care however, as it cannot paralyze Zapdos with Thunderbolt, and once itself paralyzed, physical wallbreakers like Mew, Tauros, Snorlax, and Rhydon can take advantage of its reduced Speed to put it under pressure with Explosion, Self-Destruct or Stomp.

You could maybe make this "Faster Pokemon." Mewtwo is the big one for sure, but Pokemon like Alakazam, Starmie, Tauros, and Gengar can all revenge kill Zapdos if you aren't careful with it (and/or don't have Agility).

**Ice-types**: While they can't switch in on Zapdos's STABs, Zapdos is easily 2HKOed and can't either switch in on Jynx and Cloyster's STAB Blizzard. They are both prone to use Rest once they have been weakened though, so Zapdos can use this occasion to switch in safely.

I'd make this Ice-type moves to better cover Mewtwo, Starmie, and Chansey as issues. Chansey in particular could maybe get its own entry; it has one on the OU Analysis at least.

I think that's all I have time for now, so I'll leave it there. I'll check back later and consider giving the QC. Cheers!

 

[Enigami]

So while some of these options are neat and probably worth mentioning, I think you should stick with saying Zapdos doesn't really want to part with any of its moves. Setting yourself up to be easily revenge killed just kind of sucks so you should generally keep Agility.

STRONGLY disagree. I find an opportunity where Agility matters about as much as I do any other 4th move on Zapdos in Ubers and claiming Zapdos doesn't want to part with Agility to me is nonsense.