RandomNPC – Video Game RPG Reviews, Editorials, and Features

This week we’ll be taking a look at a popular but largely underutilized Pokemon, Altaria. Perhaps the weakest of the Dragon-types and yet still very viable when used intelligently, Altaria has the movepool, if not the stats, to cause some trouble in its chosen field of play.

Altaria
Dragon / Flying
HP: 75 Atk: 70 Def: 90 Sp Atk: 70 Sp Def: 105 Spd: 80
Ability: Natural Cure: This Pokemon is cleared of status effects whenever it leaves play.

Though a rather lackluster Dragon by most accounts, Altaria is one of the most flexible and dangerous Pokemon in the Under-Used tier. Its movepool is impressive even for a Dragon, and while its base stats aren’t anything too spectacular by most standards, they’re more than good enough for UU. Altaria is essentially Salamence’s adorable little sister, able to come in on a number of Pokemon and threaten damage from either side of the spectrum; just like the rest of the family, just not quite as dangerous.

Despite its less impressive stats, Altaria does actually have a few things over other Dragons. For a start, Altaria has the highest Sp Def of any Dragon except Giratina, which makes it much more likely to survive a nasty Ice Beam than most of its more offensively oriented brethren. Furthermore, although Altaria didn’t gain terribly much in the transition to D/P, the new physical / special split has given it a newfound level of offensive flexibility. Thanks to the introduction of physical Dragon-type attacks, Altaria can hit fairly well on either side of the spectrum. Platinum’s move tutors haven’t given Altaria anything hugely ground-breaking, but they do afford it access to Outrage. Access to this, the most powerful of Dragon-type attacks, help make Altaria a much more powerful offensive force.

While Altaria can do a wide variety of different sets, it’s important to remember that it simply doesn’t hit as hard as most other Dragons. It can be used defensively, but a massive Ice weakness makes it tough at times, so you’ll have to be careful about who you try to wall. Due to her low overall stats, Altaria has a hard time surviving outside UU, so making full use of some of its more unique attributes can be a challenge at times.

Altaria is one of those Pokemon with really more options than ability, but it really does shine in UU. With a bit of care and cunning, it can even be used in OU thanks to its useful ability and unique movepool amongst Dragons.

Black Canary
Altaria @Life Orb
Adamant nature (-Sp Atk, +Atk)
Natural Cure ability
72 HP, 252 Atk, 184 Spd
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage / Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Roost
A slight variation on the traditional Dragon Dance set popular on both Dragonite and Salamence, Altaria makes solid use of Dragon Dance despite a less than impressive offense. Altaria’s bulky defenses help to keep the magic parakeet alive long enough to Dragon Dance, and makes Roost a viable choice in the final slot, which works especially well with Life Orb. As for your attacks, Outrage and Earthquake is an unresisted type combination in UU, as long as you don’t let Probopass get an Magnet Rise off. Dragon Claw is a very viable option over Outrage, given the latter’s nasty side effects, but you’ll lose a good deal of raw power.

Avenger
Altaria @Leftovers
Calm nature (-Atk, +Sp Def)
Natural Cure ability
252 HP, 200 Def, 56 Sp Def
-Draco Meteor
-Heal Bell
-Rest / Roost
-Perish Song
Altaria gets Heal Bell from Pokemon XD, and can make a great use of it as a support Pokemon. Keeping Altaria alive can be a real problem with all the Ice Beams being thrown around, so this particular set is built around getting it into and out of play quickly and easily. Rapid Spin support isn’t a bad idea with this set, but thanks to Rest, it isn’t essential.

Draco Meteor is the best attack for this sort of strategy, since you’ll only be using it once at most before leaving play. Thanks to Natural Cure, Rest is the best choice for recovery, as it allows Altaria to repeatedly switch into some nasty attacks without getting worn down, but Roost is also a viable option if you’re worried about getting trapped in play for longer. In the final slot, Perish Song is intended mostly as a way to get the foe out of play, since no one in their right mind is going to stay in with Perish Song counting down – sort of a delayed Roar, if you will – but it could also help finish off your foe’s last Pokemon, since they won’t be able to switch out.

Robin, Boy Wonder
Altaria @Life Orb / Heat Rock
Modest (-Atk, +Sp Atk)
Natural Cure ability
252 Sp Atk, 184 Spd, 72 HP
-Sunny Day
-SolarBeam
-Fire Blast / Flamethrower
-Roost / Dragon Pulse
One of the biggest problems Grass-types have with the typical SunnyBeam strategy is that Sunny Day increases the power of Fire, bane of the Grass-type. However! Altaria not only resists Fire, she has a 4x resistance to Grass, meaning that she can easily switch in on other SunnyBeamers and use their own strategy against them. On top of that, she also resists Water and takes neutral damage from Thunder, meaning she can switch in on Rain Dance Pokemon without too much fear and end their fun. Just make sure you don’t switch into an Ice Beam by accident.

The downside is that due to its typing, Altaria doesn’t have quite the same level of power on SolarBeam that Grass-types do. For that reason, I really think Life Orb is the better choice for this set; Altaria really needs the boost in power it provides. Heat Rock is still a viable choice, but Altaria’s bulkiness means it has less trouble than most Pokemon in restarting Sunny Day once it dies down, so it isn’t essential to keep strong sunlight going as long as possible. At any rate, in the third slot, Fire Blast is my personal favorite for raw power, but Flamethrower is a more reliable option. And finally, Roost or Dragon Pulse are good choices for the last slot. Roost works very well with Life Orb, but Dragon Pulse forms a type combination with Fire Blast and SolarBeam that no one in UU resists.

As a side note, I should probably mention that Flygon can do this set, too, without changing a single EV or move. However, Flygon’s defenses aren’t as good, he doesn’t resist Grass or Water, and his ability isn’t as useful. The only thing Flygon has over Altaria is slightly higher Sp Atk and Spd, so on the whole, I think Altaria is the better choice for SunnyBeaming despite the less than impressive offensive stats.