Topic: Fly

[Boo3D]

What makes a good flying type?
My fav that I always have in my team.

Pidgeot     
Hoothoot   
Winggull   
Starly     
Ducklett   
fletchling 

[Mew King]

I think the question can be broken down to in-game versus competitive...

The good flying types, in game, have always been that somewhat average Pokemon that doesn't really do any wrong on an in-game team.  Especially with the Fly buff in Gen IV, I now prefer putting it on a slightly strong physical attacker.  Usually I end up teaching it Return since the Pokemon typically is a Normal/Flying type.  Sometimes, as is the case of Flygon in Black 2 and Charizard in X, I don't, just because the Pokemon has better options than Return.  They must also be available in a form that can use Fly during or soon after you get the HM.  For the standard bird Pokemon you find in Route 1, that's no problem.  For the others that can get to be a problem.  I was wary about using Flygon as my fly-er in Black 2, but it turned out to be a great decision because she evolved into Vibrava (which can learn Fly) just one city after I got the HM.  Charizard evolved at just the right point to make use of the HM too.  Altogether, I would say I ended up using Pidgeot a lot for my Flying type on my team, having used it in Blue, Yellow, FireRed, HeartGold (as the main flyer, but also with Noctowl who didn't know it), and Y.  It has surprising bulk, but it sacrifices attack and speed for it.  I beat several people's in game teams thanks to Quick Attack on this Pokemon, but that's usually the extent of its usefulness for battling other people.

Competitive, the above goes completely out the window, and the question becomes "Who can pull their weight on my team?"  Which, depending on if I expect whatever battle I am in to use Stealth Rock or not, changes everything completely.  So far, the best of the standard bird Pokemon that I used was Staraptor, in my opinion.  When I used it, it was strong enough for what I needed to do.  It was also back in Gen IV where the power creep didn't happen yet and Intimidate and Roost made it slightly bulky while still giving it some strong attacks to work with.  Now, out of the standard bird Pokemon, I guess people are making a big deal about Talonflame, but he goes down way too quickly and isn't actually all that strong outside of the priority attacks it can use.  Other successful flying types that I used were Togekiss, Scyther (in some of the lower tiers), Salamence (you can't believe how useful SpecsMence was in my Gen IV team.  One time it completely took down four members of someone's team with just Hydro Pump) and Zapdos (forms a great trio with Garchomp and Empoleon).  I also used Ho-oh a bit in ubers.  It's one of my favorite legendaries too.

[Richard and Blaziken]

@ The above poster - Talonflame is like #3 in usage for competitive, so don't underestimate it at all. Talonflame has all of 2 safe switch-ins (Heatran and Rhyperior). Anything else is 1-2HKO'd by a +2 Brave Bird or Flare Blitz. Add on an already ridiculous base Speed stat and priority Roost, and it's really not hard to see why, but also factor in U-Turn and the buff to Defog, and keeping Talonflame healthy isn't difficult at all. Now factor in that trying to switch in on an expected Swords Dance can have you facing a Choice Banded version instead, and now your would-be counter is getting worn down. Dealing with an opposing Talonflame requires a dedicated counter if you're facing a smart player, and in my opinion, it's so over-centralizing that it deserves to be banned.

[the bread dragon]

i find it hard to believe its 3rd - i havent seen one in ages lol and yeah talonflame is a real pain in the arse to take down because itll kill you before you can touch it. either gale wings or talonflame itself will be banned

[Mew King]

@ The above poster - Talonflame is like #3 in usage for competitive, so don't underestimate it at all. Talonflame has all of 2 safe switch-ins (Heatran and Rhyperior). Anything else is 1-2HKO'd by a +2 Brave Bird or Flare Blitz. Add on an already ridiculous base Speed stat and priority Roost, and it's really not hard to see why, but also factor in U-Turn and the buff to Defog, and keeping Talonflame healthy isn't difficult at all. Now factor in that trying to switch in on an expected Swords Dance can have you facing a Choice Banded version instead, and now your would-be counter is getting worn down. Dealing with an opposing Talonflame requires a dedicated counter if you're facing a smart player, and in my opinion, it's so over-centralizing that it deserves to be banned.

Hmm...maybe it's just luck then that every Talonflame I came across didn't seem to hurt that hard.  Then again the few times I fought against it, it was always sent against my Aegislash, so no one would use Brave Bird against that, and no one seems to predict the obvious King's Shield.  Half Attack Talonflame isn't threatening at all.  Am I doing something wrong (read: right) that no one decides to Swords Dance?  Or maybe all I encountered were Choice Band variants.  Either way, I never seem to have to worry about that, because most of my team doesn't worry too much about flying types (I tend to have a thing for electric and steel typed Pokemon).  And, I never encountered one with Roost before but I do know that's a thing.

I do have to say, that in Doubles, Pokemon like Talonflame and other high priority targets (like Mega Mawile) tend to go down in one or two turns at most.  So it's even less threatening.  It's usually the Pokemon you don't expect that causes you trouble, like I forgot that Heliolisk can have Solar Power and my friend's starting team is that and Mega Charizard-Y.  I guess that explains why I only saw Talonflame once, but Mega Mawile makes so many appearances and tends to go down almost instantly because it doesn't seem to have high defenses (it's only option is to try to Sucker Punch someone, but that fails if I'm not attacking it).

EDIT: On that note, I would like to say that in Double Battles, Mega Charizard-Y is really the better fire/flying.  It has Drought and Heat Wave, so it's a great attacking and support Pokemon for it.  Talonflame can barely seem to threaten one Pokemon, but Mega Charizard-Y can threaten everyone if it wished (I also forgot it can learn Dragon Pulse so there goes one guy too...)