Pokemon of the Day! (Bringing this back)

[Meowstic Royalty]

POTD #4: Talonflame!



Oh, how I tried to resist making a POTD for this thing. Talonflame is always a pain for me to fight in the OU tier, being immune to Will-O-Wisp leaving Sableye hindered massively against it. The rest of my team don't particularly want to take a priority STAB Brave Bird to the face except Aegislash, but then Talonflame's other STAB move, Flare Blitz, isn't exactly anything to laugh at.

I wanted to wait to do Talonflame, since I had already done the other Fire/Flying type a couple of days ago, but I couldn't resist it. Talonflame's Gale Wings make it a deadly force in OU, and although some chuckle at its 4X Stealth Rock weakness, give a teammate Defog and Talonflame will laugh in the face of anything standing in its path of destruction.

Gale Wings is an ability only Talonflame's evolution line has, and it makes Flying type moves get +1 priority. This isn't just attacking moves of course, the health-restoring Roost can be used first in a turn as well. Not much can take a priority Brave Bird except the common Heatran. Unfortunately, Heatran is quite a common Pokemon. Make sure you have a Pokemon with Earthquake somewhere in there as well.

Pros

• Being able to use Brave Bird and almost guaranteeing that you will go first can always help in a tight situation. If you're Pokemon can't take a Brave Bird, it isn't capable of being a setup sweeper.
• Being part Fire makes it immune to burning.
• Talonflame has very few counters, all of which can be countered back.
• Fire/Flying is a type combination with a fair amount of resistances and immunities, making it easy to switch into battle safely.
• With the movepool provided, it can dominate pretty much anything in the game.

Cons

• Stealth Rocks chop Talonflame's health in half upon switch in.
• The only reason Talonflame is usable is because of Gale Wings. It's stats are nothing special.
• 81 base attack isn't very impressive. Choice Band or Swords Dance are REQUIRED if you want to have any hope of sweeping.

Abilities:

Flame Body: Has a 30% chance of burning an enemy that makes contact. It's a pretty useful ability, but outclassed by MILES by the other one.
Gale Wings: All Flying type moves have their priority increased by one. This is what makes Talonflame so powerful. 126 base speed is already more than enough, you may say, but with Gale Wings, Talonflame has no need to run Jolly or EV investments in the speed stat. That leaves you more space to add even more force to Talonflame, giving it massive destructive potential.

Movesets

Winging it

- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Swords Dance
- Roost

Item: Sharp Beak
Ability: Gale Wings
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 192 HP, 252 Attack, 4 Defense, 60 Speed

This is one of the sets that truly makes Talonflame fatal. One Swords Dance boost makes Talonflame almost unstoppable. A double powered priority STAB Brave Bird is not something you want to mess with, and the same goes for Flare Blitz. Sharp Beak gives Brave Bird even more force as well, and the Adamant nature makes it even MORE deadly.

And of course, Roost. There is no way you'll escape without taking some damage, so some priority health restoration can't hurt.

Wren will it end?

- Swords Dance
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- Natural Gift

Item: Salac/Liechi Berry
Ability: Gale Wings
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 48 HP, 252 Attack, 208 Speed

Tyranitar and Rotom-W slowing you down? Try Natural Gift. NG's Base Power was increased this generation, and with a Liechi Berry it will become a base 100 power Grass move. Or if Heatran's are being a pain, consider the way of the Salac to make it become Fighting.

Try to resist the urge to replace Brave Bird with Acrobatics here. Acrobatics has pathetic power if you haven't used Natural Gift first to get rid of the berry. Use Brave Bird to ensure Talonflame is always ready for whatever the OU tier throws at it.

[Spriter]

No Bulk Up set? No Choice Band set? I've heard that they're actually quite useful.

Good stuff though otherwise. Choice Band definitely deserves a mention and BU might deserve one.

[SirBlaziken]

Um.... sharp beak on the SD set? I'm not sure that would work out as good as with a Life Orb.

[the bread dragon]

No Bulk Up set? No Choice Band set? I've heard that they're actually quite useful.

Good stuff though otherwise. Choice Band definitely deserves a mention and BU might deserve one.

he did mention CB, just no set for it

[Mew King]

Um.... sharp beak on the SD set? I'm not sure that would work out as good as with a Life Orb.

Well, 90% of the time you're going to spamming Brave Bird so you lose about 8% power compared to Life Orb.  When you consider how much recoil you normally take from both Brave Bird and then Life Orb, Sharp Beak isn't a terrible decision...

[SirBlaziken]

^ *Thinks* Hm..... I'll give you that one.