So now that one of the biggest hard stops to Flying attacks is straight up to OU, I've been screwing around with my memes again and came up with the idea of using Ice Burd.
Articuno @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid / Modest Nature
- Agility
- Ice Beam
- Hurricane
- Freeze Dry/Hidden Power Fighting
Now the typical response is 'why would i use this thing' and it's because Flying is an absurd option when it comes to being resisted, only commonly stopped by Rock, Electric, and Steels. Ice is mostly stopped by Waters, Fire, and Steel-Types, meaning the two have a pretty decent coverage, only missing out on hitting Steel more than resisted. Depending on what your team hates more, that can be patched right up, winging something with HP Fighting or Freeze Dry. A thing to note is that Max Speed Articuno outruns Gyarados and OHKOs with Freeze Dry, and works incredibly well in union with Mega Swampert if it's being a Rain Dance sweeper because no miss hurricanes.
Then there's the bulk this thing has, because you know it's there. It can live a Fire Blast or Draco Meteor from Hydreigon (LO and Specs, can't present calcs because school.), takes some steel attacks surprisingly well, and overall is just a bulky thing that doesn't just die. Then when you open up the chance to use an Agility, things can go right in the hole, because it's gonna nab something if it gets the chance.
Now, the biggest problem is this thing and SR, being super weak to rocks. It can run roost over Agility, but then you lose the option to outrun a lot of offense at the gain of longevity. Overall, this is not a bird to mess with or take lightly. It might not be the top of S-Class, but it's got potential on well-made teams, and I had some success with it so I figured I'd go ahead and post about it here since it doesn't mind the new drops at all.