Flying-types in OU

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Introduction

Flying has always been a good type because of its great offensive coverage and key Fighting resistance, despite being weak to Stealth Rock. Because of this, many Pokémon have attained OU status thanks in large part to their Flying typing. Here's a list of some viable Pokémon in OU that are Flying-types.

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Landorus-T

Landorus-T has been a fantastic Pokémon in OU ever since its introduction in BW2, being considered one of the best Pokémon in the current metagame. It's so great for many reasons. It has good bulk and a movepool suited for a defensive Pokémon, with moves like Stealth Rock and U-turn, making it a great defensive pivot. Furthermore, Intimidate means that it can come in on physical attackers like Zygarde and even Mega Mawile, making Landorus-T an easy pick on balanced and defensive teams and also one of the best Stealth Rock setters in the tier. It's also an amazing Choice Scarf user because of U-turn and Intimidate, with Choice Scarf being its best set. Offensively, it has a great movepool consisting of setup moves in Swords Dance and Rock Polish, coverage moves like Stone Edge and Fly, and even moves like Gravity and Smack Down to ground Flying-type Pokémon that would otherwise be immune to Earthquake. Additionally, its amazing offensive typing and sky-high Attack stat makes it a brutal wallbreaker and even a good late-game cleaner on some sets. What makes offensive sets so especially hard to wall is the combination of Z-Moves it can run, making offensive Landorus-T technically uncounterable, although any one set has at least one counter. If all of this wasn't enough, Landorus-T can even act as a suicide lead on hyper offense teams because of Explosion. All of these great traits combined make Landorus-T absurdly easy to fit onto a team, and it can find a place on most archetypes.

Tornadus-T

Tornadus-T is one of the most reliable Defog users offensive and balanced teams can use because it is never KOed by Stealth Rock and is immune to every other entry hazard. It's also very fast, which means it can usually get a Defog off before the opposing Pokémon can KO it. Tornadus-T also has significant offensive presence with its great offensive typing, access to Hurricane with Flyinium Z, and plentiful coverage options, while its Special Attack stat is high enough to get the job done. One of the best traits about Tornadus-T as a Defogger is that it checks defensive Stealth Rock Landorus-T, which is one of the most common entry hazard setters in OU. It also checks other dangerous threats like Tapu Bulu and Kartana, outspeeding and OHKOing both. Tornadus-T can even run a defensive Rocky Helmet set, letting it deal chip damage to U-turn users and check Mega Medicham. These traits combined allow Tornadus-T to easily fit onto offensive and defensive teams alike.

Gliscor

Gliscor is an extremely versatile Pokémon, being able to viably run a Swords Dance set, a Stealth Rock set, a Defog set, and a stallbreaker set. Poison Heal is an absolutely fantastic ability, making Gliscor a great Knock Off absorber and giving it nearly unrivaled amounts of recovery in combination with Roost. Poison Heal makes Gliscor great at everything it does. Swords Dance sets are good because of Gliscor's decent Speed and good neutral coverage between Earthquake and Facade or Ice Fang, which makes it a brutal wallbreaker against defensive teams that lack the means to 2HKO it. Defog sets fit nicely on balanced teams as a blanket check to a whole host of Pokémon, and its great typing gives it a neutrality to Stealth Rock and an immunity to every other entry hazard, leaving it relatively undamaged by the hazards it removes. Stealth Rock sets are great because Gliscor is extremely durable, making it very reliable at setting up Stealth Rock. Stallbreaker sets are less viable than Swords Dance and Defog sets, but Gliscor still performs well at the role, stopping Stealth Rock from Clefable and Landorus-T as well as Spikes from Ferrothorn. All of these traits combined allow Gliscor to find its place on many teams, as it doesn't have many shortcomings besides a weakness to Water and Ice, two common types.

Celesteela

Celesteela uses its exceptional defensive typing and bulk very well, checking multiple threats at once, such as Landorus-T, Tapu Lele, and Clefable. Leech Seed, Leftovers, and Protect make Celesteela exceptionally hard to wear down and KO, since it can switch in on the Pokémon it forces out and easily use Leech Seed; this also allows Celesteela to wear down Pokémon such as Heatran, Zapdos, and Volcarona for Celesteela's team to more easily deal with them. Beast Boost makes it extremely threatening late-game because of how hard it is to KO a Celesteela with boosts in its defenses, meaning it can take one hit it would otherwise be knocked out by and Leech Seed stall whatever's in front of it. Heavy Slam also has 120 Base Power most of the time thanks to Celesteela's massive weight, which means it isn't too passive beyond Leech Seed and Protect. Flamethrower is also appreciated coverage so that Ferrothorn doesn't set up entry hazards on Celesteela for free, and it also nails Mega Scizor and Magnezone, two Pokémon Celesteela would otherwise give free turns to. Because of Celesteela's ability to wear down opposing Pokémon, its crucial ability to check many threats, and its uncanny knack for staying alive, Celesteela can easily fit as a solid defensive Pokémon on many teams.

Hawlucha

Hawlucha is able to take advantage of the Terrains that the Tapus set to activate Unburden, instantly allowing Hawlucha to outspeed the entire metagame. It uses this Speed well with its high-Base Power STAB moves and access to Swords Dance, which together allow Hawlucha to act as a frightening late-game sweeper and even a wallbreaker, since it simply outspeeds and OHKOes everything left. The Seed that Hawlucha uses also boosts one of Hawlucha's defensive stats, with Electric and Grassy Seed boosting Defense and Psychic Seed boosting Special Defense. Additionally, Hawlucha has one of the best offensive typings in the game, hitting every Pokémon in OU for neutral damage, with the exceptions of Zapdos and Tapu Koko. The same offensive typing also gives it setup opportunities on a lot of OU staples, especially defensive Landorus-T. It has recovery in Roost, which allows it to stay healthy over the course of a long match, meaning that it can't always be worn down into priority range, and Roost also helps Hawlucha set up on defensive Landorus-T. All of these traits combined give Hawlucha a strong niche in the OU metagame as a sweeper that you have to prepare for if you don't want to get swept by it.

Mega Pinsir

Mega Pinsir has an incredibly high Attack stat and a decent Speed stat, and Aerilate makes Return a very hard-hitting Flying-type move with a 1.2x boost in power. Swords Dance allows Mega Pinsir to wallbreak even further, and at +2 it OHKOes walls like Chansey, Clefable, and Ferrothorn. One thing that separates Mega Pinsir from other wallbreakers is its access to Flying-type priority, which allows Mega Pinsir to soft check Volcarona and weakened Greninja and also lets it sweep late-game after a Swords Dance boost. Close Combat and Earthquake are also very appreciated coverage options to hit Steel- and Rock-types like Tyranitar and Magearna. One bad thing about Pinsir is that it's 4x weak to Stealth Rock and has no recovery, so any Mega Pinsir build requires heavy entry hazard removal.

Zapdos

Zapdos is one of the best defensive Pokémon in OU, checking a multitude of threats while still providing great offensive presence. In particular, it checks Mega Scizor, Kartana, and Hawlucha nicely, which are three setup sweepers that a lot of teams have difficulties dealing with. Zapdos also has some of the best offensive capabilities in general, as its great Special Attack stat and expansive coverage allow it to hit most Pokémon in the tier pretty hard. Roost keeps Zapdos healthy over the course of a match, and Pressure is a surprisingly useful ability that can stall out attacks from offensive Pokémon, especially Stone Edge and Hydro Pump. Zapdos's best set is Defog, but it can also run a more offensive set with three attacks, making it an overall versatile Pokémon that can fit on many balanced teams and can provide utility in almost every match.

Pelipper

Pelipper is the preferred rain setter for rain teams, edging out Politoed thanks to reliable recovery and U-turn. What also is unique about Pelipper is that it can act as a wallbreaker thanks to Hydro Pump's high Base Power and Pelipper's access to Hurricane to break down Grass-types like Tapu Bulu and Mega Venusaur that would normally be problematic for rain teams. It can run Knock Off to remove Eviolite from Chansey so that Ash-Greninja has an easier time wallbreaking. It can even act as a defensive Defogger, as most rain teams can't really fit entry hazard removers outside of Pelipper, so it's appreciated when you can't run an extra teamslot dedicated to a hazard remover, and it's also consistent at removing hazards because of its access to Roost. Overall, Pelipper is a great rain setter for rain teams and can fill multiple roles for them, but its viability tends to fluctuate up and down with how good rain is as a playstyle.

Honorable Mentions

Gyarados is a pretty good Pokémon in the OU metagame because it has access to Dragon Dance and Flyinium Z, making it a dangerous late-game cleaner. However, it faces competition in the sweeper role from Zygarde, Hawlucha, and Volcarona, making it sometimes hard to justify using, but it definitely works well as a sweeper and wallbreaker. Mantine fits on certain defensive teams, but it's still a very niche pick. Skarmory has significantly fallen from grace, but it still works well as a hazard controller and phazer for some defensive teams. Thundurus-T and regular Thundurus are both niche sweepers that require support, but they can sweep in certain circumstances and can be worth using.

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Conclusion

Flying's impact on any metagame is huge, as many of the absolute best Pokémon in any tier are Flying-types. You can easily use a Flying-type on any team and it'll pay off significantly, so go try one!

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