[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Dual Wingbeat
move 2: Taunt
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Roost
item: Aerodactylite
ability: Unnerve
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Mega Aerodactyl carves a niche for itself thanks to its blistering Speed tier and solid offensive typing. With Mega Aerodactyl's insane Speed tier, it can revenge kill threats like Tapu Koko, Weavile, Mega Lopunny, and Greninja. It also serves as a solid offensive check to the likes of Victini, Volcarona, Mega Charizard Y, and Heatran. While it performs solidly in these roles, it struggles against bulky Water- and Steel-types like Slowbro, Tapu Fini, Rotom-W, (this is probs a better example since rotom is running more spdef nowadays) and Mega Scizor. Earthquake allows Mega Aerodactyl to actually beat Fire types in the tier like Heatran and Victini, and Taunt allows Mega Aerodactyl to beat Gliscor and Corviknight by denying them recovery.
Ferrothorn is a great partner for Mega Aerodactyl, as it checks Rotom-W and Tapu Koko, as well as pivoting in on common revenge killers like Ash-Greninja, Choice Scarf Tapu Lele, and Mega Scizor. Mega Aerodactyl, in return, checks Fire-types for Ferrothorn like Victini and Volcarona. Spikes from Ferrothorn are also useful in wearing down the opposition, letting Mega Aerodactyl clean in certain situations. and can also set up entry hazards, softening up the foe to let Mega Aerodactyl clean late-game. Ferrothorn also has the ability to Knock off any opposing Choice Scarf users, such as Tapu Lele and Kartana, Protean Greninja, for Mega Aerodactyl to outspeed and revenge kill them. Mega Aerodactyl, in return, checks Fire-types for Ferrothorn like Victini and Volcarona. Weavile can remove threats to Mega Aerodactyl such as Zapdos and Slowbro, and can also Pursuit trap Mega Latias, which Mega Aerodactyl also struggles to OHKO. Tapu Koko can wear down Landorus-T and break through bulky Water-types like Tapu Fini and the aforementioned Slowbro, as well as safely bring in Mega Aerodactyl, as it is too frail to come in on its own. as well as pivot out on Steel-types like Ferrothorn for a partner to wear them down. Since Mega Aerodactyl struggles to beat Flying-types without Stone Edge, like Zapdos and Skarmory, Heatran and Tapu Koko also help in that regard. Mega Aerodactyl can also revenge kill Mega Loppuny, which can help mons like Weavile; Mega Aerodactyl can also help Melmetal with being a soft fire check. , and is a good Gliscor beater which helps Landorus-Therian. (not rly sure if gliscor loses to maero especially if its sd/tox, since it eats a hit and psn heal probs turns dwb into a 3hko)
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Stone Edge over Taunt allows Mega Aerodactyl to remove Mega-Charizard-Y completely, has a chance to OHKO Kyurem, and can OHKO Zapdos. The utility that Taunt provides in denying recovery, entry hazards, and status, is too good to pass up, however. while Taunt can stop entry hazard setters like Landorus-T and Gliscor from setting Stealth Rock, and can stop walls like Corviknight from healing. Dragon Dance is an and option that can be used on Mega Aerodactyl, as it lets Mega Aerodactyl outspeed revenge killers like Choice Scarf Kartana and OHKO bulkier Pokemon like Mega Latias and Clefable when boosted. fixes its issues regarding not being able to OHKO most Pokemon. However, Mega Aerodactyl is too frail to be able to set up Dragon Dance and would can not afford to drop Earthquake, Roost or Taunt.
(switched around stone edge and dd; mentioning edge first is more indictive to its viability rn. dd is quite bad atm, so mentioning edge first is more appropriate.)
Checks and Counters
===================
**Water Types**: are probably a really big threat to Mega Aerodactyl, such as Rotom-Wash, Tapu Fini and Slowbro are big threats to Mega Aerodactyl. While Taunt can stop Slowbro from recovering, it can stay in and wear it down with Scald burns, Slowbro tends to fish for a scald burn, which hugely cripples Mega Aerodactyl.
**Priority Moves**: Mega Aerodactyl struggles with priority moves because Mega Aerodactyl is unable to pick up the revenge kill when switched in. (i mean this is true but its mostly that they force it out) Priority moves, such as Weavile's Ice Shard, Ash Greninja's Water Shuriken and Mega Scizor's Bullet Punch, are all problematic to Mega Aerodactyl. Mega Scizor in particular is a massive roadblock for Mega Aerodactyl, taking Dual Wingbeat and Earthquake with ease and threatening to deal heavy damage with Bullet Punch. Mega Medicham and Mega Mawile can also make use of Bullet Punch and Sucker Punch, respectively, to deal huge damage. However, neither can OHKO and risk being hit by Dual Wingbeat or Earthquake.
**Mega Scizor**: While other Steel types struggle to switch into Mega Aerodactyl's powerful Earthquake, Mega Scizor takes neutral damage, so it can easily tank a hit. Mega Scizor's overall bulk walls Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Scizor takes it out with a Technician boosted Bullet Punch.
(merged sciz w prio moves section but made sure to highlight it as a big problem for maero)
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[georgebowserjr1, 590164]]
- Quality checked by: [[Solaros & Lunaris, 471780], [Sulo, 528036]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]