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Zapdos (Analysis) [GP 2/3]
- Thread starter MysticClaydol
- Start date
I was about to GP this, but DW Zapdos is not yet released, and in the overview, your mention of it implies that it is. Furthermore, you don't have a [DREAM WORLD] section, which is required for unreleased abilities. Please make these changes right away! Also, do Ctrl+F and replace all instances of é with e. Make those changes and it should be ready for checks.
Changes made
just wanna note that Hidden Power Flying should probably get a mention on the Choice set, especially on the specs set. It's a nice, unexpected STAB that hits super hard when boosted by specs.
Changes made
Did a "amateur" check, as people call it.
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Zapdos
FYI: DC. handed this analysis over to me in my visitor messages.
QC Approved: (3/3) PK Gaming, Oglemi and Snunch
GP Approved: 0
-------------------
[Overview]
<p>Zapdos has remained in OU for 4 Generations, only sharing such a title with Starmie, Snorlax and Gengar. But this Generation saw Zapdos fall into UU. As a pokemon it has a nice bulk of 90/85/90, a pretty good SpAtk Special Attack of 125(no space), Base 100 speed and a great defensive typing of Electric(space)/(space)Flying, giving it only 2 weaknesses, to Rock and Ice, making it Stealth Rock weak but immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, it's fair to say that this pokemon is a strong threat in UU. (Maybe you should re-phrase the whole sentence instead, it doesn't sound good.) It has quite a large movepool giving it the ability to run offensive choice sets with great coverage and defensive sets with a nice support movepool. Either way of using Zapdos can be a threat to any team. However, for offence offense, one must consider if Jolteon would do a better job with its higher Speed, and SpAtk (Jolteon does not have a higher Special Attack stat) while lacking the bulk and safe scouting move (U-turn) of Zapdos.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Roar / Heat Wave
move 4: Roost
nature: Bold
item: Leftovers
evs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Zapdos makes a great defensive Pokemon with its bulk and Electric / Flying type, only possessed by Fan Rotom Rotom-S and Zapdos (There's Emolga too). Thunderbolt is your main STAB (It's your only STAB on the set though), providing good coverage with Toxic. Toxic itself is used to deal with Gligar and Rhyperior who are immune to Thunderbolt. Roar lets you phaze, getting rid of Quiver Dancers or Smash Passers as well as racking up entry hazards damage supporting your team. Lastly, Roost restores half your health in an instant and allows you to recover from Stealth Rock damage. Hidden Power Ice can deal with anything immune to Toxic Spikes like Gligar, Flygon, and Nidoking. Heat Wave lets you deal with Steel types Steel-types who wall resists the rest of you your moves.<p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread shown offers a good amount of bulk with enough speed to outspeed Max Speed Honchkrow and Abomasnow. 248 HP allows you to switch into Stealth Rocks Stealth Rock 5 times, one of the most common hazards in play, with the rest of the EVs pumped into defence Defense and a Bold nature for maximum physical bulk. A Calm nature and the remaining 236 EVs can go into Special Defence Defense to make a special wall, but does not have as much utility as the physical variant.</p>
<p>For other moves you could use, Discharge can replace Thunderbolt, but the chance of paralysis could coincide with Poison, although paralysis can help you stall out a lot faster pokemon. If you opt to use Hidden Power Ice, then Toxic Spikes support is very helpful in maintaining the Poison needed for stalling. Rapid Spin support is needed to prevent Stealth Rock damage from building up,. Hitmontop makes is one of the most viable spinners, resisting Zapdos's Rock-type weaknesses weakness and ensuring a spin with Foresight, also, Donphan resists the Rock-type moves weakness and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice. However, if using Roar, as many hazards as possible, such as Spikes and Stealth Rocks Stealth Rock, is good to have set up, in order to rack up the residual damage. This set can easily be destroyed by powerful physical pokemon like such as Scarf Flygon and Heracross possessing Stone Edge, but predicting the switch you can hit them with one your super-effective super effective coverage moves or switch into a teammate with the same advantage.</p>
[SET]
name: SubRoost
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Roost
move 3: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Thunderbolt
nature: Timid
item: Leftovers
evs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Like the rest of the legendary birds, Zapdos can effectively stall opponents out with the combination of Substitute, Roost, and Toxic. With its Base 100 speed, Zapdos can set up a Substitute in front of many walls, threats to Zapdos, and on switches. Hit the opponent with Toxic and stall them out with while Toxic wears your opponent down, using Roost for recovery, Substitute when it is broken or about to be broken by a faster threat, and Thunderbolt to hit Taunt users Taunters or if you have a turn when there is no need for you to use your the other moves.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread listed can be changed slightly to suit your team, but Max Speed and a Timid nature is needed to control and stall out (Switch places of stall and out.) as many threats as possible. 248 HP can be used for max more HP and the 64 Def EVs can be used put into SpD Special Defense, but Zapdos shines in taking out anything with Stone Edge and sometimes Blizzard due to their limited PP. Due to Pressure, these moves have only 4 uses and with Leftovers, Zapdos can outspeed and block these moves with Substitute 4 times, while still being able to make a Substitute on a switch. 64 Def makes those physical sweepers you staled stalled out, look more like a fluffy Jumpluff, allowing you to stop them from doing anything, and maybe use them as set up fodder for your Zapdos and stall out something else.(no space)</p>
<p>Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt for paralysis on some pokemon you would not normally stall, but paralysis can collide with poison and not be favourable for you. Hidden Power Ice works extremely well with Toxic Spikes support, making it a good replacement for Toxic with it up. With this, Zapdos does not have to waste a turn using Toxic and better spend the time killing off anything that avoids this strategy with a super-effective super effective Hidden Power like Gligar, Flygon and Nidoking. As well as Toxic Spikes support, Heal Bell support is recommended for when Zapdos is paralysed of or poisoned and Wish support when Zapdos has a quarter of its health left from stalling out Stone Edges, but is only needed if it would better support other teammates and is not necessary. Rapid Spin support ensures Zapdos can come in at full health which is needed for stalling. The main threats to Zapdos are Rock Slide or Rock Blast users and faster pokemon with a super effective move when Zapdos has no Substitute. Generally, pokemon with a combination of Grass and Ice moves like such as Celebi or Abomasnow are your only way of dealing with this.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Sweeper
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Heat Wave
move 3: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Roost / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With a great Special Attacking stat of 125, Zapdos can deal a lot alot of damage to unprepared teams. Thunderbolt is your STAB, capable of dealing the most massive damage to Water- and Flying types Flying-types unlucky (It's not bad luck if one keep his Pokémon in.) dumb enough to stay in. Heat Wave hits Grass- and Steel types Steel-types who wall resists Electric type Electric-type moves and is very powerful with base 100 power 100 Base Power. Next up is a Hidden Power of your choice,. Grass hits the Water / Ground types Ground-types who walls your other attacks, while Ice hits Gligar and Flygon, who wall your other attacks so it really depends on what your team needs. Roost increases your longevity and with Zapdos being the treat threat that it is, you can easily find the time to recover entry hazard damage or recoil damage with Volt Switch, allowing you to get a switch advantage by bringing in a Zapdos counter-counter but be warned, a Ground type Ground-type will prevent this manoeuvre, so if your opponent has a Ground type Ground-type don't overlook it.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>(no space)Max Speed with a Speed boosting nature allows you to easily sweep to the best of your ability, with 252 Special Attack evs for maximium damage output. Modest can be used but the amount of Base 100 speed pokemon in UU like such as Shaymin and Celebi mean that a speed-boosting Speed boosting nature does help, assuming they are carrying HP Ice. Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt, but the power difference and no need of a chance of paralysis are off putting and Signal Beam can be used in move slot 2, 3 and 4 to hit Psychic- and Dark types Dark-types if your team needs it, but the options above have better coverage. Life Orb deals more damage equipped than Leftovers at the cost of decreased life expectancy which can usually be solved by Roost if your opponent attempts to stall you out by using abusing the Life Orb recoil. Leftovers lets you live longer a at the cost of some reduced power though.</p>
<p>Zapdos appreciates entry hazard support along with no hazards on its side, as its weakness to Stealth Rock does rack up,. Hitmontop is one of the most viable spinners, resisting Zapdos's Rock-type weaknesses and ensuring a spin with Foresight, also, Donphan also resists the Rock-type weakness moves and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice. This set can easily be countered by revenge killers such as Scarf Heracross, Scarf Fygon and Froslass who are faster and have super-effective super effective moves. To prevent this, Substitute can be used with Leftovers on a predicted switch into these threats and allow you to hit them with a super-effective super effective Hidden Power Ice or Heat Wave, as well as blocking status from special walls and Roosting in their face to recover from recoil or rocks Stealth Rock damage although the alternatives to these said moves, to create a different strategy is viable.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: U-Turn / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Zapdos excellent Base 100 speed and 125 SpAtk Special Attack make it an excellent candidate for a Choiced set.(space)Thunderbolt is your STAB, capable of dealing the most massive damage to Water- and Flying types Flying-types unlucky stupid enough to stay in. Heat Wave hits Grass- and Steel types Steel-types who resists Electric type Electric-type moves and is very powerful with base 100 power 100 Base Power. Next up is a Hidden Power of your choice, Grass hits the Water / Ground types Ground-types who wall your other attacks, while Ice hits Gligar and Flygon who wall your other attacks, so it really depends on what your team needs. With Volt Switch, you get a switch advantage by bringing in a Zapdos counter-counter but be warned, a Ground type Ground-type will prevent this manoeuvre, so if your opponent has a Ground type Ground-type, don't overlook it, this is why U-turn is listed since there is no type immune to Bug, but with a reduced power output.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Standard EV spread offering max speed and power. The choice between Modest and Timid depends whether speed or power is more important, with the choice of Scarf or Specs going down a similar path. Generally, any combination of item and nature can be used, whichever suits your team best. Although the most useful combination is Timid Scarf, as it can revenge kill Flygon and Heracross whatever set they are running. Also most Base 100 Speed sweepers will have Max Speed, so Timid is a better nature with Scarf using your decent enough power letting you outspeed and revenge kill. Hidden Power Flying deals surprising super-effective super effective damage on Fighting types Fighting-types and and Ludicolo, but serves little utility on the Choice Scarf variant so it should be used on the Choice Specs variant.</p>
<p>Zapdos is a special attacker and so should be dealt with a special wall. Notable pokemon include, : Registeel, Chansey, Rotom-H, Deoxys-D, Snorlax, and Milotic. Registeel can wall anything but the Heat Wave, with Milotic walling anything but Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Grass. The rest take neutral damage or resist all the attacks in the form of Rotom-H. Hitmontop can deal with anything but Deoxys-D and spin away hazards that hurt Zapdos on multiple switch ins. Hitmontop also resists Rock-types and Ice (Ice does neutral damage to Fighting-types) moves for Zapdos, while Donphan can do all that, set up Stealth Rocks which is needed for some KO's especially on the scarf set, but is weak to Ice.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>The other main options are Weather Support, Rest, and Baton Pass. Having access to both Rain and Sun, Zapdos can support those kinds of teams running Thunder in the Rain, but Sun is best as Zapdos can deal with Water types Water-types and get a boosted Heat Wave.</p>
<p>RestTalk and Baton Pass are also options but suffer from being less useful than the other sets. Baton Pass is also viable and Zapdos could lead a UU Baton Pass Team and get the Speed part of it up but with Team Preview now and bigger threats, everyone can tell what a Zapdos can do and open with a counter. However, using Agility to set up on your own can be used, but sacrificing coverage or Roost can leave you being set up on.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Chansey and Snorlax stop all of Zapdos's attacks cold. Electric-types do well against Zapdos, especially those who are immune to Thunderbolt, like such as Jolteon or Electivire. Flygon and Gligar have a relatively easy time against Zapdos lacking Hidden Power Ice, while Gastrodon can wall Zapdos who aren't running Hidden Power Grass. Grass-types such as Celebi or Roserade function well against some Zapdos, but must be wary of Heat Wave and U-turn.(no space)</p>
[Dream World]
<p> Zapdos gets Lightningrod, giving it a Special Attack boost when switching in on electric type Electric-type moves. While not weak to the type this lets Zapdos come in on more pokemon. However, Pressure is still better for SubRoost. The Special Attack boost can very well be used in the same way as Download Porygon Z Porygon-Z gets it's boost for a sweep so using it on the sweeping and choice sets give you that extra power for sweeping. However, be warned, you get no Heat Wave using Lightningrod, causing you to lose coverage.</p>
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Any form of improvement is welcome in the form of EV sets, damage calcs as I can't get any and sets in general but no gimmicky ones. Thank you.
The only Steel-type though, who resists Electric-type moves in this tier, are Steelix, Ferroseed and Magneton. Might want to change that completly.
That's all I can find, might have missed something. Hope you can see everything.
EDIT: You use the word "wall" alot when it should be resist, at least in some places.
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Zapdos
FYI: DC. handed this analysis over to me in my visitor messages.
QC Approved: (3/3) PK Gaming, Oglemi and Snunch
GP Approved: 0
-------------------
[Overview]
<p>Zapdos has remained in OU for 4 Generations, only sharing such a title with Starmie, Snorlax and Gengar. But this Generation saw Zapdos fall into UU. As a pokemon it has a nice bulk of 90/85/90, a pretty good SpAtk Special Attack of 125(no space), Base 100 speed and a great defensive typing of Electric(space)/(space)Flying, giving it only 2 weaknesses, to Rock and Ice, making it Stealth Rock weak but immune to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, it's fair to say that this pokemon is a strong threat in UU. (Maybe you should re-phrase the whole sentence instead, it doesn't sound good.) It has quite a large movepool giving it the ability to run offensive choice sets with great coverage and defensive sets with a nice support movepool. Either way of using Zapdos can be a threat to any team. However, for offence offense, one must consider if Jolteon would do a better job with its higher Speed, and SpAtk (Jolteon does not have a higher Special Attack stat) while lacking the bulk and safe scouting move (U-turn) of Zapdos.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Roar / Heat Wave
move 4: Roost
nature: Bold
item: Leftovers
evs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Zapdos makes a great defensive Pokemon with its bulk and Electric / Flying type, only possessed by Fan Rotom Rotom-S and Zapdos (There's Emolga too). Thunderbolt is your main STAB (It's your only STAB on the set though), providing good coverage with Toxic. Toxic itself is used to deal with Gligar and Rhyperior who are immune to Thunderbolt. Roar lets you phaze, getting rid of Quiver Dancers or Smash Passers as well as racking up entry hazards damage supporting your team. Lastly, Roost restores half your health in an instant and allows you to recover from Stealth Rock damage. Hidden Power Ice can deal with anything immune to Toxic Spikes like Gligar, Flygon, and Nidoking. Heat Wave lets you deal with Steel types Steel-types who wall resists the rest of you your moves.<p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread shown offers a good amount of bulk with enough speed to outspeed Max Speed Honchkrow and Abomasnow. 248 HP allows you to switch into Stealth Rocks Stealth Rock 5 times, one of the most common hazards in play, with the rest of the EVs pumped into defence Defense and a Bold nature for maximum physical bulk. A Calm nature and the remaining 236 EVs can go into Special Defence Defense to make a special wall, but does not have as much utility as the physical variant.</p>
<p>For other moves you could use, Discharge can replace Thunderbolt, but the chance of paralysis could coincide with Poison, although paralysis can help you stall out a lot faster pokemon. If you opt to use Hidden Power Ice, then Toxic Spikes support is very helpful in maintaining the Poison needed for stalling. Rapid Spin support is needed to prevent Stealth Rock damage from building up,. Hitmontop makes is one of the most viable spinners, resisting Zapdos's Rock-type weaknesses weakness and ensuring a spin with Foresight, also, Donphan resists the Rock-type moves weakness and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice. However, if using Roar, as many hazards as possible, such as Spikes and Stealth Rocks Stealth Rock, is good to have set up, in order to rack up the residual damage. This set can easily be destroyed by powerful physical pokemon like such as Scarf Flygon and Heracross possessing Stone Edge, but predicting the switch you can hit them with one your super-effective super effective coverage moves or switch into a teammate with the same advantage.</p>
[SET]
name: SubRoost
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Roost
move 3: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Thunderbolt
nature: Timid
item: Leftovers
evs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Like the rest of the legendary birds, Zapdos can effectively stall opponents out with the combination of Substitute, Roost, and Toxic. With its Base 100 speed, Zapdos can set up a Substitute in front of many walls, threats to Zapdos, and on switches. Hit the opponent with Toxic and stall them out with while Toxic wears your opponent down, using Roost for recovery, Substitute when it is broken or about to be broken by a faster threat, and Thunderbolt to hit Taunt users Taunters or if you have a turn when there is no need for you to use your the other moves.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread listed can be changed slightly to suit your team, but Max Speed and a Timid nature is needed to control and stall out (Switch places of stall and out.) as many threats as possible. 248 HP can be used for max more HP and the 64 Def EVs can be used put into SpD Special Defense, but Zapdos shines in taking out anything with Stone Edge and sometimes Blizzard due to their limited PP. Due to Pressure, these moves have only 4 uses and with Leftovers, Zapdos can outspeed and block these moves with Substitute 4 times, while still being able to make a Substitute on a switch. 64 Def makes those physical sweepers you staled stalled out, look more like a fluffy Jumpluff, allowing you to stop them from doing anything, and maybe use them as set up fodder for your Zapdos and stall out something else.(no space)</p>
<p>Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt for paralysis on some pokemon you would not normally stall, but paralysis can collide with poison and not be favourable for you. Hidden Power Ice works extremely well with Toxic Spikes support, making it a good replacement for Toxic with it up. With this, Zapdos does not have to waste a turn using Toxic and better spend the time killing off anything that avoids this strategy with a super-effective super effective Hidden Power like Gligar, Flygon and Nidoking. As well as Toxic Spikes support, Heal Bell support is recommended for when Zapdos is paralysed of or poisoned and Wish support when Zapdos has a quarter of its health left from stalling out Stone Edges, but is only needed if it would better support other teammates and is not necessary. Rapid Spin support ensures Zapdos can come in at full health which is needed for stalling. The main threats to Zapdos are Rock Slide or Rock Blast users and faster pokemon with a super effective move when Zapdos has no Substitute. Generally, pokemon with a combination of Grass and Ice moves like such as Celebi or Abomasnow are your only way of dealing with this.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Sweeper
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Heat Wave
move 3: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Roost / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With a great Special Attacking stat of 125, Zapdos can deal a lot alot of damage to unprepared teams. Thunderbolt is your STAB, capable of dealing the most massive damage to Water- and Flying types Flying-types unlucky (It's not bad luck if one keep his Pokémon in.) dumb enough to stay in. Heat Wave hits Grass- and Steel types Steel-types who wall resists Electric type Electric-type moves and is very powerful with base 100 power 100 Base Power. Next up is a Hidden Power of your choice,. Grass hits the Water / Ground types Ground-types who walls your other attacks, while Ice hits Gligar and Flygon, who wall your other attacks so it really depends on what your team needs. Roost increases your longevity and with Zapdos being the treat threat that it is, you can easily find the time to recover entry hazard damage or recoil damage with Volt Switch, allowing you to get a switch advantage by bringing in a Zapdos counter-counter but be warned, a Ground type Ground-type will prevent this manoeuvre, so if your opponent has a Ground type Ground-type don't overlook it.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>(no space)Max Speed with a Speed boosting nature allows you to easily sweep to the best of your ability, with 252 Special Attack evs for maximium damage output. Modest can be used but the amount of Base 100 speed pokemon in UU like such as Shaymin and Celebi mean that a speed-boosting Speed boosting nature does help, assuming they are carrying HP Ice. Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt, but the power difference and no need of a chance of paralysis are off putting and Signal Beam can be used in move slot 2, 3 and 4 to hit Psychic- and Dark types Dark-types if your team needs it, but the options above have better coverage. Life Orb deals more damage equipped than Leftovers at the cost of decreased life expectancy which can usually be solved by Roost if your opponent attempts to stall you out by using abusing the Life Orb recoil. Leftovers lets you live longer a at the cost of some reduced power though.</p>
<p>Zapdos appreciates entry hazard support along with no hazards on its side, as its weakness to Stealth Rock does rack up,. Hitmontop is one of the most viable spinners, resisting Zapdos's Rock-type weaknesses and ensuring a spin with Foresight, also, Donphan also resists the Rock-type weakness moves and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice. This set can easily be countered by revenge killers such as Scarf Heracross, Scarf Fygon and Froslass who are faster and have super-effective super effective moves. To prevent this, Substitute can be used with Leftovers on a predicted switch into these threats and allow you to hit them with a super-effective super effective Hidden Power Ice or Heat Wave, as well as blocking status from special walls and Roosting in their face to recover from recoil or rocks Stealth Rock damage although the alternatives to these said moves, to create a different strategy is viable.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: U-Turn / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Zapdos excellent Base 100 speed and 125 SpAtk Special Attack make it an excellent candidate for a Choiced set.(space)Thunderbolt is your STAB, capable of dealing the most massive damage to Water- and Flying types Flying-types unlucky stupid enough to stay in. Heat Wave hits Grass- and Steel types Steel-types who resists Electric type Electric-type moves and is very powerful with base 100 power 100 Base Power. Next up is a Hidden Power of your choice, Grass hits the Water / Ground types Ground-types who wall your other attacks, while Ice hits Gligar and Flygon who wall your other attacks, so it really depends on what your team needs. With Volt Switch, you get a switch advantage by bringing in a Zapdos counter-counter but be warned, a Ground type Ground-type will prevent this manoeuvre, so if your opponent has a Ground type Ground-type, don't overlook it, this is why U-turn is listed since there is no type immune to Bug, but with a reduced power output.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Standard EV spread offering max speed and power. The choice between Modest and Timid depends whether speed or power is more important, with the choice of Scarf or Specs going down a similar path. Generally, any combination of item and nature can be used, whichever suits your team best. Although the most useful combination is Timid Scarf, as it can revenge kill Flygon and Heracross whatever set they are running. Also most Base 100 Speed sweepers will have Max Speed, so Timid is a better nature with Scarf using your decent enough power letting you outspeed and revenge kill. Hidden Power Flying deals surprising super-effective super effective damage on Fighting types Fighting-types and and Ludicolo, but serves little utility on the Choice Scarf variant so it should be used on the Choice Specs variant.</p>
<p>Zapdos is a special attacker and so should be dealt with a special wall. Notable pokemon include, : Registeel, Chansey, Rotom-H, Deoxys-D, Snorlax, and Milotic. Registeel can wall anything but the Heat Wave, with Milotic walling anything but Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Grass. The rest take neutral damage or resist all the attacks in the form of Rotom-H. Hitmontop can deal with anything but Deoxys-D and spin away hazards that hurt Zapdos on multiple switch ins. Hitmontop also resists Rock-types and Ice (Ice does neutral damage to Fighting-types) moves for Zapdos, while Donphan can do all that, set up Stealth Rocks which is needed for some KO's especially on the scarf set, but is weak to Ice.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>The other main options are Weather Support, Rest, and Baton Pass. Having access to both Rain and Sun, Zapdos can support those kinds of teams running Thunder in the Rain, but Sun is best as Zapdos can deal with Water types Water-types and get a boosted Heat Wave.</p>
<p>RestTalk and Baton Pass are also options but suffer from being less useful than the other sets. Baton Pass is also viable and Zapdos could lead a UU Baton Pass Team and get the Speed part of it up but with Team Preview now and bigger threats, everyone can tell what a Zapdos can do and open with a counter. However, using Agility to set up on your own can be used, but sacrificing coverage or Roost can leave you being set up on.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Chansey and Snorlax stop all of Zapdos's attacks cold. Electric-types do well against Zapdos, especially those who are immune to Thunderbolt, like such as Jolteon or Electivire. Flygon and Gligar have a relatively easy time against Zapdos lacking Hidden Power Ice, while Gastrodon can wall Zapdos who aren't running Hidden Power Grass. Grass-types such as Celebi or Roserade function well against some Zapdos, but must be wary of Heat Wave and U-turn.(no space)</p>
[Dream World]
<p> Zapdos gets Lightningrod, giving it a Special Attack boost when switching in on electric type Electric-type moves. While not weak to the type this lets Zapdos come in on more pokemon. However, Pressure is still better for SubRoost. The Special Attack boost can very well be used in the same way as Download Porygon Z Porygon-Z gets it's boost for a sweep so using it on the sweeping and choice sets give you that extra power for sweeping. However, be warned, you get no Heat Wave using Lightningrod, causing you to lose coverage.</p>
------------------------------------
Any form of improvement is welcome in the form of EV sets, damage calcs as I can't get any and sets in general but no gimmicky ones. Thank you.
That's all I can find, might have missed something. Hope you can see everything.
EDIT: You use the word "wall" alot when it should be resist, at least in some places.
looks ok
jc104's contributions will have to wait until fully done so everything from the Choice set upwards is done, just leaving this note here. It will be done tomorrow. Ima go sleep now.
<p>Instead of simply sweeping, Zapdos also can play something of a revenge killing or wallbreaking role by equipping a Choice item. While having the capabilities of sweeping, Zapdos can have those abilities boosted with a Choice Scarf or Choice Specs. With a Choice Scarf, Zapdos can outspeed more of the metagame. Notably, Zapdos can outrun Pokemon are Choice Scarf Heracross all the time but and tie with Choice Scarf Flygon and Choice Scarf Victini some of the time. These common Pokemon decimate Zapdos in most circumstances but with a Scarf it has a chance of dealing with some of its key counters. With a Choice Specs, you Zapdos receives a welcome damage boost to your its moves. While underwhelming compared to a Scarf, a pair of Choice Specs helps you deal with defensive threats like Milotic and or Registeel, who can usually withstand your Zapdos's neutral non-super effective orSTAB moves (milotic is probably beaten anyway, no?). Due to the nature of Choice items, limiting you to one move, using Zapdos as a late game sweeper is lets you maximise its potential (I very much question this – you need coverage for late-game sweeping generally – this is best for revenge killing and wallbreaking, as I said before.). The moves available are similar to the same as the sweeper set: Thunderbolt is for STAB, Hidden Power provides coverage against Ground-types, and Heat Wave hits Grass- and Steel-types. Being locked into Roost is a liability, and so a scouting move is chosen instead; U-turn is more reliable, though Volt Switch is more powerful. though Roost does not serve any purpose when locked into it and therefore a scouting move is much more useful.</p>
Sorry if I came across as rude at all. Note that you can't really just refer to the other set. This is because sets can be removed or rearranged while on site. Therefore I added a small section explaining the moves.
GP 2/3
Sorry if I came across as rude at all. Note that you can't really just refer to the other set. This is because sets can be removed or rearranged while on site. Therefore I added a small section explaining the moves.
GP 2/3
Deletions
Additions / Corrections
Comments
All right, this analysis needed quite a lot of fixing even after 2 checks, so I am sorry this needs another check to be done.
GP 3 / 4
Additions / Corrections
Comments
[Overview]
<p>A mainstay of OU for 4 previous generations, Zapdos has, for this first time, fallen into UU. Zapdos It boasts a high base 125 Special Attack stat of 125 and a good base 100 Speed as well as solid 90 / 85 / 90 defensive stats along with good defensive typing, making it both an offensive and defensive threat. Zapdos's Electric / Flying typing means it only has two weaknesses—Rock and Ice gives it just the two weaknesses to Rock- and Ice-type attacks. It also receives handy immunities to Spikes and Toxic Spikes courtesy its Flying typing, albeit at the cost of a Stealth Rock weakness. While it is weak to Stealth Rock, Zapdos is immune to both forms of Spikes. While others may be better at certain aspects of Zapdos's role (for example, Jolteon as a special sweeper), Zapdos hits a unique blend of typing, stats, and movepool which just may be what your team needs.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Roar / Heat Wave
move 4: Roost
nature: Bold
item: Leftovers
evs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Zapdos makes a great defensive Pokemon with its bulk and Electric / Flying typing, which it shares only with Rotom-S and Emolga. Thunderbolt is your its STAB move, dealing decent damage to those weak or neutral to it and providing good coverage with Toxic. Toxic itself is used to deal with non-Immunity Gligar and Rhyperior who are immune to Thunderbolt. However, Hidden Power Ice can be used over Toxic, as it hits threats with an immunity to Toxic Spikes, such as Gligar, Flygon, and Nidoking, as well as Ground-types such as Rhyperior who are immune to Thunderbolt. Roar lets you Zapdos phaze, getting rid of Quiver Dance users and Smash Passers Pass chains as well as racking up entry hazard damage to support your team. However, if additional coverage is needed, Heat Wave is a viable option for the third moveslot, smacking the Grass-types who resist Thunderbolt hard while also hitting Steel-types immune to Thunderbolt, such as Steelix. Lastly, Roost restores half of Zapdos's health in an instant and allows you it to recover from heal off Stealth Rock damage. Hidden Power Ice can deal with anything immune to Toxic Spikes, including Gligar, Flygon, and Nidoking. Heat Wave lets you deal with Steel-types, some of whom resist the rest of Zapdos's moves, as well as Grass-types.<p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread shown offers a good amount of bulk with enough Speed to outrun max Speed Honchkrow and Abomasnow. 248 HP EVs allow Zapdos to switch into Stealth Rock 5 times while the rest of the EVs are pumped into Defense along with a Bold nature for maximum physical bulk. The remaining 236 EVs can go into Special Defence with a Calm nature to make a special wall, but given Zapdos's resistances, this is not as useful as the physical variant.</p>
<p>Discharge can replace Thunderbolt, but this is not effective alongside Toxic. However, paralysis can help you Zapdos stall out a lot of faster Pokemon. If you opt to use Hidden Power Ice, Toxic Spikes support is very helpful to ensure that the opponent is poisoned for stalling. Rapid Spin support is needed to prevent Stealth Rock damage from building up. Hitmontop is one of the most viable spinners Rapid Spin users, covering Zapdos's Rock-type weakness and ensuring a spin with packingForesight to ensure that Ghost-types don't stop it in its tracks. Donphan also resists Rock-type moves and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice-type attacks. If using Roar, you want as many hazards as possible, including Spikes and Stealth Rock, in order to rack up residual damage. This set can easily be destroyed by powerful physical Pokemon attackers such as Choice Scarf Flygon and Heracross possessing Stone Edge, but by predicting the switch, you can hit them with one of your a super effective coverage moves or switch into a teammate with the same advantage.</p>
[SET]
name: SubRoost
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Roost
move 3: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Thunderbolt
nature: Timid
item: Leftovers
evs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Like the rest of the legendary birds, Zapdos can effectively stall opponents out with the combination of Substitute, Roost, and Toxic. With its base 100 Speed, Zapdos can set up a Substitute in front of many walls, threats to Zapdos, and on switches. The procedure is simple—hit the opponent with Toxic, and stall them out while Toxic wears your opponent them down, using Roost for recovery. Use Substitute when the previous one is broken or about to be broken by a faster threat, and Thunderbolt to hit Taunt users or if you have a turn when there is no need for you to use your other moves.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread listed can be changed slightly to suit your team, but max Speed and a Timid nature is needed to control and outstall as many threats as possible. 248 HP can be used to improve Zapdos's overall defences, and the 64 Def EVs can be put into Special Defense, but Zapdos shines in taking out anything relying on Stone Edge or Blizzard due to their limited PP. Due to Pressure, these moves have only 4 uses and with Leftovers, Zapdos can outspeed and block these moves with Substitute 4 times, while still being able to make a Substitute on a switch. 64 Def EVs make those physical sweepers you stalled out look more like a fluffy Jumpluff than anything else, allowing you Zapdos to use them as setup fodder for your Zapdos and stall out something else.</p>
<p>Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt for paralysis, which lets you Zapdos stall out some Pokemon you it normally could not, but the paralysis can collide conflict with poison and not be favourable for you thus be unfavorable. Hidden Power Ice works extremely well with Toxic Spikes support, making it a good replacement for Toxic. With this, Zapdos does not have to waste a turn using Toxic, instead simply KOing Gligar, Flygon and Nidoking with Hidden Power. As well as Toxic Spikes support, Additionally, Heal Bell support is recommended for when Zapdos is paralyzed or poisoned, and Wish support when Zapdos has a quarter of its health left from stalling out Stone Edges, but is only really needed if it would better support other teammates. Rapid Spin support ensures that Zapdos can come in at full health, which is needed for stalling. The main threats to Zapdos are Rock Slide or Rock Blast users, and faster Pokemon with a super effective move when Zapdos has no Substitute.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Sweeper
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Heat Wave
move 3: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Roost / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With a its great Special Attack stat of 125, Zapdos can deal a lot of damage to unprepared teams. Thunderbolt is your STAB, capable of dealing massive damage to Water- and Flying-types dumb enough to stay in. Heat Wave complements Thunderbolt nicely, hitting the Grass- and Steel-types who resist Electric-type moves hard and is very powerful with 100 Base Power. Next up is a Hidden Power of your choice. The third moveslot is a choice between two Hidden Powers. Hidden Power Grass hits the Water / Ground-types who wall your other attacks, while Hidden Power Ice hits Gligar and Flygon, who also wall your other attacks, so it really depends on what your team needs. Roost increases Zapdos's longevity, and with Zapdos being the threat that it is, you can easily find the time to recover heal off damage taken from entry hazards and Life Orb recoil damage or recoil damage. Volt Switch deals respectable damage while allowing Zapdos you to get gain the switch advantage, but be warned, a Ground-type will prevent this manoeuvre.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Max Speed with a Speed-boosting nature allows Zapdos to sweep to the best of its ability, with 252 Special Attack EVs for maximum damage output. Modest can be used, but there are numerous threats with base 100 Speed Pokemon in UU, such as Shaymin and Celebi, against which you will lose out on a tie. Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt, but the power difference is off-putting and the paralysis rate unnecessary. and Signal Beam can be used in slot 2, 3, or 4 to hit Psychic- and Dark-types if your team needs it, but the options above have better coverage. Life Orb lets Zapdos deals more damage than Leftovers at the cost of decreased life expectancy longevity. This can usually be solved by Roost if your opponent attempts to stall you out.</p>
<p>Zapdos appreciates entry hazard support along with the lack of hazards on its side, as its weakness to Stealth Rock does hurt. Once again, Hitmontop is one of the most viable spinners pairs well with Zapdos for this reason, resisting Zapdos's the Rock-type weaknesses and ensuring a spin with Foresight attacks Zapdos is weak to and pulling off Rapid Spin even againt Ghost-types thanks to Foresight. Donphan also resists Rock-type moves and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice. This set can easily be countered by revenge killers such as Choice Scarf Heracross, Scarf and Flygon, as well as and Froslass, who are faster and have super effective moves. To prevent this, Substitute can be used alongside Leftovers, letting you allowing Zapdos toscout the opponent's switch-in and preventing the opponent from simply sacrificing a Pokemon and then revenge killing Zapdos.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: U-turn / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Instead of simply sweeping, Zapdos also can play something somewhat of a revenge killing or wallbreaking role by equipping a Choice item. With a Choice Scarf, Zapdos can outspeed more mostof the metagame. Notably, Zapdos it can outrun Choice Scarf Heracross and tie with Choice Scarf Flygon and Choice Scarf Victini some of the time. With Choice Specs, however, Zapdos receives a welcome damage boost to its moves, and can tear apart anything that doesn't pack a resistance or an immunity to its STAB Thunderbolt. While underwhelming compared to a Choice Scarf, a pair of Choice Specs helps you deal with defensive threats like such as Milotic and Registeel, who can usually withstand Zapdos's neutral moves. Due to the nature of Choice items, limiting you to one move Since Choice items limit Zapdos to using only one move, using Zapdos it as a late game sweeper lets you maximize its potential. The moves available are similar to the sweeper set: Thunderbolt is for STAB, either Hidden Power provides coverage against Ground-types, and Heat Wave hits Grass- and Steel-types. Being locked into Roost is a liability, and so a scouting move is chosen instead; U-turn is more reliable, though Volt Switch is more powerful.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread is standard, offering maximum Speed and power. The choice between Modest and Timid and between Scarf and Specs the Choice item used depends on whether Speed or power is more important. Generally, any combination of item and nature which suits your team best can be used, whichever suits your team best. The most useful combination is Timid Scarf, as it can revenge kill threats such as Flygon and Heracross whatever regardless of what set they are running. Also, most base 100 Speed sweeperswith base 100 Speed will have max Speed, so Timid is needed to tie with them. Hidden Power Flying is an option as it can surprise deals surprising super effective damage on Fighting-types and Ludicolo, but it serves little use on the Choice Scarf set.</p>
<p>Since Zapdos is a special attacker, it has trouble dealing with and so should be dealt with a special walls such as Notable pokemon include, : Registeel, Chansey, Rotom-H, Deoxys-D, Snorlax, and Milotic. Registeel can wall anything but only fears the Heat Wave; with similarly, Milotic walling takes anything but Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Grass. The rest are neutral or resistant to all of the attacks, Rotom-H being resistant to resisting every single one. Hitmontop can deal with anything deals with everything but Deoxys-D, and can spin away the hazards that hurt Zapdos, which is especially important since this variant has to switch frequently. Hitmontop also resists Rock-type moves for Zapdos, while Donphan does the same. It The latter also sets up Stealth Rock, which is needed for some KOs, but it is weak to Ice-type attacks.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>The other main options are Weather Support, Rest, and Baton Pass. Having access to both Rain Dance and Sunny Day, Zapdos makes an excellent weather supporter. It can benefit from the rain by running Thunder, but sunny weather is best as Zapdos can deal with Water-types and get a boosted Heat Wave.</p>
<p>RestTalk and Baton Pass are also options, but suffer from being less useful than the other sets. Zapdos could can lead an UU Baton Pass teams, setting up with Agility, but with Team Preview and bigger threats, everyone can tell what Zapdos will do and will open with a counter it is only too easy for the opponent to deduce what Zapdos is up to and lead with an appropriate counter. An Agility sweeping set is also viable, but sacrificing Roost or a coverage move can leave Zapdos as setup bait.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>With their humongous special bulk, Chansey and Snorlax stop all of wallZapdos's attacks cold. Electric-types do well against Zapdos too, especially those who are immune to Thunderbolt, such as Jolteon and Electivire. Flygon and Gligar have a relatively easy time against Zapdos lacking Hidden Power Ice, while Gastrodon can wall Zapdos who aren't running Hidden Power Grass. Grass-types such as Celebi or Roserade function well against some Zapdos, but must be wary of Heat Wave and U-turn.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Zapdos gets Lightningrod from the Dream World, giving it a Special Attack boost when it switching in on switches into Electric-type moves. While not weak to the type these attacks, this lets Zapdos come in on more Pokemon. However, Pressure is still better for SubRoost. The Special Attack boost can might be very useful on the sweeping and Choice sets. However, but be warned, you get no Heat Wave using Lightningrod, causing you Zapdos to lose coverage.</p>
<p>A mainstay of OU for 4 previous generations, Zapdos has, for this first time, fallen into UU. Zapdos It boasts a high base 125 Special Attack stat of 125 and a good base 100 Speed as well as solid 90 / 85 / 90 defensive stats along with good defensive typing, making it both an offensive and defensive threat. Zapdos's Electric / Flying typing means it only has two weaknesses—Rock and Ice gives it just the two weaknesses to Rock- and Ice-type attacks. It also receives handy immunities to Spikes and Toxic Spikes courtesy its Flying typing, albeit at the cost of a Stealth Rock weakness. While it is weak to Stealth Rock, Zapdos is immune to both forms of Spikes. While others may be better at certain aspects of Zapdos's role (for example, Jolteon as a special sweeper), Zapdos hits a unique blend of typing, stats, and movepool which just may be what your team needs.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 3: Roar / Heat Wave
move 4: Roost
nature: Bold
item: Leftovers
evs: 248 HP / 236 Def / 24 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Zapdos makes a great defensive Pokemon with its bulk and Electric / Flying typing, which it shares only with Rotom-S and Emolga. Thunderbolt is your its STAB move, dealing decent damage to those weak or neutral to it and providing good coverage with Toxic. Toxic itself is used to deal with non-Immunity Gligar and Rhyperior who are immune to Thunderbolt. However, Hidden Power Ice can be used over Toxic, as it hits threats with an immunity to Toxic Spikes, such as Gligar, Flygon, and Nidoking, as well as Ground-types such as Rhyperior who are immune to Thunderbolt. Roar lets you Zapdos phaze, getting rid of Quiver Dance users and Smash Passers Pass chains as well as racking up entry hazard damage to support your team. However, if additional coverage is needed, Heat Wave is a viable option for the third moveslot, smacking the Grass-types who resist Thunderbolt hard while also hitting Steel-types immune to Thunderbolt, such as Steelix. Lastly, Roost restores half of Zapdos's health in an instant and allows you it to recover from heal off Stealth Rock damage. Hidden Power Ice can deal with anything immune to Toxic Spikes, including Gligar, Flygon, and Nidoking. Heat Wave lets you deal with Steel-types, some of whom resist the rest of Zapdos's moves, as well as Grass-types.<p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread shown offers a good amount of bulk with enough Speed to outrun max Speed Honchkrow and Abomasnow. 248 HP EVs allow Zapdos to switch into Stealth Rock 5 times while the rest of the EVs are pumped into Defense along with a Bold nature for maximum physical bulk. The remaining 236 EVs can go into Special Defence with a Calm nature to make a special wall, but given Zapdos's resistances, this is not as useful as the physical variant.</p>
<p>Discharge can replace Thunderbolt, but this is not effective alongside Toxic. However, paralysis can help you Zapdos stall out a lot of faster Pokemon. If you opt to use Hidden Power Ice, Toxic Spikes support is very helpful to ensure that the opponent is poisoned for stalling. Rapid Spin support is needed to prevent Stealth Rock damage from building up. Hitmontop is one of the most viable spinners Rapid Spin users, covering Zapdos's Rock-type weakness and ensuring a spin with packingForesight to ensure that Ghost-types don't stop it in its tracks. Donphan also resists Rock-type moves and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice-type attacks. If using Roar, you want as many hazards as possible, including Spikes and Stealth Rock, in order to rack up residual damage. This set can easily be destroyed by powerful physical Pokemon attackers such as Choice Scarf Flygon and Heracross possessing Stone Edge, but by predicting the switch, you can hit them with one of your a super effective coverage moves or switch into a teammate with the same advantage.</p>
[SET]
name: SubRoost
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Roost
move 3: Toxic / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Thunderbolt
nature: Timid
item: Leftovers
evs: 192 HP / 64 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Like the rest of the legendary birds, Zapdos can effectively stall opponents out with the combination of Substitute, Roost, and Toxic. With its base 100 Speed, Zapdos can set up a Substitute in front of many walls, threats to Zapdos, and on switches. The procedure is simple—hit the opponent with Toxic, and stall them out while Toxic wears your opponent them down, using Roost for recovery. Use Substitute when the previous one is broken or about to be broken by a faster threat, and Thunderbolt to hit Taunt users or if you have a turn when there is no need for you to use your other moves.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread listed can be changed slightly to suit your team, but max Speed and a Timid nature is needed to control and outstall as many threats as possible. 248 HP can be used to improve Zapdos's overall defences, and the 64 Def EVs can be put into Special Defense, but Zapdos shines in taking out anything relying on Stone Edge or Blizzard due to their limited PP. Due to Pressure, these moves have only 4 uses and with Leftovers, Zapdos can outspeed and block these moves with Substitute 4 times, while still being able to make a Substitute on a switch. 64 Def EVs make those physical sweepers you stalled out look more like a fluffy Jumpluff than anything else, allowing you Zapdos to use them as setup fodder for your Zapdos and stall out something else.</p>
<p>Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt for paralysis, which lets you Zapdos stall out some Pokemon you it normally could not, but the paralysis can collide conflict with poison and not be favourable for you thus be unfavorable. Hidden Power Ice works extremely well with Toxic Spikes support, making it a good replacement for Toxic. With this, Zapdos does not have to waste a turn using Toxic, instead simply KOing Gligar, Flygon and Nidoking with Hidden Power. As well as Toxic Spikes support, Additionally, Heal Bell support is recommended for when Zapdos is paralyzed or poisoned, and Wish support when Zapdos has a quarter of its health left from stalling out Stone Edges, but is only really needed if it would better support other teammates. Rapid Spin support ensures that Zapdos can come in at full health, which is needed for stalling. The main threats to Zapdos are Rock Slide or Rock Blast users, and faster Pokemon with a super effective move when Zapdos has no Substitute.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Sweeper
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Heat Wave
move 3: Hidden Power Grass / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Roost / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With a its great Special Attack stat of 125, Zapdos can deal a lot of damage to unprepared teams. Thunderbolt is your STAB, capable of dealing massive damage to Water- and Flying-types dumb enough to stay in. Heat Wave complements Thunderbolt nicely, hitting the Grass- and Steel-types who resist Electric-type moves hard and is very powerful with 100 Base Power. Next up is a Hidden Power of your choice. The third moveslot is a choice between two Hidden Powers. Hidden Power Grass hits the Water / Ground-types who wall your other attacks, while Hidden Power Ice hits Gligar and Flygon, who also wall your other attacks, so it really depends on what your team needs. Roost increases Zapdos's longevity, and with Zapdos being the threat that it is, you can easily find the time to recover heal off damage taken from entry hazards and Life Orb recoil damage or recoil damage. Volt Switch deals respectable damage while allowing Zapdos you to get gain the switch advantage, but be warned, a Ground-type will prevent this manoeuvre.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Max Speed with a Speed-boosting nature allows Zapdos to sweep to the best of its ability, with 252 Special Attack EVs for maximum damage output. Modest can be used, but there are numerous threats with base 100 Speed Pokemon in UU, such as Shaymin and Celebi, against which you will lose out on a tie. Discharge can be used over Thunderbolt, but the power difference is off-putting and the paralysis rate unnecessary. and Signal Beam can be used in slot 2, 3, or 4 to hit Psychic- and Dark-types if your team needs it, but the options above have better coverage. Life Orb lets Zapdos deals more damage than Leftovers at the cost of decreased life expectancy longevity. This can usually be solved by Roost if your opponent attempts to stall you out.</p>
<p>Zapdos appreciates entry hazard support along with the lack of hazards on its side, as its weakness to Stealth Rock does hurt. Once again, Hitmontop is one of the most viable spinners pairs well with Zapdos for this reason, resisting Zapdos's the Rock-type weaknesses and ensuring a spin with Foresight attacks Zapdos is weak to and pulling off Rapid Spin even againt Ghost-types thanks to Foresight. Donphan also resists Rock-type moves and provides Stealth Rock support, but shares a weakness to Ice. This set can easily be countered by revenge killers such as Choice Scarf Heracross, Scarf and Flygon, as well as and Froslass, who are faster and have super effective moves. To prevent this, Substitute can be used alongside Leftovers, letting you allowing Zapdos toscout the opponent's switch-in and preventing the opponent from simply sacrificing a Pokemon and then revenge killing Zapdos.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Thunderbolt
move 2: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass
move 3: Heat Wave
move 4: U-turn / Volt Switch
nature: Timid / Modest
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Specs
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Instead of simply sweeping, Zapdos also can play something somewhat of a revenge killing or wallbreaking role by equipping a Choice item. With a Choice Scarf, Zapdos can outspeed more mostof the metagame. Notably, Zapdos it can outrun Choice Scarf Heracross and tie with Choice Scarf Flygon and Choice Scarf Victini some of the time. With Choice Specs, however, Zapdos receives a welcome damage boost to its moves, and can tear apart anything that doesn't pack a resistance or an immunity to its STAB Thunderbolt. While underwhelming compared to a Choice Scarf, a pair of Choice Specs helps you deal with defensive threats like such as Milotic and Registeel, who can usually withstand Zapdos's neutral moves. Due to the nature of Choice items, limiting you to one move Since Choice items limit Zapdos to using only one move, using Zapdos it as a late game sweeper lets you maximize its potential. The moves available are similar to the sweeper set: Thunderbolt is for STAB, either Hidden Power provides coverage against Ground-types, and Heat Wave hits Grass- and Steel-types. Being locked into Roost is a liability, and so a scouting move is chosen instead; U-turn is more reliable, though Volt Switch is more powerful.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread is standard, offering maximum Speed and power. The choice between Modest and Timid and between Scarf and Specs the Choice item used depends on whether Speed or power is more important. Generally, any combination of item and nature which suits your team best can be used, whichever suits your team best. The most useful combination is Timid Scarf, as it can revenge kill threats such as Flygon and Heracross whatever regardless of what set they are running. Also, most base 100 Speed sweeperswith base 100 Speed will have max Speed, so Timid is needed to tie with them. Hidden Power Flying is an option as it can surprise deals surprising super effective damage on Fighting-types and Ludicolo, but it serves little use on the Choice Scarf set.</p>
<p>Since Zapdos is a special attacker, it has trouble dealing with and so should be dealt with a special walls such as Notable pokemon include, : Registeel, Chansey, Rotom-H, Deoxys-D, Snorlax, and Milotic. Registeel can wall anything but only fears the Heat Wave; with similarly, Milotic walling takes anything but Thunderbolt and Hidden Power Grass. The rest are neutral or resistant to all of the attacks, Rotom-H being resistant to resisting every single one. Hitmontop can deal with anything deals with everything but Deoxys-D, and can spin away the hazards that hurt Zapdos, which is especially important since this variant has to switch frequently. Hitmontop also resists Rock-type moves for Zapdos, while Donphan does the same. It The latter also sets up Stealth Rock, which is needed for some KOs, but it is weak to Ice-type attacks.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>The other main options are Weather Support, Rest, and Baton Pass. Having access to both Rain Dance and Sunny Day, Zapdos makes an excellent weather supporter. It can benefit from the rain by running Thunder, but sunny weather is best as Zapdos can deal with Water-types and get a boosted Heat Wave.</p>
<p>RestTalk and Baton Pass are also options, but suffer from being less useful than the other sets. Zapdos could can lead an UU Baton Pass teams, setting up with Agility, but with Team Preview and bigger threats, everyone can tell what Zapdos will do and will open with a counter it is only too easy for the opponent to deduce what Zapdos is up to and lead with an appropriate counter. An Agility sweeping set is also viable, but sacrificing Roost or a coverage move can leave Zapdos as setup bait.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>With their humongous special bulk, Chansey and Snorlax stop all of wallZapdos's attacks cold. Electric-types do well against Zapdos too, especially those who are immune to Thunderbolt, such as Jolteon and Electivire. Flygon and Gligar have a relatively easy time against Zapdos lacking Hidden Power Ice, while Gastrodon can wall Zapdos who aren't running Hidden Power Grass. Grass-types such as Celebi or Roserade function well against some Zapdos, but must be wary of Heat Wave and U-turn.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Zapdos gets Lightningrod from the Dream World, giving it a Special Attack boost when it switching in on switches into Electric-type moves. While not weak to the type these attacks, this lets Zapdos come in on more Pokemon. However, Pressure is still better for SubRoost. The Special Attack boost can might be very useful on the sweeping and Choice sets. However, but be warned, you get no Heat Wave using Lightningrod, causing you Zapdos to lose coverage.</p>
All right, this analysis needed quite a lot of fixing even after 2 checks, so I am sorry this needs another check to be done.
GP 3 / 4
