[SET]
name: Offensive
move 1: Dragon Dance / Stealth Rock
move 2: Stone Edge
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Ice Fang / Pursuit
item: Aerodactylite
ability: Tough Claws
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Mega Aerodactyl's high Attack stat, stellar Speed stat, and good offensive typing make it a solid offensive Pokemon for Flying-type teams. Its great Speed also lets it outspeed and handle fast threats like Tapu Koko, Zeraora, and Weavile. Its access to Dragon Dance lets Mega Aerodactyl increase its already good Attack stat to even greater levels and outspeed extremely fast Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Greninja, Regieleki, and Excadrill in the sand, making it considerably harder to revenge kill. Stealth Rock can also be used over Dragon Dance for role compression, especially when Mega Aerodactyl's teammates are not carrying it. Its high Speed stat lets it set Stealth Rock quickly against types like Flying, Dragon, and Fire and threaten their entry hazard removers. Stone Edge hits much of the metagame for good damage right off the bat, especially with Rock's good coverage. When boosted by Dragon Dance, it scores 2HKOs on Pokemon such as Slowbro and Mega Venusaur after minor chip damage. Earthquake in tandem with Stone Edge improves Mega Aerodactyl's coverage and lets it hit Pokemon such as Aegislash and Toxapex reliably. It also takes care of Electric-type Pokemon such as Tapu Koko, Magnezone, and Zeraora without relying on Stone Edge to hit. Tough Claws-boosted Ice Fang lets Mega Aerodactyl take care of bulky Ground- and Dragon-type Pokemon like Gliscor, Landorus, and Garchomp. Stone Edge + Ice Fang synergizes well in the Dragon matchup, as it can hit every viable Dragon-type for super effective damage. Pursuit, which is also boosted by Tough Claws, can be used over Ice Fang to handle threats to Flying-type teams such as Choice Band Victini, Spectrier, and Latios.
Mega Aerodactyl is vulnerable to Electric-type Pokemon like Alolan Raichu in Electric Terrain and Regieleki, so teammates like Gliscor and Landorus can cover that weakness. Gliscor can provide stallbreaking support to wear down walls and absorb status for Mega Aerodactyl, while Landorus is a formidable wallbreaker to beat physical walls like Toxapex, Porygon2, Galarian Corsola, and Hippowdon. Additionally, both can also utilize Stealth Rock so Mega Aerodactyl can use Dragon Dance to be more threatening. Ice- and Rock-type Pokemon like Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, Weavile, Nihilego, and Terrakion also threaten Mega Aerodactyl, so teammates like Corviknight, Celesteela, and Skarmory can handle them; in return, Mega Aerodactyl can deal with problematic Fire-type Pokemon like Victini and Mega Charizard Y. Corviknight can act as a great wincon with its Bulk Up set after Mega Aerodactyl has weakened the team, while Skarmory can also take on physical threats like Mega Scizor, Mega Sharpedo, and Excadrill. They both also provide Defog support to help with Mega Aerodactyl's Stealth Rock weakness. Celesteela, on the other hand, can take care of Steel-type Pokemon with Flamethrower or wear down teams for Mega Aerodactyl with Toxic + Leech Seed support and check Mega Diancie. Special attackers such as Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T can take care of Water-type Pokemon such as Swampert, Toxapex, and Urshifu-R that are problematic for Mega Aerodactyl. Mantine and Mandibuzz are also decent teammates to take on Water- and Ghost-type threats like Kingdra and Aegislash; the former provides Mega Aerodactyl with an important Water-type immunity while the latter provides pivoting with U-turn and Knock Off support. A wallbreaker like Dragonite can weaken shared checks like Toxapex for Mega Aerodactyl and appreciates Stealth Rock support for a late-game sweep.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Flying
Mega Aerodactyl's fast Taunt can be used to stop entry hazard setters like Hippowdon, Skarmory, and Krookodile as well as prevent walls like Toxapex, Galarian Corsola, and Porygon2 from using recovery moves; however, Mega Aerodactyl values all of its moveslots and Flying-type teams have better Taunt users. Fire Fang is also an option to hit Steel-type Pokemon like Ferrothorn and Forretress harder than any move on the set. Dual Wingbeat can be used over Dragon Dance to beat Pokemon like Kommo-o, Mega Gallade, and Mega Venusaur.
Checks and Counters
===================
Flying
**Defensive Pokemon**: Sturdy defensive Pokemon like Porygon2, Galarian Corsola, and Ferrothorn have little to fear from Mega Aerodactyl, as they can take it on even after a Dragon Dance, cripple it with status moves, and proceed to wear it down.
**Status Moves**: Being a physical attacker, Mega Aerodactyl fears burns from Scald and Will-O-Wisp, which leave it unable to do any significant damage. Paralysis from Thunder Wave and Discharge leaves it severely crippled, as it makes it slower and therefore a lot easier to handle.
**Steel-type Pokemon**: Mega Aerodactyl, in general, has trouble beating Steel-type Pokemon such as Aegislash, Celesteela, Ferrothorn, and Melmetal, as, due to their good bulk, they can take any unboosted move and severely damage it back.
**Priority Moves**: Mega Aerodactyl is weak to common priority moves like Bullet Punch, Aqua Jet, and Ice Shard from Pokemon such as Scizor, Azumarill, and Mamoswine, which can OHKO it or severely weaken it.
**Bulky Water-types**: Bulky Water-type Pokemon like Swampert, Slowbro, and Gastrodon give a hard time to Mega Aerodactyl, as it cannot hit them with super effective attacks and risk being burned by Scald.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Harpp, 320110]]
- Quality checked by: [[Maple, 473171], [Maroon, 305839]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
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