Rayquaza [QC 0/3]

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RNGIsFatal

Banned deucer.
Ubers - Rayquaza
QC: 0
GP: 0

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[OVERVIEW]

* With stellar offense stats of 150 on both Attack and Special Attack, Rayquaza serves as a terrifying wallbreaker that puts opponents under immense pressure of unpredictability due to its ability to utilize many different sets.
* Accessibility to set-up moves, Swords Dance and Dragon Dance, can make Rayquaza a frightening set-up sweeper with sufficient team support. The power after boosts makes Rayquaza capable of tearing through any defensive teams.
* Variety of poweful STAB moves and coverage moves, such as Dragon Ascent, Draco Meteor, or V-Create lets Rayquaza to heavily damage opponents even without boost from aforementioned set-up moves.
* Extreme Speed also lets Rayquaza be an emergency way to stop weakened sweepers such as Geomancy Xerneas and Rock Polish Groudon, leaving Rayquaza with an important role even against offensive teams.
* The unique ability Air Lock lets Rayquaza be an emergency check to Primal Groudon by hitting it with Water-type moves negating Desolate Land and check teams that rely on Sand Rush users such as Excadrill.
* Support Arceus-forms and Giratina-O, which are the most relevant hazard cleaners in the metagame, are heavily pressured or forced out by Rayquaza's capability to cripple them to dangerously low health or KO them.
* Speed tier of 95 lets Rayquaza solidly check both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, but it also leaves Rayquaza vulnerable to all Arceus forms and most Mega's without boosts.
* Rayquaza's quite underwhelming bulk discourages it from switching into most attacks, and the typing gives Rayquaza an exploitable x4 weakness against Ice-types in the metagame where Ice Beam is prevalent, and Stealth Rock weakness that strictly limits the number of times Rayquaza can switch in over the match.

[Mixed Wallbreaker]
name: Rayquaza
move 1: Dragon Ascent
move 2: Draco Meteor
move 3: V-Create / Earthquake
move 4: Extreme Speed / Aqua Tail
item: Life Orb
ability: Air Lock
nature: Naughty / Naive
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Dragon Ascent is the first STAB move of Rayquaza that heavily damages any neutral targets with the conjunction of Life Orb, with the relevant exception of Lugia. It is the significantly important move for Rayquaza to KO Primal Kyogre and Xerneas reliably.
* Draco Meteor is used to hit physically defensive opponents such as Primal Groudon, both forms of Giratina, Zygarde-C, and physically defensive Arceus forms.
Dragon Ascent and Draco Meteor has considerable chance of achieving KO against support Arceus forms with Naughty nature and Stealth Rock damage.
* V-Create is incredibly powerful coverage that discourages any Steel-types except Dialga from taking on Rayquaza. Even Dialga is severly damaged by this move due to majority of the variants carrying Shuca Berry to minimize damage from Earthquake.
* Earthquake, while the sheer power is not great as V-Create and is prepared against by Dialga, Zekrom, and Tyranitar, helps Rayquaza heavily damage or KO any aforementioned opponents if they lack Shuca Berry, and does not have drawbacks of lowering its stats.
* Extreme Speed, while the move is not powerful as previously mentioned ones, is used to finish weakened opponents and dangerous set-up sweepers such as Mega Salamence and Xerneas.
* Aqua Tail, while the move itself does not provide wide coverage, is considerable option that guarantees OHKO against most Primal Groudon variants with Naughty nature, and this lets Rayquaza to take on Primal Groudon more effectively without desiring prior damage.

Set Details
========

* EV's invested for maximizing Attack is crucially important for Rayquaza to do as much damage as possible while maximizing the chance to 2HKO support Arceus forms after Stealth Rock damage.
* Speed EV's are also maximized to let Rayquaza outspeed support Arceus, Lugia, Xerneas and Yveltal that do not maximize their speed, and both Primals.
* 4 remaining EV's are put into Special Attack to let Rayquaza net a little more damage from Draco Meteor.
* Naughty nature lets Rayquaza hit harder in general and achieve 2HKOes against support Arceus in certain circumstances, but Naive Nature can be chosen if outspeeding aforementioned opponents is more important than the raw power.
* Life Orb, while it puts Rayquaza on timer with recoil damage, is the most ideal choice for this set since the set involves mixed attacks that needs some boost to let Rayquaza fulfill its role as a wallbreaker easier. 29 HP Ivs can be chosen to minimize damage from Stealth Rock and Life Orb recoil.

Usage Tips
========

* Because Primal Groudon is the most popular and reliable Stealth Rock setter, it is often sent as a lead, and if this is clearly predictable from team preview, it is a good option to lead with Rayquaza. Even if the prediction of opposing lead is not correct, Rayquaza discourages most opponents from setting hazards or accumulating boosts due to its offensive presence.
* Rayquaza is also an excellent anti-lead against Deoxys-S or other suicide leads, due to its ability to heavily damage them with appropriate move and finish them off using Extreme Speed. This forces the opposing leads to have only one turn to do something worthwhile for their own team.
* Rayquaza's resistances against Fire and Water-types as well as noteworthy immunity against Ground-types sometimes allow it to switch in, but most opponents with aforementioned typing carry problematic coverage moves; many offensive Primal Groudon carries Stone Edge, and most Primal Kyogre and Arceus-Water is equipped with Ice Beam. These moves potentially OHKO Rayquaza and many other unexpected opponents may be equipped with moves that can heavily damage or KO it. There are barely any safe situation for Rayquaza to switch into attacks, so it is crucially important to scout opponents' movesets and decide the appropriate moment to switch in Rayquaza.
* Despite the fact that Rayquaza has expansive movepool, it is very important to launch attacks with right predictions. Wrong predictions will result in consequences of losing momentum or giving opposing team an opportunity to set up, suchh as Arceus-Rock and Dialga can switch into Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent and force it out, and Xerneas can switch into Draco Meteor and proceed to set up Geomancy or OHKO Rayquaza outright using Moonblast.

Team Options
========

* Due to recoil damage that is caused by Life Orb, Rayquaza is worn down very quickly over the match, it is crucially important to keep Rayquaza away from Stealth Rock. Defoggers such as support Arceus forms, Giratina-O, or Mega Sableye that has Magic Bounce are mandatory in the team to let Rayquaza do as much damage as possible before it faints.
* Setup sweepers such as Xerneas and Mega Salamence greatly appreciate Rayquaza's ability to weaken the opposing team. For Xerneas, especially if it has bulky EV investment, it requires prior damage to OHKO opponents with +2 Moonblast. Mega Salamence, although the repeating typing may seem awful, is capable of sweeping the opposing team after Dragon Dance boosts if Rayquaza has weakened important opponents such as Primal Groudon or defensive Arceus forms.
* Stealth Rock helps Rayquaza feature OHKOes on foes such as Primal Kyogre or Yveltal with better possibility and Sticky Web lets Rayquaza severely dent or KO faster foes such as Kyurem-W, Deoxys-A, Mega Gengar, Darkrai, and all Arceus and Mewtwo variants, before they get a chance to attack or status Rayquaza first.

[Choice Band]
name: Rayquaza
move 1: Dragon Ascent
move 2: V-Create
move 3: Earthquake / Waterfall
move 4: Extreme Speed
item: Choice Band
ability: Air Lock
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Dragon Ascent, paired with Choice Band, becomes a devastatingly strong move that OHKOes many relevant opponents, such as Xerneas, Yveltal, and Primal Kyogre after Stealth Rock damage, and still does decent damage to anything resist Flying-types.
* V-Create has the same base power as STAB Dragon Ascent, and it is used to OHKO most Steel-types such as Solgaleo and Arceus-Steel, which will otherwise use recovery move to heal off damage from Dragon Ascent. It also can finish off Shuca Berry Dialga after some prior damage. However, the stat drops often causes the loss of momentum afterwards.
* Earthquake is another option that still hits Steel-types hard while also hitting Arceus-Rock super effectively on switch-in, but relatively lower base power than V-Create and the prominence of Shuca Berry users such as Dialga and Zekrom can sometimes be inferior to V-Create in exchange of consistency that comes from the lack of stat drops after use.
* Waterfall is an option to hit Primal Groudon, and thanks to Choice Band, Rayquaza can now hit Primal Groudon more reliably outside of using Aqua Tail with perfect accuracy.
* Extreme Speed turns Rayquaza into a very reliable revenge killer, and with Choice Band, it can sometimes revenge kill weakened opponents that Life Orb set cannot.

Set Details
========

* Jolly nature is preferred to outspeed both Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, and the boost from Choice Band makes Adamant nature quite unnecessary.
* EV's are used to maximize Attack and Speed, which allows Rayquaza to hit as hard and hit as fast as possible.
* Choice Band, while locking Rayquaza into one move is quite disappointing, but the significant boost of initial raw power makes such factors worth bearing.

Usage Tips
========

* Rayquaza must be brought safely with aggressive double switches or pivoting from the likes of Yveltal with U-turn, because its natural bulk and typing does not let it survive hits from most offensive teams.
* Due to the trait of Choice Band locking Rayquaza into a single move, the set itself is very reliant to predictions. Such as if the opponent anticipates Dragon Ascent from Rayquaza and switches to Arceus-Rock, whether Rayquaza has predicted the switch and used Earthquake or not will affect each players' momentum significantly.

Team Options
========

* Just like the previous set, the team option is relatively simple. Setup sweepers such as Xerneas, Swords Dance Arceus, and Mega Salamence appreciates Rayquaza's ability to dent or even remove important opponents that hinder their sweeping.
* Suicide lead with hazards, such as Deoxys-S and Excadrill lets Rayquaza safely achieve potential OHKO's without worrying about being retaliated from strong attackers such as Mewtwo or Deoxys-A.
* Even though the longevity of this set is much better than Life Orb set, because of Rayquaza's weakness to Stealth Rock, one is forced to acquire bulky Arceus variants or Giratina-O to keep Rayquaza away from entry hazards.

[Swords Dance]
name: Rayquaza
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Dragon Ascent
move 3: Earthquake / V-Create
move 4: Extreme Speed
item: Life Orb / Focus Sash
ability: Air Lock
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

* Swords Dance is a setup move that doubles Rayquaza's attack, and it lets Rayquaza OHKO or 2HKO the entire metagame after the boost with the conjunction of Life Orb.
* Dragon Dance is another setup move that grants less raw power but a crucial boost in Speed which makes Rayquaza significantly harder to revenge kill.
* Earthquake is more consistent option in Swords Dance set, because of its ability to dent even Shuca Berry users such as Dialga and Tyranitar. It also hits Arceus-Rock hard on switch-in.
* V-Create is a very powerful move that can be used with Dragon Dance to alleviate stat drops while hitting all Steel-types in metagame, such as Solgaleo, very hard.
* Extreme Speed turns into a fearsome priority move that takes out at least half of HP of most neutral and relevant opponents in the metagmae after Swords Dance boost. It also lets Rayquaza to do something worthwhile when it is not able to accumulate boosts.

Set Details
========

* Adamant nature is used with Dragon Dance, since the boost of Speed mediates the lack of Speed boost which Rayquaza would have with Jolly nature.
* Jolly nature is preferred with Swords Dance set, since the doubling of an Attack and Life Orb provides sufficient raw power to tear through defensively oriented teams.
* Life Orb, while requires Rayquaza to switch into passive opponents such as Blissey or Lugia to set up, makes Rayquaza very hard to stop once it has accumulated boosts.
* Focus Sash can be used to survive any one potential OHKO and set up and gain boosts, but Rayquaza generally favors the additional power from Life Orb and Stealth Rock often ends up failing to make it intact.

Usage Tips
========

* As always, Rayquaza must be kept away from Stealth Rock by accompanying with bulky Defoggers, and this is more important if it has Focus Sash.
* If Rayquaza's team has more reliable sweeper such as Xerneas, setting up with Rayquaza is not always necessary. Life Orb already lets Rayquaza to do sufficient damage to opponents for allies to finish them later in the game.
* Presence of dangerous sweepers in the opposing teams such as Xerneas or Swords Dance Arceus lets Rayquaza utilize Focus Sash better by surviving a hit and retaliating with STAB Dragon Ascent along with Extreme Speed.

Team Options
========

* If Rayquaza is equipped with Swords Dance, Sticky Web support, such as Smeargle and Shuckle is necessary due to the lackluster of Speed. Even with Dragon Dance set, Sticky Web can be a nice hazard to install on the opposing side to keep Rayquaza safe from Choice Scarf users.
* Other hazards are appreciated to keep Rayquaza from being retaliated by Focus Sash users such as Deoxys-A or very bulky opponents such as Lunala or Lugia.
* Dual screens, namely Reflect and Light Screen helps Rayquaza set up much easier against majority of the metagame, and Deoxys-S and Klefki is capable of doing this reliably.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

* Choice Specs with Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Surf, and Earth Power can be a nice surprise factor to an opponent, but better movepool from physically oriented sets and lack of the accessibility to Extreme Speed makes this a generally inferior option.
* Charti Berry lets Rayquaza set up in front of Primal Groudon with Stone Edge and Arceus-Rock if the team requires emergency setup sweeper, but Rayquaza is usually not bulky enough to sweep long enough and appreciates the boost form Life Orb.
* Choice Scarf can make Rayquaza a even better revenge killer, but the lackluster of power is quite disappointing and having Extreme Speed already makes Rayquaza sufficiently efficient revenge killer.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Fairy-types and Ice-types**: Although they can never switch into Rayquaza's attacks safely, most of these variants such as Xerneas and Kyurem-W are equipped with Choice Scarf. In addition, their natural bulk lets them survive unboosted hit from Rayquaza and OHKO back using appropriate STAB moves. Xerneas is more dangerous opponent since it can force out Rayquaza and proceed to set up Geomancy.

**Arceus forms with type advantage**: Arceus-Rock, Arceus-Steel, and Arceus-Fairy can take care of any Rayquaza variants if it has no boosts. They can OHKO or severely damage Rayquaza, and they also naturally outspeed Rayquaza. However, none of them are perfectly safe from Rayquaza's coverage moves such as Earthquake and V-Create, and Arceus-Fairy loses majority of its health if it switches into Dragon Ascent.

**Shuca Berry users**: Common Shuca Berry users such as Tyranitar, Dialga, and Zekrom are saved from Earthquake by Shuca Berry halving the damage, and they can use their respective STAB move to OHKO Rayquaza back. However, none of them can handle Rayquaza easily if it has accumulated boosts from Swords Dance or Dragon Dance without losing significant portion of their health.

**Choice Scarf users**: Lunala, Kyurem-W, and Xerneas are relevant Choice Scarf users that can potentially OHKO Rayquaza before it is able to do anything significant. However, Sticky Web or Dragon Dance variants of Rayquaza leaves them in danger against it.

**Status**: Burn halves Rayquaza's attack, and at the same time, rendera Rayquaza unable to break any walls for the rest of the match, and Paralysis hinder's Rayquaza's Speed which is not able to be recovered other than by using multiple Dragon Dance. Poison, while not tragic status as aforementioned ones, puts a timer on Rayquaza and wears down Life Orb sets very rapidly while forcing Choice Band sets to make accurate predictions every time it attacks to do as much damage as possible before it faints.
 
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Not QC, but the mixed set should probably be:
Draco
Ascent
Extremespeed
V-create

Reason being is dropping Extremespeed makes Ray almost dead weight vs the hyper offense teams, while only giving it a situational move in return. I'd relegate Earthquake and Aqua Tail to moves because the above is probably the most optimal Ray set in terms of coverage and across all match ups. Giving up V create allows Celesteela to wall you which is very irksome. Draco Meteor, Dragon Ascent and V create already do boatloads of damage to most Earthquake targets anyway (albeit with a stat drop as you mentioned, but it's more of a hit and run attacker anyway).

Swords Dance and Dragon Dance should certianly be two sets. They play differently enough to warrant that and the current slashes are pretty messy.
 
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RNGIsFatal

Banned deucer.
I am going to implement the suggestion above since I totally agree with it.

... once I am done with my busy schedule for this month. I promise. I already took so much time writing even what I have right now. Sorry in advance for delay.
 

RNGIsFatal

Banned deucer.
Okay this is a shame, but I think someone else has to continue the analysis. I cannot finish this because I lack time, and I feel like I do not have that much knowledge about meta to combine two sets. Also, I already have lots of stuff down here and QC team is either inactive or not satisfied with changes I made. Sorry.
 
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