Flying-type as offensive STAB

Introduction

Flying is one of the best offensive types; it is resisted by only three types—Electric, Steel and Rock—and nothing is immune to it. With the introduction of the Fairy-type in Generation VI, it holds the distinction of having the fewest types resistant to it while having nothing immune to it, sharing that position with Rock, Dark, and Fairy. However, none of these types have access to a 120 Base Power, 100% accuracy move, which Flying has in Brave Bird. Flying also has decent moves on the special side in Hurricane and Air Slash. This makes you wonder: have offensive Flying-types always been dominant? Are they in XY OU? Read on to find out.

History

Going on the offense with Flying STAB in RBY was, well, not so common. The only common OU Pokémon that actually used its Flying STAB is Zapdos; however, that is only its secondary STAB, hitting Grass-types and special behemoths that can take its Thunderbolt. GSC wasn't that kind to Flying offense either; while it gave us Ho-Oh and Lugia, neither of them even considered using Flying moves. Their available options—Fly and Gust—weren't exactly the greatest moves in the world. In OU, STAB Flying-type attacks weren't common either; Zapdos gained Hidden Power and forgot all about its Flying STAB.

In ADV, there still wasn't a useful Flying-type attack. Aeroblast was a Lugia exclusive, Drill Peck had poor distribution, Fly was well... Fly, and Wing Attack and Aerial Ace were pretty weak. Still, Flying STAB started popping up and a Flying resistance actually was useful from that Generation onwards. Salamence and Gyarados were two of the most threatening sweepers in OU thanks to Dragon Dance. However, both of their primary STABs—Dragon and Water—were specially based. Therefore, their only option for actually using a STAB move alongside Dragon Dance was Hidden Power Flying.

DPP was a big moment for Flying-type sweepers, as it introduced Brave Bird, a ridiculously strong with 120 Base Power and perfect accuracy, with its only drawback being recoil. Unfortunately, it still lacked great users: Staraptor was the best one with 120 base Attack and 100 base Speed, but it was frail and SR-weak. Crobat and Honchkrow were also very powerful, and while all three of them didn't end up making the cut for OU, they were too powerful for the UU tier and all ended up being banned. On the special side, Nasty Plot Togekiss was an uncommon but effective threat, with Air Slash being a reliable STAB move. Thanks to Serene Grace, it also had a 60% chance of flinching the opponent.

Then came BW, and with it came Hurricane along with Drizzle Politoed. Hurricane became even more of a spammable move than Brave Bird: not only did it have 120 Base Power and perfect accuracy in rain, but also a 30% chance of confusion and no drawbacks. In fact, Hurricane was so powerful that its most devastating user, Tornadus-T, was banned from OU. For those in need of a replacement, Tornadus, Moltres, and Dragonite were still able to use this powerful move. Another interesting Flying-type move was introduced as well: Acrobatics. While it is only 55 Base Power, when the user doesn't have an item, it's boosted to 110 Base Power and ends up being a devastatingly powerful move with perfect accuracy and no drawbacks. Pokémon like Gliscor and Tornadus could make excellent use of this move along with a Flying Gem.

XY changed this; Hurricane was nerfed to a disappointing 110 Base Power and not much was left of its accuracy, either; with no permanent rain, it mostly had to rely on 70% accuracy. Flying Gem is gone as well, leaving Acrobatics as an inferior option for most Pokémon. Not all is lost for XY though, as there are still several good Flying-type sweepers:

XY

Talonflame @ Choice Band
Ability: Gale Wings
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Flare Blitz
- U-turn
- Tailwind

Talonflame is one of the most defining threats in the XY OU metagame, and for good reason. Gale Wings is an amazing ability, giving every Flying-type move priority. This makes Talonflame one of the best, if not the best, revenge killers around. Because it doesn't need a Choice Scarf, it can equip a Choice Band and fire off a 180 Base Power priority move (factoring in STAB). Thanks to that high power, the Choice Band boost, and Flying's good coverage, not many sweepers can take that hit.

In fact, Talonflame can also go on the offensive itself. With the same set, it can also use its power to wreck havoc when given a free turn. A lot of teams are unable to deal with its power: for example, with just a little prior damage, 252 HP Landorus-T is 2HKOed factoring in the Intimidate drop. Another potent set to sweep with is its Swords Dance set. Talonflame can force a lot of switches thanks to the threat of a priority Brave Bird and set up a Swords Dance. With the +2 boost and Sharp Beak, it can often clean up offensive teams.

Pinsir @ Pinsirite
Ability: Hyper Cutter
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Return
- Quick Attack
- Earthquake

Pinsir has the most powerful (one-turn) Flying STAB move of all, Return. While it is normally a Normal-type move, Mega Pinsir's Aerilate ability transforms it into a Flying-type move and gives it a 30% power boost, leaving it at effectively 133 Base Power before STAB. In addition to that, Aerilate also works on Quick Attack, giving it 52 Base Power coming off of Pinsir's 155 base Attack, allowing Pinsir to pick off faster but frailer targets. After a Swords Dance, there really isn't much that can stop Mega Pinsir. Even bulky Pokémon that resist Flying, such as Rotom-W, have a chance of being KOed by a +2 Return after Stealth Rock!

Staraptor @ Choice Band
Ability: Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Double-Edge
- Close Combat
- U-turn

Staraptor isn't seen that much, as it is often seen as inferior to Talonflame. However, Staraptor has one notable advantage: more power. While Talonflame hits from a below-average 81 Attack stat, Staraptor hits from a great 120 Attack stat along with a 20% Reckless boost. It also has STAB Double-Edge and Close Combat to take out Flying-resistant Pokémon. For example, defensive Rotom-W is always OHKOed by Double-Edge and defensive Heatran is always KOed by Close Combat after Stealth Rock. This makes Staraptor a lot harder to switch into. Staraptor can also form a surprisingly good core with Talonflame; Staraptor comes out first, KOing the opponent's tanks or at least leaving a huge dent in them, and Talonflame comes in later to finish the job with nothing left to take a priority Brave Bird.

Tornadus-T @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Hurricane
- Superpower
- Knock Off
- U-turn

Tornadus-T has dropped quite a bit from its glory days in BW2 OU. The biggest change is the change in Drizzle mechanics. While one Generation ago, rain teams with Drizzle Politoed were very viable and one of the best playstyles, they aren't that good anymore. This leaves Tornadus-T with just a 70% accurate move as its main move, meaning it's not really spammable anymore. On top of that, Hurricane also dropped to 110 Base Power instead of its previous 120. However, Tornadus-T still has some tricks up its sleeve. Regenerator is still an amazing ability, especially along with an immunity to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, and also works great in combination with U-turn. Knock Off also got a nice boost, and unlike in previous Generations, actually has some power behind it. All of this makes Tornadus-T a solid pivot.

Conclusion

It seems that in the early generations Flying as offensive STAB wasn't common; it had poor moves and the users weren't all that great. From ADV onward, a Flying resistance actually meant something with powerful sweepers, though reliant on the weak Hidden Power. BW was the highlight for Flying-type sweepers, though. Hurricane was one of the best moves in the game, and rain supported it greatly.

This changed when XY arrived, as Hurricane lost both power and accuracy and specially based Flying sweepers usually forgo their Flying STAB moves for their other STAB moves. Flying as physical STAB is better than ever, though, and the introduction of Gale Wings and Aerilate has led to some amazing Pokémon. A Flying resistance on a Pokémon is now much more useful than a few Generations ago, which shows the improvement of Flying as offensive STAB.

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