UU Spotlight: Mega Pidgeot
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Introduction
Pidgeot is just one of the many Pokémon that have been gifted a new lease on life in Generation VI through a Mega Evolution. Gaining access to a Mega forme has lifted Pidgeot from the depths of NU in previous generations to the cream of the UU crop. Throughout early ORAS, however, it was considered to be simply a very good Pokémon, and not arguably the best one in UU, as it is now. This can be largely attributed to the popularity of Mega Aerodactyl, which resists its main STAB attack and can easily outspeed and OHKO it. The arrival of Feraligatr and Mamoswine along with the rise of Mega Swampert, however, has led to a decline in Mega Aerodactyl usage, which has allowed Mega Pidgeot to truly flourish. And it has perhaps flourished a little bit too much. In fact, its impact on the tier has been such that it is going to be UU's next public suspect. This is mainly due to its ability to wreak havoc on all playstyles with its perfectly accurate Hurricanes thanks to No Guard, which is backed up by its high Special Attack and Speed stats. Its three-attacks set utilizes Heat Wave's great coverage and and the momentum that U-turn provides to tear apart balanced and offensive teams, while its Work Up + Refresh set completely dismantles more defensive teams. Any check to it is going to be a shaky one at best thanks to Hurricane's confusion chance, which allows Mega Pidgeot to muscle past even the most dedicated special walls. As of now, it is the defining threat in the UU tier, and it's one that every team absolutely must prepare for.
Pidgeot's Qualities
What makes Mega Pidgeot so dangerous is its ability to launch perfectly accurate Hurricanes with an impressive 135 base Special Attack stat. This means that any switch-in to Mega Pidgeot, besides taking substantial damage, also has a significant 30% chance of being confused. Additionally, if the switch-in is slower than Mega Pidgeot, then it will have to tank two Hurricanes before being able to retaliate, which means that the switch-in has 51% chance of being confused before it can even land a hit. As a consequence, defensive teams will find themselves put under tremendous pressure when facing Mega Pidgeot. Even dedicated special walls and Pokémon that resist Flying, which could otherwise sponge Hurricane relatively comfortably, can be broken past with a couple of self-inflicted hits of confusion damage. Prime examples of such Pokémon include Snorlax, Rotom-H, Porygon2, and Florges. Even the mighty Blissey can be defeated if Mega Pidgeot is running Work Up.
Mega Pidgeot also has a blazing base 121 Speed stat, naturally outspeeding most of the tier. This makes it an excellent tool as a revenge killer and late-game cleaner against offensive teams, which in turn will find themselves hard-pressed to revenge kill Mega Pidgeot, never mind switch in to it. Mega Pidgeot also has the ideal moves to use alongside Hurricane, with Heat Wave roasting any Steel-types that attempt to switch in and U-turn allowing Mega Pidgeot to pivot out of unfavorable matchups against Pokémon such as Mega Aerodactyl and Mega Ampharos.
Mega Pidgeot's only flaws are its middling 83 / 80 / 80 defenses. While not terrible, they do mean that Mega Pidgeot is at least 3HKOed by just about any decently powered neutral hit, such as Florges's Moonblast or Suicune's Scald. However, in combination with Roost, its defenses are good enough to allow Mega Pidgeot to switch into resisted hits relatively fearlessly. It also packs a useful immunity to Earthquake, which it can take advantage of.
Playing with Pidgeot
Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- U-turn / Substitute
Hurricane is Mega Pidgeot's main sweeping tool. Powerful, perfectly accurate, and with a 30% confusion chance to boot, it makes for an incredible STAB move. It hits the entire tier for huge damage when unresisted (barring a certain fat pink blob) and the confusion rate turns Mega Pidgeot from a decent sweeper to a fearsome wallbreaker. Heat Wave offers good coverage with Hurricane, nailing Steel-types such as Mega Aggron and Doublade for super effective damage. While this does leave Mega Pidgeot walled by Rock-types in theory, most of them are slow and rather specially frail, and therefore still detest coming in on Hurricanes. Mega Aerodactyl is one of the few Pokémon that can switch into Mega Pidgeot relatively comfortably and outspeed it, but thanks to Hurricane's confusion chance and a weakness to Stealth Rock, it too makes for a shaky counter. Roost adds to Mega Pidgeot's longevity and goes well with Mega Pidgeot's decent bulk. U-turn is a great move to scout for unfavourable matchups, and it is especially useful considering that Mega Pidgeot forces switches very easily, allowing it to pivot out of predicted switch-ins and retain momentum for its teammates. Substitute is a valid option to ease prediction and prevent status, and Mega Pidgeot's Substitute can be notoriously difficult to take out in conjunction with Hurricane's confusion chance. This set is designed to be an immediate threat that can be used as a mid-game wallbreaker as well as a late-game cleaner. It utilizes Heat Wave's coverage to defeat the Steel-types that resist Hurricane and U-turn to scout for unfavourable matchups and build up chip damage against Mega Pidgeot's counters. Once Mega Pidgeot's checks are either removed or weakened, it is free to sweep late-game with its powerful and reliable Hurricane. Its blazing base Speed stat of 121 also makes it an excellent revenge killer against offense, outspeeding many Pokémon commonly found on offensive teams such as Azelf, Cobalion, Krookodile, and Hydreigon.
Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Work Up
- Refresh
- Hurricane
- Roost
Similarly to the previous set, Hurricane is Mega Pidgeot's main sweeping tool, hitting most of the Pokémon that don't resist it for huge damage. Instead of bulldozing through teams with its strong STAB move and good coverage, however, this set aims to defeat Mega Pidgeot's common checks by boosting its Special Attack with Work Up. In combination with Refresh to heal itself of status ailments and Roost to shrug off weak attacks, this Mega Pidgeot set has the capability to completely demolish more defensive teams. In fact, stall teams can be 6-0ed if they don't carry a Pokémon that can either outspeed Mega Pidgeot or tank a Hurricane and KO it back, both of which they struggle to find. Blissey can't stand up to this set either, as Mega Pidgeot can simply boost up while healing itself of any poison or paralysis that Blissey attempts to inflict on it. It would take a significant number of full paralysis turns for Blissey to defeat it.
While this set does find it much harder to set up against offensive teams due to Mega Pidgeot's mediocre bulk, it can still find several opportunities to grab a boost with its resistances and immunities. If it does manage to grab one, it could very well be game over due to Mega Pidgeot's high Speed and the fact that most Pokémon commonly found on offensive teams would be cleanly OHKOed by a +1 Hurricane.
One thing to keep in mind when using Mega Pidgeot is that its bulk is nothing special. So one must be careful when attempting to switch Mega Pidgeot in, especially if Stealth Rock is up. While switching Mega Pidgeot in might not be too big of a problem against defensive teams, switching in against offensive teams can be troublesome due to the naturally increased pressure they exert. There's also the fact that in its base forme, Pidgeot only has a bse Speed stat of 101. Offensive teams can take advantage of this to KO Pidgeot on the turn it is Mega Evolving by using Pokémon that sit between the 101 and 121 Speed tiers, such as Azelf and Heliolisk. So it's a good idea to try to bring Mega Pidgeot in safely via a teammate's slow Volt Switch or U-turn, clever double switches, or coming in after another member of your team is KOed. The last option is also a great way to enable Pidgeot to Mega Evolve safely.
Playing against Pidgeot
Dedicated special walls and Pokémon that resist Hurricane can counter Mega Pidgeot rather well, provided that they don't get confused, of course. Snorlax, Florges, Porygon2, and Blissey are the few walls that are neutral to Hurricane but do not take much damage from it. They can then proceed to either attack Mega Pidgeot or cripple it with status.
As for offensive checks, Electric-types such as Mega Ampharos and Rotom-H are especially good because they have solid special bulk and also resist Heat Wave. Jolteon is a rather niche option and is quite frail, but it outspeeds Mega Pidgeot and can proceed to OHKO with Thunderbolt.
Rock-types also resist both Hurricane and Heat Wave, although only ones with decent special bulk, such as Mega Aerodactyl and specially defensive Rhyperior, can actually handle Hurricane's power. Mega Aerodactyl is probably the single best offensive check to Mega Pidgeot in UU, as it resists Hurricane while being able to outspeed and OHKO it with Stone Edge.
Steel-types that resist Hurricane, such as Mega Aggron and Doublade, make for decent checks to sets without Heat Wave. Empoleon is one of Mega Pidgeot's most solid checks, as it takes a pittance from both Hurricane and Heat Wave while being able to set up Stealth Rock, which limits Mega Pidgeot's switching ability.
Pokemén that outspeed Mega Pidgeot, such as Mega Beedrill, Mega Sceptile, and Choice Scarf users such as Darmanitan, Hydreigon, and Mienshao cannot directly switch into it but can all revenge kill it with a bit of prior damage. Powerful priority moves, such as Mamoswine's Ice Shard, Mega Absol's Sucker Punch, and Choice Band Entei's Extreme Speed are also decent ways to check Mega Pidgeot.
Clever double switches and use of VoltTurn are good ways to pressure it and force it to accumulate Stealth Rock damage. Mega Pidgeot users usually attempt to Mega Evolve as early as possible, so leading with a Pokémon that outspeeds Pidgeot in its base forme can be a good strategy to KO it while it attempts to Mega Evolve. Examples include Life Orb Azelf and Heliolisk.
One has to keep in mind that any counter, no matter how specially bulky, is going to be a shaky one at best simply because of the confusion chance and perfect accuracy of Hurricane. If it weren't for No Guard, or if Hurricane didn't have a chance to confuse, Mega Pidgeot would not be as fearsome.
Fitting Pidgeot on your team
Mega Pidgeot fits in very well on offensive teams, particularly ones that utilize Volt Switch and U-turn, which can grant Pidgeot opportunities to come in safely and Mega Evolve. It also appreciates Rapid Spin or Defog support to get rid of Stealth Rock, which cripples it and compromises its decent bulk.
Stealth Rock support is also good for Mega Pidgeot itself, as common checks, such as Rotom-H and Mega Aerodactyl, are weak to it. Spikes support can also be used to wear down its other common counters, such as Empoleon, Florges, and Snorlax.
Mega Pidgeot appreciates teammates that can deal with Rock-types and Electric-types. So, Ground-types such as Krookodile and Grass-types such as Shaymin are decent partners. Swampert makes for a particularly good teammate, as its typing allows it to counter both Rock-types and Electric-types while being able to set up Stealth Rock to weaken Mega Pidgeot's checks.
It also fits well with physical wallbreakers such as Machamp, Heracross, and Feraligatr, which can deal with the special walls that stop Mega Pidgeot.
Get out there!
Life has been difficult for Pidgeot in previous generations, but its Mega Evolution has been an incredible blessing and has elevated it to a whole new level. Mega Pidgeot has cemented itself as a top tier UU threat and is one that must always be adequately prepared for (well, however well one can considering Hurricane's confusion rate). It is going to be UU's next public suspect, so there is a chance it might not be around for much longer. Go out there and experience it in UU while it's still around!
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