History Gen 3 was the Generation that shaped the current Ubers metagame. Groudon and Kyogre arrived on the scene and changed things forever. However, while it's easy to get sidetracked by the titans of the land and sea, don't forget about the master of the sky, Rayquaza. Back then it had the highest Attack and Special Attack of all Dragon type Pokémon, a title it held onto right up until BW2 when Kyurem's new formes were released. However, back then Dragon types were a bit of a joke. All Dragon moves were special, and none of them were especially powerful. As such, Rayquaza couldn't use the full extent of its power. Luckily, Gen 4 soon put that right. 2 big things happened in Gen 4: 1, the physical/special split and 2, Dragon types got a massive buff, including Rayquaza. Its Dragon Claw and Outrage became physical, and the latter got a nice 120 power. It didn't miss out on the special side either - it got the brand new 140 power STAB Draco Meteor. The ability to smash things equally hard from either side turned Rayquaza into one of the most dangerous Pokémon in the tier, and that's a tier that includes a Pokémon designed to be better than anything else and the Pokémon equivalent of God. Most people wouldn't look at Rayquaza and say "Hmm...but weak. Could do with a buff." But someone at Game Freak obviously did, because they gave it a new event move: V-create. I like to imagine it went like this: Spoiler Rayquaza: Wow that's an amazing move Victini! Can you show me how to use it? Victini: No way! It's my signature move! Rayquaza: Hmmm... [Takes Victini up to 15,000 feet (4572 metres)] Rayquaza: How about now? Victini: OK OK! I'll show you! [/HIDE] Rayquaza's Qualities Looking at Rayquaza's stats, the first thing that catches your eye is those Attack stats. Having 150 Attack or Special Attack can get a Pokémon a lot of usage, but that's not good enough for Rayquaza: it has 150 Attack and 150 Special Attack. Those mixed attacking stats are shared only by Deoxys-N (who is outclassed at almost everything) and surpassed only be Deoxys-A (who is more fragile than a sugar glass butterfly). As Kyurem-B will testify though, high attack stats don't matter if you have a crap movepool. That's not an issue for Rayquaza. On the physical side it has Outrage, V-create, Earthquake, Extremespeed, Aqua Tail and Stone Edge; on the special side it has Draco Meteor, Overheat, Fire Blast, Dragon Pulse, Surf and Thunderbolt. And unlike most of the Ubers Dragons, it has access to 2 brilliant boosting moves in Dragon Dance and Swords Dance allowing it to become an extremely threatening sweeper. Normally, you would check Dragon types by switching in your bulky Steel types during the Rain. That doesn't work with Rayquaza: thanks to Air Lock, it can OHKO even the most specially defensive Ferrothorn with Fire Blast whatever the weather, with no investment and a hindering nature. It also lets it cancel out weather related abilities, meaning it can reliably revenge kill Excadrill, Venusaur and Kingdra in their chosen weathers (providing the latter hasn't boosted yet). While base 95 Speed isn't anything to boast about, it still outruns the plethora of base 90s you see in Ubers. While that all sounds wonderful, Rayquaza has its drawbacks. It uses the old fallback typing of Dragon/Flying (it was the last Pokémon to have this typing incidentally). This is not good defensive typing in Ubers, with a weakness to Stealth Rock as well as common Dragon and Ice moves. And coming back to its speed, there are a lot of faster Choice Scarf users out there that can still outrun even after a Dragon Dance. To be honest though, taking the hits is not something Rayquaza should be doing. Its defences aren't great, especially with the powerful moves being flung around in Ubers. You should still use Rayquaza though. In addition to its amazing power, it's a sky serpent. What's not to like about that? Playing With Rayquaza There are 2 main roles Rayquaza can accomplish on your team: sweeper and wallbreaker. There are 3 main sets Rayquaza uses to sweep: Swords Dance, Dragon Dance and Mixed Dragon Dance. Swords Dance gives Rayquaza unbelievable power, and also lets it throw a rude sign at the speed tiers with Extremespeed. After using Swords Dance, Rayquaza's already great attack leaves the sky and goes into space. At +2, Adamant Rayquaza's Attack sits at 876! Dragon Claw is chosen as the STAB move, and will OHKO pretty much everything that doesn't resist it. V-create takes care of almost everything that resists Dragon Claw, only missing out on Heatran. However due to its stat penalties, don't use it unless you have to. Extremespeed makes this set hard to revenge kill. Deoxys (N&A), Darkrai and Shaymin-S are all OHKOd by a +2 Extremespeed - Mewtwo and Palkia have a good chance to be OHKOd after Stealth Rock. Tempting as the Swords Dance set might be, it doesn't do anything to remedy Rayquaza's poor speed. Luckily though, just change one word to Dragon and you've got yourself an incredibly dangerous sweeper. At +1 Speed, Rayquaza outruns the entire unboosted metagame besides Deoxys-S. And at +1 Outrage and Earthquake will at worst 2HKO everything not resisting them. Overheat takes care of the few Steel types Earthquake misses out on, and thanks to Air Lock they can't hide behind Rain. Still, you might be looking at the Swords Dance and Dragon Dance sets and thinking "It's a shame to waste that amazing special attack." Well the good news is with the mixed Dragon Dance set you don't have to! Just pump a load of EVs into special attack, and slot Draco Meteor on there, and you're good to go. After using Dragon Dance, most opponents expect a purely physical set. So they send in their Groudon - which is promptly OHKOd by Draco Meteor. This is one of Rayquaza's most independent sets, and is deadly late game. However, it does suffer from a chronic case of 4 moveslot syndrome. Draco Meteor and Outrage are too good to give up, so in the last slot you have to choose between Fire Blast and Earthquake for coverage. There are 2 sets Rayquaza uses to wallbreak: Mixed and Choice Band Mixed Rayquaza is a Pokémon all stall teams fear. It eats walls for breakfast - Draco Meteor OHKOs any Giratina after Stealth Rock, while Outrage puts Chansey and Blissey in their place. Fire Blast barbecues Ferrothorn, Forretress and Skarmory. Earthquake can hit some extra Steel types while Extremespeed gets priority. Or suppose you like the idea of the power behind the boosting sets but don't want to spend a turn setting up. Don't worry then, Choice Band is here to save the day! After equipping a Choice Band, Rayquaza's Attack reaches a brutal 657. Choice Band Outrage 2HKOs support Groudon and physically defensive Lugia after Stealth Rock, to give you an idea of this set's power. If it gets lucky with the damage rolls, it can 2HKO Lugia even without rocks. V-Create smashes stuff that resists Outrage. Extremespeed lets Rayquaza pick off weakened foes. There's a number of moves you can use in the last slot. Dragon Claw can be used for a more reliable STAB; Earthquake gets some additional coverage; Aqua Tail 2HKOs Groudon without locking Rayquaza in. You could also run a Choice Scarf set, although Palkia and Garchomp do that better. Likewise, a Choice Specs set is certainly possible, but Dialga, Palkia and Reshiram do that better. Playing against Rayquaza Hahaha...Countering Rayquaza...LOL! You want to counter something with 150/150 attacking stats and the movepool to hit everything neutrally? Yeah...not going to happen. To counter a Pokémon you must be able to switch into it with no risk of being O-2HKOd. And that's just not possible with Rayquaza. Lugia does well - if Multiscale's still active, it usually will win one on one. After Stealth Rock, Ice Beam OHKOs Rayquaza while Rayquaza can't hope to OHKO back. Support Groudon can survive a +1 Outrage or +2 V-create and OHKO back with Stone Edge, but will fold to a Draco Meteor. Scarf Terrakion can reliably revenge kill the boosting sets with Stone Edge, but switching in is a big no-no. Scarf Dialga can revenge kill the Swords Dance set, but Earthquake will OHKO, so again it can't switch in. Scarf Palkia outruns all Rayquaza sets and OHKOs with Spacial Rend, but the Swords Dance set has a good chance to OHKO with a +2 Extremespeed after Stealth Rock. Mewtwo can take sets with no boosting move one on one, but it's outrun if Rayquaza's at +1 and a +2 Extremespeed has a very good chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock. Scarf Garchomp isn't OHKOd by a +2 Extremespeed, while OHKOing back with its own Outrage. Fitting Rayquaza onto your team While it does face a lot of competition from the many other Dragon types in the tier, Rayquaza has its advantages over them. Which set you're using dictates which support is best to provide. Swords Dance and Dragon Dance need to have Scarf Terrakion and Garchomp eliminated before they can sweep. Groudon can wipe out both of them with relative ease, while also laying Stealth Rock to help Rayquaza sweep. Deoxys-S can also lay hazards to help it get KOs it otherwise couldn't. For instance, with 3 layers of Spikes Swords Dance Rayquaza can OHKO Garchomp with a +2 Extremespeed. The Mixed Dragon Dance set is lower maintenance. You should choose teammates depending on what move you went for in the last slot: if you chose Earthquake, bring a strong Fire type (Ho-Oh, Reshiram) for Ferrothorn, Forretress and Skarmory. If you chose Fire Blast, bring a strong Ground or Fighting type for Dialga and Heatran (Groudon, Blaziken, Terrakion, Ground Arceus). Hazards are always appreciated, although most of the time Stealth Rock will be enough. The Choice Band and Mixed sets will be switching in and out a lot, so Rapid Spin support is mandatory. Without it, Rayquaza will go down very quickly. Excadrill gets good synergy with Rayquaza, since Rayquaza is immune to Ground moves while resisting Fire, Fighting and Water. Excadrill in turn can switch in on the Outrages aimed at Rayquaza and spin away the hazards. Good teammates for the Band and Mixed sets are fast sweepers that can pick up the pieces after Rayquaza's blown holes into the team. Dragon Dance Salamence, Swords Dance Lucario and Swords Dance Normal and Steel Arceus all work very well. Steel Arceus in particular enjoys perfect synergy with Rayquaza: it resists the Ice Rock and Dragon moves Rayquaza draws, while Rayquaza is immune to the Ground moves Steel Arceus draws and resists the Water and Fighting ones. Get out there! The master of the skies is ready to help you. It's not perfect by any means, but anyone doubting its power will soon be crying. Whether you need a sweeper or something to clear the path for another sweeper, give Rayquaza a shout. It didn't stop Groudon and Kyogre fighting by asking them nicely.