General Introducing the being of willpower Azelf. With a great 115 speed stat and awesome 125/125 attacking stats, Azelf is a force to be reckoned with. Its vast movepool includes gems like Stealth Rock, Knock Off, U-Turn, Dazzling Gleam, Nasty Plot and Thunder Wave. This lets Azelf perform numerous roles on your team, sometimes several at once. STAB Psyshock lets it smash clean through special walls like Florges and Snorlax while Dazzling Gleam means the Dark types that used to fill Azelf with fear will now think twice before switching in. Its ability helps it too, giving it an immunity to Ground type attacks, both forms of Spikes and Sticky Web. However, Azelf has a major flaw that limit its effectiveness: its defences are terrible, meaning it has to be extremely careful switching in. Its pure Psychic typing doesn't help things much either, offering few resistances. And while it is fast, it is still outrun by both forms of Aerodactyl and ties with Raikou (unless it's running a Rash nature) and Mega Houndoom and it can be easy pickings for users of priority moves. Lead / Suicide Lead Azelf @ Focus Sash / Normal Gem Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd Hasty Nature (+Spd -Def) - Stealth Rock - Taunt - Fire Blast / Energy Ball - Explosion / U-Turn This set is designed to set up Stealth Rock and go down in a blaze of glory. Stealth Rock is the crux of this set, helping Azelf's teammates get KOs they otherwise couldn't. Taunt prevents slower opposing hazard setters doing their thing, and renders most walls set up fodder. Fire Blast toasts most bulky Steel types, while Energy Ball can take out bulky Water and Ground types. Explosion can be used to stop a potential Defog or Rapid Spin, while U-Turn could be used to grab momentum and scout the opponent's switch in. The EVs maximise Speed and special attack with the leftovers going in attack to juice up your physical moves. As for items, a Normal Gem can be used alongside Explosion to give it some extra power while Focus Sash makes it much easier for Azelf to set up Stealth Rock. All Out Attacker Azelf @ Life Orb / Expert Belt Trait: Levitate EVs: 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd IVs: 29 HP Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) / Naive Nature (+Spd -SDef) - Psyshock / Psychic - Fire Blast - Energy Ball - Dazzling Gleam / Shadow Ball / Knock Off Just a simple attacking set. Psyshock is the recommended STAB, for its ability to hurt Florges and Snorlax more, but the extra power of Psychic could be helpful, but you will need teammates that can bring down special walls. Fire Blast deals heavy damage to most of LU's Steel types, OHKOing Forretres and Escavalier. Energy Ball takes care of bulky Water types like Gastrodon, Quagsire or Alomolola that may get in your way, and the chance to lower Special Defence is always nice. Dazzling Gleam badly hurts most Dragon and Dark types, especially Scrafty. Shadow Ball could be used for opposing Psychic types, while Knock Off could be used to cripple Porygon2, who otherwise walls you. The EVs maximise Speed and Special Attack, with the leftovers placed in Defence. If using Knock Off, use a Naive nature and put the extra 4 EVs into Attack. Life Orb or Expert Belt are the best items to use, with the former providing a consistent boost and the latter having no recoil. If using Life Orb, use 29 HP IVs above, as it will allow Azelf to land 11 attacks at most as opposed to 10, further expanding it's survival capabilities. Nasty Plot Azelf @ Life Orb Timid Nature (+Spd -Atk) Trait: Levitate EV: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd IV: 29 HP Nasty Plot Psyshock / Psychic Fire Blast Energy Ball / Dazzling Gleam Is Azelf not hitting hard enough for you? Well then, here's the solution. After using Nasty Plot Azelf's Special Attack skyrockets to a scorching 698. At +2, there's pretty much nothing Azelf can't 2HKO with the right move. Psyshock is recommended as the STAB move, since that OHKOs Florges and most Snorlax after Stealth Rock. Psychic is more powerful though. Fire Blast toasts Forretress, Tangrowth and Escavalier while Energy Ball destroys most bulky Water types. Dazzling Gleam could be used to give Dark and Dragon types a nasty shock EVs maximise speed and special attack. 29 HP IVs allows Azelf to survive 11 lashes of Life Orb recoil rather than 10. Other Options Azelf has a large support movepool, including Thunder Wave, Safeguard, Dual Screens, Magic Room, Skill Swap, Role Play, Toxic, Trick and Trick Room. However, due to its frailty it's better off attacking. Signal Beam can be used to hurt Dark, Psychic and Grass types in one go. Thunderbolt OHKOs Honchkrow, but apart from that Energy Ball already deals with most Water types. Azelf can try and use Calm Mind, but Nasty Plot is a much better move for it since it gives more power faster. Azelf can run a Dual Screens set, but Uxie is generally better at that with its better bulk and Memento. A Choice Band set consisting of Zen Headbutt, U-Turn, Fire Punch and Knock Off/Trick could work. Azelf can set up Sunny Day or Rain Dance, but there are better Pokémon for that job like Whimsicott and Lanturn. Grass Knot is a riskier but potentially more rewarding alternative to Energy Ball. While it hits the likes of Rhyperior and Hippowdon harder, Energy Ball does more to the likes of Lanturn and Starmie Checks and Counters Due to its power and movepool, Azelf doesn't really have any surefire counters. Houndoom comes close, only fearing Explosion. Explosion OHKOs regular variants and has close to 95% chance of killing Mega Houndoom and Mega Houndoom speed ties with it. Choice Scarf Krookodile can checkmate it with Crunch and Pursuit, but a Life Orb boosted Energy Ball will OHKO as will Dazzling Gleam after 1 layer of Spikes. Special walls like Defensive Aromatisse and Snorlax can wall all but the Nasty Plot set, but they hate Taunt. Cresselia and Uxie can wall non Nasty Plot Azelf all day and cripple it with Thunder Wave; again though, they hate Taunt. Porygon2 can do much the same, but has to be careful switching in on the All Out Attacker set for fear of Knock Off removing its precious Eviolite.
c/p post from original thread There should be 3 sets for Azelf imo: Lead: Focus Sash Naive 252 Speed 252 Atk 4 Sp Atk Taunt Stealth Rock Fire Blast/Grass Knot Explosion Role is to set down Hazards, prevent Hazards then boom to dent/kill things and to spin block. Blast preferred for Fore and Zong. All Out Attacker: Life Orb Naive 252 Speed 252 Sp Atk 4 Atk Psyshock Dazzling Gleam/Energy Ball Fire Blast Knock Off/U-Turn Ev's and moves are really flexible on this set, though its Special moves tend to have a higher bp than its Physical moves so are preferred, other options list should be pretty big. Energy Ball and Grass Knot are interchangeable. Set has incredible coverage, though Azelf is somewhat a glass canon. Life Orb preferred to make Psychic STAB hit hard vs neutral targets such as Florges. I'm sure Vuvu will pop up with some hair splitting IV magic. Nasty Plot: Life Orb Timid 252 Speed 252 Sp Atk 4 HP Nasty Plot Psyshock Fire Blast Dazzling Gleam/Energy Ball Really good Stall breaker, walls struggle to take +2 hits and its coverage again allows it to KO a lot of the tier, still great Vs. offense too though. It's bulk makes it somewhat difficult to set up, however it can force out a lot of mons with its coverage and it's immediate power. Outspeeds majority of the tier, though can be revenged by most Scarfers. Edit: didn't realise Florges ate up LO Psyshock so well, so E Belt is still cool to be slashed on all out attacker, though I'd still say Life Orb is preferred as it deals far more damage to neutral targets.
"Energy Ball takes care of any bulky Water types like Gastrodon, Quagsire or Alomolola that may get in your way, plus SpDef drop is always nice." IMO, you probably wanna put 'the chance of a Special Defence drop' instead, as otherwise it implies that the SDef drop is certain (at least that's how I see it). Also, seconding the mention of U-turn on the AOA set, as that keeps up momentum, and thus is something Azelf would really like. It also hits incoming Dark-types for reasonable damage (assuming their secondary typing doesn't cancel out the weakness, i.e. Houndoom, Spiritomb etc)
Knock off can be mentioned too, it can deal good damage to most of Azelfs Checks like AV Slowking/Cresselia/Meloetta and just bulky Psychics in general, and remove key items like Krookodiles Choice Scarf etc. (on the switch)
Most of the suggestions have been done already but figure I might as well c/p since some of it clashes with the sets Afro Smash posted: The only real benefit you get off of LO vs Expert Belt on the all out attacker set is against Snorlax since the extra damage makes a 2HKO assured if you have SR down. Max defense Florges can take as little as 43% from it and easily live hits enough to get a Wish off. Everything else you're trying to hit either can be OHKO'd with Rocks down(Honchkrow, Sableye, Krook are all taken down by EB Dazzling Gleam) and not having the recoil from LO can save you further down the line if you must take an Entei's Extremespeed or similarly powerful priority. It should be slashed with an all attacker set behind Life Orb. Future Sight can be OO but really you're better off trying to blast things with Psyshock/Psychic or an appropriate coverage move, especially since Scarf Krookodile and Honchkrow capitalize off it even more easily. I think Knock Off can be mentioned in the All Out Attacker set. Knocking off a Krookodile's Scarf can be a huge game changer, and even knocking off Florges' Leftovers can make it easier for you to remove it with Azelf later. Should be mentioned that it's a lot more situational than U-Turn but it's still worth noting outside of OO in my opinion. It also does around 50% to Cofagrigus, a little more to Reuniclus and can hit stray Porygon2, which otherwise kill or wall you respectively. You can U-Turn out of Reuniclus but the other two are a bit harder to anything meaningful to. Shadow Ball should probably be mentioned on the All Out Attacker set, but don't want to give it too many slashes. Should also note that the choice between Grass Knot and Energy ball can and does make a difference at times. Energy Ball can kill Krookodile with rocks while Grass Knot has very slim chances to at full health, Energy Ball KO's Starmie unconditionally while Grass Knot can't and you hit Politoed harder with Energy Ball. Small differences mostly but some are still noticeable. Other than that and removing mention of Signal Beam it looks okay. I'd copy Afro Smash's sets for the most part as they're basically the most reliable. There's probably enough of a reason to warrant mentioning Thunderbolt on the All Out Attacker set, I just haven't used it.
It's already there ;-; People have covered most things that needed to be said so far. The only thing I can see left apart from previous suggestions is adding Knock Off to the possible CB set in OO.
Made the suggested changes, but I don't think Future Sight is worth mentioning even in OO to be honest. Over 2 turns, Psychic/Psyshock do more damage and it's all too easy for the opponent to switch in a Psychic/Dark/Steel type to take the hit. I have added Grass Knot to OO.
why is there no mention of taunt in the lead set, or even in oo. taunt is a must-have on a suicide lead set for azelf, allowing it to prevent other teams from setting up their own rocks/hazards it should def be first listed, then psychic, not sure if psychic is worth mentioning as own moveset, maybe slash that with explosion and u-turn
Knock Off deserves a mention at least in OO, though it can be mentioned on the all attacker too imo. It cripples a lot of Azelf's would be checks, and can remove a lot of important items from would be switches (Krook, Honch, etc) that makes them either less threatening (Honch) or lose entirely (Krook).
Knock Off is already on the All Out Attacker set, but still needs to be added to the CB set mentioned in OO. I also agree with meeps on including Taunt in the lead set.
Added Taunt to the lead set. Knock Off has been added to the Choice Band set in OO, but it was already on the All Out Attacker set. Do you think it's worth putting the Band set in the main analysis, or is it OK in OO?
It usually relies on surprise factor to do notable damage and, given Azelf's access to Psyshock, the CB set is not particularly beneficial against most special walls, apart from ones that resist / are immune to it. As a result, the scenarios in which it's the superior offensive set to be running are pretty limited, so I don't think it merits being listed as a main set.
I don't think Psychic STAB is very valuable on the Lead set, Fire Blast is definitely the most useful allowing you to murder Opposing hazard leads like Zong and Forre, or things like Mega Abomasnow which might try to kill you in 1 turn with Blizzard + Hail. Grass Knot/Energy Ball can deal enormous damage to Rhyperior/Hippowdon/Swampert depending on their spreads. Psychic STAB just doesn't find a place on this set imo. should be: Taunt Stealth Rocks Fire Blast/GK or EB Explosion/U-Turn And I don't think Thunderbolt deserves a slash, Energy Ball hits a lot more relevant mons and deals the same damage to most water types, but has the bonus of hitting Swampert/Quagsire/Rhyp too, deserves OO mention tho.
Personally I always like to have a STAB move on an offensively inclined Pokémon. Even if it doesn't get good coverage, it's still good to use on neutral opponents. Also, without Psyshock Florges walls you completely. 252 SpA Azelf Fire Blast vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Florges: 62-74 (17.2 - 20.5%) -- possible 6HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery 252 SpA Azelf Psyshock vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Florges: 175-207 (48.6 - 57.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery I was also wondering about Thunderbolt, I think you're right Energy Ball is generally more useful
Yeah but Dedicated lead Azelf doesn't need to worry about hitting Florges, it wants to his opposing leads and spinners, with which Fire Blast and GK/EB help, Fire Blast is preferred for its ability to 2hko Forretress/Bronzong and Avalugg, and Explosion kills/severely weakens Tentacruel, Cryogonal Starmie. However you can use Energy Ball > Fire Blast to beat Starmie and Donphan. Psyhcic STAB just isn't as helpful as its other coverage moves on the lead set imo. I'll leave it up to another QC to decide who's right.
Will finish rest later, I dunno if theres like a Grammar team im supposed to join before doing this, jst thought I'd give it a look over. And I don't think you're obliged to put in the changes that arent strictly grammar related, but i just though it made some of it flow a bit better/had some things that could be added.