Topic: Staraptor - Nature and Stats Questons

This is probably going to sound stupid, but I have a few questions about the pokemon Staraptor. I'm working on a list for my pokemon "Dream Team" for competitive battles. I know Staraptor has decent speed and attack, but lacks really badly in Defense, but it's my favorite pokemon and it has to be on my dream team. I actually have a pet Starling that I raised from two days old (he's going on 4 years old in April) and ever since I played Diamond / Pearl I just fell in love with the pokemon Staraptor, since the game designers based it off of a Starling.

Anyways my question is, how should I go about training its stats and such? I was thinking going for a Lax nature since that raises overall Defense, but decreases Sp. Defense, because it already has a low Defense to begin with, which is one of its biggest flaws, or so I read. And as far as Hidden Abilities go, I'm not sure what to go with for that either. I'm still kind of a newb when it comes to working with pokemon stats, HA, natures, and the like; but I'm trying to get a better handle on it.

I was just curious as to how other people raised and trained their Staraptors for competitive battling, and whats the best way to min / max it's stats? Also, what do you think the best moveset for Staraptor is? I've read over a few older posts, but I'm getting conflicting answers.

Moveset:

• Cose Combat
• U-Turn
• Brave Bird
• Roost

Roost is probably a waste though right? He would die before he had time to really make use of the healing from it? I'm not sure . . .

Staraptor is mostly used as a fast hitter: Max Attack and Speed. (unless you want it to be a Tailwind supporter). Then Max Attack, use 140 points on Special Defense, and 116 on Speed..

ShadowFox whats a Tailwind supporter? O_O And thank you for the attack/speed stats; that's what I was looking for. Man I feel like I'm in way over my head with all of this. I never realized there was so much to competitive battling as far as raising the pokemon goes. >_<

Use the move Tailwind (which allows your Pokémon to out speed your opponent's Pokémon).

Oh duh, sorry dumb question! >_<

Don't sweat it. Need anything else?

Umm just one more question, what do you think about Staraptors moveset? I was thinking going with: CC, BB, U-Turn, and Roost. But I'm not sure if Roost will be that beneficial or not. I was thinking Return might be a good move to have as well possibly.

Nevermind, I think I just found a website with all the information I need!

http://www.smogon.com/bw/pokemon/staraptor

Thank you very much for all your help ShadowFox! <3

and yet another one is lost to smogon.......

Is smogon not trustworthy? O_O

@Wulfey: Nice movesets, but replace Roost with Tailwind (so when Staraptor is about to faint, you can use it and your team will get the Speed boost).

Smogon isn't bad. But I don't follow they're rules on battling.

When raising a pokemon in general, never try to improve it's bad stats. They're just not salvageable. Staraptor should always be Adamant to hit the hardest. The best ability is probably reckless since it can make a lot of use of it with Brave Bird and Double-Edge. Intimidate is definitely good, but eh, unless you want momentum with U-turn, he's more concerned with hitting hard. The choice is up to you though, since both are good abilities. Go with what your team needs.
Max Attack and Speed. You could possibly sacrifice a bit of speed for HP so it doesn't die too quickly, but it generally won't last long anyways. Your move set is ace1

don't worry they're fine! I just don't like the idea of separating Pokémon by tiers and banning attacks like they do(but above that I don't like the fact many people get confused and think smogon rules apply to everyone outside smogon too, it's horrible when they complain double team is not fair)

The best Staraptor set is

EVs: 252 Att. 252 Speed 4 Def or 4 sp.def(Don't put 4 in HP because that gives you an even number HP stat which makes it so you can only switch into Stealth Rock 4 times instead of 5.)

Nature: Adamant(Jolly isn't a bad choice though)

Ability: Reckless

Moves: U-Turn, Close Combat, Double-Edge, Brave Bird.

You didn't need to make a thread for this, you could have just ask this on the pokemon X/Y thread and someone would have help you.
https://www.nintendolife.com/forums/3ds/pokemon_x_and_y_announ...
Also, with all these Talonflames running around, Staraptor isn't not going to last long.

Wow thanks Retro, that was a lot of useful information. Especially about not trying to improve a pokemons bad stats; I was wondering if that was worth it or not as far as Defense goes for Staraptro, but you answered my question. Thank you!

Oh I see I see. I guess I'm kind of new to the pokemon scene as far as competitive battling goes, so I don't know the ins and outs of everything. And thank you for telling me that. I agree with you, I don't like the way they separate pokemon into different tiers, nor how they ban certain attacks, that just doesn't seem fair. I was really only using the site for general pokemon info on stats, etc. Thank you for the heads up!

Okay cool, thanks for all your help ShadowFox! I didn't think Roost was really worth it either, since by the time my Staraptor would heal up just a little, he would get KOed the next turn, when I could of taken out my opponent if I hadn't of used Roost, I think lol. Also, I completely forgot about the speed boost from tailwind, that works perfect for me! Thank you so much! <3

Sorry I'm kind of new to the forum thing, I wasn't sure where to post it, and I couldn't find a thread that was just for Pokemon X/Y for some reason. Sorry >_<

Thanks KryptoKrunch, that was exactly what I was looking for!