How should I improve my Staraptor?

[Abrien Sliver]

It has a Hardy Nature, In the second info tab it says it hates to lose and will happily eat anything.
It's holding a zoom lens.
It's stats are
Lv:37
Hp:121
Atk:100
Def:62
Sp.Atk:46
Sp.Def:53
Spd:84

Moveset [Move name pp/pp]
Aerial Ace 20/20
N/A --/--
Close Combat 5/5
Steel Wing 25/25
I'm intending on using her in the pokemon league.

So any suggestions on how to improve it would be lovely.  

[Nadian]

Well, better how?

You definitely want it to learn Brave Bird, a move it learns at level 49 no matter what you do with it. Close Combat and Brave Bird are an awesome combination. Aerial Ace is very nice to have because it'll always hit.


At this point, though, the question becomes whether you want it to be good for playing in the game or battling against other trainers.

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For in-game:

Fly is quite practical if you're going to play in the game and using Staraptor as your Fly pokemon is perfectly fine. Steel Wing is also not bad, just for added type coverage. That said, Steel will only allow Staraptor to hit these pokemon for super-effective damage that it couldn't already do with Close Combat:

/Users/ekraft/pokemon > pokesearch effective==steel effective!=fight
id | name
----------------
124 | Jynx
142 | Aerodactyl
144 | Articuno
213 | Shuckle
225 | Delibird
238 | Smoochum
337 | Lunatone
338 | Solrock
347 | Anorith
348 | Armaldo
478 | Froslass

In addition, his stats and hold item generally don't matter for in-game playing.



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For battling other people:

There are many aspects of this Staraptor that are quite undesirable.

-Its Hardy nature doesn't benefit it at all ; it really ought to be Adamant (for more attack) or Jolly (for more speed). I've also heard of a practical bulky Staraptor (which might have a +defense nature).

-Trying to guess its IVs and EVs to see if you could train it is difficult. If I assume the IVs are all average (say, 15) and find max possible EVs, it looks like it could still have a lot of EV training done to it. If you can have it gain experience from Golbats (caves) or Seaking+Gyarados (Super Rod at Lake Valor... or rather the lower-right one, whichever one that is.) That will raise its Speed and Attack stats, respectively. Those tend to be the most important Staraptor stats.

-It should not have Fly. Two-turn moves like that are setup bait.

-Moves it should have? A Staraptor should always have Close Combat and Brave Bird. Return and Double Edge are great because Staraptor gets STAB for those. U-Turn and Pursuit are really good for strategy. Quick Attack is possible, although I'd give more weight to all the other moves mentioned.

-Hold item ; since Staraptor is a physical sweeper he prefers a Choice Band (for attack) or a Choice Scarf. If you want to keep the versatility but still increase power, Life Orb could be great.




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I've told you all of this in the hopes that you can decide for yourself what you might want out of your Staraptor. Feel free to ask about more information ; just make sure you let us know how you want to use your Staraptor. smile  

[Abrien Sliver]

I fully intend on using it to fight, I got rid of fly and I'll add Brave Bird in once I get it. I considered breeding a new one in an attempt to gain an Admant Nature.

On a side note I don't really know what EV's are...  

[Nadian]

EVs stands for "Effort Values". Every stat is a combination of the following three variables:

Base Stats ; this is defined by the pokemon's specie
IVs (Individual Values) ; this is randomly decided when a pokemon is born
EVs (Effort Values) ; this is a value you can directly manipulate through training  

[Abrien Sliver]

So, EV is like leveling it and giving it Carbos and Proteins?  

[Nadian]

Abrien Sliver

So, EV is like leveling it and giving it Carbos and Proteins?

Not leveling, per-say, but when you gain EXP from a pokemon, the game also secretly gives you EVs.

For example, let's say you fight a Golbat and then a Gyarados. Let's say you get 400 exp from both fights. They look the same, right? Almost seems like it doesn't matter which you fight, right?

But actually, a Golbat increases your speed EVs and the Gyarados increases your attack EVs.

So, it can seem like leveling up, but under the covers you can level up and increase specific stats much faster than the others.

Vitamins such as Carbos and Protein increase the EVs of those specific stats so it's very much the same. 3nodding

A single Carbos increases speed EVs by the same amount as five Golbats. Likewise, a single Protein increases attack EVs by the same amount as five Gyarados. The reason I didn't suggest those is that a vitamin won't raise an EV beyond a certain point ; training is the only way to go past those points.  

[Abrien Sliver]

Ok, Thank you for un noobifying me in the wonder of EVs. I quite honestly think you are a god over Pokemon in a human Vessel.  

[Nadian]

If I'm a god over Pokemon then there's lots of us.

Honestly, this stuff all makes sense once you've had to create just one pokemon from scratch. 3nodding  

[Abrien Sliver]

I need a Pearl version then I'll begin making pokemon from Scratch...