ZAPDOS STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

Zapdos is a Pokémon that I have always liked because of its aesthetics and because it is also very good in competition because it has many very interesting tools that I will mention in this post. It stands out for having a good offense and a good defense at the same time and that is not always seen.

It is very versatile since you can turn it into a fierce attacker or a very resistant Pokémon depending on what you need most from your team; whatever you choose, it will continue without faltering in the other aspect and I think that in both strategies it is very good, so I recommend that you try both variants. Also, in the rain it is a monster if you make it offensive, we will also see that in this post (which is why in the end I have brought you 3 different strategies). Let’s go there!

? ZAPDOS STATS

At the statistics level it has a total of 580 points , something that is really good, after all it is a legendary even if it is a minor one; although if you look closely, it doesn’t even surpass the Pseudo-legendaries in this aspect, such as Dragonite , which has 600 points (which is the amount of points that these Pokémon usually have).

The case, that I also quite like its distribution:

• Health: 90.
• Attack: 90.
• Defense: 85.
• Special Attack: 125.
• Special Defense: 90.
• Speed: 100.

Offensively, it stands out with those 125 Special Attack points, which I’m telling you is quite a lot; but… with a Speed ​​that is not so good, not bad either, but anyway, it is very average and will be surpassed by many regular Pokémon in competition, such as Cinderace or Greninja, to mention a few examples.

Defensively not bad, although it is not at the level of purely defensive Pokémon such as the aforementioned Ferrothorn and Toxapex in this blog. Both in health and in Defense and Special Defense it is decent, so it will also have considerable stamina.

Come on, we have a Pokémon with a good offense, not fast, but not slow either, and that also defends itself defensively; not so bad

⚡? TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Zapdos is a Flying Electric-type , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

• He is immune to Earth.
• It is resistant to Fighting, Steel, Bug, Grass and Flying.
• It is weak to Ice and Rock.

First of all, let’s talk about resistors. Volador will always be cool because the immunity to Earth is amazing due to the high presence of this type in the competitive one and therefore we already started well; For the rest, well… they are resistances, not that they are especially brutal, but they are there (the Fighting one is appreciated for being a type widely used as a coverage movement by infinite Pokémon: See for example Scizor with Brute Force ).

And now we come to the bad part, well… having only 2 weaknesses is very good but it is also true that just the two that it has are a bit quite annoying . Rock I’ve already explained it a thousand times, but let’s go back again, Rock Trap is a move that almost never lacks in competitive (singles) and for that reason alone it’s a horrible weakness and Ice is another one of those types that are used a lot as coverage, especially for Water-Type Pokémon that are super present ( Kingdra for example but come on, almost all Water-type Pokémon).

We’ll have to be very careful with those weaknesses, but as a generalist, I think it’s a good typing combination other than that.

ZAPDOS ABILITIES

Now let’s take a look at his skills:

PRESSURE

A classic in Legendary Pokémon since many have this ability. When a rival Pokémon attacks us, it will lose 1 more PP than the attack it used. It’s fine especially to exhaust moves with few uses (like 5 PP) but it doesn’t seem like a tremendous ability to me either.

LIGHTNING ROD

One of his hidden abilities and the truth is that I love it. We already saw it for example in Raichu , what it does is attract lightning towards itself (so electrical attacks directed at a target will always hit Zapdos, I mean in doubles) but in addition to this it will immunize us to electrical damage and when we receive a hit of this type we will also obtain an increase in our Special Attack (in the plan that it is charged with energy).

STATIC ELECTRICITY

Another hidden ability and on top of that is also very interesting, although in my opinion not as much as Lightning Rod. When a Pokémon hits Zapdos with a contact attack, there will be a 30% chance to paralyze it, which is pretty cool.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

Given its offensive and defensive versatility, we can shoot both ways, as you prefer or require, but it is important to specialize in something.

Facing Iv’s, well, perfect as usual. Let’s go with the EV’s and Nature for the offensive version:

• EV’s : All in Attack and Speed, the rest in Defense.
• Nature : Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack).

And now we go with the defensive version:

• EV’s : All in Life and the rest distributed between Defense and Special Defense.
• Nature : Bold (+Defense, -Attack).

RECOMMENDED ITEM

I recommend a couple of items for the defensive version:

• Remains : It heals us a little HP each turn, ideal to withstand better.
• Thick Boots : To protect us from Rock Trap, which will annoy us a lot.

For the offensive version we have of course the following:

• Lifesphere : Increases the damage we cause with our attacks by 30%, but when we attack we will lose 10% of the maximum health.

BEST MOVES FOR ZAPDOS

The movements that I recommend the most for Zapdos:

• Spark : STAB Electric, Special, 80 power, 100% accuracy, and 30% chance to paralyze the target. Tremendous movement especially for the defensive version due to its power and the considerable probability of paralyzing. Remember that Electric is good against Flying and Water.
• Lightning : STAB Electric, Special, 90 power, 100% accuracy, and 10% chance to paralyze the target. Slightly more powerful than Spark but with a lower paralysis chance, better for the offensive version.
• Thunder : STAB Electric, Special, 110 power, 70% accuracy, 30% chance to paralyze the target, and never misses in the rain. Very powerful but only viable in rain teams due to precision.
• Fiery Wave : Fire, Special, 95 power, 90% accuracy and 10% chance to burn the target (in doubles it hits both opponents). Fire coverage move, effective against Grass, Bug, Ice and Steel.
• Toxic : The opponent is severely poisoned and will lose health each turn, each turn they will lose more and more. Brutal to slowly diminish while we endure the type.
• Gale : STAB Flying, Special, 110 power, 70% accuracy, 30% chance to confuse the target, and never misses if there’s rain. Like Thunder, brutal in rain, otherwise unviable. Flying is tremendous against Fighting, Grass and Bug.
• Respite : When you use it you restore 50% of your total health and on that turn you lose the flying type, be careful with that because on that turn we would lose immunity to Earth, but come on, how strange it is that someone plays it to throw an Earthquake at you or something like that (yes, how I do it melts you hahaha).
• Clear : Flying-type movement with which we will clean the field of traps (Rock Trap, Toxic Spikes…), it is good for clearing the field that ultimately bothers him a lot, but if you are not wearing the Thick Boots it does not make much sense neither because total when entering the field you would already receive enough damage unless they throw Rock Trap at you with Zapdos already on the field.

ZAPDOS STRATEGY

For Zapdos I bring you 3 different strategies (and they all seem good to me), it is what it has to be such a versatile Pokémon:

ZAPDOS STALL (DEFENSIVE)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 252 Life, 128 Defense, 128 Special Defense (if you want to prioritize one of the two defenses more, you know what to do)
• Nature: Bold.
• Object: Scraps or Thick Boots.
• Ability: Static Electricity.
• Movements:
  • Spark.
  • Igneous Wave. Optional: Clear if you are wearing Thick Boots.
  • Toxic.
  • Respite.

We have a good stamina thanks to our defenses, Respite and the object we choose (in both cases it helps us defensively) and we also have Toxic to reduce opponents, a powerful spark (even though it is defensive it is still a good blow) and many facilities paralyze targets which helps us both defensively and offensively.

If we put Clear we can also fulfill the role of removing traps from the field and Fiery Wave is a very good coverage move.

ZAPDOS SWEEPER (OFFENSIVE)

• IVs: Perfect.
• EVs: 254 Special Attack, 254 Speed ​​and 4 Defense.
• Nature: Modest.
• Item: Election Bandana or Thick Boots.
• Ability: Lightning Rod.
• Movements:
  • Ray.
  • Igneous Wave.
  • Volt Switch.
  • Respite.

We have great offensive power and some very interesting moves, although we could use a little more coverage , but we don’t have other moves that are as good. To hit, we will hit very hard and we are still a Pokémon that holds up quite well due to its stats and Breath, which is always appreciated.

We can also use Zapdos when we anticipate an electrical attack to absorb it and raise our Special Attack and proceed to hit right and left. Regarding whether to choose Choice Scarf or Thick Boots, it will depend on whether you want to prioritize the offensive even more or be sure that you are not going to eat Rock Trap, which if that happens will be quite annoying.

ZAPDOS RAIN SWEEPER (IN RAIN GEAR)

• Like Zapdos Sweeper save the moves.
• Movements:
  • Thunder.
  • Hurricane.
  • Meteorball.
  • Respite.

In the rain, Zapdos offensively is a bad beast to fear and with good reason. We have the very powerful Thunder that will never fail and can paralyze, Hurricane also very powerful and that again does not fail in the rain and can confuse, Meteoroball in rainy weather will be a tremendous hit of Water type as coverage and Breath to heal us on top and that It’s not so easy for them to knock us down. I wouldn’t want to run into one on a rainy day .

HOW TO DEFEAT ZAPDOS AND COUNTERS

And now the opposite, what to do to defeat a Zapdos and some of its counters:

• Rock Trap : We’ve mentioned it several times and yes, it annoys him a lot.
• Offensives that hit it well and are faster : You should fear Pokémon like Excadrill in sand weather for its great speed and rock attacks and similarly to Pokémon such as Weavile (because of its speed and ice attacks) . Any Pokémon of that style is a threat; Kingdra would be another example, but of course, either he kills you in one shot or you melt him down.
• Other Weather Introducers : For the rain strategy this will obviously be problematic. You know, Pokemon like Tyranitar , Ninetales, or Alolan Ninetales .