How GOOD was Azelf ACTUALLY? - History of Azelf in Competitive Pokemon

and now we move on to the next of cinno's lake guardian pixies asking the questions which one is it and where are our minds the answer to at least one of those questions is azo as the being of willpower it is theoretically the perfect pokemon to think of the next time you need to force yourself to stop procrastinating in addition to asl's iconic status as a member of the most well-loved trios and pokemon perhaps one of the more appreciated members of the trio seeing as you didn't have to chase it throughout a region to try and catch it it is also unique in that it can have its spirit leave its body on command who knew this azure representation of self has such a spooky spectral side today we'll be examining how azov performed in the competitive scene and so we asked how good was azov actually and in this video we'll be going over these competitive formats the specialized lead meta game is one of the most unique significant impactful and defining aspects of generation 4 ou at its core it revolves around attempting to get stealth rock up while denying the opponent their stealth rock even the leads that do not directly attempt to perform this function have a relation to this concept such as lead machamp for example as they are chosen specifically for their good matchups against the pokemon that do perform this function while the lead matchup did not determine games between two well-built teams it did often play a significant role a good start to a game could kick off a snowball effect that was difficult to handle in the hands of a good player as of was the quintessential generation 4 ou stealth rock league perfectly embodying the aforementioned concepts for several key reasons first it was fast this meant it was difficult to stop it from at the very least setting up its own stealth rock second it also had taunt meaning that in conjunction with its high speed it was also effective at preventing an opponent's stealth rock thus azov could easily prevent an opponent's rocks live any hit thanks to focus and get up its own starting a game down 5-6 just to get up uncontested rocks may not seem like a huge deal and many scoffed at the idea but the reality was that this could be a huge advantage if leveraged correctly but the extra damage rox pushed on everything was incredible and turning already dangerous setup threats like dragon dance gyarados into nearly unstoppable monsters especially since the pokemon that killed azelf would unfailingly give a free turn of setup to such threats if planned out and executed properly this style of team was one of the most dangerous in the metagame but wait you might wonder azov isn't even the fastest user of stealth rock and taunt what about aerodactyl while it's true aerodactyl was the fastest user of both however there was a reason why azov was the gold standard aerodactyl's main strength was that it was able to beat azel and it also matched up better against heat ran and occasional tyranitar leads however the vast majority of the time as elf was better because it wasn't just a taunt and stealth rock machine it had the capability to dish out huge damage on its own thanks to its massive attack stat and explosion it's early game rocks versus no rock setup was made even more devastating when it smashed a huge hole into the opponent as well thanks to the move having the opponent's defense in gen 4 it effectively had a base power of roughly 500 and thus even naturally bulky resists like heat heatran and tyranitar took massive damage thanks to azo's huge special attack stat and choice of either fireblast or psychic or potentially even both if it skipped taunt since most players would predict it anyway it threatened many common normal resists as well ensuring that something like skarmory or gengar couldn't just absorb the boom freely azov started games off with a bang often literally in addition to the standard sash set it occasionally mixed in a trick scarf lead as well which would allow it to beat even aerodactyl it also was the go-to lead for dual screens offense it would get up rocks and light clay supported screens before exploding getting in is sweeping teammates in ideal conditions for maximum havoc reek of course azolf wasn't always able to execute its strategy uncontested even with its non-scar set and non-aerodactyl match-ups its dominance and popularity led several anti-azo strategies to become popular especially as they were also good at dispatching other focus stature leads like rose raid smeargle infernape and of course aerodactyl this was done through strong attackers that packed a priority move enabling them to bring the stasher down to one hp then finish them off before they could get a second attack in leads like metagross dragonite and napoleon surged in popularity the most notable among these was machamp who caused immense destruction to the point where the entire metagame was flipped on its head simply to not lose to it azov took quite a hit as it like these other sash leads had a difficult decision to make on turn one hitting these attacking leads and almost assuredly not getting up rocks even if it switched out on the second turn or getting up rocks and leaving these leads untouched likely allowing them to take down or severely dent a second pokemon on azo's team neither option was particularly desirable however it didn't take long for azov to adapt it quickly came roaring back with several excellent new sets that added depth and efficacy to its role first there was the life orb stealth rock variant lead machamp and lead metagross could tank one unboosted sidekick or fireblast respectively but as soon as azov threw the light forward on they both dropped the extra power of lifeform made explosion even more of a ko button not only did it absolutely crush the likes of its usual targets in heatran and tyranitar but it was also helped indirectly by the fact that even the bulkiest rodent form didn't want to try and absorb the boom from azel since it was absolutely hammered by a boosted psychic then came the choice band variant which dropped stealth rock entirely and made as up a complete killing machine it was already enough of a menace thanks to its power and increased coverage but the surprise factor made it even more devastating as the opponent could never count on it not being stealth rock machamp was crushed by zen headbutt dragonite was smashed by ice punch the real kicker was of course explosion which killed pretty much everything that wasn't a ghost even fully healthy resist heat ran dropped jirachi dropped even metagross dropped tyranitar dropped but banded azelf also had the great benefit of not needing to explode on it quite often as it had another incredible move to spam that happened to crush tyranitar u-turn in addition to his excellent momentum maintaining ability as well as being a great tool against pokemon like shaymin and starmie there was nothing more devastating than tyranitar switching in and eating a banded u-turn eventually leed machamp began running focus in response to these more powerful as of leads as well as other anti-machamp nukes like choi specs heatran and choice band dragonite as fun as it was to render machamp's sash useless 20 of the time with a zen headbutt flinch azov didn't rely on that it adapted with a new set that along with several variations became the new go-to standard for stealth rack as of variance completely eclipsing the focus variant of old with the cobra berry attached macham's payback would be weakened to the point where bullet punch wouldn't be able to finish as of off allowing azov to stealth rock and explode safely starting games off just like it wanted colbert was also excellent in helping azov completely turn the tables on attempted traps by the newly popular scarf tyranitar azov was previously known for its frailty but with some bulk investment it could be just tanky enough to survive the attacks he needed in the lead slot without the use of a sash most notably the cobra set ran special defense investment to survive rose red's leaf storm allowing azov to taunt and get rocks off safely as they'll continue to develop further in this vein players realized it didn't need such heavy amounts of speed investment in the lead slot as it was still quite fast even without near max investment and it loved being able to tank more and more hits sets gradually became bulkier and slower to handle new lead trends as the metagame progressed for example as of love being able to survive a speck's zapdos thunderbolt as azov's eevee shifted so did its items at first there was citrus barrier with heavy defense investment allowing azov to take machamp's payback and metagross's meteor match then recover enough hp to be out of range for the subsequent bullet punch it was functionally the same set against machamp as the kobe berry set but being able to turn the tables against one of the standard cobra azov's worst matchups metagross was a huge difference small variations went a long way the added defense also gave it security against scarf tyranitar's crunch and citrus meant that it healed up enough to be out of stealth rock range so that if it chose the u-turn out it could potentially come back later and get a boom off as opposed to solely being death fodder though that could of course be immensely useful as well eventually azel started using lumbery as his item using even more defense to make up for the lack of citrus-bearing recovery against metagross the main reason was that machamp leads had begun dynamic punching instead of payback hoping to bypass them with confusion lumber allowed azov to shrug this off and it was now bulky enough to cleanly survive the combination of payback and bullet punch machamp was far from the only reason to use lumbery either lead body slam jirachi had become incredibly common as an anti-as of measure and lum allowed azov to shrug it off and it in return with thunder wave which had been discovered as excellent support for azov's teammates such as its ul machamp or jirachi lumbery also gave azov further security against rail's raid especially scarf variants that hoped to catch it by surprise of course as bulky lead of has been continuously explored choice band has remained thoroughly excellent as well some players even paired it with copycat scarf lucario so that after azov got killed with explosion lucario could come in and do the same against something like an unsuspecting swamper now you may be wondering was absolved just the lead and the answer is technically not entirely but the vast majority of the time it was in early diamond and pearl focus sash offensive sets including those with nasty plot were quite common however these essentially disappeared once it was discovered how good stealth rock was ironically giving way to stealth rock sash as of and after that mid game as of became nearly non-existent this may seem strange given azeroth's immense offensive stats and great offensive move pull but it was for good reason it wasn't just because it was such a great lead that was one reason but you think it had some utility in the mid game as well and it did non-leaf scarf as off was seen on a few occasions and it was quite decent and maintaining momentum and revenge killing especially since it was faster than every other scarfer in the tier even latias however the main reason mid game as of wasn't used as much was because it didn't switch into much of anything well at all and its frailty made it incredibly easy to revenge kill making it immensely difficult to get consistent value out of it was a nice option for creative players some players used lead as off sets outside the lead slot and used a different lead like metagross allowing for a nice pseudo-dual lead setup for certain heavy offense teams but it was far from a staple nevertheless azov was one of generation 4 ou's best most iconic pokemon for its excellence in the lead slot it defined the dpp lead metagame the fifth generation was absolutely brutal to azo as team preview completely reshaped how teams were built essentially dedicated leads were no longer the essential part of the metagame they were before furthermore explosion had lost its defense having effect and while 250 base power was still strong it wasn't the automatic ko it had been before and it bounced off tyranitar plus the weather teams that dominated the metagame didn't have much use for a dedicated stealth rock lead as such as elf was not seen in gen 5 ou at least at first another problem for it was that it was completely and utterly outclassed by diox's speed which remained in the tier for quite some time however once deoxys s left azov began seeing some usage as the new lead for the weatherless hyper offense teams that had become popular in the wake of extra drills ban as it turned out dedicated leads and hyper offense were still good without the mole around in the early days of the tier where prankster whimsicott and magic bounce espeon ran rampant some players thought dedicated stealth rock leagues were absolutely not worth it at all but now that the metagame has stabilized as i've settled in nicely weatherless hyper offense fueled by monsters like scarf moxie salamance became one of the most successful team styles in the weatherfield metagame and this was largely fueled by the solid start azolov would reliably provide its team with now sure it sometimes competed with diox's defense who packed spikes as well but as us faster taunt as well as temple setting explosion were highly valuable tools that kept its usage high even a weekend boomed was still valuable since it ensured a safe switch for one of azel's teammates a key trait for hyper offense which needed to generate as many turns for setup as possible azov got even better in black and white too and loved gaining the early advantage over the newly popular stealth rock taunt to raccoon league there were several dangerous new threats for hyper offense to abuse like technician brelu and a reintroduced gartron and eventually diox's defense was banned though as those usage fluctuated over time some hyper offense teams preferred stealth rock garchomp others cussed that barry skarmory but azov was still a crucial part of several popular successful hyper offense teams and gen 5 ou of course azel's lack of consistent usage in the tier meant it dropped down to yuyu there it was quite effective as always its stealth rock set was great for hyper offense teams but gen 5 u was nice for azov and that it finally got to really consistently show off its offensive non-stealth rock capabilities even though it couldn't really make use of explosion anymore it loved having the room to be a threat without tyranitar and heat ran roaming around the choice scarf variant was terrific it kept momentum with u-turn and was a tremendous late game cleaner as it easily outran the tier's other popular scarfers in myan xiao darmanitan and heracross it was also fast enough to outrun swift swimmers under reign even kindred making it effective at foiling the rain teams that were otherwise dangerous against the offensive squads as they'll fit on speaking of reign azov also fit on such teams as an excellent lead-off pokemon that got up both rocks and rain easily alternatively azov could run an effective nasty plot set that lured in and destroyed the tier's most common special tank snorlax with a powerful boosted sideshot its special attacking efforts were easily foiled by umbreon but umbreon was ruined by the choice scarfarian unleashing a trick and umbreon generally fit on slow stall teams that as of didn't need a scarf to run circles around so it was more or less riskless no matter the set as of was a great tool offensively since it threatened the tears plethora of fighting types and the needle queen that was popular to check them and special sets coverage allowed it to threaten an even wider variety of pokemon right off the bat for example swampert and ryperia had to run and terror unless they trip over azov's grass knot choice band sets were also quite decent turning the tables on umbreon and sableye without needing to trick thanks to the powerful u-turn which also smacked mew and shaymin while maintaining momentum banned azov packed quite a punch against much of the metagame for example it was the strongest assault variant against zapdos thanks to its boosted ice punch of course these options were just those as of used as an offensive threat thanks to a stealth rock set it was just a solid pokemon period that being said though azov was capable of posing quite a threat in the right circumstances it did struggle with consistency both in terms of having significant power or coverage issues no matter what set it chose and in terms of struggling to switch in the influx of volt switch forming volt turn cores alongside other popular u-turners was certainly helpful but as off was not for every team however despite its flaws it was still a useful worthwhile pokemon overall the fifth generation was another successful one for azov nobody was thinking about azov in early generation vi ou even after deox's speed and defense were banned dedicated stealth rock release had never been valued less thanks to the prominence of the newly buffed defog in x and y and oraz yuyu however as of was a force it wasn't too impressive at first and it initially even dropped to are you but there however it was absurdly broken out speeding and crushing nearly the entire tier with even as few would-be checks like del fox and drapeon easily overwhelmed by the likes of a buff knockoff and nasty plot fire blasts respectively as such it got quick banned funnily enough around the same time as elf established itself as uu proper its traditional lead set was as solid as ever turns out the fog wasn't much of a concern when azov packed taunt and could give way to a cascade of sweepers that would either place too much pressure on the opponent to get the fog off or would punish them for doing so the only faster defogger was crobat who was of course fearful of azel's psychic stat and buffed mental herb meant as of could potentially get a rocks even if it met with the rare faster taunt such as that from prankster stabilize the occasional taunt mega aerodactyl or a crobat that felt like risking itself early game explosion was as effective a pivotal tool as ever and as of could even play with its moveset for a little for example it effectively utilized a buff knockoff to further the opposing team once again azov was the cornerstone of several successful hyper offense teams providing perfect positioning for its powerful teammates for example when salamance was in yuyu it loved being paired with azov as azov would get up rocks while denying the opponents then dent the opponent with explosion and provide a free turn for setup which are optimal conditions to maximize salamence's threat potential when any such sweeper be it salamance or nasty platinum fur nape or anything else got off to such a great start it would make the rest of the game easier pickings for its other wrecking ball teammates like mega sharpito and it all hinged on azo some players even liked having as of lead off games by piling on some offense itself instead of simply being a stealth rock machine it was great even when it was just a rock setter but given his excellent offensive stats it was particularly devastating when it wasn't expected to be a powerhouse in its own right it could turn common lead matchups on its head with light forward fire blasts to destroy dual blade while bulky crooked out was ripped apart by energy ball and cheeky crobat would be met with a nasty surprise when they were outright killed by psychic of course as shown by its life orb rock set azov wasn't just a rock setter and could prey on assumptions that it was it eventually took this concept further with some sets that didn't use rocks at all scar sets briefly had the noticeable niche of leading off and grabbing kales on unsuspecting mega sceptile with hidden power ice they were also niche for catching scarf high dragon and mega aerodactyl off guard mid game while stall teams would be ruined by trick the nasty plot set was also nice as it also tore through stall and threatened a large portion of the tier notably fighters waters steels poisons and grasses it also loved the addition of dazzling gleam which let it lure and destroy sably and high dragon as well as smack cure him quite hard it had the same issues with frailty and finding opportunities and being revenge killed that offensive azov had always had but it certainly was a viable option especially since they got an indirect boost thanks to how the popularity and efficacy of a stealth rock set demanded the opponent to respect it as an option speaking of how good the stealth rock set was that was actually what ended as elf's time in uu it started getting used on ou hyper offense again thanks to azo's reliable leadoffs both getting uprocked and denying the opponents with ease especially against the more balanced sets that dominated oraz hyper offense quickly shifted from a niche playstyle to one that was metagame defining and its high level of usage rose as off into ou proper azo's talents for getting up early rocks and denying the opponents were particularly appreciated by flying type monsters like weakness policy multi-scale dragonite talonflame and megapincer these three were often paired alongside azo and as such this iconic hyper offense style was often referred to as bird spam azov was thought to be heavily flawed as a stealth rocker because of how completely and utterly it lost to the popular magic bouncers mega sableye and megan deancy that is until it pulled out skill swap completely turning the tables on them and getting the rocks up without issue eventually mega sableye was banned and as of occasionally shifted over to hidden power steel or iron tail since it now only had to contend with the magic bounce threat of megadiancy several anti-hyper offense tactics became popular in an attempt to deal with the style such as an influx of zapdos and mega lopunny but as always azov and friends adapted whether it was stone edge megapinster to crush zap or a heavily defense invested as out to survive fake out and return from mega lot bunny the style continued to be a powerful effective fixture in auras overall the sixth generation was another highly successful one for azo whenever hyper offense was used in the seventh generation the dedicated stealth rock lead was a matter of extra joe versus landorus tea their ability to use rock tunes to slow down the incredibly popular defog tornado's theory was imperative to ensure their lead off efforts did not go to waste azov was completely helpless against tornadoes and thus lost any semblance of a niche in oyu and sadly it wasn't too great in an immensely power cripped uu either some players enjoyed a nasty plot variant equipped with an adrenaline orb to turn the tables on the ever-present scarf out but the set didn't gain much traction as latias could pull the roll off as well while being a much better pokemon overall azel's primary niche was as a screen setter on hyper offense teams making sweepers like sizzor and tarakyon even more terrifying the play style had a brief spell in the limelight but it didn't last first of all hyper offense shifted more in the direction of frost last and its spikes second of all stahl established itself as an absurdly dominant playstyle and as screen's primary purpose was to thwart counter attacks usually faster ones they weren't of much use against slow bulky walls as of itself even took a hit as it wasn't even the uncontested best screen setter as many players preferred zatsu as of wasn't completely unviable or anything but it didn't do anything spectacular in the context of the metagame and was thus rarely seen overall azov had quite a quiet generation seven as of joined sword and shield in the crown tundra but it wouldn't be pulling its usual tricks for it had wandered into a vastly different landscape this generation valued stealth rock the least of any generation that had before thanks to the addition of heavy duty boots whose prominence on several pokemon per team completely invalidated sacrificing a pokemon to get rocks up the adrenaline orb nasty plus sets was decently effective as it was fast quite strong and had great coverage and quite enjoyed the removal of pursuit however it was nothing spectacular overall as a result of azo's limited ability to switch in and lack of massive power unboosted the nasty plot set was very all or nothing and being able to deal damage and it usually came up short of really devastating teams its lack of consistency meant it didn't see much high level tournament usage however that changed eventually with the advent of the boot set it used knockoff and u-turn to accentuate its usual combination of psychic and fire blast it annoyed the daylights out of defensive teams through item removal and momentum maintaining which made both itself and its teammates more threatening while naturally threatening several popular pokemon like keldeo komo-o and buzzwol it wasn't the easiest pokemon to use since it was still quite frail but unlike the nasty plot variant this set was actually rewarding with a real upside for those who played it well as such it saw some decent tournament success it's a decent pokemon but hopefully as of station in generation eight yuuyu will improve with the release of brilliant diamond and shining pearl which will inevitably bestow upon it something amazing like i don't know psycho boost and that's it so how good was azov actually well ever since its inception it has embodied the ideal of not just stealth rock but the fast stealth rock league using tools such as taunt and explosion to start its fast-paced team off on the right foot allowing them to bowl over opponents it's got a great offensive move pool in its own right but half the reason its occasional non-stealth rock sets are so dangerous is because of the prominent dominance of its rock sets it was an iconic piece of gen 4 oh you and had a significant effect on the later stages of gen 6 ou it's four ray into the lower tiers have been mostly successful as well despite more recent struggles with power creep hopefully when brilliant diamond and shining pearl are released as of will be rejuvenated a little however all in all it's had quite the competitive career thanks for watching everyone and as always if you liked the video and you want to see more be sure to subscribe to fall swipe gaming for more weekly pokemon content and in the comments i want to know what you think about competitive as though how would you buff it whatever it is let me know in the comments also thank you so much to our patrons for continued support of our videos and thank you to everyone else watching as well [Music] and follow my crew on these social media platforms and that's all i got see you next time everyone you

Channel: False Swipe Gaming

Views: 241,557

Keywords: Pokemon, Pokemon Go, Pokemon Red, Pokemon Blue, Pokemon Yellow, Pokemon Gold, Pokemon Silver, Pokemon Crystal, Pokemon Ruby, Pokemon Sapphire, Pokemon Emerald, Pokemon Diamond, Pokemon Pearl, Pokemon Platinum, Pokemon Black, Pokemon White, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Pokemon Ultra Sun, Pokemon Ultra Moon, Pokemon Sword, Pokemon Shield, Competitive Pokemon, Smogon, VGC, False Swipe Gaming, Azelf, Uxie, Mesprit

Id: 6hs82THFH90

Length: 23min 30sec (1410 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 20 2021