How GOOD was Rayquaza ACTUALLY? - History of Rayquaza in Competitive Pokemon (Gens 3-7)

what's up everyone looks like we got another legendary on our hands and a box art one at that because next up we have Rayquaza this legendary dragon is the master of Holland's weather trio rival of deoxys as seen in the seventh movie and of course the mascot of pokemon emerald this long green serpentine dragon is known to reside in the Earth's atmosphere and how it manages to just fly all the time up there is beyond me or what it even eats up there but whatever because that's a freaking cool habitat if you ask me who could forget that cutscene with Rayquaza who descended on to topple the city to break up Groudon and Kyogre titanic clash and if you played omega ruby and alpha sapphire I'm sure you all remember the postgame story called the Delta episode involving rayquaza as well anyways today we'll find out if competitively it's soared as high as it did in the hearts and GPAs of young pokemon trainers everywhere so how good was Rayquaza actually and in this video we'll be going over these competitive formats imagine Gen 3 OU's Salomon's which is already a terrific Pokemon take away its ability intimidate and five base speed then give it a massive boost to every other stat the ability airlock to bypass the effects of weather and a bevy of amazing moves that salamence would kill for most notably extreme speed but also Thunderbolt ice beam and overheat this is rayquaza one of the most fearsome definitive threats and ubers its flagship choice band set threatens to destroy absolutely everything and it does so without even needing stabbed since it hits everything in uber just as hard or harder with earthquake or hidden power bug as it would with hidden power flying well technically hidden power flying has a 5 BP advantage on neutral targets like Groudon and Kyogre but that is minimally useful which cannot be said at all for the benefits of hidden power ghosts the ladee twins Mewtwo and mu deoxys defense and especially lugia requires one true counter our hugely important targets and hidden power ghosts gives the extra super effective needed to absolutely demolish them rather than allow them to hang on by a hair in a meta game as powerful as ubers every percentage is important speaking of which most priority moves are weak hovering at 40 BP but replaces extreme speed has the power of a more regular attack and in conjunction with requires immense power is an incredible cleaning tool against many of the faster pokemon in the tier especially the terrifying deoxys attack but also useful against the weakened ladee twins Mewtwo celac berry Groudon and dragon dancer Rayquaza because that's something else that can do effectively with this set instead of punching holes for its teammates it actually becomes the teammate to capitalize on the punched holes with incredible sweeping potential after a single boost it Cleaves through many offensive teams and defensive teams don't love it after weathering an assault from something like choice BAM Metagross or Swords Dance Groudon finally require can use its equally excellent special attack along with its wide special move pool to attack from that side as well it makes for our good Groudon lure since ice beam hits so hard and is useful for its ability to hit many things like a truck without the restriction of choice ban via sheer coverage fire blasts also melt steel types even in rain thanks to air lock speaking of which air lock is incredibly useful as it allows requisite to use its huge bulk to shrug off powerful fire and water attacks without caring for their boosts in their respective weathers such as Kyogre stabbed and mutes his fire blasts and it completely nullifies the speed boosted dangerous Swift swim sweepers like Ludicolo and almost Ark letting it check them and dish out offensive pain in the same vicious stroke overall Rayquaza did it all it was a viciously powerful wall breaker and kept many of the tears biggest threats in check and as such it was one of the upper tiers defining Pokemon so much change for Rayquaza in the fourth generation the physical special split allowed its dragon stabbed to run off it's physical attack thus meaning it could be boosted further by dragon dance or sword stances and learned that now to outrage was now 120 base power instead of its previous 90 and the move Draco meteor came into existence and so did life work but speaking of new things this generation this generation also brought many things that Rick weighs I didn't enjoy with stealth rock the chief among them choice scarf also meant that in no longer outspread everything after a dragon dance and of course garchomp also gave a competition with its incredible 102 speed and stealth rock resistance however request was still to be feared its variety and sets made it incredibly tough to counter and its bread and butter dragon dance variants were tough enough to handle since one would need a scarf for over 95 speed to outpace it and with our popular scarf Palkia was that wasn't a problem and other scarf errs like dark rye and Sheamus Skye helped out too however those would quickly meet their end at the hands of a source dance extreme speed the normal resistant scarf dialga had no issue with this but it was of course nothing but a victim for a dragon dance set teased with scar Kyogre had a scarf ER that could not check either very and to be truly safe against both offensive teams needed a choice band sis or choice scarf Jirachi or choice scarf guard shop now none of them could swish in without great risk of course and Garchomp especially had to remain healthy throughout the game since it used its great bulk to take a stream speed as opposed to resisting normal so if it dipped low enough then it too could be picked off and even if it did manage to finish Garchomp off it simply be giving set up to rayquaza best friend Lucario in fact the to start on many dangerous offensive teams setting up on each other's weaknesses beautifully and slicing through the opposition with ease and speaking of giving Rayquaza set up wobbuffet was another incredible partner for it against offensive teams it could easily remove choice Carver's or even help rayquaza set up by switching into a ground on stealth rock and on quarry and even if Groudon attacked with an earthquake Groudon would be suffering a counter right after encore was also an incredible weapon against defensive team switching it to something like a Blissey or Giratina Metin rayquaza was going to have a free setup as even if Blissey used toxic or Giratina use will-o-wisp wobbuffet could use safeguard to get rayquaza a safe switch Wobbuffet also famously destroyed lugia because after on coring it it tickle it repeatedly then choice band sizzler would easily pursuit requires biggest menace now with all that being said requisite wasn't entirely a setup monster though it was a terrifying mixed attacker with its vicious Draco meteor raising Groudon and lugia trying to fend off the physical sets which would in turn help a teammate like Lucario Swords Dance Garchomp or bulk Dialga sweep later this Drako media lure was so tough to defend itself that some people even used a mixed dragon dance to lure its counters for its own sweet so basically Draco meteor early dragon dance later this Draco meteor requisite was a fantastic mid-game attacker because the setup sets for requisite usually didn't want to throw their step outs immediately especially considering it was outrage but with Draco meteor this was not the case and replaces 95 base speed let it get the jump on many of verses most popular phases not just Groudon and Kyogre but also Dialga and Giratina origin this set also gained notoriety as one of vs. best leads now anything with a strong attack and priority tends to be at least decent because of how important it is to limit the hazards that deoxys speed can throw down as a lead and replace' does this with a bang in the lead slot is sometimes its shoot life or for focus session and all this made it a little less threatening to defensive teams they'll still not exactly a walk in the park the lead sets were usually meant to be offensive killers so this let them fulfill that role with greater efficiency suddenly it could stay into pound Kyogre Dialga Palkia new to whatever sash also let it defeat the anti meta game sash Tyranitar lead thanks to airlock nullifying sand and speaking of airlock pokemons such as kingdra Ludicolo and Kabutops were much more common on rain and require of course destroyed them overall in the overs of Gen 4 requisite was once again amazing in VGC 2010 the first year that to restricted mods were allowed per team Rick laser was a pretty good pick not just because of its amazing stats because airlock helps shut down the weather based teams that were such a huge part of the meta game focus - let it take any ice beam or dragon move to keep dishing the pain out and extreme speed of course was invaluable as a finishing move in the face of priority like Obama's nose ice shard or faster pokémon like scarf Kyogre and in a game of inches like pokemon can be this could make or break a game and it did struggle with the incredibly common Cresselia though now admittedly we couldn't find much in the way of placements on it since 2010 VGC isn't exactly the most well-documented thing on the planet but we do know that require unfortunately did not appear at Worlds even though Kyogre and Groudon were basically on every team however we did find that it was used by bug maniac mark in the semi-finals of the Seattle regionals and one of either zhirov Raider canis one the Phoenix regional with it and I say one of either because I can't tell who's who in this video but it has their names so whoever it was congratulations to you for winning the Phoenix regionals with R equation and from its lack of high placements at Regionals Finals we can infer that requisite probably wasn't as elite as the other weather trio members but it did have a solid place in the metagame our key is being released in the fifth generation did not throw away quasar here was a lugia as counter and that it tanked out ran and threatened to KO it that also fit on a much wider variety of teams than the stall oriented lugia and also wasn't stout rock week the rise of the extreme killer set made scarfed Iraqi on quite popular and scarfed Iraqi unchecked both requests set up variants easily Zek ramen restaurant especially the former provided fierce new dragon-type competition and finally Ferrothorn was not quite a counter to reclusa but it was a prime sponge for Dragon stab which could potentially compromise damage dealt however it was of course deathly afraid of requests fire moves even though usually Ferrothorn didn't mind unn stabbed fire attacks that much thanks to its prominent pairing with Kyogre but as we know thanks to air lock Ric hazel was having none of that San teams rose with the vicious sweeper excadrill but Rayquaza halted it in its tracks and dished out a massive hit in return but eventually requisite received the move v create via and event this move of course had drawbacks but then again so that requires the steps and the power provided was simply outrageous it fit him right at home on rec whizzes existing sets and allowed it to start running an excellent choice band set now that it had such an amazing move to spam and takes the air lock it would actually to hit KO Kyogre of all things suddenly Ferrothorn and friends weren't so menacing anymore and the jacked-up extreme speed was appreciated in picking off weakened threats too and black and white to the appearance of the amazing choice scarfed genesect provided yet another pokemon that stood in the way of request set up sets kiran white appeared to provide even more amazing dragon type competition and lugia gained another incredible tool with multi scale but despite all of these new threats even at his weakest no one likes seeing requisite in team preview and you may have had Pokemon that hindered it from totally eviscerating you but you were never true be safe against it either the new fairy-type was a huge blow to Rayquaza with xerneas in particular drastically changing the landscape of ubers thus it took more of a backseat for most of ex-wife it was still an incredible wall breaker it just tended to be overlooked but it did see some use alongside xerneas however the lack of permanent weather men airlock usually wasn't very useful other than maybe staving off a hit from Kyogre butts and teams with extra drill roles as the metagame looked for any way to keep xerneas in check require of course responded to excadrill revenge killing attempt with a brutal offensive assault thus keeping the pace for its team but and I know you've all been waiting for this part of the video with the release of Omega Ruby and alpha sapphire requisite received the most monstrous mega evolution possible receive from the Delta mission post game of Omega Ruby and alpha sapphire not only did request get the move dragon ascent the flying version of close combat to cut through the fairy Laden meta game with ease it also boasted astronomical stats that made its regular counterpart look like a underused pokemon and as mega Rayquaza its new ability delta stream meant it had no flying related weaknesses this meant and now had a rock neutrality and electric resistance and only a regular ice weakness but the kicker is unlike most Magus it could also hold an item since it just needed dragon ascent to mega evolve not a mega stone in fact it was sold overwhelmingly powerful that it completely warped everything around it and was quickly banned even from ubers creating the tier known as anything-goes which basically means there are no rules or should I say there are no restrictions and to put things into perspective Gen 1 Mewtwo used to be the gold standard for the scariest Pokemon ever but Rayquaza was truly unbeatable to some requests stole that title from YouTube with ease but unfortunately regular request didn't have it so easy afterwards mega salamence was now in the tier and it was incredibly tough competition considering it was the clear number 2 in the tier behind primal Groudon however requests talents eventually popped up again since sometimes teams wanted a different mega evolution and it's mixed and choice band sets did get a huge boost from dragon ascent which was incredibly spammable as mega Mensa's aerolite boosted attacks had shown in fact regular requisite sliced common Pokemon like belt all hollow and primal Kyogre with ease and bandit extreme speed was also nice as a safety measure against the dirtiest dragon dance mega ments and rock polish primal Groudon since you could never have too many of those speaking of primal Groudon it's additional fire typing making a quadruple weak to water usually went unnoticed since its ability just made water moves evaporate that is until it ran into Rayquaza whose airlock let it pummel away with water fall over all requisite was stunted a little more in this generation but it's Rick ways afore Arceus sake and as such it's always a threat to Jess about everything and when 2016 was announced to allow to restricted Pokemon the height was enormous as everyone mentally prepared themselves for the momentous task of playing a meta where mega Rayquaza is actually legal and also of course having to deal with the meta game where the primals are everywhere anyways let's begin by bringing it down to earth a little or should i say from its home in the atmosphere mega Rayquaza was actually not as on the present as xerneas or the primals especially considering that the primals even though they do is take up a restricted slot they do not take up a mega slot because there are things that are clearly mega evolutions or just named something else whatever dragon a sense defense drops also made it easier to pick off and its speed tier sometimes necessitated protect to safely mega evolve which could be taken advantage of however make no mistake Rayquaza was an absolute terror and one of the defining pokemon in the meta game its ability to mess with desolate land or primordial sea extended to delta stream protecting its flying type teammates by weakening rock ice and electric moves now wasn't the fastest in the chair as mega salamence and Gengar saw to that but it was one of the fastest and was the fastest restricted pokemon that wasn't a mutant and of course its offenses were just breathtaking especially with life orb and that base 180 attack but it was still a powerhouse even with focus - which made it even more of a menace as it was less bothered by dragon a sense drops and meant it was no longer completely dump stirred by xerneas extreme speed even had a +2 priority letting it outpace prankster and challenge flames brave bird rayquaza could also go for a highly menacing Sora's dance set to truly punish any protection arrogance and as you may have surmised its usage was all over the place now again not as much as the primals but it was still quite prominent and we'd be here until VGC 2020 listing all of its placements in 2016 so we've limited them to first place finishes they are as follows and I apologize in advance if I butcher any of your names but there's Jamie Boyd at Liverpool and the Wakefield regionals Ricardo apamea at the Prague Anzio regionals Luis Conte at the arkham regionals Heriberto pukahi at the chile regionals esteban Molina at the Costa Rica regionals redzone Navarro at the Peru regionals BBT Liao at the Taiwan regionals Mathias Sushil dole ski at the Dortmund regionals Dane Zeeman at the Fort Wayne regionals Javier Santa Rena at the Italian nationals Kotaku hydel at the Japan Nationals Alfredo Prada at the Colombian nationals Israel Gwendolen at the Mexico Nationals and finally at Worlds we have for the seniors division eighth place Brendan Zhang sixth place Neil's Dunlop and fit place Hong Joo young and for masters division we have eighth place Baris ACOs seventh place Barry Anderson third place Marcus Tanner and Wolff Glick taking first place and the championship what's interesting about this world is that Brendan Baris Marcus and wolf in particular all used a new variant of the rayquaza Kyogre court the general ray ochre court had already existed up until this point but this time these four players used it with then-unknown pokémon like eject button hitmontop and assault vest Raichu and with those mods paired up with ray ogre this team came into its own and basically turned the metagame on its head this particular team was meant to defeat the reigning strategies at the time but most notably the dominant Sarnia Stroud on court and it will do this by helping Kyogre set up in trick room while also managing to deal with dual primals via requisite so good stuff to the floor players who use this team as well as the other players to use rec wiser and of course under wonderful performance at Worlds 2016 and if you thought requisite was strong before wait until it's dragon ascent is powered up with fly neum Z its supersonic strike is simply astounding to behold cleaving through just about anything not named zygarde complete however where it truly shone was on a team with lead focus that's extra joe hyper offense often holding a focus sash itself with this it was not only an early game wall breaker but also a check to just about anything from geomancy xerneas to either megohm you two with these teams general lack of bulk having this catch-all check two offensive threats was an Arceus sent especially since request I responded with offense itself rather than slowing down the breakneck pace at which those teams function to maintain momentum most offensive pokemon that barely held on against an attack will likely fall to extreme speed bargain loon Allah but breaking shadows shield could be enough with more and more incredible offensive pokemon showing up it was easy to forget about requisite wall shattering capabilities but make no mistake it could still hang with the best of them and was even crucial to the functioning of several great teams and as for Gen 7 VGC in the Sun series and moon series of the 2019 season even though to restrict Aman's are once again allowed mega stones are banned as well as the move dragon ascent which means ya know mega ray however regular requests still found some use with the overwhelming popularity of Kyogre and Groudon and our weather abusing antics at least in the sun series because there appears to be no notable placements for the moon series similar to 2016 the ray ogre court which involves require often pairing with Kyogre to really shut down Groudon made a return and this korra also struck fear in the heart of their ubiquitous and sinner war who was also a great partner its standard set was a special attacking assault vest variant with amazing coverage and icy wind for speed control however with Rosalie berry and iron head Rick Quizlet could deal with xerneas quite decently even surviving a boosted dazzling gleam thanks to assault vest using Rayquaza Ricardo apamea reached 11 at the Frankfurt regionals xavier prada also used Rayquaza to reach third at the chill a special event and with the third part of VGC 2019 the ultra series coming up literally a few days after this video's release mega Rayquaza will be allowed once more and is sure to cause major rifts in the meta game as it did previously and that's it so how good was rayquaza actually ever since its inception it was always one of those terrifying pokemon that made ebers ubers yep like what most box aren't Legendary's or all box art legendaries yeah its request is amazing in fact it was the box legend that you wanted to use when you played the tears only superlatives really describe how powerful it was and this was seen on the big stage when its mega evolution a pokemon so insane that it had its own tier created in singles one the biggest stage at Worlds and became part of a really powerful and famous Court now by uber standards request admittedly did have its ups and downs in viability across the generations but make no mistake request this worst day is still one of the scariest things imaginable and you don't want to imagine the carnage it causes on an average day let alone a good one thanks for watching everyone and as always if you liked the video and you want to see more be sure to subscribe the fall swipe gaming from our weekly Pokemon content and there's no community tap vote this time because next week is the patron pick but for the comments I want to know what do you think about competitive requests how would you change it etc etc or did you think something like mega requests is even necessary whatever it is put it in the comments below and as always thank you to the patrons for continued support of our videos and thank you to everyone else watching as well and follow my crew on these social media platforms and that's all I got see you next time everyone [Music] you [Music]

Channel: False Swipe Gaming

Views: 2,466,446

Keywords: Pokemon, Pokemon Go, Rayquaza, Mega Rayquaza, Pokemon Ruby, Sapphire, Pokemon Emerald, Kyogre, Groudon, Primal Groudon, Primal Kyogre, Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Uber, Black, White, Pokemon X, Pokemon Y, Ultra Sun, Ultra Moon, Competitive Pokemon, Smogon, VGC, VGC 2016, False Swipe Gaming

Id: z6eLt8X-Ndo

Length: 21min 12sec (1272 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 31 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/[deleted]]

Oh Nintendo. What were you thinking when you chose not to give MegaRay a Mega Stone?

[u/ForwardReception]

Imagine if USUM's Ultra Necrozma battle was actually against Mega Rayquaza. Fucking RIP lmao

[u/Behonestwithmii]

Why the fuck did GameFreak make Mega Ray able to hold items?

[u/ColdSnapSP]

Emerald was the first Pokemon game I had bought with my own pocket money saved up back when I was 11 years old so this hits home.

[u/Trippyy_420]

(Mega) Ray is so strong it's only canonical enemies are meteors.