Braviary, the Valiant Pokémon. The more scars they have, the more respect these brave soldiers of the sky get from their peers. For the sake of its friends, this brave warrior of the sky will not stop battling, even if injured.
Overview
The eagle Pokémon of the American based 5th generation, Braviary boasts all the power one would expect from such large raptors. At Base 123 Attack, Braviary does not disappoint in the slightest, hitting hard from the word go. That isn’t the end of it either, with two fantastic abilities in Sheer Force and Defiant Braviary hits a lot harder than its already good attack implies. Add in great coverage in Close Combat, Rock Slide, and Iron Head alongside STABs and few are safe from Braviary’s assault. Power isn’t all Braviary is packing either; with Base 100 HP, and workable defenses along with reliable recovery in Roost, Braviary can afford to play the long game, especially if using Bulk Up to shore up its Defenses. Toss in the expected support in Defog and Braviary finds itself as a flexible offensive defensive piece, able to find itself on many a team.
,p> At least that is the dream. However, Braviary is held back far too much by its other traits. Normal Flying STAB is one of the poorer combinations, offering poor coverage via STABs and not resisting much more than your average Flying type. While Sheer Force is an absurd ability on many Pokémon, Braviary is not one of them, with none of its more valuable physical Flying STAB getting the boost. The same goes for Close Combat, which Braviary desperately needs to avoid getting walled by Rock and Steel types. On top of this Defiant is reliant on Braviary’s opponent triggering it, whether through Intimidate, Defog or an (un)lucky stat drop, leaving Braviary struggling to make the most out of its otherwise excellent abilities. Base 75 defenses limit Braviary’s hit taking ability, further exasperated by how underwhelming Braviary’s typing is defensively. Even if Braviary’s defenses were good, the reliance on Brave Bird for damage and Close Combat for STAB would render such bulk moot. A thoroughly mediocre base 80 Speed just compounds Braviary’s woes, forcing it to rely more on its compromised defenses to compensate. While Braviary has the tools for greatness, its disjointed abilities, movepool and typing leave much to be desired.Positives
Base 123 Attack is an incredible starting point, allowing Braviary even at its most defensive to hit hard.
Good physical movepool to match, with Rock Slide and Close Combat alongside Bulk Up for boosting gives Braviary most of the tools it would ever want.
Base 100 HP with reliable recovery in Roost allows Braviary to play a long game if needed.
Incredible abilities in Sheer Force and Defiant allow Braviary to push its power to new heights.
Negatives
Lacks the movepool to truly get the most out of Sheer Force and Defiant is dependent on the opponent, greatly lessening the impact of such abilities.
Normal Flying typing is underwhelming offensively and defensively, hurting Braviary on both fronts.
Below average base 75 defenses and self-destructive attacks bely Braviary’s good HP, further limiting what defensive utility it has.
Base 80 Speed, while not bad, is easily exploitable by many other attackers.
Movesets
Bulky Bird
-Bulk Up
-Brave Bird
-Close Combat
-Roost
Ability: Defiant
Item: Leftoversbr />
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Spe
Careful Nature
Akin to other Curse, Bulk Up and Calm Mind users, Bulk Up Braviary aims to boost up into an unstoppable physical juggernaut as a late game cleaner. Bulk Up pushes Barviary’s already good attack to terrifying levels while doing much to address its lacking Defense. By pairing this with Defiant, it becomes even more difficult to slow Braviary down with Paldean-Tauros and Overqwill’s Intimidates boosting Braviary instead of sapping it.. Brave Bird is the preferred STAB of choice thanks to its high power and the good offensive coverage Flying boasts, especially against the likes of Tsareena, Wo-Chien, Torterra and Hariyama. Close Combat is the preferred coverage, pairing incredibly well with Barviary’s natural STABs which are both resisted by Rock and Steel types like Copperajah and Bronzong, while Braviary’s Flying STAB means Fighting resistant Bug, Poison and Fighting immune Ghost types can’t pivot in freely either. Roost rounds out the set and vital for Braviary in playing the long game, recovering damage incurred from setup as well as from Brave Bird recoil.
Tera Types:
While Braviary can work just fine with its base typing, and indeed values the immunity to non-Stealth Rock entry hazards, it often finds itself Terastalizing to facilitate setup or just get some more oomph into its attacks. Tera Fighting is notable for fulfilling both needs, giving Braviary a resistance to Rock on top of pushing Close Combat in line with Brave Bird for STAB, making it that much harder for the likes of Bronzong and Avalugg to withstand Braviary’s assault. Tera Ground is another excellent offensive defensive option, as aside from the unfortunate shared Ice weakness, gives Braviary an immunity to Electric and resistance to Rock and Tera Ground Tera Blast synergizes amazingly with Braviary’s Flying STAB especially against Toxtricity who resists both Flying and Fighting. Steel is a more traditional defensive option being difficult to break through thanks to its myriad of resistances while preventing opponents from placing Braviary on a timer with Toxic. Tera Flying is a purely offensive option, but turns Brave Bird into a weapon of mass destruction with even unboosted Tera Flying Brave Birds OHKOing Florges, and capable of OHKOing Flygon after Stealth Rock damage.
EVs and Items:
As with other Bulk Up and Curse setup sweepers, this set aims to max out Braviary’s Special bulk thus making it as difficult to break as possible on the special side as Braviary cannot address that with Bulk Up or Defiant. Some speed investment can be considered. 192 Speed with a Jolly nature is necessary to outspeed max Speed Tsareena, while 92 Speed with Jolly is sufficient for Max Speed Adamant Breloom. Leftovers is recommended for the item, allowing Braviary to passively shake off some damage while setting up. Heavy-Duty Boots also works in preventing Braviary from having Stealth Rocks chew up Braviary’s health on entry but as this set is not meant to pivot it is less helpful than it would be otherwise. On Braviary running Sheer Force, Life Orb is always an option for the sheer power and lack of drawback such moves lack.
Partners:
Ground types make for excellent partners for Bulk Up Braviary thanks to their ability to threaten Electric types as well as compromise Rock and Steel types for Braviary to blow past later. Golurk is an excellent example of this, being able to blow past physical walls like Bronzong and Fluffy Houndstone thanks to Poltergeist on top of its excellent matchup into Toxtricity and Bellibolt.
Rotom-Heat also deserves mention, its Overheat is great for obliterating Steel types while being able to pivot into Ice and Electric moves that will threaten Braviary and cripple them with Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp for easy setup for Braviary later.
Other Options:
Substitute is a great way to grab free Bulk Up boosts while blocking crippling status like Toxic, Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave, but forces Braviary down to a single move for coverage.
Dual Wingbeat is Braviary’s best Flying STAB that doesn’t cause recoil which can be antithetical for a bulky attacker set, but the difference in power is stark.
Body Slam is worth a consideration if running Sheer Force, being Braviary’s best STAB Sheer Force boosted attack.
For a more offensive Flying spam set, one could run a Power Herb + Sky Attack + Acrobatics set, using Power Herb Sky Attack for a one time delete button and then threaten everything else with STAB Acrobatics.
Through the Perilous Fight
-Defog
-Roost
-U-Turn
-Brave Bird
Ability: Defiant
Item: Heavy-Duty Boots
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
This Braviary set acts akin to Corviknight as a bulky Defogger whose purpose is to stick around and keep hazards off the field for the rest of the team to pivot freely without getting knocked into knockout range by entry hazards. Roost is what allows Braviary to act in such a role, recovering damage incurred while removing hazards, greatly increasing Braviary’s longevity. U-Turn allows Braviary to act as a slowish pivot after wiping away hazards, countering predicted switches and allowing for repositioning with a bit of chip damage on top. Brave Bird rounds out the set so that Braviary isn’t entirely passive and even without investment, Braviary’s high Attack and the sheer power of Brave Bird still threatens considerable damage with even targets as bulky as Flygon still getting reliably 2HKO’d.
Tera Types:
While Braviary tends to struggle greatly because of its mediocre base typing, this set’s partial role as a pivot tends to preclude it from such measures as it is better to switch out than Terstalizing to tank a blow. However, sometimes a type change is necessary for Braviary to survive to clear hazards. Tera Steel is recommended given the numerous resistances it provides including a resistance to Ice, though Tera Ground is also a solid option for its favorable matchup into Electric and Rock, which are two ways to immediately threaten Braviary.
EVs and Items:
As this Braviary is meant to stick around as long as possible to remove hazards, maximizing Braviary’s bulk is a given. The given EVs are for maximizing Braviary’s physical bulk, ensuring even physical attackers as strong as Banded Arcanine can only 3HKO Braviary while Max Special Defense Braviary can comfortably tank Dragalge’s Draco Meteors and Galarian Articuno’s Hurricanes. As a dedicated Hazard remover, Heavy-Duty Boots is mandatory for this set as otherwise any Stealth Rocks greatly limits the number of times Braviary can switch in to Defog away hazards. Alternatively, one could go for a fully offensive set with Max Speed and Attack with a Choice Scarf to help ensure the Defog goes off, as well as provide offensive pressure, but is better suited for more offensive teams.
Partners:
Ground types remain great partners for Braviary thanks to resisting two of its weaknesses and greatly appreciating Braviary drawing such attackers in for easy entry while Braviary easily handles opposing Grass types that trouble them. Golurk again remains stellar at this, and also benefits from Braviary’s Normal typing when up against faster Ghosts.
Overqwill is a great example that benefits greatly from Braviary Defogging, allowing it to pivot in multiple times for Intimidate. Its solitary Ground weakness also makes for an easy entry point for Braviary, luring in Ground attacks for Braviary to come in safely..
Other Options:
Dual Wingbeat is again an alternative Flying STAB option for Braviary that doesn’t chew up Braviary’s HP.
Tailwind is a good team support option that gives Braviary more utility than just as a Defog user.
Close Combat is again a great option to pair with Flying STAB to cover opposing Rock and Steel types.
Countering Braviary
While Braviary's power may be impressive, its lackluster typing and, easily compromised defenses along with mediocre speed give it very clear weaknesses.
Fluffy Houndstone is a nightmare for non-Substitute Braviary able to tank even +2 Brave Birds with ease while crippling Braviary with Will-O-Wisp. Bellibolt also works well, especially if Braviary only has Close Combat, able to cripple defensive sets with Toxic or overwhelm Braviary with Electric STAB, with both +2 Close Combat and Life Orb Sheer Force Body Slam 3HKOing. Avalugg does well against anything except boosted Tera Fighting Close Combats though it can be overwhelmed if Braviary accrues too many Bulk Ups.
Other checks are more reliant on what Braviary is running. If only running Flying STAB + Close Combat, Toxtricity can work well in a pinch, able to eat one boosted attack before OHKOing back with Electric STAB. If running Flying STAB and Tera Ground Tera Blast, Flying resistant Levitators like Bronzong and the Rotoms can easily absorb Braviary's attacks and overwhelm it. If only running Flying STAB or Flying + Normal STABs, Rock and Steel types easily wall Braviary, namely Rhyperior, Copperajah, and Drednaw.
When offensively checking Braviary, special attackers are generally recommended, given how Braviary cannot address its Special Defense the way it can its physical. Though that can be problematic when Braviary goes all in on Special Defense and HP with only Specs Toxtricity and Specs Chandelure having reasonable expectations to OHKO. Banded Pawmot, Staraptor, and Paldean Tauros are all capable of outspeeding and OHKOing a Max HP no Defense Braviary with either STAB or Stone Edge in the case of the latter, though the Paldean-Tauros absolutely need to get the knock out or they will have enabled Braviary via Defiant. Conversely a Max HP no Special Defense Braviary can find itself immediately threatened by the likes of Specs Inteleon and Galvantula.
The above calculations presume Stealth Rocks is not a factor. If Stealth Rocks is a factor, even after a Bulk Up Braviary struggles to survive against Super Effective attacks or intensely powered ones such as Banded Basculegion's Wave Crash, Hitmontop's Triple Axel, Banded Golurk's Stone Edge. Braviary also becomes easier to revenge KO as the battle rages on with Close Combat and Brave Bird sapping its defenses. This is especially true of sets with minimal speed investment who can be outrun by Pokémon even as slow as Golurk.
Hisuian Braviary, the Battle Cry Pokémon. Screaming a bloodcurdling battle cry, this huge and ferocious bird Pokémon goes out on the hunt. It blasts lakes with shock waves, then scoops up any prey that float to the water’s surface.
Overview
The final ride Pokémon from Legends Arceus, Hisuian-Braviary is a delightful reimagining of its Unovan counterpart trading sheer physical might for special prowess. This proves to be a significant boon for Hisuian-Braviary as now both of its STABs can fully benefit from Sheer Force allowing it to make the most of its ability. Or one could spring for Hisuian-Braviary’s other excellent ability in the rare Tinted Lens, mandating quadruple resistances, immunities or fantastic special bulk to reliably deal with Hisuian-Braviary. If all of that wasn’t enough, Hisuian-Braviary was gifted an incredible signature move in Esper Wing, a high crit damaging move that raises Hisuian-Braviary’s Speed allowing it to escalate out of control as it places the hurt on the opposing team.
Sadly Hisuian-Braviary trades away its Unovan counterpart’s issues for entirely new ones. While Flying-Psychic typing is better offensively, it is far worse defensively adding common weaknesses to the very spammable Dark and Ghost types on top of the common weaknesses that Flying boasts. This leaves it rather similar bulk in dire straits even if Hisuian-Braviary isn’t tearing itself apart unlike Unovan Braviary. This is compounded by Hisuian-Braviary’s much lower speed stat, a paltry base 65 that means even with Esper Wing, Hisuian-Braviary isn’t that hard to outspeed at +1 and leaving it far more exposed to threats if it chooses to invest in bulk unlike its nominate form. However, it is how these factors play into Hisuian-Braviary’s offense is where things fall apart. Unlike Lokix who has brought Tinted Lens to the limelight, the fact that Dark types are immune to Psychic means it is far easier to switch into Tinted Lens Hisuian-Braviary than it is Lokix as there is a safe pivot to one of its moves. Combine that with the unreliability of Hurricane and Hisuian-Braviary just does not provoke the same pressure, especially given its low speed. This all but drives Hisuian-Braviary to use Sheer Force which exasperates Hisuian-Braviary’s Speed problem given how the ability turns off Esper Wing’s Speed boost. Which leaves Hisuian-Braviary an easily outsped somewhat frail attacker, not the dominating threat its offenses would otherwise say.
Positives
Base 112 Special Attack is quite good and Hisuian-Braviary can crank the power even higher with Calm Mind.
Incredible offensive abilities in Sheer Force and Tinted Lens allow Hisuian-Braviary to apply incredible pressure that is difficult to circumvent.
Esper Wing is an amazing signature move that allows Hisuian-Braviary to fix its speed while going on the offense.
Negatives
Flying Psychic typing offers an easily exploitable defensive profile with numerous common weaknesses.
Esper Wing does not provide a Speed boost with Sheer Force.
Poor Base 65 Speed often forces Hisuian-Braviary to take a hit before acting.
Base 70 defenses are not sufficient considering such poor typing and speed.
Movesets
Pace of Change
-Agility
-Psychic
-Hurricane
-Heat Wave
Ability: Sheer Force
Item: Life Orb
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
Given the sheer power of Sheer Force Life Orb Boosted attacks, Hisuian-Braviary can forego boosting its offenses to focus on remedying its Speed with Agility before going on the offensive. Psychic is the preferred STAB for its high base power and reliability, easily downing targets as durable as Flygon, Tatsugiri, and Assault Vest Hariyama and 2HKOing Goodra. Hurricane is secondary STAB for its unreliability, but its power cannot be denied, obliterating most of the Dark types immune to Hisuian-Braviary’s primary STAB with even ones as bulky as Alolan-Muk and max Special Defense Incineroar being solidly 2HKO’d while Overqwill is outright OHKO’d. Heat Wave rounds out the set for its ability to hit the Steel and Tera Steel types that otherwise resist Hisuian-Braviary’s STABs preventing even Bronzong and Copperajah from safely resisting Hisuain-Braviary.
Tera Types:
While Hisuian-Braviary’s typing is rather poor, it wields enough power that after an Agility, its typing becomes rather moot. That being said, offensive Terastalization can be considered to help Hisuian-Braviary muscle through bulkier targets. Tera Fire is popular, not only for giving Heat Wave pseudo-STAB status, allowing Hisuian-Braviary to outright OHKO Bronzong and Copperajah, while having a decent defensive profile including a resistance to Ice. Tera Psychic is another nice and simple power boost while removing Hisuian-Braviary’s common Ice and Electric weaknesses, as well as enabling OHKOs on Bellibolt, Dudunsparce, bulky Rhyperior, the Rotom forms, and Raikou, to say nothing of making 2HKOs on Snorlax and Porygon2 possible. If running Vacuum Wave, Tera Fighting deserves mention for the inbuilt synergies between priority moves and Terastalization, along with the built in resistances to Fighting and Dark.
EVs and Items:
As this is a speed boosting set, Max Special Attack investment is all but required as Hisuian-Braviary will not be able to address its Special Attack in other matters. Max Speed investment is recommended as well, though it gets more nuanced than that. While Modest is preferred for the extra damage, Max Speed with Timid allows Hisuian-Braviary to outspeed base 90 and base 100 Choice Scarf users like Flamigo, Staraptor, and Flygon after Agility. If wanting a bit more bulk, one could drop down to 192 Speed with Modest (116 Speed EVs with Timid) and still outspeed base 80 Choice Scarf users like Chandelure. Since this is a Sheer Force set, Life Orb is a must, thanks to the ability canceling out Life Orb’s drawback on affected moves being essentially a free boost.
Partners:
Fighting types make for great partners for Hisuian-Braviary given their good matchup into opposing Steel, and Dark types along with Snorlax that can otherwise hold out against Hisuian-Braviary. Emboar is exemplary among Fighting types for its Fire typing not only ensuring that Steel types are not safe regardless of subtyping but for drawing in Ground and to a lesser extent Psychic attacks that Hisuian-Braviary can use as free entry. Emboar benefits from Hisuian-Braviary’s matchup into Poison types, with Hisuian-Braviary quite able to summarily dispatch them and enable Emboar later. Breloom is also notable its Spore amazing at opening up setup opportunities for Braviary as well as capable of sapping targets Speed with Rock Tomb allowing Hisuian-Braviary to apply offensive pressure against normally faster targets. Hariyama is another solid example thanks to its access to Knock Off not only threatening opposing Psychic and Ghost types but for the general item disruption making them that much more vulnerable to Hisuian-Braviary.
Given Hisuian-Braviary’s poor defenses, methods to get it in safely or open opportunities to setup are greatly appreciated. Dragalge is an excellent example, its slow Flip Turns all but ensuring Hisuian-Braviary gets in safely while compromising many a would be foe with its own potent Draco Meteors.
Other Options:
Air Slash is a far more reliable option to Hurricane for Flying STAB, though the power drop is significant, though the fact that it also gets the Sheer Force boost means it still hits appreciably hard.
Vacuum Wave is Hisuian-Braviary’s lone priority option, though its ability to clean up Dark and Steel types is quite invaluable.
Countering Hisuian Braviary
Hisuian-Braviary’s Sheer power is nothing to scoff at, though its poor speed and unimpressive defenses greatly facilitate its removal.
Dark types are recommended when dealing with Hisuian-Braviary regardless of set thanks to their immunity to Psychic rending that STAB moot regardless of Hisuian-Braviary’s ability with only the unreliable Hurricane threatening them. Preventing Hisuian-Braviary from boosting its speed with Esper Wing is a nice bonus as well. Specially Defensive Incineroar is particularly nightmarish given its resistance to Heat Wave and can OHKO with Knock Off or ruin non-Calm Mind sets with Parting Shot. Grimmsnarl is also fantastic at ruining Hisuian-Braviary, either by causing it to miss knock outs with Light Screen, Parting Shot and/or Spirit Break, cripple Esper Wing/Agility sets with Thunder Wave or threaten significant damage if not a OHKO with Sucker Punch. Zoroark is particularly nasty given that it can lure in a Psychic attack and OHKO back with its own Dark STAB.
It is generally recommended to deal with Hisuian-Braviary offensively given its poor Speed makes it rather easy to outstrip with a rather extensive list including Toxtricity, Brambleghast, Pawmot, Chandelure, Basculegion, Dragalge, Banded Flygon, Staraptor, Galvantula, Specs Inteleon, Raikou, Cinccino and more all capable of OHKOing Hisuian-Braviary. However, this gets complicated given how easily Hisuian-Braviary can boost its speed. At +1, Kilowattrel is one of the few guaranteed to outspeed, but that is when Hisuian-Braviary is running Timid. If it is running Modest, Cincinno, Raikou, Specs Espeon, and Specs Infernape all are capable of outspeeding and OHKOing. If running Agility, Hisuian-Braviary is difficult to outspeed if Timid, with only Scarf Munkidori managing, while Modest Agility Hisuian-Braviary can be outran by base 90 and high Choice Scarf users like Meloetta, Flamigo, and Flygon to name a few.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game
Black/White:
Route 11 (White)
Black 2/White 2:
Route 4 (White 2)
X/Y:
Evolve Rufflet
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Soaring in the Sky
Sun/Moon:
Poni Plains (Sun)
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Poni Plains (Ultra Sun)
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Dusty Bowl, Lake of Outrage, Challenge Road, Potbottom Desert (Sword)
Max Raid Battles: Bridge Field, East Lake Axewell, Motostoke Riverbank, Rolling Fields, Stony Wilderness, Challenge Road, Loop Lagoon, Workout Sea, Stepping-Stone Sea
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game
Legends: Arceus:
Alabaster Icelands: Lake Acuity or nearby, Massive Mass Outbreak
Scarlet/Violet:
Asado Desert, Savanna Biome, North Province Area One
Tera Raid Battles: 5 Star Raid Battles
Legends: Z-A:
Not in game
Anime Appearences
