Hello everyone, shademonkey here. This is going to be an early competitive guide for one of my favourite Uranium fakemon, Harptera the angry dragonfly. Early because the is no actual competitive metagame yet in online battles, only Pokémon chosen for the popularity of the combo their moves/abilities/typing allow (looking at you, Nucleon, Inflagetah, Electruxo-M). What I’m going to do here is try and cover most of the Pokédex when talking of threats and checks, not trying and predicting the future meta.
Overview
Harptera is an extremely frail Pokémon. Its Bug/Flying typing leaves is with a grand total of 6 weaknesses to Nuclear-, Rock-, Fire-, Flying-, Electric-, and Ice-moves, most of which are super common; and a double weakness to Stealth Rock. Plus, its 70/75/75 defensive stats don’t help much tank a hit.
But, and it’s a huge but, its Attack and Speed stats are just great. 130 BS Attack lets it hit like a truck, 125 BS Speed ties it with Archilles for the 8th fastest Pokémon in the game, outspeeding notable threats like Yatagaryu, Electruxo-Mega, Frosthra and Urayne-Beta. Even its 90 BS Special Attack lets it somewhat decently use a Hidden Power should it lack coverage.
Bug/Flying is Stab combination that hits a large portion of the Dex (not talking about metagame here) for neutral damage. Relevant exceptions include Daikatuna, Tracton, Lanthan, Gararewl; and a few other weird things like Corsoreef, Dermafrost and Theriamp, Gargryph, Haagross, and Eviolite Voltasu. All of those can be dealt with coverage moves though.
Speaking of moves, Harptera’s movepool is a bit lackluster, but it has everything it needs. Stab attacks are decent, coverage is on point with Knock Off, Gunk Shot, Drill Run, Brick Break and Rock Slide. Utility and support moves include Pursuit, U-Turn, Tailwind, Dragon Dance and Sticky Web. Defog is not available (yet?).
Harptera sports 3 excellent Abilities in Moxie, Gale Wings and Unburden (Hidden Ability). Moxie, combined with the dragonfly’s excellent Attack and Speed promise a premier late game sweeper. Gale Wings gives a +1 priority to its Flying-type moves, and makes it a fantastic revenge killer. Note that Harptera does not learn Roost so priority healing is not an option. (It actually does learn Roost, my bad.) Unburden is a bit trickier to use at this stage of the game’s development, as several consumable items have not been released yet, but we can still work a few things out.
Alright, with no further ado, let’s get into it. I will be considering that all IV are 31.
1. Lead
· With Gale Wings
Jolly Nature (+Speed, -Special Attack)
252 EV Attack, 252 EV Speed. The last 4 EV should not be allocated.
Focus Sash
-Taunt
-Sticky Web
-Acrobatics
-X-Scissor / U-turn
The first objective of this Harptera is to set the Sticky Web while checking opposing leads.
If the opponent’s lead is an entry hazard setter: Taunt first turn. With maximum Speed investment, the only entry hazard setters that can tie/outspeed Harptera are Archilles and Archilles-Mega (Stealth Rock), so you won’t have any problem Taunting first. If the opponent fell for the Taunt, you can either U-turn out to a better counter, or lay the Sticky Web. Focus Sash allows Harptera to survive one hit, and its poor defences almost guarantee that any hit will put it down to 1 HP, activating Focus Sash and boosting a priority Acrobatics. But, if you really don’t want to risk not consuming the Sash, you may opt for a Hasty (+Speed, -Defense) or Naive (+Speed, -Special Defense) Nature to further lower its defences.
You can choose whether you want to keep your Pokemon alive and keep some momentum later in the game by running U-turn, in that case you don’t want to invest those last 4 EV in HP, as at level 100 with 31 HP IV Harptera will have an odd number of HP, allowing it to hypothetically enter twice a Stealth Rocked field. Or you can hit as hard as possible right away with X-Scissor.
· With Unburden
Lonely Nature (+Attack, -Defense) / Naughty Nature (+Attack, -Special Defense)
Same EV spread
Same Item
-Taunt
-Sticky Web
-Acrobatics
-X-Scissor / Knock Off / Drill Run / Brick Break / Steel Wing / Shadow Claw / Rock Slide / Gunk Shot
Now this Harptera wants to lay the Sticky Web and die quickly. We lose priority on Acrobatics and double our speed when Focus Sash is consumed.
Gale Wings Jolly/Hasty/Naive 31-252 Speed Harptera = a final stat of 383 speed.
Unboosted Unburden Lonely/Naughty 31-252 Speed Harptera = 349. 349*2=698. Meaning that once Unburden activates, Harptera can outspeed even the almighty Inflagetah-M on a non-priority move. Since this boost is a one-time only, we want to make the better use of it, by choosing an attack boosting Nature and choosing a fourth move that hits as hard as possible.
Now this is assuming that common leads in Uranium will be SR/S/TS setters, of course I can’t predict what kind of leads the future Uranium metagame will see more use so I can’t really say which coverage move will be better. Looking at the possible hazard setters, we can notice that most of them are Steel-, Ground-, Rock- and Poison-type. Drill Run might be the best option then. Knock Off is also always a safe bet.
Checks and Counters
Priority users that don’t fear its stab combination: Swords Dance/Aqua Jet Daikatuna; Ice Shard Fafninter; Flame Impact Inflagetah(-M)…
Magic Bounce users: Nimflora (careful Acrobatics), Espeon, Sableye-M, Kiricorn-M
Physical walls: Metalynx(-M) can tank anything from Harptera and mess with its Focus Sash shenanigans with Leech Seed; Poison Heal Gliscor laughs at Harptera and can set up on it; Lanthan forces a switch to a proper counter, otherwise it’s a pain on most teams
Weather Inducers : Snow Warning Glavinug can OHKO Harptera with Blizzard + Hail. Same thing with Yatagaryu with Thunder. And I guess same thing with Sand Stream Escartress + any move at all.
2. Endeavour Suicide Lead
Gale Wings
Jolly or Rigid Nature
252 Speed, 252 Attack, 4 HP
Focus Sash
-Taunt
-Endeavor
-Acrobatics
-X-Scissor/Drill Run/Knock Off
Counters
Anything that counters an Endeavor set. Special mention to Ghost-types.
3. Moxie Sweeper
Moxie
Jolly or Rigid Nature
252 Speed, 252 Attack, 0 HP
Choice Scarf or Choice Band
-X-Scissor/U-turn
-Aerial Ace
-Drill Run / Knock Off
-Gunk Shot / Steel Wing / Knock Off
This is where Harptera’s poor stab combination shows the most. Aerial Ace is its most powerful Flying-type attack since it can’t power up Acrobatics here. U-turn can weaken foes early in the game while X-Scissor is there for “long” run damage. Any combination of Drill Run, Steel wing, and Gunk Shot should let you hit Rock-, Steel- and Fairy-types super effectively. Knock off is there because it’s always a good option.
Choice Scarf should be paired with a Rigid Nature, and Choice Band with a Jolly Nature, but Choice Band can go with a Rigid Nature if your team doesn’t suffer from that loss of speed.
Counters
Phazers: Dragon Tail Fafninter, Bulky Roar Gyarados and Metalynx…
Healing abusers: Bulky Sunny Day/Harvest/Synthesis/Sitrus Berry Cocancer ; Sleep Talkers…
4. Wallbreaker
Unburden
Jolly or Rigid Nature
252 Speed, 252 Attack, 4 HP
Power Herb
-Sky Attack
-Acrobatics
-X-Scissor/Knock Off
-Drill Run
Power Herb powers up a powerful Sky Attack letting our dragonfly punch a hole in the opponent’s team. Then Unburden activates. Then you can sweep with a boosted Acrobatics and a doubled speed.
That’s a set I’d like to try out once Power Herb gets released in the game.
Other options: Sky Attack + Power Herb could almost guarantee a first kill on a Moxie Sweeper set, but then you’d be sweeping with no item. Acrobatics would be boosted, but your other moves not so much.
That’s it for me, thank you for having read this guide, please do tell me if there is something I’ve forgotten on a set, or something that you disagree with. I'm sorry the explanation on some sets is not as in depth as on others, but some of the sets are really transparent. I’d be most happy to debate and improve this guide with your help.