Competitive Pokemon History - Azelf Quiz

Answer: Lead

As a Lead, Azelf has a lot of promising qualities that make it an excellent choice. Its high Speed and access to Taunt allow it to deny entry hazards or setup moves from the majority of the other Leads across the metagame. Its own access to Stealth Rock let it start games off for its team with momentum, immediately pressuring the opponent and punishing any switches they may make until the hazard is removed. Good offensive stats meant Azelf could start doing good damage once it had made use of its other utility options. Finally, access to Explosion and U-Turn meant Azelf could then bring a teammate in to immediately start setting up or simply blasting holes in the opponent's team.

The former let it get this teammate in for free while usually OHKOing the opponent in the process.

The latter preserved Azelf while doing less damage, but could enable it to re-set Stealth Rock later if it got removed.

Answer: Yes

It is difficult to counter a dedicated lead in the strictest sense, because their goal is often not to simply take down the opposing Pokemon in the one-on-one. Azelf's goal as a lead is to set Stealth Rock, prevent Stealth Rock from being set against it, and ideally use Explosion to get an ally in for free with which to make use of the favorable field conditions. In that regard, Tyranitar can definitely counter Azelf. With Sand Stream, it can cut off Azelf's Focus Sash, and it can then force the Azelf user to either trade Stealth Rock with Tyranitar, or to Taunt T-Tar to block Stealth Rock in exchange for immediately getting OHKOed and prevented from setting its own entry hazards. Thus, Azelf will fail to do its job 100% of the time in the presence of a Tyranitar.

There are plenty of Pokemon who can take hits from Azelf, but the thing to note is that, bar Tyranitar, none of them can stop Azelf from actually accomplishing the aforementioned goal. Scizor comes close, but it cannot actually stop Azelf from setting Stealth Rock against it, and because Scizor itself cannot set entry hazards, all it will do is stop Azelf from using Explosion, which is ultimately meaningless since Azelf would still be KOed and able to get a teammate in for free, having given them favorable field conditions, anyway.

Aerodactyl can outspeed Azelf and Taunt it before it can set Stealth Rock, while being able to also block Azelf's own Taunt and set its own Stealth Rock. However, between Stealth Rock, Taunt and Explosion, Azelf has room for one more move that the player would often choose specifically to deal with Aerodactyl. Psychic, a STAB move, registered a clean 2HKO, meaning if the Azelf player just clicked this twice, they would be able to force Aerodactyl into a win/lose dilemma- either Aerodactyl blocks Azelf's Stealth Rock, sets its own entry hazards, but then is KOed, allowing Azelf to then switch out at full health to later set Stealth Rock, or Aerodactyl has to allow Azelf to either set its own hazards, block Aerodactyl's, in exchange for Aerodactyl being able to damage Azelf, keeping it from being healthy, but allowing it to set favorable field conditions. Because this is a mindgame, inherently a 50-50, it would be inaccurate to consider Aerodactyl as a counter.

Beyond that, nothing can come particularly close to countering Azelf. Though, of course, Tyranitar fits the bill.

Answer: Nasty Plot

Nasty Plot, when used, instantly doubles Azelf's Special Attack. Previously, Azelf's true value in standard play was due to its ability to make for an excellent lead, which took away a lot of attention from it with regards to being a sweeper. This would hold up in allowing Azelf to remain viable in standard play as a phenomenal lead, but in UU, Azelf was more valuable as a sweeper due to its many unique traits, access to Nasty Plot being atop the list.

Answer: 115

Base 115 hits a crucial benchmark that enables Azelf to outspeed prominent figures, such as Gengar, the Lati twins, Terrakion and, most prominently in the lead matchup, Froslass and Infernape. This frequently gave advantage in determining the field conditions to the Azelf user, and its good offenses were enough to deter the even speedier Aerodactyl, stopping it from countering Azelf in this role.

Answer: 125

With this figure, Azelf could hit quite hard on both sides, giving credence to an excellent sweeping set. Unfortunately, a mixed wallbreaker set was somewhat mediocre due to Azelf's lackluster mono-Psychic typing, offensively. However, its good stats for a sweeper made it very viable at the role in fifth generation UU.

Answer: Levitate

Levitate grants Azelf a nifty immunity to Ground type moves. Actually directly switching Azelf in was usually a bad idea due to its poor bulk, but immunities in general are never a bad thing to have, so this ability gave it some nice, albeit hard to use, defensive utility.

Answer: Iron Tail

Iron Tail, a 4x super effective move against Mega Diancie, guaranteed an OHKO from full health. Because Azelf naturally outsped Mega Diancie, this would prevent Mega Diancie from being able to check Azelf at all. Conveniently, it also hit Aerodactyl, Froslass and Tyranitar, other common leads, super effectively, meaning it had practical applications outside of this one specific matchup.

Unfortunately, its nasty 75% accuracy meant it could prove inconsistent at times, but it was doubtlessly potent nonetheless.

Answer: Mimikyu

Hydreigon would get blasted to pieces if Azelf packed the 4x super effective Dazzling Gleam, and while it could counter Azelfs without this move, Azelf just about always indeed packed this move with Hydreigon in mind, making it unreliable. Likewise, the top tier threat Scizor's ubiquitous nature prompted Azelf players to equip Fire Blast for a clean OHKO on the Red Menace. Meanwhile, Blissey would be unable to contend with an Azelf that had Psyshock, leaving Mimikyu as the correct answer. Azelf's general frailty meant it only had one chance to boost and sweep, and Mimikyu's Disguise ability perfectly takes advantage of that fact. With Disguise, Mimikyu will take zero damage from Azelf's first attacking move, and can 2HKO it with Shadow Sneak while taking no damage from Azelf, even if Azelf should have reached +6 with Nasty Plot boosts. Thus, Mimikyu needed to be removed from play should Azelf players want their Willpower Pokemon to do its job.

Answer: Adrenaline Orb

Adrenaline Orb boosts the user's Speed by one stage if they become affected by the Intimidate ability. Krookodile and Mega Manectric, Pokemon who thoroughly checked Azelf, would have the tables turned against them when this item activated and allowed Azelf to reliably outspeed them, hammering them with a strong attack before getting blasted by them itself. Thus, the item was useful.

Answer: Actually having access to Stealth Rock

Froslass sure has a lot of things over Azelf, but two crucial traits Azelf has, a higher Speed tier and actually having Stealth Rock, overshadowed most of them. Spikes, which Froslass used to set hazards, weren't bad, but Stealth Rock has just about always been preferred due to the fact that it pressures Flying, Fire and Bug types, the former especially, more than Spikes do.

It also only needs to be set once to maximize its effectiveness, juxtaposed to Spikes which need to be set three times to thoroughly abuse.

It is indeed true that Froslass can spinblock for itself, and has access to Will-O-Wisp to deter Tyranitar, but Azelf's other qualities have just about always made it more desirable most of the time.