Aerodactyl, the Fossil Pokémon. It was regenerated from a pterosaur's genetic matter that was found in amber. It flies with high- pitched cries.
Overview
One of the original fossil Pokémon, Aerodactyl returns in Champions, bringing back its blistering speed and good offensive typing and coverage as a swift attacker, that makes the most of its innate traits. Stat wise, Aerodactyl takes more after its Flying typing than its Rock heritage, and to absurd degrees at that. Base 130 Speed is one of the fastest in the game, outrunning even famed speedsters like Meowscarada and Greninja, that are known for getting the jump on just about everything. That alone would be enough for Aerodactyl to see consideration given how it is almost always able to get a move off, but it goes beyond that. Aerodactyl pairs that overwhelming speed with the superb coverage one would expect in Rock types, not only with the absurdly wide coverage of Rock STAB itself, but options like Earthquake, and Iron Head, allowing Aerodactyl to threaten everything in its path. The fact that Aerodactyl can push its speed and power further with Dragon Dance, or provide consistent disruption with speedy Stealth Rock and Taunt give Aerodactyl a move for every situation.
Yet the passing generations have left this revived fossil forgotten. Base 105 Attack teeters at the edge of viable, leaving Aerodactyl without a lot of stopping power, especially with its non STAB coverage options. Even with Aerodactyl’s STAB attacks, Rock STAB and Dual Wingbeat both have imperfect accuracy, which makes Aerodactyl unreliable when it is at its theoretical strongest. Aerodactyl’s offensive woes are quite damaging given its frailty. 65/75 defenses are poor and with common Electric, Ice, Water and Stealth Rock weaknesses, Aerodactyl can’t really afford to take a hit. This same frailty all but bars Dragon Dance boosting when Aerodactyl struggles to survive the first blow and can still miss a KO even after a boost. In the end, all Aerodactyl has going for it is its Speed, so the fact that there are naturally faster threats like Dragapult, Mega Greninja, and Mega Delphox, along with Scarf users and priority attackers that can all remove Aerodactyl before it can act may make the price of breaking out this museum piece a bit too high.
Positives
Base 130 Speed is phenomenal, tying Aerodactyl for ninth fastest currently available Pokémon, all but ensuring Aerodactyl is moving first.
Fantastic movepool with wide coverage and potent disruptive options further amplified by Aerodactyl’s speed.
Negatives
65/75 defenses are poor, leaving Aerodactyl struggling to endure any hit.
Base 105 Attack is underwhelming causing Aerodactyl to miss knock outs.
STAB options are unreliable, further worsening Aerodactyl’s offensive presence.
Unable to make the most of its abilities.
Movesets
Pterodactyl Storm
-Stone Edge
-Dual Wingbeat
-Earthquake
-Iron Head
Ability: Unnerve
Item: Focus Sash
EVs and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Adamant Nature
This Aerodactyl set acts in the vein of a revenge killer, making the most of Aerodactyl’s high speed to pick up knock outs. Stone Edge is Aerodactyl’s strongest attack and Aerodactyl gets excellent mileage out of its due to the wide offensive coverage of Rock, crushing threats like Mega Charizard Y, Volcarona, Rotom-Heat, and Ceruledge. Dual Wingbeat is secondary STAB but no less vital against Rock resistant Fighting types like Mega Lopunny, and Sneasler, while easily able to remove a Mega Venusaur or Mega Meganium from half HP. Earthquake is for the Steel types that otherwise resist both STABs like Kingambit, Hisuian Goodra and Excadrill. Iron Head is targeted coverage for popular Fairy types like Clefable, Mega Floette, Alolan-Ninetails, and Mega Gardevoir, depriving opponents of key offense, or in the case of Alolan-Ninetails, weather control and screen setup.
EVs and Items:
As a revenge attacker, max Speed and Attack are essentially mandatory for Aerodactyl to have as much stopping power as possible. The debate between Adamant and Jolly is a bit more nuanced. While Jolly ensures Aerodactyl can make the most out of its speed tier and outrun base 120+ like Sneasler, Mega Froslass, Mega Starmie, Greninja, Meowscarada, Weavile, Adamant Scarf Basculegion, and Adamant Dragonite and Adamant Mega Feraligatr after a Dragon Dance, Aerodactyl is desperately lacking in power without the Adamant boost. With the Adamant boost Aerodactyl always OHKOs Rotom-Heat, favored to OHKO Serperior and Alolan Ninetails, possibly OHKO Excadrill and Mega Gardevoir, and 2HKO Kingambit, all thresholds Jolly misses. Focus Sash is recommended as the item to give Aerodactyl more lee way and not mandate that it gets a OHKO. Alternatively, one could go for a Hard Stone or Sharp Beak to boost the power of Aerodactyl’s STABs, the former pushing Stone Edge to 3HKO max HP/Def Corviknight (sans Leftovers), while the latter pushes Dual Wingbeat into reliably dealing at least 70% to Max HP Mega Venusaur and Mega Meganium. If Choice Band returns, it is easily the best fit for this set, allowing Aerodactyl to more comfortably run Jolly Nature by greatly alleviating Aerodactyl’s power issues.
Partners:
Aerodactyl is a decent clean up artist that has strong matchups against Fire types as well as frail Fighting and Grass types so looking for allies that benefit from Aerodactyl’s talents is a good start. Mega Meganium loves Aerodactyl’s matchup spread as Aerodactyl can easily smash the Fire types that resist both of its STABs, compromise opposing Grass types and cleanly remove Sneasler, an otherwise dire threat to Mega Meganium. Mega Meganium in turn offers Aerodactyl a free pivot from Water and Electric attacks that it struggles against. Hatterene is another Fairy type that greatly benefits from Aerodactyl’s good matchups, and helps Aerodactyl in turn with its Magic Bounce warding off Stealth Rock and keeping Aerodactyl’s Focus Sash intact. Volcarona, despite sharing Water and Rock weaknesses too likes Aerodactyl removing opposing Fire types, though it is better suited for sets running Stealth Rock to facilitate Quiver Dance sweeps.
Other Options:
Stealth Rock is a good pick on Aerodactyl given its high speed making it a reliable setter.
Taunt is also a powerful option on Aerodactyl, preventing setup and disruption as well as sealing the recovery options for many walls.
Ice Fang is perhaps the only viable elemental fang solely for its extremely good matchup into Garchomp, as other otherwise a two times super effective elemental fang is outdamaged by a neutral Stone Edge.
Rock Tomb is weak, but offers valuable speed control that can allow Aerodactyl’s partner to outspeed the target while breaking defensive measures like Multiscale, Focus Sash and Disguise.
Doubles and VGC Options
Despite Aerodactyl’s troubles in singles, it has outright excelled in Doubles, largely due to its fantastic speed. Aerodactyl is the second fastest non-Priority Tailwind setter available and makes use of that and dynamic speed changes to the fullest. Due to Aerodactyl’s high speed, it will often get Tailwind setup first before any other Pokémon moves, and allow its ally to get the jump on the opposition as well barring only the largest gaps in speed tiers. That high speed is put to good use with Rock Slide as well, which in Aerodactyl's claws is a flinch spreading menace, allowing Aerodactyl to both spread damage and deprive opponents of turns, swinging a game into Aerodactyl's trainer's favor. Add in Dual Wingbeat in cleanly removing top tier Focus Sash using threats, Wide Guard to block against the large amount of spread moves flying around, speedy Taunt to limit opposing support Pokémon or even weather control and it is easy to see Aerodactyl’s widespread success. Even the current gutting of the item pool is very much in Aerodactyl’s favor, with every team running at least one Berry, if not two, making Unnerve surprisingly oppresive. Even without the gutting of items, denying an Incineroar or Farigiraf's Sitrus Berry, a Yache Berry from Garchomp or a Chople Berry from Kingambit or Maushold can do wonders in expediently removing such threats. However, Aerodactyl’s speed is all that is going for it, with lacking defenses making it easy to remove and poor attack ensuring that Aerodactyl struggles to deal damage against all but the frailest of targets or the most severe of weaknesses. .
Prehistoric Wind
-Tailwind
-Rock Slide
-Protect
-Wide Guard
Ability: Unnerve
Item: Focus Sash
EVs and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Jolly Nature
Aerodactyl is one of the most prolific Tailwind setters currently available in the format thanks to its Mega tier base 130 Speed allowing Aerodactyl to get the jump on just about every non Mega Pokémon and even most Megas, allowing Aerodactyl to setup Tailwind before most foes and then have Aerodactyl's partner almost certainly outspeed the opponent and launch a devestating attack of its own. Rock Slide complements Aerodactyl very well, turning Aerodactyl into a veritable flinch machine while offering some spread damage, breaking Focus Sashes and pushing targets into KO range for Aerodactyl's partners, allowing Aerodactyl to help set the pace of the match. To say nothing of the severe damage it threatens Mega Charizard Y with threatening to OHKO even through Intimidate. Protect is the best move in Doubles and is vital for Focus Sash Aerodactyl in protecting it from Fake Out, preventing opponents from doing Fake Out + attack to remove Aerodactyl before it can setup its vital Tailwind. Wide Guard offers Aerodactyl incredible utility, especially against opposing Rock Slides from other Aerodactyls and Scarf Garchomp as well as Mega Floette's Dazzling Gleam, Rotom-Wash's Electroweb, Milotic's Icy Wind, Mega Froslass' and Alolan-Ninetales' Blizzard, Sylveon and Mega Gardevoir's Hyper Voice, Blastoise’s Water Spout and more. Not only does this prevent efficient opponents from making significant progress on Aerodactyl’s team, it also prevents pseudo Double ups to get around Focus Sash, even before we get into the speed control of Electroweb and Icy Wind. It should be noted while using Wide Guard, if one tries to immediately follow up with a Protect,
Max Speed and Attack are recommended. Aerodactyl needs as much speed as possible to get the jump on other base 130s like opposing Aerodactyl and Mega Gengar as well as to flinch as wide a range of targets as possible with Rock Slide. Max Attack is also necessary giving Aerodactyl's underwhelming base 105 Attack and the spread damage reduction of Rock Slide as Aerdactyl will need every point to make up the difference.
Preferred Partners & Other Options:
Aerodactyl is notable for its fantastic matchups into Mega Charizard Y and Sneasler, so fast attackers that struggle against such threats are most enabled by Aerodactyl. Mega Floette is at the top of this list given it struggles against these very threats while being nigh impossible to outspeed in Tailwind. Mega Gardevoir similarly excels in such slot given its similar attributes to Mega Floette, though its access to Mystical Fire is valuable against the Corviknight and Skarmory that wall both Aerodactyl and most Fairy types. Ironically Mega Charizard Y also adores Aerodactyl for its matchup into opposing Mega Charizard Y’s as well as the speed control dealing with Mega Charizard Y’s good but not great speed. This combination is a bit more volatile given the shared Rock, Water and Electric weaknesses making it easy to remove both if poorly positioned.
Dual Wingbeat is secondary STAB and absolutely invaluable on Aerodactyl for its ability to remove top tier threats in Sneasler and Whimsicott through Focus Sash.
The utility of a fast non Prankster Taunt is incredible, limiting the antics Sableye and Whimsicott can get up to, shutting down Trick Room setup, and even preventing Protect for future turns.
Rain Dance and Sandstorm can go miles in stifling opposing Weather strategies, especially Mega Charizard Y’s Sun as despite Aerodactyl’s speed, it goes after switching and Mega Evolution.
Countering Aerodactyl
While Aerodactyl’s speed is fantastic and can do plenty of damage under the right circumstances, its frailty and lacking power make it far easier to handle than one would expect.
In regards to checking Aerodactyl defensively, sturdy physical walls do the trick. Corviknight and Skarmory are by far the best given their impeccable physical bulk and weaknesses that Aerodactyl cannot exploit. Mega Aggron is also an impossible opponent for Aerodactyl, with even Earthquake capping out at 20%. Archaludon also does well, with Stamina variants able to safely pivot into any attack except Earthquake (which does 52% to Max HP Archaludon) and able to OHKO with Flash Cannon or Thunderbolt. Hippowdon is also immovable with Max HP Defense taking 25% from Dual Wingbeat at best, but cannot do damage to Aerodactyl without coverage. Mega Slowbro is similarly immovable taking at best 26% from Stone Edge and can use Aerodactyl as setup fodder.
As most Aerodactyl will be running Focus Sash, methods to bypass the item are vital to removing Aerodactyl while limiting its influence. Choice Scarf Meowscarda, Scarf Weavile and Mega Lopunny are easily the best at this given their ability to outspeed Aerodactyl and KO it with Triple Axel. Setting up Stealth Rocks before Aerodactyl hits the field also handily disarms Aerodactyl, leaving it that much more exposed to priority like Mamoswine’s Ice Shard, Palafin’s Jet Punch, Mega Lucario and Scizor’s Bullet Punch, and Mega Starmie’s and Azumarill’s Aqua Jet, all of which can OHKO after Stealth Rocks.
If Focus Sash is not a concern, faster threats can easily remove Aerodactyl. Jolly Scarf Basculegion, Scarf Kleavor, Mega Manetric, Mega Greninja, Mega Aerodactyl, Scarf Hydreigon, Scarf Garchomp all outspeed and OHKO, while other fast threats like Mega Delphox and Mega Alakazam do require Stealth Rocks chip to get the OHKO.
Aerodactl in general struggles to get an OHKO excepting frail targets or those whose weaknesses it can exploit, meaning most Pokémon that can survive a hit or two can reliably check Aerodactyl, such as Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Blastoise, Rotom Wash, Tyranitar, Mega Gyarados and more.
Mega Aerodactyl, the Fossil Pokémon. Parts of its body have become stone. Some scholars claim that this is Aerodactyl's true appearance.
Overview
Once thought lost to time, Mega Aerodactyl has returned to Pokémon Champions to devastating effect, bringing with it sheer offense and speed to devastate everything in its path. This is in large part thanks to Mega Aerodactyl’s much improved base 135 Attack, allowing Mega Aerodactyl to make the most of its excellent Rock and Flying STABs. Getting the rare Tough Claws as an ability further amplifies Mega Aerodactyl’s offensive prowess, allowing it to hit even harder than what its already impressive base Attack would suggest. This incredible power is backed by peerless speed. While base Aerodactyl was already blistering fast at base 130, Mega Aerodactyl’s Base 150 Speed is absurdly fast, being the fastest currently available at the time of this writing and with scarce few Pokémon in its entire history of being faster. Mega Aerodactyl’s speed is such that even Dragon Dance boosted sweepers like Gyarados, Dragonite and Mega Feraligatr along with Scarf users like Basculegion are still slower than it. Such speed leaves many Pokémon exposed to Mega Aerodactyl’s terrifying offense, allowing it to reliably force damage and make progress in a manner few other Pokémon can.
Yet the cost of reviving this fossil may be too high. While Tough Claws is a fantastic bump to Mega Aerodactyl’s Attack given that it can’t hold items, Mega Aerodactyl’s best moves in its Rock STABs and Earthquake do not get the Tough Claws boost, drastically cutting down on Mega Aerodactyl’s potential power. Add on the unreliability of Mega Aerodactyl’s STABs and Mega Aerodactyl can come up wanting for offensive pressure. This can be fatal given Mega Aerodactyl’s unimpressive bulk. While 80/85/95 defenses are not bad, Mega Aerodactyl is still rather limited in the hits it can take. Add in numerous weaknesses from its Rock Flying typing and Mega Aerodactyl finds itself in a similar position as its base form where it needs to get knock outs to stick around, a tall order to ask. The loss of Hone Claws in Mega Aerodactyl’s moveset does little to help matters, depriving Mega Aerodactyl of the perfect tool to fix its STABs regarding both power and accuracy. With all these flaws in mind, it can be hard to justify Mega Aerodactyl over other Mega Evolutions who are more consistent regarding bulk and power. In terms of speed, however, Mega Aerodactyl is nigh peerless and an attractive option for those who wish to be carried upon reborn wings.
Positives
Base 150 Speed is incredible, all but ensuring Mega Aerodactyl is moving first.
Base 135 Attack is amazing, and with Tough Claws, Mega Aerodactyl hits hard.
Rock and Flying STABs are fantastic offensively and Tough Claws boosted coverage allows Mega Aerodactyl to hit a wide variety of foes
Negatives
Unimpressive bulk greatly limits the hits Mega Aerodactyl can take
Rock Flying typing is littered with weaknesses, making it easy to strike down Mega Aerodactyl
Rock STABs are not boosted by Tough Claws, cutting into Mega Aerodactyl’s power especially since it can’t hold other items.
STAB options are unreliable, further worsening Mega Aerodactyl’s offensive presence.
Movesets
Mother Aerodactyl
-Dual Wingbeat
-Stone Edge
-Earthquake
-Fire Fang
Ability: Unnerve -> Tough Claws
Item: Aerodactylite
EVs and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Jolly Nature
This Mega Aerodactyl set is an aggressive attacking set making the most of the wide coverage Mega Aerodactyl boasts. Dual Wingbeat is primary STAB, even out damaging Stone Edge thanks to the Tough Claws boost, and is immensely valuable, OHKOing Sneasler, Meowscarada, and Araquanid through Focus Sash, maiming Mimikyu through Disguise, damaging Pokémon through Substitutes and devastating bulky Grass types like Mega Venusaur and Mega Meganium. Stone Edge is secondary STAB and while it does not get the Tough Claws boost, the coverage of Rock is too good to pass up, devastating staple Fire types like Volcarona, Mega Delphox, the Mega Charizards, Rotom-Heat, as well as other Rock weak targets like Gyarados, and Mega Froslass. Earthquake is vital coverage for Steel types like Aegislash, Kingambit, and Archaludon, who are otherwise sturdy walls in the face of Mega Aerodactyl’s STABs. Fire Fang while seemingly redundant with Earthquake is vital for handling Corviknight, Skarmory and Scizor, thanks to out damaging Stone Edge with the Tough Claws boost. Fire Fang gets a 3HKO on Max HP/Def Corviknight and Skarmory, and cleanly OHKOing Scizor and a 50% to OHKO Mega Scizor.
EVs and Items:
Max Attack and Speed are recommended. Mega Aerodactyl’s job is to hit hard and hit fast. Mega Aerodactyl’s greatest asset is its speed, and going for Jolly instead of Adamant allows Mega Aerodactyl, to outrun Mega Delphox, Mega Lopunny, Dragapult, and Mega Greninja, that it would miss with Adamant. However, Mega Aerodactyl even with an Adamant outruns base 130s, while the power boost secures OHKOs on Mega Venusaur and Mega Meganium with Dual Wingbeat, an OHKO on Max HP Mega Scizor with Fire Fang, a 3HKO on Max HP/Def Corviknight and Max HP/Def Skamory through Leftovers recovery. Some HP investment can be considered if looking to survive specific attacks. 16 HP ensures that Mega Scizor’s Bullet Punch and Scarf Garchomp’s Stone Edge can’t OHKO, though even with 2 HP is a 50% chance to survive the Bullet Punch from full. 26 HP is enough to guarantee survival Adamant Palafin’s Jet Punch, while 16 HP drops it down to a 25% chance of OHKO. Item is locked to Aerodactylite.
Partners:
Steel types, especially Corviknight and Skarmory are huge issues for Mega Aerodactyl given it lacks the direct power to break through such threats and can take a lot of unnecessary damage. Bellibolt is an excellent example, able to threaten them with its Electric STAB as well as opposing Water types on top of being able to get Mega Aerodactyl in safely with its slow Volt Switches. In turn, Mega Aerodactyl is a safe pivot into the Ground attacks normally used to expediently remove Bellibolt. Rotom-Wash fulfills a similar niche, though with a stronger anti-Water and Hippowdon matchup and liking Mega Aerodactyl for its ability to threaten Grass attackers. Ground attackers like Garchomp and Excadrill also work well, their STAB Earthquakes and sheer power muscling through bulky Steel types where Aerodactyl cannot.
Other Options:
Ice Fang is an excellent coverage option for Garchomp, and Hippowdon, popular bulky Ground types.
Dragon Dance truly makes Mega Aerodactyl impossible to outspeed and gives its power a push that is instrumental in overwhelming bulkier targets.
Doubles and VGC Options
If Aerodactyl excels as a supportive Tailwind setter with good matchups into popular meta threats, Mega Aerodactyl takes this gameplan to another level as an offensive Tailwind setter that launches ferocious assaults after securing the speed advantage. As the fastest non-Priority Tailwind setter Mega Aerodactyl is fantastic at seizing control of battles through speed control, ensuring both it and its allies move first. Rock Slide, already a dangerous annoyance in base Aerodactyl’s wings, turns into significant spread damage on top of the hearty flinch rates with Mega Aerodactyl. This places most Pokémon on a very short clock to remove Mega Aerodactyl or get ground down into dust. Add in Tough Claws STAB Dual Wingbeat for solid single target damage and Mega Aerodactyl is an attacker extraordinaire on top almost all the same supporting tools as base Aerodactyl. Even Mega Aerodactyl’s slightly improved bulk comes into play no longer making Mega Aerodactyl reliant on Focus Sash to survive a blow. Yet the opportunity cost may be too high for some. Aerodactyl gets plenty of mileage without Mega Evolving, so in some cases Mega Aerodactyl can feel like a waste of a Mega slot. Being a physical attacker leaves foes with no shortage of options to hinder Mega Aerodactyl’s assault, including Incineroar and its Intimidate and Fake Out, Mega Scovillain and its Spicy Extract, Sabeleye’s Screens and more. Both Dual Wingbeat and Rock Slide/Stone Edge having imperfect accuracy does not help matters either, making Mega Aerodactyl rather inconsistent on offense. Of course, with Mega Aerodactyl being so similar to its base form, it has found a home on dual Mega teams and can act quite well as a Focus-Sashless Aerodactyl in such circumstances.
Cretaceous Co-op
-Tailwind
-Rock Slide
-Dual Wingbeat
-Protect
Ability: Unnerve/Pressure -> Tough Claws
Item: Aerodactylite
EVs and Nature:
2 HP / 32 Atk / 32 Spe
Jolly Nature
Mega Aerodactyl doesn't change the formula that much from its base form aside from an increased emphasis on offense. As the fastest Tailwind setter in the game, excepting priority, Mega Aerodactyl is fantastic at setting up Tailwind before anything else can even act, securing the speed advantage into its side's favor. Mega Aerodactyl's neer peerless Speed tier and STAB makes it the best Rock Slide user available, piling on not only significant spread damage, but also a healthy flinch chance to really kick opponents while they are down. Dual Wingbeat turns from Sneasler slayer to a viable weapon in its own right, dealing absurd damage to the many Grass typed walls running around like Sinistcha (80-96%), Mega Meganium (18% chance to OHKO), Mega Venusaur (83-98%), on top of Fighting typed threats like Kommo-o, and Mega Lopunny, the latter an already absurdly fast Mega that Mega Aerodactyl easily outspeeds. Protect is the best move in doubles and invaluable for helping Mega Aerodactyl to get its Tailwind up by preventing Fake Out from allowing opponents to focus fire Mega Aerodactyl down and deny Tailwind.
Max Speed and Attack are recommended of course. Speed is heavily recommended to max out in any circumstance as that is the bulk of Mega Aerodactyl's niche. Dropping down to Adamant means that Mega Aerodactyl is now outsped by Mega Lopunny, Mega Delphox, Mega Greninja, Dragapult, and Jolly Scarf Basculegion though it still outruns base 130s like Mega Gengar and opposing Aerodactyl (and Adamant Scarf Basculegion). Since Mega Aerodactyl's defense is salvageable, HP investment to survive hits would not be remiss.
Preferred Partners & Other Options:
A lot of the partners that work for Aerodactyl also work for its Mega Evolution, provided said partners are not Mega reliant themselves. Fairy types love Mega Aerodactyl for its overwhelming matchups against Mega Charizard Y and Sneasler, especially Max Speed Sylveon who can use Tailwind to outspeed even base 150s like Mega Aerodactyl in Tailwind. Focus Sash Adaptability Basculegion is also an excellent recipient of Tailwind, allowing it to clean up matches after Aerodactyl addresses its Speed with Tailwind.
Given Mega Aerodactyl’s poor matchup into Intimidate, allies that can deter Intimidate are greatly appreciated. Kingambit is notable given how much it values Mega Aerodactyl in removing a common check to Kingambit in Sneasler, though Milotic also works given Mega Aerodactyl’s threatening most Grass types with Dual Wingbeat.
Wide Guard is just as valuable an option on Mega Aerodactyl for the wide range of spread attacks it blocks, though hard to fit in without giving up a STAB or Protect.
Countering Mega Aerodactyl
Despite Mega Aerodactyl being improved on base Aerodactyl in just about every avenue, it runs into several of the same checks as its base form, though with much narrower margins of error.
Corviknight and Skarmory remain oppressive walls for Mega Aerodactyl, especially if it is lacking Fire Fang to handle them, and can use Mega Aerodactyl to setup Iron Defenses safely for IronPress variants or just 2HKO with Iron Head. Physically bulky Megas like Mega Aggron and Mega Slowbro also eat Mega Aerodactyl’s STABs with ease for 4HKOs while threatening back with Super Effective STABs of their own. Hippowdon is a bit shakier, given Ice Fang can 3HKO and requiring Stone Edge to 2HKO back but otherwise does fine.
Bulky Steel types like Aegislash, Archaludon, and Kingambit also cause issues given Aerodactyl can at best 2HKO them with Earthquake while they OHKO back with their own Steel STABs, though the lack of recovery means they need to stay healthy to check Mega Aerodactyl.
Offensively checking Mega Aerodactyl is a bit trickier given its excellent speed stat restricting all but the fastest of Pokémon. Metal Coat Scizor or Mega Scizor are easily the best given how they can OHKO Mega Aerodactyl with Bullet Punch alone as can Palafin with Jet Punch after transforming. Scarf Meowscarada or Scarf Greninja are two of the few Scarf users that can both outspeed and OHKO Greninja with Triple Axel and Hydro Pump respectively. Even without these Pokémon, priority is still valuable in prevent Mega Aerodactyl from causing more damage, such as with Mamoswine’s Ice Shard (54-66%), Azumarill’s Aqua Jet (62-73%), Basculegion’s Adaptability Aqua Jet (68-81%), Mega Starmie’s Aqua Jet (84-99%), and Mega Lucario’s Bullet Punch (73-89%).
Mega Scovillain is also a decent check. While it struggles to survive Stone Edge or Dual Wingbeat, even the act of taking Mega Scovillain down will hinder Mega Aerodactyl for the rest of the match, as can Prankster Sabeleye with Will-O-Wisp, while Mega Sableye is sufficiently tanky to be 3HKOd by Dual Wingbeat and 2HKO Mega Aerodactyl down with Foul Play.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Revive Old Amber
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Trade from Red/Blue/Yellow
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Revive Old Amber (Trade)
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Revive Old Amber
Colosseum/XD:
Trade from FireRed/LeafGreen
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Dragonair
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Revive Old Amber
Black/White:
Revive Old Amber
Black 2/White 2:
Revive Old Amber
X/Y:
Revive Old Amber
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Revive Old Amber
Sun/Moon:
Route 8 Fossil Restoration Center
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Route 8 Fossil Restoration Center
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Revive Old Amber in Cinnabar Island Research Lab
Sword/Shield:
Giant's Bed
Max Raid Battles: Frostpoint Field, Giant's Bed, Snowslide Slope, Frigid Sea, Ballimere Lake, Dyna Tree Hill
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Revive Fossil in Oreburgh City
Legends: Arceus:
Not in game
Scarlet/Violet:
Not in game
Legends: Z-A:
Revive Fossil
Hyperspace Lumiose - Rock (5 Star)
Anime Appearences
