
Staraptor
The Predator Pokemon
The Predator Pokemon

Staraptor are fierce hunters of the sky, capable of swiftly snatching their prey off the ground, and carrying it away with their rather bulky wings. This Pokemon has to rely on its own innate ability to hunt its own food, for once a Staravia is old enough to evolve, it is weened from its mother. Despite their interpersonal lifestyle, Staraptor are very capable of living on their on, with astounding physical capabilities, and aggressive attitude, each one of this sort of Pokemon will continue to fight past their own injuries if something of threat is still active. These birds are not afraid to challenge opponents of a much larger size, and they will fight to the death if they must.

Average Height: 3'11"
Average Weight: 55 lbs.

Base Stats:
HP: 85
Attack: 120
Defense: 70
Sp. Attack: 50
Sp. Defense: 50
Speed: 100
Common Strategies: Staraptor is not a rare Pokemon, in both game play, and competitive battling. The reason is because of the Pokemon's capabilities as an awesome offensive monster. Most people prefer to make their Staraptor an Adamant nature to hit REALLY hard, or a Jolly nature, to make sure that it can squeeze a decent hit in on those mildly speedy, yet not fast enough types. It all depends on what you want, a max attack of 372, or a max speed of 328. That's the main reason why many people like to use it as an offensive physical attacker, because those particular stats are mighty high, and its amazing movepool keeps it ready to stand up to any opponent with a hard hit.
The item that is placed on this Pokemon can make all the difference in its usefulness. Some people like to give it a Focus Sash, so that certain attacks might not take them down after a close combat, but that can be interfered with by a Brave Bird, so depending how you set it up, you may want to be careful how you use your moves. Some people might like to give their Staraptor a Choice band (Preferably one that has a Jolly nature) to drop in a few hard attacks in dire situation when you need to do some damage quickly. The truth is, you can use this Pokemon in many ways, and it's not always easy to say what is most effective, because it really just depends on what else you have in your team. My suggestion is just to make sure you give it plenty of speed, and physical attack EVs.
Abilities: Well, Staraptor only has one...
Intimidate: Upon entering battle, the opponent's attack is lowered one stage.
Because of Staraptor's aggressive behavior, and slightly threatening physiology, Pokemon who are placed against it are inevitably scared stiff, and can not perform attacks as properly as they normally would. Cuz he's a beast n' junk.
This ability doesn't seems as beneficial to the Pokemon as it may sound, where as Staraptor is not typically known for being very defensive, and so it would not take hits well either way. Some may see it as being a great ability in a way, because his defense is not so high, the intimidation might help make up for it. It all really depends on how you want to use your Pokemon.
Recommended Moves: It all really depends on how you want to use your Staraptor. Some people like to use it as a sort of "sweeper" making it fully offensive, and others may want to use their bird as a "revenge killer", allowing it to remove weakened Pokemon from the battle. Regardless of what you may want to use it for, here are a variety of moves I suggest.
Close Combat: It's a fighting move with intense power, and 100% Accuracy! The only drawbacks of using this move are low PP (No jokes please), and the lowering of both Defense, and Sp. Defense that occurs each time the move is used. Consider the Intimidation that the Staraptor has, it can make up for the loss of physical defense, but Staraptor is not really the best Pokemon for taking hits. Close combat is good for taking down those pesky rock types that try to knock you out of the sky, and for putting dents in those horrible steel types that you just can't seem to get a super-effective hit on.
Brave Bird: A sort of kamikaze attack! Your Pokemon dives from the sky attacking full force with a complete disregard to its own health. Staraptor is fortunate enough to learn this move on its own around level 49. Brave Bird has 120 power, and 100% accuracy, but your Pokemon will take a small fraction of damage each time the move is a success. Staraptor gets STAB (Same Type Attack Boost) from this move, calculating its own impressive attacking power along with the massive amount of damage that this particular move deals in comparison to the strength of most Flying moves, and there aren't many Pokemon without resistance that can handle at least 2 solid impacts from a Staraptor's Brave Bird.
Return: Ok, so imagine your bird loves you to death; enough that he would do anything you said, and maybe pick you up and fly you to a different location without the intention of eating you. You would have a normal type attack power of 102 with STAB, 100% accuracy, and no drawbacks. This is good for getting a decent hit on anything! The only things which are resistant to a Return would be Rock and Steel, which could be given a run for their money by Close Combat. Another issue is ghost Pokemon, which are actually pretty troublesome for the powerful avian. It's a good idea to keep this in mind when choosing your other team mates.
Endeavor: After a nice few rounds of Brave Bird attacks, or a nice solid smack in the beak, it's always a sinister move to even out the playing field by making the opponent feels as much pain as you do. Some use the Focus Sash alongside this move to pull opponents with full HP down to its level, and possibly quick attack the problem out of there.
U-Turn: Can naturally be learned through level up. It's good for those moments when you need to take your Pokemon out of the battle, but you feel you should slip in an attack first. It's just a pretty cool move to have on a Staraptor when you need it.

So, there you have it, the basics of Staraptor... I have told about as much as I know... and it is a Pokemon that should be considered if you have never interested yourself with the idea of training one. For some reason it has always made me think of a beefy Elvis with its wicked pompadour... But I remember, it was one of the first Pokemon I decided I would train when I originally got Pokemon Diamond. Anyway, thanks for taking your time to read......
Have a great day... TGIF, eh?
