Altaria PvP IV Deep-Dive

Altaria has been a dominant force in the Great League since PvP debuted in Pokemon GO. Altaria cooled off a little bit when Walrein got Icicle Spear, but since Icicle Spear’s nerf, Altaria has gone back on top. Given Altaria’s resurgence and new found utility in the Play Pokemon Championships, now is a great time to take a closer look at Altaria’s PvP IVs. This Altaria PvP IV Deep Dive aims to highlight the important stat checks for Altaria in the Great League while providing tables showcasing the IVs that meet them. Ultra League Altaria and Mega Altaria are also discussed. In general, bulk is the name of the game, but slight Atk weights appear to have high utility. 

Note: this guide discusses the hidden true stats of Pokemon in Pokemon GO. In order to see these true stats you need to use an IV checking app (CalcyIV, Pokegenie) or an IV checking website (GOStadium, PvPIVs.com, or PvPoke itself). To make things simple, the guide also features standard PvP IV tables. 

If you’re not familiar with PvP IVs, check out this PvP IVs Simplified video.

If you don’t have a good IV Altaria already, and/or are planning on building new ones based on this guide, hold out until December or a Moonblast Altaria evolution period. That, or plan to use an Elite TM. While Moonblast doesn’t have STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus), it provides important coverage against a handful of Dark and Fairy-type Pokemon, while also having better damage against Dragon-type opponents for the same exact energy cost. This is even before considering the debuff chance Moonblast carries.

This isn’t to say that Dragon Pulse doesn’t have niche utility, mostly against a few Poison and Fire-types, but 9 times out of 10 you’ll want Moonblast. However, you’re probably just going to be using Sky Attack most of the time anyways, so unless you’re eyeing up the Silph Arena or the Play Pokemon Championship Series, Moonblast may not be worth the Elite TM. Regardless, try to have it for your Altaria.

The tables below feature the IV spreads that meet some of the more important stat checks highlighted in the article. It’s important to review the guide itself to make sure you’re getting what you want out of your Altaria. For example, you may want a slightly higher Atk or Def weight for more consistency.

The Trevenant Slayer (102.97 Atk, 149.02 Def, 139 HP)

• For general safety, sort list by Def
• See the Great League Altaria section for details

Bulk + Trevenant maybe (101.95 Atk, 151.63, 139 HP)

• When you don’t want to forgo the bulk life and don’t expect to see high Def Trevenant
• For tie breakers, 140 HP is generally better and 153.95+ Def is more useful than 141 HP
• Table is cut at top 15 to reduce “false positives” for this “premium bulk”

Bulk Focus (153.95 Def, 139 HP)

• Aside from the Rank’s 1, 2, & 7, you should probably just go for the Atk weighted builds

For the longest time, Altaria was primarily concerned about bulk, namely HP. 139 HP is the golden ticket to tie the Altaria 2-2 mirror match, and only the 0/0/15 has enough HP to win the mirror match. Once Trevenant entered the game, Altaria had even more reasons to think about its Atk and Def. As the year has gone on, Fairy Wind Jumpluff and Lanturn have also added some pressure, so modern Altaria wants roughly 101.98-103.31 Atk, 149.02-151.63 Def, while still maintaining 139 HP. 

The main Altaria Atk Breakpoints are as follows:

• 101.82-102.97, Trevenant 1-2 & 2-2
  • Without this BP, Trevenant just needs to land 1 Shadow Ball to flip and farm
  • 102.97 is based on the max Def Trevenant, which is also the most ideal Trevenant per the Trevenant PvP IV Deep Dive
• 101.95-103.31 , Lanturn 
  • Spark 1-1 & 2-2 consistency
  • Water Gun 1-2 consistency, 0-0 & 2-2 if they get the Atk Breakpoint on you
  • See Lanturn PvP IV Deep Dive for details
• 101.69-102.85+, Jumpluff 1-1 & 0-1
  • 102.85 is based on the Rank 21 0/15/8, there are 22 IVs that may require even higher Atk but they are a bit unorthodox due to the HP drop
• 101.48-103.4+, Moonblast Cresselia 1-1 potential & 2-2
  • 103.4 based on ~161 Def Cresselia

Even higher Altaria Atk Breakpoints:

• Note: These Atk weights will cost you important Def &/or HP checks
• 105.35-106.03, Whiscash consistency
  • Whiscash isn’t as meta these days, but it could be good to keep an Atk weighted Altaria for a cup where it could come up
• 107.24, Cofagrigus 0-0 & 2-2

The main Altaria Def Breakpoints are as follows:

• 149.02+, Trevenant 1-1 & 0-1
  • Based on the Atk of a max Def Trevenant which is also the Atk weight for the Trevenant mirror match
• 149.61-151+, Jumpluff 0-0
• 150.94-151.63+, Water Gun Lanturn 0-1, 1-2, & possibly 2-2
  • 151.63 based on 2/15/12, the highest Atk of Def weighted/SP minded Lanturn

As for the HP: 

• 139, 2-2 mirror tie & Walrein 2-1
• 139-141, Vigoroth 2-2, Venusaur 1-2, Umbreon 1-1
  • All likely require 153.95+ Def
  • Gives credence to maintaining high SP yet

While all these Atk weights sound interesting, what are the real Pokemon GO Champions using? Well, it appears most of them are using more than 1 Altaria. 

The current World Champion, DancingRob, shared with us that he has 4 different Altaria he uses for different metas. These Altaria include 2 “high SP” ones (one Dragon Pulse, the other Moonblast), 1 Trevenant focused Atk/Def weighted one, and 1 mondo high Whiscash Atk focused one for metas where Whiscash is common. 

Unlike Rob, the 2023 Peoria 2nd Place Regional Champion, NHoff, actually used Altaria in her Regional. She shared with us that, considering the prevalence of Trevenant, she not only forwent bringing the Rank 1, but actually sought out and Elite TM‘d Moonblast on a Trevenant Slaying IV Altaria. If this doesn’t speak volumes on the utility of having a slight Atk weight on Altaria, then I don’t know what will.

Of course, you can always just use the Rank 1, and every opponent using Trevenant, Jumpluff, Cresselia, Lanturn, and Altaria will salute you for it.

Altaria’s max CP at level 51 is 2293. While this sounds bad for the Ultra League, Altaria has a respectable 3973 stat product. Outside of Cups that ban Giratina, Altaria doesn’t see much use, but that doesn’t mean the utility isn’t there. Should you endeavor to build the Ultra League Altaria, try to have at least 12/12/14 on your IVs, ideally 15/14/14, but really 15/15/15.

In today’s meta, Ultra League Altaria probably isn’t worth the dust, but Mega Altaria is a useful Raid attacker, so it’s not the worst niche XL investment out there.

Should Megas be allowed in GO Battle League, Mega Altaria is one of the few Mega Evolutions that could see play in Great League and Ultra League PvP. While it does lose stat product, it also sheds its Flying sub-type for a Fairy sub-type. This gives Mega Altaria a unique role as a Dragon Breath user that actually resists Dragon Breath. 

How useful is this role? In the Great League, it fails to stand out well due to the sharp stat product drop. However, in the Ultra League, where Giratina rules the roost and many Dark-types chase after it, Mega Altaria looks pretty good! 

In the Ultra League, try to have at least 165 Def & 139 HP as a minimum. As it stands, there doesn’t appear to be any relevant Atk Breakpoints. This table highlights the 216 IV spreads that meet these stat checks. Note that the Ranks 79, 98, 139, & 184 are featured non-Mega Altaria IV spreads that can Best Buddy + Mega Evolve into the featured Mega Altaria IV spreads. The 0/0/15 Altaria also shares this Best Buddy + Mega Evolve into good IV Mega Altaria trait, but as in the Great League, misses some critical Def checks. 

On the surface, Altaria is as simple as “make sure you have 139 HP” but depending on the meta you are playing in, it can be a bit more complicated than that. As long as Trevent reigns supreme, there is little reason to not run a slight Atk weight to manage it better. And of course, unless you have a specific plan in mind for Dragon Pulse, try to have Moonblast on your Altaria. If you’re not convinced, refer to Nhoff who ETM’d an Atk weighted Altaria to help her take 2nd place in the Peoria Regional.