Zapdos
Electric Pokémon
This legendary bird Pokémon is said to appear when the sky turns dark and lightning showers down.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Evolution Chain
Moves
Locations
Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
With four Pokemon on the field at once, turn order is especially important in Doubles, making speed control users extremely valuable. Zapdos stands out as one of the most reliable setters of Tailwind due to its all-around solid stats, decent offensive matchups, and ability to stay healthy throughout a match. The dominance of the Island Guardians further boosts Zapdos's niche thanks to its excellent synergy with most of them and its effectiveness using a Terrain-activated Seed. However, due to many teams relying on Zapdos for significant role compression throughout the game, Zapdos can't take full advantage of its Special Attack stat and is left to be somewhat passive and walled by certain threats without the right coverage move. In addition, the best items for its main set are one-time use, which isn't ideal for a Pokemon that's needed at the beginning, middle, and end of a match.
Most Used Moves
Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc