What is a good moveset for Pidgeot?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Pidgeot, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Pidgeot Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Mega Pidgeot

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 4 Def or 4 SpD / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- U-turn / Hidden Power [Grass] / Hidden Power [Ground]
- Roost

Hurricane is a powerful STAB move that has really good neutral coverage and won't miss due to No Guard. Hurts Grass-, Bug- and Fighting-types.
Heat Wave is used to hurt Steel types (not including Heatran) that can take Hurricane with ease. Also hurts Ice-types.
U-turn can be used to switch out of a counter and keep momentum. Hidden Power [Grass] or [Ground] are the other option, with HP Grass hurting Rock-, Ground- and Water-types, while HP Ground hurts Fire-, Steel-, Electric-, Rock- and Poison-types.
Roost is so you can recover any lost health, especially if Stealth Rock is up.

Hyper Beam is an option to go out with a big bang once Mega Pidgeot is no longer needed.

Answer 2

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Tangled Feet / Keen Eye
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- U-turn

Explanation: Start things off by Mega Evolving Pidgeot to get the Special Attack bonus. After that, the fun begins. Hurricane is Pidgeot's STAB move and cannot miss due to No Guard. Heat Wave is to cover up Mega Pidgeot's weakness to Ice-types. Again, you do not have to worry about accuracy. Hidden Power [Ground] is to take out Electric- and Rock-types. U-turn is to get yourself out of trouble.

Comments

protect over u-turn?

Answer 3

BIRDY! Who didn't name their Pidgey birdy? Everyone names their Pidgey birdy!
Well... that's a bit off... But it's still a cheesy yet completely needed name!

Pidgeot @ Sharp Beak
Ability: Tangled Feet / Big Pecks
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Brave Bird
- Return
- U-turn

Move details:
Substitute - Hide behind your Sub.. you know you want to..
Brave Bird - Insanely hard hitting STAB! It's in a lower tier than Staraptor, so it's actually good at the suicide gimmick.
Return - STAB. That's... it. Great use for when you know Brave Bird will take you down.
U-turn - Coverage and scouting.

Answer 4

Pidgeot @ Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Big Pecks
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Return / Quick Attack
- Brave Bird / Fly
- Steel Wing
- Roost

Pidgeot is not the best option for a Flying member on a team, but it can work out in certain situations. I'd go with a Life Orb as Pidgeot can do some damage due to its average Attack, good Speed and then regain some HP with Roost. Although Leftovers can help it last longer, if it gets a status problem, then is pretty much a death bird.

Return / Quick Attack - STAB moves, Return has good power, is reliable and has no recoil damage, Quick Attack is weaker, but priority moves are really useful in competitive battles..
Brave Bird / Fly - STAB moves, both have good power, can hit any foe in Triple Battles, good accuracy, Brave Bird is stronger, but has recoil damage, good option to use when HP is low.
Steel Wing - Coverage against Ice- and Rock-type move weaknesses, decent power and accuracy, there´s a chance to boost the bird´s defense which can´t be lowered due to its ability.
Roost - Since Pidgeot is kind of bulky, it can restore good HP and take more hits, recover HP from Brave Bird's recoil and Life Orb´s recoil.

I hope it works.

Comments

It shouldn't have the expert belt if it has a move like return with no supereffective damage as it's most powerful stab.

Answer 5

Pidgeot @ Muscle Band / Choice Band
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Brave Bird
- Return
- Steel Wing
- Roost / U-turn

Move details:

• Brave Bird - Highest powered Flying-type move he can learn plus STAB
• Return - Highest powered Normal-type move he can learn plus STAB
• Steel Wing - Coverage for Ice- and Rock-types
• Roost / U-turn - Roost if you use Muscle Band and it heals recoil from Brave Bird and removes the Flying type for that turn. U-turn if you use Choice Band and is used for scouting.

Answer 6

Scout and Tailwind/Defog Support

Pidgeot-Mega @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Tangled Feet / Keen Eye
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- U-turn
- Hurricane
- Defog / Tailwind
- Hidden Power [Ground] / Heat Wave

Mega Pidgeot's great speed can offer Tailwind / Defog support and great scouting. With No Guard and the Special Attack boost after Mega Evolution, Hurricane can hit hard and accurately. Magnezone/Heatran and Skarmony can wall Pidgeot, and Hidden Power Ground and Heat Wave can deal with them respectively.

Answer 7

Gen 7 ZU (Mawile and Avalugg lure)

Pidgeot @ Life Orb
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 252 Atk / 96 SpA / 160 Spe
Naive Nature
- Brave Bird
- Steel Wing
- Heat Wave
- Roost

Brave Bird is STAB. Steel Wing deals with rock types. Yes, Heat Wave is on this set. Let me explain. Heat Wave is a surprise that can catch defensive Mawile and Avalugg off guard because it can 2HKO them upon switching in. Heat Wave also OHKOes offensive Mawile. Roost is for healing.

Calcs for Heat Wave vs Avalugg:

96 SpA Life Orb Pidgeot Heat Wave vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Avalugg: 278-328 (70.5 - 83.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Possible damage amounts: (278, 281, 283, 286, 291, 294, 296, 299, 304, 307, 309, 312, 317, 320, 322, 328)

Heat Wave is better than Steel Wing vs Avalugg because with Steel Wing....

252 Atk Life Orb Pidgeot Steel Wing vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Avalugg: 68-81 (17.2 - 20.5%) -- possible 7HKO after Leftovers recovery
Possible damage amounts: (68, 68, 68, 70, 70, 70, 73, 73, 73, 75, 75, 75, 78, 78, 78, 81

Heat Wave vs defensive Mawile:

96 SpA Life Orb Pidgeot Heat Wave vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Mawile: 244-289 (80.5 - 95.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Possible damage amounts: (244, 247, 250, 252, 255, 257, 263, 265, 268, 270, 273, 276, 278, 281, 283, 289)

Heat Wave can even OHKO offensive Mawile:

96 SpA Life Orb Pidgeot Heat Wave vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mawile: 244-289 (101.2 - 119.9%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (244, 247, 250, 252, 255, 257, 263, 265, 268, 270, 273, 276, 278, 281, 283, 289)

Answer 8

Gen V

Pidgeot (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Tailwind
- U-turn
- Quick Attack

Okay, mainly team support/scouting. Brave Bird is just there because you don't really have anything else in terms of support, so it's just there in case you need to attack. U-turn allows you to scout out the situation. Quick Attack allows for revenge killing. All these moves use Life Orb to actually do something. Tailwind gives the rest of your team some Speed to use, which can be pretty helpful. Tangled Feet isn't really useful, but it is better than the other abilities it gets.

Answer 9

Role: Rain Sweeper

Pidgeot (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 100 Atk / 156 SpA / 252 Spe
Mild Nature
- Hurricane
- Work Up
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Double-Edge

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Hurricane gives you beastly STAB, and a good confusion chance. Work Up increases Attack and Special Attack, which works. Hidden Power [Water] gets a power boost in the rain, and Double Edge hits for hard STAB, making him suicide with Life Orb.

Comments

Hidden power is not the same for two Podgeot's, as the type of the move is base on ev's and iv's. I would know because I have two pidgeots, both with hidden power. One is water and the other is grass. You might need to change this

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Yes, that's correct, except Hidden Power types are determined 100% by IVs, EVs and base stats have absolutely nothing to do with it. However, this moveset simply recommends that you use a Pidgeot with Hidden Power Water over anything else. It says nowhere that all Pidgeot get Hidden Power Water.
Since most of these movesets were designed for use on Pokemon Showdown, it barely matters anyway since you can just enter the correct IV values. http://www.pokemonshowdown.com

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Question. I was thinking about using this set for my Pidgeot in Kalos but it can't learn Work Up in this Gen. Is there a move that I can replace it with the set still working?

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Mega Pidgeot has no guard ability.. so it doesn't really work as a rain sweeper?..

Answer 10

Gen III

Pidgeot (M) @ Choice Band
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Mud-Slap
- Aerial Ace / Wing Attack
- Frustration / Return
- Faint Attack

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Choice Band! The only Gen III Choice Item!

Mud Slap being physical in Gen III can be annoying with a Choice Banded Pokemon, because you'll actually do damage to your opponent, and be lowering their Accuracy!
Aerial Ace can be replaced with Wing Attack due to Pidgeot having Keen Eye, so yeah.
Frustration is super powered, a great sub is Return if this isn't PO.
Faint Attack will take out the powerhouses Alakazam and Gengar (ugh...) which are both total monsters in the Gen III metagame.

Comments

HP Ground is better.

Answer 11

Double/Triple Battle

Pidgeot (M) @ Life Orb
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Tailwind
- Heat Wave
- Air Slash
- Round

Pidgeot sucks. Yeah, it's just awful.
Tailwind provides you with team support. That way Pidgeot can die knowing it helped better Pokemon do something. Heat Wave is a great move in multi-battles, hitting multiple Pokemon. However, having only 262 Special Attack puts a damper on that, but hey, Life Orb helps out there. Air Slash is STAB and in Triple Battles can hit any foe. Round is just a multi-battle move. If you team Pidgeot up with other Round users, you can do some damage.

Answer 12

Doubles / Triples

Pidgeot (M) @ Heat Rock
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 38 SpA / 92 SpD
Calm Nature
- Heat Wave
- Sunny Day
- Roost
- Tailwind

Heat Wave hits both the opponents and might actually do something after it sets up Sun! 8 turn Sun is nice is doubles. Roost recovers, Tailwind supports.

Answer 13

Pidgeot (F) @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Big Pecks
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Roost / Uproar / Hyper Beam

The ability will change to No Guard upon Mega Evolution. Hurricane is STAB, Heat Wave hits Steel types, and Hidden Power [Ground] covers your Electric- & Rock-type weaknesses. Last move is tough. Roost could heal off Stealth Rock damage if you can predict a switch, Uproar is STAB but locks you into it, and Hyper Beam could be used as a powerful last resort if you think you're going to die anyways or are going for the last hit of the match.

Answer 14

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Keen Eye
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Hidden Power [Ground]

Hurricane is STAB and has a chance of confusion.
Heat Wave is coverage.
Roost for healing.
Hidden Power [Ground] for Electric-type weakness.

Answer 15

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Keen Eye / Tangled Feet
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Heat Wave
- Hyper Beam

Move details:

• Hurricane is a great STAB choice.
• Hidden Power [Ground] covers all 3 weaknesses.
• Heat Wave because it's freakin' Heat Wave!
• Hyper Beam just because if you're about to go out then why not blast the hell out of them?

Answer 16

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Big Pecks
Timid Nature
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane
- Round
- Quick Attack / U-Turn

Alright lemme explain. Heat Wave is to cover those Steel-types that wall it such as Scizor. Hurricane has a nice chance to confuse and 100% accuracy with No Guard so it is quite useful unless the opponent switches. Round is because Gengars are fairly common and if you use Uproar, they are likely to switch to Gengar and cream you with Thunderbolt. Quick Attack for UU and below to finish off Pokemon quickly. U-turn for OU and above to scout and get some damage and switch out if you see a threat.

Hope this set brings victory to many! :D

Comments

since this pokemon came out in oras i can say that its better if u get hyper voice instead of round....
dont really see a time when you will need to use a normal type anyways

Answer 17

Once there was a noob named Radicool21 on PokemonDB. He generally posted decent movesets. Sometimes he even got upvotes! But one day, he decided to break his mold...
and make one of the stupidest movesets...
of all time.

PHYSICAL MEGA PIDGEOT LET'S DO THIS

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Tangled Feet
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Brave Bird
- Steel Wing / Double-Edge
- Roost
- U-turn

BRAVE BIRD.
Steel Wing is coverage, and Double-Edge is STAB. Whichever one you prefer.
Roost is obligatory to heal off BB Recoil.
U-turn is to get the heck out when you're against a check/counter/etc.

Answer 18

Pidgeot was always one of my favorite Pokémon, but it was defenseless and weak. But now, it got a MEGA! :D

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 64 Def / 64 SpD / 252 SpA / 128 Spe
Modest Nature
- Heat Wave
- Hurricane
- Hidden Power [Ground]
- Roost / Tailwind

Pidgeot has a beastly Special Attack, and it's movepool supports it. Heat Wave takes out Steel types who try to wall you, Hurricane is for STAB and confusion. Hidden Power [Ground] is for coverage over Electric-, Rock-, Fire-, and Steel-types, Roost is if you want to be annoying, and Tailwind is if you want to be speedy.

Comments

You need a high special attack and speed. Never run ev's outside of that on pidgeot

Answer 19

Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hurricane
- Heat Wave
- Ominous Wind
- Mimic

Hurricane - 165 Base Power with STAB, 30% chance to confuse
Heat Wave - 95 Base Power with 90% accuracy, hits all but the user on the field, 10% chance to burn, coverage for Grass-, Ice-, Bug-, and Steel-types
Ominous Wind - 60 Base Power, but has a 10% chance to raise all the user’s stats at once, coverage for Psychic- and Ghost-types
Mimic - Allowing you to permanently copy the target’s last move used, however you can only use this once

Comments

ominous wind is laughably weak and mimic isn't a very good gimmik.

Answer 20

Since it's not in SwSh, it's time to do a Mega pidgeot set for gen 7... ig

Gen VII UU
Mega Special Attacker
Pidgeot @ Pidgeotite
Ability: Big Pecks / Tangled Feet
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Hurricane
- Roost / Hyper Beam
- Heat Wave
- U-turn

No Guard + STAB Hurricane is a nasty combination, since now the latter can't miss and still has its annoying 30% confusion rate. Combined with high SpA and Speed makes for a potencially very dangerous Special Attacker

Roost allows reilable recovery and heal Stealth Rock damage (it's not like it can use Heavy Duty Boots), while Hyper Beam is a risky Normal type STAB that can be used sometimes to pick a surprise K.O. on would-be-checks to the roost variant.
Heat Wave is for coverage, mainly for Steel types.
U-turn allows safe switches into its teamates.