What is the best counter to Winona's Altaria in Pokemon Emerald?

Question

I can't trade between games and have only beat gyms 1-5. I'm struggling to find a counter for the Altaria. My current plan is raichu and manectric for the others and Flygon for Altaria.

Comments

I'd say ice beam Swampert can do fairly well, or any bulky water that can use ice beam really. Also, probably Armaldo. I believe you can get that guy before Fortree but you'd be way overleveled by the time you fight her

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Ice Beam (TM obtained in the abandoned ship) is the best bet. Flygon (Vibrava at that stage) is to weak to defeat Altaria. What water type do you have so that I can answer it properly?

Answer 1

To defeat Altaria,

• You can get a TM Ice Beam in Abandoned ship and use it on your water type (Such as Swampert, Lombre, Tentacruel, Golduck, Sharpedo etc). This would easily OHKO Altaria.
• You can use rock types such as Anorith or Lairon and spam Rock Tombs to reduce speed and ease match ups. Beware of E-quakes.
• You can also get Vibrava as you planned, but it doesn't hit hard, but still you may be able to beat Winona.
• Use either Raichu or Manectric, not both, as they need more experience if both are in your team.

Hope this helps :P

Comments

I'd say ice beam is definitely the best option because it's super effective (unlike thunderbolt) and has higher base power than rock tomb and dragon breath. Ice beam users also tend to evolve faster or have better stats compared to rock tomb users and dragon breath users.
Sharpedo and Golduck are also probably worth mentioning because they have good special attack stats and are not weak to any of Altaria's moves.

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Yh, I mentioned *that would easily OHKO Altaria*. If you want, I would mention them in my answer. I thought that other options are worth mentioning, even though they aren't as effective as Ice Beam.

Answer 2

Castform Hail form with Weather Ball.

Lvl 31 0 SpA Castform-Snowy Weather Ball (100 BP Ice) vs. Lvl 33 0 HP / 0 SpD Altaria in Hail: 112-132 (121.7 - 143.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Source: Damage Calculator

Comments

You need 2 turns to use hail and weather ball, so you will do more damage just by using 2 ice beams.