pkmnlab

Brave Bird

Flying · Physical · 10 Pokémon in Reg M-B
Flying
Brave Bird
TypeFlying
CategoryPhysical
Base power120
Accuracy100%
PP15
Priority0

What it does

If the target lost HP, the user takes recoil damage equal to 33% the HP lost by the target, rounded half up, but not less than 1 HP.

At 120 base power it is the 5th strongest of the 39 damaging physical moves that appear in this format.

Who carrys it

10 of the 277 Pokémon measured on the Regulation M-B ladder carry Brave Bird. The one that matters most is Mega Staraptor, which is on 17.9% of teams and carrys it on 68.7% of its sets. The full list is above, ordered by how much of the format each one is.

What it hits

As a Flying move it is super effective against Bug, Fighting and Grass, resisted by Electric, Rock and Steel. 4 other Flying moves appear in this format: Tailwind, Dual Wingbeat, Hurricane, Roost.

Who could and does not

14 Pokémon legal in this regulation can learn Brave Bird at all, against the 10 that actually bring it. The gap is the interesting number: it is the set of Pokémon that have the option and decline it. The most-played of those are Pelipper, Espathra and Decidueye — each of them measured on the ladder, each of them leaving this move on the shelf.

How concentrated it is

Across the ladder, Brave Bird accounts for an expected 0.16 of the six slots on an average team, which makes it the 35th most-brought of the 121 moves this format runs. 79% of that comes from Mega Staraptor alone, so it is really one Pokémon’s move rather than the format’s. Its carriers are mostly Flying (7), Fighting (5) and Steel (2).

Where these numbers come from

Usage is Smogon's published statistics for the Regulation M-B VGC ladder, and the description is the one shipped in the Pokémon Showdown data set. Both are regenerated on every build rather than written by hand, so this page follows the format instead of trailing it. Take any of it to the team builder or the damage calculator.

Where this goes next

Build

Open the builder with Mega Staraptor seated — Mega Staraptor brings Brave Bird to more teams than any of the other 9 Pokémon that carry it.

More

All 121 moves the format runs, ordered by how many copies an average team carries.