hey wow i said i'd do this earlier and i still haven't written it
Speed AyaType: Wind/Flying
Ability: Speed Boost or Own Tempo
Base Stats: 70 HP, 105 Attack, 60 Defense, 95 Special Attack, 60 Special Defense, 140 Speed
Note- this puppet is currently banned in standard playOffensive Baton PassItem: Airline Uniform/Lum Berry
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Jolly (+Speed, -SpAtk)
EVs: 40 HP, 252 Attack, 216 Speed
- Brave Bird
- Hi Jump Kick
- Baton Pass
- Detect/Spikes/Twister/Taunt/Tailwind
Speed Aya has the coveted combination of Speed Boost and Baton Pass, shared only by Lily Black. While you might think that Speed Aya play would therefore revolve around stalling with Detect and Roost (she can't sub) to get free turns, this bird has another option- abuse her crazy powerful attacks to smash things and buy free turns that way. Speed Aya's Brave Bird is dangerous, forcing many common puppets such as Star forms, Aki Sisters, Kaguya forms, Rin, and Speed Medicine to switch out or be annihilated. It doesn't stop there though- Speed Aya is blessed with Hi Jump Kick as a coverage move, enabling it to score netural hits on everything but Elis and other Aya forms.
But wait! That's just the super-effective hits. Keep in mind that Speed Aya has 140 base speed- this lets it outrun or speed tie every unboosted puppet in the game other than Mimi-chan and Lily Black. This means that Speed Aya also serves as an excellent general-purpose revenge killer, as it can punish all of those other fast puppets like Yumemi, Speed Wriggle, Chen, and Lyrica. Pretty much the only one that you'll have to worry about is Youki (and Speed Aya) due to the threat of Blade Flash.
Now keep in mind that simply by doing its job of revenge killing stuff,
Speed Aya is setting up. This is why she's so terrifying- if she can get in safely, if you don't have rock-solid prediction, you're going to have to take a powerful hit AND face something else with boosted speed. This is arguably Speed Aya's most effective set because of this- it takes full advantage of both her offensive presence and her powerful support. HP EVs are for padding Brave Bird recoil- if you really hate Mimi-chan you can run 252 Speed and it probably won't hurt much though. Keep in mind that as powerful as Speed Aya may be, she is not durable- avoid switching her into even resisted hits if you can avoid it. She also doesn't pick up a +1 if she spends a turn switching in (even in Shoddy now), so don't do that.
With regards to the fourth move, choose what helps your team best. Spikes is useful to have in general if the game takes a stally turn, while Twister can help in similar situations if you already have a dedicated spiker. Taunt and Detect both make getting the speed pass off easier- the former lets you thwart Roar/Whirlwind(but demands good prediction) while the latter lets you snag a boost in the face of something you can't kill. Tailwind is essentially Howl thanks to Speed Boost and is somewhat risky to go for with Speed Aya's questionable survivability, but is a welcome boost on many sweepers if you're running a physical-heavy team.
ChoiceItem: Special Bloomers
Ability: Speed Boost
Nature: Jolly/Adamant
EVs: 4 HP, 252 Attack, 252 Speed
- Brave Bird
- Hi Jump Kick
- Steel Wing
- Soar/Extremespeed
This set sacrifices Speed Aya's support capabilities to become the fastest revenge killer in the game. While you might think Technical Aya is better suited to this role, Speed Aya's absurd speed makes her even better at it. To give you an idea: Jolly Technical Aya hits 329 Attack and 372 Speed, while Adamant Speed Aya hits 339 Attack and 379 Speed,
and can be tweaked to go even faster. There is no reason to use Technical Aya over Speed Aya for this job unless you run Adamant for maximum wall-breaking power.
What nature (or form) you run should depend on what your team needs. If Mimi-chan scares you, fully invested Jolly is the way to go as it speed ties the missile at +0. Adamant Speed Aya gets a little more immediate power, but is outrun by base 125s at +0, making her unreliable in the face of many fast threats (Speed Utsuho, Speed Flandre, Speed Yorihime, Advent Reisen, Rikako, Luna, Speed+Advent Marisa, Lyrica, Mimi-chan, etc.)- these sets especially should carry Extremespeed and have team support to deal with these threats if they get out of hand. Banded Technical Aya is only worth using if Adamant, which means you should probably be using her as a cleaner instead of a revenge killer since she speed ties base 105s at +0.
Other OptionsSpikes and Twister are options for any set if your team needs them. Speed Aya also has access to Toxic- while this isn't a very useful move with her speed, it allows you to ruin common switch-ins such as Magic Stones and Defense Tenshi. Soar can be used on most sets in place of Brave Bird if you don't like the recoil or miss chance, but the power loss is noticeable.
Speed Aya has a bunch of special moves, including Aeroblast, Silver Wind, and Sonicboom, but these have less power and coverage than her physical choices and as such aren't very good. You could also run a defensive set with Roost and Detect, but if you aren't going to kill anything it might be better to use Lily Black. Rain Dance and Sunny Day are available, so you could use Speed Aya as a suicide weather starter, but without weather rocks this isn't likely to be too effective.
Team SupportUnless you're running Band, Speed Aya appreciates teams with lots of semi-fast mons she can pass to. Things that can outrun Mimi-chan at +1 are ideal, but slower puppets such as Technical Toyohime like the boost too. Slower Baton Pass users are also appreciated, as they let Speed Aya enter the fray safely (she won't get +1 for it though). If you aren't running Steel Wing, anything that gets rid of opposing Aya forms is great- this ironically makes Blade Flash Yumeko, her greatest nemesis, into a reliable partner (especially if it's running Swords Dance)
Checks and CountersBy definition a counter needs to be able to come in safely and force the puppet out- this doesn't apply very much to Speed Aya as forcing her out usually means she accomplishes her job of passing a Speed Boost along. Furthermore, most things with super-effective priority against her are Steel and thus can't come in without risking Hi Jump Kick. This is where Yumeko comes in- by virtue of her Dark typing she can take a Hi Jump Kick, and forces Speed Aya to
switch out rather than pass for fear of Blade Flash. If Yumeko is feeling bold she can instead go for a Pursuit, but this will not work if she uses Baton Pass instead and will leave Yumeko in a nasty position.
Physically resilient puppets that are neutral to Flying and Dream and can phaze, such as Defense Tenshi, normal Aya,
and Tenma, can also work, but these will get worn down over the course of a match and thus must be handled carefully. If your team is mostly slow and dependent on priority, Speed Aya can instead be managed safely with physical tanks such as Magic Stones that can't phaze. Bulky offense in general tends to give her a hard time- if there's nothing for her to safely kill, she won't have as many windows to get going, and if the opponent is relying on Bulk Up/Curse sweeping then a bit more speed won't get her team very far.
