Noctowl

•	Talking about Noctowl, one of my faves that is definitely slept upon, which kinda makes sense being a nocturnal owl that hunts while peeps sleep.
•	Introduced in gen 2 as the early route bird, has great HP stat and good SpD, but since then everything else has been meh
•	Good special bulk, Roost and Insomnia meant it was a good check to grass types, but poor physical bulk and lack of offensive presence hindered it a lot, gen 5 gave tinted lens but weak attacking stats meant this didn’t help much
•	Defog made it more attractive in gen 6, but bigger changes were to come

1.	Stat change

Only 10 points which does not seem like much at first, especially compared with some of the other buffs this gen (in my last video about Chimecho we saw a 10 point boost in 3 stats!). But because we have a mediocre starting point, that’s around a 10% damage increase which shouldn’t be scoffed at!
Bear in mind that Noctowl has the Tinted Lens ability, Noctowl has a much more acceptable and consistent damage output. This is much deserved too, as Noctowl does seem like it should be a vicious special attacking hunter. And especially exciting for me as I love a very gimmicky Echoed Voice team, in which Tinted Lens Noctowl is one of the only things that can hit Steel types, now for decent damage witha lil more SpA!

2.	Hurricane

This is the biggie. A high powered flying STAB combined with Tinted Lens and that 10 point SpA boost makes Noctowl a legitimate special threat. In the tiers that Noctowl inhabits, very few things can switch in on a Choice Specs Hurricane from Noctowl. It already has some neat coverage to help out, like Heat Wave, but Tinted Lens makes it so that Hurricane is definitely the move to spam, especially as nothing is immune and there are few resistances anyway.
Prior to this, Noctowl didn’t have many high base power moves, so this really is a huge change and turns it from a largely passive Pokemon to an offensive terror.
It *is* worth noting, however, that Hurricane has very shaky accuracy. 70% means almost 1/3 Hurricanes will miss, so it may be worth considering using rain support as Hurricane is 100% accurate in the rain.

3.	Z-Moves

Obviously this is not a Noctowl specific buff and all POkemon get access to Z-Moves, but there are 2 specific ways in which Noctowl particularly benefits.
1 – the nuke. Hurricane + Flyinium Z is killer. Very high base power, and most importantly it always hits. This is a reliable way to get rid of a Pokemon you are worried about, regardless of resistances as Tinted Lens helps here too. An example of how to use this would be on an offensive Defog set, being able to crush your opponent’s switch in then Defog away the hazards you are worried about.
2 – setup. Noctowl has some interesting set up options already. Agility was never a viable option for Noctowl as it did not used to be a sweeper, but now with its new offensive power, Agility can really catch your opponent off guard. Noctowl also gets Work Up which is a neat way to slightly increase your power output. But what is new with Z-Moves is Z-PsychoShift. +2 SpA in 1 turn (and the chance to get rid of an annoying status ailment) This offers Noctowl easier set up, being able to OHKO a host of Pokemon at +2. You could even try comboing this with Agility to go for a gimmicky sweep! You might struggle for moveslots, but remember Tinted Lens reduces the need for coverage.

So there you have it – 3 buffs that take Noctowl from being a downtrodden, bulky birb to a much more threatening prospect, no longer limited to Insomnia and now seeing life through its Rose Tinted Lenses.