Rayquaza in depth
A dragon drawn for the sky
Rayquaza’s silhouette combines a flying serpent with features of an eastern dragon and the European lindworm. Its elongated body avoids the anatomy of a terrestrial dragon with large legs: everything is designed to represent a creature that travels around the planet. The yellow markings and the shape of its head reinforce its ritual appearance. The design is credited to Hironobu Yoshida.
The Japanese name, レックウザ, is romanised as Rayquaza in English and Spanish. The proposed etymology starts with 裂空, an expression referring to tearing through or splitting the sky, together with a reference to 座, used in words related to constellations or celestial positions. It also fits with “ray”, “quasar” and the idea of the firmament, although those associations are not equally well confirmed.
Hoenn’s third vertex
In Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, it occupies the space connecting Groudon and Kyogre. While one represents the land and the other the sea, Rayquaza lives above them both and appears as the force capable of stopping their conflict. Its ability, Air Lock, translates that role into battle: weather effects stop altering the battle while it is present.
The fourth generation changed the way it attacks with the split between physical and special moves. From then on, its two offensive stats of 150 could be used more cleanly, and Dragon Dance fitted better with physical Dragon-type attacks. In the fifth generation, it received Breaking Swipe, and in Pokémon Omega Ruby and Alpha Sapphire, Mega Rayquaza arrived. That form did not need a Mega Stone: it learned Dragon Ascent and met the condition to Mega Evolve, allowing it to keep another item.
A rival that broke the Ubers scale
Before Mega Rayquaza, the normal form already stood out as a mixed wallbreaker and as an attacker with Dragon Dance or Swords Dance. Its problem was its Speed of 95 and physical and special defences of 90, figures that were enough to hit hard, but not to switch repeatedly into powerful attacks. Salamence shares the Dragon and Flying types, although Rayquaza has greater offensive power and lacks Intimidate.
Mega Rayquaza added such high offensive pressure that Ubers could no longer contain it under its usual rules. The combination of Dragon Ascent, coverage and the ability to carry an item chosen by the player forced the creation of Anything Goes. The normal form remained dangerous because Air Lock interferes with weather and because its Fire-, Ground-, Water- and Dragon-type attacks cover much of its usual counterplay.
Switch in, hit and switch out
In a normal playthrough, it is best saved for an encounter where it can attack without taking an Ice-type hit first. Dragon Dance is useful when the opponent forces a switch; if there is no room to set up, Extreme Speed lets it make use of its 150 Attack and clean up weakened targets. Dragon Ascent is its main Flying-type attack, while Earthquake punishes Steel and Rock types that try to stop it.
It should not be treated as a wall. Repeated switches wear it down, its quadruple weakness to Ice punishes any mistake and its Speed of 95 leaves many opponents out of reach even without setup. Air Lock is especially useful against teams that rely on sun, rain or sand, but it does not solve its problems against status conditions or priority attacks. Its competitive history revolves around that tension: enough damage to knock out almost any badly positioned answer, but few chances to switch in safely.