Skunktank or Staraptor

[berlinwall121]

ok im looking for someone to fill the last spot on my team and have narrowed it down to two
Skunktank
flamethrower
dark slash
poison jab
swords dance

Starraptor
Aerial ace
Close cobat
roost
brave bird ??? (not realy sure)

[Roxas]

It depends what you need. if your looking for someone to fly from City to City(which ever team needs), then Staraptor, but for any other purpose, Skuntank.

The fact that it learns Flamethrower to go along with it's good SpAtk is good enough convincing.

[OhTeeKay]

Staraptor.

Skuntank has higher base stats. It would have been nice if it were distributed more favorably towards the attack stats, since it has a pretty nice Movepool. Id do away with the Non-STAB flamethrower though.

Staraptor's 120 Base attack and 100 Base Speed just cant be overlooked. Its a very good Physical Sweeper and most of it's moves are physical.

[berlinwall121]

the only reason i have flamethrower on sunktank is beacause of the lack of fire types in Diamond and Pearl

[RLRL]

Personally I used Skuntank as my main pokémon on my Japanese diamond game, despite not getting stab on flamethrower and having a lower base special attack than physical it was still a useful and effective move to have on it.
The only problem with Skuntank is it doesnt learn Swords Dance, however return, shadow claw or even toxic work well as its final move.

[karppa]

There are upsides to both Pokemon:

Skutank: Being Dark and Poison, Skutank's only weakness is Ground (unless an Alakazam uses Miracle Eye or something). Its base stats are all around good, and it has Flamethrower, which, although doesn't work well with its lower Sp.Attack, and the fact it doesn't get STAB, can be useful, especially against Steel types that would be otherwise resistant or immune to Skutank's Dark or Poison attacks.

Staraptor: In my opinion, Staraptor's most definitely several steps up from a Pidgeot. The fact that it has high Attack and Speed stats, along with a great physical movepool, means it can be a very useful, and dangerous physical sweeper. It learns Brave Bird (the Flying type equivalent to Double-Edge), and it also learns Close Combat, which lowers its already low Defenses, meaning it won't really hinder a Staraptor. Seeing that it learns the Fighting type move, Close Combat, means it can take out most Rock and Ice type Pokemon that it would be weak to, and can also take out Normal, Steel and Dark types with just Close Combat alone. Double-Edge (which it also learns) is there for another powerful STAB move. Roost would be good, but seeing as it has low Defenses, Roost would be redundant on a Staraptor and should have another powerful physical attack for a fourth move. U-Turn would be a great move on a Staraptor for a fourth move, but that's just me.

All in all, both Pokemon have good points and weaknesses. which one you choose is all a matter of what strategy you want, and what your personal taste is.