|
-
Justified
- Raises Attack one stage when hit by a Dark-type move.
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Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
91
|
- |
323 |
386 |
- |
| Atk |
72
|
162 |
180 |
243 |
267 |
| Def |
90
|
194 |
216 |
279 |
306 |
| SpA |
129
|
264 |
294 |
357 |
392 |
| SpD |
90
|
194 |
216 |
279 |
306 |
| Spe |
108
|
226 |
252 |
315 |
346 |
Overview
Keldeo may arguably be the cutest Pokemon in the OU tier, but that's not all there is to this pretty pony! With a great base 129 Special Attack and a good base 108 Speed, it has all the tools it needs to punch holes in opposing teams with relative ease. With Secret Sword, it becomes one of the only special attackers in the entire metagame capable of getting past Chansey and Blissey with ease. With all of these pros, it's hard to imagine that there are reasons to not use Keldeo, but sadly, this is the case. While Keldeo has great STAB coverage, especially with access to powerful moves such as Hydro Pump and Secret Sword, it has a very shallow movepool. In fact, what walls Keldeo is usually determined solely by the moves it runs. Keldeo is usually limited to running its STABs and a Hidden Power of choice for coverage, but this is not a one-trick pony. With a great boosting option in Calm Mind, the ability to run power-boosting items such as Life Orb or Choice Specs, and the ability to speed up with Choice Scarf, Keldeo can definitely wreak havoc on opposing teams.
With a Choice Scarf equipped, Keldeo might lack the wallbreaking power of its other sets, but instead becomes a powerful revenge killer and late-game sweeper for use on rain teams. At 129, Keldeo has the highest base Special Attack stat of all Water-type Pokemon available in OU; this and its excellent Speed clearly make it the best Pokemon for the job. It's extremely satisfying to see an opponent attempt to revenge kill Keldeo with Jolteon or Tornadus only to find that they are outrun and OHKOed by Hydro Pump or even Surf after Stealth Rock damage. Though running both of these STAB moves together might seem strange, Keldeo really doesn't need to use much else, and doesn't have many other options anyway. Surf is the staple move, but often the additional power of Hydro Pump will be required to revenge kill a specific threat. Secret Sword is relatively weak, but it will help to deal with troublesome opponents such as Blissey, Chansey, and Ferrothorn, 2HKOing all three. Other than that, Keldeo has very few options besides Hidden Power. Hidden Power Ice is the best, as it allows Keldeo to revenge kill threats such as Dragonite, which it will outrun even after two Dragon Dances, as well as +1 Salamence. Even when super effective, Hidden Power Ice is still not significantly more powerful than a resisted Hydro Pump in the rain, but it will hit targets such as Breloom more accurately, and is more effective against them outside of rain.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
As Keldeo tends only to spam Water-type attacks, a variety of other moves can be used in place of Hidden Power Ice or Secret Sword, though none are frequently useful. Hidden Power Psychic mauls Toxicroak, which would otherwise completely wall Keldeo, while doing a little more to Tentacruel, Breloom, and Amoonguss. However, using this requires the use of a 30 Speed IV, causing you to lose out on a Speed tie with opposing Keldeo and Terrakion. Hidden Power Electric will OHKO all common Gyarados variants after Stealth Rock damage, and will do significantly more (and yet still not nearly enough) damage to Jellicent. Hidden Power Grass will do good damage to Gastrodon, Hidden Power Flying will maim Breloom and Virizion, and Hidden Power Bug might allow you to break through Celebi. If using any of these options, Icy Wind can replace Hidden Power Ice, as it still allows you to revenge kill weakened Dragonite and Salamence. Focus Blast could potentially be used for its good power, but won't break through Chansey and Blissey, which was largely the point of Secret Sword in the first place—Secret Sword is not a power move, but rather a coverage move. Scald could be used for its spectacular secondary effect, while Toxic could be used to cripple some opposing walls (such as Jellicent).
As far as support is concerned, Politoed should be the number one teammate; it provides the power that Keldeo really needs, even if it stacks up your team's weaknesses a bit. Other teammates should be used to remove Keldeo's hard counters, of which there are a fair few. Most critical are Celebi, Jellicent, Latias, Toxicroak, Amoonguss, and Tentacruel—these pokemon are not only resistant or immune to Water, but also extremely durable and as such usually require trapping. Choice Specs Gothitelle is probably your best option in this respect, especially variants with Signal Beam, as they can take out Celebi. Alternatively, a number of these Pokemon are weak to Pursuit, and as such Weavile, although not generally a strong option in OU, is a rather good partner. If you don't want to base your team around a Keldeo sweep in this way, other Ice- and Psychic-types can at least force these Pokemon out. Finally, it's worth supporting Keldeo with Stealth Rock, because it lets Keldeo revenge kill Dragonite, and helps to wear down Water-resistant Pokemon as you hit them with repeated Surfs and Hydro Pumps. If you manage to take down those few very troublesome Pokemon, not much can handle Keldeo's barrage of rain-boosted Water-type attacks.
Keldeo's Calm Mind set is fairly straightforward—essentially, the goal is to attain enough Calm Mind boosts and then sweep. With great STAB moves, Keldeo can often do just that. Keldeo's high Special Attack in conjunction with its base 108 Speed allows it to outspeed every relevant threat, bar Latios, Latias, and Starmie, and sweep with relative ease. Hydro Pump has tremendous power, especially under rain, and while Surf has less power, it is a viable alternative. Secret Sword is another STAB move, and while it lacks the power of Focus Blast, its value lies in its effect: it hits the opponent's Defense instead of Special Defense. This allows Keldeo to bypass some standard special walls, such as Chansey and Blissey, which is invaluable to its sweeping. Both Hidden Power Ghost and Hidden Power Ice have their uses; the former deals damage to Jellicent—who walls Keldeo otherwise—and Latias on the switch-in, while the latter allows Keldeo to hit Dragon-types much harder.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
The EVs of the set maximize Keldeo's Special Attack and Speed, the two tools that it needs in order to sweep effectively. While Modest may seem like a decent choice as a nature, the benefits of Timid far outweigh the perks of Modest—generally, tying Terrakion, Infernape, Cobalion, and beating out Thundurus-T, Salamence, Garchomp, and other Speed demons that plague the OU metagame is a far more important job.
Leftovers allows Keldeo to be a sturdier sweepers—one that can take a few resisted hits without worrying too much about health—while Life Orb provides a major source of power that all Pokemon must fear, especially under the rain. If these two items don't intrigue you, Lum Berry can always be used, as it avoids Toxic from Jellicent and can nab an extra turn of setup. In order to appreciate just how powerful a +1 Life Orb Hydro Pump in the rain from Keldeo is, a few calcs may be necessary:
- +1 Hydro Pump (rain) vs. 4/0 Dragonite 87.96% - 103.7% (Multiscale broken)
- +1 Hydro Pump (rain) vs. 4/0 Salamence 115.1% - 135.5%
- +1 Hydro Pump (rain) vs. 88/0 Gyarados 80.7% - 95.2%
- +1 Hydro Pump (rain) vs. 4/0 Garchomp 181.8% - 214.5%
- +1 Hydro Pump (rain) vs. 252/0 Tentacruel 67.0% - 78.8%
- +1 Hydro Pump (rain) vs. 252/0 Chansey 52.1% - 61.5%
- +1 Hydro Pump (rain) vs. 4/252+ Blissey 51.1% - 60.4%
Okay, you probably get the point now. Keldeo is super powerful. While all of these calculations are in rainy conditions, one can use Keldeo effectively on sand or hail teams as well. However, one has to be very careful when running Keldeo with a Life Orb in one of these weathers, as Life Orb and weather damage will add up quickly. Keldeo appreciates spinners a lot, as they can rid the field of Toxic Spikes and allow Keldeo to set up more easily. Keldeo also enjoys the company of Politoed, as rain support can be deadly when paired with Keldeo. Oddly enough, Tyranitar is a great partner for Keldeo as well, as it can demolish Latios, Latias, Celebi, and Jellicent, all the Pokemon that give Keldeo a hard time.
While Keldeo's other sets are mainly based around sweeping, Choice Specs Keldeo is meant to break down walls. However, that's not to say it cannot sweep—if all Pokemon on an opponent's team are slower than Keldeo, the immediate power granted by Choice Specs certainly can allow Keldeo to smash through teams. Generally, the move Keldeo will use most often is Hydro Pump, and Secret Sword provides a solid secondary STAB attack that allows Keldeo to rip through Chansey, Blissey, Kyurem-B, and other Pokemon that won't be hit for too much damage by Hydro Pump. The choice between Hidden Power Ghost and Hidden Power Electric is dependent on what your team needs; Hidden Power Ghost surprises Jellicent and Celebi, but Hidden Power Electric can still hit Jellicent and take down opposing Water-types such as Politoed and Gyarados. However, Hydro Pump hits most Water-type Pokemon hard even if they resist it, so one should take all relevant damage outputs into account before making a choice. Icy Wind in the last moveslot allows Keldeo to hit Latias that try and switch in super effectively, with the added effect of lowering their Speed. Some variants of Latias are 2HKOed, while Latios will face the same fate as long as they don't hold a Choice Scarf. Surf provides a reliable STAB move to use in the late-game though, so the last moveslot depends on preference.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Choice Specs Keldeo's EVs are standard for any special attacker. Like always, a Timid nature and 252 Speed EVs allows Keldeo to tie all opposing base 108 Speed Pokemon and beat out anything slower. However, a Modest nature is also viable on this set because it simply allows Keldeo to pack more power—this can be important if Keldeo is the primary wallbreaker for the team. Speed isn't as necessary on this set unless one wants to sweep with it in the late-game, but the presence of Jolteon and other speedy Pokemon makes sweeping with Keldeo much harder.
Rain support really allows this set to shine, as it provides another boost to Keldeo's already-powerful STAB Hydro Pump. Even most Dragon-types that resist Water-type attacks will fall to Keldeo's onslaught. Because Keldeo will do a lot of switching as a result of being locked into one move, having a spinner to remove entry hazards is very helpful, though not always necessary as Spikes are not too common and Toxic Spikes are even less common. However, the durability of this set is greatly raised when one pairs it with a spinner, so Rapid Spin should always be considered. As far as other options go, Hidden Power Grass is viable to smite Gastrodon, but it doesn't really provide much other than that. The moveset is much looser for Choice Specs Keldeo than any other Keldeo set because it simply is supposed to break walls, so depending on the walls you need to remove, you can mix and match moves.
While Choice sets are very effective on Keldeo, it is also excellent as an all-out attacker. The main advantage of this set is the ability to switch moves; this is huge, as Keldeo often needs to switch up moves in order to hit the foe for heavy damage. There are two variants of this set—Expert Belt and Life Orb—that both play much differently. Expert Belt allows Keldeo to bluff a Choice item and thus surprise its counters with a super effective move, which tends mess up the opponent via throwing off his or her game plan. On the other hand, Life Orb gives Keldeo a significant boost in power compared to Expert Belt, which only boosts the power of super effective moves, meaning Hydro Pump and Secret Sword are often fired off unboosted. Life Orb boosts the power of all of Keldeo's moves, making it a very reliable option.
Keldeo's STABs are obvious; Hydro Pump outright rips apart of all Keldeo's foes, especially when boosted by rain, while Secret Sword allows Keldeo to nail Tyranitar, Blissey, and Chansey. Their great coverage together can be utilized to its full potential with this set, as the lack of a Choice item allows Keldeo to switch moves. For the Expert Belt set, it is highly recommended to use Hidden Power Bug as Keldeo's Hidden Power of choice. Hidden Power Bug can surprise Celebi and KO it in one hit; it also helps against Latias and Latios, but Celebi is the number one target. It is also usable with a Life Orb, but Hidden Power Electric provides competition there, as it always 2HKOes non-specially defensive Jellicent after Stealth Rock damage, which is huge. Hidden Power Electric also provides a reliable OHKO on Gyarados and 2HKOes bulky Politoed after Stealth Rock damage. Icy Wind fills the last slot so that Keldeo always has good coverage with which to hit Latios and Latias and to slow down faster threats, such as Starmie and Tornadus. It also provides a way to KO Landorus and Landorus-T with less risk than Hydro Pump.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Below are some damage calculations that showcase the power granted by using Life Orb over Expert Belt. They all show OHKOs that Life Orb can achieve which Expert Belt cannot.
- Life Orb Icy Wind vs. 0/0 Garchomp: 100.56 - 119.32%
- Life Orb Icy Wind vs. 200/0 Landorus-T: 102.98 - 121.13%
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 4/0 Gengar: 122.98 - 145.59%
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 248/252+ Heatran: 91.16 - 108.05% -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock damage
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 0/4 Scizor: 108.18 - 127.75%
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 224/32 Skarmory: 99.38 - 117.12% -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock damage
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 4/0 Lucario: 120.92 - 142.55%
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 192/0 Reuniclus: 106.84 - 125.91% (rain)
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 0/4 Jirachi: 110.85 - 130.79% (rain)
- Life Orb Hydro Pump vs. 4/0 Breloom: 109.54 - 129.38% (rain)
There are a couple other options for the Hidden Power, namely Psychic and Flying. They give Keldeo a way to hit Toxicroak and ensure Keldeo wins mirror matches against other Keldeo. The trade-off is that Hidden Power Psychic hits Tentacruel for heavy damage whereas Hidden Power Flying hits Celebi moderately hard. Surf is a decent choice over Hydro Pump if you really dislike the accuracy, but it does not pack the same raw killing power.
Keldeo is a very good Pokemon in its own right, but there are a few support options that let Keldeo live up to its full potential. Politoed, while not mandatory, is certainly very helpful for Keldeo, as rain makes its Hydro Pump insanely powerful. With Choice Specs attached, Politoed can even aid Keldeo in punching holes in the enemy team. Unlike other Keldeo, this set doesn't have to worry about Celebi, making its life much easier. However, Pursuit-trapping partners are still helpful to take down Jellicent, Latias, and Latios (the latter two are faster than Keldeo, making attempts to hit them unreliable). Choice Band Tyranitar is generally the best choice, but Scizor is also a good option if you intend to run Keldeo on a rain team. Weavile is another good Pursuit trapper, as it can reliably handle pretty much every Pokemon that troubles Keldeo. Gothitelle can trap the problematic Celebi, as well as Jellicent, if you eschew Hidden Power Bug in favor of Hidden Power Electric. The most important support for this set is entry hazards. As you generally use Keldeo on offensive teams, reliable hazard setters, such as Custap Berry Skarmory and Forretress, do the trick. The biggest issue for the Life Orb variant of this set is entry hazards on its own side of the field, so a spinner partner, such as Starmie or Tentacruel, is recommended. Lastly, sweepers that do well against weakened teams, such as Landorus, Feraligatr, and Gyarados, make excellent partners, as this Keldeo excels at breaking down the opponent's team.
Keldeo's SubCM set is not very different from the Calm Mind set, but it does have some notable pros and cons that set it apart. Substitute grants immunity to status-inducing moves, such as Will-O-Wisp and Toxic, and also protects Keldeo from potential revenge killers, so Keldeo can clean fairly effectively. On the other hand, Substitute prevents Keldeo from being able to even touch Jellicent, and Keldeo's already-limited coverage becomes even thinner. If one is willing to look past that, though, SubCM Keldeo can be fearsome, as its limited coverage provides just enough to hit a majority of the metagame hard. Once Keldeo is able to nab a few Calm Mind boosts, Secret Sword and Hydro Pump (or Surf, if you like to play it safe) provide all the tools one needs for an effective sweep.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
The EVs allow Keldeo to tie opposing base 108 Speed Pokemon and beat out anything slower, so it outpaces the majority of the metagame. While running a Modest nature is tempting, a Timid nature is necessary in this Speed-dependent metagame. One can attempt to edit the EV spread and allot more EVs into HP to survive Amoonguss's Giga Drain after a boost or two, but this is generally inefficient and harmful to Keldeo's sweeping ability. Leftovers is the item of choice because it allows Keldeo to heal up damage that Substitute inflicts, but more daring people can run a Life Orb. However, doing so will make Keldeo very vulnerable to weather, and it may not be able to sweep for as long as one might like.
Keldeo remains walled eternally by Jellicent if it runs this set. Other counters to Keldeo will also have a good time because of the lack of Hidden Power coverage. For this reason, your team needs to have a good way of removing opposing Jellicent, Celebi, Latias, and other problematic Pokemon; Choice Band Tyranitar is an excellent candidate for this job if you don't mind the weather. Scizor also does well in this role, though it's a bit less effective in removing Jellicent. If one does not want to run Tyranitar, rain support is also an option. With rain, Keldeo's Water-type STAB move will be much more powerful; however, this comes with the drawback of having even more of a Jellicent weakness. Toxic Spikes support works wonders against some of Keldeo's counters because it can calmly boost behind a Substitute while its primary check loses a lot of health to poisoning. On the flip side, Keldeo needs to have Toxic Spikes removed because they will hamper its sweep immensely by stunting its longevity.
Other Options
Keldeo's other options are almost as shallow as its movepool. While Keldeo has access to a great boosting move in Swords Dance, its low base Attack doesn't do it many favors. Keldeo can also use Rain Dance to change the weather instantly (without provoking a weather war) and boost the power of Surf and Hydro Pump, though Drizzle Politoed does a better job at this because it can simply switch in and change the weather; not to mention Drizzle-induced rain is permanent. In short: if you aren't using one of the above sets, there is probably a Pokemon that you should be using instead of Keldeo.
Checks and Counters
Keldeo's counters are generally split into two groups: those that can wall it no matter what, and those that can wall some of its sets, but not all. Perhaps the best Keldeo counter out there is Slowking; despite its lower tier status, it remains a very effective way to always beat Keldeo (provided it runs Psyshock). However, other options to take down Keldeo do exist. Amoonguss does very well, and with Regenerator, it can constantly switch out to regain health. However, should Keldeo be behind a Substitute and have a sufficient amount of boosts to where Giga Drain will not break the Substitute, the Amoonguss user is in bad condition. The same applies to Celebi, as specially defensive versions with Perish Song completely shut down Keldeo; however, Celebi is ineffective against Keldeo that use Hidden Power Bug. Latias with Psyshock can generally switch into Keldeo, and with a 252 HP / 252 Spe spread and a Timid nature, it won't be 2HKOed by Keldeo's Choice Specs Icy Wind. For this reason, it remains a good check to Keldeo, but it won't be able to take on another Pokemon reliably after the skirmish. Jellicent is in the same boat—it's a great check to Keldeo as it is immune to both of Keldeo's STAB attacks with Water Absorb and can badly poison Keldeo with Toxic, but Keldeo can run Hidden Power Ghost to take on Jellicent, so one should be wary. It should be noted that Keldeo's SubCM set cannot touch Jellicent at all, though it can attempt to stall out the jellyfish.
Keldeo has many more checks than counters, though. With a great base 108 Speed, one probably should wonder why—this is because there are many faster Choice Scarf Pokemon that can easily prey on our favorite pony's weaknesses, and with other faster threats looming, Keldeo cannot always sweep as quickly as it would like. Alakazam, Latios, and Starmie are great users of Psyshock that can get by Keldeo with ease, even if it happens to be at +6. Additionally, Tornadus outspeeds Keldeo, and with Hurricane, it can decimate it; Jolteon does the same with Thunder or Thunderbolt. Most dedicated revenge killers can get by Keldeo, including, but not limited to, Thundurus-T, Terrakion, and Rotom-W. However, one must keep in mind that most of these Pokemon cannot switch into Keldeo, and even though many resist Keldeo's attacks, rain-boosted, STAB, Choice Specs-boosted Hydro Pump will mercilessly annihilate all of them. Of course, most of these Pokemon are not checks to Keldeo at all if it chooses to carry a Choice Scarf, so one must be wary and scout out the Keldeo set before attempting to revenge kill it.
Finally, a few more Pokemon can stand up to Keldeo's wrath. Even at +1, Roserade can OHKO Keldeo with Leaf Storm. Swords Dance Virizion can attack Keldeo's unboosted Defense with Leaf Blade, though Secret Sword will do a big chunk of damage should Keldeo win the Speed tie. Tentacruel with Toxic can wear down any Keldeo set except for SubCM set, which will actually beat Tentacruel. Similarly, Toxic Spikes do a number to hamper Keldeo's survivability, and the setup sweeper sets find it very hard to play through Toxic. Finally, Dragonite does well against Keldeo, but one always needs to be wary of Hidden Power Ice; also, one should remember that even though Dragonite resists Hydro Pump, Choice Specs and rain are two factors to keep in mind before attempting to tank!
