The usual Lapras set hasn’t changed much over the years. This Pokémon is best suited as a bulky BoltBeamer, with STAB Surf to improve coverage on Fire-types and Rocks. Thunderbolt is the recommended option due to its superior accuracy, but Thunder is worth risking in UU as Rain Dance is common and Lapras makes a good switch-in against Omastar and Gorebyss (who both survive a hit from Thunderbolt, but not from Thunder). Sing or Toxic brings some sort of status to the table, which is always nice from a Water-type. Toxic is great to slowly wear down those who wall Lapras, like Hypno, Lanturn and Grumpig. Tthe two status options can be replaced with one of Lapras' various support options, depending on what your team needs. See Other Options for some suggestions. Since Lapras already has incredibly high HP, it benefits more if you pour EVs into defenses first. With these EVs, a Modest Omastar or Gorebyss will never 2HKO with Hidden Power Grass, even when holding a Life Orb.
Not much to say about this one. This set gives you a BoltBeaming Sleep Talker with respectable survivability. Leftovers is the preferred item, but if you are confident you can handle Stealth Rock and the loss of extra healing, Life Orb can be used since Lapras can always switch into Water attacks for some free health.
Gaining a physical STABed Waterfall makes Dragon Dance Lapras even more viable. It is best paired with Return, as this move combination is resisted by only Empoleon and Shedinja in OU, as well as Giratina and Dialga in Ubers. Thankfully, Lapras will not be facing any of those four that often, if at all. Like with all Lapras, it is best to switch it in on a Water-type and set up. Substitute protects you from status that Blastoise or Politoed might try to throw on you before they switch, giving you a free Dragon Dance. Ice Beam is an option to handle bulky Grass-types, like Leafeon and Meganium. Even after a Dragon Dance, Ice Shard will do less damage to them than Ice Beam, which is why the priority attack is not recommended on this set. Ice Shard doesn't really fit on a set that is raising Speed anyway, but if you don't have a lot of Speed EVs, you will fail to outrun certain enemies after a single boost. With Life Orb and one Dragon Dance, Scyther is OHKOed before it gets the chance to use Brick Break, and Swellow is OHKOed before it tries to batter Lapras with Facade. Thunderbolt is an option if you wish to try this in OU, where it can dispatch Empoleon, Gyarados and Skarmory. Leftovers is recommended, especially with Substitute as it helps Lapras to stay healthy enough to continue boosting. Life Orb is a good alternative if you want Lapras to hit harder, and it also powers up the special attacks, should you be using them. Life Orb is required to guarantee a OHKO on most Leafeon with Ice Beam, even with a Special Attack lowering nature. Meganium is only 2HKOed, but Lapras will survive two Energy Balls most of the time, even after Life Orb damage. Max Attack is fairly obvious, but setting your Speed is a difficult decision. 212 (224 EVs) will outrun Leafeon after a single Dragon Dance, and reaches enough Speed to beat Electrode after two. Other significant Speeds require a Jolly nature, which tends to cut into Lapras' offensive potential. If you want to outrun Manectric and Scyther, you'll need 228 intial Speed (208 EVs, Jolly), while beating Froslass after a single Dragon Dance requires 232 EVs and a Jolly nature. Always use at least 404 HP (which only requires 12 EVs) if you have Substitute, so they are unbreakable by one Seismic Toss or Night Shade. With Life Orb, you'll want your HP to be odd numbered, so the "recoil" damage rounds down.
Having Ice Shard and Avalanche makes Lapras a unique Curser, and lets it use STABed physical Ice attacks that don’t fit well on a Dragon Dance set. Providing you are able to secure a few boosts, Ice Shard gives you a very powerful boosted priority attack, while Avalanche gives you an even more powerful revenge type attack, neither of which is hindered by the low Speed. Waterfall is used for STAB as a second attack to hit Steel-types, and Return helps against other Waters. Rest recovers off any damage or status incurred while setting up, although it does leave Lapras vulnerable for two turns. Shell Armor is suggested just to give Lapras’ second ability mention somewhere, but Water Absorb is again the best bet. Shell Armor does protect against those random critical hits when you are Cursed up, however.
Base 85 Special Attack isn't spectacular, but Lapras has a great attacking movepool so this can do some surprising damage. HP Grass hurts Lanturn and OHKOs Quagsire and Gastrodon. Psychic isn't that great, but it can OHKO Hitmonlee and Hitmonchan, who both survive Ice Beams and Surfs. Other OptionsAside from all the moves listed above, Lapras has a great deal of other options. Perish Song is a severely underrated move that can help against Baton Pass chains, or to cause switches if you have entry hazards to punish them. Lapras gets Heal Bell through XD, so that gets a mention as well. Confuse Ray is ok if you're feeling lucky, and can be quite painful for an incoming Choice Bander if it ends up smacking itself around. These are all good options to use on the Special Attacker set. Hydro Pump can replace Surf if you prefer power to accuracy. AncientPower and Dragon Pulse are both fairly useless. Icy Wind is almost half the power of Ice Beam, but the Speed lowering effect is often useful against incoming sweepers. It should also be noted that Lapras is a OHKO machine, learning Horn Drill, Sheer Cold, and Fissure, but those are generally frowned upon in competitive play. EVsThe defensive sets should focus Defense, Special Defense and Special Attack. The Curse set benefits from lots of Special Defense, and the Dragon Dancer needs plenty of Speed and Attack. The Choice Specs set can use a decent investment in Speed, to outrun various walls, such as Nidoqueen, Claydol and the like. OpinionThanks to that gargantuan HP and above average Special Defense, it makes a fine counter for some Water-type sweepers in UU, such as Omastar and Gorebyss. Lapras also excels at switching in on "Bulky Waters" like Blastoise, Vaporeon, and Milotic to abuse Water Absorb and scare them off with Thunderbolt. Keep in mind that Lapras should not be used as a replacement to the bulky Water-type, as its Ice typing adds very common weaknesses in Fighting and Rock without covering its Grass and Electric weaknesses. That Rock weakness also means that Lapras loses 25% of its HP when switching into Stealth Rock, but Water Absorb comes to the rescue as the damage will always be negated when switching into a Surf or Waterfall. Lapras does have its flaws, but it can be an effective tank or even a surprising sweeper in UU. CountersDue to Lapras' versatility, there are no surefire counters. Most sets can be stopped by Lanturn, as it takes barely any damage from BoltBeam and Surf. Hypno and Grumpig are also effective. Without Surf or Waterfall you will have trouble getting by Probopass, who can hit back with Thunderbolt. Muk absorbs special hits quite well and can set up a Sub then hit Lapras with a Focus Punch or simply start firing off Gunk Shot or Brick Break. The Hitmons will all survive one Ice Beam and can OHKO with their STAB Fighting attacks. Clefable can eventually wear down Lapras, and is horribly annoying to the Dragon Dance and Curse sets if it has Encore. Unless Lapras has Dragon Dance it will be rather slow. Take advantage of this by sending in powerful attackers with Close Combat or Thunderbolt. |
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