With the power of STAB Dragon Pulse and the existence of Grass Knot, this set will hit most Pokémon as hard or harder than Ice Beam and Thunder will. Grass Knot has 120 power against both Kyogre and Groudon, letting it almost always OHKO Groudon if Latios is Modest (Groudon needs max HP and a ton of Special Defense EVs to have a chance to survive), and OHKO Kyogre after Spikes or Stealth Rock is put down. Dragon Pulse will OHKO Rayquaza and opposing Latios who don't carry HP EVs. Although this set may have some problems against Lugia, Ho-oh, and Metagross, you hit Mewtwo, Mew, Darkrai, and other heavy-hitters hard with your STAB Dragon Pulse, and anything else gets promptly Grass Knotted. If you aren't that scared of Groudon and Tyranitar, use Thunder to hit Metagross, Ho-oh, and Lugia, and possibly spread some Paralysis. Thunderbolt is not mentioned anywhere in this set or any of the others for a reason: Thunder does better. Yes, sunlight can appear to ruin Thunder’s accuracy, but one should know that the main reason Thunder is used is for Kyogre, Metagross and the 30% Paralysis chance. All Thunderbolt does is 2HKO Metagross after a Calm Mind.
Bring out Latios vs. a special attacker. Soul Dew, Latios' high Special Defense, and Calm Mind will protect you from their assaults as you boost your power with Calm Mind. If Blissey comes out, use the last slot to keep yourself safe from Toxic or Thunder Wave. Only a Psych Up or Calm Mind Blissey will defeat you if you have Refresh or Safeguard. Generally, you should use Psycho Shift if you have an Aromatherapist on your team, or your opponent will just use Toxic over and over again. If your opponent has Aromatherapy, just stall them out with Psycho Shift since it has more PP than Aromatherapy. Safeguard helps the whole team, and you only have to use it every 5 turns, but Refresh allows you to recklessly switch into Kyogre's Thunder and Blissey's Toxic.
Latios' massive Special Attack allows him to OHKO Mewtwo with Draco Meteor, making this a very good lead. Thunder 2HKOs Metagross without any boosts—something that Latias cannot do with her lower Special Attack. Grass Knot easily OHKOs Groudon and 2HKOs Tyranitar. Recover allows Latios to stick around longer in the battlefield, but Hidden Power Fire allows Latios to hit Metagross in the Sun and kills Shedinja. Watch out for Blissey, as she walls this set completely. Other than that, good luck finding a safe switch in. Other OptionsHidden Power Fire is good with Dragon Pulse for an unresisted type combination (except by Heatran). It helps hit Metagross and Forretress, and gains power in the sun. Roar could work on a Calm Mind or Psych Up set, but Latias is better for that thanks to her higher Special Defense. Heal Block looks interesting on a set with Toxic to kill Blissey, but only use this with Aromatherapy to keep your opponent from killing you with a Toxic of their own. Heal Block can also be used with a set that just beats down the opponent (like the all-out attacker set) to keep Blissey from walling you for long. Dragon Dance can be very surprising for an unsuspecting team, but gets walled far too easily. You're almost always going to be better off with Rayquaza for your Dragon Dancing needs, but at least Latios isn't 4x weak to Ice. You should probably use Hidden Power Fire in any set with Dragon Dance so Forretress and Skarmory don't easily stop your sweep. EVsThere really is no Latios that should be used with lower than 307 Speed. In fact, Latios generally shouldn’t be used with lower than 330 Speed. However, if the user feels that Palkia is no threat at all, and would like to conserve Latios' EVs and nature for something else, he/she may want to go with 307 Speed, which requires 204 EVs if Latios has a neutral Speed nature. Next is max Speed with a neutral nature (319 Speed, 252 EVs). This allows Latios to outrun maximum Speed Jolly Rayquaza and tie with other max Speed neutral Speed natured Latios and Latias. After that, one might as well go to 330 Speed, which requires 176 Speed EVs with Timid nature to outspeed a max Speed Hasty or Timid Palkia. 320 Speed does absolutely nothing but outspeed an opposing neutral nature Latias or Latios. Next is 334 Speed, which requires 188 Speed, if one is paranoid of Garchomp in Ubers. This Speed also allows Latios to outrun a max Speed Adamant Choice Scarf Tyranitar. Latios can outspeed a neutral max Speed Arceus with 216 EVs in Speed, putting her at 341 Speed in the stat. Finally, there’s max Speed as an option. With absolute max Speed, Latios can outspeed every single aforementioned threat and a neutral max Speed Darkrai, who tops at 349 as opposed to Latios’ 350. Most Latios will want to put 252 EVs in Special Attack to maximize the damage it can deal, and then stick all remaining EVs in HP. OpinionLatios is one amazing sweeper with Soul Dew boosting that already stupendous Special Attack. He has a decent typing (the Psychic-type hurts, making him weak to Dark, Bug, and Ghost, but the Dragon-type gives him great resistances), and a great movepool. He's moderately fast, and has a very high Special Defense stat with Soul Dew. CountersIf Blissey has Toxic, she will always beat a Latios without Safeguard, Refresh, or Psycho Shift. Even if he has Safeguard, Icy Wind can allow Blissey to get in a Toxic before Latios can refresh the Safeguard after it expires the first time. Thunder Wave Blissey can be annoying, as being fully Paralyzed can spell your doom if Blissey also has Seismic Toss. Psych Up / Calm Mind Blissey with Ice Beam has a high probability of beating Latios as well. Metagross is a great counter thanks to its resistance to Dragon Pulse, Grass Knot, and Ice Beam—meaning it really only has to worry about Thunder and Hidden Power Fire. It will OHKO Latios with a Choice Band Meteor Mash or a Choice Band Pursuit on the switch. Dark / Bug Arceus can stop Latios in much the same way, but Arceus needs to be wary of letting Latios get in too many Calm Minds. Steel Arceus will resist a lot of Latios's attacks, much in the same way Metagross does. Tyranitar's Special Defense is boosted thanks to Sand Stream, and he OHKOs Latios with Crunch. Deoxys-A, although incapable of switching in to any offensive attack, can come in on Recover, Calm Mind, or any other non-damaging move, and OHKO with a Choice Band or Life Orb Ice Punch. Knock Off in general really hurts Latios, as Soul Dew is a major part of his success. |
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