Lanturn (QC Approved 0/2)

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-bw/171.shtml


Lanturn (Water/Electric)

I'm finished, please give some feedback!
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[Overview]

• Monstruous HP, combined with below average SpD and mediocre Def still makes it quite bulky.
• Solid typing and ability gives it a ton of useful resists and only two weaknesses, despite one of them, sadly, is Ground.
• Low SpA means it won't hit very hard, unless it has been invested into it. However, amazing STAB duo gives it good Super Effective coverage.
• One of the best, if not the best Life Orb Starmie switch-in.
• May look outclassed by Vaporeon and Mamanbou, the Lanturn can effectively get rid of ennemy Bulky Waters, and is immune to Electric moves.
• May look outclassed by Rotom-W, however, it has Boiling Water and Volt Absorb to compete.

[SET]
name: Tank with Napalm
move 1: Boiling Water
move 2: Thunderbolt / Volt Change
move 3: Ice Beam / Volt Change
move 4: Rest / Heal Bell / Thunder Wave / Toxic
item: Leftovers / Balloon
ability: Volt Absorb
nature: Bold / Calm
evs: 40 HP / 148 Def / 170 SpA / 148 SpD / 4 Spe

[Set Comments]

• Boiling Water gives Lanturn really higher physical bulk than it ever had at the cost of 15 base power.
• Thunderbolt+Ice Beam gives the famous BoltBeam coverage, but Volt Change can be used in conjunction with Lanturn's low speed to scout the foe's team.
• Stops Starmie and Jirachi cold in their sweeping quest, and force bulky Water types such as Vaporeon and Mamanbou out. Also do well against new threats like Hihidaruma and Sazandora.
• Last slot gives Lanturn a few options, will it be supporting its team with either Heal Bell or Thunder Wave, defeating stall with Toxic or recover lost HP with Rest.

[Additionnal Comments]

• Balloon gives you a chance against Earthquake, but Rest is obligatory on the last slot then, since Leftovers won't be giving any HP.
• The evs are spread this way so Lanturn will be able to take many kind of moves. Lanturn can turn a bit more defensive by turning the evs to 40 / 0 / 252 / 170 / 76 / 0 or more specially defensive by switching them to 40 / 0 / 76 / 170 / 252 / 0.

[Optional Changes]

• Hidden Power [Grass] can go in the last move slot to get rid of Water/Grounds.
• Discharge on the second move slot for an higher paralysis rate.
• Surf / Hydro Pump on the first move slot for high powered STAB, without a chance of burning the opponent (works better with Thunder Wave)

[SET]
name: Parafusion
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Confuse Ray
move 3: Thunderbolt / Discharge
move 3: Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
nature: Calm
evs: 36 HP / 220 Def / 252 SpD

[Set comments]

• Pretty much the same as last gen. Thunder Wave first, but it is better to scout the opponent's team before and get rid of Grounds/Volt Absorb/Motor Drive
• BoltBeam for excellent coverage, which Rotom-W does not have, so it's the principal advantage Lanturn has over it for this set.

[Additionnal comments]

• The EV spread hits a Leftover number, and use Lanturn's bulk at the maximum of its capacity.
• Discharge for an additionnal chance of paralysis

[Optional changes]

• You can use Attract on the third move slot if you want, but it isn't really useful since it wastes a move slot, and it won't affect genderless or same gender pokemon.

[SET]
name : RestTalk
move 1: Rest
move 2: Sleep Talk
move 3: Boiling Water / Surf
move 4: Discharge / Thunderbolt
item: Leftovers
nature: Calm / Bold
evs: 36 HP / 220 Def / 252 SpD

[Set comments]

• The bulkiest version of Lanturn. It gives it a pseudo reliable recovery mode, with two great moves to complete that.
• Boiling Water (with Volt Abosrb) is mainly what make Lanturn different from Rotom-W, and it can boost a lot Lanturn's stalling ability. Surf can still be used for more power.
• Discharge let Lanturn have an high paralysis rate, but Thunderbolt have higher power and still keeps a chance of paralyzing.

[Additionanal comments]

• The EV spread makes Lanturn the bulkiest it can be. Since it already has high HP, there's no need to invest into it a lot, unless if its a Leftover number.
• Calm nature is the preferred, but since Lanturn has higher SpD, Bold can be used to balance it a bit.

[Optional changes]

• Ice Beam can be used over Boiling Water for more coverage, but it's not as useful as Boiling Water.

[SET]
name: SubCharge Beam
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Charge Beam
move 3: Hydro Pump / Surf
move 4: Ice Beam
item: Leftovers
ability: Volt Absorb
nature: Modest
evs: 52 HP / 252 SpA / 148 SpD / 56 Spe

[Set Comments]

• Based on making the foe switch. Substitute when the foe switches, Charge Beam to raise Special Attack and for Water types.
• Hydro Pump or Surf are used as a main STAB move, because Lanturn switch-ins are usually hitted harder by it than by Thunderbolt.
• Ice Beam gives good coverage.

[Additionnal comments]

• The EV spread allows it to have maximum Special Attack, while keeping good specially defensive bulk. The HP ev allows Lanturn to make 101 HP clones.
• The Speed EV is there so Lanturn can outspeed standard Vaporeon. These EV can be switched to HP, Defense or Special Defense.

[Optional changes]

• Thunderbolt can be used over Hydro Pump for BoltBeam, however, Charge Beam is enough to deal with Waters.

[SET]
name: Rain
move 1: Surf / Hydro Pump / Boiling Water
move 2: Thunder
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Confuse Ray / Heal Bell
item: Leftovers
ability: Volt Absorb
nature: Calm / Modest
evs: 36 HP / 220 SpA / 252 SpD

[Set Comments]

• With Politoed now setting up infinite rain, Lanturn is a really good addition to a rain team, because of its Electric immunity, and both its STAB moves are boosted by Rain.
• Thunder's high power and paralysis rate makes it a solid choice.
• Surf and Hydro Pump become insanely powerful under rain, even when coming from Lanturn.
• Ice Beam gives it BoltBeam, useful for hitting Grasses.
• Confuse Ray relies a bit on luck, but if Thunder paralyzes the opponent, it can be a nightmare.
• Heal Bell can heal Poison if Lanturn switches on Toxic Spikes.

[Additionnal Comments]

• The EV spread gives Lanturn high power and good special bulk. Its main use is to take incoming electric attacks, and most of them come from Special Attackers, like Starmie or Rotom.

[Team mates and counters]

• While holding Leftovers, any flying types are good partners, since they are immune to Earthquake and call for Electric typed attacks that can heal Lanturn a bit.
• While holding balloon however, Bronzong is the best partner, since it resists EdgeQuake.
• Garchomp can get on an electric attack and OHKO Lanturn with Earthquake. Must be aware of Ice Beam and Boiling Water, however.
• Water/Grounds counter Lanturn really well, such as Swampert, but mainly Gastrodon and Quagsire who are immune to both its STAB moves.
• Leaf Storm users, such as Sceptile and Roserade, are able to OHKO the bulkiest Lanturn. To avoid this, a partner that resist that kind of move is really a great addition, such as Skarmory, Roserade itself or Salamence.
• Lanturn really appreciates Rapid Spin support to remove hazards, mainly Toxic Spikes, who hinders Lanturn's walling abilities a lot.

[Dream World]

• Lanturn gets Water Absorb, which can be useful when looking at the gigantic number of Water types in OU, but rather useless compared to Volt Absorb, that make it resist the famous BoltBeam.

I await to see what you work on! Lanturn is one of my favorite Pokemon to use in any condition.

Okay so I'm mostly finished, would appreciate feedback

Add the old Sub Charge set, as it is still effective in the metagame the set is:
Lanturn @ Leftovers
Ev's: 52 HP 252 SpA 148 SpD 56 Spe
~Substitute
~Charge Beam
~Hydro Pump / Surf
~Ice Beam
Ev's could use a revamp due to the Variety of new threats and add Nattorei as a counter, because it Resists the Water and Electric STAB's and it isn't really phased by an Ice Beam.

As some advice, for teammate additions, I think Lanturn would appreciate Rapid Spin to remove Toxic Spikes in particular (I don't think he'd care too much about rocks or normal spikes) and have some sort of cleric support if he doesn't have Heal Bell himself. Toxic poison really hinders Lanturn's walling ability and although Vaporeon may be inclined to switch out, he can still Toxic you before he goes as often my Lanturn with Sp. Atk. investment still can't do more than half damage to a Vaporeon with T-bolt.

As far as adding other counters to Lanturn, I find that even with the best Sp. Def. investment, he still falls very quickly to strong Leaf Storm users: Jalorda, Roserade, Sceptile can OHKO the fish with a Leaf Storm right off the bat. Bulky Grass types like Venusaur can take an Ice Beam, and in Venusaur's case he can just EQ you. Nattorei resists everything except Ice Beam and doesn't care about being paralyzed because it'll make his Gyro Ball stronger. Celebi doesn't care about Ice Beam as it can Recover but you can stick around if all it has is Grass Knot (I've seen some with that instead of Energy Ball). Burungel can just Toxic you and Recover stall, usually my T-bolt does not do more than half damage to it. Psycho Shock users are a problem to Lanturn, notably Starmie if he has it and Espeon.

The number of counters may seem daunting (and this is from a lot of PO experience) but lost in this is the unique sets of Pokemon that Lanturn himself can counter: Empoleon, Shandera and Heatran (he can take one hit from them and hit harder back with Boil Over or OHKO with Surf/Hydro Pump), Starmie, Bortorosu, Zapdos, and so on.

You're missing abilities on all but the first set.

Also, where's SubCharge Lanturn?

Lanturn can be pretty bulky in the rain and can be a great pokemon with STAB Hydro Pump and Thunder
I'd probably add that in

Should Agility Lanturn get a mention in OO?

Dont even both about it;Lanturn's got crappy speed as it is, and no use attempting a Charge Beam/Agility/Ice Beam/Surf set. Lanturn is best abusing para-fusion hax, the Tank set.

Is Volt Change realy that good an option on that first set? :0 Seems to me like faster stuff is better to abuse quick-change moves like U-Turn and Volt Change.

So... how exactly does Lanturn learn Heal Bell? :\

Lanturn gets Heal Bell by 4th gen tutor. And Volt Change can be used like Scizor do, but less powerful.