Lanturn
[Overview]
- Boasts a fairly unique typing as well as a useful immunity to Electric attacks thanks to Volt Absorb.
- Great HP, but otherwise mediocre stats hold it back.
- Lack of recovery outside of Rest sucks.
- Competition from Rotom-W also gives it a hard time.
- These factors leave it unnoticed in the BW2 metagame.
- All isn’t lost for Lanturn, however, as it’s bulk and typing allow it to take on threats old and new, such as Genesect, Tornadus-T, Thundurus-T, and it’s rival Rotom-W.
- Best used on the defensive teams that appreciate having these threats checked.
[SET]
name: RestTalk
move 1: Rest
move 2: Sleep Talk
move 3: Heal Bell
move 4: Scald / Thunderbolt
item: Leftovers
ability: Volt Absorb
nature: Calm
evs: 52 HP / 252 Def / 204 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
- Lanturn’s best, and only viable, set in OU.
- RestTalk is a strategy that isn’t useful on most Pokemon due to new Sleep mechanics, but Heal Bell allows Lanturn to wake itself up earlier than it would otherwise, which isn’t too difficult due to it’s bulk.
- Rest and Sleep Talk are the main moves of the set, allowing Lanturn to stay alive while still being able to function while asleep.
- In addition to waking itself up, Heal Bell allows Lanturn to cure the rest of it’s team’s status.
- Scald is a great move for bulky Water-types, getting good damage off, as well as possibly burning opponents.
- Thunderbolt gets better damage off on things like Tornadus-T and Rotom-W, but leaves Lanturn vulnerable against Thundurus-T.
- The given EV spread gives Lanturn good all around bulk, allowing it to take hits from both attacking spectrums. 52 Health EVs increases the amount of life Lanturn gains from Leftovers.
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Shed Shell can be used over Leftovers to prevent Dugtrio from trapping it. This may be game-deciding, as Dugtrio is often paired with Genesect, and even one Earthquake from Dugtrio has a chance to put Lanturn into KO range of Genesect’s U-turn.
- Ice Beam, Discharge, and Volt Switch can also be used. Ice Beam gets better coverage against threats such as Dragonite, but gets worse across-the-board damage than Scald or Thunderbolt. Discharge doesn’t hit as ahrd as THunderbolt but the paralysis support may be appreciated. Volt Switch can be used to gain momentum, but is generally outclassed by Thunderbolt, as it makes waking up after Resting less likely due to Sleep resetting after switching out. It you still want Volt Switch it would probably be best over Heal Bell since Lanturn won’t be staying in too much anyway.
- For partners, either Gliscor or Landorus-T are two of the best ones, as they eliminate Lanturn’s weaknesses and take on a multitude of physical threats that Lanturn can’t handle. Gliscor’s use of Poison Heal unfortunately doesn’t work well with Heal Bell, however. Although they share a weakness to Ground attacks, Heatran may be a good teammate for it’s ability to scare off Grass-types that Lanturn hates.
- Depending on what offensive move Lanturn runs, certain threats still need to be covered. Ferrothorn takes on Rotom-W, while something like Jirachi does well against both Rotom-W and Thundurus-T
- Anything that can take Grass or Ground attacks and appreciates the removal of the offensive threats Lanturn neutralizes will work well, generally.
[OTHER OPTIONS]
- Water Absorb can be used if you REALLY want the Water immunity, but it’s generally outclassed by Volt Absorb since Lanturn already resists Water attacks.
- Lol Illuminate
- A tank set forgoing RestTalk for more coverage can be used, but this is better left to Rotom-W, who boasts higher Special Attack and Speed stats.
[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
- Grass-types such as Ferrothorn, Breloom and Celebi can shrug off Lanturn’s STAB moves and retaliate with powerful Grass STABs of their own. Breloom will dislike switching into Ice Beam, though.
- Most Ground-types fear switching into a Scald, but wall mono-Thunderbolt sets, and hit Lanturn with super-effective Earth moves. Gastrodon is especially good at this since it’s immune to both of Lanturn’s STAB moves.
- Any boosting threat that’s bulky enough to take Lanturn’s moves will give it a hard time - Calm Mind Reuniclus is an example of this.
