phantom
Banned deucer.
[Overview]
<p>It doesn't seem to matter what metagame Latios ventures into; he's always destined for success, and here in Doubles, Latios's cataclysmic Dragon-type moves and trailblazing Speed make him an offensive threat that every team must prepare for. Latios is tied with Kyurem for the most powerful Draco Meteor in Doubles, but unlike Kyurem, Latios has the necessary Speed to utilize this trait to the fullest. In addition to all of the splendors that come with Latios's offensive capabilities, he has some very handy resistances to Water-, Fighting-, and Electric-type moves and an immunity to Ground-type attacks. Along with his excellent STABs, Latios is able to use these to demolish many prominent support Pokemon such as Hitmontop and Amoonguss, and check many offensive threats including Rotom-W and Breloom. Unfortunately for Latios, his coverage, while good, is simply not enough to help him break through the likes of Jirachi and Tyranitar. Latios is also inflicted with some nasty weaknesses to Dark-, Ice-, and Dragon-type moves, which makes him rather easy to pick off. Nonetheless, if you need an offensive Pokemon with great resistances that is capable of tearing open the opposing team, then Latios is sure to satisfy those needs.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Dragon Pulse / Tailwind / Substitute
move 4: Protect
item: Dragon Gem / Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Latios's Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor is so ferociously powerful that many Pokemon are forced to invest in Special Defense EVs just to survive it, this gives you a good indicator of just how dominant Latios is. Dragon Pulse is a weaker, more consistent version of Draco Meteor that allows Latios to better sweep late-game, but it lacks the much-needed raw power that Draco Meteor possesses. Psyshock destroys Fighting-types such as Conkeldurr and Breloom without incurring Draco Meteor's horrid Special Attack drops. Tailwind works rather well by combating speed control attempts from Icy Wind users. Tailwind also allows Latios to outspeed all Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, and Choice Scarf users, making him impossible to revenge kill outside of priority. This is where Substitute comes in, as it cushions the impact and/or avoids priority attacks from the likes of Mamoswine and Bisharp, prevents faster Pokemon such as Darkrai from reliably revenge killing Latios, and gives him a way to maneuver around speed control moves such as Thunder Wave and Icy Wind. However, keep in mind that if Latios opts for a Life Orb, he will be worn down rather quickly with Substitute. Like Substitute, Protect allows Latios to scout for spread moves such as Blizzard, shield himself from the spread moves of his own teammates, and avoid pesky Fake Outs; Protect also doesn't wear Latios down like Substitute does.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Dragon Gem boosts Latios's Dragon-type moves to magnificent levels, giving it power akin to Choice Specs and without being locked into a single move for one attack. With a Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor, Latios is able to get the OHKO on bulky Pokemon such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T with maximum HP investment. Life Orb doesn't boost Latios's Dragon-type moves to the same extent; however, it provides a meaty boost to Psyshock, enough so that Latios can OHKO Amoonguss and Hitmontop. With power in mind, Latios can use a Modest nature to further bolster his Special Attack, but he misses out on one of his key advantages: Speed. Modest Dragon Gem Latios works rather well with Tailwind and has a chance to OHKO all the bulky Pokemon EV trained to survive a Timid Draco Meteor, such as bulky support Thundurus, so it's a decent option to consider.</p>
<p>Latios has a nice selection of effective coverage moves that includes Surf, Thunder, Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Ground, and Psychic. Surf and Thunder in particular work rather well with Politoed's rain support. Latios would generally use Surf against Tyranitar once Politoed removes the sand. With Politoed's Helping Hand support, Latios equipped with Life Orb is capable of OHKOing Tyranitar and Heatran, two of his main counters. Thunder allows Latios to break through bulky Water-types with greater ease. For example, Latios has the capability to OHKO Jellicent and Suicune with a Life Orb and Helping Hand-boosted Thunder. Hidden Power Fire is an option that works if Latios wants to lure and critically maim or destroy Steel-types in a non-rain team. With Hidden Power Fire, Latios can eradicate Metagross, Jirachi, Scizor, and Escavalier. When Latios opts for Hidden Power Fire, both Sunny Day Cresselia and Ninetales make acceptable partners to help power up the move. Hidden Power Ground provides Latios with similar coverage to Hidden Power Fire, but unlike the attack mentioned earlier, it doesn't lower Latios's Speed IVs, which ensures that he Speed ties at worst with opposing Latios. Psychic can be used over Psyshock to hit physically defensive Pokemon for greater damage, but Psyshock is superior because of its ability to hit Hitmontop and Amoonguss harder.</p>
<p>Latios's best support partners are Jirachi, Hitmontop, and Scrafty. Jirachi can redirect powerful Dragon-type moves away from Latios with Follow Me and both provide speed control support via Icy Wind and boost Latios's already monstrous Draco Meteor with Helping Hand. Just like Jirachi, Hitmontop can provide Helping Hand support, but Hitmontop's STAB Fighting-type moves benefit Latios as well because they can severely dent many of Latios's check and counters such as Bisharp, Heatran, and Tyranitar. Hitmontop can also support Latios with Fake Out, Intimidate, and Wide Guard. Fake Out renders one of the two opposing Pokemon useless for a single turn, giving Latios free reign to unleash his powerful attacks on the less threatening target. Wide Guard shields Latios from dangerous spread moves such as Blizzard and Icy Wind, and Intimidate helps Latios better tank physical attacks. Scrafty lacks Wide Guard, but it can provide all the other support Hitmontop can; Scrafty is also capable of crippling Cresselia with its STAB Crunch, which aids Latios immensely.</p>
<p>Latios's Levitate ability and vulnerability to Steel-types makes him the perfect partner for Ground-type attackers. Excadrill, Landorus-T, and Garchomp are all fine partners that can remove Latios's checks and counters such as Jirachi, Tyranitar, Heatran, Bisharp, and Metagross, and they all come with individual advantages. Excadrill possess blistering Speed in the sand, allowing it to destroy any annoying Steel-types immediately. Excadrill also deals fairly well with Cresselia and most priority users. Landorus-T has the highest Attack stat of the three and provides some handy Intimidate support. Garchomp is the middle child between the previous two, possessing great Speed and Attack stats. Lastly, Infernape makes an excellent partner by providing Latios a free turn to attack with its Fake Out, and decimating Latios's checks such as Tyranitar, Scizor, Heatran, and Weavile with its excellent STABs.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Latios has a fairly good movepool full of interesting niche options. Helping Hand and dual screens can both be used to support Latios's teammates, but Latias is generally a better fit for those two roles. Heal Pulse is another support move; it allows Latios to restore the health of a teammates, but he is better filling more of an offensive role. Grass Knot can be used to 2HKO Tyranitar on the switch after a Life Orb boost or put Tyranitar into Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor KO range, but it is rather situational. Haban Berry can help Latios survive an otherwise fatal attack such as Kingdra's Dragon Pulse and OHKO back. Yache Berry can also be useful because it allows Latios to survive Mamoswine's Ice Shard. Psych Up is an interesting gimmick that can catch the likes of Quiver Dance Volcarona off guard and can be used to gain a partner's stat boosts, though keep in mind that accomplishing the former task requires heavy support from Rage Powder or Follow Me users, particularly Togekiss in this case. Choice sets with Trick can also be effective, but Latios is forced out more than is desirable when using them. Latios can attempt to utilize a speed control move in the form of Thunder Wave; however, Latios's time is better spent attacking. Finally, Latios can use a rather unconventional yet effective offensive Calm Mind set with Follow Me support, which helps smash through the opposing team with considerable ease.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Latios's main objective is to use his powerful STABs to dismantle the opposing team and allow his other teammates to clean up after him; there is one Pokemon that completely shuts down this strategy: Jirachi. Jirachi's solid bulk, resistance to both of Latios's STABs, and access to Follow Me let it take his attacks and prevent him from touching its teammates. From there, Jirachi can strip Latios of his Speed via Icy Wind or hit him with repeated Iron Heads. Just like Jirachi, Steel-types in general tend to be good at walling Latios's conventional sets. Provided that Latios lacks Hidden Power Fire, Metagross and Escavalier can take a hit and OHKO back. Heatran is another Steel-type that can defeat Latios, though it must watch out for the rare Surf and Hidden Power Ground. Although they lack resistances to Latios's Dragon-type STABs, Tyranitar and Cresselia make excellent checks for their ability to tank Latios's attacks fairly well and destroy him with Crunch or cripple him with Thunder Wave or Icy Wind, respectively. With speed control in mind, Thundurus can just barely survive one of Latios's Draco Meteors and cripple him with Prankster Thunder Wave.</p>
<p>Latios's many common weaknesses make him rather easy to revenge kill. Although none of these Pokemon can directly switch into Latios, Darkrai, Weavile, Kingdra (in the rain), and Tornadus can all outspeed and kill him fairly easily. Some Choice Scarf users worth mentioning that can revenge kill Latios include Abomasnow, Cloyster, the Kyurem formes, Genesect, and Hydreigon. Cloyster in particular can even revenge kill him behind a Substitute through the use of Icicle Spear. Lastly, Latios is quite vulnerable to priority attacks; the most notable priority users that can take him out are Mamoswine, Scizor, and Bisharp. Something to keep in mind is that Latios is incredibly dependent on his Speed to do his job, so as long as you can make use of any form of Speed control—in the form of Icy Wind, Thunder Wave, Trick Room, and the like—you should do well against him.</p>
<p>It doesn't seem to matter what metagame Latios ventures into; he's always destined for success, and here in Doubles, Latios's cataclysmic Dragon-type moves and trailblazing Speed make him an offensive threat that every team must prepare for. Latios is tied with Kyurem for the most powerful Draco Meteor in Doubles, but unlike Kyurem, Latios has the necessary Speed to utilize this trait to the fullest. In addition to all of the splendors that come with Latios's offensive capabilities, he has some very handy resistances to Water-, Fighting-, and Electric-type moves and an immunity to Ground-type attacks. Along with his excellent STABs, Latios is able to use these to demolish many prominent support Pokemon such as Hitmontop and Amoonguss, and check many offensive threats including Rotom-W and Breloom. Unfortunately for Latios, his coverage, while good, is simply not enough to help him break through the likes of Jirachi and Tyranitar. Latios is also inflicted with some nasty weaknesses to Dark-, Ice-, and Dragon-type moves, which makes him rather easy to pick off. Nonetheless, if you need an offensive Pokemon with great resistances that is capable of tearing open the opposing team, then Latios is sure to satisfy those needs.</p>
[SET]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Dragon Pulse / Tailwind / Substitute
move 4: Protect
item: Dragon Gem / Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Latios's Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor is so ferociously powerful that many Pokemon are forced to invest in Special Defense EVs just to survive it, this gives you a good indicator of just how dominant Latios is. Dragon Pulse is a weaker, more consistent version of Draco Meteor that allows Latios to better sweep late-game, but it lacks the much-needed raw power that Draco Meteor possesses. Psyshock destroys Fighting-types such as Conkeldurr and Breloom without incurring Draco Meteor's horrid Special Attack drops. Tailwind works rather well by combating speed control attempts from Icy Wind users. Tailwind also allows Latios to outspeed all Swift Swim, Chlorophyll, and Choice Scarf users, making him impossible to revenge kill outside of priority. This is where Substitute comes in, as it cushions the impact and/or avoids priority attacks from the likes of Mamoswine and Bisharp, prevents faster Pokemon such as Darkrai from reliably revenge killing Latios, and gives him a way to maneuver around speed control moves such as Thunder Wave and Icy Wind. However, keep in mind that if Latios opts for a Life Orb, he will be worn down rather quickly with Substitute. Like Substitute, Protect allows Latios to scout for spread moves such as Blizzard, shield himself from the spread moves of his own teammates, and avoid pesky Fake Outs; Protect also doesn't wear Latios down like Substitute does.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Dragon Gem boosts Latios's Dragon-type moves to magnificent levels, giving it power akin to Choice Specs and without being locked into a single move for one attack. With a Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor, Latios is able to get the OHKO on bulky Pokemon such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T with maximum HP investment. Life Orb doesn't boost Latios's Dragon-type moves to the same extent; however, it provides a meaty boost to Psyshock, enough so that Latios can OHKO Amoonguss and Hitmontop. With power in mind, Latios can use a Modest nature to further bolster his Special Attack, but he misses out on one of his key advantages: Speed. Modest Dragon Gem Latios works rather well with Tailwind and has a chance to OHKO all the bulky Pokemon EV trained to survive a Timid Draco Meteor, such as bulky support Thundurus, so it's a decent option to consider.</p>
<p>Latios has a nice selection of effective coverage moves that includes Surf, Thunder, Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Ground, and Psychic. Surf and Thunder in particular work rather well with Politoed's rain support. Latios would generally use Surf against Tyranitar once Politoed removes the sand. With Politoed's Helping Hand support, Latios equipped with Life Orb is capable of OHKOing Tyranitar and Heatran, two of his main counters. Thunder allows Latios to break through bulky Water-types with greater ease. For example, Latios has the capability to OHKO Jellicent and Suicune with a Life Orb and Helping Hand-boosted Thunder. Hidden Power Fire is an option that works if Latios wants to lure and critically maim or destroy Steel-types in a non-rain team. With Hidden Power Fire, Latios can eradicate Metagross, Jirachi, Scizor, and Escavalier. When Latios opts for Hidden Power Fire, both Sunny Day Cresselia and Ninetales make acceptable partners to help power up the move. Hidden Power Ground provides Latios with similar coverage to Hidden Power Fire, but unlike the attack mentioned earlier, it doesn't lower Latios's Speed IVs, which ensures that he Speed ties at worst with opposing Latios. Psychic can be used over Psyshock to hit physically defensive Pokemon for greater damage, but Psyshock is superior because of its ability to hit Hitmontop and Amoonguss harder.</p>
<p>Latios's best support partners are Jirachi, Hitmontop, and Scrafty. Jirachi can redirect powerful Dragon-type moves away from Latios with Follow Me and both provide speed control support via Icy Wind and boost Latios's already monstrous Draco Meteor with Helping Hand. Just like Jirachi, Hitmontop can provide Helping Hand support, but Hitmontop's STAB Fighting-type moves benefit Latios as well because they can severely dent many of Latios's check and counters such as Bisharp, Heatran, and Tyranitar. Hitmontop can also support Latios with Fake Out, Intimidate, and Wide Guard. Fake Out renders one of the two opposing Pokemon useless for a single turn, giving Latios free reign to unleash his powerful attacks on the less threatening target. Wide Guard shields Latios from dangerous spread moves such as Blizzard and Icy Wind, and Intimidate helps Latios better tank physical attacks. Scrafty lacks Wide Guard, but it can provide all the other support Hitmontop can; Scrafty is also capable of crippling Cresselia with its STAB Crunch, which aids Latios immensely.</p>
<p>Latios's Levitate ability and vulnerability to Steel-types makes him the perfect partner for Ground-type attackers. Excadrill, Landorus-T, and Garchomp are all fine partners that can remove Latios's checks and counters such as Jirachi, Tyranitar, Heatran, Bisharp, and Metagross, and they all come with individual advantages. Excadrill possess blistering Speed in the sand, allowing it to destroy any annoying Steel-types immediately. Excadrill also deals fairly well with Cresselia and most priority users. Landorus-T has the highest Attack stat of the three and provides some handy Intimidate support. Garchomp is the middle child between the previous two, possessing great Speed and Attack stats. Lastly, Infernape makes an excellent partner by providing Latios a free turn to attack with its Fake Out, and decimating Latios's checks such as Tyranitar, Scizor, Heatran, and Weavile with its excellent STABs.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Latios has a fairly good movepool full of interesting niche options. Helping Hand and dual screens can both be used to support Latios's teammates, but Latias is generally a better fit for those two roles. Heal Pulse is another support move; it allows Latios to restore the health of a teammates, but he is better filling more of an offensive role. Grass Knot can be used to 2HKO Tyranitar on the switch after a Life Orb boost or put Tyranitar into Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor KO range, but it is rather situational. Haban Berry can help Latios survive an otherwise fatal attack such as Kingdra's Dragon Pulse and OHKO back. Yache Berry can also be useful because it allows Latios to survive Mamoswine's Ice Shard. Psych Up is an interesting gimmick that can catch the likes of Quiver Dance Volcarona off guard and can be used to gain a partner's stat boosts, though keep in mind that accomplishing the former task requires heavy support from Rage Powder or Follow Me users, particularly Togekiss in this case. Choice sets with Trick can also be effective, but Latios is forced out more than is desirable when using them. Latios can attempt to utilize a speed control move in the form of Thunder Wave; however, Latios's time is better spent attacking. Finally, Latios can use a rather unconventional yet effective offensive Calm Mind set with Follow Me support, which helps smash through the opposing team with considerable ease.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Latios's main objective is to use his powerful STABs to dismantle the opposing team and allow his other teammates to clean up after him; there is one Pokemon that completely shuts down this strategy: Jirachi. Jirachi's solid bulk, resistance to both of Latios's STABs, and access to Follow Me let it take his attacks and prevent him from touching its teammates. From there, Jirachi can strip Latios of his Speed via Icy Wind or hit him with repeated Iron Heads. Just like Jirachi, Steel-types in general tend to be good at walling Latios's conventional sets. Provided that Latios lacks Hidden Power Fire, Metagross and Escavalier can take a hit and OHKO back. Heatran is another Steel-type that can defeat Latios, though it must watch out for the rare Surf and Hidden Power Ground. Although they lack resistances to Latios's Dragon-type STABs, Tyranitar and Cresselia make excellent checks for their ability to tank Latios's attacks fairly well and destroy him with Crunch or cripple him with Thunder Wave or Icy Wind, respectively. With speed control in mind, Thundurus can just barely survive one of Latios's Draco Meteors and cripple him with Prankster Thunder Wave.</p>
<p>Latios's many common weaknesses make him rather easy to revenge kill. Although none of these Pokemon can directly switch into Latios, Darkrai, Weavile, Kingdra (in the rain), and Tornadus can all outspeed and kill him fairly easily. Some Choice Scarf users worth mentioning that can revenge kill Latios include Abomasnow, Cloyster, the Kyurem formes, Genesect, and Hydreigon. Cloyster in particular can even revenge kill him behind a Substitute through the use of Icicle Spear. Lastly, Latios is quite vulnerable to priority attacks; the most notable priority users that can take him out are Mamoswine, Scizor, and Bisharp. Something to keep in mind is that Latios is incredibly dependent on his Speed to do his job, so as long as you can make use of any form of Speed control—in the form of Icy Wind, Thunder Wave, Trick Room, and the like—you should do well against him.</p>
[Overview]
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Dragon Pulse / Tailwind / Substitute
move 4: Protect
item: Dragon Gem / Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
[Other Options]
- tied with kyurem for the most powerful draco meteor in doubles
- excellent speed stat and good coverage moves
- good resistances allow it to be a good answer to water-, electric-, and fighting-type pokemon
- has many common weaknesses to Ice-, Dragon, and Dark-type attacks though and easy to revenge kill as a result
name: Special Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor / Dragon Pulse
move 2: Psyshock
move 3: Dragon Pulse / Tailwind / Substitute
move 4: Protect
item: Dragon Gem / Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
- Draco Meteor hits like a nuke and can OHKO half the tier
- Dragon Pulse is not as strong but is more reliable
- Psyshock destroys Hitmontop and Amoongus
- Tailwind allows Laitios' team to sweep late game
- Protect allows it to outstall trick room turns and avoid certain spread moves
- Substitute dodges sucker punch and other priority moves
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Modest Nature
- Dragon Gem makes Latios' Draco Meteor deal ridiculous amounts of damage, while Life Orb is less powerful, it can give all its moves a good boost, especially psyshock as the boost provided allows it to severely damage hitmontop and amoongus
- Works well with Jirachi as it can keep Ice- and Dragon-type moves away from it
- Hitmontop can give it a free turn to attack with Fake Out and keep away spread moves such as Icy wind and Blizzard with wide guard and use its close combat to destroy some of latio's checks such as bisharp, tyranitar, and heatran
- Excadrill, Garchomp, and Landorus also makes good partners because they can deal with many of Latios' counters like tyranitar and heatran, and latios's levitate ability gives it a handy immunity to their stabs, allowing them to spam their ground-type moves freely
- Scrafty can give support similar to Hitmontop and it can also deal with Cresselia fairly well
- Infernape and Heatran can also take on Latios' checks such as bisharp, jirachi, and bisharp while Latios can destroy dragon-types that trouble them
- Hidden Power Fire roasts Ferrothorn and other steel-types
- Can work with Ninetales and Sunny Day Cresselia too, as they can power up Latios' Hidden Power Fire and prevent swift swim users from revenge killing him
- Politoed support allows it to use Thunder and powers up its Surf
- Psychic to hit physically oriented pokemon harder
- Surf can work to beat heatran and ttar
- hidden power ground beats steel-types while having the ability to speed tie with other latios
[Other Options]
- Heal Pulse
- Helping Hand
- Thunder Wave
- Grass Knot to screw with Tyranitar
- Yache and Haban Berry
- Psych Up
- Dual Screens
- Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
- Calm Mind can work with fake out / follow me support
- Jirachi
- Metagross / Escavalier if lacking Hidden Power Fire
- Tyranitar
- Heatran if lacking Surf
- Cresselia can ruin latios with speed control in the form of icy wind / twave
- Darkrai, Kingdra, Tornadus, Genesect, Mamoswine, Scizor, Bisharp, and Weavile can all revenge kill it
- choice scarf users such as abomasnow, cloyster, the kyurem formes, and hydreigon
- Thundurus-I can live a Draco Meteor and cripple Latios with T-wave
- Speed control in general in the form of Trick Room, Icy Wind, Tailwind, T-wave, ect
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