Ho-Oh will always be cooler
(Sweep permitted me to write this even though it wasn't stated anywhere in the thread)
Overview
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- Multiscale is phenomenal, letting it take less than half damage from even powerful attacks like Life Orb Yveltal's Dark Pulse or +1 Adamant Mega Salamence's Double-Edge at full HP.
- Even without Multiscale, it still has one of the highest Defense and Special Defense stats in Ubers
- High enough Speed to outpace the crowded ~base 90 Speed tier with just a little investment
- Movepool large enough to be tweaked to a team's needs while still keeping the standard moves.
- Only viable on stall or some balanced teams, massive momentum killer with no way to pressure hazard setters and, while it walls some things, is just huge bait for others
- Absolutely needs hazard control to function to any degree of consistency
- Taunt bait
- Everyone's favorite way of handling it is status, so a cleric Pokemon or at least a status absorber is necessary as a teammate and that can get messy as Lugia overlaps with most every cleric.
- Limited to really only one set, while it can theoretically do things besides stall and phase threats it does these things very poorly.
name: i am a heron
move 1: Roost
move 2: Whirlwind / Dragon Tail
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Reflect / Aeroblast / Thunder Wave / Substitute
ability: Multiscale
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 120 Def / 136 Spe
nature: Bold
Moves
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- Roost is necessary on every set and is the move you'll be using the most in most games, as the whole point of Lugia is to Toxic Stall and phase and it's inevitably going to get hit a lot while trying to do this
- A phasing move is also really necessary, it prevents physical sweepers and Calm Mind Arceus from simply coming in on you and setting up to win. Dragon Tail can be used over Whirlwind to make you less useless in the face of Taunt users, but it prevents you from phasing out Xerneas and misses occasionally.
- Toxic lets you wear down threats, necessary in last-Pokemon scenarios where Lugia can't phase anymore and also is Lugia's main form of damage output
- Last slot is a huge, ugly tossup. Reflect is the preferred move because of its insane capabilities for walling threats even without the use of Multiscale, but Aeroblast mitigates the "taunt bait" factor of Lugia in the face of Pokemon like Gengar and Mega Mewtwo X. Thunder Wave lures out your biggest enemy in Gengar, but doesn't do much outside of this. Substitute dodges status and can be used to reliably stall out low PP moves like Stone Edge or Sacred Fire at very little cost to the Lugia user.
Set Details
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- 252 HP is a Leftovers number without even trying, and switching into Stealth Rock one more time with 248 HP doesn't matter because of this.
- 136 Speed outpaces neutral-natured 252 Speed Rayquaza.
- The remaining EVs are simply dropped in Defense with a positive nature.
- EVs slotted in HP as opposed to simply maxing out Defense because Lugia is better at checking special threats this way, for instance 4 SpA Arceus-Ghost +0 Judgment can outdamage Lugia's Leftovers recovery with 120 HP as opposed to 252. Having them in Defense does almost nothing for it, in fact I think if we really want to mess with the spread more EVs could be put in Special Defense if we want.
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- Try to keep Multiscale intact as much as possible, it really helps Lugia when it comes to walling threats, particularly special attackers.
- Don't let it get Toxiced or Burned, as this eats away at Multiscale and makes it far easier to wear out simply by spamming attacks versus it.
- I know the set has attacks on it to make it slightly less useless in the face of Taunt users, but letting it get Taunted is a poor idea anyway. You don't want to be caught spamming Aeroblast versus Groudon or Extreme Killer as it sets up on you, or spamming Dragon Tail versus Geomancy Xerneas.
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- Defog users are great alongside Lugia. As mentioned before, Lugia really likes having Multiscale intact to check things, and Defog can ensure this. Things like Latias, Skarmory, and Defog Arceus are all good teammates because of this.
- Rapid Spin users are good for the same reason Defog is good alongside it. Excadrill checks things like Latias and sponges Toxics, Tentacruel or even some potential sort of defensive Cloyster set provides hazards as well as spinning which is phenomenal.
- Mega Diancie is a phenomenal partner as it walls some of the biggest Lugia checks in Darkrai and Yveltal while clericing for it and not overlapping too badly; either can beat Mega Gengar or at least go one-for-one versus it if it switches in on an attack. Mega Sableye is also alright because it reflects status and annoys some hyper offense pre-Mega Evolution, but it doesn't beat many Lugia checks and checks similar things.
- Ho-Oh is a good partner since it complements Lugia's physically defensive presence with specially defensive presence and offensive capabilities. It also roasts Lugia checks like Dialga and Ferrothorn.
- Pursuit users handle Mega Gengar for Lugia. Lugia is capable of beating the almost nonexistent Gothitelle on its own, or at the very least phasing it out so something can pick it off later.
- If you can't fit a cleric alongside Lugia, a status absorber like Refresh + Calm Mind Arceus or an immunity to whatever status you predict the opponent to use will help immensely.
- Hazard support is a blessing for it, as it ensures that even Pokemon it can't status will eventually get worn down. Most anything with Stealth Rock makes a good teammate, but Spikes users like Ferrothorn help it just a little more.
- Blissey is a cleric that doesn't overlap too poorly with Lugia bar a Gengar/Taunt weakness which it can escape, but it's a mediocre Pokemon in general.
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- Ice Beam in the fourth slot lets you punish Rayquaza, Salamence, and Gliscor, I guess, but it lacks the general utility of the other moves.
- Earthquake nails both Mega Diancie and Mega Gengar at the expense of losing Reflect and hitting the numerous airborne targets Aeroblast does. Obviously change the nature from Bold to Impish if you want it.
- A Calm Mind set can be used to break very Lugia-weak teams but it's very unreliable and gimmicky and as such will almost never really pull of a sweep.
- A ResTalk set with Rest / Sleep Talk / Whirlwind / Toxic or Dragon Tail in the last slot escapes status and phases faster than most everything, but it lacks reliable recovery and either forgoes phasing reliably or statusing things in its sleep, both of which Lugia wants.
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- TOXIC
- STEALTH ROCK
- steel or poison types that you can't toxic; Dialga/Ferrothorn/Jirachi/Tentacruel and co wall you to no end.
- Mega Gengar traps Lugia and can only be beat by even Lugia with Multiscale intact by winning 50/50s between Aeroblast or a phasing move, unless you have Dragon Tail.
- strong attackers with a type advantage; think Calm Mind Arceus-Rock/Dark/Ghost with a boost or two under their respective belts or Life Orb Yveltal/Darkrai.
- STEALTH ROCK
- Taunt users make it useless. Mewtwo or even something like Deoxys-S can Taunt Lugia and watch it cry.
- Zekrom and KyuB (I guess?) bypass Multiscale and hit hard enough to beat you.
- STEALTH ROCK
- STEALTH ROCK
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