The staller set. You can come in on about any Water or Ground, and mess around with whatever comes in. Toxic and Leech Seed can really pile on damage, and STAB Surf never hurts. Should you ever play 200, Protect will not only benefit you in getting Leech Seed recovery and Toxic damage, but also save you from Slaking. Surf helps against most enemies, but Seismic Toss is your only hope against a Substitute Calm Mind Raikou.
This set can sometimes surprise your opponent if they expect the staller. Rain Dance makes you faster than everything, then Ice Beam Salamence out of the way if it shows up. Leech Seed is meant for the obvious Special wall (Snorlax or Blissey), but Hidden Power Grass can OHKO Swampert and beat up unsuspecting, low-health Waters. This last slot is where you put stuff from the Other Options. Lum Berry is an option as an item because you don't want your sweeper to get paralyzed. Can destroy teams that rely on resistances instead of walls. Other OptionsThunderPunch catches Gyarados off-guard, but it will not OHKO. Giga Drain is an option over Hidden Power Grass, if you prefer the health regain over PP and power. Counter is not a bad idea; Ludicolo's average physical stability should allow it to kill a heavy attacker. Fire Punch can hit both Steels and Grass-types, which are immune to Toxic and Leech Seed, respectively. EVsThe staller needs a Calm nature, maximum HP and loads of Special Defense EVs, or it will just take too much damage from Special attackers it doesn't resist (Sceptile and Raikou are good examples). The rest should go in Special Attack. For the Rain Dancer, at least 202 Speed (104 EVs) is needed to beat Jolteon and Aerodactyl after the Swift Swim bonus, as well as Adamant Heracross with a Salac Berry activated. Maximum Special Attack because the point of a sweeper is to kill as much as possible before they kill you. The rest can go in HP. If you have Counter in your set, have circa 200 Defense and max HP. OpinionLudicolo is a nice alternative special sponge if you're sick to death of Blissey and Snorlax, and a great wall for fellow Waters (especially Swampert). Leech Seed is marvelous and the surprising Rain Dance set hurts a lot if you're unprepared. However, it has a load of trouble taking on Pokémon with Substitute or status moves. CountersVenusaur, Tentacruel, Muk and Gyarados are the best counters. Venusaur is immune to both Leech Seed and Toxic and won't even get 2HKOed by an Ice Beam coming from the sweeper Ludicolo. Meanwhile, it can defeat Ludicolo with just two STAB Sludge Bombs. Tentacruel can use its Liquid Ooze ability to make Ludicolo's Leech Seed backfire on itself and packs STAB Sludge Bombs as well. Muk has high Special Defense and, once again, has STAB Sludge Bomb. Gyarados makes short work of the staller version with Taunt and Hidden Power Flying, while the sweeper version lacks any effective move against the serpent. However, if Ludicolo has ThunderPunch, Gyarados must predict well in order to come in safely. To a lesser extent: Victreebel and Salamence (watch out for Ice Beam), Weezing (doesn't like STAB Surf), Blissey and Snorlax (hate Leech Seed), and also anything with Toxic or Thunder Wave make Ludicolo sad. |
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