OU Spotlight: Keldeo

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Introduction

Let the world know the power of Keldeo, as it is a raging storm that has the capability to blow away walls and foundations. Rising high above its three musketeer tutors, the great maelstrom leaves nothing in its wake, leaving OU to tremble below its hooves. However, Keldeo was not always the threat we know of today. Back at the time of its release, it was barely able to hold its OU status, sitting as the 40th most-used Pokémon. Once people realized its massive potential, it ended up being suspected not once, but twice, due to its overwhelming power! When the first suspect test took place, the masses were more concerned about the presence of Tornadus-T than Keldeo, and during the second suspect, people were more than ready to deal with it. Nevertheless, Keldeo still remained a top-tier threat throughout all of BW.

When XY rolled around, rain was nerfed to only last eight turns at most even with a Damp Rock. This time, Keldeo became a rising hurricane on its own, not needing the support from its Politoed friends. With the ability to fit on a variety of teams and the power to take out a large majority of the metagame, it once again remained at the top of the world. In ORAS, not much has changed for the mythical horse in terms of newly-released Pokémon. The main reason Keldeo has once again shot up to stardom is the prevalence of Dark-type Pokemon, with the likes of Tyranitar, Bisharp, and Weavile being prominent threats. Nowadays, Keldeo often sways between A+ and S rank on the OU viability rankings, and itgoing below those rankings is unheard of. Currently, it stands solidly at S rank and has no plans of leaving its throne.

So, if you please, let's dive right in to the torrents of Keldeo's rage and see just a bit more on why it is a valuable asset to any OU team.

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What makes Keldeo so good?

One of Keldeo's main claims to fame lies in its phenomenal dual STAB coverage, with few things in the OU metagame to resist it. With its signature move, Secret Sword, it is able to target physical and special walls alike, leaving the likes of Chansey worthless against it. This means it does not have to rely on the shaky accuracy of Focus Blast, making it a much more reliable attacker. With high-powered STAB moves, good Special Attack, and reliable ways of dealing with most of its checks, this makes Keldeo exceed at all times in the game.

Currently, Dark-type Pokémon, especially the likes of Tyranitar, Weavile, and Bisharp, are extremely prevalent in the OU metagame, and you will generally see them in quite a few battles. Keldeo is one of the best offensive checks to them all ans also serves as a fantastic Knock Off absorber, which makes it very easy to fit on teams. Its Speed stat, although it misses out on base 110 Speed Pokémon, allows it to handily outpace the likes of Garchomp, Manaphy, unboosed Mega Charizard X, and Jirachi. This makes it a very valuable revenge killer for all of these Pokémon.

Keldeo's movepool, although somewhat shallow, gives it just enough options to take on everything it needs to on its own. Generally, all Keldeo absolutely needs is Scald and Secret Sword, freeing up its other moveslots for personal preference. Hydro Pump, Calm Mind, Icy Wind, and Hidden Power Bug or Electric are all options that target many of Keldeo's switch-ins. Keldeo also serves as a check to most priority users, as it is only weak to Talonflame's Brave Bird and Mega Pinsir's Quick Attack.

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Playing with Keldeo

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Equipping Keldeo with Choice Specs gives it immediate firepower, wiping away Pokémon that don't resist its moves. Choice Specs gives Keldeo much more attacking prowess over its Choice Scarf and Substitute + Calm Mind sets, and it's very noticeable from how it is able to plow through defensive checks. Against offensive teams, if Keldeo comes in on something that has difficulty harming it, there are very few things that are able to switch in safely. Latias and Latios are two of the most solid offensive Keldeo checks; however, even they are 2HKOed by Icy Wind after Stealth Rock damage. On top of these positives, Scald is notorious for being able to wear down switch-ins, such as Mega Venusaur and Slowbro, with burn damage, allowing Keldeo to overwhelm them the next time they attempt to switch in.

On the other hand, Choice Scarf Keldeo serves as a revenge killer and a late-game cleaner rather than an all-out attacker. It can reliably revenge kill the likes of Landorus-T, Weavile, Mega Lopunny, +1 Mega Charizard X, Mega Diancie, and +1 Mega Gyarados, with the latter being a generally difficult Pokémo to revenge kill. Unfortunately, Choice Scarf Keldeo lacks any serious immediate power, meaning it might have difficulties breaking past bulkier Pokemon, especially Clefable, Rotom-W, Gyarados (if lacking Hidden Power Electric), and Mega Venusaur.

Secret Sword is Keldeo's most reliable Fighting-type STAB attack, being able to target the opposing Pokémon's physical bulk, similarly to Psyshock. This allows Keldeo to do massive damage to the likes of Chansey and Assault Vest Raikou if they attempt to switch in. Scald is Keldeo's go-to Water-type attack, dealing decent damage to opposing Pokémon while having a chance to inflict a burn. This makes the likes of Azumarill, Gyarados, Dragonite, and Mega Altaria wary of switching in, as a chance to cripple them for the remainder of the game looms over their heads. Hydro Pump is a less accurate attack than Scald, but it hits with tremendous power. This is helpful in situations when you need Keldeo to break past the likes of Clefable, Slowbro, Tornadus-T, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Gardevoir. Icy Wind tears apart Tornadus-T, Mega Altaria, Latias, and Latios, 2HKOing them with any prior damage. Thanks to the guaranteed Speed drop, Keldeo is able to outspeed all of them after they switch in on it. However, it's a very risky move to be locked into, as it's fairly weak against bulkier walls and targets that resist it. Hidden Power Electric heavily pressures the likes of Starmie, Slowbro, and defensive Gyarados, which can generally switch into Keldeo's other attacks.

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Keldeo can utilize a Rest + Sleep Talk set to have access to some form of recovery, which Keldeo normally lacks. This is especially helpful when it needs to outlast Pokémon that it is supposed to check, which includes the likes of Bisharp, Mega Sableye, Weavile, Tyranitar, and Mega Gyarados, as all of these Pokémon can have an easy time wearing down Keldeo if it has to switch in on them repeatedly. Rocky Helmet chips away at Pokémon that rely on contact moves, making Keldeo a fantastic pivot into U-turn or Knock Off users; however, Life Orb can be used to give Keldeo much more immediate power, even with little to no investment.

Scald is Rest + Sleep Talk Keldeo's most reliable Water-type STAB attack, dealing decent damage to most switch-ins while having a solid chance to permanently cripple the target with a burn. Secret Sword threatens the likes of Ferrothorn, Chansey, Raikou, and Mega Gyarados, targeting the foe's physical bulk. Rest is Keldeo's most reliable form of recovery, and it allows it to outlive most of the Pokémon it is supposed to check, especially Weavile and Bisharp. Sleep Talk allows Keldeo to attack during its sleeping turns, preventing it from being setup fodder for the likes of Talonflame and Mega Charizard X.

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Substitute + Calm Mind Keldeo serves as a powerful setup sweeper, and once its checks have been weakened or KOed, it has no issues devouring slower teams. Due to its ability to boost both Special Attack and Special Defense, Keldeo becomes both a hard hitter and a fairly bulky Pokémon after only a few boosts. Calm Mind Keldeo is no slouch against offensive teams, either. It freely sets up on the likes of Bisharp, Heatran, Tyranitar, and Weavile, and once it has set up Calm Mind, a +1 Scald or Secret Sword does a hefty chunk to most offensive Pokémon, even if it is open for revenge killing. An option to fare better against offensive teams is to run Salac Berry over Leftovers. This gives Keldeo a Speed boost once its health is low enough, giving the likes of Mega Manectric, Tornadus, and Mega Lopunny a much more difficult time when attempting to revenge kill it.

Substitute allows Keldeo to avoid status conditions from the likes of Mega Sableye, Ferrothorn, Gliscor, and Alomomola in exchange for a portion of its health. It also takes advantage of Pokémon that lack the offensive presence to break Keldeo's Substitute, such as Starmie and Slowbro lacking Psyshock, Alomomola, Suicune, and Skarmory lacking Brave Bird. Calm Mind is Keldeo's best way of setting up, boosting its Special Attack and Special Defense by one stage and giving it the opportunity to break past defensive checks. Scald is usually the best move to use early-game, as burning physical attackers and slowly chipping away at the foe's health is generally better than setting up on turn one. When boosted, Scald is also able to break though Mega Sableye, Mega Scizor, Gliscor, Skamory, Landorus-T, and Hippowdon. Secret Sword targets the likes of Chansey, Alomomola, and Suicune.

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Playing against Keldeo

Handling Keldeo can be a difficult task for certain teams. Scald is notorious for wearing down checks with the extra burn damage, making Keldeo harder and harder to check later in the game, once everything is weakened. While certain checks are very common for certain playstyles, this does not make Keldeo any less threatening. For example, two of Keldeo's most reliable offensive checks lie in Latios and Latias, which only fear Choice Specs Icy Wind. By pairing up Keldeo with a Pursuit user, such as Tyranitar, Bisharp, or Scizor, both can be eliminated, allowing Keldeo to go wild.

However, bulky Water-type Pokémon, such as Slowbro, Azumarill, Gastrodon, Starmie, Manaphy, and non-Mega Gyarados, can all take on Keldeo to a certain degree. Slowbro and Starmie do massive damage with Psyshock and the former can cripple it with Thunder Wave, and Manaphy is able to set up a Tail Glow against a Choice-locked Keldeo. However, Azumarill and Gyarados are shaky checks, as they both despise Scald burns. Grass-types, especially Amoonguss, which can stop Substitute + Calm Mind sets thanks to Clear Smog, Mega Venusaur, Tangrowth, and Celebi, excel at checking Keldeo. Serperior is a decent one-time check as well; however, it does not like switching directly into Keldeo. Most Fairy-types also do an alright job of handling it. Mega Gardevoir is able to OHKO Keldeo with Pixilate Hyper Voice even if it is behind a Substitute, Mega Altaria is able to freely set up Dragon Dances on it unless Scald burns it, and Clefable can set up Calm Mind on Keldeo unless it is using Choice Specs.

One of the best ways of beating Keldeo is through pure revenge killing. As Keldeo's Speed misses out on quite a lot of the metagame, the likes of Raikou, Mega Manectric, Tornadus, Talonflame, Thundurus, and Alakazam can all outspeed non-Choice Scarf variants and OHKO them.

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Fitting Keldeo on a team

Due to the ability to check a large portion of the metagame and a typing that doesn't conflict with most other offensive Pokémon, Keldeo fits very easily on a variety of teams. If your team lacks a solid Dark-type check, Keldeo almost always fits the bill. With the ability to defeat Mega Sableye, Mega Scizor, Tyranitar, Weavile, Mega Gyarados, and Bisharp single handedly, Keldeo is able to cover many teammates' weaknesses.

One of the first things you should consider while building with Keldeo is the addition of a Pursuit user. The likes of Scizor and Tyranitar are able to trap and KO two of Keldeo's most prominent checks, Latias and Latios. Many offensive teams rely on these two as their sole check to Keldeo, and eliminating them gives Keldeo a much higher chance of sweeping. Ironically, Latios and Latias break down the likes of Mega Venusaur, Slowbro, and Amoonguss and, in return, appreciate Keldeo's ability to check Weavile, Bisharp, and Tyranitar. Heatran gives a switch-in to the likes of Mega Venusaur, Celebi, and Talonflame while being able up Stealth Rock to whittle down the opposing team. Grass-types, such as Tangrowth, Serperior, Mega Venusaur, and Breloom, break down the likes of Azumarill and Slowbro. Breloom in particular is able to form a dual Fighting-type core with Keldeo, and the two of them can wear down each other's checks greatly during the game so that the other can sweep.

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Unleash the beast!

If you believe you're ready, go out there and take Keldeo for a spin! Chances are it will not disappoint you in the tide of battle. It is a top-tier threat for a multitude of reasons, and it will not release its grip on the meta for a long time to come.

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