UU Suspect Coverage: Latias

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At the start of October, UU experienced a huge tier shift; long-time SS OU staples like Excadrill and Mandibuzz finally dropped down, and old UU faces like Swampert and Hydreigon returned to us. Given how we also lost important tier pieces like Buzzwole, and Thundurus had been recently banned, the UU council opted to release one final Pokémon into the tier, Latias, with the promise of revisiting it after two weeks of playtesting it. Following a second council vote, Latias was quickbanned and immediately retested—it was considered contentious enough to be a community decision, but it was generally agreed upon that it should not be legal in tournaments in the meantime. Here's what Latias usually does and some arguments for and against its ban.

Sets

• 
• Latias (F) @ Life Orb
• Ability: Levitate
• EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Timid Nature
• IVs: 0 Atk
• - Draco Meteor
• - Thunderbolt
• - Mystical Fire
• - Recover

Latias's excellent coverage is on full display with this set. Unlike when it was in UU many months ago, Latias doesn't have much need for its Psychic-type STAB anymore; Thunderbolt is generally considered to be a lot more useful to nail a bunch of defensive Pokémon like Celesteela, Primarina, Mandibuzz, and Slowking. Draco Meteor is of course an incredibly powerful STAB move with strong neutral coverage, denting even Pokémon that resist it like Excadrill and Skarmory. Mystical Fire rounds out the coverage by hitting the Steel-types that resist Draco Meteor very hard, slamming Aegislash, Excadrill, and Jirachi, and the last moveslot goes to Recover in order to keep Latias healthy by offsetting Life Orb recoil and entry hazard damage. Latias's raw power and great Speed tier let it act as both a wallbreaker and a way to keep opposing fast Pokémon like Mienshao and Thundurus-T in check, making this set fit on a wide variety of teams.

• 
• Latias (F) @ Choice Scarf
• Ability: Levitate
• EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Timid Nature
• IVs: 0 Atk
• - Draco Meteor
• - Psychic
• - Trick / Mystical Fire
• - Healing Wish / Mystical Fire

Donning a Choice Scarf allows Latias to do two things; make a vogue fashion statement and support its teammates with its blistering Speed tier, which lets it revenge kill Pokémon like Clangorous Soul Kommo-o, Dragon Dance Gyarados, and Dragon Dance Salamence. This set can usually afford to forgo coverage, as its purpose is mostly to revenge kill other Pokémon and act as a general nuisance, but Mystical Fire is a viable option over both Trick and Healing Wish if Latias's team really needs help against Pokémon like Swords Dance Excadrill and Autotomize Celesteela. Trick, however, lets Latias cripple bulky switch-ins like Chansey, defensive Celesteela, and Mandibuzz, while Healing Wish supports teammates on offensive teams by giving them a second lease on life, notably helping wallbreakers like Swords Dance Excadrill and Conkeldurr, which usually trade a significant portion of their HP to wallbreak.

• 
• Latias (F) @ Colbur Berry / Leftovers
• Ability: Levitate
• EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
• Timid Nature
• IVs: 0 Atk
• - Calm Mind
• - Draco Meteor / Thunderbolt
• - Mystical Fire / Ice Beam
• - Roost

Calm Mind raises Latias's threat level significantly, making it near impenetrable for most special attackers and giving it a much-needed power boost. With this set, Latias usually takes advantage of the tried-and-true Dragon + Fire attack combination, hitting everything relevant in UU for neutral damage except for Primarina, Azumarill, and Diancie; however, Primarina struggles to break through Latias without its own Calm Mind boosts, and Diancie is rare in UU. Latias can also opt for the classic BoltBeam combination, nailing the entire tier outside of Mamoswine and Rotom-H for neutral damage and letting it pressure otherwise relatively safe answers like Azumarill and Celesteela, although it does struggle significantly more with bulky Excadrill and Aegislash.

Sample Team

This team revolves around an underrated threat in Heracross, a Pokémon that's supported excellently by Latias; not only does it love Healing Wish support, but Latias is also capable of revenge killing big nuisances like Mienshao and Entei. The team's own checks to Latias are specially defensive Mandibuzz, Aegislash, and Tapu Bulu; they're all vulnerable to certain coverage options but can generally hold it off for long enough. In addition, the offensive pressure the team puts out makes it difficult for Latias to find entry points to begin with. Latias's role on this team is important as a catch-all check to fast offensive Pokémon, particularly those that set up like Kommo-o and Gyarados.

Pro-ban Reasoning

Latias's truly consistent switch-ins are essentially limited to Slowking, Chansey, specially defensive Mandibuzz, Umbreon, and niche Fairy-types like Sylveon and Diancie, and these aren't foolproof because some of them can lose to rare Calm Mind sets. This makes it very restrictive when building teams; not only is Latias difficult to answer defensively, but it is also not easy to revenge kill, as it is fast and bulky and tends to stick around for a long time thanks to Recover. Many players have expressed that this is too much to account for; even if they don't feel that Latias is broken on its own, it's too difficult to account for it while also dealing with Pokémon like Hydreigon and Kommo-o because of its Speed tier putting it above offensive checks to the other two Dragon-types like Salamence and Thundurus-T.

Anti-ban Reasoning

Latias is tough to counter, but it has plenty of soft checks; Excadrill, Aegislash, Assault Vest Tangrowth, all of the aforementioned counters, and other Pokémon like Primarina, Azumarill, Umbreon, Celesteela, Assault Vest Galarian Slowbro, and Krookodile can cause it huge issues. In addition, Choice Scarf users like Hydreigon, Mienshao, and Jirachi handle it thanks to their resistances to some of its attacks and/or ability to threaten it with U-turn or their STAB moves. While Latias is bulky and capable of switching into defensive staples like Skarmory, Rotom-H, and Rotom-W assuming they're not carrying status moves or, in the case of Rotom-W and Rotom-H, are running Will-O-Wisp instead of Thunder Wave, it doesn't get too many opportunities to switch into offensive Pokémon, as most carry coverage for it regardless of its presence; for example, Mienshao and Conkeldurr carry Knock Off, Keldeo carries Icy Wind, and Kommo-o often runs Scale Shot or Clanging Scales. Latias also tends to spend a lot of turns healing with Recover and therefore not attacking, making it somewhat lacking as a wallbreaker.

Final Thoughts

Latias remained banned by a simple majority, with 18 out of 35 qualified voters voting to keep it in UUBL. Latias was only here for a short time, so it's unlikely the plane's departure will have a huge impact on UU; you can expect certain Pokémon like Thundurus-T and Skarmory to improve a fair bit, though, and other Dragon-types like Kommo-o and Hydreigon are able to more easily slot into teams without facing competition from Latias.

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