[OVERVIEW]
Allowed to stay in the tier by popular demand, Latios soars into the battlefield as a fighter jet with powerful special attacks and looming sweeping potential. Its speed tier—base 110, hitting 350 speed—zooms quicker than all the competition. Using its Specs and Calm Mind sets—its most consistent and recognizable—offense and stall are equally threatened. Both archetypes are demanded by Latios to try to guess its set and play around it accordingly, but trying to dance around a beast that could be packing two types of claws proves to be an incredibly treacherous task. Nor is it easy to remove—80/80/110 bulk is more than most powerhouses can ask for, and its typing allows it take attacks typed to its seven resistances several times over the course of a game. In previous generations, Dark- and Steel-types employed Pursuit to keep it under control, just as they did for ghosts like the ever-lovable Gengar—Metagross, Scizor, Tyranitar, Weavile, all across the landscape of time. Then, starting in Generation 8, this resource was removed, and Latios is free to roam the metagame without fear of punishment. At the same time, existing in BDSP strips it of many of its best assets—Trick, Psyshock, Aura Sphere, Mystical Fire. It doesn't need any of these things to do well enough to become the most dominant Pokemon in the tier. A BDSP with Trick Latios is not a pleasant thought.
Latios is a Pokemon that's easy to pick up, and players reap the rewards just by using it across all their games. But there are still drawbacks to it—the Specs set does discourage locking into the wrong move, and the Calm Mind set can't immediately dent holes like the Specs set can. In fact, playing out enough BDSP games, one finds that there's plenty of extant counterplay, counterplay that keeps it from totally overrunning a well-built team. Steel-types pivot into choice locks, powerful Scarfers revenge kill it, and Blissey does its best to hold back Calm Mind. A skilled player piloting an equally offensive team as those that Latios is found on can take advantage of a timely prediction to bring in a threat that can do huge damage—maybe a Crawdaunt, or perhaps a Latios of their own.
But in the hands of an equally skilled player? Latios will rain destruction.
[SET]
Can we pretend (Specs)
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
[SET COMMENTS]
Make a wish and shower stars onto the field! This is one of Latios's iconic sets, and the one that immediately does the most damage. Just by clicking attacks, you can make big dents into your opponent's team. If they aren't packing something like Jirachi or Blissey, this is one of the most challenging Pokemon in the metagame to switch into. Your opponent needs to predict well to survive, and your task is to predict better than them. Specs Draco Meteor is the strongest attack in BDSP, and the main point of using this set. Only the sturdiest counters won't be forced to recover and give you free momentum. However, it has an immunity, so be careful about using it too often. Azumarill is particularly dangerous to click Draco into. Be aware of your Special Attack drop—while Draco Meteor is incredibly strong even at -2, there are plenty of situations where it can be taken advantage of (imagine a Feraligatr coming in to set up Dragon Dance and sweep your team). Trick's illegality is somehow a blessing. Latios can run Psychic and Dragon Pulse both, making it a total offense killer. In endgames, depending on what Pokemon your opponent has left, you can lock into one of those moves and sweep. Additionally, having a Dragon-type move that isn't so easy to take advantage of has great utility. Surf rounds out the set, hitting Steels neutrally, and Tyranitar and Heatran for great damage. It's a fantastic midground option for a choiced Pokemon and often eases prediction, and it's especially easy to click against those Pokemon.
This set doesn't run away with games as much as it pokes holes. Crater-sized holes. Specs Latios fits nicely on Bulky Offense teams, as its resistances allow it to be a semi-situational switchin to Pokemon like Breloom and Infernape if you predict well; it is not a switchin to these Pokemon in general, over time, but BDSP games are fast and tactics-based, and sometimes one read is all you need. These teams don't have as strong of defensive cores, and Latios is threatening to boot. However, in particular, it fits amazingly well on VoltTurn teams—and switching it in for free is much more reliable, and much better, than shakily switching it in directly on tenuous predictions. To this end, Stealth Rock is a great obstacle to Latios, splintering its bulk and blocking it from using those moves to switch in freely. Still, Specs Latios appreciates rocks on the opponent's side just as much as it loathes them on its own, so decide carefully whether you want to Defog. Rotom-Wash, Scizor, and Gliscor are all examples of mons that do great at getting it in safely each time it wants to choose a different move. And they handle attacks that Latios doesn't want to! Then there's Magnezone, who's in a totally different category: it uses Volt Switch just the same, but it also traps Scizor, one of the biggest roadblocks to Latios. Put on other attackers like Garchomp, and you have a powerful DragMag core that tries to end games in carnage as quickly as possible. In general, Scarfchomp is a great partner, since it has even more endgame sweeping potential than Latios with its blistering Outrage. Breloom works great too, as a breaker that also benefits from Volt Switch, handling the physical end of the spectrum with Technician-boosted Mach Punch. And Azumarill is outstanding because it walls Weavile, one of the only Pokemon capable of acting quicker than the blazing blue dragon.
As an aside, Sleep Talk is a totally serviceable option if you want to surprise Breloom users. Just watch out for Force Palm paralysis, and don't get surprised by Rock Tomb.
[SET]
cm
Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Roost
-talk abt how this set can surprise clef by 2hkoing variants without a lot of spd on the switch; make sure ppl know that this 1v1s blissey without calm mind. talk about how this fits super well on ho teams due to its ability to switch moves
-you need to take advantage of the opp's requirement to switch into specs latios to pop out a calm mind and bring the pain
-blissey PLUS a revenge killer can actually take this set on, because you have the blissey in front of the latios, and you're constantly threatening to just bring in the weavile, leaving them with a chipped, paralyzed, sad little dragon
-soul dew is used over life orb because 10% recoil is not worth it when you have soul dew stabs right there
-in comparison to the specs set, this one fits especially well on teams with lots of fireworks and not a lot of backbone. no need to worry about locking into the wrong move when you cant do that
-biggest flaw is that as a setup sweeper it wants to run away with games rather than poke holes, but the existence of weavile and other pests makes it hard to do so
-choosing whether to put cm or specs on a team often has to do with what type of player are, and espcially whether you're confident in your abilities to predict
-still fits well on dragmag and still partners well with scarfchomp
-toxic spikes is an interesting option to fuck over blissey (thank you cath) (maybe OO for this one)
-taunt trapper tran is super nice bc it lures and removes blissey
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
-scarf (fake)
-support sets (fake)
-(say in the nicest way possible that you should be using latias for these things)
-a mixed set with lo and eq might seem enticing, but this is extremely redundant and inefficient, because heatran will eventually fold to latios over the course of a match anyway
-latios's specs set has some colorful fringe options:
-mention sleep talk and why u shouldnt use it bc latios is not a loomer switchin anyway.
-thunderbolt was seen during the mana meta. now it's inferior to dragon pulse's sweeping ability
-shadow ball trolls jirachi and that's about it
-mention ice beam and the reasons why this move is more useful on a latias scarfer set.
Checks and Counters
===================
- LOL
-scizor
SCIZOR IS THE KEYSTONE SPECIES
show calcs of surf and how you can overwhelm it. there r a lot of complicated interactions between latios and scizor due to how viral [i will thesaurus this word and look for exactly what it is i mean but u know its just something that ends up everywhere in a lot of different forms like gliscy] scizor is in bdsp. probably worthy of like a paragraph of its own bc scizor switching into latios is something that happens A LOT
-heatran
1. just surf it
2. variants without spd (as heatran wants to run physdef for weav!!) eat a few dracos and die
3. u have to run payback
-blissey
run cm or u lose. like, someone that wants to build a bdsp stall should see how necessary it is to pack this counterplay
-clefable
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Psychic vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Clefable: 229-271 (58.1 - 68.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
it's kind of a check in specific situations on specific teams. Semi-Situational Switchin, as they say
-jirachi
LATIOS IS A WHOLE MEAL FOR RACHI
seriously if u have wishtect(otherwise ur prone to getting worn down and jirachi does NOT fit that well on ho teams!!!! like, there's some offenses that can do things with doom desire??? i honestly have not seen that many ppl experiment with discount glowking, and its interesting bc its status as a mon influences how ppl see it when ur playing as latios and u see that thing and like oh does it have wish or can i wear it down before they get me first. ok im glad this is a draft this is a huge tangent)
-weavile
definition of a check
-dark types
yes indeed a psychic type loses to dark types. did u know that poison types deal not very effective damage to rock types
-i am trying to think ofg more checks
-just ru n chansey+blisssey dipshit
-ttar
only a full-health ttar can really check it
-random scarfers can be mentioned (gardevoir???)
scarfchomp n scarf tias (with meteor) r actually good revengrs
viable rotom forms (W/C) can cripple it with an item it doesnt want but they often have to just trade to do this and latios can still be destructive
interactions with rotom are pretty funny actually i wanna say that
[CREDITS]
moi
Allowed to stay in the tier by popular demand, Latios soars into the battlefield as a fighter jet with powerful special attacks and looming sweeping potential. Its speed tier—base 110, hitting 350 speed—zooms quicker than all the competition. Using its Specs and Calm Mind sets—its most consistent and recognizable—offense and stall are equally threatened. Both archetypes are demanded by Latios to try to guess its set and play around it accordingly, but trying to dance around a beast that could be packing two types of claws proves to be an incredibly treacherous task. Nor is it easy to remove—80/80/110 bulk is more than most powerhouses can ask for, and its typing allows it take attacks typed to its seven resistances several times over the course of a game. In previous generations, Dark- and Steel-types employed Pursuit to keep it under control, just as they did for ghosts like the ever-lovable Gengar—Metagross, Scizor, Tyranitar, Weavile, all across the landscape of time. Then, starting in Generation 8, this resource was removed, and Latios is free to roam the metagame without fear of punishment. At the same time, existing in BDSP strips it of many of its best assets—Trick, Psyshock, Aura Sphere, Mystical Fire. It doesn't need any of these things to do well enough to become the most dominant Pokemon in the tier. A BDSP with Trick Latios is not a pleasant thought.
Latios is a Pokemon that's easy to pick up, and players reap the rewards just by using it across all their games. But there are still drawbacks to it—the Specs set does discourage locking into the wrong move, and the Calm Mind set can't immediately dent holes like the Specs set can. In fact, playing out enough BDSP games, one finds that there's plenty of extant counterplay, counterplay that keeps it from totally overrunning a well-built team. Steel-types pivot into choice locks, powerful Scarfers revenge kill it, and Blissey does its best to hold back Calm Mind. A skilled player piloting an equally offensive team as those that Latios is found on can take advantage of a timely prediction to bring in a threat that can do huge damage—maybe a Crawdaunt, or perhaps a Latios of their own.
But in the hands of an equally skilled player? Latios will rain destruction.
[SET]
Can we pretend (Specs)
Latios (M) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse
[SET COMMENTS]
Make a wish and shower stars onto the field! This is one of Latios's iconic sets, and the one that immediately does the most damage. Just by clicking attacks, you can make big dents into your opponent's team. If they aren't packing something like Jirachi or Blissey, this is one of the most challenging Pokemon in the metagame to switch into. Your opponent needs to predict well to survive, and your task is to predict better than them. Specs Draco Meteor is the strongest attack in BDSP, and the main point of using this set. Only the sturdiest counters won't be forced to recover and give you free momentum. However, it has an immunity, so be careful about using it too often. Azumarill is particularly dangerous to click Draco into. Be aware of your Special Attack drop—while Draco Meteor is incredibly strong even at -2, there are plenty of situations where it can be taken advantage of (imagine a Feraligatr coming in to set up Dragon Dance and sweep your team). Trick's illegality is somehow a blessing. Latios can run Psychic and Dragon Pulse both, making it a total offense killer. In endgames, depending on what Pokemon your opponent has left, you can lock into one of those moves and sweep. Additionally, having a Dragon-type move that isn't so easy to take advantage of has great utility. Surf rounds out the set, hitting Steels neutrally, and Tyranitar and Heatran for great damage. It's a fantastic midground option for a choiced Pokemon and often eases prediction, and it's especially easy to click against those Pokemon.
This set doesn't run away with games as much as it pokes holes. Crater-sized holes. Specs Latios fits nicely on Bulky Offense teams, as its resistances allow it to be a semi-situational switchin to Pokemon like Breloom and Infernape if you predict well; it is not a switchin to these Pokemon in general, over time, but BDSP games are fast and tactics-based, and sometimes one read is all you need. These teams don't have as strong of defensive cores, and Latios is threatening to boot. However, in particular, it fits amazingly well on VoltTurn teams—and switching it in for free is much more reliable, and much better, than shakily switching it in directly on tenuous predictions. To this end, Stealth Rock is a great obstacle to Latios, splintering its bulk and blocking it from using those moves to switch in freely. Still, Specs Latios appreciates rocks on the opponent's side just as much as it loathes them on its own, so decide carefully whether you want to Defog. Rotom-Wash, Scizor, and Gliscor are all examples of mons that do great at getting it in safely each time it wants to choose a different move. And they handle attacks that Latios doesn't want to! Then there's Magnezone, who's in a totally different category: it uses Volt Switch just the same, but it also traps Scizor, one of the biggest roadblocks to Latios. Put on other attackers like Garchomp, and you have a powerful DragMag core that tries to end games in carnage as quickly as possible. In general, Scarfchomp is a great partner, since it has even more endgame sweeping potential than Latios with its blistering Outrage. Breloom works great too, as a breaker that also benefits from Volt Switch, handling the physical end of the spectrum with Technician-boosted Mach Punch. And Azumarill is outstanding because it walls Weavile, one of the only Pokemon capable of acting quicker than the blazing blue dragon.
As an aside, Sleep Talk is a totally serviceable option if you want to surprise Breloom users. Just watch out for Force Palm paralysis, and don't get surprised by Rock Tomb.
[SET]
cm
Latios (M) @ Soul Dew
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic
- Calm Mind
- Roost
-talk abt how this set can surprise clef by 2hkoing variants without a lot of spd on the switch; make sure ppl know that this 1v1s blissey without calm mind. talk about how this fits super well on ho teams due to its ability to switch moves
-you need to take advantage of the opp's requirement to switch into specs latios to pop out a calm mind and bring the pain
-blissey PLUS a revenge killer can actually take this set on, because you have the blissey in front of the latios, and you're constantly threatening to just bring in the weavile, leaving them with a chipped, paralyzed, sad little dragon
-soul dew is used over life orb because 10% recoil is not worth it when you have soul dew stabs right there
-in comparison to the specs set, this one fits especially well on teams with lots of fireworks and not a lot of backbone. no need to worry about locking into the wrong move when you cant do that
-biggest flaw is that as a setup sweeper it wants to run away with games rather than poke holes, but the existence of weavile and other pests makes it hard to do so
-choosing whether to put cm or specs on a team often has to do with what type of player are, and espcially whether you're confident in your abilities to predict
-still fits well on dragmag and still partners well with scarfchomp
-toxic spikes is an interesting option to fuck over blissey (thank you cath) (maybe OO for this one)
-taunt trapper tran is super nice bc it lures and removes blissey
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
-scarf (fake)
-support sets (fake)
-(say in the nicest way possible that you should be using latias for these things)
-a mixed set with lo and eq might seem enticing, but this is extremely redundant and inefficient, because heatran will eventually fold to latios over the course of a match anyway
-latios's specs set has some colorful fringe options:
-mention sleep talk and why u shouldnt use it bc latios is not a loomer switchin anyway.
-thunderbolt was seen during the mana meta. now it's inferior to dragon pulse's sweeping ability
-shadow ball trolls jirachi and that's about it
-mention ice beam and the reasons why this move is more useful on a latias scarfer set.
Checks and Counters
===================
- LOL
-scizor
SCIZOR IS THE KEYSTONE SPECIES
show calcs of surf and how you can overwhelm it. there r a lot of complicated interactions between latios and scizor due to how viral [i will thesaurus this word and look for exactly what it is i mean but u know its just something that ends up everywhere in a lot of different forms like gliscy] scizor is in bdsp. probably worthy of like a paragraph of its own bc scizor switching into latios is something that happens A LOT
-heatran
1. just surf it
2. variants without spd (as heatran wants to run physdef for weav!!) eat a few dracos and die
3. u have to run payback
-blissey
run cm or u lose. like, someone that wants to build a bdsp stall should see how necessary it is to pack this counterplay
-clefable
252 SpA Choice Specs Latios Psychic vs. 252 HP / 40 SpD Clefable: 229-271 (58.1 - 68.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery
it's kind of a check in specific situations on specific teams. Semi-Situational Switchin, as they say
-jirachi
LATIOS IS A WHOLE MEAL FOR RACHI
seriously if u have wishtect
-weavile
definition of a check
-dark types
yes indeed a psychic type loses to dark types. did u know that poison types deal not very effective damage to rock types
-i am trying to think ofg more checks
-just ru n chansey+blisssey dipshit
-ttar
only a full-health ttar can really check it
-random scarfers can be mentioned (gardevoir???)
scarfchomp n scarf tias (with meteor) r actually good revengrs
viable rotom forms (W/C) can cripple it with an item it doesnt want but they often have to just trade to do this and latios can still be destructive
interactions with rotom are pretty funny actually i wanna say that
[CREDITS]
moi
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