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Keldeo [available from June 23rd to August 31st]

You know, Spiritomb looks like a pretty good partner for Keldeo. It can take out Toxicroak, Espeon, Latios, Alakazam, and Starmie, while being able to switch in on a Scarfed Terrakion's Close Combat and force it out.

Also, Scarfed Terrakion can only do a maximum of 77.8% to Keldeo, so it can't revenge kill it if it's in good health.
 
Actually, glaciate would be really good on a specs set. a simple moveset of

hydro pump
secret sword
hp electric
glaciate

would work well. some of its counters like latias cannot come in, as if she does, she will be hit by glaciate, lose half her health AND be slower than keldeo
 
33% is a love tap from a Cleffa & a turn of LO recoil. You might have to switch in your priority Pokemon to get that love tap as Keldeo CMs and sacrifice it, (assuming Keldeo sets up on a Pokemon that can't do 13% to it...somehow) but Keldeo shouldn't be taking out more than that one Pokemon. But I guess it is team dependent. (as if someone ISN'T running Scizor)
 
33% is a love tap from a Cleffa & a turn of LO recoil. You might have to switch in your priority Pokemon to get that love tap as Keldeo CMs and sacrifice it, (assuming Keldeo sets up on a Pokemon that can't do 13% to it...somehow) but Keldeo shouldn't be taking out more than that one Pokemon. But I guess it is team dependent. (as if someone ISN'T running Scizor)

That's true but if Keldeo can take out your opponent's Terrakion, you can use your own Volcarona to set up on Scizor's Bullet Punch (assuming you can keep SR off your field) and sweep with one of its best checks gone.
 
Thank you. If we are going to play the unfounded speculation game, might as well pretend Keldeo will get Ice Beam but that's neither here more there. Please don't derail the thread with Glaciate or any other random event moves until they announce some.

Also I'll make a real comment on Keldeo when I'm not on my cell lol.
 
With that said, I would be massively disappointed in Smogon if Keldeo was banned or even considered for one. If he had the Speed of Thundurus, then yeah he'd be ban-able. But no, he has base 108 Speed. There's a lot of Psychic-types hovering right above him (Lati@s, Espeon, Alakazam, Starmie) and a LOT of Choice Scarf Pokemon that can easily pick-off a weakened Keldeo (Terrakion says "Sup, little bro?") and that's on top of common counters like Dragonite, Celebi, Gyarados, & Jellicent.

It's extremely comparable to Nasty Plot Infernape of DDP OU. His Focus Blasts tear Blissey a new asshole just like Keldeo's Secret Sword does, but at the end of the day, his counters are just sooo damn common that you're only truly effective about 50% of the time. In fact Keldeo shares many of the same counters with Infernape. Keldeo's a great Pokemon, don't get me wrong #14 in DW OU usage is nothing to scoff at, but he has that exact problem of his counters being too common & his Hidden Power can't cover all of them.
Dragonite, Celebi, Gyarados and Jellicent are not counters. +1 Keldeo with LO ohkoes Dragonite and Gyarados after SR in rain, HP Ghost does 75% minimum to 220 HP Celebi and 89% maximum and Jellicent is 2hkoed while it can't do anything back.

Also Starmie cannot revenge kill unless Keldeo is at 59% life or lower, since this is the amount that Tbolt does to +1 Keldeo. Thunder does much better though, doing 68% damage max.

What i am trying to say is that Keldeo is going to be much harder to face than NP Infernape. Keldeo has wayyy better defensive typing, wayyy better defences, and boosts one of it's defensive stats, which makes it harder to revenge kill from the special side. Finally as we all have seen, there are very few pokes capable of walling Keldeo like max HP Toxicroak, Roserade, Latias(not sure about this as Secret Sword may allow Keldeo to win the CM war) and another few unreleased like DW Amoonguss.
 
Well Keldeo may not have a lot of counters in the general sense, but it still does have some notable Pokemon to watch out for.

Jellicent with Water Absorb is the best thing that can handle Keldeo, especially the variations that lack Hidden Power. Sure Jellicent can only use Taunt and stall with Will-o-wisp (or Toxic) and Recover, but Keldeo can't do jack unless it's got the right moves.
 
Well Keldeo may not have a lot of counters in the general sense, but it still does have some notable Pokemon to watch out for.

Jellicent with Water Absorb is the best thing that can handle Keldeo, especially the variations that lack Hidden Power. Sure Jellicent can only use Taunt and stall with Will-o-wisp (or Toxic) and Recover, but Keldeo can't do jack unless it's got the right moves.

Jellicent only walls the sub+calm mind set, because of hp ghost.
 
I'm seeing hpump/secret sword/HP ghost/ Cm being really, really scary under rain, especially when paired with starmie, who covers most of what people have put forth as "counters" and CB sciz, who can revenge those pesky latios that beat keldeo and starmie can't switch in on.

GG
 
I dunno. Hidden Power [insert something that hits Waters super effectively] seems so...useless when Keldeo's not not using it. That IS the case, right?

I can simply get other Pokemon to lure + take down Jellicent, and at the end of the day, sweep all teams alike with Keldeo's second-most useful move: Taunt. At least with this move, Latias can't exactly set up on you for free, and if you play correctly, Keldeo wins the war with a boosted Secret Sword, and Latias can't immediately KO you bar Psyshock or critical hits. This also allows Keldeo to set up pretty much for free in front of things like Blissey, Chansey, Gyarados, Slowbro, and most other defensive Pokemon out there. If push comes to shove, just provide Keldeo with Toxic Spikes so it stalls Jelli out with Taunt and Calm Mind.

Keldeo pretty much hits *almost* everything with the combination of Secret Sword + Surf/Hydro Pump alone, so tl;dr, Hidden Power isn't exactly doing it favors if you're going to trial it against various types of teams (I'm a Taunt man, so my preferences differ. that 70 base power though...).

This is pretty much my set:

Kerudio @ Leftovers
Ability: Justice Heart
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 Spe / 252 SpA or some complex combination of SpA, speed, and HP
-Calm Mind
-Surf / Hydro Pump
-Sword of Mystery
-Taunt
 
I don't think Taunt is more useful than coverage. Keldeo's counters are depending on it not having the right coverage move to beat them and realistically, its defenses sans recovery won't allow it to get more than +2. +1 with coverage is all it needs to OHKO/2HKO as many targets as possible.

Now that I think about it, HP Flying is a good alternative to HP Ghost so you can hit both Celebi and Croak. You're still countered by the Latis and have a bit more trouble with Jellicent, but it can't be helped. One thing about Jellicent that I'm surprised you didn't mention is that it's weak to Pursuit, so you can put an Unnerve Tyranitar to use, or simply use dual weather and get Toed back in ASAP before Keldeo goes to work.
 
The thing about Unnerve Tyranitar is just that it is REALLY not viable. The massive Special Defense boost from sand is Tyranitar's saving grace in light of its horrendously bad typing. If you take that away then you're basically left with a less bulky Rhyperior with STAB Pursuit. And Jellicent can Wisp Tar anyways so using it just to deal with Jellicent isn't going to do much for you in comparison to the massive strain your team has to handle in order to support Tar and compensate for the vulnerabilities it gives your team.
 
I started brainstorming some Keldeo checks. A few of them might not end up becoming checks in the long run, but I wanted to cover as many Pokemon as possible:

-Roserade: It hates taking boosted LO Sword of Mystery, but its a decent check others)
-Latias: Offensive sets can boost alongside it, and weaken it with Dragon Pulse (make sure you attack it before it reaches +3 or higher) and psychock puts it to bed for good
-Latios: Latios with psychock is the best offensive Keldeo check
-Alakazam: Not as good the lati twins, but a LO boosted Psychic is bound to do a ton of damage.
-Dragonite: Keldeo is not likely to carry HP Ice (though a few might) so Dragonite is a solid check. All sets do well against it
-Specs Raikou / Jolteon should be a solid check, since it can easily OHKO Keldeo or 2HKO even if its at +2 SpD
-Salamence: Similar to Dragonite, but with less bulk. I'm willing to wager that a bulky Salamence is a pretty effective check
-Jellicent: Toxic Jellicent with maximum special defense is almost a perfect a counter to all variants of Keldeo. Provided it doesn't run, you should be able to Toxic + Recover spam to beat it one on one.
-Slowking: Similar to Jellicent, but even better because of T-wave, Regen to to quickly recover lost health, and Dragon Tail to force it out.

It's a shame Keldeo has 91/90/90 defense. Its sturdier than it appears, so strong scarfers like Landorus will need some prior damage before taking it out.
 
I started brainstorming some Keldeo checks. A few of them might not end up becoming checks in the long run, but I wanted to cover as many Pokemon as possible:

-Roserade: It hates taking boosted LO Sword of Mystery, but its a decent check others)
-Latias: Offensive sets can boost alongside it, and weaken it with Dragon Pulse (make sure you attack it before it reaches +3 or higher) and psychock puts it to bed for good
-Latios: Latios with psychock is the best offensive Keldeo check
-Alakazam: Not as good the lati twins, but a LO boosted Psychic is bound to do a ton of damage.
-Dragonite: Keldeo is not likely to carry HP Ice (though a few might) so Dragonite is a solid check. All sets do well against it
-Specs Raikou / Jolteon should be a solid check, since it can easily OHKO Keldeo or 2HKO even if its at +2 SpD
-Salamence: Similar to Dragonite, but with less bulk. I'm willing to wager that a bulky Salamence is a pretty effective check
-Jellicent: Toxic Jellicent with maximum special defense is almost a perfect a counter to all variants of Keldeo. Provided it doesn't run, you should be able to Toxic + Recover spam to beat it one on one.
-Slowking: Similar to Jellicent, but even better because of T-wave, Regen to to quickly recover lost health, and Dragon Tail to force it out.

It's a shame Keldeo has 91/90/90 defense. Its sturdier than it appears, so strong scarfers like Landorus will need some prior damage before taking it out.
I've never played Dream World, so correct me if I'm wrong, but couldn't Slowbro and Celebi be added that list as well? Slowbro could Toxic it and then proceed to spam Slack Off until it dies (I mean Keldeo can switch out, but it's techincally still a counter). Celebi could use Leaf Storm to score a quick KO I would imagine. I mean they seem like they would work....

Tentacruel also resists Keldeo's STABs, but I don't think it's capable of doing anything at all in return, so it wouldn't count............
 
I'm seeing hpump/secret sword/HP ghost/ Cm being really, really scary under rain, especially when paired with starmie, who covers most of what people have put forth as "counters" and CB sciz, who can revenge those pesky latios that beat keldeo and starmie can't switch in on.

GG

if you wanna get rid of latios, snorlax or bisharp are good substitutions for ttar

all of you people, suggesting lati@s trappers that don't abuse rain, while ignoring my CB sciz comment. Sciz can switch in on psyshock and draco meteor, the only things that lati@s can even threaten keldeo with, and revenge with pursuit. It also works well under rain, and every keldeo team should be using rain.
 
Just because you are running rain doesnt mean you have to have 6 rain abusers....

imo, snorlax takes special hits from pokemon a lot better (like jellicent, latios, celebi, etc) and threaten them with CB boosted moves. he works just as well as scizor

also, how well does scizor take a specs rain boosted surf from latios? thats right..... a OHKO with rocks (i think)
 
Still that means the Latios user has to gamble because if keldeo stays in and simply uses HP Ice/ghost its over for Latios.

Weavile also seems like a pretty good partner it is capable of killing or even trapping almost every Keldeo counter in the OU Metagame.

-Dragonite: Keldeo is not likely to carry HP Ice (though a few might) so Dragonite is a solid check

I really think that most Keldeo will run HP Ice being wallled by Jellicent sucks, but Dragonite is something that is a lot harder to switch into. When Jellicent comes in you can simply switch in something that resists water and doesn't mind a burn, and there are quite a lot Pokemon that fit in this category. DNite on the other hand is something that can threaten the complete Metagame with the right set or even set-up for a sweep with its standart DD set.
 
I don't think Dragonite will be too comfortable switching into Keldeo.

Assuming LO 252 SAtk Timid Keldeo's Hydropump vs Offensive Dragon Dance Dragonite in rain, Hydropump does 58% - 69%, supposing scales are broken. Even if Dragonite comes in unscathed, it has a good chance of being KO'd on the next turn. Specs is a whole different story.
 
I don't think Dragonite will be too comfortable switching into Keldeo.

Assuming LO 252 SAtk Timid Keldeo's Hydropump vs Offensive Dragon Dance Dragonite in rain, Hydropump does 58% - 69%, supposing scales are broken. Even if Dragonite comes in unscathed, it has a good chance of being KO'd on the next turn. Specs is a whole different story.

Is that an ohko if rocks are up and you CM as they switch? I'm pretty sure it is.
 
87.9% - 103.7%

Yeah, Dragonite gets fucked up. But since he still has a chance to KO with Leftovers (67.8% - 79.9%), I imagine I'll be using that instead, as it's easier to get a prolonged sweep going that way.
 
The images of CoroCoro have also confirmed the Keldeo distribution. From April 14th, you'll be able to pre-book the tickets for the movie and if you do, this gives you access to the special Pokémon Keldeo. Keldeo itself can be downloaded from June 23rd 2012 to August 31st 2012. This event can be downloaded by players with Black, White, Black 2 or White 2. It is also said to unlock something in Black 2 & White 2. We currently don't have clear pictures of the moveset of this Keldeo, although we know it's Level 15 but we'll bring it as it comes

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