Pokémon Latias

Gomi

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:bw/latias:
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Latias
Base Stats: 80 HP | 80 Atk | 90 Def | 110 Spa | 130 SpD | 110 Spe

Abilities: Levitate

Level Up
-Stored Power
-Charm
-Helping Hand
-Recover
-Confusion
-Tailwind
-Dragon Breath
-Wish
-Mist Ball
-Zen Headbutt
-Dragon Pulse
-Heal Pulse
-Reflect Type
-Psychic
-Guard Split
-Healing Wish
-Psycho Shift
Tms
-Fly
-Hyper Beam
-Giga Impact
-Solar Beam
-Thunder Wave
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Safeguard
-Rest
-Snore
-Protect
-Icy Wind
-Charm
-Steel Wing
-Attract
-Sandstorm
-Rain Dance
-Sunny Day
-Whirlpool
-Facade
-Swift
-Helping Hand
-Dive
-Shadow Claw
-Psycho Cut
-Magic Room
-Round
-Retaliate
-Mystical Fire
-Air Slash
-Breaking Swipe
TRs
-Body Slam
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Thunderbolt
-Thunder
-Earthquake
-Psychic
-Agility
-Waterfall
-Tri Attack
-Substitute
-Outrage
-Psyshock
-Endure
-Sleep Talk
-Baton Pass
-Shadow Ball
-Future Sight
-Trick
-Dragon Claw
-Calm Mind
-Dragon Dance
-Aura Sphere
-Dragon Pulse
-Energy Ball
-Zen Headbutt
-Grass Knot
-Stored Power
-Ally Switch
Transfer Only
-Roar
-Toxic
-Roost
-Double Team
-Aerial Ace
-Charge Beam
-Psych Up
-Dream Eater
-Swagger
-Confide
-Covet
-Magic Coat
-Last Resort
-Role Play
-Shock Wave
-Water Pulse
-Defog
-Laser Focus
-Hone Claws
-Cut
-Fury Cutter
-Sucker Punch
-Mud-Slap
-Twister
-Double-Edge
-Mimic
IoA Move Tutor
-Dual Wingbeat
-Scale Shot

Notable Moves
-Draco Meteor
-Dragon Pulse
-Psychic
-Psyshock
-Defog
-Calm Mind
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Healing Wish
-Trick
-Tailwind
-Memento
-Roost
-Recover
-Aura Sphere
-Mystical Fire
-Surf
-Thunder
-Thunderbolt
-Thunder Wave
-Ice Beam
-Shadow Ball

Pros
-Great Special Defense and usable Physical Defense combined with a wealth of solid resistances (Grass, Fire, Electric, Fighting, etc.), as well as a Ground immunity granted by Levitate make Latias respectably tanky, and great at stomaching powerful hits in a pinch.

-Latias has quite limited access to the move Healing Wish, which allows Latias to sacrifice itself to heal any non fainted teammate to full, as well as removing any status.

-Latias also possesses other solid support options such as Trick and Thunder Wave, making it an all around great team player, and useful even if it finds itself in a matchup where it's hard walled.

-Access to fantastic, wide coverage options such as Mystical Fire, BoltBeam, Surf, and Aura Sphere allow Latias to hit almost anything that would otherwise stomach its high powered Stab combination.

-The removal of Pursuit allows Latias to be relied on much more due to its ability to claim KOs and defensively answer Pokémon without the fear of being trapped.

Cons
-Latios is strictly better offensively by a very considerable margin, which doesn't help when Latias already faces competition from other Dragons/Psychics, such as Dragapult for speed control or Tapu Lele for breaking.

-Latias struggles with bulky, Specially Defensive Darks like Tyranitar and Mandibuzz, as well as many Steels such as Heatran and Corviknight, which is unfortunate as they are quite common to encounter currently.

-Pokémon like the aforementioned Pult and Lele offensively pressure Latias heavily, as well as Pheromosa, Tapu Koko, and Magearna, Who are either faster and abuse it to claim a KO/set up, Reliably stomach a hit or two, or both.

-Its typing leaves it weak to several common offensive typings, such as Fairy, Dragon, Ghost, and Dark, as well as the omnipresent U-turn.

Potential Movesets
Support Scarfer
Latias (F) @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic/Mystical Fire/Aura Sphere/Surf
- Trick/Defog
- Healing Wish

This is Latias' bread and butter set, making full use of its solid bulk and potent support movepool to create a reasonably powerful, supportive scarfer that fits onto Hyper Offense and Bulky Offenses looking to pack a revenge killer that'll give their Sweepers a second wind. As well, this set packs access to the move Trick, allowing Latias to completely cripple a wall if the user feels that their scarf won't be very useful in that match, most notably giving it a use VS fat teams without things to revenge kill or noticeably damage.
Draco Meteor is your irreplaceable stab move and allows you to OHKO pretty much anything that isn't resistant or very bulky, which is especially useful in a metagame rampant with powerful Dragons. The 2nd attack on this set heavily depends on what you want to take out, with Psychic taking out Fightings/cleaning late game vs weakened teams more safely, Mystical Fire finishing off offensive steels such as Aegislash and 4x weak Pokémon like Ferrothorn, Aura Sphere surprising dangerous Pokémon like a Bisharp looking to set up an SD or a weakened Heatran, and Surf providing you with a way to remove Lando without clicking Draco and becoming setup bait due to your dropped Spa, as well as hitting Heatran. It's pretty customizable overall so play around with what you consider more important to deal with.
The main appeal of this set, and what separates it heavily from Latios, is Healing Wish, allowing you to completely heal up an incredibly vital teammate, which is something that few Pokémon can do period, the only other used in OU with the move being Jirachi. Needless to say, this Set is somewhat specific but offers huge amounts of aid to offensive teams by compressing several important roles and providing unique support, making it practically never useless if you play it right.

Thanks to Sickist for the more in-depth look at the set
Support Breaker

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

This is still largely worse than Latios given that Pokémon 2hkos pretty much the entire metagame besides Heatran with Mystical Fire+Draco+Psyshock, but Healing Wish is never a bad thing to consider running Latias for. The main benefit of this set is, well I just said it, Healing Wish, as well as generally far superior bulk to Latios, most notably being able to check Jolly Blaziken (Ada ohkos with blitz), Lando-Incarn, and SD Rillaboom better. With Rocks up, Spdef Corv is 2hko'd by Mystical fire, Draco is irreplacable high powered stab, Aura Sphere hits Heatran directly, Psychic hits things like Clefable quite hard, Trick is great support and pretty much ruins Blissey, and Healing wish is the main reason you're using the thing, so there's no real way to drop it. As long as you're good about keeping hazards up and keeping Blissey Pressured, its superior bulk could potentially make it a great pick for certain hazard Stacking builds.

thanks to esclarlata for the set and what sets it apart
Offensive Support

Latias (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic / Aura Sphere/ Mystical Fire
- Defog/ Healing Wish
- Roost / Healing Wish

Unlike Latias' other offensive sets, this one actually takes advantage of its bulk compared to Latios, most notably surviving 2 Offensive Lando-T Stone Edges/one Knock Off, a +2 Hurricane from Torn-T, 2 CB Rilla Glides, and 2 Sludge Waves from Lando-I, and abusing this tankiness without investment to get off defogs without dropping momentum due to the mon's powerful stabs. Roost allows for you to consistently rely on Latias, but Healing Wish is amazing support as always, so really both are quite good and simply depend on the build at hand. Draco meteor is, once again, your irreplaceable high powered stab and main damage dealer, while the second attack can go to really any move you see fit, with Mystical fire destroying Ferrothorn, Aura sphere Chunking pretty much every Steel not named Corv and every Dark not named Mandi, and Psychic providing you with a safe stab move without the Spa drop drawback. As mentioned previously, the main draw of this set compared to Latios is abusing Tankiness to pull off Defogs/Healing WIshes in a pinch, and this set does that quite admirably, getting them off on Offensive SR SD Lando/Chomp, Lando-I, Ferrothorn (if Mystical or Aura, Heatran (If Aura), and, of course, on forced switches on Pokemon like Urshifu and Kyurem.

Fat Wincon 5235
Latias (F) @ Leftovers/Terrain Seeds
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Ice Beam/Stored Power/Psyshock
- Thunderbolt/Aura Sphere
- Recover
- Calm Mind

Basically an attempt to recreate a set it previously succeeded with in past gens. You abuse Latias' above average bulk and great speed tier to rack up consecutive Calm mind Boosts, with the end goal being obviously to sweep. However, while I think this set could see some fringe usage here and there, this gen's overabundance of Knock Off, difficult to punish U-turn Pivots, Offensive Ghosts/Darks, and Fat Fairies make me doubt it'll succeed much, especially since its bulk really isn't as impressive as it was when it had its mega form. It offers some solid defensive utility, such as checking SD Rillaboom and Alakazam well, but it also lets in other Pokémon like Magearna unfortunately. Honestly not a whole lot to say here, it's pretty straightforward just by looking at it.
 
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I'd say that an offensive utility set with Defog definitely deserves a mention, as Latias is probably still one of the most reliable offensive Defogger in the game.

While Latios certainly hits harder, Latias is able to hit key defensive benchmarks and Defog on stuff that Latios simply can't, including and not limited to surviving Knock Off OHKO / Stone Edge 2HKO from 252 Atk Lando-T, +2 Hurricane from Torn-T, Sludge Wave 2HKO from Lando-I, Grassy Glide 2HKO from Rillaboom etc.

Latias (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic / any other coverage
- Defog
- Roost / Healing Wish
 

Gomi

yep
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
I'd say that an offensive utility set with Defog definitely deserves a mention, as Latias is probably still one of the most reliable offensive Defogger in the game.

While Latios certainly hits harder, Latias is able to hit key defensive benchmarks and Defog on stuff that Latios simply can't, including and not limited to surviving Knock Off OHKO / Stone Edge 2HKO from 252 Atk Lando-T, +2 Hurricane from Torn-T, Sludge Wave 2HKO from Lando-I, Grassy Glide 2HKO from Rillaboom etc.

Latias (F) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Draco Meteor
- Psychic / any other coverage
- Defog
- Roost / Healing Wish
I definitely considered a set like this but figured there weren't any super noticable benchmarks; I def should've calced lol. i'll be adding this
 

Gomi

yep
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Smogon Discord Contributor Alumnus
I personally predict that latias will end up dropping to uu, theres not a good enough reason to use latias over the far more offensive latios
I wouldn't be surprised if Latios outshone it, but I've always been a bigger Latias user than a Latios one, and I'm pretty confident its positive traits will be enough to grant it a niche on Offensive builds due to its pretty much irreplaceable Utility.
UUbl is better anyways
 
I wouldn't be surprised if Latios outshone it, but I've always been a bigger Latias user than a Latios one, and I'm pretty confident its positive traits will be enough to grant it a niche on Offensive builds due to its pretty much irreplaceable Utility.
UUbl is better anyways
yes, uubl! though id love to see some fun sets with it in ou
 
I would slash Electric and Grassy Seed on the Stored Power set. Helps bring her physical bulk to higher levels than Mega Latias while simultaneously keeping Knock Off’s power down. The extra 20 BP on Stored Power is a nice bonus as well.
 
I think Latias CM set is arguably better than Latios because of its superior bulk allowing it to play the long game. From a team support perspective Healing Wish is also way better than Memento. I don't think it will be outclassed entirely and its role over Latios will depend strictly upon offensive and defensive damage Calcs. Of course as a wallbreaker Latios is preferred though
 
While Latios' Specs sets are better offensively, I feel like it should be up with potential sets utilizing this:


Latias (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor / Psychic
- Mystical Fire / Aura Sphere / Trick
- Surf / Thunderbolt / Ice Beam
- Healing Wish

What makes this different from being a weaker Latios? Better bulk and access to healing wish makes Specs Latias a great role compression breaker. While Latios folds over, Latias can take any +2 hit from Blaziken and KO it. Again, access to Healing Wish also allows Latias to eat a hit that Latios wouldn't, and then Healing Wish a teammate to win the game. This is why Specs Latias is not "strictly worse" then Specs Latios. While Latios does hit harder, it lacks a lot of the defensive utility Latias provides. Latias isn't that much weaker anyways, so combined with Spikes, which is where Latias w/ Healing Wish would shine anyways in theory, you can still acheive 90% of the same KOs Latios would.
 
While Latios' Specs sets are better offensively, I feel like it should be up with potential sets utilizing this:


Latias (F) @ Choice Specs
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor / Psychic
- Mystical Fire / Aura Sphere / Trick
- Surf / Thunderbolt / Ice Beam
- Healing Wish

What makes this different from being a weaker Latios? Better bulk and access to healing wish makes Specs Latias a great role compression breaker. While Latios folds over, Latias can take any +2 hit from Blaziken and KO it. Again, access to Healing Wish also allows Latias to eat a hit that Latios wouldn't, and then Healing Wish a teammate to win the game. This is why Specs Latias is not "strictly worse" then Specs Latios. While Latios does hit harder, it lacks a lot of the defensive utility Latias provides. Latias isn't that much weaker anyways, so combined with Spikes, which is where Latias w/ Healing Wish would shine anyways in theory, you can still acheive 90% of the same KOs Latios would.
Really smart, didn't think of it that way, might have to try it in an team with a good spiker
 
Really smart, didn't think of it that way, might have to try it in an team with a good spiker
CAP meta intensifies
Also what about Sp.def Latias

Latias (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Roar
- Defog
- Ice Beam

Could be a real set to counter Heatran and Zapdos
 

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