[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 3 onwards
**Price Range**: 13-14 points
**Overview**: Latias is very effective at filling many useful roles in the metagame at an affordable price. Latias is primarily a supportive team member due to its excellent natural bulk and access to dual screens and other useful utility options like Thunder Wave, reliable recovery, and most of all, Healing Wish. Latias can also fill many offensive roles when needed due to its great Speed and movepool with its serviceable Special Attack. Latias is held back by its mediocre defensive typing, good but not great Special Attack, need for wide coverage due to its STAB combination being resisted by many foes; however, it still fits on a wide variety of teams, thus playing a crucial role on teams.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Offense Enabler**: Latias will often play a supportive role in which it allows its offensive teammates to thrive. It can do so in multiple ways like setting dual screens for setup threats, being a defensive check that can deal reliable damage and spread paralysis, and using Healing Wish to bring weakened teammates to full health for them to potentially win.
**Setup Sweeper** In certain matchups, Calm Mind Latias can be a potent wincon alongside Recover and coverage to leverage its natural bulk and attempt to sweep. Alternatively, one can also run Agility on Stored Power or Weakness Policy sets.
**Fast Attacker**: Latias can use a Choice Scarf or damage-boosting items to take advantage of its great Speed and coverage to threaten foes accordingly. These sets can maintain supportive qualities, as Trick and Healing Wish will still commonly be used.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Draco Meteor, Mist Ball, Psyshock, Dragon Pulse, Stored Power, Future Sight
**Setup Moves**: Calm Mind, Agility
**Utility Moves**: Healing Wish, Light Screen, Reflect, Recover, Thunder Wave, Roar, Trick,
**Coverage**: Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Alluring Voice, Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Surf, Draining Kiss
Niche Moves
========
**Dragon Dance / Physical Coverage**: Although less common, Latias can set up on the physical side where it has viable coverage and a usable, albeit subpar, Attack. This is good in particular to beat common special walls such as Galarian Slowking and Tinkaton.
**Tailwind**: Before using Healing Wish to safely heal and bring in a teammate, Latias can use Tailwind to also provide some short-term speed control.
**Charm**: Charm can be used to keep physical attackers at bay and check them. This is particularly useful against setup threats.
**Wish**: Despite Latias's access to Healing Wish and Recover, Wish can serve as a middle ground to provide recovery to itself and its teammates on multiple occasions in a match.
Common Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf is amazing on a wide variety of offensive and utility Latias sets. It can allow Latias to nearly always attack first with its strong coverage and also reliably use Healing Wish and Trick to serve a more utility-oriented role.
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries allow Latias to circumvent its common weaknesses to check foes, set up, or attack.
**Light Clay**: On dual screens utility sets, Light Clay is best to maximize their duration and best support its teammates.
**Choice Specs**: Similar to Choice Scarf, but trading Speed for power, Latias can become a more immediate offensive threat while retaining some potential utility with Choice Specs.
Niche Items
========
**Leftovers**: Leftovers can help provide extra longevity to Latias and functions particularly well on setup sets.
**Weakness Policy**: Usually paired with Agility, Weakness Policy can be excellent on Latias to turn it into a surpise wincon. Often, these sets will run bulkier investment and take advantage of its common weaknesses to become a threat.
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: Items such as Soul Dew and Life Orb can boost Latias's sometimes lackluster damage output on more offensive sets.
**Eject Pack**: Paired with Draco Meteor, Latias can lure in a foe and get chip damage on it while bringing in a teammate favorably. This is often great to lure in Steel-types for its teammates or to get off the field before becoming passive from a Special Attack drop.
**Mental Herb**: On Calm Mind sweeping sets, Mental Herb can help Latias avoid Taunt and Encore on setup or Recover turns.
**Kee Berry**: By boosting its Defense, which it cannot accomplish with its own moves, Kee Berry can make Latias far more difficult to kill on setup sets.
Tera
========
Latias is almost always banned from Terastalization due to its potency as a bulky setup wincon, especially when it may hand-pick a better typing. If, by some miracle, one may make Latias their Tera Captain, defensive types to allow setup sweeps will be most common. Electric, Poison, and Steel synergize well with Levitate, giving Latias minimal or no weaknesses, and can also prevent some pesky status conditions. Tera types such as Fire that can allow Latias to hit Steel-type foes super effectively can also be very useful to beat its common checks. Tera Fairy is another good defensive typing that works well with the move Draining Kiss to make Latias difficult to beat. Lastly, Tera Dragon will often be good on Choice item sets for a stronger Draco Meteor; however, one will typically use Tera Latias as one of the most dangerous setup wincons imaginable.
Draft Strategy
========
Latias fits on a wide variety of drafts due to its invaluable roles and extreme versatility. It fits well on offensive teams due to its ability to greatly enable teammates while still being able to perform multiple offensive roles. Its great bulk and movepool also allow it to seamlessly fit on more balanced structures and thus it can fit with a wide variety of teammates.
**Setup Threats**: With the ability to set fast dual screens and use Healing Wish to bring back a teammate primed to win, Latias can be the perfect supportive piece for many setup sweepers. Potent wincons such as Urshifu-R, Annihilape, and Zarude benefit perfectly from this support.
**Steel-type Teammates**: Although capable of taking hits, Latias finds itself with many common weaknesses. Steel-types are able to resist and check most of these threats, so teammates such as Tinkaton, Gholdengo, and Klefki can help form nice defensive cores with Latias.
**Teammates That Break Steel-types**: While Latias has great coverage and a strong STAB combination, bulkier Steel-type foes can be roadblocks for more offensive sets. Teammates that can pressure these enemies for Latias such as Cinderace, Great Tusk, and Iron Hands make for great fits.
**Pivots**: Latias enjoys teammates that can keep up momentum for more offensive styles and bring it in against foes that allow it to setup or are forced out by an attack. Therefore, reliable pivots such as Meowscarada, Zapdos, Landorus-T provide great support for Latias.
Checks and Counters
========
**Faster Wallbreakers**: Although it has great Speed, there are still a number of Pokemon with enough strength and Speed to force Latias out or revenge kill it. Strong and fast Dark-type foes like Darkrai, Roaring Moon, and Meowscarada are all capable of offensively checking Latias, and some other faster checks such as Iron Bundle and Iron Valiant can be problematic.
**Specially Defensive Walls**: Bulkier walls, especially Fairy-, Psychic-, and Steel-types, are often able to withstand Latias unless it is given ample opportunity to set up or has a damage-boosting item. Foes such as Galarian Slowking, Primarina, and Tinkaton can all be difficult to break through.
**Disruption**: Latias is particularly susceptible to Taunt and Encore, as the majority of its sets rely on status moves. Utility sets can be prevented from creating any value with Taunt or get locked into their move unfavorably with Encore, and setup sets can be prevented from getting going or be neutralized by being locked into non-attacking moves.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sir-tetris.655207/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/autumn.384270/
**Draft Order**: Round 3 onwards
**Price Range**: 13-14 points
**Overview**: Latias is very effective at filling many useful roles in the metagame at an affordable price. Latias is primarily a supportive team member due to its excellent natural bulk and access to dual screens and other useful utility options like Thunder Wave, reliable recovery, and most of all, Healing Wish. Latias can also fill many offensive roles when needed due to its great Speed and movepool with its serviceable Special Attack. Latias is held back by its mediocre defensive typing, good but not great Special Attack, need for wide coverage due to its STAB combination being resisted by many foes; however, it still fits on a wide variety of teams, thus playing a crucial role on teams.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Offense Enabler**: Latias will often play a supportive role in which it allows its offensive teammates to thrive. It can do so in multiple ways like setting dual screens for setup threats, being a defensive check that can deal reliable damage and spread paralysis, and using Healing Wish to bring weakened teammates to full health for them to potentially win.
**Setup Sweeper** In certain matchups, Calm Mind Latias can be a potent wincon alongside Recover and coverage to leverage its natural bulk and attempt to sweep. Alternatively, one can also run Agility on Stored Power or Weakness Policy sets.
**Fast Attacker**: Latias can use a Choice Scarf or damage-boosting items to take advantage of its great Speed and coverage to threaten foes accordingly. These sets can maintain supportive qualities, as Trick and Healing Wish will still commonly be used.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Draco Meteor, Mist Ball, Psyshock, Dragon Pulse, Stored Power, Future Sight
**Setup Moves**: Calm Mind, Agility
**Utility Moves**: Healing Wish, Light Screen, Reflect, Recover, Thunder Wave, Roar, Trick,
**Coverage**: Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, Alluring Voice, Shadow Ball, Aura Sphere, Energy Ball, Grass Knot, Surf, Draining Kiss
Niche Moves
========
**Dragon Dance / Physical Coverage**: Although less common, Latias can set up on the physical side where it has viable coverage and a usable, albeit subpar, Attack. This is good in particular to beat common special walls such as Galarian Slowking and Tinkaton.
**Tailwind**: Before using Healing Wish to safely heal and bring in a teammate, Latias can use Tailwind to also provide some short-term speed control.
**Charm**: Charm can be used to keep physical attackers at bay and check them. This is particularly useful against setup threats.
**Wish**: Despite Latias's access to Healing Wish and Recover, Wish can serve as a middle ground to provide recovery to itself and its teammates on multiple occasions in a match.
Common Items
========
**Choice Scarf**: Choice Scarf is amazing on a wide variety of offensive and utility Latias sets. It can allow Latias to nearly always attack first with its strong coverage and also reliably use Healing Wish and Trick to serve a more utility-oriented role.
**Resistance Berries**: Resistance Berries allow Latias to circumvent its common weaknesses to check foes, set up, or attack.
**Light Clay**: On dual screens utility sets, Light Clay is best to maximize their duration and best support its teammates.
**Choice Specs**: Similar to Choice Scarf, but trading Speed for power, Latias can become a more immediate offensive threat while retaining some potential utility with Choice Specs.
Niche Items
========
**Leftovers**: Leftovers can help provide extra longevity to Latias and functions particularly well on setup sets.
**Weakness Policy**: Usually paired with Agility, Weakness Policy can be excellent on Latias to turn it into a surpise wincon. Often, these sets will run bulkier investment and take advantage of its common weaknesses to become a threat.
**Other Damage-boosting Items**: Items such as Soul Dew and Life Orb can boost Latias's sometimes lackluster damage output on more offensive sets.
**Eject Pack**: Paired with Draco Meteor, Latias can lure in a foe and get chip damage on it while bringing in a teammate favorably. This is often great to lure in Steel-types for its teammates or to get off the field before becoming passive from a Special Attack drop.
**Mental Herb**: On Calm Mind sweeping sets, Mental Herb can help Latias avoid Taunt and Encore on setup or Recover turns.
**Kee Berry**: By boosting its Defense, which it cannot accomplish with its own moves, Kee Berry can make Latias far more difficult to kill on setup sets.
Tera
========
Latias is almost always banned from Terastalization due to its potency as a bulky setup wincon, especially when it may hand-pick a better typing. If, by some miracle, one may make Latias their Tera Captain, defensive types to allow setup sweeps will be most common. Electric, Poison, and Steel synergize well with Levitate, giving Latias minimal or no weaknesses, and can also prevent some pesky status conditions. Tera types such as Fire that can allow Latias to hit Steel-type foes super effectively can also be very useful to beat its common checks. Tera Fairy is another good defensive typing that works well with the move Draining Kiss to make Latias difficult to beat. Lastly, Tera Dragon will often be good on Choice item sets for a stronger Draco Meteor; however, one will typically use Tera Latias as one of the most dangerous setup wincons imaginable.
Draft Strategy
========
Latias fits on a wide variety of drafts due to its invaluable roles and extreme versatility. It fits well on offensive teams due to its ability to greatly enable teammates while still being able to perform multiple offensive roles. Its great bulk and movepool also allow it to seamlessly fit on more balanced structures and thus it can fit with a wide variety of teammates.
**Setup Threats**: With the ability to set fast dual screens and use Healing Wish to bring back a teammate primed to win, Latias can be the perfect supportive piece for many setup sweepers. Potent wincons such as Urshifu-R, Annihilape, and Zarude benefit perfectly from this support.
**Steel-type Teammates**: Although capable of taking hits, Latias finds itself with many common weaknesses. Steel-types are able to resist and check most of these threats, so teammates such as Tinkaton, Gholdengo, and Klefki can help form nice defensive cores with Latias.
**Teammates That Break Steel-types**: While Latias has great coverage and a strong STAB combination, bulkier Steel-type foes can be roadblocks for more offensive sets. Teammates that can pressure these enemies for Latias such as Cinderace, Great Tusk, and Iron Hands make for great fits.
**Pivots**: Latias enjoys teammates that can keep up momentum for more offensive styles and bring it in against foes that allow it to setup or are forced out by an attack. Therefore, reliable pivots such as Meowscarada, Zapdos, Landorus-T provide great support for Latias.
Checks and Counters
========
**Faster Wallbreakers**: Although it has great Speed, there are still a number of Pokemon with enough strength and Speed to force Latias out or revenge kill it. Strong and fast Dark-type foes like Darkrai, Roaring Moon, and Meowscarada are all capable of offensively checking Latias, and some other faster checks such as Iron Bundle and Iron Valiant can be problematic.
**Specially Defensive Walls**: Bulkier walls, especially Fairy-, Psychic-, and Steel-types, are often able to withstand Latias unless it is given ample opportunity to set up or has a damage-boosting item. Foes such as Galarian Slowking, Primarina, and Tinkaton can all be difficult to break through.
**Disruption**: Latias is particularly susceptible to Taunt and Encore, as the majority of its sets rely on status moves. Utility sets can be prevented from creating any value with Taunt or get locked into their move unfavorably with Encore, and setup sets can be prevented from getting going or be neutralized by being locked into non-attacking moves.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/theuncultured.629845/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sir-tetris.655207/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/autumn.384270/
Last edited:
