pqs
Banned deucer.
[OVERVIEW]
Latios has an interesting role in 1v1, being one of the two Pokemon with a Dragon / Psychic typing alongside Latias. Its decent special bulk allows it to take hits from bulky offensive Pokemon like Primarina and Celesteela as well as offensive nukes that it resists like Blast Burn from Mega Charizard Y, and its typing and ability also let it resist key attacks from Fire-, Ground-, and Electric-types such as Heatran, Mega Camerupt, Donphan, and Xurkitree. Latios's diverse movepool also allows it to KO a variety of foes, such as Kommo-o, Heatran, Tapu Fini, and Kee Berry Mew. On the other hand, Latios's typing leaves it weak to Fairy-, Dark- and Steel-types like Mega Gardevoir, Hoopa-U, and offensive Mega Metagross. Additionally, it relies way too much on a predictable Choice Specs set that bulky offense staples can easily be EVed to tank hits from, while it in return cannot EV itself to survive hits from Pokemon like Greninja and Mega Lopunny. Furthermore, Latios's moves don't have a high Base Power, so they need the boost from Choice Specs to OHKO or 2HKO common threats. Lastly, Latios is almost outclassed by Naganadel because of the latter's Poison-type STAB to beat common Fairy-types such as Mega Gardevoir, its high Speed stat to outspeed faster threats like Serperior, and stronger Fire-type coverage to help with Steel-types like Mega Mawile and Magearna. Latios's only redeeming qualities over Naganadel are its ability in Levitate, immunizing it to STAB attacks from common Ground-type staples like Donphan and Choice Scarf Landorus-T, and its Psychic-type coverage, which can help against Poison- and Fighting-types like Mega Venusaur and Mega Blaziken.
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Thunderbolt
move 3: Psychic
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Shadow Ball
item: Choice Specs
ability: Levitate
nature: Timid
evs: 32 HP / 224 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Draco Meteor is Latios's Dragon-type STAB attack used to nuke threats in one or two turns. Pokemon that are susceptible to this move include Mega Charizard Y, Zygarde-C, Kommo-o, and non-Choice Scarf Garchomp. Thunderbolt is used to hit Water- and Flying-types such as Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Celesteela super effectively. Notably, it is also able to hit Heatran for neutral damage, whilst the rest of Latios's moves are not effective versus it. Psychic is mainly used to beat Poison- and Fighting-types, namely Mega Venusaur and Mega Heracross. Hidden Power Fire, because of its low Base Power, is used against Pokemon that are 4x weak to Fire-type moves such as Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor, as well as non-Mirror Coat Magnezone. Shadow Ball is an interesting option over Hidden Power Fire that gives Latios a way to hit Psychic-types like bulky Tapu Lele, bulky non-Bullet Punch Mega Metagross, and Kee Berry Mew while forgoing the Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor matchups. Trick is another option, losing out on the matchups that Hidden Power Fire allows Latios to win yet gaining the win versus most stall-based Pokemon like Type: Null.
Set Details
========
32 HP EVs are invested to take a Moonblast followed by a Torrent-boosted Aqua Jet from Primarina. The remainder of the EVs are invested into Special Attack to maximize Latios's power with a neutral nature to make it the most threatening to the metagame it is capable of being, allowing it to 3HKO most Heatran. 252 Speed EVs and a Timid nature allow Latios to outspeed Durant and Kartana and OHKO them.
Usage Tips
========
Avoid faster Dragon-type Pokemon, which can all OHKO Latios easily because of its lackluster bulk, such as Choice Scarf Garchomp and Naganadel. Notably, specially defensive Mega Charizard X can stay in its base forme turn one, use Flame Charge or Dragon Dance to boost its Speed, and OHKO Latios turn two with Outrage after Mega Evolving. Against Heatran, use Thunderbolt. Despite Tapu Fini and Primarina's access to Moonblast, Latios can use Thunderbolt twice to KO them while taking a hit from them because of their lack of Special Attack investment. Latios's immunity to Ground-type moves is useful against Pokemon like Landorus-T, Donphan, and Krookodile. Don't use Draco Meteor against Sturdy Pokemon like Donphan and non-Mirror Coat Magnezone, as Psychic can already 2HKO them in most cases, and you don't want the chance to miss. Avoid sending Latios against physically offensive Pokemon that it can't outspeed and OHKO, as Latios has very poor HP and Defense. Examples include specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Mega Gyarados, bulky Dragonite, offensive Mega Metagross, and Zeraora. Be wary against fast attacking threats that can easily land a OHKO on Latios while it can't do anything, such as Porygon-Z, Greninja, and Zeraora. If you have Shadow Ball, lure in common metagame threats such as bulky Mega Metagross and Tapu Lele and 2HKO them.
Team Options
========
Physically defensive Pokemon such as Mega Slowbro, Registeel, and Ferrothorn make superb partners for Latios, as it is lacking in HP and Defense stats. In return, Latios provides a higher damage output to take out bulkier threats that these Pokemon can't deal with, such as Mega Charizard Y, non-Choice Scarf Genesect, and Heatran. Also, Fairy-types such as Mega Mawile, Mega Altaria, Mega Gardevoir, Magearna, and Mega Diancie can cover Dragon-types and Dark-types such as Dragonite, Haxorus, Mega Gyarados, and Hoopa-U with their STAB moves. Furthermore, Steel-types such as Celesteela, Mega Metagross, Ferrothorn, and Kartana can hit Fairy- and Ice-types that Latios is weak to while also resisting Bug-, Dragon-, and Ice-type attacks. Examples of these types include Mega Gardevoir, Alolan Ninetales, Crustle, and bulky Dragonite. Heatran, notably, can lure in Water- and Ground-type Pokemon such as Primarina, Tapu Fini, and Donphan, beat Steel- and Fairy-types like Mega Mawile, Mega Gardevoir, and Tapu Lele, which Latios lacks the ability to in most cases, and also take out specially defensive Mega Charizard X, which most other Steel-types can't do.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Energy Ball can be run over over Thunderbolt to OHKO Mega Swampert and Quagsire, but this loses out on the Heatran and Celesteela matchups. Ice Beam hits Mega Altaria for super effective damage, which Latios otherwise would not be able to do. Latios can use a Choice Scarf set with a Modest nature to outspeed and KO faster Pokemon such as Greninja, Naganadel, and Mega Lopunny. Z-Heal Block can be used to boost Latios's Special Attack by two stages to have higher damage results and block the opposing Pokemon's healing, and Psychium Z boosts Latios's otherwise lackluster Psychic into Shattered Psyche to beat Mega Slowbro and Type: Null.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Walls**: Latios cannot deal with physically or specially defensive Pokemon if it doesn't have a super effective move against them, as it is limited in its power, even with Choice Specs. Examples of walls that Latios can't beat are Registeel, Type: Null, Chansey, and Mega Sableye.
**Fairy-types**: Latios has a hard time against Fairy-types in general, as they are immune to its strongest STAB move and are neutral to or resist all of its other moves. Examples include Mega Gardevoir, Mega Altaria, Mega Mawile, Tapu Lele, and Magearna.
**Fast Attackers**: Though Latios has an above-average Speed stat, it is still outsped and KOed by most hyper offensive Pokemon in the 1v1 metagame, including Greninja, Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, Naganadel, and Pheromosa.
**Bulky Offense**: Most bulky offensive Pokemon can easily tank Latios's attacks and either set up and knock it out the next turn or OHKO it right away with a powerful or super effective move. Examples include specially defensive Mega Charizard X, Dragonite, Mega Gyarados, Mega Metagross, and Mega Mawile.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[pqs, 425798]]
- Quality checked by: [[Nalei, 302951], [Chickenpie2, 305552], [Alakazam, 276708]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Estronic, 240732]]
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