The Next Best Thing v2 - Latios

Joeyboy

Has got the gift of gab
is a Team Rater Alumnusis a Smogon Media Contributor Alumnus

Abomasnow | Leftovers | Snow Warning
248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD | 0 Atk
Leech Seed | Protect | Blizzard | Giga Drain

Specially Defensive Christmas Tree is definitely a real thing. It puts jack over all those stupid Politoed's, takes on Dragonite like a troll, and destroys bulky water-types which are so prominent in this metagame. Blizzard hits like truck and can give Ferrothorn a beating who is immune to Leech Seed. Since this set can stall out lots of things, it's great for weakening things for a late-game sweep. Hidden Power [Ground] Volcarona loves this for example because Abomasnow can destroy Salamence and Dragonite who wall Volcarona's coverage and Volcarona destroys Heatran with HP Ground which is Abamosnow's worst enemy. This set will definitely be more effective if Keldeo is gone, since rain teams have only a few tricks up their sleeves to get got rid of the Frostbite.
I'm updating the OP with sets that have won recently and uh.... there's no nature on Vertex's winning Abomasnow set.. so...
 
How many interesting sets... I think that standards sets are still more powerful that them for obvious reasons but I appreciate all ideas posted there.

My vote is for SnowCristal's set, not as a Tyranitar baitkiller as most of sets are based but to force switchs and get rid of rkillers, as Meru said.

I also liked Spinda's set, nice one but too situational imo. Same thing for lolazo's set.

Good job!
 
Voting is now closed and the winner is Spinda's set. This set will be added in the v2 archive featured in the second post of the thread whenever JoeyBoy has the time to do it.

The next subject is the cute pony Pokèmon, Keldeo!
 

Halcyon.

@Choice Specs
is a Community Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus


Keldeo @ Focus Sash / Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ice] / [Ghost]
- Taunt


This is Keldeo's best bet as a lead in today's metagame. The main reason to use it is for surprise factor against opposing leads such as Sash Garchomp / Terrakion and Custap leads. Most of the time, Skarmory will try to set up hazards so that you can bring it down to its Sturdy before it trie dot Brave Bird you. Instead, you can Taunt, hit it with Hidden Power of Secret Sword, and then KO with Hydro Pump. The same can be said of Custap Forretress. Hidden Power Ice is the preferred move, since it can hit Lead Garchomp, but HP Ghost can be used to hit Jellicent and then Taunt to prevent it from Recovering or Will-O-Wisping you. In fact, Taunt will mean that you will always beat Jellicent, since it can't Recover on you. Focus Sash is also the preferred item to beat opposing leads, but if you would rather not have Keldeo in the lead position, then Life Orb is a solid option. It lets you get certain KOs that you wouldn't be able to get without it, but you'll hate getting the extra recoil, and you won't be able to bluff a Choice item.
 

Keldeo @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword

I've found myself using this set on some weatherless teams, as they frequently have issues with sun.
It's also a great way of spamming powerful rain boosted hydro pumps while still having tyranitar's pursuit support. On top of that, it's a great partner for Kingdra, as it provides rain support while they're also amazing at significantly weakening eachothers checks.
Hidden powers can of course be adjusted to the teams needs, but I wanted to avoid a slashfest
 
Last edited:

Keldeo @ Salac Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid / Modest Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Hidden Power *
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword

With the Salac berry and a proper support, Keldeo can act as a deadly late game sweeper. The set is pretty self explanatory, use sub and you have to choices, a/ wreck things up or b/ sub against until you outspeed the whole opponent's team. a Modest power gives you more power but you'll be outspeeded by mons like Scarfchomp.
*You can use the Hidden power you want, Ice, Ghost, Bug, even Psy if you want to fight against Tentacruel and Toxicroak.
 
This is really more of a gimmick, but it works considering Keldeo has a decent(ish) attack stat and you're almost guaranteed set-up while they switch in Cent/Celebi

Keldeo @ Life Orb
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat
- Aqua Tail
- Stone Edge/X-Scissor/Bounce
(Sorry for three slashes but it's like hidden power on Keldeo, it's really whatever you want)

No one sees this coming. No one. It can sweep teams, because no team prepares for it. Celebi isn't so scary with X-Scissor, and Jellicent is 2hko'd by SR. Toxicroak is killed by Bounce (Close Combat does 60-70% against standard roughly). I prefer Stone Edge over X-Scissor because it hits Cent for more damage and Celebi isn't taking that little of damage to where it's a problem, but again, it's whatever you want to beat. Stone Edge also beats Gyarados. Bounce also works against Celebi, but X-Scissor is better because Bounce sucks.

+2 252 Atk Life Orb Keldeo X-Scissor vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Celebi: 619-728 (153.21 - 180.19%) -- guaranteed OHKO
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Keldeo Bounce vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Celebi: 328-387 (81.18 - 95.79%) -- 56.25% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Keldeo Stone Edge vs. 252 HP / 36 Def Jellicent: 244-289 (60.39 - 71.53%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock
+1 252 Atk Life Orb Keldeo Stone Edge vs. 88 HP / 4 Def Gyarados: 348-411 (98.58 - 116.43%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Keldeo Bounce vs. 24 HP / 0 Def Toxicroak: 465-549 (148.56 - 175.39%) -- guaranteed OHKO

Sorry if it's too gimmicky, but seriously I don't know what else Keldeo has to offer that wouldn't be better suited for another Pokemon. Swords Dance does work better on Terrakion, but this is just designed to screw over Keldeo counters thinking they get a free switch-in to grab momentum. It takes a huge amount of prediction to get up SD, but once you do it's worth it.
 

Snou

the grand master of all the things bad!
is a Tutor Alumnusis a Top Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Past SCL Champion


MyLittlePony (Keldeo-R) @ Salac Berry
Trait: Justified
EVs: 252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Calm Mind
- Substitute
- Hydro Pump/Surf
- Secret Sword

Incredible set of the pony to destroy balanced and stall rain team. With Salac berry + Calm Mind gain dangerous power. A pursuiter for jellicent and celebi would be a nice partner but if your opponent hasn't one of that... gg all lol. With sub prevents status and setup on pike like Tentacruel, locked toed, locked ttar and others and is fun to see your opponent do a lot of (failed) pillaring xD
 
Keldeo @ Life Orb / Expert Belt
Trait: Justified
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword

~
I'd also like to mention that this is a great set to have on a sand team. Instead of having to choose between having ttar with sand and keldeo without rain boosted attacks, you can have both. Keldeo is very beneficial to sand teams, and with being able to set up rain for itself, its even more helpful. (Ttar helps take out the Lati@s twins, Celebi, and Jellicent to an extent, which is really beneficial to Keldeo too).

edit: wow, you literally said that. Regardless, hp bug is more helpful imo, just because if youre able to bluff the choice with ebelt, you get bigger damage on Celebi coming in than Jellicent.
 
I'd also like to mention that this is a great set to have on a sand team. Instead of having to choose between having ttar with sand and keldeo without rain boosted attacks, you can have both. Keldeo is very beneficial to sand teams, and with being able to set up rain for itself, its even more helpful. (Ttar helps take out the Lati@s twins, Celebi, and Jellicent to an extent, which is really beneficial to Keldeo too).

edit: wow, you literally said that. Regardless, hp bug is more helpful imo, just because if youre able to bluff the choice with ebelt, you get bigger damage on Celebi coming in than Jellicent.
I usually end up using hp psychic because all of my teams having a toxicroak problem for some reason, and I said hidden powers can be changed on your teams needs so I just added the most generic hidden power :)
 
It would have to be between taunt and rain dance, in my opinion. Taunt is nice as a lead, while Rain Dance is good to boost Keldeo's stab Hydro Pump to incredible power. (With that said, sub salac/ sd are sort of original. But, it is Keldeo; people have tried it all.)
Spinda ~
 
Snowcristal

Also, Meru is a hater tbh :c

This is really close, and I just broke the tie against myself..

Snowcristals set needs a lot of support, it absolutely hates jellicent, but it also hates sand so ttar support isn't as viable as it is for most sets.. It hates hail and sun too, forcing you to use toad or a manual rain dancer. It also hates toxic spikes on its side of the field, but it loves having it on the opponents side of the field to help it break through jellicent, dual stab coverage means it has a lot of trouble with most keldeo checks that aren't tentacruel, or possibly jellicent if you have tspike support. Despite the support that it needs in order to be succesful, it can make for an awesome win condition, and it really catches people off guard, I know. I've tried.

My set doesn't need as much support, and it has a free spot for hidden power, which atleast somewhat helps you break some of your checks. It provides support for your team and it's also rather unexpected, people will often sack their weather inducer not realising you have this set. It has trouble sweeping by itself, but it's quite good at weakening walls for others to sweep. It doesn't have sub nor salac berry as a buffer to shield itself from revenge kills.

They're really hard to compare, since their roles are quite different, but I believe they're about equally viable and am excited to see how this vote goes :)
 
Last edited:

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 1)

Top