With Soul Dew equipped, Latios is a powerful offensive threat with a unique defensive profile that gives it a notable niche in the metagame, being one of the only offensive Pokemon with a complete immunity to Spikes. Psychic Noise allows Latios to shut down recovery attempts from defensive Pokemon, particularly Blissey and Corviknight. Calm Mind gives Latios enough power to easily pressure defensive walls, notably OHKOing specially defensive Gliscor with Draco Meteor after Stealth Rock; however, Aura Sphere can be considered as an alternative option that can hit Steel- and Dark-types like Kingambit and Ting-Lu that would otherwise force it out. Shadow Ball, while less common, can be used to smack the likes of Gholdengo and Iron Crown. Recover gives Latios more opportunities to fire off powerful attacks over the course of a game, combining with its Spikes immunity to shrug off most forms of passive damage. Tera Steel is invaluable as a defensive Tera type, granting Latios a total immunity to Toxic and also allowing it to set up against the likes of Galarian Slowking, Dragonite, and Enamorus, as well as alleviating pressure against Pokemon such as Weavile and Kingambit.

Latios finds its niche on balance and bulky offense teams that enjoy its wallbreaking capabilities. Zamazenta is a phenomenal partner for Latios, capable of switching into and forcing out Dark-types such as Kingambit, Darkrai, and Weavile, and it appreciates Latios for being able to smash through physical walls like Gliscor and Alomomola. Kingambit is another Pokemon that enjoys Latios smashing holes through defensive teams carrying defensive Pokemon like Alomomola and Moltres, and in turn, it can offensively check the likes of Gholdengo, Iron Crown, and Hatterene; conversely, Tinkaton is a good alternative to Kingambit as a Steel-type, instead providing Latios with entry hazard support and being able to leverage its superior defensive profile to more reliably check threats like Iron Valiant, Darkrai, and Weavile. Knock Off support from the likes of Ogerpon, Weavile, and Meowscarada is also greatly appreciated and enables Latios to put even more pressure on defensive teams, allowing for the aforementioned faster teammates to clean up late-game; all of these Pokemon also appreciate Latios for being able to lure in and remove Kingambit with Aura Sphere. Hisuian Samurott is another excellent partner, as it provides both Knock Off support and hazard pressure in Ceaseless Edge, and acts as an offensive check to Kingambit and Gholdengo which Latios greatly enjoys, while Latios can easily come in on and threaten massive damage on Pokemon like Alomomola and Zapdos that can check Hisuian Samurott. Similarly, Ting-Lu is also appreciated as a teammate, providing Latios with a sturdy check to Dragapult, Darkrai, and Iron Crown while also being able to set hazards. Cinderace can offensively pressure many of the tier's Steel-types and can bring Latios in with U-turn against Pokemon such as Gliscor and Garganacl that Cinderace struggles to break past; Moltres is another great teammate for Latios, as it can act as a stopgap to threats like Kingambit, Kyurem, and Iron Valiant while also bringing Latios onto the field safely with its slow U-turn. Lastly, Great Tusk is another Pokemon that can remove items for Latios with Knock Off and provides Latios with a resilient offensive check to Kingambit; on the other hand, Great Tusk enjoys having Latios rip through its checks, particularly Alomomola, Zapdos, and Moltres.

Thanks to its superb stats and solid movepool, Latios proves to be an amazing speed control option with Choice Scarf, outspeeding fast foes like Walking Wake, Choice Scarf Landorus-T and Enamorus, Zamazenta, and +1 Speed Great Tusk as well as Speed tying Iron Moth. Psychic Noise helps Latios break past fat teams in a better fashion by denying recovery like Gliscor's Poison Heal and Garganacl's Leftovers and Recover and hits foes like Iron Moth and Zamazenta behind a Substitute. However, Luster Purge's power can be preferred to revenge kill Enamorus and Zamazenta more reliably and, with the drops, potentially wallbreak bulky foes like Galarian Slowking at the cost of having very low PP. Aura Sphere is a great coverage option that allows Latios to destroy Kingambit and Iron Treads. Trick cripples its would-be checks like Ting-Lu and Iron Crown while also shutting down Calm Mind users like Clefable, Hatterene, and Sinistcha. Tera Steel flips all of its Ice and Fairy weakness from foes like Weavile, Kyurem, Enamorus, and Iron Valiant and provides a resistance to Dragonite's Extreme Speed; it works well with Levitate to ignore even the aforementioned Kyurem, Enamorus, and Dragonite's Ground-type coverage move.

Latios works best on bulky offense and balance teams. It really appreciates entry hazard support to maximize its pressure against the opposing team. Therefore, Spikes setters such as Hisuian Samurott and Gliscor are great teammates, as is Ting-Lu, which can also choose to run Stealth Rock. Garganacl is a great option for Stealth Rock support, and it racks up damage on the opposing team by spamming Salt Cure, opening up win paths for Latios and its teammates. These Pokemon also help Latios deal with its own threats like Gholdengo and Iron Crown. Zamazenta pairs excellently with Latios, taking care of specially bulky foes that Latios struggles against such as Ting-Lu and Blissey as well as answering checks like Kingambit and Darkrai. In addition, both of them do a great job in pressuring shared checks like Gholdengo and Primarina. Other physical wallbreakers such as Kingambit and Ogerpon-W also have great synergy with Latios. Kingambit handles Gholdengo for Latios, and together, they form a great late-game duo. In a similar vein, Ogerpon-W can deal with Pokemon like Ting-Lu and pressure opposing teams enough in the early- and mid-game for Latios to pick off chipped foes late-game. Other special attackers such as Darkrai, Dragapult, Gholdengo, and Iron Crown also pair well with Latios because they can pressure shared checks like Dark-types, most notably Ting-Lu. Finally, Great Tusk is a stellar teammate that can help Latios deal with Gholdengo, Tinkaton, Dark-types, and special walls while also providing valuable Stealth Rock and hazard removal support.