Latias Overview + OO + C&C's revamp [DONE]

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Zer0

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[OVERVIEW]

Despite competition with Latios, Latias still makes for a great Pokemon in the metagame thanks to its superior bulk and access to Healing Wish while still offering the qualities that Latios brings to teams, such as sharing its same typing, Speed, and most importantly, an immunity to Spikes and Ground-type attacks thanks to Levitate. These excellent traits are key to keep checking threats throughout a game like Breloom, Terrakion, and Keldeo. Latias's superior bulk also allows it to act as one of the best checks to special attacking threats such as Thundurus-T and Keldeo, making it a very good answer to rain teams. Its Speed tier is incredible, as it's the defining benchmark of the tier and allows Latias to outspeed threats such as Terrakion, Keldeo, Garchomp, and Thundurus-T, as well as Speed tying Latios. Latias's main flaws are having stringent competition with Latios due to Latias's comparative lack of power to Latios and Tyranitar being very common and consistently Pursuit trapping, which is made even easier by the aforementioned lower power.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Latias can run Choice Specs over Choice Scarf, as despite not having enough firepower in comparison to other similar Choice Specs users such as Latios and Keldeo, it can still be effective due to Latias's additional bulk providing more chances than Latios to switch into and KO Keldeo and Thundurus-T in a single attack. Latias has historically ran a mono-attacking Calm Mind set with a set of Calm Mind, Dragon Pulse, Recover, and either Refresh or Substitute to completely blank rain teams and potentially win on the spot, should Latias's checks be eliminated or weakened. But, such a set is no longer effective in the metagame due to enormous competition with Reuniclus in this role, the fact that it needs a lot of support to get going, and how it's completely dead weight against sand teams due to how thoroughly it is countered by common staples such as Excadrill and Tyranitar. Latias can run a dual screens set with Healing Wish to support hyper offense Pokemon such as Volcarona, Conkeldurr, and Dragonite, but such a set does allow the opponent many turns to react and counter the incoming Healing Wish recipient with Stealth Rock, phazing, or disruption such as Encore and Taunt.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Tyranitar**: Thanks to Tyranitar's Special Defense boost in sand and unique typing, its arguably the best check to Latias in the tier, as it can take most of Latias's moves while threatening Crunch if Latias stays in or Pursuit if it switches out, both of which OHKO Latias if it predicts wrong. Choice Scarf Tyranitar can outspeed Latias and can force Crunch or Pursuit mind games. However, Latias often runs Colbur Berry to survive at least one attack from Tyranitar while crippling it in return with Thunder Wave, making it more vulnerable to Latias's teammates such as Calm Mind Reuniclus. Trick from Choice Scarf and Choice Specs sets can also ruin non-Choice item Tyranitar sets, as it doesn't enjoy losing it Chople Berry on support sets.

**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Jirachi, Scizor, and Skarmory all answer Latias thanks to their bulk and resistance to its STAB moves. Ferrothorn and Skarmory can very consistently switch into Draco Meteor and Surf in order to set up entry hazards, while Scizor is able to set up a Swords Dance or utilize its Bug typing to threaten Latias with a U-turn or potentially Pursuit trap it. Jirachi has numerous coverage and status moves to threaten Latias as well as Calm Mind to easily set up on it. However, Scizor and Ferrothorn have to watch out for Hidden Power Fire variants of Latias, and Scizor still has to be wary of rain-boosted Surf, while both Ferrothorn and Skarmory are ruined by Trick from Choice item sets. Skarmory and Jirachi can also be ruined by Thunder Wave from Colbur Berry sets, which can leave them vulnerable to teammates like Alakazam and Swords Dance Excadrill.

**Special Walls**: Blissey, Celebi, and Clefable don't take much damage from Latias's attacks and can force progress by setting up Stealth Rock, impairing with Thunder Wave, or, in Clefable's case, threaten Latias's team with Knock Off. However, Trick from either Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets can still ruin all of these Pokemon. Neither Celebi nor Clefable can switch into Choice Specs sets, as Draco Meteor can still potentially 2HKO them, and Thunder Wave from Colbur Berry Latias sets can also ruin Clefable.

Faster Pokemon: Pokemon that are naturally faster than Latias such as Starmie and Alakazam can threaten it thanks to their super effective coverage. Choice Scarf users such as Garchomp, Keldeo, Salamence, and Kyurem-B can also revenge kill non-Choice Scarf Latias; however, all of these Pokemon can get revenge killed by Choice Scarf Latias. Starmie and Alakazam can also have their Speed ruined by paralysis from Colbur Berry sets.

[CREDITS]
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Quality checked by:
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Last edited:
Despite competition with Latios, Latias still makes for a great Pokemon in the metagame thanks to its superior bulk and access to Healing Wish while still offering the qualities that Latios brings to teams, such as sharing its same typing, speed, and most importantly, an immunity to spikes thanks to Levitate. With a Colbur Berry, Latias is able to successfully bypass Pursuit attempts from Tyranitar and Scizor at least once without dying, allowing it to keep checking threats that its supposed to check throughout a game like Breloom and Terrakion. Mention Keldeo too. Latias's superior bulk also allows it to act as one of the best checks to special attacking threats such as Thundurus-T and Keldeo, making it a very good answer to rain teams. Its speed tier is incredible, as it's the defining benchmark of the tier which allows Latias to outspeed threats such as Terrakion, Keldeo, Garchomp and Thundurus-T, as well as speed tie Latios. This in conjunction with Healing Wish to easily restore one of its teammate's health and status, allows Latias to act as a very good Choice Scarf user, being able to outspeed every other Choice Scarf user and threats that boost their speed such as Dragonite, Volcarona and Salamence. Access to Trick also makes it adept at ruining would be checks such as Clefable and Blissey. Latias can also run unorthodox sets such as Choice Specs and Calm Mind sets to catch opponents off guard, allowing it to potentially surprise opponents off guard by flipping its counterplay. Latias's only true flaws is having stringe competition with Latios due to Latias not having enough firepower in comparison to Latios and Tyranitar being very common. But all when said and done, Latias is a wonderful Pokemon that is capable of fitting on most teams that dont use Latios. Would just change this to something on the line of Latias having a niche to use over Latios


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Latias can instead run Choice Specs over Choice Scarf, as despite not having enough firepower in comparison to other similar Choice Specs users such as Latios and Hydreigon it can still be effective due to Latias's speed and extra bulk which allows it to more safely KO the likes of Keldeo and Thundurus-T. Hidden Power Fire can be used on Colbur Berry sets to more easily threaten steel-types such as Scizor and Ferrothorn, but its hard to fit as dropping Thunder Wave loses a lot of Latias's utility. Latias has historically ran a mono attacking Calm Mind set with a set of Calm Mind, Dragon Pulse, Recover, and either Roar or Substitute to completely threaten rain teams and potentially win on the spot, should Latias's checks be eliminated or weaken. But such a set is no longer effective in the metagame due to enormous competition with Reuniclus in this role, the fact it needs a lot of support to get going, and how its completely dead weight against sand teams due to them having multiple Pokemon that makes it difficult for Latias to get setup in the first place. Similarly, Latias has also ran a Dual Screens set with Healing Wish on hyper offense teams that have sweepers such as Dragonite and Volcarona thanks to its access to Healing Wish to allow the sweepers Latias is paired with to have a second chance if they get statused or low on health. Such a set is also not as effective anymore as well due to how bad screens teams tend to perform in comparison to other hyper offense teams.

Checks and Counters
===================

Tyranitar: Thanks to Tyranitar's special defense boost and unique typing its arguably the best check to Latias in the tier, as it can take most of Latias's moves while also threatening Crunch if Latias stays in or Pursuit if Latias switches out which can both OHKO it if Latias predicts wrong, Choice Scarf Tyranitar can also outspeed Latias and can force Crunch or Pursuit mind games. However, Latias often runs Colbur Berry to survive at least one attack from Tyranitar while crippling it in return with Thunder Wave, making it more vulnerable to Latias's teammates such as Calm Mind Reuniclus. Trick from Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets can also ruin non-choiced Tyranitar sets, as it doesnt enjoy losing it Chople Berry on support sets.

Blissey and Clefable: both Blissey and Clefable dont take much damage from Latias attacks and can force progress such as setting up Stealth Rock, or in Clefable's case, threaten Latias's team with Knock Off. However, Trick from either Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets can still ruin both of these Pokemon. Clefable also cant switch into Choice Specs sets, as Draco Meteor can still potentially 2HKO it. Would give a mention to how Latias can however cripple Clefable with Thunder Wave

Faster Pokemon: Pokemon that are naturally faster than Latias such as Starmie and Alakazam can threaten Latias thanks to their super effective coverage. Choice Scarf users such as Garchomp, Keldeo, Salamence, and Kyurem-B can also revenge kill Latias if it lacks Choice Scarf itself. However, all of these Pokemon can get revenge killed by Choice Scarf Latias.

Steel-types: Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Skarmory all make for good Latias checks.Would mention that Skarmory doesn't like being Paralysed since it allows for partners to flinch through it .Scizor in particular is a very good check thanks to its typing and the threat of U-turn if Latias stays in or Pursuit if Latias switches out. While Ferrothorn and Skarmory can switch into Draco Meteor or Surf and setup hazards. However, Scizor and Ferothorn both have to watch out for Hidden Power Fire variants of Latias and Scizor still has to watch out rain boosted Surf, while both Ferrothorn and Skarmory are ruined by Trick from choiced sets.

[CREDITS]
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Quality checked by:
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Grammar checked by:
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[/hide=qc1]
 
Last edited:
QC 2 when implemented


Add remove comment

[OVERVIEW]

Despite competition with Latios, Latias still makes for a great Pokemon in the metagame thanks to its superior bulk and access to Healing Wish while still offering the qualities that Latios brings to teams, such as sharing its same typing, Speed speed, and most importantly, an immunity to Spikes and Ground-type attacks spikes Moves are always proper nouns thanks to Levitate. With a Colbur Berry, Latias is able to successfully bypass Pursuit attempts from Tyranitar and Scizor at least once without dying, allowing it do not refer to the function of sets in overview, unless it's key to their function such as x speed tier makes them best scarfer etc. These excellent traits are key to keep checking threats that its supposed to check throughout a game like Breloom, Terrakion, and Keldeo. Latias's superior bulk also allows it to act as one of the best checks to special attacking threats such as Thundurus-T and Keldeo, making it a very good answer to rain teams. Its speed tier is incredible, as it's the defining benchmark of the tier which allows Latias to outspeed threats such as Terrakion, Keldeo, Garchomp and Thundurus-T, as well as speed tie Latios. This in conjunction with Healing Wish to easily restore one of its teammate's health and status, allows Latias to act as a very good Choice Scarf user, being able to outspeed every other Choice Scarf user and threats that boost their speed such as Dragonite, Volcarona and Salamence. Access to Trick also makes it adept at ruining would be checks such as Clefable and Blissey. Latias can also run unorthodox sets such as Choice Specs and Calm Mind sets to catch opponents off guard, allowing it to potentially surprise opponents off guard by flipping its counterplay. Latias's main flaws are only true flaws is having stringent competition with Latios due to Latias's comparative lack of power not having enough firepower in comparison to Latios and Tyranitar being very common and consistently trapping it with Pursuit, which is made even easier by the aforementioned lower power. However despite these flaws, Latias is still a very useful Pokemon that is able to fit on teams that dont use Latios thanks to Latias having better bulk and access to Healing Wish, giving it a legitimate niche in the metagame.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Latias can instead run Choice Specs over Choice Scarf, as despite not having enough firepower in comparison to other similar Choice Specs users such as Latios and Keldeo, Hydreigon mostly irrelevant Pokemon it can still be effective due to Latias's additional bulk providing more chances than Latios to switch into and KO opposing Keldeo and Thundurus-T in a single attack. speed and extra bulk which allows it to more safely KO the likes of Keldeo and Thundurus-T. Hidden Power Fire can be used on Colbur Berry sets to more easily threaten steel-types such as Scizor and Ferrothorn, but its hard to fit as dropping Thunder Wave loses a lot of Latias's utility. Latias has historically ran a mono attacking Calm Mind set with a set of Calm Mind, Dragon Pulse, Recover, and either Refresh Roar or Substitute to completely blank threaten rain teams and potentially win on the spot, should Latias's checks be eliminated or weaken. But such a set is no longer effective in the metagame due to enormous competition with Reuniclus in this role, the fact it needs a lot of support to get going, and how its completely dead weight against sand teams due to how thoroughly it is countered by common staples such as Excadrill and Tyranitar. due to them having multiple Pokemon that makes it difficult for Latias to get setup in the first place. Similarly, Latias has also ran a Dual Screens set with Healing Wish on hyper offense teams that have sweepers such as Dragonite and Volcarona thanks to its access to Healing Wish to allow the sweepers Latias is paired with to have a second chance if they get statused or low on health. Such a set is also not as effective anymore as well due to how bad screens teams tend to perform in comparison to other hyper offense teams.
Latias can run a Dual Screens set with Healing Wish to support hyper offense Pokemon such as Volcarona, Conkeldurr, and Dragonite; but such a set does allows the opponent many turns to react and counter the incoming Healing Wish recipient with Stealth Rock, phazing, and/or disruption such as Encore and Taunt.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Tyranitar**: Tyranitar: Thanks to Tyranitar's special defense boost and unique typing its arguably the best check to Latias in the tier, as it can take most of Latias's moves while also threatening Crunch if Latias stays in or Pursuit if Latias switches out which can both OHKO it if Latias predicts wrong, Choice Scarf Tyranitar can also outspeed Latias and can force Crunch or Pursuit mind games. However, Latias often runs Colbur Berry to survive at least one attack from Tyranitar while crippling it in return with Thunder Wave, making it more vulnerable to Latias's teammates such as Calm Mind Reuniclus. Trick from Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets can also ruin non-choiced Tyranitar sets, as it doesnt enjoy losing it Chople Berry on support sets.

**Specially Defensive Walls**: Blissey and Clefable: both Blissey, Celebi, and Clefable don't dont take much damage from Latias attacks and can force progress such as setting up Stealth Rock, impairing with Thunder Wave, or in Clefable's case, threaten Latias's team with Knock Off. However, Trick from either Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets can still ruin both of these Pokemon. Neither Celebi or Clefable can also cant switch into Choice Specs sets as Draco Meteor can still potentially 2HKO it, and Thunder Wave from Colbur Berry sets can also ruin Clefableit.

Faster Pokemon: Pokemon that are naturally faster than Latias such as Starmie and Alakazam can threaten Latias thanks to their super effective coverage. Choice Scarf users such as Garchomp, Keldeo, Salamence, and Kyurem-B can also revenge kill Latias if it lacks Choice Scarf itself. However, all of these Pokemon can get revenge killed by Choice Scarf Latias. Starmie and Alakazam can also have their speed ruined by paralysis from Colbur Berry sets.

**Steel-types**: Steel-types: Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Jirachi, Scizor, and Skarmory all answer Latias thanks to their bulk and resistance to its STAB moves make for good Latias checks. Ferrothorn and Skarmory can very consistently switch into Draco Meteor or Surf in order to set up entry hazards, while Scizor is able to set up a Swords Dance or utilize its Bug-typing to threaten Latias with a U-turn and potentially trap it with Pursuit. Jirachi has numerous coverage moves and status to threaten Latias as well as Calm Mind to easily set up on it.Scizor in particular is a very good check thanks to its typing and the threat of U-turn if Latias stays in or Pursuit if Latias switches out. While Ferrothorn and Skarmory can switch into Draco Meteor or Surf and setup hazards. Good but I wanted to reword However, Scizor and Ferothorn both have to watch out for Hidden Power Fire variants of Latias and Scizor still has to watch out rain boosted Surf, while both Ferrothorn and Skarmory are ruined by Trick from choiced sets. Skarmory and Jirachi can also be ruined by Thunder Wave from Colbur Berry sets which can leave it vulnerable to teammates like Alakazam and Swords Dance Excadrill.

Move Steel types to under Tyranitar, as they are extremely prominent answers
[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/imzer0.629771/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/cow.654013/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/monai.482455/
Grammar checked by:
.
.
 
[OVERVIEW]

Despite competition with Latios, Latias still makes for a great Pokemon in the metagame thanks to its superior bulk and access to Healing Wish while still offering the qualities that Latios brings to teams, such as sharing its same typing, Speed, and most importantly, an immunity to Spikes and Ground-type attacks thanks to Levitate. These excellent traits are key to keep checking threats throughout a game like Breloom, Terrakion, and Keldeo. Latias's superior bulk also allows it to act as one of the best checks to special attacking threats such as Thundurus-T and Keldeo, making it a very good answer to rain teams. Its Speed speed tier is incredible, as it's the defining benchmark of the tier and which allows Latias to outspeed threats such as Terrakion, Keldeo, Garchomp, (comma) and Thundurus-T, as well as Speed tying speed tie Latios. Latias's main flaws are having stringent competition with Latios due to Latias's comparative lack of power to Latios and Tyranitar being very common and consistently Pursuit trapping it with Pursuit, which is made even easier by the aforementioned lower power.


[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

Latias can instead run Choice Specs over Choice Scarf, as despite not having enough firepower in comparison to other similar Choice Specs users such as Latios and Keldeo, it can still be effective due to Latias's additional bulk providing more chances than Latios to switch into and KO opposing Keldeo and Thundurus-T in a single attack. Latias has historically ran a mono-attacking (add hyphen) Calm Mind set with a set of Calm Mind, Dragon Pulse, Recover, and either Refresh or Substitute to completely blank rain teams and potentially win on the spot, should Latias's checks be eliminated or weakened weaken. But, (comma) such a set is no longer effective in the metagame due to enormous competition with Reuniclus in this role, the fact that it needs a lot of support to get going, and how it's its completely dead weight against sand teams due to how thoroughly it is countered by common staples such as Excadrill and Tyranitar. Latias can run a dual screens Dual Screens set with Healing Wish to support hyper offense Pokemon such as Volcarona, Conkeldurr, and Dragonite, (comma > semicolon) but such a set does allows allow the opponent many turns to react and counter the incoming Healing Wish recipient with Stealth Rock, phazing, or and/or disruption such as Encore and Taunt.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Tyranitar**: Thanks to Tyranitar's special defense Special Defense boost in sand and unique typing, (comma) its arguably the best check to Latias in the tier, as it can take most of Latias's moves while also threatening Crunch if Latias stays in or Pursuit if it Latias switches out, (comma) both of which can both OHKO Latias if it it if Latias predicts wrong. (period > comma) Choice Scarf Tyranitar can also outspeed Latias and can force Crunch or Pursuit mind games. However, Latias often runs Colbur Berry to survive at least one attack from Tyranitar while crippling it in return with Thunder Wave, making it more vulnerable to Latias's teammates such as Calm Mind Reuniclus. Trick from Choice Scarf and or Choice Specs sets can also ruin non-Choice item choiced Tyranitar sets, as it doesn't doesnt enjoy losing it Chople Berry on support sets.

**Steel-types**: Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Jirachi, Scizor, and Skarmory all answer Latias thanks to their bulk and resistance to its STAB moves. Ferrothorn and Skarmory can very consistently switch into Draco Meteor and or Surf in order to set up entry hazards, while Scizor is able to set up a Swords Dance or utilize its Bug typing Bug-typing to threaten Latias with a U-turn or and potentially Pursuit trap it. with Pursuit. Jirachi has numerous coverage and status moves and status to threaten Latias as well as Calm Mind to easily set up on it. However, Scizor and Ferothorn both Ferrothorn have to watch out for Hidden Power Fire variants of Latias, (comma) and Scizor still has to be wary of watch out (repetition) rain-boosted (hyphen) Surf, while both Ferrothorn and Skarmory are ruined by Trick from Choice item choiced sets. Skarmory and Jirachi can also be ruined by Thunder Wave from Colbur Berry sets, (comma) which can leave them it vulnerable to teammates like Alakazam and Swords Dance Excadrill.

**Specially Defensive Walls Special Walls**: Blissey, Celebi, and Clefable don't take much damage from Latias's Latias attacks and can force progress such as by setting up Stealth Rock, impairing with Thunder Wave, or, (comma) in Clefable's case, threaten Latias's team with Knock Off. However, Trick from either Choice Scarf or Choice Specs sets can still ruin all both of these Pokemon. Neither Celebi nor or Clefable can switch into Choice Specs sets, (comma) as Draco Meteor can still potentially 2HKO them it, and Thunder Wave from Colbur Berry Latias sets can also ruin Clefable.

**Faster Pokemon**: (<--- make sure to unbold this) Pokemon that are naturally faster than Latias such as Starmie and Alakazam can threaten Latias it thanks to their super effective coverage. Choice Scarf users such as Garchomp, Keldeo, Salamence, and Kyurem-B can also revenge kill non-Choice Scarf Latias if it lacks Choice Scarf itself However ;(semicolon) however, all of these Pokemon can get revenge killed by Choice Scarf Latias. Starmie and Alakazam can also have their Speed speed ruined by paralysis from Colbur Berry sets.

[CREDITS]
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/imzer0.629771/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/cow.654013/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/monai.482455/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/adorluigi.528364/
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GP Team done
 
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