Community POTW #124

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon and this week we are going to Johto!

It's Lugia!

Lugia #249 - Serebii.net Pokédex

Lugia Pokémon Serebii.net Pokédex providing all details on moves, stats, abilities, evolution data and locations for Pokémon Sword & Shield and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl

www.serebii.net

 

[Divine Retribution]

Dubbed The Great Wall by the competitive community for a reason, Lugia returns in Gen 8 every bit as strong as ever. He benefits hugely from the introduction of Heavy-Duty boots, which allows him to keep Multiscale intact even if Stealth Rocks are on his side of the field. With titanic defenses, good Speed, a great support movepool and two fantastic abilities to choose from, Lugia is an incredibly difficult Pokemon to take down. Even his typing, which seems pretty bad at an initial glance, gives him key resistances/immunities to Ground, Fighting, and Psychic, and Lugia's immense bulk lets it shrug off even super-effective non-STAB coverage moves.

Lugia @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Bold - Multiscale
252 HP, 160 Defense, 96 Speed
-Ice Beam / Psychic
-Roost
-Toxic
-Whirlwind

This is essentially Lugia's flagship set, walling and handling a vast number of threats that lack super effective STAB moves and wearing them down with its attacks and Toxic, or Whirlwinding away dangerous set-up sweepers and resetting their boosts (with Multiscale intact, Lugia takes a +2 critical Thunder from Xerneas without breaking a sweat, for example). Ice Beam is generally the attack of choice as it does the most damage to Zygarde-C, Groudon, and Rayquaza. Psychic is overall Lugia's strongest move against threats that aren't specifically weak to its coverage move of choice, but it hits very little super-effectively in Ubers and Psychic is a bad type for a mono-attacker in general. Roost keeps him healthy. He also gets access to Recover, the difference being that Roost removes his Flying typing for the rest of the turn he uses it on. In general, this is actually a benefit as it lets him take Ice, Electric, and Rock moves neutrally. Toxic is his best way of racking up damage over the course of a long match, and lets him put dangerous opponents on a timer. Finally, Whirlwind blows away set-up sweepers, preventing them from using Lugia as set-up bait, and allowing Lugia to check opponents like Xerneas and Arceus in a pinch.

Thunder Wave could be considered over Toxic as it can prove more useful against certain offensive threats like Calyrex-Shadow and Marshadow. Substitute is also a consideration; the combination of Substitute, Roost, and Pressure lets Lugia PP stall many dangerous Pokemon who otherwise could threaten him, like Zekrom and Kyurem-White.

The EV spread outpaces base 90s like Ho-Oh, Groudon, Kyogre, and Dialga, with max HP and the rest used to bolster his slightly lower Defense (which is still incredibly high, but his Sp. Def is naturally even higher).​

 

[Mestorn]

Lugia, the great wall of Pokémon, the golden standard that all defensive walls are compared to. Sadly several generations of power Creep have caught up to Lugia, preventing it from walling as effectively as it used. Lugia's typing, while not bad, isn't good either, with numerous weaknesses that other Pokémon can prey upon and lacking a wide myriad of resistances that other defensive staples use to excel. Lugia's reliance on Multiscale, is a big liability, meaning any passive damage (Sandstorm, Stealth Rock, etc.) heavily impacts its defensive capabilities.

Lugia's passivity makes it regulated to stall -thankfully it isn't easy setup fodder thanks to Whirlwind, but will often be forced to Roost/Recover and rely on Toxic for damage.

However, some of the generational changes do work in Lugia's favor. Lugia can actually make for a terrifying Dynamax sweeper. STAB Max Airstream is never something to scoff at, and its titanic bulk before Dynamaxing makes triggering a Weakness Policy boost rather easy, allowing Lugia to make up for its below average Base offenses. Lugia won't run over teams immediately, but its titanic bulk can make it an unstoppable force few can reckon with.

Ruler Beneath the Sea
Lugia
Ability: Multiscale
Item: Weakness Policy
-Aeroblast
-Roost
-Calm Mind
-Earth Power
Nature: Bold (+DEF, -ATK)
EVs: 252 HP / 100 DEF / 156 SPE

Lugia can take advantage of the switches it causes to setup a Calm Mind, grab a Weakness Policy boost when your opponent inevitably target's Lugia's weakness to take it down quickly, Dynamax, escalate out of control with Max Airstream and go for the sweep. Investment is mostly into HP and Defense to maximize bulk. 156 speed is necessary to outspeed Timid Shadow Rider Calyrex at +1. You will be leveraging Calm Mind and Max Quake (which has extremely complimentary coverage with Max Airstream) to bolster Lugia's Special Defense.

Checks and Counters
Any pokémon that can outright ignore Multiscale immediately has Lugia on the backfoot. Zekrom and Lunala with Terravolt and Moongeist Beam can outright ignore Multiscale and hit hard with Super Effective STAB. Necrozma-DM lacks the same immediate power but can still do big damage with Sunsteel Strike. Calyrex-Ice and Shadow Riders both easily 2HKO with their STABs, regardless of Multiscale, though Roost can mess with Ice Rider. Tyranitar also excels, its typing giving two dangerous STABs to Lugia and Sand Stream rendering Multiscale useless.