BDSP OU Suspect Coverage: Latios

By adem. Released: 2022/06/16.
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BDSP OU Suspect Coverage: Latios artwork

Art by Swiffix.

Introduction

Latios was the premier offensive Pokémon throughout its stay in BDSP OU. It was already deemed too strong once, prompting the first suspect test in BDSP OU that eventually resulted in a close No Ban vote. However, after several months of its continued dominance, Latios was suspected once again! It had an incredible base 110 Speed, a solid defensive typing, a variety of sets that let it pick and choose its checks, and an incredible 130 Special Attack, which was one of the highest in the tier. Furthermore, its checks and counters, while naturally common on teams, were minimal, and they were often easily taken advantage of or trapped by common partners like Weavile, Infernape, Heatran, and Magnezone. All these amazing attributes, alongside its lack of downsides and the outcome of the previous suspect test, made Latios one of the most notorious Pokémon in the history of BDSP OU.

Sets

Choice Specs Latios was THE threat to talk about in BDSP OU. By far its most used set, it completely rocked all of Latios's checks in OU barring Blissey, as even Scizor could fall to two Surfs after minor chip damage. Draco Meteor and Psychic dealt with most of the metagame barring Steel-types, and Surf was overall the best primary coverage option for Latios, as it beat would-be checks such as Scizor, Tyranitar, and Heatran. Latios's last slot was extremely customizable, with Thunderbolt providing a midground attack against Steel-types and Pokémon like Azumarill and Togekiss, and Dragon Pulse offering a non-stat lowering Dragon-type move. Sleep Talk meant Latios could safely switch into Breloom and Roserade and soft check the former while still being offensively potent with Draco Meteor. Lastly, Roost gave longevity, which allowed Latios to make use of its solid defensive capabilities.

Mixed Life Orb Latios gained prominence later on as the meta was more developed and traded in the instant nuking capabilities of the Choice Specs set to let Latios easily break through two of its more prominent checks in Jirachi and Heatran. Strong Earthquakes were the main allure of this set, as it lessened Latios's need to predict. Removing Choice-lock also made this set arguably more terrifying, as it meant dancing around Latios's attacks were even less of an option. Lastly, being able to freely use Roost without losing momentum made this set harder to wear down and let Latios check threats such as Breloom and Rotom-W more consistently.

Often outshined by Latias as a Calm Mind user, Calm Mind Latios had a niche in improving its ability to wallbreak and beat checks such as Blissey and Heatran. The emergence of this set prompted extreme countermeasures such as Calm Mind Blissey and Payback Heatran to actually check it. Draco Meteor was stronger early-game, but it was less reliable due to dropping Latios's stats and having low PP; Dragon Pulse remedied these issues and was more potent in the long run, but it was significantly weaker without boosts.

Other Options

Choice Scarf was an option for slow teams that lack a revenge killer and also needed Defog, but the lack of damage output was extremely obvious and Latios failed to differentiate itself from other Choice Scarf users such as Garchomp, Latias, and Rotom-W. Energy Ball and Shadow Ball were niche options on the Choice Specs set, with that former nailing Gastrodon immediately and the latter letting it break through Jirachi. However, Energy Ball lacked other targets, and Shadow Ball was unable to handle Wish Jirachi without prior chip damage or Special Defense drops, which made Latios's other coverage options significantly better.

Team Example

This team was a fairly standard example of what stacking the best Pokémon in the metagame together and forming a great team looks like. Latios, Weavile, and Infernape formed arguably the most potent wallbreaking trio in the tier, with each member lacking long-term checks, and they immediately applied pressure due to their offensive prowess. Gliscor and Scizor made up the team's defensive core, dealing with meta-defining threats such as the aforementioned three, Heatran, Mamoswine, and Lucario, and providing useful utility in Stealth Rock and Defog. Furthermore, both provide slow U-turn in order to safely bring in the members of the offensive core. Lastly, Choice Scarf Rotom-W rounded off the team by providing a way to revenge kill boosted threats such as Azumarill, Crawdaunt, and Feraligatr and check Scizor, Heatran, and Weavile. The main aim of the team was to continuously bring in whichever wallbreaker that pressured the opposing team the best via pivoting and remain on top momentum-wise until Choice Scarf Rotom-W and strong priority moves could clean. This team was also extremely customizable, such as usingChoice Scarf Infernape alongside a bulkier Rotom-W set; there was also the choice of using no Choice Scarf users at all.

Pro-Ban Arguments

Most of the vocal community members were extremely in favor of a Latios ban, with the reasons slightly shifting throughout the time between both tests. Initially, Latios was seen as outright broken, forcing extremely specific team structures. Later on, however, the reasoning changed to it being too oppressive on the builder; Latios forced Pokémon such as Scizor, Jirachi, and Heatran to be specially defensive and Heatran and Blissey to use Payback and Calm Mind, respectively, to deal with it consistently. Furthermore, outside of Scizor and Blissey, it lacked consistent answers, with Heatran and Jirachi quickly dispatched by Surf and Earthquake and even Scizor being easily trapped by Magnezone or pressured by Heatran. Its high Speed tier and solid defensive utility meant that Latios was annoying to revenge kill consistently, as common Choice Scarf users in Rotom-W and Infernape failed to KO it outright, and Weavile could not outlast it due to its Stealth Rock weakness and Latios's recovery. Lastly, as a wallbreaker, Latios had multiple opportunities to come in; it could force out prominent Water-types such as Rotom-W, Azumarill, and boosted Crawdaunt and deal with threats like Infernape and Garchomp easily.

Anti-Ban Arguments

While few, the anti-ban arguments were still extremely solid, with many citing the fact that Latios wasn't oppressive or constricting as some might think it is. Many cited that most of the Pokémon that it “forced” on teams would still be used regardless of if it stays or goes, with specially defensive Scizor being used to deal with Alakazam and Latias, and Blissey being used to deal with Nidoking and Latias. Furthermore, the fact that its defensive answers were easily dealt with by coverage moves or its teammates happened much less in practice than it did on paper; due to the fast-paced nature of the tier, aggressive plays were extremely rewarding, and good positioning could decide games, even if the Latios check was burnt or weakened. The prediction-reliant nature of Choice item sets was also a big factor, as it was extremely easy to lose momentum with a wrong prediction due to how heavily the tier relied on pivoting. Furthermore, the prominence of Clefable, Azumarill, and Togekiss made Latios think twice about dropping a Draco Meteor.

Results

In the end, Latios's day of reckoning finally came with an overwhelming ban vote, satisfying the extremely vocal playerbase. With Latios leaving the tier, many expected that Latias would easily take its place, which seems to be the case from looking at the ongoing BDSPPL. However, the immediate power loss is extremely obvious and can be felt when using Latias, making some people still hesitant about its place over its counterpart, and pretty much everyone agrees that it isn't as oppressing as Latios. Unfortunately, players also quickly realized that specially defensive sets were hard to not use with the prevalence of Alakazam and Latias. Nonetheless, BDSP OU's trials and tribulations have not ended, with a good amount of people calling for action on Weavile, with some even citing it as worse than Latios in the tier, and Alakazam. In the end, with such a prominent Pokémon being kicked out of the tier right in the middle of BDSPPL, we hope to see a lot of new metagame developments to keep the tier as exciting and as fun as ever.

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