In the moonlight n°23: Lugia and Ho-Oh

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Lugia and Ho-Oh are the main legendary Pokemon from Gen 2, one represents Silver version while the other represents Gold. Each is the master of a trio without being even part of it: Lugia rules the Gen 1 Bird Trio while Ho-Oh rules the Gen 2 Legendary Beasts that he brought back to life. They are the Tower Duo, the guardians, Lugia being the Guardian of the seas and Ho-Oh the Guardian of the skies.

Comparing them to each other: Lugia and Ho-Oh share a base stat total of 680 and are the very first Pokemon to appear with that BST. They have the same bases but in different stats: Lugia is totally defensive with 106/90/130/90/154/110, combining great bulk and speed, enabling it to stall and anticipate while striking hard enough from time to time, and Ho-Oh is more offensive but still quite bulky with 106/130/90/110/154/90, enabling it to hit hard and take good hits.
About the abilities: they share Pressure, which forces the opponent to spend one extra PP per move, making them even better stallers, and have distinct hidden abiltities, great for stall as well: Multiscale for Lugia (halves the damage taken at full health) and Regenerator for Ho-Oh (regains 1/3 HP on switch-out). They're great both offensively and defensively, and do quite well in Ubers.


Comparing them to Mewtwo: Lugia and Ho-Oh are often seen as a duo, but what I see is a trio with Mewtwo, because they all have the same bases in different stats. Mewtwo has 106/110/90/154/90/130 being the fast sweeper of the trio while Lugia is the Great Wall and Ho-Oh the bulky sweeper. Mewtwo also has the ability Pressure, like the other two, and was THE Pokemon to catch in Gen 1 while Lugia and Ho-Oh were in Gen 2. I think Lugia and Ho-Oh were an answer to Mewtwo: one genetically engineered war machine and two defensive, naturally born guardians. Another difference is the generation they're from: Lugia and Ho-Oh are the first Pokemon to appear with a BST of 680 because Mewtwo appeared with only five stats, making a total of 590, later modified with Gen 2 to reach 680.


How to play them?

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Lugia: Uber tier. First a Smogon ultra defensive set, The Great Wall. Multiscale + leftovers. The use of Roost can help you activate Multiscale more than once. For the second move, either Thunder Wave to block the opponent while you slowly kill it, or Toxic to stall it out. Then, Whirlwind or Dragon Tail to play with hazards or remove opposing stat boosts. I personally prefer Dragon Tail because at least it does damage instead of just delaying the fight, but Whirlwind does bypass Substitute. Then, you have either Substitute to stall the opponent to death and become a hide and seek master or Aeroblast to show the opponent you're actually here to fight despite a stall set. Great as a wall, but doesn't use Lugia's full potential. 248 HP 252+ SpD 8 Def.


The set I use on Lugia uses more of its potential, making it semi-offensive. You have huge defenses but also decent power, you use them all. Multiscale and leftovers to last, and don't forget Roost. With Calm Mind, you raise your already high special defense as well as your special attack to hit hard enough, and then you use Aeroblast (power 150 with flying STAB and has a high crit ratio). For the last move, I'd say either Psyshock to hit special walls harder or Reflect to balance your bulk. 248 HP 252+ Def 8 SpA. You don't need to boost special stats because you can get them high enough with Calm Mind, and the combination of Multiscale, high raw stats, leftovers, Roost and Reflect can give Lugia enough time to max its special attack out, unless Toxic is used.

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Ho-Oh: Uber tier. Here are three different sets. The first one is a tank set I used, and Smogon turns out to give a similar set as well. Regenerator with leftovers, and you can also get Roost just in case. Then, Sacred Fire for a fire STAB move (150 and 50% chance to burn), Brave Bird for a flying STAB move (180) but with the recoil damage it's better to have healing moves such as Roost, as well as Regenerator because after all, Ho-Oh is a phoenix and can be reborn again and again. The last move is Earthquake for coverage. 248 HP 252+ Atk 8 Def. Smogon gives a different EV set but oh well, this one works too.

The second set is also from Smogon. Regenerator choice band. You want to wall his move with a rock type? Joke's on you, he can heal on switch-out, and as Ho-Oh can switch a lot, you can as well include a Groudon in your team to set sun and increase Sacred Fire's power up to 225. Brave Bird and Earthquake complete Ho-Oh's coverage and the fourth move is meant for the likes of Darkrai: faster than Ho-Oh and well-known sleeping moves spammers, they put Ho-Oh to sleep and cry after seing him use Sleep Talk, randomly using either of his three offensive moves, and increasing their power with the choice band.

The third set is mine, that I used while testing Mega-Mewtwo-Y: dual screen bulky attacker. Because Ho-Oh still has a decent defense and great special defense, you can reinforce them with both Reflect and Light Screen and enable it to last quite long while unloading Sacred Fire and Brave Bird. Regenerator and leftovers complete that bulky set, and the screens can even give you a safer switch. 248 HP 252+ Atk 8 Def.


Lugia and Ho-Oh are very good legendary Pokemon, do fairly well in Ubers without having a ridiculous advantage (no, even Lugia's defense isn't perfect) and are most majestic than most Pokemon (say what? Xerne-who?) besides the fact that they're the very first main legendaries. Please don't mention Mewtwo, he's a clone, not a true legendary.

By Champion Blackwolf. I don't own the pictures. Next topic: Shedinja.

Good article as always. Calm mind lugia seems to be interesting but the main problem with it is it's way to passive and pretty much any special walls can force it out. Flying main attack is bad because every team has a flying resist in ubers and psychic doesn't hit much that aeroblast can't hit. It's usually probably better to just use calm mind latias/latios instead because how much more power they get. It's notable that latias hits harder than a +2 lugia. Arceus forms are also good replacement for having good bulk and a lot more power and good coverage.
I like the hooh dual screen set, it's a good way for your pokemon to get a free switchin and hooh can switch in things all day and set screen up. Light clay might be better for that set for the screens tho, I guess that depends on your needs.