Tag: Ludicolo

How-to Play Ludicolo

Posted on by Kendall

Rain = Good

I love Ludicolo. But that doesn't mean that everybody does. I can accept that. I think that one of the reasons he is not well played is because people don't understand his strengths.

Both of his abilities only work in rain.

If you are serious about playing the character you will need to keep this in mind.

Swift Swim allows him to be a Rain sweeper while Rain Dish gives him a a free second Leftovers.

But he can work without it.

Albeit not as well.

I find it hard to really give a comprehensive example of this, in so far as far as strategies for winning go, but I will say that it is possible. You can win, I mean, not amazingly well, but he can do it.

Probably the best bet would be a special wall, as Grass / Water is a pretty interesting typing. Unfortunately not very many resists, but his weaknesses (except for Flying) aren't exactly super common.

You can use either Synthesis or Giga Drain as the Insta-heal. Synthesis is good because it's a set amount, but Giga Drain is also good because it deals damage.

It's up to personal preference.

Surf is there because dealing damage is good, and Water is a pretty good attacking type.

Also to make sure Ludicolo doesn't just get Taunted and be unable to do anything, especially if you choose Synthesis.

If you run Giga Drain, though, it might be useful to use Rain Dance to guarantee the Rain Dish extra HP.

Just don't use Rain Dance and Synthesis, because rain makes Synthesis preform worse.

Maybe you won't use him in you main group. But he is worth playing. And if you are like me, and don't mind making a fun group, you may make one focused around him.

Fan Favorite: Mon Ludicolo

Posted on by Kendall

I like Ludicolo. Still wen you compare Ludicolo to mons like Shiftry you can tell he got the short end of the stick when it comes to movepools, but it more than makes up for it with a good defensive typing, far better niche in weather with Swift Swim, and ability to wall common Water type threats.

Abilities:

  1. Swift Swim
  2. Rain Dish
  3. Own Tempo
  • HP: 80
  • ATK: 70
  • DEF: 70
  • SPA: 90
  • SPD: 100
  • SPE: 70

I'm a huge fan of this cheerful Pokemon and still one since Ruby and Sapphire. I just can't help but to dance when it listens to music, wears a leaf sombrero and is often depicted carrying maracas and having one heck of a good time.

One of the more interesting things about Ludicolo is its unique typing, which negates several of the weaknesses that pure Water and pure Grass Pokémon have. Nothing makes me happier than using Rain Dish Rain Dance. What a great combination. Plus who can resist the charisma of a giant dacing Mexican pineapple duck. Or is it supposed to be a platypus? I don't know.

Ludicolo is awesome exactly because it's so strange which all just adds up to Ludicolo being my favorite mon.

It has been amazing going through the games and seeing them grow into the phenomenon that it is today.

Pokémon for Rainy Days

Posted on by Kendall

If you feel like gambling, most Swamps only put in 140 EV's into speed (to Outspeed Scarf-Lando-T in Rain). So if you instead want to got Modest for more power in other situations, only put 148 into speed, and play for bulk with the rest. This build Will OHKO what it is designed to beat, but you will easily drain off any damage done to you if if it is faster or too bulky, where Swamps ice punch does the most damage.

I simply put the leftover EVs in Special Defense after investing in speed and Special attack. This was a choice to get more worth out of the Assault Vest and greater effective returns from Giga Drain, but you can choose to put the 108 into HP instead, if you want physical bulk. Scald is pretty helpful for that also.

If you really want bulk, you can modify the set even further to bare minimum Special Attack investment for the important KOs. Did come calcs for the main threats that Ludicolo is for (based on what you said):

  • 156 SpA Ludicolo Giga Drain vs. 116 HP / 0 SpD Mega Swampert: 192-228 (101 – 120%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 8 SpA Ludicolo Ice Beam vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Landorus-T: 168-200 (101.8 – 121.2%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • 220 SpA Ludicolo Giga Drain vs. 252 HP / 148 SpD Rotom-W: 84-98 (53.5 – 62.4%) — guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery (all sitrus berry users will be 3HKO, D:)

Mega Swampert in the Rain hits hard! It will likely heavily damage if not KO Ludi's partner if you can't bring it down.

One typically has to protect the previous turn with whatever partner to safely switch in Ludi beside it, So the smart player will go for the exposed partner. Oddly, switching swamp on sight of Ludicolo isn't common in my experience with the scenario, they don't want to waste limited rain time I assume.

So in theory, you could drop to only 220 EV's Special attack to allow for more defensive investment. This gives you 140 EVs to place defensively, Where I still recommend Special defense exclusively.

In the end though, Giga draining proper targets for more damage really helps your bulk as well.

To Summarize:

  • [0/0/0/252/84/172] Timid to outspeed any adamant M-Swamps — 252 SpA Ludicolo Giga Drain vs. 4 HP / 0 SpD Mega Swampert: 192-228 (109 – 129.5%) — guaranteed OHKO
  • [0/0/0/252/108/148] Modest to outspeed common M-Swamps ONLY. — 252 SpA Ludicolo Giga Drain vs. 0 HP / 0 SpD Mega Swampert: 204-244 (116.5 – 139.4%) — guaranteed OHKO

Again, this is all for a Rain counter/Bulky Fake Out Ludicolo I built for a recent team. It also performs very well against the common bulky waters of the meta such as Milotic/Rotom-W/Jellicent/Suicune.

This leads to a final spread of [0/0/0/220/140/148 Modest].

Slightly more bulky than the other set, but deals enough damage when it counts. I still run the [0/0/0/252/108/148 Modest] On my team though.