Lanturn Pokedex Number - 171 Type(s) - Base Stats - 125 HP / 58 Atk / 58 Def / 76 SAtk / 76 SDef / 6

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Lanturn Pokedex Number - 171 Type(s) - Base Stats - 125 HP / 58 Atk / 58 Def / 76 SAtk / 76 SDef / 67 Spe Abilities Illuminate - Increases encounter rate Volt Absorb - Restores 25% HP if hit by an Electric type move. Water Absorb (Hidden)- Restores 25% HP if hit by a Water type move New Moves: Soak- Changes the opponent's type to water Eerie Impulse- Lowers the opponent's Sp. Atk stat by 2 stages Ion Deluge- All Normal type moves used in the turn become electric type moves Other Notable Moves: led light bar Discharge Aqua Ring Ice Beam Thunderbolt Volt Switch Charge Beam Thunder Wave Scald Dazzling Gleam Ice Beam Signal Beam Toxic Swagger Stockpile Heal Bell You might think I'm crazy for thinking Lanturn is viable in OU. All of it's stats save HP are poor, and worse, it's seemingly outclassed by Rotom-W. However does happen to have a fantastic typing, great ability, and quire a large movepool. It is the latter two that allow Lanturn to stand out from Rotom-W in certain cases. So what has changed from last gen? Well, Lanturn finally did learn Soak, making it likely the most viable user of the move, but it is incompatible with Heal Bell, and doesn't seem to do much good in OU. What's more important is that the metagame has shifted in a way that has allowed Electric/Water types like Rotom-W and Lanturn to thrive, so Lanturn's distinct niches can shine more. Potential Movesets name: Heal Bell move 1: Volt Switch move 2: Thunder Wave move 3: Swagger/Confuse Ray/Scald/Ice Beam move 4: Heal Bell ability: Volt Absorb item: Leftovers nature: Calm evs: 4HP/ 252 Def/ 252 SDef Heal Bell is the main move that allows Lanturn to shine in OU. Unlike Vaporeon, the other common water cleric, Lanturn isn't set up bait and can maintain momentum via Volt Switch. Thunder Wave cripples non Ground or Electric type sweepers, while Swagger and Scald threaten physical attackers. Most notably, the Parafusion combo Lanturn is capable of inflicting allow it to use Volt Switch to safely bring in any other Pokemon. All of this gives Lanturn fantastic opportunities to use Heal Bell to clear team status. Even if you don't paralyze, Lanturn's low speed can be a boon in allowing it to tank a hit before Volt Switching. Running Volt Absorb grants Lanturn a means of recovery in addition to a key immunity to Electric. When combined with resistances to the other common special attacking types of Fire, Ice, and Water, this gives Lanturn very good special tanking potential. This set also has the benefit of being a hard counter to its oft overshadowing cousin,Rotom-W. The most damage Rotom-W can do to Lanturn is with Hydro Pump. 252+ SpA Rotom-W Hydro Pump vs. 0 HP / 252 SpD Lanturn: led light bar 80-94 (20.4 - 24%) -- possible 6HKO after Leftovers recovery Lanturn can clear burns and is immune to Rotom's Volt Switch. Meanwhile it can confuse led light bar Rotom and/or safely switch to something else with it's own Volt Switch. Checks and Counters Lanturn users should look out for all Ground led light bar types, but Garchomp and Landorus (both T and I) are the most concerning, Scald and Ice Beam won't KO them, and the best you can do is confuse them on switch in. In turn they can OHKO with Earthquake or Earth Power. Additionally, due to its lack of reliable recovery, led light bar Lanturn absolutely hates Knock Off, and Taunt makes it difficult to do much. Areas Lanturn stands out -One of only a handful pokemon that has access to a switching move (U-Turn/Volt Switch) and a healing move (Heal Bell/Aromatherapy). The others worth noting are Celebi and Ampharos. Where Lanturn stands out is in its resistance to Ice in addition to Electric and Water, allowing it shut down several Water types. -One of only two fully-evolved led light bar pokemon with Electric/Water typing. Lanturn stands out with Heal Bell and Volt Absorb -The only Electric-Immune pokemon that can heal status, and one of only three Electric-Immune pokemon that resist Ice (Others are Seaking and Mamoswine). Concluding Thoughts Lanturn has poor stats, no reliable recovery, and is EQ weak, so it's led light bar not going to be the King of OU anytime soon. However, because of its fantastic typing and Heal Bell, it can stand out on occasion. Lanturn has always been one of my favorite Pokemon, and I'm glad it gets a chance to shine this gen.
I definitely think Lanturn is a viable cleric. Volt Switch led light bar is a nice move for a cleric to have, as is confuse ray, and I believe it's the only cleric to know both. Scald also is a great move choice, as it mitigates its biggest flaw in its poor, but not terrible, 125/56 physical bulk. Thunder wave is also great, as it makes it so that it can never be used as setup fodder. It's too bad you can't fit these 5 great moves on one moveset, but I still think Lanturn is viable. It also is able to walk over the most comm