Hello and welcome to “Don’t Use That: Use This!”, a new series where we will talk about common sets seen on the ladder that are, at least somewhat, suboptimal compared to more commonly used sets.

My name is PoMMan and today I will be talking about Calm Mind Lugia, a set that is unfortunately seen rather often on the Ubers ladder.

(The Appeal) (aka why it is used to begin with)
On paper, Calm Mind Lugia looks like a solid option: an offensive Calm Mind user with fantastic physical bulk that can find a lot of room to set up, as it becomes progressively more difficult to make even so much as a dent after a Calm Mind boost or two, similar to Calm Mind Clefable in OU.

(Why it Doesn’t Work)
Unfortunately, this beast in theory doesn’t end up doing well in practice. With an initial base 90 special attack, it is incredibly weak by Ubers standards. In comparison to behemoths like Xerneas and Kyogre, its attacks are pitifully weak, and in a metagame where the special walls are focused on beating Pokemon such as these, Lugia finds itself not troubling them often. In addition to this, it has very poor STAB coverage in Ubers. Flying is a resist that is almost mandatory for teams to have due to the influx of Salamence and Ho-oh, and Psychic is very poor coverage partner for the almost required Aeroblast on this set, and Calm Mind Lugia will frequently be seen carrying the pathetically weak Ice Beam for non-stab coverage that barely dents most of the special walls in the tier. Coupled with Aeroblast’s poor PP and, well, Lugia isn’t breaking any holes in teams, let alone sweeping them, without a considerable amount of luck.

(What Should Be Used Instead)
If you are looking to use Lugia in particular, the Defensive set resulted in Lugia acquiring the nickname “The Great Wall of Ubers” and is immensely difficult to take down given the right support. It acts as a very good check to most of the most threatening of sweepers in the ubers metagame, especially the physically inclined ones such as Ekiller Arceus and Salamence, and provided multiscale is still intact, it can check almost all pokemon in Ubers, with a grand total of two pokemon, Kyurem-White and Zekrom, capable of boasting the ability to OHKO lugia. In addition to this, Lugia can take on a majority of pokemon that are slower than it one-on-one thanks to residual damage caused by toxic and being able to use roost to restore multiscale and eliminate its Flying typing for a turn. If you are looking for other offensive Calm Mind users that also have defensive utility, there are a myriad of good Calm Mind Arceus formes, such as Arceus Ghost, Arceus Rock, Arceus Ice and Arceus Dark, and other Pokemon such as Kyogre, the Lati twins and Xerneas can all set up on the special side and threaten teams a lot more than Calm Mind Lugia will.

I hope you enjoyed this edition of “Don’t Use That: Use This!” I suggest you leave comments below of sets you think should be featured on “Don’t Use That: Use This!” and we might see the comment and choose to do an edition of it. Have a nice day.