Ledian, The Five Star Pokémon. It uses starlight as energy. When more stars appear at night, the patterns on its back grow larger. When the stars flicker in the night sky, it flutters about, scattering a glowing powder. The star patterns on its back grow larger or smaller depending on the number of stars in the night sky. It is said that in lands with clean air, where the stars fill the sky, there live many Ledian. For good reason, they use the light of the stars as energy.
Overview
Two weeks ago, I said Venomoth had a hard time. Compared to Ledian, life is charmed for Venomoth. A 4x weakness to Stealth Rock, a massive stack of weaknesses from being a Bug-Flying type, a mass of competition from other Bug-Flying types and weak stats except Special Defence and Speed makes battling life near intolerable for this unfortunate bug. It's stuck firmly in the Neverused tier, with little hope of really crawling out of that environment.
Ability
Early Bird: reduces the duration of sleep by 50%. It's occasionally useful if you get caught up in a sleep status, but in most cases you'll want to run with Swarm (since a 50% duration still risks being caught in sleep long enough to be KOed. After all, Ledian doesn't make life difficult for any Pokémon intending to KO it).
Swarm: boosts the power of Bug moves by 50% when Ledian's HP is at a 1/3rd or less. It's decent and offers some fair competition if you're carrying a decent Bug move.
Move Sets
Baton Passer
- Baton Pass
- Swords Dance / Agility
- Bug Buzz | Aerial Ace / Bug Bite
- Encore
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Swarm / Early Bird
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spd / 4 SDef
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk) | Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
The best tools at Ledian's disposal are boosting moves and Baton Pass. Of the moves it can pass, Swords Dance is probably the better of the two. Agility is great if you have a slow Pokémon with superb attacking skills, but it's easier to find a Pokémon of decent Speed and average Attack to power up.
Bug Buzz is Ledian's best STAB move, but if you're using Swords Dance you might want to consider a physical move. Sadly, it's doesn't have a move that matches Bug Buzz for initial power, with the weak Aerial Ace and Bug Bite providing the best options for physical STAB.
Encore makes for a good “trick up its sleeve” kind of move. Ledian has a good immunity (Ground) and a couple of 4x resistances (Fighting and Grass), giving it some decent switch-in options; and paired with Encore, it can force an opponent into repeating these moves hopelessly. The other good opportunities come from encoring non-offensive moves. It's a very handy option to give it a chance to kick off a successful Baton Pass.
Support
- Light Screen / Reflect / Knock Off
- Light Screen / Reflect / Knock Off
- Encore / Roost
- Bug Buzz
Item Attached: Leftovers / Light Clay
Ability: Swarm / Early Bird
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
Ledian has some decent supporting moves, making a supporting move-set relatively viable. It can throw up Light Screen or Reflect for a useful defensive boost for both itself and its team (and feel free to use Light Clay if you do use them), whilst Knock Off provides an additional disruptive option.
To go alongside the supporting pair you choose, Ledian needs a move to help with this process. Roost combines nicely with the screens to provide some reliable healing to keep it nice and healthy. Encore functions here like it does with the above set, where you use it to buy yourself the opportunity to kick off a supporting move relatively unharmed.
Bug Buzz rounds things off, giving you some reliable STAB to work with.
EVs and Nature:
You'll want absolute max Speed, since you'll want to kick off whatever move you decide to use as soon as possible. Aside from the obvious advantages gained by being able to boost, throw up a screen or pass first, striking first also really helps when using Encore. With your remaining EVs you may as well max your HP and try your best to take advantage of Ledian's respectable Special Defence stat.
Other Options
Substitute.
Although there are a couple of decent moves out there, Substitute (and maybe a boosting Berry) is about as good as it gets for any moves that can viably slot onto Ledian's move-sets. It can Baton Pass Substitutes, or pass any berry boosts it gets from dropping its HP, making it mildly usable as an option.
Countering Ledian
As a Baton Passer, the real difficulty in countering Ledian isn't KOing it, but rather stopping it from performing its duty, which is to Baton Pass stat boosts to better equipped team-mates. In particular, Ledian makes this task difficult by carrying Encore, a move that can really punish any mistake made.
Taunt is probably the best counter, since it prevents Ledian from doing anything short of weak direct attacks. Roar, Whirlwind and Haze are your best alternatives for actually forcing away stat-boosts. In the end though, you're probably best off just attacking Ledian. It's got enough big weaknesses to target, and it can't be a nuisance when it's been KOed. A huge 50% Stealth Rock weakness helps this along, so if you can throw up a set of those, you're good to go.
Locations in Games
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Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Trade from FRLGCXD Colosseum/XD Snagged from Cipher Peon Kloak in The Under (Col) Evolve Ledyba (XD) Fire Red/Leaf Green Evolve Ledyba Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Route 229 - Morning HeartGold/SoulSilver Trade from DPPtSS (HeartGold) Route 2 - Morning, Viridian Forest - Headbutt (SoulSilver)
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Animé Appearences
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Ledian has had a few Animé Appearences, although most are cameos. First, Benji used one to assist him in the mountains. After that, one was used in a variety of contests and later, Aaron had one help him.
Mewtwo Returns |
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