Lugia, The Diving Pokémon. It is so powerful even a light fluttering of its wings can blow apart houses. As a result, it chooses to live out of sight deep under the sea. It is said to be the guardian of the seas. It is rumored to have been seen on the night of a storm. It is said that it quietly spends its time deep at the bottom of the sea because its powers are too strong. It sleeps in a deep-sea trench. If it flaps its wings, it is said to cause a 40-day storm. .

Overview

Lugia takes hits like a planet. It takes a lot to hurt it badly. It has loads of support options, and can even go offensive if you want to surprise the opponent. Amazing stats, amazing movepool; Lugia is a great choice for a physical wall on your uber team.

Ability

Pressure: there are a lot of low PP powerhouse moves running through ubers, and when you take Lugia's survivability into account, you realise how useful Pressure is.

Move Sets

Physical Wall

- Reflect
- Roost
- Whirlwind / Ice Beam
- Ice Beam / Toxic
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 192 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Although Lugia still takes hits like a mountain, mountains do crumble eventually. Reflect is a way to halt any incoming physical attacker and survive all of the hits they can throw out. Roost is an amazing recovery move as it gets rid of Lugia's troublesome Rock weakness, which everyone seems to love abusing. Whirlwind lets you phase the enemy as well as build up residual damage through Spikes and Stealth Rock. Ice Beam lets you counter the physical dragon types in ubers a lot better, as you can ruin them all with one move. Toxic is a great move on Lugia as you can stall and stall till the cows come home, just watching their damage go up and up. It is also awesome for catching any switch ins that can beat Lugia.

Trick Specs

- Ice Beam
- Thunder
- Roost
- Trick
Item Attached: Choice Specs
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 200 HP / 116 SpA / 192 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

A more offensive Lugia, and it packs a punch. Ice Beam is a great move in ubers and on Lugia, and when combined with Thunder, the pair have awesome coverage. Roost is vital to survival after passing on Choice Specs, as you will have taken a beating through damage and Stealth Rock. Trick is obviously required for a Trick Specs set. It can completely shut down a list of Pokémon that switch into Lugia, which is one less Pokémon your team has to handle.

Calm Mind

- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Ice Beam
- Thunder
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 64 Def / 192 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Calm Mind lets Lugia become an offensive and defensive powerhouse. It already has obscene Special Defence and an ok Special Attack, so boosting them both helps out a lot. Roost is obviously there because it is the best recovery move for Lugia, and possibly in the game. Ice Beam and Thunder have great coverage in ubers and are both high power moves. The best choices to use for this set, without a doubt.

Trick Band

- Trick
- Roost / Punishment
- Earthquake
- Avalanche
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 52 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Can't beat a good gimmick set. Trick works in the same way as it does on the Choice Specs set, but passes Choice Band this time. Roost lets Lugia keep its massive survivability after forcing the Band on the unsuspecting enemy. Punishment is a great move for wrecking Calm Mind Mewtwo, Latias and Latios, other Lugia, Giratina-O, anything weak to Dark that stats up. Earthquake hurts Steel types a lot, and is a great move in general, with good coverage when combined with Avalanche, which sorts out any Flying types that want to take an Earthquake.

EVs and Nature:

Physical Wall
192 Speed with Timid outspeeds any non-scarf Garchomp. Max HP hits a Leftovers number and hits maximum survivability. Rest in Defence lets Lugia take hits from Groudon, Rayquaza and Garchomp.

Trick Specs
Still primarily defensive, you can throw more EVs into Special Attack if you think you will be dealing damage with Lugia rather than trying to disable a counter.

Calm Mind
Exactly the same as the Physical Wall as Lugia will be boosting its Special Attack and Special Defence anyway.

Trick Band
Maximum Attack here as Lugia will want the surprise factor to be hitting as hard as possible. 204 Speed outspeeds Jolly Dialga and any other base 90s. Rest in HP to survive more hits.

Other Options

Aeroblast, Earth Power, Light Screen, Psych Up, Thunder Wave, Weather Ball

Aeroblast is a STAB special move that can find a way onto the Choice Specs set to lay the smackdown on… a lot. Sadly, Roost is simply better, I feel.

Earth Power can get onto the Calm Mind set or Specs set as a way to beat Dialga and Metagross.

Light Screen lets Lugia take massive damage from the special side of things as well as the physical. However, this uses up a useful slot when Lugia already has obnoxious Special Defence.

Psych Up is a gimmicky move that can steal you a lot of Calm Mind boosts for free.

Thunder Wave could work well due to Lugia's high Speed, but sadly, a few Pokémon Lugia is designed to beat are Ground type.

Weather Ball is a great choice as Kyogre and Groudon are both popular Pokémon, which means a base 100 Water attack or base 100 Fire move.

Countering Lugia

Steel types are the way to go. Dialga, Metagross and Forretress all take hits from Lugia, are immune to Toxic, and can hit back hard. Tyranitar can Pursuit, Stone Edge and Crunch Lugia while taking no damage from its special moves. Wobbufett is a massive pain for Lugia, as long as it can avoid Toxic. Taunt destroys Lugia, as it needs to recover to keep its walling up. Mewtwo dominates it with Taunt Calm Mind, as does Darkrai. Toxic really ruins Lugia, as it can't heal through Toxic and direct damage.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Trade from EFRLG (RS) Navel Rock (Em) Colosseum/XD Trade from EFRLG (Col)Snagged from Cipher Boss Greevil in Citadark Isle (XD) Fire Red/Leaf Green Navel Rock Diamond/Pearl/Platinum Trade from FRLGEHGSS HeartGold/SoulSilver Whirl Islands

Animé Appearences

Lugia has had a few Animé Appearences. First it appeared in the Orange Islands when Lawrence III was capturing the three birds to awaken it. After that, a parent and child Lugia were captured by Team Rocket in the Whirl Islands. The rest of its appearances are cameos. The Power of One Episode 212: Around the Whirlpool Episode 216: Mantine Overboard Episode 221: Hi Ho Silver...Away! Episode 222: The Mystery is History! Episode 223: A Parent Trapped! Episode 224: A Promise is a Promise Jirachi - Wish Maker The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon Pokémon Ranger & The Temple of the Sea The Rise of Darkrai Giratina & The Sky Warrior Arceus & The Jewel of Life Episode 611: An Egg Scramble