Pok�mon of the Week

Keldeo, The Colt Pok�mon. By blasting water from its hooves, it can glide across water. It excels at using leg moves while battling. It crosses the world, running over the surfaces of oceans and rivers. It appears at scenic waterfronts.

Keldeo is the fourth muskedeer and arguably the most powerful. Its STAB Hydro Pump is one of the most deadly forces in standard play. It also makes use of Secret Sword, a Special Fighting move that hits the opponent's Physical Defense. This allows Keldeo to run through things like Gastrodon and Blissey who would otherwise survive a Hydro Pump. Keldeo also gets Calm Mind to boost its horrifyingly powerful Special Attack further. Sadly the good news pretty much stops there. Keldeo's movepool is barren. While it has Hidden Power and now Icy Wind to try and supplement its mighty STAB moves it can really feel the limits of Water / Fighting coverage. It also can be pretty easily revenge KOed by Tornadus, Latios, Scarf Salamence and many other common Pokemon. That said Keldeo is a... err... Night-mare to switch into, possibly even more dangerous than Terrakion. When the skies darken and the rain begins to fall prepare yourselves as the final horse is approaching.

Justified: Raises Attack one stage when hit by a Dark move. Cool except for the one problem that Keldeo basically never uses it's attack. While nice on many other Pokemon, Justified is almost completely useless on Keldeo.

- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Hidden Power [Ghost] / [Ice]
- Calm Mind
Item Attached: Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

The bread-and-butter Keldeo set is the Calm Mind set. Used in the Rain Keldeo has such sheer power after a Calm Mind that it can smash aside a Salamence in one hit with Hydro Pump. Surf can be used if you prefer the accuracy over power but the difference is pretty massive. Hidden Power Ghost hits Latios, Latias, Celebi, Jellicent, Starmie, and Slowbro hard while Hidden Power Ice takes out the Lati twins, Celebi, Amoonguss, and Dragonite. Secret Sword is basically a slightly stronger Fighting type Psyshock that can devastate Blissey, Chansey, and Gastrodon without much trouble. Leftovers is the best item as it lets Keldeo set up on Jellicent without being worn down as easily and gives the pony the ability to try and sweep multiple times. Life Orb however is nice for the power boost that lets Hydro Pump turn whatever you're hitting into Mr. Hands.

- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power [Ghost]
- Icy Wind
Item Attached: Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

While Keldeo is usually a... one trick pony... it just barely has enough of a movepool to run Choice Specs set as well. Of course use this in the rain to give Hydro Pump so much power that even the gold standard of Special walling Blissey is cleanly 2HKOed. Secret Sword is nice for a complete OHKO on Blissey but also helps against Hydreigon and smashes Gastrodon. Hidden Power Ghost hits the vast majority of those that wall Water / Fighting for super-effective damage. Keep in mind Hydro Pump usually out-damages a Super Effective Hidden Power Ghost so it is only really useful against Jellicent and sort of Latias. Icy Wind is useful to 2HKO Dragonite, Latios and Latias as the speed drop prevents these Pokemon from having any chance of launching a second hit before you finish them. Keldeo doesn't learn Ice Beam for some reason sadly so Icy Wind will have to make due.

I really think - neigh, I insist! - you should go see the doctor. You're looking quite horse... you might be catching a colt! .

- Close Combat
- Aqua Tail
- Aqua Jet
- Swords Dance
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Justified
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)

Keldeo's Special Water moves are in third place for strongest in the game, only behind Palkia and Kyogre. So why would you use a Swords Dance set on something that has similar Special power to the aquatic gods of the Pokemon world? Well frankly there aren't many reasons to. Swords Dance is by far Keldeo's weakest set. It lacks the sheer destructive might of Calm Mind and Choice Specs but it does have some decent power. +2 Close Combat stings anything that doesn't resist it, OHKOing anything it hits Super Effective. Aqua Tail in the rain is surprisingly powerful. It packs enough power to even OHKO Skarmory after Stealth Rocks. What sets Keldeo apart from other Swords Dancers is its powerful rain boosted Aqua Jet. At +2 Aqua Jet OHKOs Jolteon, Dugtrio, Alakazam, Tornadus, Espeon, Gengar, Infernape, Terrakion, Thundurus and Landorus after Stealth Rocks allowing you to blow up the faster threats before they can even touch you. Also unlike other Swords Dancers Keldeo isn't particularly afraid of priority moves as it resists most of them. Adamant is the best nature as unlike the other sets that run Speed boosting nature Swords Dance Keldeo needs all the power it can get. Aqua Jet makes up for the speed loss against most things anyway. It isn't all good news for the sword-pony-horse thing. This set has absolutely no way around Jellicent. It also has basically no chance against Amoonguss or Celebi unless they are weakened to about 50-60%.

Keldeo
All sets want max speed and max whatever attacking stat you're using. Timid is better on the Special Attacker sets while Adamant is best on the Physical Attacker, as Keldeo needs all the power it can get.

Basically nothing. Keldeo's movepool is incredibly small. Work Up, Taunt, Stone Edge / X-Scissor and... That's it.
Work Up I'm only mentioning so you don't use it. The only way it would be remotely useful is to abuse Aqua Jet as Secret Sword already lets Keldeo go "mixed".
Taunt can slow down Jellicent and Slowbro but most of the time you're better off just pounding them with Hidden Power Ghost.
Stone Edge takes down Salamence and Gyarados while X-Scissor slays Celebi on the Swords Dance set. You can probably run one of them over Close Combat as in Rain Aqua Tail hits most things Close Combat does anyway.

Politoed is by far the best one... Almost a required partner. Politoed boosts Keldeo's Water moves with Drizzle while they can both bash through the opposing team with devastating Hydro Pumps. Rotom Wash enjoys Rain and can counter Jellicent and Tornadus whom both Politoed and Keldeo have trouble with. Celebi has good defensive synergy with Keldeo as they resist most of each other's weaknesses. Scizor can be used to Pursuit Latios and Latias so neither will be able to Psyshock Keldeo. Scizor also helps handle Dragonite to an extent.

Latios is enemy #1. It can survive any hit and OHKO with Psyshock or just Specs Draco Meteor. Celebi can survive pretty much anything Keldeo can do and KO back with repeated Giga Drains. Jellicent easily walls any Keldeo without Hidden Power Ghost however if it turns out to that it does run Ghost it will just set up several Calm Minds and sweep you. Choice Scarf Pokemon such as Thundurus, Terrakion, Landorus and Rotom Wash can all revenge kill Keldeo but can't actually switch in. Tornadus in either form outruns and OHKOs Keldeo with a devastating Hurricane however it has almost no chance of taking a Hydro Pump. Virizion survives a Calm Minded blow and OHKOs with Leaf Blade. Alternatively removing the Rain immediately neuters Keldeo's sweeping potential. Sunlight in particular slows Keldeo down to a crawl.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game.

Colosseum/XD:
Not in game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game.

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game.

Black/White:
Requires event

Black 2/White 2:
Requires event