Pokemon of the Week #13 - Keldeo

Professor Palutena

Professor Palutena

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Big adventure
Tons of fun
A beautiful heart
Faithful and strong
Sharing kindness
It's an easy feat
And magic makes it all complete
You have my little ponies
Do you know you're all my very best friends?

Yes, I like Keldeo lots now shut up. :p

Keldeo's a pretty fun Pokemon. But it really came in at the wrong time. With BW2 giving us Tornadus-T, Thundurus-T and Amoonguss all in one fell swoop, Keldeo's potential has really taken a hit. That doesn't mean that Keldeo is bad by any stretch of the word. It's just not as easy to use as one would thing.

Take Terrakion, swap its offensive stats around and give it a typing that gives it additional STAB in the most common weather. In a nutshell, that's Keldeo. It's Hydro Pump is incredibly powerful after a Calm Mind or with Choice Specs. Secret Sword is incredible for it, as it bypasses Blissey who would otherwise fully stop it, as well as getting past Ferrothorn as well. Also, Keldeo is incredibly hard to change the weather against, as Ttar, Ninetales and Abomasnow all fall to a STAB attack. Keldeo may have a narrow movepool (Hydro Pump, Secret Sword, Icy Wind and Hidden Power is just enough for a specs set), but Keldeo's Specs Hydro Pump in rain is so easy to spam if your opponent lacks an immunity to it that it really doesn't matter.

Alright guys, let's talk ponies for a week.

inb4 pmj
 
I use a Keldeo on most of my teams nowadays. It's just so powerful no matter what set it uses, be it CM, Specs, SubCM, or SubSalac even (love that last one). My most used would have to be SubSalac though, as it can get through its faster checks all day, somewhat like a more powerful SubPetaya Empoleon.

Keldeo @ Salac Berry
Timid
252 SAtk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Justified
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Hydro Pump / Surf
- Secret Sword

It may be walled cold by Jellicent, but I also have a Thundurus-T most of the time. This set plays like a SubCM mostly, but when it gets to 25%, it becomes a Scarfer with a potential CM boost that can change moves. Can you say Water Volcarona? Tornadus-T and Thundurus-T are OHKOed in the rain by Hydro Pump while being simultaneously outsped. You may use Surf if you favor accuracy too. There are 4 SDef EVs instead of HP because it can activate the Salac Berry after 3 Subs instead of 4 that way.

I advise that every team pack a counter/faster check to this Pokemon, especially if you don't run Rain, where Keldeo's counters/checks thrive. Celebi, Latias, and Slowking appear to be the best defensive counters, with the latter two having Psyshock to OHKO it with. NP Celebi is great too, as a +2 Leaf Storm overpowers about any Keldeo. Scarf Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T are threats, but they must watch out for the monster I described above.

tl;dr- Keldeo is a monster the equivalent of Terrakion, where every team must reliably beat it, or it will beat you.

~AoH
 
Another reason why Slowking is pretty sweet in this metagame

I haven't used Keldeo yet, but from what I've seen it really struggles in this metagame, with Bulky Waters, Lati@s, powerful Electric types, and Amoonguss running around. It also doesn't have the best speed tier, not good but not bad. It does catch unprepared teams, but with the current meta Keldeo is going to be having a tough time.
 
I've been using Keldeo for a long time now, having topped DW OU with it. The Sub Salac idea is pretty bad, AoH, because you are not only completely vulnerable to Jellicent, but new threats open up such as Gyarados, Dragonite, Amoongus, Latias, Celebi, etc etc etc. I know the 3rd slot has it's ups and downs depending on the hidden power you choose, but this is the set I run:

Keldeo @ Leftovers
Timid
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Justified
- Calm Mind
- Surf
- Secret Sword
- Hidden Power Electric/Ghost/Ice
 
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I'm sorry, but I find Keldeo too lolsy to use, with common cores that have Amoonguss, as well as Slowbro, not to mention the common Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T, I really don't care for using it. Not only that, but Latias can easily set up in its face, unless it has HP Ghost, even then, Latias still has the CM boost, so gg. /is ready for the people to flame me and tell me how wrong I am


- Not trying to troll or anything, but I saw how Cooltrainer Alan got ganged up on and figured I'd say something ahead of time.
 
Equinox said:
I'm sorry, but I find Keldeo too lolsy to use, with common cores that have Amoonguss, as well as Slowbro, not to mention the common Thundurus-T and Tornadus-T, I really don't care for using it. Not only that, but Latias can easily set up in its face, unless it has HP Ghost, even then, Latias still has the CM boost, so gg. /is ready for the people to flame me and tell me how wrong I am
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Every Pokemon has counters. Keldeo's are common. That doesn't mean Keldeo is bad. It just means you need to beat those counters (oh look, Tyranitar eats Latias for breakfast. Oh look, Latias beats the Therians. Bam, offensive core).

Look at Tyranitar, and all it has problems with. It struggles against rain offense, its got Scizor who is the most used Pokemon. Its got OU's load of Fighting-types (Virizion, Lucario, Terrakion, Conkeldurr, etc etc). Then look at Tyranitar's usage. It's number 3. Even if your easily countered, it doesn't mean your bad.

That being said, I do agree that it is rather easy to prepare for. But that's good. Because once it sets up, you aren't stopping it without Psyshock Latias or Starmie.
 
Bippa said:
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Every Pokemon has counters. Keldeo's are common. That doesn't mean Keldeo is bad. It just means you need to beat those counters (oh look, Tyranitar eats Latias for breakfast. Oh look, Latias beats the Therians. Bam, offensive core).

Look at Tyranitar, and all it has problems with. It struggles against rain offense, its got Scizor who is the most used Pokemon. Its got OU's load of Fighting-types (Virizion, Lucario, Terrakion, Conkeldurr, etc etc). Then look at Tyranitar's usage. It's number 3. Even if your easily countered, it doesn't mean your bad.

That being said, I do agree that it is rather easy to prepare for. But that's good. Because once it sets up, you aren't stopping it without Psyshock Latias or Starmie.
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Good point, albeit Keldeo still has several walls - quite a few of which gives your opponent a free turn :p
 
You're still giving the same argument - if you have other teammates that can deal with things that wall Keldeo, then you shouldn't worry. That's like saying Scizor is bad because of Jellicent.

Keldeo is a great Pokemon, and gives players another excellent reason to use rain. That Hydro Pump just tears through almost anything that switches in on it, which make Keldeo counters a necessity to any team. In short, it's one of those Pokemon that can easily sweep through your team if you're not prepared for it.
 
Emvee said:
I've been using Keldeo for a long time now, having topped DW OU with it. The Sub Salac idea is pretty bad, AoH, because you are not only completely vulnerable to Jellicent, but new threats open up such as Gyarados, Dragonite, Amoongus, Latias, Celebi, etc etc etc.
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It runs like SubCM, which is fairly popular on Smogon RMTs lately. Just add the fact that it can acquire a Scarf boost. (Also, look in the Creative Movesets thread on Smogon for more info on that set.)

~AoH
 
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