Pokemon Focus: #171 - Lanturn

Introduction

Ah, Lanturn. A Pokemon with a huge amount of history, namely because of its standing as our favorite Pokemon of all time. It all happened one fateful day in Vermillion City, when a random fishing attempt with a Good Rod pulled up an unusual, never-before-seen Pokemon called Chinchou. Curious, I caught the Pokemon, and took a look... a Water-Electric type?! Water and Electric were my favorite Pokemon types back then, and to see a Pokemon that combined the two was beyond awesome. Not only that, but only a couple levels later, it evolved! Needless to say, that Pokemon, Lanturn, quickly became a mainstay of my team. (A later discovery of the effects of Rain Dance on Thunder only made it that much better.)

Then, 3rd Generation appeared, and with it came the much-heralded return of Chinchou and Lanturn... with a new twist: Volt Absorb. Lanturn already had a nice list of resistances, and had the honor of being one of the few Water-types not weak to electricity, but the addition of an ability that made it outright immune to Electric attacks only solidified its position as my favorite Pokemon of all-time.

Now, 4th Generation has arrived, albeit with few truly notable changes to Lanturn. The physical-special split does mean that it has to worry about a couple more things like physical Grass moves, but it also means that it has more types of special attacks it can resist. Still, for the most part, Lanturn remains unchanged and still serves much the same role as it does now: a unique Pokemon with one of the coolest dual-typings combined with one of the best abilities in the game, allowing it to serve as a nice little surprise in a number of situations.

Capture/Training

Chinchou can be caught as soon as you get the Good Rod, and likely also once you get Fly. From there, take a short flight back home to New Bark Town and fish one up. Fishing up a couple to get one with a good nature isn't a bad idea.

Chinchou evolves into Lanturn at Lv. 27. Viable moves to delay evolution for are: Signal Beam (4-level delay to learn 4 levels earlier), Discharge (7-level delay to learn 6 levels earlier), and Hydro Pump (15-level delay to learn 10 levels earlier). The latter two in particular fit into a handful of movesets, though neither are strictly necessary.

Statistics

125 HP, 58 Atk, 58 Def, 76 Sp. Atk, 76 Sp. Def, 67 Spd

That huge HP stat is the real winner here. Combined with Lanturn's nice list of resistances to common Special Attack types, it makes a surprisingly-good special wall. Meanwhile, while its Special Attack stat isn't the best, it does get very nice type coverage and can get some nice strikes against a large number of foes.

To make the most of its typing defensive-wise, maximizing Special Defense is highly recommended. As for HP, adding 40 EVs, if you can be bothered to count them, will result in 401 HP at Lv. 100, which is certainly a nice number. Special Attack and Speed are the other places to throw in EVs, moreso the former to get as much as possible out of Lanturn's nice type coverage. Then again, Defense EVs also greatly help with its survivability, especially against Earthquake-happy Ground-types so it can retaliate with Surf. Really, for Lanturn, the only "bad" stat to not throw EVs into is Attack. Which means, as far as natures go, any that hinder Attack will help it in one way or another.

Movesets

Well, Volt Absorb definitely wins over Illuminate ability-wise.

Primary Water-type and Electric-type moves are key to Lanturn's success on the offensive side. Surf and Thunderbolt are the obvious choices here. Alternatives exist on both sides. Hydro Pump is a very viable alternative Water attack, especially if you want Lanturn to hit harder, as its Special Attack is not particularly notable on its own. As for other Electric attacks, one can consider Discharge for that higher paralysis chance. Back in Generation II before Thunderbolt became teachable, Lanturn's best option for an Electric attack was Thunder. While it normally suffers from accuracy problems, with Rain Dance support it becomes a never-miss move, which is really useful in many ways, and Lanturn already likes rain for boosting its Water attacks. Even in this new generation, it's a viable move for precisely the same reason. Charge Beam is an oddball attack that could potentially kick up Lanturn's special attack to sweeping-levels.

As far as a secondary attack goes, Ice Beam is really all that is needed, as the only types that Water and Electric together can't hit well are Grass and Dragon... both of which are weak to Ice. Not to mention the whole BoltBeam combo will result, meaning Lanturn can hit neutral against pretty much any Pokemon except... other Lanturn. (If it's taking a while to amass the coinage for Ice Beam, a Signal Beam can serve as an anti-Grass move in the meantime. However, it probably shouldn't be a permanent attack.)

Lanturn's next biggest attraction is a nice set of disruptive attacks. Thunder Wave leads the charge as a paralyzer; good considering Lanturn's low Speed and its own immunity to the move. It also combines well with Confuse Ray to create a Para-fusion combo that can really mess with the opponent's chances for attacking. Toxic is an option for disrupting Ground-types. The latter two moves go well with entry-hazard support, as they tend to lead to a switch.

To power-up Lanturn, have it provide its own Rain Dance. The move will kick up the power of its Water-type attacks, and if it has Thunder, that move will be guaranteed to hit, dual-serving as its primary Electric attack as well as a move to use against evasive foes. This was the basis of our primary team in Silver, especially with some of the evasion-happy folks in the Elite Four, and for that reason it may just become the set of choice for SoulSilver. Lanturn can also use Agility to increase its meager Speed, with the help of some additional Speed EVs.

Lanturn also has ways of increasing its own defenses, which might be useful if Lanturn is soaking up attacks with its high HP and numerous resistances. Amnesia in particular could make Lanturn near-impervious to special attacks. Stockpile serves as a dual-booster, and will help Lanturn stand up against all sorts of foes. While its possible to complement that with Spit Up or Swallow, whether to actually do so when many other options are available is questionable. Also, Lanturn can set up Substitutes. With its huge HP stat, if given 56 HP EVs, it will reach 405 HP, which sets up 101-HP Subs that cannot be Seismic-Tossed out in one hit, as well as providing 26 HP of healing every turn.

For healing, Lanturn could potentially go the Rest-Sleep Talk route. It'll lose Ice Beam support, but the coverage between its water and electric moves is already pretty good. Also on the healing side is, interestingly enough, Heal Bell. That move is always a useful one, especially because Lanturn particularly does not like Toxic damage.

Moveset 1: Para-Fusion
- Confuse Ray
- Discharge/Thunderbolt
- (primary Water attack)
- Ice Beam/Thunder Wave

Two ways to go with this: either Discharge and Ice Beam or Thunderbolt and Thunder Wave. The idea is to get both paralysis and confusion on the enemy, seriously hindering its possibilities of attacking. With the former, you have greater type coverage but the electricity doesn't hit as hard and you have to rely on a 30% chance of paralysis. With the latter, you lose the full coverage from Ice Beam but get reliable paralysis and a more powerful primary Electric attack to go with it.

Moveset 2: Rain Dance
- Rain Dance
- Thunder
- (primary Water attack)
- Ice Beam/(support move)

Again, the idea here is to use Rain Dance, then hit as hard as you can with your Water attacks, switching to Thunder if the opponent is weak to it or is getting evasive. The fourth moveslot is a toss-up. Various choices aside from the obvious Ice Beam include: Thunder Wave to slow down possible threats, and Confuse Ray to combine with Thunder's 30% paralysis rate and go for a pseudo-Para-fusion combo.

As a side note, the new item Damp Rock could be used here to give Lanturn (and its team) three extra turns to play in the rain, which can be helpful.

Moveset 3: Sleep Talk
- (primary Water attack)
- (primary Electric attack)
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

No Ice Beam coverage here, but again, Water and Electric has good coverage as it is.

Moveset 4: Stockpile
- (primary Water attack)
- (primary Electric attack)
- Stockpile
- Swallow/Spit Up

Without Spit Up, you do run into the same issues as above, but you do get healing. With it, you don't get healing, but you do have a way to potentially knock out a troublesome threat.

Moveset 5: Sub-Charge
- Substitute
- Charge Beam
- (primary Water attack)
- (secondary attack)

The theory here is to set up a 101-HP Substitute, launch Charge Beams while behind said Substitute to boost Special Attack, then strike with a Lanturn whose Special Attack is likely through the roof. This set apparently was able to sweep an entire team of OU standards by itself, which shows how deadly it can be if your opponent is not prepared for it.

General Moveset
- (primary Water attack)
- (primary Electric attack)
- Ice Beam/(support move)
- (support move)

Lanturn has a nice list of support moves, so choose one and have fun. Again, Ice Beam is there to complete Lanturn's coverage, giving it a super-effective hit on numerous types and a neutral hit on anything that isn't itself; however, Water and Electric has good coverage as it is and as such Ice Beam can be foregone for a second support move.

Effective Movesets

1. Paralysis Support
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave

2. Toxic Support
- Surf
- Thunderbolt/Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Toxic

3. Heal Bell
- Surf
- Thunderbolt/Discharge
- Ice Beam
- Heal Bell

4. Parafusion Ver. 1
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Confuse Ray

5. Parafusion Ver. 2
- Surf
- Discharge
- Confuse Ray
- Ice Beam

6. Rain Dancer
- Rain Dance
- Surf
- Thunder
- Thunder Wave/Confuse Ray/Ice Beam
Item: Damp Rock

7. Stockpile
- Surf
- Thunderbolt/Discharge
- Ice Beam/Spit Up/Swallow
- Stockpile

8. Paralysis + Heal Bell
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Thunder Wave
- Heal Bell

9. All Bases Covered
- Surf
- Discharge
- Toxic
- Heal Bell

10. SubCharge
- Surf
- Charge Beam
- Substitute
- Ice Beam

Note: On all sets, Hydro Pump and Surf are interchangeable.