Pokémon Keldeo

[TCTphantom]

View attachment 580625

Type: Water/Fighting
Ability: Justified
Base Stat Total: 91 HP/72 Atk/90/128 Spa/90 SpD/108 Spe (580)


Notable Moves
Hydro Pump
Surf
Flip Turn
Secret Sword
Vacuum Wave (New)
Aura Sphere
Focus Blast
Icy Wind
Air Slash
Substitute
Pain Split (New)
Tera Blast (New)
Trailblaze (New)


Remember when Keldeo was considered banworthy in Gen V or an OU Staple in Gen VI? Good times, good times. Sadly, the fourth musketeer has had a rough past few generations in OU. Toxapex, Tapu Fini, and Slowtwins everywhere made Keldeo's brand of offense less desirable, falling out of OU. Can this generation mark a comeback for our little pony, or will this end up like War Horse?

Pros:

• Water Fighting is a great defensive type, letting it serve as a solid offensive check to Kingambit at least.
• 128 Spa and 108 Speed are still respectable by modern OU standards.
• Pain Split is an interesting new addition that helps it stick around longer. Trailblaze also opens up the possibility of a double dance set of sorts.

Cons:

• So... Keldeo lost Scald. Now you can't throw out Scald to chip your checks until you can clean up in the late game after burn damage does its job.
• Walking Wake is brutal new competition. It is another offensive Water type, is one speed point faster, has a brutal dual stab off of its draco meteor, synergizes with Sun as well as Rain, and possesses similar bulk. If you want to use Keldeo over Wake, you need it to synergize with your team or play into its unique strengths.
• Keldeo's moveset still isnt the best. Tera Blast *helps*, but its still clear that it would be over the moon for something as simple as Ice Beam

Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Specs
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Vacuum Wave
- Icy Wind


Specs Keldeo, its bread and butter for years. Specs does at least get a very appealing addition in Vacuum Wave. While the loss of scald makes it so Keldeo can't fish for burns to chip its counters, it now can potentially revenge kill threats with an emergency Vacuum Wave. Outside of that, its Specs Keldeo. It hits hard, especially under rain. Secret Sword makes answering it directly notably harder. Its aight.

Keldeo-Resolute @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hydro Pump
- Secret Sword
- Surf
- Icy Wind


Scarf is another traditionally popular set. 108 Speed with a scarf isn't bad, even if we do have other appealing scarfers and it misses a few key speed benchmarks. Not outspeeding the likes of Booster Valiant, +1 Roaring Moon, or Booster Iron Boulder sucks. You do have a decent speed tier still and Keldeo has an effective enough damage output it still ends up being ok.


Keldeo-Resolute @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Fairy/Steel
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump

Sub Calm Mind feels the loss of Scald, but it should still be *ok*. I feel like it would certainly struggle with Pex and Amoongus, but if those are out of the way it could in theory not be the worst thing in the world.

Keldeo-Resolute @ Leftovers
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Psychic
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Secret Sword
- Hydro Pump
- Tera Blast

Calm Mind 3 Attacks. Honestly, this is more or less a dedicated lure for Toxapex or Amoongus. Calm Mind up and then set up a Tera Blast Psychic to punch them in the face. Granted, you won't be as good of a Gambit check afterwords, but who doesn't love killing a toxapex.


Keldeo-Resolute @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Justified
Tera Type: Fairy/Steel
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Pain Split
- Secret Sword
- Surf
- Flip Turn

This is me trying to find a Gambit check that can pivot and do things in the early game. Is this set probably mediocre as heck? Sure, but at least you kinda help answer Gambit in the early game. Pain Split and Flip Turn are interesting pickups that Keldeo could in theory abuse to pivot a bit.


Conclusion

If you want to use Keldeo over Walking Wake, play to its strengths. You would need to use it for its ability to offensively check Kingambit combined with its own hard to switch into nature. In most situations for most teams, Wake is the objectively correct choice. But Keldeo has enough interesting qualities to warrent a look in some scenarios.

 

[ImZer0]

no tapu fini/koko in the game rn helps out keldeo immensely(altho toxapex and dragapult are still big roadblocks), being able to also threaten both tusk and gambit while also resisting the latters stabs is also nice too which is epic

 

[malomyotismon]

Given the spare nature of keldeos move pool, on the choice sets it couldn't hurts to have flip turn smashed as a pivoting move.

 

[Magcargo]

Mon is pretty damn good as a choiced attacker with Flip Turn. This meta is still somewhat lacking in Water resist, though the ones we currently have are annoying for Keldeo still.

With Urshifu-RS banned, this Pokemon has a good niche in the metagame as a Gambit check + Future Sight Partner for Gking. Almost nothing wants to switch into the combo of Future Sight + Secret Sword barring something like Latios.

Vaccum Wave is also amazing in this metagame to revenge kill Roaring Moon and Kingambit.