Which Lapras to power up for defending gyms?
I have a 75.6% 1876cp (9-10-15) lapras with ice shard/ice beam and a 84.4% 1661cp (12-11-15) with ice shard/dragon pulse. Given that lapras is hard to come by which one is better for defending? I know ice shard/ice beam is the better moveset but not by much according to this: https://pokemon.gameinfo.io/en/pokemon/list/top-defenders?all
Answers
look that (game.info)
best attck:
6
Nidoking Fury Cutter Bug Earthquake Ground 74.9 %
mouhahah, i calculed here move set for understand her choice, and i found he use 10energie/hit for furycutter.
but the real result is 6energie/hit
item_templates {
template_id: "V0200_MOVE_FURY_CUTTER_FAST"
move_settings {
movement_id: FURY_CUTTER_FAST
animation_id: 4
pokemon_type: POKEMON_TYPE_BUG
power: 3
accuracy_chance: 1
stamina_loss_scalar: 0.01
trainer_level_min: 1
trainer_level_max: 100
vfx_name: "fury_cutter_fast"
duration_ms: 400
damage_window_start_ms: 200
damage_window_end_ms: 400
energy_delta: 6
}
I agree with the consensus that Ice Shard/Ice Beam is the way to go. Higher level means easier to power up. Better moveset. The difference in IV will barely make any difference.
People here are severely undervaluing Dragon Pulse on defending Lapras though. The big thing they're missing is that most people will attack Lapras with something that RESISTS ICE. So this resistance will cancel the STAB bonus, and Dragon Pulse will end up actually slightly better than Ice Beam in these cases (18.06 versus 17.81 according to this site). So while Ice Beam is still better because some people won't use something that resists (and it's also much better if you ever end up attacking with the Lapras) Dragon Pulse isn't anywhere near worthless, it's only very marginally worse than Ice Beam.
Ah, but what happens when someone attacks a dragon pulse Lapras with a Clefable? ;-)
Seriously though, you have a good point. I would just add one more thought why ice secondary attacks seem to me to be better overall compared to DP. Recall that Lapras is unique because of its synergistic ice/water typing. Think of the pokemon that resist ice: fire, water, ice, and steel. Lapras isn't actually weak to any of these. This means there's a bit less of an incentive to use attackers like Arcanine, Vaporeon, etc. against Lapras than you would expect. Assuming someone attacks into a Lapras with a pokemon that takes normal damage from ice attacks, that STAB bonus makes ice more attractive than dragon pulse from a DPS standpoint. It's even conceivable, though perhaps not wise, that someone might attack into a Lapras with a grass pokemon, taking advantage of Lapras's weakness to grass (but at the same time eating more damage from Lapras's ice attacks).
Yea it's a fair point. I think there are really 4 "strategies" for attacking a Lapras:
1. Use a double rock attack Omastar (discontinued). This is the best strategy, but will also be the rarest. A DP Lapras would do better here.
2. Use a normal effectiveness attack which resists ice (or one weak one super which resists ice). Arcanine is probably the most common attacker by far. I listed some other options on another thread (Poliwrath with submission, Blastoise with Bite/Flash Cannon, Slowbro with confusion/Psychic, etc...). This type will be weaker to DP Lapras, and is the most common attacker.
3. Use something with a super effective attack, which doesn't resist ice (e.g. Electric) or maybe is even weak to ice (Grass). DP Lapras is much weaker than IB Lapras against these. Second most common in my opinion.
4. Use something that's just a strong general attacker. E.g. Snorlax. Probably the 2nd least common.
So double ice is still preferable. Lapras is hard to counter already, so may as well double down on what makes it hard. Playing against people's expectation with a DP isn't a terrible thing though. Or mixing it up so some defending Lapras have DP and others IB or B is viable as well.
