Lugia as a Machamp counter
According to Poke Assistant Lugia is ranked as the third best attacker into Machamp, behind all versions of Mewtwo and two versions of Alkazam. Hurricane Dnite isn´t even on the list. (Pity I got it at 10/10/12...)
Still, many claim that attack is too low on Lugia to do any harm to Machamp. What is correct?
Answers
To do the deed on time requires attack power. Lugia is superior to Dnite regarding attacking into Machamp AND has more bulk. In what way do you mean that Dnite would turn out on top there???
Maybe if you consider 2 Dnites compared to 1 Lugia, but that is hardly relevant. Then a combination 1 Dnite + 1 Lugia would be even better of course.
192 attack isn't amazing, but people are overreacting thinking it's on the level of Blissey.
Snorlax has a similar base attack stat but doesn't have a STAB quick move and also it's best charge moves which are normal type, are not super effective into anything, which isn't the same case as Lugia.
If you compare for example a DT H Dragonite to E FS Lugia, both have STAB on their quick moves but Extrasensory is super effective, essentially multiplying Lugia's attack stat by 1.4, making it higher than Dragonite's, and Extrasensory also has higher energy gain compared to Dragon Tail.
Future Sight also has 10 more base damage than Hurricane and the same cooldown, and it's supposedly not the best move anyway, Sky Attack is.
Although since Dragonite isn't on the list, being better than it isn't saying much.
Lugia is also more far more tanky compared to the glass cannons like Espeon and Alakazam so a missed dodge on a charge move won't waste your energy if your Pokemon faints before it's able to use it's charge move, which is extremely important for upping your overall DPS.
Especially if trying to solo a raid you need to have enough sustained DPS to defeat the boss. Doing more DPS for 2 minutes but running out of steam won't win the raid whereas doing slightly less DPS but for 3 minutes will.
Since most players don't have 6 of the same Pokemon with the same moves and IVs, their party of 6 is going to be dealing different amounts of damage, and once their Alakazam / Espeon faints their overall DPS is going to drop, whereas if you brought a Lugia, sure it will do less DPS than a glass cannon but does that DPS for a longer amount of time keeping the average DPS higher.
If you understand why some charge moves that have lower listed DPS values are better than a lower damage but higher DPS move, (e.g. Dynamic Punch vs Cross Chop or Close Combat, Solar Beam vs Petal Blizzard) it's a similar idea - you do more damage in the long run.
Thank you for your informative answer. But still, two versions of Lugia (ES/FS and ES/SA) are considered to deal more damage than ANY version of Espeon.
Either figures on Poke Assisant don't represent the reality or DPS is defined outside the actual "damage per second". If you use a correct definition (including energy gain, cool down etc) DPS multiplied by time can never suddenly be reversed, which is the case in the current definition.
I can't say for sure why, maybe because the Espeon faints before it can use it's next special in the simulation.
Since Lugia is tankier, it will be able to get off more full cycles before fainting and therefore losing out on one special usage doesn't lower it's average DPS as much as it would an Espeon.
Say you're expected to get 2 specials off before fainting with Espeon. If you only get off one and then faint at 100 energy then you probably missed out a quarter of your expected damage, and you've still spent time using quick moves which lowers your average DPS compared to if you had fainted right after using a special.
Whereas with Lugia if you're expected 6 special usages, but you faint before you can get the 6th one off, then you've maybe only missed out on a tenth of your expected damage, and these differences in "real" DPS compared to theoretical DPS might be what puts Lugia above Espeon.
