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How to use Lugia effectively on gym offence?

Every prolonged assault on a gym in Singapore, whether for coins, gold badges or both, must balance time-efficiency and potion-efficiency. I will soon max out a second Machamp and am considering a 75k dust + 57 RC + TMs investment in a Lugia. Would appreciate advice on effectively using Lugia as a potion-efficient gym attacker. For example:

1. How much should I dodge with Lugia? How difficult is dodging with Lugia?
2. How does a level 30 Lugia fare (compared to a level 40 Machamp) against the four Normal-type tanks?
3. Which other common defenders should I prefer to use Lugia against? (Hariyama is the most obvious one.)
4. Which other common defenders should I avoid using Lugia against? (Tyranitar is the most obvious one.)
5. Any other tricks to note (such as in timing charged moves or switches)?

Asked by hkn7 years ago

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Answers

I have a 98% (15a/15d/14s) Lugia with ES/SA maxed out that I've used for sweeping gyms when I was really low on spare revives and potions. Here's what I noticed:

1. If you've ever used a Dragonite with dragon tail to clear through gyms and you've been successful at dodging, then you'll do fine with Lugia, as extrasensory has the same move duration as DT. That said, Lugia is like a Snorlax with wings. It's super tanky, so you'll probably only need to dodge charge moves.
2. In my experience, sky attack performs better than future sight for gym battles, simply due to merits of it being a 2-bar move. It also helps that SA got that damage buff, and has an amazingly cool attack animation. For the quick move, I prefer ES over DT due to STAB and better energy gain.
3. Against Snorlax and Slaking, Lugia does fine. Bit of a slow fight, but nothing it can't handle. Chansey is painfully slow. Blissey is a nightmare, and you probably won't want to dodge at all here, because you could risk timing out (note: this assumes you're fighting the normal tanks at high motivation and powered up to high levels. Lugia has a tough time taking on 3k+ Blisseys).
4. Aside from Tyranitar, Lugia also struggles against Aggron due to it resisting both psychic and flying-type moves. Metagross is an annoying matchup as well, but my guess is you won't run into that one anywhere near as often.

Can't think of anything else to note at the moment about Lugia, other than to have fun with it! So long as you're not really pressed on time, Lugia makes for a good tanky option for clearing gyms. Just beware of fully-motivated high CP Blisseys, T-tars, and Aggrons.

To elaborate on the moveset, typing aside the buffed Sky Attack is straight up better in every way than Futuresight, be it raids or gym battles. It has higher cycle DPS, performs better in sims, has 2 bars and has shorter move duration for the purpose of dodging charge moves. There is very little reason to have FS on Lugia except unwillingness to spend CTMs.
Great post by the way.

I will go for Extrasensory + Sky Attack. The only advantage of Future Sight would be anchoring Gengar solo teams. Fortunately, I have 9 CTMs (and am willing to spend them as necessary).

1. Charge moves only. Relatively easy to dodge with, ES isn't the slowest move but you should avoid buffering the next one too early. SA is very dodge-friendly, you can fire it upon seeing a fast move and recover in time to dodge a very fast charge move (this works against for example C/CC).
2. Poorly on the DPS front. Level 30 Lugia can time out against a maxed Blissey and needs to dodge some charge moves to stay alive. Snorlax and Slaking are fine, Chansey you should kill with Machamps because it barely deals any damage back so using Lugia is a waste of time.
5. Like I said, SA can often be released very safely. No need to worry about dodging until you release the first SA of the fight and against some 1-bar opponents you can safely fill your both bars and overflow their energy bar by using 2 SAs in succession.

Lugia is a great and efficient, if slower, gym attacker. It would have been spectacular before the onset of Golden Razzberries and remote "defending." As it is, I don't ever feel safe going through an entire gym anymore, so it's a one-by-one assault, and each segment needs to be completed as quickly as possible before the defending player knows what's up. I still use Lugia anyway when I feel like it, but the current format doesn't do it any favors. It's a fine sweeper of a gym at the end of its life, however.

1. When I do use Lugia, I dodge to maximize its bulk, and I enjoy seeing how little damage I can take while still completing the run. (If I wanted to get the battle over with quickly without dodging, I wouldn't be using Lugia in the first place.)

2. Lugia is not a good choice against the Normal tanks unless they are already demotivated.

3. Hariyama and Machamp are the obvious choices here, but lots of defenders also have Poison subtyping, and Grass isn't uncommon either, especially now with A-Exeggutors everywhere.

4. Skip Aggron, Rhydon, and Steelix specifically. As mentioned, Metagross, too, but I don't see it often.

5. Sky Attack is fun to use and test your dodging skills, as its duration is only 2 seconds and fits nicely in between most defending fast moves. I don't think I've been caught mid-animation by a retaliating Charged move. It's pretty fast. I sometimes use Lugia first up to absorb the two initial fast moves of a defender, if the optimal counter to come would be weak to those moves. Other than that, not much on the switching front.