What is a good moveset for Lugia?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Lugia, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Lugia Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

No WP set? I'm dissapointed.

Lugia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 Spe
Modest Nature
- Aeroblast
- Psychic / Weather Ball
- Calm Mind
- Recover

Aeroblast (Powerful, accurate STAB)
Psychic/Weather Ball (STAB/Powerful weather team move)
Calm Mind (Raise mediocre S>Atk and make indestructable specially)
Recover (Healing)

Comments

Awesome offensive set!

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now this is a good set

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Calm mind and recover are already great moves together, but not all people would be running this, making it unpredictable. I like this!

Answer 2

NatDex AG

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability:Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Calm Nature
• Calm Mind
• Thunder Wave
• Recover / Roost
• Aeroblast

With otherworldly bulk, an ability to boosts it’s offensive capabilities as well as it’s defensive capabilities with Calm Mind, reliable recovery in Roost/Recover, Thunder wave to slow down and annoy the opponent, and Aeroblast for great STAB, this thing is amazing. It works quite well with Dynamax, having Max Airstream to do great damage and boost it’s speed.
To show it’s bulk with it’s amazing Multiscale, I give you this:

+1 252+ SpA Choice Specs Calyrex-Shadow Astral Barrage vs. 252 HP / 0+ SpD Multiscale Lugia: 361-426 (86.7 - 102.4%) -- 18.8% chance to OHKO
Possible damage amounts: (361, 366, 370, 373, 378, 382, 387, 391, 396, 399, 403, 408, 412, 417, 421, 426)

Only 18.8%

Comments

Why no Defog and Heavy Duty Boots? Also Ice Beam hits more than Aeroblast.

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Defog and Heavy Duty Boots is a completely separate set, and Ice Beam has 180 power when super effective while Aeroblast has 150 power when it isn’t even super effective. Also, notice the dynamax part.

Answer 3

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Dragon Tail
- Toxic
- Protect / Safeguard

Recover is healing. Dragon-tail is phazing. Toxic is for slowly killing. Protect would be for more stalling, while Safeguard is for preventing Lugia from taking a status as well.

Comments

Klefki? I know there wasn't a fairy in 2012 but this set might struggle to death with klefki .... ( and possibly magearna when it gets released ? )

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Amazing idea! What I’d use for this set is use Toxic, then Dragon Tail, over and over again to Toxic their entire team! Then heal and start sweeping with Dragon Tail!

Answer 4

Sun Lugia

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Calm Mind
- Weather Ball
- Recover
- Hidden Power [Dragon]

Weather ball Doubles in power, and also gets the 1.5x boost, effectively making it a 150 BP fire attack, getting almost perfect coverage with HP Dragon(No Dragon Pulse) on the Pokemon in UBERS

Comments

are those smaller sprites ponyta or rapidash?!?

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Eh finally a real move set

Answer 5

National Dex Anything Goes
Weakness Policy Sweeper

Lugia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Aeroblast / Hurricane
- Psyshock
- Thunder / Earth Power

This Set appreciates Sticky Web Support and Baton Pass from Nasty Plot Caly.
The Main Idea is to Nasty Plot with Caly on Something the Hits it Super-Effectively Like Defensive Yveltal, Baton Pass to Lugia who will take the hit well with Multiscale and Sweep.
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Substitute Might seem Counter Intuitive, But It allows you to Block Status Attempts From Necrozma-DM / Chansey and Support Arceus Formes Post-Dynamax and Play Mind Games with Support WW Lugia Pre-Dynamax.
It also gives you Max Guard, allowing you to waste a Rampaging Yveltal's Dynamax Turns should the Situation calls for it.
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STAB Hurricane becomes Max Airstream, giving Lugia a way to Boost its Speed and allows Lugia to OHKO Ho-Oh at +4. The More Accurate Aeroblast should be used if using Thunder.
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Psyshock Destroys the Pink Blobs once its Policy is Activated. Note that Calm Mind Arceus Formes beats it 1-on-1 if it didn't receive a Nasty Plot Prior.
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Thunder smacks Ho-Oh and will Outright OHKO if Lugia received a Nasty Plot Boost prior to the Policy. It also Hits NDM pretty hard. Earth Power is another Option that hits Tyranitar while also Pummeling Primal Groudon and Necrozma-Dusk-Mane Harder.
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This Sweeper isn't Self-Improofed, Especially Post-Dynamax. As such, Screens Support from Grimmsnarl or Klefki, and Plethora of Strong Priority Users such as Marshadow and Mega Rayquaza is Recommended.
This is also the rare case where the Niche Sash Marshadow can be considered, though it will be a great Momentum Sink.
Keep Rocks Off the Field at All Cost, as Lugia will struggle take hits well if its Multiscale is not Intact.
This Lugia Purely fits on HO Teams.

Answer 6

ToxiStall Lugia

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Whirlwind
- Toxic
- Protect
- Reflect

This is a straightforward ToxiStall set. Whirlwind takes out Substitutes and stat boosts, Toxic slowly wears down health, Protect stalls even further, and Reflect helps Lugia's uninvested Defense.

Comments

What if a Pokemon uses Taunt?

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You switch out.

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Instead of protect you could use roost to keep you in there for longer.

Answer 7

Lugia (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 120 HP / 16 Atk / 252 Def / 120 Def
Impish Nature
- Swagger
- Punishment
- Thunder Wave
- Dragon Tail / Aerial Ace / Bulldoze / Dragon Rush

Swagger + Punishment for Power and Main Attacking.
Thunder Wave for crippling.

Dragon Tail can be used with Deoxys-D, who can set up Spikes 3x and Stealth Rock.
Aerial Ace for STAB and hits everytime.
Bulldoze for lowering speed, but not needed with Thunder Wave.
Dragon Rush for Power.

Answer 8

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Aeroblast
- Earth Power / Psyshock

Well, to be fair I haven't played too much Smogon Ubers, but I have used this set many times against competitively oriented Uber Teams against friends, as well as the Uber Infested Battle spot. Still. The thing I can tell you is that if you're running a Calm Mind Lugia, you really don't want to run max HP as opposed to Special Attack. This is because Lugia's Special Attack is low and Aeroblast has low PP, so having to use it excessively will lead to bad results. With max investment in Sp. Attack, Lugia is similar to Max HP Calm Mind Arceus and could therefore be seen as a replacement; Lugia is a bit slower but is bulkier overall and can hold leftovers, though because Arceus holds a plate Judgement will hit harder than Aeroblast.. But that "Bulk" is not to be excused--With a Calm Mind and Multiscale up, Lugia has over 1,000 Special Defense and nearly 600 Defense, so it's not going anywhere. In contrast, t +1 Lugia has 418 Sp. Attack, which offers decent offensive presence. Earth Power offers great coverage alongside Aeroblast, but Psyshock is another move to consider, as it has secondary STAB and can bypass an enemy's high Sp. Defense, such as when facing a Calm Mind Arceus.

Answer 9

I know this is my third time but this is my last desition I am new so yeah...

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 6 SpD
Bold Nature
- Aeroblast
- Roost
- Psychic
- Calm Mind

I can’t make Lugia a Physical Attacker because his Signature move, Aeroblast,Is a Special move…So Yeah…

Aeroblast- Great Power and Accuracy, STAB, Good chance of a Critical Hit because of Lugia’s Speed and the move.

Roost- Better than Recover because it loses your Flying type temporarily so that Lugia is not weak to Ice, Rock and Electric, AND HEALS SO LUGIA SURVIVES FOR MORE LONGER.

Psychic- Great Power, STAB, Move coverage, Can lower Sp.Def of the target

Calm Mind- The Defence and HP is maxed up,so just gotta 'Bulk Up' the Sp.Def and make Lugia's Sp.Atk go crazy.Got to low HP while 'Bulking Up'?Just Roost it...

Enjoy your Lugia!

Answer 10

Lugia @ Life Orb
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Rash Nature
- Aeroblast
- Calm Mind
- Ice Beam
- Surf

• Aeroblast: STAB High Critical hit rate
• Calm Mind: Set up
• Ice Beam: Coverage
• Surf: STAB

Ok so we have Life Orb for powering up moves
Aero Blast (Signature Move Why not?)
Calm Mind Set Up
Ice Beam is 4x Super Effective against most Dragons
Surf is STAB

Comments

Just because a pokemon has a signature move doesn't mean it's always useful.

EDIT: Surf isn't STAB because Lugia is not a Water type.

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Ice Beam is not even super effective on dialga and palkia

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Why Rash Nature?
You can't sacrifice your defenses when you run 252 Special Defense EVs!
You should run Modest nature. You're not using a single physical attack and you're sacrificing your defenses.

Answer 11

The Unexpected (Lugia) @ Life Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Recover
- Aeroblast
- Ice Beam
- Thunder

• Recover (takes care of Life Orb recoil damage)
• Aeroblast (same type advantage boost, good accuracy, good amount of damage. Also takes care of fighting types like Blaziken and Marshadow)
• Ice Beam (for dragon types)
• Thunder (takes care of Kyogre, which is a very common Pokemon in Uber.)

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Annoying Substitute (Lugia) @ Black Sludge /F lame Orb
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Substitute
- Recover
- Toxic
- Defog / Whirlwind / Dragon Tail / Aeroblast / Flash / Trick

(defog if you want to take care of hazards, Whirlwind or Dragon Tail if you want to take care of Pokemon who raise their stats, Aeroblast if you want to deal some damage and not be ruined entirely by Taunt, Flash if you just want to be annoying and Trick + Black Sludge/Flame Orb to slowly get rid of non poison types)

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Calm Mind (Lugia) @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Aeroblast
- Psychic

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Substitute + Calm Mind (Lugia) @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Substitute
- Calm Mind
- Aeroblast / Recover
- Psychic

Answer 12

Lugia set: Gen 7

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Aeroblast
- Calm Mind
- Recover / Roost
- Surf / Psychic / Thunderbolt

Aeroblast: STAB and insane crit, power

Calm mind: To enhance the spd which isn't invested aswell as to make him a bulky sweeper

Recover/Roost: To heal up, so he can get more Calm mind in/To heal aswell as get rid of a few of his weakness

Surf/Psychic/Thunderbolt: For great coverage and power/Coverage, STAB, and power/Coverage and power

Answer 13

Lugia's crap typing can make it a great sweeper with Weakness policy.

Lugia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpA
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Calm Mind
- Roost
- Surf
- Aeroblast

Calm Mind to boost Sp. Atk/Def and Roost to reset Multiscale, and once you get hit, you start sweeping. Aeroblast and Surf give amazing coverage (910 out of 917 Pokémon!)

(Disclaimer: Marshadow is a really good counter to this build, so you're better off staying away from Gen 7 battles in Showdown.)

Answer 14

Lugia is more of a defensive Pokemon, but why not turn defense into offense?

Lugia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Quiet Nature
- Aeroblast
- Psychic
- Ancient Power
- Hydro Pump / Calm Mind

Aeroblast and Psychic are your reliable STABs, Aeroblast with a high chance for a crit, and Psychic with a chance for a Sp. Def drop. Ancient Power has a chance to boost all of Lugia’s stats. Hydro Pump is for coverage against rock types, but Calm Mind makes Lugia even more unstoppable in offense and defense.

The EV spread makes Lugia able to hit as hard as possible, while being able to tank a super effective hit. A Quiet Nature lets Lugia do insane damage after the opponent hits Lugia with a super effective move. Multiscale helps Lugia tank a super effective hit with minimal damage. Lastly, a Weakness Policy increases attacking power to the point of insanity after being hit by a super effective move.

Hope you liked this set!

Comments

Note: I did not look at pimplup’s set while making this. So don’t call me a copycat.

Answer 15

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: 252 HP / 252 SpA / 4 SpD
Calm / Modest Nature
- Aeroblast
- Calm Mind
- Psychic
- Recover / Roost

•Aeroblast: strong STAB and critical hit rate increased
•Calm Mind: with his amazing bulk, he can use this multiple times, making his Aeroblast very powerful and his special defense amazing
•Psychic: STAB, good damage
•Recover/Roost:Both heal, use roost if you like getting rid of the flying type (for the turn) and recover if you don’t

Answer 16

Lugia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 144 HP / 252 SpA / 114 SpD
Calm Nature
- Aeroblast
- Calm Mind
- Recover
- Psychic

Aeroblast (Powerful Stab)
Calm Mind (Amazing Setup)
Recover (Reliable Recovery)
Psychic (Accurate Stab)

Answer 17

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Aeroblast
- Hydro Pump
- Reflect
- Calm Mind

Hear me out on this one. Ik Lugia’s a wall but I decided to try a tank for once. Investment in defense helps balance its defensive stats and Reflect is there in case that’s not enough. Calm Mind for Special stat boosts, Aeroblast for STAB and Hydro Pump cuz Psychic isn’t great anymore. Leftovers to heal off potential damage from opponents to get back to Multiscale.

Answer 18

Offensive Set

Lugia @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 8 Def / 252 SpA / 248 Spe
Relaxed Nature
- Aeroblast
- Roost
- Calm Mind
- Giga Drain / Surf

Aeroblast is a powerful STAB move that hit opponents hard, Roost quickly heals Lugia up so it can take an Astral Barrage from a Calyrex-Shadow. Calm Mind can help take Astral Barrage even better, and also makes Aeroblast even stronger. Giga Drain quickly heals up Lugia while dealing damage and also has Rock cover. Surf covers more but doesn't heal.

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Hyper defense

Lugia @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Light Clay
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Thunder Wave / Toxic
- Roost
- Light Screen
- Dragon Tail

Thunder Wave halves the speed of most Pokemons except ground types, making Lugia fast. Toxic makes it that the Pokemon will lose health every turn. Light Screen helps replaces increasing Special Defense to take an Astral Barrage without being at full health. Dragon Tail can switch out threats and works best on Spikes, Stealth Rock or Sticky Web.
I've hoped I've helped!

Answer 19

Lugia @ Leftovers
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 SpD
Modest Nature
- Roost
- Aeroblast
- Extrasensory
- Hydro Pump
This is better than Giga Drain. Aeroblast is STAB and it has high critical hit-ratio. Extrasensory is STAB and it has a chance to flinch. Hydro Pump is 110 power. Multiscale halves the damage from the target(s).

Comments

Why would you use Dragon Rush? 252 Atk and 252 Special Attack EVs? Really? Why Brave Nature? Why Black Belt when much better items exist? Why ROCK SMASH?

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I’d harshly criticize this if I could stop laughing at it

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Good sir, let's see what is wrong with this. Black belt sucks, EV spread is horrible, Absolutely garbage nature, Dragon Rush is a bad move, ROCK SMASH????????? Lugia is a tank. Idk why you would be using it as a mixed attacker. I really don't know mate

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It can't even learn rock smash, and even if it could, why on earth, out of all the wonderful fighting type moves out there, would you chose Rock smash for it to have.

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It actually can learn Rock Smash via transfers. However that doesn't change the fact that this set is the epitome of terrible

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Impish Nature? Why not Bold? After all, it has all Special moves, so Bold wouldn't hinder you like Impish would while still boosting your Defense. And the Attack EVs are useless in this set, so maybe move those to another stat.

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I am tempted to edit this into a viable moveset, but I shouldn't.

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Why are there two flying STAB’s? Seems like overkill. Maybe a healing move like Roost for longevity?

Answer 20

Gen 8 Doubles Ubers

Lugia @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 52 HP / 252 SpA / 204 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Hurricane / Aeroblast
- Earth Power
- Calm Mind
- Protect

Dynamax attacker. Hurricane and Aeroblast are options for Flying STAB. The former is stronger and has perfect accuracy in rain (which is often up due to how common Kyogre is), but unnacurate if not, while the latter is slightly weaker but has much better accuracy. Don't use Hurricane if you have Groudon on your team, though. Both of them also boost your speed one stage as well as your ally's when you're Dynamaxed. Earth Power hits the many Steel types in the metagame for super effective damage and boosts special defence while Dynamaxed. Calm Mind boosts your special attack and special defence both by one stage, which is nice since Lugia's special attack isn't very good (only base 90). Protect allows you to scout for attacks while staying almost completely safe from attacks. In case you're wondering why I didn't put a Psychic attack on this set, there are so many Psychic resists in the metagame, and most viable Pokémon that take super effective damage from Psychic (e.g. Amoonguss) are also weak to Flying (the rare Eternatus is the only exception to this). The Weakness Policy increases Lugia's special attack by two stages when hit by a super effective attack, and Lugia has the bulk (further increased by Dynamax and Multiscale) to take a such an attack. 204 speed EVs allow Lugia to outspeed variants of Kyogre that aren't running a Choice Scarf.

Comments

Protect is more of a niche option and could be replaced with Roost

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Protect is easily one of the most important moves in doubles. I probably should've mentioned this in my answer but after Dynamax ends, the opponent might try to take out Lugia as fast as possible and constantly try to double team it. Protect can stop those attempts at doing so while your ally can take out an opposing Pokémon, and it can stall out Trick Room if it's up (I can't be bothered to edit this in rn since it'll need to be approved again). You can run Roost if you want since you can still use Max Guard.

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Ouch doubles I didn’t notice sorry

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It's alright lol