Welcome once again to Pokemon of the Week! This week will be a special one, as we have the return of Pokemon Unearthed, as written by my very good friend, Tim. This week, we'll be focusing on a rare Pokemon introduced in the first generation that has nearly been driven to the point of exctinction. This week, we'll be discussing Lapras.

Lapras has always been one of those Pokemon. You know the kind... one you've always kinda liked, but never trained... no? Just me? Eh, whatever. But as far as viewing Lapras in competitive terms, it has really fallen from grace. It's secondary Ice typing may have granted it a powerful STAB Blizzard in generation 1, when Blizzard had 90% accuracy, but now it plagues the Pokemon like an unending nightmare, providing a hellish weakness to Stealth Rock, as well as a weakness to popular Fighting type attacks. This, coupled with a weakness to Electricity and Grass, and only having a few resistances, greatly take away from Lapras's bulky stats.

Not all is bad, however. Lapras has a fantastic movepool, sporting good STABs in Surf and Ice Beam, or Waterfall for a physical STAB, though it lacks a solid, reliable Ice STAB. As for additional moves, it gets a plethora of useful ones. Thunderbolt, Dragon Dance, Perish Song, Curse, and even gets a STAB priority move in Ice Shard. The main problem you'll find when using Lapras is that it's just not powerful enough, not bulky enough, and there are just better options, which has sent it plummeting to the NU tier.

Within the NU tier, Lapras really shines. It has a few niches, though it's not overly used, even in the NU tier.

Lapras@ Leftovers Water Absorb Calm nature (+Sp. Defense, -Attack) EVs: 248 HP / 252 Sp. Defense / 8 Sp. Attack Ice Beam Thunderbolt Roar / Surf Heal Bell / Toxic

Lapras serves as a reliable special wall in the NU tier, checking and countering many other Water types, such as Alomomola. Ice Beam is the STAB move of choice - while Ice is a plague on Lapras defensively, offensively it's a wonderful type. Combine that with Thunderbolt, and you have a set of moves that cover nearly everything for at least neutral damage. At full health, Lapras can take a +2 Hidden Power Grass from Gorebyss and retaliate with Thunderbolt, though if Gorebyss has a White Herb to restore the Sp. Defense drop, this won't OHKO. Roar is a reliable phazing move, stopping setup sweepers, especially Calm Mind users, such as Musharna or Gorebyss if Lapras is at full health though this is a last-ditch effort, and only really useful if a White Herb has restored Gorebyss's defense drops, so the next time it Shell Smashes, it will receive the drops. Surf can be used to do heavy damage to Pokemon such as Gigalith, Probopass, Bastiodon and Regirock.

The last slot offers a choice between healing the team of status with Heal Bell, or Toxic to wear down bulky Pokemon like Lickilicky. Consider your team carefully, and remember that Lapras likes to provide support in the way best suited to your team's needs.

Lapras@ Life Orb / Leftovers Water Absorb Adamant nature (+Attack, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 252 Attack / 240 Speed / 16 HP Dragon Dance Substitute Waterfall Return / Ice Beam

Lapras's Attack and Sp. Attack stat are actually both base 85. The difference is, Lapras gets a boosting move to help bolster its Attack stat, while also raising Speed, in Dragon Dance. To set this up, come in on something that can't damage you or is frightened out, such as Alomomola, and setup a Substitute as it either switches out or attempts a Toxic in vain. Begin boosting with Dragon Dance and attack. Waterfall is Lapras's only real physical STAB attack that can do sizable damage without a drawback. Return is listed to damage opposing Water types and Grass types. Water and Normal also have near-perfect coverage, only being walled by the odd Frillish in NU. The EVs are set to give Lapras 101 HP Subs, unable to be broken by a single Night Shade or Seismic Toss.

Now with all that said, I don't recommend this set at all. Lapras is better in a support role, and if you're going to use a Water type boosting sweeper, I'd go with Shell Smash Gorebyss. Lapras is not overly powerful, even after a boost. Even if you do get a couple boosts, Tangela will still wall you. It's for this reason that Ice Beam is an option, as even without investment and a negative nature, Tangela is still one-shotted by it.

Lapras@ Leftovers Water Absorb Careful nature (+Sp. Defense, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 248 HP / 252 Sp. Defense / 8 Attack Curse Avalanche Rest Sleep Talk

This is one of the more odd sets Lapras can utilize, and requires you to eliminate certain counters before attempting it, such as Sawk and Gurdurr, as even after a few Defense boosts, they'll still plow through Lapras. Steel types in general will also not care about this Lapras set, since it cannot deal heavy damage to them. With that said, Curse allows Lapras to boost Attack and Defense, while lowering Speed. This aids Lapras in taking physical hits, so the EVs are slanted towards Sp. Defense. Avalanche is the sole attack Lapras uses this time, doubling in power when used last, which will always happen. Rest and Sleep Talk form a core that keeps Lapras alive, while also threatening an offensive presence while sleeping, or buffing stats even further.

This Lapras is heavily reliant on team-mates to clean up threats before it can even attempt to set this up. Musharna or Duosion will help remove Fighting types, while a Sawk or Gurdurr of your own can help with Steel and Rock types. Rapid Spin support is also helpful, so Torkoal can be employeed to spin Stealth Rock away, while also setting it up and dealing with those Steel types, if Sawk and Gurdurr aren't up your alley.

Lapras can be found in both B/W and B2/W2 at Village Bridge, in the bubbles of water beneath the bridge, though they're very rare (5% appearance rate in the bubbles), so it could take a while to find one. Raising a Lapras once you capture one isn't too difficult, though. For in-game, Lapras actually has many tools that it can utilize to make using one a joy. Here's what I'd recommend for it:

Lapras Surf Ice Beam Thunderbolt Psychic / Ancientpower

Surf and Ice Beam form Lapras's STAB core, while Thunderbolt aids in coverage against Water types. Psychic can help with the weakness to Fighting types, while Ancientpower can just be used if you're feeling lucky for a boost to all of your stats. I wouldn't recommend Ancientpower over Psychic, but it is a fun gimmick option.

Like I said, I've always sort of liked Lapras, but never raised one. It's certainly a cool enough Pokemon, and it has this mysterious, elegant appearance, but I think it's usually found too late in the game for me, and by then I have a Vaporeon or Quagsire or something else. Still, Lapras is one of the original mysteries of the Pokemon world, and we'd better appreciate them before they go completely extinct.

Lapras is one of those awesome Pokemon that isn't instantly clear what it's based on. You see a Charizard and you think DRAGON. You see a Geodude and you think ROCK. Lapras, however, you think weird aquatic dinosaur with a shell-seat-thing..?

Originally, Lapras' name was going to be Nessie, suggesting that it was based on the Loch Ness Monster. For those those that don't know the mythology, the Loch Ness Monster is a legendary creature that lives in Scotland's Loch Ness, and there have been many falsified sightings of this rare and elusive beast.

One legend surrounding 'Nessie' is that an underwater cave leads to the ruined city of Atlantis that is the home of the Loch Ness Monster; in Pokemon GSC, Lapras can be found in Union Cave, which has a link to the Ruins of Alph.

Another mythological creature that shares some similarities with Lapras is the Kelpie. It is a Celtic horse-like creature that encourages people to ride on its back, before bearing them into the deepest part of a lake where it devours them. Most of Lapras' Pokedex entries make some mention about how it enjoys ferrying people on its back. Yeah. Bet you didn't think Lapras was as creepy, didja?

Its name origin is quite interesting too; Japanese have a single pronunciation for L and R (which explains why Rukario became Lucario). With this in mind, Lapras could take its name from Pierre-Simon Laplace, a French mathematician who studied waves and tides. Furthermore, the French word "la place" means 'seat' in English, which may be a reference to Lapras carrying people on its back.

Article written by Richard and Blaziken

Unearthed written by Enigma

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