Deserves better, lapras

Next underused good defender is lapras.

Generation 2 brought a brutal nerf to lapras, effectively pushing a high CP defender down to a middling CP one.

This water / ice type pokemon was, and still is, the demise of dragonite. A well over 200 HP bulk allows it to take the punishment while it eats away at its opponent.

Like so many other pokemon lapras comes with a set of legacy moves. They are the primary attack Ice Shard and the charge attack Dragon Pulse. The bad news is that Ice Shard still remains the preferred defensive primary attack.

The optimal setup for a defending legacy lapras is Ice Shard / Ice Beam. It still totally walls an attacking dragonite, even though we have to assume that players have learned never to attack into lapras with a dragonite.

A new lapras can come with Water Gun or Frost Breath as the primary attack. As Frost Breath has become slower it's perfectly servicable as a defensive primary attack. Water Gun is best left to vaporeon.

For charge attacks we have Blizzard, Hydro Pump and Ice Beam.

Blizzard is the one bar ice-type attack preferred when attacking into dragonite. It's a comparatively fast one bar attack, and for that reason servicable in the defensive role.

Hydro Pump, just as is the case with Water Gun, is best left to vaporeon.

Bear in mind, though, that both Water Gun and Hydro Pump is a very, very bad surprise for anyone attacking with rhydon. Not to speak about flareon and arcanine.

Ice Beam is a slow, two bar, attack. While effectively a reduction in dps you still want attackers to spend their time dodging when your defender has access to a hefty HP pool, and for that reason Ice Shard remains the preferred defensive charge attack.

Apart from the legacy move Dragon Pulse, all attacks available to lapras comes with the STAB bonus.


A new lapras should come with Frost Breath and Ice Beam, with Blizzard being a servicable alternative charge attack.


The CP nerf left lapras with the bouncer role. As such it has lost its popularity, but since it still remains one of the top five defenders in the game it's worth designing a gym with lapras in mind.

A 2400 CP or higher lapras defending in the 30000 to 39000 or 40000 to 49000 prestige regions is bad news for an attacker.

The preferred attacker into a lapras is probably a jolteon, since an attacker has to be vary of running into a lapras sporting water type attacks with one of the rock / ground type pokemon, most probably a rhydon. For the same reason attacking with flareon or arcanine has become a lot more iffy than before.

Grass type pokemon, while super effective against lapras, self destructs during the attack since ice attacks are super effective against grass. Most high level players should know this by now.