Help find a replacement for Hydreigon!

WARNING: Question is long and complicated. Read at your own risk.I am building my first truly competitive VGC team for use in a tournament in two weeks' time, and it is almost complete. There is only one weak link in the chain: my Hydreigon. I haven’t found him to be overly useful and want to replace him. He’s nowhere near as speedy as I need him to be, and he shares several weaknesses with the rest of the team. Don’t get me wrong, I love the guy, but I think there is a more adequate replacement for him.Hereis the rest of the team, as well as his current build. I would recommend skimming over that before you evaluate my Hydreigon.

These are the criteria for the replacement. I want a Pokémon who fulfills as many positive roles as possible.

Note that the replacement doesnothave to fulfillallof these requirments, just as many as possible.

These are the Pokémon I have been considering for a replacement

Tyranitar+) can run Ice Beam or STAB Rock Slide to check Thundurus and Charizard+) gets Dark coverage via Crunch+) doesn’t have to go Mega+) Fire coverage with Fire Blast or Ground coverage with Earthquake+) can go special/mixed-) Mega Kanga reks with Low Kick and Rotom-W reks with Hydro Pump-) massively increases my Fighting weakness-) Earthquake is a risky spread move

Lapras+) checks Thundy and Rotom with Freeze Dry+) counters Trick Room with low speed+) priority in Ice Shard+) Water Absorb takes advantage of Scalds and Hydro Pumps.+) Weakness Policy Lapras is a beast-) adds to Fighting and Rock weakness-) gets rekt by Kangaskhan with Low Kick-) no Ground/Fire coverage

Cradily+) tanky+) possible Rock attack for Thundy and Charizard+) takes advantage of Trick Room+) Storm Drain all the things+) resists Rock Slide-) adds to my $#@! Fighting weakness-) poor coverage

Gastrodon+) tanky+) Ground coverage in Earth Power+) Rotom can’t touch him and Thundy can only Taunt, then get rekt by Ice Beam+) Storm Drain+) Scald to spread burns+) reliable recovery+) resists Rock Slide-) gets pwnd by Charizard’s Solar Beam-) weak to Mega Venusaur, who is rather prevalent

Well, those are my considerations. If you see one of these who fits the bill then great. If not, and some other replacement comes to mind, please let me know. Thanks a mil!

Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.

Alright, this is by no means an expert-esque response being as I have no knowldge of the VGC tier. But there is one Pokemon that stands out over the rest. With Sand Support, Hippowdon does indeed do most of what you need and lend some. Let me post a set for it.

Hippowdon@ Leftovers(As you haven’t used Leftovers on your team.)Ability: Sand Stream(Vital)EVs: 252 HP / 144 Def / 112 SDefCareful/Sassy Nature~ Earthquake~ Slack Off~ Protect~ Stone Edge/Crunch

As you can see, Hippowdon does meet some great criteria that you have asked for.

Now the only cons are that it is not a special attacker, and that it does not beat Zard Y reliably. Also in Team Synergy, it’s not the greatest, but that can be because Breloom is being used, which also leaves your team quite open to MVenusaur. So I’d suggest either replacing it for a Venu+Zard Y check, or just keeping Hydrei and change your current variant to the Choice Scarf variant.

I’m gonna post 3 that I think may fit the bill.

Lanturn, Seismitoad, and Druddigon.

Lanturn eats Mega Zard Y’s hits for breakfast, and it eats Thundurus’s for lunch.

(this is Smogon’s standard VGC set)244+ SpA Mega Charizard Y Solar Beam vs. 252 HP / 252 SpD Lanturn: 164-194 (70.6 - 83.6%) – guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Pros:+) Amazing and often overlooked defensive typing+) Wide movepool+) Great HP+) Immunity to Electric thanks to Volt Absorb+) No one ever uses it so no one knows what it does

Cons:-) Poor defense and average SpD-) Dies quickly to the likes of Mega Venusaur-) In order to take Mega Zard Y’s Solar Beam, it’s gotta forgo non-attacking moves or special attacking power-) No one ever uses it probably because it’s kinda bad

Here’s the set I would run:

Broturn @ LeftoversAbility: Volt AbsorbModest NatureEVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD-Thunder Wave-Heal Bell-Scald-Thunderbolt

Seismitoad is an often overlooked Pokemon because Swampert’s just better. However,Swampert doesn’t have Water Absorb. Seismitoad can hard wall a lot of Rotom sets and shrugs off most Thundurus sets.

Pros:+) Wide movepool+) Potential to run mixed+) Not total Trick Room fodder+) IT’S A FROG

Cons:-) Defenses aren’tthatoutstanding-) Easy to force out-) Poke it with a leaf and it will die

Here’s the set I would run:

Seismibro @ Rindo BerryAbility: Water AbsorbSassy NatureEVs: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 SpD-Scald-Earthquake / Toxic-Rock Slide-Ice Punch / Stealth Rock

And last but most definitely not least:

Druddigon positively screams potential. The opponent won’t know what set you’re running! Is it a Sheer Force Life Orb set? Is it a Mold Breaker Earthquake set? Is it a Rough Skin Rocky Helmet set? Your opponent most likely will freak trying to find out what the heck this thing plans to do. Mega Kangaskhan shudders at the thought of taking Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet bothtwice, and you can destroy it with Revenge.

Pros:+) Movepool bigger than Wailord, with gems like Sucker Punch, the elemental punches, Gunk Shot, and Glare+) Respectable defenses+) Unpredictable+) Awesome Attack+) Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet cause massive recoil to Mega Kang

Cons:-) Burn it and it is essentially useless-) Slow as heck-) You can only run one set

Now, I’m gonna be honest. I haveno ideawhat set you should run. But whatever you do run, this bro’s a force to be reckoned with.