What is a good non-legendary Dragon for competitive usage?
I am looking for a good Dragon to use in competitive battles. If you know a good Dragon, please post the movesets and strategies below.
(SWORD/SHIELD)
*Nothing specific, any format/rules. Just good Dragons.
Pleaselog inorregisterto add a comment.
There aren’t many dragons in sw/sh, but some of the most viable dragon Pokemon in competitive are in the Smogon OU tier, as all the Uber dragon types are legendaries.
DragapultDragapult is a Pokemon that fits on many teams. While it has a limited amount of sets, they all are very effective at their job. Dragapults biggest checks are specially defensive walls, especially Clefable and Corviknight, which swallow Dragapults moves and punish it with Moonblasts or easy hazard removal.https://pokepast.es/f917646a863ac885
Kommo-oKommo-o is a balanced Pokemon that can be offensive or defensive. Access to Body Press means it doesn’t have to invest EVs in Attack and can be put into defense. A more gimmicky but effective set is Throat Spray, which can use Clangorous Soul to set up, and attack with boosted stats.https://pokepast.es/a599c64a72294ffa
DracovishDracovish is very easy to use and has one of the strongest attacks in the game in the form of Fishious Rend. Dracovish also has access to Strong Jaw boosted coverage that can take out it’s checks. Dracovish doesn’t have the best speed, so it usually runs Choice Scarf for speed, but can also use Choice Band to easily KO switch-ins.https://pokepast.es/2f6938830e2dca62
HydreigonHydreigon hits hard with attacks without needing stat boosts, but it can use Nasty Plot as well for even stronger wall breaking. Hydreigon has the unfortunate blunder of being much slower than Dragapult, so it can use Choice Scarf to punish non scarfed Dragapult.https://pokepast.es/12a7a7d7ca8617a7
Another honorable mention is Duraludon, a dragon type that can check fairies types somewhat comfortably.
Hope this helped!
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Here’s one I haven’t seen yet.
Flygon@ Expert Belt / Blunder Policy* / Life OrbAbility: LevitateEVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 SpeAdamant Nature- Dragon Dance- Earthquake- Superpower / Stone Edge-coverage move(Fire Punch, First Impression, Dragon Rush if you’re real brave)
Now there is definitely a reason Flygon wasn’t listed, and I’m sure that reason is because it’s not as good as these other ones, but it’s still plenty capable of holding its own. I had a bit of a tough time thinking of the proper item for it. I almost Life Orbed it, but I’m not so sure I want a DDancer with an even further limited health pool. It’susablein OU, but can be a little bit of a risk if you don’t know exactly what its problems are.
Flygon is kind of strange in that it is both predictable and not. Most every one of them you’ll see has Dragon Dance now, but what it chooses to butcher its opponents with is not as clear beyond the staple Earthquake. I would recommend taking one of Superpower or Stone Edge to fend off Ice types. Superpower has more power overall, more reliable accuracy, the ability to delete Hydreigon, Tyranitar and Bisharp (if Earthquake isn’t enough), and finally an unfortunate drop that you can handle thanks to Dragon Dance. However, it’s not quite as well-covering as Stone Edge would be, which takes care of Flying-types and Rotom-Heat, which Flygon would struggle to deal with otherwise.
The final move is up to you. Fire Punch would remove Ferrothorn, First Impression can let you sneak a hit in if necessary, Dragon Rush is a strong move with poor accuracy but would help in defeating a Dracovish. If you want to run Dragon Rush on this set, that would be the time to use a Blunder Policy, as Dragon moves usually get poor coverage, defeating the purpose of the belt. Stone Edge also would benefit from the use of this item.
In all, Flygon’s a wildcard that you could throw in to take care of specific threats your team struggles with. If you’re using it in a tier above what it’s designed for (OU as a UU mon), it struggles with Mamoswine with a 4x weakness to Ice Shard (yikes). Unaware Clefable will also not only wall Flygon but probably kill it before it can do sufficient damage.
EDIT: I also noticedDuraludonwas not present beyond a passing mention in this thread.
Duraludon@ Choice SpecsAbility: Light MetalEVs: 252 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpAtkNature: Modest- Flash Cannon- Draco Meteor- Thunderbolt- Dark Pulse
This moveset was posted on PokemonDB’s Duraludonmovesetthread bySoundwave.
Again, less viable than others provided, but still fairly powerful. Its main problem is that its movepool is very shallow, and thus is predictable, with the exception of Draco Meteor and Flash Cannonoccasionallybeing replaced by Dragon Pulse and Steel Beam, respectively (though the latter is rare and usually appears with GMax sets). Other than that, pretty much every Duraludon carries either of those two STABs plus Dark Pulse and Thunderbolt.
What Duraludon can do, though, is function as a capable wallbreaking tank. It’s not very fast, but it has excellent defensive typing as well, with weaknesses to only Ground and Fighting that it is more than capable of handling (see base 115 Defense). It is quite appropriately made out of metal, because it hits like a truck.
Now for something for clever, innovative, and pretty usable, although somewhat gimmicky:
Duraludon @ Blunder PolicyAbility: Light MetalEVs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 SpeModest NatureIVs: 0 Atk- Substitute- Thunder- Flash Cannon- Draco Meteor
If you miss a Thunder or Draco Meteor, you activate the Blunder Policy and take advantage of Duraludon’s 120 base special attack stat [while still being speedy].
Incidentally, this set was made byNebbyY, who originally made that passing mention of Duraludon. It is also posted on the PokemonDB Duraludon moveset thread.
(end shameless plug, sorry, I’d feel guilty for stealing if I didn’t)
Non-legendaryGoodra is really strong with his stats almost even and it a pseudo-legendary Here is his
Goodra (M) @ LeftoversTrait: HydrationEVs: 240 HP / 252 SDef / 24 SpdCalm Nature (+SDef, -Atk)- Infestation- Rest- Rain Dance- Sludge Bomb
LegendaryP.S. Pokemon Home TransferWhite Kyurem is a great Pokemon who is in the Ubers tier. It has a stat total of 700 topping a lot of Pokemon.
Kyurem-W @ Life OrbEVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 SpeTimid natureDragon Pulse/Draco MeteorFusion FlareIce Beam/BlizzardRoost
