|
-
Sturdy
- If the wielder is at full HP, it will survive any attack. OHKO moves will fail.
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Sand Veil
- Evasion increases by 25% in a sandstorm.
|
Level 100 Statistics (see level 5, 50, 100)
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
90
|
- |
321 |
384 |
- |
| Atk |
120
|
248 |
276 |
339 |
372 |
| Def |
120
|
248 |
276 |
339 |
372 |
| SpA |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| SpD |
60
|
140 |
156 |
219 |
240 |
| Spe |
50
|
122 |
136 |
199 |
218 |
Overview
Donphan has access to Rapid Spin, a move that is commonly sought out because of its important ability to remove entry hazards from the field. Donphan separates itself from most spinners by not only having bulk, but also the ability to be offensive. Sporting a great base 120 Attack and powerful moves such as Earthquake, Stone Edge, and Head Smash, Donphan can function decently as a bulky offensive spinner. Donphan can even use Ice Shard, which is a useful tool against Dragon-types and Landorus that sets it apart from most bulky spinners. Sturdy is a pretty useful ability that allows Donphan to always survive an attack while at full health, which somewhat makes up for its measly Speed stat. Donphan can also be a great check to most variants of Terrakion, capable of taking Close Combats and Stone Edges quite nicely. Its overall great physical bulk lets it function as not only a sponge, but also as a check against physical attackers, a feat that most spinners fail to achieve. Even though Donphan has a few useful traits, it is by no means a good Pokemon. It is widely outclassed by other spinners and finds it difficult to stay alive. Overall, Donphan is a very niche Pokemon, and should always be considered as a last resort if none of the other spinners seem to work on a team.
This is the only set Donphan should ever be using in the current metagame. The main purpose of this set is to take advantage of Donphan's above average physical bulk in order to take as many hits as possible, which in turn should hopefully keep Donphan alive for a majority of the match. Rapid Spin is the only reason to use Donphan, so it is obligatory on this set. As Donphan is surprisingly bulky and is quite capable of taking powerful physical moves, Donphan finds it easy to come into these attacks in order to use Rapid Spin. Earthquake is Donphan's only STAB move, and coming off of its base 120 Attack, hits pretty hard. For example, Donphan ends up being a great Terrakion check because of its ability to deal heavy damage to Terrakion with it. Donphan is also a really good check to Choice Band Tyranitar, and it is easily capable of 2HKOing Tyranitar with Earthquake. Stealth Rock is the most important move in the game, and Donphan is a great Stealth Rock user, since it's almost guaranteed to set up Stealth Rock due to Sturdy. Ice Shard is another great move to have on Donphan to give it more of an offensive presence instead of just Earthquake alone, and it is a great move to deal solid damage to Salamence, Landorus, and Gliscor.
Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Donphan's EV spread can be tailored to fit your needs, but the given EV spread and nature are highly recommended in order to keep Donphan alive for as long as possible. With this spread, Donphan can avoid the 2HKO from Choice Band Terrakion's Close Combat and +2 Lucario's Close Combat after Stealth Rock. It is possible to make Donphan more offensive with the simple change of moving its EVs in Defense to Attack and giving it an Adamant nature, but Donphan will become more susceptible to physical attacks. Another viable EV spread Donphan can run is 128 HP / 252 Atk / 128 Spe with an Adamant nature and a Lum Berry, which allows Donphan to outpace specially defensive Jellicent and 2HKO it with Earthquake. Lum Berry is used to bypass the possible Will-O-Wisp that Jellicent will most likely try to cripple Donphan with. Head Smash is a powerful move to use as an alternative to Stealth Rock if you do not need it, and it deals huge damage to Flying-types and easily 2HKOes Gengar. Fire Fang can be used to deal significant damage to Spikes users, such as Forretress and Ferrothorn, that may try to set up on Donphan. Toxic is an option to cripple common switch-ins such as Politoed and Jellicent, while Roar can be used to prevent set up sweepers from boosting up on Donphan. Odor Sleuth can be used to bypass spinblockers, but Donphan will lose out on a valuable coverage or support move.
Donphan is best used on a sun team because it can check a great deal of problematic Pokemon, such as Terrakion, Salamence, and physical Landorus, while providing Rapid Spin support. Still, Donphan is still quite viable on other weather based teams, such as hail, sand, and even rain, because of its ability to check physical Dragon-types. Specifically, access to priority Ice Shard easily let's it check some of the most dangerous Dragon-types in the tier including Salamence, Dragonite, and Garchomp. As Donphan is the only spinner that's actually vulnerable to Toxic Spikes, a grounded Poison-type partner and or Blissey with Heal Bell can fix that problem quite easily. Additionally, Blissey can use Wish to make up for Donphan's lack of recovery. Due to Donphan's poor Special Defense, Jirachi or specially defensive Jellicent can be great partners for Donphan, Jellicent having the additional bonus of blocking spinners from removing Donphan's Stealth Rock. Volcarona and Victini will greatly appreciate the help from Rapid Spin and the resistance to Rock-type attacks. Heatran is also a viable partner to protect Donphan from Grass- and Ice-type attacks.
Other Options
Donphan gets a few other toys in addition to the set listed above. It can augment its nice Attack with a Choice Band, but essentially loses its niche as a user of Rapid Spin. Its physical movepool is actually pretty neat, even including Seed Bomb, which can be used to hit bulky Water-types such as Gastrodon and Rotom-W on the switch. Stone Edge is always an alternative to Head Smash, as it sacrifices power in exchange for no recoil. Donphan's support movepool is rather nice as well. Toxic and Roar rack up residual damage and mess with many of Donphan's common switch-ins. Counter is surprisingly good on Donphan as well; Donphan's great Defense as well as Sturdy allow it to absorb huge amounts of damage from physical attackers and dish it right back out. Knock Off is very situational, but can be useful against walls carrying Leftovers or offensive Pokemon that completely rely on their item.
Checks and Counters
Ghost-types are the biggest defense against Donphan, as they ultimately prevent Donphan from doing its job by blocking Rapid Spin. Sableye and physically defensive Jellicent can burn Donphan with Will-O-Wisp, and can also take at least one Head Smash it if has to from the rare Lum Berry variants. Gengar is capable of switching into most of Donphan's moves and can either wear it down with its strong Special Attack moves, or set up a Substitute on it. Ferrothorn, Forretress, and Skarmory can all set up on Donphan if it lacks Fire Fang, and can chip Donphan's health away or phaze it out. Defensive Water-types, such as Politoed, Gastrodon, and Rotom-W, are capable of forcing Donphan out with their STAB Water-type moves. Breloom and Celebi can take all of Donphan's moves, even Ice Shard, and can OHKO Donphan with their respective STAB Grass-type moves or set up on it. Kyurem-B is a great check because it ignores Sturdy with Teravolt and can KO Donphan with Ice Beam. Air Balloon Heatran can actually check Donphan as well, doing massive damage with Fire Blast in the process. Latias can beat down Donphan with Surf or set up Calm Minds on Donphan, as Ice Shard fails to even 4HKO it, and Latias can just recover the damage anyways. Any powerful special move has the potential to pretty much always 2HKO Donphan. Generally, your main goal when dealing with Donphan is to get some damage on it (usually with entry hazards) in order to break Sturdy. Without Sturdy, and strong special attacker is a great check to Donphan, since they're pretty much guaranteed to OHKO it.
