Statistics
|
Min- |
Min |
Max |
Max+ |
| HP |
90
|
- |
321 |
384 |
- |
| Atk |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
| Def |
80
|
176 |
196 |
259 |
284 |
| SpA |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
| SpD |
95
|
203 |
226 |
289 |
317 |
| Spe |
70
|
158 |
176 |
239 |
262 |
Dewgong’s Hydration trait is shared only by Manaphy and Phione, and moreover gives Dewgong a much-needed differentiation from other Water/Ice-types. Set up Rain Dance to boost one of your STAB moves, and Rest when your HP is low. Hydration will make Dewgong heal of its sleep immediately after Resting if it is under Rain Dance conditions. Ice Beam provides a second good STAB move, while Aqua Ring offers more healing per turn, especially if you go with Damp Rock instead of Leftovers. Aqua Jet gets STAB and, together with Rain Dance conditions, can deal pretty nice damage as well.
This set seems to be almost the same as the previous one, but it actually is played very differently, since it focuses on Encoring an Electric move to help another Pokémon to set up. Dewgong has pretty good Special Defense and HP which allows it to survive even certain STABed Thunderbolts. After a Thunderbolt is Encored, there are many Pokémon that can setup if the opponent falls in the trap of staying in. Among others, Dugtrio can be switched in to allow an almost certainly free KO, Electivire can get a Motor Drive boost by switching in, which could potentially sweep a whole team, and Rhyperior or Garchomp can also get a free switch-in and be allowed a Swords Dance. Unlike Walrein, Dewgong can then use Rain Dance and Rest to repeat this strategy as often as necessary.
Only use this set if your opponent allows OHKO moves. Dewgong’s Hydration ability allows it to scrap Sleep Talk, since it wakes up immediately after using Rest, consenting Dewgong the certainty of using an OHKO move when needed. It should be remembered, though, that Sheer Cold and Horn Drill only have 16 PP together at most, and since their accuracy is only 30%, they won’t be expected to OHKO the opponent’s whole team before their PP expires. This is where Sleep Talk comes back into its own, because it lets Dewgong attack an average of 10-11 more times with its OHKO moves. If you're using Rain Dance and Hydration, Leppa Berry can be used instead of Damp Rock to restore the PP of one of them, but Damp Rock’s prolonging of the rain is usually preferable.
Other Options
You can replace Surf and Ice Beam with Waterfall (or Aqua Tail) and Avalanche in the first set, and then fix the EVs and nature accordingly. Ice Shard gets STAB, but still does too little to Pokémon that are four times weak to it, even with a Choice Band. Disable gets a mention since it now has 80 accuracy, but Dewgong is too slow to be able to use it effectively. Signal Beam is the only other attacking option available for Dewgong, besides Hidden Power, but it has awful type coverage since Ice Beam already covers almost the same types, and is almost as powerful against Psychic and Dark types as Signal Beam is. Brine can be used instead of Surf against Pokémon that have less than 50% of their HP left, but, against Dewgong, this will seldom happen.
EVs
Maximizing Dewgong’s HP to 384 not only allows maximum HP for Resting, but also maximum Leftovers recovery if you go with Leftovers. Since Dewgong invariably will be using Rest, maximizing its HP is desirable. For the first set, maximize Special Attack (or Attack if you go with the physical moves). For the second one, you could give Dewgong a bit of Defense EVs in order to be able to Encore physical Electric moves as well as special. For the third one, simply maximize both defenses.
Opinion
Dewgong desperately needed to be given something that would set it apart from the other Water/Ice-types, and Game Freak duly obliged, giving it Hydration. While this does not make Dewgong an overused Pokémon by any means, it improves Dewgong’s usability to some extent. Dewgong could do so little prior to DP that it cannot do much else other than try to abuse Hydration. Its defenses certainly allow this to happen, though.
Counters
Most Water-types with a move that is at least neutral to Dewgong counter it easily. Lapras and Poliwrath work particularly well.
