UUThanks to its high Speed stat and Arena Trap, Dugtrio has been a very reliable revenge killer since Advance. Earthquake is your primary attack, not only because it is Dugtrio's only STAB move, but also because it can score some useful OHKOs on Pokemon like Houndoom, Blaziken, and Toxicroak. Dugtrio's Dark-type move will enable it to hit Claydol, as well as Levitating Ghost-types such as Mismagius and Rotom. Which move is better will often depend on the situation. Rotom and Mismagius can easily bypass the threat of Sucker Punch by setting up a Substitute or burning Dugtrio with Will-O-Wisp. However, Sucker Punch will enable Dugtrio to revenge kill weakened enemies who either are faster or use priority moves, such as Choice Scarf Typhlosion or Aqua Jet Azumarill. Stone Edge complements Earthquake quite nicely, hitting the Flying-types who are immune to Dugtrio's Ground-type STAB move. Keep in mind, though, that many of UU's Flying-types are generally too quick for Dugtrio to handle. More often than not, Altaria, and Charizard will all be at +1 Speed by the time Dugtrio switches in to revenge kill them, and it is not uncommon to encounter a Honchkrow, Scyther, or Moltres holding a Choice Scarf. Substitute, Dugtrio's final move, may seem like an odd choice, but it has a very important purpose: to protect Dugtrio from Sucker Punch. Absol, Toxicroak, Houndoom, and Nidoking are all easily KOed by Earthquake, but they each can hit Dugtrio with a powerful Sucker Punch before it can attack. To remedy this, use Substitute on a predicted Sucker Punch. Next turn, Dugtrio can KO its opponent while the Sucker Punch will only break the Substitute. As an added bonus, if your opponent is weakened enough, Dugtrio can retain its Substitute by KOing its enemy with a Sucker Punch of its own. Take note that an opponent may suspect that you have Substitute and break your Substitute by using another attack instead of Sucker Punch. In such cases, you will have to out-predict your foe to come out on top. While evading Sucker Punch is the main perk of using Substitute, it has a few other uses. You can use it to avoid Explosion or the occasional Counter from Registeel or Regirock that have not been weakened enough to be killed by Earthquake. Additionally, if you can switch in on a Choiced Electric-type move, you will be able to Substitute for free, which can help ease prediction and protect Dugtrio from being revenge killed itself, especially by priority moves. For those who feel that they cannot predict well enough to use Substitute effectively, or for those who use Choice Band over Life Orb, other options in this slot include Pursuit, which can be used to hit things like fleeing Shed Shell Chansey or a Choice Scarf Rotom locked into Thunderbolt, or Aerial Ace, your best move against most Grass-types, including Torterra, Leafeon, and Meganium. Beat Up is also available in the last slot because Chansey is capable of outstalling Dugtrio's Earthquakes with Wish and Protect. However, with Beat Up and a sufficiently healthy team, Dugtrio is guaranteed an OHKO on Chansey. Both natures are viable, but make sure to note the benefits and drawbacks of both. An Adamant Dugtrio will tie with positive nature base 105 Speed Pokemon, such as Mismagius without Hidden Power Fighting and Manectric, and will fail to outspeed anything faster, such as Ambipom, Raikou, and Espeon. A Jolly Dugtrio, on the other hand, will outspeed all of those and tie with other +nature Dugtrio, Alakazam, and Sceptile. The loss of power will not make you lose out on any notable OHKOs or 2HKOs, but be aware that it can be significant in some situations, mostly when taking into account random or residual damage. For example, an Adamant Choice Band Dugtrio has a good chance of 2HKOing a maximum HP / maximum Defense Bold Milotic with two layers of entry hazards laid on the field, whereas a Jolly one has barely any chance of doing so. If you are using a Jolly nature, maximizing Speed is not required, as you will only be tying with opposing Dugtrio, a rare scenario to encounter, Alakazam, who can be killed (unreliably) by Sucker Punch, and Sceptile, whom you will generally not be trying to revenge kill. You may instead use a spread of 252 Atk / 40 SpD / 216 Spe, which outruns Timid Raikou and Jolly Ambipom. The 40 Special Defense EVs will give you a better chance of surviving a +2 Vacuum Wave from Toxicroak and a super effective Hidden Power from Timid Raikou. You may shift 4 EVs from Attack to Special Defense to guarantee survival against Raikou's Hidden Power. As with nature, both items are also viable, and the difference in power is again mostly situational. If you use Choice Band, beware that any Pokemon can set up on Dugtrio if it is stuck on the wrong move. Being locked into Earthquake will give Pokemon such as Moltres the opportunity to fire off a powerful attack for free. A Choiced Night Slash grants an easy entrance to Blaziken and Drapion, as does Stone Edge to Nidoking and Donphan. Furthermore, if Honchkrow happens to show up after Dugtrio eliminates something with Earthquake, or perhaps Absol if the finishing move was Night Slash, Dugtrio risks being Pursuited to death, unable to do anything in return. One thing to watch out for is your opponent setting up on Dugtrio, even more so if Dugtrio is Choiced. Because of the potency of UU's Flying-types, locking yourself into an Earthquake is one of the most dangerous things to do. If you dare to do so, make sure you can address your opponent's next Pokemon. Milotic can handle a lot of the common Flying-types, such as Moltres, Altaria, and to an extent, Scyther. It also fares well against Ground-types, who will come in on a Choiced Stone Edge, as well as most of the Fighting-types, who have no fear of Dugtrio if it is locked into Night Slash. The most dangerous Pokemon, however, are those who can set up on Dugtrio even if it's not Choiced. Torterra is the best example of this. Dugtrio must have Aerial Ace to even touch it, and even with Choice Band, it has a minuscule chance of a 2HKO. Meanwhile, Torterra can threaten a sweep with Rock Polish. Make sure you have a Pokemon like Tangrowth or Mesprit to deal with Torterra and other similar threats like Swords Dance Venusaur and Leafeon. Shed Shell, while rare, can also be an obstacle to Dugtrio, enabling opposing Pokemon to escape the clutches of Arena Trap. It is found mainly on common walls, mostly Chansey and Registeel. To solve this problem, one can use Trick and Knock Off to rob these Pokemon of their items. Chansey will commonly switch into Espeon and Mesprit, expecting to sponge a special attack, only to have her Shed Shell Tricked away. The threat of a Grass attack from Venusaur and Tangrowth will lure Registeel into play, and Knock Off will easily strip it of its Shed Shell. OUDugtrio's usefulness is not limited to UU. In OU, Dugtrio's Earthquake ravages Magnezone and Heatran, as well as weakened Tyranitar. Stone Edge is much more useful here, netting important 2HKOs on minimum Defense Gyarados, Zapdos, and Salamence. Sucker Punch's priority will allow you to trap and beat the occasional Alakazam. It will also OHKO Gengar and do upwards of 86% to Azelf, though they can easily switch out since they have Levitate. Since Sucker Punch is much less common in OU, Aerial Ace is now the preferred option in the last slot, as it is your only reliable method for revenge killing Heracross and Breloom. However, since neither are that common, Pursuit is also a viable option as it will grant you a kill against fleeing Azelf and Gengar. Night Slash can also be used in the last slot to hit bulky Psychic- and Ghost-types that commonly carry moves that aren't punished by Sucker Punch, such as Celebi, Rotom-H, and Cresselia. In OU, a Jolly nature is preferred, as you will be able to outspeed everything up to positive nature base 115 Speed Pokémon with the given EVs. This will allow you to get that crucial revenge kill on several Pokémon, most notably Infernape, Choice Scarf Magnezone, and Tyranitar with a single Dragon Dance boost. Adamant is only needed if you want to 2HKO max HP/Def Bold Blissey with Stealth Rock factored in or guarantee an OHKO on max HP Tyranitar. Jolly Earthquake will still OHKO, but only 53.85% of the time. An Adamant nature will still outspeed positive nature base 100 Speed Pokémon. Regardless of nature, the spread 252 Atk / 40 Def / 216 Speed is recommended, as maximizing Speed will only enable you to force a speed tie with uncommon UU Pokemon. Choice Band provides you with enough power to get that crucial 2HKO against Blissey as well as an OHKO against most Tyranitar, with Stealth Rock factored in. However, any Pokémon with Pursuit can easily revenge kill Dugtrio if it is stuck on the wrong move. If you use Life Orb, this is no longer a problem, and your attacks will still have enough power to finish off frailer Pokemon, but you will no longer be able to reliably 2HKO Blissey or OHKO Tyranitar, even with Stealth Rock on the field. If you are having trouble deciding, then you may refer to this discussion thread to determine the viability of a Life Orb. In OU, Pursuit is arguably the biggest threat to Dugtrio. The five most common Pursuit users are Tyranitar, Scizor, Weavile, Metagross, and Heracross. Unless you really need to net a KO with Dugtrio, it is best to wait until your opponent reveals these Pokémon to you (and usually, they will be revealed early if they carry Pursuit). Tyranitar can be trapped after it kills something, as well as Metagross and Heracross, though Scizor is harder to remove thanks to Bullet Punch and its escape tool, U-turn. It may also use Pursuit to finish off Dugtrio should it try to flee. If Scizor doesn't use U-turn, you can trap it with Magnezone. Weavile is difficult to remove. If Weavile is a Choice variant, Dugtrio can trap it if it is locked into Pursuit, which is the only attack that cannot OHKO Dugtrio, and proceed to OHKO with Earthquake. If Weavile is holding any other item, you'll need to use another Pokémon. Scizor and Forretress resist Weavile's STAB moves and pose an OHKO threat with Bullet Punch and Gyro Ball respectively. Opposing Dugtrio can also revenge kill Dugtrio. Be careful when switching Dugtrio in on Blissey. Ice Beam easily 2HKOes Dugtrio, and whilst it can switch in on Thunder Wave, Toxic variants can stall Dugtrio until it dies of poison damage. It’s probably a good idea to weaken opposing Blissey and find out her moveset before attempting to switch in. If you manage to Trick a Choice item on Blissey with a teammate, removing her with Dugtrio will be far easier.
While Dugtrio is certainly fast, there is still a wide array of Choice Scarf users that outspeed the standard Revenge set. This set aims to fix this issue. With a Choice Scarf equipped, Dugtrio outruns just about all of UU and most of OU as well. Your attacking moves are virtually the same as those on the Revenge set; however, they will all suffer a significant drop in power since you no longer have the boosts from Choice Band or Life Orb. You will still OHKO the more fragile of sweepers, as well as Pokemon with 2x or 4x weaknesses to Earthquake, such as Houndoom and Nidoking in UU, and Heatran, Infernape, and Magnezone in OU; however, you will generally have a much more difficult time scoring OHKOs and 2HKOs on bulkier Pokemon. For example, the standard Chansey will never be 2HKOed if it has Leftovers and can proceed to wear Dugtrio down with Toxic and Softboiled, barring a critical hit. Therefore, Beat Up is again worthy of consideration in Dugtrio's last moveslot. In OU, Earthquake will never OHKO min HP / min Def Tyranitar, and it can easily dispose of you with Crunch. With the loss of power, Dugtrio loses out on many KOs, but the additional Speed gives it a new set of targets. Dugtrio can now safely revenge kill Choice Scarfed Pokemon, such as Blaziken, Primeape and Hitmonlee, although the latter two must have taken residual damage or a Defense drop from Close Combat for an OHKO to be guaranteed with Earthquake. Charizard with a Salac boost and Altaria with a Dragon Dance can no longer elude Dugtrio, although Altaria must have taken Stealth Rock and Life Orb damage for Stone Edge to have a chance at OHKOing it. In OU, since you outspeed all neutral Speed nature Salamence and Gyarados after one Dragon Dance, you can catch either with a surprise hit from Stone Edge. Unfortunately, as with Altaria, you will very rarely ever OHKO them without Stealth Rock support. For instance, 0 HP/Def Salamence takes 62.84% - 74.32% damage from a Stone Edge, which is a likely KO after Stealth Rock and Life Orb damage, making this Dugtrio an excellent revenge killer to a Salamence locked into Outrage. Night Slash is used over Sucker Punch, primarily because you will never need the priority as you outspeed almost everything, save the occasional Timid Scarf Gengar or Azelf. Keep in mind that they are not OHKOed by either of these moves, though. Aerial Ace is there for Choice Scarf Heracross, but it will rarely KO it unless Stealth Rock is in play. Adamant nature is a must. You will need as much Attack as possible if you want to reliably revenge kill several of the aforementioned threats. With 212 Speed EVs and a Choice Scarf, Dugtrio will reach 493 Speed, which will always outrun Scarfed base 100 Speed Pokémon with a positive nature, such as Typhlosion and Jirachi, as well as Omastar in the rain, Scarfed Heatran, Scarfed Heracross, and Jolly Salamence after a Dragon Dance. Using Choice Scarf Dugtrio is somewhat similar to using the Revenge set. Its weaknesses are very much the same as the Revenge set, most notably its Pursuit weakness. While it has gained the ability to more easily counter certain Speed freaks, Pokemon like Chansey and Registeel, in UU, and Tyranitar and Blissey, in OU, need to be sufficiently weakened before Dugtrio can KO them. Choice Scarf Dugtrio is usually played middle to late game, when your opposing Pokémon will have received sufficient damage. Try and build up residual damage on the Pokemon you are aiming to bring down. Using U-turn on your Swellow and Mesprit will wear down Registeel and Chansey little by little while also allowing you to sustain your momentum in the battle. Spikes from Pokemon like Roserade or Skarmory will also help a lot. Also, make sure you utilize Dugtrio’s gigantic Speed stat. Dugtrio now even outspeeds Electrode, which means that if it dares to use Taunt or Thunderbolt, Dugtrio can easily switch into Electrode and OHKO it before it can set up rain, providing that said Electrode has a Damp Rock instead of a Focus Sash. With a Choice Scarf, you can outrun Motor Drive Electivire, and if you can predict the Thunderbolt, easily beat it. Avoid Hidden Power, though. Dugtrio can now also switch in on a Jolteon’s Shadow Ball, but sadly, Hidden Power Grass and Baton Pass are still problematic. Team OptionsEntry hazards and residual damage are extremely important in both UU and OU. Spikes, Stealth Rock, and to a lesser extent, Toxic Spikes will make a huge difference in battering down your opponent's walls. Stealth Rock is especially of importance, as it can can place opponents into your OHKO range, most notably max HP Tyranitar. In OU, Sandstorm support helps to more quickly shift your opponent's Pokémon into Dugtrio's KO range. Tyranitar is preferred over Hippowdon because the latter shares the same typing as Dugtrio and lacks Tyranitar's raw offensive power. Abomasnow's Hail is beneficial to Dugtrio for the same reason as Sandstorm. Dugtrio doesn't mind taking Hail damage, for it will die to almost any attack anyway. Its Stealth Rock resistance will help minimize passive damage when switching in, which helps when Dugtrio is under assault from Hail. Getting Dugtrio into play is tricky thanks to its fragility. Dugtrio's Electric-type immunity can be abused to an extent by using Water-types like Vaporeon, Gyarados, and Milotic to lure Thunderbolts from the likes of Lanturn, Jolteon, and Magneton or Thunder Waves from Pokemon such as Chansey, Jirachi, and Registeel. Dugtrio also has a bit to work with with its resistance to Poison, although this is more applicable in UU, since Poison-type attacks are scarce in OU. Unfortunately, Dugtrio's resistance to Rock is not very usable at all, unless you manage to catch something like a weakened Regirock or a Choiced Hitmonlee. Aside from immunities and resistances, Dugtrio can switch in on some unboosted hits, such as Drapion's Crunch and Houndoom's Dark Pulse, or non-attacking moves, such as Toxicroak's Swords Dance. Dugtrio has a niche for Gravity Teams. In Gravity, Dugtrio traps every Pokémon not holding a Shed Shell, expanding the range of Pokémon it can trap and KO, most notably Zapdos, Rotom-A, and Gengar, who are now vulnerable to a super effective Earthquake. Zapdos and Bold max HP / 136 Def Rotom-A are always OHKOed by Choice Band Earthquake with Stealth Rock, two of Scizor's generic counters. On Gravity teams, Scizor's U-turn can be used as they switch in, and then Dugtrio can trap them and annihilate them with no risk whatsoever. Also, Spikes and Toxic Spikes are a much more practical option on Gravity Teams when paired up with Dugtrio. In UU, Gravity is a decent option as well, as it is much easier to set up, and it gives Dugtrio the ability to trap and kill a number of major threats, including Weezing, Moltres, and Rotom. UUBecause Dugtrio is so easily KOed, it is important that it can OHKO the opposing Pokémon when it traps them. In many cases, this can be quite difficult, as Dugtrio's base 80 Attack is quite mediocre. On most defensive Pokemon, Dugtrio isn't an automatic revenge killer; you have to provide sufficient support from the rest of your team in wearing down your target, whether it be spamming Fire Blast with your Moltres to steadily wear down your opponent's Chansey switch-in or simply setting up Stealth Rock. Use Pokemon that can wear down their counters with little to no need for set-up. Two switch-ins into Swellow's Facade will place Registeel into KO range from Dugtrio's Earthquake. Hard hitters like Kangaskhan, Moltres, and Honchkrow are excellent candidates for this task. U-turn is an excellent method for allowing Dugtrio an easy entrance into battle. What's more, most of the Pokemon that have access to U-turn can draw out common Pokemon vulnerable to Dugtrio. Registeel can be enticed into battle by the likes of Ambipom and Swellow, and Uxie and Moltres will tempt Chansey into play. Another way of guaranteeing Dugtrio a free switch-in is through sacrificing a Pokemon and sending in Dugtrio to clean up the mess. The same principle applies to death fodder as well: send in a Pokemon that will immediately die to entry hazards, and then safely send in Dugtrio. Make sure that when you send in Dugtrio, you know that a KO is achievable. Most Chansey are easily 2HKOed by Earthquake, but some can potentially outstall Dugtrio with Wish and Protect. If everything else on your opponent's team is rather unfazed by Dugtrio, it might be worth risking it to get rid of Chansey, but otherwise, the best course of option might be whittling down Chansey's HP before attempting to trap and kill it. Dugtrio's effectiveness is heavily the result of Arena Trap. Therefore, if Pokemon can switch out of it, Dugtrio loses a lot of its utility. The item Shed Shell is one method of nullifying Arena Trap. You can solve this problem by luring the Pokemon who possess it into battle and then using Knock Off or Trick to rob them of their Shed Shell. Chansey can be baited by Rotom, Uxie, and Espeon, and Registeel by Tangrowth, Venusaur, and Ambipom. You can also just use Pokemon that take advantage of the lack of Leftovers recovery. When holding Shed Shell, Chansey can't sponge attacks from Life Orb Moltres as easily, nor can Drapion fend off Mismagius as effectively. Flying-types and Pokemon with the ability Levitate are also immune to Arena Trap. Because it handles most of them so well, Milotic makes an excellent partner to Dugtrio, dispatching Moltres, Claydol, Altaria, Honchkrow, and to a lesser extent, some Mismagius. Stealth Rock, again, is quite beneficial here. As far as threats to Dugtrio go, they cannot prevent Dugtrio from securing a KO thanks to Arena Trap. But after that KO, they can safely switch in. Many opponents will use Will-O-Wisp or Toxic immediately after it has killed something to hit your switch in. Clefable and Swellow can take advantage of both of these moves. Pursuit is also a huge threat. Pokemon like Milotic and Hitmontop can deal with common Pursuiters such as Honchkrow and Absol, respectively. Both also handle Drapion and Ambipom fairly well. Milotic also happens to handle common priority users such as Arcanine, Himontop, and Azumarill, all of whom can revenge kill Dugtrio before it can act. Tracers such as Porygon2 and Gardevoir can copy Dugtrio's Arena Trap ability, forcing it to stay in and be KOed by Ice Beam or Psychic. Registeel and Chansey happen to deal with both efficiently, and a Pursuiter of your own can kill a Gardevoir locked into a Choiced Psychic. Finally, you must be able deal with switch-ins that Dugtrio cannot harm at all, such as bulky Grass-types like Torterra. Mesprit, Tangrowth, and Scarf Moltres are all good choices for this. Be sure that your team is able to address common teammates to Dugtrio's counters. Drapion is a good choice for this, as it can manage Uxie, who is commonly paired with Milotic and Torterra, as well as Rotom, who can be potentially problematic for Dugtrio. Dugtrio plays more of a supporting than a sweeper role, eliminating key threats so that other Pokemon can sweep. When building a team with Dugtrio in mind, one must not only use Pokemon that support Dugtrio well, but Pokemon that Dugtrio supports well. The elimination of Registeel will allow Pokemon like Swellow, Venusaur, and Mismagius to sweep much more easily. With Chansey out of the way, a team will be much more hard pressed to deal with Moltres and Espeon. Dugtrio can also help a team deal a bit better with certain sweepers, such as Blaziken. Make sure to keep this in mind. OUDugtrio is best used on offensive teams that can quickly wear down the HP of many Pokémon; that is to say, it is well paired alongside Pokémon like Salamence, Infernape, and Tyranitar. These Pokemon will appreciate the guaranteed elimination of an obstinate wall or a threatening sweeper. Shed Shells are much less common in OU, and they are usually equipped on Skarmory and Forretress, anyway, two Pokemon Dugtrio shouldn't be dealing with. Flying-types and Pokémon with Levitate still remain as large a threat as always, however. Since most Pokémon with Levitate possess a Psychic- or Ghost-type, Tyranitar and Weavile make excellent partners in the offensive department by trapping them with STAB Pursuit, while hitting Flying-types, who can also escape Dugtrio's Arena Trap, with super effective STAB Rock-type and Ice-type attacks respectively. Tyranitar also laughs at Zapdos or Togekiss without Nasty Plot, and Weavile stops Salamence, Flygon and Gliscor. Physically defensive Ground-types and Water-types like Swampert, Hippowdon and Suicune will need to have taken a considerable amount of damage before Dugtrio can trap and KO them. Roserade and Celebi can take all of them on, but the latter will need Leech Seed for Vaporeon and Suicune. Gengar and Porygon-Z will also work due to their naturally high Special Attack and in Gengar's case, Levitate for Ground-types. U-turn is a great move for team allies, enabling Dugtrio to switch in safely, provided your Pokémon moved last. It also works great for scouting for Pokémon that Dugtrio can trap and kill. U-turn Azelf, Celebi, and Zapdos, whilst uncommon, are a great method to lure out Tyranitar and safely send out Dugtrio to trap the dinosaur. Jolteon's dry Baton Pass can be helpful, though many of the common switch-ins to Jolteon are Ground-types that don't fear Dugtrio. The same is true for Scizor's U-turn; most of its switch-ins are immune to Dugtrio's Arena Trap. Pursuit is a much bigger threat in OU and is one of the bigger issues to be addressed. Scizor can be trapped by Magnezone, whilst Tyranitar and Weavile both fear a Scizor of your own. Priority moves are another threat to Dugtrio. Scarf Magnezone can switch into Lucario as it uses ExtremeSpeed, trapping it in the process, and Mamoswine fears Bronzong, Skarmory and Scizor. Heatran and Pokémon with Guts can take advantage of Pokemon who attempt to burn or poison Dugtrio. Celebi and Zapdos can counter the Water-types that generally accompany Scizor. Zapdos deserves special mention, because once Dugtrio removes Tyranitar and Blissey, Zapdos will have an easy time finishing off your opponent. Lucario is usually paired alongside Salamence, Heatran and one of Scizor's most common partners, Gyarados. Scizor, Jirachi and Bronzong serve as Salamence checks, Gyarados is dealt with by Celebi and Vaporeon, and Heatran is OHKOed by Dugtrio. Mamoswine is generally seen with a Magnezone of its own, and Dugtrio can easily handle the magnet. The usual partners to the physical defensive Ground-types and Water-types that wall Dugtrio to no end are specially defensive, like Blissey and Tyranitar. Ironically, Dugtrio loves to prey upon them. Other OptionsBeyond the moves already listed, Dugtrio's physical movepool is pretty barren. Dugtrio can potentially be used as a lead if it runs Stealth Rock and Protect while holding a Focus Sash, though its use is very limited when compared to the other two sets. Soft Sand is an item choice on the first set. It can give opponents the impression that Dugtrio is Choiced and therefore allow Dugtrio to net a surprise KO when Pokemon such as Mismagius try to set up on it. EVsUUMaximize Attack and Speed on the revenge set if you are Adamant. If you are Jolly, feel free to use 252 Attack / 40 Special Defense / 216 Speed. 40 Special Defense gives you a slightly better chance of surviving a +2 Vacuum Wave from a Modest Toxicroak and a super effective Hidden Power from Raikou. On the Choice Scarf set, shift 4 EVs from Speed to Special Defense so Raikou's Hidden Power will never OHKO you at full health. OU252 Attack EVs on all sets is a no brainer, especially when considering Dugtrio's less than stellar Attack. While you may just as easily dump 252 EVs into Speed, 40 EVs in Defense are useful because they will give you a high chance of survival from an ExtremeSpeed from an Adamant Lucario with Life Orb. This will leave you with 216 Speed EVs, which is still enough to outspeed base 115 Speed Pokémon if you are running a Jolly nature. Although this means you will no longer have the chance to tie other base 120s, the only one remotely common in OU is Alakazam, which is easily OHKOed by Sucker Punch. For the Choice Scarf set, 212 Speed EVs are enough to outrun scarfed positive Speed natured base 100 Pokémon. OpinionUUDugtrio is a force to be reckoned with in UU. Its ability to trap and kill some of the biggest threats in UU, including Blaziken, Toxicroak, Absol, and Houndoom, is a very great asset. Dugtrio's impact on stall teams has resounded throughout the tier, causing Shed Shell usage to spike from near-nonexistent numbers. On the other hand, it must have a sufficient level of support to bring down the premier walls of UU, a concept that is easy to understand, but not as simple to execute. While Dugtrio may be harder to use than one would think upon first glance, it is enough of a threat that there is no doubt that one should at least be sufficiently prepared for it. OUDugtrio has not changed very much since Advance, as it is still one of the best revenge killers in the game, if not, the best. However, there are also many factors that have hampered Dugtrio's usefulness. Several Pokémon now have access to physical Pursuit, most notably Tyranitar, Weavile, Scizor, and Metagross. Due to the effects of the Choice items Dugtrio commonly carries, it is often a sitting duck after it gets its kill. This also means that Dugtrio faces serious competition as far as revenge killing goes, as all of the previously mentioned Pokémon have much better Attack and defensive stats. Worse yet, there is also an abundance of priority users that can prey on Dugtrio's terrible defenses, such as Scizor and Lucario. Lastly, the prevalence of Trick and Choice Scarf has reduced the number of Pokémon that Dugtrio can reliably revenge kill, which sometimes forces it to use a Choice Scarf of its own at the cost of putting up with its mediocre Attack. However, despite these issues, Dugtrio's revenge killing abilities can be a great asset for most teams in the currently fast-paced and offensive metagame. Teams that need specific threats removed, such as Tyranitar, Blissey, Heatran, Infernape and Tentacruel, can find Dugtrio's Arena Trap the perfect way to permanently remove them. Dugtrio makes a good addition on rain, sun and hail teams for this reason alone, and a surprisingly good counter for stall teams. Even just one surprise kill from Dugtrio can stop your opponent's sweep, or create an opening for a sweep of your own. While Dugtrio is helpful in this regard, you will need to be cautious. CountersUUBulky Grass-types such as Tangrowth, Torterra, and Leafeon are excellent counters to Dugtrio. They take little damage from anything outside of a Choice Band Aerial Ace (which still doesn't do near enough) and can KO Dugtrio with their Grass-type STAB moves, or set up on it with Rock Polish, Leech Seed, or Swords Dance. Bulky Levitators, such as Rotom and Uxie, and bulky Water-types, such as Milotic and Slowbro, are also quite efficient answers to Dugtrio. If Dugtrio is Choiced and locked into the wrong move, beware of being trapped and Pursuited by Pokemon like Absol and Honchkrow. Speaking of trapping, Porygon2 can Trace Dugtrio's Arena Trap, forcing it to stay in, and KO it with Ice Beam. Gardevoir can do this as well; just make sure it is EVed defensively so that it can survive a Sucker Punch or Earthquake. Make sure you avoid priority moves from Pokemon such as Donphan, Azumarill, Arcanine, and Hitmontop. Finally, EV spreads bulkier than the norm can really mess Dugtrio up - be sure to consider the possibility of these randomly appearing! OUDue to Arena Trap, Dugtrio counters do not exist. However, after Dugtrio makes its kill, it is very easily stopped with a revenge killer of your own thanks to its pitiful defenses. Scizor can easily OHKO it with Bullet Bunch and an item boost if it decides to stay in. Choice Band Pursuit, with Stealth Rock, has a 79.49% chance to OHKO Dugtrio should he stay in. Weavile is also a great contender for similar reasons. It can OHKO Dugtrio with Pursuit if it switches out, or it can finish it off with Ice Punch if it stays in. However, Pursuit will not OHKO Dugtrio if it stays in, and even Life Orb Earthquake will OHKO Weavile with Stealth Rock in play. Even Tyranitar and Metagross can trap it with Pursuit if it is locked onto any attack besides Earthquake. As in UU, Porygon2 can Trace Arena Trap and KO it with Ice Beam. Even a Dugtrio of your own can work if your opponent's Dugtrio is stuck on Stone Edge. If you manage to inflict a burn on Dugtrio, its damage output will be laughable. |
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