Standard—the only things that matter are your personal choices. Stone Edge vs. Rock Slide is an accuracy vs. power argument. In the case of Dugtrio, who is very frail and fast, Rock Slide's slightly better accuracy and flinch chance may be preferable. However, the Rock move's targets will be Flying or Levitating Pokémon, which may switch out and negate the flinch chance. Sucker Punch is a handy move—with it, you can trap and revenge things like Alakazam that may be problematic otherwise, or you could surprise an enemy Azelf or Gengar. Adamant vs. Jolly is an age-old problem of Speed vs. power—you can trap and threaten more with Jolly, but Adamant may be necessary to deal the killing blow against things like Tyranitar and Blissey. The Choice Band vs. Life Orb matter has been discussed at length here. To summarize: there is a real danger that a Choice Band Dugtrio, having killed something with an attack, can now be used to set up against, or be killed by a revenge Pursuit. This danger is enough to warrant the alternative suggestion of Life Orb. Life Orb's HP loss is of little consequence to Dugtrio—aside from the occasional Raikou—and therefore may be disregarded. The question arises as to whether the power loss (1.3x power instead of 1.5x) is acceptable, keeping in mind that even an Adamant Life Orb Dugtrio may fail to kill Tyranitar, among others.
The same set as before, but with a Choice Scarf for surprise. The given EVs give 462 Speed, enough to outspeed even Jolly Ninjask (as well as almost every other opposing Choice Scarf user). Be cautious with this set—Dugtrio's weakness will quickly become apparent. Further, this set suffers from the same downsides as the Choice Band set. Finally, Dugtrio's base 80 Attack hurts it, seeing as it is incapable of OHKOing Tyranitar with Earthquake. The main Pokemon to catch with Choice Scarf Dugtrio is Choice Scarf Heracross. Dugtrio normally cannot risk trapping and killing Heracross early in the match because such a large quantity of them have a Choice Scarf. Keep in mind that Dugtrio's Attack is so sad that it will very rarely OHKO Heracross with Aerial Ace if it hasn't taken residual damage already. Another common Pokemon that uses a Choice Scarf is Heatran. Thankfully, Dugtrio can easily OHKO that with Earthquake. Other OptionsPursuit could surprise Azelf and Gengar. Pursuit should normally be used over Aerial Ace on Dugtrio if you use it in the uber tier. Heracross rarely makes an appearance there, whereas Latias and Latios are commonplace. If you use Pursuit in OU, Stone Edge or Sucker Punch / Night Slash can go. EVsDugtrio should always max its mediocre Attack stat. On the Choice Band set, max Speed is also recommended, as extra HP won't help Dugtrio survive much. However, the Choice Scarf set needs only 128 Speed EVs to outrun Ninjask, the fastest Pokémon in OU—just dump the remaining EVs in HP. OpinionDugtrio really hasn't changed much from Advance—it still does one thing, and one thing well: revenge kills. It may end up losing this job to Weavile and its Pursuit attack, but there is something to be said for the prediction-related safety in using Dugtrio. Still, the dangers associated with Choice Band Earthquake have been noted. CountersWeavile is a huge problem for Dugtrio, because Choice Band Pursuit is a OHKO if Dugtrio switches out, and Ice Punch OHKOs if it stays in. Dugtrio, however, OHKOs Weavile with Choice Band Earthquake / Rock Slide or Life Orb Stone Edge, so Weavile is playing a dangerous game if it comes in after Dugtrio KOs something with either of those moves. Anything else that has Pursuit and can get in on the Choice Band variant can also be a problem. Porygon2 can Trace Arena Trap and KO with Ice Beam. Keep in mind that most of these are simply revenge counters—it's rare that Dugtrio will ever die before getting one KO, unless your entire team is able to take it on. |
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