Druddigon (Analysis)

[sandman]

Druddigon

[Overview]

<p>High Attack, above average defenses, and the only Dragon-type with low Speed gives Druddigon a unique role as the only Trick Room Dragon of VGC 2011. Offensively, it has a large physical movepool which includes a strong priority move in Sucker Punch. Its ability Sheer Force boosts moves with secondary effects such as Rock Slide and Fire Fang, giving it something over Haxorus. Defensively, 77 / 90 / 90 defenses aren't too shabby, and Druddigon's Dragon typing also brings a bunch of useful resistances to the table. Unfortunately, in conjunction with low Speed, its typing also means that, without Trick Room, Druddigon will lose out against the other two Dragon-types in VGC 2011.</p>

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Dragon Claw
move 2: Sucker Punch / Crunch
move 3: Rock Slide / Superpower
move 4: Protect
nature: Adamant / Brave
ability: Sheer Force
item: Life Orb / Haban Berry
evs: 252 HP / 252 At / 4 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Dragon Claw hits everything but Steel- and Dragon-types for neutral damage, and backed by Life Orb, will hurt most things. Sucker Punch allows you to pick off weakened or frail opponents such as Chandelure and Jellicent. Being the 8th slowest 2011 VGC Pokémon, Druddigon is at home in Trick Room. With the Sheer Force boost, Crunch is more powerful than Sucker Punch, and while in Trick Room, Druddigon won't have to worry about being outsped as much. However, Sucker Punch is still nice to fall back on if things don't go as planned. Rock Slide is a great move as it hits both opponents and is boosted by Sheer Force. On the other hand, Superpower destroys anything that doesn't invest a lot in Defense and is weak to it.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Without Life Orb, you miss out on some crucial Sucker Punch KOs. This includes a 60% chance to OHKO 4 HP neutral natured Jellicent, and a 100% chance to KO neutral natured 4 HP Chandelure and Cryogonal. Haban Berry however, allows Druddigon to survive STAB Dragon-type attacks, making it last a little longer. If not using Trick Room, 20 EVs in speed outpaces Eelektross, 60 outpaces Golurk, 84 outpaces Scrafty and 100 outpaces Jellicent, assuming an Adamant Druddigon against the above enemies with neutral natures and no Speed EVs.</p>

<p>Being weak to Dragon- and Ice-type attacks, Druddigon appreciates a Steel-type, or any other partner resistant to Ice-type attacks, to deter the spamming of Blizzard. In return, Druddigon's useful resistances can deter the enemy from spamming Heat Wave, Discharge and Water Spout. Together, Druddigon and Terrakion counter Heat Wave and Water Spout leads, and somewhat counter the Hydreigon / Jellicent combo. Terrakion nails Hydreigon with Close Combat and Volcarona or Chandelure with Rock Slide, while Druddigon resists both Water Spout and Heat Wave, and can KO both Chandelure and Jellicent with Life Orb-boosted Sucker Punch. Furthermore, Dragon Tail in conjunction with Terrakion or another Quick Guard user is a great deterrent to Trick Room. If using Rock Slide, a partner with a strong Fighting- or Fire-type move alongside Druddigon is helpful against Steel-types.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>The attacking moves listed above essentially summarize the whole of Druddigon's useful offensive movepool, but it does get Thunder Fang, Fire Fang, and Earthquake. Fire Fang, while much weaker than Superpower, reaches an impressive 109 BP with Life Orb and Sheer Force, and comes free of stat drops. It also does tremendous damage to Escavalier and Amoonguss. Glare is an interesting option to catch the enemy off guard, but is best not used while utilizing Trick Room. Also, if you are not using an attack with a secondary effect, be sure to use Rough Skin, as there is no reason to miss out on free passive damage if you are not making use of Sheer Force's power boost.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Druddigon has no real counter as it 2HKOes every Pokemon in VGC 2011, but its low Speed and over-reliance on Sucker Punch to deal with faster foes can be taken advantage of by fast, powerful Pokemon or good prediction. Sets that lack Superpower or Fire Fang are helpless against most Steel-types. Outside of Trick Room, any faster Pokemon that doesn't die to Sucker Punch, and can hit hard with a super effective Ice- or Dragon-type move will checkmate Druddigon. Despite having a trollish base 48 Speed, 252 HP Conkeldurr will beat it one on one, as Dragon Claw with Life Orb does 53% max, while Drain Punch severely hurts Druddigon and restores Conkeldurr's health. Keep in mind, however, that the tables will turn a bit with Rough Skin. Haxorus and Hydreigon will beat Druddigon one on one as both are faster. Hydreigon's resistance to Dark-type moves also makes Sucker Punch futile.</p>

 

[Kinneas]

I would put Superpower over Fire Fang. Even with the ability boost Fire Fang is only reaching about 85 BP, and hitting Terakion, Zuruzukin, Warubiaru, Gigiasu etc. super effective sounds far more appealing than covering grass types with a less accurate and less powerful move. The amount of super effective hits it gets outweigh the stat drop imo.

 

[sandman]

I would put Superpower over Fire Fang. Even with the ability boost Fire Fang is only reaching about 85 BP, and hitting Terakion, Zuruzukin, Warubiaru, Gigiasu etc. super effective sounds far more appealing than covering grass types with a less accurate and less powerful move. The amount of super effective hits it gets outweigh the stat drop imo.

Ahh I forgot about Warubiaru, I'll add that.

I haven't tried Super Power, but also the boost from Sheer Power and Life Orb, according to the research thread, gives it a 1.69 boost so Fire Fang would be 109 BP 11 points lower. Do you still think its worth slashing?

 

[Alaka]

Following those same calcs, Superpower then has 156 BP, way higher than Fire Fang still. Superpower should be slashed over Fire Fang even if the recoil is much worse.

 

[sandman]

Made changes, I'll have the full analysis written by tomorrow.

EDIT: Moved Fire Fang to Optional Changes and mentioned Thunder Fang.

 

[Huy]

I've been playing with this set and I'm still amazed at how strong Crimgan's attacks are with LO and Encourage. I'm pretty down with this set right now.

QC Approved: 1/2

 

[Alaka]

Played with and against it tonight, I like it

QC Approved: 2/2

 

[sandman]

Thanks for the approval checks.

 

[Alaka]

You are missing <p></p> tags around your paragraphs, and you don't need the blank lines between the [stuff] tags and your paragraphs.

 

[Shadow hunter]

no glare set? thats where he is most deadly

 

[Chou Toshio]

Add/change
delete

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Druddigon

[Overview]

<p>High attack, slightly above average defenses, and the only Dragon with low speed gives Druddigon a unique role as the only Trick Room Dragon of VGC 2011. Offensively it has a large physical movepool including a strong priority move, Sucker Punch, and its ability Sheer Force allows it to boost moves with secondary effects such as Rock Slide and Fire Fang, giving it something over Haxorus. Defensively, 77 / 90 / 90 defenses aren't too shabby and Dragon brings a bunch of useful resistances. Unfortunately, that typing combined with low Speed also means that it will lose out against the other two dragons without Trick Room.</p>

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Dragon Claw
move 2: Sucker Punch / Crunch
move 3: Rock Slide / Superpower
move 4: Protect
nature: Adamant / Brave
ability: Sheer Force
item: Life Orb / Haban Berry
evs: 252 HP / 252 At / 4 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Dragon Claw hits everything but Steel- and Dragon-types for neutral damage, and backed by Life Orb, will hurt most things. Sucker Punch allows you to pick off weakened or frail opponents such as Chandelure and Jellicent. Being the 8th slowest 2011 VGC Pokémon, Druddigon is at home in Trick Room. With the Sheer Force boost, Crunch is more powerful then Sucker Punch, and while in Trick Room, Druddigon won't have to worry about being outsped as much. However, Sucker Punch is still nice to fall back on if things don't go as planned. Rock Slide is a great move as it hits both opponents and gets a boost. Superpower destroys anything that doesn't invest a lot in defense and is weak to it.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Without Life Orb you miss out on some crucial Sucker Punch KOes including a 60% chance to OHKO 4 HP neutral nature Jellicent, and a 100% chance to kill neutral nature 4 HP Chandelure and Cryogonal while without Life Orb misses out on the 1 KOs. Haban Berry however, allows Druddigon to survive STAB Dragon-type attacks, making it last a little longer. If not using Trick Room, and with an Adamant Nature, assuming all run a neutral nature with no evs in speed, 20 Evs in speed outpaces Eelektross, 60 makes it faster than outpaces Golurk, and if you really want to, 84 out speeds 84 outpaces Scrafty and 100 for outpaces Jellicent, assuming an Adamant Druddigon against the above enemies with neutral natures and no Speed EVs.</p>

<p>Being weak to Dragon and Ice, Druddigon appreciates a steel type or other type waiting in the lurks to come in on the aforementioned attacks and with Druddigon's handy resistances of fire, electric, and water, it can return the favor so the two can complement each other somewhat Steel-type, or other Ice resistant partner to deter Blizzard spamming. In return, Druddigon's useful resistances can deter the enemy from spamming Heat Wave, Discharge and Water Spout. Together, Druddigon and ScarfSawk or Terrakion counter Heat Wave and Water Spout leads, and sort of counter the Sazanjelly Hydreigon / Jellicent combo. Terrakion nails Hydreigon with Close Combat and Volcarona or Chandelure with Rock Slide while Druddigon resists both Water Spout and Heat Wave, and can KO both Chandelure and Jellicent with Life Orb plus Sucker Punch. Even more Furthermore, Dragon Tail combined with Terrakion or another Quick Gaurd user is a great deterrent to Trick Room. If using Rock Slide, a partner with a strong Fighting or Fire-type move alongside Druddigon is helpful for against Steel-types.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>All of the attacking moves listed above are pretty much the best The attacking moves listed above essentially summarizes the whole of Druddigon's useful offensive movepool, has but it does get both Thunder Fang and Fire Fang. Fire Fang, while much weaker than Superpower, with Sheer Force and Life Orb reaches an impressive 109 BP with Life Orb and Sheer Force, and comes free of stat drops if you don’t like the stat drop from Super Power. It also does tremendous damage to Escavalier. Glare can be substituted in and is nice for catching your opponent off guard is an interesting option to catch the enemy off guard, but do consider the consequences of paralyzing enemies while utilizing Trick Room. More so Also, if you are not using an attack with a secondary effect, be sure to use Rough Skin, as there is no reason to miss out on free passive damage if you are not making use of Sheer Force's power boost which is also an option if you don't feel like you will be taking advantage of Sheer Force enough to rack up a little extra damage.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p> Druddigon has no real counter as it 2HKOes every Pokemon in the tier VGC, but its low speed and over reliance on Sucker Punch to deal with faster foes can be taken advantage of by fast, hard hitting powerful Pokemon or good Prediction. Sets that lack Superpower or Fire Fang are helpless against most Steel-types such as Bisharp, Escavalier, and Cobalion. Without Outside of Trick Room, anything faster Pokemon that doesn't die from Sucker Punch and can hit hard enough with a super effective Ice-type or Dragon-type move will checkmate Druddigon. Despite having that trollish 48 speed, disappointingly 252 HP Conkeldurr will beat it one on one, as Dragon Claw with Life Orb at max does 53% max, while Drain Punch really hurts and restores Conkeldurr's health. Keep in mind, the tables will turn a bit with Rough Skin. The two dragons Haxorus and Hydreigon will beat it Druddigon one on one as both are faster. and Hydreigon's resistances to Dark-type moves makes Sucker Punch a futile attempt.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>It's Dream World ability is Mold Breaker, which is handy with Earthquake to nail opposing Eelektross and fellow Levitate users. Bare in mind it will negate your teammate's Levitate or Telepathy as well. Sheer Force is a really killer fantastic ability, though, so Mold Breaker likely won't see too much use.</p>

1/2

 

[Calm Pokemaster]

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[Overview]

<p>High Attack, slightly above average defenses, and the only Dragon-type with low Speed gives Druddigon a unique role as the only Trick Room Dragon of VGC 2011. Offensively, it has a large physical movepool including which includes a strong priority move, in Sucker Punch,. and its (split the sentence into two) Its ability Sheer Force allows it to boosts moves with secondary effects such as Rock Slide and Fire Fang, giving it something over Haxorus. Defensively, 77 / 90 / 90 defenses aren't too shabby, and Druddigon's Dragon typing also brings a bunch of useful resistances to the table. Unfortunately, that in conjunction with low Speed, its typing combined with low Speed also means that, it without Trick Room, Druddigon will lose out against the other two dragons Dragon-types in VGC without Trick Room.</p>

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Dragon Claw
move 2: Sucker Punch / Crunch
move 3: Rock Slide / Superpower
move 4: Protect
nature: Adamant / Brave
ability: Sheer Force
item: Life Orb / Haban Berry
evs: 252 HP / 252 At / 4 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Dragon Claw hits everything but Steel- and Dragon-types for neutral damage, and backed by Life Orb, will hurt most things. Sucker Punch allows you to pick off weakened or frail opponents such as Chandelure and Jellicent. Being the 8th slowest 2011 VGC Pokémon, Druddigon is at home in Trick Room. With the Sheer Force boost, Crunch is more powerful than Sucker Punch, and while in Trick Room, Druddigon won't have to worry about being outsped as much. However, Sucker Punch is still nice to fall back on if things don't go as planned. Rock Slide is a great move as it hits both opponents and gets a boost is boosted by Encourage. On the other hand, Superpower destroys anything that doesn't invest a lot in Defense and is weak to it.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Without Life Orb, you miss out on some crucial Sucker Punch KOs. This includes a 60% chance to OHKO 4 HP neutral natured Jellicent, and a 100% chance to kill KO neutral natured 4 HP Chandelure and Cryogonal. Haban Berry however, allows Druddigon to survive STAB Dragon-type attacks, making it last a little longer. If not using Trick Room, 20 EVs in speed outpaces Eelektross, 60 outpaces Golurk, 84 outpaces Scrafty and 100 outpaces Jellicent, assuming an Adamant Druddigon against the above enemies with neutral natures and no Speed EVs.</p>

<p>Being weak to Dragon- (hyphen "-") and Ice-type attacks, Druddigon appreciates a Steel-type, or any other Ice resistant partner resistant to Ice-type attacks, to deter Blizzard the spamming of Blizzard. In return, Druddigon's useful resistances can deter the enemy from spamming Heat Wave, Discharge and Water Spout. Together, Druddigon and Terrakion counter Heat Wave and Water Spout leads, and sort of somewhat counter the Hydreigon / Jellicent combo. Terrakion nails Hydreigon with Close Combat and Volcarona or Chandelure with Rock Slide, while Druddigon resists both Water Spout and Heat Wave, and can KO both Chandelure and Jellicent with Life Orb-boosted Sucker Punch. Furthermore, Dragon Tail combined in conjunction with Terrakion or another Quick Gaurd user is a great deterrent to Trick Room. If using Rock Slide, a partner with a strong Fighting- (hyphen "-") or Fire-type move alongside Druddigon is helpful against Steel-types.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>The attacking moves listed above essentially summarizes the whole of Druddigon's useful offensive movepool, but it does get both Thunder Fang and Fire Fang. Fire Fang, while much weaker than Superpower, reaches an impressive 109 BP with Life Orb and Sheer Force, and comes free of stat drops. It also does tremendous damage to Escavalier and Amoonguss. Glare is an interesting option to catch the enemy off guard, but is best not used while utilizing Trick Room. Also, if you are not using an attack with a secondary effect, be sure to use Rough Skin, as there is no reason to miss out on free passive damage if you are not making use of Sheer Force's power boost.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Druddigon (remove space between the <p> tag and "Druddigon") has no real counter as it 2HKOes every Pokemon in VGC 2011, but its low Speed and over-reliance on Sucker Punch to deal with faster foes can be taken advantage of by fast, powerful Pokemon or good prediction. Sets that lack Superpower or Fire Fang are helpless against most Steel-types such as Bisharp, Escavalier, and Cobalion. (you have already mention "most Steel-types." You don't need to give examples of Steel-types again) Outside of Trick Room, any faster Pokemon that doesn't die from to Sucker Punch, and can hit hard enough with a super effective Ice- or Dragon-type move will checkmate Druddigon. Despite having that a trollish base 48 Speed, 252 HP Conkeldurr will beat it one on one, as Dragon Claw with Life Orb does 53% max, while Drain Punch really hurts severely hurts Druddigon and restores Conkeldurr's health. Keep in mind, however, that the tables will turn a bit with Rough Skin. The two dragons Haxorus and Hydreigon will beat Druddigon one on one as both are faster. Hydreigon's resistance to Dark-type moves also makes Sucker Punch futile.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Its Druddigon's Dream World ability is Mold Breaker, which is handy with Earthquake. It allows Druddigon to nail opposing Eelektross and fellow (you mention in the next sentence that EQ will hit Druddigon's teammate(s). Also, in that sentence, you are talking about how EQ damages the foe, not your teammates) Levitate users with Earthquake. Bear in mind, however, that it will negate your teammate's Levitate or Telepathy ability as well. Sheer Force is a really fantastic ability, however, so Mold Breaker likely won't see too much use.</p> (remove space between "use." and the </p> tag)

GP 2 / 2

 

[Cefiro]

I would think Dragon Tail, Pursuit, and EQ would be worth mentioning with this guy as well.

 

[sandman]

I mentioned Dragon Tail in Additional comments. Earthquake is outclassed by Rock Slide due to Sheer Force and Pursuit is horrible compared to Sucker Punch and in Doubles.

 

[cosmicexplorer]

EQ does allow it to hit Steels like Bisharp, though, unlike Rock Slide, and gives spread coverage, unlike Fire Fang or Superpower. I think it should at least be mentioned in OO.

 

[sandman]

EQ does allow it to hit Steels like Bisharp, though, unlike Rock Slide, and gives spread coverage, unlike Fire Fang or Superpower. I think it should at least be mentioned in OO.

Earthquake is mentioned in the Dream World section but Super Power OHKOs Bisharp or Terrakion while Earthquake fails to and you risk being out sped and 2HKOed by both of them while also possibly having to worrying about hitting your own team mate. I don't think there's enough reason to use Earthquake over Super Power or Rock Slide in this VGC environment.

Edit: I guess it couldn't hurt.

 

[cosmicexplorer]

It doesn't have the Attack drop of Superpower, and spread coverage is always useful. I don't see a reason not to just have it in OO.

 

[Alaka]

Earquake should atleast be mentioned.

 

[sandman]

Yeah I edited my last post saying I added it, should have just posted again.

 

[sandman]

This has been done for a while.

 

[cosmicexplorer]

Furthermore, Dragon Tail in conjunction with Terrakion or another Quick Gaurd user is a great deterrent to Trick Room.

"Quick Gaurd" should be "Quick Guard"

 

[shllybkwrm]

Bulldoze would get a Sheer Force and a Life Orb boost and get rid of the Life Orb damage, would that be enough to put it over EQ?

 

[sandman]

After the sheer force boost and cut for being a field attack, its power is only 58 so even the absence Life Orb recoil isn't worth it.

 

[shllybkwrm]

Oops, I forgot about the cut there...

 

[Iron Monger]

Druddigon

You know, I've been using Druddigon with his Rough Skin ability paired with the Rocky Helmet. Pretty much demolishes anything with that hits him with physical attacks, due to the huge recoil they take in return.