Druddigon Discussion

[BurningMan]

HP: 77
Atk: 120
Def: 90
SpA: 60
SDef: 90
Spe: 48


Druddigon is one of only two fully evolved Dragon Types in the RU Metagame and has a lot going for him. His high 120 base Attack makes his Outrage extremely powerful and his great Movepool allows him to hit all of the few Dragon resists for SE Damage. He is also pretty bulky and can take almost every non SE Hit in the tier and KO back with Outrage this is extremely important, because he is so slow that even most walls outrun him. Sadly Gamefreak denied him access to any useful boosting moves so unless you pass some Speed to him you're not going to sweep teams with him.

Druddigon@Choice Band
Nature: Adamant
Ability: Rough Skin
252 Hp/ 252 Atk/ 4 Spe
-Outrage
-Dragon Claw
-Superpower/Fire Fang
-Sucker Punch

This is imo his best set, Superpower deals with the few Steel types in RU and Outrage with everything else. Sucker Punch is very useful as a utility move to pick up a weakend sweeper just be careful as a choiced Sucker Punch allows other Pokemon to set-up. Dragon Claw is cool if you don't want to be locked into Outrage for some reason and while its a lot weaker than Outrage its still strong enough to OHKO most sweepers. EVs are into HP, because investing in Speed is not worth it and the Atk EVs are self explanatory. It may be worth to invest some speed to outrun some of the common walls, 20 Spe EVs outspeed uninvested Base 50s most notably Tangrowth and Aggron.
If you use Fire Fang Sheer Force should be considered as an ability, but i prefer Super Power and Rough Skins effect often comes in handy.

 

[HuntSaboteur]

Fire Fang? Seriously? Anything with 65 damage and no certain after effects is not competitive. Also, what's the other fully evolved Dragon type? There doesn't seem to be any. RU is an almost dragon-free metagame. Druddigon is extremely rare and has the speed stat from hell. It can be beaten by Medicham or Primeape, even... It's bad, admit it. Just one ice attack and it's down. And 99 percent of ice users in the tier are a) not actually Ice-type, and b) much faster than 48 base Speed.

 

[Stratos]

1) Yes, seriously, Fire Fang is a good option for mowing through Steels and continuing on your merry way if you don't like having to switch out after a Superpower. With a Sheer Force boost it reaches the very competitive power level of 85.

2) Altaria

3) 99% of Ice-users in this tier is roughly equal to 4 or 5 Pokemon.

4) You both forget the move Glare, which is great on this guy allowing him to demolish the switch-in.

5) Hunt, are you a troll?

 

[Keiran]

Druddigon, probably the ugliest dragon ever ;p, Atleast it has pretty good bulk, I've used a hone claws set with good success,

Druddigon @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Hone Claws
- Outrage
- Sucker Punch
- Earthquake

Outrage is the obvious STAB, Sucker punch is the needed priority and EQ hit's Steelix for SE and Ferroseed for neutral,

You could also run a rocky helmet rough skin D-tail set.

 

[col49]

omg, Druddigon <3 Seriously, this poke does not get nearly as much love as it deserves. Dragon typing is a blessing on both an offensive and defensive front in the RU metagame. But I feel like nobody seems to realize his worth defensively. 77/90/90 defenses aren't too shabby, and Water, Electric, Fire and Grass resists make Druddigon an awesome check to several fairly common specially oriented threats (Liligant, CM Entei, etc.). I've played something of this sort with quite a deal of success:
Druddigon (M) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SDef
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Dragon Tail / Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Glare
- Sucker Punch / Roar / Pursuit

It's a tad odd, but I've had a relatively high success rate with it :P

 

[Bogaragaraga]

my trick room druddigon:

Druddigon @ Choice Band
rough skin
252 atk, 252 hp, 4 spd
brave nature (+atk, -spe)
0 speed iv

-outrage
-earthquake
-superpower
-sucker punch

so i use this set as a physical tr sweeper. with the lack of steel types in ru, a stabed outrage coming off 572 attack wrecks anything but devoted physical walls. with trick room up, most of hi usual threats are "outsped" and trick room synergizes well with outrages duration and negative side effect.superpower and earthquake are high bp and provide a super effective attack against anything resisting his stab. sucker punch will ko glass cannons and gives him a usefulness outside of.trick room, but i do think this dragons place is.trick room

 

[StruggleSweep]

my trick room druddigon:

Druddigon @ Choice Band
rough skin
252 atk, 252 hp, 4 spd
brave nature (+atk, -spe)
0 speed iv

-outrage
-earthquake
-superpower
-sucker punch

so i use this set as a physical tr sweeper. with the lack of steel types in ru, a stabed outrage coming off 572 attack wrecks anything but devoted physical walls. with trick room up, most of hi usual threats are "outsped" and trick room synergizes well with outrages duration and negative side effect.superpower and earthquake are high bp and provide a super effective attack against anything resisting his stab. sucker punch will ko glass cannons and gives him a usefulness outside of.trick room, but i do think this dragons place is.trick room

I agree. Druddigon is most potent as a Trick Room Sweeper. He is outclassed in every other role.

 

[locoghoul]

even in TR, there are better options/sweepers:
- Ursaring : 591 Atk with Guts, can switch attacks, Facade is a 140 BP STAB (210) move, great coverage
- Rampardos : EdgeQuake combo with Mold Breaker (levitators) and 471 Atk (LO further boosts this)

 

[GDK]

Who needs speed when you can sucker punch ?

 

[BurningMan]

Who needs speed when you can sucker punch ?

Sucker Punch is pretty unreliable and also not stabbed. its okay to pick of a weakened sweeper, but won't work as your main form of attacking.
He works like CB Haxorus he will almost always get you 1 or 2 kills in a game, but never expect him to sweep a team.

 

[kniteowl]

Who needs speed when you can sucker punch ?

I give my Druddigon some speed to outspeed walls like clefable and anything with will o wisp, it's annoying if it Status you with toxic.

Just take some Evs from Bulk and put them in Speed, it definitely makes my Druddigon better.

 

[yankstar]

Anyone else see the wrong sprite in the opening post?

 

[Axa]

Anyone else see the wrong sprite in the opening post?

Druddigion's new ability is Illusion, doncha know.

In any case, is there any merit to using Sheer Force over Rough Skin on Druddy? He doesn't really have that much stuff worth using Sheer Force for (maybe Fire Fang).

 

[col49]

Druddigion's new ability is Illusion, doncha know.

In any case, is there any merit to using Sheer Force over Rough Skin on Druddy? He doesn't really have that much stuff worth using Sheer Force for (maybe Fire Fang).

Generally no. Only really noteworthy point to it is v.Ferroseed, who is always OHKOed by CB Drud's Fire Fang w/Sheer Force (Rough Skin variants only deal 76.7-91.8%). But yeah, with any real hazard support that shouldn't matter too much. Personally I'd prefer to punish Entei for Blitzing over that any day.

 

[Keiran]

I've been playing around with a physically defensive parashuffling Drudd with great success, (Lol, I hate Drudd's desgin yet I keep using it xD)

Ginger (Druddigon) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Glare
- Roar
- Taunt
- Dragon Claw

Glare everything, Roar it out, (appreciates hazard support obviously) Tanks alot of hits thanks to it's dragon-type, makes a decent check to SubBU Gallade.

 

[DFang]

I've been playing around with a physically defensive parashuffling Drudd with great success, (Lol, I hate Drudd's desgin yet I keep using it xD)

Ginger (Druddigon) (F) @ Leftovers
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Impish Nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Glare
- Roar
- Taunt
- Dragon Claw

Glare everything, Roar it out, (appreciates hazard support obviously) Tanks alot of hits thanks to it's dragon-type, makes a decent check to SubBU Gallade.

Why would you use Roar over Dragon Tail?? You could probably just use DT over both roar and dragon claw freeing up a slot for another move like suckerpunch or earthquake...

 

[kniteowl]

Dragontail doesn't work on substitutes but Roar does.

Things like bulk up Gallade and Poliwrath would Wall this set.

I guess you could run both Dragon tail and Roar

 

[Sabinfrost]

Firefang is pretty much needed for Ferroseed.

Gallade wont wall it unless it already has a few boosts under it's belt, the standard set with SpD investment can't come into an Outrage.

With priority substitute Whimsicott can wait until it gets confused and leech seed it though this is unreliable as it can hit through confusion until it snaps out if you're unlucky.

 

[Molk]

Firefang is pretty much needed for Ferroseed.

Gallade wont wall it unless it already has a few boosts under it's belt, the standard set with SpD investment can't come into an Outrage.

With priority substitute Whimsicott can wait until it gets confused and leech seed it though this is unreliable as it can hit through confusion until it snaps out if you're unlucky.

actually, druddigon gets superpower, and rough skin should be the superior choice on most sets, not sheer force, for the residual damage it causes, superpower> fire fang imo

 

[Sabinfrost]

actually, druddigon gets superpower, and rough skin should be the superior choice on most sets, not sheer force, for the residual damage it causes, superpower> fire fang imo

Hmm... I'm not sure about that one personally. Superpower means you suffer an attack and defense drop and even without sheer force, Firefang hits Ferroseed harder than Superpower. Ferroseed is very popular as well, it's not an obscure counter. In fact Ferroseed is so popular it doesn't make much sense to me why Roselia is suddenly in the tier.

 

[Molk]

Hmm... I'm not sure about that one personally. Superpower means you suffer an attack and defense drop and even without sheer force, Firefang hits Ferroseed harder than Superpower. Ferroseed is very popular as well, it's not an obscure counter. In fact Ferroseed is so popular it doesn't make much sense to me why Roselia is suddenly in the tier.

iirc superpower ALSO Koes ferroseed, its a moot point if im correct, and being banded, (as most druddigon are) you will be switching out a lot anyway

 

[Ninja Dewott]

Druddigon can be an underestimated threat and, although it's not going to be taking on entire teams, can often remove a vital part of someone's team, thanks to its ability to tank hits and respond with a powerful Outrage. It also has sucker punch to help combat the speed issue. Finally, it has another nice niche in the move Glare, so Druddigon is far from useless.

That said, I don't consider Druddigon a threat, ice moves and phsyically bulky mons such as Klinklang tend to sort it out.

And I didn't know it learned TransformIntoElgyem...

 

[BurningMan]

Druddigon just transformed back^^ (sorry i don't know what happened there).


To get back at the topic, Super Power is imo superior to Fire Fang the only steel that isn't hit SE is Durant who still takes a shit load of damage. Super Power also hits Steel/Rocks SE while Fire Fang only hits them for neutral damage, there is also Earthquake if you don't like switching out, but i think its use is a bit too situational.

It really sucks that he got such sucky Base SpA, because he actually got a cool special movepool :/

 

[skymastergamerpt]

Druddigon is that kind of pokémon many people overlook since we are used to see Dragon type pokémon with quasi-god stats and such which Druddigon isn't apart from his very good Attack stat.

This is the set that is recommended on Druddigon from smogon:

Druddigon (M) @ Choice Band Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Outrage
- Superpower
- Sucker Punch
- Dragon Claw


And this is another:


Druddigon (M) @ Life Orb
Trait: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Dragon Claw
- Earthquake
- Sucker Punch
- Hone Claws


Now looking at this sets it is kinda of obvious that Druddigon is like a mini Haxorus (And just like Haxorus it has Mold Breaker at his disposal though it isn't as good as Haxorus with it meaning Rough Skin is the way to go in regards to RU). On UU though Mold Breaker is somewaht more useful since it allows Druddigon to hit threats such as Mismagius and Weezing better so defenatly it is a pokemon with some potential. Now in regards to movepool.


Crunch is a good bet in UU to hit Slowbro with. There is also Thunder Fang to hit Suicune.
With sheer force on UU you get bulldoze instead which overall is much better with conjuction with Life Orb. Pursuit is also a good option in UU to kill Mismagius.


Now in regards to RU again sets running Sheer Force get the option of using Thunder Fang and Crunch. However Thunder fang won't hit most of the RU Threats except Honchkrow and even then there are better counters overall for Honchkrow like the Steel Types. Crunch is a good way to hit Uxie and perhaps Cresselia? (Though I haven't face a single Druddigon with my Cresselia yet on RU) but Drapion is overall much better at dealing with Uxie

and even Cresselia sometimes.


So these are my two cents on the matter from what I could learn about this pokemon. Clearly it is something we don't see a lot and if it wasn't a Dragon type perhaps would have more love

 

[spuds4ever]

A SE crunch still only does as much as a neutral outrage so it's almost completely inferior with the only upside being you're not locked in to a move.