Sazandora
STATUS: Done I guess, feedback is very appreciated, and if someone has a new set that actually works, i'll gladly add it after some testing. (Don't suggest Cheer Up, its pretty bad).
[Overview]
- Sazandora is one of the few dragons that, although very capable of going mixed, will more often than not run a Special Attacking set.
- Sazandora is the only Dragon that has that typing, and adding Levitate to that mix, it gets him excellent chances of switching in and doing damage.
- One of two dragons that can use U-Turn, giving him a niche as a Choice user.
- Its low Speed will usually be his bane considering a good amount of things will be able to revenge kill Sazandora, though not switch in directly.
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: U-Turn
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Surf / Dragon Pulse
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Set Description:
- Decent speed coupled by monstruous attack as well as the always great Dragon STAB makes Sazandora a very efficient user of Choice items.
- Dragon / Dark gives Sazandora a good amount of resistances to common moves like Fire, Water, and Electric as well as an immunity to Psychic and Ground moves. It also grants him a very important Dark resistance, which means it won't have the same trouble as the majority of the Specs or Scarf users, the weakness to Pursuit.
- U-Turn is one of the greatest moves to have on a Choice user in order to keep momentum on your favor.
- Can be used to revenge kill a good amount of sweepers like Kingdra (DDer, not on rain), Dragonite, Gyarados, Metagross, Shandera, Ononokosu, Rayquaza, and Randorosu.
- Flamethrower is usable over Fire Blast, although the loss on power can be crucial, but its a way to evade bad misses.
- Surf is a good option on the last slot due to the ability to hit Fires without having to use Draco Meteor. Dragon Pulse also has its merits, by hitting dragons and weakened pokemons without having to get locked on Draco Meteor or a coverage move.
- Max Speed with Timid lets Sazandora outspeed a good amount of stuff which means if the Scarf is lost it can still do a good job as a team player.
- A huge selling point is that Sazandora is part of an exclusive group of Scarfers that can beat Wobbuffet one on one, since its immune to Mirror Coat.
- Great to pair it with things that enjoy Sweepers gone, it can act very well as a Pivot and Scout, causing many switches, which makes Layers pretty good to use when playing Sazandora.
- Good to pair with another Dragons, using Sazandora as a lure to see what they have to take them on, and weakening them to open a sweep.
- Will have problems with dedicated Special Walls, like Blissey and Nattorei, although the latter can't switch in on Fire Blast and both dislike U-Turn.
- Its speed can be a problem when facing other Scarfers, as most of them can KO Sazandora with Super Effective moves.
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Dragon Pulse
move 3: Fire Blast / Flamethrower
move 4: Surf / U-Turn / Dark Pulse
item: Choice Specs
nature: Timid / Modest
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Set Description:
- Similar to the Scarf set due to the movepool. This set is more of a hit and run Pokemon, entering the battlefield, hitting as hard as possible and then leaving or keep hitting depending on matchup.
- Easy to get in due to good bulk and great resistances / immunities, which lets it attack insanely a good amount of times in a battle.
- Excellent coverage due to its great movepool, and also boasts the ability of breaking Stall teams by using U-Turn to scout Blissey.
- Modest can be used over Timid in order to hit even harder, as you still outspeed most stuff, however you may want to go for max Speed Timid because outspeeding max Speed Jolly Swords Dance Ononokosu, Jolly Lucario, and other Base 95s and lower may be game deciding.
- Flamethrower is even more usable over Fire Blast in this set because the power loss is almost negligible.
- Dragon Pulse is now a very important move because its your most reliable STAB, still very powerful and without the drawbacks of Draco Meteor.
- The last move pick is for coverage. You can use Surf in order to hit Fire types without using a dragon move, just like in the Scarf set. U-Turn lets you scout with ease, and Dark Pulse is a strong STAB move that allows you to hit Psychic and Ghost types, although you dont get a lot besides that.
- Just like the Scarf set, the Specs set beats Wobbuffet one on one without receiving a single bit of damage.
- Its a good idea to pair Sazandora with things that enjoy its resists, so Pokemon like Goruugu, Shandera, Skarmory, and Blaziken all love to be able to have backup on Sazandora.
- Again good to pair with another dragons, although instead of being a lure this time, it would be the late game sweeper or a mid game wallbreaker due to its amazing power.
- The Specs version will also have problems with the same ones the Scarf ones does, except this time it is much more prone to being revenge killed, so Blissey, Steel Types on a Dragon move, and Burungeru will take on Sazandora.
name: Special Based Mix
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: U-Turn
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: Outrage / Surf
item: Life Orb
nature: Mild
evs: 140 Atk / 136 SpA / 232 Spe
Set Description:
- Mixed Sazandora is a potent threat, as it boasts very good mixed power, and STAB Dragon moves which are known for being powerful on both sides of the spectrum, and Sazandora is not an exception to the rule.
- The Sazandora set capable of beating Blissey with ease, as Draco Meteor + Outrage + SR has a chance to KO max Def non Bold Blissey.
- One of the best Mixed Sweepers due to a great combination of power, coverage, and ability to switch-in and out (thanks to U-Turn).
- The EV spread is enough to beat Neutral Nature Lucario, Warubiaru, Zekrom, Reshiram, and other base 90s, while outspeeding max Speed Positive Nature Base 80s by 1 point and Gyarados, which means Shandera, Wargle, and everything under them, like Heatran and Daikenki.
- The attacks are self explanatory, although in the last spot you may opt for Surf, again for the Fire types, although you will lose to Blissey if you do this change.
- Life Orb and Stealth Rock can leech its HP pretty fast, specially because of U-Turn, so it has to be wary about that.
- Pokemon that appreciate Blissey and other Special Walls down will love being with Mixed Sazandora, like Empoleon, Heatran, and more.
- Enjoys being with a Rapid Spinner because of the nature of switching in and out, and also Life Orb.
- On the other side, it also loves Layers in order to hurt much more harder, and get surefire KOs like on Blissey, so Nattorei, Forretress and Skarmory are a good option.
- It has problems with fast Fighting types like Terakion or Birijion since they can outspeed and OHKO. Basically everything that is faster and carries a Super Effective move will trouble Sazandora.
name: Physical Based Mix
move 1: Outrage
move 2: Crunch
move 3: U-Turn
move 4: Fire Blast
item: Life Orb
nature: Adamant
evs: 228 Atk / 48 SpA / 232 Spe
Set Description:
- Like the Special Based Mix set, this Sazandora is very powerful and can easily sweep or tear big holes on the opponent's team.
- Easily beats Blissey, Nattorei, and most of the other Pokemon that try to switch in on Sazando thinking of Specs or Scarf.
- Easy to use and boasts great coverage.
- EV spread lets you outspeed the same as the Special Based Mix, while the SpA EVs assure the OHKO on Skarmory, Forretress, Scizor, Nattorei, Genosect, and Aianto, while also letting you 2HKO Max/Max Bronzong all the time.
- Outrage and Crunch are your main STAB moves, while U-Turn is used to act as a pivot and escape from Heatran, and Fire Blast hits Steels.
- This set has more problems with residual damage than the Special Based Mix, due to the common use of U-Turn.
- Again, Pokemon that like Blissey down will love to be paired with Sazandora, but this time you can also add things that hate Ghosts, as Crunch will dispatch them.
- Rapid Spin Support and Wish Support are recommended. Starmie and Forretress are good options, as well as Jirachi and Vaporeon.
- Also loves Layers, so Skamory, Nattorei, and again Forretress are very useful.
- Same problems as the Special Mix, fast Fighting Types are troublesome, so Ghost and Psychic type Pokemon are appreciated.
- Sazandora really loves Layers in order to gain some crucial KOs, so coupling it with things like Skarmory, Forretress, and Nattorei is always a good idea.
- Burungeru is an excellent teammate for Sazandora, as they both resist each other's weaknesses almost perfectly, letting Burungeru switch in on Fighting, Ice, and Bug type Pokemon that may want to finish Sazandora, and Sazandora can switch in on Electric, Grass, Dark, and Ghost type moves and instantly threaten with a huge amount of power.
- Randorosu resist Fighting, which is arguably the biggest problem of Sazandora, and it loves weakened stuff. Pairing it with Sazandora lets Randorosu do a late game sweep usually.
- Scizor is a good option, considering it can KO foes that Sazandora failed to KO with STAB Bullet Punch.
- Cheer Up can be used on the mixed set, but it rarely will do anything as Sazandora's biggest problem is its speed.
- Dark Pulse can also be used for Ghosts, but it will rarely do anything else, and it hurts Sazandora's coverage.
- You can run an alternative spread of Hasty Nature and 252 Atk / 28 SpA / 232 Spe on the Mixed set, giving it a much more powerful Outrage and U-Turn, and also letting it outspeed up to Max Speed Base 95s.
- Mixed sets can use Earthquake to hit Heatran and Empoleon, but it doesnt have much use besides that.
- Sazandora will more often than not get revenge killed, opposed to something switching in on an attack and instantly threatening to KO, due to its monstruous power but slow speed.
- Fast Fighting types are the bane of Sazandora, since most of them will easily OHKO the hydra.
- Genosect, Scizor, Aianto, all of these can switch in on Sazandora (watch out for a Fire move), and then threaten to KO with strong bug type moves, mostly against the Choice sets.
- Nattorei and Skarmory also fear nothing except the Fire move, but if they switch in correctly they will set up on Sazandora.
- Dragon Pokemon like Salamence, Garchomp, Palkia, and Dialga can switch in on anything it uses except for a Dragon move, but thats usually what Sazandora will be using, so they have to be wary.
- Heatran and Empoleon can take on anything Sazandora may commonly use, but they have to be cautious of Earthquake (and in Heatran's case, a boosted Surf).
- Sazandora does not get a Dream World ability.
