Dragon-types in National Dex Ubers

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Introduction

As a type that has been pretty common among legendary Pokémon, the Dragon type has heavily defined the National Dex Ubers metagame. Even though it has few notable resistances, these resistances provide notable defensive utility against common foes such as Primal Kyogre and Ho-Oh, limiting the capability of the former to simply use STAB moves and forcing it into mind games with Ice Beam and causing the latter to potentially be passive.

The type earns its viability out of the wide variety of options to pick from, allowing every team structure to afford at least one, ranging from stall to hyper offense, especially as with only three main Dragon-resistant Pokémon in the metagame, namely Zacian-C, Arceus-Fairy, and Necrozma-DM, and the same wide array of Dragon-types being weak to themselves, the type almost ensures avoiding passivity.

Banned Pokémon

There once was a time where Mega Rayquaza, Koraidon, and Miraidon were legal in the metagame. Even though it couldn't Terastallize, Mega Rayquaza earned a quickban out of its extremely high wallbreaking potential and difficulty at being revenge killed due to Delta Stream, leaving it with only the regular weaknesses of a pure Dragon-type while retaining the defensive utility of its additional Flying typing, allowing it to easily find opportunities to set up with Dragon Dance and 2HKO virtually the entire metagame with either Dragon Ascent or V-create. With the gain of U-turn in Generation 9, Choice Band sets weren't unheard of either, taking advantage of Extreme Speed and its high wallbreaking potential.

Miraidon was quickbanned at the same time as Mega Rayquaza, and the reason may not surprise many. Besides the capability to OHKO defensive Primal Groudon with Draco Meteor after minimal chip by using Life Orb, what undeniably pushed Miraidon too far even for this metagame was its access to Z-Moves, with Calm Mind + Dragonium Z having no consistent defensive counterplay whatsoever, as the best options involved a Terastallizing mind game to lure the wrong attack.

Meanwhile, Koraidon remained in the metagame for significantly longer; this all had to do with Desolate Land from Primal Groudon as well as Primordial Sea from Primal Kyogre overriding sun, and by extension its ability, making it surprisingly tame, especially as Pokémon like Ho-Oh, Zygarde, and Arceus-Fairy could afford being more specifically built against it. While it was legal, Koraidon developed a variety of sets, including offensive pivot sets with either Choice Scarf or Choice Band, Swords Dance + Flame Charge, and more situationally a Z-Outrage wallbreaker set, even becoming the main Choice Scarf user in the metagame, with Orichalcum Pulse also supporting Flutter Mane to see far more legitimate use than it sees nowadays. However, the discovery of Orichalcum Pulse actually triggering in Desolate Land, which turned the omnipresent Primal Groudon from a check to being OHKOed by +2 Low Kick, as well as its gained access to Scale Shot, suddenly left Koraidon without any proper answers, with the best counterplay involving Pokémon Terastallized into Fairy-types such as Primal Kyogre, Zygarde, and Ho-Oh; this earned it a suspect test shortly after that resulted in its ban.

Popular Options

Defensive (Eternatus) @ Leftovers Ability: Pressure EVs: 248 HP / 88 Def / 164 SpD / 8 Spe IVs: 0 Atk Tera Type: Fairy Timid Nature - Recover - Toxic Spikes - Toxic - Dynamax Cannon	Meteor Beam (Eternatus) @ Power Herb Ability: Pressure EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe IVs: 0 Atk Tera Type: Dragon Timid Nature - Meteor Beam - Dynamax Cannon - Sludge Bomb - Fire Blast	Wallbreaker (Eternatus) @ Power Herb Ability: Pressure EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe IVs: 0 Atk Tera Type: Fairy Timid Nature - Recover - Meteor Beam - Dynamax Cannon - Fire Blast

As the Pokémon with the most analyses in the tier, Eternatus's shown versatility allows it to compress nearly any role on a team, thanks to its high mixed bulk, damage output, and Speed being only limited by its EV spread, taking advantage of that and Pressure to outlast multiple foes like Yveltal and support Arceus formes. Its niche is further solidified with access to the rare Toxic Spikes, allowing it to act as an anti-meta option by weakening offense teams while also retaining a good matchup against hazard removers like Giratina and Ho-Oh; offense teams often also wanted to use Eternatus itself to mitigate that, as it's the only viable Poison-type in the metagame. Its Poison typing also complements it nicely, as it prevents Arceus-Fairy and Tera Fairy Pokémon like Zygarde from being reliable answers while also granting a poison immunity, which in a metagame where nearly anything gets Toxic, notably including Ho-Oh and Alomomola, can be crucial to retain longevity in the long term; however, it can abandon this by Terastallizing to either reach surprising wallbreaking potential such as OHKOing Primal Groudon with Tera Dragon Draco Meteor or find more situational defensive use to ease the matchup against foes like Yveltal and Primal Kyogre.

Teammates

Zacian-C makes a good offensive core with Meteor Beam Eternatus, with Zacian-C pressuring Arceus-Fairy, Chien-Pao, and Arceus and Eternatus checking Terastallized Zygarde, Marshadow, and Alomomola. Defensively, Zygarde can cover a wide variety of physically oriented foes, with Coil sets even using Primal Groudon as setup fodder, while Eternatus covers specially offensive foes like Primal Kyogre and Yveltal with a defensive set. Arceus-Dark also helps Eternatus at checking multiple Psychic-types such as Ultra Necrozma, Mega Mewtwo Y, and Calyrex-I. These Pokémon overall are versatile and can fill similar needs for a wide variety of teams.

Teams

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Defensive (Zygarde) @ Leftovers Ability: Power Construct EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD Tera Type: Water Impish Nature - Thousand Arrows - Glare - Coil - Rest	Dragon Dance (Zygarde) @ Leftovers Ability: Power Construct EVs: 12 HP / 216 Atk / 48 SpD / 232 Spe Tera Type: Ground Adamant Nature - Dragon Dance - Thousand Arrows - Substitute - Dragon Tail

With a signature move in Thousand Arrows that hits virtually the entire metagame for at least neutral damage and an ability that when triggered makes it the Pokémon with the highest mixed bulk in the tier, Zygarde is a potent physical wall that can easily compress roles as a sweeper and status spreader; it especially benefits from Terastallizing to have a significantly better defensive profile, taking advantage of its capability to run setup and utility at once to minimize its counterplay even more, and often has moveslots to spare to better fit a given team, with options such as Toxic, Glare, and the more niche Thousand Waves. Zygarde can also elect between two means of setup, with Dragon Dance alongside Tera Ground making it a dangerous sweeper that can play around being phazed and Coil considerably increasing its defensive utility while also making it harder to revenge kill.

Teammates

While Coil Zygarde is extremely self-sufficient and demands minimal team support, especially if it's dedicated to Terastallization without compromising the consistency of the rest of its team, Dragon Dance sets require a solid defensive core to support it, which in exchange enables Zygarde to be a potent sweeper for other teams to handle. Eternatus, Zacian-C, and Arceus-Fairy in particular are solid picks for allies, as they can check foes that are meant to handle Zygarde such as Marshadow, Giratina-O, and Yveltal, with Zacian-C also applying offensive pressure on Taunt Arceus formes, which are common Zygarde checks.

Teams

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Physical Utility (Giratina-Origin) @ Griseous Core Ability: Levitate EVs: 248 HP / 68 Atk / 192 Def Tera Type: Poison Impish Nature - Poltergeist - Dragon Tail - Defog - Toxic	Special Utility (Giratina-Origin) @ Griseous Core Ability: Levitate EVs: 248 HP / 152 Def / 8 SpA / 100 SpD IVs: 0 Atk Tera Type: Poison Modest Nature - Draco Meteor - Hex - Defog - Will-O-Wisp

Giratina-O remains a potent anti-meta tool for the tier, as its traits make it the most reliable defensive answer to the common Primal Groudon, all while avoiding passivity thanks to good offenses enhanced by its signature item. With a wide utility movepool ranging from multiple status conditions, phazing, entry hazard removal, and priority, Giratina-O can fill a good portion of defensive needs for a team; this is further complemented by Terastallization combined with its solid bulk, allowing it to remove its common weaknesses to Dragon and Dark and disrupt the momentum of the opponent. As its movepool and rounded offenses let it be a physical or special attacker, Giratina-O can go with either the higher damage output of special moves such as Draco Meteor or the greater utility of physical options like Dragon Tail and Shadow Sneak.

Teammates

Alomomola's access to Wish, Flip Turn, and Regenerator allows it to considerably mitigate Giratina-O's lack of reliable recovery while also reducing the pressure of handling physical attackers such as Primal Groudon, Marshadow, Chien-Pao, and Zygarde. Arceus-Fairy and Garganacl can also help at checking the aforementioned Pokémon, with Arceus-Fairy acting as a wincon with Calm Mind that also checks Yveltal, Arceus-Dark, and other Dragon-types and Garganacl further punishing bulky teams with Salt Cure. Both Arceus-Fairy and Garganacl can also set Stealth Rock to increase the damage output of Giratina-O's phazing.

Teams

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Ultra Dragon Dance (Necrozma-Dusk Mane) @ Ultranecrozium Z Ability: Prism Armor EVs: 24 HP / 248 Atk / 92 Def / 4 SpD / 140 Spe Adamant Nature - Dragon Dance - Photon Geyser - Earthquake - Stone Edge	Ultra Stealth Rock (Necrozma-Dusk Mane) @ Ultranecrozium Z Ability: Prism Armor EVs: 8 HP / 44 Def / 232 SpA / 224 Spe Naive Nature - Stealth Rock - Photon Geyser - Earthquake - Stone Edge

When it comes to Z-Move users, the first one that comes to mind in the metagame is generally Ultra Necrozma. Starting off as the bulkier Necrozma-DM, it can often find setup opportunities to potentially sweep if not answered quickly. Such is the power of its characteristic set with Dragon Dance that Necrozma-DM can sometimes even bluff the ability to Ultra Burst and instead run Solgalium Z to overwhelm checks like Arceus-Dark and Yveltal, while other teams may also consider using Ultra Necrozma as a Stealth Rock setter, with the sheer offensive pressure it has easing the act of keeping hazards up on the field while also luring foes that try to take advantage of Necrozma-DM by expecting it to be a defensive set, overall being a staple for offense teams that can easily gain momentum. It can even time when it Ultra Bursts to find setup opportunities in a pinch, such as withstanding Zacian-C's Play Rough as Necrozma-DM or Primal Groudon's Heat Crash as Ultra Necrozma, emulating a Terastallization without actually consuming it for its allies. Ultra Necrozma is so meta-defining that it's almost a requirement to have a Dark-type Pokémon, be it naturally as Yveltal or Arceus-Dark or by Terastallizing such as Ho-Oh, especially as such a type also covers other threats such as Mega Mewtwo Y, Deoxys-A, and Lunala.

Teammates

Eternatus and Zacian-C can check common answers to this Pokémon such as Yveltal, Arceus-Dark, and Marshadow, while Ultra Necrozma offensively checks Primal Groudon and Zacian-C after a boost. As Swords Dance sets demand Sticky Web support, Smeargle and Shuckle are viable partners that provide support for Ultra Necrozma to sweep. Zacian-C and Tera Fairy Lunala make a good offensive core by checking the Dark- and Fighting-types in the tier while also blowing holes on the other team alongside Ultra Necrozma. Lunala also makes a good core with Ultra Necrozma on Psyspam teams, allowing them to overwhelm each other's checks.

Teams

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Choice Band (Rayquaza) @ Choice Band Ability: Air Lock EVs: 24 HP / 252 Atk / 12 Def / 4 SpD / 216 Spe Tera Type: Flying Jolly Nature - Dragon Ascent - U-turn - V-create - Extreme Speed		Setup Sweeper (Rayquaza) @ Life Orb Ability: Air Lock EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Tera Type: Flying Jolly Nature - Dragon Dance - Dragon Ascent - Extreme Speed - Earthquake		Dragon Dance (Salamence) @ Salamencite Ability: Intimidate EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe Adamant Nature - Dragon Dance - Double-Edge - Earthquake - Roost

These two are grouped together, as they fill very similar niches. Rayquaza gets access to pivoting, priority, and an item choice in either Life Orb or Choice Band to maximize damage output, making it a potent wallbreaker to pressure defensive teams, while Mega Salamence has higher bulk enhanced by Intimidate before Mega Evolving and faster Speed to ease setup opportunities as well as reliable recovery to increase its longevity against offensive teams. Unlike most other Dragon-types mentioned so far, it's also worth highlighting the fact that neither Mega Salamence nor Rayquaza uses Dragon-type moves, as their Flying-type STAB moves have far more synergy with other types such as Ground and Fire, yet they still appreciate their Dragon typing to check Primal Groudon better.

Teammates

As Rayquaza and Mega Salamence are weak to Chien-Pao and Pokémon that often run Ice-type coverage to hit Dragon- and Flying-types such as Arceus-Ground and Arceus-Water, Primal Kyogre is a good ally that can easily offensively pressure them while also easing the matchup against physical walls such as Zygarde and Arceus-Dark. Alomomola is a more defensively oriented ally that eases bringing momentum for another offensive check like Zacian-C or Giratina-O to safely enter the field while also minimizing the momentum the foe could gain from a switch.

Teams

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Niche Options

Palkia-O is a surprisingly potent wallbreaker on paper, as it's a Water-type that can pressure Primal Groudon with its other STAB option while also being a Dragon-type that's not checked by Ho-Oh, thus breaking this classic defensive core within balance teams and allowing it to be dangerous every time it enters the field by 2HKOing most defensive Pokémon in the metagame. That is, until it misses a crucial attack, as every single attack it wants to use lacks the accuracy to be consistent in the long term; this combined with a Speed tier below Marshadow and Ultra Necrozma is not helping either, and so while Palkia-O is viable, it is often difficult to justify over Eternatus.

With even higher bulk than Giratina-O, one would think its base forme would bring even more competition, but in reality Giratina's passivity and vulnerability to Ground-type moves and entry hazards relegate it exclusively to a pick in stall teams, in which it makes the most out of Pressure by PP stalling moves like Defog and Toxic, especially after it has used Rest to minimize indirect damage and PP used by itself, while also compressing roles as a hazard remover, phazer, and status spreader that also checks Primal Groudon.

With the high variety of Dragon Dance sweepers in the metagame, it's often difficult to justify Kyurem-B or Zekrom, as Kyurem-B generally demands the usage of Tera Electric to ease setup opportunities, boost the damage output of Fusion Bolt, and make the act of revenge killing it harder, while Zekrom's reliance on Z-Outrage to avoid being dispatched by Primal Groudon often makes it an inferior pick compared to Ultra Necrozma for the Z-Move slot of a team; this isn't helped either by their inability to outspeed Zacian-C at +1 unless they run a Jolly nature, limiting their damage output further in the process. However. they still shine when facing bulkier teams where Speed isn't as much of a concern.

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Final Thoughts

With this information, the identity of National Dex Ubers should be clearer, and it will be useful to keep in mind as the metagame is further explored and defined by the development of Dragon-type Pokémon, ranging from the bulkiest walls like Zygarde and Giratina-O to the most threatening sweepers ranging from Ultra Necrozma to Eternatus, making National Dex Ubers the tier that it is today.

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