Pokémon Donphan

[Milkshook]

I'm going to remind everybody of what a great pokemon Donphan is. It is one of the few pokemon, and the best one, that can use both Stealth rock and Rapid spin. It also has very good attack and defense stats. It also has good coverage. It also has priority which hits a lot of ha for super effective damage.

Name:Wall?
EVs:252hp/252def/4atk
Impish nature
Item:Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Stealth rock
Move 2:Rapid spin
Move 3:Protect/Ice shard
Move 4:Toxic/Earthquake

Donphan is very bulky. It also fulfills 2 roles (stealth rocker and rapid spinner) while only taking up 1 slot on your team. It is a sturdy wall and has a great ability. Stealth rock and Rapid spin are there to support your team. Protect can be used for scouting and to get more leftovers recovery which is especially important because it has the Sturdy ability. Ice shard can also be used because a lot of things are 4x weak to it and to let Donphan deal with sashed leads easier. Toxic can be used since Donphan is a wall and it can get residual damage onto opponents. Earthquake is an alternative. It hits hard because of its high base power and Donphan's reasonable attack stat without EVs however, flying types and levitators are immune to it and can set up on Donphan.

Name:Bulky attacker
EVs:252hp/252atk/4def
Adamant nature
Item:Leftovers/Choice band
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Earthquake
Move 2:Stone edge/Play rough/Ice shard
Move 3:Rapid spin/Stone edge/Play rough/Ice shard
Move 4:Knock off/Ice shard

This is a great set for Donphan as it capitalises on it's great bulk and attack. Leftovers is the preferred item on this set as it allows Donphan to recover health and it's not very good being locked into Rapid spin because stuff can set up on you. A Choice band can be used if you want to make Donphan even stronger and you don't mind being locked into a move. Earthquake is the main STAB here and has a high base power. Stone edge and Play rough both provide very good coverage alongside Earthquake and it's just a matter of preference of which pokemon you want to hit super effectively. Rapid spin is still good on this set and Donphan has a free moveslot anyway. Bulky attacking Donphan is a great Rapid spinner but this move isn't reccomended on Choice band variants. If you're running a Choice band set or you already have Rapid soin support on your team, you can use another coverage move here. Knock off is a great utility move and can hit spinblockers on the switch. Ice shard is a great move on Donphan and is recommended as it hits a lot of stuff super effectively and allows Donphan to deal with Focus sash users easier.

Name: Vest Donphan is the best Donphan ^.^
EVs:252hp/Either max attack, max defense or max special defense
Adamant/Impish/Careful nature
Item: Assault vest
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Earthquake
Move 2:Rapid spin
Move 3:Knock off/Ice shard
Move 4:Play rough/Stone edge

It's not really the best Donphan but I feel that this set deserved a mention to patch up Donphan's terrible special defense. It can still use most of it's utility moves apart from like Stealth rock. All of the listed EV spreads can work and it's just a matter of preference. Earthquake is there as the main attacking move. Rapid spin is for utility. Knock off is for utility and hitting spinblockers on the switch. Ice shard can work too for priority, to hit stuff super effectively and to deal with sashed leads. Play rough and Stone edge both have very good coverage with Earthquake and it's just a matter of preference. (Sorry for repeating myself a lot, the sets are all similar >.>)

Name: Kinda gimmicky
EVs:252hp/252def
Impish nature
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Endeavor
Move 2:Ice shard
Move 3:Stealth rock
Move 4:Rapid spin

This set can set up rocks and spin them away like normal. It also has a slightly gimmicky use where your opponent brings Donphan to it's sturdy, Donphan uses Endeavor and on the next turn, Donphan uses Ice shard and kills your opponent who is at 1hp.

There. It was a very repetitive thread but that's Donphan. Leave some suggestions of some more sets/moves here.

 

[Prosecutor Godot]

While Donphan isn't a "bad pokemon", as far as OU goes there are tons of better ways to remove entry hazards, and it suffers huge 4MSS as depending on what it's forced to forgo, it's walled by another huge threat whether it be Charizard-Y, Rotom-W, Landorus-T, etc. With it's niche of Sun spinning practically gone, UU is the proper place for Donphan this gen.

And no, Donphan is still OU.

 

[Chev]

Donphan may suffer from being far from overpowered, but in spite of that, he still has a very useable role in the current OU. My current set, which does fairly well is:

Donphan Leftovers
Impish
Sturdy
252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Ice Shard
- Endeavor (Rapid Spin/Play Rough)

I opt for the endeavor here, only missing out on ghost types for the Sturdy>Ice Shard. It is a useful move to use while tanking hits and OHKOing back with a powerful STAB EQ or Stone Miss. Play Rough is an option, however, most Dragons or Dark Types need not come into Donphan as Grass and Water handle him well. A sizable 120 attack gives him what he needs to do large amounts of damage while taking the abuse he is used to. SE for Charizard (if Sturdy is intact, otherwise you are KO'd) and the lot, EQ for STAB and great coverage. Ice Shard to do stupid amounts of damage to the common Dragon/Flying Dragon/Ground types, or even Gliscor, a popular Rapid Spinner.

It's by far not going to take him to A tier or even B tier, but he is still a threat even to this gen, and is rightfully still sitting in OU.

 

[Swagodile]

Hazards are much easier to get rid of this gen due to the Defog buff, and there are better spinners in OU such as Excadrill and Starmie.

Unless you just really like Donphan, there isn't much reason to use it.

 

[Talpr0ne]

I think Donphan should have some hypnotic powers, i can't find any reason for it's usage above the OU cutoff for two generations where it is mediocre. It's not even a fan favorite like, say, Infernape.

 

[FlyThai]

Hazards are much easier to get rid of this gen due to the Defog buff, and there are better spinners in OU such as Excadrill and Starmie.

Unless you just really like Donphan, there isn't much reason to use it.

knock off + rapid spin combo is nice. And unlike Excadrill and Starmie it doesnt die against talonflame

 

[LoDart210]

Donphan is still a very good spinner, its just that the choice for hazard removal is not bottlenecked anymore.

I used this odd attacking set and netting relatively good results (minimum 1 KO and a severely damaged poke to up to 2-3 KO's)

Slick tire
Donphan @ life orb
Sturdy
Jolly
4 HP/252 attack/ 252 speed
- rock polish
- earthquake
- rock slide/stone edge/head smash
- knock off
-play rough/ice shard/seed bomb/
Fire fang/thunder fang

Donphan has good coverage and a good attacking stat of 120.

With natural 90/120 physical bulk it can match physical attackers.

Also it reaches 436 speed after a rock polish and max boosted speed. It's expansive coverage means you can tailor it to fit your team as well.

Cons - no attacking boosting attack leaving it vulnerable to intimidate. 120 leaves a little bit to be desired.

Reliance on rock polish to sweep

 

[rachet67]

Donphan is still a very good spinner, its just that the choice for hazard removal is not bottlenecked anymore.

Donophan was never a good spinner. For many teams last gen (such as sun teams) it was the only spinner. Here's a quote from the BW analysis:

Even though Donphan has a few useful traits, it is by no means a good Pokemon. It is widely outclassed by other spinners and finds it difficult to stay alive. Overall, Donphan is a very niche Pokemon, and should always be considered as a last resort if none of the other spinners seem to work on a team.

Donophan is walled by most spin blockers, knock of only really being able to take care of gengar. In addition its has no form of recovery which makes it not even want to take physical hits. It has low special bulk, is painfully slow, allowing it to get KO'd before it rapid spins, and has pathetic offense without investment. An attacking set on donophan is really bad as its way to slow to pull it off even with rock polish and has sub-par attack for an offensive sweeper with no way to boost it. There are much better users of rock polish/swords dance such as landorus-t, or terrakion. Bulky set up pokemon, such as calm mind latias, rely on recovery to make them worthwhile over offensive sweepers.

 

[Flutternukes]

Everyone seems to be downplaying Donphan more than it deserves. True, there are better spinners out there (Excadrill, I'm looking at you), but every time I've used Donphan it's put in some fantastic work.

I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it.

 

[World Rumble Co.]

I'm going to remind everybody of what a great pokemon Donphan is. It is one of the few pokemon, and the best one, that can use both Stealth rock and Rapid spin. It also has very good attack and defense stats. It also has good coverage. It also has priority which hits a lot of ha for super effective damage.

Name:Wall?
EVs:252hp/252def/4atk
Impish nature
Item:Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Stealth rock
Move 2:Rapid spin
Move 3:Protect/Ice shard
Move 4:Toxic/Earthquake

Donphan is very bulky. It also fulfills 2 roles (stealth rocker and rapid spinner) while only taking up 1 slot on your team. It is a sturdy wall and has a great ability. Stealth rock and Rapid spin are there to support your team. Protect can be used for scouting and to get more leftovers recovery which is especially important because it has the Sturdy ability. Ice shard can also be used because a lot of things are 4x weak to it and to let Donphan deal with sashed leads easier. Toxic can be used since Donphan is a wall and it can get residual damage onto opponents. Earthquake is an alternative. It hits hard because of its high base power and Donphan's reasonable attack stat without EVs however, flying types and levitators are immune to it and can set up on Donphan.

Name:Bulky attacker
EVs:252hp/252atk/4def
Adamant nature
Item:Leftovers/Choice band
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Earthquake
Move 2:Stone edge/Play rough/Ice shard
Move 3:Rapid spin/Stone edge/Play rough/Ice shard
Move 4:Knock off/Ice shard

This is a great set for Donphan as it capitalises on it's great bulk and attack. Leftovers is the preferred item on this set as it allows Donphan to recover health and it's not very good being locked into Rapid spin because stuff can set up on you. A Choice band can be used if you want to make Donphan even stronger and you don't mind being locked into a move. Earthquake is the main STAB here and has a high base power. Stone edge and Play rough both provide very good coverage alongside Earthquake and it's just a matter of preference of which pokemon you want to hit super effectively. Rapid spin is still good on this set and Donphan has a free moveslot anyway. Bulky attacking Donphan is a great Rapid spinner but this move isn't reccomended on Choice band variants. If you're running a Choice band set or you already have Rapid soin support on your team, you can use another coverage move here. Knock off is a great utility move and can hit spinblockers on the switch. Ice shard is a great move on Donphan and is recommended as it hits a lot of stuff super effectively and allows Donphan to deal with Focus sash users easier.

Name: Vest Donphan is the best Donphan ^.^
EVs:252hp/Either max attack, max defense or max special defense
Adamant/Impish/Careful nature
Item: Assault vest
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Earthquake
Move 2:Rapid spin
Move 3:Knock off/Ice shard
Move 4:Play rough/Stone edge

It's not really the best Donphan but I feel that this set deserved a mention to patch up Donphan's terrible special defense. It can still use most of it's utility moves apart from like Stealth rock. All of the listed EV spreads can work and it's just a matter of preference. Earthquake is there as the main attacking move. Rapid spin is for utility. Knock off is for utility and hitting spinblockers on the switch. Ice shard can work too for priority, to hit stuff super effectively and to deal with sashed leads. Play rough and Stone edge both have very good coverage with Earthquake and it's just a matter of preference. (Sorry for repeating myself a lot, the sets are all similar >.>)

Name: Kinda gimmicky
EVs:252hp/252def
Impish nature
Item: Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
Move 1:Endeavor
Move 2:Ice shard
Move 3:Stealth rock
Move 4:Rapid spin

This set can set up rocks and spin them away like normal. It also has a slightly gimmicky use where your opponent brings Donphan to it's sturdy, Donphan uses Endeavor and on the next turn, Donphan uses Ice shard and kills your opponent who is at 1hp.

There. It was a very repetitive thread but that's Donphan. Leave some suggestions of some more sets/moves here.

I find this to be great information, but in Pokemon X and Y how do you get Stealth Rocks and Ice Shard at the same time on Phanpy/Donphan? It's hard, unless we had Move tutors like in B2W2. Any help please, or if you know how to get them both in XandY please help, my friend is team building for his GF to play in OU and she is going to have Donphan. Not to sound desperate though lol because I'm learning to counter this too XD.

 

[LoDart210]

Donophan was never a good spinner. For many teams last gen (such as sun teams) it was the only spinner. Here's a quote from the BW analysis:



Donophan is walled by most spin blockers, knock of only really being able to take care of gengar. In addition its has no form of recovery which makes it not even want to take physical hits. It has low special bulk, is painfully slow, allowing it to get KO'd before it rapid spins, and has pathetic offense without investment. An attacking set on donophan is really bad as its way to slow to pull it off even with rock polish and has sub-par attack for an offensive sweeper with no way to boost it. There are much better users of rock polish/swords dance such as landorus-t, or terrakion. Bulky set up pokemon, such as calm mind latias, rely on recovery to make them worthwhile over offensive sweepers.

I definitely understand it isn't the best spinner but I disagree with the official analysis saying it is not a good Pokemon. It is not one of the greats but it holds its own. And in my experiences it almost always gets off the spin (though I understand my opinion alone is not evidence, the sentiment seems to be echoed throughout this, and other threads, including the viability thread).

Donphan is outclassed but it can get the job done, and it can be relied on.

 

[Milkshook]

I find this to be great information, but in Pokemon X and Y how do you get Stealth Rocks and Ice Shard at the same time on Phanpy/Donphan? It's hard, unless we had Move tutors like in B2W2. Any help please, or if you know how to get them both in XandY please help, my friend is team building for his GF to play in OU and she is going to have Donphan. Not to sound desperate though lol because I'm learning to counter this too XD.

You have to breed the Donphan with Ice shard in BW2 and use the move tutors in that game to teach it Stealth rock. Then you use pokemon bank to transfer it to X and Y/ Sadly, pokemon bank isn't released outside of Japan at the moment.

 

[Milkshook]

Donophan is walled by most spin blockers, knock of only really being able to take care of gengar.

Knock off hits spinblockers on the switch and is very good and spammable this gen.

 

[alphatron]

Donphan wasn't the only rapid spinner for sun teams at all. I'm not sure why people keep saying that.

Donphan's best set this generation is probably the assault vest set. There are better SR users. And he has no business getting walled by the likes of charizard and friends.

 

[Lee]

'but Defog!'

Defog isn't a great move; it's a compromise that players are forced to resort to because of the limited access to Rapid Spin. I don't want to remove my own hazards, thank you very much. I don't want to give Bisharp an instant +2 in the process of doing so either. In my experience, Rapid Spin is rare at lower-level play but makes more appearances in the upper echelons.

Donphan also thumps the tier's most common Ghosts in Gengar (ohko'd by Knock Off) and Aegislash (cleanly countered by Assault Vest Donphan).

Sturdy brings utility to the team, ever-valuable Rock-resist, handy priority, powerful STAB Earthquake...Donphan has always pulled his weight for me.

 

[LoDart210]

'but Defog!'

Defog isn't a great move; it's a compromise that players are forced to resort to because of the limited access to Rapid Spin. I don't want to remove my own hazards, thank you very much. I don't want to give Bisharp an instant +2 in the process of doing so either. In my experience, Rapid Spin is rare at lower-level play but makes more appearances in the upper echelons.

Donphan also thumps the tier's most common Ghosts in Gengar (ohko'd by Knock Off) and Aegislash (cleanly countered by Assault Vest Donphan).

Sturdy brings utility to the team, ever-valuable Rock-resist, handy priority, powerful STAB Earthquake...Donphan has always pulled his weight for me.

Players are always quick to discount a Pokemon or set if something more obviously better is available.

I remember advocating rock polish genesect in its early BW stage and was scorned away because choice scarf was the most obvious and immediately beneficial play style.

 

[Magnemite]

'but Defog!'

Defog isn't a great move; it's a compromise that players are forced to resort to because of the limited access to Rapid Spin. I don't want to remove my own hazards, thank you very much. I don't want to give Bisharp an instant +2 in the process of doing so either. In my experience, Rapid Spin is rare at lower-level play but makes more appearances in the upper echelons.

Donphan also thumps the tier's most common Ghosts in Gengar (ohko'd by Knock Off) and Aegislash (cleanly countered by Assault Vest Donphan).

Sturdy brings utility to the team, ever-valuable Rock-resist, handy priority, powerful STAB Earthquake...Donphan has always pulled his weight for me.

You know what does all of that and more? Excadrill. Its Mold Breaker Earthquake easily beats Gengar and Aegislash, not to mention Rotom-W, the most common Pokemon in the metagame. What can Donphan do to Rotom-W? That's right, nothing! Plus, get this. Excadrill is actually useful outside of Rapid Spin! Imagine that! Excadrill actually has offensive presence, isn't complete setup fodder, and has a decent Speed tier. Donphan has literally nothing worthwhile over Excadrill.

Also, "useful priority"?

-1 0 Atk Donphan Ice Shard vs. 248 HP / 244 Def Landorus-T: 80-96 (20.99 - 25.19%) -- possible 5HKO

Please. It can't even guarantee a 5HKO on a 4x weakness. If you want a Ground-type with Rapid Spin, use Excadrill. If you want a Ground-type without Rapid Spin, use Hippowdon. Or Landorus-T. Or Garchomp. Or Landorus-I. Or Gliscor. Anything but Donphan, the laughingstock of the OU tier.

 

[Chev]

[quote="
-1 0 Atk Donphan Ice Shard vs. 248 HP / 244 Def Landorus-T: 80-96 (20.99 - 25.19%) -- possible 5HKO

Please. It can't even guarantee a 5HKO on a 4x weakness.
[/quote]
This part got me. "possible 5HKO" means "possible 4HKO and guaranteed 5HKO" right? Otherwise, I'd suggest going back to elementary school and relearning some basic math here.

Now I'm not arguing that Ice Shard is going to trash anything other than non-bulky targets. Its a utility move on a somewhat overly slow mon who can use it in good practice. It should by no means actually be your primary source of damage.

Calling out Donphan saying it is "the laughingstock of the OU tier" is out of line as well. He is by no means a laughingstock, shrugging off a powerful +1 Dragon claw from Dragonite and coming back with the 2HKO on the DD set-up. It over powers Weaknite everytime (except on the switch), and when Weaknite has been having some regular usage as a lead when I see it, I'd say he can make a rather powerful anti-lead with his access to SR, IS, EQ and SE as well as rapid spin, play rough, bulldoze, and endeavor. So, before you enter a thread to literally state "this pokemon sucks because there's other ground types", do some research into the pokemon itself, and see what kind of credible argument you can come up for for the pokemon to actually not be in the OU tier. Tiering is not based on "oh there are other pokemon", its based on usage, and strategy. Donphan has a legitimate set and enough bulk and power to use it to great effect, given minimal support and a proper thought process.

 

[Lee]

Less of the attitude please Magnemite lol

Donphan, one of the most physically bulky Pokemon around, has 'literally nothing worthwhile' over Excadrill, a piss-frail mon? Donphan doubles as a wall/tank and counters things like Garchomp and Talonflame that would just roflstomp Excadrill. I could show you umpteen teams where Donphan would be a much better fit than Excadrill. The two are not as comparable as you seem to think.

Priority is priority. It's usefulness isn't diminished by a pointless calculation. It gives you a check to some key threats and picks off weakened 'mons. Simple.

 

[Bent1ey]

Yep, that's a bit of a stretch to attack Donphan, it certainly has bulk an important type/bulk difference with Excadrill that sets it apart from it. I think that the tiers already deflect how much Excadrill performs in a higher level than Donphan on most tasks, but it doesn't make the little elefant "useless" or a "laughing stock".

 

[Magnemite]

[quote="
-1 0 Atk Donphan Ice Shard vs. 248 HP / 244 Def Landorus-T: 80-96 (20.99 - 25.19%) -- possible 5HKO

Please. It can't even guarantee a 5HKO on a 4x weakness.

This part got me. "possible 5HKO" means "possible 4HKO and guaranteed 5HKO" right? Otherwise, I'd suggest going back to elementary school and relearning some basic math here.

Now I'm not arguing that Ice Shard is going to trash anything other than non-bulky targets. Its a utility move on a somewhat overly slow mon who can use it in good practice. It should by no means actually be your primary source of damage.

Calling out Donphan saying it is "the laughingstock of the OU tier" is out of line as well. He is by no means a laughingstock, shrugging off a powerful +1 Dragon claw from Dragonite and coming back with the 2HKO on the DD set-up. It over powers Weaknite everytime (except on the switch), and when Weaknite has been having some regular usage as a lead when I see it, I'd say he can make a rather powerful anti-lead with his access to SR, IS, EQ and SE as well as rapid spin, play rough, bulldoze, and endeavor. So, before you enter a thread to literally state "this pokemon sucks because there's other ground types", do some research into the pokemon itself, and see what kind of credible argument you can come up for for the pokemon to actually not be in the OU tier. Tiering is not based on "oh there are other pokemon", its based on usage, and strategy. Donphan has a legitimate set and enough bulk and power to use it to great effect, given minimal support and a proper thought process.

...What? "Possible 5HKO" means that the attack has a chance to 5HKO, but can't do any better than that. It quite clearly can't come close to 4HKOing with Leftovers Besides, this is irrelevant. The point is, Donphan's damage output is laughable. And if you're playing against people who try to set up with Dragonite on the first turn, then I don't even know what to tell you, because that's a terrible idea. What Donphan can accomplish against bad players is irrelevant. You've just stated things that Donphan can do while ignoring Donphan's biggest problem, and the main point of my post, competition from better Pokemon. What exactly can Donphan do that any other Ground-type can't do better? Go ahead, enlighten me.

Also, Donphan is absolutely the laughingstock of OU. Nearly every decent player can recognize that there's something very wrong about the fact that Donphan is OU while monsters such as Terrakion, Keldeo, and Kyurem-B linger in the depths of UU or BL.

 

[JackTheGordie]

Why has donphan become everybody's punching bag? It's not even bad. Excadrill might have more offensive presence and steel typing, but donphan is far and above the better BULKY spinner. 90/120/60 is better than 110/60/65 by far. You know what else it has over exacdrill? Not getting shit on by talonflame, better yet CHECKING talonflame. Spinner excadrill will always lose to talonflame, guaranteed. Give donphan a rock move and it then 100% counters. He also has the utility of knock off, that should never be overlooked. Other than Lando-T, what other relevant "bulky ground" has that? Donphan also has sturdy so if he HAS to come in on a special attacker, he can always get the spin your team needs or get the ice shard off for that last little bit of damage. He has his uses over pokes like hippo or excadrill, so while they have things that donphan lacks, he will always deserve his spot in OU with the underrated niche he fills. Come on people, there's much worse OU mons who shouldn't be OU, let's shit on them, not poor old donphan. Rant over

 

[Rotosect]

I find Avalugg to be superior to Donphan in almost every respect.
While it doesn't have Stealth Rock, it's not exactly a move with low distribution and Donphan isn't the best user anyways.
Avalugg has a worse defensive type, but it has an excellent ice resistance rather than a weakness, much better bulk, Recover, a better STAB and the ability to bait and defeat special attackers with Mirror Coat.
Unfortunately Donphan is just an aggressively mediocre pokemon that remains in OU because it's one of those pokemon that do their job well in early-game but become complete deadweight later in the match when things are getting statused and set-up moves and Substitutes start to show up.
Donphan is never going to stop a sweeper or a wallbreaker, even physical ones, while Avalugg certainly can. Please consider using the iceberg pokemon if what you're looking for is a physically bulky rapid spinner with an offensive presence and ice moves (that Ice Shard vs Lando-T calculation speaks for itself).

 

[Chev]

Although its a different movepool, and lacks what those others carry, he gets moves they could only wish for. Mainly; Ice Shard, Play Rough, Fire Fang, Thunder Fang, Knock Off, Gyro Ball, Poison Jab, Endeavor, Head Smash, Superpower, Seed Bomb, Stealth Rock, Bounce, Iron Tail, and Gunk Shot. All of these moves can be in his moveset, allowing him to not only fill in what other slots you need filled (off the STAB EQ and for some teams who lack the more powerful Defog, Rapid Spin). He is by no means whatsoever "bad" or a "laughingstock". I'd love for you to gather as many as you'd like to prove me wrong, but I sense nothing but love for this little elephant who can stack up against those "threats" you've named who themselves can easily be one shot by a counter. Now, listing off Donphan's counters is going to be your next post I'm sure, but rather than doing what most people do to try and prove a dying point, you should find a reason that isn't "other pokemon" for why Donphan is considered bad. OU can have more than 3 ground types who fulfill similar roles. That's what makes this Meta-game so dynamic, and is the reason why having a small OU tier gets boring quickly. If we were to make it smaller by weeding out viable options such as Donphan, Amoongus, Gastrodon and the likes of many other less used pokemon who fulfill similar roles to others; than we might as well quit playing the game. It would be a fucking bore and you know it.

SO(!), Donphan. He can take more hits than he looks like he can, is used still to this day by people who follow Smogon rules, and even used by people who stream on Twitch or have their own YouTube channels. Why? He is good. He fits a role and does a great job (most of the time). He is a very viable pokemon in the current OU metagame, and sits happily slightly down the roster, but still enjoying causing a splash even these 14 years after he came to us.

 

[Magnemite]

Sure, Donphan is bulky. But that begs the question, "Why not just use Hippowdon?" Hippowdon is far bulkier than Donphan (especially in terms of special bulk), has Whirlwind to prevent itself from being major setup bait, and, most importantly, reliable recovery. This allows it to function as a far better wall than Donphan ever could. Yes, Donphan has Rapid Spin, but it is bad on offensive teams because it has very little offensive presence, and it is mediocre on defensive teams because it has no recovery and is straight-up outclassed as a wall by Hippo. Offensive teams would much, much rather use Excadrill or Starmie if they needed to remove hazards for obvious reasons, whereas defensive teams have Defog Skarmory and Mandibuzz to remove hazards without wasting a slot on an otherwise bad Pokemon in Donphan. Donphan is outclassed in any role it can perform on both offensive and defensive teams.

And to the guy who mentioned using Gunk Shot, Thunder Fang, or Bounce on Donphan: No. Just no.