Dragonair (QC 3/3)

[jc104]

Dragonair

[Overview]

• One of NU's rare dragons
• Stats are below average, but base 84 Attack is workable, given the power and coverage of outrage.
• Defenses are very decent factoring in Eviolite, but pretty bad otherwise.
• Excellent boosting move in Dragon Dance makes Dragonair a decent sweeper.
• Attacking movepool is decent, including Outrage, Draco Meteor, water attacks, and ExtremeSpeed, but sadly lacks Earthquake and Dragon Claw.

[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: Rest
item: Eviolite
ability: Shed Skin
nature: Careful
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD


[SET COMMENTS]

• Uses bulk (from Eviolite) to set up multiple Dragon dances.
• Outrage is very powerful.
• Waterfall is good when you don't want to lock into Outrage, and hits Steel types for respectable damage, including hitting Bastiodon and Probopass super effectively
• Rest (+ Shed Skin) for healing but is unreliable.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• ExtremeSpeed (over Rest) covers against faster opponents and opposing priority moves. Dragon Tail can be used over Waterfall, as it is more powerful and can help to check threats.
• Aqua Tail can also be used over Waterfall, but it much less reliable and doesn't flinch.
• Spread is determined by how much you want to use rest. A really defensive set will need to use it before it becomes sufficiently powerful to sweep, but will be less likely to die while using it. Note that it can still be easily phased. If running a more offensive spread Rest is a pretty last-ditch move.
• Defensive spread; maximises Special Defense as Dragonair's weaknesses and resistances are specially oriented.
• More offensive spread: Adamant 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe, maximises attacking power and allows you to outrun base 95s after a dragon dance. Rest isn't very useful with this spread; usually you just get 1-2 dragon dances and attack. This is something of a compromise between the two sets.

[SET]
name: Offensive Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Outrage
move 3: Waterfall
move 4: ExtremeSpeed
item: Life Orb
ability: Shed Skin
nature: Adamant
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

• This is much more offensive than the bulky set; it is significantly more powerful, but struggles to set up 1 DD let alone several.
• After a DD, Outrage destroys all. (well, maybe not Steel types and dedicated physical walls)
• Outruns most of the (non-scarfed) metagame after a Dragon Dance. Anything faster, and anything that carries priority, can be hit by ExtremeSpeed. Usually you'll need to weaken these things first.
• Waterfall provides perfect neutral coverage alongside Outrage, and also excellent coverage alongside ExtremeSpeed if you don't want to lock into Outrage.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

• Adamant puts Dragonair just ahead of Scolipede after a DD, and Jolly puts it ahead of Swellow. Don't forget outrunning threats at +0 too, as Dragonair may not get a DD in. Adamant is preferred because base 84 Attack is not exactly stellar, and ExtremeSpeed somewhat compensates for the Speed drop, OHKOing Dugtrio and Swellow (after SR) at +1.
• Life Orb is the only item to consider on such an offensive set.
• Shed Skin might rescue Dragonair from paralysis or burn, which would be crippling otherwise, and so is the item of choice.
• Doesn't perform too well against Klingklang, Magneton and other steels; consider Dugtrio or your own Magneton as a partner.
• Also needs hazard support to sweep, especially in order to take out faster threats with ExtremeSpeed.

[Other Options]

• Special attacker/mixed sets utilising Draco Meteor. Base 70 Special attack is unimpressive, but good coverage with Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Dragon Pulse, and Surf.
• Marvel Scale would be great if it was legal with Sleep Talk. RestTalk DD might still work, but Shed Skin might get in the way.
• Defensive sets such as a parashuffler (Rest/Dragon Tail/Thunder Wave/Filler)

[Checks and Counters]

• Quagsire is one of the best counters, thanks to unaware. It can easily recover off any damage done.
• Steels, e.g Klinklang, Magneton
• Scarfers e.g Rotom-F

 

[AccidentalGreed]

You might want to change the Defensive DD set's nature to Careful first.

Secondly, I don't really see the point in investing so much Attack on a set so focused on defensive sweeping. The Speed investment is nice, but the Attack isn't, unless that works for you somehow.

 

[jc104]

Yeah, I meant careful.

If you run max attack, you don't really use Rest much. Rest, even with Shed Skin, is pretty unreliable, so instead it might be better to sweep with only one or two boosts.

 

[tennisace]

mention the bulky offense spread in AC (for the first set). Adamant should be the first option on the offensive set since unless you're locked into outrage E-Speed wrecks swellow at +1 I think?

 

[jc104]

After SR you do indeed take out Swellow, and it also OHKOes Dugtrio, so I'll relegate Jolly to AC, unless I'm forgetting a relevant threat between 115 and 125 base Speed (a scarf user, even).

Thanks for the stamp.

 

[jake]

if only this got multiscale....

QC APPROVED (2/3)

 

[NatGeo]

Ikr

QC 3/3