Drapion

[Punchshroom]

[OVERVIEW]

• Has two good STABs with nearly perfect neutral coverage and can threaten a majority of bulkier Pokemon in the tier
  
• Has the coverage moves to back them up
  
• Access to Swords Dance gives Drapion good wallbreaking and sweeping potential
  
• Good Speed tier, and well-rounded bulk to usually survive a hit, making it a menace for bulky teams
  
• Most of Drapion's resistances lie on its weaker Special Defense, which can subject it to powerful resisted hits, such as Venusaur's Leaf Storm or Hoopa's Shadow Ball, or alternative coverage, such as the additional STAB from RU's various Psychic-types, from the Pokemon it wants to check
  
• Can limit Drapion's opportunities to enter battle or set up
• Drapion's Speed isn't the best either, as it has to keep an eye out for faster Pokemon, particularly Flygon and Dugtrio, almost all of which can do massive or fatal damage against it

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Knock Off
move 3: Poison Jab
move 4: Aqua Tail
item: Lum Berry / Shuca Berry
ability: Battle Armor
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Moves
========

• Swords Dance doubles Drapion's power, which is important not only because it allows Drapion to break through teams easier, but also because its raw power isn't that great
  
• Knock Off is Drapion's main offensive weapon, doing the most damage while also crippling the foe by removing its item
  
• Poison Jab primarily targets Pokemon that resist Dark, such as Fairy-, Dark-, and Fighting-types, but is also useful to take down Grass-types, such as Tangrowth, Abomasnow, and Rotom-C, with less hassle. Poison Jab also comes equipped with a chance to poison to pressure foes bulky enough to withstand Knock Offs
  
• Drapion's coverage move should be targeted at Pokemon that would shrug off both Knock Off and Poison Jab.
  
• Rhyperior is nearly OHKOed by a +2 Aqua Tail, opposing Drapions get 2HKOed by +2 Aqua Tail, while even bulkier variants of Mega Camerupt get OHKOed by unboosted Aqua Tail after Stealth Rock damage.
  
• Earthquake is a possible option as it quickly wipes out Mawile and can OHKO Mega Camerupt and opposing Drapion after a Swords Dance boost, but Earthquake loses out on more damage against Rhyperior, which is the bigger immediate threat to Drapion.

Set Details
========

• Full investment in Attack and Speed maximizes Drapion's offensive potential
  
• A Jolly nature is preferred as Drapion wants to outrun the likes of Meloetta, Hitmonlee, and Rotom-C while Speedtying against Houndoom and opposing Drapion.
• Drapion is not starved for item choices here
• Lum Berry is very helpful as it broadens Drapion's setup opportunities against status users, such as Scald Alomomola and Slowking, Sleep Powder Venusaur, Yawn or Thunder Wave Uxie, and Ghost-types with Will-O-Wisp
• Shuca Berry allows Drapion to turn the tables on its Ground-type checks, such as Rhyperior, Flygon, offensive Seismitoad, and Dugtrio, by surviving their attacks and retaliating for a OHKO against the faster Ground-types or a 2HKO on the slower Ground-types. Keep in mind that Drapion should already have a Swords Dance boost before it takes on the former three Ground-types.
• Life Orb is an option as it allows Drapion to OHKO Rhyperior with +2 Aqua Tail and give it more power in general, but Drapion prefers to be healthy to set up as well as maintain the sweep.
• Battle Armor is the preferred ability, as it allows Drapion safer opportunities to set up without risk of a surprise critical hit, and Drapion shouldn't need to rely on Sniper to secure KOes after it has set up

Usage Tips
========

• y

Team Options
========

• M

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Poison Jab
move 3: Pursuit
move 4: Aqua Tail / Earthquake
item: Choice Band
ability: Sniper
nature: Jolly
evs: 248 Atk / 8 SpD / 252 Spe

Moves
========

• Knock Off is Drapion's strongest attack, being safe to throw out while also crippling the foe by removing its item
• Poison Jab primarily targets Pokemon that resist Dark, such as Fairy-, Dark-, and Fighting-types that want to switch into Knock Off, particularly SD Virizion. Poison Jab also targets Grass-types such as Tangrowth, Abomasnow, and Rotom-C, and can poison foes as well
  
• Pursuit allows Drapion to do damage or secure a KO on a fleeing foe, especially the likes of Meloetta, Hoopa, and -2 Special Attack Venusaur
  
• Rhyperior is 2HKOed by Choice Band Aqua Tail while Mega Camerupt is easily swatted aside.
• Earthquake can 2HKO Mawile as well as OHKO Drapion and frailer variants of Mega Camerupt after Stealth Rock damage. Earthquake also has a chance to 2HKO Registeel while Choice Band Knock Off fails to 3HKO, and safely takes out Garbodor without incurring any contact damage.

Set Details
========

• Maximum Speed investment coupled with a Jolly nature allows Drapion to outrun the likes of Meloetta, Hitmonlee, and Rotom-C while Speedtying against Houndoom and opposing Drapion.
• 8 Special Defense EVs allows Drapion to always survive Timid Life Orb Hoopa's Focus Blast, as well as survive Choice Scarf Delphox's Fire Blast after Stealth Rock damage
  
• The remaining EVs are placed into Attack to maximize Drapion's damage output
  
• Choice Band gives Drapion a very significant boost in raw power.
• Life Orb is an option to allow Drapion to switch moves, but Drapion's moves are usually safe enough to throw out and to be locked into, plus Drapion prefers to remain healthy to be able to check threats.
• Choice Band Drapion definitely appreciates any Sniper boost it can get while it throws out attacks. Battle Armor can allow Drapion to be more reliable at checking foes, but is less useful for it overall.

Usage Tips
========

• y

Team Options
========

• M

Other Options
============

• Specially defensive variant with Toxic Spikes, Pursuit, Taunt, and Poison Jab / Knock Off. Designed almost solely to help stall teams combat Hoopa, otherwise it is really lacking in offensive presence
  
• Choice Scarf Drapion can trap faster Pokemon, namely Sigilyph and Delphox, while outspeeding Virizion and threatening it with Poison Jab; however, it is absurdly weak against anything it doesn't hit for super effective damage and is largely outclassed by Choice Scarf Houndoom, which is a safer Pursuit user against the two fast Psychic-types while boasting far better neutral power
  
• One can attempt to take full advantage of Sniper by using attacks with a high critical hit ratio, namely Night Slash and Cross Poison. Unfortunately, even with Scope Lens equipped, Drapion can only crit opponents 50% of the time at best, while Lansat Berry requires Drapion's health to be low in order to get guaranteed critical hits. Both of those methods do not boost Drapion's coverage moves reliably and are largely inferior to simply using Swords Dance.
• Cross Poison may be considered over Poison Jab on the Choice Band set to occasionally take advantage of Sniper, but Cross Poison's critical hit chance is only marginally higher compared to Poison Jab's much greater chance to poison, which usually offset's Cross Poison's advantage
  
• Drapion has access to the elemental Fangs, but they aren't worth using as their targets are already hit hard enough by Drapion's STABs and are less useful than Aqua Tail or Earthquake

Checks and Counters
============

**Ground-types**:

**Faster Pokemon**: