Gen 5 Hydreigon (GP 2/2)

[Deleted User [433215]]

[OVERVIEW]
Hydreigon carves out a decent niche as a strong special attacker thanks to its great STAB moves and incredible coverage. Hydreigon also has some good defensive utility thanks to its decent bulk, immunity to Ground, Psychic, and Spikes, and resistance to common moves like Scald, Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, and Pursuit. Its Pursuit resistance and better coverage give it a niche over the often superior Latios, better defeating bulkier sand teams that rely on Pursuit Tyranitar to remove wallbreaking threats. However, Hydreigon is outpaced and forced out by very common offensive Pokemon like Latios, Keldeo, Alakazam, Garchomp, and Terrakion. This is made worse by Hydreigon's weaknesses to their common attacks like Draco Meteor, Focus Blast, Outrage, and Hidden Power Ice, as well as priority moves like Ice Shard and Mach Punch. It can't fit all of Dark Pulse, Focus Blast, and Roost, which means it will either lack crucial coverage or the sustainability to wallbreak throughout the game. Lacking Roost can especially hurt due to the residual damage Hydreigon takes from sand, Life Orb, and burns. Latios outclasses Hydreigon a lot of the time due to its better defensive utility in checking Pokemon like Keldeo, Thundurus-T, and Breloom, better Speed tier to outpace Pokemon like Garchomp, Terrakion, Volcarona, and Keldeo, and greater set versatility on varying team archetypes.

[SET]
name: Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Dark Pulse / Dragon Pulse
move 4: Focus Blast / Roost
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
ability: Levitate
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fire Blast OHKOes or 2HKOes every Steel-type besides Heatran. Dark Pulse is a reliable STAB option that hits Psychic-types like Reuniclus and Slowking super effectively and can beat shakier checks like Gastrodon with its flinch chance, while Dragon Pulse boasts higher overall power. Focus Blast nails Heatran and hits Tyranitar much harder than any other move, making Hydreigon better able to threaten sand teams. Roost heals residual damage and gives Hydreigon better sustainability to take on the bulky sand and rain teams it's meant to threaten. Roost can be run with both Fire Blast and Focus Blast by dropping Dark Pulse, but this leaves Hydreigon lacking a spammable STAB move.


Set Details
========
Modest is largely preferred over Timid for damaging the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to threaten, like Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Gliscor, Heatran, and Politoed. However, Timid can be used if your team really needs Hydreigon to outspeed Pokemon like Kyurem, Modest Thundurus-T, and Jolly Excadrill. Life Orb gets many important 2HKOs and OHKOs. Choice Specs can be used instead with Draco Meteor, Dark Pulse, Fire Blast, and Focus Blast to make Hydreigon even more powerful while avoiding Life Orb recoil. However, it lets Protect Pokemon commonly found on sand teams scout Hydreigon and easily play around it.


Usage Tips
========
This set should aim to come in on resisted and weak attacks from Pokemon like Reuniclus, Gliscor, Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Politoed, and Jellicent. Will-O-Wisp is a particularly common entry point, since Hydreigon often forces out its users. Roost Hydreigon should attempt to stay healthy throughout the game against bulkier sand and rain teams, which it can pivot around and threaten, while it can be used less conservatively against offensive teams because it won't be able to switch in as consistently. Against Pokemon that Hydreigon cannot OHKO and have recovery, such as Gastrodon, Tentacruel in rain, and Hippowdon, try to wear them down with other attacks, mainly Dark Pulse, to get them into KO range of Draco Meteor.

Team Options
========
Hydreigon fits well on offensive teams thanks to it heavily threatening sand teams. As a teammate, sand staple Chople Berry Tyranitar can set up Stealth Rock and Pursuit trap Latios and Alakazam. Psychic-types like Alakazam and Reuniclus can pressure Fighting-types, form a Spikes-immune core with Hydreigon, and benefit from Hydreigon denting their checks like Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Celebi. Alakazam also brings a good matchup against offensive Pokemon like Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion, and Volcarona. Steel-type entry hazard setters like Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Jirachi support Hydreigon and switch into Dragon-type moves. Skarmory can also pivot into opposing Ground-types like Garchomp and Landorus-T, while Ferrothorn can act as a sturdier answer to Water-types like Starmie. Heatran can spread status with Toxic to further wear down Hydreigon's switch-ins while better pivoting into Ice-type moves from Pokemon like Rotom-W and and Thundurus-T. Specially defensive Jirachi can use Wish to give Hydreigon more longevity while taking Dragon- and Ice-type moves like Heatran. Hydreigon appreciates pivot support from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Jirachi, and Rotom-W to get in on its desired targets safely, and their attacks wear down foes for it. Water-types like Keldeo, Jellicent, and Rotom-W check Volcarona and Heatran and enjoy Hydreigon threatening Grass-types like Celebi and Ferrothorn. Keldeo helps handle hyper offense teams, namely handling Scizor, Dragonite, and boosted Cloyster while Hydreigon wears down Rotom-W and Celebi. Terrakion and Mamoswine similarly threaten hyper offense threats and can wallbreak alongside Hydreigon.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Choice Scarf with a Timid nature and U-turn can make Hydreigon a pivoting revenge killer that can bring more powerful teammates in. Unfortunately, it is outclassed by Latios, which outspeeds +2 Dragonite and Choice Scarf Keldeo. Choice Scarf Keldeo and Garchomp also outclass Hydreigon for similar reasons. Expert Belt can be used to avoid Life Orb recoil and still get a power boost against Pokemon Hydreigon hits super effectively. However, it sacrifices the power boost Draco Meteor needs to really threaten targets like Gliscor, Rotom-W, and Politoed. To mitigate the loss of power, Expert Belt must be used with a Modest nature. Earth Power can be run over Focus Blast or Fire Blast to hit all of Heatran, Tentacruel, Excadrill, Jirachi, and Tyranitar in one moveslot. However, it misses out on hitting Ferrothorn and Skarmory sufficiently while also not hitting Tyranitar hard enough to adequetly threaten sand teams. Taunt can be used over Dark Pulse to punish passive Pokemon like Jellicent, Reuniclus, Gastrodon, and Ferrothorn at the expense of a reliable STAB move. Substitute can be considered over Dark Pulse with Expert Belt to let Hydreigon punish switches, evade status, and lessen prediction. However, it has the same issue as Taunt while also making it easy for Pokemon like Gastrodon and Jellicent to take advantage of Hydreigon, since they can recover on Draco Meteor and leave it with lost health from Substitute and nothing to show for it. Superpower may seem like a good option to hit the same targets as Focus Blast while also doing solid damage to Chansey, but it's inferior to Focus Blast against everything besides Chansey.

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

**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon like Keldeo, Volcarona, Starmie, Latios, Garchomp, Terrakion, and Alakazam can OHKO Hydreigon and force it out. This is an even bigger issue against offensive teams, which put a lot of these threats together, leaving Hydreigon unable to make much progress against them. However, they cannot switch in safely.

**Status**: Burn contributes to chip damage from sand and Life Orb, and a lot of the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to switch into like Tentacruel, Politoed, Rotom-W, and Jellicent can easily inflict it with burn. Poison has the same effect, while paralysis cutting Hydreigon's Speed makes it nearly useless. However, burn and poison damage can be mitigated if running Roost.

**Specially Defensive Walls**: Specially bulky Pokemon like Chople Berry Tyranitar and Chansey can take Hydreigon's hits, with Tyranitar able to punish it with Superpower or Thunder Wave, and Chansey running the same debilitating status. However, Tyranitar lacks reliable recovery and can't switch in more than once, while Chansey is rare due to stall being an uncommon archetype.

**Heatran**: Heatran fears Focus Blast, but it can otherwise switch into Hydreigon and set up Stealth Rock or cripple it with Toxic.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Ophion, 433215]]
- Quality checked by: [[Finchinator, 114198], [BluBirD252, 347088]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [CryoGyro, 3331519]]

 

[Finchinator]

I would make the set Life Orb or Choice Specs with

Draco / Fire Blast / Dark Pulse or Dragon Pulse / Focus Blast or Roost

I would also backslash Timid.

Beyond that, all of your descriptions of what is there currently is good. Specs is for power without losing LO damage, likely in Sand, on a regular basis.

Big thing is to emphasize that it is distinguished over Latios by not being Pursuit weak and having stronger coverage to make up for lack of speed. Latios is still largely better because it checks Keldeo, Breloom, Thundurus-Therian, etc. whereas Hydreigon is only good vs things offensively.

OO is fine, just remove specs mentions now.

Chople Tyranitar and Chansey can be added to the C&C under a section for "specially defensive walls" prob at the bottom if you'd like

then 1/2 imo

 

[BluBirD]

Looks good, some minor stuff i'd tweak would be:
A) "Hydreigon fits well on offensive sand teams" should be changed to "Hydreigon fits well on offensive teams" since the metagame is more easily explorable atm and weatherless/rain offenses should be a perfectly fine fit for hydreigon as well.

B) Mention Pokemon like Keldeo/Mamoswine/Terrakion as good partners since they cover a good portion of the HO archetypes offensively that Hydreigon struggles to excel versus and add wish jirachi as a good partner since they share good type synergy and jirachi gives free entry to hydreigon via u-turn while keeping it healthy to aid it's longevity issues via wish.

2/2!

 

[Adeleine]

Add/Fix Remove Comment
(AC)/(RC): Add/Remove Comma

Hide

[OVERVIEW]
Hydreigon carves out a decent niche as a strong special attacker thanks to its great STAB moves and incredible coverage, (AC) that lets which let it hit almost everything in the metagame hard. Hydreigon also has some good defensive utility thanks to its decent bulk and immunity to Ground- and Psychic-type attacks Ground, Psychic, and Spikes, as well as a resistance to resisting common moves like Scald, Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, and Pursuit. Its Pursuit resistance and better coverage is a big part of what gives give Hydreigon a niche over the often superior Latios, and makes making it more adept at defeating bulkier sand teams that rely on Pursuit (I assume?) Tyranitar to remove Pokemon that can beat them. However, Hydreigon's Speed tier leaves it Hydreigon is outpaced by very common offensive Pokemon like Latios, Keldeo, Alakazam, Garchomp, and Terrakion. This is made worse by Hydreigon's weaknesses to common moves from these Pokemon like Draco Meteor, Focus Blast, Outrage, and Hidden Power Ice, (AC) as well as priority moves like Ice Shard and Mach Punch, which makes it get forced out often. It also struggles with slight four move slot syndrome as a result of needing to pick between 2 can't fit all of Dark Pulse, Focus Blast, and Roost, which means it will either lack a crucial coverage move crucial coverage or the sustainability to wallbreak throughout the game. Hydreigon also often needs to use Roost instead of attacking Lacking Roost especially hurts (I imagine?) due to the residual damage it takes from sand, Life Orb, and the burns it will often take burns from Pokemon it's meant to pivot in on and threaten out, like Jellicent, Politoed, and Rotom-W. Latios outclasses Hydreigon a lot of the time due to its better defensive utility letting it check in checking Pokemon like Keldeo, Thundurus-T, and Breloom, better Speed tier that lets it to outpace Pokemon like Garchomp, Terrakion, Volcarona, and Keldeo, and better splashability and set versatility on different team archetypes as a result of these advantages. better ability to fit and show set versatility on varying team archetypes.

[SET]
name: Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Dark Pulse / Dragon Pulse
move 4: Focus Blast / Roost
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
ability: Levitate
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fire Blast is able to OHKO or 2HKO every Steel-type besides Heatran. Dark Pulse can be used for gives a reliable STAB option that hits Psychic-types like Reuniclus and Slowking super effectively and can flinch shaky checks like Gastrodon, (AC) to stop them recover stalling stopping them from stalling with recovery, while Dragon Pulse gives Hydreigon a stronger STAB with the same reliability but misses out on hitting the aforementioned Psychic-types as hard reliable STAB move but misses out on Dark Pulse's coverage and lacks the flinch chance. Focus Blast nails Heatran and crucially hits Tyranitar much harder than any other move on this set, making Hydreigon better able to threaten sand teams. Roost heals off sand and burn damage as well as Life Orb recoil, and it gives Hydreigon better long-term sustainability to take on the bulky sand and rain teams it's meant to threaten. Roost can be run with both Fire Blast and Focus Blast with Dark Pulse dropped if one needs Hydreigon to hit the targets of both moves without losing out on the longevity provided by Roost. However, it leaves Hydreigon lacking a STAB move that doesn't have a drawback. by dropping Dark Pulse, but this leaves Hydreigon lacking a spammable STAB move.


Set Details
========
Modest is preferred over Timid most of the time due to the difference in power against the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to threaten, like Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Gliscor, Heatran, and Politoed. However, Timid can be used if your team really needs Hydreigon to outspeed Pokemon like Kyurem, Modest Thundurus-T, and Jolly Excadrill. Life Orb gives Hydreigon a crucial power boost to get many of the 2HKOs and OHKOs it needs to land against sand teams while letting it crucially switch moves. important 2HKOs and OHKOs against sand teams. Choice Specs can be used instead with Draco Meteor, Dark Pulse, Fire Blast, and Focus Blast to make Hydreigon even more powerful and give it more coverage (that's the same coverage as default listed set) while avoiding Life Orb recoil. However, crucially, it lets Protect Pokemon commonly found on sand teams scout Hydreigon's intentions and easy to play around as a result. Hydreigon and easily play around it.


Usage Tips
========
This set should aim to come in on resisted and weak attacks from Pokemon like Reuniclus, Gliscor, Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Politoed, and Jellicent. This also applies to Will-o-Wisp in particular, since the Pokemon that use it are often forced out by Hydreigon and the residual damage it causes is worth it most of the time Will-O-Wisp is a particularly common entry point, since Hydreigon often forces out its users and the residual damage from burn is usually worth it for the momentum Hydreigon generates. Roost Hydreigon should attempt to stay healthy with Roost throughout the game against bulkier sand and rain teams, (AC) that which it can pivot around and threaten, (AC) while against offensive teams, it can be used less conservatively since it'll be less consistently able to pivot in and force damage on the opponent. it can be used less conservatively against offensive teams because it won't be able to pivot in as consistently. Against Pokemon that Hydreigon cannot OHKO and have reliable that have recovery, such as Gastrodon, Tentacruel in rain, and Hippowdon, try to wear them down with other attacks, mainly Dark Pulse, to get them into KO range of Draco Meteor. Try to keep whether you're running Fire Blast or Focus Blast unrevealed for as long as possible so you can punish an opponent who may think their Jirachi or Scizor can safely pivot in with Fire Blast or the same with Heatran and Focus Blast. (I imagine these two used to be slashed? feel free to modify etc. but this sentence isn't as applicable now)

Team Options
========
Hydreigon fits well on offensive teams thanks to it providing a strong threat to heavily threatening opposing sand teams. Tyranitar is a staple of sand teams, and As a teammate, sand staple Tyranitar can set up Stealth Rock with a Chople Berry set to wear Pokemon down into KO range of Hydreigon's attacks, (AC) while also Pursuit trapping and it can Pursuit trap Latios and Alakazam. Psychic-types like Alakazam and Reuniclus can pressure the Fighting-types Hydreigon doesn't like facing and form a Spikes-immune offense core with it, (AC) while benefitting and they benefit greatly form the holes it breaks into their checks like Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Celebi. Alakazam also brings a good matchup against the offensive Pokemon Hydreigon can struggle against, like Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion, and Volcarona. Steel-type entry hazard setters like Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Jirachi can help bring the Pokemon that switch into Hydreigon into range of its attacks support Hydreigon while pivoting into Dragon-type moves like Draco Meteor and Outrage. Skarmory can also pivot into opposing Ground-types like Garchomp and Landorus-T, (AC) while Ferrothorn can act as a more sturdy Water-type resistance to Pokemon sturdier answer to Water-types (I imagine?) like Starmie. Heatran, on the other hand, can spread status with Toxic to further wear down Hydreigon's switch-ins while better pivoting into Ice-type moves from Pokemon like Rotom-W and and Thundurus-T. Specially defensive Jirachi can use Wish to give Hydreigon more longevity while taking Dragon- and Ice-type moves in a similar manner to like Heatran. Hydreigon appreciates pivot support from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Jirachi, and Rotom-W to get in on its desired targets safely, (AC) while their attacks also wear down the opponent and their attacks also wear down foes into range of Hydreigon's attacks. Water-types like Keldeo, Jellicent, and Rotom-W enjoy Hydreigon threatening Grass-types like Celebi and Ferrothorn while checking and check Volcarona, (AC) and Heatran should Hydreigon lack Focus Blast to hit it. Keldeo helps handle the hyper offensive teams Hydreigon struggles against, namely handling Scizor, Dragonite, and boosted Cloyster, (AC) while Hydreigon wears down Rotom-W and Celebi. Terrakion and Mamoswine similarly threaten threats found on hyper offensive teams hyper offense threats and can wallbreak alongside Hydreigon.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Choice Scarf with a Timid nature can also be used with U-Turn to act as and U-turn can make Hydreigon a revenge killer that can pivot around walls with U-Turn to bring more powerful teammates in. Unfortunately, it is outclassed by Latios for much of the same reasons as the Choice Specs set, with its better Speed tier being even more important as it lets Latios Latios's better Speed being even more important to outspeed +2 Dragonite and Choice Scarf Keldeo. Similarly, Keldeo and Garchomp also outclass Hydreigon as a Choice Scarf user for much of the same reasons. Expert Belt can be used as the item over Life Orb to avoid Life Orb recoil and still get a power boost against Pokemon Hydreigon hits super effectively. However, it makes Hydreigon miss out on the power boost it needs when using Draco Meteor sacrifices the power boost Draco Meteor needs to really threaten targets like Gliscor, Rotom-W, and Politoed. Should Expert Belt be used, it To mitigate the loss of power, Expert Belt must be used with a Modest nature to mitigate the loss of power. Earth Power can be run over Focus Blast or Fire Blast to give Hydreigon the ability to hit all of Heatran, Tentacruel, Excadrill, Jirachi, and Tyranitar in one moveslot. However, it misses out on hitting Ferrothorn and Skarmory sufficiently while also not hitting Tyranitar hard enough to make it thretan sand teams enough to where Focus Blast and Fire Blast's benefits can be given up with much benefit. heavily threaten sand teams. (I imagine? maybe eg "adequately" over "heavily"?) Taunt can be used over Dark Pulse to let Hydreigon punish passive Pokemon like Jellicent, Reuniclus, Gastrodon, and Ferrothorn and prevent them from statusing it, setting up entry hazards, or recovering their health. However, it this makes Hydreigon lack a reliable STAB move. Substitute can be considered over Dark Pulse with Expert Belt to let Hydreigon punish switches, evade status, and lessen prediction. However, it has the same issues as Taunt while also making it easy for Pokemon like Gastrodon or and Jellicent to take advantage of Hydreigon in practice, (AC) since they can recover on Draco Meteor and leave it with lost health from Substitute with and nothing to show for it. Superpower may seem like a good option to hit the same targets as Focus Blast while also doing solid damage to Chansey, but it's inferior to Focus Blast against everything besides Chansey.

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

**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon that can hit Hydreigon super effectively, like Keldeo, Volcarona, Starmie, Latios, Garchomp, Terrakion, and Alakazam, (AC) can all OHKO Hydreigon and it force it out. This is an even bigger issue when Hydreigon faces offensive teams, since a lot of these threats are paired together, which leaves against offensive teams, which pair a lot of these threats together, leaving Hydreigon unable to make much progress against them. However, they cannot switch in safely.

**Steel-types**: While Hydreigon has coverage to break past Steel-types, at least a few of them will be able to wall it depending on what coverage move is dropped. Should Focus Blast be dropped, Jirachi and defensive Scizor can switch in easily, while Fire Blast lets in Heatran.

**Status**: Burn forces Hydreigon to Roost more often than attack, which can be problematic when contributes to chip damage from sand and Life Orb, and (I imagine, bc roost isnt primary anymore? feel free to tinker) a lot of the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to pivot in on (RC) like Tentacruel, Politoed, Rotom-W, and Jellicent can easily inflict it with burn. burn it. Poison has the same effect, with Toxic putting Hydreigon on a permanant timer while paralysis cuts Hydreigon's Speed and while paralysis cutting Hydreigon's Speed makes it near useless.

**Specially Defensive Walls**: Specially bulky Pokemon like Chople Berry Tyranitar and Chansey can take Hydreigon's hits, with Tyranitar able to punish Hydreigon it with a powerful Superpower or crippling Thunder Wave, (AC) and Chansey punishing it with running the same debilitating status. However, Tyranitar lacks reliable recovery and can't switch in more than once, (AC) while Chansey is rare due to stall being an uncommon archetype.

**Heatran**: Heatran fears Focus Blast, but it can check Hydreigon if it's moveset drops Focus Blast. (retooled steel-type bullet bc dropping fire blast is only buried in OO now. feel free to tinker or remove or whatever)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Ophion, 433215]]
- Quality checked by: [[Finchinator, 114198], [, ]] (fill in)
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [, ]]

1/2

 

[Deleted User [433215]]

Add/Fix Remove Comment
(AC)/(RC): Add/Remove Comma

Hide

[OVERVIEW]
Hydreigon carves out a decent niche as a strong special attacker thanks to its great STAB moves and incredible coverage, (AC) that lets which let it hit almost everything in the metagame hard. Hydreigon also has some good defensive utility thanks to its decent bulk and immunity to Ground- and Psychic-type attacks Ground, Psychic, and Spikes, as well as a resistance to resisting common moves like Scald, Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, and Pursuit. Its Pursuit resistance and better coverage is a big part of what gives give Hydreigon a niche over the often superior Latios, and makes making it more adept at defeating bulkier sand teams that rely on Pursuit (I assume?) Tyranitar to remove Pokemon that can beat them. However, Hydreigon's Speed tier leaves it Hydreigon is outpaced by very common offensive Pokemon like Latios, Keldeo, Alakazam, Garchomp, and Terrakion. This is made worse by Hydreigon's weaknesses to common moves from these Pokemon like Draco Meteor, Focus Blast, Outrage, and Hidden Power Ice, (AC) as well as priority moves like Ice Shard and Mach Punch, which makes it get forced out often. It also struggles with slight four move slot syndrome as a result of needing to pick between 2 can't fit all of Dark Pulse, Focus Blast, and Roost, which means it will either lack a crucial coverage move crucial coverage or the sustainability to wallbreak throughout the game. Hydreigon also often needs to use Roost instead of attacking Lacking Roost especially hurts (I imagine?) due to the residual damage it takes from sand, Life Orb, and the burns it will often take burns from Pokemon it's meant to pivot in on and threaten out, like Jellicent, Politoed, and Rotom-W. Latios outclasses Hydreigon a lot of the time due to its better defensive utility letting it check in checking Pokemon like Keldeo, Thundurus-T, and Breloom, better Speed tier that lets it to outpace Pokemon like Garchomp, Terrakion, Volcarona, and Keldeo, and better splashability and set versatility on different team archetypes as a result of these advantages. better ability to fit and show set versatility on varying team archetypes.

[SET]
name: Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Dark Pulse / Dragon Pulse
move 4: Focus Blast / Roost
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
ability: Levitate
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fire Blast is able to OHKO or 2HKO every Steel-type besides Heatran. Dark Pulse can be used for gives a reliable STAB option that hits Psychic-types like Reuniclus and Slowking super effectively and can flinch shaky checks like Gastrodon, (AC) to stop them recover stalling stopping them from stalling with recovery, while Dragon Pulse gives Hydreigon a stronger STAB with the same reliability but misses out on hitting the aforementioned Psychic-types as hard reliable STAB move but misses out on Dark Pulse's coverage and lacks the flinch chance. Focus Blast nails Heatran and crucially hits Tyranitar much harder than any other move on this set, making Hydreigon better able to threaten sand teams. Roost heals off sand and burn damage as well as Life Orb recoil, and it gives Hydreigon better long-term sustainability to take on the bulky sand and rain teams it's meant to threaten. Roost can be run with both Fire Blast and Focus Blast with Dark Pulse dropped if one needs Hydreigon to hit the targets of both moves without losing out on the longevity provided by Roost. However, it leaves Hydreigon lacking a STAB move that doesn't have a drawback. by dropping Dark Pulse, but this leaves Hydreigon lacking a spammable STAB move.


Set Details
========
Modest is preferred over Timid most of the time due to the difference in power against the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to threaten, like Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Gliscor, Heatran, and Politoed. However, Timid can be used if your team really needs Hydreigon to outspeed Pokemon like Kyurem, Modest Thundurus-T, and Jolly Excadrill. Life Orb gives Hydreigon a crucial power boost to get many of the 2HKOs and OHKOs it needs to land against sand teams while letting it crucially switch moves. important 2HKOs and OHKOs against sand teams. Choice Specs can be used instead with Draco Meteor, Dark Pulse, Fire Blast, and Focus Blast to make Hydreigon even more powerful and give it more coverage (that's the same coverage as default listed set) while avoiding Life Orb recoil. However, crucially, it lets Protect Pokemon commonly found on sand teams scout Hydreigon's intentions and easy to play around as a result. Hydreigon and easily play around it.


Usage Tips
========
This set should aim to come in on resisted and weak attacks from Pokemon like Reuniclus, Gliscor, Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Politoed, and Jellicent. This also applies to Will-o-Wisp in particular, since the Pokemon that use it are often forced out by Hydreigon and the residual damage it causes is worth it most of the time Will-O-Wisp is a particularly common entry point, since Hydreigon often forces out its users and the residual damage from burn is usually worth it for the momentum Hydreigon generates. Roost Hydreigon should attempt to stay healthy with Roost throughout the game against bulkier sand and rain teams, (AC) that which it can pivot around and threaten, (AC) while against offensive teams, it can be used less conservatively since it'll be less consistently able to pivot in and force damage on the opponent. it can be used less conservatively against offensive teams because it won't be able to pivot in as consistently. Against Pokemon that Hydreigon cannot OHKO and have reliable that have recovery, such as Gastrodon, Tentacruel in rain, and Hippowdon, try to wear them down with other attacks, mainly Dark Pulse, to get them into KO range of Draco Meteor. Try to keep whether you're running Fire Blast or Focus Blast unrevealed for as long as possible so you can punish an opponent who may think their Jirachi or Scizor can safely pivot in with Fire Blast or the same with Heatran and Focus Blast. (I imagine these two used to be slashed? feel free to modify etc. but this sentence isn't as applicable now)

Team Options
========
Hydreigon fits well on offensive teams thanks to it providing a strong threat to heavily threatening opposing sand teams. Tyranitar is a staple of sand teams, and As a teammate, sand staple Tyranitar can set up Stealth Rock with a Chople Berry set to wear Pokemon down into KO range of Hydreigon's attacks, (AC) while also Pursuit trapping and it can Pursuit trap Latios and Alakazam. Psychic-types like Alakazam and Reuniclus can pressure the Fighting-types Hydreigon doesn't like facing and form a Spikes-immune offense core with it, (AC) while benefitting and they benefit greatly form the holes it breaks into their checks like Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Celebi. Alakazam also brings a good matchup against the offensive Pokemon Hydreigon can struggle against, like Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion, and Volcarona. Steel-type entry hazard setters like Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Jirachi can help bring the Pokemon that switch into Hydreigon into range of its attacks support Hydreigon while pivoting into Dragon-type moves like Draco Meteor and Outrage. Skarmory can also pivot into opposing Ground-types like Garchomp and Landorus-T, (AC) while Ferrothorn can act as a more sturdy Water-type resistance to Pokemon sturdier answer to Water-types (I imagine?) like Starmie. Heatran, on the other hand, can spread status with Toxic to further wear down Hydreigon's switch-ins while better pivoting into Ice-type moves from Pokemon like Rotom-W and and Thundurus-T. Specially defensive Jirachi can use Wish to give Hydreigon more longevity while taking Dragon- and Ice-type moves in a similar manner to like Heatran. Hydreigon appreciates pivot support from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Jirachi, and Rotom-W to get in on its desired targets safely, (AC) while their attacks also wear down the opponent and their attacks also wear down foes into range of Hydreigon's attacks. Water-types like Keldeo, Jellicent, and Rotom-W enjoy Hydreigon threatening Grass-types like Celebi and Ferrothorn while checking and check Volcarona, (AC) and Heatran should Hydreigon lack Focus Blast to hit it. Keldeo helps handle the hyper offensive teams Hydreigon struggles against, namely handling Scizor, Dragonite, and boosted Cloyster, (AC) while Hydreigon wears down Rotom-W and Celebi. Terrakion and Mamoswine similarly threaten threats found on hyper offensive teams hyper offense threats and can wallbreak alongside Hydreigon.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Choice Scarf with a Timid nature can also be used with U-Turn to act as and U-turn can make Hydreigon a revenge killer that can pivot around walls with U-Turn to bring more powerful teammates in. Unfortunately, it is outclassed by Latios for much of the same reasons as the Choice Specs set, with its better Speed tier being even more important as it lets Latios Latios's better Speed being even more important to outspeed +2 Dragonite and Choice Scarf Keldeo. Similarly, Keldeo and Garchomp also outclass Hydreigon as a Choice Scarf user for much of the same reasons. Expert Belt can be used as the item over Life Orb to avoid Life Orb recoil and still get a power boost against Pokemon Hydreigon hits super effectively. However, it makes Hydreigon miss out on the power boost it needs when using Draco Meteor sacrifices the power boost Draco Meteor needs to really threaten targets like Gliscor, Rotom-W, and Politoed. Should Expert Belt be used, it To mitigate the loss of power, Expert Belt must be used with a Modest nature to mitigate the loss of power. Earth Power can be run over Focus Blast or Fire Blast to give Hydreigon the ability to hit all of Heatran, Tentacruel, Excadrill, Jirachi, and Tyranitar in one moveslot. However, it misses out on hitting Ferrothorn and Skarmory sufficiently while also not hitting Tyranitar hard enough to make it thretan sand teams enough to where Focus Blast and Fire Blast's benefits can be given up with much benefit. heavily threaten sand teams. (I imagine? maybe eg "adequately" over "heavily"?) Taunt can be used over Dark Pulse to let Hydreigon punish passive Pokemon like Jellicent, Reuniclus, Gastrodon, and Ferrothorn and prevent them from statusing it, setting up entry hazards, or recovering their health. However, it this makes Hydreigon lack a reliable STAB move. Substitute can be considered over Dark Pulse with Expert Belt to let Hydreigon punish switches, evade status, and lessen prediction. However, it has the same issues as Taunt while also making it easy for Pokemon like Gastrodon or and Jellicent to take advantage of Hydreigon in practice, (AC) since they can recover on Draco Meteor and leave it with lost health from Substitute with and nothing to show for it. Superpower may seem like a good option to hit the same targets as Focus Blast while also doing solid damage to Chansey, but it's inferior to Focus Blast against everything besides Chansey.

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

**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon that can hit Hydreigon super effectively, like Keldeo, Volcarona, Starmie, Latios, Garchomp, Terrakion, and Alakazam, (AC) can all OHKO Hydreigon and it force it out. This is an even bigger issue when Hydreigon faces offensive teams, since a lot of these threats are paired together, which leaves against offensive teams, which pair a lot of these threats together, leaving Hydreigon unable to make much progress against them. However, they cannot switch in safely.

**Steel-types**: While Hydreigon has coverage to break past Steel-types, at least a few of them will be able to wall it depending on what coverage move is dropped. Should Focus Blast be dropped, Jirachi and defensive Scizor can switch in easily, while Fire Blast lets in Heatran.

**Status**: Burn forces Hydreigon to Roost more often than attack, which can be problematic when contributes to chip damage from sand and Life Orb, and (I imagine, bc roost isnt primary anymore? feel free to tinker) a lot of the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to pivot in on (RC) like Tentacruel, Politoed, Rotom-W, and Jellicent can easily inflict it with burn. burn it. Poison has the same effect, with Toxic putting Hydreigon on a permanant timer while paralysis cuts Hydreigon's Speed and while paralysis cutting Hydreigon's Speed makes it near useless.

**Specially Defensive Walls**: Specially bulky Pokemon like Chople Berry Tyranitar and Chansey can take Hydreigon's hits, with Tyranitar able to punish Hydreigon it with a powerful Superpower or crippling Thunder Wave, (AC) and Chansey punishing it with running the same debilitating status. However, Tyranitar lacks reliable recovery and can't switch in more than once, (AC) while Chansey is rare due to stall being an uncommon archetype.

**Heatran**: Heatran fears Focus Blast, but it can check Hydreigon if it's moveset drops Focus Blast. (retooled steel-type bullet bc dropping fire blast is only buried in OO now. feel free to tinker or remove or whatever)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Ophion, 433215]]
- Quality checked by: [[Finchinator, 114198], [, ]] (fill in)
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [, ]]

View attachment 3965031/2

Implemented, thank you for doing it so soon after I posted! On to GP 2!

 

[CryoGyro]

GP 2/2

Hide

[OVERVIEW]
Hydreigon carves out a decent niche as a strong special attacker thanks to its great STAB moves and incredible coverage, which let it hit almost everything in the metagame hard. Hydreigon also has some good defensive utility thanks to its decent bulk, (comma) and immunity to Ground, Psychic, and Spikes, as well as resisting and resistance to common moves like Scald, Hydro Pump, Volt Switch, and Pursuit. Its Pursuit resistance and better coverage give Hydreigon it a niche over the often superior Latios, making it more adept at better defeating bulkier sand teams that rely on Pursuit Tyranitar to remove Pokemon that can beat them wallbreaking threats. However, Hydreigon is outpaced and forced out by very common offensive Pokemon like Latios, Keldeo, Alakazam, Garchomp, and Terrakion. This is made worse by Hydreigon's weaknesses to common moves from these Pokemon their common attacks like Draco Meteor, Focus Blast, Outrage, and Hidden Power Ice, as well as priority moves like Ice Shard and Mach Punch, which makes it get forced out often. It also can't fit all of Dark Pulse, Focus Blast, and Roost, which means it will either lack crucial coverage or the sustainability to wallbreak throughout the game. Lacking Roost can especially hurt due to the residual damage Hydreigon takes from sand, Life Orb, burns from Pokemon it's meant to pivot in on and threaten out, like Jellicent, Politoed, and Rotom-W and Scald burns. Latios often outclasses Hydreigon a lot of the time due to its better defensive utility in checking Pokemon like Keldeo, Thundurus-T, and Breloom, better Speed tier to outpace Pokemon like Garchomp, Terrakion, Volcarona, and Keldeo, and better ability to fit and show set greater versatility on varying team archetypes.

[SET]
name: Attacker
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Fire Blast
move 3: Dark Pulse / Dragon Pulse
move 4: Focus Blast / Roost
item: Life Orb / Choice Specs
ability: Levitate
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Fire Blast is able to OHKO or 2HKO OHKOes or 2HKOes every Steel-type besides Heatran. Dark Pulse give is a reliable STAB option that hits Psychic-types like Reuniclus and Slowking super effectively and can flinch shaky checks like Gastrodon, stopping them from stalling with recovery beat shakier checks like Gastrodon with its flinch chance, while Dragon Pulse gives Hydreigon a stronger reliable STAB move but misses out on Dark Pulse's coverage and lacks the flinch chance boasts higher overall power. Focus Blast nails Heatran and crucially hits Tyranitar much harder than any other move on this set, making Hydreigon better able to threaten sand teams. Roost heals off sand and burn damage as well as Life Orb recoil, and it residual damage and gives Hydreigon better long-term sustainability to take on the bulky sand and rain teams it's meant to threaten. Roost can be run with both Fire Blast and Focus Blast by dropping Dark Pulse, but this leaves Hydreigon lacking a spammable STAB move.


Set Details
========
Modest is largely preferred over Timid most of the time due to the difference in power against for damaging the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to threaten, like Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Gliscor, Heatran, and Politoed. However, Timid can be used if your team really needs Hydreigon to outspeed Pokemon like Kyurem, Modest Thundurus-T, and Jolly Excadrill. Life Orb gives Hydreigon a crucial power boost to get gets (it's not crucial if it's slashed) many important 2HKOs and OHKOs. Choice Specs can be used instead with Draco Meteor, Dark Pulse, Fire Blast, and Focus Blast to make Hydreigon even more powerful while avoiding Life Orb recoil. However, crucially, (alright i'm revoking your crucial pass) it lets Protect Pokemon commonly found on sand teams scout Hydreigon and easily play around it. (that just makes it sound pointless to me)


Usage Tips
========
This set should aim to come in on resisted and weak attacks from Pokemon like Reuniclus, Gliscor, Tyranitar, Rotom-W, Politoed, and Jellicent. Will-O-Wisp is a particularly common entry point, since Hydreigon often forces out its users and the residual damage from burn is usually worth it for the momentum Hydreigon generates. (wouldn't be telling us to do it if it weren't) Roost Hydreigon should attempt to stay healthy throughout the game against bulkier sand and rain teams, which it can pivot around and threaten, while it can be used less conservatively against offensive teams because it won't be able to pivot switch in as consistently. Against Pokemon that Hydreigon cannot OHKO and have recovery, such as Gastrodon, Tentacruel in rain, and Hippowdon, try to wear them down with other attacks, mainly Dark Pulse, to get them into KO range of Draco Meteor.

Team Options
========
Hydreigon fits well on offensive teams thanks to it heavily threatening opposing sand teams. As a teammate, sand staple Chople Berry Tyranitar can set up Stealth Rock with a Chople Berry set to wear Pokemon down into KO range of Hydreigon's attacks, and it can and Pursuit trap Latios and Alakazam. Psychic-types like Alakazam and Reuniclus can pressure the Fighting-types, (comma) form a Spikes-immune core with Hydreigon, and benefit from Hydreigon denting their checks like Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Celebi Hydreigon doesn't like facing and form a Spikes-immune offense core with it, and they benefit greatly from the holes it breaks into their checks like Tyranitar, Jirachi, and Celebi. Alakazam also brings a good matchup against the offensive Pokemon Hydreigon can struggle against, like Latios, Keldeo, Terrakion, and Volcarona. Steel-type entry hazard setters like Skarmory, Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Jirachi support Hydreigon while pivoting and switch into Dragon-type moves like Draco Meteor and Outrage. Skarmory can also pivot into opposing switch into Ground-types like Garchomp and Landorus-T, while Ferrothorn can act as a sturdier answer to Water-types like Starmie. Heatran, on the other hand, can spread status with Toxic to further wear down Hydreigon's switch-ins while better pivoting into Ice-type moves from Pokemon like Rotom-W and and Thundurus-T. Specially defensive Jirachi can use Wish to give Hydreigon more longevity while taking Dragon- and Ice-type moves like Heatran. Hydreigon appreciates pivot support from Pokemon like Landorus-T, Jirachi, and Rotom-W to get in on its desired targets safely, and their attacks also wear down foes into range of Hydreigon's attacks for it. Water-types like Keldeo, Jellicent, and Rotom-W check Volcarona and Heatran and enjoy Hydreigon threatening Grass-types like Celebi and Ferrothorn and check Volcarona, and Heatran should Hydreigon lack Focus Blast. Keldeo helps handle the hyper offense teams Hydreigon struggles against, namely handling Scizor, Dragonite, and boosted Cloyster while Hydreigon wears down Rotom-W and Celebi. Terrakion and Mamoswine similarly threaten hyper offense threats and can wallbreak alongside Hydreigon.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Choice Scarf with a Timid nature and U-turn can make Hydreigon a pivoting revenge killer that can pivot around walls to bring more powerful teammates in. Unfortunately, it is outclassed by Latios, (comma) which outspeeds due to Latios's better Speed being even more important to outspeed +2 Dragonite and Choice Scarf Keldeo. Similarly, Choice Scarf Keldeo and Garchomp also outclass Hydreigon as a Choice Scarf user for much of the same similar reasons. Expert Belt can be used to avoid Life Orb recoil and still get a power boost against Pokemon Hydreigon hits super effectively. However, it sacrifices the power boost Draco Meteor needs to really threaten targets like Gliscor, Rotom-W, and Politoed. To mitigate the loss of power, Expert Belt must be used with a Modest nature. Earth Power can be run over Focus Blast or Fire Blast to hit all of Heatran, Tentacruel, Excadrill, Jirachi, and Tyranitar in one moveslot. However, it misses out on hitting Ferrothorn and Skarmory sufficiently while also not hitting Tyranitar hard enough to adequetly threaten sand teams. Taunt can be used over Dark Pulse to punish passive Pokemon like Jellicent, Reuniclus, Gastrodon, and Ferrothorn at the expense of a reliable STAB move. However, this makes Hydreigon lack a reliable STAB move. Substitute can be considered over Dark Pulse with Expert Belt to let Hydreigon punish switches, evade status, and lessen prediction. However, it has the same issue as Taunt while also making it easy for Pokemon like Gastrodon and Jellicent to take advantage of Hydreigon in practice, since they can recover on Draco Meteor and leave it with lost health from Substitute and nothing to show for it. Superpower may seem like a good option to hit the same targets as Focus Blast while also doing solid damage to Chansey, but it's inferior to Focus Blast against everything besides Chansey.

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

**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon that can hit Hydreigon super effectively, like Keldeo, Volcarona, Starmie, Latios, Garchomp, Terrakion, and Alakazam, (comma) can all OHKO it Hydreigon and force it out. This is an even bigger issue against offensive teams, which pair put a lot of these threats together, leaving Hydreigon unable to make much progress against them. However, they cannot switch in safely.

**Status**: Burn contributes to chip damage from sand and Life Orb, and a lot of the Pokemon Hydreigon is meant to pivot in on switch into like Tentacruel, Politoed, Rotom-W, and Jellicent can easily inflict it with burn. Poison has the same effect, (comma) while paralysis cutting Hydreigon's Speed makes it nearly useless. However, burn and poison damage can be mitigated if running Roost.

**Specially Defensive Walls**: Specially bulky Pokemon like Chople Berry Tyranitar and Chansey can take Hydreigon's hits, with Tyranitar able to punish it with a powerful Superpower or crippling Thunder Wave, and Chansey running the same debilitating status. However, Tyranitar lacks reliable recovery and can't switch in more than once, while Chansey is rare due to stall being an uncommon archetype.

**Heatran**: Heatran fears Focus Blast, but it can otherwise switch into Hydreigon if it's moveset drops Focus Blast and set up Stealth Rock on it or cripple it with Toxic.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Ophion, 433215]]
- Quality checked by: [[Finchinator, 114198], [BluBirD252, 347088]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429], [, ]]