[OVERVIEW]
With its high Attack stat and powerful STAB Outrage, Dragonite is a great choice for a physical attacker in ORAS 1v1. Its ability Multiscale supports its already great power, giving it an edge over other Dragon-types in 1v1 like Garchomp and Latios, while its typing and bulk allow it to withstand hits from some of the strongest Pokemon in the metagame like Mega Charizard Y, Porygon-Z, and Meloetta. Furthermore, thanks to its great arsenal of coverage moves, it can be tailored to take on commonly used Pokemon, including bulky Pokemon such as Heatran, Mega Tyranitar, and Diancie. Dragonite's ability to run either a Choice Band or Choice Scarf coupled with the unpredictability of its set in Team Preview lets it lure and KO all-out attackers like Greninja, Mega Lopunny, and Manaphy. However, Dragonite can be easily exploitable mainly due to being vulnerable to status effects from Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir and Mega Sableye, while others capitalize on Fake Out strategies like Mega Medicham and Mega Blastoise, which breaks Multiscale. Moreover, despite Dragonite's Attack stat being very high, it still ends up struggling against stall Pokemon like Mega Sableye, Mega Slowbro, and Kee Berry Mew as well as wallbreakers such as Kyurem-B and Mega Mawile.
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Outrage
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Punch / Superpower
move 4: Extreme Speed / Superpower / Iron Head
item: Choice Band
ability: Multiscale
nature: Adamant
evs: 216 HP / 208 Atk / 84 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Outrage is Dragonite's strongest STAB move, capable of pummeling Pokemon that don't resist it like Mega Charizard Y, Meloetta, and Hoopa-U. Earthquake rounds out Dragonite's coverage well, hitting most Dragon-resistant Pokemon such as Aegislash and Magnezone. Fire Punch is useful for beating Pokemon that are neutral to Earthquake like Genesect, Ferrothorn, and Mega Scizor. Superpower is an option to reliably beat Heatran and Mega Tyranitar. Extreme Speed allows Dragonite to handle frail Pokemon like Choice Scarf Togekiss, non-Choice Specs Greninja, Jumpluff, and Smeargle. Iron Head can be used to beat Mega Diancie and stall Mega Altaria.
Set Details
========
The key to this set is taking advantage of Dragonite's sheer power with Choice Band to break through bulky Pokemon. 216 HP EVs and 84 Defense EVs allow Dragonite to tank Choice Band Garchomp, while the HP EVs allow Dragonite to survive Choice Specs Draco Meteor from Latios and Ice Beam from Choice Specs Genesect. Multiscale is an integral part, allowing Dragonite to shine by withstanding most attacks from full HP unless against Mold Breaker users and Pokemon with substantially high super effective attacks. Alternatively, Dragonite can run a spread of 112 HP / 64 Atk / 248 SpD / 84 Spe with an Adamant nature to tank Choice Specs Greninja's Ice Beam and outspeed Heracross and bulky Meloetta or a spread of 168 HP / 108 Atk / 240 Def with an Adamant nature if you want to defeat Mega Lopunny.
Strategy & Support
========
Choice Band Dragonite should mainly focus on Pokemon that lack reliable recovery and Pokemon without Intimidate such as Mega Charizard Y, Porygon-Z, Heatran, and Genesect. Ideally, it should be chosen against Pokemon such as Choice Specs Latios, Choice Band Garchomp, Meloetta, and Mega Tyranitar to withstand their strong hits with Multiscale. When against Choice Scarf Togekiss, rather than using Iron Head, it's best to use Extreme Speed, as it removes the chances of getting flinched by Air Slash. One of the biggest issues for Dragonite is Mega Gyarados, and as a result, Pokemon such as bulky Will-O-Wisp Mega Charizard Y, Mega Venusaur, and Mega Gardevoir pair well. In return, Dragonite can deal with strong special wallbreakers like Porygon-Z and Meloetta. Powerful special wallbreakers like specially defensive Mega Mawile and Choice Specs Hoopa-U synergize with Dragonite quite well thanks to their ability to handle physically defensive Pokemon like Mega Sableye and Mega Blastoise, which Dragonite struggles against. In return, Dragonite can take on specially defensive Pokemon like Diancie and Snorlax. As Sturdy and Counter users like Crustle, Donphan, and Golem can all take hits from Dragonite and knock it out with Counter, Mega Gyarados, while being one of Dragonite's biggest issues, can also be its greatest ally, handling them and shutting down Pokemon like Mega Slowbro, Kee Berry Mew, and Registeel with Taunt. As a result, Taunt Mega Gyarados synergizes well with Dragonite, with the latter being able to handle bulky Mega Charizard X, Ferrothorn, and Genesect. Mega Metagross can deal with problematic Dragon-, Fairy-, and Poison-types like Kyurem-B, Mega Gardevoir, and Mega Venusaur and appreciates Dragonite's effectiveness against Fire-types like Heatran and Victini.
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Outrage
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Fire Punch
move 4: Superpower / Iron Head
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Multiscale
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 8 HP / 244 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Outrage is Dragonite's most solid option for handling Dragon-types like Choice Band Kyurem-B, Garchomp, and opposing Choice Band Dragonite. Earthquake pins down Fire- and Steel-types like Victini, Aegislash, and Magnezone. Fire Punch hits Steel-types that aren't hit super effectively by Earthquake like Ferrothorn and Genesect. Superpower can be run in order to hit Heatran, Mega Tyranitar, and Mega Lopunny, (period -> comma) while Iron Head is mainly for hitting Mega Diancie and Archeops.
Set Details
========
8 HP and 4 Special Defense EVs allow Dragonite to tank Ice Beam from Choice Scarf Greninja, while the remaining EVs are invested into Attack and Speed. Multiscale is run in order to tank Outrage from Mega Charizard X and Ice Beam from Choice Scarf Genesect. A Jolly nature can be run to outspeed Mega Lopunny, while an Adamant nature can be run to have a more reliable matchup against Aegislash.
Strategy & Support
========
This set revolves around outspeeding frailer Pokemon like Porygon-Z, Greninja, Genesect, and Mega Lopunny, which usually have a great matchup against Dragonite, and then proceed to OHKO them with your coverage moves. Against Greninja, if running an Adamant nature, it is better to use Outrage instead of Superpower, as it doesn't risk the possibility of Greninja running Shadow Sneak, and Outrage OHKOes Greninja anyways. On the other hand, running a Jolly nature makes Superpower the optimal choice, as Outrage isn't a reliable win condition due to the significant power drop. Keep in mind that Dragonite's bulk is considerably low and can get overwhelmed by stall and Counter Pokemon like Mega Sableye, Mew, and Crustle. Mega Gyarados is an excellent partner for Dragonite, as it can combat these threats as well as Sturdy Pokemon like Crustle and Golem for it. Mega Gyarados appreciates Dragonite's ability to handle Mega Charizard Y and Genesect. Weakness Policy Victini offensively synergizes well with Dragonite due to its ability to handle Steel-types like Mega Mawile, Mega Metagross, and Mega Aggron. In return, Dragonite deals with offensive threats like Porygon-Z, Mega Lopunny, and Archeops. Other Choice Scarf users like Kyurem-B and Haxorus can use their abilities to outspeed and OHKO Dragonite. Steel-types like Mega Mawile, Genesect, and Mega Aggron can assist Dragonite by getting rid of these threats. In return, Dragonite can handle Fire-types like Victini and Heatran.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
A Weakness Policy set can be run with 252 Attack EVs and an Adamant nature to almost always defeat Mega Metagross; it should be noted that you should use Earthquake into Extreme Speed to reliably beat it. However, this is generally useless apart from this matchup, which is why its other sets are preferred. Protect can be run with Weakness Policy to help Dragonite with Fake Out users like Mega Lopunny, Mega Medicham, Mega Blastoise, and Ambipom. A Choice Specs set with Hurricane, Fire Blast, Ice Beam, and Thunderbolt can be run to handle physical walls like Mega Venusaur and Mega Slowbro. However, it isn't as useful as the other sets, which cover a variety of Pokemon and more significant threats. Fly can be run in order to handle Mega Heracross but is generally useless apart from this matchup.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Broken Multiscale**: The main reason for using Dragonite is its ability Multiscale, and without it, Dragonite would be weaker to attacks. Pokemon that ignore Multiscale such as Mega Gyarados, Kyurem-B, and Haxorus, as well as Fake Out users like Mega Medicham and Mega Blastoise, can handle it effectively. Status inflictions can also be a good way of breaking Multiscale, with Pokemon like bulky Will-O-Wisp Mega Charizard X and Mega Gardevoir crippling it and defeating it as a result.
**Stall**: Stall Pokemon like Mega Sableye, Mega Slowbro, Mew, and Registeel all have enough bulk to live Dragonite's attacks and set up on it to mitigate or lower its offense capabilities.
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types like Mega Mawile, Mega Altaria, and Togekiss can all tank Dragonite's attacks and cripple it with their respective moves.
**Sturdy**: Pokemon like Crustle, Golem, and Sawk are able to survive a hit thanks to their ability Sturdy and counteract with Counter.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Poison Adhesive, 430787]]
- Quality checked by: [LittleRunnerXC, 289008], [OM,241400]
- Grammar checked by: [[Milak, 262594], [Estronic, 240732]]
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