[OVERVIEW]
Drakloak is NFE's premier Ghost-type and an elite choice for Speed control. Boasting the fastest unboosted Speed in the metagame alongside a variety of utility options, Drakloak is an excellent phazer capable of disrupting attackers and walls alike with Dragon Tail, Night Shade, and status, while also doubling up as a spinblocker. Additionally, Drakloak is a great wallbreaker, leveraging its high-powered coverage and Speed to disrupt foes expecting utility sets like Gabite and Vigoroth. However, its frailty and typing makes it very vulnerable to Knock Off, making matchups like Monferno and Thwackey difficult. Night Shade sets are walled by Normal-types like Vigoroth and Girafarig, while Choice Specs sets can suffer from being too weak even against foes like Tinkatuff and utility Dunsparce.
[SET]
RestTalk (Drakloak) @ Eviolite
Ability: Clear Body
EVs: 252 HP / 40 Def / 216 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Night Shade
- Dragon Tail
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
[SET COMMENTS]
The combination of Night Shade and Dragon Tail alongside Drakloak's high Speed and valued typing makes Drakloak a premier phazer. RestTalk gives it longevity, making it a good status absorber while continuing to phaze and chip foes. 216 Speed EVs enable it to outspeed non-Choice Scarf Frogadier and making it the fastest unboosted Pokemon in the metagame. While Drakloak's abilities all are useful, Clear Body stands out by not having Drakloak's Speed being lowered on Sticky Web teams, as well as stop Memento from lead Glimmet sets.
Drakloak tends to fit on many balanced and bulky teams, being integral to stopping Rapid Spin attempts from Quaxwell to remove hazards. Entry hazard setters like Piloswine, Frogadier, and Quilladin all pair well with it, forming an hazard stacking core while all providing utility in their own right. Fairy-types like Tinkatuff and Clefairy are formidable foes, threatening paralysis with Thunder Wave and chipping it away with their utility moves; Checks to them like Gabite and Ivysaur can significantly threaten them back while taking paralysis relatively well. Normal-types like Vigoroth and Girafarig are immune to Night Shade and can threaten Knock Off or powerful Psychic STAB moves; Steel-types like the aforementioned Tinkatuff and Hisuian Sliggoo are excellent answers to them. While Drakloak has a good defensive profile, its frailty makes it unreliable at answering certain Pokemon like Monferno and Thwackey; Koffing makes for an excellent Knock Off absorber while completing hazard cores with Toxic Spikes and potentially stealing other Eviolites with Thief. Wallbreakers and revenge killers like Fraxure and Raboot can take advantage of Drakloak's spinblocking capabilities to more easily break down defensive titans from the accumulated residual damage. Given Drakloak's vulnerability to Piloswine, checks to it like Quaxwell and Dunsparce are also appreciated; Quaxwell can pivot and remove hazards of its own with Rapid Spin.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Status spreader sets running Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp alongside Hex capitalizes on its support capabiliites. Drakloak can run a dual screens set alongside Light Clay, capitalizing on its deep utility movepool with options like U-turn, Thunder Wave, and Curse, though the archetype is uncommon and Drakloak prefers running offensive or more standard utility sets. Hydro Pump can be used on the Choice Specs set to surprise Piloswine and Naclstack while maintaining good coverage against Fire-types, though it either loses out on Fire Blast's coverage or U-turn's pivoting.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Drakloak heavily struggles against Fairy-types like Tinkatuff and Clefairy with both sets, with only Fire Blast being threatening against physically bulky Tinkatuff variants. Clefairy particularly does well, recovering any damage with ease and disrupting it with its own utility moves.
**Piloswine**: Piloswine can tank any hit from Drakloak with ease and revenge kill it; Ice Shard against Choice Specs sets requires minimum chip for it to KO.
**Normal-types**: Bulky Normal-types like Vigoroth and Dunsparce are consistent answers, being immune to Night Shade and forcing it to use Draco Meteor to threaten notable damage. They can recover the damage away with Slack Off and use it as setup fodder. Girafarig is similarly effective against Night Shade sets but struggles a lot more into Choice Specs sets.
**Naclstack**: While relatively uncommon, Naclstack is immune to status conditions, and can whittle it down with Salt Cure, only fearing the rare Hydro Pump.
**Faster Pokemon and Priority Moves**: While Drakloak is the fastest unboosted Pokemon in the metagame, it struggles to deal with Choice Scarf users like Frogadier and Girafarig that can outspeed it with a boost. Sucker Punch users like Raboot and Pignite remain similarly dangerous in spite of their lower Speed tiers, alongside Piloswine's Ice Shard.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/5dots.543866/
Quality checked by:
Grammar checked by:
Last edited: