It's no question that Dragon-types just about rule the roost in OU right now. Characteristically high base stats, notably in Attack and Speed; great typing on all fronts; and massive movepools set them apart from the pack as powerful Pokemon capable of sweeping teams at their leisure. Time and time again, they have proven themselves as monsters on the field of battle.
Dragon as a type
Dragons in the Top 100 (source)
That's nine. Count 'em, NINE. There are only eleven fully evolved non-Uber Dragons (the missing two here are Altaria and Druddigon). And that's leaving out Zwelious, who boasts the strongest Outrage in the game.
So here's the question:
How do we beat them?
If you look through the movepool of a Dragon, chances are you'll find that it has a move for every situation. Dragonite and Salamence can go special, Latios can carry Psyshock or Calm Mind, and Haxorus pretty much rapes everything with 147 Attack. Many have high defenses. You could go so far as to say that some are uncounterable - an example is Dragonite. Great bulk compounded by Multiscale, high Attack, and Dragon Dance or Extremespeed to fix its own slowness are only part of the problem, as its special movepool is also incredibly vast and powerful. It has no definite counters. Even when you know the set, countering it is hard due to its sheer power. This is true with almost every Dragon - your "counter" is taking a ton of damage, rendering it almost useless later on. So what can we do to save ourselves from being ravaged by a Dragon?
From what I can see, there are two options.
Hit Them Where It Hurts
This may seem obvious, but surprisingly it can be quite hard. Whether they're blindingly fast or incredibly bulky, they seem invincible. But, just like any other Pokemon, they can be taken down.
Brute Force
A classic way of shoving through just about everything, it works here too - although you may have to force some switches to get it to work. By focusing primarily on neutral or super effective attacks, many high-power Pokemon can simply muscle their way through. Some of these include Haxorus, Scizor, Conkeldurr, Gyarados and Kyurem. All of these have weaknesses of their own that can be exploited by your opponent, however, so play wisely.
Freeze 'Em To Death
No, I'm not saying "RUN HP ICE ON EVERYTHING GAIZ." I'm not saying that you should all run Ice moves whenever you can. I'm basically telling you to flip Stealth Rock the bird and run an Ice-type Pokemon. "But Arcticblast, Stealth Rock makes all Ice-types worthless! They take extra damage when they switch in!" So do Dragonite, Ninetails, Cloyster, Gyarados, Salamence, and particularly Volcarona - all common OU Pokemon. Hell, we banned Thundurus - yet another Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock. Weakness to Stealth Rock is not a death sentence. Several Ice-types fare well in OU today, particularly Cloyster, Mamoswine (who is SR-neutral!), Kyurem, and my personal favorite Weavile. Cloyster can take a hit, Shell Smash, and KO with Icicle Spear. Mamoswine can use Icicle Crash for the KO. Kyurem is an excellent Scarfer who can use both of its STABs to annihilate opposing Dragons. And Weavile's lightning Speed and high Attack makes it an excellent dragon killer with Ice Punch.
Cripple Them
With the advent of Prankster and the fall of Deoxys-Speed, there have been a few good "annoyers," or support Pokemon that help the team by crippling and enraging the opponent. We're not just talking about plain old Rocks, either. Deoxys, with his truly supersonic Speed stat, can lay down hazards and KO with Ice Beam. Onto the pranksters. Whimsicott can Seed and paralyze. Tornadus... uhh... Murkrow can Perish Trap, and Sableye can burn. Simply crippling a Dragon can help to take it down.
Questions for discussion:
Dragon as a type
Dragons in the Top 100 (source)
Code:
+ ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- + --------- + --------- +
| Rank | Pokemon | Usage | Percent | KOs/b | Turns/b |
+ ---- + --------------- + ------ + ------- + --------- + --------- +
| 1 | Dragonite | 92954 | 24.102% | 0.92±1.10 | 4.98±4.50 |
| 10 | Latios | 48078 | 12.466% | 0.89±0.99 | 4.06±2.86 |
| 19 | Haxorus | 35168 | 9.119% | 1.03±1.12 | 3.66±2.26 |
| 31 | Salamence | 24277 | 6.295% | 0.78±0.97 | 3.67±2.72 |
| 35 | Latias | 20467 | 5.307% | 0.72±1.04 | 6.09±5.61 |
| 37 | Hydreigon | 19412 | 5.033% | 0.89±1.02 | 4.10±2.77 |
| 68 | Kingdra | 8528 | 2.211% | 0.89±1.07 | 4.33±2.95 |
| 88 | Flygon | 4396 | 1.140% | 0.62±0.88 | 3.54±2.54 |
| 91 | Kyurem | 4200 | 1.089% | 1.07±1.10 | 3.87±2.60 |So here's the question:
How do we beat them?
If you look through the movepool of a Dragon, chances are you'll find that it has a move for every situation. Dragonite and Salamence can go special, Latios can carry Psyshock or Calm Mind, and Haxorus pretty much rapes everything with 147 Attack. Many have high defenses. You could go so far as to say that some are uncounterable - an example is Dragonite. Great bulk compounded by Multiscale, high Attack, and Dragon Dance or Extremespeed to fix its own slowness are only part of the problem, as its special movepool is also incredibly vast and powerful. It has no definite counters. Even when you know the set, countering it is hard due to its sheer power. This is true with almost every Dragon - your "counter" is taking a ton of damage, rendering it almost useless later on. So what can we do to save ourselves from being ravaged by a Dragon?
From what I can see, there are two options.
Hit Them Where It Hurts
This may seem obvious, but surprisingly it can be quite hard. Whether they're blindingly fast or incredibly bulky, they seem invincible. But, just like any other Pokemon, they can be taken down.
Brute Force
A classic way of shoving through just about everything, it works here too - although you may have to force some switches to get it to work. By focusing primarily on neutral or super effective attacks, many high-power Pokemon can simply muscle their way through. Some of these include Haxorus, Scizor, Conkeldurr, Gyarados and Kyurem. All of these have weaknesses of their own that can be exploited by your opponent, however, so play wisely.
Freeze 'Em To Death
No, I'm not saying "RUN HP ICE ON EVERYTHING GAIZ." I'm not saying that you should all run Ice moves whenever you can. I'm basically telling you to flip Stealth Rock the bird and run an Ice-type Pokemon. "But Arcticblast, Stealth Rock makes all Ice-types worthless! They take extra damage when they switch in!" So do Dragonite, Ninetails, Cloyster, Gyarados, Salamence, and particularly Volcarona - all common OU Pokemon. Hell, we banned Thundurus - yet another Pokemon weak to Stealth Rock. Weakness to Stealth Rock is not a death sentence. Several Ice-types fare well in OU today, particularly Cloyster, Mamoswine (who is SR-neutral!), Kyurem, and my personal favorite Weavile. Cloyster can take a hit, Shell Smash, and KO with Icicle Spear. Mamoswine can use Icicle Crash for the KO. Kyurem is an excellent Scarfer who can use both of its STABs to annihilate opposing Dragons. And Weavile's lightning Speed and high Attack makes it an excellent dragon killer with Ice Punch.
Cripple Them
With the advent of Prankster and the fall of Deoxys-Speed, there have been a few good "annoyers," or support Pokemon that help the team by crippling and enraging the opponent. We're not just talking about plain old Rocks, either. Deoxys, with his truly supersonic Speed stat, can lay down hazards and KO with Ice Beam. Onto the pranksters. Whimsicott can Seed and paralyze. Tornadus... uhh... Murkrow can Perish Trap, and Sableye can burn. Simply crippling a Dragon can help to take it down.
Questions for discussion:
- Can Dragons be stopped?
- Are there ways to beat Dragons that don't cost you a Pokemon?
- Despite the presence of Stealth Rock, are Ice-types worth using to beat Dragons?
- How do YOU beat Dragons?
