Hello ND community. For the final suspect in the string of suspects decided by the previous survey and council slate results, the council has decided to suspect test Dragapult!
Dragapult ever since its inception has been at the very least a questionable presence in National Dex, attributing it to its speed and Z-Moves giving Dragapult a physical Ghost-type STAB nuke that it otherwise would not have access to, as the only other option is the easily exploitable Phantom Force. In the last Dragapult suspect, when Terastalization was legal, it had been banned because of an easily splashable check in Kingambit being banned prior. But, even with Pursuit Kingambit returning after the Terastalization ban and some other staples being at the forefront of the metagame, public outcry for a Dragapult suspect test has been growing ever since it was freed.
The main problem about Dragapult is its set variety and how easily it can cripple and beat checks long term. Dragon Dance in tandem with Ghostium Z is the primary concern, as most would-be checks such as Ferrothorn and Clefable get annihilated by its Z-Move. Substitute on such sets mean Dragapult cannot be statused by Pokemon like Alomomola, Moltres, and Gliscor and as such uses them for setup. Dark-types such as Kingambit, Ting-Lu, and Mega Tyranitar aren’t completely fullproof against such sets, as Will-O-Wisp is another common option on Dragon Dance that makes these threats much easier to handle long term. Dragapult also uses WispHex pivot sets to excellent effect, as it burns the aforementioned checks while also being an extremely fast pivot, meaning it is not easily revenge killed and can easily pivot out on checks like Clefable and Heatran. Such sets can use Heavy-Duty Boots to avoid entry hazard damage altogether or Z-Crystals such as Dragonium Z to avoid being checked by Moltres and Gliscor consistently. Although rarer because of Pursuit Kingambit and the greater amount of checks compared to other sets, Choice Specs combines Dragapult’s blitzing speed with a STAB combo in Draco Meteor and Shadow Ball that is near unresisted except by Kingambit, which can get worn down over time by its coverage and repeated U-turns.
It is usually not easy to deduce what set a Dragapult will be on team preview. Each set has its own list of checks, and they all cause immense strain in the builder and in practice if you don’t guess it’s set correctly. For example, Ting-Lu is usually a consistent check to Dragon Dance sets, but gets worn down way too quickly by WispHex. Another example is Moltres, who may take on WispHex well but mourns at the sight of Dragon Dance.
However, Dragapult has some flaws that make it not an automatic ban candidate. Dragon Dance sets, while powerful, mainly attribute such power to its Z-Move, and after it is used up it is stuck using Dragon Darts as its only reliable attack, making teams with cores consisting of Pokemon like defensive Great Tusk, Melmetal, Gyro Ball Ferrothorn, and Clefable good options against that set. WispHex has issues with immediate power if it runs Heavy-Duty Boots, lacking the oomph to break through Pokemon like Moltres, Toxapex, and Heatran. Dragonium Z on these sets mean Dragapult is weak to Spikes, which is undesirable as it wants to use U-turn in a lot of instances. There are also checks that do decently against almost all Dragapult sets, including Melmetal, Kingambit, Clefable, and Tapu Fini, a Pokemon that has soared in popularity primarily thanks to its ability to check Dragapult. Kingambit in particular is a nuisance to Dragapult, as although it can be burned, Dragapult still gets consistently Pursuit-trapped by it.
The instructions to participate in this test are as follows:
- Create a new account OR use an existing one with no SV National Dex OU games played (resetting W/L does not count for this - the account you use must never have played National Dex OU before the test, full stop.) You do not have to follow any specific naming convention, but your suspect account must have never played a game in National Dex OU before this suspect test went up or you will not receive valid requirements.
- At any point on your new account, use the command /linksmogon on Pokemon Showdown! You will receive instructions on what to do once you run this command.
- If you want to double check your account eligibility after following these instructions; play at least 1 game on the account, then run the /rank command on that account. You should see a field on the far right that reads "Suspect Test Eligible?"
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- If this field says "No" then you have either not set up the account correctly or need to use a different/new account. You do not need to complete your entire reqs for this field to say "Yes"
- The above does not mean that you have completed reqs! It is only to see if your account is valid for your run.
- After you believe that you have achieved reqs, double check that you're listed as a voter here! If you aren't listed as a voter despite having valid reqs, please contact sealoo, or a member of forum staff.
- If you have any questions about this new process, feel free to PM me, sealoo , or post here!
- Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted.
- We will be using the regular National Dex ladder for this suspect test.
- Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and sanctioned.
- Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
- The requirement to vote in this suspect test is a COIL value of 2950. The suspect test will go on for roughly two weeks, lasting until March 9th at 11:00pm GMT -5, and then voting will become available on Smogon, where you will be tagged with a link to cast your vote.
- No unhelpful one liners nor uninformed posts;
- No discussion on other potential suspects;
- You are required to make respectful posts;
- Failure to follow these simple guidelines will result in your post being deleted and infracted without any prior warning.
- Please also take a moment to read over some suggestions from the National Dex Council and the National Dex Moderation team for posting in this thread; adhering these will help out our time moderating the thread and present your arguments better and more educated.
- You do not need a boatload of experience to have an informed opinion, but please try to minimize the hypotheticals and use your experiences watching and playing. Playing some on the ladder before posting is plenty if you're concerned about this.
- Do not flame, belittle, or be disrespectful to users in this thread. While not everyone will read this post in its entirety nor will everyone have informed opinion, please be sure not to be disrespectful. If there's an issue, bring it up to a moderator.
- Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokémon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokémon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result of this suspect, then so be it. "I told you so" arguments on their own also contribute little to the discussion without supporting evidence and are rather unwelcomed.
- This is not the place to complain about the suspect process. Please PM sealoo if you have any questions regarding this, and any broader questions about this test.
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and 
Comes in, takes Stealth Rocks damage. What does that mean? It could either be the DD Ghostium set, could be the specs set, or it could be the hex will o set but with Draco Z instead of boots. How do you know what set it is before it starts doing some damage to your team?
or 
in the back of your team can take care of it. You pin it down with Pursuit, but before you can do that.... Oh no! It used will-o-wisp on your pursuit trappers, making them pretty useless for the rest of the game. At most, Gambit is now gonna do a bit of damage with his attacks if it gets a big overlord boost and ttar can only get rocks up now and get some items knocked. That's the problem with pult. No matter where it is in a game, it can do at least a trade and still get value.
or just brute force your way with attacks and clear body makes you immune to stat drops, so the dd z set cannot get worn down by intimidate or even sticky webs for that matter.
. the former two get wisped and thus insanely crippled for the rest of the game, with pult even being able to escape from mtar if it wisps it on the switch
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. i think if you ban pult the meta probably ironically gets a bit faster on average, as frail and fast attackers are no longer under the constant 421 speed check to get instantly crippled or obliterated
