Hello there, a few days ago, I have finally cracked the 2000s on the ladder something I haven't done before. Right now I am sitting at number 4 on the ladder with 2027 points. I dont know how long this will last but I am really happy with my gradual progression as a player.
I wanna share some of my experience by doing a team analyses with one mon that has been discussed recently, Dragonite.
Let's take a look at some teams I have fought on high ladder. I have encountered my fair share of different Dragonites. Keep in mind none of this is guaranteed. There will always be exceptions
1)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2349030914-ypryw7n996ece849dp8gyw8pha2xpb0pw
In these replays, you see pretty much no hazard control. Which means it is pretty obviously HDB. Not groundbreaking. HDB variants can run various tera types to great success, so that doesn't tell us much. However in the first replay, you can see Nite is accompanied with Ghold, Deoxys and possibly a tera Garg or Ting-Lu so it is not really a Zama weak team(so unlikely encore, tera ghost or fly). Furthermore, it lacks priority besides potentially Nite so you can kinda guess that this teams Nite is E-Speed, either 3 Attack or roost variants.
2)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2353246957-gvbgculwntwpfr1w9ycvofr5nffrxx5pw
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2346861566-loyayp1rxby5kp94sex6oxsgyt9ktxkpw
In these two replays, Nite is accompanied with a priority user. There is a good chance that this Dragonite doesn't have E-speed, something useful to know if your go to answer is your own priority, lowering speed of D-nite or something else like a Booster Energy revenge kill. Unfortunaly, you can't discern anything else like tera type or moveset from the team structure alone. However, I can say from my experience that Nites on HO teams are usually HDB even when they have Tusk since most of the HO teams want extra insurance that Nite can set-up safely. That is not a set in stone rule though, so keep your eyes open. For example, in this match Nite turned out to be banded
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2349051571-fyloxmg3q8tt4f95uet84srqfc7st69pw instead of HDB
3)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2347731682-ucm38kh4pbujoen7ujclm9icjfnyt0upw (please ignore that I forgot to change my Leafeon's ability to Chlorophyll)
Here you can see Hatt+ Threads combo with Nite. This team is loaded with two anti hazard tools. This was a giant red flag for me that this Nite might have something other then HDB. Tera Fire loaded dice Scale Shot is the 1st thing that might come to mind but there are potentially other things like lum, band, covert cloak or in this case leftovers. Weakness Policy is also not completely unheard of. Here you wanna be careful with how you proceed. Obviously you wanna get up rocks but the opponent wont make it easy for you.
4)
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-2350098722-7b5xub6ab5fm7ufvn96ogg1tav263avpw
This team is similarly structured like in the 1st replay but it kinda breaks the "no priority" rule by revealing that this Nite has no E-speed despite not being accompanied by a priority user(unless Quick Attack Pon?
) showing you that no rule is set in stone. Ogerpon can be used to weaken Corv or Zama so it COULD be tera fairy Encore but other then that, tera might be hard to predict. However, know that as long as it wears HDBs, STATUSING NITE IS SAFE.
There was also another match I had where Dragonite at +3, didn't KO Ninetales, one of the frailer mons in this tier. If you can force your opponent to burn Tera on a different mon, Dragonite loses a lot of strength and it gives you plenty of time to respond.
Now why am I telling you all this? None of those things are set in stone things least of all the tera types. However by analysing those things in the match, you will gain a clearer picture of how to fight Dragonite despite the set variety. It is impossible to figure it all out from the team alone but these tiny analysis can help you figure it out as the match goes on, they are tiny puzzle pieces that you can put together to get the full picture. If the team is kinda Gliscor weak, you might wanna be careful cause that D-nite might have Ice Spinner. If the team doesn't have any solid dragon answers, there might be a chance it could be tera fairy variant. But most importanly pay attention of how your opponent plays. If he goes Lando to intimidate your Zaama despite it being BP, it could be because it is tera ghost for example. If it leads Dragonite, there is a good chance it is banded and wants to claim a kill. This concept can apply to other mons as well like Kingambit or Kyurem. Hope this helps some ppl struggling with D-nite. More experienced players will probably think this is all common sense but mons can be kinda hard sometimes.
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