Pokémon Kingdra

[Temporaryanonymous]

Kingdra #230

Types -

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Base Stats - 75/95/95/95/95/85 (540 BST)

Abilities
Ability 1 - Swift Swim: If the weather is Rain Dance, this Pokemon's Speed is doubled.
Ability 2 - Sniper: When this Pokemon lands a Critical Hit, the damage is increased to another 1.5x.
Hidden Ability - Damp: While this Pokemon is active, no Pokemon on the field can use Selfdestruct or Explosion.

Level-Up Movepool
Lv1 - Dragon Pulse
Lv1 - Yawn
Lv1 - Water Gun
Lv1 - Smokescreen
Lv1 - Leer
Lv1 - Bubble
Lv4 - Smokescreen
Lv8 - Leer
Lv11 - Water Gun
Lv14 - Focus Energy
Lv18 - Bubble Beam
Lv23 - Agility
Lv26 - Twister
Lv30 - Brine
Lv40 - Hydro Pump
Lv48 - Dragon Dance
Lv57 - Dragon Pulse

TM & HM Compatibility
TM06 Toxic
TM07 Hail
TM10 Hidden Power
TM13 Ice Beam
TM14 Blizzard
TM15 Hyper Beam
TM17 Protect
TM18 Rain Dance
TM21 Frustration
TM27 Return
TM32 Double Team
TM42 Facade
TM44 Rest
TM45 Attract
TM48 Round
TM55 Scald
TM60 Quash
TM68 Giga Impact
TM87 Swagger
TM88 Sleep Talk
TM90 Substitute
TM91 Flash Cannon
TM99 Dazzling Gleam
TM100 Confide
HM03 Surf
HM05 Waterfall

Tutor moves
Draco Meteor

Egg moves
Aurora Beam
Clear Smog
Disable
Dragon breath
Dragon Rage
Flail
Muddy Water
Octazooka
Outrage
Razor Wind
Signal Beam
Splash
Water pulse


General Analysis of Pokemon (concerns itself with the general aspects and positive qualities of the pokemon).

Ever since Kingdra was introduced in gen 2, it had the coveted typing of Water/Dragon. Now while it has another weakness in Fairy that it has to worry about, Kingdra still makes big splashes with its decent stats, movepool, and ability. Kingdra's abilities are what truly make it stand out, as Swift Swim and Sniper are different than they were in gen 5 with new mechanics changes.

Potential Movesets

Focus Cannon

Kingdra @ Scope Lens / Razor Claw
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Satk / 252 Spd
Modest/Timid Nature
- Focus Energy
- Draco Meteor
- Surf/Hydro Pump
- Waterfall/HP fire/Flash Cannon

Taking advantage of the new critical hit mechanics, Kingdra can use one turn of set up to guarantee every single attack it uses results in a critical hit. Combined with sniper, this results in a punishing 2.25 boost to damage, in addition to STAB, that ignores the opponent's defense boosts and the user's own special attack drops incurred by Draco Meteor. Draco Meteor is the lynchpin of the set, allowing Kingdra to fire off nonstop 130 base power dragon moves without impunity besides the 10% miss chance. Surf is the second STAB, and generally more reliable than Draco Meteor. The final move is for coverage, as HP fire kills Scizor and Ferrothorn, while Flash Cannon removes fairies and Waterfall hits special walls. Here are just some sample calcs as to how much damage it can do:
252+ SpA Sniper Kingdra Draco Meteor vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Tentacruel on a critical hit: 361-427 (99.4 - 117.6%)
252+ SpA Sniper Kingdra Draco Meteor vs. 0 HP / 200 SpD Snorlax on a critical hit: 328-387 (71.1 - 83.9%)
0- Atk Sniper Kingdra Waterfall vs. 4 HP / 252 Def Blissey on a critical hit: 330-391 (50.6 - 59.9%)
252+ SpA Sniper Kingdra Surf vs. 252 HP / 252+ SpD Togekiss on a critical hit: 193-229 (51.6 - 61.2%)
252+ SpA Sniper Kingdra Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0+ SpD Mega Kangaskhan on a critical hit: 384-454 (92.7 - 109.6%)


Baton pass recipient

Kingdra @ Scope Lens / Razor Claw
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk
Modest/Rash Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Surf/Hydro Pump
- HPfire/Flash Cannon/Waterfall
- HPfire/Flash Cannon/Waterfall/Substitute

This set is a slightly more gimmicky and greedy version of the above set. By forgoing Focus Energy and receiving it from a Pokemon (who also preferably passes speed), Kingdra can invest more in bulk and have another moveslot open. Additionally, one could also potentially run a 252Atk 252SAtk ev spread on this for a strong mixed attacker, but generally it's better to go for bulk and special attack. This set is intended to pair up with Pokemon like Scolipede with a Lansat Berry or Eviolite Combusken that can pass speed and the focus energy to Kingdra. This version also has the nice benefit of outrunning many Pokemon without speed investment because of boosts.


Mixed rain

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Mild/Rash Nature
- Surf/Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Waterfall/Outrage
- Flash Cannon/Ice Beam

Kingdra's classic flagship set suffers a bit because of the introduction of fairies and the weather nerf, but it is a mixed bag. With rain no longer being indefinite, it is likely that Drizzle + Swift Swim will no longer be banned, giving Kingdra a quick chance to sweep in the rain with a powerful mixed set. The moves might need to be adjusted a bit, but Kingdra can truly shine when the rain is pouring and the fairies are cowering.


Counters and teammates

Fairies. Kingdra hates them! With a way to hit Kingdra super effectively and also being immune to the dragon's most powerful attacks, fairies laugh at Kingdra. It is for this reason that Kingdra appreciates teammates that can quickly trap and kill off fairies before attempting to set up and sweep. If a baton pass, Kingdra really appreciates speed and perhaps a sub that can absorb status for it.

Final thoughts
Playing with Kingdra is a lot of fun, and there's very little that's more fun than seeing Draco Meteor after Draco Meteor result in critical hits that one shot the opponent's Pokemon. I haven't even scratched the surface of Kingdra's possible movesets, but I felt I wanted to highlight the two biggest toys that Kingdra received this gen: a possibly unbanned drizzleswim, and the ability for 100% critical hits. Fairies might be new to the meta, but Kingdra is an example of how old dragons can adapt and evolve as well.

 

[ArkWelder]

While I have yet to use Autocrit Kingdra on a real team, I have some experience messing around with it in Pokebank OU (i used a team with scolipede + 5 pokemon with 100% crit rate movesets). When I was able to successfully pass speed to Kingdra, it could sweep many unprepared teams with Dracometeor + Surf + HP Fire. I think this is partially due to the novelty of the set (I had some people try to set up Calm Mind against my kingdra), but I think Kingdra has a few merits that lets it pull of this set well. It has a very good defensive typing, and it resists one of the most common priority moves (Bullet Punch).

However, if I failed to pass speed to kingdra it was comparatively useless, simply because of its lack of speed. If my opponent could shutdown my baton passer I had a deadweight. I'm tossing around the idea of using a dual dance kingdra, Focus Energy, Dragon Dance, Waterfall, Dracometeor, which will let me overcome its poor speed, but I doubt I'll be able to get two free turns using Kingdra.

So yes it's gimmicky and need a lot of support, but it can do really well if you pull it off. I'm not entirely sure what I would need to support Scolipede+Kingdra, to make it more likely to be able to set up for that sweep. Any thoughts, people?

 

[Schpoonman]

My current team is solid but desperately lacking in Water resists, so even with only 8 (7 or 6 in effect) turns of rain, rain-boosted Swift Swimmers still crush everything in sight, Kingdra being one of them. I haven't seen a Sniper-abusing Kingdra yet, but it's certainly an interesting set. That being said, I don't know if Drizzle Swim still ISN'T broken. Once I've got a team that can stomach rain-boosted Hydro Pumps more comfortably I'll come back to that question.

 

[Stallion]

Focus Energy/Surf/Draco Meteor/Waterfall (with a Rash nature most likely so you can take priority) seems like a vicious wallbreaker. I can't imagine much outside of Ferrothorn or Azumarill that avoids being 2hkoed by this set. The lack of speed + turn of set up seems to be a big issue though, so I'm not sure how it'll play. Does anyone have much experience using it?

 

[Shiruba]

So yes it's gimmicky and need a lot of support, but it can do really well if you pull it off. I'm not entirely sure what I would need to support Scolipede+Kingdra, to make it more likely to be able to set up for that sweep. Any thoughts, people?

Well, perhaps Ferrothorn'd be worth a look? It not only resists Rock, Psychic, Dragon, and Fairy [aka things that one of these guys are weak to], but it can also set up a Leech Seed on the opponent as well as paralyze them to allow Kingdra to come in and wreak havoc more easily. Furthermore, it itself is rather strong for a support Pokemon, and has awesome utility in general.

Sticky Web'd also be pretty good if you fail to pass the speed, I'd imagine.

 

[SleepySonata]

Focus Energy/Surf/Draco Meteor/Waterfall (with a Rash nature most likely so you can take priority) seems like a vicious wallbreaker. I can't imagine much outside of Ferrothorn or Azumarill that avoids being 2hkoed by this set. The lack of speed + turn of set up seems to be a big issue though, so I'm not sure how it'll play. Does anyone have much experience using it?

I would think passing FE onto swift swim Crit-dra would somewhat alleviate the speed issue, but without perma-weather and with the nerf to crit damage this doesn't seem advisable. you're either going for the wall breaking power of sniper or the comfort of speed, when it comes to crits anyway ~Kingdra king of crits gen VI

 

[Thorhammer]

This is very interesting. You could run Focus Energy + Draco Meteor on Salamence or Hydreigon as well, but then you'd give up a ton of power because of the lack of Sniper. And for Salamence at least, Focus Energy Draco Meteor doesn't hit any harder than Dragon Dance Outrage, plus DD Salamence can hold a Life Orb to boost its damage even further. So if anything's going to run Focus Energy, it should really be Kingdra.

Passing Focus Energy doesn't really seem viable. Even if Scolipede could get it, you'd be weakening both it and Kingdra by a ton if the pass couldn't go through properly, since Scolipede wouldn't be able to help out other team members as well and Kingdra would be worthless without the Focus Energy pass. And since Scolipede doesn't get it, you have to jump through all sorts of other hoops; I notice the first post suggests Lansat Berry Scolipede or Eviolite Combusken, which seems like a lot of trouble to go to either way. But passing just Speed seems like it'd help Kingdra a lot. Shame it can't use Swift Swim on the crit set without giving up Sniper.

That said, I don't really like the idea of focusing completely on Sniper when Kingdra can be so effective with Swift Swim as well. It can partner with Politoed as well, and while I haven't tried a rain team in Gen 6 yet, I can safely say from using Sand Rush Excadrill that eight turns of doubled Speed is enough to do a ton of damage. Kingdra can also run Rain Dance itself as insurance and to help out a dedicated rain team, while still benefiting a ton from the possibility of getting a boost without having to set up personally.

---

Hmm.

252 SpA LO Kingdra Hidden Power Grass vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 168 - 195 (41.7 - 49.1%)

Kingdra's big stops will be Azumarill and Ferrothorn(Whimsicott and Empoleon also resist its STABs but are largely irrelevant). Ferrothorn won't be easy to get past in rain so if you're looking for a coverage move, this might just be your best bet. Not good unless you've done a lot of damage to Azumarill already, but better than Flash Cannon.

alexwolf EDIT: No talk about Pokemon that haven't been officially confirmed.

 

[SmashBrosBrawl]

This is the spread i am running:

Kingdra @ Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Draco Meteor
- Surf
- Dragon Pulse

Theres no need to sacrifice defenses just to hit blissey with waterfall when you can just switch out to a counter and theres no need to run flash cannon (lol) when hydro pump 2hkoes or ohko every single fairy in rain (yes, even azumarill). Your only options of trying to wall kingdra are ferrothorn, the blobs and tentacruel, all which can be easily dealt with by teamates (something like toxicroak can easily destroy all of them, for example, while abusing rain, hint hint). Any weather setter other than politoed is going to indirectly cause kingdra problems, even if they cant switch in its attacks so its extremely important to ko them as soon as possible (mega gengar can easily guarantee their removals). I find that the best way to deal with kingdra when you lack those options is to stall out the rain turns and build up life orb recoil at the same time with smart switches. Kingdra also has a huge problem doing anything when rain inst up. When you remember how much of a liability politoed is (specially when holding a damp rock) you realize that kingdra works best as a late game cleaner. Once its checks are removed just sack politoed to get the 8 turns of rain and go to town. It can certainly revenge kill things early game but remember that life orb recoil+possible hazards will build up fast, as such kingdra is definitely going to enjoy being paired with another swift swimmer to punch holes in the opponent team and remove some pressure on its back. A reckless played kingdra will usually faint to recoil before being able to sweep an opposing team. I am not sure whether drizzle swim will still be considered broken but its definitely an extremely potent threat and literally the only reason to ever consider using politoed in a team at all.

 

[Shuckleking87]

Kingdra@ choice scarf
Ability: Sniper (I suppose swift swim can work, but its already fast with choice scarf)
252SpA/4SpD/252 speed
Timid Nature
-Draco Meteor
-Surf
-Ice Beam
-Hydro Pump/Flash Cannon

Kingdra has been a fantastic choice scarfer, firing off strong stab moves in draco meteor and hydro pumps/surfs. Most people also do not see either a special set or a scarfer coming, which has gotten me plenty of wins. Ice beam for garchomps and something to hit ferothorn if needed. I use surf over hydro pump, as you'll get slight more damage on average with surf than inaccurate hydro pump, but if the added damage is the difference, hydro pump works. Flash cannon is there for fairies. Dragon pulse could probably go in last slot, though this poke really isn't out there to sweep, but give fast and strong damage or surprise a non choice scarfed poke.

 

[megacyber]

Scald definitely deserves a slash on most of these sets; the burn chance cripples things like ferrothorn and azumarill, which resist its stabs.

 

[alexwolf]

The best set i have used was Specs with Hydro Pump, Draco Meteor, Dragon Pulse, and Scald. As the user above me said, Scald >>> Surf, as it can screw over your only counter, Ferrothorn, and one of your best checks, Azumarill. I prefer Specs over Life Orb as without the worry of the recoil Kingdra can actually help the team defensively and soak up some Water or weak neutral hits, such as defensive Rotom-W's Volt Switch, which is a pain in the ass for most rain teams.

 

[stage7_4]

I love that the critical hit sets are starting to get murmurings here and there outside of the critical hit thread, even if they are still borderline gimmicky.

Should rain dance and double dance sets get a mention on the swift-swim sets? With non-permanent weather you are going to want something to put the rain back up. Sure you'd have to be a straight special cannon and forgo waterfall/outrage, but Kingdra ain't that good without rain (sniper critical sets excluded).

 

[TorchicBlaziken]

Could Clear Smog work as an alternative coverage move against Fairies?

 

[EternalZ]

What do you think are good partners for the Snipdra sets? I'm thinking, ironically, Ferrothorn since it resists Kingdra's weaknesses and can provide paralysis support for easier set up

 

[Lovelace]

Does anyone have any kind of rough speed tier list written up yet? I think that bulkier Rain Dance set that forgoes outspeedng certain scarfers for living certain hits could really help Kingdra shine- 75/95/95 defenses is really not that bad especially due to the fact that with its great speed and power it's mostly priority that will be coming its way.

 

[Temporaryanonymous]

Could Clear Smog work as an alternative coverage move against Fairies?

Not with 50 base power. Clear smog is usually used to negate status buffs, not really meant to kill things with, and Kingdra really doesn't want to place itself in the open in front of fairies. Funnily enough, Kingdra doesn't learn Sludge bomb or Sludge wave, so Flash cannon is probably your best bet for anti-fairy.

 

[EternalZ]

Bulky support Mega-Scizor is amazing with Snipdra. Perfect synergy, too. Scizor clears hazards, gains momentum and sets up tailwind multiple times reliably, allowing Kingdra to come in and set up or just outright KO if needed. Any fire move directed at Kingdra will do pitiful damage.

Scizor (M) @ Scizorite
Ability: Technician
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 84 Def / 168 SDef
Impish Nature
- U-turn
- Tailwind
- Roost
- Defog

and here's the Snipdra set I'm running

Kingdra (M) @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 20 HP / 252 SAtk / 236 Spd
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Hydro Pump
- Focus Energy

These two work very well together if you honestly don't mind the mega slot.

 

[Thorhammer]

Not with 50 base power. Clear smog is usually used to negate status buffs, not really meant to kill things with, and Kingdra really doesn't want to place itself in the open in front of fairies. Funnily enough, Kingdra doesn't learn Sludge bomb or Sludge wave, so Flash cannon is probably your best bet for anti-fairy.

The thing about trying to get coverage against Fairy-types specifically is that a lot of stuff resists Poison and Steel. The four biggest Fairy-types in OU are Togekiss, Azumarill, Mawile, and Klefki. Togekiss is the only one hit super effective by Flash Cannon, and it still takes more damage from Hydro Pump. Azumarill is the big issue due to resisting Water, but because it's only neutral to Steel, it still takes more from Hydro Pump. And in the rain, even Scald will out-damage Flash Cannon against literally every single Fairy-type not named Whimsicott.

Just don't use Flash Cannon.

 

[TheDoctor1]

So i didnt see anyone mention teaming kingdra with a wall setting poke for the focus energy set. This seems like an obvious choice to me since it will allow kingdra to tank a lot of hits while getting his crits.

Another thing i didnt see mentioned was only using two attacking moves and having agility take up the last move slot, sure u will miss the coverage option but being able to out speed everything is really nice. Plus combine being faster then everything with the walls and he becomes a very dangerous poke.

I am excited to see what tier he ends up this gen b/c i doubt he will be ou and while I believe he could still possible work in ou I could see him being a monster in lower tiers such as uu

 

[FlameUser64]

I just wanna say that no matter what the foe does with their stat spread or held item (barring the SE-Poison-nerf berry), Sniper Clear Smog is a OHKO to Whimsicott. (Running 252 HP/252+ Sp. Def with Assault Vest gives Whimsicott a slim chance of surviving, but really who does that?) Clear Smog also messes up Belly Drum Azumarill by dealing a truckload of damage and removing its +6 Attack, and deals enough damage that Choice Band Azumarill can't switch in on it. Guess 50 base power isn't so underwhelming when it's 2x/4x SE and multiplied by 2.25x while ignoring defensive boosts.

 

[Kairyu_Gen1]

So, I've really wanted to use this dragon in a rain core, but there seems to be some fear of it being sent back to OU with the damp rock buff and no drizzle + swift swim. Is that a viable concern, or can I get this guy ready for my UU team?

 

[RockStarFish]

I just wanna say that no matter what the foe does with their stat spread or held item (barring the SE-Poison-nerf berry), Sniper Clear Smog is a OHKO to Whimsicott. (Running 252 HP/252+ Sp. Def with Assault Vest gives Whimsicott a slim chance of surviving, but really who does that?) Clear Smog also messes up Belly Drum Azumarill by dealing a truckload of damage and removing its +6 Attack, and deals enough damage that Choice Band Azumarill can't switch in on it. Guess 50 base power isn't so underwhelming when it's 2x/4x SE and multiplied by 2.25x while ignoring defensive boosts.

Kingdra's actually a very good emergency brake to a Bellyzurill sweep if you're caught out by it.

If Kingdra's coming in against an Azumarill who's already set up (as in, Azumarill's at +6 when Kingdra hits the field with no boosts), you can still use Clear Smog to wipe Belly Drum away since Aqua Jet is a 4HKO and Kingdra'll outspeed Azumarill's best attack against it; Play Rough. At that point, Sitrus Berry variants won't have enough HP for another Belly Drum (it'll be sitting at a maximum of 187 / 404HP), and I'd argue that Leftovers variants would need at least two more free turns before trying again.

However, while you'll succeed in neutralising Azumarill's sweep, you'll lose Kingdra in the process unless it scores a critical hit or Azumarill's Play Rough misses; the odds of you not losing Kingdra are about 1 in 4.

252+ SpA Kingdra Clear Smog vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill: 116-138 (28.7 - 34.1%)
252+ SpA Sniper Kingdra Clear Smog vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Azumarill on a critical hit: 261-309 (64.6 - 76.4%)

252+ Atk Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 20 HP / 0 Def Kingdra: 372-440 (125.6 - 148.6%)

 

[Selena Gomaz]

Kingdra (M) @ Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
EVs: 20 HP / 252 SAtk / 236 Spd
Modest Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Hydro Pump
- Focus Energy

This set is it's best set. This set is so good that if you aren't running this set then you shouldn't even use Kingdra at all. It requires 1 turn set-up. How in the world is that impossible to do? It has great defenses so it's almost always going to set up a Focus Energy.

 

[Thorhammer]

Another thing i didnt see mentioned was only using two attacking moves and having agility take up the last move slot, sure u will miss the coverage option but being able to out speed everything is really nice. Plus combine being faster then everything with the walls and he becomes a very dangerous poke.

Getting two turns of setup isn't feasible unless your opponent makes a huge mistake. Double Dance is viable on stuff like Terrakion that only needs two moves and can just pick whichever dance is appropriate, but Sniper Kingdra absolutely needs Focus Energy; it'll always have highest priority on setting that up and won't have time for Agility.

 

[RockStarFish]

Getting two turns of setup isn't feasible unless your opponent makes a huge mistake. Double Dance is viable on stuff like Terrakion that only needs two moves and can just pick whichever dance is appropriate, but Sniper Kingdra absolutely needs Focus Energy; it'll always have highest priority on setting that up and won't have time for Agility.

Agreed.

From the moment it hits the field, Kingdra will get at most one free turn to boost with (the turn which the opponent uses to swap in their counter). No competent player will sit on their hands and let a Kingdra use Focus Energy and Agility. They'll either OHKO it on Agility, or weaken it to the point where a strong priority move will finish it off.

Your best bet at getting Kingdra to +2 Spe with Focus Energy is to Baton Pass the +2 Spe from a Scolipede (Scoli's a magnet for Fire-type attacks). Kingdra takes practically no damage thanks to a 4x resist, and forces a switch; the "one free turn" it needs to set up Focus Energy. From there, Kingdra outspeeds all of OU minus Scarfers and can spam Draco Meteor or Hydro Pump (which can 2HKO standard Ferrothorn).