UU Suspect Coverage: Hydreigon

By Shiba. Art by Bummer.
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Art by Bummer

Introduction

With Salamence being banned in the previous stage of the UnderUsed metagame, the tier leaders set their sights on one of the most (if not the most) influential Pokémon of 6th generation UU. This Pokémon was none other than the three-headed Dark / Dragon type, Hydreigon. With a fantastic offensive and defensive typing, versatility that allowed it to excel in a multitude of roles, and exceptional stats across the board (including a base 105 Attack and 125 Special Attack), it was hard for Hydreigon not to centralize the tier around itself. Though Hydreigon had been in UU for all of Generation 6, the rise in popularity of its mixed sets made it increasingly difficult to combat the Dragon, forcing players to scout its set at the risk of losing to its myriad coverage options. All of these factors warranted a public suspect test, a first for the UU mainstay.

Sample Sets

Hydreigon

Mixed Hydreigon showcases its extremely good wallbreaking prowess. With Dragon-, Dark-, and Steel-type coverage, there is no single type that resists all of its attacks, which pretty much makes this set in particular almost unwallable. Furthermore, Hydreigon can opt to run Superpower as a fourth attack over Roost to hit the omnipresent bulky Normal-types that would usually wall it such as Blissey, Snorlax, and Porygon2. Overall, this set had gained some real popularity recently due to drops like Sylveon and the popularity of cores like AloBliss.

Hydreigon

Choiced Hydreigon sets are also the more common ones. With a Choice Scarf, Hydreigon is able to act as one of the best revenge killers in the tier, outspeeding the entire unboosted metagame (including usual checks like Cobalion and Whimsicott) while also hitting extremely hard. And with Specs, Hydreigon's wallbreaking power is almost unmatched, being able to 2HKO Fairies like Sylveon and Florges with its Flash Cannon. Though the speed and power draws of these sets are great as is, they're made significantly better by Hydreigon's access to U-turn, allowing it to snatch momentum off its few answers with relative ease for its teammates.

Hydreigon

Though Hydreigon's stallbreaker set isn't as offensive the other ones, it's one of the most effective. Access to Taunt effectively allows Hydreigon to shut down Pokémon that try to check it such as Blissey and Umbreon. It can also shut down common Stealth Rock setters like Krookodile and Swampert or even Pokémon that look to recover after switching in such as Suicune and Snorlax. Even though this set isn't used as often as it used to be, it's still a solid option for teams looking for something to break stall with relative ease.

Pro-ban Arguments

Most of the pro-ban arguments stemmed from the recent metagame shifts. Offense became one of the most prominent playstyles with the ability to leverage threats such as Conkeldurr, Celebi, Sylveon, and more. The necessity of accounting for all of these Pokémon as well as Hydreigon made building anything but straight offense a difficult process, as most of these other playstyles had to use many of the same Pokémon to keep all the threats in check. A good portion of users also leaned towards ban because of the recent popularity of lure sets, such as Iron Tail to hit the omnipresent Sylveon or even Superpower sets to break through usual counters in Blissey and Snorlax. Though Hydreigon had been one of the staples of UU almost all of Generation 6, it was selected by the council and tier leaders as one of the biggest problems in the tier because it placed severe restrictions on teambuilding.

Anti-ban Arguments

For the most part, players that didn't want to vote ban brought up the drawbacks of its most powerful move, Draco Meteor, which decreases its Special Attack by two stages and usually forces it out. A lot of big players also brought up the fact that, while Hydreigon actually has no surefire counters as the result of the existence of Iron Tail and Superpower sets, it can be played around like any other wallbreaker: by sacking or pivoting, then forcing it out or revenge killing it. Lastly, they brought up the argument that Celebi is actually the problem with the tier because of its extreme versatility, and having it in the tier made Hydreigon seem a lot better overall.

Conclusion

There were very solid arguments to both sides determining whether or not Hydreigon was a real problem for the tier. Anyways, with the vote being extremely close as everyone anticipated, 52.02% of players voted no ban. As a result, Hydreigon stays in UU, its home for all of 6th generation, with a simple majority of the votes.

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