[OVERVIEW]
Dragonite stands out as one of the most dominant Pokemon in SV OU, able to wield myriad moves, EV spreads, items, and Tera type options to threaten any team with the right set. Dragon Dance stands out as the main move enabling the variety of ways Dragonite can sweep, coupling with any mix of strong physical attacks and crafty utility moves it pleases. Extreme Speed is Dragonite's main attack, blitzing past even the fastest threats in the tier and often powered up via Tera Normal. Earthquake is also ubiquitous on Dragonite, chunking neutral targets for solid damage and hitting Gholdengo, Galarian Slowking, Pecharunt, and Cinderace hard. Tera Blast is also often used on Dragonite, with the high-powered STAB Tera Blast Flying and great coverage of Tera Blast Fairy as the most popular sets; however, other ideas such as Tera Blast Ghost are also used on occasion. Dragonite also has excellent coverage options for more specific threats, such as Ice Spinner to hit Gliscor, Landorus-T, and opposing Dragonite, and Fire Punch to Corviknight and Air Balloon variants of Gholdengo and Kingambit. Dragonite can also sometimes lean on its suite of powerful STAB Dragon-type moves, opting for Outrage on Choice Band sets and Scale Shot on Loaded Dice sets. Lest this stunning array of possibilities disappoint, Dragonite can also leverage utility moves such as Roost to set up on weaker-hitting or passive opponents and Encore to quickly gain the upper hand in many situations. Dragonite can also take advantage of its robust natural bulk and solid defensive typing to employ a utility-focused phazing set with Dragon Tail to limit the opponent's setup threats. Dragonite can additionally flex a wide variety of Tera types, seeing usage of Tera Normal, Ground, Flying, Fairy, Fire, and Ghost. With all this variability, checking Dragonite can be a headache, but physically bulky Pokemon such as Great Tusk, Zamazenta, and Corviknight can often break Dragonite's Multiscale and force it to reveal its set, if not beat it in a one-on-one outright. Dondozo also stands out as a particularly good answer, ignoring any boosts from Dragon Dance that Dragonite may have accrued. Even after a Dragon Dance, Dragonite is still outsped by threats such as Deoxys-Speed, Iron Valiant, Choice Scarf Enamorus, and Booster Speed Great Tusk, with Zamazenta and Dragapult being added to the list if Dragonite is not running a plus Speed nature. While Dragonite's typing can be advantageous in some situations, it also presents a serious 4x weakness to Ice-type moves such as Darkrai's Ice Beam, Kyurem's Freeze Dry, and Great Tusk's Ice Spinner, meaning that Dragonite often will need to use Tera to avoid being revenge killed and continue its sweep. Additionally, Dragonite has to constantly watch out for foes that can surprise it with a timely Tera Ghost, as in addition to becoming immune to Dragonite's Extreme Speed, it allows for spinblocking and becoming immune to Zamazenta's Body Press as well. With the wide variety of plausible sets, Dragonite fits on every team composition save for hard stall, but tends to fit best on bulky offense archetypes that appreciate its dual threat of sweeping potential and checking lots of dangerous threats via Multiscale and Extreme Speed.
Other Options
Despite the wide variety of mainstream options, Dragonite's toolkit still manages to leave room for additional creativity. Hurricane can be a flex option on many Dragon Dance sweeper sets to surprise Zamazenta and Great Tusk. Most significantly, with 120 EVs in Special Attack, Hurricane will 3HKO physically defensive Dondozo, even after Leftovers recovery, if you manage the miracle of hitting it 3 times in a row. Alternatively, Sharp Beak and Tera Flying can be used on Dragon Dance + Tera Blast sets to surprise and 2HKO Dondozo with Hurricane, even with just a neutral nature and no investment. Rock Slide can be used as a more accurate alternative to Stone Edge in conjunction with either Earthquake or Tera Blast Fairy to surprise Moltres before it can phaze Dragonite out with Roar, as well as hitting Tornadus-T and Zapdos hard. Dragon Claw can be used as a strong STAB option without expending Tera, while also blasting away Kyurem, Dragapult, and Raging Bolt. Iron Head can be used in conjunction with Tera Steel to gain resistances to incoming Ice, Dragon, and Fairy-type attacks while OHKOing Hatterene, Iron Valiant, and Clefable, as well as potentially flinching its way out of otherwise impossible situations. Many teams try to limit Dragonite via Will-O-Wisp or Flame Body, so Facade can be used to surprise these teams after they think they're safe once Dragonite is burned. On bulky phazing sets, Roar can sometimes be opted for over Dragon Tail as a way to send away Fairy-types and Pokemon behind a Substitute without the chance to miss. Defensive sets can also opt for Thunder Wave to long-term cripple dangerous threats or for Ice Beam to hit Gliscor, Landorus-T, and opposing Dragonite hard. When paired with teammates that provide excellent entry hazard removal, Dragonite can opt for Life Orb on more offensively-oriented teams to blow its normal checks away, or use Sharp Beak, Fairy Feather, or Spell Tag on appropriate Tera Blast sets to secure key thresholds such as OHKOing max HP Great Tusk sets with Tera Flying or Tera Fairy or OHKOing Iron Valiant with Tera Ghost. More defensively-oriented teams can instead employ Rocky Helmet on phazing Dragonite sets to punish foes that rely on making contact to deal damage. Both styles can also opt for Red Card, using Dragonite's ludicrous bulk with Multiscale to guarantee forcing a dangerous threat out.
Dragonite stands out as one of the most dominant Pokemon in SV OU, able to wield myriad moves, EV spreads, items, and Tera type options to threaten any team with the right set. Dragon Dance stands out as the main move enabling the variety of ways Dragonite can sweep, coupling with any mix of strong physical attacks and crafty utility moves it pleases. Extreme Speed is Dragonite's main attack, blitzing past even the fastest threats in the tier and often powered up via Tera Normal. Earthquake is also ubiquitous on Dragonite, chunking neutral targets for solid damage and hitting Gholdengo, Galarian Slowking, Pecharunt, and Cinderace hard. Tera Blast is also often used on Dragonite, with the high-powered STAB Tera Blast Flying and great coverage of Tera Blast Fairy as the most popular sets; however, other ideas such as Tera Blast Ghost are also used on occasion. Dragonite also has excellent coverage options for more specific threats, such as Ice Spinner to hit Gliscor, Landorus-T, and opposing Dragonite, and Fire Punch to Corviknight and Air Balloon variants of Gholdengo and Kingambit. Dragonite can also sometimes lean on its suite of powerful STAB Dragon-type moves, opting for Outrage on Choice Band sets and Scale Shot on Loaded Dice sets. Lest this stunning array of possibilities disappoint, Dragonite can also leverage utility moves such as Roost to set up on weaker-hitting or passive opponents and Encore to quickly gain the upper hand in many situations. Dragonite can also take advantage of its robust natural bulk and solid defensive typing to employ a utility-focused phazing set with Dragon Tail to limit the opponent's setup threats. Dragonite can additionally flex a wide variety of Tera types, seeing usage of Tera Normal, Ground, Flying, Fairy, Fire, and Ghost. With all this variability, checking Dragonite can be a headache, but physically bulky Pokemon such as Great Tusk, Zamazenta, and Corviknight can often break Dragonite's Multiscale and force it to reveal its set, if not beat it in a one-on-one outright. Dondozo also stands out as a particularly good answer, ignoring any boosts from Dragon Dance that Dragonite may have accrued. Even after a Dragon Dance, Dragonite is still outsped by threats such as Deoxys-Speed, Iron Valiant, Choice Scarf Enamorus, and Booster Speed Great Tusk, with Zamazenta and Dragapult being added to the list if Dragonite is not running a plus Speed nature. While Dragonite's typing can be advantageous in some situations, it also presents a serious 4x weakness to Ice-type moves such as Darkrai's Ice Beam, Kyurem's Freeze Dry, and Great Tusk's Ice Spinner, meaning that Dragonite often will need to use Tera to avoid being revenge killed and continue its sweep. Additionally, Dragonite has to constantly watch out for foes that can surprise it with a timely Tera Ghost, as in addition to becoming immune to Dragonite's Extreme Speed, it allows for spinblocking and becoming immune to Zamazenta's Body Press as well. With the wide variety of plausible sets, Dragonite fits on every team composition save for hard stall, but tends to fit best on bulky offense archetypes that appreciate its dual threat of sweeping potential and checking lots of dangerous threats via Multiscale and Extreme Speed.
Other Options
Despite the wide variety of mainstream options, Dragonite's toolkit still manages to leave room for additional creativity. Hurricane can be a flex option on many Dragon Dance sweeper sets to surprise Zamazenta and Great Tusk. Most significantly, with 120 EVs in Special Attack, Hurricane will 3HKO physically defensive Dondozo, even after Leftovers recovery, if you manage the miracle of hitting it 3 times in a row. Alternatively, Sharp Beak and Tera Flying can be used on Dragon Dance + Tera Blast sets to surprise and 2HKO Dondozo with Hurricane, even with just a neutral nature and no investment. Rock Slide can be used as a more accurate alternative to Stone Edge in conjunction with either Earthquake or Tera Blast Fairy to surprise Moltres before it can phaze Dragonite out with Roar, as well as hitting Tornadus-T and Zapdos hard. Dragon Claw can be used as a strong STAB option without expending Tera, while also blasting away Kyurem, Dragapult, and Raging Bolt. Iron Head can be used in conjunction with Tera Steel to gain resistances to incoming Ice, Dragon, and Fairy-type attacks while OHKOing Hatterene, Iron Valiant, and Clefable, as well as potentially flinching its way out of otherwise impossible situations. Many teams try to limit Dragonite via Will-O-Wisp or Flame Body, so Facade can be used to surprise these teams after they think they're safe once Dragonite is burned. On bulky phazing sets, Roar can sometimes be opted for over Dragon Tail as a way to send away Fairy-types and Pokemon behind a Substitute without the chance to miss. Defensive sets can also opt for Thunder Wave to long-term cripple dangerous threats or for Ice Beam to hit Gliscor, Landorus-T, and opposing Dragonite hard. When paired with teammates that provide excellent entry hazard removal, Dragonite can opt for Life Orb on more offensively-oriented teams to blow its normal checks away, or use Sharp Beak, Fairy Feather, or Spell Tag on appropriate Tera Blast sets to secure key thresholds such as OHKOing max HP Great Tusk sets with Tera Flying or Tera Fairy or OHKOing Iron Valiant with Tera Ghost. More defensively-oriented teams can instead employ Rocky Helmet on phazing Dragonite sets to punish foes that rely on making contact to deal damage. Both styles can also opt for Red Card, using Dragonite's ludicrous bulk with Multiscale to guarantee forcing a dangerous threat out.
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