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NFE Utility Pivot Drakloak [QC 2/2][GP 0/1]

PandaDoux

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[SET]
Utility Pivot (Drakloak) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator / Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hex
- Thunder Wave / Will-O-Wisp
- U-turn

[SET COMMENTS]
Drakloak is the fastest Pokemon of the tier and helps revenge killing offensive threats such as Frogadier and Girafarig while being able to block Quaxwell from removing hazards with Rapid Spin thanks to its Ghost-type. Draco Meteor is Drakloak's strongest move for instant power, while Hex does consistent damage while status have been spread on the opposing team. Thunder Wave allows Drakloak to spread paralysis to its common checks such as Tinkatuff and Dunsparce which has a chance of giving you some key opportunities in long games by preventing them to move. Will-O-Wisp helps dealing with Piloswine and Krokorok which cannot be paralyzed as well as other physical attackers like Thwackey and provides a more consistent effect with the burn than the paralysis. Drakloak also serves as a fantastic offensive pivot with U-turn as it is able to come on defensive Pokemons pretty easily such as Dusclops, Koffing, and Quaxwell, and pivot on its common answers to let wallbreakers that usually have a harder time coming on the field switch in such as Pignite and Thwackey. Eviolite is an option to give Drakloak more bulk, however it won't appreciate hazards being up, especially Toxic Spikes that will hinder it permanently. In addition to Eviolite, Drakloak can use Cursed Body to grant a chance of disabling the opposing Pokemon to attack with the same move, but Infiltrator is usually the preferred option to have a good match up against Screen Hyper Offense teams and hitting Pokemons behind a Substitute such as Servine and Girafarig.

Drakloak perfectly fits in teams that lack speed control, especially if paired with aforementioned wallbreakers in Pignite, Fraxure and Piloswine that make great partners with Drakloak as they appreciate its ability to pivot on defensive Pokemons to give them opportunities to break while threatening Drakloak's common answers such as Scraggy and Sliggoo-Hisui. Pokemons that use pivoting moves such as Raboot, Monferno and Thwackey make great partners with Drakloak to keep the momentum and apply offensive pressure with ease. Stealth Rock and Spikes users such as Tinkatuff, Piloswine and Krokorok, or Quilladin and Glimmet, respectively, appreciate Drakloak's ability to block Quaxwell from spinning to keep hazards on the field, allowing to make consistent progress. Drakloak is weak to Piloswine, so Pokemons that consistently check Piloswine are much appreciated such as Quaxwell, Seadra, and Dunsparce. Knock Off absorbers such as Koffing and Tinkatuff cover Drakloak's weakness to it greatly. Drakloak appreciates Pokemons that are able to break special walls like Pignite, Krokorok, and Piloswine.

[Other Options]
Rocky Helmet is another option as an item to punish Quaxwell's Triple Axel and U-turn from Pokemons like Fletchinder and Raboot. Clear Body can be used to ignore Sticky Web and to block Parting Shot from Morgrem.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pandadoux.511130/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/5dots.543866/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sleid.601970/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
 
Last edited:
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[SET]
Utility Pivot (Drakloak) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator / Cursed Body
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hex
- Thunder Wave / Will-O-Wisp
- U-turn

[SET COMMENTS]
Drakloak is the fastest Pokemon of the tier and helps revenge killing offensive threats such as Frogadier and Girafarig while being able to block Quaxwell from removing hazards with Rapid Spin thanks to its Ghost-type. Draco Meteor is Drakloak's strongest move for instant power, while Hex does consistent damage while status have been spread on the opposing team. Thunder Wave allows Drakloak to spread paralysis to its common checks such as Tinkatuff and Dunsparce which has a chance of giving you some key opportunities in long games by preventing them to move. Will-O-Wisp helps dealing with Piloswine also other physical attackers as well like Thwackey and Krokorok which cannot be paralyzed and provides a more consistent effect with the burn than the paralysis. Drakloak also serves as a fantastic offensive pivot with U-turn as it is able to come on defensive Pokemons pretty easily such as Dusclops, Koffing, and Quaxwell, and pivot on its common answers to let wallbreakers that usually have a harder time coming on the field switch in such as Pignite and Raboot. Eviolite is an option to give Drakloak more bulk, thus being able to come on the field more times and being able to fill its role as a pivot more effectively you can assume the reader knows about Eviolite's purpose, however it won't appreciate hazards being up, especially Toxic Spikes that will hinder it permanently. In addition to Eviolite, Drakloak can use Cursed Body to grant a chance of disabling the opposing Pokemon to attack with the same move, but Infiltrator is usually the preferred option to have a good match up against Screen Hyper Offense teams and hitting Pokemons behind a Substitute such as Servine and Girafarig. 252 EVs in Spe with a Timid nature allow Drakloak to outspeed any unboosted Pokemon in the tier and 252 EVs in SpA to do as much damage as possible fluff, you don't really need to summarize this EV spread unless it's something other than maxing two stats. Rocky Helmet is another option as an item to punish Quaxwell's Triple Axel and U-turn from Pokemons like Fletchinder and Raboot. This is perfectly fine for OO but not something I'd mention on the main set.

Drakloak perfectly fits in teams that lack speed control, especially if paired with aforementioned wallbreakers in Pignite, Monferno and Raboot move to pivoting part of sentence, see comments below. Replace these examples with something like Fraxure instead that make great partners with Drakloak as they appreciate its ability to pivot on defensive Pokemons to give them opportunities to break while threatening Drakloak's common answers such as Scraggy and Sliggoo-Hisui. You could also mention slower pivots like Quaxwell and other fast/decently fast pivots like Thwackey that can help form VoltTurn cores. Not that they're bad wallbreakers (in fact they're pretty good), but Monferno and Raboot can be moved from wallbreakers into this pivots section here to reinforce the pivoting part. Stealth Rock users such as Tinkatuff, Piloswine and Krokorok appreciate Drakloak's ability to block Quaxwell from spinning to keep hazards on the field, allowing to make consistent progress. Drakloak is weak to Piloswine, so Pokemons that consistently check Piloswine are much appreciated such as Quaxwell, Seadra, and Dunsparce. Can also mention Drakloak being weak to Knock Off users and thus appreciating Knock Off absorbers

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pandadoux.511130/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
 
great work! not much to say
[SET]
Utility Pivot (Drakloak) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Eviolite
Ability: Infiltrator / Cursed Body (i personally see Clear Body as the better pick here since it helps out when you play webs when running eviolite and you block parting shot from morg. we can talk about it on discord if you disagree)
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Hex
- Thunder Wave / Will-O-Wisp
- U-turn

[SET COMMENTS]
Drakloak is the fastest Pokemon of the tier and helps revenge killing offensive threats such as Frogadier and Girafarig while being able to block Quaxwell from removing hazards with Rapid Spin thanks to its Ghost-type. Draco Meteor is Drakloak's strongest move for instant power, while Hex does consistent damage while status have been spread on the opposing team. Thunder Wave allows Drakloak to spread paralysis to its common checks such as Tinkatuff and Dunsparce which has a chance of giving you some key opportunities in long games by preventing them to move. Will-O-Wisp helps dealing with Piloswine and Krokorok which cannot be paralyzed as well as other physical attackers like Thwackey and provides a more consistent effect with the burn than the paralysis. Drakloak also serves as a fantastic offensive pivot with U-turn as it is able to come on defensive Pokemons pretty easily such as Dusclops, Koffing, and Quaxwell, and pivot on its common answers to let wallbreakers that usually have a harder time coming on the field switch in such as Pignite and Raboot (i wouldnt call raboot a breaker necessarily, maybe use something like frax or thwackey instead here). Eviolite is an option to give Drakloak more bulk, however it won't appreciate hazards being up, especially Toxic Spikes that will hinder it permanently. In addition to Eviolite, Drakloak can use Cursed Body to grant a chance of disabling the opposing Pokemon to attack with the same move, but Infiltrator is usually the preferred option to have a good match up against Screen Hyper Offense teams and hitting Pokemons behind a Substitute such as Servine and Girafarig.

Drakloak perfectly fits in teams that lack speed control, especially if paired with aforementioned wallbreakers in Pignite, Fraxure and Piloswine that make great partners with Drakloak as they appreciate its ability to pivot on defensive Pokemons to give them opportunities to break while threatening Drakloak's common answers such as Scraggy and Sliggoo-Hisui. Pokemons that use pivoting moves such as Raboot, Monferno and Thwackey make great partners with Drakloak to keep the momentum and apply offensive pressure with ease. Stealth Rock users such as Tinkatuff, Piloswine and Krokorok appreciate Drakloak's ability to block Quaxwell from spinning to keep hazards on the field, allowing to make consistent progress. Drakloak is weak to Piloswine, so Pokemons that consistently check Piloswine are much appreciated such as Quaxwell, Seadra, and Dunsparce. Knock Off absorbers such as Koffing and Tinkatuff cover Drakloak's weakness to it greatly. (when writing this paragraph i like to make sure i include stuff from the checks and counters section, so maybe can mention something about teammates to help against the spd walls that are listed there)

[Other Options]
Rocky Helmet is another option as an item to punish Quaxwell's Triple Axel and U-turn from Pokemons like Fletchinder and Raboot.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pandadoux.511130/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/5dots.543866/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
 
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