Dewgong
Base Stats:
90/70/80/70/95/70
Abilities:
Thick Fat
Hydration
Ice Body (H)
Notable Moves:
- Flip Turn
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Ice Spinner
- Aqua Jet
- Ice Shard
- Drill Run
- Play Rough
- Smart Strike
- Perish Song
- Whirlpool
- Aqua Tail
- Liquidation
- Triple Axel
- Ice Beam
- Hydro Pump
- Surf
- Alluring Voice
- Tera Blast
- Rain Dance
Pros:
- Dewlong possesses a decent amount of support options, with Knock Off to make progress on the opponent, Encore to shut down setup sweepers and Flip Turn to get temmates in safely, while doubling as a decent STAB option. Ice Spinner can also act as both a strong STAB and as utility by removing terrain, which come in very handy against the likes of Rillaboom
- Thick Fat in an incredible ability, effectively giving Dewgong a Fire resistance and an octo?-resistance to Ice
Cons:
- Dewgong has rather mediocre bulk. 90/80/85 bulk, while definitively not being the best, is not very good by OU standards
- Water/Ice is anything but a good defensive typing, leaving Dewgong with a nasty Stealth Rock weakness as well as a weakness to Fighting, a common offensive type
- Dewgong's coverage options are rather limited, with only having Drill Run and Play Rough to cover it's weaknesses on the physical side, while only having Alluring Voice on the special side. 70/70 is also not great for offensive stats, which is not helped at all by virtue of packing a base 70 Speed
Tera Potential:
Dewgong has very interesting potential with Terasteralizaion, mainly thanks to Thick Fat:
- Tera Grass has strong synergy with Thick Fat, effectively turning both the Fire and Ice weaknesses into neutralities, which Dewgong can take advantage of pretty easily
- Both Tera Ground and Tera Fairy can increase the power of one of Dewgong's coverage options, which Thick Fat can strenghten the defensive profile of said types more, namely by turning the Ice weakness into a neutrality on the Tera Ground variant.
- Tera Water and Tera Ice can give Dewgong a boost to it's STABs, and while Tera Water might seem much more favorable by removing the dreaded weakesses that the Ice Type brings upon, Tera Ice does come without one of it's usual weaknesses thanks to Thick Fat turning the Fire weakness into a neutrality
Potential Sets:
Utility
Dewgong @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Tera Type: Grass/Fairy
Jolly Nature/Impish Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
- Knock Off
- Encore
- Flip Turn
- Ice Spinner/Alluring Voice
This set is more focused on bringing utility to the team (or atleast it tries to), by doing quite a lot at once. The speed is put to the max to get the jump on unboosted Dragonite, which while Dewgong can't Encore Dragonite as it gets outspeed by Dragonite after a +2, can at the very least force progress on it with Knock Off before Dragonite clicks Dragon Dance. It also, while being outsped by it from the get-go, does surprisingly well against offensive Heatran, as Flip Turn does quite a decent bit of damage and provides slow pivoting agaisnt Heatran. Alluring Voice can be slotted in to replace Ice Spinner and punish setup sweepers that dare staying in after getting Encore'd (you can even use Taire Fairy for more damage and a much better defensive typing). But if you really need speed, then I recommend you have a look at the following set:
Choice Scarf
Dewgong @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Thick Fat
Tera Type: Grass/Ground/Fairy
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
- Flip Turn
- Ice Spinner
- Play Rough
- Drill Run
Okay this set is pretty much a meme set (because let's be honest offensive Dewgong is an incredibly silly idea), but what if I told you this set actually has perfect coverage with Drill Run and Play Rough? Anywaysthis set mroe or less has 1 very specific niche that could warant usage in OU: countering Choice Band Rillaboom. Just make sure that Dewgong comes in after Rillaboom locked itself into a move, preferably as a wannabe revenge killing option because Dewgong is absolutely not switching into Rillaboom. (252+ Atk Choice Band Rillaboom Wood Hammer vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dewgong in Grassy Terrain: 980-1154 (305.2 - 359.5%) -- guaranteed OHKO)
Not only does Dewgong outspeed CB Rilla since it runs Adamant over Jolly (just be sure Rilla is not locked into Grassy Glide), but Ice Spinner also removes Rillaboom's Grassy Terrain, while also surprisingly doing a lot to it. ( 252 Atk Dewgong Ice Spinner vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Rillaboom: 192-228 (56.3 - 66.8%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Grassy Terrain recovery). Bonus points if you click Tera Grass because you even have a shot at dispatching Rillaboom yourself by removing Dewgong's Grass weakness. Dewgong's coverage can come in handy still, namy against once again offensive Heatran thanks to Drill run, which gets OHKOed if Tera Ground is in the equation. ( 252 Atk Tera Ground Dewgong Drill Run vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Heatran: 336-396 (104 - 122.6%) -- guaranteed OHKO)
EDIT: Turns out Dewgong DOES outspeed Jolly Rillabom with this set, and even deal with basically any Rillaboom get lacking Grassy Glide
Perish Trap
Dewgong @ Leftovers
Ability: Thick Fat
Tera Type: Grass/Fairy
Jolly Impish Nature
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Spd
- Perish Song
- Whirlpool
- Flip Turn
- Knock Off/Encore
The Perish Song set from gen 7 returns, except this time, you don't need to stall the enemy out because you can flip to a teammate that can handle the rest. You can also slot in utility with Knock Off or Encore.
Closing Thoughts:
While Dewgong has historically not been a good Pokemon at all, generation 9 blessed it with basically everything it needed to truly differentiate itself from Pokemon with similar typings, namely fellow gen 1 returning Pokemon Lapras. There might have been other potential sets that I missed out on, but those are the ones that I feel have great potential in the current generation, especially in the lower tiers.
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