[OVERVIEW]
Dragonite is one of the most infamous Pokemon in RBY OU, thanks to its access to Wrap, which gives Dragonite a niche in OU as a mid-game wallbreaker and pivot, as well as a late-game cleaner. As a sweeper, Dragonite wears down opposing Pokemon with Wrap, then finishes them off with a strong attack, such as Hyper Beam or Blizzard. Its high attacking stats and wide movepool provide plenty of offensive power, more than making up for its lack of good STAB moves. Wrap also makes Dragonite an excellent pivot. If Dragonite uses Wrap on a Pokemon, then switches out, the opposing Pokemon won't be able to attack on the turn Dragonite switches, allowing teammates such as Tauros to switch in for free. Dragonite's base 80 speed is quite fast for the tier, outspeeding metagame staples such as Chansey, Snorlax, and Exeggutor. Speed is crucial for Dragonite because Wrap can prevent the opponent from attacking as long as Dragonite is faster. Although a good potion of the tier still outspeeds Dragonite, this can me remedied by Dragonite's two forms of speed control: Agility and Thunder Wave. Agility makes Dragonite faster than every unboosted Pokemon, allowing it to chain together Wraps until it runs out of PP or misses. Thunder Wave on the other hand, can allow Dragonite to threaten faster Pokemon, such as Alakazam and Starmie, with Paralysis, crippling them for the rest of the game. Dragonite is also great at forcing Paralysis on foes that run away from other Thunder Wave users, since they might stay in and attack Dragonite in fear of Agility. Dragonite is not frail either. Even with a 4x weakness to Ice, it survives Tauros's Blizzard, even having the chance to survive it after taking Body Slam. Dragonite also has a 61.5% chance to survive Starmie's Blizzard. Dragonite's typing also gives it a nice immunity to Ground, letting it switch into Rhydon and scaring it with Blizzard.
Despite these positive traits, Dragonite is held back by a mediocre typing and reliance on luck. Dragonite's typing makes it 4x weak to Ice-type moves, which are everywhere in OU. Dragonite is also deathly afraid of paralysis, since it prevents Dragonite from outspeeding naturally-slower Pokemon while also decreasing Wrap’s already-mediocre accuracy. This forces Dragonite to run away from Body Slam, a move that it would otherwise be able to take thanks to its high bulk. These traits mean Dragonite has a lot of trouble getting on the field, let alone trying to find a free turn to set up. Likewise, Wrap only has 84.4% accuracy, and a miss leaves it open to a potential Thunder Wave or Blizzard. Although Dragonite is fast relative to the OU tier, Jynx and Starmie outspeed it and OHKO it with Blizzard, though the latter is not guaranteed. One the offensive side, although Dragonite is strong, lack of STAB means Dragonite can't use its high attacking stats to its fullest potential. Due to these flaws, Dragonite. requires heavy team support in order to take advantage of the offensive traits it offers. Additionally, since Wrap is a very weak move, it is the perfect move for sleeping Pokemon such as Alakazam and Starmie to burn sleep turns on.
[SET]
name: Wrap
move 1: Wrap
move 2: Hyper Beam
move 3: Blizzard
move 4: Thunder Wave / Agility
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Wrap is mandatory on Dragonite, as it lets Dragonite pivot against foes, as well as tear down weakened and paralyzed teams. Hyper Beam is Dragonite's strongest move, dealing a minimum of 51.4% to Chansey and a minimum of 45.5% to Starmie. If the opposing Pokemon is out of Hyper Beam's KO range, Dragonite can chip its HP with Wrap in order to get it to the desired HP. Blizzard is used for dealing with Rhydon and the rare Golem, who resist Wrap and Hyper Beam, while also helping against Gengar, Zapdos, and Exeggutor. Since Wrap relies heavily on outspeeding your opponent, the fourth move is a form of speed control, either Thunder Wave or Agility.
Thunder Wave is used to incapacitate foes with paralysis, making it easier for Dragonite and its teammates to break through the opposing team. What makes Dragonite unique compared to other Thunder Wave users is that the threat of Agility generally forces an opponent to stay in and attack it, giving Dragonite an opportunity to get a crucial paralysis on a foe that would run away from other Thunder Wave users, such as Tauros or Starmie. However, this exchange typically means Dragonite either trades paralysis with an opponent or loses a significant chunk of its HP, although trading damage on Dragonite for paralysis on Tauros is almost always a favorable trade.
Agility is Dragonite's more notorious option. If Dragonite finds a chance to switch in on a resting Pokemon, it can find the free turn necessary to set up Agility, and proceed chain together Wraps. Although this sequence is hard to stop once started, it is not unstoppable. Wrap only has 32 PP, and constant switching will drain it quickly. In addition, physically-bulky Pokemon such as Cloyster and Lapras can stay in on Dragonite and wait for Wrap to miss before OHKOing with Blizzard. Dragonite also has to make sure Gengar is accounted for before attempting a sweep, since Gengar is immune to Wrap, although it is still immobilized, so you can safely switch to something else that forces it out.
Due to the abundance of ice moves and paralysis in RBY, Dragonite struggles to find oppurtunities to get it in safely. As mentioned before, this is typically done against a resting Pokemon or with an aggressive prediction. Alternatively, you can utilize other partial trapping moves to get Dragonite in safely. This makes Pokemon such as Victreebel and Cloyster good teammates. Victreebel can also force out Reflect Snorlax which could otherwise stay in and stall out Dragonite's Wrap PP. In addition to partial trapping support, Cloyster has a 4x resistance to Ice and an immunity to Freeze, meaning it complements Dragonite defensively quite well. Starmie and Chansey can also switch into Ice-type moves from opposing Starmie, Chansey, Jynx, and Articuno, as well as providing Dragonite with paralysis support, which it greatly appreciates to outspeed otherwise-faster Pokemon. Alakazam, Zapdos, and Jolteon also provide paralysis support to Dragonite, as well being good teamamtes for Dragonite to Pivot in to, making them good teammates. Alakazam also has a great matchup against Gengar, one of Dragonite's also hardest counters.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
===================
Although Dragonite has a wide variety of options, almost all of them are hard to fit on a set, as Wrap and your speed control move are undroppable, while Hyper Beam and Blizzard are both powerful options. Despite this, Surf can be used over Blizzard to guarantee a KO on Rhydon and Golem from full health, while Blizzard's maximum damage against Rhydon is 77.4%. However, Blizzard is generally preferred due to the extra damage on Zapdos and Exeggutor. All other options apart from Surf are either sacrificing the power of Hyper Beam or the anti-ground coverage of Blizzard, so they should be treated more carefully. Thunderbolt can be used by Dragonite in order to do increased damage on Cloyster, Slowbro, Lapras. and Starmie. Alternatively, Thunder could be used for a guaranteed 2HKO on Starmie and Slowbro, which Thunderbolt almost never does. Body Slam can be used over Hyper Beam to deal damage on opposing Pokemon while also threatening paralysis, as well as not requiring recharge if you fail to KO, and Fire Blast can be used to Burn opposing Pokemon, most notably Gengar, in order to put them on a timer with Wrap.
Checks and Counters
===================
**PP Stalling:** Once Dragonite sets up Agility, the primary way to deal with it is PP Stalling. Wrap's 32 PP can easily be stalled out by constant switching, and once Dragonite runs out of Wrap PP it becomes much less threatening. Wrap resists such as Gengar, Rhydon, or Golem, as well as physically bulky Pokemon such as Cloyster and Slowbro, should be accounted for because of this. Gengar is particularly pressing due to taking minimal damage from any of Dragonite's coverage moves as well as a Wrap Immunity, forcing Dragonite out immediately. However, Gengar remains immoblized from Wrap, giving partners that can contest it, such as Alakazam, a safe switch-in. When PP Stalling, it is very important to count how many times Dragonite has used Wrap. If Dragonite uses its final wrap, and you switch out while it is still locked in to Wrap, then Dragonite will be forced to Wrap again, causing its PP will underflow to 63, making it near impossible to stall at that point. Once Dragonite uses its final Wrap, make sure you stay in until it is completed.
**Paralysis:** Paralysis is essentially a death sentence for Dragonite. If it's not running Agility, it no longer outspeeds Pokemon such as Cloyster, Lapras, and Chansey. Although Agility will allow Dragonite to ignore its Speed drop, Wrap's accuracy will be an effective 63.6% after accounting for full paralysis, making the strategy even more inconsistent than it already is. This means Thunder Wave users such as Alakazam and Starmie, Body Slam users such as Tauros and Snorlax, and Stun Spore Exeggutor are all able to force out Dragonite.
**Faster Pokemon:** Every Viable Pokemon faster than Dragonite except Persian can either threaten it with status, such as Alakazam and Jolteon, or with Ice-type moves, such as Jynx and Articuno. Some Pokemon such as Tauros and Starmie threaten Dragonite with both. In addition, since Dragonite will attack second against these Pokemon, they will always be able to get off an attack before Dragonite can use Wrap, meaning Dragonite has to either paralyze these faster threats or use Agility to outspeed them.
**Ice-Type Attacks:** Since Dragonite is 4x weak to Ice, most Pokemon with Ice-Type attacks force it out. However, Dragonite can use Wrap on slower Pokemon such as Cloyster and Lapras to safely switch into something that can deal with them. However, Dragonite is capable of taking a non-STAB Ice-type move from Pokemon like Tauros and Chansey to set up Agility, so it is important to damage it beforehand.
**Bulky Water Types:** Because of their strong physical bulk, Cloyster, Lapras, and Slowbro are capable of staying in against non-Thunderbolt Dragonite to fish for a Blizzard, or in Slowbro's case, Thunder Wave, during a Wrap sequence, usually forcing it out. However, what they force in, such as Starmie or Zapdos, can often put severe pressure on them thereafter.
**Burn and Poison:** Although both of these status effects are rare in OU, they severely cripple Dragonite. The passive damage from these status effects puts Dragonite's Wrap chain on a timer. Burn is especially detrimental since it halves the damage from Wrap and Hyper Beam, and can often be inflicted when attempting to switch into Pokemon like Moltres.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Gastlies, 540559]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
Dragonite is one of the most infamous Pokemon in RBY OU, thanks to its access to Wrap, which gives Dragonite a niche in OU as a mid-game wallbreaker and pivot, as well as a late-game cleaner. As a sweeper, Dragonite wears down opposing Pokemon with Wrap, then finishes them off with a strong attack, such as Hyper Beam or Blizzard. Its high attacking stats and wide movepool provide plenty of offensive power, more than making up for its lack of good STAB moves. Wrap also makes Dragonite an excellent pivot. If Dragonite uses Wrap on a Pokemon, then switches out, the opposing Pokemon won't be able to attack on the turn Dragonite switches, allowing teammates such as Tauros to switch in for free. Dragonite's base 80 speed is quite fast for the tier, outspeeding metagame staples such as Chansey, Snorlax, and Exeggutor. Speed is crucial for Dragonite because Wrap can prevent the opponent from attacking as long as Dragonite is faster. Although a good potion of the tier still outspeeds Dragonite, this can me remedied by Dragonite's two forms of speed control: Agility and Thunder Wave. Agility makes Dragonite faster than every unboosted Pokemon, allowing it to chain together Wraps until it runs out of PP or misses. Thunder Wave on the other hand, can allow Dragonite to threaten faster Pokemon, such as Alakazam and Starmie, with Paralysis, crippling them for the rest of the game. Dragonite is also great at forcing Paralysis on foes that run away from other Thunder Wave users, since they might stay in and attack Dragonite in fear of Agility. Dragonite is not frail either. Even with a 4x weakness to Ice, it survives Tauros's Blizzard, even having the chance to survive it after taking Body Slam. Dragonite also has a 61.5% chance to survive Starmie's Blizzard. Dragonite's typing also gives it a nice immunity to Ground, letting it switch into Rhydon and scaring it with Blizzard.
Despite these positive traits, Dragonite is held back by a mediocre typing and reliance on luck. Dragonite's typing makes it 4x weak to Ice-type moves, which are everywhere in OU. Dragonite is also deathly afraid of paralysis, since it prevents Dragonite from outspeeding naturally-slower Pokemon while also decreasing Wrap’s already-mediocre accuracy. This forces Dragonite to run away from Body Slam, a move that it would otherwise be able to take thanks to its high bulk. These traits mean Dragonite has a lot of trouble getting on the field, let alone trying to find a free turn to set up. Likewise, Wrap only has 84.4% accuracy, and a miss leaves it open to a potential Thunder Wave or Blizzard. Although Dragonite is fast relative to the OU tier, Jynx and Starmie outspeed it and OHKO it with Blizzard, though the latter is not guaranteed. One the offensive side, although Dragonite is strong, lack of STAB means Dragonite can't use its high attacking stats to its fullest potential. Due to these flaws, Dragonite. requires heavy team support in order to take advantage of the offensive traits it offers. Additionally, since Wrap is a very weak move, it is the perfect move for sleeping Pokemon such as Alakazam and Starmie to burn sleep turns on.
[SET]
name: Wrap
move 1: Wrap
move 2: Hyper Beam
move 3: Blizzard
move 4: Thunder Wave / Agility
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Wrap is mandatory on Dragonite, as it lets Dragonite pivot against foes, as well as tear down weakened and paralyzed teams. Hyper Beam is Dragonite's strongest move, dealing a minimum of 51.4% to Chansey and a minimum of 45.5% to Starmie. If the opposing Pokemon is out of Hyper Beam's KO range, Dragonite can chip its HP with Wrap in order to get it to the desired HP. Blizzard is used for dealing with Rhydon and the rare Golem, who resist Wrap and Hyper Beam, while also helping against Gengar, Zapdos, and Exeggutor. Since Wrap relies heavily on outspeeding your opponent, the fourth move is a form of speed control, either Thunder Wave or Agility.
Thunder Wave is used to incapacitate foes with paralysis, making it easier for Dragonite and its teammates to break through the opposing team. What makes Dragonite unique compared to other Thunder Wave users is that the threat of Agility generally forces an opponent to stay in and attack it, giving Dragonite an opportunity to get a crucial paralysis on a foe that would run away from other Thunder Wave users, such as Tauros or Starmie. However, this exchange typically means Dragonite either trades paralysis with an opponent or loses a significant chunk of its HP, although trading damage on Dragonite for paralysis on Tauros is almost always a favorable trade.
Agility is Dragonite's more notorious option. If Dragonite finds a chance to switch in on a resting Pokemon, it can find the free turn necessary to set up Agility, and proceed chain together Wraps. Although this sequence is hard to stop once started, it is not unstoppable. Wrap only has 32 PP, and constant switching will drain it quickly. In addition, physically-bulky Pokemon such as Cloyster and Lapras can stay in on Dragonite and wait for Wrap to miss before OHKOing with Blizzard. Dragonite also has to make sure Gengar is accounted for before attempting a sweep, since Gengar is immune to Wrap, although it is still immobilized, so you can safely switch to something else that forces it out.
Due to the abundance of ice moves and paralysis in RBY, Dragonite struggles to find oppurtunities to get it in safely. As mentioned before, this is typically done against a resting Pokemon or with an aggressive prediction. Alternatively, you can utilize other partial trapping moves to get Dragonite in safely. This makes Pokemon such as Victreebel and Cloyster good teammates. Victreebel can also force out Reflect Snorlax which could otherwise stay in and stall out Dragonite's Wrap PP. In addition to partial trapping support, Cloyster has a 4x resistance to Ice and an immunity to Freeze, meaning it complements Dragonite defensively quite well. Starmie and Chansey can also switch into Ice-type moves from opposing Starmie, Chansey, Jynx, and Articuno, as well as providing Dragonite with paralysis support, which it greatly appreciates to outspeed otherwise-faster Pokemon. Alakazam, Zapdos, and Jolteon also provide paralysis support to Dragonite, as well being good teamamtes for Dragonite to Pivot in to, making them good teammates. Alakazam also has a great matchup against Gengar, one of Dragonite's also hardest counters.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
===================
Although Dragonite has a wide variety of options, almost all of them are hard to fit on a set, as Wrap and your speed control move are undroppable, while Hyper Beam and Blizzard are both powerful options. Despite this, Surf can be used over Blizzard to guarantee a KO on Rhydon and Golem from full health, while Blizzard's maximum damage against Rhydon is 77.4%. However, Blizzard is generally preferred due to the extra damage on Zapdos and Exeggutor. All other options apart from Surf are either sacrificing the power of Hyper Beam or the anti-ground coverage of Blizzard, so they should be treated more carefully. Thunderbolt can be used by Dragonite in order to do increased damage on Cloyster, Slowbro, Lapras. and Starmie. Alternatively, Thunder could be used for a guaranteed 2HKO on Starmie and Slowbro, which Thunderbolt almost never does. Body Slam can be used over Hyper Beam to deal damage on opposing Pokemon while also threatening paralysis, as well as not requiring recharge if you fail to KO, and Fire Blast can be used to Burn opposing Pokemon, most notably Gengar, in order to put them on a timer with Wrap.
Checks and Counters
===================
**PP Stalling:** Once Dragonite sets up Agility, the primary way to deal with it is PP Stalling. Wrap's 32 PP can easily be stalled out by constant switching, and once Dragonite runs out of Wrap PP it becomes much less threatening. Wrap resists such as Gengar, Rhydon, or Golem, as well as physically bulky Pokemon such as Cloyster and Slowbro, should be accounted for because of this. Gengar is particularly pressing due to taking minimal damage from any of Dragonite's coverage moves as well as a Wrap Immunity, forcing Dragonite out immediately. However, Gengar remains immoblized from Wrap, giving partners that can contest it, such as Alakazam, a safe switch-in. When PP Stalling, it is very important to count how many times Dragonite has used Wrap. If Dragonite uses its final wrap, and you switch out while it is still locked in to Wrap, then Dragonite will be forced to Wrap again, causing its PP will underflow to 63, making it near impossible to stall at that point. Once Dragonite uses its final Wrap, make sure you stay in until it is completed.
**Paralysis:** Paralysis is essentially a death sentence for Dragonite. If it's not running Agility, it no longer outspeeds Pokemon such as Cloyster, Lapras, and Chansey. Although Agility will allow Dragonite to ignore its Speed drop, Wrap's accuracy will be an effective 63.6% after accounting for full paralysis, making the strategy even more inconsistent than it already is. This means Thunder Wave users such as Alakazam and Starmie, Body Slam users such as Tauros and Snorlax, and Stun Spore Exeggutor are all able to force out Dragonite.
**Faster Pokemon:** Every Viable Pokemon faster than Dragonite except Persian can either threaten it with status, such as Alakazam and Jolteon, or with Ice-type moves, such as Jynx and Articuno. Some Pokemon such as Tauros and Starmie threaten Dragonite with both. In addition, since Dragonite will attack second against these Pokemon, they will always be able to get off an attack before Dragonite can use Wrap, meaning Dragonite has to either paralyze these faster threats or use Agility to outspeed them.
**Ice-Type Attacks:** Since Dragonite is 4x weak to Ice, most Pokemon with Ice-Type attacks force it out. However, Dragonite can use Wrap on slower Pokemon such as Cloyster and Lapras to safely switch into something that can deal with them. However, Dragonite is capable of taking a non-STAB Ice-type move from Pokemon like Tauros and Chansey to set up Agility, so it is important to damage it beforehand.
**Bulky Water Types:** Because of their strong physical bulk, Cloyster, Lapras, and Slowbro are capable of staying in against non-Thunderbolt Dragonite to fish for a Blizzard, or in Slowbro's case, Thunder Wave, during a Wrap sequence, usually forcing it out. However, what they force in, such as Starmie or Zapdos, can often put severe pressure on them thereafter.
**Burn and Poison:** Although both of these status effects are rare in OU, they severely cripple Dragonite. The passive damage from these status effects puts Dragonite's Wrap chain on a timer. Burn is especially detrimental since it halves the damage from Wrap and Hyper Beam, and can often be inflicted when attempting to switch into Pokemon like Moltres.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Gastlies, 540559]]
- Quality checked by: [[May, 236353], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
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