[OVERVIEW]
Sporting a near-unresisted STAB combination, highly customizable coverage moves to target its checks, and a Speed tier that outspeeds almost the entirety of the unboosted metagame, Dragapult strikes fear into entire teams as one of the best wallbreakers in the tier. Its Speed allows it to force out the majority of offensive threats, such as Urshifu-R, Garchomp, and unboosted Kartana, as well as cleave through weakened defensive cores, while its access to U-turn facilitates this by letting it pivot out against its checks switching in so they can be overwhelmed in the long run. Its coverage options ensure that it is not limited to using U-turn early-game either—Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Hydro Pump can nail common checks super effectively, such as Ferrothorn, Melmetal, Tapu Fini, Toxapex, Landorus-T, and Heatran. Moreover, teams that overprepare for its special sets can find themselves swept by the relatively uncommon but immensely dangerous Dragon Dance sets that greatly punish more passive checks, namely Blissey and Gastrodon. Its Ghost / Dragon typing also gives it numerous entry points in a game, as it can leverage its myriad of resistances to soak up otherwise dangerous attacks in a pinch, such as Surging Strikes from Urshifu-R and Steam Eruption and Flamethrower from Volcanion. So despite Dragapult's susceptibility to passive damage that can limit its longevity as an offensive pivot, make no mistake: the Galarian dragon will put teams to the sword like no other Pokemon in SS OU.
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Flamethrower / Thunderbolt / Hydro Pump
move 4: U-turn
item: Choice Specs
ability: Infiltrator
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
By using Choice Specs to boost its Special Attack, Dragapult can take full advantage of its incredible special movepool that can hit the entire metagame at least neutrally. Its STAB Draco Meteor gives it an incredibly powerful option to take out certain Pokemon in one hit if needed before switching out, such as specially defensive Garchomp and Weavile. Shadow Ball is a reliable and spammable Ghost-type STAB move that takes advantage of the dearth of bulky Dark- and Normal-types in the tier save specially defensive Tyranitar and Blissey. Dragapult has a variety of coverage moves that can be used according to the specific needs of its team. Flamethrower destroys Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Melmetal, and Corviknight, while Thunderbolt is a great midground option that hits both bulky Water- and Flying-types such as Toxapex, Tapu Fini, Corviknight, and Assault Vest Tornadus-T. Finally, Hydro Pump is a viable coverage move that washes away specially defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, and Landorus-T, with the extra power over Surf being important in securing the 2HKO on Heatran and Hippowdon. U-turn allows Dragapult to pivot out against its checks with the bonus of inflicting super effective damage on Dark-types such as Weavile and Tyranitar. Infiltrator is the preferred ability for Dragapult to let it ignore Substitute and Light Screen, allowing it to greatly pressure offensive teams. A Modest nature is preferred, as it allows Dragapult to push through its already shaky checks more easily, but a Timid nature can be used if outspeeding threats such as Tapu Koko and Jolly Weavile is more important.
Team Options
========
Dragapult's ability to U-turn out against its checks makes it a fantastic offensive partner for Pokemon that can break through them or wear down shared checks. Urshifu-R can threaten Heatran, Melmetal, Landorus-T, Tyranitar, Blissey, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon while being an offensive check to Weavile. Kartana destroys Clefable, Tapu Fini, Tyranitar, Blissey, and the aforementioned Ground-types while providing Knock Off support against the likes of Corviknight, Assault Vest Tornadus-T, Heatran, and Melmetal. Choice Band Tyranitar can weaken or take out almost all of the aforementioned checks, such as Clefable, Blissey, opposing Tyranitar, Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Landorus-T. Meanwhile, Dragapult can leverage its STAB Draco Meteor and Shadow Ball to threaten its partners' checks in return, such as Slowbro for Urshifu-R, Zapdos for Kartana, and Buzzwole for Tyranitar. Tapu Lele is also a great partner, as it can help Dragapult overwhelm common checks such as Melmetal, Ferrothorn, Gastrodon, and Hippowdon. As for more defensive partners, Heatran is a wonderful teammate with its ability to trap and remove Toxapex, Clefable, and Blissey as well as its flexibility to either check Choice Scarf Blacephalon and Tapu Lele with a specially defensive set or greatly annoy Weavile, Dragapult's greatest offensive check, with a physically defensive set utilizing Flame Body. It also appreciates U-turn support from Dragapult to either set up Stealth Rock or spread status with Toxic. Melmetal is a more offensively-inclined Steel-type partner that can check Fairy-types such as Tapu Fini, Clefable, and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele while being a good short-term stopgap to Weavile. In return, Dragapult threatens physically defensive Pokemon such as Slowbro, Buzzwole, and Zapdos for Melmetal. Slowbro can switch into some of Dragapult's checks such as Melmetal and Landorus-Therian while being able to safely bring Dragapult onto the field with its slow Teleport. It is also a good check against rain teams, which take advantage of weather to outspeed and threaten Dragapult with Swift Swim Pokemon. Corviknight also provides Dragapult with slow pivoting while checking Dark-types such as Choice Band Tyranitar, Weavile, and Bisharp with Body Press and Tapu Lele with Iron Head.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Thunder can be used over Thunderbolt for extra power against specially defensive variants of Toxapex and Corviknight. However, this is not recommended, as risking the chance to miss is usually not worth the extra power, not to mention that such variants typically sacrifice good matchups against Dragapult's offensive partners like Kartana and Tyranitar to take on the Galarian dragon more effectively. Hex can be used over Dragapult's coverage moves if it is paired with status spreaders such as Thunder Wave Clefable and Toxic Heatran, but Dragapult misses not having the immediate offensive coverage quite often, and these status spam strategies can fall completely flat against teams with cleric support. Dragapult can opt to run a Choice Band set to catch teams expecting Choice Specs off guard, as its high base Attack gives it an incredibly strong STAB Dragon Darts to destroy special checks such as Blissey and Tyranitar, but this forces Dragapult to use the unreliable Phantom Force as its Ghost-type STAB move while missing out on the Fire-, Electric-, and Water-type coverage that its special sets have access to.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Special Walls**: Blissey, Hippowdon, Gastrodon, Assault Vest Tornadus-T, and specially defensive Toxapex can reliably take hits from Dragapult while healing off any damage taken with recovery moves or Regenerator. However, Hippowdon, Toxapex, and Assault Vest Tornadus-T are vulnerable to entry hazards and can be in range of a 2HKO if worn down enough. Heavy-Duty Boots Blissey and Gastrodon are immune to hazard damage, but both are very passive and take considerable damage from even an uninvested U-turn.
**Fairy-type Pokemon**: Clefable and Tapu Fini are immune to Draco Meteor and Dragon Darts while having the bulk to tank boosted Shadow Balls or Phantom Forces, and Tapu Fini is even immune to status with Misty Surge. However, Clefable is often tasked to check multiple threats in a game and can be overwhelmed by Dragapult's teammates while trying to stop Dragapult from sweeping its team, while Tapu Fini can be worn down by passive damage and repeated Shadow Balls due to its lack of reliable recovery.
**Bulky Steel-type Pokemon**: Heatran and Melmetal resist Draco Meteor and Dragon Darts while being bulky enough to take on Shadow Ball or Phantom Force, with some variants of Heatran even being able to punish the latter with Flame Body. However, both Pokemon cannot take repeated attacks and are vulnerable to entry hazards due to their lack of recovery. Dragapult can also pressure them with its super effective coverage, such as Hydro Pump against Heatran and Flamethrower against Melmetal.
**Dark-type Pokemon**: Tyranitar and Weavile are common Dark-type Pokemon that resist Shadow Ball and can threaten Dragapult with their Dark-type STAB moves. However, Weavile is very frail and will take massive damage if Dragapult uses any other move, while Tyranitar is vulnerable to passive damage and dislikes being hit with a super effective U-turn. Galarian Moltres can be used as a short-term check to Dragapult on more offensive teams, but its weakness to Stealth Rock and lack of reliable recovery limit the amount of times it can switch in. Bisharp looks like a good short-term stopgap to Dragapult, as it resists both Dragon- and Ghost-type moves, but its utter lack of special bulk makes taking Shadow Balls difficult for the chess piece, as it gets cleanly 2HKOed by Modest Choice Specs Dragapult after coming in on a layer of Spikes.
**Specially Defensive Landorus-T**: Landorus-T has Intimidate to check physical sets and possesses the special bulk to survive multiple Shadow Balls or even Draco Meteor while having the ability to retaliate with Knock Off or a strong STAB Earthquake. However, it can be overwhelmed in the long run due to its lack of reliable recovery and is weak to Hydro Pump from Choice Specs sets.
**Revenge Killers**: Due to its mediocre bulk, Dragapult can be vulnerable to being revenge killed even when relatively healthy by priority users such as Ice Shard Weavile and Sucker Punch Bisharp as well as Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele, Kartana, and Urshifu-R. One of the two tier-relevant Pokemon that naturally outspeeds Dragapult, Zeraora, is capable of simply revenge killing it with a super effective Knock Off.
**Residual Damage**: Dragapult's reliance on holding damage-boosting items makes it vulnerable to all forms of entry hazards, status, and weather conditions, which can wear it down over the course of a game before it can sweep.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bt89.487308/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Sporting a near-unresisted STAB combination, highly customizable coverage moves to target its checks, and a Speed tier that outspeeds almost the entirety of the unboosted metagame, Dragapult strikes fear into entire teams as one of the best wallbreakers in the tier. Its Speed allows it to force out the majority of offensive threats, such as Urshifu-R, Garchomp, and unboosted Kartana, as well as cleave through weakened defensive cores, while its access to U-turn facilitates this by letting it pivot out against its checks switching in so they can be overwhelmed in the long run. Its coverage options ensure that it is not limited to using U-turn early-game either—Flamethrower, Thunderbolt, and Hydro Pump can nail common checks super effectively, such as Ferrothorn, Melmetal, Tapu Fini, Toxapex, Landorus-T, and Heatran. Moreover, teams that overprepare for its special sets can find themselves swept by the relatively uncommon but immensely dangerous Dragon Dance sets that greatly punish more passive checks, namely Blissey and Gastrodon. Its Ghost / Dragon typing also gives it numerous entry points in a game, as it can leverage its myriad of resistances to soak up otherwise dangerous attacks in a pinch, such as Surging Strikes from Urshifu-R and Steam Eruption and Flamethrower from Volcanion. So despite Dragapult's susceptibility to passive damage that can limit its longevity as an offensive pivot, make no mistake: the Galarian dragon will put teams to the sword like no other Pokemon in SS OU.
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Flamethrower / Thunderbolt / Hydro Pump
move 4: U-turn
item: Choice Specs
ability: Infiltrator
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
By using Choice Specs to boost its Special Attack, Dragapult can take full advantage of its incredible special movepool that can hit the entire metagame at least neutrally. Its STAB Draco Meteor gives it an incredibly powerful option to take out certain Pokemon in one hit if needed before switching out, such as specially defensive Garchomp and Weavile. Shadow Ball is a reliable and spammable Ghost-type STAB move that takes advantage of the dearth of bulky Dark- and Normal-types in the tier save specially defensive Tyranitar and Blissey. Dragapult has a variety of coverage moves that can be used according to the specific needs of its team. Flamethrower destroys Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Melmetal, and Corviknight, while Thunderbolt is a great midground option that hits both bulky Water- and Flying-types such as Toxapex, Tapu Fini, Corviknight, and Assault Vest Tornadus-T. Finally, Hydro Pump is a viable coverage move that washes away specially defensive Heatran, Hippowdon, and Landorus-T, with the extra power over Surf being important in securing the 2HKO on Heatran and Hippowdon. U-turn allows Dragapult to pivot out against its checks with the bonus of inflicting super effective damage on Dark-types such as Weavile and Tyranitar. Infiltrator is the preferred ability for Dragapult to let it ignore Substitute and Light Screen, allowing it to greatly pressure offensive teams. A Modest nature is preferred, as it allows Dragapult to push through its already shaky checks more easily, but a Timid nature can be used if outspeeding threats such as Tapu Koko and Jolly Weavile is more important.
Team Options
========
Dragapult's ability to U-turn out against its checks makes it a fantastic offensive partner for Pokemon that can break through them or wear down shared checks. Urshifu-R can threaten Heatran, Melmetal, Landorus-T, Tyranitar, Blissey, Hippowdon, and Gastrodon while being an offensive check to Weavile. Kartana destroys Clefable, Tapu Fini, Tyranitar, Blissey, and the aforementioned Ground-types while providing Knock Off support against the likes of Corviknight, Assault Vest Tornadus-T, Heatran, and Melmetal. Choice Band Tyranitar can weaken or take out almost all of the aforementioned checks, such as Clefable, Blissey, opposing Tyranitar, Heatran, Ferrothorn, and Landorus-T. Meanwhile, Dragapult can leverage its STAB Draco Meteor and Shadow Ball to threaten its partners' checks in return, such as Slowbro for Urshifu-R, Zapdos for Kartana, and Buzzwole for Tyranitar. Tapu Lele is also a great partner, as it can help Dragapult overwhelm common checks such as Melmetal, Ferrothorn, Gastrodon, and Hippowdon. As for more defensive partners, Heatran is a wonderful teammate with its ability to trap and remove Toxapex, Clefable, and Blissey as well as its flexibility to either check Choice Scarf Blacephalon and Tapu Lele with a specially defensive set or greatly annoy Weavile, Dragapult's greatest offensive check, with a physically defensive set utilizing Flame Body. It also appreciates U-turn support from Dragapult to either set up Stealth Rock or spread status with Toxic. Melmetal is a more offensively-inclined Steel-type partner that can check Fairy-types such as Tapu Fini, Clefable, and Choice Scarf Tapu Lele while being a good short-term stopgap to Weavile. In return, Dragapult threatens physically defensive Pokemon such as Slowbro, Buzzwole, and Zapdos for Melmetal. Slowbro can switch into some of Dragapult's checks such as Melmetal and Landorus-T
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Thunder can be used over Thunderbolt for extra power against specially defensive variants of Toxapex and Corviknight. However, this is not recommended, as risking the chance to miss is usually not worth the extra power, not to mention that such variants typically sacrifice good matchups against Dragapult's offensive partners like Kartana and Tyranitar to take on the Galarian dragon more effectively. Hex can be used over Dragapult's coverage moves if it is paired with status spreaders such as Thunder Wave Clefable and Toxic Heatran, but Dragapult misses not having the immediate offensive coverage quite often, and these status spam strategies can fall completely flat against teams with cleric support. Dragapult can opt to run a Choice Band set to catch teams expecting Choice Specs off guard, as its high base Attack gives it an incredibly strong STAB Dragon Darts to destroy special checks such as Blissey and Tyranitar, but this forces Dragapult to use the unreliable Phantom Force as its Ghost-type STAB move while missing out on the Fire-, Electric-, and Water-type coverage that its special sets have access to.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Special Walls**: Blissey, Hippowdon, Gastrodon, Assault Vest Tornadus-T, and specially defensive Toxapex can reliably take hits from Dragapult while healing off any damage taken with recovery moves or Regenerator. However, Hippowdon, Toxapex, and Assault Vest Tornadus-T are vulnerable to entry hazards and can be in range of a 2HKO if worn down enough. Heavy-Duty Boots Blissey and Gastrodon are immune to hazard damage, but both are very passive and take considerable damage from even an uninvested U-turn.
**Fairy-type Pokemon**: Clefable and Tapu Fini are immune to Draco Meteor and Dragon Darts while having the bulk to tank boosted Shadow Balls or Phantom Forces, and Tapu Fini is even immune to status with Misty Surge. However, Clefable is often tasked to check multiple threats in a game and can be overwhelmed by Dragapult's teammates while trying to stop Dragapult from sweeping its team, while Tapu Fini can be worn down by passive damage and repeated Shadow Balls due to its lack of reliable recovery.
**Bulky Steel-type Pokemon**: Heatran and Melmetal resist Draco Meteor and Dragon Darts while being bulky enough to take on Shadow Ball or Phantom Force, with some variants of Heatran even being able to punish the latter with Flame Body. However, both Pokemon cannot take repeated attacks and are vulnerable to entry hazards due to their lack of recovery. Dragapult can also pressure them with its super effective coverage, such as Hydro Pump against Heatran and Flamethrower against Melmetal.
**Dark-type Pokemon**: Tyranitar and Weavile are common Dark-type Pokemon that resist Shadow Ball and can threaten Dragapult with their Dark-type STAB moves. However, Weavile is very frail and will take massive damage if Dragapult uses any other move, while Tyranitar is vulnerable to passive damage and dislikes being hit with a super effective U-turn. Galarian Moltres can be used as a short-term check to Dragapult on more offensive teams, but its weakness to Stealth Rock and lack of reliable recovery limit the amount of times it can switch in. Bisharp looks like a good short-term stopgap to Dragapult, as it resists both Dragon- and Ghost-type moves, but its utter lack of special bulk makes taking Shadow Balls difficult for the chess piece, as it gets cleanly 2HKOed by Modest Choice Specs Dragapult after coming in on a layer of Spikes.
**Specially Defensive Landorus-T**: Landorus-T has Intimidate to check physical sets and possesses the special bulk to survive multiple Shadow Balls or even Draco Meteor while having the ability to retaliate with Knock Off or a strong STAB Earthquake. However, it can be overwhelmed in the long run due to its lack of reliable recovery and is weak to Hydro Pump from Choice Specs sets.
**Revenge Killers**: Due to its mediocre bulk, Dragapult can be vulnerable to being revenge killed even when relatively healthy by priority users such as Ice Shard Weavile and Sucker Punch Bisharp as well as Choice Scarf users like Tapu Lele, Kartana, and Urshifu-R. One of the two tier-relevant Pokemon that naturally outspeeds Dragapult, Zeraora, is capable of simply revenge killing it with a super effective Knock Off.
**Residual Damage**: Dragapult's reliance on holding damage-boosting items makes it vulnerable to all forms of entry hazards, status, and weather conditions, which can wear it down over the course of a game before it can sweep.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/slowpoke-fan.617219/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/setsusetsuna.548068/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bt89.487308/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited:
