Lets talk about Dragon. When I heard about Pokemon being cut, it made me worry that Dragon will suck with missing key Pokemon like Dragonite, Lati@s, and Garchomp. However, since playing Gen 8 Monotype, Dragon is not as bad as I thought, in fact, it does pretty well when testing it in room tours and winning the bad mus such as Ice and Fairy. Now, Lets talk about the new tools first and some older Pokemon that are great on Dragon!



[hide=leftovers]

Duraludon @ Leftovers

Ability: Stalwart

EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA

Bold Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Stealth Rock

- Thunder Wave

- Foul Play

- Flash Cannon / Steel Beam

[/hide]

Duraludon is a bulky defensive Pokemon, which makes it prefect to run Foul Play + Thunder Wave to help with setup Pokemon, a great switch in to physical attacks like Mimikyu's Play Rough, and can help pressure Fairy-types with its Steel-STAB attacks. Duraludon also gets Stealth Rock, which I think is pretty great to allow Kommo-o to run Taunt, Clangorous Soul or a 4th attacking move. The most disappointing thing about duraludon is it cannot take a special hit too well, which hurts its usefulness in the Fairy and Ice matchup.

[hide=life orb]

Dragapult @ Life Orb

Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Dragon Dance

- Dragon Darts

- Phantom Force

- Will-O-Wisp / Sucker Punch

[/hide]

[hide=choice specs]

Dragapult @ Choice Specs

Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- Shadow Ball

- Draco Meteor

- Thunderbolt

- U-turn

[/hide]

[hide=choice band]

Dragapult @ Choice Band

Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Sucker Punch

- Dragon Darts

- Phantom Force

- U-turn

[/hide]

[hide=choice scarf]

Dragapult @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Clear Body

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Psychic Fangs

- Dragon Darts

- Phantom Force

- U-turn

[/hide]

Dragapult is one of my favorite new Pokemon as its Attack and Special Attack are ok and backed by its 421 Speed that allows it to outpace the metagame bar Choice Scarfers or a setup Pokemon at x2. However, Dragapult has a not so great physical movepool and has to use Phantom Force for physical Ghost-STAB. Life Orb is cool to be able to change moves outside of Dynamax and run Sucker Punch and Dragon Dance. However, I been trying out Choice Specs Dragapult, and it works pretty well due to its access to Draco Meteor, Shadow Ball, Fire Blast, Thunderbolt and Hydro Pump. It can also be a good pivot because of its access to U-turn, which will go nice on any Choiced sets to get momentum for the team.

[hide=leftovers]

Appletun @ Leftovers

Ability: Ripen

EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD

Calm Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Dragon Pulse

- Leech Seed

- Protect

- Apple Acid

[/hide]

Appletun is a cool Pokemon, but is better on Grass. However, it is a cool tool to take on Water-type Pokemon and help take on special attacks, but I think Dracozolt helps in this mu a lot more due to its wallbreaking power.

[hide=choice band]

Dracovish @ Choice Band

Ability: Strong Jaw

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Ice Fang

- Iron Head

- Low Kick

- Outrage

[/hide]

Dracovish will have a niche once it gets its unreleased ability, Sand Rush. For now, it probably wont see much usage because of Haxorus and Dragapult usually being on the team as the main physical wallbreakers and Dracozolt also being a better choice to help out in the Water matchup.

[hide=choice band / choice scarf]

Dracozolt @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf

Ability: Hustle

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Bolt Beak

- Earthquake

- Outrage

- Low Kick

[/hide]

Dracozolt looks interesting, however its Speed and average bulk is its major downfall. Although, Dracozolt can greatly help out with Water, Steel and Dark matchup, and has Hustle to become a fearsome wallbreaker.

[hide=life orb]

Flapple @ Life Orb
Ability: Hustle
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Sucker Punch
- Outrage
- Bullet Seed
[/hide]

No idea what to do with this thing, feel like Appletun is a lot better as it has more bulk and better movepool. I do not think we will see this Pokemon being used much.



Now lets talk about the Pokemon that did not get snapped.

[hide=choice band / choice scarf]

Haxorus @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf

Ability: Mold Breaker

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Iron Tail

- Superpower

- Outrage

- Earthquake

[/hide]

I love Haxorus, and its finally good this gen. Thanks to its raw power and good Speed tier, it can greatly help in the Fairy and Ice matchup as well as the Water matchup due to Iron Tail and Outrage and Superpower. It can also help in the Dark and Steel matchup with Superpower and Earthquake . Mold Breaker is also useful to get Levitate Pokemon such as the Rotom formes, Weezing and Bronzong and can also ignore Disguise and Ice Force from Mimikyu and Eiscue.

[hide=nasty plot]

Hydreigon @ Leftovers

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Nasty Plot

- Dark Pulse

- Draco Meteor

- Flamethrower

[/hide]

[hide=choice specs / choice scarf]

Hydreigon @ Choice Specs / Choice Scarf

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Flamethrower

- Draco Meteor

- Dark Pulse

- Flash Cannon

[/hide]

Hydreigon gain Nasty Plot, but lost Roost. This means that Hydreigon is forced to run leftovers with Nasty Plot to get some passive recovery back as Life Orb will kill it way too fast. Using just one Nasty Plot then dynamax can help kill a couple Pokemon, which is pretty good, but it is hard to find a place to set up. So, I still use Choice Specs or Choice Scarf depending on the members of the team and what I need. Choice Specs can greatly help break Pokemon with Dark Pulse and fish for flinches while Choice Scarf helps in mirrors and help deal with Alolan Ninetales and weaken Ice and Fairy-types with Flash Cannon.

[hide=assault vest]

Goodra @ Assault Vest

Ability: Sap Sipper

EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpA

Mild Nature

- Sludge Wave

- Flamethrower

- Earthquake

- Dragon Pulse

[/hide]

Goodra is not the best Pokemon, but with Assault Vest I can see it get some usage to help tilt the Fairy matchup to Dragon's favor. With Duraludon taking the physical Fairy-type attacks, Goodra can take the special Fairy-type attacks from Clefable, Alolan Ninetales and Galar Weezing. Earthquake is filler, but can be helpful against Poison- and Steel-types. Sap Sipper allows Goodra to soak up Spore, Stun Spore and Leech Seed, which can be helpful to avoid a teammate from getting statused from Grass-type moves.

[hide=life orb]

Kommo-o @ Iapapa Berry

Ability: Soundproof / Bulletproof

EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe

Naive Nature

- Clanging Scales

- Drain Punch

- Flamethrower

- Clangorous Soul / Flash Cannon / Taunt

[/hide]

Kommo-o gotten Clangorus Soul which gives it an omniboost at the cost of losing 33% of its HP. Before knowing what that move did, I was using LO 4 attacks, but Clangorus Soul can be good to use on a predicted switch or a choiced Pokemon locked into a resisted attack.

[hide=choice scarf]

Flygon @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Levitate

EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Jolly Nature

- Outrage

- Defog

- Earthquake

- U-turn

[/hide]

Flygon is actually usable now, mainly because of its Speed, access to Defog and can pivot out with U-turn, but I am not conviced that this is the best choice scarfer for Dragon as Hydreigion and Haxorus work better in the small testing I have done.

[hide=leftovers]

Noivern @ Leftovers

Ability: Infiltrator

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

IVs: 0 Atk

- Hurricane

- Roost

- Draco Meteor

- Defog / U-turn

[/hide]

[hide=choice scarf]

Noivern @ Choice Scarf

Ability: Infiltrator

EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

Timid Nature

- U-turn

- Draco Meteor

- Hurricane

- Flamethrower

[/hide]

Noivern is the second fastest Pokemon that Dragon has and also one of the few Defog users. Choice Scarf is cool for pivoting and able to help with the Dragon mirror and its Flying-STAB can be useful in the Bug mu and avoiding being slowed down by Sticky Web in the Psychic and Fairy matchups.



Here are some of the Dragon teams I built

https://pastebin.com/T3ZRs352 - Scarf Noivern +Double Specs

https://pastebin.com/Bb8fSRky - Scarf Haxorus + Band Daragpult + AV Goodra

https://pastebin.com/pQLCPX1u - Double Band



Replays

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8oubeta-1012117424-ryquouyucea15rywq26xekc7nevy7hwpw vs Ice

https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen8oubeta-1012220053-dtj1sjqoklb9rrsl5jnv8x915rsn0lopw vs Dark



Overall, I feel like Dragon will remain somewhere in the high middle tier for this gen, as it does have trouble with Ghost, Dark, weaknesses if not played well and sand Ground. Dragon will be even better if Kyurem-B gets to stay, but with the buffs and Dynamax, it is probably getting the boot.