Richard's Reasoning - Dragonite

Welcome to the first installment of Richard's Reasoning. We'll be discussing Pokemon in Crystal Clear's unique metagame. This time we'll be discussing Dragonite, but before we do that let's establish some understandings:

-The metagame continues to evolve, through player experience and time, moveset additions and changes, and new bans. The advice given in any of these articles will inevitably be outdated.

-There will be things I don't consider from time to time, and opinions that I hold that won't line up with yours. While I have been playing competitive Pokemon for nearly 20 years, I am not infallible and I'd love to use these as a springboard for conversation among the community.

With that said, let's get into our discussion for today, Dragonite!

Base Stats: 91 HP / 134 Attack / 95 Defense / 100 Sp. Attack / 100 Sp. Defense / 80 Speed

So, cards on the table, the reason that I am beginning with Dragonite is because I think it sees way more tournament use than it deserves. I think people see it, know that Dragonite is a good Pokemon in future generations, and just assume it must be so in our metagame as well. I don't think Dragonite is bad, but I also think it's wildly overrated. Before going further, let's showcase what I believe is Dragonite's best set.

-Swiss Army Nite-

Dragonite@ MiracleBerry / PRZCureBerry / Black Belt
Thunder
DynamicPunch
Fire Blast / Wing Attack / Hydro Pump / Earthquake
Body Slam / ExtremeSpeed / Dragonbreath / Thunder Wave / Rain Dance

Alright, so that's a lot, but bear with me, we're going to discuss all of it. Dragonite's versatility can make it difficult to predict, but more importantly, difficult to safely switch into. In my opinion, Thunder is 100% necessary on Dragonite. You hit many common Pokemon in the metagame very hard with a 30% chance to cause Paralysis. This alone makes the task of switching into Dragonite a gamble. The 70% accuracy is unfortunate, but dropping to Thunderbolt leaves Dragonite underpowered, given its lack of STAB on the attack.

DynamicPunch is the second necessary inclusion, and is unfortunately even less reliable than Thunder. However, the ability to 2HKO Chansey (100% of the time with Leftovers), Porygon2 (99% of the time with Leftovers), and Miltank (1% of the time with Leftovers) is important. That last statistic, by the way, is why Black Belt is an option - the chance to 2HKO Miltank with DynamicPunch jumps from 1% to 73% with Black Belt. Whether or not this is important to you is something to evaluate with the rest of your team, and you should still factor in the potential for Miltank to hit itself in confusion.

Fire Blast is probably the safest bet in the third slot. It gives you a pretty reliable attack with huge power and 10% chance to inflict a Burn. It also targets down Scizor and Steelix, which can be important Pokemon to target, as well as giving you an option to hit bulky Grass types, many of which resist DynamicPunch as well as Thunder.

Wing Attack can be used to beat Heracross, but Heracross will not typically stay in on Dragonite anyway, given that it lacks Rock Slide, so this isn't a great option. It's pretty weak, and even with Dragonite's high Attack stat it does very unimpressive damage to most neutral targets.

Hydro Pump can be used in this slot as well, especially if Dragonite is given Rain support. It also targets down Steelix, and gives Dragonite a great way to beat Pokemon like Rhydon and Marowak, as well as threatening a 2HKO on Entei in normal weather conditions.

Earthquake is really not a bad option, it just doesn't do as much to target Pokemon super-effectively that Dragonite would usually enjoy fighting. Still, being able to threaten 2HKOs on Pokemon like Gengar, Jolteon, Lanturn, Entei and more is a valuable thing to have. It really comes down to what your team needs, but I'd say this slot has more valuable targeting options.

The final slot has been given to a support move. Body Slam is high power with a 30% chance to Paralyze. ExtremeSpeed is a bit weaker, but has priority, which allows Dragonite to function as a revenge-killer in some scenarios. Dragonbreath is very weak, even with STAB, but can threaten Paralysis on every type of Pokemon, which is valuable. Finally, Thunder Wave is a guaranteed Paralysis move, though it fails against Ground types. I think this slot being support is important, as it means that even if the opponent has a Pokemon that walls Dragonite, they can still be punished for switching into it (or in the case of ExtremeSpeed, gives Dragonite a specific task to perform if necessary beyond just dealing damage through coverage).

Finally you could use this slot for Dragonite to set its own Rain, which gives Thunder 100% accuracy and gives Hydro Pump a boost in power equivalent to STAB. The problem with leaning into this route is that it means Grass types switch in on you even easier since you don't have coverage to beat them. If that's not an issue, and you don't mind giving up Paralysis support, this is a pretty solid option for Dragonite.

Dragonite has many other options that you can include on the set. Generally they make Dragonite less effective, but can be very important if you're using Dragonite for a very specific purpose: Ice Beam provides good coverage, Reflect and Light Screen are great team support, Haze can wipe away the opponent's stat boosts, Icy Wind provides excellent Speed control and incentivizes the opponent to switch, and Toxic can punish bulky walls for switching in. All of these are viable, but it's important to figure out what Dragonite's purpose on your team is. To put it another way, a team shouldn't be built around Dragonite. Dragonite should fill a slot in a team that helps that team solve specific problems.

-My opinion-

Dragonite is a Pokemon that can do a lot, but far too often people just slap 4 random attacks on it and think it's going to dominate. It doesn't have the tools yet for that, so it's a much more specific Pokemon that needs to be considered carefully. I like the design okay, but these early generations don't incentivize me to use it enough. And in 1 more generation we get my favorite Dragon, Salamence, so I rarely find opportunities to use Dragonite.