Ubers Dragapult

[Lotus]

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: U-turn / Thunderbolt
item: Choice Specs
ability: Infiltrator
nature: Timid
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Although it competes with Eternatus as a special attacker on offensive teams, Dragapult can use Choice Specs to compensate for its mediocre damage output and take advantage of its Speed to threaten a variety of common Pokemon. Dragapult outspeeds most Pokemon from offensively oriented teams, notably Eternatus and +1 Adamant Gyarados. Dragapult can also bypass Substitutes with Infiltrator, spinblock, and avoid getting exploited by trapping after drops from Draco Meteor. Choice Specs-boosted Draco Meteor can instantly force out troublesome Pokemon like bulky Eternatus, Quagsire, and Hippowdon, threatening OHKOs with or without prior damage. Shadow Ball is spammable due to the lack of Special Attack drops, unlike Draco Meteor, and low number of Pokemon that resist the move. Fire Blast helps Dragapult punish Steel-types, and U-turn generates momentum, though Thunderbolt can be used over the latter to pressure Toxapex and guarantee an OHKO on Gyarados.

Defensive checks to Dragapult are limited aside from Tyranitar and pivots like Toxapex that require precise predictions. Choice Scarf users like Galarian Darmanitan and other faster threats like Sand Rush Excadrill can exploit Dragapult's frailty and leave it in a helpless situation depending on how they apply offensive pressure. Teammates that can help cover this set's shortcomings include Hippowdon and Ferrothorn, which ease wallbreaking with entry hazards and soft check offensive threats that can exploit a Choice-locked Dragapult. Physical attackers like Zacian-C, Zamazenta, and Pokemon like Gyarados that are more specialized to plan a sweep can benefit from the pressure that Dragapult applies to physically defensive Pokemon. Sticky Web can be a viable strategy to ensure that Dragapult is faster than any Zacian-C variant, Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan, and Sand Rush Excadrill lacking an Air Balloon.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Lotus, 434601]]
- Quality checked by: [[Cynara, 224455], [Minority, 222996]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]

 

[Lotus]

If the length has to be cut down I'll put it back to WIP

It's 2 AM bye

 

[bigtalk]

My 2c:

• I would slash U-turn with Thunderbolt rather than Shadow Ball, or not slash U-turn at all (preserving the mention of it). Shadow Ball is too good to exclude, imo, since you don't have to predict nearly as hard around cores with Steel-types such as Eternatus + Zacian or Eternatus + Ferro.
• Is Adamant Zacian a helpful example of something it outspeeds? You're not staying in regardless unless you know for sure it's Adamant-- I think a better example would be Eternatus.
• I wouldn't say that it spinblocks since it can't comfortably switch into Excadrill.
• Maybe mention Dugtrio as a teammate since it traps stuff like Toxapex/Ttar/Zacian and Dragapult brings it in safely with U-turn.

 

[Lotus]

Id rather drop shadow ball bc draco is spammable for most of the game and you can just leave late game cleanup to a speed boosting user. Guaranteed one shot on gyara is something id value given how prevalent it is in most teams.

I agree that risking vs zac c is risky af so ill fix

Dugtrio is nice to remove zac c ttar and other things but the writing got long enough to the point where i find them challenging to fit in content after trimming down a lot of info. Will consider though

 

[Cynara]

I feel like Shadow ball is the most disposable move, sure its good neutral coverage, but it gets fire blast t bolt which is fantastic coverage moves. Keep it in the 4th slot with Uturn as the slash still though.

This analysis goes into depth about Dragapult, It is a bit long but its acceptable in my opinion, maybe another QC member will find a way to trim this down where I can't see.

QC: 1/2

 

[Nayrz]

Checks to Dragapult in terms of defensive aspect is limited aside from Tyranitar and pivots like Toxapex that require precise predictions. However, getting choice-locked with Dragapult tend to become hazardous if mispredictions were made against offensive Pokemon like Zacian-C that require Dragapult to lock itself into an exact move. Choice Scarf users like Darmanitan-G and other faster threats like Sand Rush Excadrill can exploit Dragapult's frailty and leave it in a helpless situation depending on how they apply offensive pressure. Teammates that can help cover this set's shortcomings include Hippowdon and Ferrothorn that ease wallbreaking with entry hazards that they set and soft check offensive threats that can exploit a choice-locked Dragapult. Pivots can provide a safer opportunity for Dragapult to switch into an ideal target, against which it can simply use Draco Meteor to cause substantial damage or attempting a surprise KO with coverage moves with less risk. Physical attackers like Zacian-C, Zamazenta, as well as Pokemon like Gyarados that are more specialized to plan a sweep can benefit from the pressure that Dragapult applies to physically defensive Pokemon. Sticky Web can be a viable strategy to ensure that Dragapult is faster than any Zacian-C variant, Choice Scarf Darmanitan-G, and Sand Rush Excadrill lacking an Air Balloon.

this probably reduces length enough to be suitable

This mon has extreme competition with Eternatus for a slot and this wasn't really covered anywhere - mention it briefly at the start.

I don't like slashing Shadow Ball when it has no resists in the tier, and generally being a Ghost is a big reason to use it. Specs Draco does like 79% minimum to Gyarados which if its behind a sub is dead anyway, and running it for this inconsistent use (it could be Jolly and you then have a near pointless move) doesn't warrant use over U-turn. I'd have U-turn / Thunderbolt in slot 4 if not drop Thunderbolt from slashing entirely - only use is a 2HKO on Toxapex at that point.

I'll discuss this more with QC and get back to you.

 

[Minority]

While Fire Blast + Thunderbolt is great coverage in a general sense, the practicality is that in Ubers Thunderbolt only has two mildly relevant targets, and is therefore less important than having a clickable STAB on a specs Pokemon in a tier where there are basically no Normal- or Dark-types, and arguably the best one (Sableye) gets hit neutral anyway.

Slash U-Turn with Thunderbolt.

Personally don't mind the two paragraph prose since the second paragraph is focused on checks and team options.

QC: 2/2

 

[Lumari]

remove add / fix (comments); (AC=add comma; RC=remove comma; SC=semicolon)
GP 1/1

check

[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Draco Meteor
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Fire Blast
move 4: U-turn / Thunderbolt
item: Choice Specs
ability: Infiltrator
nature: Timid
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Although it competes with Eternatus when attempting to fit into offensive teams as a special attacker on offensive teams, Dragapult can use Choice Specs to compensate for its mediocre damage output and take advantage of its Speed to threaten a variety of common Pokemon. Dragapult outspeeds most Pokemon from offensively oriented teams, notably Eternatus and +1 Adamant Gyarados with an Adamant nature. Dragapult can also bypass Substitutes with Infiltrator, spinblock, and avoid getting exploited by trapping after drops from Draco Meteor. Choice Specs-boosted Draco Meteor can instantly force out troublesome Pokemon like bulky Eternatus, Quagsire, and Hippowdon, threatening OHKOs with or without prior damage. Shadow Ball is spammable due to the lack of Special Attack drops, unlike Draco Meteor, and a little low number of Pokemon that resist the move. Fire Blast helps Dragapult punish Steel-types, (AC) and U-turn generates momentum, though Thunderbolt can be used over the latter to pressure Toxapex and guarantee an OHKO on Gyarados.

Defensive checks to Dragapult in terms of defensive aspect is are limited aside from Tyranitar and pivots like Toxapex that require precise predictions. Choice Scarf users like Galarian Darmanitan-G and other faster threats like Sand Rush Excadrill can exploit Dragapult's frailty and leave it in a helpless situation depending on how they apply offensive pressure. Teammates that can help cover this set's shortcomings include Hippowdon and Ferrothorn, (AC) that which ease wallbreaking with entry hazards that they set and soft check offensive threats that can exploit a Choice-locked Dragapult. Physical attackers like Zacian-C, Zamazenta, as well as and Pokemon like Gyarados that are more specialized to plan a sweep can benefit from the pressure that Dragapult applies to physically defensive Pokemon. Sticky Web can be a viable strategy to ensure that Dragapult is faster than any Zacian-C variant, Choice Scarf Galarian Darmanitan-G, and Sand Rush Excadrill lacking an Air Balloon.

 

[Lotus]

Good to see you back in my thread endgame GP boss