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Dragonite Specialists

Most of us know by now that typical counters to Dragonite are Fairy or Ice. However, if the Dragonite you go up against happens to have Steel Wing for its quick move, it will be super effective against a Fairy or Ice type Pokemon (unless, of course, the Ice Pokemon has a dual type such as Lapras with Ice/Water which is not weak to Steel attacks). I'm not saying do not use these well known counters, they are very useful once the move-set of the opponent Dragonite is known or if you have a good Lapras (but hey, I've hatched well over 500 eggs and only found one Lapras). But before the move-set is known, it is a gamble using a Fairy or Ice-only type. The last thing you want when battling the Pokemon with (currently) the highest attack stat is for it to be using super effective moves!

The Pokemon below have been really useful for me in fighting the onslaught of Dragonites in NYC.
Due to the inherently lower CP (drastically lower in the case of Seadra with max CP of about 1700) with these Pokemon, dodging is crucial. Luckily these Pokemon are both equipped with quick moves with relatively low CD times.

Seadra
- Dragon Breath (x1.25), Blizzard (x1.5)
- None of Dragonite's moves are "Super effective" against Seadra
- Moreover, if the Dragonite has Steel Wing, it will be "Not very effective."
- Considerably easier to find and power up than a Lapras

Charizard
- Wing Attack (x1.25 (STAB)), Dragon Claw (x1.25) don't forget, Charizard has a great Attack stat too!
- None of Dragonite's moves are "Super effective" against Charizard
- Moreover, if the Dragonite has Steel Wing, it will be "Not very effective."

The point is, while these Pokemon with these particular move-sets are considered sub-optimal in general, they make excellent weapons against Dragonites with 2-3 times the amount of CP. My Seadra is about 1220 CP and my Charizard only 1500 CP, with IVs in the 80's and I regularly am able to take down Dragonites in the 2000-3000 CP range. These Pokemon with these specific move-sets are awesome in my opinion, at least for people who live in well populated areas where Dragonites are the norm. So what about you, do you have any "specialist" Pokemon that are your goto in certain cases?
There are some obvious ones (such as Jolteon/Riachu/Electabuzz with Thunder against Gyarados, or even Scyther with Fury Cutter / Bug Buzz which wreaks havoc on Exeggutor [unfortunately, just like on the original GB games, Scyther only has a few valuable move-sets]) and then there are some others which take a little bit of research to find. Even sites with "Best Attackers" databases do not always pick up on these (e.g. pokeassistant). Anyone care to share?

Asked by LBrouwer8 years 5 months ago

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I totally Agree!!! I mean.. yes, others may have Pokémons with high IV's and CP's while others don't have but still all of them has a specific strengths and weaknesses thus having multiple Pokémons which have great move set is essential so as having a Specialist Pokémon that can be your go to guy in a certain situation will really be as important as the game is concern and guys!!! PLS PLS PLS practice how to dodge and do good timings and you will later on appreciate the strengths of other Pokémons and not stick with one thousand Dragonite in your account. Hahaha =P "Believe me or not... Dragonite is double resistant to fire but my 2075 CP Arcanince can still take down and own a 2700 CP dragonite with steel wing/dragon pulse at the gym".

One of my favor pokemons agaisnt Dragonites are Jolteons.
- Electric is super effective against Flying (x1.25 damage)
- Flying and Steel are not effective against Electric (x0.8 for one type or x0.6 for Dragonites with both types)
- CD time is very low, allowing you to dodge most of the Dragon's attacks.
- Eevees are easy to find.

I already ha a specialist against dragonites with 2.4-3k cps!! And sometimes is my go to guy when facing a gym full of dragonites!! :-) :-).. blastoise with the worst possible moveset available for him but occasionally he can take down 2 dragonites in a row and half the lif of the third one.. he can dodge almost everything they throw out at him.. with bite / ice beam he is an mvp killer for dragonites..

Exactly :D

The only first generation's ice pokemon wich isn't a water type as well is Jynx. You can use all the others ice ones against Dragonite with no problem.

Yeah, that's a great point. Also, if/when Articuno comes out, as well as some of second gen Pokemon it'll be more relevant for Steel Wing against Ice types.

Dragonite is not a good defender at all
the problem is its attack with STAB only works on Dragon type, which is Dragonite only
even my Golduck with hydro pump can out play a higher level Dragonite without any pressure

I'm fine using my Magneton Spark/Flashcannon very resistant to both Dragon and Steel, dodge every charge move and kill dragonite easily, and it is also very good vs Slowbro and Golduck, perfect to power up gyms 'cause of low cp.

Usually I'll just attack Dragonites in gyms with my own Dragonite (it helps that most of the time the defending Dragonite has steel wing). If there's more than one Dragonite in a gym though, I'll break out my confusion/ice beam Slowbro, which can take out Dragonites almost 2x his CP.

Absolutely. I have a 100% IV Seadra with Dragon Breath/Blizzard that is my go-to Dragonite killer. With good dodging, it can often take out Dragonites with 1000 CP or more over its own.

In fact, I've found a number of underrated Pokemon with movesets that excel against a particularly common gym defender. I've found that Pinsir with Fury Cutter/X-Scissor to be a great Exeggutor killer, especially as the speed of the moves allows for great dodging. Still searching for a reliable counter to Lapras though.