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The "big 19" basic explanation – Dragonite (week: 12-1) – Don't TM all your Steel Wing Dragonites!

Defending:
Steel Wing was inferior to Dragon Tail in almostly every situation before the type effectiveness change, but now, Steel Wing has the type coverage to make up for its low defensive damage without STAB, thus making it good again.

Steel Wing: 11*1.4=15.4 against fairy.

Dragon Tail: 151.20.51=9.18 against fairy.

Attacking:
Although Dragon Claw allows better dodging purposes, it has a lower DPS than Hurricane and Outrage. However, Dragon Tail + Dragon Claw has a greater DPS than Dragon Breath + Hurricane.

Steel Wing is almostly inferior in most cases, since Dragonite is more likely being a generalist in the current meta. Steel Wing covers the weaknesses, but that isn't necessary when attacking.

Dragonite with Steel Wing + Dragon Claw can still shine against Tyranitars when attacking, but make sure that the Tyranitar's charge move isn't Stone Edge.

Asked by 333-blue7 years 11 months ago

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Answers

Why would you ever use Dragonite against Fairy?

The most valid reason for Steel Wing was prior to the gym update as a counter to Ice, and even then most preferred the dragon-typed fast attack. I'm keeping mine in case something happens along the road, but Dragonites really aren't that interesting any longer.

There is always a utility Pokémon that will outperform generic damage. In this case my vote is on Scizor.

EDIT: I just noted that there was a "defending" subtext, which makes the example even less thought through. Surely everyone lucky enough to encounter a poor Dragonite in a gym would still use Ice to tear it apart.

Agree with last point. I never understood how anyone could put anything with a double weakness in a gym even before the last update. I've personally torn down CP 3000 D'nites with a CP 1800 Jynx, CP 2200 Lapras (who still had more than half hits left), and CP 1900 Cloyster. Rhydon - grass and water, Gyarados - Lightning. Defenders must have the fewest weaknesses. Attackers must have one great strength. Pretty simple, really.

I think the answer used to be in order to easily prestige gyms, and also to get a spot above Blissey. Personally I preferred to bubble gyms with Dragonite, over Parasect.

In the new system, I think there is no room for any of the double weakness mons as defenders. With that said, they are a lot better than the random Pidgey-sized defenders that you might also come across.

It used to be possible to tear them down with a good margin less than half CP. Now it is almost ridiculous.

Dear 333-blue,

In comparison to your trainer level, you have a very deep theoretical background. You have a lot of knowledge and know a lot of sources where to get additional knowledge.

Unfortunately you repeatedly fail completely when it comes to figure out, which piece of your knowledge is relevant in a specific situation, or if this specific situation you illustrate is relevant for actual gameplay. So your advice is often borderline ridiculous.
The above piece of advice is a good example for this.

I do not really want to hurt your pride, but i want to be honest. Sorry for these hard words.

Regards BB

I felt like this writing the above comment. But it has to be said.

Get out and play!

I agree with BB. You need to have as many practices/experiments as the theories you develop. And you need to verify your theories again and again and be extra careful before publishing them. We don't need anything good on paper; we need it good in practice.
I have one thing to correct tho, BB. Trainer level is as bad an indicator of battling knowledge as CP of Pokémon's real power. I've seen L37+ players wth less than 1k battles won.