Need a dragonite counter... pls help.
I'm having trouble bringing down the 3500+ CP Dargonites in gyms so I need a little help. Currently I'm at lvl. 32 and my main Dragonite counters are Empoleon (2330 w/ Blizzard) and Walrein (2010 w/ Blizzard).
I tried using my Golem (2520 w/ Rock Blast) but he doesn't seem to be as effective as Empoleon (Empoleon resists Outrage).
Though both my Empoleon and Walrein seem to need one Hyper Potion per battle against a fully motivated Dragonite (which is uneconomical for me).
Can I get a better Dragonite counter at my level?
Answers
I wanted to use Weavile but the one I got has Feint att. and Foul Play and I'm using him against Cresselia.
I have been looking for shellder but for some reason I just can't find them. I even go to a park near my house with a lake and I swear I'll get another Gyarados before I get a Cloyster. (I haven't got one yet and almost all shellders I've got are from eggs).
I'll have to use a charge tm on mewtwo to get ice beam (thanks though :) I have Piloswine (but it has bulldoze) and both my Pilo and Jynx are low level.
I have been looking for shellder but for some reason I just can't find them. I even go to a park near my house with a lake and I swear I'll get another Gyarados before I get a Cloyster. (I haven't got one yet and almost all shellders I've got are from eggs).
It's hard for Walrein to take the 3500+ Dragonites out in one Blizzard. After that the Dragonite uses Outrage and I have a hard time dodging (phone's really slow). After one fully motivated Outrage I usually need a potion to take it out, otherwise I faint on the next two tries.
I have been looking for shellder but for some reason I just can't find them. I even go to a park near my house with a lake and I swear I'll get another Gyarados before I get a Cloyster. (I haven't got one yet and almost all shellders I've got are from eggs).
Attacking gyms in my area takes a lot of my potions so I tend to run out of hyper and max potions fairly quickly. Lots of peoples with 200+ Golden Razz Berries that never take their eyes of their phones.
I mean I'll take down an entire gym, but some rando comes along and waits till the last pokemon will be at really low motivation level, and then takes him out. Next thing I know there are 3-4 pokemon already at the gym from another team (multi-accounts). They then spam golden razz berries.
(Sorry for the long reply, just these guys tick me off)
Nothing beats Ice for taking down Dragonites. Personally I prefer Piloswine, the combination of Avalanche with the high energy gain of Powder Snow, if played right, is fast enough to take out a Dragonite defender before he can fire his first charge move.
But if you want to save potions, go for bulk. A legacy Lapras with ice Beam is great.
Standard gym counters for Dragonite are anything with Ice attacks to take advantage of the double weakness. Given the latest shift in weakness/resistance values, this is more important than ever.
Jynx, Walrein, Cloyster, and Lapras are standard counters. Once it's out (maybe in a few days) Mamoswine will excel in that role, with Avalanche. Further, it will have CP comparable to Dragonite's CP (once you level up), and get STAB with it's Ice attacks (unlike Empoleon).
Mewtwo with Ice Beam is also good, but I wouldn't recommend investing RC in that now, with Mamoswine imminent [possible release Tuesday (tomorrow as I write this) at 1 PM PST].
There isn't much I can say that hasn't already been said. Ice types are the fastest way to take down a Dragonite especially with the recent change to effectiveness multipliers. Preferably you'd want to use something with either Ice Beam or Avalanche as their 2 bar nature can help you get a jump on them if Outrage is giving you grief. Weavile has the highest DPS - if you have a Sinnoh Stone it's worth looking into. For potion effectiveness Cloyster or Articuno would be better picks.
I'm surprised Potions are a limit for you. Do you open 20 gifts daily? I find I have to chuck healing items just to make room.
I used to open 20 gifts daily, but the last couple of weeks have been really hectic so I haven't got the chance.
I did get a Weavile but he has Feint att. and Foul Play so I'm using it against Cresselia. My Articuno, Jynx and Pilo are all at low level and it'll take some time to get all the candies.
I just can't find any Shellder to get one single Cloyster. Even near water Shellder just refuse to spawn for me. Beside the regionals it's my only dex entry that i haven'y got in Kanto.
I was just hoping there was an unconventional Dragonite counter I could use.
How would 2100 CP Blissey w/ Dazz.G or 3000 CP Tyranitar w/ Stone Edge work?
>Blissey on offense
lol no
Tyranitar I'd only use if it also had Smack Down and if you have nothing else better, though it's considerably slower than the previously mentioned ice types. Smack Down was community day exclusive and cannot be TM'ed, so if you missed it you're S.o.L.
If your Tyranitar has Bite you're honestly better off with your Rock Blast Golem at their stated CP.
"Weavile has the highest DPS ...." Yes, but that calculation is from gym/raid battles. However, Ice Shard generates energy very fast, and Avalanche is great in PvP, so it's a strong combination there too.
Edit - nevermind, OP was asking about gyms. What I said above is still true, just less relevant to the original problem.
tl;dr : If the problem you're facing is potion-usage against a Dragonite, your only real option is to Dodge.
Full Explanation:
Every Pokémon that will have a chance of taking down a Dragonite quickly is going to have more than 115hp, meaning when you revive it, it's going to need at least 58hp - which is either 1 Hyper/Full or 2 other potions. And if your Pokémon doesn't faint, you will likely need 2+ Potions (other than Hyper/Full) to bring it back to full health.
A CP 3500 Dragonite is going to cause a lot of damage when it hits your Pokémon - no matter what Pokémon it is. And if it has Outrage, it's going to get at least 1 of those off per Gym Defense - Dragonite, even with the double-weakness to Ice, is just that strong. So it's going to take down any and every good counter for it
The only other potential option is something like Gardevoir with Dazzling Gleam. Fairy does Super-Effective damage to Dragon while taking double-reduced damage to Dragon (Assuming that the Dragonite doesn't have Steel Wing as a Quick Move, in which case Gardevoir is terrible). But even with Gardevoir, you're going to need to dodge to avoid the damage if your concern is conserving Potions because Fairy is only single-Effective against Dragonite, not Double-Effective. So less damage taken per hit, but will take more hits per battle.
So, in summation, if you want to conserve Potions - DODGE. Dragonite is a costly defender.
(and if you're having trouble getting potions, now is a very good time to get a pretty big Friends List going and trying to get about 20-30 gifts coming in a day. My gifts tend to contain about 20% Potions of one kind or another, and new Baby Pokémon are coming to 7km eggs. Hopefully these Baby Pokémon will still have the 25 candy/10,000stardust cost to buy a new Charge Attack, so it might be possible to have a Snorlax with 2 Charge Attacks, for instance, instead of having to pay 75 candies and 75,000 stardust... I know I'd be interested in that, if only to have something unexpected to toss out in PvP.)
I honestly try to dodge but my phone's slow, so some times it's unresponsive and I take the hit; which is why I was looking for pokemon that could comfortably take out A 3500+ CP Dragonite without it getting a shot off. My Empoleon in that regard is pretty good because it resists Dragon and has Blizzard. It seems that a high level Jynx could take out a Dragonite before it gets a shot off so I would probably be investing my rare candies into it for now.
It sounds like a big part of your issue isn't the ability to take down Dragonites in gyms, but rather the number of healing items you have to use while doing it. Thus, I'll recommend Togekiss (I don't think I saw anyone mention it yet). It won't take down a Dragonite with the speed of an ice-type Mon, that's for sure, but with immunity-tier resistance to Dragon-type attacks, your Togekiss should need little to no healing after a fight with a dragon.