Hydreigon utility

[Krumweede]

I've seen him around in people's sigs and conversation. I looked him up on Serebii and he seems to have avg stats. What's the catch or is he just cool? Since Smogon doesn't have B/W pokemon up I can't see his different roles. He seems to be a special attacker but has better type coverage with his possible physical moves. What are the most common roles/setups for it? Thanks

[wraith89]

Keep in mind in the following paragraphs that what I say is from experience, not by what everyone else goes by, so there can be many things that may have changed in the metagame and whatnot.

Its stats are deceiving. Hydreigon isn't as bad as one would think it is. In fact, I've had it survive a Close Combat (barely) from an Arcanine, which was pretty cool. Its defences do not look so high, but 92/90/90 is actually quite good. I know it isn't all too impressive in one's point of view, but that typing is something, as Dark Pokemon are able to mess with the new breeds of Psychics such as Reuniclus and the likes. Hydreigon does not have Dragon Dance, and its speed is a troll speed tier of 98 (which only serves to outpace Haxorus by 1 base point), Hydreigon makes a very good wallbreaker with its two attack stats of 105 and 125. They do not look much to you, but remember some Pokemon like Feraligatr or Heracross have numbers like this and they can still lay a dent. Hydreigon has Taunt which can stop Blissey switch ins: use Draco Meteor and start Crunching it after and Hydreigon can actually beat Blissey one on one. That is just one example. It seems to have "replaced" Flygon has the primary dragon Choice Scarf scouter, as Hydreigon HAS ACCESS to U-turn. With a Choice Scarf attached, Hydreigon can come in and scout and start U-turning. I know Flygon is slightly faster and an arguably better typing, but Hydreigon has immunity to Ground just like Flygon does thanks to Levitate and an immunity to Psychic, which can prove useful (yes, Psychic moves are actually being used in this metagame!) The fact that Hydreigon poses a threat physically AND specially (though mostly the latter) makes it hard to switch into and it can prove to be a nuisance sometimes. Flygon is most of the time physical aside from some random Draco Meteors and Fire Blasts. Unlike the other pseudolegendary dragons, it does not have a 4x weakness to Ice either. That Fighting and Bug weakness is a pain, but Hydreigon has moves to defend against Fighters and Bugs too such as Acrobatics or Fire Blast. Surf or Earth Power makes sure it is not a dead weight against Heatran. It is a shame it does not get Dragon Dance and only has Work Up as its booster, but it is still workable. Another dumb thing that can be emphasized is Hydreigon cannot be beaten by Wobbuffet.

It's like the whole Dragonite vs Salamence argument. One would just look at the stats and say Salamence is superior: it has better attack and special attack and speed. Intimidate makes its physical defence better than Dragonite's. Therefore Salamence is flat out better and no one should use Dragonite. That's not entirely true either, because Dragonite's bulk allows it to set up more comfortably than Salamence would (the extra bulk IS important), and Dragonite's movepool is a lot wider than Salamence's, and it even has priority attacks in the form of Extremespeed and Aqua Jet to spare. While Salamence is usually regarded as an offensive powerhouse (I say usually because there ARE defensive Salamences), Dragonite can fit in so many teams because it can do many things. Dragonite is far from being outclassed by Salamence, but one look would make you think that way. You are only looking at Hydreigon's stats and say "it can't be THAT good" without realising that it does have some utility. I was at first skeptical too about its stat spread, but it is not all that bad... just different like the rest of Generation V Pokemon that came into the fray. Okay, so it doesn't have base 140s like all the others, but regardless, Hydreigon sees a lot of use for a reason.

tl;dr: Hydreigon is a wallbreaker or scout with some survivability.