Daily Pokemon #006: Druddigon

Druddigon 

Dragon has always been a good type. Not only because of its multiple key resistances such as Water and Fire, but also because only two types don't recieve at least neutral damage against it. We must also take into account how there are really powerful dragon type moves in order to conclude that Dragon is a fantastic type. Fairy type nerfed it a bit, but it didn't make it bad at all. As for Druddigon itself....

Stats:

Whoever said that Gen VII had too many slow pokemon... was right, but Druddigon is pretty slow too. It makes up for it with good bulk and high ATK. It can be a wall or a tanky beater. It is outclassed by Dragonite in the second role though, so you'll want to weigh your options. For what Druddigon is, it can do the job decently enough.

Druddigon has a decently large moves. It has access to moves such as Crunch, Dragon Claw and Superpower naturally. Via breeding, it can Iron Tail to cover Fairy and Ice types. Also, Druddigon has nice utility with moves like Stealth Rock, Roar, Taunt and, most surprisingly, Glare. I can definitely see this last move giving Druddigon an edge in utility that other dragons can't boast about.

Abilities:

• Rough Skin: the attacking Pokémon loses 1/8 of its own maximum HP if it hits a pokemon with Rough Skin with a move that makes contact.
• Sheer Force: raises the base power of all attacking moves that have an additional effect by 30%, but the additional effects are ignored.
• Mold Breaker (hidden): ignores the effects of Abilities that could potentially affect the damage or effects of a move that its user executes.

All abilities are good in my opinion, but used for different setups. Rough Skin is more for a defensive setup. It alongside Rocky Helmet can allow for massive damage to any physical sweeper that your opponent squares against Druddigon.

Sheer Force is a great ability, and it is better suited for purely offensive setups. Moves like Iron Tail and Crunch would recieve bonus from this ability. Now unfortunately, Druddigon gets outclassed as a pure beater by pokemon like Salamance and Dragonite, but it is still a pretty decent one.

Mold Breaker is an OK ability for a beater, but considering that Sheer Force is a much better option, I don't really see a point in running it at all other than very specific situations. For example, it can be useful if you wanna use Glare on a pokemon with Limber. These sort of scenarios are uncommon, so preparing for them seems unreasonable.

Conclusion:

I said once that I don't believe that there is a single bad Dragon type pokemon, and I stand by that. Druddigon gets outclassed as a beater, but as a support pokemon it definitely has something unique to offer. I hope that people can realize the great utility that Druddigon can provide and maybe some day it will be used a lot more.