HOME | DD

Description
Hydreigon is a monster that can only be described by its Classification, the "Brutal Pokemon". Sporting extremely dangerous 105 / 125 / 98 offenses alongside a destructive movepool that is virtually limitless, there's little question to why its so powerful. In its day back in Gen. 5 Hydreigon may very well be the most difficult thing to switch in on in the history of Pokemon to its solid defensive stats, 6 type resistances and 2 immunities.

Though they are a huge pain to obtain as their entire evolution line takes so long to evolve. Deino doesn't evolve into Zweilous until Level 50 and Zweilous doesn't evolve into Hydreigon until Level 64! Out of all Pokémon that evolve via level up, Hydreigon evolves from its pre-evolution later than any other Pokémon. I myself have raised a total of 5 Hydreigon. 2 of them I raised from a level 1 Deino! So I can tell you from experience that it was always a long and arduous journey evolving one.

Now, back to its competitive viability. Back in the generation that it debut in, Hydreigon faced very little competition and was undoubtedly one of the strongest Pseudo Legendary Pokemon at the time (and it still doesn't have a Mega Evolution!). But then Fairy-types came along and now severely hamper Hydreigon's overall viability due to it now having a x4 weakness to the new type. Pokemon such as Gardevoir, Azumarill, Mawile, and Sylveon now threaten Hydreigon whenever they come out. But just because of its x4 weakness to Fairies does not mean Hydreigon is now utterly useless, you just really need to strategize on how to use it (especially against Fairies). Don't forget that it still has a very large and diverse and movepool to rely on, some moves it is able to learn can even help it against Fairy-types.

Here's my Hydreigon's summary.
Nature: Modest Nature
Held Item: Darkinium-Z or Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
-Dark Pulse
-Dragon Pulse
-Flash Cannon
-Earth Power

Dragon Pulse is the primary STAB move, one which breaks apart pretty much everything that it hits neutral. Dark Pulse hits most Steel-types for neutral damage and provides important coverage against Psychic- and Ghost-types. Flash Cannon is a very important move as it gives Hydreigon a super effective move to use against Fairies. If you don't have a Steel move on your Hydreigon, then I would not recommend using Hydreigon at all against Fairy-types. Earth Power helps Hydreigon against Electric, Fire, Rock, and bulky Steel-type Pokemon.

Maximum Special Attack EVs plus a Modest nature allow Hydreigon to hit as hard as possible, while maximum Speed EVs allow Hydreigon to outspeed a number of Pokemon (though not a lot of Pokemon that threaten it) with base 98 Speed and below. Running Darkinium-Z along with Dark Pulse enables Hydreigon to unleash a powerful base 160 STAB Black Hole Eclipse Z-Move! Although you can alternatively run a Life Orb to increase the power of all of Hydreigon's attacks, which is never a bad thing.

Life Orb is used to give Hydreigon a good power boost to all of its moves while letting it switch between them, taking full advantage of its wide coverage.

Of course Hydreigon can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions: And there are oh so many other moves to choose from.
-Draco Meteor is a good alternative powerful STAB move to use instead of Dragon Pulse. But the fact that Hydreigon loses -2 special attack every time it uses the move does put it in a troublesome position afterwards.
-Flamethrower is another good special attack to use as it covers Hydreigon's weaknesses to Ice and Bug.
-Fire Blast is another powerful Fire move that can be used, but there is an issue with it, and that is its low accuracy.
-Charge Beam can sort of work on a Substitute set. Then again if you want to use a Dragon Sub booster, just use Calm Mind Latios or Latias.
-Running Choice Specs allow Hydreigon to hit as hard as possible.
-Choice Scarf allows Hydreigon to always be faster than Tapu Lele as well as switch into Ash-Greninja's STAB attacks and outspeed while generally
pressuring opposing offensive teams; however, the drop in power is far too great.
-While Rest and Sleep Talk is bad and should never be used, running Sleep Talk alone on the last slot of either the Choice Specs or Choice Scarf set can give you a decent status absorber. Switch in on a Breloom or Amoonguss Spore, then Sleep Talk a nuclear Draco Meteor at them.
-The advent of Z-Moves along with its wide movepool gives Hydreigon a powerful array of Z-Moves (both physical an special).

*Hydreigon is also capable of running physical movesets, as its physical attack stat isn't that far behind its special attack stat!

-Roar or Dragon Tail / Thunder Wave can be used on a bulky Roost set. Sadly there isn't really any reason to use this when Dragonite exists.
-Work Up is kind of cool because you can end up with +1 Attack and +1 Special Attack, but Hydreigon's offenses and movepool benefit more from outright attacking.
-Earthquake hits pretty much the same things Earth Power hits. It can get through Calm Mind Jirachi if its Raining and Jirachi managed a few boosts. It isn't really as useful though. Much weaker than Earth Power unless you run a lot of Attack EVs.
-Acrobatics is good to use against Fighting types. Or you could, you know, just Fire Blast it.
-Stone Edge will OHKO Volcarona but isn't actually good for anything else.
-Crunch is a good Dark move for a physical Hydreigon to run.
-Outrage or Dragon Rush are good Dragon moves for a physical Hydreigon to run. But remember that both moves have their drawbacks, Outrage causes confusion and Dragon Rush has low accuracy.
-Choice Band + 4 of Outrage / Head Smash / Crunch / Fire Fang / Thunder Fang / Ice Fang / -Aqua Tail has extremely solid offensive coverage. The flaw in this is that basically all Dragons can do this, but with much greater offensive power.
-Iron Tail is the best Steel-type move for a physical Hydreigon to run in order to counter Fairies. But be warned, it has low accuracy.
-Tailwind can be used on any set as a team support option. Giving your entire team double speed for 4 turns is pretty cool.

Notes:
There's very little reason to explain why I chose to nickname my Hydreigon after the King of Terror himself, King Ghidorah.
www.kaijukits.com/library/mart…
When you look at them side to side there's no denying the fact that Hydreigon looks very much like King Ghidorah! It's Pokedex entries even reinforce its similarities with Godzilla's 3 headed archenemy: This brutal Pokémon travels the skies on its six wings. Anything that moves seems like a foe to it, triggering its attack.

Do you have your own Hydreigon moveset and strategy? Comment below with your moveset!

Description
Hydreigon is a monster that can only be described by its Classification, the "Brutal Pokemon". Sporting extremely dangerous 105 / 125 / 98 offenses alongside a destructive movepool that is virtually limitless, there's little question to why its so powerful. In its day back in Gen. 5 Hydreigon may very well be the most difficult thing to switch in on in the history of Pokemon to its solid defensive stats, 6 type resistances and 2 immunities.

Though they are a huge pain to obtain as their entire evolution line takes so long to evolve. Deino doesn't evolve into Zweilous until Level 50 and Zweilous doesn't evolve into Hydreigon until Level 64! Out of all Pokémon that evolve via level up, Hydreigon evolves from its pre-evolution later than any other Pokémon. I myself have raised a total of 5 Hydreigon. 2 of them I raised from a level 1 Deino! So I can tell you from experience that it was always a long and arduous journey evolving one.

Now, back to its competitive viability. Back in the generation that it debut in, Hydreigon faced very little competition and was undoubtedly one of the strongest Pseudo Legendary Pokemon at the time (and it still doesn't have a Mega Evolution!). But then Fairy-types came along and now severely hamper Hydreigon's overall viability due to it now having a x4 weakness to the new type. Pokemon such as Gardevoir, Azumarill, Mawile, and Sylveon now threaten Hydreigon whenever they come out. But just because of its x4 weakness to Fairies does not mean Hydreigon is now utterly useless, you just really need to strategize on how to use it (especially against Fairies). Don't forget that it still has a very large and diverse and movepool to rely on, some moves it is able to learn can even help it against Fairy-types.

Here's my Hydreigon's summary.
Nature: Modest Nature
Held Item: Darkinium-Z or Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 6 HP / 252 SpAtk / 252 Spe
-Dark Pulse
-Dragon Pulse
-Flash Cannon
-Earth Power

Dragon Pulse is the primary STAB move, one which breaks apart pretty much everything that it hits neutral. Dark Pulse hits most Steel-types for neutral damage and provides important coverage against Psychic- and Ghost-types. Flash Cannon is a very important move as it gives Hydreigon a super effective move to use against Fairies. If you don't have a Steel move on your Hydreigon, then I would not recommend using Hydreigon at all against Fairy-types. Earth Power helps Hydreigon against Electric, Fire, Rock, and bulky Steel-type Pokemon.

Maximum Special Attack EVs plus a Modest nature allow Hydreigon to hit as hard as possible, while maximum Speed EVs allow Hydreigon to outspeed a number of Pokemon (though not a lot of Pokemon that threaten it) with base 98 Speed and below. Running Darkinium-Z along with Dark Pulse enables Hydreigon to unleash a powerful base 160 STAB Black Hole Eclipse Z-Move! Although you can alternatively run a Life Orb to increase the power of all of Hydreigon's attacks, which is never a bad thing.

Life Orb is used to give Hydreigon a good power boost to all of its moves while letting it switch between them, taking full advantage of its wide coverage.

Of course Hydreigon can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions: And there are oh so many other moves to choose from.
-Draco Meteor is a good alternative powerful STAB move to use instead of Dragon Pulse. But the fact that Hydreigon loses -2 special attack every time it uses the move does put it in a troublesome position afterwards.
-Flamethrower is another good special attack to use as it covers Hydreigon's weaknesses to Ice and Bug.
-Fire Blast is another powerful Fire move that can be used, but there is an issue with it, and that is its low accuracy.
-Charge Beam can sort of work on a Substitute set. Then again if you want to use a Dragon Sub booster, just use Calm Mind Latios or Latias.
-Running Choice Specs allow Hydreigon to hit as hard as possible.
-Choice Scarf allows Hydreigon to always be faster than Tapu Lele as well as switch into Ash-Greninja's STAB attacks and outspeed while generally
pressuring opposing offensive teams; however, the drop in power is far too great.
-While Rest and Sleep Talk is bad and should never be used, running Sleep Talk alone on the last slot of either the Choice Specs or Choice Scarf set can give you a decent status absorber. Switch in on a Breloom or Amoonguss Spore, then Sleep Talk a nuclear Draco Meteor at them.
-The advent of Z-Moves along with its wide movepool gives Hydreigon a powerful array of Z-Moves (both physical an special).

*Hydreigon is also capable of running physical movesets, as its physical attack stat isn't that far behind its special attack stat!

-Roar or Dragon Tail / Thunder Wave can be used on a bulky Roost set. Sadly there isn't really any reason to use this when Dragonite exists.
-Work Up is kind of cool because you can end up with +1 Attack and +1 Special Attack, but Hydreigon's offenses and movepool benefit more from outright attacking.
-Earthquake hits pretty much the same things Earth Power hits. It can get through Calm Mind Jirachi if its Raining and Jirachi managed a few boosts. It isn't really as useful though. Much weaker than Earth Power unless you run a lot of Attack EVs.
-Acrobatics is good to use against Fighting types. Or you could, you know, just Fire Blast it.
-Stone Edge will OHKO Volcarona but isn't actually good for anything else.
-Crunch is a good Dark move for a physical Hydreigon to run.
-Outrage or Dragon Rush are good Dragon moves for a physical Hydreigon to run. But remember that both moves have their drawbacks, Outrage causes confusion and Dragon Rush has low accuracy.
-Choice Band + 4 of Outrage / Head Smash / Crunch / Fire Fang / Thunder Fang / Ice Fang / -Aqua Tail has extremely solid offensive coverage. The flaw in this is that basically all Dragons can do this, but with much greater offensive power.
-Iron Tail is the best Steel-type move for a physical Hydreigon to run in order to counter Fairies. But be warned, it has low accuracy.
-Tailwind can be used on any set as a team support option. Giving your entire team double speed for 4 turns is pretty cool.

Notes:
There's very little reason to explain why I chose to nickname my Hydreigon after the King of Terror himself, King Ghidorah.
www.kaijukits.com/library/mart…
When you look at them side to side there's no denying the fact that Hydreigon looks very much like King Ghidorah! It's Pokedex entries even reinforce its similarities with Godzilla's 3 headed archenemy: This brutal Pokémon travels the skies on its six wings. Anything that moves seems like a foe to it, triggering its attack.

Do you have your own Hydreigon moveset and strategy? Comment below with your moveset!