Pokemon Super Effective Files: Dragon Spotlight

This week’s Super Effective Files focuses on Dragon Type Pokemon. The spotlight will be on Goodra, but first I want to go over some info on Dragon types in general.

Even though they recently got a new weakness, their weakness in general are from types that aren’t that common, and they have resistances to more common types.

Dragon Type Info

Dragons have always been a fearsome type for both attack and defense. It is is only strong against other Dragon Types, dealing 2x damage.

However, it is also only deals half damage to Steel type and only Fairy types are immune. They are weak to Dragon, Ice, and Fairy, taking 2x damage from all 3.

They have resistance to Fire, Water, Grass, and Electric and only take half the normal damage from them.

This makes Dragon types and their attacks a great choice in most situations. Steel and Fairy types are not as common as others, so a Dragon attack will do at least normal damage to most opponents. Even though they have 3 weaknesses, 1 is against their own type and the others are also not as common. Their resistances are from common types you see, so it is rarely a bad choice to choose a Dragon.

There are 2 attacks you will see a lot on Dragon types, Dragon Claw and Dragon Pulse. Dragon Claw is a strong physical attack and Dragon Pulse is a strong special attack, so it depends on the strengths of the Pokemon using it.

There are multiple Pokemon that can use Dragon type moves even if they aren’t Dragon, so it is a good choice to add variety to your moveset. Today, I’m going to put the spotlight on Goodra. This is a great Dragon that works well as a Special Wall, like last week’s Dragalge.

The Power of the Dragon

Goodra is a pure Dragon type, so I won’t go over the weaknesses and strengths again. It has a very high Special Defense and a decently high Special Attack.

• HP: 90
• Attack: 100
• Defense: 70
• Special Attack: 110
• Special Defense: 150
• Speed: 80

Goomy evolves into Sliggoo at level 40 and Sliggoo evolves into Goodra at level 50 while it is raining. It has 2 normal abilities, Sap Sipper and Hydration, and 1 hidden ability, Gooey.

• Sap Sipper – Attack is raised by 1 stage when hit by a Grass-type attack and will no longer take damage from Grass moves.

• Hydration – All status effects, Burn, Paralysis, Sleep, Frozen, and Poison, are healed when raining. 
• This is the one I suggest based on Goodra’s strengths. 
• Gooey – Lowers the opponent’s Speed by 1 stage when it makes physical contact.

The Gooey Wall

Goodra’s biggest strength lies in Special Defense, especially since it is a Dragon and has few weaknesses. It is best to send this Pokemon against those that use Special Attacks since they won’t do much damage. Rain plays a big part in this moveset, so Rain Dance is a must.

You could have it hold a few different items depending on who’s on your team. Damp Rock is always a good choice because it makes Rain Dance last for 8 turns instead of 5.

Calm is a great nature for taking advantage of Special Defense, otherwise Modest also works since it raises Special Attack.

I maxed Special Defense in EV/Super training, then split the rest between HP and Special Attack.

As for the moveset, I go with Rain Dance, Rest, Thunder, and Draco Meteor/Dragon Pulse/Dragon Breath.

• Rain Dance is the most important if you are using Goodra as a wall and have Hydration.
• As long as it is raining, you will be cured of all status effects at the end of the turn.

• Rest makes Goodra nearly unstoppable against Pokemon that use Special attacks.
• As long as it is raining, you can use Rest to heal completely and wake up on the same turn because of Hydration.
• Thunder is a hard hitting Special Attack and it will never miss in the rain, so I chose it as one of the attacks.

• Draco Meteor is a very hard hitting special Dragon move, but it harshly lowers your Special Attack each time you use it. This is great when you need to deal a lot of damage once, or finish off someone.
• Dragon Pulse is a good alternative if you don’t want to lower your Special Attack.
• Dragon Breath won’t do as much damage, but it does have a chance to paralyze the enemy. This might be even more useful as someone who just soaks up attacks.

That wraps up this week’s Pokemon Super Effective Files! Let me know if you have any suggestions.