#147-149: Dratini, Dragonair and Dragonite

So we've passed the first legendary trio, now we're to the first pseudo-legendary, that is a Pokemon with a base stat total of 600, which usually fits in between sets of legendaries in the Pokedex. Quite a lot of these have been dragons, and this is the first that sets the trend.

Ah Dratini. So cute, and so annoying to find in most games. Dratini itself is a little weak, with fairly balanced stats reading as 41HP, 64 attack, 45 defence, then 50 across the rest (both specials and speed). Little mediocre, but you get the ability shed skin as standard (30% chance at the end of each turn to cure status conditions) and marvel scale as the hidden ability (if you're inflicted with a status condition (not confusion/infatuation), your defence gets a 50% boost). If you forgot, this is a dragon-type.

Awww!

Little baby Dratinis will start with wrap (traps the opponent using a base 15 normal physical move that keeps the foe in play for a few turns, inflicting mild recurrent damage) and leer (decreases the foe's defence by a stage). Thunder wave comes in pretty early as a weak electric shock (so won't work on ground-type foes) that will paralyse the foe, whilst twister brings in the first STAB move as a base 40 dragon special move with a chance to flinch the enemy, hitting all adjacent foes, even those in the middle of fly, bounce and sky drop, these situations leading to double damage output. Dragon rage comes in to hit foes for 40HP damage (typing only plays a part on immunities, so it will not hurt fairies), and slam is a base 80 physical normal move with poor accuracy (75), which is then followed by agility, which allows you to boost your speed a bit. Dragon tail will knock the foe out of battle as a base 60 dragon physical move, which has a very low priority, pretty much guaranteeing it will hit last. Aqua tail is a different story, a base 90 water physical move.

Dragon rush is a base 100 dragon physical move with disappointing accuracy (75), a 20% chance to cause flinching, and is another move that ruins the idea of ever using minimize, hitting a minimized foe without fail and with double the power. Safeguard pops up to protect the team from status conditions, and dragon dance boosts attack and speed by a stage, which is actually rather awesome, with great utility on this line. Outrage is a dragon equivalent of flail, hitting very hard (base 120) as a dragon physical move for a few turns before leaving the user confused, which means you could already have swept through the opponent before you get the downside, whilst hyper beam pops up to end the list as the same worthless move it always is, a base 150 normal special move with 90 accuracy, a recharge turn and just generally being disappointing.

You get some nice things in the TM list, with the old standards like return, toxic, rest, sleep talk, swagger, double team, substitute etc... But then you get hail, blizzard and ice beam? Ok, I guess. You also get flamethrower and fire blast (as well as sunny day and rain dance) to cover the ice weakness, and light screen can buff up your bulk. Thunder pops up along with thunderbolt, incinerate and facade are also there, and dragon tail again makes an appearance.

This is a Pokemon that can breed, after three that were seemingly sterile. Aqua jet is basically a water version of quick attack, hitting as a base 40 physical move with priority. Dragon dance and dragon breath also appear, the latter being a base 60 dragon special move, which is succeeded by dragon pulse as a base 85 dragon special move that can target anyone in a triple battle. Dragon rush is there again, as well as extreme speed, which we will see later. The rest of the list is a little boring, with mist, haze, iron tail, water pulse, dragon pulse and supersonic. If you feel like visiting the tutor to see what they can give you, aqua tail comes up again, along with the previously visited water pulse, outrage and iron tail, alongside the old familiar snore, icy wind and also shockwave (base 60 electric special with no accuracy check other than against semi-invulnerable turns). Bind is basically wrap from the pre-level level list, and draco meteor is one of those high power moves (base 130) that kills your stats (2 stage drop to special attack) as a dragon special attack, so it hits less and less each time, but is amazing if your only going to use it once, or actually the best thing ever if you've got contrary.

You may well have evolved before dragon tail, with the chance to become Dragonair at level 30. You keep the old abilities, and you get a rather regular boost of 20 to all stats (61HP, 84 attack, 65 defence, and then everything else at 70). You remain mono-dragon, and the only real differences beyond the stats are the introductions of surf and waterfall as water moves to the HM slots (the former is base 90 special, the latter base 80 physical with a chance to flinch the foe).

What's with the tail beads and the Adam's apple?

Dragonair can then evolve at level 55 into Valoo from Windwaker Dragonite, the cuddly, dorky looking orange dragon, not sure why the colour change. You get an average of plus 30 to the stats, but that doesn't actually hold up, with 30 boosts to HP, defence, special attack and special defence (now 91, 95, 100 and 100 respectively), but attack goes up by 50 to 134 and speed edges up a little to a modest 80. You add flying to the typing, and you swap the abilities out: standard ability to inner focus, which prevents flinching (moderately helpful since most of the time you'll be going second, which is when flinches actually affect you), and the hidden ability goes to multiscale (damage taken when at full HP is halved, except moves that do fixed damage, like the aforementioned dragon rage).

"Hey!"

Fire and thunder punch come into the fold as base 75 physical moves (you can guess the types here) with chances to afflict their associated status issues. Wing attack also pops up to go with the newly sprouted wings, hitting as a base 60 flying physical attack with 35PP (which is amazing) and can hit anyone in a triple battle. Hurricane also appears, hitting as a base 110 flying special move with 70 accuracy, but in sunshine it gets worse accuracy and in the rain it skips the accuracy check. Hurricane even hits foes in the middle of a flying turn for more damage.

Hone claws (attack and accuracy up a stage), dragon claw (base 80 dragon physical), earthquake, brick break, sandstorm, rock tomb, aerial ace, steel wing, focus blast, sky drop, stone edge and fly all pop into the TM list. The tutor now offers the elemental punches, heat wave (see the legendary birds), iron head, tail wind and superpower (base 120 physical fighting that drops both your physical stats by a stage) along with focus punch. If you brought Dragonite from a previous generation you could have extreme speed here, which could then be bred onto the successors, but this option has disappeared.

All in all, this is pretty good. You lack speed, and priority has dried up a bit over the years, but there's power and bulk here, so not hitting first may not be awful, and hey, you can draco meteor your way out of trouble for a second or two, killing a foe and crippling another before you're finally downed. Fairy has made this a little worse, but still, this is so cute a line, and so iconic it's well worth considering, even if it's just to be your friend.

(All artwork presented by Ken Sugimori, taken from the Bulbapedia image archives)