r/PokemonGOBattleLeague

Well, it's Deino Community Day... again. And that means it's time to revisit HYDREIGON with Brutal Swing in PvP! Still relevant? Was it ever really relevant? Let's take a little stroll down memory lane and see!

...or just read today's Bottom Line Up Front and get the jist of it speedy style. Whatever floats your boat.

B.L.U.F.

• Brutal Swing is still basically a must anywhere you'd want to use Hydreigon in PvP, coming at least 10 energy cheaper than anything else it has available and representing its most consistent and reliable Dark damage output. Get it while you can without Elite TMs!

• While the non-Shadow is certainly viable, Shadow Hydreigon (not available back during the original Community Day) is generally superior, particuarly in Great and Master Leagues.

• And yes, Hydreigon is sneaky good in all three Leagues, and I think has more potential play in Master League than ever, beating nearly 2/3 of the current core meta and over 75% of non-Fairies, including ALL of the top meta Dragons!

• While I am NO PvE expert, it's worth pointing out that maxing out a Shadow Hydreigon makes sense not just for Master League PvP, but it's a Top 3 Dark-type Attacker with Bite and Brutal Swing, behind only Mega Absol and Mega Tyranitar.

Alright, now for the deeper dive....

HYDREIGON

Dark/Dragon Type

GREAT LEAGUE:

• Attack: 137 (135 High Stat Product)

• Defense: 103 (107 High Stat Product)

• HP: 116 (116 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 0-15-10, 1499 CP, Level 15.5)

ULTRA LEAGUE:

• Attack: 176 (173 High Stat Product)

• Defense: 132 (137 High Stat Product)

• HP: 152 (152 High Stat Product)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 0-15-15, 2495 CP, Level 25.5)

MASTER LEAGUE:

• Attack: 228

• Defense: 171

• HP: 189

(Assuming 15-15-15 IVs; CP 4098 at Level 50)

Like both of its pre-evolutions, Hydreigon is a rare Dark/Dragon type, the only ones in the game besides Ultra Beast Guzzlord. That means that it comes with a lengthy list of resistances — all the "elements" (Grass, Fire, Water, Electric) on its Dragon side, and Dark, Ghost, and Psychic (2x) on its Dark side — but also some key vulnerabilities, such as Ice and Dragon (as a Dragon itself), and Fighting and Bug (thanks to Dark), and most critically, a DOUBLE weakness to Fairy damage (as Dragons and Darks have that vulnerability in common). The good outweighs the bad, but the bad has a very ugly head to rear.

Unlike its predecessors (and Guzzlord), Hydreigon will never be called "bulky". Zweilous has half a dozen more Defense and about 25 more HP in Great League (the only league where one can fairly compare them side by side), and Deino easily outpaces Hydra with about 20 more HP if they're stacked against each other in Little League. (But uh... you needn't worry about grinding for a Level 5ish Little League Hydreigon, esecially since Scopely seems to have forgotten that League even exists. 😔) While Guzzlord has some famously weird stats (lowest Defense among ranked Dragons and Darks in Great and Ultra League with the sole exception of Sharpedo, but also top stamina/HP among Dragons and Darks and Top 5 HP among ALL ranked Pokémon), the end result is overall bulk and an overall stat product that leaves Hydreigon completely in the dust in Great and Ultra Leagues. Hydreigon is unabashedly Attack-centric, which is what allows it to not only comfortably enter Master League territory, but impressively so by crossing the fabled 4000 CP barrier, something only a handful of other non-Mega, non-Legendary Pokémon can boast.

Fast Moves:

Dragon Breath (Dragon, 3.0 DPT, 4.0 EPT, 0.5 CoolDown)

Bite (Dark, 4.0 DPT, 2.0 EPT, 0.5 CD)

There is a strong case to be made for Bite in PvE, but here in PvP, it's clearly Dragon Breath. Breath now deals less damage, but generates literally twice as much energy and has much wider neutral coverage. It's a far better move for PvP.

On to those charge moves!

ᴱ - Exclusive (Community Day) Move

Charge Moves:

Brutal Swingᴱ (Dark, 55 damage, 35 energy)

Fly (Flying, 80 damage, 45 energy)

Dark Pulse (Dark, 80 damage, 50 energy)

Dragon Pulse (Dragon, 90 damage, 55 energy)

Flash Cannon (Steel, 110 damage, 70 energy)

So when Brutal Swing was first released (and if you remember, its first-ever user was Hydreigon during its original Community Day), it was a bit slower but more damaging at 40 energy for 65 damage. At the time I recommended it as almost a full upgrade on Dark Pulse, and though they're much different moves now after Brutal Swing's Season 20 rework into its current stats, that is still my advice: run Brutal for your Dark damage output and don't worry about Dark Pulse. Instead, run one of the other moves below!

Dragon Pulse is a much better move now than it was during the original Community Day, as even the minor adjustment to it back in Season 24 (slashing the old cost of 60 down to its current 55) has proven to be a major boon to its stock. It's gone from a move you used only begrudgingly — as was the case in my original Hydreigon analysis — to now one that you almost have to justify NOT selecting. Thing is, in the case of Hydreigon, there is also now an excellent alternative in Fly, a move that it didn't even have access to until last December. While it doesn't directly answer all of Hydreigon's primary counters (though it should terrify Bugs and Fighters!), it does at least offer some widespread neutral coverage with enough power to force shields, and obviously can bring in a new set of wins against Flying-weak things that may have been out of reach before. And finally, Flash Cannon is Hydreigon's ONLY real answer to Fairies that otherwise pick it apart without fear... a Fairy swapped in against a Hydra with energy has to be at least a little wary and perhaps burn a shield it really doesn't want to. But honestly, it's better in theory than in actual practice, as its cost is simply prohibitive to something with Hydreigon's subpar bulk. Sure, it can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat here or there, but I think Fly or Dragon Pulse are likely to swing win/loss columns in your favor far more often, and I don't really recommend Flash Cannon even when PvPoke defaults to it (as it does in Master League).

But don't just take my word for it... let's take it to the simulations!

GREAT LEAGUE

So as noted earlier, Hydreigon is outclassed here in terms of stats by both Guzzlord and its own pre-evolution Zweilous, the former of which also comes with Brutal Swing, the latter of which basically replaces it with Body Slam and instead relies on Dark Pulse for Dark damage, and both of which utilize Dragon fast moves (Breath for Zweil, Tail for Guzzie). But can Hydreigon's higher Attack and more versatile closing moves elevate it anyway?

First, the direct comparisons. Hydreigon (the Shadow version especially) is a close sidegrade to Guzzlord, giving up things like Clodsire, Forretress, Charjabug, Morpeko, Oinkologne, and Empoleon with Hydreigon's lesser bulk, but then overpowering others that Guzzlord cannot keep up with like Shadow Feraligatr, Shadow Swampert, Corviknight, Scizor, Shelgon, and Annihilape. As compared to Zweilous, we have a similar split, with the bulk of Zweil getting Forret, Charj, Morpeko, Drapion, Clodsire, and Oinkologne, while Shadow Hydreigon instead overhwhelms Shelgon, Altaria, Corviknight, Annihilape, and Shadow Politoed. Hydreigon is ever so slightly behind them both, but not by nearly as much as you might expect given the gap between their bulk values. Very much viable even down here in the League where high bulk arguably matters the most.

As for which closer to use, again, I don't generally recommend Flash Cannon, at least at this level, but both Fly and Dragon Pulse have real merit, the former to outpace stuff like Politoed and turn the tables on certain opponents like Medicham, while the latter can uniquely punch out stuff like Cradily instead. As for other even shield scenarios beyond just the 1v1 shield, Dragon Pulse is better than Fly with shields down (getting Galarian Moltres and regular and Shadow Politoed, while Fly instead knocks out Annihilape), and the reverse is true in 2shield, with Fly now superior in comparison to Dragon Pulse, beating all the same stuff plus Togekiss and Forretress, both of which resist Dragon damage but NOT Flying.

Either way, you're looking a robust winning percentage on a Pokémon that still has that underrated, surprise factor going for it. Yes, it will run into the occasional Fairy buzzsaw, but that hasn't held Guzzlord and such back... why should Hydreigon be any different?

The key, though, is that this is all with Shadow Hydreigon. There's an above average chance you don't just have a Shadow Deino laying around ready to evolve for this Community Day Classic. So how much worse is the non-Shadow? It IS a step down, but non-Shadow is still viable... just a little bit less exciting. While the extra bulk does mean a couple extra wins like Morpeko, Forretress, Drapion, and Guzzlord itself, the drop in damage means a greater number of new losses, including Annihilape, Galarian Moltres, Aegislash, Corviknight, Shadow Empoleon, Politoed, and Quagsire. Hopefully you DO have a Shadow ready to go...?

Well, if not, consider Ultra League then, where the dropoff between Shadow and non-Shadow may not be as noticeable....

ULTRA LEAGUE

Well, okay, Shadow Hydreigon does still have a slight edge over non-Shadow, but it's close, with the former having the power necessary to punch out stuff like Talonflame, Feraligatr, Drapion, and a number of Dragons like Kyurem, Kommo-o, and Zygarde more easily than non-Shadow, which instead better outlasts stuff like Lapras, Blastoise, Empoleon, Scizor, and Stunfisk across various even shield scenarios. You may notice that I simmed only Dragon Pulse there, because it's simply better in this meta than Fly. Now Fly certainly DOES have some very good use cases, such as taking out Flying-weak things like Annihilape, Virizion, Gastrodon, and Kommo-o in more matchups, as well as outracing things like Regidrago more consistently than Dragon Pulse. But the stopping power and effectiveness of Pulse is never worsr than a sidegrade, and is simply better than that outside of shieldless matchups, knocking out things Fly cannot like Gastrodon, Galarian Moltres, Giratina, Nidoqueen, and Zygarde in 1shield, and everything Fly can in 2shield plus Lickilicky and Blastoise. It's even better than Guzzlord in 2v2 shielding, though the Guzzler does outshine it a little bit in other even shield scenarios. But no Zweilous to worry about now, and Hydreigon is plenty solid enough to use, which shows in the rankings: #80 in Great League, but nearly cracking the Top 50 in Ultra. PvPoke shows it respect... shouldn't you?

MASTER LEAGUE

Alright, HERE we go. As mentioned earlier, Hydreigon is one of only a small handful of non-Legendary/Mega Pokémon that crosses the 4000 CP threshold. Guzzlord doesn't get anywhere close, and its performance finally takes a steep dive, while Hydreigon comes in (brutally) swinging with its highest winning percentage yet! But the best news, I think, is what makes up those win and loss lists. The loss column consists entirely of Fairies (Zacian, Xerneas, Florges, Togekiss, and Primarina) and Fighters (Marshadow, Zamazenta) aside from Metagross (and only if it's running Bullet Punch instead of Shadow Claw), Rhyperior, Dragon Breath Tyranitar, and Yveltal, all but one of which resist either Dragon or Dark damage coming their way from Hydreigon. It beats Dark-resistant Zarude, Dragon-resistant Melmetal, Kyogre, Groudon, Landorus, Ho-Oh, and every single Psychic and Dragon type currently in the Master League core meta, without exception. Well, at least in 1v1 shielding. Admittedly, other even shield matchups can be far less kind. But still, that's one heck of a surprising performance, isn't it? No wonder it slides up to being within the Top 50 now! Avoid Fairies and Hydreigon can really feast on today's ML meta. And that goes for Master Premier too!

PvE..?

So you know me (if you know me at all!) as a PvP analyst. That said, I raid too, and I look for advantages there too, so I care about PvE too! And while there are other PvE analysts out there wiser than me, I know enough to say (as others already have) that Brutal Swing — being a three-bar PvE move with only a 1.9 second duration — makes Shadow Hydreigon the best non-Mega Dark attacker in the game (combined with Bite). Even better, it exceeds the performance of all non-Mega Ghosts except Dawn Wings, and seeing as how it also resists Psychic and Ghost damage, I think it's safe to call Hydreigon the best non-Mega raider versus Psychic and Ghost types.

Yet another to consider maxing out a Shadow Hydreigon. Not often you can get double duty from one Pokémon like that, but Shadow Hydreigon breaks that mold. PvP and PvE enthusiasts can link arms and rejoice together! 🤝

IN SUMMATION

Well, I already covered the highlights with our B.L.U.F. and, of course, throughout this analysis article. But just in case you need to hear it one more time: yes, Brutal Swing Hydreigon is a force worth having on your bench for PvP... and even legit PvE use. Shadow is better if you have one to prep during the Community Day Classic event, but any good Deinos you have on hand should get exclusive move Brutal Swing while you can do so for "free". Don't miss this one, folks!

Alright, that's all I got for today. Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with near-daily PvP analysis nuggets or Patreon, if you're feeling extra generous.

Thanks for your faithful readership, and good hunting during this PvP and PvE pleasing Community Day rehash. Do be safe out there, and catch you next time, Pokéfriends!

No fancy intros here... I'm already a little behind! So let's just jump straight into today's "Quick Bites" analysis on ESPATHRA, the featured new release during this current Spring Marathon event. And by way of introduction, I'll just say right up front that this is one of those "let's examine what makes something bad and other things good" type of analysis.... 😬

ESPATHRA Stats and Stuff

Psychic Type

GREAT LEAGUE:

Attack: 132 (on average)

Defense: 90 (on average)

HP: 143 (on average)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 2-15-15 1498 CP, Level 22.5)

ULTRA LEAGUE:

Attack: 170 (on average)

Defense: 115 (on average)

HP: 187 (on average)

(Highest Stat Product IVs: 0-15-12, 2500 CP, Level 47)

As often happens in PvP, a lot of the discussion here comes down to stats, and I won't sugarcoat it: they are not in Espathra's favor. Among Psychic types, Espathra has about the same Defense and less HP than Hisuian Braviary, and less Defense and HP than even Reuniclus. It has a lower stat product than such Great League superstars (cough) as Entei, Electabuzz, Octillery, Vanilluxe, and Seadra. No, not Kingdra... Seadra.

Now in fairness, that sort of stat product neighborhood also includes Scolipede, Qwilfish, Garchomp, Hisuian Samurott, Togedemaru, Primarina, Fearow... several things with Cup or even Open play. They're able to overcome their inherent flaws with some combination of a good dual typing, solid and spammy moves, and/or excellent coverage. (Fearow having Drill Run to directly counter Electric and Rock types that otherwise terrify Flying types, for instance.) But uh... Espathra, at least in its current form, really has none of those.

It isn't so much the fault of the fast moves, which both have above average energy generation. Peck lacks STAB and deals only the average Damage Per Turn (3.0), but has 4.0 Energy Per Turn, making it an exact (albeit type-shifted) clone of good PvP moves Powder Snow, Leafage, and Shadow Claw, and superior to 2.5 DPT/4.0 EPT moves like Quick Attack, Vine Whip, Metal Sound, Wing Attack, and the recently buffed Low Kick. And those are obviously all more than viable fast moves in their own right; Peck is very solid, even without the Same Type Attack Bonus. But even better is Confusion, which does get STAB on Espathra that pushes it even higher than its listed 4.0 DPT, and maintains a solid 3.5 EPT as well. (Remember it was pushed to that from its original 3.0 EPT just a few months ago.)

Where things fall apart is the charge moves. Yes, we have Psyshock (Psychic type, 40 energy, 70 damage), which is Espathra's only saving grace at this point. But it obviously provides no coverage, and is particuarly awkward with high Psychic-type damage Confusion, just dealing more of the same. And it only gets worse from there, as two of Espathra's other charge moves are just worse Psychic-type options: Psybeam (the same 70 damage as Psyshock, but costing 60 energy), and Psychic (the move... there's the JRE meme, longtime readers!) which deals only 5 more damage for 55 energy (75d/55e)... a move that was once mighty but was brought low to get Medicham out of the Play!Pokemon circuit. (Let's just be honest about that!) There's just no reason to run either when Psyshock is right there. So that leaves it with Door #4: Dazzling Gleam, the only non-Psychic (the type) charge move available. Technically it provides badly needed coverage, specifically against Dark types which famously resist Psychic damage. But it's a bit slow at 55 energy for 90 Fairy-type damage, and that combined with Espathra's poor bulk means that Dazzling Gleam rarely if ever actually beats any Dark types, with the very rare exceptions being double-weak-to-Fairy things like Scrafty, Pangoro, and Guzzlord, and usually only when they don't shield anything at all. (Also helped by the fact that none of them run with a super effective Dark-type fast move.) Worse, Dazzling Gleam is resisted by Steel, which also resists Espathra's Psychic moves (and even Peck!), and so the only Steel type it can sometimes overcome is half-Fighting (and similarly bulk-less) Lucario.

You can probably see where this is going, but let's get into some sims to demonstrate the issues more fully....

PvP PERFORMANCE

So here we go: the best that Espathra can do in Great League. Sure, it clobbers Fighters, even the scary Rage Fisting Apes. Most Posion types crumble before Confusion and Psyshock, not surprisingly, with the notable exception of the Dark/Poisons (Drapion most notably). Sheer power means it can blow through some big names like Talonflame, Togekiss, Florges, Clefable, Wigglytuff, Alolan Ninetales, Swampert, Shadow Quagsire (but non-Shadow outlasts it), Politoed, and perhaps most impressively, half-Ghost Gourgeist. That list shrinks further in other even-shield matchups, such as 0v0 shield (Dazzling Gleam does blow away Altaria, Shelgon, and Guzzlord, but the only notable non-Fighting/Poison wins aside from that are Shadow Swampert, ShadowToed, Florges, Togekiss, and Fearow, and its lowest win percentage yet in 2v2 shielding with special wins against only Altaria, Fearow, Diggersby, Stunfisk, and ShadowQuag and ShadowToed.

For comparison, let's look at a handful of other mono-Psychic (the type) Confusion users. Cresselia dances circles around it, not surprisingly, and happens to come with a Fairy-type coverage move (Moonblast) as well, leaving little reason to ever even consider Espathra instead. Hypno lacks the Fairy coverage but has an all-around better closing option with Shadow Ball (though that does it no favors against Darks, of course). Heck, when even things like Uxie and freaking Espurr are putting you to shame, that is not a good place to be... and that's where Espathra sits. This is Gothitelle levels of bad, folks. And that, of course, doesn't even mention the many dual-type Psychics with Confusion that are far better as well.

Not any better in Ultra League either, where Espathra is at least slightly better not with Confusion, but now with Peck instead... though with only a 25% winrate that again includes little of note beyond Fighting types (Togekiss, ShadowQueen, Armored Mewtwo, and a small handful of Darks and/or Dragons thanks to Peck + Gleam), there's hardly reason to celebrate the "improvement" with Peck. Because again, other better Confusioners (even several pretty bad ones) leave Espathra in the dust.

Put simply: there is just no place for Espathra in today's metas, including even Limited formats I can think of. Psychic Cup? Has no advantages versus other Psychics. Mono-type formats? Other mono-Psychic-types I pointed out are far superior. I just don't see a place where Espathra can ever really emerge... with current moves.

Now, there IS the potential of its exclusive move, Lumina Crash, changing that one day. But that's yet ANOTHER Psychic-type charge move, so even if it ends up being a pretty good move (I simmed it as a clone of Nature's Madness, which feels about right for what Lumina Crash is in MSG), I don't see siginificant enough improvement to justify running it rather than the staple of still-better-and-more-versatile Psychic types we already have.

IN SUMMATION

I usually try and paint an optimistic picture on these spotlight analyses, but honestly, I can't really do that in any fair way this time. Espathra is just a bad PvP Pokemon with flaws that seem too much to overcome without the kind of specialized treatment usually reserved for certain Legendaries and exlusive stuff. This here is your run-of-the-mill 'dex filler, and that's okay! They can't all be winners, right?

Alright, that's it for today, folks. Until next time, you can always find me on Twitter with regular GO analysis nuggets or Patreon.

Catch you next time, Pokéfriends!