Pokemon of the Week DP: Kingdra / LegendaryPKMN

Kingdra

Sets

Rain Dancer

Item Held: Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Special Attack – 240 HP – 18 Speed

The lack of a good STABed move other than Surf hurt Kingdra in Advance and reduced its use a lot. Now, with D/P bringing Dragon Pulse, the sea dragon is able to hit a quite good amount of opponents. After Rain Dancing, your Speed reaches 420 allowing you to sweep easily. Since the rain boosts your Water-type moves, Surf will be your main attack, with Dragon Pulse hitting those who resist it. Hidden Power Electric covers Empoleon who resists both Kingdra’s STABed moves. Ice Beam isn’t that useful, it’s only suggested for those who can’t get the Hidden Power of their choice.

Dragon Dancer

Item Held: Life Orb / Scope Lens
Ability: Sniper
Nature: Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Attack – 252 Speed – 6 HP

Physical Kingdra is quite a surprise as anybody expects a Rain Dancing one. After pulling of a Dragon Dance or two, Waterfall will be able to destroy whole teams caught without a wall. Also, the Speed boosts Kingdra gets helps it get some lucky hits that flinch the opponent. And here comes help from Platinum. Kingdra got a move it really needed, a second physical STAB in the form of one of the most powerful Dragon-type moves, Outrage. This thing is gonna hurt like hell after some boosts, just imagine the power it could get by a lucky critical hit. Iron Head or Return are more of a filler as they’re Kingdra’s only other useful Physical moves. Return has higher base power while Iron Head has some good chance of making the foe flinch (higher than Waterfall).

Choice Specs Dragon

Item Held: Choice Specs
Ability: Sniper
Nature: Modest (+Special Attack, -Attack)
Effort Points: 252 Special Attack – 252 Speed – 6 HP

Much like SpecsMence, but with a major difference in the form of Sniper. A critical hit by Draco Meteor will KO even some Pokémon considered to be counters. Hydro Pump is prefered to Surf because of its better base power here and also because you won’t need more than 8 PP in a Choice set. Hidden Power Electric is for Empoleon again, Ice Beam won’t do anything more than Draco Meteor will. Dragon Pulse for late-game beating.

Other Possible Options

Kingdra’s movepool is quite limited, you have already realised that after seeing the suggested movesets. Flail and Signal Beam are two of its moves that could get a mention but they won’t hit anything. Yawn is a good move for pseudo-hazing. Focus Energy, along with Scope Lens and Sniper, could grant you some lucky (and powerful) critical hits. Finally, a mixed set with Rain Dance and Waterfall is a quite viable option for luring Blissey out and KOing her.

Counters

Pokémon with a high Special Defense stat and resistance to Water are the most common Kingdra counters. Empleon and Milotic are quite good at this as even Hidden Power Electric won’t OHKO (unless it’s a critical hit, powered up by Sniper of course). Calm Mind – Rest Suicune is a great counter but it won’t do much back. Fast, Dragon-type moves are sufficient, Kingdra’s Defenses aren’t that good. Repeated strong hits will knock it out as well, Kingdra doesn’t have a way of recovering.

Opinion & Notes

Kingdra certainly got some new stuff to toy with but still, they aren’t enough to make the sea dragon stand out. While Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor seem to be really helpful, they make Kingdra have to worry about some more Dragon-type moves. The best additions to it though were Waterfall as well as Outrage. We all wondered why Game Freak gave Dragon Dance to this Pokémon some years ago and these two moves are the answer. Well, when used with skill and correct prediction, Kingdra has the ability to wreak some havoc. Of course, if lady Luck is by your side, Sniper-boosted critical hits can put down some really dangerous OverUsed Pokémon.