The National Dex OU Council has decided Dragapult will be the sixth suspect of Generation 9.
Dragapult hardly needs introduction as one of National Dex's foremost offensive threats. In the most recent tiering survey, players ranked Dragapult a 3.18 out of 5 in terms of taking tiering action, while Kingambit earned a 3.68 out of 5 — and was ultimately suspected and banned. Dragapult directly benefits from the absence of Kingambit, who possessed bulk, power, a typing that resisted both of Dragapult's STABs, and Pursuit to make Dragapult a much riskier selection for teams. With its most common and effective check banned, Dragapult has swiftly risen back to the top of the metagame.
The Galarian pseudo-legendary is an agile user of several viable sets. Dragapult's unparalleled speed tier, wide Special movepool, and access to U-turn make it a neat user of Choice Specs, often threatening out the opponent and generating momentum, while remaining a potent late-game cleaner. More uncommon status sets with Heavy-Duty Boots can reliably spread paralysis or burns through the opponents side, which enable Dragapult to do serious damage with Hex or ease a path for teammates. Dragapult also commonly runs Infiltrator to ignore the effects of Light Screen, Reflect, Aurora Veil, and Substitute, giving it the jump against opposing offense teams which find it hard or costly to revenge kill.
It is on the physical side, however, where Dragapult has pushed boundaries as a Dragon Dance sweeper. Dragapult is far from a glass cannon, and its typing is highly favorable to setup - Dragon and Ghost combine for a total of 6 resistances and 2 immunities - to reliably use Substitute and Dragon Dance on passive Pokémon such as Toxapex and Garganacl. Moreover, outside of rare type combinations such as Kingambit's, Dragon and Ghost are nigh-unresisted with checks to physical-type Dragapult being limited to a small pool of physically bulky Fairy-types, a healthy Mega Tyranitar or Mega Scizor, and Unaware users such as Dondozo. Pokémon faster than a +1 Speed Dragapult are almost fictional out of rare weather abusers, forcing Dragapult's opponents to take damage from Dragapult in order to revenge it. Most uniquely, in National Dex, Dragapult can hold Ghostium Z and use a one-time 175 base power STAB move to punch through would-be checks like Tapu Fini and bulky Steel-types. Physical Terastallizations are viable as well, either for a consistent STAB Tera Ghost or less-explored niche picks like Fighting for Mega Tyranitar.
One could argue that defensive Terastallization users offer widely viable checks to Dragapult. Tera Fairy Garganacl, for example, resists both of Dragapult's STABs and eventually outdamages it with Salt Cure. Tera Fairy on other users can steal back momentum from Dragon Darts, but careful play and predictions are required to avoid irreparable damage from Never-Ending Nightmare. The fourth moveslot, outside of Dragon Dance, Dragon Darts, and Phantom Force, is flexible if not opting for Substitute, helping Dragapult add some finishing touches via Will-O-Wisp, another attack, or even Curse.
However, Dragapult can be exploited by both extremely offensive and defensive archetypes. Stealth Rock and hazards go a long way to limiting Dragapult's setup opportunities due to a lack of recovery. A combination of physically-defensive mons involving a Fairy- or Steel-type can play around its Z-move nuke and limit damage, or Dondozo, a staple on stall, can 1v1 it. Checks to Dragapult's Specs sets are more common, like Ting-Lu or a specially-defensive Regenerator mon available to scout, although both can be taken advantage of by U-turn. Offensive and splashable picks like Choice Scarf Tapu Lele or Booster Energy Iron Valiant can deny Dragapult even the chance to wallbreak. Priority users such as Mega Lopunny with Fake Out, Mega Scizor with Bullet Punch, as well as Baxcalibur and Weavile can take down a chipped Dragapult as well.
In totality, Dragapult's special and physical offense sets offer high reward and low risk against the majority of the metagame. The lack of reliable revengers makes its Dragon Dance set particularly potent, and places a notable constraint on teambuilding and play.
- Reading this is mandatory for participating in the suspect test. The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. Also, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE will suffice.
- The table for this can be found below:
| GXE | minimum games |
| 80 | 50 |
| 80.2 | 49 |
| 80.4 | 48 |
| 80.6 | 47 |
| 80.8 | 46 |
| 81 | 45 |
| 81.2 | 44 |
| 81.4 | 43 |
| 81.6 | 42 |
| 81.8 | 41 |
| 82 | 40 |
| 82.2 | 39 |
| 82.4 | 38 |
| 82.6 | 37 |
| 82.8 | 36 |
| 83 | 35 |
| 83.2 | 34 |
| 83.4 | 33 |
| 83.6 | 32 |
| 83.8 | 31 |
| 84 | 30 |
- You must signup with a newly registered account on Pokemon Showdown! that begins with the appropriate prefix for the suspect test. For this suspect test, the prefix will be NXDP. For example, I might signup with the ladder account NXDP Bean.
- Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted. Moderator discretion will be applied here. If there is any doubt or hesitance when making the alt, just pick another name. There are infinite possibilities and we have had trouble for this repeatedly. If you wish to participate in the suspect, you should be able to exhibit decent enough judgement here. We will not be lenient.
- We will be using the regular National Dex OU ladder for this suspect test. We will not be creating a new Suspect Ladder. At the beginning of every battle, there will be an announcement denoting the ongoing suspect with a link to this thread.
- The suspect being tested, Dragapult, will be allowed on the ladder.
- Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and sanctioned.
- Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
- Unlike previous tests, we will be posting the voting identification thread immediately after this thread. Your voting requisites will be confirmed by a Council member or OU moderator, to which we will edit in confirmation. Please avoid getting more games before getting confirmed.
- The suspect test will go on for roughly two weeks, lasting until September 14th at 11:59 pm (GMT-4), and then we will put up the voting thread in the Blind Voting subforum.
- No unhelpful one liners nor uninformed posts;
- No discussion on other potential suspects;
- No discussion on the suspect process -- this includes testing Dragapult vs other potential suspects;
- You are required to make respectful posts;
- You are required to read this thread before posting.
- Failure to follow these simple guidelines will result in your post being deleted and infracted without any prior warning.
- Please also take a moment to read over some suggestions from the OU Council and the OU Moderation team for posting in this thread; adhering these will help out our time moderating the thread and present your arguments better and more educated.
- Do not argue because it's your favorite Pokemon. This should be common sense, but please don't do this, because we will delete posts like this.
- You do not need a boatload of experience to have an informed opinion, but please try to minimize the theorymon aspect and use your experiences watching and playing. Playing some on the ladder before posting is plenty if you're concerned about this.
- Do not flame, belittle, or be disrespectful to users in this thread. While not everyone will read this post in its entirety nor will everyone have an informed opinion, please be sure not to be disrespectful. If there's an issue, bring it up to a moderator.
- Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokemon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokemon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result this suspect, then so be it.
- This thread is not to voice complaints about the suspect process or decisions of the council. Please PM Kyo, Jho, R8 or Kaede if you have any questions regarding this, and any broader questions about this test. I also tag Kris and Marty to inform them of this suspect as well.
Keep in mind that our suspect tests are decided by the community; anyone who rightfully achieves voting requisites is allowed to vote. The outcome is up to you!
Last edited:
