Flygon, The Mystic Pokémon. Flygon whips up a sandstorm by flapping its wings. The wings create a series of notes that sound like singing. Because the "singing" is the only thing that can be heard in a sandstorm, this Pokémon is said to be the desert spirit. Red covers shield its eyes from sand.
Overview
Flygon, a Pokémon with good stats, a good typing and a good move-pool, yet it's stuck in the Borderline tier because of a perceived inferiority to its fellow Dragons. Let's not kid ourselves, any Pokémon that has a 4x Ice weakness will automatically be measured against those who share the same weakness. I am of course, referring to Garchomp and Salamence.
In the 3rd Gen, Flygon spent a fair amount of time being measured against Salamence, who had superior stats and Dragon Dance. With the arrival of D/P, those things remain true, but its ferocity increased with the addition of Draco Meteor and Choice Specs. Needless to say, Salamence is a more threatening sweeper.
Garchomp is a new addition, but it has the same typing as Flygon, better stats and because of Swords Dance, it is a far superior physical sweeper. Basically, Garchomp is a bigger threat than Flygon as well.
But, things aren't all bad for Flygon. Unlike Salamence, Flygon has STAB on its Earthquake, and unlike Garchomp, it has Roost and a Ground immunity. It's also immune to Spikes, Toxic Spikes and Sandstorm and it resists Stealth Rock. Packing both a Ground immunity and a Rock resistance is very useful, and they let Flygon fill in some defensive duties on its team.
All in all, Flygon finds itself sitting in the shadows of its fellow Dragons, but it's the kind of Pokémon that can fit into some teams quite nicely. If you need a Pokémon that's immune to Ground and Electric moves, resists Rock moves and packs a fairly hard punch, then Flygon might be the perfect Pokémon for your team.
Trait
Levitate: means Flygon gets a Ground immunity. Needless to say, being immune to one of the most common offensive types in the game is a massive bonus, so this trait is a huge asset.
Move Sets
Mixed Sweeper, Life Orb and Roost
- Earthquake
- Roost
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Blast
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef) / Naive Nature (+Spd, -SDef)
A rather comfortable 'bit of everything' move-set for Flygon to run around with. Since Flygon resists (or is immune to) the most common forms of passive damage, Life Orb is a very strong item choice. It gives a 1.3x boost to its attacks, making Flygon a fairly respectable offensive threat.
Earthquake and Dragon Claw are two strong moves, and with the backing of STAB and Life Orb, they can deal out a fairly sizable chunk of damage. Fire Blast deals with the only two Pokémon that resist the Dragon-Ground combination, Bronzong and Skarmory, and in general it's a good attack anyway. Generally, the only move that's a 'must have' here is Earthquake. Flygon has a couple of other moves that could easily fit into this move-set, such as Draco Meteor and Stone Edge.
Roost helps Flygon with its defensive duties and it helps off-set the 10% 'recoil' from Life Orb. It's worth noting that, unlike Flying types, who temporarily lose their Ground immunity, Flygon retains it when using Roost.
Choice Band / Physical Sweeper
- Earthquake
- Dragon Claw
- Stone Edge
- U-Turn / Fire Punch / Fire Blast
Item Attached: Choice Band / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
A straightforward physical attacking option for Flygon. Choice Band could be dropped for Life Orb, basically turning Flygon from a Choice Pokémon to a physical sweeper. Boosted Earthquakes are the main gimmick here, and most Pokémon have a healthy fear of them. Dragon Claw will deal out some nice STAB damage as well and Stone Edge will deal with (most) Flying types.
U-Turn is a nice move, picking up some damage and letting Flygon switch on the same turn. Being super-effective against Grass types is a nice bonus as well. Fire Punch and Fire Blast can deal with Grass types and get a nice hit on Bronzong and Skarmory. Obviously, Fire Blast will do more damage to Skarmory than Fire Punch.
Choice Scarf / Mixed Sweeper
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Stone Edge / Fire Blast / U-Turn
- Stone Edge / Fire Blast / U-Turn
Item Attached: Choice Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk / 136 Spd / 120 SAtk
Naughty Nature (+Atk, -SDef)
Salamence wasn't the only Pokémon to get Draco Meteor. Even though its Special Attack is its inferior offence, a Base 140 STAB move is always worth consideration, and it'll get a very strong hit on the Pokémon who are more inclined to the physical side of their defensive stats. Once again, STAB Earthquake is the core move. Stone Edge, Fire Blast and U-Turn fight for places alongside those two moves, each with their own worth. Once again, the same move-set can be turned into a generic sweeper by dropping Choice Scarf for Life Orb.
The given EV spread is ideal with a Choice Scarf equipped. Without a Choice Scarf, you may want to go for an EV spread more like that of the Roost mixed sweeper, although it's still a usable spread without a Scarf.
Screech-gon
- Earthquake
- Screech
- Substitute
- Dragon Claw / Stone Edge / Fire Blast
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
Screech-gon can be surprisingly effective. Few Pokémon would risk taking a STAB Earthquake with their Defence cut in half, so Screech can force several switches. Support it with Spikes and Stealth Rock and Screech switches can pick up a nice chunk of passive damage. Substitute is a nice insurance policy, just in-case your opponent predicts your next move and throws a hit Flygon's way. The final move is really just there to support Earthquake, since Earthquake won't hit everything. Dragon Claw is nice and reliable and backed with a nice chunk of STAB. Stone Edge hits most Flying types for super-effective damage. Fire Blast is super-effective against Skarmory and Bronzong and most Grass types. No matter what you run, you won't be able to cover everything, so choose based on what your team considers the most threatening.
Choice Specs / Special Sweeper
- Draco Meteor
- Earth Power
- Fire Blast
- Dragon Pulse
Item Attached: Choice Specs / Life Orb
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Spd / 252 SAtk
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) / Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
It's not particularly advisable, but Flygon has a usable Special Attack, and as noted with the Scarf set, a Base 140 STAB attack should never be overlooked. STAB Draco Meteor with a Specs (or Orb) boost is the main gimmick here. The opponent shouldn't be expecting special attacks, so the first hit should be a big one. It has Dragon Pulse, Earth Power and Fire Blast to use alongside Draco Meteor for more consistent sources of damage.
Once the opponent figures out that it's a special attacker, they'll probably send out a Special Wall (like Blissey). Dropping Earth Power for Earthquake or Dragon Pulse for Dragon Claw is a possibility, since it'll give Flygon a decent source of damage against Special Walls. You'll want to go for a Rash (+SAtk, -SDef) or Naive (+Spd, -SDef) nature if you do go for a physical move.
EVs and Nature:
Depending on the move-set, Flygon's EVs can be simple or tricky. 252/252 is the easy way to go, especially with move-sets that only use one form of offence. Sets that mix physical and special attacks can be a little more difficult to EV, but even then, 252/252 can work.
First and foremost, its Speed needs to be EVed. At Base 100, Flygon matches Base Speed with a lot of common Pokémon. Sweepers will want to max their Speed, if only to guarantee that they will tie Speed with opponents who share its Base Speed (assuming matching IVs). The bare minimum for a sweeper to run is 270 Speed (136 EVs), to outrun the Adamant variants of Heracross. More defensive minded variants can go for about 240 (16 EVs), to outrun Adamant Metagross, or 244 (32 EVs) to outrun Jolly Tyranitar. All of these EV notes were made with Max IVs in mind, so some slight tweaking will be needed depending on the IVs.
With Speed out of the way, you can focus on the attacks. You'll probably want to max out whichever offence you consider to be your primary offence. Whatever EVs are leftover can be dedicated to the other offence (or HP if you aren't using a mixed sweeper). Defensive focus probably isn't worth it with Flygon. Minor EV investments aren't going to make much of a difference, and major EV investments will heavily drain Flygon's offensive capabilities.
When it comes to Flygon's nature, it's very dependant on the move-set. If Flygon is using both physical and special attacks, it'll want a nature that doesn't hinder either. Its Special Defence is its most expendable stat so natures like Naughty (+Atk, -SDef), Naive (+Spd, -SDef) and Rash (+SAtk, -SDef) are ideal. Going for a Speed boosting nature can be worth the effort, since you'll outrun Adamant Garchomp, Adamant/Modest Salamence and others.
Other Options
Crunch, Quick Attack, Flamethrower, Rock Slide, Giga Drain, Solarbeam, Expert Belt.
Crunch catches a nice super-effective hit on Cresselia, Claydol, Slowbro and a few others.
Quick Attack is an option, but it's a fairly weak one. It isn't too bad for picking off weakened Pokémon, especially ones who have taken advantage of Focus Sash.
Flamethrower is an alternative to Fire Blast.
Rock Slide is an alternative to Stone Edge. Both are better choices for PP and accuracy but both have weaker power. Giga Drain is an okay Special option to maim Swampert with.
Solarbeam is usable if your team can set-up Sunny Day.
Expert Belt is an alternative item choice to Life Orb, but Flygon's type coverage isn't overwhelmingly great.
Countering Flygon
Most of what counters Salamence or Garchomp has a habit of countering Flygon as well.
Barring Crunch, Cresselia, Claydol and Slowbro can all work if they have Ice Beam. Gliscor and Hippowdon both do decently with Ice Fang. Weezing can shut it down with Will-o-Wisp. If Flygon lacks a Fire move, Bronzong and Skarmory pretty much wall it flat-out, the former being able to throw up Reflect and put it to Sleep with Hypnosis and the latter being able to set-up Spikes. If it lacks Stone Edge, Gyarados is pretty safe against it. Defensive Grass types do decently, such as Celebi, Shaymin, Meganium and Tangrowth. Fire Blast might hurt a bit though. Bulky waters like Swampert and Suicune deal nicely against Band-less versions.
Flygon doesn't pack too many surprises. Screech might cause some problems, and boosted Draco Meteors can really sting some of the aforementioned Counters. Choice Band Earthquakes are pretty powerful but most teams should be packing an Earthquake resistance (or immunity), so Choice versions should be manageable.
Flygon is fairly fast, but it's outrun by a lot of Pokémon, which should halt sweeping attempts. Starmie with Ice Beam, Weavile with Ice Punch and Garchomp with Dragon Claw can all come in after it's KOed something, just watch out for the occasional Choice Scarf variant.
Locations in Games
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Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald Evolve Vibrava Colosseum/XD Evolve Vibrava Fire Red/Leaf Green Trade from RSECXD Diamond/Pearl Evolve Vibrava
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Animé Appearences
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Flygon has had several Animé Appearences. First one was used to help Ash & Co. protect Jirachi from a Groudon Monster. After that, Drew used one in many of his contests and appearances. The rest are cameos.
Episode 336: Delcatty Got Your Tongue |
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