Hydreigon, The Brutal Pokémon. There are a slew of stories about villages that were destroyed by Hydreigon. It bites anything that moves. The three heads take turns sinking their teeth into the opponent. Their attacks won't slow until their target goes down.
Overview
Hydreigon’s history in the 8th generation has been a wild ride. The initial generational changes were incredibly beneficial for Hydreigon. The greatly reduced Pokédex removed a lot of competition and active threats to Hydreigon. Nasty Plot was an amazing boosting option that enabled Hydreigon to muscle past walls and checks. Hydreigon’s great bulk and typing benefited both from the rise of Knock Off and Dynamaxing, enabling it to raze opposing teams.
With the release of the Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra, Hydreigon’s faults come back to haunt it. Many powerful Fairy and Fighting types were introduced that Hydreigon struggles to handle. The returning Dragon types not only directly threaten Hydreigon, but they also compete with it in team building. Hydreigon’s speed falls just shy of its primary competition, giving even less reason to use it over other Pokémon in a hostile environment.
Positives
Massive Special Movepool complimented by a base 125 Special Attack and boosting options in Nasty Plot and Max Darkness enable Hydreigon to hit hard in almost every situation.
Base 92 / 90 / 90 bulk with a good defensive typing and ability give Hydreigon numerous chances to pivot in and setup.
Negatives
Base 98 Speed falls shy of many popular Pokémon, leaving Hydreigon liable to be outsped and KOd.
Common Ice, Fairy and Fighting weaknesses stress teambuilding and ensures that most teams have multiple answers to it.
Movesets
Nasty
-Nasty Plot
-Dark Pulse
-Draco Meteor
-Flash Cannon
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Leftovers
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Nasty Plot wallbreaker set. Come in on something Hydreigon can reliably tank and threaten, like Swampert, setup Nasty Plot and start blasting the opposing team. Dark Pule is the primary STAB, having nice coverage and is reliable. Draco Meteor is primarily here as an overwhelming STAB option when Dynamaxed, but its immediate power out of Dynamax is useful as well. Flash Cannon rounds out the set, hitting the Fairy types that otherwise tank Hydreigon's STABs.
DYNAMAX:
Dynamaxing after a Nasty Plot boost is terrifying. Hydreigon's above average HP translates to a significant bulk boost under Dyanamax. Max Darkness enables Hydreigon to escalate even further, dropping opponent's Special Defense and making them more vulnerable to a follow up strike. Max Wyrmwind removes all the draw backs of Draco Meteor, making for an immensely powerful STAB option that has a wide neutral range.
EVs and Items:
Standard sweeper array of Max Special Attack and Speed to give Hydreigon as much power as possible. Life Orb's extra power guarantees the OHKO on threats like Aegislash-Shield, Clefable, Suicune, near Guarantees on Celesteela, and non Assault Vest Melmetal, Galarian Moltres, and Tapu Koko. Leftovers can be considered to give Hydreigon more staying power and so that it is not on such a strict clock after setting up nasty Plot
Other Options:
Earth Power – hits Steel types like Bisharp, Melmetal and Zacian Crowned, but Dark Pulse suffices in every case but the last.
Fire Blast -melts Steel types and Rillaboom quite easily.
Roost -can offset the damage from Life Orb and gives Hydreigon multiple opportunities to setup, but going down to 2 slots will leave gaps in Hydreigon's coverage.
Belch - While it is great when Dynamaxing, enabling Hydreigon to snowball and covers many of the Steel Neutral fairies reintroduced, the requirement of a berry and low accuracy makes it niche at best outside of Dynamax.
Partners:
Fairies, ironic as that may be, are some Hydreigon's best partners, able to pivot into many of Hydreigon's weaknesses. Grimmsnarl stands out for its Screens Support and potential speed control with Trick Iron Ball or Thunder Wave.
Sticky Web users like Slurpuff, and Galvantula also pair well with Hydreigon, patching up its slightly lackluster speed and enabling it to outspeed any grounded unboosted threat.
Aegislash makes a nice defensive core with Hydreigon, each resisting the other's weaknesses and can pick off faster targets with Shadow Sneak. Metagross fills this niche to a lesser extent as well.
Three Heads, One Scarf
-Dark Pulse
-Draco Meteor
-U-Turn
-Earth Power
Item Attached: Choice Scarf
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
Scarf Hydreigon makes for a terrific revenge killer and scout. The normal pains of constantly switching on a choiced Pokémon are alleviated on Hydreigon, being a levitator not weak to Stealth Rock and thus requiring less Hazard control than normal. Dark Pulse and Draco Meteor serve again as STABs, the former more reliable, the second one risky but powerful. U-Turn in conjunction with Choice Scarf turns Hydreigon into a fast pivot, able to scout potential switch ins and counter switch while still dealing decent damage. Earth Power provides coverage against a wide variety of threats like Heatran, Tapu Koko, and Regieleki.
DYNAMAX:
Dynamaxing Scarfed Hydreigon is not so much a straight power boost as it is a stance change. The increased bulk and breaking the Choice lock benefits are nice, but you also lose the Speed boost from Choice Scarf, making Hydreigon more liable to be revenge KO’d.
EVs and Items:
Max Speed and Max Special Attack are necessary for Scarf Hydreigon to function. Timid is preferred so Hydreigon wins speed wars with other slow Scarfers running a positive speed nature like Landorus-Therian.
Partners:
This set is less equipped to deal with dedicated sponges and tanks so dedicated wall breakers like Excadrill, Kartana and Rillaboom make excellent pivot targets.
Aegislash makes a nice defensive core with Hydreigon, each resisting the other’s weaknesses and complimenting Hydreigon’s Special Offense with Physical. Metagross fills this niche to a lesser extent as well.
Countering Hydreigon
Fairy types are Hydreigon’s bane. The resist both of its STABs and many have the high special defense necessary to weather even a Nasty Plot boosted blow. Fairies that are netural to Flash Cannon like Tapu Koko, Tapu Fini, and Azumarill fare exceptionally well, though Clefable, Togekiss and Sylveon do fine if Hydreigon lacks Flash Cannon.
Hydreigon not running Nasty Plot or Super Power is prone to being shutdown by Blissey.
Otherwise, revenge KOing Hydreigon with the many faster attackers that can strike it super effectively remains an option for non Scarf sets. Weavile, Dragapult, Garchomp, Latios, Galarian Zapdos, are just a few who fill this niche, though none of these Pokémon can switch in safely.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game
Black/White:
Evolve Zweilous
Black 2/White 2:
Evolve Zweilous
X/Y:
Victory Road
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Evolve Zweilous
Sun/Moon:
Evolve Zweilous
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Trade from Sun/Moon
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Roaring-Sea Caves (Sword)
Max Raid Battles: Bridge Field, Dusty Bowl, Giant's Mirror, Stony Wilderness, West Lake Axewell (Sword)
Trade from Sword/Join Max Raid Battles from Sword (Shield)
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Not in game
Anime Appearences
