07. Dragonite

Dragon/Flying · Multiscale (99.8%) / Inner Focus (0.2%) · A+ tier, 14.12% usage · 91/134/95/100/100/80 · the format’s premier Dragon Dance cleaner — Multiscale buys a safer setup turn, then a Z-nuke or +2 priority converts the boost into a sweep.

Format role

Dragonite is the offensive backbone’s late-game win condition: a Multiscale-protected Dragon Dance user that sets up on passive walls and forced switches, then either fires a one-time Z-Move nuke through a check or cleans with +1 Extreme Speed priority the rest of the team can’t outrun. The defining fact in the block is that its top item is a Z-Crystal — Flyinium Z (42.6%) and Dragonium Z (11.9%) together are over half of all Dnite, which is fully legal here (Z-Moves are allowed, max one per team). On aggressive offense its job is singular — be the mon that closes after your wallbreakers have done their work, and the Z-Crystal is what lets it muscle through the one wall standing between you and the win.

Sets

Flyinium-Z Dragon Dance (the default, 42.6% item)

Dragonite @ Flyinium Z
Ability: Multiscale
Adamant Nature  (0 / 252 / 0 / 0 / 4 / 252)   ← 28.0% spread (Jolly 0/252/4/0/0/252 is the #1 spread at 38.6%)
- Dragon Dance      (91.4%)
- Fly               (42.4%)   → Supersonic Skystrike (175 BP) once
- Earthquake        (93.9%)
- Extreme Speed     (55.3%)

Fly is run as the Z-fuel: it’s a mediocre move on its own but converts to a one-time 175-BP Supersonic Skystrike that ignores Flying-resists’ usual switch math and OHKOs the bulky Grounds/Fighters that wall the rest of your kit. The Jolly spread (38.6%) is the most-used overall and is the speed-creep build for the +1 mirror; Adamant (28.0%) trades that for the raw power that turns rolls into kills.

Dragonium-Z Dragon Dance (11.9% item — the immediate Dragon nuke)

Dragonite @ Dragonium Z
Ability: Multiscale
Adamant Nature  (0 / 252 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 252)
- Dragon Dance
- Outrage           (17.4%)   → Devastating Drake (190 BP) once
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed / Fire Punch

Devastating Drake (190 BP, one-time) is the hardest single hit Dnite has — it doesn’t lock you into Outrage, so you fire the nuke then keep clicking. The trade vs Flyinium is type coverage: Dragon is walled by Steel/Fairy where Flying punishes Grounds/Fighters/Grass.

Loaded Dice Scale Shot (17.6% item — speed-stacking sweeper)

Dragonite @ Loaded Dice
Ability: Multiscale
Jolly Nature  (0 / 252 / 4 / 0 / 0 / 252)
- Dragon Dance
- Scale Shot        (18.5%)
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed

Loaded Dice guarantees 4–5 Scale Shot hits, which break Sashes/Sturdy/Sub and stack a +1 Speed boost on top of DD — after one DD + one Scale Shot you’re at +1 Atk / +2 Spe and accelerating. No Z slot, so it pairs with a teammate that wants the team Z-Move.

Heavy-Duty Boots Dragon Dance (16.3% item — the hazard-proof cleaner)

Dragonite @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Multiscale
Jolly Nature  (0 / 252 / 0 / 0 / 4 / 252)   ← 13.4% spread
- Dragon Dance
- Earthquake
- Extreme Speed
- Roost / Fire Punch / Ice Spinner   (Roost 13.3% / FP 15.4% / Spinner 13.2%)

Boots is the no-frills build: it preserves Multiscale through Stealth Rock (non-negotiable given the 2x Rock weakness) and gives up the Z nuke for repeatable longevity. Roost (13.3%) turns Dnite into a soft physical pivot that re-enables Multiscale mid-game; Encore (12.6%) and Substitute are the next-most-common flex moves for trapping passive mons into setup fodder.

What it does

The DD set’s whole game is Multiscale tempo. At full HP every hit is halved, so Dnite DDs in front of attacks that would 2HKO a normal 91/95 body, then either DDs again or fires. The sequencing that wins games: chip the opponent’s priority-resistant answers (Skarm/Corv/Pex) earlier with your breakers, keep hazards off your side (Boots) or carry the Z-Move that just punches through, and bring Dnite in on a passive turn — a forced switch, an Encore’d setup mon, a Future Sight you can tank behind Multiscale. One DD (+1) makes Adamant Spe = 388 / Jolly Spe = 426 (two DDs gets you to +2 = 518 / 568). At +1 neither nature outruns a max-Speed base-110 Scarf (525) — that gap only closes at +2, where Jolly (568) clears the Scarf line and Adamant (518) sits just under it. What +1 does buy is the Zamazenta “412 wall”: Jolly +1 (426) clears 412 outright, while Adamant +1 (388) sits under it, so the Jolly/Adamant choice is “do I need to outrun unboosted Zama-tier (and slower Scarfers) after a single DD, or am I planning to get to +2 before I sweep.”

The Z-Move is what separates Dnite from every other DD sweeper. Supersonic Skystrike (175 BP, Flyinium) and Devastating Drake (190 BP, Dragonium) are one-time nukes you fire the moment the opposing wall comes in — Dnite breaks the check itself rather than relying on the team to have pre-weakened it. After the Z is spent, the rest of the set (Earthquake + ESpeed/Scale Shot) does the cleaning. Earthquake (93.9%) is near-mandatory because Dragon/Flying attacks and Extreme Speed are all answered by Steel: ESpeed is dead into Ghost (Gholdengo is immune) and resisted by Kingambit, and EQ is what punishes those exact Steels. Extreme Speed (55.3%) is +2 priority (not STAB) that revenges the offensive metagame regardless of Speed — its blind spots are Steel (resist) and Ghost (immune), which EQ covers. Fire Punch is the Skarm/Corv/Scizor-Mega slot; Ice Spinner removes Grassy/Psychic Terrain and hits Landorus-Therian/Garchomp.

Load-bearing calcs

(Adamant 252+ Atk = 403; one Dragon Dance is +1 = ×1.5 = 604. Two DDs gets you to +2 = 806. All ranges below are at +1 (604) unless stated. Targets are standard defensive or 0-HP offensive spreads as noted.)

+1 Adamant Supersonic Skystrike (Flyinium Z, 175 BP) vs 252/252+ Toxapex: 257–303 (84.5–99.7%) [no OHKO at +1] — at a single DD the Flying Z doesn’t quite remove Toxapex (it falls one roll short of the OHKO), so you either fire it at +2 (a clean OHKO) or off prior Stealth Rock/Spikes chip; un-chipped at +1, Pex lives and Hazes the boost away.
+1 Adamant Devastating Drake (Dragonium Z, 190 BP) vs 252/252+ Toxapex: 278–328 (91.4–107.9%) [possible OHKO, ~56%] — the Dragon Z is the harder single hit and can OHKO max-bulk Pex at +1, but it’s only a coin-flip roll un-chipped (guaranteed at +2 or off any prior chip); it’s walled by the Steel/Fairy that Flying punishes, so pick the crystal for the wall you fear.
+1 Adamant Supersonic Skystrike vs 0/0 Great Tusk: 761–896 (205.1–241.5%) [GUARANTEED OHKO] — Flying is 2x on Fighting; even at a single DD the Z vaporizes your #1 soft check on the switch with room to spare.
+1 Adamant Extreme Speed vs 0/0 Iron Valiant: 240–283 (83.0–97.9%) [no OHKO] — ESpeed at a single DD is a clean 2HKO, not a one-shot, on offensive Iron Valiant; it revenges Valiant regardless of Speed only if Valiant is already chipped (Stealth Rock alone tips it into OHKO range), otherwise it survives the priority and fires back.
+1 Adamant Earthquake vs 0/0 Gholdengo: 384–452 (121.9–143.5%) [GUARANTEED OHKO] — EQ is the answer to the Ghost/Steel wall that ESpeed can’t touch at all (Gholdengo is immune to Normal); it one-shots even at a single DD.
+1 Adamant Extreme Speed vs 0/0 Kingambit: 94–111 (27.6–32.6%) [no OHKO] — Steel resist means ESpeed bounces off Kingambit; never click it into Sucker range, use EQ.

Defensively: base Zamazenta’s off-STAB Crunch is only a chip line into Multiscale Dragonite (Dark is neutral on Dragon/Flying), while Stealth Rock alone deals ~25% to Dnite (Flying 2x), which is exactly why Boots is a top item and why your job vs Dnite is to break Multiscale before it sets up. Zama’s actual answer is the Speed + CC/phaze package, not chipping it down with Crunch.

Checks & counters

The 2026-04 moveset block ships no Checks & Counters section for Dnite; the following is derived from type logic + the calcs above, not from block percentages.

HARD (true counters):

Zamazenta — outspeeds unboosted, eats +1 ESpeed (not OHKO’d even Multiscale-less), and Crunch/CC removes Dnite; the cleanest stop in the format.
Skarmory / Corviknight — Steel/Flying resists Dragon and halves the Flying Z (even +1 Skystrike is only 62.6–73.6% on physically-defensive Corv — a 2HKO, not a one-shot); shrug off resisted ESpeed. Only Fire Punch threatens them, and they Roost/phaze the boost.
Toxapex — without the Z fired it sponges everything, Hazes the DD away, and Black Sludge + Toxic stalls Dnite out; only the one-time Z breaks it (and even then it’s a roll).
Mega-Scizor — resists Dragon/Normal/Flying, only loses to Fire Punch, and Bullet Punch trades into a chipped Dnite.

SOFT (checks / revenge):

Great Tusk — outspeeds unboosted and Headlong Rushes, but at +1 it’s outsped and the Flying Z OHKOs it (205–241%); a check that loses to a clean setup or the Z-Move.
Slowking-Galar / Ting-Lu — special bulk + Future Sight / Whirlwind phazing reset the sweep; they don’t enjoy +1 EQ but they undo the boost.
Faster Scarfers / priority — a max-Speed base-110 Scarf (525) outruns Dnite at a single DD regardless of nature (Adamant +1 = 388, Jolly +1 = 426) and only loses the race once Dnite reaches +2 (Jolly 568 > 525 > Adamant 518); any Ice/Fairy/Dragon priority or Scarf revenge after Multiscale is broken does the job.

The default answer is hazards + chip: Stealth Rock or any prior damage flips Multiscale off, and a non-full-HP Dnite is a 91/95 body that dies to most neutral hits.

★ Offense angle

Abusing it on your offense. Dnite is the closer slot on aggressive offense, not the opener. Build so your breakers (Kyurem, Tapu Lele, Specs Gholdengo) force the early game, then late-game Dnite sweeps cleanup with +2-priority ESpeed that doesn’t care about the opponent’s surviving Scarfer’s Speed. Just don’t overrate it as a one-shot: +1 ESpeed is a 2HKO on offensive Iron Valiant (240–283, 83.0–97.9%), not an OHKO — it revenges Valiant cleanly only off prior chip (Stealth Rock alone does it), so let your hazards do that work first. Two concrete construction rules:

Spend your team Z-slot on Dnite, or commit to Boots. The block says the default Dnite is a Z-Crystal user — Flyinium turns the matchup vs Great Tusk/Grounds into a near-free break (at +1, Skystrike OHKOs Tusk outright; vs max-defense Toxapex it’s a 2HKO at +1, so OHKO it at +2 or off chip). If your team Z is elsewhere, run Boots so Stealth Rock doesn’t pre-break Multiscale and cost you the sweep. You cannot have both — one Z per team.
Solve the Steel wall before you sweep, not during. ESpeed is dead into Gholdengo/Kingambit/Corv, so your team must have already chipped or removed them; Dnite’s own EQ OHKOs Gholdengo (122–143% at +1) and Fire Punch is your only Skarm/Corv answer — pick the fourth move that patches your specific team’s hole.

Breaking/pressuring enemy Dnite. Punish the setup turn: lead/pivot Stealth Rock (Landorus-Therian, Ting-Lu) so the first switch-in chips ~25% and kills Multiscale, then your offensive mons 2HKO the now-fragile 91/95 body. Faster offense holds it in check — a max-Speed base-110 Scarf (525) outruns Dnite through a single DD (Adamant +1 = 388, Jolly +1 = 426) and only loses to Jolly at +2 (568), so revenge it before it banks a second boost; any priority outdamages a Multiscale-broken Dnite. Steel/Flying walls (Skarm, Mega-Scizor) hard-stop everything but Fire Punch / the one Z. If you carry Zamazenta, you have the premier Dnite answer baked in. The key read: bait the Z. Dnite’s Z-Move is single-use — if you can eat Supersonic Skystrike / Devastating Drake on a chunky body once, the rest of the set is just EdgeQuake + priority that your walls already handle.

Top teammates & cores

From the block’s top-10: Charizard-Mega-X (39.0%), Gliscor (37.9%), Melmetal (37.0%), Keldeo (36.1%), Gengar (36.0%), Terapagos (25.4%), Iron Treads (17.5%), Gholdengo (16.1%), Iron Crown (16.1%), Diancie-Mega (13.8%).

Dragonite + Gliscor (37.9%) — the hazards-and-pivot offense spine. Gliscor lays Stealth Rock / Spikes and Poison Heal-pivots Dnite onto the field safely, while its Ground typing and SD pressure share answers with Dnite’s EdgeQuake; the hazard chip is exactly what turns Dnite’s +1 EQ rolls into kills and softens the priority-resistant Steels Dnite can’t beat. The most reliable way to get a Multiscale-intact Dnite a safer setup window.
Dragonite + Charizard-Mega-X (39.0%) — the dual physical-setup wincon core. Two Dragon Dance threats with inverted checks: Char-X’s Tough Claws Flare Blitz/Dragon Claw muscles through the Steels and physically-defensive walls (Skarm/Corv/Scizor) that wall Dnite, and Dnite’s ESpeed mops the faster offense that revenges a boosted Char-X. They split the single Mega slot vs the single Z slot cleanly — Char-X takes Mega, Dnite takes the Z-Crystal — so an offense can run both wincons without conflict.

Secondary: Gholdengo (16.1%) blocks Rapid Spin to keep your hazards on the opponent’s side while Dnite’s EQ patches Gholdengo’s Ground weakness on its own team; Terapagos (25.4%) and Keldeo (36.1%) are the special breakers that soften the physical walls Dnite can’t beat before it cleans.