Lum Berry or Weakness Policy for Dragonite?

Question

Currently I have been running this set for Dragonite when I battle people online and I think it's a great set.

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Punch
- ExtremeSpeed

I feel like Lum berry is more of a defensive play so you can get a free DD or start an unstoppable sweep if something tries to burn / paralyze / poison you.

However, I see there are people who also are smacking a Weakness Policy onto their Dragonites which makes me wonder if I should do that.

I can see some cons for running Weakness Policy (such as being unable to ward off status ailments). But, with Dragonite's Multiscale, if he gets hit with a super effective move he already starts off with +2 Attack and Sp. Attack and survives the attack.

So, while both are probably great to run, which one overall would you run?

Comments

I used a Dragonite with Weakness Policy on Smogon and I found myself not doing as well (most likely because I sucked really bad while using it but still). One person never activated my WP and he just killed my Dragonite just like that. Another did activate it using Donphan, but it was bulky enough where forcing me to use Extreme Speed didn't phase it. I think overall, I'll just keep Lum for now and use WP another time maybe. Both your answers were great, but I do see myself using Lum more so thanks you guys.

Answer 1

Honestly if you're running a DDance set then you don't need Weakness Policy. WPolicy works really well to avoid taking the time to set up. In this case Lum Berry would work much better, especially with the amount of Pokemon running Scald, Thunder Wave, and Will-O-Wisp

For your Dragon Dance Dragonite, I'd say go for Lum.

Answer 2

Dragonite with weakness policy is killer. It would survive a super effective hit, and start a sweep after using dragon dance on the same turn, causing it to have +3 atk and +1 speed, making it the best sweeper. Lum berry is pretty good also, healing any paralysis from Pokemon that try to slow you down.

But overall, weakness policy>lum berry for a multistage dragonite.

Comments

Also, you can start a sweep with extreme speed!

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Ah I see. It does sound nice, but, what about some prankster threats like Klefki and Sableye who come in during a sweep?

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Just switch out and make kelfiki paralyze another member of your team, partially ones that are weak in HP or already has a status.

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And, extreme speed has a +3 priority, prankster only has one

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If you switched out though, wouldn't the boost be gone? xD. Also Sableye's ghost type with prankster so you can't use the only priority move that is on it which might guarentee burn / thunder wave to be inflicted possibly.

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And, the amount of people using salebeye: 1/720. Anyways before u battle, u get a team preview, so if the opponent has a salebeye, don't use dragonite

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Really? 1/720? Wow... Just wow.

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i dont really know, there about 720 pokemon out there