What is a good moveset for Dracovish?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Dracovish, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for any of its pre-evolutions can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some explanation, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Dracovish Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Dracovish @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD
Jolly Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch
- Ice Fang

• Fishious Rend (STAB, Water, biting, power doubles if moves before target)
• Psychic Fangs (Psychic, biting, can destroy Light Screen & Reflect)
• Crunch (Dark, biting, 20% chance to lower targets defense)
• Ice Fang (Ice, biting, 10% chance to freeze target)

Summary: For this Pokemon I completely agree with the Smogon set (which isn't always the case for me). The vast majority of the time you'll be wanting to use Fishious Rend which can deal enormous damage as well as Water moves being able to hit everything and only being not very effective against three types. Will have to watch out for abilities like Water Absorb, Dragon types and Pokemon that can outspeed Dracovish.
It does have access to a variety of other moves that also take advantage of its Strong Jaw ability and might come in handy on occasion. Choice Scarf works beautifully as Fishous Rend relies on out speeding the target. Speed investment is crucial as its base speed isn't terrible but isn't good either.

Comments

I agree with you mostly.

In singles, choice scarf is the best because dracovish doesn't have particularly excellent speed, and since there is nobody to increase his speed, he can easily sweep.

But in doubles, you could carry somebody like whimsicott and tailwind the first turn, already making it faster than most mons. So in that case I would carry choice band.

Answer 2

Dracovish @ Life Orb
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Outrage
- Earthquake / Psychic Fangs
- Leech Life

I know choice band and scarf sets are sooo popular so I want to try something else. It's more of an attacking set. It's explanatory but I went with strong jaw just because of Fishious rend. The reason why I went with Adamant is to maximise attack power. Speed isn't my goal here, I just want to try something else and this is my first set here so feedback would be appreciated.

Comments

love seeing different sets like these, now I feel like I copied my first post from you lol

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Thanks it's variety and you did not copy me, rest assured.

Answer 3

Dracovish @ Metronome
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Fishious Rend
- Psychic Fangs
- Crunch

Basically you Sub up and spam the same attack. Toxapex counter.

Answer 4

Mixed Vish

Dracovish @ Life Orb
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 216 Atk / 56 SpA / 236 Spe
Naive Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Draco Meteor
- Crunch
- Psychic Fangs

Dracovish can freely switch moves as well as weaken physical walls with Draco Meteor.

Comments

This would be good, but draco meteor is coming off dracovish's low special attack. Also, You shouldn't have dracovish in if you aren't nuking with fishious rend. You also want a scarf or band, as you should be nuking with fishious rend.

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to be fair, dracovish's special attack is only 20 points lower than physical attack. though this is supposed to be a really gimmicky set anyway

56 SpA Life Orb Dracovish Draco Meteor vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Kommo-o: 283-335 (79.9 - 94.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

Answer 5

Dracovish @ Persim Berry
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 HP
Jolly Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Outrage / Dragon Rush
- Ice Fang
- Psychic Fangs

Fishious Rend for good STAB. Has extra power since its biting. Ice Fang and Psychic Fangs are good biting moves to give you some variety. Outrage is good STAB and damage, and Persim Berry heals confusion afterwards. Alternatively you could replace Outrage with Dragon Rush, and switch the Persim Berry for something like Life orb.

Comments

Dragon Rush is really unreliable. Are you sure that's worth a move slot? Persim Berry is completely outclassed by the Lum Berry.

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@Amethyst Not necessarily. If you use Lum berry, it could get used up before you outrage and you'd be stuck with confusion

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@Shadow_Moltres I'd rather be stuck with confusion than, say, a burn. At least Dracovish still has a chance to do meaningful damage with the former.

Answer 6

Dracovish @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Outrage
- Iron Head
- Earthquake / Psychic Fangs

Really, I’m surprised a set like this isn’t up here already. One of Dracovish’s counters is itself, due to Water Absorb. Admittedly, Strong Jaw is usually the better option, but if your team tends to struggle with Fishious Rend Dracovish, this is a good option. With Outrage as STAB, it has a fair chance of OHKOing your opponent’s Dracovish (calcs: 252 Atk Dracovish Outrage vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Dracovish: 306-362 (95.3 - 112.7%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO). Since Dracovish usually carries a Scarf/Band, your opponent can really only switch. If you predict the switch, just start spamming Fishious Rend.

Basically, I just took a normal Dracovish set, and tweaked it a bit to be better with Water Absorb, since you don’t need to rely on Strong Jaw boosting your coverage. This set is scarfed as well, because, again, your main goal is to sweep with Fishious Rend while stopping Scarfed Dracovish from sweeping with Fishious Rend. Outrage and Fishious Rend are already explained. Iron Head covers Fairy types. Earthquake is strong coverage, and Psychic Fangs can get rid of screens (note that you can’t hit Ferrothorn well with the Psychic Fangs variation of this set.

Comments

I think Fishious Rend is more powerful than Iron Head against Fairy types, and if you are slower, then there is no point of staying in and taking a STAB fairy move.

Answer 7

Dracovish @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Outrage
- Iron Head
- Earthquake

Explanation: This set is is a little different from other Fishious Rend Dracovish. You use Tyranitar's Sand Stream to setup Sandstorm, and Dracovish's speed is doubled in it, with a speed of 498 (Choice Band) or 747 (Choice Scarf) during Sandstorm. Its 100 base defense helps it take hits from Excadrill. Fishious Rend is STAB and its power is doubled when it outspeeds other Pokemon. The other moves are just for coverage, but the main move is Fishious Rend.

Comments

I think Fishious Rend is more powerful than Iron Head against Fairy types, and if you are slower, then there is no point of staying in and taking a STAB fairy move.
commented Jul 1 by NebbyY

think you are fast enough with Sand Rush in general
Choice Scarf Sand Rush Excadrill is also very uncommon and won't put a dent in Dracovish anyway with 100 base defense

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Ok. What item should replace Choice Scarf then?

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choice band probably

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Scarf is better, it’s speed isn’t that high, and what’s the item bend?

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but it's going to be paired with sand so it doesn't need extra speed

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Strong jaw choice scarf is much better than choice band sand rush in my opinion

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then what is the point of posting this set

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It’s debatable. Choice Scarf + Strong Jaw gives 1.5x damage and speed, but Choice Band + Sand Rush gives 1.5x attack and 2x speed, but only works in sandstorm.

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it depends whether its a sand team or not

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Is this doubles? If it is maybe replace Earthquake

Answer 8

Dracovish @ Choice Band/Scarf
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Outrage
- Crunch
- Sleep Talk/Iron head/Earthquake

This is a super crazy dynamax set which need good skills and teammates to use it. Highly recommended at sand teams. The reason why I use sleep talk is because of getting asleep was one of the worst nightmare of every dracovish users (Easy to get sweeped/might loss most important dps).

For teammates, Hippowdown was prob one of the best teammate for a rush draco.

Comments

I'm no expert on OU, but wouldn't it be better to use Sleep Talk's slot for coverage, and use something with Aromatherapy/Shell Bell to deal with when Dracovish is statused?

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The main thing for this set is that its damage. But ofc, yours one was good too!

Answer 9

Dracovish @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Strong jaw
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Psychic Fangs
- Outrage
- Earthquake / Leech Life / Iron Head / Stone Edge / Whatever you name Good Physical attack

this is a classical set. fishious rend for STAB and power boost because of the choice scarf and strong jaw,
psychic fangs for power boost from strong jaw and breaking screens,
outrage for dragon STAB.
earthquake is a good move it learns for steel types that you can't harm. iron head for faries.

you can also try this set with t-tar or something else that has sand stream

Dracovish @ Choice Band
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Psychic Fangs
- Iron Head
- Outrage

this is a different set I made. the main difference now is dracovish now has a choice band and sand rush.
with t-tar's sand stream, you can take advantage of the sand rush ability and heighten your speed like a choice scarf. but this time instead of a choice scarf, I put on a choice band. this is because, without strong jaw, fisheous rend and psychic fangs won't have more power. and the better part is iron head and outrage/dragon rush will also get a boost of power with the choice band.
here's the description for the moves:
-fisheous rend for STAB of course and just like last time.
-psychic fangs for breaking screens and has another use: to cover fighting types that kill t-tar.
-iron head for more coverage against fairies as they will both suffer from them.
-outrage for STAB.

p.s I'm new and don't know so much about some stuff so if you would, PLEASE leave any suggestions in the comments for improvements.
p.s.s do I have bad grammar?

Comments

Dragon rush sucks, low accuracy.

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oh ok il change it

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Why not use earthquake for the second set since that dracovish doesn't have strong jaw.

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can't. all of these moves are necessary while paring with t-tar. outrage is a necessary stab move

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I meant replace psychic fangs but since it's paired with t-tar I wouldn't recommend it anymore (unless t-tar is weakness policy)

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uhhhhhh... um ok, but what should I replace it with? ice fang? leech life? suggest in the comments

Answer 10

Dracovish @ Mystic Water
Ability: Strong Jaw
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
Adamant Nature
- Fishious Rend
- Crunch
- Protect
- Dragon Pulse

Bro to me, there no other moveset that is better. This revolves around fishious rend. Firstly, it has mystic water, which increases the power of fishious rend. Secondly, it has strong jaw, which increases fishious rend and crunch! Thirdly, it has adamant nature, which increases physical attack, boosting fishious rend even further! Lastly, ITS STAB!!! Crunch is there for coverage against psychic, protect to stall out anything and dragon pulse for more STAB. This Pokemon is soo broken, thats why its in Ubers. Definitely try it out. Also extra boost when raining btw.

Answer 11

Its a shame that Dracovish can't learn sandstorm by it self, but still it works well.
Dracovish @ Live orb/ Lum Berry
Ability: Sand Rush
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
-Fishious Rend
-Protect
-Iron Head
-Sleeptalk / Leech Life

This set works the best in doubles with a Sand Stream partner (I prefere Gigalith because of its low speed stat so he always can set the sand up).
Fishious Rend is the main attack but if it isn't effective you have Iron Head , but also its good against fairy type. Protect is to stall a turn and for time to think. Sleeptalk is so you can't stop attacking.

If never have to worry about a special condition you also can use a Lum Berry instand of the Live Orb. Use then Leech Life over Sleeptalk for recover.
I hope this helpt!