Drakloak Movesets & Competitive Sets

The combination of Night Shade and Dragon Tail alongside Drakloak's high Speed and valued typing makes it a premier phazer. RestTalk gives it longevity, making it a good status absorber for burns, paralysis, and poison from status users like Koffing and Hattrem, all while allowing Drakloak to continue phazing, spinblocking, and chipping foes. 216 Speed EVs enable Drakloak to outspeed non-Choice Scarf Frogadier and make it the fastest unboosted Pokemon in the metagame, while the 40 EVs in Defense enable it to always survive Knock Off from Life Orb Thwackey and Icicle Crash from non-Choice Band Piloswine. While Drakloak's abilities are all useful, Clear Body stands out by not having Drakloak's Speed be lowered by Sticky Web, as well as stopping Memento from lead Glimmet sets. Drakloak tends to fit on many balanced and bulky teams, being integral to stopping Rapid Spin attempts from Quaxwell. Entry hazard setters like Piloswine, Frogadier, and Quilladin all pair well with it, forming a hazard-stacking core while providing utility in their own right. Fairy-types like Tinkatuff and Clefairy can be tricky to deal with, able to lock Drakloak into unfavorable moves with Encore and chip away at it with their utility moves. Checks to them like Gabite and Ivysaur can significantly threaten them back while taking paralysis relatively well. Normal-types like Dunsparce and Girafarig are immune to Night Shade and can threaten super effective coverage or powerful Psychic-type STAB moves; Steel-types like the aforementioned Tinkatuff and Hisuian Sliggoo are excellent answers to them. While Drakloak has a good defensive profile, its frailty makes it unreliable at answering certain Pokemon like Monferno and Thwackey; Koffing makes for an excellent Knock Off absorber while completing hazard cores with Toxic Spikes and potentially stealing other Eviolites with Thief. Wallbreakers and revenge killers like Fraxure and Raboot can take advantage of Drakloak's spinblocking capabilities to more easily break down defensive titans like Quaxwell and Koffing from the accumulated residual damage. Given Drakloak's vulnerability to Piloswine, checks to it like Quaxwell and Dunsparce are also appreciated; Quaxwell can pivot and remove hazards with Rapid Spin.

Choice Specs Drakloak is an effective wallbreaker and, with a Timid nature, speed control option, using its powerful STAB moves in conjunction with great coverage options to break through even the sturdiest of checks. Hydro Pump can be used to break past Fire- and Ground-types like Pignite and Piloswine, while Surf can be used as a less powerful but more reliable option. Thunderbolt is an effective coverage option that can zap Water-types like Quaxwell and Wartortle efficiently. Alternatively, if teams have status-spreading support from teammates like Glare Servine, Toxic Spikes Koffing, Glare or Body Slam Dunsparce, Drakloak can opt to use Hex, which is more powerful than Shadow Ball against foes with status. Infiltrator can prevent Substitute users like Wartortle and offensive Gabite from being safe against Drakloak, allowing it to function more effectively as a revenge killer. A Modest nature can help Drakloak break more efficiently at the cost of being slower than Frogadier and Raboot; it does secure a 2HKO on Quaxwell with Draco Meteor after taking entry hazard chip damage, which can be valuable on sets without Thunderbolt. Choice Specs Drakloak functions best on balance and bulky offense teams that have Knock Off and entry hazard support, using its powerful STAB attacks to clean late-game once its checks like Dunsparce and Tinkatuff are worn down. Clefairy and especially Tinkatuff are excellent teammates for Drakloak, providing Knock Off and Stealth Rock support to go along with their immunity to Dragon-type attacks from opposing Drakloak and other threats like Choice Scarf Gabite and Frogadier. Monferno similarly provides Knock Off and Stealth Rock support while being able to threaten Tinkatuff. Quaxwell can provide hazard removal, check Piloswine, and give Drakloak safe entry points with its Flip Turn. Piloswine is a great teammate because it provides Stealth Rock support, while Drakloak can spinblock and check Quaxwell for Piloswine in return. Drakloak has to be wary of Dunsparce and Piloswine, as both can tank its attacks and use the opportunity to dish out high damage in return. Wartortle is another problem for Drakloak, as it can use the Special Attack drop from Draco Meteor as an opportunity to set up with Shell Smash. Teammates that can help with these threats include Dunsparce, which can help sponge attacks from Piloswine, and Thwackey, which can provide safe entry points with U-turn and has the powerful Grassy Glide to take down Piloswine and Wartortle if they take some chip damage first. Pignite is a great teammate, as it can use its STAB attacks to help break through bulky Normal- and Steel-types, such as Dunsparce and Tinkatuff, while providing Knock Off support. Raboot can also help in these endeavors; it lacks Knock Off but can still use U-turn to give Drakloak entry points against Pokemon like Quaxwell. Koffing can help check Clefairy while boosting the damage of Hex by spreading Toxic Spikes, and other status spreaders like Glare Servine and Thunder Wave can Tinkatuff also provide this support.

On hyper offense builds, Drakloak is arguably the best dual screens setter thanks to being the fastest unboosted Pokemon in the tier and its diverse utility options. Both Reflect and Light Screen soften the damage taken by teammates that aim to set up or attack like Fraxure, Wartortle, and Scraggy. Utility Pokemon looking to disrupt it with Defog or Knock Off are in for a nasty surprise in Curse, discouraging them from staying in while preventing Drakloak from becoming setup fodder for opposing setup sweepers like Girafarig and Monferno. Thunder Wave is the preferred last slot to further disrupt walls as well as other faster attackers, while U-turn can be elected to allow Drakloak to continue setting up screens later in the game. While all of Drakloak's abilities are niche, Clear Body is preferred to have an easier time setting up screens early- to mid-game, though if opposing Sticky Web teams are not a concern, Cursed Body can prevent opposing threats from freely spamming their attacks, which can force switches. Drakloak is best suited for offensive and hyper offense builds, aiding setup sweepers like Fraxure, Girafarig, and Monferno in setting up. Offensive entry hazard setters like Piloswine and Glimmet can keep offensive pressure up with their powerful STAB moves. Additionally, Glimmet threatens out Fletchinder by retaliating with its own entry hazards while also absorbing Toxic Spikes on its own side of the field, a significant weakness otherwise. In return, Drakloak prevents opposing Quaxwell from removing entry hazards by spinblocking. Running Thunder Wave allows slower teammates like Pignite and Fraxure to be less reliant on screens for setup. Screens removers like Fletchinder and Knock Off users like Tinkatuff can be problematic in how they either completely remove or reduce screens' duration, so teammates that can threaten them out like Wartortle and Krokorok are appreciated.

Drakloak is the fastest Pokemon in the tier and helps revenge kill offensive threats such as Frogadier and Girafarig while blocking Quaxwell from removing entry hazards with Rapid Spin. Draco Meteor is Drakloak's strongest move for immediate power, while Hex does consistent damage after status has been spread on the opposing team. Thunder Wave allows Drakloak to spread paralysis to its common checks such as Tinkatuff and Dunsparce, potentially creating some key opportunities in long games. Will-O-Wisp helps deal with Piloswine and Krokorok, which cannot be paralyzed, as well as other physical attackers like Thwackey, providing a more consistent effect with burn compared to paralysis. Drakloak also serves as a fantastic offensive pivot with U-turn, as it comes in on defensive Pokemon such as Koffing and Quaxwell and pivots on its common answers to bring in wallbreakers such as Pignite and Thwackey. Eviolite is an option to give Drakloak more bulk; however, it dislikes hazards being up, especially Toxic Spikes, which hinder it permanently. In addition to Eviolite, Drakloak can use Cursed Body, but Infiltrator is usually the preferred option, giving Drakloak a good matchup against dual screens hyper offense teams and letting it hit Pokemon behind Substitute such as Servine and Girafarig. Drakloak perfectly fits in teams that lack speed control, especially if paired with wallbreakers like Pignite, Fraxure, and Piloswine, which make great partners, as they appreciate its ability to pivot on defensive Pokemon to give them opportunities to wallbreak while threatening Drakloak's common answers such as Scraggy and Hisuian Sliggoo. Pokemon that use pivoting moves such as Raboot, Monferno, and Thwackey also make great teammates for Drakloak, helping to keep momentum and applying offensive pressure with ease. Stealth Rock users such as Tinkatuff, Piloswine, and Krokorok and Spikes users like Quilladin and Glimmet appreciate Drakloak's ability to block Quaxwell from spinning and keep entry hazards on the field, allowing them to make consistent progress. Drakloak is weak to Piloswine, so Pokemon that consistently check Piloswine are much appreciated, such as Quaxwell, Seadra, and Dunsparce. Knock Off absorbers such as Koffing and Tinkatuff cover Drakloak's weakness to Knock Off. Drakloak appreciates Pokemon that are able to break special walls like Pignite, Krokorok, and Piloswine.