Pokémon Top 5: My Favourite Dragon Types

We are almost done my friends! It has been a journey that with breaks and missed days took us almost six month! Today we list the penultimate favourite Top  5 Pokémon of a certain type! That type is the crowd favourite Dragon Type.. defeated by ice.. Itself.. why it is on this spot on my list and it is defeated by my favourite type! It is not a type I enjoy using a whole lot even. They are just such a hassle to raise. With most Pokémon Games having a lackluster after game..it’s hard to enjoy these before you are done with the game..so I still wonder how to train my dragon.

Rules and Honourable Mentions

This list was started to showcase as much love for Pokémon as possible so we only add one entry per evolution line and it can only make one list if it has a dual typing. For that reason Noivern is excluded from this list who’d definitely make it in the top 3 of my favourite dragons otherwise. Since evolutions are now much harder to stop I will also hold it against a pokémon if it evolves into something I don’t like. .and for this reason Axew is on my list! I love that little dragonny guy. But his final evolution, Haxorus, is sooooo boring. I don’t like the colour, it looks very murky and it just has no stand out traits. Thus I never like evolving my Axew past Fraxure.. and therefore it is a nice honourable mention.

The second rule I have always wielded is that a Pokémon has to feel like it’s part of the actual type. And The Dragon Type actually is mishandeld quite a bit. I don’t feel Latios or Latias are Dragons , I don’t think Zygarde in most of his forms looks like a Dragon, Altaria, Kindra , Sliggoo, Mega Ampharos.  None of these feel like dragons to me! But perhaps the biggest offender, yet a Pokémon I really love for it’s completely goofy design is Alolan Exegegcutor. It looks so unique for a pokémon and I love how in games you basically never see it’s head!  It is always off screen that is how big it is. Same for Pokémon Go.. that is hilarious and we did not have a better grass Dragon back then either.. we do now.. but it still earns a spot on this list.

Finally no temporary forms are allowed on this list. So Mega Charizard X is not allowed as for the majority of the adventure that pokémon comes with you as another typing. Not that I particularly love Charizard. No! My entry for this spot is Ultra Necrozma. I love it’s design I love it’s flavouring and most of all I love it’s musical theme! It is my favourite piece of music in Pokémon maybe.. though the Galar0 gym team is very good as well of course!  It is a an actual Dragon Psychic type in my eyes unlike the Latios and Latios and it is the single best boss Pokémon we ever fought. Also if you are not checking this out in WordPress Reader, check out the Ultra Necrozma theme below!

Dragon Type #5: Flygon

Flygon had the privilege of being the first Dragon Type I had in active use.  I caught myself a Trapinch as I liked it’s cry and went through the works with it! Ground types are quite useful and it matched my team fairly well. I did not expect it to turn into a dragon but that was a neat surprise. I For a long time I believed Vibrava was a Ground Bug type but I certainly had some fun with it. I really like it’s unique design , the rich green colour and heck I can even appreciate it’s shiny! Though I do feel that kinda belongs in the 90’s . It  is a bit lackluster in combat compared to some other Dragons but that also gives it some shine. I do not like how so many Dragons have super high stats but trash stats to begin with and in case of this evolution line it is all a bit more paced out. Vibrava has some usefulness. Even Trapinch is..so it is just a fun pokémon to carry around.

Pokédex entry wise there is not a lot to say about Flygon! In fact the only thing that really is explained in earlier games is that it has a red membrane over its eyes shielding itself from sand.  Its wings are powerful enough to whip up big sandstorms and as it prefers desert-like areas it has been given the nickname the Spirit of the Desert.  Even across versions this is usually the only thing that is said about this pokémon. Luckily we have Pokémon Sun and Moon.. you know those games where the pokédex entries all went a bit  heavy on the dark side?! Well in there it is stated that Flygon can beautifully sing and steal peoples heart so they wander through his deserts. It then uses sandstorms to hide Sandile and Krookodile in the storm so they can kill humans and pokémon or whatever they might prey on. They then share this prey with Flygon! So while Flygon is seen as a good boy by the fandom.. there is a dark side to it.. also there are Dakimakura of lewd Flygon’s out there so I bet it’s darkness goes even further.

In combat Flygon is pretty lackluster for a Dragon Pokémon. With a Base Stat total of 520 of which it’s physical attack stat and it’s speed stat are the highest at a total of 100 it struggles to keep up with other Dragons. However this does make it an excellent Dragon Dance user. It’s ability to levitate makes it immune to ground types, it is immune to electric types but very weak to ice. Which means you will probably want to run it as a mixed attacker.  Earthquake , Dragon Dance, Fire Blast (for scaring away those ice types)  and Dragon Claw makes a good set for this pokémon. Dragon Dance boosts speed and physical attack and while Fire Blast is inaccurate and special, it’s high base power and the fact that Flygon has a passable special attack makes it viable enough to use.  This isn’t an easy pokémon to use but if you can get a few Dragon Dance’s off and scare off your opponent it can surely bring you victory.

Dragon Type #4 Rayquaza

Rayquaza is probably my favourite looking Dragon Type ever! It should be my number one but I don’t like using legendaries.  It feels cheap. Yet Rayquaza and Mega Rayquaza look so amazing. They have unique moves and abilities as well. There is lots of lore and story around Rayquaza and it really feels like  it is a bigger part of the pokémon world. It even played an important role in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon. There is so much Rayquaza love that it really had an impact on me. Like how Zacian and Zamenzenta seemed really important.. just the story of their game was really bad. When A pokémon looks this amazing, you HAVE to use it in ORAS post game and there is significant content for it..it deserves a spot on my list

Most people know it as a part of the ruler of the Weather Trio. It was the Pokémon that put an end to the conflict between Kyogre and Groudon and it is a Pokémon that really has a beef with Deoxys.  It normally resides high above the clouds in the ozone layer. There it moves around consuming meteorites which have caused it to awaken to the power of Mega Evolution. It is said this pokémon is hundreds of millions years old and since the beginning of its life has lived about the clouds. Constantly flying through the ozone layer invisible from the land. It will only come down if Kyogre and Groudon will clash again. How exactly it stopped the Pokémon of Land and the Pokémon of water has been lost to legends. 

Rayquaza is not really allowed in much competitive formats let alone Mega Rayquaza.  Most sets are fairly similar amongst them and use Sword Dance for a powerful but trail sweeper, or Dragon Dance for a slightly less strong but more quick hitter. Personally I prefer the Sword Dance set as I love bringing Webs as hazards on my team which slow my enemy down! Equipped with it’s signature move Dragon Ascent, Victini’s Signature move V-Create (yes it can learn it but you can replace it with earthquake if you don’t want stat dropping moves)  and the always useful Extreme Speed this pokémon is a force to be reckoned with.  Like with Xerneas and Yveltal and to a lesser extent Zacian and Zamazenta these are pokémon you need to use in gameplay so this pokémon scores a lot of points for that. It actually feels cool instead of cheaty to use this legendary and the moves it has and uses really befit a legendary! I vastly prefer legendaries with signature moves that are actually useful. It gives yet another reason to use them in combat so Rayquaza is a solid pick.

Dragon Type #3 Hydreigon

There is something I really dislike about Dragons! Nearly all of them.. at least the ones that are good have a quadruple weakness. Everything except for my number two pick is quad weak to one of the dragon’s major counters. Hydreigon would have been my favourite dragon had it not had the worst quad weakness. It is a Dragon/Dark type so it can not take hits from Fairies. Add to that that it only evolves at the atrociously late level of 64! Which is 9 levels later than Dragonite.Still I LOVE this pokémon! It’s design is so fierce! It’s line mimicking that of a Hydra with it’s evolution getting more and more heads.. Dark and Dragon might be the coolest type out there. I don’t think there are any besides him either. It’s first evolution is super cute and it is the most fun line to have with you of all the dragons. It can do just about everything you expect a dragon to do and it’s cave colour scheme feels so in line with what we’ve seen in caves before! Thought went into this one!

The pokédex lore says this creature isn’t exactly the most kind. The dark type is called the evil type in Japan and this one really lives up to that name. It uses its six wings to fly in the sky but it is SO violent and aggressive that the only thing it needs to attack something is movement. It will attack and DESTROY anything that moves.Two of it’s heads.. the arm heads as they are called do not have brains so they continuously devour everything never feeling like they had enough to eat. The main head does join in for it’s fair share of violence though taking an almost equal share in all the killing. In Galar there are plenty of stories of Hydreigon that have destroyed villages entirely. As long  as Hydreigon spots movement it will continue to consume and devour until nothing but itself moves. 

Hydreigon is a very scary wallbreaker in the OU tier.. the most competitive tier so it does show how good it is. With its lowest stats being in the 90’s range and it’s special attack being at 125 this pokémon is very powerful but has no real weaknesses at least in the stat department. With the move Nasty Plot, it can continuously hail down Draco Meteor on your opponent. With a single move it can recover from the greatest weakness of  the Dragon Type’s strongest move. If you can set up beforehand it can even hit harder.  With additional moves like Flash Cannon , being a steel type move or Flamethrower being a fire type move it’s offensive coverage is great. Dark Pulse can give it a good flinch chance with high damage output still and moves like Roost will dramatically improve it’s survivability.  This pokémon both in lore as in combat is truly fearsome…unless you have a pink little creature by your side.. then you are probably fine!

Dragon Type #2 Dracovish

Generation 8 introduced me to my two favourite Dragon Types of all time.. and it is all because of the way Dragon Types are handled. Dracovish is one of the four fossil pokémon in the game and strictly theoretical this pokémon has the strongest move EVER in a pokémon game! I love it’s weird design! It feels and in a way is a science experiment gone wrong. But the positive is.. it doesn’t evolve and you can get this pokémon mid-game. This means Dracovish much like my number 1 can be an active part of your journeys.  While I did not walk around with a Dracovish the fact that it has a move that can have a base power of well over 5x that of the most powerful move in the game makes this a very odd thing in the pokémon world. I like oddities and this is what I feel Dragon’s can be like as well. Instead of giving us insane level requirements give us weird set up material for it to truely shine. Dracovish really utilised the Dynamax mechanic.. not Persé as the Pokémon that grows but one that really benefits from the weather effect.

Being introduced in Galar only we do not get a lot of trivia about this pokémon yet! What we do know is that much like Hydreigon it can be a bit ruthless. Weirdly enough even though it is a combination of two mismatched fossil halves it seemed to exist in the past like this as well. There it was driven to extinction by its own devices. It hunted for prey so fiercely that eventually it ended up starving itself due to overhunting. It has experienced other problems as well. It’s body is very much made to dwell on land and it can be fairly fast with running speeds of about miles per hours. It can’t maintain that for long though because it can only breath underwater.. as it’s head is a fish! That is just hilarious and if you have seen these lists you know I like awkward pokémon like that.

In combat Dracovish is very hard to use. With only a base stat total of 505 and his defence being his highest stat at 100, it seems very lackluster. However.. it knows the move Fishious Rend. Fishious Rend is an 85 base power move that doubles in power if the user goes First. Making it a 170 Base power move in that case. Since Dracovish is a water type it gets a same type attack bonus of 50% on that. So when it hits a Fishous Rend it would hit for 235 base power?! So far nothing that special! Most Pokémon with powerful moves get STAB (Same Type Attack)  Bonuses. Draco Meteor from  Hydreigon above would most likely still do more!  But then there is Dracovish’s ability! Strong Jaw.. which powers up biting moves by 50%. After all other calculations! So Suddenly this move takes a giant leap to a base power of 340 ish. Which is quite the number.. and then there is the Dynamax mechanic. Every water move used in Dynamax form sets up the rain. While you usually don’t want Dracovish itself to evolve, along with a rain setter, or a dynamax rain setter boosts it greatly. Because any water type  move in the rain .. you guessed it.. gets a 50% power boost post other calculations. Putting Fishious Rend’s optimal Base power at 510. With an item like a choice scarf or god forbid a choice band (you need web setters or paralysers or a trick room user)  this means Dracovish can attack as if it has been given 3 turns of set up from the get go. So unique but very cool!

My Favourite Dragon Type :  Appletun

No Dragonite is not on this list. I don’t like how it suddenly turns from blue to orange and gains the flying type after being found in the ocean. It doesn’t learn good flying moves either so it just happend to make it weaker to ice. If Ice is going to be my weakness I rather run with my Pokémon that is also an apple pie! This looks more unique, actually learns grass moves and again is available mid game! My Appletun had been with me for a very large part of my Pokémon Shield playthrough and I got so attached to it! It is amazing. Never EVER have I bonded so much with a Dragon. It’s compact design and it’s goofy animations make it a delight to have it walking around your camp and it is no slouch in combat either. It is not the most powerful or competitively viable pokémon but for the story playthrough it is incredibly good!  I named my Appletun Tarte Tartin because why not!  It sounds cute and fancy and it is actually related to Apple Pie! It is apple Pie! The fact that a baby dragon got into an apple and it evolves by eating yet another apple makes it a wonderfully wacky pokémon that I will hold close to my heart forever.

Pokédex wise we don’t see much difference from Dracovish.. it’s a fresh pokémon so there isn’t a lot to say.  This pokémon is popular amongst children because they would eat it’s skin as a treat. I am not sure if that means after it is dead or if it regrows.. but well eating the skin of something that is alive sounds kinda unappealing. No matter how sweet it may taste. Galar children are quite horrible either way if they kill this cutie or if they steal his skin! The pie of the little beast is slathered in nectar …the body is  about pie sized just fatter and higher. So dare I say it might be an American Pie?!.. Eeew… that gave me a visual I did not want. This nectar functions as an armor but it also lures in bugs which Appletun happily eats. Making the idea of kids eating it’s skin grosser… there is dead bugs in there kids! Still stay away from my baby!  It also has a Gigantamax form in which it turns into a giant apple covered in nectar! In this form it’s nectar has become more like armor but it also uses it to cover it’s opponents and drown them in the sweet goop!

Appletun has a special attack of 110 which is not bad for a Pokémon that evolves with a simple item.  It also gets a signature grass type move named Apple Acid which is a nice 80 base power move that lowers your opponents special defences  With an HP stat of 110 Appletun is quite bulky as well so it really works well with Leftovers as a held item to recover or Giga drain if it can deal super effective damage. With moves like Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor on the side you have a wide arrangement of options available to you to deal damage. Choice Specs might also be a good shout-out as a held item. It really puts a bit of kick into this cake! It has not that many recognised movesets yet due to official tournaments and such not being a thing right now, so who knows you might have more fun with leech seeds, left over, giga drain to create the immortal apple pie!  With it unique Gigantamax move G-max Sweetness.. we get a pretty accurate description of using Appletun though! Sweet!

In the end I ended up without any of the classic Dragons all because of some piece of pie! It looks clunky, it has a bit of awkward lore with children eating it, it has good stats and the fact that both my number 1 and 2 can be a part of your journey in a significant capacity really helps. There is so much persona to Appletun and I really would love to see one scurrying across my house doing tired sighs from just moving little bits! I fell in love with this pokémon and a Dragon Type never did that before.It goes in against the stereotypical idea of a dragon and makes something still IS a dragon but also something completely else! Appletun has found it’s way into my heart like a worm..dragon-thing to an apple! The Winner is Appletun!

Who is your favourite Dragon?! Do you use Dragon Types a lot?!  How do you train your dragon?!  Let me know in the comments!   I expect to see a lot of Salamance and Dragonite.. but feel free to prove me wrong or right! Now it’s time for me to blast off again! As I found a new game in which I can catch a dragon!