Is Dragapult viable in Gen 9 AG?

Question

I’ve been trying to come up with an Iron Bundle strategy to outspeed the 135 base speeds such as the twin box legends and Chien-Pao, but I’ve realized that Dragapult is slightly relevant at 142 Speed. I’m looking for a detailed explanation of Dragapult’s relevance in AG and it’s own format, which I believe to be OU, as well as relevant counters in AG such as Ice Shard from Chien-Pao and Draco Meteor from Scarf Miraidon.

Comments

That Smogon analysis doesn’t have much about Dragapult in AG, only about OU, as well as a couple bare AG & Ubers sets.

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https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ag-metagame-discussion.3710911/#post-9402676 is from November 2022, but it says Dragapult is somewhat viable due to its Speed and mostly unresisted STAB combination.

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Lol, just looking at the STAB tells me that Kingambit is the perfect counter. I would like either a hand-made analysis (for example, that link rates Toxapex as an A+, even though various counters such as Miraidon, Espathra, and Great Tusk counter it (fairly) well. I also have not seen a Toxapex in almost 100 battles). I would also be fine with waiting for the Smogon analysis on Dragapult’s page for AG to come out, someone could just post that with a bit of commentary.

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not a real answer but here https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ag-viability-rankings.3714177/  it puts dragapult in c tier. don't know what's holding it back, but if it's in the same tier as dachsbun, i would recommend not using it.
that's just me tho

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Honestly I don’t know if it’s just metagame uncertainty or the lack of a physical Ghost move other than Tera Blast. I would also like to make a set, as that speed tier is just amazing, but I really do need to know what’s holding it back or pushing it forward.

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my guess is it's underwhelming attacking prowess when compared to others of the Dragon typing, and even staples like Great Tusk and Volcarona
(edit: for those that were wondering why scovillian is up here with drag, because of the abundance of sun it can run surprisingly hurting moves with it's life orb set and chlorophyll)

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I have some thoughts on this:
Pros:
-Choice Scarf Dragapult can outspeed and OHKO non-Tera Miraidon and Koraidon with Draco Meteor, and revenge-kill a weakened Zacian-C with Flamethrower.

-Choice Spec Dragapult can break through Skeledirge with Shadow Ball without getting KOed back and 2HKO it even after a Slack Off. Choice-Spec Dragapult with Modest nature can 3HKO( or 4HKO) Toxapex after Recovers with Thunderbolt. Can 2HKO Kyogre and survive a full power Scarfed Kyogre Water Sprout. Modest Dragapult Speced can OHKO Giratina

- Adamant Dragapult can threaten to OHKO Calyrex-Shadow with Sucker Punch if the horse has taken prior Life Orb Damage.

Cons:

-Can’t OHKO Tera-Electric Miraidon or Tera-Fire Koraidon and can easily be OHKOed in return.

-Threatened by Kingambit Sucker Punch, and threatened to be revenge killed by Chien-Pao.

-Literally OHKOed simply by a Ribombee lead with Moonblast.

These are just some points I thought of. There’s probably a lot more.

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One of the tags says pre-Home. Still a good comment though, thanks.

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It's still not on https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/ag-viability-rankings-update-post-17.3724219/ , so I don't think it's very good.

Answer 1

1 year ago Dragapult was a good Pokemon because it was naturally faster than both Koraidon and Miriadon it could run a mutitude of sets including Choice Specs, Choice Band, Will-O-Wisp hex, Thunder Wave hex, Dragon Dance setup and Choice Scarf to outspeed other Choice Scarfers or Booster Energy Pokemon it had a great ability in infiltratior which could help it bypass screens it could also tera for a power boost or a defensive boost it could break stall effectively with so much variety but now it has a huge problem with the addition of Calyrex Shadow. Calyrex Shadow naturally outspeeds non scarf Dragapult therefore Dragapult has to either Tera and lose your tera for the game, switch out and lose momentum, run focus sash and hope that the opposing Calyrex Shadow isnt sash too or run scarf and hope the opposing Calyrex Shadow isnt scarf or sash

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