Dragonite

Salamence arrived two generations later with the same types, the same total of 600 and a similar bipedal dragon silhouette, and yet the resemblance falls apart as soon as you look at the wings. Dragonite hauls around 210 kilograms with a pair of wings that would barely be enough to glide. The Pokédex insists on the detail: it flies anyway, and can circle the globe in sixteen hours.

The rest of what is said about it is maritime. It lives “somewhere in the sea”, guides the crews of sunken ships and the vessels that storms are about to capsize back to shore. One captain named it the Avatar of the Sea. There is also the story of a castaway it rescued and left on a lost island inhabited solely by other Dragonite. Against all that, one entry warns of the other side: it is peaceful by nature, but if someone makes it angry, it will not calm down until it has destroyed everything around it.

It is 2.2 meters tall and closes the line that begins with Dratini and passes through Dragonair, a thin blue serpent that gives no hint of what comes next. The evolution comes at level 55, one of the latest in existence.

600 points with no real weak spots: 134 Attack, 100 and 100 in the two Special stats, 95 Defense, 91 HP and 80 Speed. That 80 is the figure that dictates everything else. It comes in late against a large part of the format, so almost all of its game revolves around Dragon Dance, which it learns at level 62 in Scarlet and Violet.

Multiscale, its Hidden Ability, reduces damage taken while its HP is full. It is half a hit for free, just enough room to survive what should have knocked it out and set up the boost. Inner Focus, its regular Ability, only prevents flinching and changes nothing else.

On offense, Dragon hits neutrally against almost everything except Steel and Fairy, while Flying covers Fighting, Bug and Grass. Defensively, the balance is worse: immunity to Ground and quarter damage from Grass, but Ice hits for four times the damage. Outrage, at level 41, is its strongest attack and leaves it locked in and confused when it ends; Extreme Speed is available from level 1 and finishes off whatever survives with priority; Ice Punch and Earthquake come from TMs and cover the opponents that resist it.

The Pokémon Showdown lists for Scarlet and Violet place it in OU, and in doubles in DOU. What holds it back is concrete: Multiscale disappears after losing a single HP, and Stealth Rock, which tears away a quarter of a Flying-type Pokémon’s HP just for switching in, disables it before it can do anything. From there, any Ice-type attack—the one from Weavile, for example—ends the conversation.

It belongs to the Water 1 and Dragon Egg Groups, with a 50% gender ratio and no difficulty finding a mate. The expensive part is the time: 40 incubation cycles, around 10,455 steps, among the highest figures in the game. Breeding is done at the Dratini stage anyway.

The evolution has no trick to it: Dratini becomes Dragonair at level 30, and Dragonair becomes Dragonite at 55. No items, no trading, no time-of-day or friendship conditions. All it asks for is patience, and the Slow growth rate stretches it out even further. The compensation is that defeating it gives 270 base experience and yields 3 effort points in Attack.

Its habitat is the water’s edge. The catch rate is 45, the same as a starter’s: not impossible, but enough to burn through a few balls if you find one already evolved in the wild. Wild specimens can be holding a Dragon Scale or a Dragon Fang. Its base friendship is 35, among the lowest, so it takes a while to warm up to anyone.