Dialga, the first of the Creation Trio of Sinnoh, has been released as a Tier 5 Raid. How does it stack up?

Gyms and Raids

As a generalist, Dialga looks to be a good generalist because it ranks #7 in DO@20. In contrast to Palkia, Dialga's DPS is 3.3% less and TDO is 2.6% higher. So it a tank-ier alternative to Palkia. In addition, it is not weak to dragon, so consider using Dialga when heavy moves like Draco Meteor shows up.

However, after the type effectivness bump in December, generalists are less useful now. Looking how Dialga compares with other dragon and steel types only answers half of the question. I prefer to look at opponents by type. Dialga is in the top 20 DO@20 against: Dragon (#2), , Electric (#15) , Fairy (#2), , Ice (#8) , Rock (#7) .

Interestingly, Dialga is a dragon type that isn't weak to dragon. If you follow the dragon link above, you can see its TDO is much higher than everyone else on the list.

As for move set, it looks like its best move set is Metal Claw and Draco Meteor. But Dragon Breath is a good charge move, and it has higher DPS when windy since dragon is boosted by windy weather. Dragon Breath is also the best move set against dragon, electric, and water type pokemon. This might be a good opportunity for a second charge move, especially since it's best PvP move is also Dragon Breath. Except I don't think I'll ever spend that much candy for a second legendary charge move.

Trainer Battles

It's very important to look at PvP seperately from Gyms and Raids. First, the moves themselves have different stats. In this case, Dragon Breath + Draco Meteor is the highest DPS move set for Dialga.

Also, survivability wins in PvP which means looking for highest TDO and not DO@20. As with most legendaries, Dialga is too strong for Great and Ultra league battles. But in master league battles, Dialga with Hydro Pump is ranked #3 overall in TDO just ahead of Palkia. It might find a spot in your specific team.

As for specific opponent types, Palkia has high TDO against Dragon (#4) , Grass (#6) , Poison (#6) , Water (#6) , and Normal (#2) , if the opponent is using STAB moves.

Comments or Suggestions

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