Dracovish - Moveset & Best Build for Ranked Battle | Pokemon Sword and Shield

This is a strategy guide for using Dracovish in competitive play for the games Pokemon Sword and Shield. Read on for tips on the best Nature, EV spreads, Movesets, and Held Items to use with Dracovish, as well as its strengths and weak points.

Dracovish - Related Guides
Evolution and Learnset	Build for Ranked Battle

Basic Information for Dracovish

Types and Abilities

Pokemon	Type 1	Type 2
Dracovish
Abilities
Strong Jaw	Boosts the power of biting moves.
Water Absorb	Restores HP if hit by an Water-type move.
Sand Rush (Hidden)	Boosts the Pokemon's Speed in a sandstorm.

Dracovish Weaknesses and Resistances

	Type
Takes 4x damage	-
Takes 2x damage
Takes 0.5x damage
Takes 1/4x damage
Takes 0x damage	-

What is Type Effectiveness?

Base Stats

HP	Attack	Defense	Sp. Atk	Sp. Def	Speed
90	90	100	70	80	75

Best Nature for Dracovish

Best Natures
Adamant (+Atk, -Sp.Atk)	Jolly (+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
Brave (+Atk, -Spd)

Singles Movesets for Dracovish

Choice Attacker Moveset & Best Build

Nature	Jolly(+Spd, -Sp.Atk)
EV Spread	Atk 252 / Def 4 / Spd 252
Final Stat Values	HP 165 / Atk 142 / Def 121 / Sp.Def 100 / Spd 139
Ability	Strong Jaw or Sand Rush
Held Item	Choice Scarf Choice Band
Moveset	・Fishious Rend ・Outrage ・Low Kick ・Sleep Talk

Dracovish remains one of the most powerful choice attackers in the metagame. Defensive Teams need at least one fast Pokemon just so they can overcome the Fossil Pokemon's boosted Fishious Rend.

About Dracovish's Moves

Fishious Rend is Dracovish's strongest STAB Move, becoming a base 170 attack as long as Dracovish moves first or if the opponent switches out. Outrage is its secondary STAB move, dealing great neutral damage for 2-3 turns before succumbing to confusion.

Low Kick provides great coverage, allowing Dracovish to hit Steel-types resistant to its STAB moves such as Ferrothorn.

It's last move is Sleep Talk, which ensures Dracovish can still attack if it's afflicted with sleep.

About Dracovish's EV Spread

This build uses a simple attacking EV Spread with full investment in Atk and Spd so that it hits as hard and as fast as possible. The remaining 4 EVs are invested in Def to boost its great Defense stat.

About Dracovish's Ability

Dracovish has two options for Abilities.

Strong Jaw boosts the power of its biting moves, such as Fishious Rend.

Sand Rush doubles its Speed stat during Sandstorm, while also giving it immunity to its residual damage.

About Dracovish's Held Item

Dracovish has two options for held item depending on its ability.

Choice Scarf doubles Dracovish' Speed and is best used if Dracovish has Strong Jaw so that it can hit first with Fishious Rend.

Choice Band doubles Dracovish's Attack and is best used if Dracovish has Sand Rush, although it won't hit as hard with Fishious Rend even with the boost.

Other Viable Moves

Psychic Fangs	Psychic-type move that's boosted by Strong Jaw and destroys Reflect, Light Screen, and Aurora Veil.
Ice Fang	Ice-type move that's boosted by Strong Jaw, allowing Dracovish to hit Grass-types for super effective damage.
Crunch	A Dark-type kove that's boosted by Strong Jaw and hits Psychic and Ghost-types for super effective damage.
Rock Blast	A Rock-type move that hits Flying-types for super effective damage. It also generates Sandstorm when used in Dynamax as Max Rockfall.

Trick Room Attacker Moveset & Best Build

Nature	Brave (+Atk, -Spd)
EV Spread	HP 252 / Atk 252 / Def 4
Final Stat Values	HP 197 / Atk 156 / Def 121 / Sp.Def 100 / Spd 85
Ability	Strong Jaw
Held Item	Choice Band
Moveset	・Fishious Rend ・Outrage ・Low Kick ・Sleep Talk

A Trick Room attacking Dracovish has the potential to hit the hardest with its Strong Jaw boosted Fishious Rend, but requires a lot of support from the team its in.

About Dracovish's Moves

Fishious Rend is Dracovish's strongest STAB Move, becoming a base 170 attack as long as Dracovish moves first or if the opponent switches out. Outrage is its secondary STAB move, dealing great neutral damage for 2-3 turns before succumbing to confusion.

Low Kick provides great coverage, allowing Dracovish to hit Steel-types resistant to its STAB moves such as Ferrothorn.

It's last move is Sleep Talk, which ensures Dracovish can still attack if it's afflicted with sleep.

About Dracovish's EV Spread

We're using a bulky attacking EV Spread with full investment in HP and Atk. The remaining *4 EVs are invested in Defense to boost Dracovish's great Defense stat.

About Dracovish's Ability

Strong Jaw boosts the power of its biting moves, such as Fishious Rend.

About Dracovish's Held Item

Choice Band doubles Dracovish's Attack but prevents it from using other moves apart from the initial one it used at the start of their turn.

Other Viable Moves

Psychic Fangs	Psychic-type move that's boosted by Strong Jaw and destroys Reflect, Light Screen, and Aurora Veil.
Ice Fang	Ice-type move that's boosted by Strong Jaw, allowing Dracovish to hit Grass-types for super effective damage.
Crunch	A Dark-type kove that's boosted by Strong Jaw and hits Psychic and Ghost-types for super effective damage.

How to Use Dracovish Effectively

A Strong Choice Attacker

Dracovish is one of the strongest Choice attackers. Since its introduction, the metagame has shifted into offensive-oriented playstyles as Stall and pure Defensive Teams struggle against the Fossil Pokemon's Strong Jaw boosted Fishious Rend.

Although The Isle of Armor and Crown Tundra reintroduced powerful threats that can outspeed it, as well as sturdier defensive Pokemon that can shrug off its signature move, it remains a real threat that all teams need to take into consideration.

Sand Rush is a Viable Alternative

Dracovish's Sand Rush Hidden Ability opens up new possibilities, and while it doesn't hit as hard without Strong Jaw, the ability to wear Choice Band and immunity to Sandstorm damage means it's not restricted to non-weather teams anymore.

How to Build a Team with Dracovish

Dracovish is easy to fit into many teams, although it's restricted to being a choice attacker or revenge killer.

A Revenge Killer for Hyper Offense Teams

Dracovish is a great choice as a revenge killer for a Hyper Offense Team, with its ability to overpower defensive Pokemon being extremely useful.

Example Choice Scarf Hyper Offense Team

Lead Dynamax	Special Attacker	Choice Scarf Attacker
Galarian Zapdos	Heatran	Dracovish

Dracovish appreciates Lead Dynamax Pokemon that can further boost its Speed and Attack with Max Airstream and Max Knuckle. For this team, Galarian Zapdos provides just that with Brave Bird and Thunderous Kick respectively.

Heatran rounds off this team's coverage by providing a strong Fire-type STAB. Its great Dual-typing also lets it shrug off Fairy-type moves that both Dracovish and Galarian Zapdos are weak to.

Counters for Dracovish

Overpower it with Super Effective Attacks

Dracovish is bulky, but it still falls to strong super effective hits - especially from attackers that can outspeed it.

Best Pokemon to Use

Pokemon	Description
Dragapult	Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Outspeeds Dracovish even when it's holding a Choice Scarf ・Easily KOs Dracovish with Dragon Darts ・Support variants can cripple Dracovish with Will-O-Wisp Moveset & Best Build for Dragapult
Tapu Fini	Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Resists Dracovish's Fishious Rend and immune to Outrage ・Easily KOs Dracovish with Moonblast ・Misty Surge sets up Misty Terrain, which halves the damage of Dracovish's Outrage Moveset & Best Build for Tapu Fini
Mimikyu	Ranking: ★★★★★ ・Disguise Ability protects it from attack, allowing it to retaliate with Play Rough ・Immune to Dracovish's Outrage Moveset & Best Build for Mimikyu
Dragonite	Ranking: ★★★★ ・Its Multiscale Ability lets it survive Dracovish's Outrage ・Easily KOs Dracovish with its own Outrage Moveset & Best Build for Dragonite

Use Freeze-Dry Against It

Dracovish's dual typing make it very susceptible to the Ice-type move Freeze-Dry. Many Pokemon that have this move can one-shot Dracovish even with little to no investment.

Best Pokemon to Use

Pokemon	Description
Lapras	Ranking: ★★★★ ・Immune to Dracovish's Fishious Rend thanks to its Water Absorb Ability ・Easily KOs Dracovish with Freeze-Dry Moveset & Best Build for Lapras
Eiscue	Ranking: ★★★ ・Its Ice Face Ability lets it surivive Dracovish's initial attack and outspeed it afterwards ・Easily KOs with Icicle Crash or Freeze-Dry Moveset & Best Build for Eiscue

Related Links

All Competitive Builds for Ranked Battle

Competitive Guides for Pokemon Sword and Shield

Competitive Pokemon Battle Guides
Tier List		Best Builds		Series 10 List of Contenders
Doubles Tier List		Team Building		Rental Teams

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Movesets & Best Builds for New Pokemon
Dragapult	Galarian Corsola	Toxtricity
Galarian Darmanitan	Corviknight	Dracovish
Grimmsnarl	Rillaboom	Duraludon
Cinderace	Alcremie	Dracozolt
Hatterene	Eiscue	Inteleon
Pincurchin	Frosmoth	Zacian
Sirfetch'd	Flapple	Coalossal
Centiskorch	Arctozolt	Zarude
Galarian Weezing	Eternatus	Indeedee (Female)
Sandaconda