SALAMENCE STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

With Ruby and Sapphire Pokémon , it gave us one of the Dragon-Type Pokémon most loved by the community and one of the best pseudo-legendaries in Competitive. Today we bring you the Guide to the great Salamence .

Spectacular design, good stats, a plethora of moves at his disposal… Salamence seems to have it all. So let’s see all the features of it, how to use it on your teams and how to play against it both in Uber and OU for singles as well as in VGC.

? STATS OF SALAMENCE

His stats add up to a total of 600 points , which is usual for a pseudo-legendary like Salamence.

Health: 95.
Attack: 135.
Defense: 80.
Special Attack: 110.
Special Defense: 80.
Speed: 100.

His Attack stat is really high, so even without buffing he will do a lot of damage. Its 100 Speed makes it a fast Pokemon (especially in a non-legendary format). But let’s not be overconfident, as there are many Pokémon with better Speed like Weavile . In addition, its defenses (including Health) are its less good part, although Salamence lasts much longer than expected thanks to its Type and ability, as we will see later.

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES

Salemence is a Dragon/Flying Type , which gives it the following weaknesses and resistances:

It is immune to Earth and field effects.
It is resistant to Fire, Water, Fight and Bug.
It is weak to Rock, Dragon and Fairy.
It is very weak to Ice.

Salamence ‘s Earth immunity is very useful in switching into Pokémon like Excadrill or Garchomp if we predict their attack.

Its 4 resistances are very decisive, since Fire, Water and Fight are very common types and Salamence holds up like a champion.

Let’s take a look at its weaknesses:

Rock : A very common type especially with coverage moves. Tyranitar and Rhyperior are very dangerous due to their great power.
Dragon : When we talk about this weakness, Speed is what we must take into account the most, since Dragons hit very hard and can weaken our Salamence. Dragapult is especially dangerous since he is faster and with his ability we cannot lower his stats.
Fairy : There are few Fairies with a Speed above 90, with Mimikyu , Zacian , and Tapu Koko being the most dangerous.
Ice : This is Salamence’s most important weakness as it will do 4x damage to us. Weavile and Alolan Ninetales are two very common Pokémon to watch out for.

SALAMENCE’S ABILITIES

Salamence has two abilities and both are great. Let’s see what they do and then we’ll see when to use each one.

INTIMIDATE

This ability lowers the Physical Attack damage of enemies by one level when entering the field. One of the best competitive skills that will help us mitigate the offensive danger of rival Pokémon.

SELF ESTEEM (HIDDEN ABILITY)

This ability increases our Pokémon’s Attack by one level every time we weaken an opponent with our movements. This creates a snowball effect that can cause our Salamence to run over the entire opposing team.

IVS, EVS AND NATURE

With Salamence we want to have perfect IV’s. It will be in the EV’s and Nature where we will see adjustments:

EV’s : Depending on the strategy we will use one set or another, but normally we will seek to enhance its Attack and Speed.
Nature : We will almost always use a Steady nature (+Attack -Special Attack), although if we need a lot of speed we can opt for Cheerful (+Speed -Special Attack).

BEST MOVES FOR SALAMENCE

The movements that I recommend the most for Salamence:

Anger : STAB Dragon, Physical, 120 power and 100% accuracy. The negative part is that our Pokémon will be forced to use this movement for 2 or 3 turns. It can be a problem if we get a Fairy-Type due to its immunity to Dragon. Very effective against Dragon.
Dragon Claw : STAB Dragon, Physical, 80 power and 100% accuracy. A safer option by sacrificing a bit of damage.
Wing Bis : STAB Flying, Physical, 40 power and 90% accuracy. This movement hits twice, so its real power would be 80. It also has the advantage that hitting twice eliminates the Focus Band effect if we OHKO (One Hit KO). Very effective against Bug, Fight and Grass.
Dragon Dance : Movement that will raise our Attack and Speed by one level. If we manage to snort in a turn without taking damage, our Salamence will be a true beast.
Earthquake : Earth, 100 power and 100% accuracy. Earth is effective against Rock, Steel, Electric, Fire, and Poison.
Avalanche : Rock, Physical, 75 power and 90% accuracy. Great Rock-type coverage that will hit both foes and can knock them back. Great against Bug, Ice, Fire and Flying.
Iron Tail: Steel, Physical, 100 power and 75% accuracy. A somewhat risky coverage due to its precision but that can save us against Fairy, Ice and Rock.
Fiery Fang : Fire, Physical, 65 power and 95% accuracy. A great coverage for Bug, Ice, Grass and Steel that can also intimidate and burn the opponent.
Demolition : Fighting, 75 power and 100% accuracy. This move breaks the opponent’s barriers (Reflection, Light Panta and Aurora Veil). Very useful against Alolan Ninetales and other supports like Grimmsnarl. It is also very effective against Steel, Ice, Normal, Rock and Dark.
Breathe : This movement restores 50% of the Pokémon’s health, but be careful because in the turn you use the movement you will lose the Flying type with the good and the bad that this entails (eye the Earthquakes).

SALAMENCE STRATEGIES

Its wide range of moves and its two abilities make Salamence a very versatile Pokémon, capable of doing a lot of damage to many types. If we are careful not to fall against Fairies and Ice, we are facing a Pokémon more than capable of winning games on its own.

SALAMENCE THE DESTROYER (SWEEPER) – SINGLES AND VGC

IVs: Perfect.
EVs: 252 Attack. 4 in Special Defense. 252 in Speed.
Nature: Cheerful.
Item: Lifesphere.
Skill: Self-esteem.
Movements:
- Anger.
- Wing bis.
- Earthquake/Iron Tail/Fire Fang.
- Dragon Dance.

With this set we want Salamence to be able to destroy the entire opponent. To do this, we will look for a moment where our Pokémon is a threat to the rival and must change its Pokémon and we will take advantage of this to use Dragon Dance . From here Salamence will be very difficult to stop, although we must be careful not to lock ourselves up with Anger if the opponent has a Fairy.

The use of Earthquake, Iron Tail or Fiery Fang will depend on our coverage with the rest of the Pokémon, Earthquake is a safer option for damage, but Iron Tail can weaken the enemy Fairy that puts us in trouble and Fiery Fang we will use it for those Type Ice that annoys Salamence so much. If we manage to weaken a rival while buffed with Dragon Dance, our Salamence will be able to finish off the rival without problems.

INTIMIDATING SALAMENCE – SINGLES

IVs: Perfect.
EVs: 36 Health. 28 in Attack. 236 in Special Defense. 208 in Speed.
Nature: Firm.
Object: Remains.
Ability: Intimidate.
Movements:
- Respite.
- Wing bis.
- Anger.
- Dragon Dance.

This is a very curious set for the little blue dragon, similar in terms of its offensive use to the previous one, but being a more defensive Pokémon to lower the opponent’s Attack with its Intimidate ability. Pivot our Salamence so the opponent thinks we have a defensive support set , using our Breathe to stay on the field and the opponent thinks we are not much of an offensive threat. Then we will use Dragon Dance to trample the opponent.

SALAMENCE COVERAGES – SINGLES AND VGC

IVs: Perfect.
EVs: 4 Health. 252 Attack. 252 in Speed.
Nature: Firm.
Item: Assault Vest.
Ability: Intimidate.
Movements:
- Dragon claw.
- Wing bis.
- Fiery Fang/Demolition.
- Earthquake/Iron Tail.

In this set we will use Salamence to cover the needs of our team , so the movements will depend on the deficiencies that we have.

We’re wearing Assault Vest because we want to carry as much cover as we can, we’re not going to try to boost our stats or heal like in previous sets. The function here is to put our dragon in to intimidate opposing offensive Pokémon, withstand a possible special attacker with our item and be able to do a lot of damage with our covers. Since we’re looking to have offensive versatility, we use Dragon Claw so we don’t get “locked in” attacking with Anger.

HOW TO DEFEAT SALAMENCE AND COUNTERS

We’ve seen how dangerous this Pokemon is and the wide variety of moves it has access to, but it’s not without its weaknesses.

Intimidate : Using Intimidate against Salamence is a great option to reduce its impact and the king for this is hands down Incineroar . Also watch out for other Pokémon with this ability like Krookodile or Scrafty.
Fairies : Fairy is the best type in the game and was created to destroy Dragon Types. They are immune to attacks of that type, so they can take a Fury and attack you while locked. Aside from those already mentioned, Togekiss is a great option and Tapu Fini is a Pokémon that our beloved Blue Dragon has few answers for (Iron Tail is rare).
Ice : Salamence’s greatest weakness. If we hit with STAB it will be OHKOed for sure, so Pokemon faster than it are very effective. We’ve already mentioned a few like Weavile, but Alolan Sandslash (if you have access to Blizzard) and Galarian Darmanitan (at UBER) are great options.
Rock : Although there are not many Rock Types, it is very common in coverage movements. Nihilego is a great answer being faster and hitting really really hard. Be careful with other Pokémon such as Terrakion and Lycanroc.
Dragons : Dragon-Type Pokémon control each other. We’ve mentioned Dragapult and Garchomp, but Hydreigon and Haxorus are great options as well.

SALAMENCE STRATEGY IN COMPETITIVE POKÉMON

? STATS OF SALAMENCE

TYPE, RESISTANCES AND WEAKNESSES