Competitive Pokemon is once again growing in excitement due to the recent release of Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield. With the introduction of almost 100 new Pokemon to the franchise, competitive Pokemon players are hard at work determining their perfect team compositions with which to do battle. Among those compositions, one new Pokemon specifically seems to be receiving a lot of attention. That Pokemon being the Water/Dragon-type Pokemon Dracovish.
Dracovish isn't too exciting of a Pokemon at first glance. The majority of its move-set isn't great, especially due to a lack of great Dragon-type moves. But Dracovish has a rare move shared with just one other Pokemon in Pokemon Sword and Shield and that move is extremely strong. Dracovish has Fishious Rend, a pun based on the Fossilized Fish item required to create Dracovish. Fishious Rend is a high-power move that does double damage if Dracovish moves before its opponent, making it a very powerful Pokemon.
The thought process is that if a Pokemon trainer can increase Dracovish's speed, like with the Tailwind ability, then it can potentially win an entire match by itself through massive damage. It's never that easy, of course. Trainers first have to figure out how to increase Dracovish's speed enough so that Fishious Rend procs its double damage every time, but also how to protect Dracovish while its speed is being increased and as it's attacking.
Optimizing Dracovish is something Pokemon trainers will be considering for some time. EV training the Dracovish for Speed will be an increasing priority, if only to ensure a player's Dracovish is vaster than opposing Dracovishes. The Strong Jaw ability is also a must, as it increases power by 50%. Either a Choice Band or Choice Scarf, which boost Power and Speed respectively, are great to help build Dracovish into different roles.
There's obviously still a lot of math left to do to figure out which of Pokemon Sword and Shield's new Pokemon will be best in competitive. The meta is guaranteed to be shaken up and may take months to unravel. New Pokemon including Galarian Darmanitan, Dragapult, Duraludon, Runerigus, Galarian Wheezing, and others should make for some very interesting battles. With Pokemon Sword and Shield's first online competition starting soon, the stakes are very high.
Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield are available now exclusively on Nintendo Switch.