How to beat Drayton from the Elite Four in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet The Indigo Disk

The implied grandson of Drayden with a look to make him appear like all of the Litwick evolution line at once means I am immediately biased toward this slacker dragon user for that reason alone.

Drayton’s team is no joke, with competitive builds across the board, so here are the best tips for how to beat Drayton from the Elite Four in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet The Indigo Disk.

Drayton Elite Four battle full guide- How to beat Drayton in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet the Indigo Disk

Unlike his trial, thankfully, you don’t have to use only terarium Pokémon. You are free to switch back to any Pokémon you have on hand. Like everything else in Blueberry Academy, you’ll be dealing with a double battle. Starting off with:

Flygon, level 78

• Ability: Levitate- Immune to ground type moves
• Item: Life Orb- Attacks are 1.3x power, but loses 10% of HP every turn.
• Earthquake: Ground type, Physical, 150 power, hits all targets on the field.
• Stone Edge: Rock type, Physical, 100 power, 80% accuracy, has a higher critical hit ratio.
• Fire Punch: Fire type, Physical, 75 power, 10% chance to burn the target.
• Breaking Swipe: Dragon type, Physical, 90 power, guaranteed to lower the opponent’s attack one stage, hits all targets on the field.

• Weaknesses: Ice (4x), Dragon, Fairy (2x)
• Resistances: Poison, Rock, Fire
• Immunities: Ground, Electric

This Flygon is very fast, far faster than most Flygons are capable of being. It out sped my 253-speed Wattrel. Combined with Life Orb, this thing is an entire threat and a half. Fire Punch and Stone Edge don’t make eliminating it quite as simple as using an Ice or Flying type, either. I would still try to kill it immediately with an ice move, but with something that can take a Stone Edge or Fire Punch.

Dragonite, level 78

• Ability: Multiscale- Damage from attacks is halved at full HP.
• Item: Yache Berry- Weakens damage from an Ice attack.
• Extreme Speed: Normal type, Physical, 80 power, priority move, meaning it will go first regardless of speed.
• Thunder Punch: Electric type, Physical, 75 power, 10% chance to paralyze the target.
• Ice Spinner: Ice type, Physical, 80 power, ends the effects of any active Terrain. Don’t ask me when Dragonite was allowed to learn this move.
• Tailwind: The speed on the user’s side of the field is doubled for four turns.

• Weaknesses: Ice (4x), Fairy, Dragon, Rock (2x)
• Resistances: Grass, Fire, Water, Fighting, Bug
• Immunities: Ground

This Dragonite is prepared for you to try and one-shot it with an Ice move and tries to say ‘absolutely not’ with the combination of Yache Berry and Multiscale. It’s unlikely you’ll be able to one-shot it with anything. The good news is it has no STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves and is purely coverage, so it can’t hit your Pokémon too hard. The combination of Thunder Punch and Ice Spinner is brutal for stopping a lot of possible Pokémon in their tracks, however, and Extreme Speed means if you have a Pokémon low on health, it’ll try to take them out first unless you switch.

The combination of Flygon and Dragonite is just begging for you to open with Ice-type Pokémon, possibly even double ice type Pokémon as if one bites the dust to Flygon’s Stone Edge/Fire Punch, the other is still alive to oneshot it. Triple Axel is especially valuable to break Dragonite’s Multiscale and Yache Berry then keep attacking it in the same turn. If you want to avoid Stone Edge and Fire Punch, consider opening with Fairy types instead, as there’s nothing in their arsenal that Fairy is weak to. Alolan Ninetails and Weavile are of particular note for a combination that can one-shot, if they’re able to take on a hit from Flygon.

Related: How to beat Drayton’s Elite Trial in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Indigo Disk

Since both Flygon and Dragonite have exclusively physical moves, a physically defensive Pokémon may also help, especially a Fairy type. Galarian Koffing, if you transferred one to the game, is quite defensive and takes neutral to everything while avoiding Earthquake with Levitate. Dachsbund is also very defensive and a Well-Baked Body means it can eat a Fire Punch and take no damage. Scream Tail’s not a bad option either.

Sceptile, level 79

• Ability: Unburden- Speed doubles if the Pokémon loses its item.
• Item: Weakness Policy- Special Attack and Physical Attack double if hit by a supereffective move.
• Leaf Storm: Grass type, Special, 195 power, 90% accuracy, lowers user’s Special Attack two stages.
• Acrobatics: Flying type, Physical, 55 power (110 if itemless).
• X-scissor: Bug type, Physical, 80 power.
• Dragon Cheer: The user raises the Special Attack stat of allied Dragon types and increases the critical hit ratio for all types. This move is new to the DLC.

• Weaknesses: Ice, Fire, Poison, Bug, Flying (2x)
• Resistances: Ground, Water, Grass, Electric

Sceptile can’t join in on the Dragon-type fun because it can’t get its Mega Evolution back, but it’s still trying its best to fit in. Do not try to take this out with a supereffective hit unless you’re CERTAIN it will one-shot. Weakness Policy combined with Unburden and Acrobatics means this thing is waiting for you to fall for its trap and then become impossible to counter as it hits back with a ton of firepower. I would wear it down with a neutral move before going for anything super effective. Steel types will wall it just fine.

Kingdra, level 79

• Ability: Swift Swim- Speed doubles in rain.
• Item: Expert Belt- Attacks are 1.2x power if supereffective.
• Rain Dance: Starts Rain weather effect for five turns.
• Hydro Pump: Water type, Special, 165 power, 80% accuracy.
• Ice Beam: Ice type, Special, 90 power, 10% chance to freeze the target.
• Hurricane: Flying type, Special, 110 power, 70% accuracy (100% in rain), 30% chance to confuse the target.

• Weaknesses: Fairy, Dragon (2x)
• Resistances: Fire, Steel, Water

This is about as competitively viable of a Kingdra set that exists, minus the small mercy of no Life Orb. If this thing is allowed to use Rain Dance, Hydro Pump becomes a whopping 330 power. Add in Hurricane being unable to miss and you have a problem on your hands.

Besides a Fairy-type move, there is one move in the game guaranteed to obliterate this seadragon: Freeze-dry. It is 4x weak to this move specifically due to being a Water and Dragon type. Make sure your Ice Pokémon has Freeze-dry and this thing won’t be a problem.

Haxorus, level 79

• Ability: Mold Breaker- Moves ignore abilities (I.E. Levitate no longer protects you from Earthquake)
• Item: Focus Sash- If at full HP, will be left with one HP instead of being KOed.
• Breaking Swipe: Dragon type, Physical, 90 power, hits all targets, lowers opponents’ Attack one stage.
• Dragon Dance: Raises user’s Attack and Speed one stage.
• Earthquake: Ground type, Physical, 100 power, hits all targets.
• Iron Head: Steel type, Physical, 80 power, 30% chance to make target flinch. (Target can’t move if it hasn’t gone already.)

• Weaknesses: Ice, Fairy, Dragon (2x)
• Resistances: Fire, Water, Grass, Electric

The best way to deal with Haxorus is to simply kill it on sight. Do not let it use Dragon Dance. It can and will rip through your team with potentially even a single use of Dragon Dance. Fairy and Ice won’t work as well either, as Iron Head will rip through them both. Earthquake will tear up a Steel/Fairy or Steel/Ice, so they’re not safe either. And Breaking Swipe means Dragon types aren’t a simple counter, either. Try Corviknight- it walls Haxorus very well and can just wear it down until it faints. Azumarill should also be able to survive an attack and Play Rough it into oblivion.

Archaludon, level 80

• Ability: Stamina- Defense increases one stage for every attack it takes.
• Item: Assault Vest- Special Defense is doubled, but can only use attack moves.
• Electro Shot: Electric type, Special, 130 power; on turn one, the user raises its Special Defense. On the second, it attacks.
• Dragon Pulse: Dragon type, Special, 128 power.
• Flash Cannon: Steel type, Special, 80 power, 10% chance to lower targets’ Special Defense by one stage.
• Dragon Cheer: The user raises the Special Attack stat of allied Dragon types and increases the critical hit ratio for all types.

• Weaknesses: Ground, Fighting [Dragon, Fairy, Ice while terastallized]
• Resistances: Water, Electric, Grass, Bug, Steel, Rock, Flying, Normal, Psychic [Water, Electric, Fire, Grass while terrasterialized]

You might be wondering what the hell this thing is- this is the brand new evolution for Duraludon, and they made it infinitely worse to take down. This Pokémon will terastallize upon entry, rendering it into a pure Dragon type.

Assault Vest and Stamina together mean they simply want this thing to refuse to die at any costs. The good news is no Steel typing means not dealing with Steel’s resistances, and it won’t get STAB on Flash Cannon, so your Ice and Fairy Pokémon might survive. You may very likely need a stat boosting move like Calm Mind, Nasty Plot, Bulk Up, or Swords Dance in order to get around its defenses properly. Alternatively, you could just terastallize a Fairy type and attempt to obliterate it in one hit.

One of the safest ways to beat Archaludon is to use Clodsire or Quagsire with Unaware, so its constant attempts at stat boosting don’t matter, and you can wear it down. Volt Absorb Wattrel works well as a way to bait Electro Shock and switch to Wattrel, then use Hurricane or Air Slash to wear it down. Toxic is also your friend in this situation. You could also pair a Lightning Rod Pokémon with Azumarill so any attempts at Electro Shot are absorbed and Azumarill can Play Rough in peace.

That’s some tips and tricks for how to beat Drayton from the Elite Four in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet The Indigo Disk. If you manage to survive the battle, you’ll get bragging rights and the TM for Dragon Cheer for your efforts. Now the others can’t possibly be as bad, right…?

All Lacey Elite Trial Quiz answers in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet The Indigo Disk