Type: Steel/Dragon
Abilities: Heavy Metal / Light Metal / Stalwart (HA)
Stats: 70 / 95 / 115 / 120 / 50 / 85 (535 BST)
Notable Moves:
(STAB moves are indicated in italics)
- Flash Cannon
- Draco Meteor
- Dragon Pulse
- Thunderbolt
- Body Press
- Stealth Rock
- Roar
- Foul Play
- Thunder Wave
Pros:
- Steel/Dragon is an amazing typing, with a bevy of useful resistances and only two weaknesses in Fighting and Ground.
- Good physical bulk further backs up this amazing defensive typing letting Duraludon check a variety of physical attackers.
- It's not like Duraludon is passive either - 120 special attack is no joke, and while Steel may not be amazing offensively it covers the Fairies that would otherwise stonewall Duraludon's Dragon STAB.
- Has good utility in Stealth Rock, Roar, Thunder Wave, and Foul Play as well as decent coverage in Thunderbolt and Body Press.
- With the release of Archaludon, Duraludon can now use Eviolite, further bolstering its physical bulk and patching up its weaker special defense.
Cons:
- 50 special defense is terrible and undercuts Duraludon's great defensive typing. Most special attackers punch right through it and even resisted hits will hurt more than they should.
- Eviolite can patch this up to an extent, but that makes it vulnerable to hazard damage since it can't run HDB. Oh yeah did I mention this thing hates Knock Off
- On top of its bad special defense, it's also a Steel that doesn't resist Fairy.
- Has no reliable recovery, making it easy to wear down.
- Its abilities suck or are circumstantial at best. Light Metal is only good for interactions with Low Kick (which are very rare).
- Entirely outclassed by its evolution Archaludon, which has better bulk on top of actually usable abilities.
Terastallization Potential?
- Tera Fighting is useful for boosting Body Press, but otherwise you're probably better off not Terastallizing Duraludon since you want to preserve that amazing defensive typing.
- If you absolutely have to, however, Tera Flying is always an option to flip those Fighting and Ground weaknesses, but beyond that it's not really good (especially if you run Eviolite because no HDB)
Possible Sets:
Duraludon @ Eviolite
Tera Type: Flying
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 160 HP / 252 Def / 96 SpD
Bold Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Flash Cannon
- Body Press
- Thunder Wave / Foul Play
Standard bulky Stealth Rocker set. Now that it has Eviolite its physical tanking potential is significantly improved while it now has actual Special Defense to boot (no boost to Body Press unfortunately). Tera Flying is there in the contingency you need to Tera.
Duraludon @ Eviolite
Tera Type: Fighting (not really sure?)
Ability: Light Metal
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Modest/Jolly Nature
- Draco Meteor
- Flash Cannon
- Thunderbolt
- Body Press
Standard set if you want to use Duraludon offensively. Thunderbolt is decent neutral coverage while Body Press smacks opposing Steel-types. Tera Fighting is here to boost Body Press (you usually you have better options for Tera so this is here if you really need it) but beyond that not much else to say here.
Conclusion:
Well, this is one Pokemon that no one expected to get an evolution. It's... not been historically great, unfortunately - in its debut generation, it ended up in PUBL but was never especially amazing in NU. However, with Duraludon being able to evolve into Archaludon, it has gained access to Eviolite, which helps fix the fundamental flaw that is its bad Special Defense. Hopefully, this time around Duraludon will finally come into its own, likely in the lower tiers.
