Thoughts on Dragonite?

[Veil Loreraven]

I am thinking of using Dragonite as a sort of way to help cover some of the types of coverage I am lacking. I know my pokemon are no where near finished, but I got my butt handed to me, an almost complete team wipe from a buddy of mine when he used his dragon dance Gyarados. I had nothing to actually deal super effective damage against him and he even outsped my mega beedrill my fastest pokemon and except my Mimikyu, 1HKO'ed my whole team. Also had nothing at that time to deal with water types. No grass or lightning which I will be fixing in my team as well. But what do you think of this?

I am thinking something like

Dragonite:

Moves:
Dragon Dance
Thunder Punch
Fire Punch
Stone Edge

Item: Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate or Multiscale
Nature: Jolly

EVs 252 Atk 4 Def 252 SPD

 

[FireSnow]

Dragonite can definitely be a devastating sweeper though i'm not so sure the set you're thinking is your best bet, especially since you aren't using any kind of STAB

Here are a couple sets that I've used successfully:

Dragonite @ Weakness Policy
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 40 Atk / 252 SpA / 216 Spe
Mild Nature
- Agility
- Ice Beam
- Flamethrower
- Dragon Claw

Dragonite @ Lum Berry
Ability: Multiscale
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Dragon Claw
- Iron Head/Earthquake/Stone Edge
- Thunder Punch/Fire Punch/Ice Punch

Both of these sets allow for mid-late game sweeping power and still cover a lot of weaknesses you may have. And in the case of the DD set, the lum berry guarantees you safe from one burn which effectively ruins the set and can allow you the opening you need to get a DD up and sweep from there

 

[PlatinumDude]

I am thinking of using Dragonite as a sort of way to help cover some of the types of coverage I am lacking. I know my pokemon are no where near finished, but I got my butt handed to me, an almost complete team wipe from a buddy of mine when he used his dragon dance Gyarados. I had nothing to actually deal super effective damage against him and he even outsped my mega beedrill my fastest pokemon and except my Mimikyu, 1HKO'ed my whole team. Also had nothing at that time to deal with water types. No grass or lightning which I will be fixing in my team as well. But what do you think of this?

I am thinking something like

Dragonite:

Moves:
Dragon Dance
Thunder Punch
Fire Punch
Stone Edge

Item: Life Orb
Ability: Intimidate or Multiscale
Nature: Jolly

EVs 252 Atk 4 Def 252 SPD

The lack of STAB really hurts on this set. Life Orb breaks Multiscale (it only works while Dragonite is at full health), so it shouldn't be Dragonite shouldn't use that. Lum Berry or a Z Crystal are better items. Dragonite can't have Intimidate; you may have confused it with Salamence; instead, it has Inner Focus, an ability that pales in comparison to Multiscale

Anyway, Dragonite is decent, but not outstanding, in OU, because its Dragon Dance sets face stiff competition with Zygarde, which has access to Thousand Arrows as a spammable STAB. There are two Z Crystal Dragon Dance sets that Dragonite can use: one uses Supersonic Skystrike to bust past Pokemon like Therian Landorus, while the other uses Gigavolt Havoc to lure in Celesteela and Tapu Fini and break them in half:
-Dragon Dance
-Fly
-Fire Punch/Earthquake
-Extreme Speed
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Flynium Z
Ability: Multiscale

or
-Dragon Dance
-Dragon Claw
-Thunder Punch
-Fire Punch
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Electrium Z
Ability: Multiscale

Or Dragonite can run the standard Dragon Dance set that it used in Gen VI if a Z Crystal is already taken or wants to have (semi)-reliable STAB and Celesteela or Tapu Fini can be dealt with:
-Dragon Dance
-Outrage/Dragon Claw
-Earthquake
-Extreme Speed/Fire Punch/Fly
Nature: Adamant/Jolly
EVs: 252 Atk/4 Def/252 Spe
Item: Lum Berry/Dragonium Z/Flynium Z
Ability: Multiscale

 

[Veil Loreraven]

Thanks. The problem is, Since G1, I have always outlawed myself from using anything legendary, even if its a weak legendary. So Zygard and Celebi or whatever OU or even UU legs that might be out there are ones I never ever use.

It's really a matter of principle to me. I just think it looks down right terrible and makes a person too much of a noob if they use them. I like that second set you posted there. I might go with that one. As for Salamance, I just don't like how it looks. I think he looks stupid. Which is why I refuse to use him. I choose my pokemon based on two factors.

1. Do I think they look cool ( I have impossibly high standards)
2. Are they going to be strong enough.

Basically this is why I am using the mega beedrill, I scoured 3 different Lists for what qualifies as OU Tier and there are only 4 pokemon that satisfy these two points. Dragonite is something that only looks "kind of" cool to me. I think he is too cartoony and doesn't look menacing and dragon enough. Salamance has really stupid wings and the wrong colors. He should had been black and a much darker red, not that other colors.

Am I poke Shallow?

 

[PlatinumDude]

Thanks. The problem is, Since G1, I have always outlawed myself from using anything legendary, even if its a weak legendary. So Zygard and Celebi or whatever OU or even UU legs that might be out there are ones I never ever use.

It's really a matter of principle to me. I just think it looks down right terrible and makes a person too much of a noob if they use them. I like that second set you posted there. I might go with that one. As for Salamance, I just don't like how it looks. I think he looks stupid. Which is why I refuse to use him. I choose my pokemon based on two factors.

1. Do I think they look cool ( I have impossibly high standards)
2. Are they going to be strong enough.

Basically this is why I am using the mega beedrill, I scoured 3 different Lists for what qualifies as OU Tier and there are only 4 pokemon that satisfy these two points. Dragonite is something that only looks "kind of" cool to me. I think he is too cartoony and doesn't look menacing and dragon enough. Salamance has really stupid wings and the wrong colors. He should had been black and a much darker red, not that other colors.

Am I poke Shallow?

To be perfectly blunt here, that's rather shallow of you. If you want to use your favorite Pokemon, that's cool. But you need to find appropriate teammates for that Pokemon regardless of design or legendary status, both of which mean nothing in competitive play.

Legendary status doesn't necessarily mean that the Pokemon is automatically good in competitive play. I use Articuno and Regigigas as frequent examples of legendaries that fall flat in competitive, the former for having a bad defensive typing and the latter for having a very crippling ability.

 

[Zeffy]

-snip-

I don't think you're shallow. You just have different views when it comes to Pokemon and battling, and everyone is free to uphold their views! These guys are just giving you the best advice they can based on statistics and facts. Most people here choose to battle to win, to be competitive as the forum name suggests, whereas you're more of a casual battler who chooses to battle in a way they find most fun, and there's nothing wrong with that! Just consider that if you ever step into the world of competitive battles (may it be through Battle Spot, or through Pokemon Showdown!), know that you're handicapping yourself by prioritizing personal opinion over proven facts. Either way, I hope you have fun in your future battles!