HOME | DD

Description
Kingdra has always been a Pokemon I've wanted to use in battles since it was introduced. It seemed like a cool-looking Pokemon and the fact that it could only evolve from Seadra via trading it while holding the Dragon Scale made this Dragon-type relatively rare to see in battle and in general. Since its debut, Kingdra has helped take the mediocre at best Seadra to new levels, with only one weakness back when Dragon-type moves weren't overly common. Not only that, but it was such a huge pain to fight Clair's Kingdra in HG/SS especially when it was able to use Dragon Pulse (in the original Gold/Silver games, it just had Dragonbreath). Kingdra's stats are good, but not great, and it had a pretty diverse movepool for its debut generation. It just shied away from greatness. Then, Gen 3 hit and brought Swift Swim, giving Kingdra an even bigger boost, doubling its Speed, and its movepool only became more and more versatile with every passing generation, allowing players to use Kingdra in multiple ways thanks to its stat arrangement enabling it to function as a physical or special attacker. Nowadays Kingdra is pretty much the same in terms of its capabilities. Gen.6's introduction of Fairy-types did give Kingda an additional weakness (but I'm fine with that, since prior to Fairies it was only weak to Dragon-types which it was also strong against) which is somewhat common in the metagame and thus impedes it a bit, but it is still capable of being a decent part of any Pokémon team, particularly a rain team if you're running Swift Swim on it. Gen. 7's introduction of Z-Moves works amazingly well with Kingdra's versatile moveset and offensive capabilities, enabling it to slam foes super hard. If you're up against a Kingdra that's on a rain team, be prepared for the worst as not only will it outspeed your Pokemon, but it will hit them pretty hard as well (Z-Move or not).

Here’s my Kingdra's summary.
Nature: Modest
Held Item: Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 28 HP / 252 SpAtk / 228 Spe
-Muddy Water
-Dragon Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Protect

This is a standard special sweeping set on Kingdra, primarily for Double Battles. Muddy Water is Kingdra's strongest reliable Water STAB move (Surf is stronger, but don't use it in Double Battles because Kingdra will hit its partner too) that hits both of your opponent's and has a good chance of lowering their accuracy as well. Dragon Pulse is Kingdra's secondary STAB that has decent power, reliable accuracy, and good overall neutral coverage (but go for Draco Meteor if you're aiming for your Kingdra to hit opposing Dragons harder). Ice Beam also gives Kingdra some pretty good coverage and helps it better OHKO opposing Dragons that are x4 weak to Ice like Alolan Exeggutor, Dragonite, Salamence (regular or Mega) and Garchomp as well as Pokemon that are commonly used in the Meta such as the infamous Landorus-T. Lastly, Protect is there so that Kingdra can stay alive for a turn and is good for scouting your opponent's move and potential strategy. The main reason I run Protect on my Kingdra, not just so that it can avoid being hit for a turn and scout out opponent's moves, is because it helps when my opponent brings out another Weather-inducing Pokemon such as Tyranitar, Hippowdon, Gigalith, Alolan Ninetales, Abomasnow, Kantonian Ninetales, Torkoal, or a Charizard that will mega evolve into Mega Charizard Y. I have Kingdra use Protect and switch Pelipper or Politoed out (particularly with something that can take a hit), then switch back into Politoed next turn thus triggering rain once again and boosting Kingdra's speed.

The given speed EVs allow Kingdra to outpace a lot of Pokemon slower in the rain and Jolly natured base 70 speed Pokemon such as Bisharp and Breloom outside of rain. Maximum investment into special attack ensures that Kingdra hits as hard as possible, and the remaining EVs are placed into HP for some additional bulk. Life Orb further raises Kingdra's special attack and, in tandem with the rain, aids its wallbreaking and sweeping. Swift Swim takes advantage of the rain to double Kingdra's Speed and bolster its Water-type STAB attacks. Which is why in Double Battles I recommend pairing Kingdra with either Politoed or Pelipper (which should always be running the ability Drizzle).

Of course Kingdra can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions:
-Hydro Pump is a more powerful Water STAB move, just remember that it has low accuracy.
-Scald is a good special STAB option with a bonus chance to burn its opponent, very useful for crippling physical attackers as well as doing decent overall damage under Rain.
-Surf is a very powerful Water STAB move Kingdra can utilize as it has more power and accuracy than Muddy Water. I recommend running this move on Kingdra only in Single battles though, as it will hit your partner Pokemon in Double and Triple battles.
-Like I said before, Draco Meteor is an excellent more powerful Dragon STAB option for Kingdra. But be careful of the -2 drop in its special attack stat that Kingdra will get from using it.
-Kingdra can opt to run Hidden Power {Electric} to better hit opposing Water-types like Mantine, Pelipper, Politoed, and regular Gyarados.
-Blizzard does the same for Kingdra as Ice Beam, but it offers more power in exchange for less accuracy.
-Icy Wind is always a good move to have for general. Although Kingdra doesn't need to worry about that much thanks to Swift Swim boosting its speed under the rain.
-Flash Cannon is an option Kingdra can run to help cover its weakness to Fairy-types.
-Clear Smog is a move I feel is severely underrated. While the move itself is weak, it's capable of eliminating any stat changes your opponent's Pokemon have made. So this move is able to effectively prevent setup sweepers or defensive tanks from powering up and rendering them harmless. While this move certainly works better on more defensive Pokemon, Kingdra can always use this move to stop setup sweepers while it outspeeds them in the rain.
-Rain Dance is recommended for Kingdra in Single Battles since it cannot rely on Drizzle Politoed to help speed it up.
-Agility is a decent move your Kingdra can run to help speed it up if you're not running it under Rain.
-Disable is a good support move that can take away STAB moves meant to KO Kingdra's partner (or Kingdra itself). It's especially handy when used on a Swift Swim set since Kingdra can quickly disable an opposing Pokemon's move before they can even use it. Keep in mind though, that your opponent's Pokemon will have needed to actually use a move in order for Disable to work, so maybe block any incoming attack with Protect first and then have Kingdra use Disable next turn.
-Yawn is another good support move Kingdra can utilize thanks to Swift Swim by quickly making your opponent's Pokemon drowsy. This immediately puts your opponent in a tough position and forces them to switch out their Pokemon the following turn to prevent it from falling asleep.
-Toxic can be used to cripple common switch-ins to Kingdra such as Tangrowth, Mantine, Gastrodon, and Alomomola.
-Mystic Water is usable over Life Orb to boost Kingdra's Water STAB moves without wearing it down.
-If you really want to make Kingdra hit super hard, have it hold Choice Specs to amp up the power to its special attacks. Just remember that Kingdra will then be locked into whatever move it uses first.
-The advent of Z-Moves gives Kingdra some powerful Z-Move options. What's more is that thanks to Swift Swim boosting its speed in rain, Kingdra can unleash its powerful Z-Moves before your opponent's Pokemon can even do anything.
-You can run Dragonium-Z on your Kingdra so that it is able to unleash an incredibly powerful Dragon-type Z-Move before having to use Draco Meteor.
-Waterium-Z grants Kingdra an opportunity to turn Hydro Pump into Hydro Vortex, a move that bypasses Kingdra's otherwise shoddy accuracy and hits all but the bulkiest of targets (or anything with Water Absorb, Dry Skin, and Storm Drain) for heavy damage.
-Icium-Z with Ice Beam is always an option if you wish for Kingdra to better be able to KO a bulky Grass or Flying-type or an opposing Dragon-type that's x4 weak to Ice such as Dragonite, Salamence, and Garchomp (though just using Ice Beam is normally enough to KO them unless they're holding a Yache Berry).
*Kingdra is also capable of running physical movesets, as its physical attack stat is actually equal to its special attack stat!

-Waterfall is Kingdra's physical Water STAB move option, its got good power and has the chance of making the opponent flinch.
-Outrage is a good Dragon-type move to use if you're going physical or mixed. Just remember the move's drawback of locking Kingdra into using the move (which your opponent can take advantage of by sending in a Fairy-type to block it) and leaving Kingdra confused.
-Iron Head is a decent coverage move with a good chance to make your opponent flinch, not to mention the move helps a physical Kingdra handle its weakness to Fairy-types.
-Bounce is a two-turn move that offers some coverage against Grass-types, although lack of a STAB boost and the fact that they'll know exactly what you are doing won't help out Kingdra much since they can just block it or switch into a Pokemon that can tank the hit.
-Dive is a two-turn Water-type move that offers a physical STAB option, but Waterfall is infinitely superior and, like Bounce, gives too much of an indication of what you're doing.
-You can opt to run Dragon Dance on a physical Kingdra to raise its physical attack stat and further boost its already incredible speed while it is raining.
-Running a Lum Berry on a physical Kingdra set is a viable option. As it can cure Kingdra of any crippling burn or paralysis inflicted onto it while it sets up with Dragon Dance or cure it of confusion when it first uses Outrage, thus enabling Kingdra to spam the powerful STAB move a second time.
-You can always run Dragonium-Z on your Kingdra so that it is able to unleash an incredibly powerful Dragon-type Z-Move before having to use Outrage.
-Waterium-Z grants Kingdra an opportunity to turn Waterfall into Hydro Vortex, a move that hits all but the bulkiest of targets (or anything with Water Absorb, Dry Skin, and Storm Drain) for heavy damage.
-Splash. O_O Yeah, I'm talking about Splash, the one move in Pokemon that does absolutely nothing (and even a non-competitive trainer knows to NEVER run the move)! But the reason I am suggesting it is that now with the advent of Z-Moves, Splash has actually gone from being a literally useless move to one of the best-boosting moves in the game! For the unenlightened, what I'm basically saying is that Z-Splash boosts your Pokemon's physical attack stat by 3 stages, HOW AWESOME IS THAT! With access to Swift Swim and a Z-Move that will give it a +3 attack boost, a physical Kingdra becomes strong enough to land some OHKO's to a number of Pokemon in the metagame, including Pokemon that threaten or wall it such as Eviolite Chansey, Amoonguss, and Snorlax. Just remember that Kingdra will have to hold Normalium-Z in order to use the boosting Z-Move, otherwise it is utterly pointless to run Splash.

*This is just worth mentioning, while Kingdra's other abilities have been nerfed in X & Y, a change has occurred which can make Kingdra an absolute beast. In Gen. 6, the Critical Hit ratio was altered somewhat and made it so if your Pokemon has a Critical Hit ratio of 4, any attacking move that it uses is guaranteed to be a Critical Hit. As such, if you have your Pokemon use Focus Energy, it'll boost its stage up to 3, and holding the Scope Lens puts it at 4. Simply put, if your Kingdra is holding a Scope Lens and uses Focus Energy, EVERY move it uses afterward will be a critical hit! Nowadays, Critical Hits don't hit as hard as before, but with the ability Sniper, they do get a decent boost. There is only one other Pokemon besides Kingdra that can pull off the Scope Lens+Focus Energy+Sniper combo, and that Pokemon is Octillery (Beedrill can technically run this combo too, but you're much better off running its Mega Evolution). Click here to see my competitive guide for Octillery that involves this strategy: strikerprime.deviantart.com/ar…

Do you have your own Kingdra moveset and strategy? Comment below with your moveset!

Description
Kingdra has always been a Pokemon I've wanted to use in battles since it was introduced. It seemed like a cool-looking Pokemon and the fact that it could only evolve from Seadra via trading it while holding the Dragon Scale made this Dragon-type relatively rare to see in battle and in general. Since its debut, Kingdra has helped take the mediocre at best Seadra to new levels, with only one weakness back when Dragon-type moves weren't overly common. Not only that, but it was such a huge pain to fight Clair's Kingdra in HG/SS especially when it was able to use Dragon Pulse (in the original Gold/Silver games, it just had Dragonbreath). Kingdra's stats are good, but not great, and it had a pretty diverse movepool for its debut generation. It just shied away from greatness. Then, Gen 3 hit and brought Swift Swim, giving Kingdra an even bigger boost, doubling its Speed, and its movepool only became more and more versatile with every passing generation, allowing players to use Kingdra in multiple ways thanks to its stat arrangement enabling it to function as a physical or special attacker. Nowadays Kingdra is pretty much the same in terms of its capabilities. Gen.6's introduction of Fairy-types did give Kingda an additional weakness (but I'm fine with that, since prior to Fairies it was only weak to Dragon-types which it was also strong against) which is somewhat common in the metagame and thus impedes it a bit, but it is still capable of being a decent part of any Pokémon team, particularly a rain team if you're running Swift Swim on it. Gen. 7's introduction of Z-Moves works amazingly well with Kingdra's versatile moveset and offensive capabilities, enabling it to slam foes super hard. If you're up against a Kingdra that's on a rain team, be prepared for the worst as not only will it outspeed your Pokemon, but it will hit them pretty hard as well (Z-Move or not).

Here’s my Kingdra's summary.
Nature: Modest
Held Item: Life Orb
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 28 HP / 252 SpAtk / 228 Spe
-Muddy Water
-Dragon Pulse
-Ice Beam
-Protect

This is a standard special sweeping set on Kingdra, primarily for Double Battles. Muddy Water is Kingdra's strongest reliable Water STAB move (Surf is stronger, but don't use it in Double Battles because Kingdra will hit its partner too) that hits both of your opponent's and has a good chance of lowering their accuracy as well. Dragon Pulse is Kingdra's secondary STAB that has decent power, reliable accuracy, and good overall neutral coverage (but go for Draco Meteor if you're aiming for your Kingdra to hit opposing Dragons harder). Ice Beam also gives Kingdra some pretty good coverage and helps it better OHKO opposing Dragons that are x4 weak to Ice like Alolan Exeggutor, Dragonite, Salamence (regular or Mega) and Garchomp as well as Pokemon that are commonly used in the Meta such as the infamous Landorus-T. Lastly, Protect is there so that Kingdra can stay alive for a turn and is good for scouting your opponent's move and potential strategy. The main reason I run Protect on my Kingdra, not just so that it can avoid being hit for a turn and scout out opponent's moves, is because it helps when my opponent brings out another Weather-inducing Pokemon such as Tyranitar, Hippowdon, Gigalith, Alolan Ninetales, Abomasnow, Kantonian Ninetales, Torkoal, or a Charizard that will mega evolve into Mega Charizard Y. I have Kingdra use Protect and switch Pelipper or Politoed out (particularly with something that can take a hit), then switch back into Politoed next turn thus triggering rain once again and boosting Kingdra's speed.

The given speed EVs allow Kingdra to outpace a lot of Pokemon slower in the rain and Jolly natured base 70 speed Pokemon such as Bisharp and Breloom outside of rain. Maximum investment into special attack ensures that Kingdra hits as hard as possible, and the remaining EVs are placed into HP for some additional bulk. Life Orb further raises Kingdra's special attack and, in tandem with the rain, aids its wallbreaking and sweeping. Swift Swim takes advantage of the rain to double Kingdra's Speed and bolster its Water-type STAB attacks. Which is why in Double Battles I recommend pairing Kingdra with either Politoed or Pelipper (which should always be running the ability Drizzle).

Of course Kingdra can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions:
-Hydro Pump is a more powerful Water STAB move, just remember that it has low accuracy.
-Scald is a good special STAB option with a bonus chance to burn its opponent, very useful for crippling physical attackers as well as doing decent overall damage under Rain.
-Surf is a very powerful Water STAB move Kingdra can utilize as it has more power and accuracy than Muddy Water. I recommend running this move on Kingdra only in Single battles though, as it will hit your partner Pokemon in Double and Triple battles.
-Like I said before, Draco Meteor is an excellent more powerful Dragon STAB option for Kingdra. But be careful of the -2 drop in its special attack stat that Kingdra will get from using it.
-Kingdra can opt to run Hidden Power {Electric} to better hit opposing Water-types like Mantine, Pelipper, Politoed, and regular Gyarados.
-Blizzard does the same for Kingdra as Ice Beam, but it offers more power in exchange for less accuracy.
-Icy Wind is always a good move to have for general. Although Kingdra doesn't need to worry about that much thanks to Swift Swim boosting its speed under the rain.
-Flash Cannon is an option Kingdra can run to help cover its weakness to Fairy-types.
-Clear Smog is a move I feel is severely underrated. While the move itself is weak, it's capable of eliminating any stat changes your opponent's Pokemon have made. So this move is able to effectively prevent setup sweepers or defensive tanks from powering up and rendering them harmless. While this move certainly works better on more defensive Pokemon, Kingdra can always use this move to stop setup sweepers while it outspeeds them in the rain.
-Rain Dance is recommended for Kingdra in Single Battles since it cannot rely on Drizzle Politoed to help speed it up.
-Agility is a decent move your Kingdra can run to help speed it up if you're not running it under Rain.
-Disable is a good support move that can take away STAB moves meant to KO Kingdra's partner (or Kingdra itself). It's especially handy when used on a Swift Swim set since Kingdra can quickly disable an opposing Pokemon's move before they can even use it. Keep in mind though, that your opponent's Pokemon will have needed to actually use a move in order for Disable to work, so maybe block any incoming attack with Protect first and then have Kingdra use Disable next turn.
-Yawn is another good support move Kingdra can utilize thanks to Swift Swim by quickly making your opponent's Pokemon drowsy. This immediately puts your opponent in a tough position and forces them to switch out their Pokemon the following turn to prevent it from falling asleep.
-Toxic can be used to cripple common switch-ins to Kingdra such as Tangrowth, Mantine, Gastrodon, and Alomomola.
-Mystic Water is usable over Life Orb to boost Kingdra's Water STAB moves without wearing it down.
-If you really want to make Kingdra hit super hard, have it hold Choice Specs to amp up the power to its special attacks. Just remember that Kingdra will then be locked into whatever move it uses first.
-The advent of Z-Moves gives Kingdra some powerful Z-Move options. What's more is that thanks to Swift Swim boosting its speed in rain, Kingdra can unleash its powerful Z-Moves before your opponent's Pokemon can even do anything.
-You can run Dragonium-Z on your Kingdra so that it is able to unleash an incredibly powerful Dragon-type Z-Move before having to use Draco Meteor.
-Waterium-Z grants Kingdra an opportunity to turn Hydro Pump into Hydro Vortex, a move that bypasses Kingdra's otherwise shoddy accuracy and hits all but the bulkiest of targets (or anything with Water Absorb, Dry Skin, and Storm Drain) for heavy damage.
-Icium-Z with Ice Beam is always an option if you wish for Kingdra to better be able to KO a bulky Grass or Flying-type or an opposing Dragon-type that's x4 weak to Ice such as Dragonite, Salamence, and Garchomp (though just using Ice Beam is normally enough to KO them unless they're holding a Yache Berry).
*Kingdra is also capable of running physical movesets, as its physical attack stat is actually equal to its special attack stat!

-Waterfall is Kingdra's physical Water STAB move option, its got good power and has the chance of making the opponent flinch.
-Outrage is a good Dragon-type move to use if you're going physical or mixed. Just remember the move's drawback of locking Kingdra into using the move (which your opponent can take advantage of by sending in a Fairy-type to block it) and leaving Kingdra confused.
-Iron Head is a decent coverage move with a good chance to make your opponent flinch, not to mention the move helps a physical Kingdra handle its weakness to Fairy-types.
-Bounce is a two-turn move that offers some coverage against Grass-types, although lack of a STAB boost and the fact that they'll know exactly what you are doing won't help out Kingdra much since they can just block it or switch into a Pokemon that can tank the hit.
-Dive is a two-turn Water-type move that offers a physical STAB option, but Waterfall is infinitely superior and, like Bounce, gives too much of an indication of what you're doing.
-You can opt to run Dragon Dance on a physical Kingdra to raise its physical attack stat and further boost its already incredible speed while it is raining.
-Running a Lum Berry on a physical Kingdra set is a viable option. As it can cure Kingdra of any crippling burn or paralysis inflicted onto it while it sets up with Dragon Dance or cure it of confusion when it first uses Outrage, thus enabling Kingdra to spam the powerful STAB move a second time.
-You can always run Dragonium-Z on your Kingdra so that it is able to unleash an incredibly powerful Dragon-type Z-Move before having to use Outrage.
-Waterium-Z grants Kingdra an opportunity to turn Waterfall into Hydro Vortex, a move that hits all but the bulkiest of targets (or anything with Water Absorb, Dry Skin, and Storm Drain) for heavy damage.
-Splash. O_O Yeah, I'm talking about Splash, the one move in Pokemon that does absolutely nothing (and even a non-competitive trainer knows to NEVER run the move)! But the reason I am suggesting it is that now with the advent of Z-Moves, Splash has actually gone from being a literally useless move to one of the best-boosting moves in the game! For the unenlightened, what I'm basically saying is that Z-Splash boosts your Pokemon's physical attack stat by 3 stages, HOW AWESOME IS THAT! With access to Swift Swim and a Z-Move that will give it a +3 attack boost, a physical Kingdra becomes strong enough to land some OHKO's to a number of Pokemon in the metagame, including Pokemon that threaten or wall it such as Eviolite Chansey, Amoonguss, and Snorlax. Just remember that Kingdra will have to hold Normalium-Z in order to use the boosting Z-Move, otherwise it is utterly pointless to run Splash.

*This is just worth mentioning, while Kingdra's other abilities have been nerfed in X & Y, a change has occurred which can make Kingdra an absolute beast. In Gen. 6, the Critical Hit ratio was altered somewhat and made it so if your Pokemon has a Critical Hit ratio of 4, any attacking move that it uses is guaranteed to be a Critical Hit. As such, if you have your Pokemon use Focus Energy, it'll boost its stage up to 3, and holding the Scope Lens puts it at 4. Simply put, if your Kingdra is holding a Scope Lens and uses Focus Energy, EVERY move it uses afterward will be a critical hit! Nowadays, Critical Hits don't hit as hard as before, but with the ability Sniper, they do get a decent boost. There is only one other Pokemon besides Kingdra that can pull off the Scope Lens+Focus Energy+Sniper combo, and that Pokemon is Octillery (Beedrill can technically run this combo too, but you're much better off running its Mega Evolution). Click here to see my competitive guide for Octillery that involves this strategy: strikerprime.deviantart.com/ar…

Do you have your own Kingdra moveset and strategy? Comment below with your moveset!