Flygon Weaknesses Explored Guide

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Having began his writing career at Veryali Gaming, Alex has changed gears and has decided to write about his one true passion, Pokémon! Alex is one of our resident competitive experts and loves messing around with peculiar EV's, move sets and typing combos to keep his opponents on their toes. Also, when he's not out tossing Pokeballs in the tall grass, he's quite a handy guitar player and a decent photographer to boot!

Bottom Line-Up Front

Flygon’s dual-typing of Dragon and Ground makes it immune to Electric-type moves. Coupled with the Levitate ability Flygon is also immune to Ground-type moves.
Flygon is fantastic at pivoting in battle and can bail out of combat before Fairy-types can make a move with U-Turn.
Steel-type Pokemon such as Lucario and Scizor are Flygon’s friends and help alleviate threats and counters before they can make a move.
Flygon is vulnerable to bulky Water-type Pokemon such as Milotic, Gastrodon, and Suicune due to type matching and the ever-present Ice Beam.

Stats

	HP	Attack	Defense	Sp. Atk	Sp. Def	Speed
Base Stats	80	100	80	80	80	100

Flygon’s stats are slightly above average, with decent all-around stats and great attack and speed stats. It’s like Game Freak just wanted to create the most middling Pokemon stat-wise in the game. Jokes aside, Flygon has fantastic speed helps it get its attacks out before its opponent.

Flygon’s framework suggests that its best suited as a physical attacker. However, adding a special attack move such as Flamethrower is not a bad idea to counter Ice-type Pokemon. That being said, I almost always run physical moves regarding its stats.

Flygon’s speed makes it a fantastic pivot Pokemon to rotate in battle. Using U-turn and Aerial Ace proves that speed is one of Flygon’s best factors.

Flygon’s Typing

Flygon’s dual typing is exciting and makes sense regarding its design and allows it to perform powerful Earthquake and Dig as powerful stab moves.

However, Flygon gets a bad reputation for dual typing of Ground and Dragon-type. This makes Flygon highly susceptible to Ice-type moves and puts trainers off from using Flygon. However, Flygon’s Ground-type has some utility in battle. As for one, it makes it immune to electric-type moves and allows Flygon to perform super effective stab attacks, Fire, Poison, Electric, Rock, and Steel-type Pokemon.

Flygon’s dual-typing compliments each other as the Dragon-type weakens Water and Grass-type moves that would otherwise be super-effective against Ground-types. Flygon’s Dragon-type grants it great stab moves such as Dragon Claw and Outrage. Flygon’s Ground-type also grants it immunity from sandstorms making it a great option or counter to sandstorm weather teams.

Flygon’s typing is complimented by Steel-type as it counters threatening Fairy-types. It also provides a lot of defense for Flygon to swiftly switch out with U-turn. As a result, Flygon can easily lure out Fairy-type and Ice-type Pokemon.

Flygon Abilities

Levitate – makes the Pokemon immune to all Ground-type attacks and stops Arena Trap, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes from working. Flygon falls short in the ability aspect of Pokemon, only being limited to the Levitate ability. This, unfortunately, drastically lowers Flygon’s utility in battle. It’s not fair.

As a Flygon fan, I may be biased, but I believe that it desperately needs another ability to make it more of a viable option in battle. How about Sand Force or Sand Stream like Hippopotas and Hippowdon. Perhaps that would be a little overpowered?

That being said, Levitate is a powerful ability that makes Flygon immune to Ground-type moves allowing Flygon to counter the monstrous Tyranitar. In addition, Flygon is also granted immunity to Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Arena Trap. This is a valuable attribute as Flygon can sidestep this chip damage.

Key Strengths and Weaknesses

Excellent Baiter and Pivot

Flygon excels at baiting Fairy-types out as well as Ice-type move-wielding Pokemon. Its decent speed and U-Turn move make it exceptional at pivoting out of combat.

Furthermore, its Levitate ability allows it to freely enter the field without worrying about being damaged by Spikes, Toxic Spikes, or Stealth Rock. This is one of my favorite aspects of Flygon because although it is not the bulkiest of Pokemon, I feel confident in switching Flygon without worrying about taking too many hits.

All too often in battle, I’ll have Flygon out in the field only for my opponent to switch in a Fairy-type, only for me to U-turn to Lucario, followed by a relentless Bullet Punch. I love this combo as Lucario is weak to Ground-type. Still, my opponent will unlikely use this type of move against Flygon due to its immunity allowing me to safely U-turn Lucario into battle.

Versatile Support

Flygon is equipped to be able to finish off wounded opponents as well as significant deal damage to Grass, Ghost, and Psychic-types with U-Turn. Furthermore, Flygon can clear the battlefield of Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes, as well as other defensive effects such as Light Screen, Reflect, Safeguard, and Mist.

In addition, this move will also clear any unwanted weather effects allowing you to counter teams based around this. However, Flygon also provides excellent support in building a team around arena traps such as Spikes because it synergizes well with Skarmory to cover its weaknesses and poison targets with Toxic.

Powerful Sweeper

If not checked, a Flygon equipped with a Choice Band or Life Orb has the potential to rip through its opponents with Earthquake and Dragon Claw. Furthermore, a round of Dragon Dance will significantly increase Flygon’s threat level. Flygon can take a hit, so don’t worry about sacrificing a round to boost its stats.

Flygon also has access to Rock Slide and Stone Edge. Although not stab move, they have proven extremely valuable for Flygon. Trainers that switch to Flying-type Pokemon are granted Ground-type immunity and Bug-type resistances. However, you won’t need to bother with U-Turn after a round of Stone Edge.

A powered-up Outrage from a Dragon Dance and Choice Band will subsequently lay waste to the coming turns. Moreover, I’ve used Draco Meteor as an alternative to Outrage as this gives me more control over Flygon in battle. This can be extremely valuable despite the cut to the special attack stat. Outrage locks in Flygon for two to three turns, leaving it vulnerable to Fairy-type switches.

Flygon Type Weakness

The Dragon/Ground-type is a burden for Flygon, making it highly vulnerable to Ice-type moves. Ice Punch and Hidden Power (Ice) hidden in your opponent’s move sets is always a worry.

Although Flygon can quickly pivot out of battle, it can be challenging to keep track of your opponent’s moves, and it can be easy to get caught out by an Ice-type move. Depending on your knowledge of the ever-growing roster of Pokemon.

Bulkier Alternatives

Numerous alternatives to Flygon provide more firepower and defense in battle. Garchomp is another Dragon/Ground-type Pokemon with significantly better attack, health, defense, and speed stats. Salamance also features superior stats to Flygon but only has Dragon typing.

Move Locking

Move locking can be extremely dangerous for Flygon, but it’s a necessary evil to trade off control from Choice hold items and Outrage. Although this allows Flygon to unleash high-power attacks, it is vulnerable to Flygon counters such as Fairy-types and Ice-types.

I’ve experienced great value from this setup and move. I have been stung by the lack of control and the inability to use U-Turn.

Flygon Counters

Bronzong

No Pokemon fears Bronzong more than Flygon. Steel/Psychic-type and Levitate ability makes Flygon’s Ground-type moves ineffective. Moreover, Steel-type Pokemon resist Dragon-type moves leaving a competitive setup Flygon has few options to attack Bronzong.

Deadly Gyroball

You’d be wrong to think that Bronzong isn’t a threat due to its slow speed of 33 points. Equipped with Gyro Ball, Bronzong can significantly damage Flygon as Gyro Ball deals damage based on the gap between the user and target speed. Throw an extra 50% attack boost on top because it is a stab move, and you’ve got a problem.

Bronzong is also capable of inflicting Ice damage to Flygon through Hidden Power. Therefore if your opponent switches Bronzong into battle, turn tail and run with a U-Turn and send out a Fire-type.

Alternatively, you could run Flygon with Fire Blast, Flamethrower, or Fire Punch to counter Bronzong; however, I’d refrain from including Fire-type attacks on Flygon and save the slot for a stab or utility move.

Cresselia

Cresselia can threaten Flygon in battle due to its high defense, health, and special defense stats. Cresselia also features the Levitate ability making Flygon’s Ground-type moves ineffective. Leaving only U-Turn as the only answer to break through Cresselia.

Although Cresselia doesn’t have the highest attacking power, it can unleash a devastating Ice Beam and Moonblast at Flygon. This can easily wipe Flygon out of the battle; therefore, U-Turn and get out of there.

As you can see, Flygon can deal with its counters by quickly escaping the fight. Cresselia’s speed is another reason to run away as it is slightly faster than Flygon, making U-Turn your only option.

Porygon2

Although small, this little Pokemon packs a punch, with 105 points in special attack and a 1.3x attack boost from the Analytic ability. An Ice Beam can spell disaster for Flygon. Furthermore, you won’t be able to use Ground-type attacks on Porygon2 thanks to its Trace ability allowing it to copy Flygon’s Levitate ability.

Porygon2 has decent defense stats that can be bolstered with the Evolite item and the Bold Nature, which turns Porygon2 into a bulky Pokemon. Fortunately for Flygon, Porygon2’s physical defense is slightly lower than its special defense. However, Porygon2 can outlast Flygon in battle with Recover and promptly blast it down with Ice Beam.

Occasionally, a Porygon2 will be sent into battle, and I immediately say nope and retrieve Flygon from battle with a U-Turn. Followed by switching to a fighting type such as Toxicroak.

Gardevoir

Gardevoir is a substantial threat to Flygon with an arsenal of Fairy-type moves and health recovery through Wish, which can render Flygon in battle. Gardevoir is yet another Pokemon to steal Flygon’s Levitate ability with the Trace ability.

This can prove to be a disaster in a fight as Gardevoir with Levitate is very powerful, allowing it to dodge arena effects and traps. Which is essential for Gardevoir survivability.

Gardevoir has relatively poor physical defense and health stats but makes up for it with mighty special attack power that can easily knock Flygon out of battle.

Florges

Florges is another Fairy-type Pokemon that can threaten Flygon in battle due to its high special attack. Although mainly used as an auxiliary Pokemon, Florges can cause havoc for Toxic and Spike setups due to its Aromatherapy move. Flygon may not be inflicted by super-effective Grass-type moves, but it will be crushed by a volley of Fairy-type moves.

To make matters worse, Florges can heal itself in battle with various healing moves such as Wish and Synthesis. You can’t brute force Florges and take advantage of its low health and defense stats. As a result, I suggest using U-Turn and switching into a Steel or Poison-type such as my favorite Toxicroak.

Diancie

The mother of all Fairy-types to kill Flygon. This Pokemon is absolutely terrifying for Flygon to go against. You may mistakenly believe that because it’s Fairy/Rock-type, it can be knocked out by an Earthquake. Diancie has very high physical defense stats allowing it to sustain a few hits in battle.

Diancie features decent attack and special attack stats that allow it to unleash a devastating Moonblast on Flygon. Note that Diancie has sluggish speed enabling you to get a move out before it in battle. However, I would not challenge this Pokemon despite its weakness in Ground-type moves and simply switch to a Steel-type Pokemon such as Lucario or Skarmory. As these Pokemon are better suited to deal with it.

Milotic

Milotic can cause problems for Flygon as a bulky Water-type Milotic cannot be inflicted by status ailments with Refresh and has excellent health recovery with Recover. Therefore Flygon’s Toxic is rendered useless here. Milotic’s Marvel Scale ability further increases its bulky defenses when affected by statuses.

With no weaknesses to Flygon’s moves, Milotic can inflict severe damage to Flygon with its splendid special attack stat. An Ice Beam from Milotic will rupture through Flygon’s defenses and easily knock it out.

In this scenario, Flygon has nowhere to go, so I switch it out to a Pokemon more capable of dealing with a Milotic such as Virizion.

Suicune

Suicune is a formidable foe for Flygon as its high physical defense and reasonably high special attack allow Suicune to let out an Ice Beam to tarnish Flygon’s hit points. Suicune will resist Flygon’s aggression, and from the use of Substitute, Flygon is quickly knocked out before breaking through to deal damage. Therefore I recommend switching out as soon as possible with U-Turn.

Note that Suicune will likely set up and boost its stats with Calm Mind. If it grows too powerful, Flygon can be switched to alleviate this problem with a Defog. However, this is very dangerous as Flygon will subsequently be attacked with Ice Beam.

Competetive Setup

The Pokemon games have changed over the years, and the introduction of Fairy-type would create new threats for Flygon, as previously shown. However, Game Freak has updated Flygon since its debut in generation three of the Pokemon games.

I absolutely love Flygon because it can quickly escape bad situations with U-Turn, and as a result, I favor pivot builds that use this move. Alternatively, you can turn Flygon into a full-on high attack power fighting Dragonfly, but this is way riskier in battle.

Choice Pivot

U-Turn
Earthquake
Dragon Claw/Draco Meteor/Outrage
Stone Edge/Fire Punch/Defog/Aerial Ace

This high damage dealing build focuses on giving Flygon momentum in battle. While yes, the Choice Band locks Flygon into a move. It’s a great option and strategy in combat if you have eliminated all Fairy-type threats on the battlefield. Flygon can easily dodge these threats by expecting your opponent to switch a counter in.

U-Turn is not a stab move, but is high damage dealing move with a base power of 80 with additional boosts from a Choice Band, allowing Flygon to deal decent damage. The Choice Band move locking means that you might as well attack with Outrage considering it locks in any way. Note that this move becomes devastating in combat and will decimate your opponents.

Although not a stab move, stone Edge and Rock Slide are fantastic moves to use in battle as they allow Flygon to attack Pokemon immune to Ground-type moves, such as Flying-types.

This build can be tailored to make Flygon more offensive or more supportive by switching in Defog and opting for a Choice Scarf instead of Choice Band. This allows Flygon to clear the battlefield of unwanted nuisances such as weather effects and traps.

The Choice Scarf allows Flygon to easily outspeed opponents making Earthquake and Dragon Claw lethal attacks. If you run a Scarf in this build, I’d suggest using Draco Meteor instead of Outrage, as although a special attack, it will be easier to unlock from the Scarf than Outrage.

This build is best used Flygon with the Adamant Nature to get an attack boost at the cost of a Special Attack. As a result, the build mainly focuses on physical attack moves. Consider running Flygon with Aerial Ace, as this is an excellent move to finish off weakened Pokemon, especially Grass-types, in the latter half of the battle.

Dragon Dance Dragonfly

Dragon Dance
Outrage
Earthquake
Iron Tail/U-Turn/Fire Blast

This build revolves around boosting Flygon’s attack and speed stats with Dragon Dance before unleashing powerful stab moves such as Earthquake and Outrage. This build can be customized to your team’s needs. The fourth move slot is freely available to cover different move types.

I usually feature a Steel and Fire-type Pokemon on my team to counter Fairy, Grass, Steel, and Ice-types. Therefore I run with a U-turn as a free escape. This will reset Flygon’s stats when leaving battle, but it also allows me to counter Flygon counters.

I run a Flygon with the Adamant Nature for this build to make the most of its physical attack. To complement this, a Choice Band can be used to increase Flygon’s attack even more. This works well as Flygon cannot get Dragon Dance locked in as it does not count as an attacking move.

Iron Tail is a fantastic alternative to running Flygon. The increased speed and attack allow you to shock your opponent with a super-charged strike against their precious Fairy-type Pokemon.

This can be devastating to your opponent if you have better speed than your opponent. In this scenario, I’d run Choice Band to get more attack power out of Flygon for Iron Tail. As Flygon is already above many in the speed category.

Defog Flygon

Defog
Toxic
Roost/U-Turn
Earthquake

This build is hyper situational and shows Flygon’s potential as a support Pokemon. This build is a direct counter to teams that are based on the strategy of laying layers of Spikes and traps such as Stealth Rock and weather effects. Flygon stops these teams in their tracks by clearing the board with Defog.

Flygon is perfect for this role as its immunity to sandstorms, arena traps, and spikes allow it to quickly clear up the board for your party members. Toxic allows me to poison Spike and Stealth Rock users to chip away at their health. Losing Flygon can be devastating when fighting these strategies, therefore is a great option to keep Flygon running in battle.

However, I also like U-Turn here as it allows Flygon to inflict Toxic before promptly switching to Skarmory to lay down Spikes and get out before being attacked by a powerful Ice Beam. Earthquake serves as a solid stab move for when all else fails.

With this build, you will want to keep Flygon alive for as long as possible to make the most out of Defog; therefore, the Leftovers item is a great option. High speed and moveability keep Flygon alive, and consequently, a Flygon with the Jolly Nature is best used with this build as this raises speed at the cost of lowering Sp. Atk a stat an unused stat to Flygon with this build.

Best Team for Weakness Coverage

Toxicroak

Toxicroak is an excellent choice as a team member as both Pokemon complements each other. Toxicroak is high susceptible to Flying-types due to its Fighting-type. Flygon can quickly relieve this threat with a Rock Slide or Stone Edge. Moreover, Toxicroak can sometimes need time to set up Bulk or Nasty Plot, which benefits from Flygon’s U-Turn.

Toxicroak is a Fairy-type killer equipped with deadly Poison-type stab moves such as Sludge Bomb, and Poison Jab Toxicroak can quickly rid the field of these threats to Flygon.

In some situations, Toxicroak may be able to switch into Bronzong and finish it with a swift Sucker Punch; however, Bronzong has extreme defense making this only viable if it is low on HP.

Lucario

Lucario is a great Pokemon to include in your team for support to remove threats for Flygon. Lucario has great physical attack stats and decent speed. However, you won’t need to worry about not being able to get your move in before your opponent with Bullet Punch, as this will always attack first.

This allows you to combo Flygon’s U-Turn with a Bullet Punch from Lucario, decimating Fairy-type Pokemon. This is one of the prime examples of Flygon excelling at pivoting and baiting your opponent to switch a Dragon-type counter.

Lucario also boasts powerful Fighting-type stab moves such as Close Combat and Aura Sphere, allowing it to make short work of Ice-types that threaten Flygon. Furthermore, because Flygon can be frequently switched and pivoted, I can reset Lucario’s lowered stats from Close Combat. At the cost of losing any attack boost from Swords Dance

Lucario is vulnerable to Ground-type moves; however, because Flygon is immune to Ground-type moves, you’ll seldom switch into Ground-type moves with Lucario.

Scizor

Scizor is one of the best Pokemon, in my opinion, to support Flygon as it can learn the U-Turn move allowing you to pivot between Flygon and Scizor when needed.

Bullet Punch is one of Scizor’s staple moves and will allow you to quickly remove Fairy and Ice-type threats to Flygon. Scizor can also be Mega Evolved in battle to improve its stats significantly across the board. Although I recommend this later in the fight to fully make the most out of it.

Both Lucario and Scizor are great picks alongside Flygon. However, you can decide to bring both into battle with you as this does have some good benefits. I would refrain from bringing both and choose between the two. I prefer Scizor as I can get Fighting-type coverage from either Toxicroak or Virizion.

Skarmory

Skarmory is my go-to alongside Flygon for laying down Spikes. Skarmory is excellent for this role as it is easily switched into Fairy-types and provides great defense for your team. You could opt to remove Defog and replace it with Sandstorm on Flygon to inflict a trio of damage from Spikes, Toxic, and Sandstorm.

Version

Virizion is a good pick for battle as it is a powerful Grass/Fighting-type Pokemon that can make short work of bulky Water-types with Leaf Blade. Moreover.

Virizion benefits from being pivoted by Flygon as its defense stats worn down by Close Combat are restored. Virizion is an excellent defender that provides my team with a significant buffer in battle, allowing me to wear down targets before finishing them with Outrage or Aerial Ace with Flygon.

FAQs

Question: Why is There no Mega Evolution For Flygon?

Answer: Game Freak planned to create a Mega Evolution of Flygon in the development of Pokemon X and Y, but plans were scrapped after Ken Sugimori, video game artist and Pokemon design artist, came down with the old artists block.

Question: What Level Does Trapinch Evolve?

Answer: Trapinch evolves into Vibrava at level 35 and then into Flygon at level 45. Trapinch gains experience points at a medium to slow rate compared to other Pokemon and yields 1 attack EV for every Trapinch defeated.

Question: What Egg Group Does Flygon Belong to?

Answer: Flygon belongs to the Bug and Dragon-type egg groups and is the only Dragon-type to belong to the Bug egg group. Subsequently, Flygon can learn various Bug-type moves such as Bug Bite, Fury Cutter, and Signal Beam.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Flygon is one of my all-time favorite Pokemon. It is an iconic Pokemon from generation three and has a lot of potential in battle. Although the game and meta have changed substantially since Flygon’s debut, it still is a viable option for standing up to the challenge of Fairy-type Pokemon.

Its U-Turn move is my favorite Flygon move. It allows me to safely switch Flygon out of battle to set up Fairy-type traps. It’s a very satisfying combination to pull off and quickly removes the threat. Flygon may not be the strongest Dragon-type in the game, falling short in its stats and 4x weakness to Ice. But it is a Pokemon that is well respected by many trainers and me.