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01/15/25, 09:38

Salamence Analysis

#372

Shelgon

Pokédex Strategy Moves Database

Beldum

#374

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This article gives you ideas of how to use Salamence in battle in the Pokémon Black, Pokémon White and Pokemon B2W2 Games. It lists popular movesets used by competitive battlers, as well as a description on how to use each set to help you understand why the moves were chosen. These popular sets are usually the best to use in battle and so reading this guide will help you in your team building.

Gen 5: Overview

Salamence makes a return in Gen V as a shadow of the beast it was in Gen IV. The so important 100 base speed stat is now out-sped by many of its new checks/counters. Despite all this, Salamence still packs its punch in this new metagame with the Intimidate ability, as well as moves like Dragon Dance, and Roost. It has decent bulk, and great offensive stats from both sides of the spectrum. It also has two great STAB moves: Draco Meteor and Outrage.

Draco Meteor

Outrage

Fire Blast

Earthquake / Brick Break / Roost


Ability	Nature	Item	HP	Atk.	Def.	SpAtk.	SpDef.	Speed
Intimidate	Naive	life orb / leftovers / lum berry	0	48	0	252	208	0
Set Experiments/Statistics: The purpose of this set is for Salamence to destroy any Pokemon that gets in Salamence´s way. As Dragon type moves effect every type and Draco Meteor is extremely powerful. MixMence is known for breaking through stall teams. Experiment 1 (Moveset) Life Orb Before determining MixMence´s spread you want to determine the best moveset. We want Draco Meteor and Fire Blast for sure because we want to deal heavy damage with Draco Meteor to rip through Pokemon and Fire Blast to rip through those Steel types that stop Draco Meteor. Obviously, if we want to invest a lot of SpAtk EVs on Salamence for Draco´s power, we would want Fire Blast as it´s power increases by as much Draco increases. Now we want to decided which two moves we want from Earthquake, Brick Break, Outrage, and Roost. We know that Brick Break, Earthquake, and Outrage are all physical moves. Does MixMence need two physical moves when Roost can help a lot with priority recovery? Best MixMence? = (Draco Meteor + Fire Blast + Earthquake + Roost) vs (Draco Meteor + Fire Blast + Brick Break + Roost) vs (Draco Meteor + Fire Blast + Outrage + Earthquake) vs (Draco Meteor + Fire Blast + Brick Break + Outrage) Pokemon that Salamence can´t handle with only Draco Meteor + Fire Blast: - Tyranitar - Heatran - Blissey - Empoleon - Snorlax What Brick Break can do with Draco Meteor and Fire Blast - With a 313 Atk stat, Brick Break always OHKOs Tyranitars (w/o defensive EVs) - Always 2HKOs non-bulky Heatrans. - 2HKOs Bold Blisseys with 333-369 Atk stat. - 369 Atk stat does 77.6% - 91.7% to Empoleons. - Always 3HKOs Snorlax What Earthquake can do with Draco Meteor and Fire Blast - Earthquake will never OHKO Tyranitar 100% of the time. With 311 Atk stat, Salamence will always 2HKO Tyranitars (w/ 252 EV HP) - Earthquake always OHKOs Heatrans (w/o Shuca). Earthquake with 369 Atk does 85.2% - 100.6% to Shuca Heatrans (w/o defensive EVs) - Earthquake with 369 Atk stat only does 37.1% - 43.7% to Bold Blissey. - Earthquake always OHKOs Empoleon with 360 Atk stat. - Earthquake will not help against Curselax. What Outrage can do with Draco Meteor and Fire Blast - Outrage will never OHKO Tyranitar. With 346 Atk stat, Outrage always 2HKOs Tyranitar (w/ 252 HP EVs) - Outrage won´t help against Heatran, as it resists it. - Outrage always 2HKOs Bold Blissey with 311 Atk Stat. - Outrage won´t help against Empoleon, as Empoleon resists it. - Outrage 2HKOs Snorlax with 329 Atk stat. From the information above Brick Break helps the most as you want MixMence to break stall and with Blissey around Earthquake isn´t very sufficient. While Outrage doesn´t help against Tyranitar, Heatran, and Empoleon. Thus, Brick Break would be the best option. And the last move should be Roost and Brick Break is all you need to counter those Pokemon that stop both Draco Meteor and Fire Blast. Thus, MixMence´s ideal moveset is Draco Meteor, Fire Blast, Brick Break, and Roost. Now lets determine the amount of Atk and SpAtk it needs and Nature. Experiment #2 (Speed) Salamence´s Max Speed without any EV and Adamant Nature is 236. Salamence´s Max Speed with Max EV and Adamant Nature is 299. Salamence´s Max Speed with Max EV and Jolly Nature is 328. Pokemon that EQUAL Salamence´s Speed - Jirachi - Celebi - Zapdos - Tentacruel - Flygon Pokemon that Salamence can out speed with 328 speed and NOT 299 Speed: - Jolly Gliscor - Electivire - Jolly Lucario - Roserade - Timid Rotom-A - Jolly Heracross Pokemon that MixMence can and wants to out speed with a speed greater than 236: - Lucario (w/ 280 for Adamant and 307 to out speed Jolly) - Heracross (w/ 280 for Adamant and 307 to out speed Jolly) - Electivire - Timid Rotom-A - Timid Suicune - Kingdra - Gyarados - Timid heatran (w/ 279 for Adamant and 307 to out speed Jolly) - Dragonite (w/ 285 for Adamant and 307 to out speed Jolly) - Timid Togekiss (w/ 285 for Adamant and 307 to out speed Jolly) Well from the above statistics we can see that 328 Speed is really important. As it out speeds many common threats and Speed ties against those 100 Base Speed Pokemon. While Salamence can decrease its Speed to 285 in order to conserve more EVs to power. We now need to calculate what Nature is more ideal for MixMence, Naive or Hasty? Experiment #3 (Defenses) - 0 EVs in HP, Def, SpDef - CB Scizor´s Bullet Punch does 39.3% - 46.5% after Intimidate. Swords Dance + LO + Bullet Punch does 76.1% - 89.7% after Intimidate. Salamence would need max HP EVs in order to survive the Bullet Punch after SR damage (but we can´t give offensive Salamence that much EVs in HP). - Dragon Pulse from Timid Heatran does 79.8% - 94.3% to this Salamence. - Swords Dance from Lucario with Extremespeed does 60.4% - 71.3% to Salamence after Intimidate. So Salamence will always revenge kill Lucario even if Stealth Rock is up. From the statistics above we can see that Salamence is fine without any defensive EVs. As Salamence would have to given A LOT of defensive EVs in order to live against many powerful threats. And we can afford to decrease Salamence´s mixed attack powers for bulkiness. Now we need to decide whether Salamence should be given Naive or Hasty Nature? Well we know that Salamence needs its Def stat in order to live that SD Extremespeed from Lucario and CB Bullet Punch from Scizor after taking Stealth Rock damage. This is enough reason to say that Naive Nature is better. Experiment #4 (Attack) - Life Orb + Naive Nature - vs Gyarados Max SpAtk Draco Meteor does 73.5% - 87% to Impish Gyarados´. - vs Jirachi Max SpAtkFire Blast does 88.9% - 104.7% to Choice Scarf Jirachi. - vs Metagross Fire Blast does 90.7% - 107.1% to Metagross (w/o Occa) with Naive/Hasty Nature + Max SpAtk. - vs Swampert Max SpAtk Draco Meteor does 71.3% - 84.2% to Standard Swampert leads. - vs Gliscor Max SpAtk Draco Meteor does 94.4% - 111.3% to Standard Gliscors. - vs Hippowdon Max SpAtk Draco Meteor does 82.9% - 97.4% to Standard Hippowdons. From the above statistics we can see that MixMence needs Max SpAtk to OHKO many bulky Pokemon. Now lets see how much Attack EVs it needs. Since we´ve already found out that the Pokemon that stop both Draco Meteor and Fire Blast, we only need to use them to configure our Atk stat. While we also already chose 252 EVs on Speed and 252 SpAtk, lets see if 4 EVs on Atk is enough. - Tyranitar = Brick Break does 99.4% - 117% to Tyranitars without defensive EVs. - Heatran = Brick Break always 2HKOs non-bulky Heatrans. Doing 53.3% - 63.2% to non-bulky Heatrans. - Blissey = Brick Break does 47.8% - 56.5% to Standard Bold Blisseys. This is enough to stop Blissey from recovering HP with Wish + Protect. - Empoleon = Brick Break does 64.1% - 75.6% to standard Empoleons. Guaranteed 2HKO. - Snorlax = Brick Break does 43.7% - 51.7% to standard CurseLax. Enough to stop it from Cursing on you. So as we can see, there is no reason for us to invest EVs on Salamence´s Attack stat. ======================= From the statistics above we can conclude the following spreads to be ideal for MixMence #1 Salamence @ Life Orb + Naive + 4 Atk / 252 SpAtk / 252 Speed #2 Salamence @ Life Orb + Rash + 60 HP / 252 SpAtk / 196 Speed The best set overall is Salamence @ Life Orb + Naive + 4 Atk / 252 SpAtk / 252 Speed =======================

Probably the most-used set last generation, and still viable in this one. Draco Meteor will be punching holes in your opponents team. Steel types can be used to try and absorb the Draco Meteor attacks, so Fire Blast is in the third slot. The combination of Draco Meteor and Fire Blast will KO most Steel types that commonly switch in on Salamence, inclding Scizor, Skarmory, Forretress, Ferrothorn, and Excadrill. Outrage is in the second slot to provide a powerful, accurate attack that has excellent coverage when combined with Earthquake and Fire Blast. It leaves Salamence confused, however. Earthquake is the primary option for the fourth slot because it gives Salamence some much-needed coverage against a number of Pokemon, including Heatran (without a Balloon) and Blissey. However, Brick Break is also a good option as it allows Salamence to hit Blissey harder and eliminates the risk of a wasted turn with Balloon Heatran. Roost can also be used in the last slot to heal off Life Orb damage and any other damage as well.

Additional Comments

Life Orb is the item of choice in this case, although Leftovers can be used if you decide not to run Roost. Lum Berry can also be used to keep Salamence away from status ailments and heal the confusion after Outrage. Dragon Pulse could also be used in the first slot to provide a more accurate move with slightly less power.

Dragon Dance

Outrage

Earthquake

Fire Blast / Roost / Draco Meteor


Ability	Nature	Item	HP	Atk.	Def.	SpAtk.	SpDef.	Speed
Intimidate	Naive	life orb / leftovers / lum berry	0	220	4	36	252	0
There are no current set statistics analysed

With the right support, this set allows Salamence to sweep late game, or break some holes in the opponent's team early on. Dragon Dance goes in the first slot and is used to boost Salamence's Attack and Speed stats. In the second slot, Outrage is self-explanatory as Dragon Claw is not powerful enough to be considered, even though Salamence becomes confused after Outrage. Earthquake provides great coverage along with Outrage and Fire Blast, allowing Salamence to KO Pokemon like Jirachi, Heatran w/o Balloon, and Terrakion w/o Balloon. Roost and Draco Meteor are also viable options for the fourth slot. Roost can be useful if you're using a Life Orb, especially with Stealth Rocks up. Draco Meteor can be used to bluff a Mix-Mence set at the beginning of the match, then allowing Salamence to sweep late in the game using Dragon Dance.

Additional Comments

The EVs allow you to OHKO Max SpD Ferrothorn/Skarmory/Forretress with Fire Blast, without losing the power Salamence needs in Attack. Life Orb provides more power as well. Leftovers can also be useful if you're not running Roost, but you will lose some of the offensive power obtained from Life Orb. The Lum Berry protects Salamence against any status ailments, and can be helpful for curing confusion after using Outrage.

Outrage / Dragon Claw

Earthquake

Brick Break

Fire Blast / Fire Fang / Thunder Fang


Ability	Nature	Item	HP	Atk.	Def.	SpAtk.	SpDef.	Speed
Intimidate	Adamant / Jolly	choice band / choice scarf	0	252	4	0	252	0
There are no current set statistics analysed

Salamence's 135 base Attack and 100 Base Speed, coupled with its awesome move pool, make Salamence a great hit-and-runner or even a revenge killer with a Choice Scarf. Outrage is recommended for the first slot because of STAB, and the amazing 120 Base Power coupled with Salamence's huge Attack stat. Dragon Claw is also an option if the user wants to avoid being locked into Outrage when trying to revenge kill your opponent's Pokemon. Dragon Claw also eliminates the issue of Salamence becoming confused. The rest of the moves are for coverage. Earthquake and Brick Break hit Blissey, and all variants of Heatran. Fire Blast or Fire Fang can be used to hit Steel types that resist Salamence's STAB attacks, except for Heatran. Thunder Fang can be useful against something like Gyarados or other Water types trying to set up on Salamence.

Additional Comments

Additional comments go here.

Draco Meteor

Fire Blast

Hydro Pump

Dragon Pulse


Ability	Nature	Item	HP	Atk.	Def.	SpAtk.	SpDef.	Speed
Intimidate	Timid / Modest	choice specs	0	0	4	252	252	0
There are no current set statistics analysed

Specs Mence is outclassed by Pokemon like Latias, but it still deserves a mention. Salamance has the advantage of being a Flying type and having Intimidate, making it a great Conkeldurr counter. 110 base special Attack is decent, and coupled with STAB Draco Meteor, this set can be very effective. The Hydro Pump/Fire Blast combination provides great coverage. Hydro Pump gets a 50% boost from Rain as well, so this set can be especially effective in the rain. Dragon Pulse is used for cleaning up late in the game.

Additional Comments

Additional comments go here.

Wish

Protect / Roost

Dragon Tail

Flamethrower


Ability	Nature	Item	HP	Atk.	Def.	SpAtk.	SpDef.	Speed
Intimidate	Bold	leftovers	252	0	240	0	16	0
There are no current set statistics analysed

Salamence has access to a move few Pokemon get, in the form of Wish. While at first glance, Salamence may seem outclassed by parashuffler Dragonite, this set provides better team support. Salamence should not be used as an inferior Dragonite, as it can use Wish, which is a move that Dragonite doesn't get. Salamence is capable of taking physical hits with ease, using Intimidate to cushion the hits. The crux of this set is Wish. Wish heals 197 HP, which means that it can generally heal over half of a standard Pokemon's health. The second set is up for grabs. Roost provides you with instant healing if you find yourself in a situation where you really need it, but Roost in generally is counterproductive with Wish. Protect is the preferred option, allowing you to scout the opponent's move and act accordingly. The third slot should always be Dragon Tail. This provides you with a solid phazing move, racking up hazard damage. Flamethrower occupies the last slot. This allows you to take on Steel Pokemon, namely Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress, who otherwise wall your entire set.

Additional Comments

The EVs are tailored to allow you to out-speed Jolly Tyranitar and Adamant Breloom. This also allows you to out-speed standard Gliscor by one point. Max HP is necessary to maximize the amount you heal from Wish. The rest is dumped in Defense to allow you to take physical hits with ease. Flamethrower can be replaced by Fire Blast if you find it to be too weak. However, Salamence does not appreciate the decreased accuracy, especially when so many slow threats are able to hit it for a lot of damage. Roar can also be used over Dragon Tail, but Dragon Tail provides you with STAB and isn't affected by Taunt.

Team Mates

Any Pokemon that can absorb Ice and Dragon attacks intended for Salamence can make a good teammate. Ferrothorn, Heatran, and Scizor all make very good partners for Salamence. Ferrothorn can set up Spikes/Stealth Rocks, which helps Salamence sweep. Scizor can revenge kill weakened Pokemon for Salamence. Ferrothorn and Scizor also can be used for luring Heatran, which can be good if you're not running Earthquake and/or Brick Break. Other Dragon types make good offensive partners, especially if you're running the Mix set. Pokemon like Hydregion and Latias can be used to reveal the opponent's Salamence counter, so that it can be dealt with accordingly.

Other Options

Wish- Wish-Mence was used in Gen IV and can still be used here.

Dragon Tail- Can be used in a pseudo-phazer set with Dragon Dance and Roost. This allows Salamence to phaze opponents while inflicting damage, and it isn't ruined by Taunt.

Roar- Comments for Roar go here.

Usual Counters

Balloon Heatran walls the DD set and the Mix set if Salamence doesn't carry Brick Break. Ferrothorn can wall sets that don't carry a Fire move. All three Genies and Terrakion can be used to revenge kill any Salamence locked into Outrage, including a Salamence running the DD set if they are Scarfed. Excadrill is an extremely effective counter against any of the sets under Sand Storm, and can even set up with some prediction on the Physical Choice set.

Opinion

Remember, when using Salamence, never try to use it as an inferior Dragonite. The key is to abuse Wish, something Dragonite just doesn't get. Flamethrower can be replaced by Fire Blast if you find it to be too weak. However, Salamence does not appreciate missing, especially when so many slow threats are able to hit it for a lot of damage. Roar can also be used over Dragon Tail. Dragon Tail however, provides you with STAB and isn't affected by taunt.

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