Is Donphan good anymore?

Slowbro

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Cinema said:
Why would they be benching {L} Pokemon besides Eels anyway? They will be going Tornadus for days, and you will be 3HKOing them without ROA. What do you go against MTC when they are using Tornadus from T1 until the game ends? Zekrom isn't enough to deal with Tornadus alone.
Maybe because they run all {L} pokemon except tornadus? :rolleyes: The chances of them starting with tornadus aren't as high as them starting with a {L} pokemon, which is a free prize. ROA can be helpful, so 1 is enough. Rocky helmet is more useful though. Why? It doesn't help your opponent and has uses outside of tornadus. You seem to be forgetting that you will run them out of resources. You have max potion, 4-4 Donphan line, etc. As soon as you drop ROA, they will drop Zekrom EX and strong volt kill you. You are forgetting that ROA works for your opponent too. Against MTC, just run them out of resources. You run 4-4 Donphan. You run max potion. (you should) You (should) run Rocky Helmet.
 

Futa

Aspiring Trainer
Member
pokemonjoe said:
You run those cards because you need them. Rainbow is not needed, so running 4 is unnecessary.

So pretty much, Rainbow Energy is not needed? If that's the case, you might as well not run the Dragons in your Donphan/Dragons list.
 

The Yoshi

Wumbo
Member
pokemonjoe said:
You run those cards because you need them. Rainbow is not needed, so running 4 is unnecessary. Rocky helmet is more useful, so at least some of those spaces should be filled with Rocky Helmets. 3 ROA is also too much imo. Why? Tornadus is mostly in Zekeels and MTC. Granted, it is run 3-4 in MTC, it is not usually over 2 in Zekeels. Just catcher up [L] pokemon and kill them. When Donphan and Tornadus are attacking, you have access to max potion, and rocky helmet. ROA<Rocky Helmet.

Give me three good reasons how Rocky Helmet is useful, instead of saying it is more useful. Does it put anything in a KO range for this deck?

I would personally stoop down to 2 Ruins of Alph, but one is risky because it could be prized. I'm interested in seeing your skeleton list for this deck.
 

Slowbro

Aspiring Trainer
Member
The Yoshi said:
Give me three good reasons how Rocky Helmet is useful, instead of saying it is more useful. Does it put anything in a KO range for this deck?

I would personally stoop down to 2 Ruins of Alph, but one is risky because it could be prized. I'm interested in seeing your skeleton list for this deck.
1. It allows for 2hkoing tornadus without removing your resistance.
2. It puts Magnezone and Zekrom EX in constant one shot range.
3. It allows for a double pluspower every time you are attacked.

Futa: I never said to remove all the rainbow. I said to lower the amount. These are just my opinions. We have different ways of running the decks. And, yes, I'd rather focus on a speed donphan list with 1-2 dragons total. I think that has more tech room and potential in this {L} dominated format.
 

venasour x

Now I'm in college :)
Member
I just ran 2 Zekrom in my DD list and I beat Tornadus decks all day :/ I didn't run Ruins of Alph or Rocky Helmet. Just take out all of the Zekroms and Eels via Catcher, then with your 2 Zekroms just Outrage out all the Tornadus. Tornadus doesn't one-shot you unless your stupid enough to have 5 Damage on you, and make sure you stop Earthquaking after 3. Then a Pluspower and Tornadus doesn't stand a chance.
 

iisnumber12

Team UN (White)
Member
Let's start by saying: Donphan Prime was great when Heart Gold Soul Silver came out. Now, it has begun to die down a bit. The reason of its decrease in playability is because 60 damage is becoming too little with the spike in HP that has happened recently. Look, all the basic legendaries are being prited with 110-180 HP. 60 damage barely makes a dent in these cards especially because the format is mainly OHKOs now. Yes, catcher looked good with Donphan, but there are only so many Pokemon you can catcher that Donphan can KO. Even the biggest Lightning Pokemon in the format, Magnezone Prime, can take a hit from Donphan. Donphan's retreat cost also makes it worse because you can't run another attacker with it without running Dodrio of a full line of Switch. This makes Donphan nearly unplayable.

Many still think it is the best Fighting type in the format, but they are wrong. Terrakion is replacing Donphan for several reasons. First, it does 90 instead of 60. This is a huge difference because it allows it to OHKO Zekrom EX with only 2 Energy. Yes, Donphan can do that, but 3 Fighting Energy! That's insane with the amount of speed needed to win in this format. Terrakion also can take a colorless which allows it to be teched in decks much easier. Terrakion is also a basic, so it can be dropped down with a Shaymin UL to surprise your opponent for a great revenge KO.

In conclusion, Terrakion has outshined Donphan and made donphan a Tier 3 card. So, my answer is, no, Donphan can't find his place in a Tier 1 deck, and it will not win any tournaments anytime soon.

[/sand=iisnumber12]
 

JuStuPro

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Well I think a little bit different about Donphan than iisnumber though i don't say he's wrong.
The fact is, that the 60 damage for one energy is still pretty good, Donphan's Poke-Body is still pretty nice and the typing is just pretty good for the moment.

Okay the first thing: His attacks
Earthquakes 60 for on {F} still is good, though 60 might sound like nothing. But you shouldn't forget, that there are still many things being KOed by an Earthquake.
Some viable Examples:
Tynamo, Eelectrik, Thundurus, Floink, Magnemite, Magneton, Fliptini, Celebi Prime, Mew Prime, Rotom and most other viable Evolution Basics.
Zekrom and Magnezone are OHKOed with a PlusPower, Regigigas EX and Zekrom EX all are 2HKOed.
Not to shabby right?
His second attack isn't that great, but it's nice for bigger opponents.

So what could be really difficult for Donphan?
Examples:
Kyurem (only sometimes), Kyurem EX both Reshirams, Tornadus, Zapdos and probably Mewtwo EX... and thats it pretty much...
So what to do against them?
Kyurem and Kyurem EX shouldn't be the biggest problems, the Reshirams could be taken out by teching Kyruem, though they also shouldn't see that much play.
Tornadus and Zapdos are difficult because of their resistance, so Ruins of Alph could handle these and last but not least Mewtwo EX.

Mewtwo EX is awesome no doubt, and it is important to have an answer to it.
Well in my opinion Donphan could be the answer itself. Thanks to it's low attacking costs, Mewtwo doesn't get much support for X-Ball from Donphans energies.
IF Donphan can hit first, it could load enough damage on Mewtwo to get a 1-2 prize exchange. If this is not the case, there are always some tricks for Donphan to use.

1. use Max Potion
Max Potion can heal all the damage from Donphan and then just get the energy back through manual attachement. That means, that you probably could do enough damage to KO Mewtwo after he Koed your Donphan.

2. Rocky Helmet
Rocky Helmet gives some extra damage to Mewtwo (or other annoying opponents) that means, that you could load the damage even faster.

3.play Mewtwo EX
Do I have to describe it? I don't think so...

So it has a decent attack (especially with Catchers) a poke Body that let is live long, massive 120 HP (excellent for Stage 1) and a weakness that isn't that playable right now.
Additionally it has a nice Lightning Resistance which is nice in a format with Lightning being so powerful.
It's retreat of four isn't that nice, but wiht a high switch count and the use of Heavy Ball you could use it for your advantage.

The last point is a direct comparison of Donphan and Terrakion NV

1. Stats:
In my opinion: point for Donphan
It has 10 less HP but an auto resistance for 20 against everything.
It has also a {L} resistance while Terrakion has none, the weaknesses are atm both pretty good, because both types only see little play.
Retreat is the same and type is the same too, so i think the advantages are on Donphans side.

2. Attacks:
Donphan:
60 for one {F} with a bench damage for all of your Pokemon and 90 for 3 {F}.
Terrakion:
30 for {F}{C} plus 60 IF one of your pokemon was KOed the round before which is cool, but has a condition that costs you a prize... the second attack does 90 for {F}{F}{C} which is nearly the same as Donphan
I think this is a draw between them because while Donphan does the more consisten damage, Terrakion can be a lot better in some situations

3. The rest:
Terrakion has the advantage of being Basic which means a lot of support as well as that it is better techable and better searchable. These are big bonuses so an extra point for Terrakion here.
--> 2:2 between them

So it isn't the truth that Terrakion ALWAYS outclasses Donphan. They are just pretty different, so that I think both could be the best for different situations.
Donphan is the more consistent Main Attacker, while Terrakion is the awesome guy that can be teched in nearly every deck. I think that Donphan IS still playable, at least as Tier 2 deck or something like that, because it can counter the metagame and probably surprise some people.


P.S.
Don't forget, these are MY opinions, so if you think different I have no problems. If there are grammar or spelling mistakes please don't kill me, it's pretty late here in Europe and I'm hell tired =D
 

iisnumber12

Team UN (White)
Member
^Shaymin EX has fighting resistance so it gets 3HKOed. Donphan can KO a lot of things, but its retreat is too high and it damages your bench.
 

JuStuPro

Aspiring Trainer
Member
Yeah, but as far as i know the bench self damage was yet abused by the Outrage Dragons, why not use this?
You could also run Pokemon Center if the Bench damage is that bad.
But I see your point, and as I said I think it depends to your own preferences.
I love playing with fast attackers and KO the Basics of the opponent, so I just love Donphan, but i can also see why people would like Terrakion more.
Yeah Shaymin EX math was a little fail, I will change it right now...
And believe me, the retreat is not that bad (I really did a lot testing with Switch Counts and so on...) And don't forget Terrakion also has a high retreat...
 
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