Featured Pokemon: Dewgong

Dewgong earns the Let's GO
Seel of approval

Greetings trainers!

Dewgong, the poor man's Lapras. Lapras, Dewgong, and Cloyster all share exactly the same typing, and even have access to overlapping movepools, importantly all having the same quick moves and access to Blizzard. So, if you're not lucky enough to have a good Lapras or two at your disposal, one of Dewgong or Cloyster is likely to be your answer to opposing Dragonites. Which is it? Spoiler alert: it's Dewgong. Dewgong's stats are simply superior to Cloyster's, and importantly its Stamina is solid. That makes this blubber buddy one of the better readily-obtained Pokemon in the game.

Recommended movesets

Stop blubbering and get
yourself a Dewgong!

Attacking
Frost Breath + Blizzard (beware the lag)

Frost Breath has a solid damage-per-second (DPS) comparable to Water Gun, but slightly worse. The slower cooldown prevents Dewgong from dodging easily, but it's still not impossible to get out of the way of incoming charge moves if you watch for the opposing Pokemon's animation change. Blizzard is a very strong attack, but there is a catch; I've found the damage from Blizzard to lag for an incredible amount of time on my iPhone 5, sometimes preventing me from picking up KOs before I would be knocked out. Thus, while it has the highest DPS of any of Dewgong's charge moves, its usefulness depends on your processing power, and how well Dewgong can hang on waiting for the damage to register.

Defending
Ice Shard + Blizzard

Dewgong is blessed with an alternate quick attack in Ice Shard, which has a higher base power well-suited to defending. Again, Blizzard is the move of choice, but as mentioned above, it has an annoying bit of lag. In defence mode however, that's actually a good thing! Due to the strain it puts on phone processors, Blizzard is quite difficult to dodge, unlike other big charge moves like Hydro Pump or Fire Blast. Icy Wind is an alternate charge move that can be spammed on defence, but it doesn't do much to out-damage Ice Shard. As such, you're better off just using Ice Shard until a Blizzard is charged up, and letting loose a howling fury of frost and sleet.

Base stats

I'm faaaabulous-ish

Attack: 156

Defence: 192

Stamina: 180

Dewgong's base stats effectively let it function as a solid defender in place of a better Pokemon like Lapras. Thankfully, Dewgong's solid Stamina, which, when amplified while on defence, brings Dewgong up into the range of "I need a plan to take this down" range. Dewgong one-ups its fellow water/ice type Cloyster, by a total of 36 base stats, which are importantly invested in Stamina rather than Attack.

Popular Pokemon Dewgong deals with

Quit draggin' your feet and
go KO a Dragonite

Dragonite! Need a Pokemon to take down a Dragonite with? Don't have a Lapras? Dewgong's bulk makes it much better suited to the task than Cloyster. Other common defenders Dewgong can take down include Rhydon, Nidoqueen, and Nidoking. Dewgong's stats are solid enough that anything weak to ice will fall to its Frost Breath.

If you face a grass Pokemon without grass moves (e.g. Confusion Exeggutor), Dewgong can chip in to take it down, but most of the non-grass attacks used by grass Pokemon deal good base damage, and Dewgong doesn't so much counter these Pokemon as it does check them.

Checks and counters

Dewgong isn't the elite Pokemon that Lapras is, and as such it can face issues when encountering the likes of Poliwrath with Submission, Arcanine, and Magneton, as these three resist Dewgong's ice moves and fire back with strong, even super effective STAB moves. Other Pokemon that can check Dewgong and give it trouble are Slowbro, Vaporeon, Lapras, and even Charizard, which all trade favourably with Dewgong thanks to their superior stats and relative impunity to ice. The Charizard I've been using has Wing Attack, which has a higher DPS when attacking than Ember, and a shorter cooldown which allows easier dodging; though dodging Blizzard is a nightmare.

Final say

Dewgong is one of those Pokemon that is dealt with well by a fair number of Pokemon, but very few can take down Dewgong without taking too much damage themselves. But its typing and moveset make it invaluable to players still waiting on their first good Lapras. With a solid Dewgong in the crew, you can take on Dragonites at gyms and feel confident about taking them down without losing too many Pokemon in the meantime.

On defence, Dewgong is a solid Pokemon to slot into the lineup, and can be used to disrupt a potential Dragonite from being used. As Dragonite is commonly used to take down the likes of Vaporeon, placing a Dewgong after Vaporeon in the gym lineup can force a switch-out, or force potential attackers to lose their Dragonite instead. There aren't too many Pokemon that can claim to deal with Dragonite, making Dewgong an invaluable Pokemon in the pursuit of taking down gyms, and a solid Pokemon for protecting them.

Cheers,
Let's GO