Deino, Zweilous, Hydreigon (SM)

A blind dragon that becomes a blind two-headed dragon that becomes a not so blind hydra.

Location: Ten Carat Hill (Island Scan, Tuesday)

Stats, Evolutions
Deino's stats are not bad for an unevolved first-stage Pokémon, but for a Pokémon in this part of the game, they leave a bit to be desired. Some attack, but that's it. Its other stats are not too special, and that speed is just ugh.

Do you like Deino's stats? Because you'll be stuck with them until LEVEL FRICKIN' FIFTY, NEAR THE END OF THE GAME. You get it at level 13. That is kind of a big problem... And like many middle-stage Pokémon, Zweilous has teensy stats. All of that build-up for next to nothing?! Doesn't help that Sun and Moon has a fairly sluggish pace (I appreciate it sometimes, though. Such great story). It does appreciate the Eviolite though, but by this point, you probably forgot about it. Aside from the obvious update to its stats, there's not much to say, really.

Zweilous evolves into Hydreigon, which is quite likely the most balanced pseudo-legendary yet... But you don't get it to evolve until Level 64. You will have already beaten the league by that point! If you didn't, you probably abused the Exp. Share. (Even then, it takes a bit of grinding to get there, because it needs A LOT of experience) By the time Hydreigon starts kicking butt, the game is pretty much over. Doesn't help that Game Freak doesn't like good post-games, so Hydreigon doesn't get a chance to shine. (In the Battle Tree, but nobody is good at the Battle Tree)

Moves, Abilities, Typing.
All Island Scan Pokémon have an egg move in their moveset. Deino's is Assurance, whose power doubles if the target already took damage in that turn. Not bad considering its decent power of 60, but its extra effect is somewhat situational. The only other moves worth mentioning at this point are Bite and Headbutt. They have about the same power, and Bite gets STAB. Dragon Breath at level 17 is not bad, but that Special Attack stat is less than stellar. Later levels give this baby some interesting toys... Crunch, Slam, Dragon Pulse, Dragon Rush, Body Slam... It's a shame that it doesn't have the stats. If the thing was obtained in say, Vast Poni Canyon, it could have been more useful, but the poor mon will remain useless for most of the game.

Before evolving into Hydreigon, all Zweilous gets is Scary Face and Hyper Voice. Bummer.

Hydreigon can put all moves that its preevolutions learn to good use, as it has much better stats and balanced stats at that. But surprise surprise, it gets no remarkable moves until Outrage, the last move it will ever get via level up at 79.

I will focus on Deino when it comes to its TM learnset, since you'll be stuck with Deino for almost the whole game. You can get Work Up and Roar way before Deino learns them naturally, but they're far from essential. You also get Thief to rob items, Dark Pulse, Dragon Tail, Facade (pronounced Fuh-sahd), Thunder Wave for paralyzing... Aside from that, you're out of options unless you want Deino to learn the universal moves that every Pokémon and their mothers learn (apologies to Cubone), Toxic, Hidden Power... Etcetera.

For abilities, it gets Hustle, which increases its attack by 50% (Yay!) but decreases accuracy by 20% (Nay...). With this ability, Deino and Zweilous will hit pretty hard, although moves with less than 100% accuracy are very likely to fail. Hydreigon gets Levitate instead, but Hydreigon is a post-game affair to me.

With their typing of Dark/Dragon (Fire Emblem: The Binding Blade anyone?) they have a few weaknesses, but they're not a concern, since it has more resistances than it does weaknesses.

Important battles
In general, Deino will remain useless for most of the game. The battles are no exception. He is somewhat rotten in the Akala trials, although its resistance to all three trial typings can be useful. Ula Ula is when he begins to truly stink, and by Poni, you'll treat him as the filler member of the team. Fortunately, it evolves soon after... But it's no good, because Totem Kommo-o can hit both of Zweilous's types supereffectively. Hala has an advantage, Hustle is not enough to defeat Olivia, Kahili's Pokémon are superior in everything, and Kukui just has a myriad of ways of screwing over any Pokémon type. The only time Zweilous can do well is against Acerola in the Elite Four, but even then, you're best off using a reliable Ghost or Dark type.

Hydreigon can't get much of a chance to shine, because of Sun and Moon's shallow post-game.

Conclusion
Had Deino been obtained late game, it would have been a somewhat decent Pokémon, because it wouldn't be useless for as long, despite its final evolutionary stage being nigh unreachable before the postgame. But you get it before you go to Akala, so never mind. Cheer up, Hydreigon! You are the strongest Pokémon to get a very bad rating here! Such joy!

Rating: 25%