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DespitePokemon Brilliant DiamondandShining Pearlnot including Pokemon beyond the fourth generation, there is still plenty of variety that players can choose from to build their own team. Those looking for powerful Pokemon, but don’t wish to use legendaries, can catch a pseudo-legendary Pokemon instead. One such Pokemon is Dragonite, the final evolved form of Dratini.
Dratini is a pure Dragon-type Pokemon that will evolve into Dragonair and then into Dragonite. Players hoping to have Dratini on their team before completingBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearl’sstory may be disappointed to learn that Dratini won’t spawn until the postgame. Fortunately, it’s a fairly common Pokemon if trainers know where to look.
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Dratini’s Habitats
InBrilliant DiamondandShining Pearl, there aretwo ways of catching Dratini. One method is fishing, and the other is searching in the Grand Underground. No matter which choice players choose, they will need to have done the following for Dratini to start spawning in Sinnoh:
With this, Dratini will now appear inMt. Coronetand theFountainspring Cavehideaway in theGrand Underground.
Players aiming to catch Dratini on Mt. Coronet have one more thing they need to do:
Fishing for Dratini
Dratini has a40% appearance rateon the4th floor of Mt. Coronet. Trainers can reach the 4th floor by entering Mt. Coronet from Route 207 or Route 208.On the floor where players met Cyrus, there’s a wallto the north that can be Rock Climbed.
Use Rock Climb, go through the next room, then take the stairs up to exit onto Mt. Coronet’s Peak. Follow the snowy path (right) to two Rock Climb walls with an entrance back into Mt. Coronet.Use Rock Climb again (just once this time), and go through the entrance to get to the4th floor.
Trainers will know they’re in the right room if theygo left and see a waterfall. Here, use the Super Rod to hook Dratini. On Mt. Coronet, Dratini will be around level 15-20. If players are lucky,they might end up hookingan under-level Dragonair instead.
Use Quick Balls or Ultra Balls to catch Dratini. Since players are using a fishing rod to catch Dratini, they can also use Dive Balls, which has an increased catch rate on Pokemon that live in the water.
Finding Dratini in the Grand Underground
The closest Fountainspring Cave hideaway can be reached byusing HM Fly to Eterna City, and then using the Explorer Kit. This hideaway is indicated by ablue square(if players have visited it before)on the Grand Underground Map.
Unlike Mt. Coronet, Dratini caught in the Grand Underground will belevel 60+. They’ll be easier to evolve into Dragonite since Dratini will only need to level twice. However, players might need to take their evolved Dragonite to theMove Reminder to get it to relearn some of its better moves.
Since Dratini living in Fountanspring Cave aren’t caught via fishing, Dive Balls won’t work as well on them. Stick to using Ultra Balls and inflict status ailments if necessary. Remember that Dratini’s main Ability is Shed Skin, so it might have a30% chance of healing any status ailments. Players may have better luck weakening Dratini’s health to yellow or redif a Quick Ball failsor if Dratini keeps shaking off paralysis or sleep.
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More Information About Dratini and Its Evolutions
Dratini will evolve into Dragonair once it reaches level 30. When Dragonair levels up to level 55, it will become a Dragonite. Dratini and Dragonair both share theDragon-typing, which means they have the following strengths, weaknesses, and resistances:
Fully evolved, Dragonite gains the Flying-type, which opens it up to more weaknesses, but also gives it more strengths andan immunity that Dratini and Dragonair don’t have. As aDragon/Flying-type, it has the following banes and boons:
Unfortunately, Dragonite has adouble weakness to Ice-type moves, thanks to Ice-type being strong against both DragonandFlying-type Pokemon. Because of this, it also gains a weakness to Rock-type and loses its resistance to Electric-type Pokemon.
Dratini and Dragonair have a base stat total of 300 and 420 respectively.Like other pseudo-legendary Pokemon, Dragonite has a base stat total of 600.
HP: 41
300
HP: 61
420
HP: 91
600
Special Defense: 100
Speed: 80
The Dratini-line is a bit slower in battle, but they make up for it in Attack and Defense once they’re fully evolved into Dragonite. The Dratini family does best with anAdamant (+Attk, -Sp. Attk)orRelaxed (+Def, -Spd) Nature by lowering the growth of its already-poor Speed and expanding on its strengths.
If trainersdowant their Dragonite tohave a little more Speed, they can try getting a Dratini with aJolly (+Spd, -Sp. Attk)since most of Dragonite’s better moves are Physical instead of Special.
