This is a strategy guide for using Dialga in competitive play for the games Pokemon Sword and Shield. Read on for tips on the best Nature, EV spreads, Movesets, and Held Items to use with Dialga, as well as its strengths and weak points.
| Dialga - Related Guides | |
|---|---|
| Evolution and Learnset |  Build for Ranked Battle |
List of Contents
- Basic Information for Dialga
- Singles Movesets for Dialga
- How to Use Dialga Effectively
- How to Build a Team with Dialga
- Counters for Dialga
- Related Links
Basic Information for Dialga
Types and Abilities
| Pokemon | Type 1 | Type 2 |
|---|---|---|
Dialga | ||
| Abilities | ||
| Pressure | The Pokemon raises the foe's PP usage. | |
| Telepathy(Hidden) | Anticipates an ally's attack and dodges it. | |
Dialga Weaknesses and Resistances
| Type | |
|---|---|
| Takes 4x damage | - |
| Takes 2x damage | |
| Takes 0.5x damage | |
| Takes 1/4x damage | |
| Takes 0x damage |
What is Type Effectiveness?
Base Stats
| HP | Attack | Defense | Sp. Atk | Sp. Def | Speed |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 | 120 | 120 | 150 | 100 | 90 |
Best Nature for Dialga
| Best Natures | ||
|---|---|---|
| Modest (+Sp.Atk, -Atk) | Quiet (+Sp.Atk, -Spd) | |
Singles Movesets for Dialga
Dynamax Special Attacker Moveset & Best Build
| Nature | Modest (+Sp.Atk, -Atk) |
|---|---|
| EV Spread | HP 252 / Sp.Atk 252 / Sp.Def 4 |
| Final Stat Values | HP 207 / Def 140 / Sp.Atk 222 / Sp.Def 121 / Spd 110 |
| Ability | Pressure |
| Held Item | Weakness Policy Life Orb Assault Vest |
| Moveset | ・Roar of Time ・Flash Cannon ・Earth Power ・Fire Blast |
Dialga's great typing and mixed defenses make it a great candidate for Dynamaxing. With Dynamax boosting its HP, the Temporal Pokemon can further boost its team's natural bulk with Max Steelspike and Max Wyrmwind.
About Dialga's Moves
Roar of Time is Dialga's strongest Dragon-type STAB and is best used during Dynamax where it becomes a 150 Base Power Max Wyrmwind. Not only does it deal great damage, it also lowers the opposing team's Attack stat by 1 stage.
Flash Cannon is Dialga's secondary Steel-type STAB, letting it hit Fairy-types for super effective damage. It also increases the team's Defense stat by 1 stage when it becomes Max Steelspike during Dynamax.
Its last two moves are for coverage. Earth Power provides great neutral coverage and boosts Dialga and its team's Special Defense stat by 1 stage when it becomes Max Quake during Dynamax.
Fire Blast is a great all-round coverage move, hitting opposing Steel-types such as Ferrothorn and Corviknight that take little damage from the Temporal Pokemon's STAB moves.
About Dialga's EV Spread
We're using a standard bulky attacking set for Dialga, with full investment in HP and Sp.Atk and investing 4 Sp.Def to round off its bulk.
About Dialga's Ability
Pressure is Dialga's best Ability, causing the opponent to spend 2 PP for moves when targetting Dialga.
About Dialga's Held Item
Dialga has several items it can use.
Weakness Policy is a great choice due to Dialga's rather common weakness to Fighting and Ground-type moves, but is mitigated by its great natural bulk and the HP boost from Dynamax. Once activated, Dialga gets a +2 Attack and Special Attack boost.
Life Orb boosts the power of Dialga's moves by 30% at the cost of some residual damage at the end of every turn.
Assault Vest boosts Dialga's Special Defense by 50% but restricts status moves. At level 50 and the given EV spread, Dialga will have an effective 242 Special Defense stat.
Other Viable Moves
| Draco Meteor | A slightly weaker Dragon-type STAB that lowers Dialga's Special Attack by 2 stages, but is useable outside of Dynamax. |
|---|---|
| Steel Beam | A more powerful Steel-type STAB but deals heavy recoil damage. It's best used during Dynamax. |
| Flamethrower | A slightly weaker Fire-type coverage move but has perfect accuracy. |
| Thunder | An alternative to Fire Blast that takes advantage of Kyogre's Drizzle to hit it with a super effective move. |
Iron Defense Moveset & Best Build
| Nature | Bold (+Def, -Atk) |
|---|---|
| EV Spread | HP 220 / Def 252 / Sp.Atk 4 / Sp.Def 4 / Spd 28 |
| Final Stat Values | HP 203 / Def 189 / Sp.Atk 171 / Sp.Def 121 / Spd 114 |
| Ability | Pressure |
| Held Item | Leftovers |
| Moveset | ・Flash Cannon ・Thunder ・Body Press ・Iron Defense |
This defensive Dialga was used by Tenku to reach 15th place in the current Ranked Battle Season. While Dialga is a powerful special attacker in its own right, it's also a capable defensive Pokemon - especially when using Iron Defense and Body Press.
Much like Corviknight, Dialga is a great check to common physical attackers in the current metagame. While it doesn't have reliable recovery, its great Special Attack lets it threaten and heavily damage the same Pokemon it walls even with minimal special attacking investment!
About Dialga's Moves
Flash Cannon is Dialga's main STAB move and still hits hard despite the minimal Special Attacking investment. This move allows the Time Pokemon to check Fairy-types such as Mimikyu and force them to switch or risk getting heavily damaged or knocked out.
Thunder is a powerful Electric-type coverage move that allows Dialga to turn the tables against Kyogre who provides the move with 100% accuracy thanks to its Drizzle Ability. It's also a good move to use against Celesteela, forcing the Ultra Beast to switch and preventing it from setting up Leech Seed.
Its last two moves are crucial to this build: Body Press uses Dialga's Defense stat to calculate damage, allowing it to hit very hard thanks to this build's Defense investment.
Iron Defense raises Dialga's Defense stat by 2 stages, further boosting Body Press' power and allowing Dialga to potentially KO opposing Pokemon once it accumulates enough boosts.
About Dialga's EV Spread
We're using a defensive EV spread with 220 HP, 252 Def and 4 Sp.Def EVs to boost Dialga's great bulk. The remaining EVs are split between Sp.Atk and Spd: 4 Sp.Atk EVs slightly boosts its naturally high Special Attack while 28 Spd EVs lets it outspeed slower walls such as Chansey.
About Dialga's Ability
Pressure is Dialga's best Ability, causing the opponent to spend 2 PP for moves when targetting Dialga.
About Dialga's Held Item
Since Dialga lacks any recovery move, we're giving it Leftovers to provide it passive healing at the end of every turn.
How to Use Dialga Effectively
A Powerful Bulky Dragon
Dialga sets itself apart from other Dragon-types by boasting excellent defensive stats, and is one of the few that take normal damage from Fairy-type moves and hit back with a super effective Steel-type move.
It's also one of the few Dynamax Pokemon that doesn't fear Zacian's Behemoth Blade thanks to its Steel typing, and can fire back with a super effective Max Quake or Max Flare.
How to Build a Team with Dialga
Dialga enjoys widespread usage due to a combination of excellent Special Attack, great coverage moves, and natural bulk. It's often the top choice for Dynamax Lead or main Dynamax Pokemon, though it faces some competition from the likes of Xerneas.
A Bulky Dynamax Pokemon for Offensive Teams
Hyper Offense teams often forgo defensive cores, leaving them vulnerable to stall or counter offense. This makes Dialga a great Dynamax Lead - with Dynamax's HP boost complementing its natural bulk and excellent resistances.
Example Dynamax Lead + Offensive Team
| Lead Dynamax | Offensive Pivot | Physical Attacker |
|---|---|---|
| Dialga | Landorus (Therian Forme) | Mimikyu |
Dialga makes a great bulky lead for Hyper Offense teams, and unlike other leads, can patch up its team's defense with Max Steelspike or Max Wyrmwind.
Landorus (Therian Forme) is this team's offensive pivot, with Dialga switching into it if it encounters a Ground or Fighting-type Pokemon.
Mimikyu rounds off this team by functioning as a late-game setup sweeper and appreciates the defense boost Dialga sets up during Dynamax,
How to Build an Offensive Team
Counters for Dialga
| Weakness |
|---|
Take Advantage of its Weaknesses
Although Dialga has great natural bulk and resistances, it's also weak to very common attacking types such as Fighting and Ground-type moves. Using these moves can easily wear down the Temporal Pokemon and even outright KO it!
Best Pokemon to Use
| Pokemon | Description |
|---|---|
| Landorus (Therian Forme) | Ranking: ★★★★★・Can use Max Quake to boost its Special Defense ・Can wear down Dialga with STAB Earthquake |
| Urshifu Single-Strike Style | Ranking: ★★★★・Wicked Blow always deals a critical hit ・Can deal a significant amount of damage with STAB Close Combat |
| Cinderace | Ranking: ★★★★・Can deal a significant amount of damage with STAB Libero High Jump Kick ・Needs to be careful of Dialga's Ground-type coverage moves |
| Zamazenta | Ranking: ★★★★・Resists both of Dialga's STAB moves and can hit back with STAB [Close Combat(/games/pokemon-sword-shield/archives/273168) ・Needs to be careful of Dialga's Fire and Ground-type coverage moves |
Overpower it with Repeated Hits
Depsite its natural bulk, Dialga lacks a reliable way to recover lost HP. This means it's easy to wear it down, and due to its rather medicore Speed stat, outspeed by late-game cleaners.
| Pokemon | Description |
|---|---|
| Yveltal | Ranking: ★★★★★・Faster and can flinch Diagla with STAB Dark Pulse ・Can recover lost HP with Oblivion Wing |
| Calyrex (Shadow Rider) | Ranking: ★★★★・Easily KOs Dialga with STAB Astral Barrage ・Needs to set up with Nasty Plot to KO Dialga at full health |
Related Links
All Competitive Builds for Ranked Battle
Competitive Guides for Pokemon Sword and Shield
| Competitive Pokemon Battle Guides | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tier List | Best Builds | Series 10 List of Contenders | |||
| Doubles Tier List | Team Building | Rental Teams | |||
Best Builds for The Crown Tundra Pokemon
| Movesets & Best Builds for The Crown Tundra Pokemon | ||
|---|---|---|
| Galarian Articuno | Galarian Zapdos | Galarian Moltres |
| Raikou | Entei | Suicune |
| Articuno | Zapdos | Moltres |
| Tornadus | Thundurus | Landorus |
| Tapu Koko | Tapu Lele | Tapu Bulu |
| Tapu Fini | Regieleki | Regidrago |
| Latios | Latias | Heatran |
| Cresselia | Glastrier | Spectrier |
| Nidoking | Swampert | Dragonite |
| Salamence | Garchomp | Metagross |
| Galarian Slowking | Nihilego | Naganadel |
| Pheromosa | Buzzwole | Celesteela |
| Kartana | Stakataka | Blaziken |
| Kyogre | Yveltal | Xerneas |
| Necrozma (Dusk Mane) | Calyrex (Shadow Rider) | Mewtwo |
| Calyrex (Ice Rider) |  Dialga | Lugia |
| Black Kyurem | Zekrom | Ho-Oh |
| Rayquaza | Zygarde | Reshiram |
| White Kyurem | Groudon | Regirock |
| Palkia | Regigigas | Registeel |
| Regice | Giratina | Solgaleo |
| Lunala | Kyurem | Necrozma |
| Uxie | Mesprit | Azelf |
| Calyrex | ||
