Dialga, The Temporal Pokémon. It has the power to control time. It appears in Sinnoh-region myths as an ancient deity. This Pokémon is spoken of in legend. It is said that time began moving when Dialga was born.
Overview
The lord of time is a merciful one as time advances equally for all existence in life. However, unlike time, Dialga is not eternal and it finds it difficult to find a spot on teams that desperately need Steel types to check the most dangerous Fairy of the game in Xerneas. While Dialga has a good amount of resistances and it can easily switch into Kyogre, Dialga struggles against strong Ground types such as Groudon and it can easily get murdered by Xerneas who doesn't fears anything outside a Steel type STAB. Dialga also faces competition from Necrozma Dusk Mane who has a better ability in Prism Armor and it can recover its lost health with Moonlight. Despite these flaws, Dialga is no slouch either as very few Pokemon can actually switch into it safely. Use its typing very well and Dialga may be an asset for your team.
Positives
As a Stealth Rocker, it's ability to pressure common Defoggers such as Lugia, Ho-oh and Giratina comes from its ability to threaten them with his excellent coverage and colossal base 150 Special Attack.
A decent Steel / Dragon typing of paired with great natural bulk makes it hard to take down Dialga in general. Its handy immunity to Toxic also allows it to switch into passive foes and set Stealth Rock multiple times throughout the match.
Negatives
Its typing cursed Dialga without a valuable Fairy resistance which means that it is unable to check Geomancy Xerneas meaning that it will usually have to pair with another Steel type making your team's defensive synergy a tad worse.
Dialga suffers from 4 move-slot syndrome which makes it difficult to fit all of its valuable coverage moves on a single moveslot. Toxic worsens this as Dialga is force to give up a coverage move to either hit the Johto Birds with Thunder or Fire Blast to destroy Necrozma-DM and Ferrothorn.
Movesets
THE LORD OF TIME
- Stealth Rock
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder
- Toxic / Fire Blast
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 240 SpA / 16 Spe
Modest Nature
Dialga's excellent bulk and typing allows it to perform as a reliable hazard setter thanks to its coverage moves allowing it to threaten common Defoggers such as the Giratina forms and Lugia. Draco Meteor allows Dialga to hit Groudon extremely hard while being able to decimate opposing Dragon types like Eternatus. Thunder is precisely for Ho-oh and Lugia thinking that they are switching safely before getting smacked by a thunderous crash. The last move is up to personal preference. Toxic puts Pokemon like Ho-oh, Lugia and Zygarde-Complete on a timer. Fire Blast on the other hand allows Dialga to deal considerable damage to Necrozma Dusk Mane while toasting Ferrothorn into burned spinach.
DYNAMAX:
While Dialga could use Dynamax on a pinch considering its good stats, this set is much more better suited for support while still being able to hit hard. It's not recommended for Dialga to be your main Dynamax option specially if you run Toxic as otherwise you'll be stuck with only two Max Moves. You should only consider it if your main sweepers are gone and you need Dialga to desperately survive a strong attack from the likes of Groudon or Xerneas.
EVs and Items:
Max HP allows Dialga to gain as much bulk as possible to check for Kyogre, while 16 Speed EVs are dumped to speed creep Giratina sets without Speed investment. The rest is dumped into Special Attack for maximum power allowing Dialga to punish Giratina, Rayquaza and Naganadel if they attempt to set up on it.
Other Options:
Dialga can obviously run its secondary STAB attacks like Flash Cannon, however, when you are involving legendaries and mythicals on the fight, Steel STAB is extremely poor on this level because it fails to hit noteworthy targets outside Xerneas while leaving Dialga walled by Ho-oh or Lugia if you're giving up Toxic.
Dialga can also use an effective Choice Specs set considering the coverage moves it gets access to such as Power Gem, Thunder and Fire Blast. However, it faces stiff competition from Palkia, Kyurem-White and Calyrex Shadow Rider who all boast a higher Speed stat (With Calyrex being stupidly fast). This makes Dialga easily outclassed on his role considering that 90 Speed is not going to cut it.
Dialga can also use physical moves considering that its base 120 Attack is no slouch either and it even allows it to use Iron Head along with Earthquake. However, Dialga's physical movepool is pitiful considering the options it has at its disposal on the special side.
Partners:
Dialga appreciates partners that can deal with the Ground types that cause it trouble such as Groudon and Fighting types like Marshadow. Lugia is able to handle Groudon and it can easily phaze it away with Whirlwind if needed. Zygarde-Complete handles Marshadow quite easily thanks to the removal of Hidden Power and it is quite capable of checking it almost any time. Dialga wants to be partnered with other Steel types due to its inability to check Xerneas. Necrozma Dusk Mane and Solgaleo are two good partners with decent synergy despite sharing the Ground weakness.
VGC & Doubles Options
Dialga has maintained a small niche in Doubles whenever restricted Pokémon are allowed. Its titanic bulk and great typing requires significant commitment to be removed. Possessing Trick Room alongside an middle of the road speed provides fantastic speed control, giving Dialga an amazing degree of flexibility against both Fast and Trick Room teams. In addition, its amazing Special Attack and movepool makes Dialga a constant threat once it hits the field. However, Dialga faces incredibly stiff competition as a restricted Pokémon. Zacian Crowned, and Solgaleo are direct competition for the Steel type restricted slot and unlike Dialga, resist Ice and Fairy from the terrifying Zacian Crowned, Geomancy Xerneas and Calyrex Ice Rider. Calyrex Ice Rider is far more at home in Trick Room than Dialga and is better suited for Trick Room teams. Additionally, Dialga is threatened by metagame staples like Urshifu and Landorus, which can make it difficult to use.
Two Hands to a Clock
-Trick Room
-Roar of Time
-Flash Cannon
-Earth Power
Item Attached: Adamant Orb
Ability: Telepathy
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Modest Nature
Dialga separates itself from other Trick Room users thanks to its titanic bulk, great resistances and average Speed. Dialga has the defenses to survive multiple attacks making it very difficult to stop Trick Room without Taunt as the single turn bought by Fake Out may not be enough. Its middling Speed is what makes Dialga so fascinating as a Trick Room user. It is just slow enough that many targets (Chlorophyll Sun, Rain teams, Tailwind, Regieleki, Steam Engine Coalossal etc.) are outright defanged by Trick Room, while natively outspeeding hard Trick Room teams and shutting down their Trick Room with Dialga’s own. Dialga’s speed is high enough that it can even work well under Tailwind, outspeeding even Timid Dragapult while uninvested. Roar of Time and Flash Cannon are for STABs. Roar of Time becomes the strongest Max Wyrmwind possible and can even be used while not Dynamaxed to close out games, while Flash Cannon remains the reliable STAB that strikes down Fairies. Earth Power rounds out the set, hitting the Steel types that blank Dialga’s STABs and Max Quake is extremely complimentary to Max Steelspike and Wyrmwind, enabling Dialga and its partners to escalate defensively.
Other Options:
Fire Blast -Melts opposing Steel types and boosted by Sun but is unreliable otherwise.
Thunder -Answers Kyogre and Rain Teams
Blizzard -Provides coverage against Groudon and Landorus, while providing weather disruption during Dynamax.
Safety Googles -if Amoongus and Venusaur are giving you trouble
Tailwind setters compliment this set quite well, enabling Dialga getting the jump on opponents without having to resort to Trick Room. Whimsicott and Togekiss especially, as they resists Dialga’s weaknesses and can provide further offensive support with Fake tears.
Rillaboom provides passive recovery, and reduces damage from Earthquake, while enjoying Trick Room as well.
Landorus-Therian provides Intimidate support, can boost Speed with Max Airstream and answers Dialga’s weaknesses both offensively and defensively.
Countering Dialga
Groudon is a strong threat against Dialga thanks to its massive Attack stat and Ground typing. However, Groudon does not appreciates at all switching into Draco Meteor as it usually packs a punch against it. While Dugtrio cannot switch into it directly, it can easily trap Dialga with Arena Trap and take it down with Earthquake if previously weakened, which is not hard to achieve considering that its resistances often prompts Dialga to switch into Pokemon such as Kyogre. Excadrill is also capable of walling any Dialga set that is not running Fire Blast and destroy it with its STAB Earthquake. Fighting types such as Marshadow, Urshifu, Pheromosa and Crowned Zamazenta are capable of smacking Dialga very hard with their STAB moves. Crowned Zamazenta deserves a mention as it usually has the bulk to even tank a Fire Blast and it can effectively pressure it with Close Combat while being immune to Toxic. Blissey and Chansey usually have very little to fear from Dialga thanks to Natural Care healing Toxic while being capable of shutting down its attacks with Softboiled. Strong Fairy types can also overwhelm it due to its lack of recovery. It's worth mentioning that unless Dialga is running STAB Flash Cannon, Xerneas can easily use it as set up fodder as the worst Dialga can do is using Toxic on it. Without Fire Blast, Ferrothorn is quite capable of walling Dialga and use it as set up fodder to lay down its own hazards while sucking away its health with Leech Seed.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Spear Pillar (Diamond/Platinum)
Trade from Diamond (Pearl)
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Sinjoh Ruins
Black/White:
Not in game
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game
X/Y:
Trader from Alpha Sapphire
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Soaring in the Sky (Alpha Sapphire)
Sun/Moon:
Trade from Ultra Sun
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Ultra Space Wilds (Ultra Sun)
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Dynamax Adventures (Sword)
Trade from Sword/Join Dyanamax Adventures from Sword (Shield)
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Spear Pillar (Brilliant Diamond)
Trade from Brilliant Diamond (Shining Pearl)
Anime Appearences
