This week we’ll be focusing on the 7th gym leader Drayden, the user of dragon Pokémon , of Opelucid City! You might be wondering why only Drayden is the gym leader this time around and not Iris. Well, we’ll save that for later Until then, keep your focus because Drayden is no pushover! First off, his gym has changed just a bit. Before you had to traverse a rather flat surface of a dragon statute which moved around depending on what buttons you pushed, which eventually leads you to Drayden or Iris (depending on the version you chose). In BW2, you’re still on a dragon statue, but you control which way it goes. You can make it go left, right, up or down. As you move it, you’ll be taken up an even larger dragon statue  where Drayden awaits. Of course you must fight the trainers along the way before you progress. I suggest fighting them all since they give you some massive EXP boosts (especially with the Lucky Egg item. It gave my level 43-45 Pokes about 3000EXP for a single kill).

Dragon types are weak against only two things – their fellow dragon brethren and ice types. You do have access to both at this point in the game. You can obtain Axew in Mistralton Cave and a few ice types, such as Vanillite and Cubchoo. Ice Pokémon have been somewhat neglected over the years and haven’t kept up with the massive changes that the current generations. Most of them are pretty frail and come with too many common weakness i.e rock, steel, fire and fighting. Choose whichever type you prefer. I personally enjoy using ice types (I always had an affinity for ice magic in RPGs). Ice Beam and Blizzard are also two of my favorite moves (right next to Leaf Blade and Psycho Cut), so I try to incorporate them and their respective Pokémon in my teams!

Stock up on some Lemonades and Revives then go on to face Drayden! He uses the typical gym leader trio of Pokémon , consisting of a level 46 Druddigon (pure dragon), level 46 Flygon (dragon/ground) and a level 48 Haxorus (pure dragon). His Druddigon is the first one to bat. It comes with Dragon Tail, Revenge, Slash and Crunch. Obviously built for pure power, Druddigon can cause a few dents in your team. The annoying Dragon Tail is not only strong, but it forces you to switch your active Pokémon . However, while Druddigon is built solely for power, it’s rather slow; sporting a base speed of 48. I’d say start off with a worthy ice or dragon type Pokémon  and take it out before it phazes you!

Second is his level 46 Flygon, the dragon/ground type Pokémon ! The dragon/ground dual typing is fairly interesting. Both are excellent types built for offense and defense. They come with amazing and versatile moves as well. Flygon fits this offensive role, especially since it comes with solid stats across the board. This particular Flygon can use the moves Dragon Tail, Crunch, Earth Power and Rock Slide. Again, it’s built for pure power. The phazing with Dragon Tail can get annoying quick. Rock Slide is a great move that’s not only strong but can take out your ice type (assuming you’re using one). Thankfully it has a 4x weakness to ice, so use this to your advantage! A single Ice Beam should be enough to 1HKO it.

Lastly you’ll face his level 48 Haxorus. This monster is built solely for attacking and almost nothing else, as proven by its massive 147 physical attack power. It comes with Dragon Tail, Slash, Assuance (the heck?) and Dragon Dance. More than likely it’ll start off by using Dragon Dance so it can up its attack and speed, which is what it seriously doesn’t need any more of. Before it racks up enough buffs, take it out with all that you’ve got. After it raises its stats two or three times, it’ll probably be faster than everything you’ve got on your team, and it’ll more than likely 1HKO even the most defensive Pokémon .

For challenge mode, Draydon comes with some new changes and an added team addition. First off, his Druddigon has Rock Slide instead of Slash and his Haxorus comes with Shadow Claw and X-Scissor instead of Assurance and Slash. Each of these additions add more power to his team since the moves are far more versatile and their predecessors. His new addition Altaria, the dragon and flying Pokémon . I was a bit disappointed with this addition since there are far more. . .well. . .cooler dragon types around. I was thinking of Dragonair or Kingdra (although Kindra might make this fight a bit difficult). Thankfully, Altaria isn’t that good either. It comes with a 4x weakness to ice and it’s stats are nothing to write home about with the exception of its base 105 special defense. It uses the moves Dragon Pulse, Cotton Guard, Sing and Fire Blast. Cotton Guard raises its defense by two stages, which isn’t all that helpful with its horrendous ice weakness. Sing can prove deadly. . .if it hits. Dragon Pulse and Fire Blast are both great attacks, but Altaria has a mere 70 special attack, so they shouldn’t be of much threat.