Salamence weaknesses, resistances & strengths explained in Pokemon

Niladri Sarkar
pseudo legendary pokemon salamence in scarlet and violet

Salamence is one of the strongest Pokemon in Scarlet and Violet, capable of beating entire teams on its own. To master this Pseudo Legendary, here’s all you need to know about its weaknesses, resistances, strengths, and best moves.

Using Pseudo Legendaries in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet battles makes your team a force to be reckoned with, as these powerful Pokemon can easily beat OP Legendaries. One of the most formidable Pseudo Legendaries is Salamence, a Dragon/Flying-type species from Gen 3.

If you want to battle like a Pokemon champion, here are the weaknesses, resistances, strengths, and best moveset for Salamence.

Salamence weaknesses explained in Pokemon

Salamence is weak to Dragon, Fairy, Ice, and Rock-type attacks in Pokemon. You should note that it’s 4x weak to Ice-type moves and takes 25% damage from Stealth Rock on the battlefield.

That said, most Salamence experts have figured out ways to eliminate these concerns. With the Held Item Heavy-Duty Boots, Salamence takes no damage from hazards like Stealth Rock. Otherwise, you can even include a teammate like Great Tusk or Glimmora to use moves like Rapid Spin or Mortal Spin to remove hazards from your side.

To negate the glaring weakness of Ice-type moves, you can Terastallize Salamence to Steel type. The Steel Tera Type grants it a whopping 11 resistances, including all its weaknesses, and an immunity to Poison-type moves.

Salamence resistances explained in Pokemon

Salamence resists Bug, Fighting, Fire, Grass, and Water-type attacks and is immune to Ground-type attacks in Pokemon.

Many Scarlet and Violet teams have starter Pokemon and with Salamence resisting their moves, you can use the opportunity to boost its Attack with Dragon Dance. The immunity to Ground-type attacks is a shot in the arm, as you don’t have to worry about common moves like Earthquake, and hazards like Spikes and Toxic Spikes.

Salamence strengths explained in Pokemon

Salamence deals super-effective damage to Dragon, Bug, Fighting, and Grass-type Pokemon with its Dragon and Flying-type STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus) moves.

This Pokemon has excellent offenses with its 135 Attack and 110 Special Attack stats, along with decent bulk and a good Speed stat of 100, making it a hyper-offensive threat. With just a single Dragon Dance, Salamence boosts its Attack and Speed by 50%, making it unstoppable.

What makes Salamence deadlier are its abilities. Intimidate lowers the opponent’s Attack by one stage when Salamence enters the battlefield, giving it a great opening to Terastallize and use Dragon Dance.

You’ll see that most opponents switch out their Pokemon when their Attack is lowered by Intimidate, giving you another free turn to use Dragon Dance! But, keep in mind that Special Attackers like Iron Valiant or Flutter Mane won’t be affected by Intimidate.

Its other ability is Moxie, which gives Salamence an Attack boost of one stage each time it knocks out an opposing Pokemon. While both abilities are great, having used Salamence in countless battles, you can bet that Intimidate is always more reliable.

salamence in pokemon scarlet and violet pokedex
Salamence is one of the best Dragon Dance users in Pokemon.

Best Salamence moves in Pokemon

The best Salamence moves in Pokemon are Dragon Dance, Dragon Claw, Earthquake, and Dual Wingbeat.

  • Dragon Dance turns Salamence into a wrecking ball, often able to KO multiple opponents without effort.
  • Dragon Claw helps Salamence get rid of other Dragon Pokemon and does not get stuck to using the move, like Outrage.
  • Earthquake is one of the best coverage moves in the meta and Salamence can use it to handle threats like Zacian-Crowned, Metagross, and Kingambit.
  • Dual Wingbeat is a handy 40 base power Flying-type move that hits twice, bypassing the opponent’s Held Items like Focus Sash, and taking out various tricky Pokemon like Iron Valiant, Great Tusk, Annihilape, and Ribombee among others. If you don’t have teammates that cover Salamence’s weaknesses, you can use Roost instead. This move recovers 50% of its max HP and keeps it healthy throughout the battle.

Since it has a good Special Attack stat of 110, you can also use it as a Special Attacker with moves like Draco Meteor, Flamethrower, Hurricane, and Roost.

That’s all you need to know to use Salamence like a pro in Pokemon battles. For more guides like this, be sure to check out the following:

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