After a long wait that even saw the Galar region being introduced into the game, Alola is finally here! The first wave of new Pokémon from the shores of the Alolan region has brought in one of the most fearsome and relentless warriors in the world of Pokémon: Kommo-o.
Kommo-o is not just any dragon, it is the region’s pseudo legendary, joining the ranks of rare and powerful mons like Garchomp, Metagross, Salamence and Dragonite among others.
The last 2 pseudo legendaries haven’t exactly been meta dominating with Hydreigon currently being in a pre-Community Day Metagross situation, and Goodra being good but not good enough. Both of these would hopefully see a change in their fortunes in their eventual Community Day events.
But hey, not every pseudo legendary is great before their CD. Dragonite and Garchomp are two exceptions with both being pretty viable even before their Community Day. Well, so was Tyranitar, but our Godzilla can do much better considering the fact that it has the worst Dark moveset combo in Bite and Crunch.
So where does the latest pseudo stand? This dragon’s a legit warrior and should do well in the current meta. Does it? Is it one of the rare pseudos that are already pretty good right from its debut?
Will it be Ka Mate, Ka Mate or Ka Ora, Ka Ora for Kommo-o? Let’s find out!
Typing, Strengths and Weaknesses
Kommo-o is blessed with the offensively mouth-watering and currently, unique-to-the-family Dragon/Fighting type combo, making it an extremely interesting Pokémon right at the outset!
This gives it super-effective coverage against the Dragon, Dark, Rock, Ice, Normal and Steel types. A Dragon with STAB super-effective damage against the Ice and Steel types? Bring it on!
That said, Kommo-o has a slew of weaknesses that include the Dragon, Fairy, , Ice and Psychic types. Most notably, it’s 2x weak to the Fairy type in Pokémon Go.
Hmm.
“2x weak”
Charming, evil smiles, eh?
Anyway, its dual typing also grants its resistances that include:
0.625x damage from |
Bug |
Dark |
Electric |
Fire |
Grass |
Rock |
Water |
Pretty good.
Regardless of its weaknesses, it cannot be denied that Dragon and Fighting is a formidable combo, capable of dealing with the various Dragon and Steel types that run rampant across all 3 PvP leagues.
Now that’s certainly a niche!
Now let’s check out Kommo’s base stats in the game.
Stats
Kommo-o has the following stats in Pokémon Go:
Kommo-o DragonFighting | |||||
Max CP at Level 40 3309 | Max CP at Level 50 3741 | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
ATK 222 | DEF 240 | HP 181 | |||
Weak to | Strong Against | ||||
Dragon Fairy Ice Psychic | Dragon Dark Rock Ice Normal Steel |
Kommo-o is pretty bulky, having a great DEF stat and an appreciable HP.
Its ATK stat works.
However, even a low ATK but bulky mon like Swampert does well in the meta. And what is the reason behind Swampert’s meta relevance? Its movepool.
Moveset Analysis
Kommo-o learns the following moves in Pokémon Go:
Fast Moves | Charged Moves |
---|---|
|
|
Fast move analysis
Fast move | Damage Per Turn [DPT] | Energy Per Turn [EPT] | Cooldown |
Dragon Tail | 4.33 | 3.00 | 1.50 sec |
Poison Jab | 3.50 | 3.50 | 1.00 sec |
Dragon Tail is among the most powerful fast moves in PvP. It hits harder than Dragon Breath and is slower but suffice to say, it’s a very strong move.
Poison Jab is spice and doesn’t really serve many purposes to Kommo-o. It can go toe-to-toe with Azu to an extent maybe but don’t expect Poison Jab Kommo-o to harm the Charmers much. It’ll melt away before it can do anything meaningful to those fairies.
So Dragon Tail is the unanimous winner here.
Charged move analysis
Charged move | Damage | Energy required |
Dragon Claw | 50 | 35 |
Close Combat | 100 | 45 |
Flamethrower | 90 | 55 |
Right off the bat, Flamethrower is sort of useless on Kommo-o. It lacks STAB, is more expensive than its STAB moves and Close Combat takes care of those Steel types pretty well.
Dragon Claw is always a nice move and part of the reason Dragonite is so scary in PvP. Kommo-o really needed this to synergies with Dragon Tail and make itself work.
Close Combat is an absolutely ruthless move, both to the opponent and the Pokémon using it. Dishing out a neat 100 DMG at just 45 energy is amazing. While the DEF drop by 2 stages makes Kommo-o a liability, any extra charge or switching out brings the game back to Kommo-o’s favour. Not to mention, an unshielded Close Combat is devastating to many. In a nutshell, STAB Close Combat makes Kommo-o a major, major threat.
So what is Kommo-o’s ideal moveset?
No-brainer here.
Kommo-o’s ideal moveset is Dragon Tail paired with Dragon Claw and Close Combat.
Performance in the Great League
Level: 15.5 – 18
Rank 1: Lvl 17, 0/14/14
Analysed for the (1-1) shield scenario.
Source: pvpoke.com
Kommo-o does extremely well in the Great League, particularly as a lead courtesy of its phenomenal offensive typing. As expected, it makes quick work out of Bastiodon and Umbreon and takes it a notch higher to even take out Sableye. Some other impressive wins include Swampert, Galvantula, Talonflame, Diggersby, Alolan Raichu, Alolan Marowak and Galarian Stunfisk. Additionally, Kommo-o even takes the W against GL’s resident dragon: Altaria and a surprising win over Froslass.
Dragon Tail Kommo-o can be excused for having losses against the likes of Azumarill, Medicham, Hypno and Skarmory.
GL Verdict
Overall, Kommo-o is very effective in the GL meta and takes full advantage of its STAB Dragon and Fighting moves to take out a wide variety of meta relevant Pokémon.
Performance in the Ultra League
Level: 26 – 30.5
Rank 1: Lvl 28.5, 0/11/14
Analysed for the (1-1) shield scenario.
Source: pvpoke.com
This dragon’s fighting spirit starts knocking at the supremacy in UL, taking out Giratina (Altered) in style. It takes familiar wins (from GL) in UL such as Swampert, Talonflame and Galarian Stunfisk. Other wins include Kingdra, Shadow Dragonite, Dragalge, Drapion, Venusaur, Fire Spin Charizard, Mandibuzz and Melmetal.
It struggles against any Fairy and the likes of Cresselia, Walrein, Trevenant, Nidoqeen and Jellicent. It also loses to Steelix, Shadow Machamp and Dragon Breath Charizard.
UL Verdict
While UL gets more chaotic in terms of the meta, it is sort of easier to predict Kommo’s standing against much of the monsters here. This makes calculated switch-ins and switch-outs smoother to execute. The icing on the cake? The win against Giratina (Altered) is undoubtedly an asset.
Performance in the Master League Classic
Source: pvpoke.com
Analysed for the (1-1) shield scenario.
Kommo-o’s foray into the big leagues isn’t too smooth, with the combat-ready dragon facing a bumpy ride along the ML Classic meta ground zero.
It gains expected wins against Steel types like Melmetal and Excadrill and barely, just barely loses to Metagross. It tames Groudon and Kyogre and gains cool wins against fellow Fighting types like Machamp and Conkeldurr.
Kommo-o has an excellent showing against its Steel type destroying dragon in arms (claws?): Garchomp. Whether it’s Mud Shot or Dragon Tail, Kommo-o takes out Garchomp straight out. Hmm, is this why Sygna Suit Cynthia chose Kommo-o over Garchomp in Pokémon Masters EX? :/
That said, it loses hard to other Dragon types like Dragonite, Palkia and ML supremo Dialga. Sigh.
It does, however, get some notable wins against
types like Yveltal, Landorus Therian and Waterfall Gyarados.To address the elephant in the room, yes, Kommo-o gets eaten alive by Togekiss, Sylveon and Primarina. 😛
ML Classic Verdict
An ML Pokémon is often judged by its ability to take out the omnipresent Dialga. Sadly, Kommo-o falls short of that despite being a Fighting type. Fun fact: Kommo-o could have beaten Dialga with Counter.
But no worries! While Kommo-o indeed goes down a bit when compared to its good performances in the GL and UL formats, it is no slouch in the ML Classic! As it is quite evident, it still gains some pretty impressive wins against some very popular ML mons out there.
Now if you thought Kommo-o isn’t really a Master League Pokémon, then you got another thing coming when you use Kommo-o in the big bad Open ML! 😉
Performance in the Open Master League
I’ve mentioned Kommo-o’s “fighting spirit” in this write-up. If you needed any proof of that, then you just need to check out this warrior’s performance in the Open ML meta!
Taking offense to its relatively cold ML Classic showing, Kommo-o goes all souls blazing (see what I did here? “souls blazing”… Soulblaze! :D) to beat Dialga and Dragonite here!!
It digs in deep and does manage to claim the win against Dialga, although it’s pretty close. The win against Dragonite is easier for Kommo-o though.
The rest of its performance in Open ML is pretty similar to its run in ML Classic. But what really matters is the fact that Kommo-o does something in Open that it couldn’t in Classic. Now that’s definitely applaudable.
Open ML Verdict
ML Classic +1.
Kommo-o was never bad in ML Classic. It just didn’t get that coveted win against the Lord of Time and the pioneer of pseudo legendaries.
When it comes to Open ML, Kommo-o proves its worth by upscaling itself to newer heights. No wonder Kommo-o is categorised as the Scaly Pokémon! 😀
Parting Words
It’s not every day that you come across a Pokémon that performs in all 3 leagues. The first wave of pocket monsters from the Alola region has graced us with its pseudo legendary and after 2 generations of okayish pseudos, Kommo-o’s dominance is a welcome sight.
The Kommo-o Community Day is theoretically a long time away. But no matter when it comes and how it improves Kommo-o, you can rest assured about investing in your little Jangmo-o and evolve it all the way to the mighty Kommo-o!
To sum it up, Kommo-o is in a good position right now and all set to fight alongside you and punch holes through the entire PvP meta. It’s one of those rare Pokémon that makes a solid impact in all three PvP leagues! So if you had any doubts whatsoever about Kommo-o, dust them off and grind for a powerful one for any or all of the leagues. It’s totally worth it!
A pseudo legendary done right!
Dracarys!