Speaking of Dragon Dancers, is
Dragonite still relevant? Is it still worthy of being in
C+ or should it drop lower in the rankings? I really wonder when the last time was that Dragonite was actually relevant, hence why I'm asking. I know it's got more besides DD, such as CB sets, but I only thought I'd ask.
Sadly, as a known Dragonite abuser, I have to say that the lowly C+ is the best rank for him at the moment. He IS relevant and HAS massive potential on the meta, maybe even enough to reclaim a position on the higher wranks once everything is settled down, as the main niche of Dragonite is to be able to act a s a "Surprise Madafaka" agains teverything thanks to being able to go from a Choiced Wallbreaker to a bulky stallbreaker, to an offensive Dragon Dance Sweeper to an offensive/defensive pivot or even a straigth up wall thanks to his stats, abilitty, typing and movepool.
The biggest issue Dragonite has right now is the speed creep. Now many things outspeed the bulkier sets evven after +1. And with the impossibility to remove Stealth Rock for good thanks to Ladorus T being able to resummon them again and again, this is a bigger problem than it used to be in ORAS. The presence of Tapu Lele, Koko and Zygarde is also a big problem, all three can force it out before he is ready to go, and force him to waste his Z-move if he is carrying one. Being forced into Fly for STAB due to the decline of Dragon moves is also an important setback.
But he has something that can help him shine again: lure sets.Who wouldn't want Tapu LEle paralyzed, or Zygarrde badly poisoned? As Zygarde himself has demonstrated, it IS viable to run status indocing attacks as a coverage to deal with specific answers. And Dragonite can pull this off better than any other pokemon thanks to Multiscale pressuring the opponent to attack. Ice coverage has also gone lower lately outside of Maegarna, Tapu Koko and Kyurem, who you shouldn't be switching ever anyway except as death fodder, and Landorus and Tangrowth that cannot come even close to doing enough damage. That benefits the Roost sets a LOT.
Lets be more specific, starting from common to rare to outright unused/undiscovered/subpar:
Classical non Z-move offensive Dragon Dance, and Choice Band. Both have the same problem as Zard's: worsened coverage of Dragon attacks. It goes without saying, those sets should NOT be used anymore, and in fact should never have been used since ORAS. If you use those Dragonite sets, you are bound to get destroyed by any fairy type on the tier, which is obviously a very bad thing, and you are completely wasting the magnificent bulk and versatility of Dragonite, wich are the main reasons to even pick him over other dragons, and especially to pick him over Zygarde who boasts better speed, better STAB and a
completely broken higly spammable signature attack at only the cost of a sligtly weaker ExtremeSpeed and Outrage. If you honestly believe those are Dragonite's best sets, you flat out suck at playing Dragonite. THE END.
Z-crystal lure Dragon Dance: NOW we are talking. Gigavolt Havoc, or Supersonic Skystrike are amazing new toys for Dragonite. Want Skarmory or Slowbro out of the way? Put rocks, set a Dragon Dance, wait until they inevitably switch in, and boom. Just be careful to NOT use the Z-move right on the first time they come in unless you are already at +3 or they are the last mon remaining capable of surviving an attack from Dragonite, as only the most clueless of the players won't try to bait the Z-move if they can.
Now let's discuss the bulky Roost sets. The ones designed to stack multiple boosts. Again, coverage problems. However, those sets can work against offensive teams with Dragon Claw/Fly+Fire Punch, with Toxic or Toxic Spikes support to take out pokemon like Clefable, as well as Dugtrio support to eliminate enemy Heatran and Toxapex, wich by the way are also great partners for Nite as they form a sturdy defensive core.
Now let's go for a more defensive aproach: Pivot sets. Dragonite has every tool anyone could ask for a pivot: Recovery, strong attacks, priority, just enough speed to get past even the fastest walls and the majority of bulky tanks, and a boundless support movepool including Dragon Tail, status ailments, and many more.
Another option is the old school rain sets. Good pokemon with access to Hurricane and tools to abuse them are Volcarona and Dragonite. Those two and Pelliper, but you should better save him up to re-start the rain. Volcarona can work well in rain, but Dragonite can act as a pivot, and could even potentially use Rain Dance himself for his teammates, as he has the bulk required for a support set, and just enough speed to get past defensive pokemon and leads like Smeargle. A full blown rain sweeper that can work out of rain is something only Dragonite (with Agility) and Volcarona can do. And Dragonite has the advantage of a better defensive typing and not being as screwed by hazards as Volcarona is.
My favourite set ATM, however, is the stallbreaker (and also heavy offense breaker) set the Z-Fly SubDDnite. Z-Fly gives you a way to bypass Zygarde's ThouSpam Arrows, to prevent having waste half of your PP to stall Protect, as well as having the bonus of bypassing hax abilities like Flame Body. Fly's charge turn also comes in handy to stall PP and Toxic damage to get past those damn Unaware pokemon. I say right away, that set NEEDS Toxic+Dugtrio support as Clefable, Toxapex and Magearna will laugh at you otherwise. But if you want a set with potential, that set may be the most potentially deadly one Dragonite has right now.
I am sure that if Z-Roost cured status ailments, this set would probably be THE ultimate stallbreaker. Still, being able to shrug off annoying random stat drops from Psychic, Crunch or Shadow Ball, and the Substitute-piercing-Screech double defense drops, and being able to Roost even after a Taunt can come in VERY handy against many opponents.
And now, more weird stuff: stall oriented sets:
It is hard to remember apparently, but Dragonite has even better support movepool than many dedicated stall pokemon. And Aegislash has proven, no matter how good you are offensively, that does not mean you cannot be able to go full stall with Toxic.
Sadly, his inquestionably best support move, Heal Bell, is incompatible with Multiscale, but along his large list of Multiscale-compatible moves, we have invaluable stuff like Dragon Tail and Roar, reliable recovery, and even the revelation move for this generation: Haze. Yup, the cute dragon has the elusive Haze along his egg moves, and THAT is something Dragonite could put to very good use against Volcarona, Landorus, Keldeo and many other pokemon he can wall out with his deceptively good defensive typing.
By the way, on the topic of Haze. HOW can this amazing move be outside of even Other Options baffles me. In both ORAS and BW, Dragonite has proven to be an amazing tank and wall with ParaShuffler sets. Haze not even being mentioned on them is questionable to say the least. It could have been amazing before the Baton Pass ban, as Dragonite could perfectly have fit Haze as a filler move on the pivot sets for people obsessed with Baton Pass.
TLDR: Dragonite is what he is always been: A powerfull anti-meta super-versatile pokemon. The problem he has is that the metagame is so screwed up at this moment there is no need to have an anti-meta pokemon on the team to surprise and screw up the opponent matchup even more. He will rise a lot once the meta settles down a little bit, just like in ORAS. And he is still a very good and underrated all-purpose pokemon.