Donphan

PVE Movesets Grades

Quick	Charge	ATK	DEF
Counter	Earthquake	B	X
Counter	Play Rough	X	B
Mud Slap	Earthquake	A	X
Mud Slap	Play Rough	C	A-
Charm	Heavy Slam	X	B
Charm	Play Rough	C	A-
Counter	Body Slam	C-	B
Charm	Body Slam	C-	A
Mud Slap	Body Slam	C	A

Quick	Charge	ATK	DEF
Counter	Heavy Slam	X	C
Tackle	Earthquake	C	X
Tackle	Play Rough	X	X
Tackle	Heavy Slam	X	X
Mud Slap	Heavy Slam	X	X
Charm	Earthquake	C	C

PVE Offensive Moves Explanation

• Counter does decent damage and is effective against targets such as Tyranitar and Snorlax.

• Tackle is worse than Counter in a vacuum, but also lacks any sort of type advantage.

• Mud Slap is the obvious choice for STAB and Ground-type coverage.

• Charm doesn't have much use on Donphan, but at least pairs with Play Rough

• Earthquake has STAB and shares some advantageous type matchups with Counter.

• Play Rough has niche uses and slightly outpaces Earthquake when both are effective.

• Heavy Slam serves a limited purpose on offense due to low power and lack of STAB.

• Body Slam lacks STAB and can't be Super Effective against anything. 

PVE Defensive Moves Explanation

• Charm hits the hardest on defense, and can nail Dragon-type attackers. 

• Mud Slap benefits from STAB, but doesn't offer anything for coverage. 

• Tackle is a suboptimal fast move; Counter has better defensive DPS.

• Play Rough is the clear winner over Heavy Slam due to the former's extra power, better typing, and earlier damage window.

• Body Slam can be used frequently as a 3-bar move, making it a good choice for defense. 

• Earthquake is predictable due to its 1 bar nature and easy to dodge.

PVE Overview

PVP Movesets Grades

Quick	Charge	ATK
Counter	Body Slam Earthquake	A
Charm	Body Slam Earthquake	C

PvP Moveset Explanation

Counter + Body Slam and Play Rough or Heavy Slam or Earthquake

Counter is one of the best fast moves in the game and has the best overall performance.

The addition of Body Slam following the GBL Season 10 update is an improvement for Donphan, enabling it to access a decent Charged Move without consuming a large amount of energy. Play Rough is run to handle Dragon-types (and have great neutral damage). Heavy Slam is cheaper and effective for shield baits, but doesn't provide meaningful coverage. Earthquake is more useful in the higher leagues, being harder-hitting, and is especially important in Master to give a chance against Dialga.

Charm + Body Slam and Earthquake

Charm lets Donphan fulfill a more niche role, and sports extremely high damage output at the cost of very bad energy gains. Body Slam is needed for this moveset due to its lower energy cost, as poor energy generation makes it difficult to access Donphan's charge moves. Earthquake offers wide coverage backed by STAB. 

PvP Rating Explanation

Great League: 2 / 5

Donphan holds an interesting niche as one of the few non-Fighting-type Pokémon to learn Counter. However, its stat-weighting and poor meta matchups (Azumarill, Altaria, Medicham) make it a poor choice in most cases. Ground-typing is somewhat vulnerable against common typings, and Donphan lacks counter-coverage moves to fight back. A lack of a low energy charge move also limits Donphan's ability to bait and pressure shields, making it slower compared to other picks. 

Ultra League: 3 / 5

Donphan is stronger in Ultra than Great, though it’s still not the best. Play Rough is not enough to save it from a loss against Giratina. Access to Charm enables very narrow wins against either Giratina, but loses almost everything else.

Master League: 0 / 5

Dialga remains top threats in Master, which makes Donphan as a Counter user interesting. However, there are better choices. With a max CP of 3013, Donphan doesn't have the stats that many legendary Pokemon boast.

Fast Moves

5

Tackle

More Info

Normal

.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	EPU	DPS	DPS w/STAB	True DPS
0.50	0.20	10.00		10.00	12.50

12

Counter

More Info

Fighting

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	EPU	DPS	DPS w/STAB	True DPS
0.90	0.20	8.89		13.33	16.67

18

Mud Slap

More Info

Ground

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	EPU	DPS	DPS w/STAB	True DPS
1.40	0.20	8.57		12.86	16.07

20

Charm

More Info

Fairy

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	EPU	DPS	DPS w/STAB	True DPS
1.50	0.30	7.33		13.33	16.67

Charge Moves

140

Earthquake

1 Energy

More Info

Ground

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
3.60	0.80	0.00	1.40	38.89	48.61		54.44

70

Heavy Slam

2 Energy

More Info

Steel

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
2.10	0.40	0.00	1.40	33.33	41.67		46.67

90

Play Rough

2 Energy

More Info

Fairy

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
2.90	1.40	0.00	1.80	31.03	38.79		55.86

50

Body Slam

3 Energy

More Info

Normal

.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
1.90	0.50	0.00	1.52	26.32	32.89		39.87

Pokemon Type Chart

Vulnerable

	160% damage
	160% damage
	160% damage

Resistant

	39.1% damage
	62.5% damage
	62.5% damage

Raid Boss Catch Rate