THE BEST DODRIO BUILD GUIDE - POKEMON UNITE

birb

this is a loaded character. buckle up.

Item and Emblem sets are the same for both movesets on this character.
Items: Razor Claw , Attack Weight , Score Shield /Focus Band /Aeos Cookie /Float Stone
– Razor Claw and Attack Weight are core, synergizing very well with the way Dodrio’s moveset flows, its high ratios, and ease of scoring. Whatever you do, always have these two items.
– The third slot is pretty flexible. Float Stone lets you fully cash in on your roaming ability and the whole schtick of being fast, and also giving more raw atk for bigger burst. Aeos Cookie is its best defensive item provided you can get fully stacked. Score Shield lets you score even more easily. Focus Band is excellent for combat without being as reliant on stacks.
Battle Item: Full Heal
– Very important item for shrugging off any CC and slows to make sure you can escape or get off your assassinations. Full Heal is enough for dealing with slows if you position and move well.
– X Speed may seem appealing here at first, but unless there’s literally no real source of hard CC on the enemy team this battle item is bait. Although it’s better at dealing with slows, it leaves you extremely vulnerable to hard CC while usually being a crutch and overkill answer to slows.
Emblems: 6 Brown 6 White – Flat Atk Focus
– Dodrio is a squishy assassin character, so maximizing damage is the play here.

About Run Away – Sprint Meter :
This is one very loaded passive. You live and die by this passive, so know it well.

– Dodrio comes with its own sprint meter that fills up and slowly increases your movement speed at 2% increments the more it fills up, maxing out at a 20% movement speed boost.
– You lose sprint meter if your movement speed dips below a certain threshold or if you ever stop moving, meaning that even a slow can make you start depleting your meter depending on how much speed you already had built up. However, this also means that if you have enough speed built up from an almost full or fully filled sprint meter, some slows won’t be able to make you go slow enough to lose meter.
– At max sprint meter, your move 1 (Drill Peck or Tri Attack) and auto attack , Tri Attack , and Drill Peck becomes a special empowered version that functions a dashing attack and is aimed via your movement stick. Scroll all the way down for tips and tricks with this.

You need to be very aware of any sources of stuns and slows on the enemy team and plan your approaches accordingly so your sprint meter doesn’t get destroyed. There is a big general game knowledge factor to this, as you’ll begin to find yourself saying “that has a slow??”

With time, you’re going to get very familiar with which moves have slows.

Red buff is also a universally available slow that Dodrio hates and many people forget about, so be sure to watch for the auto attack range and targeting of enemies that have a red circle underneath them. While this is very punishing to play with at first, your main line of defense against getting your meter destroyed by a stray slow or stun is leveraging your speed to stay out of range and avoiding unfavorable fights until it’s a good time to strike. Full Heal is also great for shrugging this stuff off, but often shouldn’t be your first line of defense since you’ll also be wanting it to make sure you guarantee your impact in something like a teamfight.

About Run Away – Split Scoring :

– When scoring as a Doduo, your scores are split into 2 equal parts. As a Dodrio, it’s into 3 equal parts. You need to get all 2 or 3 parts in one score for it to count as a stack and for extra Unite move charge.
– There is currently a bug where you may still score in 2 parts as if you’re a Doduo even if you’re a Dodrio. Not really sure what causes it, but I’ll update this when I find out. Or it gets fixed. Whichever comes first.

This mechanic is overall something that helps Dodrio score faster. The split scoring lets you be able to get in at least some points in before getting interrupted. What this means it that Dodrio has MUCH more generous windows on when it’s guaranteed to get any points on the board at all, especially if used in tandem with Score Shield .

Because getting in split scores will still decrease the amount of points you’ll have in tow afterwards, this means that subsequent scoring attempts after getting interrupted will progress faster and lets you bruteforce in progressively smaller scores more easily if it comes down to it. Very helpful for close battle situations or getting in early stacks. Don’t int for stacks though!

Which moveset should I play?

vs.

The moveset you take on this character will be largely dependent on what your desired gameplan and specialization. A very frequent mistake Dodrio players make is being overly afraid of potential slows and CC or tunnel visions on the enemy comp without giving much consideration to what their own team needs. Each induvidual set’s writeup here will begin with the set’s specialties and downsides that will help guide your decision.

For the kind of play most people are playing in, you have the means to be very effective with either set in any given matchup if you have enough skill on the moveset. However, after the nerf to Dodrio’s boosted auto attack, Drill Peck + Jump Kick more cleanly solidifies its place as the more easily applicable and consistently powerful set if you’re good at both due to its straightforwardly high combat impact.

About Triple Trample :

This is a very versatile Unite move that can massively increase your playmaking power, safety, and ease of finding an opening. Dodrio dashes to the designated (and potentially far away) spot while unstoppable, smacking and knocking up any opponent that stands in your way while giving you a hefty 30% attack buff for 3 seconds, tons of movement speed, and faster sprint meter gain.

There’s a variety of ways you can use this Unite move . The most obvious application is to use it to run through the enemy team and into their backline for easy access to the squishies in the back. The knockup can also act as an engage for your teammates, although going in first as Dodrio is usually not advised unless many resources have been forced or you can get off a good CC chain with a drill kick followup right after.

If you position and flank well however, you will also not find yourself having to use Triple Trample for the positioning bruteforce. This opens up a new world of possibilities.

A big part of this world are shorter distance ults. These have an insane amount of playmaking potential and are one the areas where you can really start distinguishing yourself on this character. During a fight, you can easily weave in a short distance ult by setting the endpoint to just a little past your targets. Weave it into your combos for the extra damage, big knockup, free sprint meter and buffs to extend your damage potential and safety greatly.

Once again, this has especially good synergy with Drill Peck because of the even longer CC chain potential coupled with already very high burst damage when weaved into a Dodrio combo. While Triple Trample combos with Tri Attack don’t tend to be as devastating, the knockup and buffs are still great assets to have. A trick to keep in mind for maximizing short term burst damage with an Triple Trample combo is pre priming Tri Attack’s enhanced auto attack before using it, then immediately boosted autoing right after you hit Triple Trample.

Using Triple Trample to escape a bad situation or as an emergency go fast button is also a use that you should remember to have. While not usually a very ideal use of an ult, living is living. Dodrio especially is a character that thrives off its powerful level 5 spike to build an early lead with its ganking power and jungle invades. In these kinds of games, giving the enemy team even one catchup kill after accomplishing that can undo most of your hard work and makes a defensive usage of ult pretty worthwhile. In some of those situations, you may still be able to use it offensively to just turn the tables on a fight and kill them instead.

About Sprint Boosted Auto :
As stated earlier, full sprint auto attack is unique in that it’s not only manually aimed, but also aimed via the movement stick. It’s a dash with its hitbox that’s extended forward amd since it’s manual aim, you can whiff it.

Missing a sprint auto can be painful, but this property means that you can also use these as a dash to get through some walls if you are very close to or running into the wall before ripping it or just as a general mobility tool for escaping hairy situations or dodging things.

If you space your auto from a wall just right, you can also hit any farm (or people) through the wall without actually going past the wall yourself. This is most helpful for safely stealing enemy jungle buffs from behind the little wall that surrounds the buffs.

Other Tips

• As a Doduo, Peck is your best secure option in lane or while you’re getting jungle invaded. If you’re just trying to maximize rip damage though, doing sprint auto > unboosted Peck > razor auto is more damage than just ripping a boosted Peck. Because of that, a jungling Dodrio will actually not use boosted peck for its first clear.

• The best way to rip objectives with Tri Attack + Agility is to wait until you have all your Tri Attack reserves, then do boosted Tri Attack > boosted auto > Agility > boosted Tri Attack > sprint auto > boosted Tri Attack > sprint auto . Your Agility’s effect should be over at this point, so now you spam regular autos until you get all your moves back to repeat the process.

• With Drill Peck + Jump Kick, you can get big objective damage with Drill Peck if you don’t start the Drill Peck right on top of the objective and instead space yourself that the Drill Peck starts hitting at the second half of its duration. From there, do the Jump Kick > sprint auto loop until you get another Drill Peck. Unboosted Drill Peck is also an arguably better secure move than boosted Drill Peck in some situations since it still does respectable damage on the spot while not having as many ticks.

• When jungle invading as this character, prioritize taking the enemy red buff (Escavalier) first if possible. Red buff slows can be potentially disastrous for Dodrio if it gets hit by it at a bad time, so making sure that you take it away from them can give you a nice amount of breathing room.

MOVESET 1: Drill Kick – Drill Peck + Jump Kick (BEST)
This variant of bird trades some ease of roaming (though it can still do it well) for more immediate burst power and displacement, making it stronger at quickly killing key targets and facilitating teamfights with the CC. This set is also very strong in lane due to being able to drag farm away to your side.

Pick this set if you want to focus your job on brutal and straightforward raw killing and CC potential that’s much simplier to build a gameplan around.

While you lose the overall longer scrapping, poke, and staying power of Tri Attack with this set, Drill Peck is an extremely high impact move that can single-handedly win teamfights. Your typical combo will be Drill Peck > optional Razor Claw auto > Jump Kick > sprint auto . This is the main combo because of its frontloaded damage and CC and offers the highest damage potential. The optional auto sacrifices the true CC chain into Jump Kick which sacrifices a lot of safety, but is a nice bit of extra damage. If you need that true stunlock out of Drill though, then go straight into Jump Kick. The final sprint auto can also be skipped if your target is already dead or it’s not safe to get that extra hit in.

You have other possibilities depending on the situation. Doing sprint auto > Jump Kick > Drill Peck is less punishing if you miss your opener but you don’t get the massive Drill Peck damage as quickly and you’re more vulnerable at the end of the combo. If you have teammates to follow up on your Drill Peck or need to get people off their goal pad, you can even lead with Jump Kick to get in position for dragging the enemy into your team.

Jump Kick itself is also a great scrapping move for if your Drill Peck is on cooldown or you need to save it. You can do Jump Kick into boosted auto and it’ll reduce most of Jump Kick’s cooldown to where you can loop it into another Jump Kick very soon after, especially at level 13 where you can even more stun time with the move. When going for riskier roaming plays on the enemy side of the map, play to walls when possible so you can jump kick over them while getting more sprint or maintaining it. Jump Kicking off walls is also just generally a great way to quickly refill your sprint meter without having to actually hit an enemy or farm.

Your level 5 gank on this set is powerful due to Drill Peck still doing a ton of damage and displacement, which gives you potentially nasty wipes and the ability to Drill Peck the birds/bees into your side of the map. However, Drill Peck is much more reliant on having it’s Jump Kick learned at level 7 to reliably and safely 100-0 targets. Adjust your limits accordingly during first gank, as you’ll need enemies to be worn down a bit to safely or have teammate followup in order to quickly kill them before you get 7. It’s fine to settle for a hit and run play here if it means you don’t die. Quick Attack is used to build some meter back up while getting out after a Drill Peck, or you can also opt to Quick Attack through enemies so you can get in a better position to drill them towards your team.

This moveset also has great synergy with Unite Move because you can use it to force yourself into the enemy backline then immediately Drill Peck them into your team.

Be warned though, you are much more vulnerable to slows and CC with this moveset since you don’t have Agility to shrug these things off. Good patience, avoidance, and Full Heal usage is even more key if you’re playing this moveset.

If you’re confident that you can hit, don’t be able to go for longer range Drill Peck hits. It may be easier to dodge that way, but it lets you start your drill from further away to circumvent any slows that might get you before getting any closer. Although this moveset carries a lot of risk for missing on top of being generally vulnerable to slows, there is still a layer of safety in through your CC chain ability and often lethal damage.

You will typically play the traditional assassin angle at big teamfights. However, the overall CC and group damage potential of this build also gives you potential for helping set up or facilitate engages for your team or even using Drill’s CC to peel for your guys. You generally should still avoid being the first to go in as this set though.

About Agilidrill – Drill Peck + Agility :

I think this set is bait and see it as a crutch for people who want to play Drill Peck but are too afraid to CC or are bad at playing around it. You lose so much of the CC chain potential and extra bit of damage that lets you reliably close out kills alone and makes Drill Kick so devastating in exchange for a failsafe against CC. You’ll be much better off taking the L and learning how to play around CC without Agility.

MOVESET 2: Trigility – Tri Attack + Agility
Hit and run roamer bird. Her speed, split scoring, and the hit and run playstyle of this moveset enables Dodrio to be an incredibly annoying roamer that rains down scores, jungle invades, and squishy kills. Agility’s anti CC properties also makes this a more forgiving set to play against more CC and slow heavy comps. Tri Attack at mix sprint meter being a projectile that you can move and shoot with while doing not insignificant damage is also genuinely amazing at playing a safe run and gun game until it comes time to boosted auto in for the kill.

Pick this set if you want to focus your role more heavily on roaming, being a constant and hard to catch nuisance on the enemy side of the map, or if a more non committal playstyle is desired in exchange for much lower damage presence later into the game. Having a strong earlygame start so you can be able to start putting pressure on the enemy side of the map and getting into that Dodrio zone is key for getting big value out of this pick. If you fall behind though, you may find yourself struggling to make a big combat impact.

Staying slippery and making criminal getaways with this hit and run playstyle alongside good map awareness is pretty core to being able to truly tap into this set’s potential. Be annoying. Get their attention so they waste their time trying to deal with you instead of doing something more useful. It’s hard to describe how to pull off all those skills within the context of this guide, but it’ll come to you over time with practice and constant analysis of situations.

Using either version of Tri Attack makes your next auto attack deal increased damage and have a bit of % max HP healing indicated by Dodrio’s beaks glowing red. With that in mind, your typical combo here is to lead with a boosted Tri Attack > sprint auto . From there, you can do an unboosted Tri Attack > auto to quickly finish someone off if they’re low enough. If more damage is needed, you can weave in an Agility after the first boosted auto to quickly build up more meter for another sprint boosted Tri Attack > sprint auto . The downside to adding Agility is that makes the combo take longer longer from having to wait for your meter to fill back up and boosted Tri Attack having a somewhat lengthy duration. Agility is also a generally important tool for mobility and safety. If you don’t need to actually close out a kill safely, then you’re likely better off just holding onto it for a better time.

Level 13’s Agility+ is also important to consider for your combos later into the game as it instantly fills your sprint meter fully on cast for an immediate full charge Tri Attack or sprint auto.

During teamfights, you normally want to look for flanks and constantly pester the enemy team or stealthily look for a pick on a squishy. If you have to play closer to your team, then you would be poking around with boosted Tri Attacks until you can get in a safe boosted to pick someone off.

Agility being basically a second full heal that gives you a speed boost and extra meter gain makes it an incredibly powerful escape tool as well that really helps you enable some criminal bird activity. You can invalidate a lot of predictable timing stuns like Azumarill’s Unite move or Umbreon’s Snarl with a well timed agility. A trick for escaping situations is to pop Agility then use the free sprint boosted autos you get from as dashes to escape rather than attacks.

This moveset is also very good at rotation jungle invades as well if you get level 5 in time for it. Tri Attack’s healing and being able to pump out some ranged damage before having to full commit sprint meter lets you beat tons of things at that point in the game or quickly rip or steal enemy jungle camps before you can get punished for it. If you’re opting for a second rotation invade after taking the first jungle rotation, your teammates can still also help you get even more mileage out of it without actually running into the jungle with you.

Giving the second jungle rotation to another EXP hungry teammate can help make sure that they come online faster while making sure that you actually clear your own team’s jungle so an enemy doesn’t steal it. With coordination, you can also call for your laner teammates to start playing their lanes more aggressively while you invade. This forces the enemy team to split their resources between trying to defend their goals in lane while also trying to make sure their jungler doesn’t get starved.

About Tri Kick – Tri Attack + Jump Kick :

This is a neat alternative to the usual Tri Attack Dodrio formula. While you’re much more vulnerable to slows here without the explosive power of Drill Peck to make up for it, Jump Kick is still an independently strong move that offers helpful CC presence, outplay potential, and extra damage that can let you scrap more effectively than Agility in some situations. The other major upside to Jump Kick in this set is that because it has a MUCH lower cooldown, you’re able to commit to a boosted auto during hit and run plays while still getting your sprint meter back immediately after more often than you could with Agility. The 1v1 potential is also very good due to the CC aspect of looping Jump Kick > boosted auto.

Overall, this set is a lot more scrappy and can yield great reward to Dodrio players that are confident in their ability to avoid CC. You combine Tri Attack’s more consistent early scrapping power with the CC and outplay potential of Jump Kick .

Favourable Matchup:

These are Pokémon that our team has determined DODRIO is strong against. DODRIO will generally be able to shut down these opponents playstyle's or have the advantage in a one on one fight.

Unfavourable Matchup:

These are Pokémon that our team has determined DODRIO is weak against. These Pokémon will have the upper hand in a fight or be able to exploit DODRIO's weaknesses.