4th Gen Reptiles are cool.

[Wings_of_Titanium]

Reptiles, right. I spend, perhaps, more time than is really appropriate thinking about reptiles. And now, I've finally gotten to the point where I can get myself a Dragonite & a Tyranitar. But, I'm kind of a perfectionist...

See, I have this dilemma - I've only raised sweepers up to this point, because it's so easy to optimise them - 2 stats, bam, glory awaits. But with tanks like those two, Attack, HP, both Defences, it all matters! Even speed is slightly useful. But from all the research I've done, it doesn't look like you can breed for more than 3 perfect IVs without developing an even more unhealthy obsession than my perfectly reasonable interest in reptiles. And then I have to start prioritising EVs... Alas, whatever am I to do?

So, if, you were in my lizard-lovin' shoes, how would you build your reptilian reckoners?

Also, I'm coming back into this after having set Pokemon aside in high school. I played Gen 1 to death, I dabbled in Gen 2. Are there any more radical reptiles I should know about?

 

[Wings_of_Titanium]

Ah, of course, there's more than one way to go about this, of course...

For Dragonite, I was thinking I might try to perfect its attack, defence & special defence IVs, focus on defence & special defence (maybe some attack?) for its EVs and teach it Roost in the hopes that it won't ever go down. I was going to give it an Impish nature, too, in the hopes of countering its (slightly) low defense. But I was also going to teach it Outrage, which maybe doesn't match Roost so well. And with that 4x weakness to Ice, maybe it'd still be too vulnerable? In any case, I was counting on its base attack being so high as to not need any more help.

Tyranitar probably won't really be as viable for the long-term tank idea, since it doesn't have a recovery move. I figured I'd go attack for that one, and split the remaining EVs between its defences. Deliberately low speed and Payback might be fun, but I'll probably go with Crunch. Earthquake's hard to overlook, too. I was thinking elemental fangs for the rest. I honestly hadn't considered using Tyranitar's special attack.

I do like the look of Swampert & Flygon. Maybe I should see if I can pick up a Gen III game somewhere. And Garchomp could be a sweeper with earthquake & outrage! *swoon*

I don't know how I forgot Torterra, but I know I'm a bad person. That world turtle vibe is a nice one. I'll have to raise two as penance! One with an attack focus, and one that does the whole toxic/leech seed/synthesis thing.

 

[Wings_of_Titanium]

Wow, that's a lot to chew on. Such mastication yields more mystery, however.

With that first option, how do you get a Dragonite that knows Heal Bell? I don't see it in the egg move list.

Most of the moves you've listed use special attack. Isn't this a waste of Dragonite's absurd physical attack?

I've been breeding Impish Dragonites to counter its (relatively) low defense. Should that not be a priority? I was thinking the same for a Tyranitar, to be honest.

Do you find speed to be useful on something like Tyranitar? I'd gotten the impression that speed wasn't really a priority unless you were building a sweeper.

Edit - Also, have I completely overestimated Outrage, or is it just not suitable for defensive builds?

 

[Wings_of_Titanium]

Cool, thanks! That makes it all pretty clear. I'm loathe to use my precious Dragon Claw TM, since (as far as I know) you can only get one in the game. What if I need to teach it to another pokemon later?!

Still, Dragonite is probably one of my favourite pokemon, and the TM is the only way to teach it, so I guess I'm not going to get a better use. Whoo. Okay. Here we go.

*intensebreathing*