Koraidon

Using Koraidon in a Playthrough

Koraidon is a standalone Fighting/Dragon Legendary Pokémon and the mascot of Pokémon Scarlet, but the player's ride Koraidon cannot be used as an ordinary battler until the climax of The Way Home, when it regains the confidence and strength needed to assume Apex Build in battle. After the main story, the ride specimen can be shifted between ride and battle use, and the second, aggressive Koraidon encountered deep in Area Zero can also be caught, so its practical battle availability is overwhelmingly endgame and postgame rather than something that shapes most of the badge journey. Its base 135 Attack and 135 Speed are backed by 100/115/100 bulk, and Orichalcum Pulse automatically summons harsh sunlight while multiplying Koraidon's Attack by roughly four-thirds during sun, making its physical offense extraordinary before any setup. Collision Course is its signature 100-base-power, perfectly accurate Fighting attack and receives an additional roughly 33% damage increase when it is super effective, giving it a powerful no-drawback alternative to Close Combat in favorable matchups. Dragon Claw offers reliable Dragon STAB, while Flare Blitz becomes unusually strong under Koraidon's own sun but inflicts heavy recoil; U-turn, Swords Dance, Flame Charge, Drain Punch, and coverage moves can support different offensive roles. Fighting/Dragon provides useful resistances to Bug, Dark, Electric, Fire, Grass, Rock, and Water, but weaknesses to Dragon, Flying, Ice, and Psychic are joined by a dangerous 4× Fairy weakness. Koraidon's five named builds—Apex, Limited, Sprinting, Swimming, and Gliding—reflect battle, weakened/resting, and traversal states rather than separately obtainable species forms; only Apex Build is normally used in battle. Jolly preserves its elite Speed tier, while Adamant maximizes its already extreme sun-boosted physical damage.

Koraidon in Competitive Pokémon

Koraidon remains Uber in current Scarlet/Violet singles and is one of the generation's defining restricted-level physical attackers. Orichalcum Pulse simultaneously creates sun and multiplies Koraidon's Attack by roughly 1.333× while the weather is active, so Choice Band, Choice Scarf, Swords Dance, and other offensive sets begin from a power level far beyond the raw base 135 Attack statistic. Collision Course and Close Combat provide Fighting STAB, Dragon Claw or Outrage supplies Dragon pressure, and sun-boosted Flare Blitz is especially important because it punishes Steel- and Fairy-types that would otherwise exploit Koraidon's Dragon typing. Choice Scarf Koraidon is one of the format's premier revenge killers, while Choice Band can function as a devastating wallbreaker and setup variants use Swords Dance or Flame Charge to overwhelm slower teams. Its 4× Fairy weakness and vulnerability to fast revenge killers, defensive Terastallization, Ho-Oh, bulky Ground-types, and recoil from Flare Blitz provide meaningful counterplay, which is part of why Koraidon remains legal in Ubers while Miraidon was eventually removed from the tier. Koraidon was also a major restricted Pokémon in official VGC: its sun supports partners as well as itself, and Clear Amulet, Flame Charge, Collision Course or Low Kick, Flare Blitz, and Protect all appeared in high-level play. Its competitive peak is well documented by the 2025 World Championships, where Giovanni Cischke won the Masters Division with Koraidon and another Koraidon team also reached the Masters top cut, confirming that its sun offense remained elite through the final major Scarlet/Violet championship era.

Koraidon in Nuzlockes

Koraidon is an exceptionally strong Nuzlocke asset if the ruleset permits box Legendaries, but it joins actual battles so late that it cannot carry the player through most of Scarlet's main progression. Base 135 Speed lets it remove many threats before they act, while 100/115/100 bulk is genuinely strong enough to survive neutral hits that would punish frailer sweepers. Collision Course is ideal under permadeath rules because it combines 100% accuracy, 100 base power, no defensive or recoil drawback, and extra power on super-effective hits; it is often safer than Close Combat when both attacks achieve the same knockout. Flare Blitz benefits enormously from Orichalcum Pulse's sun but can remove large amounts of Koraidon's own HP through recoil, while Outrage traps the user for multiple turns and can end in confusion, so neither should be copied blindly from competitive sets. The 4× Fairy weakness is the central survival hazard, and unexpected Moonblast, Play Rough, Dazzling Gleam, or Fairy Tera coverage can overwhelm even Koraidon's otherwise excellent bulk. Drain Punch can trade some power for healing and Flame Charge can raise Speed while attacking, both useful when a known matchup does not require maximum force. If its Fairy weakness and recoil options are managed conservatively, Koraidon offers one of the widest combinations of speed, power, bulk, and reliable damage available in Scarlet.

Koraidon is a massive feathered reptilian Pokémon resembling Cyclizar, distinguished by powerful limbs, webbed feet, a large tire-like gular sac, a feathered crest, and a thick tail whose base echoes the grooved appearance of the throat structure. It can shift among five named builds: Apex Build is its full battle state, Limited Build is used while resting or weakened, Sprinting Build supports rapid land travel, Swimming Build adapts it to water, and Gliding Build spreads its head structures into aerodynamic surfaces for aerial travel. Unlike Miraidon, Koraidon does not actually use its throat and tail structures as mechanical wheels during terrestrial movement; it runs with its powerful legs. The two specimens brought to the present by Professor Sada displayed sharply different temperaments—one was curious and capable of bonding closely with humans, while the other was highly aggressive and territorial, ultimately defeating and traumatizing the first in Area Zero. The species was called the Winged King in the Scarlet Book, and its origin remains unresolved because AI Sada describes it as an ancient relative of Cyclizar while the Professor encountered at the Crystal Pool describes it as a Cyclizar counterpart from another timeline; Heath's record of a Koraidon roughly 200 years before Sada's time machine further complicates a simple time-travel explanation.