Adamant is the more common Salamence nature in Scarlet/Violet OU, and by a wide margin: the 252 Attack / 252 Speed Adamant spread is 27.7% of OU Salamence sets, against 12.6% for the same spread on Jolly (Smogon’s October 2026 SV OU stats, 1500+ Elo ladder, 608,936 battles). In UU, where Salamence actually gets played (5.6% usage against 0.48% in OU), the top Adamant and Jolly spreads tie at 17.2% and 16.8% (SV UU stats). The split follows the ability: Moxie is 61.4% of OU Salamence and 42.0% of UU Salamence, so the more Moxie there is, the more Adamant there is.
The arithmetic behind that is simple. After one Dragon Dance an Adamant Salamence moves at 448 Speed and a Jolly one at 492. That 44-point gap looks large, but among the 50 most-used OU Pokémon, counting each one’s most common spread, nothing unscarfed lands between 448 and 492. Only Choice Scarf builds do. What Adamant buys instead is 36 more Attack (405 against 369), and Moxie multiplies that lead with every knockout.
This guide runs the numbers instead of repeating “Jolly to outspeed things.” The usage figures come from Smogon’s October 2026 ladder stats, the base stats from Pokémon Showdown’s Pokédex data, and the speed and damage figures are our own calculations with the settings listed under Sources, so you can reproduce every one.
Quick Start: The Standard Dragon Dance Salamence
- Ability: Moxie. It is Salamence’s hidden ability, and it raises Attack one stage every time Salamence knocks something out (PokémonDB; PokémonDB’s Moxie entry).
- Nature: Adamant by default; Jolly if you fear fast threats before you set up (the speed section shows which ones).
- EVs: 252 Attack / 252 Speed / 4 Special Defense, the most-used spread in OU.
- Item: Heavy-Duty Boots (27.4% in OU, 58.6% in UU), with Life Orb (15.2%) and Lum Berry (12.5%) as the OU alternatives.
- Moves: Dragon Dance / Earthquake / Dual Wingbeat, plus Outrage in OU or Roost in UU.
- Verified against: Smogon’s October 2026 ladder stats (OU, UU, Champions) and @smogon/calc 0.12.0, checked 2 November 2026. Ladder usage shifts every month; re-check it after the next stats release.
Which Salamence Are You Building? Singles or VGC, Moxie or Aerilate
Salamence is two different Pokémon depending on where you battle. The regular form has Intimidate or Moxie. Mega Salamence has only Aerilate, so it can never use Moxie (Showdown’s ability data). In Scarlet/Violet there is no Mega Salamence in Smogon’s main sets; Salamencite shows up only in its National Dex entries (Smogon Strategy Dex). In Pokémon Champions the Mega is the one people play: it ranks #7 at 18.1% in the Champions BSS Reg M-C ladder and #16 at 12.5% in the Champions VGC 2026 Reg M-C ladder, while plain Salamence sits at 0.27% in VGC (VGC usage list).
| Where you play | Build | Why |
|---|---|---|
| SV OU singles | Moxie, Adamant 252/252, Dragon Dance / Earthquake / Dual Wingbeat / Outrage | Adamant 28% vs Jolly 13% of sets; Moxie on 61% |
| SV UU singles | Adamant or Jolly (a tie), Dragon Dance / Earthquake / Dual Wingbeat / Roost, Boots | 17.2% vs 16.8%; Intimidate on 58% |
| Champions singles (BSS) | Mega Salamence, Adamant 1/32/0/0/1/32, Dragon Dance / Double-Edge / Earthquake / Roost | Adamant 10.1% vs Jolly 8.3% of Mega sets |
| Champions VGC | Mega Salamence, Timid 2/0/0/32/0/32, Hyper Voice / Draco Meteor / Tailwind / Protect | Timid 28.7%; Hyper Voice on 92% |
If you play singles, run a Dragon Dance set. If you play VGC, run the special Mega, where Jolly and Adamant do not come into it.
Which nature for which player
| Player type | Pick | Why |
|---|---|---|
| New player | Adamant | One rule: more damage every turn. The speed you give up only matters before the first Dragon Dance. |
| Casual ladder player | Adamant, Boots, Roost in UU | Banks the extra Attack on every hit and keeps a recovery move for longer games. |
| Optimiser | Jolly only against a named threat | Pick it when Great Tusk, Kyurem or Landorus-Therian would otherwise hit you during the set-up turn. |
| Completionist | Both, plus a Naive and a Timid | Keep a Jolly and an Adamant Moxie Salamence, and a special Timid for UU and VGC. |
Jolly vs Adamant vs Naive: The Stat Lines
Adamant gives 405 Attack and 299 Speed at level 100 with a full 252/252 investment. Jolly gives 369 Attack and 328 Speed. Both maximums match PokémonDB’s stat ranges (405 Attack, 328 Speed). One Dragon Dance raises Attack and Speed by one stage each (PokémonDB’s Dragon Dance entry), and each stage multiplies the stat by 1.5, which turns those into 607 Attack / 448 Speed for Adamant and 553 Attack / 492 Speed for Jolly.
Naive has the same Attack and Speed as Jolly (369 and 328), but it cuts Special Defense instead of Special Attack. That leaves a Naive Salamence with 256 Special Attack against Jolly’s 230, at the cost of 177 Special Defense against 197. Smogon’s own mixed set for Battle Stadium Singles uses Naive, with Dual Wingbeat, Draco Meteor, Outrage or Substitute, and a Fire move. Take it only if you actually run that Fire Blast or Draco Meteor next to your physical moves; on a pure Dragon Dance set it just makes Salamence frailer.
Pokémon Champions replaces EVs with Stat Points. Each Pokémon gets 66 in total, at most 32 in one stat, and each one directly raises the level 50 stat (ChampDex’s Stat Points guide). We assume one stat point per SP (the rules are in our SP system explainer). On that basis, a Mega Salamence with 32 Attack and 32 Speed has 216 Attack and 172 Speed on Adamant, or 197 and 189 on Jolly, which makes 258 and 283 after a Dragon Dance. This is our calculation from the one-point-per-SP assumption; check it in game before you build around a one-point gap.
What Jolly’s Extra 44 Speed After Dragon Dance Actually Outspeeds
Nothing in our sample that is not wearing a Choice Scarf. To test it, we took the 50 most-used OU Pokémon in October 2026, built each one’s most common spread from the ladder stats, and computed its Speed stat with the level 100 formula. The window between Adamant’s 448 and Jolly’s 492 contained no unscarfed spread. It contained five Scarf variants:
| Benchmark (OU, Choice Scarf) | Speed | Adamant +1 (448) | Jolly +1 (492) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Scarf Great Tusk | 450 | Slower | Faster |
| Scarf Landorus-Therian | 463 | Slower | Faster |
| Scarf Enamorus | 466 | Slower | Faster |
| Scarf Kyurem | 475 | Slower | Faster |
| Scarf Iron Crown | 486 | Slower | Faster |
Scarf is the point, not the Pokémon: only 26.8% of Landorus-Therian and 48.1% of Enamorus carry it, and the rest are far slower. Timid Dragapult (421), Zamazenta (412) and every other unscarfed top-50 spread are outsped by both natures, and Timid Deoxys-Speed (504) and Scarf Garchomp (499) outspeed both. The table is built from each Pokémon’s single most common spread, so a rarer fast build can still land in the window.
Jolly earns its place on the set-up turn instead. Before Dragon Dance, Adamant sits at 299 Speed and Jolly at 328, and five of the top 50 (unscarfed, most common spreads) fall in between: Great Tusk (300), Landorus-Therian (309), Enamorus (311), Kyurem (317) and Iron Crown (324). Great Tusk is the most-used Pokémon in OU, at 32.1% (usage list), and a Jolly Great Tusk outspeeds an Adamant Salamence by exactly one point. If that matchup keeps killing your Dragon Dance, Jolly is the fix.
The Champions picture is even flatter. At level 50 a Mega Salamence reaches 258 (Adamant) or 283 (Jolly) after one Dance, and the only top-40 BSS spread between them is Choice Scarf Cinderace at 282, which Jolly passes by a single point. Choice Scarf Meowscarada (288) is faster than both (BSS usage list).
Why Moxie Changes the Answer
Moxie gives you the Attack half of a Dragon Dance after every knockout, and an Attack nature is worth more the more stages it is multiplied by. Intimidate does the opposite job: it lowers the Attack of every opponent when Salamence switches in (PokémonDB’s Intimidate entry), so an Intimidate Salamence works as a pivot first, and it gets no Attack boost from knockouts.
| Tier (Oct 2026) | Moxie share | Adamant spread | Jolly spread |
|---|---|---|---|
| SV OU | 61.4% | 27.7% | 12.6% |
| SV UU | 42.0% | 17.2% | 16.8% |
Where Moxie is the majority ability, Adamant leads by more than two to one; where Intimidate leads, the two natures tie. Add each nature’s other listed spreads and the gap narrows in OU and flips in UU: across the six spreads the ladder lists, Adamant totals 36.6% in OU against Jolly’s 21.9%, while in UU Jolly edges ahead, 24.5% to 20.8%. That is a correlation, and it is not perfect: in the Champions OU ladder only 27.7% of Salamence run Moxie, yet Adamant still leads Jolly 23.2% to 9.6%. So the ability is not the only reason players pick Attack.
The damage calculator (Smogon damage calculator) shows the mechanism. We ran an Adamant and a Jolly Moxie Salamence at +1 and +2 Attack against the 42 most-used OU Pokémon, each at its most common spread, item and ability, using Earthquake, Dual Wingbeat and Dragon Claw. At +1 (after Dragon Dance) Adamant has a guaranteed knockout on 19 of them and Jolly on 17. After one Moxie boost, at +2, it is 28 against 24. Counting Outrage as well, the totals are 25 against 23 at +1 and 30 against 27 at +2. Either way, Adamant’s lead grows as Moxie stacks. Both hits of Dual Wingbeat are counted, and Focus Sash is not modelled, so a full-HP Sash holder could survive a hit the calc calls a knockout.
| Target at +2 (one Moxie boost) | Adamant | Jolly |
|---|---|---|
| Kingambit (Earthquake) | 104–122.8%, always KOs | 95–111.9%, KOs 11 of 16 rolls (69%) |
| Landorus-Therian (Dual Wingbeat) | 101.6–120.4%, always KOs | 92.2–109.1%, KOs about 55% of roll combinations |
| Primarina (Dual Wingbeat) | 103.8–122.5%, always KOs | 94.5–112.1%, KOs about 80% of roll combinations |
These are three of the cases where Adamant crosses a knockout line and Jolly does not, and each one decides whether the Moxie chain continues. Here is the chain on paper, using Cinderace and Kingambit as the first two targets:
Turn one is the Dragon Dance. On turn two Earthquake knocks out Cinderace with either nature (155.5–183.4% for Adamant, 141.5–166.8% for Jolly), and Moxie lifts Attack to +2. On turn three the same Earthquake into Kingambit is a guaranteed knockout for Adamant and a 69% one for Jolly. If it fails, Kingambit survives and the chain stops at +2. Treat this as our reading of the numbers rather than a tested ladder result: it assumes no hazards, no Tera type, and a target that is not switched out of the way.
The Four Moves, One at a Time
The ladder data picks the same core every time. In OU the four most-used moves are Earthquake (71.5%), Dragon Dance (70.4%), Dual Wingbeat (52.9%) and Outrage (29.1%); in UU they are Earthquake (82.6%), Dragon Dance (66.3%), Dual Wingbeat (47.9%) and Roost (43.7%). That is why the Quick Start differs by one slot (UU usage list lists UU’s ranking).
- Dragon Dance: raises Attack and Speed by one stage each. It is the move the whole nature debate hangs on.
- Earthquake: the best damage in the calc against Cinderace, Heatran and Kingambit at +1 or +2. Use it as the default attack.
- Dual Wingbeat: a 40-power Flying move that hits twice (PokémonDB’s Dual Wingbeat entry; Showdown’s move data). In the calc it is the best attack against Iron Valiant, which Dragon moves cannot hit because it is part Fairy: 167.5–199.3% of its HP for Adamant at +1, counting both hits, so it is a guaranteed knockout before any Moxie boost.
- Outrage: 120 power with Dragon STAB, but it locks Salamence in for two to three turns and confuses it afterwards (PokémonDB’s Outrage entry). A knockout in the middle of the lock still triggers Moxie, which is one reason it stays on 29% of OU sets.
- Roost: heals half of Salamence’s HP and removes its Flying type for the turn (PokémonDB’s Roost entry). It is on 43.7% of UU sets against 16.9% of OU sets.
- Flex slots: Dragon Claw (27.4% in OU) is a weaker Dragon STAB attack with no lock; Temper Flare (20.8%) is a Fire move that hits Steel types, and Iron Head (14.3%) is a Steel move that hits Fairy types.
Heavy-Duty Boots lead the items in both tiers. In OU, Salamence’s Tera type is Steel 28.9% of the time, Dragon 25.7% and Fire 22.7%, so the Tera slot is a real decision with no single answer. We have not ranked Tera types here.
Smogon’s own Strategy Dex gives a different recommendation for its Battle Stadium Singles Dragon Dance set: Jolly, Life Orb, Intimidate or Moxie, and Dual Wingbeat / Outrage / Earthquake / Dragon Dance. Its National Dex Ubers Mega set, by contrast, is Adamant. That is analysis written for BSS Series 1 and 2 set against current ladder data, where Adamant leads in OU.
Mega Salamence in Pokémon Champions: Singles and VGC
Mega Salamence’s Aerilate turns Normal moves into Flying moves with 20% more power, and Flying types also get STAB on them (PokémonDB’s Aerilate entry). That makes Double-Edge, a 120-power Normal move, the Mega’s main attack: it is on 83.4% of Mega sets in BSS, next to Dragon Dance (75.5%), Earthquake (72.9%) and Roost (51.4%). The Adamant spread leads there too: 1/32/0/0/1/32 is 10.1% of Megas, Jolly 2/32/0/0/0/32 is 8.3% and a Naive mixed spread is 4.3%.
The Mega changes the speed maths for the better. Its base Speed is 120 against the regular form’s 100, so Adamant already reaches 258 after one Dance. Every unscarfed spread in the BSS top 40 is slower, and only Choice Scarf Meowscarada (288) and Cinderace (282) are faster. Jolly’s 283 buys the Cinderace and nothing else. On the Mega, Adamant is the more sensible default.
VGC is a different job. The Mega runs a special Timid spread (2/0/0/32/0/32 is 28.7% of VGC Megas) with Protect (96.5%), Hyper Voice (92.3%), Draco Meteor (61.7%) and Tailwind (60.4%). Tailwind doubles the Speed of the whole team for four turns (PokémonDB’s Tailwind entry), so Salamence’s own Speed matters less than what it hands the rest of the side. Rillaboom and Sneasler are its two most common teammates. A Moxie Dragon Dance set is a rarity there (Moxie is 4.0% of the regular form, which itself is 0.27% of the VGC ladder).
For comparison, the same fork appears in our other pseudo-legendary and Mega guides: Dragonite lands on Adamant for different reasons (Multiscale and Heavy-Duty Boots), Charizard splits on its Mega form, and Garchomp’s Jolly speed lead is the closest speed-tier parallel. If you are still raising one, the Bagon to Salamence guide covers the evolution line, and our pseudo-legendary ranking puts Salamence in context.
Salamence Nature and Moveset FAQ
Is Jolly or Adamant better for Dragon Dance Salamence?
Adamant, unless a specific fast threat is killing your set-up turn. The 28% to 13% split in OU and the calc show the extra Attack crosses knockout lines that Jolly does not. In our top-50 OU sample, Jolly’s extra Speed after Dragon Dance only helps against Choice Scarf users, though before it Jolly also passes five top-50 Pokémon, including Great Tusk and Kyurem.
Does Moxie work on Mega Salamence?
No. Mega Salamence’s only ability is Aerilate, so Moxie belongs to the regular form. If you want the Moxie knockout chain, stay in a format where the regular form is legal and Salamence does not Mega Evolve.
Should Salamence run Naive?
Only on a mixed set. Naive keeps Jolly’s 328 Speed and gives back 26 Special Attack (256 against 230), but costs 20 Special Defense (177 against 197). Pair it with a real special move or leave it off.
Is Salamence worth using in OU?
It is a niche pick there: rank 126 at 0.48%. UU is its natural home, at rank 36 and 5.6% usage.
What is the best Salamence moveset in VGC?
Protect, Hyper Voice, Draco Meteor and Tailwind on Mega Salamence, with Flamethrower as the flex. Those are the four most-used moves on Mega Salamence in the VGC ladder, with Flamethrower (39.8%) the most common fifth, and the job is support plus spread damage rather than a Dragon Dance sweep.
Sources
- Smogon University. Strategy Dex: Salamence (Scarlet/Violet) (https://www.smogon.com/dex/sv/pokemon/salamence/)
- Smogon University. Moveset statistics, gen9ou 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/moveset/gen9ou-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Usage statistics, gen9ou 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/gen9ou-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Moveset statistics, gen9uu 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/moveset/gen9uu-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Usage statistics, gen9uu 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/gen9uu-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Moveset statistics, gen9championsbssregmc 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/moveset/gen9championsbssregmc-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Usage statistics, gen9championsbssregmc 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/gen9championsbssregmc-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Moveset statistics, gen9championsvgc2026regmc 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/moveset/gen9championsvgc2026regmc-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Usage statistics, gen9championsvgc2026regmc 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/gen9championsvgc2026regmc-1500.txt)
- Smogon University. Moveset statistics, gen9championsou 1500+, October 2026 (https://www.smogon.com/stats/2026-10/moveset/gen9championsou-1500.txt)
- Pokémon Showdown. Pokédex data (pokedex.json) (https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/data/pokedex.json)
- Pokémon Showdown. Move data (moves.json) (https://play.pokemonshowdown.com/data/moves.json)
- PokémonDB. Salamence (https://pokemondb.net/pokedex/salamence)
- PokémonDB. Moxie (https://pokemondb.net/ability/moxie)
- PokémonDB. Intimidate (https://pokemondb.net/ability/intimidate)
- PokémonDB. Dragon Dance (https://pokemondb.net/move/dragon-dance)
- PokémonDB. Aerilate (https://pokemondb.net/ability/aerilate)
- PokémonDB. Outrage (https://pokemondb.net/move/outrage)
- PokémonDB. Roost (https://pokemondb.net/move/roost)
- PokémonDB. Dual Wingbeat (https://pokemondb.net/move/dual-wingbeat)
- PokémonDB. Tailwind (https://pokemondb.net/move/tailwind)
- Smogon University. Damage calculator (@smogon/calc 0.12.0) (https://github.com/smogon/damage-calc)
- ChampDex. Stat Points guide (https://champdex.com/guides/stat-points)
- Own calculation, Speed: level 100 stat = floor((floor((2 × base + 31 + floor(EV ÷ 4)) × 100 ÷ 100) + 5) × nature), times 1.5 per Dragon Dance stage, rounded down. Level 50 Champions stat = floor((floor((2 × base + 31) × 50 ÷ 100) + 5 + SP) × nature). Base stats from the Showdown Pokédex data; spreads and Scarf shares from the Smogon October 2026 stats above; top 50 OU Pokémon, top 40 BSS Pokémon.
- Own calculation, damage: @smogon/calc 0.12.0, generation 9. Attacker: level 100 Salamence, Moxie, Heavy-Duty Boots, 252 Atk / 252 Spe / 4 SpD, Adamant or Jolly, +1 or +2 Attack. Defenders: the 42 most-used OU Pokémon (excluding Salamence) at their most common spread, item and ability. No Tera, hazards, weather or Focus Sash. Best of Earthquake, Dual Wingbeat and Dragon Claw (Outrage added where stated); both hits of Dual Wingbeat are summed.
I've been playing video games for over 20 years, spanning everything from early PC titles to modern open-world games. I started Switchblade Gaming to publish the kind of accurate, well-researched guides I always wanted to find — built on primary sources, tested in-game, and kept up to date after patches. I currently focus on Minecraft and Pokémon GO.