How to unlock Dragapult
Getting Dragapult means pulling the Galar banner and hitting its 5★ slot. The 5★ band takes 1.5% of all pulls and holds 103 partners, so one specific Dragapult works out to about 0.0146% per draw. The 70-pull pity counter guarantees a 5★, but it does not target Dragapult specifically, so a guarantee can still resolve to another 5★. A duplicate Dragapult refunds 300 coins at the 5★ rate.
Dragapult stats and rank
Dragapult carries 110 HP, 138 speed, a ×1.36 attack multiplier, ×1.36 physical, ×1.25 special, 75 defense and 75 special defense, 600 in total. On the three-stat percentile this is 86.4 out of 100, which puts Dragapult at rank 36 of 966 and in tier S. What separates it from its neighbours is shape, not size: its strongest slot is speed (99th percentile) and its weakest is defense (58th percentile), so it is a specialist rather than an all-rounder.
Best moves in Dragapult's pool
At move level 5 the pool is led by Dragon Claw at 48.3 damage per 0.39s (168.4 effective DPS, ×1.36 multiplier), then Body Slam at 75.6 damage per 0.71s (144.3 effective DPS, ×1.36 multiplier), then Tackle at 33.6 damage per 0.38s (121.9 effective DPS, ×1.36 multiplier). 9 of its 16 damaging moves scale with the physical multiplier and 7 with the special one, alongside 5 support moves. Its physical multiplier is the higher of the two (×1.36 against ×1.25), so physical moves convert better. The top option beats the second by 24.1 DPS, which decides slot one and leaves slot two as a judgement call.
Evolution cards for Dragapult
Its starting move, Dragon Rage, evolves into Draco Meteor once the move is at level 5 and you hold the Power card, which boosts attack for that run. If Power never appears in that run's level-up offers, the move stays at level 5 and unevolved. 16 of its 21 moves carry an evolution card, across 6 distinct cards (Vigor, Sprint, Power, Reflexes, Armor and Magnet). The strongest of them is Dragon Claw at 168.4 effective DPS, so that is the one worth holding a card for first.
Dragapult compared to similar partners
The two closest stat lines in the roster are Zeraora (+0 HP, +0 speed, -0.04 attack, +0 total) and Marshadow (+0 HP, -8 speed, +0.03 attack, +0 total). Against Zeraora, the two are level on speed and Dragapult hits harder by ×0.04, and the rank gap is 5 places. Those differences are what you actually trade when swapping partners, not a straight upgrade path, so neither side is a strict upgrade and the move pools have to break the tie.