There's a minor glitch in Pokémon Sword and Shield: The Crown Tundra DLC affecting fan-favorite Dragonite that has trainers befuddled. While the glitch isn't game-ruining, it does present a minor annoyance for fans of the Dragon-type who want to complete its movepool.
The Pokémon Sword & Shield's Crown Tundra DLC launched only a week ago, but fan response has been largely positive, in stark contrast to Pokémon Sword and Shield's controversial release. Trainers were thrilled for the chance to catch new Legendary Pokémon, including Calyrex, Glastrier, and Spectrier, along with the new Regi titans Regieleki and Regidrago, and familiar faces from Pokémon titles past, such as Altaria, Cosmog, and Dragonite. While Dragonite could be obtained by evolving one from a Dragonair, Crown Tundra offered trainers their first opportunity to catch one in the wild - except there was one small issue.
The glitch is hardly Crown Tundra's biggest problem, but it's an annoyance nonetheless. Dragonite and its two evolutions, Dratini and Dragonair, learn the move Outrage by leveling up, where Dratini learns the move at level 55 and Dragonair at level 67. Dragonite, on the other hand, learns the move at level 41, which doesn't seem like much of an issue at first glance. But Dragonite evolves from Dragonair at level 55, which means that a Dragonite leveled up normally or caught in the wild would never be able to learn the move naturally. So it would make more sense for Dragonite to learn the move at a higher level...say, 71 instead of 41. Serebii.net's Joe Merrick was the first to discover the bug and immediately theorized it to be a typo (thanks, Game Rant).
All hope is not yet lost for trainers hoping for a Dragonite that knows Outrage. There are a few workarounds for the glitch in the meantime. A Dragonite transferred into the game from Pokémon GO or Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee won't be affected by the glitch. If that's not an option, trainers can take their Dragonite to a Pokémon center's Move Relearner and teach it Outrage there. And lastly, trainers who have Dratinis or Dragonairs and want to add Outrage to their Dragonites can simply wait until the earlier evolutions learn the move before evolving Dragonair.
As mentioned, the glitch is in no way a game-killer, but rather a minor inconvenience with a few plausible workarounds. It's unknown whether or not Game Freak will amend the issue in a future patch, especially considering that Crown Tundra is reportedly the last DLC to be released for Pokémon Sword and Shield and that the glitch doesn't cause any major gameplay issues. But such a minor fix seems like the least Game Freak can do for a legendary favorite.
Pokemon Sword and Shield is available on Nintendo Switch.
Source: Joe Merrick, Game Rant