Daily Red Donphan set and strategy

Donphan is S-tier on our Daily Red tier list (#4 of 30) — one of the best Pokémon you can get against Red. On paper it wins 4 of 6 one-on-one matchups against Red (Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Charizard). Play Daily Red ↗

The Donphan set in Daily Red

Donphan

Ground

Leftovers · Sturdy · HP 384 · Atk 372 · Def 277 · SpA 140 · SpD 156 · Spe 136

Ground Earthquake Physical · 100
Rock Rock Slide Physical · 75
Normal Body Slam Physical · 85
Normal Double-Edge Physical · 120

Every player gets this exact set when Donphan is in the daily six: level 100, Adamant nature, perfect IVs, holding Leftovers with Sturdy. The set never changes from day to day.

Donphan vs each of Red's Pokémon

Estimated damage at level 100 with these exact stats (Gen 3 formula, no crits, no boosts). “Wins” means it should take the one-on-one trade, counting who moves first.

Red's Pokémon	Donphan's best hit	Red's best hit back	Moves first	1v1
Pikachu	Earthquake 393–462% (super effective)	Iron Tail 10–12%	Pikachu	✅ wins
Espeon	Earthquake 94–111%	Psychic 58–68%	Espeon	✅ wins
Snorlax	Earthquake 46–54%	Body Slam 28–33%	Donphan	✅ wins
Venusaur	Earthquake 54–64%	Giga Drain 72–84% (super effective)	Venusaur	❌ loses
Charizard	Rock Slide 141–166% (4× super effective)	Flamethrower 59–70%	Charizard	✅ wins
Blastoise	Earthquake 47–56%	Surf 101–119% (super effective)	Blastoise	❌ loses

Red's Pokémon

Donphan's best hit

Red's best hit back

Moves first

1v1

Pikachu

Earthquake 393–462% (super effective)

Iron Tail 10–12%

Pikachu

✅ wins

Espeon

Earthquake 94–111%

Psychic 58–68%

Espeon

✅ wins

Snorlax

Earthquake 46–54%

Body Slam 28–33%

Donphan

✅ wins

Venusaur

Earthquake 54–64%

Giga Drain 72–84% (super effective)

Venusaur

❌ loses

Charizard

Rock Slide 141–166% (4× super effective)

Flamethrower 59–70%

Charizard

✅ wins

Blastoise

Earthquake 47–56%

Surf 101–119% (super effective)

Blastoise

❌ loses

How to use Donphan against Red

Save Donphan for Pikachu, Espeon, Snorlax, Charizard — those are the one-on-one trades it wins on paper.
Avoid leaving it in against Venusaur, Blastoise; switch to a teammate that covers them (see below).
Venusaur's Giga Drain is super effective on Donphan (72–84%), so don't switch it in on that attack.
Blastoise's Surf is super effective on Donphan (101–119%), so don't switch it in on that attack.
It beats Red's Pikachu lead: Earthquake does 393–462%.
Leftovers heals 1/16 of max HP each turn, so it gets a bit more value the longer it stays in.

Best partners for Donphan

If these show up on the same day, they cover the matchups Donphan loses:

Machamp — beats Venusaur, Blastoise
Heracross — beats Venusaur, Blastoise
Gyarados — beats Venusaur, Blastoise
Kingdra — beats Venusaur, Blastoise

How often Donphan shows up

Each day's six are drawn from a fixed pool of 30 sets, so any one set appears on about 1 in 5 days. Over the first 365 days, Donphan is in the team on 54 days (15%), and it is our suggested lead on 48 of those (89%). Its most common job in our counter plans is handling Pikachu.

Days it has appeared so far:

Daily Red #2 — Tue, Oct 13, 2026

Other Daily Red Pokémon

Gyarados · Jolteon · Flygon · Breloom · Slowbro · Houndoom · Arcanine · Alakazam · Machamp · Gengar · Rhydon · Starmie · Scizor · Heracross · Kingdra · Tyranitar · Sceptile · Blaziken · Swampert · Ludicolo · Shiftry · Gardevoir · Aggron · Medicham · Manectric · Camerupt · Milotic · Salamence · Metagross