Dark Dragonite · Team Rocket, what to know.
About the Dark Dragonite card
Numbered 22 of 83 in Team Rocket, released in April 2000, Dark Dragonite is a Rare, a Stage 2 Colorless-type carrying 70 HP.
It evolves from Dark Dragonair, so Dark Dragonite is a later-stage card that set-builders usually slot into a full evolution run rather than buy alone.
Team Rocket darkened Dragonite under its control for the set's villain arc, a grittier repaint of the familiar Pokémon with an altered attack profile.
Illustrated by Mitsuhiro Arita. Arita painted the Base Set Charizard and much of the early holo run, and his work has a painterly weight that set the visual tone of the Wizards era.
Dark Dragonite carries this Pokédex flavor text: "Sometimes called "The God of Destruction." Its wings are able to support it in spite of its massive weight."
About Dragonite in the Pokémon world
The fully evolved Dratini line. Friendly orange dragon silhouette. One of the most-beloved Pokémon designs. Fossil holo Dragonite is the marquee chase of the entire Fossil set. PSA 10 1st Edition examples are genuinely scarce and command top of the Fossil price chart.
What is Dark Dragonite worth?
Dark Dragonite is a non-holo Rare. In Team Rocket, value concentrates in the holo rares, so a Dark Dragonite trades modestly, though a clean, well-centered 1st Edition copy in PSA 10 is scarcer than the print run suggests and carries a real premium. Check the live price above for the figure by grade.
Print variants and how to spot them
Team Rocket shipped in 1st Edition and Unlimited, with no Shadowless print. The 1st Edition Dark Dragonite carries the Edition 1 stamp under the artwork and trades above the Unlimited copy in matching grade. The set is also home to Dark Raichu, the first Secret Rare ever printed.
Grading and condition
Non-holo Rares like Dark Dragonite are easier on surface but no kinder on centering. Wizards-era cards were less protected than the holos, so high-grade Dark Dragonite survivors can be scarcer than expected, with edge whitening the usual cap.
If you are collecting Dark Dragonite
For Dark Dragonite, check centering by eye, edge whitening on all four sides, and surface under angled light. Non-holo Rares from this era are cheap enough that a PSA 10 submission on a clean Dark Dragonite can make sense.
Three prints, three markets.
Edition 1 stamp under the artwork. Trades above Unlimited in matching grade.
No stamp. The standard, more affordable print.
