Pokemon Focus: #445 - Garchomp

Introduction

By now, everyone knows about Garchomp: it was the non-Uber that was banished into Ubers because it was just too strong. Not like Wobbuffet, who was just cheap, or any of the actual Ubers whose base stats are just too high for standard competition. It's more comparable to Latios, really, who has been decided to be unsuitable for standard play even without his signature Soul Dew item, as well as possibly Shaymin's Sky Forme. (As of this writing, his sister Latias is undergoing strict crutiny over possibly having the same fate.)

So, why Garchomp? Quite simply, it was just too strong. Its stats are in just the right place for it to be effective, and with the right combination of items and moves, it is near unstoppable. Not that it can't be stopped at all, but it was so powerful that at one point, pretty much every team needed Garchomp, some Garchomp supporters, and a Garchomp counter. It was just that good.

What about in-game, then? Well, there is only one thing to say there: Cynthia's Garchomp. It's one of the most difficult Pokemon to take down, even with a somewhat subpar moveset. It is powerful and can knock out your entire team if you can't handle it. (And in the anime, it does just that to Paul... without him even getting a hit back.) Lance's Garchomp in his rematch could easily be a similar contender, so watch out there.

Quite simply, Garchomp is powerful. Almost too powerful. Does such a Pokemon have a place in our more-focused-on-personal-favorites team? Maybe not, but hey; it's a killer land shark that looks like someone put torpedoes on a jet plane. Tell me that's not cool.

Capture/Training

It's another Safari Zone Pokemon. With the additional difficulty of properly leveling blocks up while day-abusing, it might be easier to just have one transferred over from Diamond.

Gible evolves into Gabite at Level 24, and into Garchomp at Level 48. You may want to delay Gible's evolution three levels to learn Dragon Claw first, but definitely evolve Gabite at the first chance, as Dragon Rush isn't that good and Garchomp learns Crunch right at the evolution point.

Stats

108 HP, 130 Atk, 95 Def, 80 SpA, 85 SpD, 102 Spe

These stats are arguably placed right where they need to be. Plenty of Attack power, great Speed, and great defensive stats as well. Garchomp is, for all it is concerned with, set to sweep its way past any Pokemon in the game.

With that said, there's pretty much no doubt Garchomp wants as much in Attack and Speed as it can get. Although 80 SpA is workable, if you really want.

Ability

Sand Veil is Garchomp's only ability. It will only come into play during a sandstorm, but that 20% evasion increase could very well mean the difference between an Ice Beam knocking Garchomp out and Garchomp Outraging the opponent out first. Definitely consider pairing Garchomp with Tyranitar (or Hippowdon) to take advantage of this ability.

Moves

Well, let's start with the obvious offensive physical moves: Earthquake and Outrage and/or Dragon Claw (the latter being far less powerful but without the locking/confusion drawbacks; it's not at all a bad idea to run both, in fact). The two have great coverage on their own, only really running into trouble when faced with Skarmory, levitating Steels, or Shedinja. There really isn't much else to throw on there. A gimmick mixed set can run Draco Meteor.

It's not like Garchomp has much in the way of secondary moves, either. Crunch isn't a bad option at all, and might give you a surprise hit on Bronzong. Stone Edge can nail Skarmory for extra damage, and hits other Flyers that Earthquake can't reach hard. Both Steels can be hit really hard by Fire Fang, though the move is otherwise rather weak. (However, it does manage to break past Wonder Guard regardless of type, so you could use it to beat random WonderTombs.) Past that, though, you just have Aqua Tail for neutral coverage with Outrage/Dragon Claw, which combined with Earthquake, only leaves Shedinja to deal with.

Fire Blast is an option over Fire Fang to hit Ground-immune Steels hard, as well. Whatever Garchomp is lacking in special attack power is often made up by Fire Blast's high Base 120 power and the fact that many of its targets have lower Special Defense than Defense. That's really it from its special movepool, though; unlike many of its fellow pseudo-Ubers, Garchomp wasn't really ever meant to use a mixed set.

Garchomp's support moves aren't much, either. Just Swords Dance, Toxic, and Substitute, really. However, Swords Dance is often all you need to absolutely demolish a team.

Effective Movesets

1. Choice

- Outrage

- Earthquake

- Dragon Claw

- Crunch/Stone Edge

Item: Choice Scarf/Choice Band

Note: With a Choice Scarf, Garchomp serves well as a revenge-killer. With a Choice Band, he works well as an offensive force that can still outpace many slower foes. The fourth slot can go to whichever secondary attack you want.

2. Swords Dance

- Swords Dance

- Outrage/Dragon Claw

- Earthquake

- Crunch/Stone Edge/Fire Fang

Item: Life Orb/Yache Berry

Note: Yache Berry gets a mention for one thing it notably does: keep Ice Shard users from knocking it out prematurely. That can often mean the difference between victory and defeat.

3. Mixed

- Outrage

- Earthquake

- Fire Blast/Fire Fang

- Draco Meteor

4. SubSalac (Battle Frontier only)

- Substitute

- Swords Dance

- Dragon Claw/Outrage

- Earthquake

Item: Salac Berry

Note: Nothing says "sweep" quite like this set. Make sure Garchomp's HP will be divisible by 4 after the level adjustment.

Closing Notes

Garchomp so far has the fewest effective movesets of all our main team Pokemon. However, it is arguably one of the best at what it does: absolutely demolish opposing teams. There's a reason it was banned in standard play, after all.