OU Spotlight: Garchomp

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Introduction

No matter what the metagame is like, Garchomp will probably always be a top-tier Pokémon. In Generation IV, Garchomp was only legal in OU for a short time before being banned to Ubers. The combination of Sand Veil, high Speed, and Attack was too much for the OU metagame to handle.

Generation V rolled around, and once again Garchomp was swiftly banned to Ubers. However, once Garchomp's hidden ability Rough Skin was revealed in BW2, and Sand Veil was banned under the evasion clause, Garchomp made a return to the OU metagame.

Generation VI was not kind to Garchomp, as the introduction of the brand new Fairy type alongside the general Speed creep saw Garchomp drop in effectiveness, which translated to a drop in usage. However, as XY progressed, Garchomp slowly grew in popularity as a suicide lead, and by the end of XY, Garchomp was the go-to lead on offense. Garchomp had adapted to the metagame, and it was popular again.

The story was similar for Garchomp after the release of the next games. ORAS started out poorly for Garchomp. Two new Magic Bounce Pokémon had been introduced, meaning that Garchomp's role as a Stealth Rocker was made harder to perform effectively. The new influx of fast offensive Pokémon such as Mega Lopunny, Mega Gallade, Mega Metagross, and Mega Sceptile didn't do anything to help Garchomp's case as an offensive Pokémon either. However, as the metagame progressed, Garchomp did what it has always done and adapted to the metagame trends to again become a top-tier Pokémon. Garchomp's revival must mainly be accredited to the spike in usage of the Tank Garchomp set. The old XY set that had originally come about as a deterrent to Mega Kangaskhan and Choice Band Talonflame was now being thrown onto teams as a pivot for physical attackers such as once again Talonflame, as well as Mega Lopunny, Bisharp, and Mega Scizor. In 2015, during the months of August and November, Garchomp sat atop ORAS OU. It garnered over 26% usage in August, and managed to eclipse 27% in November, making it the most used Pokémon in OU. Garchomp had yet again successfully adapted to a changing metagame. Garchomp's ability to become a mainstay across generations just goes to show just how versatile and consistent of a Pokémon it really is.

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Garchomp's Qualities

Above average Speed and a high Attack stat are the first two things one would likely notice when looking at Garchomp. Its Speed stat, however, is probably the most interesting singular aspect. Garchomp is one of just two Pokémon in the entire game with a base Speed stat of 102, the other being Furfrou. This means Garchomp barely outpaces the clogged base 100 Speed tier, which contains Mega Charizard X and Y, Manaphy, Jirachi, Celebi, Zapdos, Mega Gardevoir, Mega Medicham, Staraptor, Victini, and Volcarona. The sheer number of OU viable Pokémon that sit in this Speed tier goes to show just how important Garchomp's Speed creep can be, especially for offensive sets.

However, Garchomp's Speed is not the only interesting stat. With no single stat falling below 80, Garchomp is surprisingly bulky and even sports a usable Special Attack stat. Garchomp is not defined purely as a physical sweeper; instead, it excels in a variety of roles.

Garchomp's typing is great both offensively and defensively. On the offensive side, Dragon and Ground give almost perfect neutral coverage, and when combined with a great movepool including Fire Blast and Stone Edge, Garchomp has the ability to hit almost every Pokémon in OU for solid damage.

As far as Garchomp's defensive typing is concerned, it sports three weaknesses, three resistances, and one immunity. Dragon is one of the most solid defensive typings in the game, combined with Ground, which gives Garchomp the ability to block Volt Switch and absorb other Electric attacks.

Garchomp's movepool not only grants it solid offensive coverage, but also gives it access to great utility moves; Swords Dance and Stealth Rock are great complementary options. Garchomp also sports a useful ability in Rough Skin, which damages any Pokémon using contact moves.

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Playing with Garchomp

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Garchomp's recent resurgence in usage is largely accredited to the re-emergence of this set. Tank Garchomp, unlike other Garchomp sets, takes advantage of Garchomp's fantastic HP and above average Defense stat to become an effective pivot and Stealth Rocker. The combination of Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet deals ~29% to any Pokémon using a contact-based move and therefore is a great deterrent to U-turn and many other contact moves like Knock Off and Brave Bird. Garchomp's ability to chip away at Pokémon with residual damage is actually more important than just being a deterrent to physical attacks. Weakening Pokémon just by letting them attack can be very useful support for the other members of Garchomp's team, especially on offense teams, which usually need a little bit of residual damage on a Pokémon before a teammate can finish them off.

Tank Garchomp fits best on bulky offense teams, where it is used as a Stealth Rocker and a pivot into dangerous physical attackers like Bisharp, Mega Scizor, Talonflame, and Mega Lopunny. However, Tank Garchomp isn't limited to those teams. Garchomp's access to Dragon Tail actually makes this set into a very interesting prospect in that it is one of the only Stealth Rockers that can act as a bulky pivot into the aforementioned threats to offense, such as Mega Lopunny, Bisharp, and Talonflame, but does not become passive in doing so. Most Pokémon that invest in bulk will lose their offensive presence, but Garchomp's access to Dragon Tail means that it cannot be rendered setup fodder, as it can simply phaze a setup sweeper if required.

Stealth Rock chips away at all Pokémon without Magic Guard, and when it's used alongside Dragon Tail, Garchomp can shuffle opposing Pokémon around to weaken them. Dragon Tail is also useful to phaze setup sweepers such as Mega Scizor and Talonflame. Earthquake is Garchomp's main STAB move, used to hit Pokémon such as Bisharp and Mega Lopunny. Fire Blast is used to deal damage to other Steel-type Pokémon, such as Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Scizor. Toxic can be used over Fire Blast to catch walls such as Slowbro, Hippowdon, Landorus-T, and even other Tank Garchomp.

Garchomp is the only viable Dragon Tail user in the entire tier, and as such, it is sometimes found in an interesting situation that no other Pokémon would be placed in. Dragon Tail is also useful to shuffle team around on hazards, especially if Garchomp has a good matchup against the Pokémon in front of it. In the case of a Pokémon such as physical Jirachi, it is likely that the Jirachi will not want to attack the Garchomp in front of it, as it will take ~29% recoil and only deal a small amount of damage in return. Therefore, the Jirachi user will switch out. Knowing this, the Garchomp user can freely click Dragon Tail and shuffle the opposing Pokémon around on hazards with very little risk.

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Life Orb + Swords Dance Garchomp is probably the most common offensive Garchomp set that is currently popular. The sheer power of Garchomp's Life Orb-boosted attacks, especially when combined with a potential Swords Dance boost, can make Garchomp very difficult to switch into.

On this set, the standard two STAB moves are combined with Fire Fang, which is used almost exclusively to hit Skarmory. However, it can also OHKO Ferrothorn and Mega Scizor at +2, which is something Earthquake cannot achieve. Outrage is slashed with Dragon Claw if one desires the extra power, which can be useful to net KOs on Pokémon such as Slowbro and Rotom-W, something that Dragon Claw could never do. +2 Outrage even has a decent chance to OHKO standard Hippowdon after Stealth Rock.

Salac Berry is another viable item on Swords Dance Garchomp, giving Garchomp a +1 Speed boost once it's under 25% HP. Usually paired with Substitute over Fire Fang, "SubSalac" Garchomp utilizes Substitutes to avoid status and gain potential setup opportunities. Usually Garchomp will attempt to set up a Substitute against Pokémon such as Mew, Heatran, and Tyranitar, as well as Choice-locked Electric Pokémon such as Raikou and Magnezone, since they are threatened out or cannot break Garchomp's Substitute. Garchomp can then proceed to set up with Swords Dance to threaten the rest of the opposing team.

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Used primarily as a lead, Stealth Rock Garchomp takes advantage of its offensive presence combined with good natural bulk to get up Stealth Rock.

The two listed items work very differently. Focus Sash works best against offensive teams, where it will allow Garchomp to survive any one hit from another Pokémon, thus allowing it to set up Stealth Rock or perhaps weaken a threatening Pokémon from the opposing team. Lum Berry, however, can give an edge when facing more defensive teams. It ensures Garchomp is not neutered by Will-O-Wisp or Scald burns and can still remain effective against bulkier Pokémon like Rotom-W, Slowbro, and Mew.

Dragon Claw and Earthquake are Garchomp's two main STAB moves. Swords Dance can be used in order to threaten bulkier Pokémon such as Hippowdon, Landorus-T, and Clefable and is more commonly used alongside the Lum Berry. Fire Blast is more commonly used on the Focus Sash variant and gives Garchomp coverage to hit Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Skarmory. Outrage is occasionally used on the Lum Berry variant, as it gives Garchomp a more powerful STAB move, and also a way to better break down Pokémon immune to Ground such as Rotom-W and Landorus-T.

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Mixed Garchomp, A.K.A. "Chain Chomp", invests heavily in Special Attack and acts as a lure for walls that might switch in on a regular Garchomp. Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Slowbro are hit hard by Draco Meteor and then finished off with the appropriate coverage move. Skarmory is roasted by Life Orb-boosted Fire Blast, and Togekiss is crushed by Stone Edge. Stealth Rock is slashed with Stone Edge, as Chain Chomp can still act as a reliable Stealth Rocker if a team requires it. Poison Jab can also be used to lure and 2HKO the likes of Clefable and Togekiss.

Physical attackers like Talonflame, Bisharp, and Mega Lopunny are the type of Pokémon often paired with Chain Chomp, as they appreciate its ability to lure and severely damage physical walls that they cannot break through.

Due to Garchomp's Special Attack being comparatively low to its Attack stat, maximum investment is needed to attain the appropriate power behind moves such as Draco Meteor. This is what makes it possible for Garchomp to eliminate physical walls effectively.

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Utilized mainly as a revenge killer or late-game cleaner, Choice Scarf Garchomp uses the element of surprise to its advantage, revenge killing Pokémon such as Latios, Dragon Dance Mega Charizard X, and even some other Choice Scarf users such as Heatran, Hoopa-U, and Kyurem-B.

The ability to outpace slower Choice Scarf users and deal with the likes of +1 Mega Charizard X and Dragonite is one of the main selling points for Choice Scarf Garchomp. This is important in its role as a late-game cleaner. Garchomp's powerful STAB moves combined with above average Speed for a Choice Scarf user can allow it to finish off a weakened team.

Earthquake and Outrage are the mainstays of this set, hitting hard even on neutral targets. Dragon Claw can be used if Garchomp would like to switch out the very next turn, as Outrage locks Garchomp in for multiple turns. Fire Blast once again is used for Scizor, Skarmory, and Ferrothorn.

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Playing against Garchomp

There is no universal counter to every single Garchomp set. However, there are a few groups of Pokémon that are usually safe responses.

Bulky Fairy-types like Clefable, Togekiss, and Mega Altaria are good answers for Garchomp. An immunity to Garchomp's Dragon STAB moves combined with good natural bulk will usually allow them to take any hit Garchomp can throw at them.

Pokémon with a Ground immunity and good natural bulk such as Skarmory, Landorus-T, and Mandibuzz can usually handle Garchomp as well. Skarmory will usually wall all sets besides those with Life Orb Fire Blast. Landorus-T can handle all sets besides the Chain Chomp set. Mandibuzz can handle all sets more reliably, but it doesn't like being badly poisoned or shuffled around on Stealth Rock via Dragon Tail.

Supremely bulky physical walls such as Slowbro, Hippowdon, Porygon2, and Cresselia can also combat Garchomp with the combination of reliable recovery and great natural bulk to stomach Garchomp's attacks. Slowbro, Porygon2, and Cresselia also all have access to Ice Beam, which can be a good way to deal with Garchomp. Mega Sableye is another Pokémon worth mentioning, completely shutting down all Stealth Rock variants of Garchomp besides Lum Berry.

As far as revenge killers go, fast Dragon-, Ice-, and Fairy-types are the way to go. Pokémon such as Latios, Weavile, and Mega Diancie can all outspeed and OHKO Garchomp with their STAB moves. Pokémon such as Keldeo and Serperior are also decent checks, as they will always beat Garchomp one-on-one due to a combination of good natural bulk and the ability to naturally outspeed and 2HKO it with their main STAB moves.

Lastly, Garchomp is highly susceptible to status. Scald burns and Will-O-Wisp heavily neuter its offensive potential whilst also wearing it down turn for turn. Toxic, on the other hand, is a bit less detrimental for Garchomp's offensive capability, but when combined with Life Orb recoil, it can wear down Garchomp very quickly.

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Fitting Garchomp on a team

How Garchomp will fit on a team is completely dependent on the set it is running. Swords Dance and Life Orb Garchomp sets are more commonly found on offense, but Tank Garchomp can be utilized on many teams from offense to semistall.

On offensive builds Garchomp is commonly partnered with other strong physical attackers in order to pressure and eventually break down other common physical walls.

Tank Garchomp can work well on a variety of teams. On offense builds, Tank Garchomp acts as a deterrent to common offense breakers such as Talonflame, Bisharp, and Mega Lopunny whilst also acting as a Stealth Rocker. On semistall, Tank Garchomp will take the hazard-stacking route, usually paired with a Spikes user, as Garchomp's Dragon Tail can be used to shuffle the opponent's team around, aiming to win games through hazards pressure.

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Get out there!

Garchomp's great power, bulk, speed, and versatility allow it to be a effective Pokémon in many roles in the ORAS OU metagame. The Speed creep in ORAS may have hurt Garchomp initially, but as Garchomp ahas always done, it adapted to a new metagame and still remains one of the most consistent Pokémon in the game since it was released.

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