I. Introduction
Garchomp receives tons of buffs this gen: Spikes, Loaded Dice and Tera. The format is also dominated by hazard games, so in theory, Chomp should be a staple OU mon right? Actually, with the metagame that everyone and their dogs can do Spikes stacking, especially when the big deer in the room - Ting Lu - can do both Spikes, Chip and Fazing with Whirldwind, Chompy has fallen to UU, and then rose to UUBL for being too much for UU to handle. So... what is the niche left for our once-great Chompy?
The answer is the ultimate role compaction that Chompy has: Stealth Rock, Spikes, Fazing in Dragon Tail all in one. Dragon Ground typing also helps a lot against Wogerpon. Without Crit, Chomp only takes 30-40%, and can deal a lot against Pon with Dragon Tail. Pon isn't really fond of clicking Play Rough due to the chip from Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet, and other moves like Knock, U-Turn or Power Whip only results in Pon being chipped further for Valiant to finish.
As such, I build a balance team with the goal of making Chomp's hazard setting as lethal as possible.
II. Proof
III. Team composition
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/1dc16663811d0910
IV. Explain
- Garchomp: Chompy is the main star of the show. with bulk investment, Chomp can take on several hits, as well as surviving 1 Ice Spinner from unboosted Tusk and Treads. Chompy only runs barely enough speed to outspeed a modest max speed Raging Bolt. The moveset is quite self-explanatory: Spikes and Rock for hazards, Dragon Tail for fazing and anti-setup, Earthquake for a strong obvious STAB. Tera Ghost helps Chomp protect the hazards from spinner in the metagame.
- Slowking: I run max sp def for Slowking because the team needs a strong answer to Iron Moth. Glowking can either 2HKO it with Psychic Noise or weaken it enough for Gambit to overrun it. Noise is also particularly helpful against Stall teams, either forcing tera or causing Wish pivot attempts to fail. Ice Beam is a surprise measure against the quad weakness Ground mons in the tier.
- Moltres: Another sp def investment mon. Tres can help Glowking cover things like Enamorus if it chooses to click Earth Power. In early game, if protecting the hazard isn't the main priority, Moltres can disincentivize Tusk to click Rapid Spin or Ice Spinner. Moltres is also a great tool against non-Stone Edge Zamazenta, ensuring Gambit with an easier late game.
- Gholdengo: I run the Hex set because the team needs another physically bulky friend to protect Chomp's hazards. Bulky Ghold is also particularly great against unboosted Ival, Zamazenta and can soft-check Wogerpon by paralyzing it. Def bulk also allows Ghold to survive a Headlong Rush for once and KO it back with Make it Rain at full. Otherwise, Iron Valiant can come in to finish the business.
- Iron Valiant: I run Boost Valiant and I actually find it really good in balance teams. 364 max speed may not be too impressive against faster offensive mons, but it's enough to clap the slower mons in the tier that doesn't run Scarf like Tusk, Treads or Pon. Close Combat allows Valiant to cleanly KO a chipped Pon without being worried of tera Water. Knock Off with Tera Dark helps Val clean KO non-Colbur Glowking. Moonblast helps with Tusk and Encore helps a lot against set-up sweepers like Calm Mind Primarina or Calm Mind Bolt. Boost also makes it a great anti-Web teammate.
- Kingambit: Ghost and Dark resist, and can soft check Darkrai without Focus Blast. However, Wisp and Knock Off still hurts. Nevertheless, Gambit is always a great revenge killing machine, and has been a good fit into the team for me.
V, Honourable mentions:
- Darkrai: I once tried Darkai for Gambit position as a dark resist, but Krai is too frail and cannot handle the multiple barrage of Tera Ghost Pult.
- Hisuian Zoroak: theoretically, HisuiRoark can both block Rapid Spin and Ghost moves with its typing. However, 350 speed isn't too impressive for an offensive mon without boost, unless you have some degree of bulk and valuable immunity like Wogerpon. In addition, HisuiRoark doesn't hit as hard as I expect, and it's another victim of Gambito. Therefore, the plan is ultimately scrapped.
- Mandibuzz: Pivot, Knock, Ghost and Dark resist all in one mon. However, due to its passiveness, I find it hard to justify running Mandibuzz in a non-stall team.
VI. Problematic mons:
- Darkrai: Obviously. Krai can outspeed Val, deal damage against 2 of my dark-weak mons and either KO with Focus Blast or cripple with Knock / Will-o-wisp against Gambit. I try to invest some bulk into Moltres, hoping to trade with the behemot or weaken it. Tera Fairy Ghold to paralyze it also makes it much less threatening in my eyes.
- Raging Bolt: Yeah, Bolt is a pain to deal with. Usually, I will have to keep both Chomp and Glowking alive for this matchup. In late game, Glowking can make greedy Bolt click Calm Mind before pivoting out with Chilly Reception for Valiant to encore. Chomp can also force Bolt into Dragon Pulse and burn tera to click Encore. I don't find the HO variant as threatening as the pivot variant, because it can always use Glowking as a pivot and KO Chomp with a Dragon Pulse.
- Hatterene, Gweezing and Cindrace: The former two can punish Chomp with its fairy typing. Hatterene can prevent Chomp from setting hazards while GWeezing and pivot into a safe spot and click Defog to erase everything. Cindrace can cripple Chomp with burn and Court Change to remove every hazard that Chomp sets. As such, it is recommendable to play offensively without creating Hazards.
VII. Conclusion
Despite aforementioned shortcomings, I find the team performing quite well in top ladders. As such, I hope that in the next tier shift, Chompy can go back to where it belongs: OU.
Garchomp receives tons of buffs this gen: Spikes, Loaded Dice and Tera. The format is also dominated by hazard games, so in theory, Chomp should be a staple OU mon right? Actually, with the metagame that everyone and their dogs can do Spikes stacking, especially when the big deer in the room - Ting Lu - can do both Spikes, Chip and Fazing with Whirldwind, Chompy has fallen to UU, and then rose to UUBL for being too much for UU to handle. So... what is the niche left for our once-great Chompy?
The answer is the ultimate role compaction that Chompy has: Stealth Rock, Spikes, Fazing in Dragon Tail all in one. Dragon Ground typing also helps a lot against Wogerpon. Without Crit, Chomp only takes 30-40%, and can deal a lot against Pon with Dragon Tail. Pon isn't really fond of clicking Play Rough due to the chip from Rough Skin and Rocky Helmet, and other moves like Knock, U-Turn or Power Whip only results in Pon being chipped further for Valiant to finish.
As such, I build a balance team with the goal of making Chomp's hazard setting as lethal as possible.
II. Proof
III. Team composition
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/1dc16663811d0910
IV. Explain
- Garchomp: Chompy is the main star of the show. with bulk investment, Chomp can take on several hits, as well as surviving 1 Ice Spinner from unboosted Tusk and Treads. Chompy only runs barely enough speed to outspeed a modest max speed Raging Bolt. The moveset is quite self-explanatory: Spikes and Rock for hazards, Dragon Tail for fazing and anti-setup, Earthquake for a strong obvious STAB. Tera Ghost helps Chomp protect the hazards from spinner in the metagame.
- Slowking: I run max sp def for Slowking because the team needs a strong answer to Iron Moth. Glowking can either 2HKO it with Psychic Noise or weaken it enough for Gambit to overrun it. Noise is also particularly helpful against Stall teams, either forcing tera or causing Wish pivot attempts to fail. Ice Beam is a surprise measure against the quad weakness Ground mons in the tier.
- Moltres: Another sp def investment mon. Tres can help Glowking cover things like Enamorus if it chooses to click Earth Power. In early game, if protecting the hazard isn't the main priority, Moltres can disincentivize Tusk to click Rapid Spin or Ice Spinner. Moltres is also a great tool against non-Stone Edge Zamazenta, ensuring Gambit with an easier late game.
- Gholdengo: I run the Hex set because the team needs another physically bulky friend to protect Chomp's hazards. Bulky Ghold is also particularly great against unboosted Ival, Zamazenta and can soft-check Wogerpon by paralyzing it. Def bulk also allows Ghold to survive a Headlong Rush for once and KO it back with Make it Rain at full. Otherwise, Iron Valiant can come in to finish the business.
- Iron Valiant: I run Boost Valiant and I actually find it really good in balance teams. 364 max speed may not be too impressive against faster offensive mons, but it's enough to clap the slower mons in the tier that doesn't run Scarf like Tusk, Treads or Pon. Close Combat allows Valiant to cleanly KO a chipped Pon without being worried of tera Water. Knock Off with Tera Dark helps Val clean KO non-Colbur Glowking. Moonblast helps with Tusk and Encore helps a lot against set-up sweepers like Calm Mind Primarina or Calm Mind Bolt. Boost also makes it a great anti-Web teammate.
- Kingambit: Ghost and Dark resist, and can soft check Darkrai without Focus Blast. However, Wisp and Knock Off still hurts. Nevertheless, Gambit is always a great revenge killing machine, and has been a good fit into the team for me.
V, Honourable mentions:
- Darkrai: I once tried Darkai for Gambit position as a dark resist, but Krai is too frail and cannot handle the multiple barrage of Tera Ghost Pult.
- Hisuian Zoroak: theoretically, HisuiRoark can both block Rapid Spin and Ghost moves with its typing. However, 350 speed isn't too impressive for an offensive mon without boost, unless you have some degree of bulk and valuable immunity like Wogerpon. In addition, HisuiRoark doesn't hit as hard as I expect, and it's another victim of Gambito. Therefore, the plan is ultimately scrapped.
- Mandibuzz: Pivot, Knock, Ghost and Dark resist all in one mon. However, due to its passiveness, I find it hard to justify running Mandibuzz in a non-stall team.
VI. Problematic mons:
- Darkrai: Obviously. Krai can outspeed Val, deal damage against 2 of my dark-weak mons and either KO with Focus Blast or cripple with Knock / Will-o-wisp against Gambit. I try to invest some bulk into Moltres, hoping to trade with the behemot or weaken it. Tera Fairy Ghold to paralyze it also makes it much less threatening in my eyes.
- Raging Bolt: Yeah, Bolt is a pain to deal with. Usually, I will have to keep both Chomp and Glowking alive for this matchup. In late game, Glowking can make greedy Bolt click Calm Mind before pivoting out with Chilly Reception for Valiant to encore. Chomp can also force Bolt into Dragon Pulse and burn tera to click Encore. I don't find the HO variant as threatening as the pivot variant, because it can always use Glowking as a pivot and KO Chomp with a Dragon Pulse.
- Hatterene, Gweezing and Cindrace: The former two can punish Chomp with its fairy typing. Hatterene can prevent Chomp from setting hazards while GWeezing and pivot into a safe spot and click Defog to erase everything. Cindrace can cripple Chomp with burn and Court Change to remove every hazard that Chomp sets. As such, it is recommendable to play offensively without creating Hazards.
VII. Conclusion
Despite aforementioned shortcomings, I find the team performing quite well in top ladders. As such, I hope that in the next tier shift, Chompy can go back to where it belongs: OU.
goatchomp
