The Golden Experience
[SET]
Gholdengo @ Air Balloon / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Fairy / Flying / Fighting
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Shadow Ball
- Make It Rain
- Recover / Focus Blast / Dazzling Gleam
SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
Gholdengo’s unique defensive typing and Good As Gold make it one of the best standalone Pokémon in the tier. Gholdengo can offensively and defensively answer the defensive Pokémon in the metagame; being Arghonaut, Equilibra, Venomicon and Slowking-Galar. Gholdengo is able to setup on defensively oriented teams and quickly break through them with Nasty Plot. Recover gives Gholdengo the sustainability to break through defensive teams and the ability to come in at a later point in the match. Shadow Ball is the ghost STAB of choice on non Thunder Wave variants and allows Gholdengo to break through most cores when paired with Nasty Plot and Focus Blast. Make it Rain provides immediate pressure into balance oriented teams and allows you to 2HKO Venomicon switching in, Chuggalong at +1 Special Defense and OHKO Hemogoblin. Focus Blast is the coverage move of choice and allows you to break through Ting-Lu and Equilibra. Maximizing Speed and Special Attack EVs allow Gholdengo to setup with Nasty Plot and break through teams more reliably.
Gholdengo is best slotted onto balance and offense teams which utilize Spikes and Stealth Rocks as a reliable source of damage throughout the match. Air Balloon allows Gholdengo to switch into Equilibra and Great Tusk to deny Rapid Spin. Heavy-Duty Boots is a useful option that allows Gholdengo to deny receiving chip damage from opposing Hazards. Tera Flying is the most reliable defensive typing which allows Gholdengo to live Equilibra’s Earth Power after Air Balloon has been broken. Tera Fighting allows Gholdengo to OHKO both Equilibra and Ting-Lu at with a +2 Focus Blast.
Tera Fairy removes Gholdengo’s weakness to Dark moves and allows Gholdengo to reliably answer the Dark, Fighting, and Dragon types within the tier.
Checks and Counters
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Ground-types and Pokemon carrying Ground-type Coverage: Equilibra, Gastrodon, Gliscor, Great Tusk, Landorus-Therian and Ting-Lu threaten Gholdengo with super effective STAB Ground moves once Air Balloon has been broken.
Dark-types and Pokémon carrying Dark-type Coverage: Chromera, Darkrai, Kingambit, Malaconda, Roaring Moon and Samurott-Hisui all threaten Gholdengo with super effective Dark moves that can OHKO Gholdengo pre-terastralization which potentially forces Gholdengo to Terastralize early. Argonaut, Gliscor and Ogerpon-Wellspring can click Knock Off and remove Gholdengo’s Air Balloon or Heavy-Duty Boots, leaving it vulnerable to both entry hazards and common Ground type coverage.
Ghost-types and Pokémon carrying Ghost-type Coverage: Dragapult, Revenahnk and Kitsunoh all outspeed and threaten Gholdengo with super effective Ghost STAB that can OHKO Gholdengo pre-terastralization.
Fire-types and Pokémon carrying Fire-type Coverage: Cinderace, Iron Moth, Hemogoblin and Mollux all threaten Gholdengo with super effective Fire STAB that can force Gholdengo to switch out or risk being heavily damaged. Stratagem most common set carries Fire Blast while utilizing the Fire Tera typing which can OHKO Gholdengo when paired together. Stratagem also commonly clicks Meteor Beam into Fire Blast which guarenteed OHKOs Gholdengo if landed. Chuggalong can setup Clangorus Soul in front of non-boosted Gholdengo and OHKO it with a +2 Flamethrower.
Faster Offensive Pokémon and Priority:
Gholdengo does poorly into hyper offensive matchups which commonly have Pokémon that don't mind hazards and outpacing Gholdengo while also retaliating with hard hitting attacks.
Pokémon with Pivot moves:
Pokémon with Pivot moves can remove Gholdengo’s Air Balloon and swap into a Ground type to remove Gholdengo from the game. Pivot moves gain momentum as they force Gholdengo out and can go into the next answer to your switch-in or they remove Gholdengo’s Air Balloon from the match.
Specially bulky Pokémon:
Specially bulky Pokemon such as Argonaut, Equilibra and Mollux can switch into Gholdengo and force it out by removing its item or dealing significant damage. Argonaut can spam Knock Off which forces Gholdengo to waste its recover PP. then if Gholdengo terastralizes Argonaut can force it out with Circle Throw.
Garganacl:
Cinderace:
what it’s defensive typing does in the tier + presence on hazard removal
what it’s defensive typing does offensively in the tier
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