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Published on December 4th, 2012 | by TKOWL

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Trainer’s Guide to Garchomp

Garchomp is a Pokemon whose reputation precedes him. In the Singles GBU metagame, he’s a huge force to be reckoned with thanks to his monster Attack and well-placed Speed. In Doubles and VGC matches, however, I’ve heard some consider him to be an inferior and unreliable choice thanks to the predominance of Dragon Gem Draco Meteors from faster Dragons and the massive amount of Ice-type attacks on any given team. I’m here to counter that, however, and explain the benefits of using Garchomp, identifying why it’s a good Pokemon.

An Overview of Garchomp

First, let’s take a close look at Garchomp’s stats at level 50:

At first glance, Garchomp doesn’t have the most revolutionary stats: 130 Attack is its only real highlight and even that’s outclassed by both Salamence and Dragonite. Take a closer look, however, and you see Garchomp’s real strength. Its base Speed of 102 is perfecting stat distribution, outspeeding Hydreigon, Salamence, Landorus, and Thundurus-T as well as all base 100s, the Speed tier with the most threats. Garchomp’s defenses of 108 HP / 95 Defense / 85 Special Defense aren’t anything like Multiscale Dragonite but still allow Garchomp to take more than its fair share of hits and are actually better than Swampert’s. Overall, Garchomp’s weakest stat is a Base 80 Special Attack, but you’ll almost never see Garchomp using that. With Base 85 Special Defense as its second worst stat, Garchomp has an incredible stat distribution that allows for more than reasonable bulk on a Pokemon that can hit hard and fast.

Garchomp’s typing also gives it some significant advantages. Garchomp shares a Ground / Dragon typing with only one other Pokemon — Flygon. This typing makes Garchomp surprisingly difficult to take down. As a Ground-type, Garchomp would be expected to struggle against Grass- and Water-type attacks, but thanks its secondary Dragon-typing negating that weakness, Garchomp can shrug unboosted Grass- or Water-type attacks off. Similarly, Garchomp’s Dragon / Flying brethren have to worry about an added weakness to Rock-type attacks which Garchomp, thanks to its Ground-typing, actually resists. That Ground-typing also makes Garchomp immune to Electric-type attacks, including the extremely popular Thunder Wave, making him a reliable lead against Thundurus and other Pokemon who like paralyzing to heck out of their opponents. Garchomp also receives STAB on Ground-type attacks, giving him probably the most reliable Earthquake in the metagame.

This typing unfortunately makes him 4x weak to Ice-type attacks, like Dragonite and Salamence, but since Garchomp probably won’t have to carry a Dragon Gem since its Draco Meteor isn’t so great, it can carry a Yache Berry, guaranteeing it to survive almost any Ice Beam at full HP. Garchomp also makes for a great user of Haban Berry, which allows it to durvive incoming Draco Meteors and retaliate back with a STAB Dragon Claw or Outrage. Garchomp also makes for a great Focus Sash user, allowing it to more reliably survive both Ice- and Dragon-type attacks. BrightPowder is a more hilarious option for a held item, making Garchomp incredibly hard to hit in the Sand, but a player shouldn’t rely on it solely to succeed, like any other luck-based item.

Garchomp is lucky enough to have two viable abilities: Sand Veil and Rough Skin. With Tyranitar enjoying high popularity in this metagame as a weather-canceller, Garchomp possesses the ability to abuse or punish Sand by receiving a free evasion boost simply by virtue of being Garchomp. Garchomp’s Rough Skin is a more reliable alternative if you don’t care for Sand teams, causing recoil damage of 1/8 the aggressor’s HP to any Pokemon that uses a contact move on Garchomp, including Fake Out.

Example Garchomp

Garchomp @ Yache Berry
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Jolly
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake
– Rock Slide
– Protect

This is about as basic of a Garchomp as you’re going to get. With 252 Speed EVs, Jolly Garchomp is able to outspeed max Speed Hydreigon, Salamence, Thundurus-T, and every base 101 and below and hit them hard with super effective moves. This type of Garchomp is likely to hold a Yache Berry to survive the first Ice-type attack it’s targeted with or a boosting item like a Life Orb for extra damage.

Garchomp @ Haban Berry
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Jolly
36 HP / 116 Atk / 4 Def / 196 SpDef / 156 Speed
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake
– Substitute
– Protect

Used in Ray’s winning Worlds team, this set makes for a very bulky Garchomp. Behind a Substitute, Garchomp can protect itself from a surprising amount of moves that could potentially OHKO it and hit back hard with both Dragon Claw and Earthquake. Haban Berry is also another interesting item replacement, providing Garchomp with the ability to take almost any Draco Meteor, but at the same time making it extra weak to Ice-type moves. The EV spread allows Garchomp to outrun base 100-102 speed Pokemon without a boosting nature and the 116 Attack EVs allows Garchomp to KO 4 HP Latios with Dragon Claw, making sure that Garchomp still has a respectable amount of damage output in addition to its bulk.

Garchomp @ Haban Berry
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 156 HP/68 Att/30 Def/172 SDf/84 Spd
– Dragon Claw
– Swords Dance
– Protect
– Earthquake

Used in Dimsun’s World Champion team, Swords Dance Garchomp is a fantastic attacker after a boost and with its Adamant nature. There is heavy defensive investment on this Garchomp so that it is able to survive more attacks and thus set up more Swords Dances. Like Ray’s Garchomp above, this Garchomp can also survive a Timid Latios’ Dragon Gem Draco Meteor with Haban Berry and KO back with Dragon Claw. Without Ice-type attacks on the field, Garchomp is free to set up a Swords Dance and cause absolute massive damage with Dragon Claw and Earthquake. This set is for people who don’t mind Garchomp being outpaced by other Pokemon, in fact this Garchomp only outspeeds neutral base 80 Pokemon like Chandelure and Mamoswine, but want Garchomp to hit as hard as possible.

Garchomp (M) @ BrightPowder
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature (+Spd, -SAtk)
– Dragon Claw
– Earthquake
– Protect
– Swords Dance

I can’t possibly talk about Garchomp without going a little bit more in-depth on Sand Veil and Brightpowder. This Garchomp, used by MangoSol throughout the 2012 season, relies on Garchomp’s Sand Veil ability and the evasion boost provided by Brightpowder to make plays and get a free Swords Dance off. Because of this, there is no defensive investment in this Garchomp: it just hits hard and fast. And you just might get that free turn. In the Sand, Garchomp’s Sand Veil gives it a 25% boost to its Evasion which drops 100% accurate attacks to 80% accuracy. Add Brightpowder to that and Garchomp will only be hit 72% of the time by any 100% accurate attack, only slightly better odds than hitting Hurricane outside of Rain. Combined with Paralysis support this can turn games into coin flips. If this Garchomp gets one lucky break, it gets a free Swords Dance and will rampage through an opponent’s team. If it doesn’t, however, then it can drop very quickly thanks to its lack of a Yache or Haban Berry.

Building a team around Garchomp

Despite Garchomp’s versatility, he can’t be put on every team possible. For example, paring it with Heatran would be stupid because Garchomp would easily OHKO it with Earthquake. The most obvious partners for Garchomp are Flying-types and Levitating Pokemon, who are immune to Garchomp’s Earthquakes. These support Pokemon often also help disabling Garchomp’s main counters, easing his time on the field.

However, there’s one Doubles strategy that Garchomp has been known for ever since its introduction into the VGC metagame way back in 2008: DisQuake.

DisQuake is a very simple strategy but one that has potential to catch unprepared opponents off-guard. Garchomp’s immunity to Electric allows Zapdos to fire off infinite Discharges while Zapdos’ Ground immunity allows Garchomp to use Earthquake freely. This combo has an unfortunate weakness to incoming Blizzard, but both can defeat Abomasnow and other Bilzzard users with Heat Wave and Rock Slide, respectively. Other prominent users of DisQuake include the Rotom Formes, Thundurus, and Eelektross.

Tyranitar is also a fantastic partner to Sand Veil Garchomp, instantly increasing its evasion. Tyranitar must worry about Protecting itself from Garchomp’s Earthquake, but the two don’t share weaknesses, forming good synergy. Tyranitar can also hit Cresselia hard with Crunch, a Pokemon that gives Garchomp a lot of trouble. Hippowdon can also set up sand for Garchomp, but unfortunately they both share a weakness to Ice.

Countering Garchomp

Despite how much of a threat he may look, there are many ways that you can prepare yourself for Garchomp. The most solid and rock-hard counter to Garchomp is Choice Scarf Abomasnow, always able to outspeed and hit with a STAB 4x effective Blizzard. Any Pokemon that can survive a Rock Slide or Dragon Claw and fire back a STAB Ice Beam or Blizzard can threaten Garchomp, especially bulky Pokemon like Cresselia, through Yache Berry. Garchomp can barely do anything to a standard Rotom-W, as Rotom will hit back with either a STAB Hydro Pump or Hidden Power Ice. Bulky Thundurus is also starting to become a popular counter, as it can survive almost three Rock Slides and hit back hard with Hidden Power Ice.

Kingdra and Latios are the two best Dragon-types to deal with Garchomp, able to OHKO a non-Haban Berry Garchomp with a Dragon Gem Draco Meteor. Kindgra will always outspeed Garchomp in Rain, and Latios will outspeed regularly. However, be aware that Haban Garchomp will likely survive and KO back with its STAB Dragon Claw.

Sand Veil, however, can make even hitting Garchomp a pain. If Garchomp is in Sand, the best thing to do is get rid of it with an opposing weather, such as Rain or Hail. Hail is probably the better way, as it constantly buffers Garchomp and makes any Blizzard used against it 100% accurate.

Conclusion

As you can see, Garchomp stands on a tier of its own. In a metagame that is full of STAB Draco Meteors and Special-attacking Dragons, Garchomp stands out from the rest with its good bulk, typing, and abilities. Hey, two world champions used Garchomp; why shouldn’t you?

Article image created by The Knights of Wario Land for NuggetBridge.

About the Author

TKOWL Ryan G. has been playing Pokemon competitively since 2011. He placed decently in 2013 Regionals and Nationals, and recently finished 15th in the top cut of Virginia Regionals. He is currently attending University of the Arts in Philadelphia.

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