Legendary Pokémon

Pokemon of the Week DP: Garchomp

Sets

Swords Dance Sweeper

Item Held

Life Orb

Nature

Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)

Effort Points

252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

• Dragon Claw
• Earthquake
• Fire Fang
• Swords Dance

When somebody takes a look at Garchomp's movepool, this set is the first that pops to their mind. Two awesome STABed moves, powered up even more by Swords Dance, able to destroy a whole lot of OU Pokémon, with Fire Fang as backup for hitting Skarmory and Bronzong, preventing them from walling you. While it seems as a usual, predictable Physical Sweeping set, Garchomp can deal great ammounts of damage with it. Life Orb further boosts the damage output.

ScarfChomp

Item Held

Choice Scarf

Nature

Adamant (+Attack, -Special Attack)

Effort Points

252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

• Outrage
• Earthquake
• Fire Blast
• Stone Edge

With an Attack stat of 394 and a Speed boosting item that makes Garchomp faster than anything but other Scarfers, it becomes a real terror. Outrage can rip whole team apart once their Physical Wall is out. Fire Blast helps on knocking out the most famous Wall, Skarmory. Earthquake is there for STAB and Stone Edge will take care of Gyarados. Despite Outrage's 180 base power (after STAB), Stealth Rock support is essential as most bulky Pokémon are not OHKOed by it.

ChainChomp

Item Held

Life Orb

Nature

Naughty (+Attack, -Special Defense)

Effort Points

252 Special Attack - 240 Speed - 16 Attack

• Draco Meteor
• Fire Blast
• Swords Dance
• Earthquake

At first glance, this is a stupid set focusing on Garchomp's weakest stat. However, this insane set is even better than Tyraniboah was in Advance. Not only it can attack from both sides of the spectrum, but it does it effectively too. After Swords Dancing once, most opponents will expect a strong Physical move, switching to their Physical Wall. Then, a Life Orb boosted Draco Meteor or Fire Blast will hit them unexpectedly, emptying their HP bar. Most of Garchomp's counters are 2HKOed by Draco Meteor, with Stealth Rock down, you can ensure that. Earthquake is here to take advantage of Swords Dance and for killing those Special Walls that think they've predicted your Draco Meteor.

If max Speed IV isn't the case, take those few Attack EPs and stuff them in Speed. You'll always need to hit 300 Speed so that you're faster than Modest SpecsMence and other base 100 Speed Pokémon.

SS Chomp

Item Held

Brightpowder

Nature

Jolly (+Speed, -Special Attack)

Effort Points

252 Attack - 252 Speed - 6 HP

• Dragon Claw
• Earthquake
• Swords Dance
• Substitute

Probably the most annoying Sweeper that a Sandstorm based team could get. Combining its Sand Veil ability with Brightpowder, Garchomp will be able to evade some moves. To even help itself stay alive for more time while wrecking havoc, Substitute will keep away those hits that manage to break through Sand Veil and Brightpowder. Dragon Claw and Earthquake are obviously in this set for STAB. The only Pokémon that can scare this Garchomp away are Skarmory and Bronzong, so teaming it up with Magnezone is actually a quite good idea since Magnezone is also immune to Sandstorm. Of course, you can use this Garchomp out of a Sandstorm team too as Tyranitar and Hippowdon are everywhere in the OU metagame.

Other Possible Options

Garchomp's only other noteable Physical moves are Crunch and Poison Jab, they could be used for hitting specific Pokémon like Cresselia and Ludicolo but other than that, Dragon Claw/Outrage are enough.

A Garchomp with Choice Band could be used but since it can easily pull of a Swords Dance, there's no reason to bother with it. Well, Garchomp does have some moves like Toxic and Stealth Rock but, honestly, I don't think there is somebody out there who's going to make a support Garchomp. Finally, Yache Berry is an option, but it sacrifices Life Orb's power.

Counters

Ice Beam is obviously Garchomp's biggest fear. Pokémon like Slowbro, Milotic and Suicune that can take a Swords Dance boosted Earthquake and survive are counters to the first set. Starmie can OHKO with Ice Beam while Garchomp sets up. Swampert and Rhyperior's Avalanche can get the job done too. Cresselia can also switch in on predicted Earthquakes are either KO with Ice Beam or set up a Reflect for the rest of the team.

ScarfChomp is countered easily by Skarmory and Bronzong as long as they avoid Fire Blast. Those two Pokémon can also counter the Sandstorm Garchomp set. Again, Cresselia can switch in and threaten with Ice Beam, but it fears Outrage.

As far as ChainChomp goes, Light Screen Zapdos is an excellent counter. It can take hits and Roost off the damage. Same thing can be done by Togekiss as well. Once again, Cresselia could possibly switch in but it will need a great deal of Special Defense EPs and the lack of a recovery move hurts her.

Opinion & Notes

Garchomp came to claim the position of the best Physical Sweeper by Tyranitar and it really does it. After a Swords Dance, nothing can switch in without getting some good damage. With its fantastic type coverage and that Sand Veil ability that always seems to work when it is least expected, it can become a really pain to every team. And of course, never forget the ChainChomp as it can end the game if you don't predict its moves well.

Note that Outrage is an egg move.

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