Garchomp, The Mach Pokémon. Garchomp makes its home in volcanic mountains. It flies through the sky as fast as a jet airplane, hunting down as much prey as it can. Garchomp is fast both underground and above. It can bring down prey and return to its den before its body has chilled from being outside.
Overview
Garchomp solidly remains one of the best Pokémon in the game even after all these generations. Its incredible STABs in Dragon and Ground coupled with a potent Attack stat and a Speed stat that is just ever so slightly above the crowded base 100 Speed tier, is already the recipe for a fantastic Pokémon. However, Garchomp goes a step further and actually has decent bulk, enabling it to take a hit even with minimal investment, giving Garchomp setup opportunities and making revenge KOs difficult on a healthy Garchomp. Garchomp gaining Scale Shot is a massive boon, enabling it to attack and boost its good speed in a single move.
Garchomp is not without its problems. A quadruple Ice weakness is a very noticeable Achilles Heel, even though Hidden Power’s removal means that fewer Pokémon can carry Ice moves. Rillaboom’s popularity is also troublesome, weakening Garchomp’s STAB Earthquake. New threats like Corviknight and Dragapult also pose problems in addition to existing ones like Tangrowth, Skarmory and Slowbro. At the end of the day, Garchomp is still a threat to be respect lest it rend your team into pieces.
Positives
Massive Base 130 Attack alongside STAB Earthquake and a great movepool ensures Garchomp will be hitting very hard.
Base 102 speed, while not as fantastic as it used to be, enables Garchomp to outspeed many threats and can boost its speed further with Scale Shot
108/95/85 Defenses helps Garchomp take hits, preventing easy revenge KOs and enabling Garchomp to setup
Negatives
Common weaknesses in Ice and Fairy stress team building, especially with the many other fantastic Pokémon weak to those types
Movesets
Samehada
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-Scale Shot
Item Attached: Life Orb
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
The tried and true Swords Dance Garchomp set. Swords Dance plus STAB Earthquake devastates any Pokémon that is not packing an immunity or resistance to it. Stone Edge helps patch up the blind spot of Earthquake, striking down the many Flying types/Levitators that otherwise null Earthquake like Zapdos, Moltres, and Rotom-Heat. Scale-Shot rounds out the set as a secondary STAB that boosts Garchomp's speed one stage, making it near impossible to outspeed and has the benefit of breaking Focus Sashes, Sturdy and Dragonite's Multiscale. Rough Skin is the preferred ability for punishing priority attacks and enabling Garchomp to passively chip targets.
DYNAMAX:
Garchomp is a terrifying Dynamax sweeper after setting up with its great base 108 HP providing obscene bulk. Max Quake further improves special bulk and is crucially not weakened by Grassy Terrain. Max Wyrmwind Scale shot is provides a similar benefit for physical bulk and patches up Scale Shot's less than perfect accuracy. Max Rockfall also patches up Stone Edge's accuracy issues, and the Sandstorm provided does synergize well if you are running Sand Veil, though Veil is considerably less consistent than Rough Skin.
EVs and Items:
Standard Sweeper array for maxing out speed and attack. Jolly Nature is preferred so Garchomp is guaranteed to outspeed the base Speed 100 pokémon like Volcarona and Salamence and has Garchomp speed tie with Neutral Natured Regieleki after 1 Scale Shot.
Other Options:
Fire Fang -Garchomp's best option against Flying Steel types Celesteela, Skarmory and Corviknight after a Swords Dance, who otherwise prove to be issues.
Iron Head/Poison Jab -An option against Fairies, especially Unaware Clefable, who otherwise shrugs off Garchomp's attacks and easily forces it out.
Draco Meteor/Fire Blast -Garchomp can choose to go mixed on the Swords Dance set, replacing Scale Shot. Draco Meteor has nice surprise factor, taking around 50% of the HP of most dedicated Physical walls and Landurus-Therian while Fire Blast is a solid 2-3 HKO on the Flying Steel types without being boosted. Naďve nature is recommended if using these moves.
Leftovers -Leftovers sacrifices some power for a great increase in bulk, allowing Garchomp to come in multiple times during a battle as a pivot
Lum Berry – As status is likely most people's first option for stopping a Garchomp sweep, this allows Garchomp to shrug it off once.
Partners:
Water types like Toxapex, Lapras and Tapu Fini all make great partners for Garchomp, thanks to their ability to tank Ice moves and lure in Electric types that Garchomp can use as setup fodder. All 3 benefit Garchomp by increasing its bulk (Scald burns, Aurora Veil) or protecting it from status (Misty Terrain).
Celesteela, and Corviknight also tank Garchomps Ice, Fairy and Dragon weaknesses fairly well and also draw in Electric types that Garchomp can setup on.
Ferrothorn also pivots into Garchomp's weaknesses and is a reliable counter to Water types who are usually carrying the Ice moves that threaten Garchomp in addition to providing the passive damage that facilitates Garchomp's sweep.
Shark Tank
-Earthquake
-Rest
-Stone Edge
-Stealth Rock/Sleep Talk
Item Attached: Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 136 Def / 120 Spe
Impish Nature
This set aims to take advantage of Garchomp's great bulk and the passive damage of Rocky Helmet and Rough Skin to punish contact attackers like Rillaboom, Melmetal, Kartana and Scizor. Earthquake is Garchomp's main STAB and does great damage even uninvested. Rest prevents status attempts and keeps Garchomp healthy over repeated hits. Stone Edge provides great complimentary coverage with Earthquake. Stealth Rock, further piles on the passive damage and draws in Defoggers which Garchomp can dispatch with Stone Edge. Alternatively, Sleep Talk keeps Garchomp active even while resting, though it is unreliable with the random move choice..
DYNAMAX:
It is not recommended to Dynamax with this set. You can't recover while Dynamaxed and while the escalating Special Defense buff and extra chip from Max Rockfall's Sandstorm is nice, Dynamaxing is better left to a dedicated sweeper, not a tank.
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EVs and Items:
Rocky Helmet is the crux of the set, enabling Garchomp to deal 29.1% of the attackers HP as recoil in conjunction with Rough Skin, and synergizes well with Rest. EVs and Nature are to make Garchomp as physically bulky as possible, as the only "common" contact moves that are special are Grass Knot and Draining Kiss. 120 Spe EVs with a Neutral nature ensures Garchomp outspeeds Neutral nature Nidoking, Heatran and Rillaboom.
Partners:
Faster frailer Pokémon that draw in priority and contact moves like Weavile, make good partners for Garchomp, able to draw in hits it easily resists and punish them on the switch.
Water types like Toxapex, and Lapras make great partners for Garchomp, thanks to their ability to tank Ice moves and increasing its bulk (Scald Burns or Aurora Veil)
VGC & Double Battle Options
Garchomp’s excellent qualities translate well into the doubles battle scene. Being one of the fastest STAB Earthquake attackers and one of the pioneers of the DisQuake combo, Garchomp possesses a storied history on the Doubles Battle scene. Rough Skin is even more valuable in Doubles than in Singles thanks to the prevalence of Fake Out and Focus Sash. Garchomp continues to make a splash despite being in a doubles environment more hostile to it than ever before. Intimidate users like Incineroar and Landorus Therian are everywhere, and Rillaboom is lurking around every corner, further sapping Earthquake’s strength.
Shark School
-Swords Dance
-Earthquake/Stomping Tantrum
-Rock Slide
-Protect
Item Attached: Safety Goggles
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Garchomp stands out from other physical attackers thanks to its fantastic base speed and its ability to “ignore” Intimidate thanks to Swords Dance. Thanks to that, Garchomp can eat multiple Intimidates and negate them in a single move. Or punish your opponent if they decide to go for a double Protect. STAB Earthquake is a great spread move, but if you are worried about Grassy Terrain and the friendly fire aspect, you can swap it out for Stomping Tantrum, which maintains STAB, is not blocked by Wide Guard or hindered by Grassy Terrain and can be stronger if Garchomp is flinched on the previous turn. Rock Slide pairs well with Ground STAB, is a spread move and has a good chance to Flinch thanks to Garchomp’s high speed. And with how fast paced Doubles Battles can be, a Rock Slide flinch can be key in deciding a battle. Protect rounds out the set as the doubles staple (waste Weather/Trick Room/Tail Wind turns, protect from friendly fire from allies, punish opponents focus firing you). As for Items, Safety goggles are a safety measure against Amoongus and Venusaur, preventing Sleep Powder and Rage Powder from shutting down your Garchomp.
Other Options and Team Ideas
Pair Garchomp with a Discharge user for the classic DisQuake combo. Thundurus, Zapdos and Rotom-Heat all naturally float over Earthquake, but other Electric types can be used if you are running Stomping Tantrum.
Tyranitar can be paired with Sand Veil Garchomp for some evasion shenanigans.
Though Garchomp can punish Fake Out with Rough Skin, having Fake Out and redirection support is still ideal to ensure Swords Dance goes off
Dynamax Celesteela pairs well with Garchomp, providing Special Offense to Garchomp’s physical, buffing up Speed and Defense, setting up Sandstorm with Max Rockfall and sharing no common weaknesses.
Breaking Swipe is a possible STAB support option, enabling Garchomp to pseudo Intimidate opponents.
Countering Garchomp
Garchomp is nigh impossible to outright counter. Its movepool is too wide, with its bulk and typing affording it many opportunities to setup. What works against Garchomp depends on what coverage moves it is running.
On sets lacking Fire moves, the Flying Steel types Skarmory, Celesteela and Corviknight all solidly tank Garchomp’s moves and can even tank a Swords Dance boosted blow, and either wear it down or phase it out with their own moves. Tangrowth can also perform well though must be extra careful of Fire Blast.
On sets lacking Steel or Poison moves, Fairy types can prove troublesome for Garchomp, especially since they can soak Scale Shot and deny Garchomp the speed boost. Unaware Clefable is by far the best, taking boosted hits well and can OHKO after Life Orb recoil, but it is still 2HKOd by Life Orb Earthqauke. Tapu Bulu doesn’t like eating boosted Stone Edges, but otherwise, comfortably tanks Garchomps other moves.
Hippowdon and Slowbro can phaze/hinder Garchomp if it hasn’t Swords Danced.
Naturally faster Pokémon with Super Effective STABs like Weavile and Dragapult, cannot take an attack, but if they are given a free switch in, they can force Garchomp out with their STABs.
Mamoswine, Weavile, and Rillaboom all have strong priority that will at least maim, if not OHKO Garchomp, with Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain reducing Earthquake’s power.
If all else fails, Burning Garchomp drastically reduces its threat level, as it is heavily reliant on its Physical attacks to do most of its damage.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Gabite
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Gabite
Black/White:
Trade from Black 2
Black 2/White 2:
Evolve Gabite (Black 2)
Trade from Black 2 (White 2)
X/Y:
Evolve Gabite
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Evolve Gabite
Sun/Moon:
Evolve Gabite
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Evolve Gabite
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game
Sword/Shield:
Tunnel to the Top, Path to the Peak (Shield)
Max Raid Battles: Giant's Bed, Path to the Peak, Frigid Sea, Three-Point Pass, Ballimere Lake (Shield)
Anime Appearences
