Gogoat, The Mount Pokémon. It can tell how its Trainer is feeling by subtle shifts in the grip on its horns. This empathic sense lets them run as if one being. They inhabit mountainous regions. The leader of the herd is decided by a battle of clashing horns.
Overview
Gogoat is certainly an interesting Pokémon. It is primed as a physically offensive Grass-type Pokémon, which isn't something you see all that often. While it was revealed along the premise of being able to ride it, sadly confined to Lumiose City, Gogoat is in fact a viable Pokémon and can be used to decent success. It has a nice rounded movepool and significant bulk so it can do incredibly well. While it has great physical fortitude and movepool, its Special is almost as good, just lacking the movepool, which is disappointing.
Positives
+ Its Hit Points are great, and tied with its middling Special Defense, it can survive many Fire hits.
+ Its physical Attack and its physical movepool is just phenomenal
+ Its abilities can be somewhat handy in the right condition.
Negatives
- It could be faster
- Its physical Defense is just poor
- The lack of a diverse Special movepool runs at this Pokémon's detriment
Abilities
Sap Sipper: Attack is raised by one stage when the Pokémon is hit by a Grass-type move. User receives no damage from Grass-type attacks. - This is a handy ability, allowing you to switch in to Grass-type moves to get a decent boost. Unfortunately, Grass-type moves aren't that common.
Hidden Ability (Available):
Grass Pelt: Increases Defense by 50% when battling on Grass or if the move Grassy Terrain is in effect - Grass Pelt is an ability which is good and necessary, but in battling competitively, it will see less use. Few Pokémon run Grassy Terrain in their sets, which is a shame as Gogoat NEEDS that boost.
Movesets
Wake Me Up, Before You Gogoat
-Bulk Up
-Horn Leech
-Earthquake
-Milk Drink
Item Attached: Leftovers / Big Root
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Careful Nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
This is a standard set you'll see for Gogoat. Bulk Up will boost Gogoat's Attack to beautiful levels, and make its Defense something that is actually passable. If you manage to set up a couple of these, Gogoat will be nigh-on unstoppable. Horn Leech is a great move at Gogoat's disposal. While it's not overly powerful, it will automatically give you back half the damage inflicted. Earthquake is Earthquake and really needs no explanation while Milk Drink is a cool move that is only known by a couple of Pokémon, and heals Gogoat by 50% of its maximum. If you can start this by switching into a Grass-type move, Gogoat is certainly a force to be reckoned with.
Gogoat Gadget Choice Band
-Horn Leech
-Earthquake
-Rock Slide
-Wild Charge/Payback/Brick Break
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
Gogoat hits hard in general, this is a fact, so what you can do is run a Choice Band set to make it hit further. Switch into a Grass-type move at the start and you're even more powerful. Horn Leech has the STAB, and also helps Gogoat recover, which is especially nice to have on a move in a Choice set. Earthquake speaks for itself. Rock Slide hits hard, with a chance of flinching. For the final move, Wild Charge hits hard, but has recoil which may be at detriment to you, while Brick Break can break through screens, which is always beautiful. Payback also monopolises on Gogoat's lack of Speed, meaning it will have its power doubled if moving after the opponent.
Other Options
Aerial Ace, Assault Vest, Bulldoze, Energy Ball, Leaf Blade, Substitute/Leech Seed, Surf
Aerial Ace is always a handy move. It's Flying-type meaning it only has a couple of resists, and it is guaranteed to hit.
Assault Vest is a valid option for Gogoat, allowing you to shore up its Special Defense to survive the fire hits that will plague it.
Bulldoze is a good choice as it will lower the opponent's Speed while damaging to make Gogoat potentially move first.
Energy Ball is a move many won't expect. People expect Gogoat to run Physical sets, so throwing in a Special move can do decent damage and surprise many an opponent
Leaf Blade is a good STAB substitute, but it won't recover health. What it does have, though, is a higher Critical Hit ratio.
Substitute & Leech Seed as a combination is always one that annoys players, and thanks to its bulk and easy ability to recover help, can make Gogoat a horrible Pokémon to face
Surf. Yes, Surf. Gogoat is a bizarre oddity in being one of the few non-Water-type Pokémon that can learn Surf, so monopolise on it and Gogoat's beefy Special Attack
Double & Triple Battle Options
For a Pokemon that gives people rides, it's disappointingly slow, clocking in at base 68 speed.
Base 123 HP mixed with Base 62 Defense and Base 81 Special Defense means it can take some hits well, just not Brave Bird.
Its moveset seems rather limited too which does Gogoat no favors. It DOES have Milk Drink, but it doesn't have the bulk to shrug off multiple hits, heal the damage off, and put pressure on the opponent, like Mega Venusaur, Ferrothorn, or Gourgeist. For that, any recovery is going to have to come from Horn Leech, otherwise Leaf Blade will be your best bet.
Go-Go At
- Horn Leech/Leaf Blade
- Brick Break
- Wild Charge
- Protect
Item Attached: Choice Band
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 Atk, 200 Speed, 56 HP
Adamant / Jolly Nature
If you're in a level 50 environment use 204 Speed, the goal being to outspeed max speed Tyranitar according to your nature (if you're Jolly, you'll outspeed all Jolly Tyranitar, unless they are holding a scarf and so on).
Your Grass STAB is up to preference. More damage and higher crit rate? Or lower damage at the cost of health being restored?
Brick Break is just for Tyranitar, but the other things that get hit by it super effectively are cool too
Wild Charge is an alternate method of hitting Water types and Flying types for Super Effective damage, mainly Gyarados
Sap Sipper is a great ability, but it's fairly situational, especially since Gogoat is already a Grass type, so only really inexperienced players will target it with a Grass Type attack. One could try and give Gogoat a partner with Petal Blizzard, but that's more or less putting a little too much faith into Gogoat in my opinion, especially when Mega Charizard Y exists.
Great partners for Gogoat would be Pokemon who lure in Grass Type attacks, but generally can pose a threat to flying types, like Talonflame, Swampert comes to mind immediately, but also some Rain teams would prefer to have a grass immunity rather than resistance, so Gogoat could fit in there too.
Overall, Goagoat's speed is its greatest let down, with some higher speed, it might be able to appreciate more of its movepool like Rock Slide or Swagger, moves that appreciate going first. Beyond that, Gogoat has a niche somewhere, but for now it is pretty overshadowed by fellow Grass Types.
Countering Gogoat
Talonflame. Talonflame is the ultimate anti-Gogoat. Its Brave Bird and Flare Blitz will just utterly destroy any Gogoat, even one trained in Defense. It's just the thing that Gogoat fears at night. It acts like the bird has grabbed the goat off the mountain and dropped it. Alternatively, just pummelling it with physical Flying-type moves or Fire-type moves in general. Burning a Gogoat is a good option, as well, since it shuts down most Gogoat sets
Locations in Games
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Not in game
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Not in game
Black/White:
Not in game
Black 2/White 2:
Not in game
X/Y:
Friend Safari
Animé Appearences
