The Swords Dancer is the bread and butter Garchomp set. Both of Garchomp's STAB moves together are only resisted by Skarmory and Bronzong. A Fire move in the last slot can easily take care of that problem. Fire Fang is preferred due to the Swords Dance boost, but Fire Blast hits Skarmory harder before Swords Dance. Garchomp possesses enormous potential to set up and sweep because of its above average defenses, especially after the opponent's bulky counter is worn down.
Thanks to Sand Veil and the ridiculous number of players who use Tyranitar or Hippowdon, this set is pretty much set up when either one of the two come out. Once a Sandstorm kicks up, Garchomp's evasion is raised to 28%. That's not a pretty picture for your opponent. BrightPowder Garchomp runs as an old fashion Swords Dancer. However, since it has such a high Evasion rate during a Sandstorm, it will most likely be able to put up a Substitute and use Swords Dance at least once. Garchomp needs to be the fastest it can be so that it has a better chance of not only setting up a Substitute, but also getting in a Swords Dance or two as well. Garchomp should always run both Ground and Dragon STAB moves in this set. This way, you'll be safe against most Pokémon who resist either type of moves. That being said, your only concerns are Bronzong and Skarmory since they aren't affected by Ground moves because of Levitate / Flying-type and Dragon is not very effective against Steel-types. You can run the BrightPowder Garchomp alone or as a part of a Sandstorm team.
Predict and kill something with this set. As with any strong Choice Bander, nothing can safely switch in without taking quite a bit of damage. Which Fire move you use depends on whether you dislike Skarmory or Bronzong more—Fire Blast will hurt Skarmory more; Fire Fang will do more to Bronzong. Jolly allows you to outspeed all base 100s; Adamant beats all base 100s without a +Speed nature. Outrage is an option over Dragon Claw that is seeing some use and is very powerful, but you must be very careful while using it—if your opponent has a Starmie or Weavile when you start using Outrage, you won't have your Garchomp for much longer. Use Crunch with Outrage so you can damage the common Cresselia switch-in early on in the match without being locked into Outrage. Garchomp can also use both Dragon Claw and Outrage. While it seems absurd to pack two Dragon-type moves at the same time, they fulfill different purposes. Dragon Claw is a reliable STAB move that allows Garchomp to strike other Dragons such as Salamence and opposing Garchomp early in the battle, whereas Outrage can be used to clean up the remains after the opponent has taken some serious beating.
Choice Scarf Garchomp makes a really awesome revenge killer and Choice Scarf user in general. It's still very dangerous with that sky-high Attack stat and a high base-power main attack. Outrage is your main attack here, and you don't have to worry as much about being locked in because you immediately outspeed everything without a Choice Scarf. As said above, this Garchomp gets good use out of being a revenge killer—if you send it in on something partially weakened, your opponent has to choose between losing what they have out, or sending something else in to take two Outrage hits. This set's main problem is that its main moves get walled by things like Skarmory, reducing its revenge-kill effectiveness. Crunch is weaker than Outrage even if it's super effective, but it helps you hit things like Cresselia early on in the match without getting yourself locked in to Outrage; Stone Edge is mostly filler but it helps against bulky Gyarados. Be careful about opening up with Outrage too early—Starmie isn't OHKOed all the time by it unless you have Stealth Rock on the field; the same goes for other, more durable counters.
Meet Chain Chomp, the "ridiculous surprise" of Diamond / Pearl, which follows in Tyraniboah's footsteps. The whole concept looks like a joke at first, with the EVs suggesting a focus on Garchomp's mediocre 80 Special Attack instead of that feared 130 Attack. The reason is Draco Meteor, an insanely overpowered move that gets STAB and kills many of Garchomp switch-ins within one or two turns. Hippowdon, Starmie, Slowbro, Weezing, and Donphan are merely examples. By supporting Garchomp with Stealth Rock you guarantee a KO on all of these as long as they go no further than maxing HP and 0 Special Defense EVs. Add Sand Stream to the mix for an increased evasion and more residual damage and you've got a killer surprise on your hands. Arguably the best use of this set is as following: first, use Swords Dance. Swords Dancing may lure an opponent into a false sense of security, as nothing tells them you are not running the standard physical sweeper, whereas any other move would give away the surprise. Yes, Earthquake as well, since it would do less damage than a usual Life Orb Garchomp would do. After Swords Dancing you should take note of what your opponent brings in to counter Garchomp. If it is one of these aforementioned counters, Draco Meteor them on your next switch-in and you should be able to knock them out next round. Note that Draco Meteor will usually do more against those than Earthquake, even after the Special Attack drop. This version of Garchomp will not last as long and not sweep as much as the others because of Life Orb's HP drop, the -Special Defense personality and the slightly lower Speed, but it does provide excellent support for a secondary physical heavy-hitter to come in and take advantage of the weakening or the killing of your opponent's Hippowdon, Slowbro, or whatever their main physical wall is. Fire Blast is there because it nearly always kills Skarmory and 2HKOs Bronzong, who you need to predict a bit. Earthquake will always OHKO Blissey after a Swords Dance, and even without a Swords Dance, 2HKO Blissey in Sand Stream, unless she has at least 709 HP and max Defense, in which case she stands a chance to live. More Attack EVs can be used for a guaranteed 2HKO, but generally this EV spread is more efficient.
The typical bread and butter Garchomp set, with a little twist. Some Pokemon carry 269-273 Special Attack to OHKO Garchomp with Ice Beam, such as Vaporeon and Starmie. With 180 Special Defense EVs and Salac Berry, Garchomp can turn what previously dooms it into a boost in its sweeping power. When these Pokemon unleash an Ice Beam at Garchomp's face, Garchomp will survive and Salac Berry will activate. If Garchomp ever gets any time to use Swords Dance, then its opponent will have to face a terrifying monster with +2 Attack and +1 Speed, almost ensuring victory against those that completely rely on Starmie, Slowbro, or Vaporeon to stop it. The Speed boost Garchomp obtains from Salac Berry allows it to outrun certain Choice Scarfed Pokemon, like Heracross and Porygon-Z, which would otherwise stop it from sweeping if Garchomp does not get a Speed boost, as well as outrunning non-Choice Scarf Weavile. Garchomp can run into problems when trying to sweep with this set, however. First of all, due to the bulky sweeper's specialization in surviving Ice Beams from a specific amount of special attack that would OHKO it otherwise, Spikes can ruin Garchomp's ability to survive the Ice Beam, preventing the set from working. Second, this Garchomp set does not provide survivability against physical Ice attacks. Moves such as Ice Shard can prove fatal to Garchomp's sweep as it tears through the Salac Berry boost with its +1 priority. This puts Garchomp at risk against Weavile, who often carry Ice Shard, meaning that Garchomp's boosted Speed may sometimes go to waste, and Mamoswine, who almost always carries Ice Shard and either forces Garchomp to switch out or die. Other OptionsOutrage on the Swords Dancer, especially with an Adamant nature, allows you to OHKO your bulky Water counters but leaves you vulnerable to the next switch-in. Garchomp doesn't have many other useful options in terms of moves. It may be dangerous, but it's not very versatile. Given that Garchomp has better overall defenses than Swampert, running a defensive set is a viable option. Unfortunately, the only support/defensive moves Garchomp has are Roar, Stealth Rock, and Rest + Sleep Talk. EVsJolly with at least 240 Speed EVs is recommended for most sets. This generates 330 Speed, enough to outrun all base 100 Speed Pokémon and the occasional Modest Starmie. Of course, at that point you might as well just use 252 Speed to tie at worst with enemy Garchomp. Max Attack with your remaining EVs in HP. Adamant can be used if you want a little extra power, but you'll fail to outrun max Speed Porygon-Z and Lucario and won't be guaranteed to outspeed Salamence and friends. Adamant nature is recommended for Choice Scarf sets. 224 Speed EVs means you will outrun Adamant Tyranitar even after it Dragon Dances twice. Maxing Speed allows you to tie with other Choice Scarf Garchomp, while dropping your Speed will allow to use more defensive EVs if you wish. You can go as low as 280 Speed and still outrun most Choice Scarf Porygon-Z and almost everything else that carries a Choice Scarf. Chain Chomp requires a Naughty nature; max Special Attack, use 240 Speed EVs, and put the remaining 16 in Attack. This is to ensure that Draco Meteor provides the kills you need it for. OpinionGarchomp is a fearsome beast indeed. The ability to outspeed base 100 Speed Pokémon along with excellent type coverage with its powerful STAB moves make it better than your average Pokémon. Even the bulkiest of Pokémon fear the Swords Dance version as a single critical hit or miss due to Sand Veil's Evasion boost in Sandstorm can spell disaster for any team. Choice Band and Choice Scarf Garchomp are capable of doing severe damage to the unprepared team, whereas Chain Chomp is going to catch you off-guard if you aren't familiar with it, which may very well cost you the game. Every team needs a reliable way to stop any form of Garchomp. CountersAny Ice Beam user, without STAB, needs at least 269 Special Attack to have a guaranteed OHKO on a min HP, min Special Defense Garchomp, unless Garchomp is holding a Life Orb (in which case you need 243 Special Attack if it has used an attack once, or a mere 216 Special Attack if it has attacked twice). With that in mind, Slowbro and Suicune can counter most of these sets. Starmie can switch in and OHKO the first set while it Swords Dances, and is bulky enough to shrug off an unboosted Earthquake. Outrage with Swords Dance will severely damage Suicune and Slowbro (residual damage means they lose) when Garchomp is Jolly, but allows your opponent to switch in something like Weavile or Starmie and OHKO your defenseless Garchomp. Cresselia can also switch in, set up Reflect, and threaten a kill or severely damage with Ice Beam. So long as they don't have a decent amount (~20%) of residual damage, Hippowdon and Donphan counter the Choice Band set. Hippowdon gets special mention, because it can easily Slack Off the damage it receives and switch in every time. Slowbro can do the same but it will be 2HKOed about 50% of the time against an Adamant Choice Band Garchomp if Sandstorm is in play. As far as the Choice Scarf set goes, Skarmory completely stops it as long as it is kept out of the way of Fire Blasts; other Steels are similar, but need to avoid Earthquake as well. Cresselia is an excellent counter for all sets, but shares the residual damage problem thanks to a lack of a reliable recovery move—its best bet is Rest / Sleep Talk for beating Garchomp. Celebi is another good choice. It needs Hidden Power Ice to do damage fast enough to some sets, but if it's locked into Earthquake, Celebi is pretty safe, and despite being weak to it, Celebi doesn't take much from Fire Blast. Fire Fang and Dragon Claw do rather low damage, even from the Choice Bander. Celebi has the defenses to mispredict a couple of times against something like Choice Band Outrage or Chain Chomp, and it can safely Recover later. Celebi and Cresselia are two of the above counters that can switch into Chain Chomp without risking death next turn. Togekiss and Zapdos can take Draco Meteor and Fire Blast with a lot of Special Defense investment; just watch out for Stealth Rock damage and Roost it off in time. Mantine does the same, but Mantine isn't a very good Pokémon otherwise. Repeated smart switching can wear out Draco Meteor's power (and PP) and Garchomp's HP (due to Life Orb); you're playing with fire though. If Stealth Rock is not up the damage output decreases somewhat. Most teams will want at least one bulky Steel-type specifically to take on Outrage from Choice Band or Swords Dance + Life Orb Garchomp. That is a powerful enough attack to do serious damage to even its counters if they don't resist it. Choice Band Outrage from Adamant Garchomp does 207-244 damage (49.3-58.1%) to 252 HP / 252 Def Impish Hippowdon. Even Jolly Garchomp has a slight chance to 2HKO Hippowdon. |
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