One of Gyarados's most powerful and intimidating sets as of date. The addition of physical Waterfall, Ice Fang, and Stone Edge has allowed Gyarados to become one of the most powerful sweepers in the OU metagame when played correctly. Dragon Dance is obviously the crux of this set as well as the EVs, outpacing Jolly Tyranitar before a Dragon Dance and besting even Jolly Weavile after a Dragon Dance. STAB Waterfall gives the set an immense advantage over many physical sweepers as it easily purges bulky Grounds from the picture. The flinch rate from Waterfall is also helpful after a Dragon Dance. Ice Fang and Stone Edge give the best coverage when paired with Waterfall. Despite the shaky accuracy of Stone Edge as well as Ice Fang at times, they're almost necessary to eliminate threats such as opposing Gyarados, Zapdos, Celebi, and Breloom. Earthquake can work in tandem with either Stone Edge or Ice Fang. Rock / Ground / Water gives well-rounded coverage but is walled by Breloom and has trouble with Celebi and Tangrowth. Ground / Water / Ice has issues with bulky flyers that are neutral to ice such as Skarmory and other Gyarados; this type combination is also walled by the rare Shedinja. Any of the aforementioned moves can work together as long as you use Waterfall and Dragon Dance. Life Orb adds to the massive damage potential of this set. Gyarados is most effective in the late-game when everything is weakened or affected by status. Even after a Dragon Dance, most common OU Pokémon are either 2HKOed or even OHKOed with minor exceptions such as Skarmory, Slowbro, and particularly bulky walls. Small nuisances aside, such as more bulky physical walls, Gyarados can easily pose a massive threat. A Jolly nature can be used instead of Adamant if you feel you need more speed, but comes at the cost of less power. Leftovers is a decent choice for an item on this set but you'll also realize that Gyarados will miss out on those necessary OHKOs or 2HKOs that Life Orb gives. Bite can work on this set over Ice Fang if you feel that more damage against Starmie and Slowbro is necessary. It will also damage Celebi, but it will do slightly less than Ice Fang normally would.
Gyarados is a very capable Sleep Talker and defensive Pokémon in general. This set is designed to come in on physical threats and tank. Waterfall is for primary STAB, which works off Gyarados's fantastic attack stat. Stone Edge gives Gyarados a wide range of coverage alongside Waterfall, Dragon Dance can increase the chances of a late-game sweep, while Stone Edge helps against opposing Gyarados. Avalanche offers a more powerful option against Dragons, though most are hit super effectively by Stone Edge. Thanks to Intimidate, this Gyarados takes physical hits on switch-ins just as well as a Milotic with Marvel Scale activated. Additionally, a +1 Life Orb Stone Edge from an opposing Gyarados will never KO you even after Stealth Rock damage. If you opt to use Dragon Dance instead of one of the offensive moves, use an EV spread of 252 HP / 224 Def / 32 Spe. This spread allows you to hit 309 Speed after a Dragon Dance, allowing you to outspeed +nature base 90 Speed Pokémon, as well almost all defensive variants of Zapdos that you will see.
Gyarados's typing and ability give it an advantage over many other Water-types. This set also attempts to use a slower, more defensive approach rather than the usual hard hitting, offensive strategy. The total EVs give 370 HP / 344 Atk / 219 Def / 234 Spe. 156 HP ensures that it never is 2HKOed by Timid Life Orb Heatran's Fire Blast with Stealth Rock and Leftovers taken into account. 108 Atk allows Gyarados to always 2HKO 252 Def / 148 HP Bold Blissey, factoring Stealth Rocks and Leftovers. 144 Spe is to outspeed Gengar after a Dragon Dance. 100 Defense is EV leftover, but it's really necessary to tank hits from the likes of Lucario, Scizor, and Heracross. Taunt also differentiates this moveset from the others as it can prevent you from being phazed out or crippled by status. Unlike most Gyarados sets this takes on Skarmory fairly well. Without Intimidate Skarmory still isn't doing much with Drill Peck and Taunt is still preventing Gyarados from being thwarted off by Whirlwind. Intimidate also helps this set-up as it weakens the damage from Brave Bird. Stone Edge gives you the upper hand against waters such as Suicune and Milotic if they lack HP Electric and also crushes most Zapdos after a Dragon Dance. While the offensive Gyarados prefers to be used during the late-game, this set can be used in any phase of the game. The use of Taunt is crucial to this set because many moves such as Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Roar, and other Taunt users screw around with the normal strategy. Dragon Dance allows you to threaten your opponent in the early-game but is most useful in the late-game when its counters have been sufficiently weakened or have been induced with a status effect.
Although not as threatening as some of the sets listed above, the early available source of power gives this an advantage over most walls right off the bat. Removing Dragon Dance for a fourth move gives this perfect coverage against any switch-in. Waterfall is usually the best choice on this set; however, Aqua Tail can be used over Waterfall as the lack of Speed can justify the use of a more powerful, albeit less accurate move. Payback works over Ice Fang as the lower Speed can make a difference against threats such as Starmie and Celebi.
Gyarados has received a much needed replacement to its previous physical STAB Hidden Power Flying back in ADV in the form of Bounce. Despite suffering from low PP, Bounce's respectable base power after benefiting from STAB, along with its 30% paralysis rate, makes it a great addition to Gyarados' movepool, and an even better one at that when paired with Waterfall's 20% flinch rate. Sadly it all comes with the price of being a 2 turn move, as such Bounce is awfully susceptible to Protect stalling and because of its limited PP it will be to your advantage to avoid such encounters as much as possible. It is also worth mentioning that the Water + Flying-type combo is resisted only by Empoleon and Lanturn outside of Ubers, so type coverage will rarely be an issue. The given EVs allow for 332 HP, 383 Attack, and 261 Speed. 332 HP is divisible by 4 so you activate the pinch berry of your choice after your setting up your third Substitute. Max Attack is self-explanatory for a set such as this, where massive amounts of brute strength will undoubtedly come in handy. 261 Speed on the other hand allows Gyarados to outpace everything below neutral base 80s and, after a single Dragon Dance, outspeed all Pokémon who reside under the base 130 speed group. Liechi Berry is recommended for the power boost, but a Salac Berry should not be ignored, as the boost it grants in Speed allows Gyarados to keep up with all those Choice Scarf users going around. Due to the stallish nature of Substitute + Bounce, Leftovers can also be considered if one opts for a more defensive approach when setting up.
Gyarados has the ability to easily switch into battle and force the opponent to switch out. This set takes advantage of both factors in order to set up. On the turn the opponent switches to its appropriate counter, Gyarados will use Substitute. Depending on the counter, Gyarados will either Dragon Dance or Substitute accordingly, and proceed to sweep with a huge advantage in Speed and Attack. It might seem like the ease by which this is done is being oversimplified; however, this cannot be farther from the truth. How does nearly every individual deal with Gyarados? By switching, which gives Gyarados the opportunity to set up its Substitute. For example, if the opponent switched in Starmie, Gyarados will Substitute down to Liechi activation and Dragon Dance on the final Substitute breaking turn, giving Gyarados +2 Attack, +1 Speed and a 200 BP move to easily OHKO Starmie with. However, if something like Celebi was switched in the turn Gyarados used Substitute, Gyarados will then Dragon Dance, and use Substitute if it feels a Thunder Wave / Leech Seed coming or Dragon Dance if a Grass Knot is coming. Depending on the amount of health left, Gyarados will then (probably) Substitute again for the Berry activation, and have +3 Attack, +2 Speed and 200 BP move to deal with the opposition. Liechi Berry or Salac Berry is purely a matter of preference in the end. It depends on whether having Gyarados outspeed Choice Scarf Gengar that switch in later or having the extra boost of Attack is preferred, mostly to OHKO threats like Celebi. Rain Dance support is a decent option to consider since the set is crippled by the effects of Hail and Sandstream. Other OptionsTwo berries that weren't discussed can be used if you think that they warrant use. Wacan Berry helps soften the incoming Electric attack and could allow you to freely use Dragon Dance twice (once while the opponent switches-in and the other after surviving the attack). This, alongside Offensive Gyarados with a Jolly nature, poses more of a threat than with an Adamant nature, Life Orb, and one Dragon Dance. Lum Berry also gives you a free Dragon Dance except by removing status instead. As with any Pokémon, a Choice Scarf can be slapped on the Choice Bander set, as the extra Speed can give Gyarados an edge in some situations. Bite is only listed because it's Gyarados's best attack against Slowbro. On the offensive Gyarados it can OHKO 252 HP / 0 Def Starmie 100% of the time assuming that Starmie switches into Stealth Rock while you Dragon Dance. Return also gives near-perfect coverage alongside Waterfall, as Water + Normal is only resisted by Empoleon, Shedinja, and the Uber Dialga and Giratina, all of which are relatively uncommon in the OU environment, especially the latter two, being banned from Standard play. It has a higher base power than Earthquake and Stone Edge most of the time (barring the critical hit), but doesn't hit any Pokémon for super effective damage. It works best in the BulkyGyara set as Water + Rock doesn't have the greatest of coverage. Thunder Wave is a move that causes major problems to some of Gyarados's switch-ins as no bulky Ground-type is foolish enough to switch in, and many Pokémon will not enjoy the combination of the paralysis rate and Waterfall's chance of flinching. Bounce - usually paired with Stone Edge to deal with Zapdos - can be used on the offensive Dragon Dancer to better deal with some of Gyarados's Grass-type counters such as Tangrowth and Celebi. Specifically, a +1 Bounce has a 58% chance to OHKO Celebi after Stealth Rock; the same can be with Tangrowth, but a Life Orb is necessary to secure the faint. Starmie is also OHKOed by a +1 Life Orb Bounce (though you'd have to get it on the switch-in). Gyarados has a myriad of special moves such as STAB Hydro Pump and Fire Blast. These can work under some conditions but require a boost from Life Orb in order to be effective. Hydro Pump can 2HKO Weezing while Fire Blast can 2HKO Skarmory and maims Forretress and Scizor. The main reason not to use them is because they're ineffective against almost anything other than the aforementioned threats, due to Gyarados's low Special Attack. EVsOffensive Gyarados should use the given spread of max Speed and Attack. This spread gives 383 Atk / 261 Spe with an Adamant nature. The given Speed EVs will outspeed max Speed Tyranitar and Jolly Weavile after a Dragon Dance. Max Attack is necessary with Life Orb. The HP EVs are leftover from there. Choice Band Gyarados should follow the same principle but can opt for more Speed, up to 252 EVs. This gives Gyarados 261 Speed, just enough to outpace base 80s with a neutral nature. You can also opt for less Speed as beating Jolly Tyranitar is a decent minimum. Bulky Gyarados has many different EV spreads. Other than what has been listed above in the original set there are two more possibilities that take different approaches. The first, 152 HP / 176 Atk / 36 Def / 144 Spe, give Gyarados the potential to OHKO Zapdos with Stone Edge after switching into Stealth Rock as well as a Dragon Dance. It also gives just enough Defense to have a -1 Extremespeed from Lucario do around 25% damage. The second spread, 152 HP / 168 Def / 188 Spe, calls for a much more defensive spread for a sacrifice of power. You can drop the Speed EVs to 144 if you feel that outpacing Timid Gengar is acceptable enough. You will still OHKO said Gengar after a Dragon Dance with Waterfall. On the other hand Choice Band Heracross is only tossing 28-33% with a Choice Band Close Combat after Intimidate is factored in. The RestTalk set is also quite viable with a specially defensive EV spread. A 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD spread with a Careful nature makes a handy switch-in to myriads of threats, both special and physical. The special defensive EVs make Gyarados an excellent counter to Heatran and a useful check against special threats such as Shaymin. Thanks to Intimidate, even with less physical defensive investment, Gyarados can still easily switch into neutral and resisted physical attacks, making it an excellent counter for commonly mixed and physical threats such as Lucario, Infernape, and Scizor. Dragon Dance NumbersBecause Gyarados doesn't know what he would like to outpace at times, Dragon Dance numbers come into question as concerning what Speed EVs should be considered. This section attempts to cover the Speed before a Dragon Dance, after a Dragon Dance, and what it can outspeed after. Dragon Dance Numbers Neutral Nature
Dragon Dance Numbers Positive Nature
OpinionGyarados has become a top contender as far as being a huge threat goes. His massive 125 Attack base stat, on top of his 95 base HP, 100 base Special Defense, and his Intimidate ability, makes him more bulky than many Pokémon of his structure. The typing may be a thorn to Gyarados as being x4 weak to Electric and x2 weak to Rock-type moves isn't very amusing; despite that, Gyarados can easily switch into many attacks thrown at him and set up with impunity. The improvements of a physical Waterfall, Stone Edge, Ice Fang, Taunt lasting longer, and Life Orb also gives Gyarados a boost to his ranks. And let's not forget that he has some key resistances including Water, Fighting, Bug, Fire, and Steel while sporting an immunity to Ground. This deadly combination makes Gyarados a top-tier threat in OU that should be handled with care. Any Pokémon that switches into Gyarados for the most part is going to leave either dead or extremely hurt. On top of Electric and Rock-moves being a hindrance to Gyarados the addition of Stealth Rock has limited its ability to switch in, thanks to a nasty 25% cut in his HP. The continuing threat of Sandstorm has also given Gyarados a problem abusing Leftovers as well as using Life Orb to its fullest effect. These are some of the very few shortcomings to Gyarados as there are not many safe switch-ins. He has definitely lived up to his name of being the "Atrocious" Pokémon. CountersPorygon2 with a defensive EV spread and Trace is the best counter to Gyarados. Thanks to Trace, Intimidate bounces back on Gyarados, and Porygon2 can unleash either Thunderbolt or Discharge to finish him off. Starmie can revenge kill some forms of Gyarados, but it must tread lightly, as a Life Orb'd Stone Edge can nearly OHKO it if Gyarados has that Dragon Dance under his belt. Bold Cresselia with Charge Beam can block most of Gyarados's attack for a while and a combination of Thunder Wave and Reflect renders Gyarados nearly useless. An Impish Tangrowth can shrug off Ice Fangs with its 125 base Defense and use a STAB Power Whip on Gyarados. Celebi's high HP and Defense lets it take on Ice Fang as well, and can hit Gyarados hard with a 120 base power Grass Knot. Recover prevents it from being worn down so it can switch-in repeatedly. Metagross with ThunderPunch stands a fair chance against Gyarados provided Gyarados isn't using Earthquake. Forretress with Zap Cannon has a risky 50% accuracy, but the automatic paralysis makes the high-risk, high-reward move a mention. Water-types that carry Hidden Power Electric pose a bigger threat to Gyarados. Though they risk being 2HKOed sometimes by a Dragon Danced Stone Edge, they can attempt to stop the sweep: Milotic, Slowbro, Suicune, and Vaporeon are perfect examples of this. Skarmory has a chance to at least threaten Gyarados if it has Brave Bird. With the lack of Leftovers and the recoil from Brave Bird makes its a risky 3HKO to attempt, and Bulky Gyarados can take some of the beating. Taunt prevents Skarmory from its usual strategies of using Roost and Whirlwind to counter Gyarados. Intimidate also becomes a deadly factor to Skarmory since after Gyarados switches-in Skarmory could be forced to switch. The Rotom appliances can absorb a Waterfall, outpace most Gyarados, and retaliate with STAB Thunderbolt. Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp are also useful to cripple Gyarados. |
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