Overview
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Pros
-Good typing before and after mega, defensively and offensively
-Solid natural bulk
-Good movepool
-Excellent stats
-Outspeeds mega sceptile after a DD (jolly, should be)
-Good stab combo, normal or mega
-Viable utility options such as taunt or sub
-mega shrimp <3
Cons
-Kinda weak before DD
-Weak to rocks before mega
-Prone to being worn down
-Not hard to check (azu, keldeo, ferro, clefable, etc)
Mega Dragon Dance
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name: Mega Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Substitute / Earthquake
ability: Intimidate
item: Gyaradosite
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
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- Dragon Dance boosts attack and speed at the same time, turning Gyarados into a fantastic cleaner.
- Waterfall is the water STAB of choice, with perfect accuracy and a sweet chance to flinch.
- Crunch is the new and shiny dark STAB that has perfect accuracy and a nifty chance to drop defense.
- Substitute can block status and help you set up safely against scalds, while earthquake can KO the pesky rotom-w
-Taunt is an option to hinder pokemon like skarmory and shit on baton pass, but its generally less useful than substitute.
Set Details
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-Intimidate is always better than Moxie, the attack drop helps Gyarados set up which is crucial. When you mega evolve, Mold Breaker lets you plow through Unaware users and Dragonite's Multiscale.
-Jolly nature with max speed lets you outspeed mega sceptile, mega lopunny, adamant mega beedril, adamant mega aerodactyl, modest mega alakazam, and adamant scarf lando-t after a dragon dance, which is extremely helpful.
-max attack is used to hit as hard as possible and the rest goes into hp.
Usage Tips
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-Don't be afraid to use its great bulk to check things, but you may want to keep it somewhat healthy unless Healing Wish is on the team.
-Don't mevo unless you have to, the ground immunity and fighting resist from your normal form can help you set up.
-Try not to set up unless all your checks are weakened or eliminated, just attack with your STABs until then.
-Be sure to scout certain moves like power whip on ferrothorn or superpower on scarf lando-t before setting up.
-Don't use substitute if you don't have to, gyarados's health is valuable.
Team Options
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-Ferrothorn and Chesnaught can set spikes, which gyarados greatly appreciates.
-Clefable eliminates checks like ferrothorn, chesnaught, mega heracross and kyurem-b, and Gyarados can handle fires and some steels in return.
-Latias can clear rocks with defog and healing wish gyarados back up, while also beating grasses such as venusaur with psyshock and ferrothorn with hp fire, making it an excellent partner.
-Landorus weakens several of gyarados's checks such as venusaur, ferrothorn, and azumarill while having great synergy with gyarados in general.
SubDD
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name: SubDD
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Bounce
move 4: Dragon Dance
ability: Intimidate
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
nature: Jolly
Moves
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-Substitute is used to block status and provide a layer of protection against attacks, and can be used a little more often with leftovers recovery.
-Waterfall is the water STAB of choice with a nifty chance to flinch.
-Bounce is used as your other STAB to hit grasses, and in general provides good neutral coverage.
-Dragon Dance boosts speed and attack at the same time turning you into an efficient cleaner.
Set Details
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-Intimidate is still better than Moxie, the attack drop is to good to give up.
-Max speed Jolly is necessary to outpace new relevant megas such as sceptile, lopunny, adamant beedrill, and other pokemon such as modest mega alakazam and adamant mega aerodactyl.
-Max Attack is used to hit as hard as possible to clean easier.
-Leftovers boosts your survivability greatly, but Lum Berry could be used to break past Thundurus's Prankster Thunder Wave.
Usage Tips
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-Be sure to greatly weaken everything before cleaning, gyarados isn't that strong at only +1.
-Use intimidate wisely to hinder pokemon like excadrill or garchomp.
-When using Lum Berry, keep in mind you can play some mind games with the opponent by pretending to be mega.
-Don't waste health needlessly by overusing substitute, play conservatively with gyarados's health until it can sweep safely or needs to check a threat.
-Do your best to keep rocks off the field; they greatly hinder gyarados's performance.
Team Options
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-Kyurem-B is a great choice to destroy Rotom-W with Earth Power and weaken ferrothorn with STAB Ice Beams.
-Hazard Removal is a must to keep gyarados healthy.
-Spikes and Stealth Rocks are very nice to wear down gyarados's checks.
-Heatran is a great pokemon to take care of ferrothorn and clefable while also setting rocks, and gyarados can check greninja and keldeo in return
-Clefable eliminates Ferrothorn, chesnaught, kyurem-b and mega heracross for gyarados while it can take on fires that give clefable trouble in return.
Other Options
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-Ice fang is cool for dragons but pretty outclassed in general
-Stone Edge hits kyu-b and zappy harder.
-A bulky sdef set of Waterfall/Rest/Sleep Talk/Thunder wave or Roar can be used to check pokemon like char-y, keldeo, and landorus, but its pretty niche.
-Likewise, a very bulky sweeper set of Waterfall/rest/sleep talk/dragon dance could be used but its extremely reliant on sleep talk getting the right move.
Checks & Counters
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**Grass -types**-Ferrothorn being the main culprit here, but Chesnaught and Mega Venusaur too can all take a hit and bite back with STAB grass moves or Leech Seed. Breloom doesn't take hits well but it can use Bullet Seed to break substitutes and mach punch to revenge kill.
**Steel -types**-Ferrothorn falls under here too, but pokemon such as Skarmory and magnezone can take gyarados's stab moves and kill it or just wall it.
**Water -types**-Azumarill and Keldeo can both easily take even a +1 eq and KO back with their STABs. Without substitute, gyarados also risks scald burns from alomomola and suicune. While extremely niche, Poliwrath can totally shut gyarados down, forcing it out with a stab circle throw.
**Fairy -types**-Clefable can take a hit and Moonblast back, but thanks to gyarados's great bulk its often not enough to kill.
**Chansey**-Chansey can take boosted waterfalls with defensive investment and break subs with Seismic toss while whittling it down with toxic.
**Dragons -types**-Without Ice Fang, Garchomp and Dragonite can take a boosted hit and hit back with their STABs. Kyurem-B can take any hit bar the rare boosted Stone Edge and nail gyarados with a fusion bolt.
**Electric -types**-Defensive Zapdos is bulky enough to take any boosted hit bar boosted Stone Edges and hit back with STAB thunderbolts. Mega Manectric has intimidate and can take a -1 EQ to hit back with Tbolt.
**Prankster Thunder Wave**-Prankster T-wave from Klefki and Thundurus can stop you in your tracks, and Thundurus can OHKO while Klefki can set up screens or hazards.
**Choice Scarf Users**-Scarf Keldeo, Scarf Kyurem-B, and Scarf Terrakion can all take a hit or KO gyarados even at +1.
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