So exactly what the hell does counter Kingdra? The only thing not getting wrecked by it is Empoleon, who does absolutely nothing except run down the timer on its weather just because it doesn't die immediately. The only argument against it is the greater support it requires (Rain Dance, though Kingdra could even do that itself) but it's also much more dangerous in its element and very difficult to revenge kill because it outspeeds even most Scarved pokémon in rain while resisting Bullet Punch and being neutral to Ice Shard.
You're pretty much right here. Kingdra and other swift swimmers are deadly in the rain, but the support they require is way higher than the support required by Grachomp. Other than that, the Pokemon you mentioned, Kingrda, has just an average 95 Atk \ 95 SpA when compared to Garchomp's massive 130 base Atk. Yeah, it has the typing to set up a DD or two, but even then everything you have to do is to make it lock itself into outrage, not to mention that Scizor can easily take a +1 waterfall and take away a huge chunk of its health with u-turn. Vaporeon usually does well enough against Kingdra, being able to comfortably roar it away while possibly recovering health when switching into a water move. Skarmory can easily wall the physical DD Kingdra and easily set up entry hazards on it. Kingrda is definitely a scary Pokemon, but I would not compare it to Grachomp.
Salamence you pretty much hit the nail on the head, though keep in mind it doesn't even have to set up like Garchomp does to blast through things. Salamence is also not susceptible to Spikes or Toxic Spikes and it actually tends to be more resilient against stall because of Roost. (Granted, stall practically doesn't exist on Suspect right now...)
You're right again, but as others have mentioned, stealth rock is on almost every team and losing 25% of its health upon every switch in gives Salamence no more than 2 switch ins per match, especially when combined with LO recoil and possibly sandstorm damage. Also, unlike Garchomp, Salamence goes automatically into Scizor's bullet punch's kill range after a switch in and a turn of life orb recoil.
And speaking of Machamp, as you mentioned it with regard to defending against T-Tar, but what of it as an attacker? :P Being forced to fight through automatic confusion attached to its PRIMARY ATTACK is god-awful, Machamp can totally wreck teams because of that stupid confusion garbage and its Payback destroys Ghosts that dare switch in to avoid it. What are you going to do, use Slowbro against me? That's a joke. Hell, defensively EVed Machamp can even switch into Garchomp and punch its brains in while completely ignoring Sand Veil.
Yes, Machamp is annoying, but it's extremely slow when compared to Garchomp, has an arguably worse type and lower overall defences. And no, Machamp can't switch into Garchomp because a +2 EQ will always OHKO a 252 HP / 0 Def Machamp (and even an impish 252 HP\ 252 Def Machamp takes up to 83% from a +2 EQ, while without a significant Atk investment dynamic punch doesn't even 2hko Chomp)
What a nonsensical argument. Yeah, Dragon Dancers don't hit as hard as Swords Dancers! Did you know they're also faster? Swampert and Suicune still survive Garchomp's +2 attacks. Where Garchomp really has the advantage is those mid-range bulky pokémon that can survive a +1 but not a +2, like offensive Rotom-A. But then Salamence and Gyarados also don't get revenge-killed by Starmie, as they end up faster due to their +1 Speed. DD is an equally effective buff move, it just works against a different subset of pokémon.
I pretty much agree on the usefulness of DD. But about the underlined sentence: yeah, they can survive an attack, but what are they doing in return? Yache Chomp beats both of them 1 vs 1: if they attack, then they're 2hko'd by EQ (or, even worse, Chomp gets a 2nd SD), if they roar, then they're left with minimal health so that Garchomp can eliminate them upon their second switch in.
I'm not even going to fabricate a new response to this discussion, as it's exactly what I refuted in my past couple posts. Those listed pokémon do a lot more than simply counter Garchomp. They're OU for a reason. Toxic Spikes does a lot more than just beat Garchomp, though it's one of many wallbreakers that stall teams can rely on Toxic Spikes to beat. Even offensive teams will use Toxic Spikes to support special attackers against things like Blissey or Vaporeon. Rotom-A uses Reflect primarily to protect itself from Tyranitar, and other Pursuit users, but it certainly holds Garchomp at bay for the screen's duration, doesn't it? People don't use Mamoswine or Scizor just to revenge-kill Garchomp, strong priority is a boon against a wide range of threats.
So basically every team should carry Skarmory, a toxic spiker and a reflect user to beat Garchomp if I'm getting it right. Well, then I think that team may also be able to beat Groudon. And by the way, Mamoswine and Scizor can revenge kill Chomp only when it's at about 50% of its health, unless you plan on packing both of them just to revenge kill it (and sacrificing one of them to bring in the other safely).
The best protection against Garchomp is simply to build and play smart. Make sure some of your checks against other threats also work against Garchomp, which isn't that difficult considering it's susceptible to the same things other OU threats are. Garchomp is a complete non-threat if you have a Reflect active. Don't do stupid shit like Tbolt with your Trickscarf Rotom before you've confirmed the opponent's roster and maybe U-Turn more readily with your support Jirachi. You could even be a little gimmicky and use Shuca/Ice Punch Metagross, Shuca/Ice Beam Tyranitar, or Shuca/whatever else too. Not like those things can't come in handy against a lot of other things as well, Earthquake is the most common attack in OU and surprise factor is strong.
See, I consider myself quite a smart player, though I've been swept by Garchomp more than once. Sometimes because of sand veil, some other because Garchomp's 2 best checks (Latias and Scizor) can be eliminated by TTar\other pursuiter and Magnezone.
