POWERFUL WATER DRAGON
[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Waterfall / Aqua Tail
move 2: Double Edge
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Ice Fang / Avalanche
item: Choice Band
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 88 Def / 168 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Under the rain, Gyarados can work as an admirable wallbreaker thanks to both Choice Band and rain boosting its already powerful Waterfall to intimidating levels. At the same time, it can also bring a surprising amount of physical bulk to the table with to Intimidate, an effect which is compounded with investment.</p>
<p>Waterfall is Gyarados's first and foremost attack, and is probably the one you will be using the majority of the time. Water is a great STAB to have, and Gyarados is able to abuse it excellently under the rain, punching holes in many opponents. Aqua Tail is also an option in that moveslot, as it is more powerful by a decent margin. However, it lacks Waterfall's flinch rate and perfect accuracy. Earthquake allows Gyarados to hit many opponents harder outside of rain, and even nail the other two common weather starters, Tyranitar and Ninetales, for excellent damage, provided they aren't carrying an Air Balloon. Double-Edge gives Gyarados excellent coverage, hitting just about everything in OU for netural damage in conjunction with the previous two moves. It gives it a solid hit on Grass-types such as Celebi, as well as crippling Rotom-W on the switch-in, doing 72.53% at the minimum to the standard spread. In the final moveslot, Ice Fang gives Gyarados an excellent hit on Dragon-types such as Latios and Dragonite, OHKOing both with some residual damage, needed in Dragonite's case to deactivate Multiscale. Avalanche is also an option for a much harder hit on faster opponents, as Gyarados is perfectly capable of taking hits from many attackers with investment in Defense and Intimidate.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The given EV spread allows Gyarados to hit as hard as possible yet still maintain some physical bulk. Max Attack means Gyarados hit incredibly hard, especially when given a Choice Band and rain support. The Speed EVs are just enough to outspeed all neutral-natured Pokemon with Base 70 Speed, such as Breloom. The remaining EVs are put into Defense to take full advantage of Intimidate. After Intimidate, Gyarados is able to survive several extremely powerful hits, such as a Choice Band Haxorus Outrage, and retaliate. Choice Band is the preferred item to give Gyardos as much power as possible, as is an Adamant nature. A Jolly nature is also a possibility, but the increase in Speed is largely unnecessary.</p>
<p>Stone Edge is a possibility to run alongside Earthquake to gain excellent neutral coverage, though Gyarados already gets excellent neutral coverage with Waterfall and Double-Edge, gaining a STAB boost on the former. Return is an option to run over Double-Edge, but the loss of power is very discouraging. Bounce is another STAB move it can use, scoring deceptively good coverage. Bounce also allows Gyarados to take care of most Volcarona if it is sunny. While this looks good on paper, one must keep in mind that Bounce has to take one turn to charge, allowing the opponent to switch the vulnerable Pokemon out of harm's way. Payback scores a decent hit on Psychic-types, but it doesn't work too well considering it's low Base Power is only increased when the opponent goes first, and not when they switch in like in Generation 4. Bite is another interesting Dark-type move to use, consistently having a higher Base Power than Payback, and doing roughly equal damage as Earthquake to targets such as Slowbro and Jellicent.</p>
<p>Drizzle support is almost a necessity when using Gyarados, as it increases the power of its Water-type STAB attacks tremendously. Thus, Politoed is a great teammate to give Drizzle support, as well as possibly break down any overly physically defensive Pokemon that could be standing in Gyarados's way. Gyarados's secondary Flying typing, while providing many useful resistances, gives it a crippling Stealth Rock weakness, so Rapid Spin support is an excellent idea from something such as Tentacruel, who can abuse Rain Dish in the rain to constantly replenish 6.25% of it's health in addition to Leftovers or Black Sludge.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Waterfall
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Ice Fang
move 4: Stone Edge
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Moxie
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Like other abusers of Moxie, Gyarados can easily prey on the fact that people will often switch in the least useful Pokemon they have at that time, sacrificing it and ensuring that another teammate can get in safely. With Moxie, Gyarados can clean up incredibly efficiently, thanks to Moxie boosting its Attack after each kill, allowing Gyarados to sweep with Waterfall, which is already boosted in the rain. When carrying a Choice Scarf, Gyarados has the equivalent of a Dragon Dance boost when Waterfall is used, although Gyarados's Attack stat itself is not boosted.</p>
<p>Waterfall is your main attack on this set, and may often be the only attack you need, sporting a solid Base Power as well as a STAB boost, and possibly one from rain. The other three attacks are on this set for scouting Gyarados's counters earlier in the match, and what the opponent will switch in to take Waterfall. Earthquake is the gold standard in attacking moves, and scores a solid hit on many things that take little damage from Waterfall, such as Tentacruel and Jellicent. Ice Fang is a decent coverage move, hitting many Flying- and Dragon-types. Stone Edge occupies the final moveslot, forming excellent coverage with Earthquake and hitting many Pokemon in the metagame for neutral damage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>This variant of Gyarados needs as much Speed and Attack as it can possibly get; hence, maximum EVs in those stats are mandatory. Choice Scarf, along with a Jolly nature, allows Gyarados to outspeed all of the unboosted tier besides Deoxys-S, who needs to run at least 144 EVs to outspeed with a neutral nature, though it needs none if it is running a Speed-boosting nature.</p>
<p>Rain support is an absolute must when running this variant of Gyarados, as it is the only way Waterfall will be able to score some of its crucial KOs, with or without a Moxie boost, making Politoed the perfect teammate for Gyarados. Teammates who can abuse Drizzle support from the aforementioned Politoed to weaken the opposing team, such as Starmie and Tornadus, are great teammates to help Gyarados even more in cleaning up teams with Waterfall. Rapid Spin support is also a must, due to the fact that Gyarados is both weak to Stealth Rock and will be switching in and out of the field several times throughout a match. Tentacruel is probably the best candidate for a Rapid Spin user under rain, as it can take advantage of it with Rain Dish while also both absorbing and laying down Toxic Spikes, which coincidentally, are helpful for Gyarados. Entry hazards in general are a good idea when using Gyarados to further weaken the opponent for a potential sweep with Waterfall.</p>
