I still think Power Whip is amazing on Gyarados, as it almost completely removes a hard counter in Rotom-Wash, checks in Seismitoad/Gastrodon, and bulky waters as a whole that walled its sets in past generations.With Bounce and Power Whip not being as useful for the current Dynamax ban, what kind of sets are we looking into for Gyarados? Standard DDance with Earthquake/Waterfall/Dragon Dance/Filler?
Jolly/Adamant?
However, on the contrary, given Dynamax's consequential removal, I personally believe Bounce is no longer worth running outright (its main niche was Airstream, after all), saving it from the 4MSS that plagued it while Dynamax was reigning over the tier.
Gyarados @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Power Whip
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
I believe this will most likely become Gyarados's standard set, or some derivative of it. I think Intimidate will likely be run over Moxie for the most part due to the cap on snowballing and how having the ability to better take hits is valuable in of itself in this meta, even without Dynamax (I think Moxie is still a very good option against more defensive builds). Speaking of, that's why I believe Adamant at the current moment is more valuable. Adamant lets it better handle Toxapex and said defensive builds without giving up the defensive utility of Intimidate. However, once Zeraora is released, I'm pretty sure Jolly will become the way to go so it can outspeed it at +1. Otherwise, I can't really think of anything outside of Specs Dragapult to really check its Adamant build, though that in of itself may be a reason to run Jolly over Adamant at the current moment.
Overall? The fact Gyarados still has Power Whip, to me, still makes it pretty damn strong as a set-up sweeper without being utterly busted. Because of that, I personally believe Gyarados will be a balanced, yet great option for a set-up sweeper.
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