[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 7-9 points
**Overview**: On paper, Gyarados is a threatening sweeper that can utilize its two great abilities in Intimidate and Moxie along with Dragon Dance to win late-game, which can be further boosted by Tera. In practice, however, it is often quite underwhelming. Its Speed tier is incredibly average, with Gyarados often needing to set up twice to outrun many threats, which is difficult to pull off considering its average bulk, its inability to recover health, and the prevalence of phazing in the meta. Although it has good coverage, it has no reliable Flying-type STAB moves, and it often struggles fitting all the coverage it needs onto its sets, especially considering it often wants to fit a utility move along with Dragon Dance. Gyarados also lacks utility that many other Flying-types have, including Defog, pivoting, and recovery, and it is extremely weak to Electric, allowing foes to easily use Volt Switch and gain positive momentum on it.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Setup Sweeper**: Gyarados can set up with Dragon Dance to try and sweep late-game. Intimidate can be used against physical attackers, giving it safer opportunities to set up, and Moxie can let it snowball if it can rack up a few KOs. This set typically relies on its checks being chipped or KOed beforehand, but it can also set up mid-game to weaken specific foes and enable a teammate late-game.
**Defensive Utility**: With Intimidate, Gyarados can somewhat reliably check some physical attackers, but it typically requires lots of EV investment and a more defensive item. It also has a strong utility movepool that can further check these foes;It it can also force setup sweepers out with Roar and Dragon Tail, it can cripple faster foes with Thunder Wave, and it can use Taunt to stop passive utility Pokemon.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Waterfall, Aqua Tail
**Setup Moves**: Dragon Dance
**Utility Moves**: Taunt, Thunder Wave, Dragon Tail, Roar, Substitute
**Coverage**: Crunch, Earthquake, Ice Fang, Iron Head, Outrage, Stone Edge, Temper Flare, Tera Blast, Double-Edge
Niche Moves
========
**Whirlpool**: Whirlpool allows Gyarados to trap passive foes and remove them, allowing it or its teammates to make progress afterwards.
**Bounce**: Bounce can be used along with Power Herb to give Gyarados an actual Flying-type STAB move, dealing lots of damages to foes that resist Water or are weak to Flying.
**Endeavor**: Endeavor lets Gyarados chip down foes after taking lots of damage. It usually works best against passive foes that do little damage to Gyarados over time.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: As a Flying-type with no reliable recovery, Heavy-Duty Boots is frequently required on Gyarados, letting it stay healthy by avoiding damage from Stealth Rock.
Niche Items
========
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry allows Gyarados to avoid annoying status effects that can stop it from sweeping.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Gyarados enjoys having items that boost its already-high damage output so that it does not have to set up as much. Life Orb and Expert Belt work best, but Choice Band can also make it a powerful immediate wallbreaker, catching foes off-guard.
**Rocky Helmet**: With Intimidate, Rocky Helmet lets Gyarados effectively punish foes that use U-turn or other weak physical attacks. However, this only works well if Stealth Rock stays off the field.
**Leftovers**: Leftovers can keep Gyarados healthy in matchups where Stealth Rock is not a concern. It also synergizes well with Substitute sets.
**Power Herb**: Power Herb lets Gyarados do a surprise attack with Bounce, catching foes off-guard.
**Clear Amulet**: Against Intimidate users, Clear Amulet lets Gyarados maintain its Attack boosts from Dragon Dance and Moxie.
Tera
========
Gyarados functions best with Tera and should usually be drafted with the idea of making it a secondary Tera Captain. Although it's generally outclassed by higher-priced Captains, it functions well for its price. Tera further boosts Gyarados's sweeping potential with Dragon Dance, giving it much-needed coverage or defensive typings that can give it more opportunities to set up. Tera Flying gives it a powerful Flying-type STAB move in Tera Blast, which can deal a surprising amount of damage even when unboosted. Tera Fire and Ground boosts Gyarados's existing coverage, and Tera Ground additionally covers its typical weaknesses to Electric and Rock. Tera Fairy and Fighting give it additional coverage with Tera Blast, and Tera Steel, Water, and Ghost give it a better defensive typing, allowing it more opportunities to safely set up.
Draft Strategy
========
Gyarados should not be a team's primary setup sweeper, and it should not even come to every match, as its low Speed and lack of strong coverage makes it hard to get going. However, it can occasionally put in work as a late-game sweeper once its checks are weakened, and it can also set up mid-game to weaken foes and enable its teammates.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Gyarados is weak to Stealth Rock and has no reliable way to recover the damage, so if it wants to run other more useful items over Heavy-Duty Boots, entry hazard removers like Great Tusk, Terapagos, and Glimmora are necessary teammates.
**Faster Pokemon**: Gyarados is incredibly slow to start with and cannot always reliably set up to KO faster Pokemon. Faster teammates like Meowscarada, Darkrai, and Iron Valiant can handle opposing faster Pokemon much more reliably.
**Ground-types**: As Gyarados is very weak to Electric, Ground-types like Iron Treads, Sandy Shocks, and Ting-Lu can switch into Electric-types that immediately threaten it. They can also block Volt Switch, preventing foes from gaining momentum off of Gyarados, and they can switch into super effective Rock-type moves.
Checks and Counters
========
**Faster Wallbreakers**: Gyarados's defenses are not great, so faster wallbreakers can easily KO it. Many can reliably outspeed a +1 Gyarados with Choice Scarf, especially since it almost always wants to set up on its first turn. Pokemon with super effective attacks like Iron Bundle, Lycanroc-D, and Kilowattrel fulfill this role best.
**Stealth Rock**: Without Heavy-Duty Boots, which Gyarados often does not want to run over other items, it is very weak to Stealth Rock, making it much harder for it to safely set up.
**Electric-types**: Gyarados is extremely weak to Electric, and Electric-type Pokemon can also use Volt Switch on it to maintain positive momentum. Some of the Electric-types that check it the best include Raging Bolt, Rotom-W, and Zapdos.
**Bulky Water- and Grass-types**: Gyarados lacks the necessary coverage to break through bulky Water- and Grass-types like Azumarill, Shaymin, and Ogerpon-W. Although it has coverage for Grass-types, Ice Fang is too weak without boosts, and Bounce is unreliable after its Power Herb is used up.
**Status Effects**: Paralysis and burn completely shut down Gyarados, allowing foes to easily take advantage of its weakened stats and KO it. Gyarados also doesn't like poison, which limits the amount of turns it gets to sweep.
**Disruption**: Encore can lock Gyarados into Dragon Dance, allowing foes to easily take advantage of it. Roar and Whirlwind also force it out, negating all of its setup and forcing it to take entry hazard damage again if it does not have Heavy-Duty Boots.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
**Draft Order**: Round 6 onwards
**Price Range**: 7-9 points
**Overview**: On paper, Gyarados is a threatening sweeper that can utilize its two great abilities in Intimidate and Moxie along with Dragon Dance to win late-game, which can be further boosted by Tera. In practice, however, it is often quite underwhelming. Its Speed tier is incredibly average, with Gyarados often needing to set up twice to outrun many threats, which is difficult to pull off considering its average bulk, its inability to recover health, and the prevalence of phazing in the meta. Although it has good coverage, it has no reliable Flying-type STAB moves, and it often struggles fitting all the coverage it needs onto its sets, especially considering it often wants to fit a utility move along with Dragon Dance. Gyarados also lacks utility that many other Flying-types have, including Defog, pivoting, and recovery, and it is extremely weak to Electric, allowing foes to easily use Volt Switch and gain positive momentum on it.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Setup Sweeper**: Gyarados can set up with Dragon Dance to try and sweep late-game. Intimidate can be used against physical attackers, giving it safer opportunities to set up, and Moxie can let it snowball if it can rack up a few KOs. This set typically relies on its checks being chipped or KOed beforehand, but it can also set up mid-game to weaken specific foes and enable a teammate late-game.
**Defensive Utility**: With Intimidate, Gyarados can somewhat reliably check some physical attackers, but it typically requires lots of EV investment and a more defensive item. It also has a strong utility movepool that can further check these foes;
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Waterfall, Aqua Tail
**Setup Moves**: Dragon Dance
**Utility Moves**: Taunt, Thunder Wave, Dragon Tail, Roar, Substitute
**Coverage**: Crunch, Earthquake, Ice Fang, Iron Head, Outrage, Stone Edge, Temper Flare, Tera Blast, Double-Edge
Niche Moves
========
**Whirlpool**: Whirlpool allows Gyarados to trap passive foes and remove them, allowing it or its teammates to make progress afterwards.
**Bounce**: Bounce can be used along with Power Herb to give Gyarados an actual Flying-type STAB move, dealing lots of damages to foes that resist Water or are weak to Flying.
**Endeavor**: Endeavor lets Gyarados chip down foes after taking lots of damage. It usually works best against passive foes that do little damage to Gyarados over time.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: As a Flying-type with no reliable recovery, Heavy-Duty Boots is frequently required on Gyarados, letting it stay healthy by avoiding damage from Stealth Rock.
Niche Items
========
**Lum Berry**: Lum Berry allows Gyarados to avoid annoying status effects that can stop it from sweeping.
**Damage-boosting Items**: Gyarados enjoys having items that boost its already-high damage output so that it does not have to set up as much. Life Orb and Expert Belt work best, but Choice Band can also make it a powerful immediate wallbreaker, catching foes off-guard.
**Rocky Helmet**: With Intimidate, Rocky Helmet lets Gyarados effectively punish foes that use U-turn or other weak physical attacks. However, this only works well if Stealth Rock stays off the field.
**Leftovers**: Leftovers can keep Gyarados healthy in matchups where Stealth Rock is not a concern. It also synergizes well with Substitute sets.
**Power Herb**: Power Herb lets Gyarados do a surprise attack with Bounce, catching foes off-guard.
**Clear Amulet**: Against Intimidate users, Clear Amulet lets Gyarados maintain its Attack boosts from Dragon Dance and Moxie.
Tera
========
Gyarados functions best with Tera and should usually be drafted with the idea of making it a secondary Tera Captain. Although it's generally outclassed by higher-priced Captains, it functions well for its price. Tera further boosts Gyarados's sweeping potential with Dragon Dance, giving it much-needed coverage or defensive typings that can give it more opportunities to set up. Tera Flying gives it a powerful Flying-type STAB move in Tera Blast, which can deal a surprising amount of damage even when unboosted. Tera Fire and Ground boosts Gyarados's existing coverage, and Tera Ground additionally covers its typical weaknesses to Electric and Rock. Tera Fairy and Fighting give it additional coverage with Tera Blast, and Tera Steel, Water, and Ghost give it a better defensive typing, allowing it more opportunities to safely set up.
Draft Strategy
========
Gyarados should not be a team's primary setup sweeper, and it should not even come to every match, as its low Speed and lack of strong coverage makes it hard to get going. However, it can occasionally put in work as a late-game sweeper once its checks are weakened, and it can also set up mid-game to weaken foes and enable its teammates.
**Entry Hazard Removal**: Gyarados is weak to Stealth Rock and has no reliable way to recover the damage, so if it wants to run other more useful items over Heavy-Duty Boots, entry hazard removers like Great Tusk, Terapagos, and Glimmora are necessary teammates.
**Faster Pokemon**: Gyarados is incredibly slow to start with and cannot always reliably set up to KO faster Pokemon. Faster teammates like Meowscarada, Darkrai, and Iron Valiant can handle opposing faster Pokemon much more reliably.
**Ground-types**: As Gyarados is very weak to Electric, Ground-types like Iron Treads, Sandy Shocks, and Ting-Lu can switch into Electric-types that immediately threaten it. They can also block Volt Switch, preventing foes from gaining momentum off of Gyarados, and they can switch into super effective Rock-type moves.
Checks and Counters
========
**Faster Wallbreakers**: Gyarados's defenses are not great, so faster wallbreakers can easily KO it. Many can reliably outspeed a +1 Gyarados with Choice Scarf, especially since it almost always wants to set up on its first turn. Pokemon with super effective attacks like Iron Bundle, Lycanroc-D, and Kilowattrel fulfill this role best.
**Stealth Rock**: Without Heavy-Duty Boots, which Gyarados often does not want to run over other items, it is very weak to Stealth Rock, making it much harder for it to safely set up.
**Electric-types**: Gyarados is extremely weak to Electric, and Electric-type Pokemon can also use Volt Switch on it to maintain positive momentum. Some of the Electric-types that check it the best include Raging Bolt, Rotom-W, and Zapdos.
**Bulky Water- and Grass-types**: Gyarados lacks the necessary coverage to break through bulky Water- and Grass-types like Azumarill, Shaymin, and Ogerpon-W. Although it has coverage for Grass-types, Ice Fang is too weak without boosts, and Bounce is unreliable after its Power Herb is used up.
**Status Effects**: Paralysis and burn completely shut down Gyarados, allowing foes to easily take advantage of its weakened stats and KO it. Gyarados also doesn't like poison, which limits the amount of turns it gets to sweep.
**Disruption**: Encore can lock Gyarados into Dragon Dance, allowing foes to easily take advantage of it. Roar and Whirlwind also force it out, negating all of its setup and forcing it to take entry hazard damage again if it does not have Heavy-Duty Boots.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jscurf.608304/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/
Last edited:
