original analysis: https://www.smogon.com/forums/threads/oras-garchomp-done.3665990/
[OVERVIEW]
Choice Band Garchomp's sky-high Attack stat combined with its strong movepool and nice Speed tier makes it a premier offensive presence in the metagame. Its Speed stat allows it to just barely outspeed base 100 Speed Pokemon like Mega Gardevoir, Mega Medicham, and Volcarona, which makes running Choice Scarf not much of a necessity. A useful Dragon / Ground typing gives it a powerful STAB Outrage and Earthquake able to take down common metagame threats like non-Choice Scarf Kyurem-B, non-defensive Mega Mawile, and Aegislash. Despite having a powerful offensive presence, there's much to be desired for with Garchomp's defensive capabilities. Almost any Pokemon holding a Choice Scarf, like Porygon-Z, Kyurem-B, Genesect, and Dragonite, can outspeed and KO it with ease. It also has a hard time against threats that naturally outspeed it like Mega Lopunny and Greninja. Garchomp also struggles with physically defensive Pokemon that it can't KO turn one, such as Metal Burst Mega Mawile, Mega Gyarados, and Mega Altaria, and they can usually KO Garchomp outright or after setting up.
I'd Go Chomper Here (Choice Band) (Garchomp) @ Choice Band
Ability: Rough Skin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Outrage
- Iron Tail / Poison Jab / Fling
- Fire Fang / Poison Jab / Fling / Swords Dance
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
========
Iron Tail covers Mega Gardevoir, Togekiss, and Choice Specs Sylveon. Alternatively, Garchomp can use Poison Jab to beat Whimsicott and for its higher accuracy at the cost of worse Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon matchups due to its reduced power. Fire Fang can be ran to beat Steel-types that Earthquake doesn't like Mega Scizor, Ferrothorn, and Choice Specs Genesect. Fling allows Garchomp to take down Air Balloon Heatran and Custap Berry Magnezone. If using Swords Dance, Fling also allows Garchomp to beat Chansey, stall Manaphy, Registeel, and Mega Venusaur. Rough Skin is the preferred ability, since if both Pokemon are KOed on the same turn, the Garchomp user would win, which makes investing EVs for Garchomp much harder for physical foes and allows Garchomp to more reliably take down non-Metal Burst Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross, as well as FEAR Pokemon like Aron. Choice Band maximizes Garchomp's power due to its already high Speed tier.
EVs
========
252 Speed EVs and a Jolly nature let Garchomp outspeed up to base 101s, including non-Choice Scarf Pokemon like Mega Medicham, Mega Gardevoir, Volcarona, Genesect, and Landorus. An Adamant nature gives Garchomp a better chance against defensive variants of Meloetta, Counter Registeel, and defensive variants of Mega Mawile, but this makes Garchomp lose out on the aforementioned Jolly matchups, which is why it is largely outclassed.
Strategy & Support
========
Garchomp generally has very straightforward matchups, but be wary of sending it in if you know the opponent is going to choose Metal Burst Mega Mawile or Mega Aggron, as though Garchomp has a type advantage, both of them can take a hit and KO it back with Metal Burst. Watch out for Protect Mega Diancie, as it can outspeed and KO Garchomp before Garchomp can OHKO it with Earthquake. If Garchomp is using Fling and the opposing team has an Air Balloon Heatran, keep in mind that the opponent may be inclined to send Heatran out due to it being able to wall most Garchomp sets, allowing you to catch them off-guard. Using Fire Fang over Outrage against Crustle can give Garchomp a better chance to win against Counter variants due to the Rough Skin damage it gives them. Only give Garchomp Swords Dance if it already has Fling. Garchomp appreciates bulky offensive teammates that can take hits from and beat hyper offensive Pokemon like Mega Lopunny, Choice Specs Greninja, and Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, which outspeed Garchomp and KO it with ease. This means that Pokemon like Manaphy, Mega Metagross, and Mega Gardevoir make good teammates. Garchomp, in return, can take down Victini, Aegislash, and, if running Fire Fang, Choice Specs Genesect for these teammates. Garchomp also appreciates Steel-type teammates like Heatran, Mega Metagross, and Magnezone due to their ability to take down threatening Fairy-types that Garchomp can't already cover with its chosen coverage like Metal Burst Mega Mawile, Mega Altaria, and Custap Berry Sylveon. In return, Garchomp can take down opposing Heatran, Volcanion, and Volcarona. Garchomp's weakness to faster or adequately bulky Dragon-types like Choice Scarf Kyurem-B and Haban Berry Kyurem-B can be covered by Fairy-types like Mega Altaria, Mega Gardevoir, and Diancie. In return, Garchomp can take down Steel-type threats that they alone would normally struggle with, like Mega Metagross, Aegislash, Heatran if running Fling, and Mega Scizor if running Fire Fang.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
An alternative EV spread of 176 Atk / 80 SpD / 252 Spe with a Jolly nature can be ran to let Garchomp always take a Hidden Power Ice from maximum Special Attack Heatran and non-Choice Specs Magnezone; only run this alongside Fling to beat all Heatran variants and Custap Berry Magnezone. This does have its downfalls, though; Garchomp's reliability against Mega Mawile and Mega Metagross lessens because now it can't always get them into the range where Rough Skin damage is enough to KO them after an Earthquake; it also gives Garchomp worse odds against defensive variants of Mega Gardevoir if running Poison Jab. Choice Scarf can be run to outspeed and beat Greninja, Choice Scarf Kyurem-B and Genesect, and opposing Garchomp. This set largely misses the mark, however, as its main purpose of outspeeding and KOing hyper offensive Pokemon is inconsistent at best, seeing as how it cannot beat other glass cannons like Darkrai and Mega Lopunny. This set also loses out on the damage output that lets Garchomp win matchups against threats like Mega Mawile, Mega Metagross, Mega Gardevoir, and Aegislash. Mega Garchomp can be used due to its bulk and the fact that it retains Garchomp's base Speed tier on the first turn that it Mega Evolves. With defensive EVs and Rock Tomb, it can beat Mega Lopunny and Choice Scarf Dragonite, and it can also freely use Swords Dance for stall matchups or Substitute for catching Porygon-Z and Meloetta off-guard. However, Mega Garchomp has neither nearly as much of the damage output that Choice Band provides nor the Speed of Choice Scarf, so this is largely outclassed.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ice-type Coverage**: Common threats that run Ice-type coverage like Choice Scarf Kyurem-B, Choice Scarf Genesect, Mega Lopunny, Manaphy, Darkrai, and Greninja are big threats to Garchomp, as they can either outspeed or take a hit from it and KO it with relative ease.
**Stall**: Stall Pokemon like Mega Sableye, Mega Slowbro, and Mega Venusaur all give Garchomp a tough time due to them being able to wear it out by either crippling Garchomp's Attack or raising their own Defense.
**Bulky Fairy-types**: Fairy-types like Mega Altaria and Sylveon give Garchomp a tough time because they can KO it after taking a hit from it.
**Faster Pokemon**: Pokemon such as Protect Mega Diancie, Choice Scarf Porygon-Z, Latios, and Protect Mega Pinsir can outspeed Garchomp and OHKO it due to its bad defenses.
**Damage Reflection**: Pokemon such as Mega Sableye, Mega Mawile, Mega Aggron, Rhyperior, and Mega Tyranitar pose huge threats to Garchomp; since it's locked into an attack and can't play around these foes, they can take a hit from Garchomp and then respond with a stronger Metal Burst or Counter.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pqs.425798/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/deg.234355/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lrxc.289008/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/rabia.336073/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/astra.240732/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/a-blue-banana.649096/
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