[OVERVIEW]
Armed with Dragon Dance, reliable physical Water-Type STAB attacks, and two incredible abilities, Gyarados establishes its niche as a dangerous sweeper. Utilizing its solid bulk and unique typing, Gyarados has many switch-in and set-up opportunities, pivoting in and threatening top Pokemon like Excadrill, Heatran, Tentacruel, Gliscor, Volcarona, Scizor, and Keldeo. Many of the Pokemon it checks are common on hyper offense teams, which grants Gyarados a particularly strong matchup against them. The ever present rain set by Politoed is also a boon to Gyarados, as it clears the sand that cuts into its bulk anf physical checks like Skarmory or Reuniclus can be much more easily muscled through with a boosted Waterfall when it is present.
However, despite these great and unique traits, Gyarados has its fair share of flaws. Weakness to Stealth Rock and vulnerability to sand severely cuts into its defensive reliability, necessitating Rapid Spin support or other entry hazard denying strategies. This is exacerbated by Gyarados relying on its bulk and typing to set up directly on Pokemon like Excadrill. Gyarados is also not very immediately threatening, as its middling speed and mediocre STAB option of Waterfall often requires it to use Dragon Dance before it can meaningfully damage teams. This Speed issue persists even after setting up one Dragon Dance, as common Choice Scarf users like Latios and Garchomp often put Gyarados in an awkward situation after it has claimed one KO. Finally, and most importantly, Gyarados has a large number of checks, such as Skarmory, Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Encore Politoed, and Dragonite, which are all quite common and often necessitate different moves to beat.
[SET]
Substitute + Dragon Dance
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate / Moxie
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Bounce
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Gyarados's excellent bulk and typing affords it many opportunities to use Substitute, protecting itself from status and weaker moves, from where it can look to use Dragon Dance repeatedly. Gyarados has many opportunities to set up a Substitute, threatening many staples that can’t hurt it back like defensive Landorus-T, Heatran, Politoed lacking Encore, Tentacruel, and Excadrill. It also has the added benefit of taking Rotom’s Volt Switch, forcing Rotom-W to switch in again to check Gyarados and take more residual damage in doing so. Waterfall is mandatory as a reliable STAB attack with good coverage, and the 20% chance to flinch can rapidly snowball games if the opponents primary check is KO'd without taking an action. Bounce is used alongside as it gives Gyarados a secondary STAB attack and has decent two-move coverage alongside Waterfall. Bounce also gives Gyarados an extra turn of Leftovers and hits Water-resistant targets such as Ferrothorn and Jellicent as hard as possible, as well as improving its longevity. However, the two turn nature of the move can result in opponents pivoting to resistances, such as Skarmory or Tyranitar, which could not switch in to bother Gyarados otherwise. Earthquake is a good alternative, sacrificing a little power for reliability and granting Gyarados a way more consistent matchup against Politoed and Keldeo, who often run Protect. Taunt can be used over Substitute to directly prevent phazing and Encore attempts, while also being useful against status moves like Toxic and Will-O-Wisp. However, Substitute prevents these status moves from affecting Gyarados in addition to preventing the chance of a Scald burn occuring and allows for better synergy with Bounce, making it overall more useful.
Set Details
=========
Leftovers enhance Gyarados’s bulk, granting it recovery in rain or clear weather and offsetting sand damage. It’s especially relevant with Substitute and Bounce, which heals Gyarados while the opponent cannot attack it directly. 168 Speed EVs and a Jolly Nature allow Gyarados to outspeed Choice Scarf Latios after two Dragon Dances, which also outspeeds neutral natured base 80 Speed Pokemon like Dragonite and Mamoswine without a boost. 88 HP EVs allows Gyarados's Substitute to not be broken by Power Whip from a burned Ferrothorn, making it a potential setup opportunity. 353 HP also has the added benefit of being an optimal number for Leftovers recovery and Stealth Rock damage. This leaves 252 EVs to be invested into Attack to make Gyarados as powerful as possible. Intimidate is the ability of choice to give Gyarados more defensive utility and Pokemon to set up on. Notably; -1 Excadrill and -1 Scizor are prime Substitute and Dragon Dance opportunities. Moxie trades this defensive reliability for the opportunity to snowball, becoming rapidly difficult to handle if the opponent sacrifices a Pokemon to try and send in their check cleanly.
Team Options
=========
This set should be used on rain teams to have the most effect since rain allows Leftovers to have a net gain in recovery while also strengthening Waterfall to be able to break through bulkier targets without as many boosts. Politoed provides Drizzle support and supports the rain-reliant Rapid Spin users this set should be paired with. Rapid Spin support is very important to this set, since Gyarados needs as much HP as possible to reliably set up Substitutes and Dragon Dances. Tentacruel in particular has excellent synergy with this Gyarados set; Scald and Toxic allows Tentacruel to spread burns and poison on targets Gyarados loves being statused such as Ferrothorn and Rotom-W. Starmie is also a great partner, as its Speed and power allows it to threaten offensive Stealth Rockers such as Terrakion and Garchomp, and its analytic-boosted attacks are great at pressuring Ferrothorn and Rotom-W. Gyarados especially appreciates this offensive synergy since it can’t run a third attacking move to fill coverage gaps. Starmie is an essential partner without rain support, thanks to its reliability on weatherless offense teams. Ferrothorn is a great support pick for its huge number of complementary resistances, ability to set up entry hazards to wear down Gyarados's checks, and its reliability at switching into the many revenge killing attempts aimed at Gyarados. In particular, Lum and Rawst Berry variants of Ferrothorn are amazing at luring in and weakening Rotom-W, which Gyarados loves to be weakened. Keldeo can weaken Ferrothorn and utilize a Choice Scarf set to slice through the very offensive teams this set doesn't do quite as well against, while this set is more easily able to break down the defensive teams Choice Scarf Keldeo struggles against. Garchomp does a great job deterring Electric-type moves, potentially switching into Rotom-W Volt Switch or Thundurus-T’s Thunder and threatening them back, while many teams are forced to rely on Skarmory to check Gyarados, which Garchomp appreciates being weakened in the case of Swords Dance variants. Thundurus-T is a staple on rain teams that Gyarados can struggle to partner with due to their overlapping types, but Thundurus's ability to counter Ferrothorn and do enormous damage early in the game can open the path for a Gyarados sweep. Although Magnezone is very difficult to fit on rain teams, they can pair up effectively on weatherless offense. Magnezone can directly remove Ferrothorn and Skarmory for Gyarados while even being able to clear sandstorm with Sunny Day, while Gyarados is a reliable way to set up on Magnezone's common revenge killers such as Excadrill, Heatran, and Landorus-T.
[SET]
Offensive Dragon Dance
Gyarados @ Leftovers / Lum Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Moxie / Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge / Return
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Gyarados with 2 moveslots of coverage can become an immediate and very difficult Pokemon to handle just after one Dragon Dance. Waterfall is a necessary STAB attack that hits the numerous Ground-types in the tier, additionally being able to potentially flinch and push through defensive checks to Gyarados such as Skarmory or Reuniclus. Earthquake is the most reliable coverage option, hitting grounded Water-resistant Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Keldeo and Keldeo for solid damage after a boost. For the last slot, Stone Edge gives Gyarados a strong attack with good neutral coverage against many checks like Rotom-W and Air Balloon Jellicent and Starmie, while hitting Dragonite and Kyurem-B super effectively. Return allows Gyarados to hit non-grounded Water-resistant Pokemon such as Latios or Rotom-W as well, but trades a super effective hit on Dragonite and Kyurem-B for reliable accuracy. Bounce gives Gyarados a second STAB move, allows it to regain Leftovers while in the air, has a nasty paralysis rate, and gives it the strongest attack against Ferrothorn and Breloom. However, it has somewhat unreliable accuracy and is a two-turn move, making it very exploitable when not used in tandem with Substitute. Ice Fang could be used to KO Breloom reliably while still hitting Dragon-types hard, but it is much weaker outside of hitting those targets.
Set Details
=========
Maximum Speed allows Gyarados to outrun Adamant Dragonite, Adamant Mamoswine, and Modest Heatran before a Dragon Dance. Adamant is the nature of choice to give Gyarados the necessary strength to muscle through bulkier Pokemon, but Jolly with 88 of the EVs moved to HP is an option to outrun Choice Scarf Latios and Terrakion after two Dragon Dances. Moxie is the preferred ability to snowball Attack boosts and make Gyarados progressively more difficult to handle. However, Intimidate is a good option to provide Gyarados more comfortable setup opportunities and defensive presence against Pokemon like Excadrill and Scizor. Leftovers improves Gyarados’s longevity, allowing it to not lost health in sand and get health back outside of sand to better check the Pokemon it switches into. Lum Berry is very useful for setting up against Pokemon that could otherwise inflict status, such as defensive Water-types with Scald, and completely flips the Jellicent matchup. Life Orb could be used for as much power as possible, doing a great deal more to counters, which is especially useful for Rotom-W, but the constant recoil greatly impacts Gyarados's staying power.
Team Options
=========
Gyarados is a natural fit on rain teams, so Politoed is an extremely valuable partner since Drizzle provides a power boost to Waterfall, can create switch-in opportunities for Gyarados through Encore. Rain teams appreciate Gyarados’s ability to overwhelm Water-resistant Pokemon, and Gyarados especially needs good hazard removal, which rain can reliably provide. Tentacruel is an amazing partner for its ability to spin reliability over the course of a game and pressure their shared checks, such as Ferrothorn, Jellicent, and Rotom-W with Scald burns or Toxic. Starmie is an incredible spinner on offensive teams and can use its coverage options boosted by analytic to pressure Water-resistant Pokemon. Ferrothorn is a great support pick for its huge number of complementary resistances, ability to set up entry hazards to wear down Gyarados's checks, and its reliability at switching into the many revenge killing attempts aimed at Gyarados. In particular, Lum and Rawst Berry variants of Ferrothorn are amazing at luring in and weakening Rotom-W and Jellicent, which Gyarados loves to be weakened. Latios checks the threats that force out Gyarados, answering Thundurus-T, Rotom-W, and Breloom quite well and often necessitates Ferrothorn or Tyranitar to check it, weakening either the primary Gyarados check or sand setter. Other wallbreakers that reliably beat or lure Gyarados’s checks are important teammates as well. Thundurus-T can switch into and has the power to severely threaten Water-resistant Pokemon like Rotom-W, Jellicent, Ferrothorn and Gastrodon, as well as dissuading Electric-Type attacks by virtue of Volt Absorb. Gyarados will be eventually KO'd, either but a faster Choice Scarf user or by a bulkier Pokemon that can tank its hits and KO back. Setup Pokemon such as Scizor or Volcarona have an ideal opportunity to boost against Pokemon like Ferrothorn, -2 Latios, of Reuniclus. Magnezone can be used to forcibly remove Ferrothorn and Skarmory, which is especially useful if Gyarados is not paired with Politoed to boost its Waterfall damage against Skarmory. Directly preventing Stealth Rock from being set up is another tactic too facilitate Gyarados on very offensive teams; making aggressive Taunt using leads like Skarmory, Terrakion, and Aerodactyl situationally good partners.
Other Options
=============
Choice Scarf can leverage its immediate Speed to revenge kill threats and potentially sweep with snowballing Attack boosts, but the inability to switch moves is a major hindrance. Natural Gift when paired with a Berry can give Gyarados some powerful and surprising coverage options. Watmel Berry when paired with Natural Gift allows Gyarados to make use of a surprise Fire-Type coverage option to circumvent Ferrothorn as an answer and do a lot of damage to Skarmory, while Liechi Berry becomes a high base power Grass-type attack, luring Rotom-W and Jellicent. However, this move comes with a lot of drawbacks. Natural Gift is a one-time option, uses up both an item and moveslot, and forces Gyarados to use Intimidate due to legality issues. Choice Band grants Gyarados an extremely powerful Waterfall when under rain, and it can use its immediate power to break down its checks with coverage options. Having said that, Gyarados is a slow Choice-item attacker, its STAB moves can be resisted pretty easily, and it does not appreciate being forced to switch out multiple times in the face of Stealth Rock. Rest, Sleep Talk, and defensive investment can be used to turn Gyarados into a mixed wall thanks to Intimidate and its good resistances. However, its Stealth Rock weakness is extremely crippling, and sleep mechanics make it so Gyarados must burn all its sleep turns without switching out or be forced to play the rest of the game asleep.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Residual Damage**: Stealth Rock, Sandstorm, and Toxic all impede Gyarados heavily and will limit the amount of damage it can do before being KO’d.
**Defensive Water-Resists**: While Gyarados has good coverage options, Pokemon such as Rotom-W and Ferrothorn will reliably beat it in a 1v1, while Celebi will beat any variant without Bounce. Other options such as Gastrodon, Amoonguss, and Jellicent can check it after it has taken enough damage.
**Choice Scarf Users**: Choice Scarf users such as Latios, Garchomp, or Excadrill can outrun and take out a weakened Gyarados with their strong attacks.
**Strong Priority:** While Gyarados fortuitously resists Mach Punch and Bullet Punch, it is still susceptible to very strong neutral priority when weakened. Mamoswine's Ice Shard, Dragonite's Extreme Speed, and Scizor's Quick Attack can all stop Gyarados after it has been brought low.
**Physically Bulky Pokemon**: While they range in reliability due to coverage and Waterfall flinches, Skarmory, Reuniclus, Kyurem-B, and Cloyster can potentially take a hit from +1 Gyarados and threaten it back.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Monai]]
- Quality checked by: [[, id], [, id]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, id], [, id]]
Armed with Dragon Dance, reliable physical Water-Type STAB attacks, and two incredible abilities, Gyarados establishes its niche as a dangerous sweeper. Utilizing its solid bulk and unique typing, Gyarados has many switch-in and set-up opportunities, pivoting in and threatening top Pokemon like Excadrill, Heatran, Tentacruel, Gliscor, Volcarona, Scizor, and Keldeo. Many of the Pokemon it checks are common on hyper offense teams, which grants Gyarados a particularly strong matchup against them. The ever present rain set by Politoed is also a boon to Gyarados, as it clears the sand that cuts into its bulk anf physical checks like Skarmory or Reuniclus can be much more easily muscled through with a boosted Waterfall when it is present.
However, despite these great and unique traits, Gyarados has its fair share of flaws. Weakness to Stealth Rock and vulnerability to sand severely cuts into its defensive reliability, necessitating Rapid Spin support or other entry hazard denying strategies. This is exacerbated by Gyarados relying on its bulk and typing to set up directly on Pokemon like Excadrill. Gyarados is also not very immediately threatening, as its middling speed and mediocre STAB option of Waterfall often requires it to use Dragon Dance before it can meaningfully damage teams. This Speed issue persists even after setting up one Dragon Dance, as common Choice Scarf users like Latios and Garchomp often put Gyarados in an awkward situation after it has claimed one KO. Finally, and most importantly, Gyarados has a large number of checks, such as Skarmory, Jellicent, Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Encore Politoed, and Dragonite, which are all quite common and often necessitate different moves to beat.
[SET]
Substitute + Dragon Dance
Gyarados @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate / Moxie
EVs: 88 HP / 252 Atk / 168 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Substitute
- Waterfall
- Bounce
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Gyarados's excellent bulk and typing affords it many opportunities to use Substitute, protecting itself from status and weaker moves, from where it can look to use Dragon Dance repeatedly. Gyarados has many opportunities to set up a Substitute, threatening many staples that can’t hurt it back like defensive Landorus-T, Heatran, Politoed lacking Encore, Tentacruel, and Excadrill. It also has the added benefit of taking Rotom’s Volt Switch, forcing Rotom-W to switch in again to check Gyarados and take more residual damage in doing so. Waterfall is mandatory as a reliable STAB attack with good coverage, and the 20% chance to flinch can rapidly snowball games if the opponents primary check is KO'd without taking an action. Bounce is used alongside as it gives Gyarados a secondary STAB attack and has decent two-move coverage alongside Waterfall. Bounce also gives Gyarados an extra turn of Leftovers and hits Water-resistant targets such as Ferrothorn and Jellicent as hard as possible, as well as improving its longevity. However, the two turn nature of the move can result in opponents pivoting to resistances, such as Skarmory or Tyranitar, which could not switch in to bother Gyarados otherwise. Earthquake is a good alternative, sacrificing a little power for reliability and granting Gyarados a way more consistent matchup against Politoed and Keldeo, who often run Protect. Taunt can be used over Substitute to directly prevent phazing and Encore attempts, while also being useful against status moves like Toxic and Will-O-Wisp. However, Substitute prevents these status moves from affecting Gyarados in addition to preventing the chance of a Scald burn occuring and allows for better synergy with Bounce, making it overall more useful.
Set Details
=========
Leftovers enhance Gyarados’s bulk, granting it recovery in rain or clear weather and offsetting sand damage. It’s especially relevant with Substitute and Bounce, which heals Gyarados while the opponent cannot attack it directly. 168 Speed EVs and a Jolly Nature allow Gyarados to outspeed Choice Scarf Latios after two Dragon Dances, which also outspeeds neutral natured base 80 Speed Pokemon like Dragonite and Mamoswine without a boost. 88 HP EVs allows Gyarados's Substitute to not be broken by Power Whip from a burned Ferrothorn, making it a potential setup opportunity. 353 HP also has the added benefit of being an optimal number for Leftovers recovery and Stealth Rock damage. This leaves 252 EVs to be invested into Attack to make Gyarados as powerful as possible. Intimidate is the ability of choice to give Gyarados more defensive utility and Pokemon to set up on. Notably; -1 Excadrill and -1 Scizor are prime Substitute and Dragon Dance opportunities. Moxie trades this defensive reliability for the opportunity to snowball, becoming rapidly difficult to handle if the opponent sacrifices a Pokemon to try and send in their check cleanly.
Team Options
=========
This set should be used on rain teams to have the most effect since rain allows Leftovers to have a net gain in recovery while also strengthening Waterfall to be able to break through bulkier targets without as many boosts. Politoed provides Drizzle support and supports the rain-reliant Rapid Spin users this set should be paired with. Rapid Spin support is very important to this set, since Gyarados needs as much HP as possible to reliably set up Substitutes and Dragon Dances. Tentacruel in particular has excellent synergy with this Gyarados set; Scald and Toxic allows Tentacruel to spread burns and poison on targets Gyarados loves being statused such as Ferrothorn and Rotom-W. Starmie is also a great partner, as its Speed and power allows it to threaten offensive Stealth Rockers such as Terrakion and Garchomp, and its analytic-boosted attacks are great at pressuring Ferrothorn and Rotom-W. Gyarados especially appreciates this offensive synergy since it can’t run a third attacking move to fill coverage gaps. Starmie is an essential partner without rain support, thanks to its reliability on weatherless offense teams. Ferrothorn is a great support pick for its huge number of complementary resistances, ability to set up entry hazards to wear down Gyarados's checks, and its reliability at switching into the many revenge killing attempts aimed at Gyarados. In particular, Lum and Rawst Berry variants of Ferrothorn are amazing at luring in and weakening Rotom-W, which Gyarados loves to be weakened. Keldeo can weaken Ferrothorn and utilize a Choice Scarf set to slice through the very offensive teams this set doesn't do quite as well against, while this set is more easily able to break down the defensive teams Choice Scarf Keldeo struggles against. Garchomp does a great job deterring Electric-type moves, potentially switching into Rotom-W Volt Switch or Thundurus-T’s Thunder and threatening them back, while many teams are forced to rely on Skarmory to check Gyarados, which Garchomp appreciates being weakened in the case of Swords Dance variants. Thundurus-T is a staple on rain teams that Gyarados can struggle to partner with due to their overlapping types, but Thundurus's ability to counter Ferrothorn and do enormous damage early in the game can open the path for a Gyarados sweep. Although Magnezone is very difficult to fit on rain teams, they can pair up effectively on weatherless offense. Magnezone can directly remove Ferrothorn and Skarmory for Gyarados while even being able to clear sandstorm with Sunny Day, while Gyarados is a reliable way to set up on Magnezone's common revenge killers such as Excadrill, Heatran, and Landorus-T.
[SET]
Offensive Dragon Dance
Gyarados @ Leftovers / Lum Berry / Life Orb
Ability: Moxie / Intimidate
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- Dragon Dance
- Waterfall
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge / Return
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
=========
Gyarados with 2 moveslots of coverage can become an immediate and very difficult Pokemon to handle just after one Dragon Dance. Waterfall is a necessary STAB attack that hits the numerous Ground-types in the tier, additionally being able to potentially flinch and push through defensive checks to Gyarados such as Skarmory or Reuniclus. Earthquake is the most reliable coverage option, hitting grounded Water-resistant Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Keldeo and Keldeo for solid damage after a boost. For the last slot, Stone Edge gives Gyarados a strong attack with good neutral coverage against many checks like Rotom-W and Air Balloon Jellicent and Starmie, while hitting Dragonite and Kyurem-B super effectively. Return allows Gyarados to hit non-grounded Water-resistant Pokemon such as Latios or Rotom-W as well, but trades a super effective hit on Dragonite and Kyurem-B for reliable accuracy. Bounce gives Gyarados a second STAB move, allows it to regain Leftovers while in the air, has a nasty paralysis rate, and gives it the strongest attack against Ferrothorn and Breloom. However, it has somewhat unreliable accuracy and is a two-turn move, making it very exploitable when not used in tandem with Substitute. Ice Fang could be used to KO Breloom reliably while still hitting Dragon-types hard, but it is much weaker outside of hitting those targets.
Set Details
=========
Maximum Speed allows Gyarados to outrun Adamant Dragonite, Adamant Mamoswine, and Modest Heatran before a Dragon Dance. Adamant is the nature of choice to give Gyarados the necessary strength to muscle through bulkier Pokemon, but Jolly with 88 of the EVs moved to HP is an option to outrun Choice Scarf Latios and Terrakion after two Dragon Dances. Moxie is the preferred ability to snowball Attack boosts and make Gyarados progressively more difficult to handle. However, Intimidate is a good option to provide Gyarados more comfortable setup opportunities and defensive presence against Pokemon like Excadrill and Scizor. Leftovers improves Gyarados’s longevity, allowing it to not lost health in sand and get health back outside of sand to better check the Pokemon it switches into. Lum Berry is very useful for setting up against Pokemon that could otherwise inflict status, such as defensive Water-types with Scald, and completely flips the Jellicent matchup. Life Orb could be used for as much power as possible, doing a great deal more to counters, which is especially useful for Rotom-W, but the constant recoil greatly impacts Gyarados's staying power.
Team Options
=========
Gyarados is a natural fit on rain teams, so Politoed is an extremely valuable partner since Drizzle provides a power boost to Waterfall, can create switch-in opportunities for Gyarados through Encore. Rain teams appreciate Gyarados’s ability to overwhelm Water-resistant Pokemon, and Gyarados especially needs good hazard removal, which rain can reliably provide. Tentacruel is an amazing partner for its ability to spin reliability over the course of a game and pressure their shared checks, such as Ferrothorn, Jellicent, and Rotom-W with Scald burns or Toxic. Starmie is an incredible spinner on offensive teams and can use its coverage options boosted by analytic to pressure Water-resistant Pokemon. Ferrothorn is a great support pick for its huge number of complementary resistances, ability to set up entry hazards to wear down Gyarados's checks, and its reliability at switching into the many revenge killing attempts aimed at Gyarados. In particular, Lum and Rawst Berry variants of Ferrothorn are amazing at luring in and weakening Rotom-W and Jellicent, which Gyarados loves to be weakened. Latios checks the threats that force out Gyarados, answering Thundurus-T, Rotom-W, and Breloom quite well and often necessitates Ferrothorn or Tyranitar to check it, weakening either the primary Gyarados check or sand setter. Other wallbreakers that reliably beat or lure Gyarados’s checks are important teammates as well. Thundurus-T can switch into and has the power to severely threaten Water-resistant Pokemon like Rotom-W, Jellicent, Ferrothorn and Gastrodon, as well as dissuading Electric-Type attacks by virtue of Volt Absorb. Gyarados will be eventually KO'd, either but a faster Choice Scarf user or by a bulkier Pokemon that can tank its hits and KO back. Setup Pokemon such as Scizor or Volcarona have an ideal opportunity to boost against Pokemon like Ferrothorn, -2 Latios, of Reuniclus. Magnezone can be used to forcibly remove Ferrothorn and Skarmory, which is especially useful if Gyarados is not paired with Politoed to boost its Waterfall damage against Skarmory. Directly preventing Stealth Rock from being set up is another tactic too facilitate Gyarados on very offensive teams; making aggressive Taunt using leads like Skarmory, Terrakion, and Aerodactyl situationally good partners.
Other Options
=============
Choice Scarf can leverage its immediate Speed to revenge kill threats and potentially sweep with snowballing Attack boosts, but the inability to switch moves is a major hindrance. Natural Gift when paired with a Berry can give Gyarados some powerful and surprising coverage options. Watmel Berry when paired with Natural Gift allows Gyarados to make use of a surprise Fire-Type coverage option to circumvent Ferrothorn as an answer and do a lot of damage to Skarmory, while Liechi Berry becomes a high base power Grass-type attack, luring Rotom-W and Jellicent. However, this move comes with a lot of drawbacks. Natural Gift is a one-time option, uses up both an item and moveslot, and forces Gyarados to use Intimidate due to legality issues. Choice Band grants Gyarados an extremely powerful Waterfall when under rain, and it can use its immediate power to break down its checks with coverage options. Having said that, Gyarados is a slow Choice-item attacker, its STAB moves can be resisted pretty easily, and it does not appreciate being forced to switch out multiple times in the face of Stealth Rock. Rest, Sleep Talk, and defensive investment can be used to turn Gyarados into a mixed wall thanks to Intimidate and its good resistances. However, its Stealth Rock weakness is extremely crippling, and sleep mechanics make it so Gyarados must burn all its sleep turns without switching out or be forced to play the rest of the game asleep.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Residual Damage**: Stealth Rock, Sandstorm, and Toxic all impede Gyarados heavily and will limit the amount of damage it can do before being KO’d.
**Defensive Water-Resists**: While Gyarados has good coverage options, Pokemon such as Rotom-W and Ferrothorn will reliably beat it in a 1v1, while Celebi will beat any variant without Bounce. Other options such as Gastrodon, Amoonguss, and Jellicent can check it after it has taken enough damage.
**Choice Scarf Users**: Choice Scarf users such as Latios, Garchomp, or Excadrill can outrun and take out a weakened Gyarados with their strong attacks.
**Strong Priority:** While Gyarados fortuitously resists Mach Punch and Bullet Punch, it is still susceptible to very strong neutral priority when weakened. Mamoswine's Ice Shard, Dragonite's Extreme Speed, and Scizor's Quick Attack can all stop Gyarados after it has been brought low.
**Physically Bulky Pokemon**: While they range in reliability due to coverage and Waterfall flinches, Skarmory, Reuniclus, Kyurem-B, and Cloyster can potentially take a hit from +1 Gyarados and threaten it back.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Monai]]
- Quality checked by: [[, id], [, id]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, id], [, id]]
Last edited: