Garchomp
Mach Pokémon
When it folds up its body and extends its wings, it looks like a jet plane. It flies at sonic speed.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Held Items
Evolution Chain
Moves
Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
Garchomp is a fearsome offensive threat, with excellently distributed stats including a Speed stat that leaves many metagame staples in the dust, outrunning Palkia, which itself is considered quite fast in the tier, as well as Rayquaza, Dialga, Kyogre, and Groudon. It can use that Speed tier to fire off powerful STAB moves, with Dragon and Ground being a fantastic offensive type combination that very few Pokemon resist. The ones that do resist Dragon- and Ground-type moves can be dealt with through Fire Fang or Aqua Tail depending on which weather is active. Bulkier Pokemon neutral to Garchomp's STAB moves have trouble taking on Outrage and Earthquake off of Garchomp's great Attack and it can notably 2HKO every Pokemon in the game after a Swords Dance with the right coverage. These traits make Garchomp a prime selection for offensive teams as a mid-game sweeper or late-game cleaner, since many teams appreciate its ability to outspeed and KO most other Pokemon in the tier.
However, Garchomp's counters are incredibly hard to deal with, as all of Skarmory, Cresselia, and Lugia can easily switch into and recover in front of it, whereas Bronzong is generally difficult for any Dragon-type to take down even without its own recovery. As such, Garchomp struggles against bulkier teams the most, since they can easily status Garchomp and commonly run its most reliable counters. Limited defensive utility leaves Garchomp with a pronounced vulnerability to status and entry hazards, making its place on a team far more specific. Garchomp also has very limited coverage options, with Aqua Tail, Fire Fang, and Stone Edge all either being relatively weak or inaccurate, which heavily restricts its set diversity.
Most Used Moves
Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc