Life Orb Garchomp, you say?
VGC Life Orb Garchomp, I say!
VGC 2014
This is Garchomp. The dracoshark that domainated the VGC '14 metagame with is Lum Berry, Choice Band and Focus Sash sets. His combination of STAB Earthquake, coming off a high attack stat, plus his above-average bulk made him a top threat alongside Mega Kangaskhan and Mega Mawile. He also had one of the fastes – if not the fastest – non-Scarfed Rock Slides in the game, outspeeding Kangaskhan, Staraptor, Charizard, and a myriad of other base 100s.
The Impact he Made
Garchomp was a massive influence on the metagame. Checks arose, such as Choice Scarf Salamence (which could KO with Draco Meteor), HP Ice Mega Manectric and… Choice Scarf Final Gambit Staraptor. Garchomp was a threat to calc for.
Early VGC 2015: The Rise of Life Orb Garchomp and Mixed Garchomp
VGC '14 was over, with Garchomp being used to win the Pokémon World Championships by Se Jun Park and ending the season with a bang. Enter VGC '15 and the release of ORAS. The season technically started winter of 2014, after Worlds. This is around when Life Orb Garchomp became popular (as well as the aforementioned Staraptor). He still posessed some of the most powerful attacks in the game, but players began to turn towards Life Orb instead of Choice Band. This let them fully utilize Protect and give their Focus Sash to another Pokémon. At this time, LO and Lum Berry were the sets to have. Then someone invented MixChomp. Keep Earthquake and Rock Slide, but use Draco Meteor to catch other Garchomp by surprise or Fire Blast to handle Ferrothorn and his buddies. This is what pushed Life Orb int othe dominant item spot; Burns weren't much of a problem with Special attacks, and Choice Band would just get in the way.
Spring 2015: The Return of the Legends (and move tutors)
Here's where I get to the bad part; Garchomp's fall from glory. And it was all caused by the following Pokémon either outclassing it or outright checking it. These new threats wwere introduced when the VGC format switched from XY to ORAS.
Landorus was the main reason for the decline of Garchomp useage. He was stronger, faster, had Intimidate, better coverage, and better bulk than the dracoshark.
Mega Salamence pretty much outclassed Garchomp as a physical Dragon, with a brutal Dragon Dance-boosted Double-Edge at his disposal. Plus Intimidate.
Terrakion possessed a faster, stronger Rock Slide, Fighting STAB and the ability yo run the terrifying TerraCott combo.
Hydreigon outclasses Garchomp as a Special attacker, and the ORAS move tutors brought him some new toys that gave him the same coverage as Garchomp, but with Levitate and immunity to Intimidate.
Sylveon got Pixilate-boosted Hyper Voice. 'Nuff said.
Thundurus was able to outspeed Garchomp and deal hefty damage with Hidden Power Ice. He could also Taunt him out of Protecting and Swagger him into oblivion.
Mega Metagross came with the bulk to take a LO Earthquake and hit back with a very, very strong Ice Punch.
Conclusion
Garchomp is not bad. But he is no longer the best. However, he can still put in work with his Life Orb or Sashed sets as an alternative to Landorus. I'll include some sets and some calcs below.
Long live Garchomp!
Life Orb – Mixed
Garchomp@ Life Orb
Naive | Rough Skin
252 Spe / 32 SpA / 224 Atk
- Earthquake
- Draco Meteor
- Rock Slide
- Protect
32 SpA Life Orb Garchomp Draco Meteor vs. 60 HP / 4 SpD Hydreigon: 179-213 (102.2 - 121.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Life Orb – Physical
Garchomp@ Life Orb
Jolly | Rough Skin
252 Atk / 244 Spe / 12 HP
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Claw
- Protect
252 Atk Life Orb Garchomp Dragon Claw vs. 28 HP / 36 Def Hydreigon: 187-221 (109.3 - 129.2%) -- guaranteed OHKO
252 Atk Life Orb Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 244 HP / 108 Def Thundurus: 96-114 (51.8 - 61.6%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
Choice Band
Garchomp@ Choice Band
Jolly | Rough Skin
252 Atk / 244 Spe / 12 HP
- Earthquake
- Rock Slide
- Dragon Claw
- Fire Fang
252 Atk Choice Band Garchomp Rock Slide vs. 244 HP / 108 Def Thundurus: 112-132 (60.5 - 71.3%) -- 90.2% chance to 2HKO after Sitrus Berry recovery
252 Atk Choice Band Garchomp Earthquake vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Aegislash-Shield: 134-162 (80.2 - 97%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
Singles Tidbit
I've been out of touch with Singles for a while, but I think he's still majorly outclassed by Landorus, last I checked.
