Question

Is Garchomp a good Pokemon to battle with, its defense is in the low range, in Pokemon platinum?

Answer 1

I have used a Garchomp in Platinum before. It was definitely not that great of a Pokemon, and it might even be quite a bit below average. Sure, Garchomp has amazing stats, but only after it reaches level 48. To do so, it needs 138240 experience, which can raise most other Pokemon to around level 53. That's a pretty big difference, and often enough to make up for the difference in stats, especially because higher-level Pokemon deal more damage and effectively have better stats. It has a good movepool, but that's true for a lot of other Pokemon in Platinum, so it's not a good reason to use Garchomp when you can be using something else. As I mentioned earlier, Garchomp needs a lot of experience in order to not get underleveled, so it does pretty badly against the Elite Four. Of course, you can give it a lot of experience, but then can't you do that to any Pokemon? Besides, several of their Pokemon have strong ice-type attacks (and Cynthia's own Garchomp has dragon rush), which limits the amount that Garchomp can help defeat. And Lucian's Bronzong has levitate. Additionally, because Garchomp evolves so late, it can only really start to help you when you're halfway through Victory Road. A lot of other Pokemon can match that usefulness during the last bit of the game as well as being helpful starting much earlier and for much longer. So don't use Garchomp. If you really want a ground Pokemon, then use Torterra or Gliscor instead.

Answer 2

Hope that you already played through the game, because I am giving spoilers.

In my opinion Garchomp is a good physical attacker and it's a pseudo legendary, but if you don't like it's base 95 defense, swap it out for a bulkier Pokemon like Umbreon.

Garchomp can get moves like Dragon Claw as a good STAB Dragon move, and Earthquake as a good STAB Ground move. It also gets good coverage moves like Stone Edge and Iron Tail.

You aren't going to get Garchomp though until at least the 8th gym, where it's going to be actually useful with Earthquake. (if you have the TM)

Earthquake is Super Effective against Jolteon, Raichu, Luxray, and Electivire and can one shot basically everything on Volkner's Team.

Moving on to the elite four...

Garchomp can't do much to Aaron unless your running Stone Edge or Fire Fang, so when Drapion is sent out, hit hard with a Ground move.

Garchomp is super effective against Golem and Rhyperior with a STAB ground move.

All of Flint's Pokemon are weak to STAB ground moves with Garchomp, but watch out for Hyper Beam Magmortar. (actually, that's not really a threat)

Lucian's Bronzong has Levitate, so you aren't going to be hitting it with Garchomp unless you put Fire Fang on Garchomp. It can still do good in this battle, though.

Cynthia's Lucario is weak to a STAB ground move, so try to get Earthquake on Garchomp to guarentee an OHKO.

All in all, if you are willing to train up a Gible/Gabite, you should use it ingame.

Hope this helped! :)

Comments

I forgot that Lucian's Bronzong has Levitate lol

---

Because I agree with molthree's conclusion more than yours. Not your fault or anything. (Btw I gave you an up vote too because i can tell you put a lot of time and effort into your answer, which i can appreciate.)

---

But Garchomp grows slowly, and Pokemon in the slow group are bad...
(except Gyarados)

---

Not exactly

---

How are they not bad? When a medium slow Pokemon is given 189400 experience, it reaches level 58. When a slow Pokemon is given 189400 experience, it reaches level 53. A difference of 5 levels is a pretty big deal when you're trying to beat a Pokemon game.