#577 Solosis

Eckley · (This post was last modified: Nov 17, 2015, 03:17 PM by Eckley.)

[Image: mega_gyarados___aqua_tail_by_ishmam-d7yyhgd.png]

Credit to ishmam

Release the...Kraken?

Being a part of the original 151, Gyarados may have a special place in the heart of some of you, and for good reason. With it's abilities, it can either weaken the physical attacking power of your opponent, or even boost it's own attacking power after knocking a foe out. It aslo has a few support options to go with these abilities, such as Thunder Wave or Icy Wind to slow your opponents down. Not only that, but Gyarados also as a mega form, boosting it's stats an also chaging it's typing. On the right team Gyarados can be an excellent support Pokemon, or in it's mega forme can be annoying to deal with. Because of this, Gyarados can be useful on a lot of teams for both defensive players and offensive players alike.

Base Stats: Regular form - 95 HP / 125 Attack / 79 Defense / 60 Special Attack / 100 Special Defense / 81 Speed

Mega form - 95 HP / 155 Attack / 109 Defense / 70 Special Attack / 130 Special Defense / 81 Speed

Type: Water/Flying (Regular form)
Water/Dark (Mega form)

Weaknesses: Regular form - Rock (X2), Electric (X4)
Mega form - Fighting (X2), Bug (X2), Grass (X2), Electric (X2), Fairy (X2)

[Resistances: Regular form - Fighting (X0.5), Bug (X0.5), Steel (X0.5), Fire (X0.5), Water (X0.5)
Mega form - Ghost (X0.5), Steel (0.5), Fire (X0.5), Water (X0.5), Ice (X0.5), Dark (X0.5)

Immunities: Regular form - Ground
Mega form - Psychic

Abilities Regular form - Intimidate - When a Pokémon with Intimidate enters the battle, it lowers the Attack stat of all adjacent opponents by one stage. Intimidate has no effect on Pokémon who are immune to Attack stat reductions, such as Pokémon with Clear Body, Hyper Cutter, or White Smoke. This Ability will not affect a target with a substitute. Intimidate now also activates when a Pokémon gains the Ability, such as via Skill Swap or Mega Evolution.

Moxie (Hidden Ability) - When a Pokémon with Moxie causes another Pokémon (including allies) to faint through direct damage, its Attack rises by one stage. Moxie will not be activated by indirect damage, such as through Sandstorm or an item like Rocky Helmet. Moxie will not activate if an allied Pokémon defeats a foe in a Double or Triple Battle.
If a Pokémon with Moxie defeats a Pokémon with Mummy using a contact move, the Pokémon's Ability will turn to Mummy before the attack boost is given.

Mega form - Mold Breaker - Mold Breaker ignores the effects of Abilities that could potentially affect the damage or effects of a move that its user executes. For example, a Pokémon with Mold Breaker can hit opponents that possess Levitate by using Earthquake. Mold Breaker applies regardless of target Pokémon, but only to moves executed by its user (so if two Pokemon in a Double Battle both know Earthquake, only the Pokémon with Mold Breaker can hit a Pokémon with Levitate).
Unlike Gastro Acid, which completely negates a target's Ability, the opponents' Abilities otherwise remain in effect:
Abilities that prevent status conditions (such as Immunity and Oblivious) will not protect the Pokémon from receiving the status condition; however, many of these Abilities also have effects to cure the Pokémon of the status condition if afflicted, which are not negated by Mold Breaker.
Abilities that draw attacks to the user, such as Lightning Rod and Storm Drain, will still divert attacks regardless of Mold Breaker, but will not nullify the damage or boost the Pokémon's stats.
Mold Breaker can ignore the Abilities of Pokémon other than the target; for example, if a Pokémon with Mold Breaker uses Thunder Wave on a Grass-type Pokémon whose ally has Flower Veil, the target will still be paralyzed.
If a Pokémon with Mold Breaker forces a Pokémon to switch in with a move like Roar or Dragon Tail, immunities to entry hazards due to Abilities will be negated (except Magic Guard). If forced to switch in this way:
Pokémon with Levitate will be affected by Spikes and Toxic Spikes, unless they are Flying-type or holding an Air Balloon.
Poison-type Pokémon with Levitate can remove Toxic Spikes, if they are not Flying-type and not holding an Air Balloon.
Pokémon with Immunity will be poisoned by Toxic Spikes (although Immunity will then activate and cure them of poison).
Pokémon with Leaf Guard will be poisoned by Toxic Spikes even during intense sunlight.
Pokémon with Clear Body or White Smoke will have their Speed lowered by Sticky Web.
Pokémon with Overcoat will be affected by powder and spore moves as well.

Offensive Support
[Image: gyarados-2.gif]

Gyarados @ Sitrus Berry / Lum Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 68 Atk / 140 Def / 52 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Waterfall
- Thunder Wave / Icy Wind
- Protect
- Dragon Tail / Ice Fang / Dragon Dance

Intimidate is a great ability that can greatly help against physical attackers. Even without Intimidate, this set is designed to survive very strong hits from the likes of Mega Kangaskhan, Mega Salamence Landorus-T and Hydreigon. This set provides speed control through Thunder Wave / Icy Wind, while still having offensive pressure due to the Adamant nature coupled with the Base 125 Attack stat. The last move slot is mainly filler, and depends on personal preference. Dragon Tail is useful for getting rid of anything trying to set up, or even getting rid of an opponent that threatens Gyarados's partner. Dragon Tail does have a priority of -6 though, so remeber that you will be moving last for that turn. Ice Fang can help with coverage if you aren't running Icy Wind, and Dragon Dance is another option to have some more speed and power, which is why Lum Berry is an item option to heal any potential Will-o-Wisps. Remeber that this set is for speed control support, not for bulldozing through teams, but for a support set it has some good physical offenive pressure. Sitrus Berry is to help Gyarados stay around since it doesn't have a healing move

Damage Calculations

Defensive - Opponents at Neutral Attack

Defensive - Physical Attackers at -1

Offensive

Support v.2
[Image: gyarados-3.gif]

Gyarados @ Sitrus Berry
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 244 HP / 36 Atk / 4 Def / 52 SpD / 172 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Thunder Wave / Icy Wind
- Protect
- Taunt

Unlike the previous set, this one relies on it's Intimidate ability to survive physical hits. The set concept is the same - provide speed control support while dealing pretty decent damage to anything that doesn't resist it's move coverage. The main focus point of this spread is the 172 Speed EVs. With a Jolly Nature, it allows Gyarados to outspeed Jolly base 70s (Breloom) to get a Taunt off before they can Spore you. Should you want to outspeed Jolly Smeargle, you'd need 212 Speed EVs with a Jolly Nature. The HP / SpD investment does the same thing as the previous set, and the rest was dumped into attack for as much damage output as possible. Sirtus Berry is for the same reason as before

Damage Calculations

Defensive - Relies on Intimidate to take the hits

Mega - Bulky Dragon Dance
[Image: gyarados-mega.gif]

Gyarados @ Gyaradosite
Ability: Intimidate -> Mold Breaker
EVs: 244 HP / 52 Atk / 124 Def / 36 SpD / 52 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Waterfall
- Ice Fang / Crunch / Earthquake
- Dragon Dance
- Protect

This set does slightly rely on getting up a Dragon Dance. Gyarados gains some decent bulk upon Mega Evolving, but it doesn't gain a boost in the speed stat, meaning it's stuck in that awkward mid-tier speed range. The EV spread might look like I've just thrown random numbers about, but they do actually do something. With 244 HP / 124 DEF, Mega Gyarados can survive a Close Combat from a Jolly Max Attack Terrakion, as well as a Low Kick from Jolly Max Attack Mega Kangaskhan without the Intimidate drop before Mega Evolving. Secondly, the HP / SpD investment allow Mega Gyarados to survive a Hyper Voice from Modest Max Special Attack Sylveon. Lastly, the Speed EVs allow you to outspeed Jolly Max speed base 108 such as Terrakion by 1 point after 1 Dragon Dance. The rest of the EVs were thrown into attack for as much damage as possible. Waterfall is the main attacking move, and then slot 2 is your choice. Ice Fang is a pretty weak coverage move with a base power of 65 and you'll need a dragon dance up to OHKO Landorus and Mega Salamence (4HP / 0 DEF Landorus-T is a 93.8% chance to OHKO), but it does have a 10% chance to flinch and a 10% chance to freeze. Due to Mold Breaker it also hits Mega Venusaur for Super Effective damage. Naturally, if you went with an Adamant Nature and more Attack EVs, you can pick up KO's on these (or at least Landorus-T) but you'll miss out on surviving Close Combats etc. Crunch is another STAB option to hit Aegislash and Cresselia, but that's about as much coverage as you'll get from it. It does also have a 20% chance to lower the targets SpD stat by 1 stage. Earthquake is another coverage option, being able to hit Rotom-W thanks to the Mold Breaker ability. If you really want max power/speed, you can run 4 HP / 252 Attack / 252 Speed if you wish, but again, you won't be able survive the strong super effective hits.

Damage Calculations

Defensive (Remember that Gyarados gets Intimidate before Mega Evolving. These calculations are done without Intimidates's effect)

Offensive (All Calcs done at +1)

Potential Teammates include, but aren't limited to;

Clefairy/Clefable - Can Provide redirection support, absorbing Fighting and Bug attacks that would normally be Super Effective against Mega Gyarados. For help on Clefairy sets, check out Naitre's awesome write up Here!
Amoongus - Same as Clefairy/Clefable, but redirecting Figting, Fairy and Electric type attacks
Fairy or Psychic types such as Sylveon and Gardevoir to take out fighting types such as Terrakion and Conkeldurr.
Lighting Rod users or Pokemon that resist / are immune to Electric type move such as Raichu and Landorus-T
Pokemon that can benifit from the support sets such as Mega Venusaur and Heatran

Threats include, but aren't limited to;

Electric types, paricularly Thundurus and Zapdos
Strong Fighting types such as Terrakion and Conkeldurr are a problem for Mega Gyarados
Fairy types such as Hyper Voice Sylveon and Mega Gardevoir
Bulky Grass types, particularly Mega Venusaur, despite Ice Fang being super effective due to Mold Breaker
Other bulky water types - Unless your running Crunch to hit them for neutral damage. Rotom-W can also use Will-o-Wisp, and despite doing minimal damage, Suicune can potentially burn with scald
Bisharp due to intimidate giving it a plus one attack raise

Other Notable Moves

Stone Edge - Can help for coverage against Thundurus and Zapdos as well as OHKOing Charizard Y
Bulldoze - Reduces the speed of everyone it hits by one stage. Also hit ally Pokemon
Swagger - Raises the targets attack by two stages and confuses them
Confide - Lowers the targets Special attack by one stage. Also works against foes that have used Protect, Detect or Spiky Sheild, but will fail if the opponents has used Crafty Sheild. Pokemon with the ability Soundproof are unaffected by this move
Iron Head - Coverage for Fairies and also has a chance to make the target flinch
Iron Tail - same as Iron Head but has more bae power at the cost of accuracy, and has a 30% to lower the targets defense stat by one stage
Outrage - A strong Dragon type move that may come in useful against Hydreigon. You get locked into it for 2-3 turns and afterwards you get confused

Other Notable Items

Rocky Helmet - Damages attackers that use a contact move for 1/6 of their maximum HP
Leftovers - An alternative for Sitrus Berry. Restores 1/16 of the holder's HP at the end of each turn
Wacan Berry - Reduces the damage taken from electric type attacks
Life Orb - Boosts the power of moves by 30%, but at the cost of 10% of the holder's max HP each time you use a damaging move

Thanks for reading. Hopefully these will help some of you, and remember that ou can customise EVs and Movesets to your own liking :D

Podfighterninja123 · May 29, 2015, 12:22 PM

I approve of all these builds

ChaseInfinity · May 29, 2015, 12:48 PM

Awesome job again Eckley :D

increasinglyusel · May 29, 2015, 12:58 PM

WOW! Nice job Eckley Smile

Eckley · May 29, 2015, 01:19 PM

Thanks everyone!

Black117 · May 30, 2015, 02:54 AM

IMO Gyarados is the most underated Water Pokemon right now considering it has access to Intimidate/Dragon Dance similar to Mega Salamence, exclusive access to a potent Mega that's won Worlds, and now a new Dark type move in Crunch. If you can get Gyarados in at the right moment, especially with that Intimidate, it can virtually setup, and proceed to sweep entire teams. Lighting Rod users like Raichu, Manetric Rhydon/Rhyperior, and even Marowak can prevent Gyarados from taking direct Electric moves which can usually OHKO Gyarados. As you mention Eckley, Gyarados and Mega Gyarados need redirection support so Pokemon like Amoonguss, Jumpluff, Clefairy, Togekiss etc to support its sweep. (I'm not including Pachi since .....Lando and Swag Thundurus is a thing now...)

Gyarados is a Pokemon I definitely want to revisit, especially who I used one back in December.

BTW you forgot Bounce kappa

GiMYz · May 30, 2015, 05:57 AM

I've never done calcs with a bulky Gyarados, thanks for the builds!

In my opinion Gyarados is one of those pokemon that are extremely good on paper, but actually they perform below the expectations in the long term, and you won't bring it anymore as soon as you see Thundurus or Rotom-W in team preview. Gyarados also struggles against water types and, in general, rain teams, because it can get burned by Scald and Ice Beams hits x1 due to its typing. I have to admit that without the right counter on the field and especially thanks to its added physical bulk given by Intimidate and a good SpD base stat, Gyarados can be really hard to take down in late game, offering a good win condition.

Eckley · (This post was last modified: May 30, 2015, 09:35 AM by Eckley.)

@Black117 How could I forget about Bounce?! It's the bestest move ever! Kappa

But yeah, Gyarados does need quite a bit of support, but with the right Pokemon it can be a problem to deal with

@GMX I think you've got it spot on there. It definitely looks impressive on paper, but when I got around to doing some of the calcs I must admit I was a little underwhelmed. I think a big reason why it under performs is because of it's ability. I personally don't think Mold Breaker does it justice, and it would benefit a lot more from having a power boosting ability like Mega Metagross and Meg Salamence had. Remember, Mega Gyarados has base 155 Attack, which is 10 more than both MGross and MMence, but they both received abilities that boost their attacking power with Tough Claws and Aerilate respectively.

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