Gyarados, the Atrocious Pokémon, on record for massacring entire cities and civilizations
if angered and is infamous for its, eh, "humble" beginnings.
It is regarded as one of the strongest Pokemon of all time, but is it?
Let's find out!
This is the history of Gyarados.
I will be covering these competitive formats.
Gen 1, Gyarados' usability comes from its high Attack and Special stats, allowing it
to use Hyper Beam, Blizzard, and Thunderbolt effectively.
While Gyarados had access to strong STAB Surf's and Hydro Pumps, the only slot it could take
would be Blizzard's, and that move generally provided better coverage.
What holds Gyarados back is its 4x weakness to Electric attacks, since the move type is
common.
While its defensive stats are quite impressive, the Electric-type attacks cut right through.
This along with its middling Speed statistic hold the serpent back.
Strong matchups include Grass (Exeggutor), Rock (Rhydon and Golem) and Ground-types (Dugtrio).
Gyarados can also handle Water-types lacking Electric-type coverage.
Pokemon such as Starmie, Lapras, and Gengar tear Gyarados apart.
Higher Speed stats, access to Thunderbolt, and high enough defensive stats to take at
least one hit create a one sided matchup.
Pokemon with high HP such as Clefable and Snorlax can out last whatever it dishes out,
and Electric-types, well, have STAB Electric attacks.
All this led to Gyarados being ranked near the bottom of the Nintendo Cup meta game.
On to Gen 2.
The Special split leaves Gyarados with 60 Special Attack and 100 Special Defense, weakening
its Water STAB.
Hyper Beam's nerf led to Double Edge being the preferred Normal move, as its Base Power
is buffed by 20 points.
Zap Cannon replaces Thunderbolt to compensate for the lower Special offensive stat and Hydro
Pump substitutes for Blizzard as it is now more accurate and powerful.
Hidden Power Ground is added to hit Electric-types daring to switch in.
Usage remains low, for Dragonite outclasses Gyarados in every category.
On the Brightside, Gyarados combos well defensively with Steelix.
It also matches up well with Rock-types (Tyranitar), Ground-types (Marowak and Steelix), as well
as Water-types lacking electric coverage, although with Hidden Power this is a less
common occurrence.
Also, Porygon2, Electric-types (Zapdos, Raikou, Electrode), and Pokemon with access to strong
Electric attacks that can take a hit from Gyarados keep it in check.
As a result, Gyarados still recorded low usage in the Nintendo Cup, only being used as a
Wild Card pick to throw opponents off.
Gen 3, the introduction of EVs mean only 2 stats out of 6 can be maxed at once.
This leads to offensive Pokemon becoming frailer, while defensive Pokemon lose offensive presence.
Intimidate makes Gyarados a better pivot, as it can take physical attacks more effectively
and force switches.
Finally, HP Ground can be replaced with Earquake, increasing its ability to threaten Electric-types
that look to switch in.
Dragon Dance turns Gyarados into a powerful late game sweeper and, unlike Tyranitar and
Salamence, it handles Water-types fairly well.
A Choice Band gives the option of being a strong wall breaker.
Taunt and Thunder Wave improve utility, as now Gyarados can cripple offensive and defensive
Pokemon.
Fighting (Heracross), Grass (Celebi), and Water (Suicune) types are thrashed by Gyarados,
while Rock and Ground-types are still eviscerated by Water moves.
While setup, Gyarados can even KO Electric-types before they can attack.
Burn and Paralysis conditions cripple Gyarados, while Electric-types, Starmie Porygon2 and
Regice make quick work of the serpent.
Not to mention, any Pokemon carrying an Electric-type move can still tear through its defenses.
Gyarados was placed in the Over Used (OU) tier and was widely considered top 30 within
the format.
Gen 4, Attacking moves are now categorized as either Physical or Special, instead of
this being based on the typing of the move.
Stealth Rock is a standard entry hazard on teams, which leads to Gyarados losing 25%
of its health whenever it switches in.
Gyarados' move sets become fully Physical with Waterfall and Bounce as STABs and Stone
Edge, Ice Fang, or Payback for coverage.
Strong matchups include Water (Suicune), Fighting (Breloom), Bug (Scizor), Fire (Heatran), Ground
(Hippowdon), and Rock (Tyranitar).
Gyrados still falls to any strong Electric moves, Burn and Paralysis.
Porygon2 and Rotom-A can take hits then retaliate with Thunderbolt.
Physically Defensive Cresselia, Celebi, and Tangrowth can all wall Gyarados as they chip
away at its health or status it.
Thunder Punch Metagross can knock it out as long as it survives an Earthquake.
Forretress and Water-types packing Hidden Power Electric (Milotic, Slowbro, Suicune,
and Vaporeon) can threaten the serpent out while Skarmory can force a switch and Starmie
still acts as Gyarados' bane.
It maintained its Over Used tiering as well as rising in usage, being considered top 23
by many.
Gen 5, Gyarados receives Moxie as an Ability, which it can use to snowball opposing teams
during sweep attempts.
High tier meta revolves around weather wars, making Water STAB deadly.
Other than that, it picks up where it left off.
His strengths are unchanged, however, trainers must now be more cautious when sacrificing
a Pokemon in the hopes of bringing in a check, for Moxie can punish this approach.
Some newcomers that give Gyarados a rough time include Ferrothorn, Rotom-W, Kyurem-Black,
CS Terrakion, CS Thundurus, Cloyster with Skill Link + Shell Smash, Keldeo, and residual
damage such as Stealth Rock, Sandstorm, Toxic, and Leech Seed.
Even so, it maintains its place in the Over Used tier, being considered top 34 in the
meta.
Gen 6, Gyarados' weaknesses become easier to abuse as the weather-centric meta is gone,
Mega forms create more high tier defensive as well as offensive threats, and about 60%
of the OU meta game checks or counters it.
Gyarados can still handle Fire, Ground and Fighting-types such as Infernape, Mamoswine
and Cobalion.
Grass-types such as Shaymin and Roserade also struggle to break Gyarados.
Gyarados is beaten by Faster Pokemon (M-Aerodactyl, CS Hydreigon and Salamence), Physical Walls
(Chesnaught, Porygon2 & Zapdos), Electric-types (Heliolisk, M-Ampharos & Rotom-Mow), Bulky
Water-types (Suicune & Empoleon w/ Roar + Milotic with Dragon Tail/Haze), and Prankster
Pokemon (Whimsicott w/ Encore & Will-O-Wisp Sableye).
Gyarados' Achilles Heel, Electric-type attacks, and lower Speed statistic prior to setup causes
the famous sweeper to fall into the Under Used tier and dropping to the top 95 overall
in the meta.
Gyarados-Mega's story is quite different.
Higher Attack and Defense statistics make Gyarados-M more threatening and sturdy.
Having STAB Crunch assists in taking out Jirachi, Slowbro, and Latias, who previously had the
upper hand.
STAB Waterfall handles Fire-, Fairy-, and Fighting-types (Heatran, Clefable, and Mega
Lopunny), while Mold Breaker ignores Unaware, Sturdy, Magic Bounce, and Water Aborb.
The Mega form is strong against Psychic-, Fairy-, Fighting-, Fire-, Grass- and Dragon-types
with Dark, Water and Ice coverage.
It can threaten other top threats if it pack Earthquake, such as Rotom.
While good, it does have its weaknesses.
Its Speed points are unchanged in this form, which hurts in an ever faster paced meta.
Residual damage wears Gyarados-M out over time, since it lacks reliable recovery.
Fighting-types (Breloom and Keldeo), Electric-types (Manectric-M, Raikou and Thundurus), Physically
Defensive Pokemon (Skarmory with Whirlwind, Tangrowth and Garchomp), Status Conditions
(Burn, Paralysis, Sleep), Residual Damage (entry hazards, weather recoil and recoil
from Rocky Helmet and abilities such as Iron Barbs and Rough Skin), and Fairy-types (M-Altaria,
Unaware-Clefable and Azumarill) can keep this form in check.
The Mega from is Border Line (BL) in Smogon format, being widely considered top 17 in
the meta.
2012 Doubles, with Zapdos being in high usage one would think Gyarados would be unusable.
Wrong.
Intimidate is still a useful ability in doubles and a Wacan Berry can alleviate the Electric
threat.
More importantly, Hitmontop and Weavile struggle with Gyarados and the serpent packs some useful
support moves.
An excellent attack statistic combined with Water STAB makes for one monster of an offensive
threat in doubles.
Gyarados must be wary of Rock-types that switch in to use Rock Slide, Electric-types, Abomasnow
and Gastrodon, but other than that, he can hold his own in the VGC meta.
2014 Doubles, Gyarados takes on a more offensive role with its Dragon Dance sets.
It pulverizes defensive walls.
Even so, Ferrothorn, Rotom-Wash and Amoongus are more common in the meta game, and the
more offensive nature of Gyarados' sets is hurt by status and attack drops.
It thrives in much higher usage than previous VCG seasons.
So, how good was Gyarados?
Well, he started out near the bottom of the meta game, then started to improve upon the
release of Gen 3, and has had his name in the top tiers ever since.
Even though his base form is becoming insignificant again.
Taking all generations into account, Gyarados is slightly above average.
That's it.
Thank you for watching the video.
I will have another video up next week.
So, leave a comment of what Pokemon you want to see next.
Until then, stay cool my Noobs.
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