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Gyarados Best Build & Moveset

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet | Gyarados Best Build & Moveset | Pokemon SV

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The Best Build for Gyarados in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet (Pokemon SV). See the recommended Move set, held items, how to distribute EV, and build up for each type.

Table of Contents

Gyarados Summary & Review

Icon
WaterFlying
HP
95
ATK
125
DEF
79
SP. ATK
60
SP. DEF
100
SPD
81

Ability & Hidden Ability

  1. Lowers the opposing Pokémon's Attack stat.
  2. Boosts the Attack stat after knocking out any Pokémon

▶Ability & Hidden Ability List

Gyarados Review In Match Battles

  • The abilities, [Intimidate] and [Moxie] are both powerful.
  • Can also support using [Thunder Wave] and [Taunt].
  • Cannot learn the excellent Physical Flying moves with [Same-type attack bonus].

▶Best Pokemon For Ranked Battles

Gyarados Best Build & Moveset

IconEVs: HP Def / Rocky Helmet Style

Tera TypeNatureAbilityItem
GroundImpishIntimidateRocky Helmet
HPATKDEFSP. ATKSP. DEFSPD
Base Stats201145144×120103
EV244-252--12

Recommended Moves

  1. Ground
    Physical
    100
    100
    10
  2. Electric
    Status
    -
    90
    20
  3. Dark
    Status
    -
    100
    20
  4. Water
    Physical
    80
    100
    15

Category

Role
Build Type

Strengths & How to Use

Excellent Physical Tank

Gyarados is a Water/Flying dual-type Pokemon, which means that it has few weaknesses, and it can be a Physical Tank due to its ability, "Intimidate", which lowers the opponent's Attack. Also, by holding Rocky Helmet, Gyarados can reduce the HP of the opponent who makes contact with Gyarados, giving it an advantage against Physical Attackers who use Contact moves.

Useful moves in Pivot Battles

Taunt prevents high durability Pokemon using recovery moves and Stealth Rock, and Thunder Wave reduces the Speed of the opposing high speed Attacker to half. Be aware of using these Status moves to make the situation easier for your attackers.

Things to Keep in Mind

Beware of Electric moves

Gyarados is 4x weak to Electric moves, and since Volt Switch is often used in Pivot Battles, it is easy to get into a risky situation unless you have Ground type pivots on the team. Dealing with Ground Terastal is the last resort.

Has no recovery moves

Since it has no recovery moves such as Recover, it is not suitable for long Pivot Battles. Reduce the opponent's HP with Rocky Helmet and Attack moves and use allied Attackers to defeat the opposing pivots as quickly as possible.

Pokemon Team Compositions

PokemonReason
Clodsire IconClodsireA Special Tank that is immune to Electric type and has many helpful moves for Pivot Battles, such as [Toxic].
Dragonite IconDragoniteIt'd be powerful if you can reduce the opposing Pokemon's HP with pivots enough to defeat them with the Fast move, [Extreme Speed]. It is good to combine with both [Dragon Dance] style or [Choice Band] style.

Other Suggestions

Suggested Moves

MoveReason
Aqua TailIt can be used when you want to deal more damage than [Waterfall]. But note that the hit rate is only 90.
Dragon TailIt can be used to force the opponent switching Pokemon like [Roar] or [Whirlwind], and because it is an Attack move, it can be used against an opponent who uses [Taunt] or against Gholdengo.
RestA learnable recovery move for Gyarados, with the disadvantage of falling asleep for two turns, but useful because it increases the number of times it can switch in Pivot Battles.

IconDragon Dance Style

Tera TypeNatureAbilityItem
FlyingJollyIntimidateLife Orb
HPATKDEFSP. ATKSP. DEFSPD
Base Stats17117799x120146
EV4252---252

Recommended Moves

  1. Water
    Physical
    80
    100
    15
  2. Ground
    Physical
    100
    100
    10
  3. Normal
    Special
    80
    100
    10
  4. Dragon
    Status
    -
    -
    20

Category

Role
Build Type

Strengths & How to Use

Easy to deal consistent damage with Tera Blast

The Gyarados in this game cannot learn [Bounce], so you need [Tera Blast] in order to use Physical Flying type moves. Since Flying type moves with high power in the current environment are not considered threats, Flying type Tera Blast is easy to deal [Consistent] damage to Fairy, Dragon, and Ghost types.

Stacking support with the Ability "Intimidate"

The Ability [Intimidate] is excellent that it can makes the team strong against Physical Attackers. Gyarados can take a wide range of actions, such as making a chance to stack Dragon Dance for itself, or swiching in to trigger [Intimidate] for supporting the following pivots.

Things to Keep in Mind

Unaware Dondozo is its nemesis

Flying Tera type Gyarados relies on [Dragon Dance] for Attack, which is a clear disadvantage against Dondozo with [Unaware]. If you want to use Gyarados, which has no way to deal with Dondozo, you need to put some Pokemon against Dondozo on the team.

Beware of the consistent damage from Electric type

Flying Tera type Gyarados is still weak to Electric types even after terastalizing. Therefore, it is necessary to have preparations against Electric type such as putting Ground type on the team.

Pokemon Team Compositions

PokemonReason
Wash Rotom IconWash RotomStrong against Dondozo, which Gyarados is weak to, and easy to receive the benefit of [Intimidate] with the pivots using [Volt Switch].

Pokemon that can support [Dragon Dance] matches well with Gyarados

Gyarados' offensive capability will greatly increase if it can stack [Dragon Dance] even once. For this reason, Gyarados should be builded with support Pokemon that make it easier to stack [Dragon Dance].

Other Suggestions

Nature & EV Distribution

NatureEV/Reason
Adamant
(ATK⬆,SP. ATK⬇)
HP 4 / Atk 252 / Spe 252
Although it will not be able to exceed the fastest Dragapult with one stack Dragon Dance, but it will increase the firepower and have a wider range to defeat.

Suggested Moves

MoveReason
TauntIt can block the recovery moves of Physical Tanks such as Corviknight and Skeledirge.
Iron HeadIt is easy to make the opponent flinch, and strong against all Fairy types including Terastal.

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet Builds & Movesets for Ranked Battles

Builds for ranked battles
Duration of Series 1
12/2 (Fri) 0:00am ~ 2023/1/31 (Tue) 11:59pm UTC
List of Best Builds & Movesets

Series 1 Best Build & Moveset

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Best Pokemon TiersAbout Ranked Battles
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Pokemon SV Strategy Team

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