Which generalist for taking down Gyarados?
In my local meta, Gyarados is the second-most common Gen 1 defender (behind Dragonite). I have two strong Jolteons (and a few weaker ones and a Magneton), but find them too fragile. Depending on the other defenders in a gym, I may not want multiple Jolteons in my lineup, so which generalist should I use against him?
Vaporeon (WG/HP) is NVE against Gyarados. Exeggutor (Conf/Solar), Machamp (Count/DP) and Gengar (SC/SB) are all weak to Bite. My SW/HB Dragonite (still trying for DT/OR or DT/Hurr) would be severely punished by a DT/OR Gyarados. My only Blissey and only Snorlax are for defending, my Alakazam has a terrible moveset and I doubt I will ever get a Tyranitar (I do have an Umbreon).
Answers
I agree, Golem is probably my most useful generalist - good against Snorlax, Blissey, Dragonite and Gyarados.
Snorlax, Exeggutor and Venusaur would also be good choices. But I still see no reason to pick them over Jolteon! She may be fragile, but does that matter when she's powerful enough to tear down 3 big Gyarados in a row?
Yeah, just look for a high IV Jolteon with Thunderbolt and power it up.
Rock is the only other type that Gyarados is weak to, but most rock-types will be especially vulnerable to Hydro Pump. If you have already fought through a gym once and know a Gyarados doesn't have Hydro Pump, then I suppose you could supplement your team with a double rock-move Golem.
""find them too fragile. Depending on the other defenders in a gym, I may not want multiple Jolteons in my lineup, ""
Me: Have you powered any up? Why multiples?
Having a single strong Jolt is what I do. He's maxed. This is how I solved that problem and unless a gym has over 4 of them it's really all I need most of the time. So I asked to get more info.
Actually, gyms with three or more Gyarados are pretty common in my area. Sometimes I take down two (or even three) with a single Jolteon, but sometimes Jolteon faints to a HP (without warning or due to dodge bug) before it can even finish off its first Gyarados. So I have to either slot a second Jolteon (and maybe my Magneton) as backup or risk using my Cloyster to finish it off (with three Dragonites and another Gyarados coming up).
You actually raised a good reason why [Gyarados is a much better defender without Electric types].
If you look at Gyarados's type weakness chart, you'll find that he's only weak to Rock aside from Electric. As for Rock, his Hydro Pump will kill Rock attackers (let alone Rhydon/Golem with Ground type, x1.56 SE) in a heartbeat. Very few Pokemon has such few weakness (aside from Normal Type).
Gyarados's Dragon Moves (many Dragon moves) keep Dragonite from a good option. His Hydro Pump is a threat to Tyranitar, too. His Dark Moves (especially Crunch, a strong defensive move) give trouble to Eggy. His resistance to Fighting keeps Machamp away. That leaves only one Tier 1.5+ attacker - Blissey, but she's too slow.
If you consider a SPECIFIC Gyarados - a Crunch or Outrage one, then Tyranitar becomes a good choice; a Hydro Pump one, then Eggy becomes a good choice. But unless you fight it for the first time, you wouldn't know.
In conclusion, Gyarados causes a little bit of trouble, but still, nothing compared to our nurse.
I read a while back tha Wigglytuff were fairly good generalist Prestigers against Gyar, Laps, and Snorlax. I went ahead and tried, and they really aren't that bad..... Their high HP helps a lot.
Sooo, I decided to power a couple up, both are 91%IV, and I took them to 30.5 so they are 1618CP 216HP. Both have Pound/Play Rough.
If I can dodge, which I can't always, they do exceptionally well. Even if I can't dodge, they can hold their own thanks to the HP.
If I find a gym that has a mix of the 3, Gyro, laps, and snorlax, I'll often line these two up back to back. (I don't see many Lapras in gyms anymore since they got nerfed.)
IMO, there really aren't any alternatives to electric types that will take down a gary and satisfy the attacking trainer. People say "Oh gary is bad defender, look how weak he is to jolteon" - but a single hydropump will put your jolteon to bed if you miss the dodge, and better electric types simply don't exist; you're pretty much forced to use slow generalists (possibly another gary, for example), or glass cannons withe electric moves.
I've found Lanturn to be decent against them, since it's got a lot of bulk, but their damage output is disappointing.
Gyarados used to be a horrible defender. But these days many defending gyarados have DT which hit hard in gym battles no matter which charge move he got. Any DT moveset gyarados is just great on defense. I still stick to my words though, bite and DB gyarados are still horrible defenders. Even with its counter, jolteon, which is a glass cannon, failing to dodge some of its bites doesn't really matter, but failing to dodge DT even just once would punish jolteon more than failing to dodge bite like 3 times. That's why gamepress also put gyarados higher in gym defenders tier list rank after gen 2 moves update, but the rank is only for DT gyarados. Bite or DB gyarados are tier 4 defenders.
