Garchomp Guide: Builds and Moves | Pokemon UNITE

This is a guide on how to play Garchomp in Pokemon UNITE. Learn about all of Garchomp's moves and skins, and how to use Garchomp with our builds complete with best movesets, items, and combos, as well as matchups, and what counters to use against them.

Garchomp Tier Rating and Stats

Garchomp Basic Information

Garchomp	Tier:	Role:
		All-Rounder
	Attack Type:	Difficulty:
	Melee	Intermediate
	Damage Type:
	Physical
"Garchomp’s Ability, Rough Skin, means it can sometimes cause damage to Pokémon that hit it, so opponents that attack Garchomp carelessly may just get struck back. What’s more, using Dig lets Garchomp sneak-attack its opponents from underground."

Tier List: Best Pokemon to Use

Garchomp Stats

Offense	Defense	Mobility	Scoring	Support

Garchomp Evolutions

First Evolution	Second Evolution	Final Evolution
Gible (Lv. 1)	Gabite (Lv. 6)	Garchomp (Lv. 10)

Garchomp Strengths and Weaknesses

Only 1 Offensive Ability

Like other pokemons, Garchomp also have 2 skills but one of them is a debuff so it doesn't provide much aid in laning. Due to this, we want to put Garchomp in the jungle so we can at least maximize sand attack's attack speed buff.

Strong Engage

Both Garchomp's Dig and Dragon Rush are both great engage tools. Dig is a faster initiation tool and is helpful in close engage fights while Dragon Rush have more range covered but has a slower startup.

Best Lanes for Garchomp

Top
Jungle
Bottom

Jungle

Garchomp can farm safely in the jungle. Sand attack boosts Garchomp's attack speed and his passive ability makes him clear camps easily due to its return damage property.

Top Lane

Garchomp is also viable in the top lane but he's forced to play defensively. Debuff enemy vision with Sand attack then steal camps with Bulldoze or clear your own side's wild pokemon with your attack speed boosts.

Garchomp Builds

Initiator

This build focuses on being a frontline fighter, capable of dealing damage but being tanky enough to take punishment. You'll want to be initiating fights a lot with this build.

Moves and Upgrades

Lv. 1 (ZR)	Lv. 3 (R)	Lv. 6 (R)	Lv. 8 (ZR)
Bulldoze	Sand Attack	Dig	Earthquake
Bulldoze should be acquired first as it allows you to defeat wild Pokemon and level up quicker. Next, Dig is a good choice because it allows you to initiate while knocking some enemies airborne. Following up Dig with Earthquake guarantees an AOE damage and a slow at later stages of the game.

Battle Item

Item	Tips
Eject Button	You can use the Eject Button to either warp into fights, chase down enemies, or after initiating you can fall back quickly.

Held Items

Items	Tips
Rocky Helmet	The Rocky Helmet allows you to deal back damage that is dealt to you. Considering you're the initator, expect burst damage to be dealt to you, so at least you damage them back as they attack.
Muscle Band	Garchomp is.a bruiser, you want him to have high damage to be able to farm and duel effectively, so Muscle Band is your best bet to increase damage.
Assault Vest	Assault Vest's shields will give you a leg up when you initiate, cause as previously mentioned you'll need to expect to get bursted once you initiate. The special attack shield will help your survival.

How to Use Garchomp

Garchomp is an All-Rounder Pokemon that can act as a tank, crowd controller, and a decent damage dealer. Garchomp can easily jump into the fray and start fights as well as survive long to be the main tank of the team.

Use Sand Attack While Jungling

Sand Attack is a debuff that restricts enemy vision. But that does not mean that its useless againt wild Pokemon. Sand Attack grants an attack speed buff to Garchomp so using it against Wild Pokemon is completely viable in itself!

Learn the Dragon Combo for Burst, and Dig + Earthquake for AOE damage

Choosing the skills you need is crutical to how fights will play out. Dragon Claw + Dragon Rush is a good dueling tool that has more range and damage but its damage focus is more on single targets. Dig + Earthquake, on the other hand, is a quick knock-up skill that is easily followed up by an area damage that gains a Slow later in the game.

Don't Fear Soloing Bosses, Even Zapdos

While taking on Boss Pokemon alone are risky, if enemy attentions are focused somewhere else, don't hesitate to go for it! Your durability, damage, and sustain are all sufficient to easily take these objectives with.

Go For Long Duels

Garchomp gains an attack speed boost when he lands a skill or an attack on an enemy. This makes his damage ramp up during a duel, so try to force long trades against enemies to maximize your buff.

Farm Wild Pokemon to Heal Up

Remember that Empowered auto attacks are AOE (area-of-effect), so you can lifesteal across multiple Wild Pokemon like in this clip.

Aside from increasing his attack speed, Garchomp's boosted attack also heals him for a small amount. This slowly stacks up on extended fights so instead of going back to base, try farming wild Pokemon to heal up!

Point Your Move Stick to Target When Using Unite Move

Garchomp's Unite Move may feel shaky, but its ability to turn and aim is actually rather easy. Just remember to point your analog stick to your desired target at all times and Garchomp will easily turn around on that direction, even if it's a complete 180 degree turn. The dashes also cover a bit of distance so you can also use it to chase enemies!

Don't Be Misled By His Standard Attack

The game clearly states that Garchomp's every fifth auto becomes empowered. This is inaccurate as Garchomp's auto attacks gain more damage and a bonus damage based on the enemy's max HP per hit after reaching 5 stacks. To top it off, you also heal for the same amount of the damage dealt by your passive. This makes Garchomp extremely good at taking objectives solo and fighting against tanky Pokemon like Snorlax.

Garchomp Combos

Dragon Combo

Step #	Move
1	Dragon Rush
2	Dragon Claw
3	Dragon Claw
This is Garchomp's more bursty combo. Dragon Claw is a strong 2 hit combo and the first one can be cast while mid-flight to cause Dragon Rush to knock enemies up.

Dig and Quake

Step #	Move
1	Dig
2	Earthquake
Dig is Garchomp's earlier gap closer skill and allows him to engage much earlier on at a shorter range. On the end of its path, it knocks enemies up which makes it a great setup for Earthquake and thanks to its slow, is also a great combo to use with Livid Outrage.

All Garchomp Matchups

Hard Counters
Fair
Easy

Matchup and Counter Explanations

Best Counters for Garchomp

Pokemon	Explanation
Cinderace	Cinderace can easily burst down Garchomp and dodge his burst combo by using Feint.
Lucario	You lose to him on duels and he can easily control the fight by disengaging when its disadvantageous or engaging when he can win.
Gardevoir	With moves like Teleport and Moonblast, Gardevoir can easily kite away from you and continuously pepper you with attacks until you're defeated.

Fair Matchup Explanations

Pokemon	Explanation
Zeraora	Zeraora relies on his mobility to engage or disengage and look for favorable fights across the map. As Garchomp, he'll rarely find good fights against you but it will also be tough for you to chase him around the map.
Gengar	Same issue with Zeraora but his damage is way higher. He is easier to catch but make sure that he has exhausted his skills already or you have a way higher HP than him first.
Wigglytuff	He can shut you down if you play in lanes. In teamfights, he can greatly reduce your durability after you dive enemy ranks as well so play carefully against Wigglytuff.
Machamp	An even fight since you counter his auto-attacking nature with your passive. You also focus on damage which lessens the value of his immunity.
Absol	You win this fight outright but Absol players will avoid fighting you headfront. They will jump on you if you're low so avoid taking risky fights to avoid Absol and jump on him immediately if he's out of position.
Slowbro	He can shut you down on teamfights but as Slowbro, his focus are attackers. If he wastes his abilities on you, his value is lessened and you can still deal damage by entering the fight first with Dig/Dragon Rush.
Eldegoss	Eldegoss is a vulnerable Pokemon but he'll often stay with his teammates to heal and shield them. Focus him in fights first but don't overcommit and attack nearer allies instead if he runs too far.
Crustle	You can actually kill Crustly but his durability and damage makes it not worth it. This is especially true during teamfights.
Snorlax	He has a lot of disable but you can weather their attacks and escape easily. You can fight him alone and win as he lacks natural damage on his own.

Easy Matchup Explanations

Pokemon	Explanation
Cramorant	An immobile Attacker. You also directly counter his Unite move with your passive so just keep focusing him first in fights for easy kills and avoid his skillshots early game.
Alolan Ninetales	You have a strong engage so just jump on him even if he erects walls.
Mr. Mime	Similar to Ninetales but as a support. He has a small burst of damage but nothing you can't take.
Greninja	Greninja is one of the squishiest attackers in the game. You can instantly chunk a huge amount of his HP with a single Dragon combo so jump on him first before he can use his clone.
Pikachu	Same as the other attackers. Squishy and no escape tool makes him an easy target. Just dont take his attacks head on as he packs a punch.
Charizard	You can do everything Charizard does but better.

Garchomp Moves and Ability

Garchomp Moves

Level	Move 1 (R)	Move 2 (ZR)
1 or 3
6
8
10

Move Slot 1 (R)

Sand Attack (Lv. 1 or 3)	Move Type: Debuff Damage Type: Status Cooldown: 6s
Hurls sand at enemy Pokemon, reducing their field of vision. Increases Garchomp's movement speed and attack speed when it hits.
Dragon Rush (Lv. 6) Upgrade Lv. 12	Move Type: Dash Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 8s Total Damage: 303 (Lv. 6) / 549 (Lv. 15)
Has the user back up to create distance before diving to attack in the designated direction, shoving opposing pPokemon. The user can use Dragon Claw while creating distance at the beginning of this move to create a combo attack.
Dig (Lv. 6) Upgrade Lv. 12	Move Type: Dash Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 8s Total Damage: 477 (Lv. 6) / 865 (Lv. 15)
Burrows underground and surges towards the target point, emerging from the ground when it hits an enemy Pokemon. Deals damage to nearby enemy Pokemon and knocks them back upon emerging. When used with Earthquake, increases Earthquake's area of effect. When upgraded, increases movement speed.

Move Slot 2 (ZR)

Bulldoze (Lv. 1 or 3)	Move Type: Area Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 5s Total Damage: 265 (Lv. 3)
Stomps the ground, damaging enemy Pokemon around the area of effect.
Dragon Claw (Lv. 8) Upgrade Lv. 14	Move Type: Melee Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 5s Total Damage: 785 (Lv. 8) / 1581 (Lv. 15)
Dashes forward, slashing twice in front. The first slash knocks back enemy Pokemon. The second slash is a boosted attack. After the move ends, increases Garchomp's attack speed for a duration. When upgraded, increases damage dealt by Dragon Claw.
Earthquake (Lv. 8) Upgrade Lv. 14	Move Type: Area Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: 7s Total Damage: 1023 (Lv. 8) / 1777 (Lv. 15)
Jumps high into the air, then crashes to the ground, damaging nearby enemy Pokemon. When upgraded, slows enemy Pokemon hit by Earthquake.

Unite Moves (ZL)

Livid Outrage (Lv. 10)	Move Type: Melee Damage Type: Physical Cooldown: Percent Based Total Damage: 1956 (Lv. 10) / 2981 (Lv. 15)
Unleashes a powerful chain of attacks while dashing forward. The final attack knocks back opponents, but also leaves Garchomp stunned.

Standard Attack

Standard Attack	Becomes a boosted attack with every fifth attack, dealing increased damage and restoring the user's HP. Every time one of the user's basic attacks or moves hits an opposing Pokemon, the user's basic attack speed is increased.

Additional Notes About Garchomp Passive Attack

While the description says every fifth attack becomes a boosted attack, this is quite false. Once Garchomp gains 5 stacks in his standard attacks (be it by standard attacks or abilities), his subsequent attacks are all empowered. The increased damage is also not flat and scales with the enemy pokemon's max HP.

Ability (Passive)

Rough Skin	When it is hit by a close-range attack, the opponent will take some of the damage.

Garchomp Skins (Holowear)

Beach Style

Beach Style
350 Aeon Gems	18 Holowear Tickets

All Pokemon Skins (Holowear)

Pokemon UNITE Related Guides

List of All Pokemon and Builds

Pokemon by Role

All Pokemon Roles
Attackers		All-Rounders		Defenders
Speedsters			Supporters

All Pokemon Guides and Builds

Pokemon Roster
Pikachu	Charizard	Snorlax	Crustle
Greninja	Eldegoss	Talonflame	Lucario
Venusaur	Mr. Mime	Slowbro	Absol
Machamp	Wigglytuff	Alolan Ninetales	Cramorant
Gengar	Garchomp	Cinderace	Zeraora
Gardevoir	Blastoise	-	-