The Gible line has long been one of the most popular evolutionary lines in the Pokémon series. The inclusion of the final evolution, Garchomp, as Champion Cynthia’s partner in the Sinnoh region only helped its popularity. These Pokémon are taking over Unite Battles in Pokémon UNITE and have quickly risen to the top of the meta.

Gible, Gabite, and Garchomp enter UNITE as All-Rounders, meaning they don’t excel in any single stat. Instead, they flourish in multiple different capacities. And when Gible evolves fully into Garchomp, these balanced stats create a monster.

The game classifies these Pokémon as intermediate-level due to the all-in nature of their kit. Once any of these three Pokémon has engaged an opponent, they’ll have little room to escape. Unless Garchomp can pull through and defeat multiple Pokémon at once, players may find themselves staring at a respawn timer when they thought they had the upper hand.

Here’s the best build for Garchomp that maximizes its damage potential while ensuring its survival.

Items

Held Items

Muscle Band

It comes as no surprise that the Muscle Band is an excellent choice for Garchomp. Since Garchomp constantly wants to be in the enemies’ faces, it’s best to find ways to make its already high attack stat even higher. The Muscle Band also rewards Garchomp for using basic attacks, which pairs nicely with Garchomp’s passive ability to increase its attack speed after each successful basic attack.

Rocky Helmet

Garchomp’s ability is Rough Skin, which allows it to reflect some of the incoming melee damage at the opponent. The Rocky Helmet also reflects damage taken back at the opponent, though it disregards whether their damage is melee or ranged. Against opponents like Machamp and Zeraora, a Garchomp with the Rocky Helmet can not only dish out immense damage, but these melee-centric Pokémon might end up doing more damage to themselves than to Garchomp.

Scope Lens

The focus on mixed damage from basic attacks and moves means that boosted critical hit rate and damage is perfect for Garchomp. Garchomp’s kit doesn’t passively increase its critical hit rate, but holding the Scope Lens can raise critical chance and critical hit damage, boosting Garchomp’s damage potential even further. Not every move is guaranteed to be a critical hit, however, so it’s best to ensure that you’re constantly attacking enemies with basic attacks and moves such as Dragon Rush to activate it.

Battle Items

Full Heal

Garchomp’s gimmick is being the center of attention and ensuring that opponents don’t take its presence lightly. Unfortunately for trainers, this means that Garchomp is incredibly susceptible to status conditions and various hindrances that opponents can cast to render the Mach Pokémon more useless than a splashing Magikarp. Luckily, the Full Heal item not only snaps Garchomp out of any bind but also gives it some protection against additional effects for a short duration. This way, Garchomp will have no problems charging in headfirst with a Dragon Rush.

X Attack

Like the Muscle Band, the X Attack capitalizes on Garchomp’s already high attack and makes it even higher. While not necessary considering the sheer power of Garchomp’s various moves and Unite Move, the X Attack provides a little extra boost should Defenders or Supports be causing you trouble.

Moves

Level one: Bulldoze

Gible struggles to be an aggressive face before it has evolved into Gabite. Bulldoze is one of the few area-of-effect moves available at level one, and it lets Gible progress to lane quicker than opponents by attacking more Wild Pokémon at once. It’s still not a great move, but it’s the only viable option. Unless you’re planning to support a teammate with Sand Attack, that is.

Level six: Dragon Rush

The game starts to get more interesting once Gible evolves into Gabite at level six. Dragon Rush works better than Dig when it comes to fulfilling Garchomp’s all-in fantasies. Dig is a viable option if players want to use Garchomp to initiate fights for their team. Still, Dragon Rush’s ability to shove opponents and decrease their movement speed when upgraded works much more efficiently for the rest of Garchomp’s kit. 

Level eight: Dragon Claw

Gabite learns its last move before fully evolving into Garchomp. Much like Dragon Rush, Dragon Claw is a dash that deals significant damage to opponents in Gabite’s path but deals damage in two consecutive hits rather than one. Gabite’s attack speed increases with the second swipe, and when paired with its passive, both Gabite and Garchomp will deal even more consistent damage to opponents.

Level ten: Livid Outrage

Quite possibly the strongest Unite Move in the game, Livid Outrage makes Garchomp absolutely unstoppable. Although difficult to control, Garchomp’s Unite Move unleashes a multi-hit onslaught where the player is forced to maneuver the rampaging Garchomp with each hit. The final part of the Unite Move pushes opponents away but leaves Garchomp vulnerable and unable to move for a short duration. This move, in combination with Dragon Rush and Dragon Claw, lets Garchomp shred through an entire team at once, but the maneuver is risky and will take practice to master.