The latest craze for Pokemon Go players is Gible / Garchomp. Gible is super hard to find and even for me, I have not encountered one yet. Of course, in many Pokemon Go Facebook groups, when you see someone evolved and maxed out their prized catch, many of you will be gushing and envying.

The intent of post is for those who, like me, haven’t got a single Gible and analyse if you really need one now.

First and foremost, for those who really must have one to show-off, of course, there’s nothing I could say to stop you for having one. Also, I am writing this for PvE purpose (raid / gym battle) instead of PvP as I know many here don’t really play PvP. Lastly, for those who like to take thing slow and have patience to wait for the best, then perhaps this post may enlighten you a little.

Garchomp is probably one of the strongest Pokemon in Gen 4. A duo type mon, it is ranked #2 as dragon type and #2 in ground type. Best move-set is Dragon Tail / Outrage with DPS (Damage per second) of 33.26. Let’s do a comparison and see if it is really a “must-have”.

From stats point of view:

Pokemon	Max CP	Attack	Defense	Stamina
Garchomp	3962	261	193	239
Rayquaza	3835	284	170	213
Salamence	3749	277	168	216
Dragonite	3792	263	158	209
Groudon	4115	270	228	205
Rhyperior	3733	241	190	251

One may think that Garchomp has a higher CP (except for Groudon which is the highest at 4115) who probably be a better fighter in the gym. However, CP does not always equate to higher damage and tankiness in Pokemon Go. Take example for Slaking. Those who have maxed out their best Slaking will agree that it is probably the one of the most underwhelmed pokemon in the game with the highest CP.

A more relevant comparison would be looking at the DPS and TDO perspective of each mon.

As a dragon type, Garchomp DPS (Damage per second)  is the lowest comparing to the other top 3 dragons in the game. It’s TDO (Total Damage Output) is higher due to its higher stamina. However, one can only benefit from Garchomp’s impressive TDO if you are good at dodging opponent’s charge move. Most of the players I observed don’t dodge in gym / raid battle. I have even seen players chatting with each other and just tapping on the screen throughout the whole raid. Encountering a raid boss with high attack stats will easily knock out your mon with one charge move. Thus, TDO is not as relevant as DPS for many who just tap without dodging.

Those who are consistently playing since launch of the game in 2016 would have a few good Dragonite, Salamence and Rayquaza. Even for those who started recently, you may still have a few Salamence from last community day in April which still have a higher DPS than Garchomp.

How about Garchomp as Ground type? Yes, it does sound impressive as a ground type with Mud Slap and Earthquake as its best ground move-set. Ground type mon is highly effective against fire, electric, poison, rock and steel.

Groudon is still king as a ground type pokemon. You can argue that it is a legendary mon and cannot be put in a gym as defender. Most of the time, players use ground type as an attacker rather than defender as it is still weak to grass, ice and water. I am sure those who do gym battle will know how easy to take down a Rhyperior as a defender.

Moreover, as duo type, Garchomp have additional weakness to dragon and fairy type. To make thing worse, it takes 256% damage from ice type instead of 160% damage for Groudon.

Verdict:

Garchomp is not the best dragon type mon in the current list. With other dragon types that can easily matched and available from raids and wild encounters, there is no urgency to get it as a dragon type. Groudon still beats Garchomp as the king for ground type. Furthermore, Groudon is coming back as tier 5 raid boss in June / July, you still have an opportunity to get a good one and max out.

Unless you really need to fill up your pokedex, I will probably wait for Gible community day next year to catch ‘em all