SkunkyArt | EverlastingDarkness5 — Garchomp laughs at your pitiful thought of Balance

In addition to that, in Platinum, the Strength boulders blocking the path to the secret area of the Wayward Cave are removed, allowing you to get Gible as early as before you even get your third badge. You could also go through the entire path to find the TM26 for Earthquake, too, and all you need to do for that is to shift your bike to the fast gear and jump some slopes.

The most popular item for Garchomp is the Yache Berry. It cuts the effectiveness of Ice-type attacks, Garchomp's only major weakness. This allowed it to get a Swords Dance off and practically guaranteed one or two KOs before Garchomp goes down. Which ties into the reason why Chompy got Kicked Upstairs into Ubers; in its heyday; it reduced practical diversity to the point where nearly every team that stood a chance was forced into something like this: Garchomp, Garchomp Counter x2, Counter-Garchomp-Counter x2, filler.

An even more hated version is BrightPowder-Chomp. Using Garchomp's Sand Veil ability (opponent accuracy is cut to 80%) and adding an additional 10% for the item means that attacks hit him a maximum of 72% of the time in sandstorm, which by the way is painfully easy to set up (all you need is a Tyranitar). All you need to do is Substitute repeatedly until you dodge an attack, Swords Dance, and sweep. This is all made even easier because Garchomp can switch-in and force out most Pokémon because of how impossibly threatening it was. If you switch out while Chomp subs, gg.

Despite the fact that Generation 5 brought more ways to check Garchomp, it got banned. Again. Even with checks such as Air-Balloon Heatran who could come in on any attack and take it out as long as Garchomp wasn't hiding behind a Substitute with an Ice-type Hidden Power, if Garchomp WAS hiding behind a Substitute, it didn't stand a chance. In fact, the combination of Substitute and Swords Dance in a sandstorm was a menace to anyone who couldn't break the substitute and take out Garchomp before it boosted too much or set up another substitute. Though unlike the previous generation in which Sand Veil was the straw that broke the camel's back, Sand Veil was entirely the reason for Garchomp's ban this time and once it got Rough Skin and Sand Veil itself was banned, it was allowed once again.

And then as of Generation 6, it got a Mega Evolution . Which not only has boosted offensive power, but the Sand Force ability. The biggest saving grace is that it's slower than regular Garchomp.