Alright, let’s talk about figuring out the moves for Gyarados back in the day, Gen 1 specifically. It was kind of a journey for me.
So, you finally get that Magikarp evolved. Took ages splashing around, right? And then boom, this awesome sea serpent thing. Huge attack power! I was excited. First thing I noticed was it learned stuff like Bite, Dragon Rage, Leer, and Hydro Pump naturally as it leveled up.
My First Attempts
Naturally, I kept Hydro Pump. It’s a Water move, Gyarados is Water type, seemed like a no-brainer. Hit pretty hard too. Dragon Rage was okay early on, guaranteed damage, but later in the game it just didn’t do enough.
I remember thinking, “This thing has massive Attack, I need moves that really hit physically.” But its Flying type didn’t give it good physical Flying moves back then, and Water moves like Hydro Pump, well, they didn’t seem to use that raw power the way I expected. It was strong, yeah, but felt… different.
So I tried teaching it Hyper Beam using a TM. Wow, that move was powerful! When it hit, it really wrecked things. But then Gyarados had to sit there recharging, totally vulnerable. That felt super risky, especially in tougher battles. Sometimes it worked great, other times it just got my Gyarados knocked out.
Digging Through TMs
I started looking at other TMs I had lying around. What else could this beast learn?
- Body Slam: This one seemed promising. A solid physical hit, and that chance to paralyze the opponent? Pretty sweet. I swapped Hyper Beam out for this for a while. It felt more reliable, less all-or-nothing.
- Surf: Obviously needed this HM to get around, and it was a decent Water move. Not as strong as Hydro Pump, but always hit. I sometimes ran this instead of Hydro Pump if I wanted consistency or didn’t have the TM for Hydro Pump yet on a specific Gyarados.
- Thunderbolt/Thunder: This was a bit of a revelation. Gyarados is part Flying, making it super weak to Electric attacks. But wait, it could learn Electric moves? Thunderbolt was accurate, Thunder hit harder but could miss. Giving Gyarados Thunderbolt felt sneaky. Suddenly, other Water Pokemon that might try to wall my Gyarados were in for a shock. This covered a big weakness.
- Blizzard/Ice Beam: Also useful TMs. Ice hits Grass types which resist Water, and crucially, it demolished Dragonite, another big threat back then. Blizzard was stronger but less accurate than Ice Beam. Definitely considered this.
Putting It Together – What Worked for Me
After messing around quite a bit, swapping TMs in and out, battling trainers and seeing what worked, I kind of landed on a setup that felt right for general use. It wasn’t always the same, but it usually ended up looking something like this:
- Body Slam: For that reliable physical damage and paralysis chance. It used that big Attack stat well enough. Sometimes I’d swap back to Hyper Beam if I felt like gambling.
- Hydro Pump: Still the best STAB damage, even if it wasn’t purely physical. Just hit hard. Sometimes Surf if I preferred accuracy or needed the HM slot.
- Thunderbolt: This felt essential. Hitting other Water types was just too valuable. Occasionally Thunder if I was feeling lucky.
- The Fourth Slot: This one varied. Sometimes I kept Hyper Beam here alongside Body Slam for a finishing move. Other times, Blizzard or Ice Beam made sense for hitting Grass types or Dragons. Sometimes even just another strong physical move if I had the TM.
So yeah, that was my process. Lots of trial and error, seeing what felt good in battles. Gyarados was tricky because its best stat didn’t perfectly line up with its best STAB moves back in Gen 1, but mixing things like Body Slam, Hydro Pump, and Thunderbolt made it a real powerhouse for me. Took a while to figure out, but that’s part of the fun, right?
