This OP Pokemon is Actually Terrible in FireRed and LeafGreen

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen on Switch are not exactly the type of games modern fans would expect, as they were made during Gen 3 and not only lack many recent quality-of-life features, but also have several longstanding glitches. One example is how Raikou and Entei vanished from the game whenever they used Roar in battle before you caught them, but this is luckily fixed in the Switch versions. Yet, the games are mechanically different in a fundamental way from modern titles, to the point that Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s type chart is a bit all over the place.

Not only does the game not feature Fairy as a type, but Dark and Steel are mostly absent until the post-game section due to trainer and Gym encounters being 1:1 ports, and only a handful of Kanto critters got a type change with Dark or Steel being added. Even worse, types work differently in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen. Moves are not split into physical and special damage, but the types themselves are:

Physical Types in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen:
- Normal
- Fighting
- Poison
- Ground
- Flying
- Bug
- Rock
- Ghost
- Steel
Special Types in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen:
- Fire
- Water
- Electric
- Grass
- Ice
- Psychic
- Dragon
- Dark

What follows is that some Pokemon’s battle performance is better or poorer in FireRed and LeafGreen compared to other games. The most glaring example is Gyarados, which goes from typically great to terrible.

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Say Goodbye to Gyarados in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen

Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen‘s best team should never include Gyarados if maximizing battling potential is something you care about. The reason is simple, and it’s that Gyarados’ incredible Attack stat does very little for you. This is because while Gyarados has a BST of 540, with its Attack stat being 125, Water is a special type in FireRed and LeafGreen, and Gyarados’ Special Attack stat is just 60.

It gets even worse, though. Gyarados has no access to any Flying-type moves in its learnset, which means that you will never get any use out of its Water/Flying type other than being immune to Ground. Gyarados also learns Bite, which is normally good coverage for it, but since Dark is also a special type in the game, it also deals very low damage. As such, the best moves in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen for Gyarados are:

Thrash (90 base power, 100 accuracy, Normal-type, physical)
Hyper Beam (150 base power, 90 accuracy, Normal-type, physical)
Earthquake (100 base power, 100 accuracy, Ground-type, physical)
Return/Frustration (damage based on friendship level, 100 accuracy, Normal-type, physical)

Why You Shouldn’t Use Gyarados in FireRed and LeafGreen

This is a pretty sad set of moves for Gyarados in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, and it doesn’t take advantage of its types at all. You can use some Water-type moves, but the damage is middling at best, and you’d at the very least need some EV investment in Sp. Attack. Even with Intimidate as an ability, these games have far better picks than Gyarados for Water-type Pokemon in FireRed and LeafGreen, such as Vaporeon.

Furthermore, Earthquake is a rare TM that you only get once from Giovanni in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen, meaning you can’t use it again. There are glitches for this, but in a regular playthrough, a single-use Earthquake TM has much better candidates than Gyarados. On top of that, Gyarados learns Dragon Dance, which increases the user’s Attack and Speed stats by one stage, but since Water is special, it doesn’t benefit from this unique and powerful move.

buying tm35 in poekmon firered and leafgreen

If you are looking for ways to make your Route 4 Magikarp in Pokemon FireRed and LeafGreen good, I’m sorry to be the bearer of bad news. You could opt to build Gyarados as a Special Attack mon if you really want to use it, and it’d be a good pick for move coverage, at the very least. With Surf, Ice Beam, Thunderbolt, and Flamethrower, you could still do decent damage — but if this is your strategy, please, invest in Sp. Attack EVs.