Cynthia’s Massages May Be Behind Garchomp’s Strength

Cynthia and her Garchomp kind one of the vital iconic pairings in all of Pokémon. The Sinnoh Champ is the preferred Regional Champion, and one of many strongest in each the anime and the video games. Cynthia’s Garchomp has been a destroyer of worlds since its anime introduction, the place it clobbered 4 of Paul’s Pokémon earlier than he simply gave up and forfeited his full battle problem in opposition to Cynthia.

Since then, Garchomp has defeated each on-screen opponent it is ever had, aside from one battle the place it tied because of the time restrict expiring. It even stood as much as Landorus, Thundurus and Tornadus throughout Cynthia’s time touring with Ash throughout the “Unova Saga”. Cynthia’s Garchomp is highly effective even for a Pseudo-Legendary — and Pokémon Journeys might have subtly revealed the way it obtained that method.

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Ash Found Cynthia Massaging Garchomp – Which May Raise Affection

As Ash and Cynthia individually prepped for his or her semifinal showdown within the Masters Eight of the World Coronation Series, Ash’s Dragonite tackled him by way of a bush the place he occurred upon the Sinnoh Champion giving her Garchomp a therapeutic massage. As Pokémon players effectively know, massaging is a characteristic in almost each most important sequence sport as a solution to make Pokémon friendlier towards their coach – a suspiciously particular factor for Cynthia to be doing when Ash stumbled upon her. Granted, massaging a Pokémon doesn’t have any in-battle advantages within the video games, however the anime has all the time been fairly liberal with sport logic. It’s doable that massaging within the anime could possibly be used to boost a Pokémon’s affection like petting does within the later addition to the video games, Pokémon-Amie and Pokémon Refresh.

Affection is a giant deal in the principle sequence video games, as Pokémon who’ve had it maxed out acquire an entire slew of OP talents: increased important hit ratios, elevated evasiveness, surviving assaults that ought to’ve defeated them, and even curing themselves of standing circumstances. Cynthia’s Garchomp is leagues above even others of its sort, and maxed-out affection could be a stable rationalization for why it’s so robust.

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Considering Episode 122 featured Cynthia massaging her Garchomp in addition to the Dragon/Ghost-type Dragapult being defeated by a Hyper Beam, it’s not just like the sequence is overly involved with sport accuracy. So, it’s actually doable that massaging a Pokémon within the anime raises affection although the identical is just not true for the video games — as affection and happiness usually are not the identical issues in the principle sequence video games.

Increased endurance would definitely assist clarify how Cynthia’s Garchomp has gained a few of its battles. After all, it took a point-blank Dragon Pulse from Iris’s Haxorus, and most Dragons grow to be glass cannons when hit by one other Dragon-type transfer. It even withstood a Blizzard from Paul’s Weavile regardless of a double weak point to Ice-type strikes. Admittedly, Cynthia’s Garchomp hasn’t seen that a lot display time in a severe battle exterior its victory over Haxorus and its dismantling of Paul’s group. However, Journeys actually enjoying horror music over its entrance in opposition to Iris within the Masters Eight reveals that Garchomp is the Pokémon equal of Leon – so highly effective that it’s virtually pointless to point out its battles due to course it should win.

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Pokémon Journeys Revealed Garchomp Was Cynthia’s First Pokémon

The bond between a Pokémon and its coach has all the time performed a significant half in that Pokémon’s success; look no additional than Ash and Pikachu for proof. In addition to the likelihood that Cynthia has maxed out Garchomp’s affection through massages that she said are their pre-battle ritual, she additionally revealed that Garchomp was her very first Pokémon — which she hatched from an egg when she was a toddler.

Similar to Ash and his Lucario, there’s a stronger bond when the coach has cared for his or her Pokémon’s egg. Cynthia has been companions together with her Garchomp because it was a Gible, and she or he was youthful than nevertheless previous Ash is now. It would possibly even take a long time to boost a Pokémon’s affection as excessive as her Garchomp’s is perhaps, contemplating Cynthia might be older than folks suppose and plans to retire quickly.

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The energy of Cynthia’s Garchomp would make quite a lot of sense if it’s actually on the market spamming important hits and withstanding assaults that ought to’ve overwhelmed it as a result of excessive affection for its coach. Considering it is a longstanding mechanic from the video games, Cynthia massaging her Garchomp earlier than each battle appears extra significant than Episode 122 of Journeys lets on.

However, as Ash and Cynthia’s long-awaited battle will get nearer and a Mega Garchomp vs Mega Lucario showdown appears doubtless, Garchomp’s unbeatable popularity is about to take a severe hit as Ash chases his dream to battle Leon. The solely upside to Cynthia’s and Garchomp’s inevitable defeat is that it would encourage the Sinnoh Champion to stay round a bit of longer.