Gholdengo
VGC Guide
Gholdengo’s Good as Gold makes it completely immune to all status moves — Spore, Taunt, Encore, Trick — making it the hardest offensive Pokémon to handle with support tactics in VGC. Make It Rain hits both opponents simultaneously, and its Steel/Ghost typing provides extraordinary defensive coverage.
Good as Gold: Complete Status Immunity
Gholdengo is completely immune to all status moves targeting it. This includes: Spore (sleep), Taunt (blocks status moves), Follow Me/Rage Powder (redirection), Encore (move lock), Hypnosis, Gravity, Electroweb — any non-damaging move. Only direct damage moves affect Gholdengo.
- • Spore, Hypnosis, Sing (sleep)
- • Taunt (blocks status moves)
- • Follow Me, Rage Powder (redirect)
- • Encore, Disable (move lock)
- • Magnet Rise, Gravity (field effects)
- • Natural counter to Amoonguss teams
- • Can use Make It Rain freely in Trick Room
- • Taunt-based support completely fails vs it
- • Trick (item-swapping move) also fails
Make It Rain: The Spread Damage Core
Make It Rain hits both opposing Pokémon simultaneously, dropping Gholdengo’s SpAtk by -1 afterward. At 90 effective BP, the Steel-type spread move deals considerable damage to both targets with Gholdengo’s high SpAtk. The SpAtk drop can be cleared by switching out or using Grimmsnarl’s Prankster to negate.
EV Spreads
Team Partners
Kyogre Rain + Gholdengo Make It Rain forms a Water/Steel dual core; Gholdengo covers Grass threats (Kyogre’s weakness direction).
Astral Barrage + Make It Rain — two different spread move types force opponents into impossible defensive choices.
Fake Out enables safe Gholdengo entry; Parting Shot reduces opposing Attack, significantly improving Gholdengo’s survivability.
Prankster Reflect + Light Screen increases Gholdengo’s bulk; screens allow it to fire more Make It Rain before needing to switch.
How to Counter Gholdengo
Dark is super-effective against Ghost. Incineroar’s Knock Off (80 BP Dark) and other Dark-type restricted legendaries rapidly eliminate Gholdengo.
Fire is super-effective against Steel. Koraidon’s Sacred Fire and Chi-Yu’s Heat Wave in Sun can OHKO Gholdengo.
Ground moves are super-effective against Steel (×2), but Gholdengo is Steel/Ghost — it’s IMMUNE to Ground moves entirely. Ground immunity is one of Gholdengo’s key defensive advantages.
You cannot weaken Gholdengo with status moves — only direct damage works. Focus fire or exploit its super-effective weaknesses for straightforward counter-play.