What is a good moveset for Golurk?

Question

If you have a good competitive moveset for Golurk, post an answer below and upvote the best ones. Movesets for its pre-evolutions, if any, can also be shared on this thread.

Be sure to include full set details in your post, e.g. items, abilities, natures and EVs. Some detail, including the intended game mode for your set, is also appreciated. Access the full list of guidelines here.

Golurk Pokédex and learnset for reference.

Answer 1

Role: Sub Punching Beast

Golurk @ Chesto Berry
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 28 Def / 28 SpD
Brave Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Rest

---

Ba.. Ba.. Oh yes. Freaking Beast!

Substitute sets you up being brave and bulky and all, so if you time it right, you'll keep your sub for the next turn, or if you can force a switch, that's always cool.

Now Focus Punch beats em up, with Shadow Punch for Ghosts who won't get touched.
Resto Chesto to be able to have a reliable form of healing.

Answer 2

Golurk @ Leftovers / Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
- Substitute
- Focus Punch

Shadow Punch: Boosted by ability STAB.
Earthquake: STAB.
Substitute: Allows him to punch someone in the face with his iron fists.
Focus Punch: boosted by ability POWA

Answer 3

"Did I just get hit by a high-speed truck?"

Golurk @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
- Rock Polish
- Stone Edge / Brick Break

Shadow Punch - with STAB and boost from Iron Fist, this move has over 100 power plus it never misses
Earthquake - high power, STAB, and an all around great move
Rock Polish - I know what your thinking, Golurk is pretty slow, but with maxed out speed and this move, golurk's speed will be ridiculous (just wanted to offer an alternative support move/moveset instead of sub punch or gyro ball and hammer arm)
Stone Edge / Brick Break- more power or one more type being cover by brick break

Comments

Rock Polish is kind of a no-no for Golurk dude!

I DOUBT anybody will let you get a chance to use it three times to max it.
EVEN IF you get to the sixth stage boost of Speed, Golurk will still be outsped by Scarfers or other Pokemon with Agility, or a Speed boost of their own!

---

if a fast pokemon shows up just let it pwned them ur forgetting that golurk has quite a high amount of hp

---

Actually, Shadow Punch with Iron Fist does clock in at 108 base power.

---

So many doubters! You would not believe the sweeps I have done with this Golurk. 252 Speed, 252 Attack.  Rock Polish turns this Golurk into a beast, especially if you have a nice light screen up beforehand.  I gave it a Hard Stone to add stab to Stone Edge. Rock Polish, shadow punch with iron fist, and Earthquake.
See it to believe it.

---

Rock polish golurk is amazing, for all you reading over this now, as his tier is nu,nu,NU! No garchomps, rotom-ws or azumarills and the like that could destroy him, take a look at nu then tell me rock polish golurk is bad.(sorry for old comment post but just couldn't help correcting about go lurk.)

Answer 4

Choice Scarfed "high-speed truck".

Golurk @ Choice Scarf
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake / Heat Crash

Okay, let me get something straight here first. This set sucks outside NU. I saw this got edited recently, so it brought back a concept that was created by a naïve 13-year old me who thought 343 Speed was the $#&#%. It's enough to get by but there are still things that outspeed this without a Scarf, so be warned. I've also changed Heavy Slam to Poltergeist; you'll read below why.

Earthquake, while it seems an obvious choice for STAB reasons and good coverage anyway, I actually wondered if it should be replaced by Heat Crash now that it learns it. It would leave less vulnerability to Grass types, while still adequately covering Steel. However, I liked the extra security that EQ provides me in the damage bonus, and Steels are generally heavy, so it might lessen the effectiveness. So I would understand why you might choose Heat Crash here, but my preference and recommendation is Earthquake.

Dynamic Punch is purely abuse of No Guard. Fighting covers a wide array of types, and this is among Golurk's most powerful moves. Why I don't use Close Combat? Well, I prefer to avoid the drops if I can, the court is still out on damage calculations, so I might change that later. Plus, the 100% confusion rate is enticing if I don't knock my target flat on the pavement.

Stone Edge, again, is pure abuse of No Guard. Earthquake and Stone Edge are a famous coverage combo, and you can't have enough of that when you're choiced, except you don't have to worry about it being "Stone Miss" this time.

While Heavy Slam is more useful now even than before now that it hits Fairies, Poltergeist is such a powerful move that it's not worth passing up. In addition, Fairies aren't particularly worrisome to Golurk, and a physical Ghost move of this proportion didn't exist back then. Ghost on Ghost is much more of a danger to Golurk, and if you don't put this on him, you may very well be giving yourself the short end of the stick when it comes to a duel between two of them.

Answer 5

Golurk @ Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake
- Dynamic Punch
- Stone Edge

•Poltergeist: STAB, ability makes perfect accuracy
•Earthquake: STAB
•Dynamic Punch: Strong, perfect accuracy with ability
•Stone Edge: Strong, perfect accuracy with ability

Answer 6

Golurk @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Substitute
- Focus Punch
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake

I'm very surprised that I don't see this set mentioned. Or maybe I'm blind. Probably the blind part.
SubPunch Golurk hits pretty damn hard, mainly due to Golurk's good Attack stat and access to Iron Fist. Golurk's access to Substitute eases prediction, allowing for more efficient sweeping, as well as protecting Golurk from any status. Focus Punch works in conjunction with Substitute, and is powered up by Iron Fist, Both Shadow Punch and Earthquake are STAB.

Answer 7

Stomping Tantrum gimmick set, it's probably not the best, but it's cool

Golurk @ Assault Vest
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature / Brave Nature {if it's a Trick Room team}
- Shadow Punch
- Focus Punch
- Stomping Tantrum
- Stone Edge

With Focus Punch, you'll either hit with a 180 base power move thanks to Iron Fist, or you'll lose focus & double the power of Stomping Tantrum, making it a 225 base power move thanks to STAB. You can also use moves that the foe is immune to, like Shadow Punch on a Normal type. Stone Edge is for coverage.
Assault Vest for tanking hits.

Answer 8

Rocket boi (Golurk) @ Choice Band
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake
- Trick
I don't think anyone has used poltergiest on it yet, and it's amazing. No gaurd let's dynamic punch always hit, as well as poltergiest. With a choice band and max atk investment, it can be an amazing wallbreaker. Trick allows it to be annoying and possible force a switch, which can end in a free ko with its massive attack. Earthquake is strong STAB. Dynamic Punch can confuse the opponent and works as nice coverage against dark types. It's actually successful enough I use it in uu, even with its ru tier. And for course, what's not to like about a rocket giant?

Comments

i have

---

Oh you did I didn't see that

Answer 9

Dr.Punch (Golurk) @ Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
IVs: 0 SpA
- Shadow Punch
- Thunder Punch
- Fire Punch
- Earthquake
Well...it’s the punching giant!
Shadow/Thunder/Fire punch are all boost by Iron fist, and Earthquake...do I need to explain?
Of course, the point I do not use the newest ghost type move—Poltergeist is because some Pokemon like Hawlucha often don’t hold item.
And why I do not used a No Guard Golurk is because it’s is it HA, which is hard to get.

Answer 10

Gen 6 Moveset

Golurk @ Expert Belt
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Phantom Force
- Low Sweep / Drain Punch
- Thunder Punch / Earthquake
- Fly

Strategy: Aim for super effective hits to power them up with the Expert Belt. This moveset is good for countering Golurk's weaknesses.

• Phantom Force has great power and accuracy and gets STAB, gives ghost type coverage and is similar to fly because it is a 2-turn attack and makes you immune to most moves for 1 turn; In addition to that it can hit through Detect and Protect and gets auto-hit and x2 power if the target uses minimize
• Low Sweep covers dark and ice type weakness, good power and accuracy and lowers their speed by 1; if you use it enough Golurk could outspeed the other Pokemon :0 ; Drain Punch could heal your Golurk if you are on low HP, and gets boost from Iron Fist, 75 power, 100 accuracy and dark and ice coverage
• Thunder Punch has the same stats as Drain Punch but provides water coverage and a chance to paralyzing the target (another chance to outspeed the opponent; Earthquake has 100 power and accuracy +STAB for an awesome move.
• Fly provides grass coverage and a cool 2-turn move that makes you immune to most attacks on the first turn and attacks with 90 power on the next turn

Tips: Watch out for moves that deal double damage while you are in the sky when you use fly. This moveset covers all of Golurk's weaknesses so you should be good. Grass Knot can deal a lot of damage, so watch out!

I hope you like this moveset! :)

Answer 11

Gen 8 RU
Golurk @ Choice Band
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Brave Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Poltergeist
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake
- Hammer Arm

This set is to be used during Trick Room. Poltergeist is strong STAB that doesn't miss due to No Gaurd. Stone Edge doesn't miss due to No Gaurd. Earthquake is also strong STAB. Hammer Arm is to lower your speed if you're up against something slower (i.e Drampa) so you can outspeed them once your speed drops during Trick Room.

Answer 12

SwSh Golurk CoverWall Moveset

Golurk @ Life Orb / Any Compatible Z Crystal (If SMUSUM)
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Impish Nature / Relaxed Nature
- Shadow Punch
- Earthquake
- Drain Punch
- Ice Punch

-Shadow Punch (Lvl 12)
-Earthquake (Lvl 58)
-Drain Punch (TM 63)
-Ice Punch (TM 4)

This may seem like a strange moveset, but actually, it is one of the most broken movesets in the history of Pokemon. Here is why: with the combination of each of these moves allows you to hit EVERY SINGLE POKEMON at least normally effective. On top of this, you can hit about 75% of all Pokemon with at least one super effective attack.

Pokemon itself:
Iron Fist is the best ability Golurk can get. Since it can't learn Fissure, No Guard is rendered nearly useless. And Klutz just sucks. Special Attack is useless as well, so you most likely want to get a Golurk with a boosted Defense. However, if you happen to come across a Speed-Deprived Golurk, that is fine, because the point of this moveset is for Golurk to be a massive-coverage, defensive wall, not a quicksilver sweeper (though it sweeps nicely). Life Orb is to boost the attack and can be helped by Drain Punch (I'll talk about that later). However, people think Z-Moves suck, but I think that if you don't want Life Orb, then any compatible Z-Move (especially those with STAB) can help you get out of a pinch. The attack EVs are for even more boost from the Life Orb, and defense EVs are for making it more of a wall. You can also use | 4 Atk, 252 Def, 252 SpDef | for being a near-indestructible wall instead of a normal wall with cannons.

Moves:
-Shadow Punch gets the boost from STAB and Iron Fist, effectively putting it up above Shadow Claw, Shadow Ball, and Phantom Force. It also has ∞ accuracy, which is a nice touch.
-Earthquake is STAB, and it has 100 base power. Must I say more?
-Drain Punch will get the Iron Fist boost and recover HP if you are using the Life Orb. If you are using a Z-Crystal, it will be a major pain to deal with a crazy bulky Pokemon regaining the little HP that it had taken from an attack. Especially if you are using the 252 defenses EVs that I mentioned earlier. It also nicely covers Ice types.
-Ice Punch, again, gets Iron Fist boost, and is mostly grass coverage.

Drawbacks: Golurk still cannot handle Water types with this moveset. Have an Electric or Grass type handy.

Comments

Z-Moves aren't in SwSh. Is this for NatDex?

---

128 Def / 128 SpD is a bad choice of EVs -- 252 HP is mathematically better. Speed EVs should also be considered, as there are plenty of Pokemon around base 60-70 that are worth outspeeding with offensive Golurk.

---

How is No Guard totally useless? It gets some moves like Poltergeist, Dynamic Punch, Stone Edge, etc.

Answer 13

Rock Polish LO No Guard Wall breaker
Format: RU

Golemastoc (Golurk) @ Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature

• Poltergeist
• Earthquake
• Dynamic Punch
• Rock Polish

Golemastoc aka massive golem. This thing's a beast. It pretty much 2OHKOes everything in RU. Here are some calculations showing its damage against the bulkiest Pokemon in the format:

252+ Atk Life Orb Golurk Poltergeist (110 BP) vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Milotic: 208-246 (52.9 - 62.5%) -- 99.6% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Life Orb Golurk Dynamic Punch vs. 252 HP / 4 Def Umbreon: 278-328 (70.5 - 83.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Stealth Rock and Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Life Orb Golurk Poltergeist (110 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro-Galar: 374-439 (94.9 - 111.4%) -- guaranteed OHKO after Stealth Rock

Defensive counters demolished.
Rest of offensive checks are outspeed after Rock Polish. With 252 Spe neutral nature and at +2, you can outspeed most of the tier pretty easily. No Guard means Poltergeist and Dynamic Punch have infinite accuracy. Life Orb boosted STAB Poltergeist and Earthquake hit like a tank. Just take care of some Pokemon that have no item intentional to prevent Poltergeist. Earthquake does 2OHKO them, so you don't need Shadow Punch for secondary STAB, freeing space for Rock Polish.

Answer 14

Gen 8 NU

Golurk @ Colbur Berry
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Poltergeist
- Dynamic Punch

Stealth Rock Golurk. Stealth Rock is to hurt opposing Pokemon upon switching in. Earthquake is strong STAB. Poltergeist is also strong STAB that can't miss due to No Gaurd. Dynamic Punch is coverage and has a 100% chance to confuse the target.

Answer 15

Golurk @ Weakness Policy
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature / Jolly Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Earthquake
- Poltergeist
- Stone Edge / Rock Polish

Poltergeist and Earthquake are great STAB, with Poltergeist not being able to miss due to No Guard, as well as identifying the foes held item. Dynamic Punch is a 100 BP Fighting Move with an 100% chance to confuse the target, which is fun to mess around with. Stone Edge is to prevent the set from being walled entirely by the Flying types of the metagame, but if you think the team you put together can handle them, then you can replace Stone Edge, or any other move with Rock Polish. This will allow Golurk to outspeed some of the fastest Pokemon in the tier. I suggest running Adamant if you're not using Rock Polish, as you're only able to outspeed Pokemon with 90 base Speed without any EVs invested in that stat.
If you're confused about the comments, they were about how this set used to have a Jolly nature, as well as Mega Kick instead of Stone Edge or Rock Polish.

Comments

Mega Kick could be replaced because Mega Kick covers nothing.

---

Fast golurk? I don’t think you’re outspeeding much with 55 base speed

---

True. Only with rock polish the thing starts outspeeding

---

This isn't a good set, but "low base Speed -> don't use Speed EVs" is the wrong way to think about it. 252 Spe allows Golurk to outspeed everything up to base 87 with no investment (base 96 with 252+), which is a pretty good chunk of Pokemon and probably worth it for an offensive Pokemon.
I don't play any formats where Golurk is good so I couldn't be any more specific; but I looked at some NU stats and saw most high-rated players are running Speed on Golurk (albeit with Adamant, and definitely not with WP).
https://www.smogon.com/stats/2021-05/moveset/gen8nu-1760.txt

---

If WP isn't recommended, maybe Choice Scarf/Band instead?

---

Sorry for the somewhat late answer, I only just realized people commented on this

The entire reason behind me running Mega Kick was that 120 Base Power seemed too good to pass up, if you'd like, you can run Stone Edge
I noticed that a high speed nature wasn't worth being invested in Golurk, which is why I swapped it (or I'm going to) swap it to Adamant
Also, the whole gimmick of the set is that Golurk has 5 weaknesses, so I ran WP instead of Choice Scarf/Band because some of those 5 weaknesses (I think) are quite common

---

Mega Kick might seem high power, but STAB Earthquake or Poltergeist will do more damage. With STAB, Earthquake is essentialy 150 power and Poltergeist is 165. Also, Mega Kick doesn't hit anything super effectively so one of the other moves will always do more damage.

---

That's basically the entire reason I added Stone Edge, if you don't want to use Mega Kick, use Stone Edge instead

Answer 16

Trick + Klutz
Gen 8 NU

Golurk @ Choice Scarf / Assault Vest
Ability: Klutz
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Trick
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch

I don't think there is a Trick + Klutz set on here, so here is a Trick + Klutz set. I put Choice Scarf and Assault Vest for items for this set, but you can use other items like a Toxic Orb. Trick is to cripple Pokemon like Vileplume and Dhelmise, giving them an item so they won't be itemless. Poltergeist is strong ghost STAB and can be used on Vileplume or Dhelmise if either one of them was given an item. Earthquake is for ground STAB. Ice Punch is for other itemless ghost types and also allows you to deal super effective damage to Braviary, a Pokemon that would freely switch in to Golurk and wall this set otherwise.

Comments

I'm quite sure Trick + Vest won't work.

---

it has Klutz, so the Assault Vest wouldn't do anything.

Answer 17

Gen 8 NU

Golurk @ Spell Tag / Life Orb
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Rock Polish
- Poltergeist
- Earthquake
- Ice Punch / Stone Edge

This set is really similar to Frozen Inferno's set, but this one has a different last slot so you can deal with itemless Pokemon. Rock Polish is for boosting your speed to outspeed Pokemon who are usually faster than use. Poltergeist and Earthquake are for incredibly powerful STAB moves. Ice Punch is in the last slot so you can deal with itemless Pokemon like Celebi, Rotom-Mow, Dhelmise, and you can also deal super effective damage against Braviary, a Pokemon who can switch in to both of your STAB moves. Stone Edge also works in the last slot as well. Spell Tag can be used on the item to give Poltergeist a little more power, while Life Orb powers up all of your moves.

Answer 18

I did this with a Tyrantrum set, but I think Golurk would be better suited for the job

Golurk @ Blunder Policy
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Punch
- Dynamic Punch
- Ice Punch
- Earthquake / High Horsepower

We're back with the blunder policy! This time we are going to use a move that is much more likely to miss, DYNAMIC PUNCH! with only 50% so that when it misses because we all know it will, Golurk's speed will be doubled! and if it actually hits, there is a 100% chance to confuse the opponent if it hits. This is literally a Win-Win situation! Shadow Punch for STAB + the Iron Fist boost, Ice Punch for coverage + the Iron Fist boost, and Earthquake for singles, or High Horsepower for Doubles.

Smell ya later!

Answer 19

Gen 8 SS Monotype (Ground)

Golurk @ Choice Band
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Earthquake
- Poltergeist
- Heat Crash
- Trick

Choice Band Golurk has use on Ground-type teams as a Choice Band user that generally deals with slower Pokemon. As you might've noticed, this set doesn't have Dynamic Punch in it. There are two reasons for this:
1. Golurk won't really find an opportunity to deal super effective damage to Dark-type Pokemon outside of Specially Defensive Tyranitar, which already gets OHKOed by Earthquake. 2. Even if you wanted to use a Fighting-type move, Golurk has Close Combat, which has a higher base power than Dynamic Punch. Dynamic Punch should be used if you want to annoy your opponent for some reason.

Earthquake and Poltergeist are incredibly strong STAB moves. Thanks to No Guard, Poltergeist won't be able to miss. Heat Crash provides good coverage against Pokemon like Ferrothorn, Scizor, and Corviknight. Trick allows you to screw up defensive Pokemon such as Porygon2. Here are some calcs to show the massive damage Choice Band Golurk can do:

252+ Atk Choice Band Golurk Heat Crash (100 BP) vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 242-286 (60.5 - 71.5%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

252+ Atk Choice Band Golurk Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Slowbro: 386-456 (97.9 - 115.7%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO

252+ Atk Choice Band Golurk Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Corsola-Galar: 276-326 (85.1 - 100.6%) -- 6.3% chance to OHKO

Golurk basically OHKOes Galarian Corsola if Stealth Rock is up.

252+ Atk Choice Band Golurk Poltergeist vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Celesteela: 202-238 (50.7 - 59.7%) -- 85.9% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

The damage against those defensive Pokemon is pretty neat. Enjoy!

Answer 20

Bulky Golurk set

Golurk @ Assault Vest
Ability: No Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Dynamic Punch
- Poltergeist
- Stone Edge
- Earthquake

This set gives Golurk a lot of bulk, allowing it to take more damage, and resisting more special attacks with assault vest. Thanks to No Guard will make all of this inaccurate moves hit 100% of the times, meaning you will hit very hard with all of these powerful Stab and coverage moves