Gligar
[Overview]
<p>Gligar is one of the best walls in the RU tier, and it's all thanks to the new Eviolite. With Eviolite, Gligar's already great Defense skyrockets to 509, while its low Special Defense stat also becomes rather decent. It also has access to Roost and a great typing, giving it useful resistances and immunities to common moves in the tier. Gligar can also utilize Baton Pass and Swords Dance thanks to its decent Speed and Attack stat. While it has all these benefits, Gligar also has a crippling 4x weakness to common Ice-type moves and a 2x weakness to Water-type moves; these moves are often special attacks. Gligar's low HP stat can also hinder it sometimes. But don't let this prevent you from using Gligar: it has access to a myriad of moves that can help any team out, and its defensive capabilities are almost unmatched.</p>
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Substitute / Stealth Rock
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Toxic / Taunt
move 4: Roost
item: Eviolite
ability: Hyper Cutter
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This is the standard defensive Gligar set. Substitute in conjunction with Toxic and its huge Defense stat enables Gligar to stall out the opponent with ease and also gives it protection from status; Roost allows Gligar to stick around for a long time. However, if you don't want to Substitute stall the opponent, Stealth Rock is an option to support Gligar's team. Since Toxic is less useful in this case, Taunt can be used to prevent the opposing Pokemon from setting up or spreading status. Earthquake gives Gligar an attacking option in case it gets Taunted.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Knock Off is an option to remove the opponents' item, especially from other Eviolite users such as Ferroseed and opposing Gligar. Bulldoze is a viable STAB move over Earthquake; it won't hit as hard, but its effect of lowering the opponent's Speed can be beneficial for Gligar's teammates. Speaking of teammates, it's best to pair Gligar with Pokemon that benefit from its immunities and resistances. Moltres is an good example of this, as it benefits from Gligar's immunity to Electric-type moves and ability to take Rock-type moves with ease. This synergy also applies to Charizard and Entei, and these Fire-types can easily take care of Ice-types—Pokemon that Gligar really wants to avoid. Grass-, Electric-, and Normal-type Pokemon, such as Lilligant, Manectric, and Bouffalant, respectively, also benefit from Gligar's resistances, as the flying scorpion resists Bug-, Poison-, and Fighting-type moves, and is immune to Ground-type moves. Lilligant and Manetric can take care of Water-type Pokemon in return. In the same vein, Water-types such as Gorebyss and Omastar benefit from Gligar's ability to remove Electric-types. Gligar also pairs well with special walls such as Munchlax and Slowking, as they can comfortably take the powerful special attacks that give it grief.</p>
[SET]
name: Baton Pass
move 1: Baton Pass
move 2: Swords Dance
move 3: Rock Polish / Earthquake
move 4: Taunt / Roost
item: Eviolite
ability: Hyper Cutter
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With its great bulk and decent Speed stat, Gligar is a good user of Baton Pass; it is able to set up Swords Dance or Rock Polish, or even both, with ease thanks to its many resistances and immunities. Taunt works wonders for this set, stopping status, Leech Seed, phazing, and other Taunt users from ruining things for Gligar. However, Roost keeps Gligar healthy, enabling it to keep boosting or even begin a new attempt of passing if needed. Earthquake can be used over Rock Polish too to give Gligar an attacking option; Gligar can even take advantage of the Swords Dance boosts itself instead of passing.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Substitute is a great move to pass alongside Swords Dance or Rock Polish. You can use Substitute over Swords Dance or Rock Polish, but if you want to gamble, you can put it in the last slot to pass it alongside both a Swords Dance Rock Polish boost. Obviously, good teammates for this set are those that benefit from the boosts which Gligar Baton Passes. Entei and Gallade are two Pokemon that greatly benefit from these kinds of boosts; both of them aren't too fast, and a Swords Dance boost or two can really help in scoring some KOs. Zweilous, Hitmonlee, Electivire, and Porygon-Z are other examples of Pokemon that benefit from a Rock Polish boost, while Krookodile, Sneasel, and Floatzel are examples of those that benefit from a Swords Dance boost.</p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Stone Edge / Aqua Tail
move 4: Roost
item: Eviolite
ability: Hyper Cutter
nature: Adamant / Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Instead of using Baton Pass to pass Swords Dance boosts, Gligar can take advantage of them itself and attempt to sweep with its decent Attack stat, good Speed (for a defensive Pokemon), and big Defense stat. STAB Earthquake is obviously Gligar's best attacking option, providing decent coverage and hitting vry hard after a boost. Roost keeps Gligar healthy during the course of the match, allowing it to keep boosting or attacking. The last move depends solely on what you want Gligar to hit. Stone Edge gives Gligar great coverage alongside Earthquake, hitting Flying-types and Pokemon with Levitate; it also hits Ice-types harder, the most notable ones being Cryogonal and Rotom-F that have Levitate, and Snover, which resists Earthqauke. While Stone Edge gives Gligar great coverage, Aqua Tail is also viable, as it hits Claydol and opposing Gligar much harder than Stone Edge while also providing more reliable super effective coverage on Archeops, Moltres, and Charizard.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Aerial Ace and Acrobatics are both viable options for the third slot, giving Gligar a secondary STAB; the former hits slightly harder than Acrobatics in normal conditions, but since Gligar is very susceptible to losing Eviolite through Knock Off, Acrobatics still makes a viable option. Both moves will hit Grass-types harder than any of Gligar's other moves, but using one of them with Earthquake means that Rotom, Rotom-F, and Rotom-S will wall Gligar. X-Scissor is an option to hit Grass-types and Claydol for super effective damage, but that means that Gligar can't do much to Moltres, Charizard, Rotom, Rotom-S, and opposing Gligar. This also makes Night Slash an viable option; it won't hit Grass-types for super effective damage, but lets Gligar hit the aforementioned Pokemon for at least neutral damage, as well as its main target, Claydol, super effectively. However, if you opt to use Night Slash, Gligar will be stopped cold by Mandibuzz. Taunt can be used to avoid status and phazing, but this means Gligar needs to give up an important move.</p>
<p>For this set to work to its fullest potential, Ice- and Water-type Pokemon need to be removed. Fire- and Fighting-type Pokemon, such as Moltres, Entei, Medicham, and Hitmonlee, can easily dispose of Ice-type Pokemon. Grass- and Electric-type Pokemon are the best choices to remove Water-type Pokemon, and Lilligant, Sceptile, Manectric, and Galvantula are great choices for doing this. If Gligar lacks Aqua Tail, something that can take care of Claydol and opposing Gligar is needed. Water- and Ice-type Pokemon are best suited for this, and the best choices are Ludicolo and Cryogonal. However, if Gligar does have Aqua Tail over Stone Edge, something to take care of Grass-types is needed, Moltres or Charizard being the most reliable options. Entry hazards really help in scoring some KOs as well. Qwilfish and Kabutops thus make great teammates, as they can set up entry hazards reliably while having great defensive synergy with Gligar. Dual screen support can help Gligar when it sets up, and Uxie makes a good choice for setting them up. Furthermore, Gligar can take Bug-type moves directed at Uxie with ease.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Gligar has some other moves it can make use of. U-turn is extremely nice to scout for switches, especially if Earthquake is Gligar's only attacking option. Screech can really help Gligar's teammates to deal with certain Pokemon, as well as force switches, but it is difficult to find a slot for it. Torment can also see some use, making some opponents easier to deal with, but isn't really worth sacrificing a moveslot for. Tailwind is also a great support move, but faces the same problem as the aforementioned moves. While Gligar has access to Sunny Day and Sandstorm and the bulk to set them up, it's best to leave this role to other Pokemon. However, it should be noted that Gligar can abuse Sandstorm with Sand Veil. With its high Defense stat and Roost, Gligar can also use Counter to some success. Hone Claws can be used on the Baton Pass set to pass an accuracy boost along with an Attack boost, but Swords Dance is often the better choice. Gligar has access to Immunity, which can be useful to avoid Toxic, but sadly, it's illegal with Roost.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Any hard-hitting, special Ice- or Water-type move will easily KO Gligar. Cryogonal completely walls the defensive and Baton Pass sets thanks to Levitate, and is fast enough to outspeed the Swords Dance set while OHKOing with Ice Beam. Rotom-F can also wall the defensive and Baton Pass sets, KOing with Blizzard. Gorebyss has a high enough Defense stat to survive Earthquake, and hits hard with Surf or Ice Beam, making a great counter. Ludicolo resists Eartquake, but needs to be careful of the rare Flying-type moves and X-Scissor. Snover also resists Earthquake and has access to a dangerous, 100% accurate Blizzard, enough to easily KO Gligar. It needs to be careful of Stone Edge, though.</p>
