[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Blizzard / Icy Wind
item: Choice Specs
ability: Ice Body
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Glaceon makes full use of its OU-competitive 130 Special Attack and STAB Ice-type moves, making a name for itself as the most immediately destructive wallbreaker in the tier. With Choice Specs, Glaceon is able to 2HKO even specially defensive Clefairy with its neutral STAB Ice Beam. While Raichu, Simisear, and Mr. Mime are capable of similar damage, they must also be carrying a boosting item and either hit the inaccurate Focus Blast twice or set up a Nasty Plot. Glaceon's accurate and powerful Ice Beam has great targets, trucking defensive staples like Meganium, Leafeon, and Hippopotas while doing upwards of 70% to the special tank Muk. Glaceon's sheer power limits the need to predict, as neutral targets and even foes that resist Ice like Staryu, Wormadam-T, and Pawniard take too much damage from a single Ice Beam to reasonably switch in. The choice of Hidden Power targets the few Pokemon that could reasonably switch into Ice Beam. Hidden Power Fighting is the preferred option, as hitting Walrein and Munchlax super effectively heavily limits the only Pokemon that don't mind Ice Beam in the tier, as well as dispatching Lairon in one attack. Hidden Power Fighting also hits Clefairy reasonably hard, easing prediction. Hidden Power Ground is an alternative, maintaining the OHKO on Lairon while also hitting Simisear and the rare Flareon, which could otherwise tank an Ice Beam in a pinch. Shadow Ball breaks the only other common Ice Beam pivots, Grumpig and Frillish, while hitting neutral targets like Walrein and other Glaceon for reasonable damage. The most common fourth option is Blizzard, whose power reaches absurd benchmarks such as OHKOing Whiscash and Kingler. This is usually a hail Mary option though, as missing is catastrophic and Blizzard reaches very few 2HKOs that Ice Beam does not. Icy Wind is a significantly weaker move than Ice Beam, but it can prevent Salac Berry users like Grumpig and Simisear from cleaning Glaceon's team. A Timid nature could be used to guarantee a speed tie with Pelipper and Mienfoo at minimum, while outrunning Pawniard and neutral-nature Kingler. However, the drop in power is substantial and loses out on the very likely Clefairy 2HKO.
Glaceon is excellent on teams that want a reliable and self sufficient wallbreaker that can all but guarantee KOs. Glaceon is a balance team's strongest tool against opposing balance, as with defensive support it is able to push for kills and pivot out to defensive partners after the opponent tries to revenge kill it. Clefairy is a near perfect partner for this, checking faster special attackers and threatening them with Thunder Wave while potentially setting Stealth Rock or generating free turns to take advantage of with Encore. Pivots like Mienfoo and Emolga are also great options; luring in Muk and Solrock, respectively, which Glaceon can force KOes against. Mienfoo's ability to check strong physical attackers like Lairon and Pawniard gives Glaceon a strong defensive backbone to fall back on, allowing it to click Ice Beam without worry. Emolga's fast Taunt and Encore are unmatched in generating free turns, which Glaceon can abuse harder than nearly any wallbreaker in the tier. Staryu's Rapid Spin and Thunder Wave are excellent support options for Glaceon's Stealth Rock weakness and middling Speed. Staryu also acts as a decent check to Simisear, and can be given Thunderbolt to check Walrein as well. Glaceon also has a solid niche on more offensive teams, as although its team cannot cover for it defensively, Glaceon can immediately begin to break the opposing team to clear a path for teammates. Lairon is a prime beneficiary of this, appreciating damage or KOs on Muk, Meganium, Clefairy, Hippopotas, and Solrock so that it can sweep late game with Rock Polish. It is also an excellent user of Stealth Rock that tends to draw in the Grass- and Ground-types that Glaceon can easily take advantage of. Special sweepers such as Agility Pelipper and Salac Berry Raichu can have a path cleared for by Glaceon's wallbreaking, taking advantage of KOed Frilish and Clefairy respectively. Offensive pivots like Emolga and Mienfoo are similarly useful on offense as balance, but Persian is especially effective. Its Speed easily allows it to revenge kill anything that KOes Glaceon, and its fast Taunt and ability to clean up compliments Glaceon's ability to get KOes almost instantly. Choice Specs Glaceon is pretty consistently revenge killed by Simisear, Choice Scarf Mienfoo, and Psychic-types, so setup Pokemon that can take advantage of these Pokemon in some capacity are good partners. Grumpig, Pelipper, and Whiscash are all capable of threatening or setting up on these Pokemon, made all the more consistent if the revenge killer has been confirmed as a Choice Scarf user.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Wish and Protect could be used on a Leftovers set to become a bulky attacker, but this is almost wholly outclassed by Walrein, which trades Wish for a valuable secondary typing, incredible bulk, and a deep movepool. Covet could cripple Clefairy to provide similar damage against it as Choice Specs, but the Eviolite it would steal is near useless, and Glaceon would lack power or speed against the remaining opposing Pokemon. Work Up provides a Special Attack boost for Glaceon to become potentially even more powerful with a Never-Melt-Ice, but the turn spent setting up could be used to attack with a Choice Specs Ice Beam anyways.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Walrein:** Walrein's 4x Ice resistance, enormous bulk, and ability to hit Glaceon for sizeable damage makes it the most reliable check in the tier. Only a Choice Specs Hidden Power Fighting can hope to substantially harm Walrein.
**Ice-Resistant Special Walls:** Frillish and Munchlax's extreme special bulk and resistance to Ice make them the only two walls in the tier that can reasonably switch into Ice Beam and safely heal afterwards.
**Residual Damage:** Stealth Rock ruins Glaceon's longevity, taking off 1/4th health every switch onto the field and rapidly putting it in range of attacks.
**Faster Attackers:** While nearly everything is incapable of switching into Glaceon's Ice Beam, faster attackers like Kingler, Raichu, Mr. Mime, or Persian can take it out with minimal chip damage. Simisear and Grumpig deserve special mention, as they can potentially switch into an Ice Beam, are faster, and carry super effective coverage to take Glaceon out in one hit.
**Specially Bulky Pokemon:** Pokemon with good natural bulk can take hits from Glaceon in a pinch, but almost never threaten it if they swap into the Ice Beam. Muk, Clefairy, and Hypno can live one Ice Beam and retaliate with status or a hit, but they are KOed by two consecutive Ice Beams from a Choice Specs Glaceon.
**Steel-Types:** While one would assume Steel-types could check Glaceon, their lack of Special Defense, or passivity in Wormadam-Trash's case, leads to them being very unreliable Glaceon checks. However, they can switch in after Glaceon has taken a KO, either threatening offensively or setting up Stealth Rock.
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Ground
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Blizzard / Icy Wind
item: Choice Specs
ability: Ice Body
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Glaceon makes full use of its OU-competitive 130 Special Attack and STAB Ice-type moves, making a name for itself as the most immediately destructive wallbreaker in the tier. With Choice Specs, Glaceon is able to 2HKO even specially defensive Clefairy with its neutral STAB Ice Beam. While Raichu, Simisear, and Mr. Mime are capable of similar damage, they must also be carrying a boosting item and either hit the inaccurate Focus Blast twice or set up a Nasty Plot. Glaceon's accurate and powerful Ice Beam has great targets, trucking defensive staples like Meganium, Leafeon, and Hippopotas while doing upwards of 70% to the special tank Muk. Glaceon's sheer power limits the need to predict, as neutral targets and even foes that resist Ice like Staryu, Wormadam-T, and Pawniard take too much damage from a single Ice Beam to reasonably switch in. The choice of Hidden Power targets the few Pokemon that could reasonably switch into Ice Beam. Hidden Power Fighting is the preferred option, as hitting Walrein and Munchlax super effectively heavily limits the only Pokemon that don't mind Ice Beam in the tier, as well as dispatching Lairon in one attack. Hidden Power Fighting also hits Clefairy reasonably hard, easing prediction. Hidden Power Ground is an alternative, maintaining the OHKO on Lairon while also hitting Simisear and the rare Flareon, which could otherwise tank an Ice Beam in a pinch. Shadow Ball breaks the only other common Ice Beam pivots, Grumpig and Frillish, while hitting neutral targets like Walrein and other Glaceon for reasonable damage. The most common fourth option is Blizzard, whose power reaches absurd benchmarks such as OHKOing Whiscash and Kingler. This is usually a hail Mary option though, as missing is catastrophic and Blizzard reaches very few 2HKOs that Ice Beam does not. Icy Wind is a significantly weaker move than Ice Beam, but it can prevent Salac Berry users like Grumpig and Simisear from cleaning Glaceon's team. A Timid nature could be used to guarantee a speed tie with Pelipper and Mienfoo at minimum, while outrunning Pawniard and neutral-nature Kingler. However, the drop in power is substantial and loses out on the very likely Clefairy 2HKO.
Glaceon is excellent on teams that want a reliable and self sufficient wallbreaker that can all but guarantee KOs. Glaceon is a balance team's strongest tool against opposing balance, as with defensive support it is able to push for kills and pivot out to defensive partners after the opponent tries to revenge kill it. Clefairy is a near perfect partner for this, checking faster special attackers and threatening them with Thunder Wave while potentially setting Stealth Rock or generating free turns to take advantage of with Encore. Pivots like Mienfoo and Emolga are also great options; luring in Muk and Solrock, respectively, which Glaceon can force KOes against. Mienfoo's ability to check strong physical attackers like Lairon and Pawniard gives Glaceon a strong defensive backbone to fall back on, allowing it to click Ice Beam without worry. Emolga's fast Taunt and Encore are unmatched in generating free turns, which Glaceon can abuse harder than nearly any wallbreaker in the tier. Staryu's Rapid Spin and Thunder Wave are excellent support options for Glaceon's Stealth Rock weakness and middling Speed. Staryu also acts as a decent check to Simisear, and can be given Thunderbolt to check Walrein as well. Glaceon also has a solid niche on more offensive teams, as although its team cannot cover for it defensively, Glaceon can immediately begin to break the opposing team to clear a path for teammates. Lairon is a prime beneficiary of this, appreciating damage or KOs on Muk, Meganium, Clefairy, Hippopotas, and Solrock so that it can sweep late game with Rock Polish. It is also an excellent user of Stealth Rock that tends to draw in the Grass- and Ground-types that Glaceon can easily take advantage of. Special sweepers such as Agility Pelipper and Salac Berry Raichu can have a path cleared for by Glaceon's wallbreaking, taking advantage of KOed Frilish and Clefairy respectively. Offensive pivots like Emolga and Mienfoo are similarly useful on offense as balance, but Persian is especially effective. Its Speed easily allows it to revenge kill anything that KOes Glaceon, and its fast Taunt and ability to clean up compliments Glaceon's ability to get KOes almost instantly. Choice Specs Glaceon is pretty consistently revenge killed by Simisear, Choice Scarf Mienfoo, and Psychic-types, so setup Pokemon that can take advantage of these Pokemon in some capacity are good partners. Grumpig, Pelipper, and Whiscash are all capable of threatening or setting up on these Pokemon, made all the more consistent if the revenge killer has been confirmed as a Choice Scarf user.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Wish and Protect could be used on a Leftovers set to become a bulky attacker, but this is almost wholly outclassed by Walrein, which trades Wish for a valuable secondary typing, incredible bulk, and a deep movepool. Covet could cripple Clefairy to provide similar damage against it as Choice Specs, but the Eviolite it would steal is near useless, and Glaceon would lack power or speed against the remaining opposing Pokemon. Work Up provides a Special Attack boost for Glaceon to become potentially even more powerful with a Never-Melt-Ice, but the turn spent setting up could be used to attack with a Choice Specs Ice Beam anyways.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Walrein:** Walrein's 4x Ice resistance, enormous bulk, and ability to hit Glaceon for sizeable damage makes it the most reliable check in the tier. Only a Choice Specs Hidden Power Fighting can hope to substantially harm Walrein.
**Ice-Resistant Special Walls:** Frillish and Munchlax's extreme special bulk and resistance to Ice make them the only two walls in the tier that can reasonably switch into Ice Beam and safely heal afterwards.
**Residual Damage:** Stealth Rock ruins Glaceon's longevity, taking off 1/4th health every switch onto the field and rapidly putting it in range of attacks.
**Faster Attackers:** While nearly everything is incapable of switching into Glaceon's Ice Beam, faster attackers like Kingler, Raichu, Mr. Mime, or Persian can take it out with minimal chip damage. Simisear and Grumpig deserve special mention, as they can potentially switch into an Ice Beam, are faster, and carry super effective coverage to take Glaceon out in one hit.
**Specially Bulky Pokemon:** Pokemon with good natural bulk can take hits from Glaceon in a pinch, but almost never threaten it if they swap into the Ice Beam. Muk, Clefairy, and Hypno can live one Ice Beam and retaliate with status or a hit, but they are KOed by two consecutive Ice Beams from a Choice Specs Glaceon.
**Steel-Types:** While one would assume Steel-types could check Glaceon, their lack of Special Defense, or passivity in Wormadam-Trash's case, leads to them being very unreliable Glaceon checks. However, they can switch in after Glaceon has taken a KO, either threatening offensively or setting up Stealth Rock.
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