SV OU Glimmora Balance (Top 100 Peak, 1853)

[Glim Supremacy]

Introduction
This is a balance team centered around 2 hard hitters: Iron Valiant and Ogerpon-Wellspring. The initial goal was to get in these 2 mons as often as possible to deal huge damage, but the resulting playstyle actually feels more like a balance team with defensive tendencies. Either way, I just wanted to share this team as my first RMT. Discourse is very much appreciated!

Paste: https://pokepast.es/12fa5aa11d39bff2

Proof of peak

Team

In general, this team really relies on the defensive typing synergy between the members of the team. As such, always keep in mind the mons that you need to preserve to deal with a later threat on the opponent's team.

Glimmora @ Leftovers
Ability: Toxic Debris
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 128 HP / 128 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Sludge Wave
- Mortal Spin
- Earth Power
- Spiky Shield

This is a Glimmora set that I often like to use. The HP investment allows for a much easier time pivoting into resisted physical attacks like Lando-T's U-turn. Spiky Shield exists to further punish contact moves. It's also a great tool to scout Specs Walking Wakes for an easy switch into Iron Valiant or Ogerpon-Wellspring. Despite not being fully invested in SpA, I find that it still hits sufficiently hard. Sludge Wave hits neutral targets really hard, and Earth Power as a complementary attack that covers for Poison resists and immunities. Tera Grass is to deal with Ground moves, particularly from Great Tusk and Roaring Moon.

Landorus-Therian @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Intimidate
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 160 HP / 216 Def / 84 SpA / 48 Spe
Bold Nature
- Earth Power
- Stealth Rock
- U-turn
- Taunt

What balance team would find themselves without a Landorus-T? Lando's main purpose is to act as a physical wall to and punish contact moves with Rocky Helmet while decreasing physical output on the opponent's end. Stealth Rock and U-turn are pretty much staples on any Lando. Earth Power is to punish opposing Tusks more. I also felt that uninvested EP was extremely underwhelming, so I took some points from HP and put it into SpA. Thus far I haven't really regretted it. Initially, I slapped on Taunt to help out in the Lando mirrors, but apparently 48 speed EVs outruns approximately 2 Lando's on the entire ladder. Regardless, 48 EVs allow Lando to outspeed no speed Gliscors and then some, and Taunt is extremely important into stall matchups.

Iron Valiant @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Quark Drive
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Close Combat
- Knock Off / Thunderbolt
- Encore

The first heavy hitter on the team is mixed Val. I usually run Knock Off on this team, as it synergizes really well with Toxic Debris and Stealth Rocks. However, I noticed that Corviknight becomes a really big problem without Thunderbolt. It's either get walled by Corviknight or Slowking-G though, so I opted to smack the more common Slowking-G harder. I decided to run max SpA as I thought that Moonblast was more spammable move than Close Combat and Knock Off, especially with all the Rocky Helmet Lando's around. Encore is a good utility move in general, but it becomes almost necessary when facing Raging Bolts. This Val has a -SpD nature, which is really the only possible nature to run on mixed Val sets, but it really stings in some cases.

Ogerpon-Wellspring (F) @ Wellspring Mask
Ability: Water Absorb
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Horn Leech
- Ivy Cudgel
- Swords Dance
- Knock Off

Heavy hitter number two is up. There's not much to say about this Ogerpon set, other than that there is Knock Off on it. Hits hard, good speed tier, and tera grants it a free SpD boost. What's not to love?

Slowking-Galar @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 160 HP / 132 SpA / 216 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Sludge Bomb
- Chilly Reception
- Ice Beam
- Thunder Wave

The dedicated special wall on this team. I say wall, but it doesn't exactly eat up every hit well. Chilly Reception is expected on pivot Glowkings. Thunder Wave is good to slow down any mons that are looking to setup on it, or special attackers that Glowking eats. Sludge Bomb for a strong STAB. I opted for Ice Beam over Future Sight, reason 1 being to OHKO Lando's and Gliscor's on the switch in, reason 2 being I suck at using Future Sight......

Kingambit @ Leftovers
Ability: Supreme Overlord
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 232 HP / 252 Atk / 20 SpD / 4 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Sucker Punch
- Iron Head
- Swords Dance
- Low Kick

Who else but the king to round out the team. I decided on a fatter Gambit so that it could have an easier time switching in during the early to mid game. I dropped Kowtow Cleave for Low Kick for opposing Gambits, which I do find worthwhile. Most mons that you want to hit with Kowtow will almost definitely switch out in front of a Gambit, so clicking Iron Head in that scenario doesn't set me back too much.

Threat Alerts

I'm not going to lie, this team barely has a favorable matchup into any team comp. However, there are will always be the right tools that provide a path to victory. Regardless, there are still some mons that are really hard to deal with.

Kyurem's Ice, Ground and Freeze-Dry coverage is perfect into this team. Glowking can eat some hits and try to T-wave it, but a tera Ground or Substitute almost certainly spells out a loss. I do find that Kyurem players know this fact very well, and will often lead Kyurem, to which I can lead Kingambit. This Gambit spread never falls to a Specs Earth Power from Kyurem, and can retaliate with Iron Head. Even though it doesn't kill, a Sucker Punch follow up certainly will

In the Glimmora section, I mentioned that Spiky Shield was great for scouting against Specs Walking Wakes. The problem arises when the Wake is anything but Specs. Between Iron Valiant and Ogerpon-Wellspring, there is total immunity against both STABs, but Val is so weak on the special side that a single correct read from the opponent can blow the game wide open.

Before, I genuinely did not think that Corviknight was capable of 6-0-ing any team. Until I faced a Corviknight with this team. I guess Skarmory is a problem also, but I don't remember running into any Skarms, either that or I managed to Encore lock it into a useless move. I run Knock Off over Thunderbolt on Val, and it really hurts the matchup. The best way of dealing with it is by chipping it with Rocky Helmet, letting it eat Stealth Rock chip, taunting with Landorus, paralyzing it with Glowking, critting with Ogerpon, Encore lock it into Roost, but preferably all of the above. That is how much work I needed to beat this thing. I can run Power Gem on Glimmora so it is not literally walled, but 252SpA Timid doesn't even do half to PhysDef Corv, so I don't really see a point.

I included both these mons into a single entry as they both pose a similar problem: almost perfect coverage. The coverage is definitely not as suffocating as Kyurem's, but it's still pretty bad. Deoxys can run Psycho Boost, Knock Off, Superpower, Ice Beam, and that is supereffective coverage into everything but Waterpon. Darkrai can run Dark Pulse, Sludge Bomb, Ice Beam, Focus Blast, which is supereffective into everything but Glimmora. In both cases, I can probably deal with them by going for tera on Waterpon or Gambit, but given that both of Deoxys and Darkrai are often used in the early game, burning tera so early is definitely not an enticing prospect.

For Deoxys, I try to switch around between Lando, Gambit, and Glimmora, and maybe go for Sucker Punch with Gambit. I include Glimmora in the switches as well to get up T-Spikes on the on a Superpower. Occasionally, the opponent might go for a Fighting tera to try and dodge a KO from Gambit. Fortunately Deoxys isn't too common, which spares me the mind games.

For Darkrai, I try to burst it down with Glimmora's Sludge Wave. There is the risk of getting flinched by Dark Pulse, which I have no way around. If a flinch does happen, I go to Gambit to eat a Dark Pulse, switch to Glowking to eat a Focus Blast, then T-wave. If T-wave misses, it's bye-bye tera.

It's mainly bulky Air Balloon Hex T-wave Gholdengo's that threaten this team. Air Balloon means its a hard wall for Glimmora, and Landorus can't deal meaningful damage. If Air Balloon gets popped at any time, Val's Knock Offs are not doing anything to Gholdengo. The potential of T-wave also means that I cannot freely switch in my Waterpon for a big hit, nor can I set up a Swords Dance. Gambit does not have a 100% guarantee of hitting without Kowtow, and risks getting KO'd with Focus Blast. Two main ways I beat this variant is by breaking its balloon and hitting it with Earth Powers, or accept the paralysis on Waterpon and Water tera nuke it. The problem with the first strategy is that Lando and Glim are very prone to going down in the early game, and the second is that tera is burnt and my Waterpon is paralysed. Neither strategies guarantee a positive trade, but it just be like that sometimes.

Conclusion
Please give Glimmora a chance to do something other than Stealth Rock then die on the second turn:( Also do leave some suggestions for improvements. I'd love to hear thoughts on this team.

 

[TheDuckChris]

Hello, interesting team here that raises some key questions for me. I will keep Glimmora since it is a unique set and you seem to enjoy using it


What made you choose tera dark on Valiant? Is it just to live a hit that you would normally die to like scarf Darkrai or future sight or something? It seems a bit strange to choose this to power up Knock Off when you are not investing in physical attack much. Especially if you decide to go with thunderbolt instead I might switch this tera for something like Ghost to counter Zamazenta and Dragonite. You could also consider shadow ball instead of thunderbolt then, it still does a fair amount to Corviknight.


Ice beam here is somewhat sub par, I understand you like to hit landorus and gliscor but you do have other useful pokemon against them already in Ogerpon and Valiant, most likely you should just pivot out on them. One addition i might add here is Psyshock. This would really help against specially defensive boosters like Raging Bolt, as well as really helping against stall pokemon like Clodsire and Blissey. I would also change this to tera water so you can defend a little better against Walking Wake in sun.


While I personally love low kick gambit you really need a fast spread to make use of it. Hitting other gambit is not a reliable strategy if they all outspeed you. Additionally, between Valiant, Ogerpon, and Landorus you should have pretty decent coverage for ground types so I think tera flying is not really needed here. I would suggest switching to Tera Dark and using Kowtow Cleave. This will also offer a boosted sucker punch for those runaway threats. Finally I suggest Lum since you don't have a good switch in to Hex dragapult.

Updated paste -> https://pokepast.es/9f19dcad84574665

 

[SweepySleepyDreepy999]

Landorous is not a reliable way of handling Tusk if it's on Ice coverage, and your team struggles quite a bit against Dragapult. This team is pretty solid over all. Thnx for showcasing it. Not much you can change here without reliably changing 3 or 4 mons in and out. So, I will say nothing further. However, if I went for this style'd team I would focus more on Ogrepon sweep, hazards and a more effective spinner dedicated towards bulk and longevity. I have never cared for Glimmora as I feel the dedication it demands is more than most recognize. It is a good TS spinner, setter, and hits pretty hard. However, it often runs out too quickly, becomes victim of the simple inability of coming in and out and keeping hazards up, and over all isn't bulky or even fast enough to excel at anything past a suicide lead. Maybe, I am bias as I remembered Mew doing similar suicide lead sets without Rapid Spinning and being the greatest lead since sliced bread lol. Oh well, over all, this team is super stacked and can be very difficult to deal with and has nice synergy.

 

[Glim Supremacy]

Hello, interesting team here that raises some key questions for me. I will keep Glimmora since it is a unique set and you seem to enjoy using it


What made you choose tera dark on Valiant? Is it just to live a hit that you would normally die to like scarf Darkrai or future sight or something? It seems a bit strange to choose this to power up Knock Off when you are not investing in physical attack much. Especially if you decide to go with thunderbolt instead I might switch this tera for something like Ghost to counter Zamazenta and Dragonite. You could also consider shadow ball instead of thunderbolt then, it still does a fair amount to Corviknight.


Ice beam here is somewhat sub par, I understand you like to hit landorus and gliscor but you do have other useful pokemon against them already in Ogerpon and Valiant, most likely you should just pivot out on them. One addition i might add here is Psyshock. This would really help against specially defensive boosters like Raging Bolt, as well as really helping against stall pokemon like Clodsire and Blissey. I would also change this to tera water so you can defend a little better against Walking Wake in sun.


While I personally love low kick gambit you really need a fast spread to make use of it. Hitting other gambit is not a reliable strategy if they all outspeed you. Additionally, between Valiant, Ogerpon, and Landorus you should have pretty decent coverage for ground types so I think tera flying is not really needed here. I would suggest switching to Tera Dark and using Kowtow Cleave. This will also offer a boosted sucker punch for those runaway threats. Finally I suggest Lum since you don't have a good switch in to Hex dragapult.

Updated paste -> https://pokepast.es/9f19dcad84574665

Very fair assessment on the Valiant. I did use tera Dark after a loss to Future Sight Glowking, plus I thought that the small power boost to Knock Off might be valuable in some cases. Unfortunately, it indeed was not useful at all. I was uncertain about defensive teras considering how frail Valiant is, but that seems to be the only viable option since there are way too many things that outspeed non-booster. Ghost is viable, but any thoughts on Steel? It could somewhat help against opposing Valiants, Heavy Slam Zama.


I'll try out Psychock. You are right that I don't need to hit Landorus and Gliscor considering I can click Chilly Reception. Although, I'm not too sure about tera Water. I chose tera Fairy because Fairy + Ground covers Raging Bolt, Fairy + Water Absorb covers Walking Wake. The issue with the current Fairy on the team (aka Valiant) is it is extremely frail, so I am less eager on switching hard to it. Tera Water helps out defensively against Gholdengo, but Glowking can do nothing except hope Ice Beam freezes, if I do keep Ice Beam.



I appreciate the input for this mon. Admittedly I don't use Gambit much despite how strong it is. I might want to keep Leftovers though, as I often find myself switching it in to eat hits. Looking at the team objectively, I probably shouldn't be doing so, but eh skill issue. For Hex Pult, I think that letting Landorus get burnt and then paralyzing/Ice Beam with Glowking is an acceptable trade.


What changes would you make to the Glimmora? It does sound like you think this particular set to be unoptimal, which is probably true. This team relies way too heavily on the defensive type synergies, which is not exactly ideal in a offense-heavy meta.

 

[Glim Supremacy]

Landorous is not a reliable way of handling Tusk if it's on Ice coverage, and your team struggles quite a bit against Dragapult. This team is pretty solid over all. Thnx for showcasing it. Not much you can change here without reliably changing 3 or 4 mons in and out. So, I will say nothing further. However, if I went for this style'd team I would focus more on Ogrepon sweep, hazards and a more effective spinner dedicated towards bulk and longevity. I have never cared for Glimmora as I feel the dedication it demands is more than most recognize. It is a good TS spinner, setter, and hits pretty hard. However, it often runs out too quickly, becomes victim of the simple inability of coming in and out and keeping hazards up, and over all isn't bulky or even fast enough to excel at anything past a suicide lead. Maybe, I am bias as I remembered Mew doing similar suicide lead sets without Rapid Spinning and being the greatest lead since sliced bread lol. Oh well, over all, this team is super stacked and can be very difficult to deal with and has nice synergy.

No lie, every Tusk has Ice coverage now. I find the matchup not too difficult though, as I have the options of Glimmora or Ogerpon on an intimidated Tusk. Spiky Shield and/or Rocky Helmet Lando is pretty effective at chipping Tusk down. Pult matchup is a bit shaky or sure. These days I expect either Hex sets of Specs, but I still need to somehow scout the set, which can be very risky like switching in Gambit on Wisp or Glowking on Specs Shadow Ball.

Your comment on Glimmora's longevity does extend to the rest of the team as well. Despite being a "balance" team, I do end up playing very loosely especially against more offensive teams to prevent an immediate sweep. The most positive matchups would be against other balance teams, but my observation is that teams these days are leaning towards more extreme sides of the spectrum. Overreliance on T-spikes also limits the ceiling, even though that was the main idea behind this team. The only minor change that I can think of id swapping out Lando for Tusk or Corvi for overall bulk and recovery, but that doesn't really help against the weaker matchups. I am interested to hear what changes you would make to this team though, even if it completely changes the structure and playstyle.