Swords Dance Gliscor Is Underrated
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Background:
I wanted to use a team with Swords dance Gliscor since over the generations Gliscor has been reduced to only defensive capabilities, and I wanted to show that Gliscor can be just as great on offense, as it is on defense.
Teambuilding: (Skip ahead if you don't want to know why I chose what Pokemon)
As stated in the background, the goal was to create a competent team with Gliscor, specifically Swords Dance Gliscor.
With an offensive physical Setup-Pokemon, it is usually customary to counterbalance with a strong offensive Special attacking Pokemon. It is also great to set up to increase it's bulk & power.
To keep momentum going throughout the team, and posing immediate pressure to the enemy without having to setup.
Neutral wall to defog & to discourage physical hitters, as well as pesky Scizors and Ferrothorns.
Reliable priority & Strength as well as terrain control, especially to shut down Tapu Lele Specs/Choice Scarf. It also serve as a neutral wall in a sorts as well.
Stealth Rocks & Reliable counter to opposing Stealth Rocks Pokemon such as Landorus-Therian, Great Tusks, Garchomp and Glimmora.
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Def
Adamant Nature
- High Horsepower
- Crabhammer
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
Gliscor is the main star of the team, I gave it Swords Dance to setup. High Horsepower for stab ground type move, and to be able to pair it with Rillaboom, so it's not losing 50% base attack every time grassy terrain is active. Crabhammer for unique coverage, good against opposing ground types like Landorus-Therian, as well as Fire Fangs to have full coverage over Pokemon like Heatran, Scizor and Ferrothorn. The Stat spread is set to maximize attack, and provide just enough HP for Iron Valiant Specs to 2KO Gliscor, and the rest I dumped into Defense since Gliscor excels against physical mons and needs time to set up in front of them. Tera type water to mix with Crabhammer and to counteract it's 4x and 2x weakness of Ice and Water.Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 152 HP / 252 Atk / 104 Def
Adamant Nature
- High Horsepower
- Crabhammer
- Fire Fang
- Swords Dance
Raging Bolt @ Booster Energy
Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water / Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder Wave / Thunderbolt / Volt Switch
- Calm Mind
This is your typical Raging Bolt setup, Thunderclap for priority. Draco Meteor (for strong burst damage) over Dragon Pulse. Thunder Wave to cripple opponents, Thunderbolt for reliable electric damage, or Volt Switch to keep momentum. When I was doing testing and getting this team up the ladder I personally used Thunder Wave allowing Gliscor and other Pokemon to bolster their physical presence. As well as Calm Mind for more damage if needed, especially against Pokemon that might try and wall it such as Ferrothorn and such, whom can't really do much damage, but can easily tank off normal attacks. I added Booster Energy as the item because with a lot of calcs, it can usually 2KO or OHKO a lot of Pokemon, giving it immediate pressure. Tera type water for a more general defensive typing, or tera type ground to usually force Water type mons to come in against it.Ability: Protosynthesis
Tera Type: Water / Ground
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
IVs: 20 Atk
- Thunderclap
- Draco Meteor
- Thunder Wave / Thunderbolt / Volt Switch
- Calm Mind
Lopunny-Mega @ Lopunnite
Ability: Scrappy
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- Close Combat
- U-turn
This is your most generic Mega-Lopunny set. I couldn't say anything about it other than describe it. Fake Out for priority + Flinch (Free Damage Usually). Return for a strong stab move. Close Combat for a strong stab move. U-Turn to keep momentum for the entire team, as well as giving it an out (great for predictions and mind games). Max Speed and Attack with the remaining 4 in Special Defense. (I am totally not stalling by typing this so this post meets the SV Other Teams rule of at least 3 lines of text- Also while I was looking for an image of Mega Lopunny for this forum, I would make sure Safe Search is active ).Ability: Scrappy
Tera Type: Normal
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Fake Out
- Return
- Close Combat
- U-turn
![100+] Moltres Wallpapers | Wallpapers.com](https://wallpapers.com/images/hd/magnificent-moltres-lord-of-fire-in-flight-jxrpynnwdaybgzzs.jpg "100+] Moltres Wallpapers | Wallpapers.com")
Moltres @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Hurricane / Air Slash
- Roost
- Defog
For Moltres, I have Flamethrower for Stab & because this team desperately needs some kind of Fire-type move to pressure and reliable KO Steel type Pokemon. Hurricane is for big damage, but if you want to play a safer roll Air Slash is also viable. Roost to recover HP and keep it alive. Defog to get rid of hazards. I spec'd this Pokemon for max survivability with max HP and neutral (enough) Defense and Special Defense, but I think in reality it should 90% be just a defensive wall, since that's what I used it as in testing. I didn't really do much calcs so I can't tell you why it only has 100 Def and 156 Sp.Def, it could be more optimized. Same with the Tera type, I honestly never needed to Tera this mon, but thinking about it, Bug is a terrible Tera type. Heavy-Duty-Boots to come in on Stealth rocks and Defog.Ability: Flame Body
Tera Type: Bug
EVs: 252 HP / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Flamethrower
- Hurricane / Air Slash
- Roost
- Defog
Rillaboom @ Choice Band
Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Hammer Arm
- Grassy Glide
- U-turn
Like the past 2 Pokemon, this is also your standard Rillaboom set. Wood Hammer for large reliable Damage. Hammer Arm for coverage. Grassy Glide for priority. U-Turn to keep momentum, and for predictions (mind games). I wanted to give this Pokemon Max attack to give it an offensive presence, but I also wanted to take advantage of it's defense, to keep it generally bulky. I then realized during testing that I am using this mon to stop Tapu Lele from setting up terrain and sweeping or being an issue, so I allocated some defense EVS to Special Defense. I didn't calc anything, but just put a number and found it reliable enough to not calc. It could probably be optimized. Tera Type ground for defensive coverage.Ability: Grassy Surge
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 252 Atk / 100 Def / 156 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Wood Hammer
- Hammer Arm
- Grassy Glide
- U-turn
Gastrodon @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald / Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
For this Gastrodon set, I personally used Scald, but found that Toxic was also viable. Ice Beam counters a lot of other Stealth Rocks Pokemon, especially Landorus-Therian where depending on the EVS, it could OHKO. Recover for longevity. Stealth Rocks for momentum. This is my Specially defensive wall, with Max HP and a lot of Special Defense. I didn't want to give it no defense, because in testing I sometimes also used it as a pivot against physical Pokemon. I didn't calc anything, so it can be optimized. Tera type Grass for a more defensive nature. Leftovers for longevity.Ability: Storm Drain
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 252 HP / 48 Def / 208 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald / Toxic
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Stealth Rock
Threatlist:
Alomomola on stall teams is pretty hard to counter, especially when Raging Bolt is dead. Despite Rillaboom being another counter, usually it is easy to predict and switch out, or to wear Rillaboom down with toxic, or to bait Rillaboom in and Flip Turn out. Overall Alolamola has the tools to play around a lot of Pokemon on this team, and in the late game is usually unkillable.
Samurott-Hisui overall is pretty nasty to deal with, since it counters my physical wall Moltres, and it can deal pretty serious damage to Rillaboom depending on the sets with Ceaseless Edge. This is pretty bad since Rillaboom is genuinely great late game and can easily be played around and or worn down.
Ogerpon-Wellspring is a pain to deal with, since Gastrodon can not do much, and the physical wall Moltres cannot do much. Usually the ways I've delt with them is to just outplay the opponent with mind games between Gastrodon and Moltres, until I get Flame-Body to activate, but I have lost games against Substitute + Swords Dance variants.
Potential Optimizations:
Overall, I think a lot of optimization for this team will come by the EV's and or Tera Types being changed. I mentioned above on certain Pokemon that I hadn't done calcs on many of them, and that they could be optimized, or that for Moltres, the Tera type and EV's should ultimately be changed to fully reflect a Physical Wall rather than a neutral wall. If you find better success by swapping out mons, feel free to reply with your changes.
Outro:
Overall this is a team I just whipped together in a day, and only had time to test until I reached ~1550 on the ladder. It did really well Early and Mid ladders, and then kind of cut off around 1500s, where you had to think and calculate turns way more often. I think this team, and in essence, Swords Dance Gliscor has a lot of opportunity, especially due to the surprise factor as well, but I know at least this team can be better. Please reply with any thoughts or changes. If you need replays to see how this team is played, just ask and I'll reply with some I saved.
, one of the first changes you can make is to fix the 
EV spread to add speed which is vital for wallbreaking vs mid speed balance teams that often carry several mons in the 200-260 range and add knock off over hammer arm, a consistent form of item removal will help you tremendously in longer games and almost every team should carry knock somewhere, even with mons that 
is underrated but one of the main abilities 
consistently and wall out scalds while also setting up. SD + 3 attacks is not a viable set and the ev spread doesnt work either as SD 
are all trying to hit around 231-234 right now. Roost is important on any gliscor set for longevity and should be run 100% of the time. Ive dropped coverage moves for facade as it is overall better and a stronger neutral coverage to help break anything immune to ground. Ive also added tera fairy as you already have a defensive water + another tera water and having a team with no fairy type will open you up to being instantly 6-0'd by Z move 
, as it has proven to be relatively unviable in the national dex metagame since gholdengos ban, after losing its niche there is no reason to use it over defensive 
which accomplishes much of the same tasks and isnt as weak to water types such as the 
you mentioned, The Zapdos spread I would suggest is:
since your team currently lacks a defensive steel, 76 speed evs allow you to outspeed rockers such as modest 
set is almost perfect the only things I would change are dropping ice beam for toxic since your team has no toxic and it can provide lots of value by toxicing common water switchins like 
which defaults to max happiness. Running 0 Happiness Frustration over Return ensures that 
and 
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