
^ omw to make your life miserable
[SET]
name: Defensive Pivot
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Protect
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Spikes / Knock Off / Taunt
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Impish / Careful
evs: 252 HP / 212 Def / 44 Spe or 244 HP / 80 Def / 140 SpD / 44 Spe
tera type: Water
[SET COMMENTS]
- Gliscor is a great pivot in Ubers thanks to its many positive traits. Poison Heal grants it excellent passive recovery and a status immunity, meaning that it can sit on Pokemon like non-Ice Beam Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground, Groudon, Clodsire, Toxapex, Skeledirge, and Ting-Lu, after its Toxic Orb has been activated. Its excellent bulk lets it tank hits from and trade hits with metagame beasts like Zacian-C and Koraidon, with Protect giving Gliscor the ability to scout moves and stay healthy throughout the game. Lastly, its very useful Ground immunity lets it annoy common Ground-type Pokemon like Groudon and Landorus-T while also being Spikes-immune.
- Unfortunately for Gliscor, its low base Special Defense means it gets exploited and forced out by many common special attackers, namely Kyogre, Miraidon, Flutter Mane, and Calm Mind Arceus formes. The aforementioned Zacian-C and Koraidon can also overwhelm Gliscor after a Swords Dance, forcing it to Terastallize to not succumb to their attacks. Lastly, Gliscor's offenses are mediocre, meaning that Taunt Pokemon like Arceus formes and Koraidon can effectively shut it down, as they take very little damage from Earthquake.
- Gliscor is a good user of Spikes, as it commonly annoys most Defog and Rapid Spin Pokemon, such as Giratina-O and Great Tusk, with Toxic. Corviknight stands out as the only Pokemon that is immune to Toxic, is immune to Earthquake, and can stall out Spikes with Defog and Pressure.
- Knock Off can be used instead to cripple Pokemon like Landorus-T, Kyogre, and Ting-Lu, as well as opposing Gliscor if it doesn't use Protect before its Toxic Orb has been activated. Knock Off can also cripple Heavy-Duty Boots Pokemon like Eternatus, and it is best used with Pokemon that can lay Spikes, like Ting-Lu and Clodsire, both of which appreciate Gliscor's ability to cripple and wear down hazard removal Pokemon like Giratina-O. However, with Arceus formes everywhere in the tier, which can absorb Knock Off without losing their items, Knock Off is usually unable to cripple most Pokemon. Nonetheless, said Arceus formes still fear Toxic from Gliscor.
- Lastly, Taunt is also an option for Gliscor to deny entry hazard attempts from slower Pokemon like Ting-Lu, Landorus-T, opposing uninvested Gliscor, and Clodsire while also denying recovery from Arceus formes and Clodsire on the switch.
- The given spread lets Gliscor outspeed uninvested base 100 Speed Pokemon. The remaining EVs maximize bulk, allowing Gliscor to avoid the 2HKO and OHKO from Zacian-C's +1 and +3 Behemoth Blade, respectively.
- Another possible EV spread is 244 HP / 80 Def / 140 SpD / 44 Spe with a Careful nature. This makes Gliscor able to survive an unboosted Ice Beam from support Arceus formes from full, letting it use Toxic on them. This can come in handy, as support Arceus formes can be an annoyance to the teams Gliscor usually sees play in. However, this spread leaves Gliscor 2HKOed and OHKOed by a +1 and +3 Behemoth Blade from Zacian-C, respectively, and OHKOed by +2 Scale Shot from Koraidon.
- Tera Water lets Gliscor resist the Water- and Ice-type attacks that are commonly thrown at it such as Ice Beam from Arceus-Ground, Glacial Lance from Calyrex-I, and Kyogre's moves. Tera Water also allows it to resist Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade and Koraidon's Flare Blitz, which is equally important. However, Terastallizing leaves Gliscor unable to switch into Ground-type Pokemon like Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground. Furthermore, it makes Gliscor become affected by Spikes and take super effective damage from Miraidon's Electro Drift instead of being immune to it.
- Gliscor wants to activate its Toxic Orb as soon as possible in order to continuously be able to check and switch in on threats, so it is advised to quickly get it in the field and use Protect to ensure it gets poisoned. Gliscor is an annoyance for teams that have multiple physical attackers like Koraidon and Zacian-C, so its HP should be preserved in order to comfortably tank their hits. However, Gliscor should not be the only switch-in to the aforementioned Pokemon, as it can get overwhelmed fairly easily, due to them commonly running Swords Dance.
- Gliscor's Special Defense is on the lower side, with Pokemon like Calm Mind Arceus formes, Miraidon, Kyogre, and Eternatus taking advantage of this to wreak havoc with powerful attacks or, in Eternatus's case, threaten to set Toxic Spikes. Because of this, Pokemon like Ting-Lu and Water Absorb Clodsire are recommended teammates. Pokemon like Arceus-Water and Kyogre can take on the Ice-type attacks that OHKO Gliscor while also helping it not get potentially overwhelmed by Koraidon and Zacian-C.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/corvere.306317/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/manaphy.50695/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ox04.507268/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/wrathoftheleopard.511181/
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