[overview]
**Draft order**: Late round 3 onwards
**Price range**: 12-14 points
**Overview**: Gliscor is a good source of role compression, capable of tanking both physical and special attacks, entry hazard stacking, and even using Swords Dance sets. The longevity provided by Poison Heal, paired with its variety of sets, U-turn, and its strong typing, allows Gliscor to pose a threat to both offensive and defensive playstyles; however, its glaring weaknesses to common coverage like Ice Beam and a lack of moveslots due to Protect being near mandatory tend to hold it back.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wall**: Gliscor's strong Defense and typing lets it sit in front of many common attackers—both physical and special—while inflicting them with Toxic poison, remove items via Knock Off, set entry hazards, or pivot into stronger threats. However, Gliscor itself struggles to deal strong damage with its defensive sets.
**Utility**: Having access to Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes, Gliscor is able to provide strong hazard support for a team while having the option to prevent opposing Defog via Taunt. Leaning into a hazard and status based set lets Gliscor become a supportive enabler for its offensive teamates, sort of like a different Glimmora. It still functions as a wall against some Pokemon, but it primarily focuses on creating opportunities for its teammates through setting hazards to spread damage and, though not as common, defensively checking opposing threats.
**Wallbreaker**: Using Swords Dance and its vast movepool, Gliscor can be a powerful mid- or late-game offensive threat. Its bulk allows it to set up many boosts, which can compensate for its relatively middling Attack stat that holds back its other sets from having notable offensive output.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB moves**: Earthquake, High Horsepower, Bulldoze, Dual Wingbeat
**Setup moves**: Swords Dance
**Utility moves**: Protect, Knock Off, U-turn, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Toxic, Taunt, Substitute, Brick Break
**Coverage**: , Facade, Crunch, Fire Fang, Gunk Shot, Ice Fang, Lunge, Poison Jab, Psychic Fangs, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Thunder Fang, Crabhammer
Niche Moves
========
**Fling**: Provided Gliscor has already been inflicted with Toxic poison by its item, Fling allows Gliscor to do damage while also inflicting Toxic poison on its foe.
**Acrobatics**: Acrobatics is a very reliable Flying-type STAB move if Gliscor can rid itself of its item. This can be accomplished by not running an item, using Fling, the use of consumable items like resistance Berries, or switching in an already poisoned Gliscor into Knock Off.
**Agility**: Agility enables a Swords Dance Gliscor to be a cleaner at the cost of survivability (rc) or a coverage moveslot.
Common Items
========
**Toxic Orb**: Toxic Orb is basically required on almost any Gliscor set, as it is the most reliable way to activate its Poison Heal ability. This enables almost all of Gliscor's sets.
Niche Items
========
**Resistance Berries**: While more niche then resistance Berries on many other Pokemon, these can still let Gliscor live just long enough in the face of super effective attacks to do its job. Yache Berry is the most common of these.
Tera
========
Gliscor can be a viable Terastallization option, as Tera types like Tera Water and Fairy let it circumvent its most common weaknesses, whereas Tera Normal and Ground enable its setup sets even further. Tera makes Gliscor a much more versatile threat, but it isn't always worth prioritizing for many reasons; its defensive typing can often be very valuable and sometimes worth keeping, and some drafts benefit more from an offensive user of Terastallization. However, Gliscor does pair with similarly mid-price offensive Tera Captains that don't rely on Terastallization to function.
Draft Strategy
========
Gliscor works on a variety of teams, and its role compression allows it to be a form of glue for many teams it is on. Because of this, it is able to support a variety of different drafts.
**Ice resistances**: As Gliscor's biggest flaw is its 4x weakness to Ice, being able to handle that will help create strong defensive options for a team. Examples are good Water- and Steel-type Pokemon such as Slowking, Heatran, and Gholdengo
**Wallbreakers**: Gliscor appreciates powerful wallbreakers like Urshifu-S or Iron Moth, which Gliscor can enable with its entry hazards and Knock Off, and powerful wallbreakers can also enable Gliscor's own offensive sets.
**Ground/Electric-weak Pokemon**: Gliscor's defensive typing shines when it can use its immunities to support its teammates; Pokemon like Palafin and Galarian Slowking can especially benefit from this.
**Spinblockers**: On a team where Gliscor will prefer to be a hazard stacker, Ghost-types are useful teammates—Gholdengo, specifically, due to its ability to block any form of hazard removal.
**Specially defensive Pokemon**: While Gliscor can sometimes make use of its own Special Defense, it tends to find itself overwhelmed by powerful special attackers regardless of its bulk. Partners like Heatran and Slowking can help deal with this.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ice-type coverage**: Gliscor's incredible defensive typing falls short against the common Ice-type coverage that runs rampant in much of Draft, mostly due to the popularity of strong Water-types in the format. While it can survive some physical Ice-type attacks, the ability to easily bring coverage to beat Gliscor is incredibly problematic for it, being its defining flaw.
**Special wallbreakers**: While Gliscor can sometimes stave off physical wallbreakers, the lack of reliable recovery moves and middling Special Defense make it especially vulnerable to powerful special attackers like Chi-Yu, Kyurem, and Enamorus.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/celestiial.613399/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scionicle.599989/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ken.594478/
**Draft order**: Late round 3 onwards
**Price range**: 12-14 points
**Overview**: Gliscor is a good source of role compression, capable of tanking both physical and special attacks, entry hazard stacking, and even using Swords Dance sets. The longevity provided by Poison Heal, paired with its variety of sets, U-turn, and its strong typing, allows Gliscor to pose a threat to both offensive and defensive playstyles; however, its glaring weaknesses to common coverage like Ice Beam and a lack of moveslots due to Protect being near mandatory tend to hold it back.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Wall**: Gliscor's strong Defense and typing lets it sit in front of many common attackers—both physical and special—while inflicting them with Toxic poison, remove items via Knock Off, set entry hazards, or pivot into stronger threats. However, Gliscor itself struggles to deal strong damage with its defensive sets.
**Utility**: Having access to Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes, Gliscor is able to provide strong hazard support for a team while having the option to prevent opposing Defog via Taunt. Leaning into a hazard and status based set lets Gliscor become a supportive enabler for its offensive teamates, sort of like a different Glimmora. It still functions as a wall against some Pokemon, but it primarily focuses on creating opportunities for its teammates through setting hazards to spread damage and, though not as common, defensively checking opposing threats.
**Wallbreaker**: Using Swords Dance and its vast movepool, Gliscor can be a powerful mid- or late-game offensive threat. Its bulk allows it to set up many boosts, which can compensate for its relatively middling Attack stat that holds back its other sets from having notable offensive output.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB moves**: Earthquake, High Horsepower, Bulldoze, Dual Wingbeat
**Setup moves**: Swords Dance
**Utility moves**: Protect, Knock Off, U-turn, Spikes, Stealth Rock, Toxic Spikes, Toxic, Taunt, Substitute, Brick Break
**Coverage**: , Facade, Crunch, Fire Fang, Gunk Shot, Ice Fang, Lunge, Poison Jab, Psychic Fangs, Rock Slide, Stone Edge, Thunder Fang, Crabhammer
Niche Moves
========
**Fling**: Provided Gliscor has already been inflicted with Toxic poison by its item, Fling allows Gliscor to do damage while also inflicting Toxic poison on its foe.
**Acrobatics**: Acrobatics is a very reliable Flying-type STAB move if Gliscor can rid itself of its item. This can be accomplished by not running an item, using Fling, the use of consumable items like resistance Berries, or switching in an already poisoned Gliscor into Knock Off.
**Agility**: Agility enables a Swords Dance Gliscor to be a cleaner at the cost of survivability (rc) or a coverage moveslot.
Common Items
========
**Toxic Orb**: Toxic Orb is basically required on almost any Gliscor set, as it is the most reliable way to activate its Poison Heal ability. This enables almost all of Gliscor's sets.
Niche Items
========
**Resistance Berries**: While more niche then resistance Berries on many other Pokemon, these can still let Gliscor live just long enough in the face of super effective attacks to do its job. Yache Berry is the most common of these.
Tera
========
Gliscor can be a viable Terastallization option, as Tera types like Tera Water and Fairy let it circumvent its most common weaknesses, whereas Tera Normal and Ground enable its setup sets even further. Tera makes Gliscor a much more versatile threat, but it isn't always worth prioritizing for many reasons; its defensive typing can often be very valuable and sometimes worth keeping, and some drafts benefit more from an offensive user of Terastallization. However, Gliscor does pair with similarly mid-price offensive Tera Captains that don't rely on Terastallization to function.
Draft Strategy
========
Gliscor works on a variety of teams, and its role compression allows it to be a form of glue for many teams it is on. Because of this, it is able to support a variety of different drafts.
**Ice resistances**: As Gliscor's biggest flaw is its 4x weakness to Ice, being able to handle that will help create strong defensive options for a team. Examples are good Water- and Steel-type Pokemon such as Slowking, Heatran, and Gholdengo
**Wallbreakers**: Gliscor appreciates powerful wallbreakers like Urshifu-S or Iron Moth, which Gliscor can enable with its entry hazards and Knock Off, and powerful wallbreakers can also enable Gliscor's own offensive sets.
**Ground/Electric-weak Pokemon**: Gliscor's defensive typing shines when it can use its immunities to support its teammates; Pokemon like Palafin and Galarian Slowking can especially benefit from this.
**Spinblockers**: On a team where Gliscor will prefer to be a hazard stacker, Ghost-types are useful teammates—Gholdengo, specifically, due to its ability to block any form of hazard removal.
**Specially defensive Pokemon**: While Gliscor can sometimes make use of its own Special Defense, it tends to find itself overwhelmed by powerful special attackers regardless of its bulk. Partners like Heatran and Slowking can help deal with this.
Checks and Counters
========
**Ice-type coverage**: Gliscor's incredible defensive typing falls short against the common Ice-type coverage that runs rampant in much of Draft, mostly due to the popularity of strong Water-types in the format. While it can survive some physical Ice-type attacks, the ability to easily bring coverage to beat Gliscor is incredibly problematic for it, being its defining flaw.
**Special wallbreakers**: While Gliscor can sometimes stave off physical wallbreakers, the lack of reliable recovery moves and middling Special Defense make it especially vulnerable to powerful special attackers like Chi-Yu, Kyurem, and Enamorus.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/celestiial.613399/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scionicle.599989/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/ken.594478/
Last edited:
