(s/o to Phantomistix for helping writing up the suspect reasoning + choosing the song)
Gallade is being suspect tested due to its metagame defining, and arguably warping, offensive power, which has a widely noticeable effect on both teambuilding and gameplay in the NU tier. With a fearsome Base 125 Attack stat, offensive synergy via it's new ability ‘Sharpness’ and perfect coverage, Gallade is simply unwallable. Gallade’s premier set consists of the moves Sacred Sword / Psycho Cut / Night Slash / and either Agility or Leaf Blade, as well as the item Scope Lens. With the high base Critical hit chance of these moves, the extra critical chance from Scope Lens, and Gallade's gargantuan power, it becomes an unstoppable machine that can threaten to OHKO anything slower than it, even through defense boosts. Gallade also commonly runs Choice Scarf sets to outspeed common threats that in other cases might be able to revenge kill it, while sacrificing some power, and also enabling it to permanently cripple would be defensive answers with Trick. Life Orb sets are also common, trading the slightly inconsistent lethality of Scope Lens for raw power, at the cost of wearing itself out much quicker than other sets. Assault Vest is another common and effective set which takes advantage of its incredible base 115 SDef stat to make it incredibly difficult to kill without a faster Physical threat, allowing it to harass more offensively inclined teams and act as a blanket check to for special attackers that can also wallbreak. Gallade already has more than enough offensive potential, and is commonly seen running more defensively oriented Tera types, the most notable being Dark and Ghost, with other options like Steel also seeing use. Tera Dark allows it to nullify prankster moves, and more importantly, resist Ghost type attacks and be immune to Psychic type attacks, which greatly helps its matchups against faster or even speed threats like Brambleghast, Chandelure, Indeedee, Munkidori, Typhlosion-Hisui and many more. Tera Dark also has the added bonus of boosting the power of its already strong Knock Offs or Night Slashes. Tera Ghost provides immunity to Normal and Fighting type priority options that might be able to finish it off if previously weakened, while also providing a resistance to Flygon’s First Impression. Tera Ghost also boosts the power of its Shadow Sneak, which is commonly seen on SD sets. It regularly packs coverage for all the common defensive answers, both pre and post Tera, and its STAB Psycho Cut allows it to bypass contact punishers like Talonflame, Vileplume and Bellibolt. This means that Gallade creates a constant cycle of needing to perfect dance around it every turn in order to avoid losing a Pokemon, with almost zero opportunity cost on Gallade's side. As Gallade's wallbreaking prowess is so high, even mispredictions can still soften up teams enough to the point that too much momentum has been lost to come back from. Scream Tail has been brought up as a solid check to counter Gallade, as it can shrug off the majority of it's attacks and consistently heal itself and its team with Wish. However, Scream Tail isn't a very common Pokemon in the tier, and is almost exclusively found on extremely slow and fat Stall teams, as it extremely passive. Gallade can also sometimes struggle to make an impact versus Hyper Offense teams, as they regularly carry physical attackers that can prey on it's lower defense stat, and outspeed it before it has the chance to make a dent. However, Gallade also happens to be a very viable component of Hyper Offense teams, as it can be found running it's Agility set on Psychic Terrain structures, and a myriad of sets on Sticky Web based teams. Overall, it’s presence in the tier is controversial due a lack of defensive counterplay, and the NU council believes that it more than deserving of a public suspect test to let the community determine its fate.
- All games must be played on the Pokémon Showdown! NU ladder on a new alt with the following format: "NUGSS (nickname)”. For example, NUGSSLICE or NUGSSTORIES.
- You have to reach a COIL of 2800 in order to get reqs. For reference, the B-value for this suspect will be 7.
- Do NOT impersonate other people in your ladder alt, do NOT use any usernames which are offensive, flame-baiting, or targeting specific users, and do NOT use usernames which could be interpreted as breaking any of the username rules on Pokémon Showdown! Failure to abide to this will result in you being barred from voting in this suspect, and potential infractions.
- Any form of voting manipulation will result in swift and severe punishment. You are more than welcome to state your argument to as many people as you so please, but do not use any kind of underhanded tactics to get a result you desire. Bribery, blackmail, or any other type of tactic used to sway votes will be handled and result in harsh sanctions.
- Do not attempt to cheat the ladder. We will know if you did not actually achieve voting requisites, so don't do it. Harsh sanctions will be applied.
- This also includes throwing games to help other people qualify. Play your games normally and fairly.
- The suspect test will last for 14 days, ending on Thursday, August 22nd. 23:59 GMT -4.
GXE = Games Required
71 = 343
72 = 173
73 = 116
74 = 88
75 = 71
76 = 59
77 = 51
78 = 45
79 = 41
80 = 37
81 = 34
82 = 31
83 = 29
84 = 27
85 = 25
71 = 343
72 = 173
73 = 116
74 = 88
75 = 71
76 = 59
77 = 51
78 = 45
79 = 41
80 = 37
81 = 34
82 = 31
83 = 29
84 = 27
85 = 25
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(and other powerful special attackers)
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