Hello everyone, the OU tiering council has decided to test Gliscor!
Gliscor has been an OU staple since its release in generation 4, but it has quickly approached controversial status after its DLC release into SV OU. Gliscor gained access to utility moves like Spikes while finding itself in a landscape more conducive towards its success than ever before. Fundamental changes to the game such as no more Hidden Power accompanied by metagame specific trends such as a greater emphasis on entry hazards, which it sets while negating taking damage of its own thanks to Poison Heal recovery, have allowed for Gliscor to become one of the faces of SV OU!
While many suspects are on traditionally offensive Pokemon that lack sufficient counterplay, it is very possible that a defensively or a utility focused Pokemon could warrant tiering action as well. Something like Gliscor can be defeated by many individual opposing Pokemon that can fulfill the role of individual "checks" and "counters" to Gliscor in a traditional sense. However, it can be argued that the premium of support Gliscor provides far exceeds that of its contemporaries, leading to a strain being placed on team compositions throughout various archetypes and gameplay. Gauging the extent to which Gliscor's presence, which is not that of a traditionally offensive focused suspect, is a banworthy one will be a unique challenge for those who achieve voting requirements, but one we feel necessary towards the progression of our metagame. Given that Gliscor is a less generic suspect candidate, some may wonder how we even got to this point, so let's provide some timely context.
On the 30th of October, the SV OU tiering council released a tiering survey to its playerbase. The results of this survey (as well as the prior two and some tiering context -- be sure to check it out as I put as much transparency in as I could) can be found here. Gliscor received the most support by the qualified playerbase by greater than the margin for error, sitting at a 3.99 / 5 with the next closest being Gholdengo at a 3.72 / 5. We have quickbanned Pokemon who have received similar support to this at times, but also suspected others as it largely depended upon the specific Pokemon and metagame specific factors. In response to the data provided by our community, the SV OU tiering council had a vote between if we should quickban Gliscor, suspect Gliscor, or not act on Gliscor. Below are the results:
- Quickban Gliscor: ausma, NJNP, TPP -- 3
- Suspect Gliscor: Finchinator, ima, Lily, mind gaming, Ruft, Star -- 6
- No action on Gliscor: xavgb -- 1
In terms of what Gliscor specifically does in the metagame, a lot of people's first and foremost thought is of it as a Spike setter. And this is a fair assessment to an extent as Gliscor is the best and most common setter of Spikes in the metagame. Few things can relibly remove hazards set by a Gliscor with Toxic or Knock Off across a drawn out sequence; Corviknight absolutely can and a few others may lay a less substantial claim to, but they are all stifled by Gholdengo's presence as a potential teammate to Gliscor -- more on this in the second post! The fact of the matter is that in a generation where recovery is limited in both distribution and PP, a Spikes Poison Heal Gliscor is naturally a phenomenal option. Parlaying its ability to Spikes with other prospect forcing strategies like Toxic spread or item displacement further improves Gliscor's match-up coverage, too.
This is not all Gliscor brings to the table, however, as its presence as a potentially broken Pokemon also roots from the fact that Gliscor is quite versatile. Spike sets started off as the vast majority and still are most common, but we have begun to see Gliscor's other utility shine frequently. One example is that Gliscor is able to effectively negate all opposing hazard damage as it is immune to Spikes and Sticky Webs while being able to heal off Stealth Rock after one turn and even end up with a net 12.5% health after a single Protect turn if Stealth Rocks were up. This allows for it to be a premier pivot with U-turn on a slower variant, setting up fragile offensive teammates for a seamless entry while maintaining its own health for traiditonal purposes as it can still fit one of Toxic, Knock Off, or Spikes on these variants. Speaking of Knock Off, Gliscor can opt to force progress of its own if it does not wish to do so through pivoting to a threat or layering the field with Spikes. Knock Off is an increasingly valuable tool that prevents opponents from negating entry hazard damage with Heavy-Duty Boots or Leftovers; Gliscor pairs well with other entry hazard setters, too, which makes this strategy quite effective. An even more direct way of making progress with Gliscor is Swords Dance, which lets it function as a sweeper that oftentimes outlasts bulkier foes, finds ample set-up opportunities, and still maintains unmatched survivability.
For all of the great things Gliscor does provide and all of the options it can use, there are still some glaring downsides to using it. For example, it is possible for some common OU Pokemon to abuse Gliscor or blank its normal progress. Hatterene can stop Spikes while setting up all over non-Swords Dance Gliscor, Magic Guard Clefable finds itself immune to both Spikes and Toxic, Air Balloon Gholdengo hard walls any Gliscor lacking Knock Off, U-turn, or the rare Ice Fang while keeping itself immune to Spikes so long as the Air Balloon is still equipped, and various Pokemon like Rest Dondozo, Worry Seed Amoonguss, Take Heart Manaphy, and Corviknight can all blank Gliscor with relative ease regardless of the variant. Gliscor also has a natural 4x weakness to Ice, a common offensive typing that it does like like to always Terastalize away from being weak to as this also means it could become weak to more entry hazards upon changing types. In addition, some variants of it only function on specific teams that may mandate Spike upkeep like Gholdengo or pressure on specific walls if you are running Swords Dance variants, making it not as versatile a piece as initially imagined.
Overall, Gliscor is one of the best Pokemon in SV OU. It provides a premium as a utility preesence with an array of options that span from Spike setter to status spreader all while being able to force more direct progress with other variants such as Knock Off or Swords Dance. Spikes are still the single most common variant and what truly makes Gliscor among the most controversial presences in the metagame, which can pair with Gholdengo to assure their field placement throughout most games. Gliscor also has Poison Heal, which gives it amazing survivability. However, it is contained by a larger handful Pokemon that can outright stop it from achieving even incrimental progress. It will be very interesting to see what our playerbase thinks of Gliscor as a suspect given that is not a traditionally offensive Pokemon!
- Reading this is mandatory for participating in the suspect test!!! The voting requirements are a minimum GXE of 80 with at least 50 games played. In addition, you may play 1 less game for every 0.2 GXE you have above 80 GXE, down to a minimum of 30 games at a GXE of 84. Also, needing more than 50 games to reach 80 GXE will suffice.
| GXE | minimum games |
| 80 | 50 |
| 80.2 | 49 |
| 80.4 | 48 |
| 80.6 | 47 |
| 80.8 | 46 |
| 81 | 45 |
| 81.2 | 44 |
| 81.4 | 43 |
| 81.6 | 42 |
| 81.8 | 41 |
| 82 | 40 |
| 82.2 | 39 |
| 82.4 | 38 |
| 82.6 | 37 |
| 82.8 | 36 |
| 83 | 35 |
| 83.2 | 34 |
| 83.4 | 33 |
| 83.6 | 32 |
| 83.8 | 31 |
| 84 | 30 |
- You must signup with a newly registered account on Pokemon Showdown! that begins with the appropriate prefix for the suspect test. For this suspect test, the prefix will be OUVT. For example, I might signup with the ladder account OUVT Finch.
- Laddering with an account that impersonates, mocks, or insults another Smogon user or breaks Pokemon Showdown! rules may be disqualified from voting and infracted. Moderator discretion will be applied here. If there is any doubt or hesitance when making the alt, just pick another name. There are infinite possibilities and we have had trouble for this repeatedly. If you wish to participate in the suspect, you should be able to exhibit decent enough judgement here. We will not be lenient.
- We will be using the regular OU ladder for this suspect test. We will not be creating a new Suspect Ladder. At the beginning of every battle, there will be an announcement denoting the ongoing suspect with a link to this thread.
- The suspect being tested, Gliscor, will be allowed on the ladder.
- 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 sanctioned.
- 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.
- Unlike previous tests, we will be posting the voting identification thread immediately after this thread. Your voting requisites will be confirmed by a Council member or OU moderator, to which we will edit in confirmation. Please avoid getting more games before getting confirmed.
- The suspect test will be lasting until Friday, November 10th at 11:59 pm (GMT-5), and then we will put up the voting thread in the Blind Voting subforum.
- THIS IS A SLIGHTLY SHORTER TEST THAN NORMAL AS WE ATTEMPT TO BALANCE THE METAGAME AFTER THE RELEASE OF DLC. PLEASE NOTE THIS WHEN PLANNING TO GET VOTING REQUIREMENTS!!!
- No unhelpful one liners nor uninformed posts;
- No discussion on other potential suspects -- if you wish to discuss Gholdengo, we encourage you to do so in the metagame discussion thread, but this thread is strictly to discuss if Gliscor is banworthy or not;
- No discussion on the suspect process -- this includes testing Gliscor vs other potential suspects;
- You are required to make respectful posts;
- You are required to read this thread before posting.
- Failure to follow these simple guidelines will result in your post being deleted and infracted without any prior warning.
- Please also take a moment to read over some suggestions from the OU Council and the OU Moderation team for posting in this thread; adhering these will help out our time moderating the thread and present your arguments better and more educated.
- Do not argue because it's your favorite Pokemon. This should be common sense, but please don't do this, because we will delete posts like this.
- You do not need a boatload of experience to have an informed opinion, but please try to minimize the theorymon aspect and use your experiences watching and playing. Playing some on the ladder before posting is plenty if you're concerned about this.
- Do not flame, belittle, or be disrespectful to users in this thread. While not everyone will read this post in its entirety nor will everyone have an informed opinion, please be sure not to be disrespectful. If there's an issue, bring it up to a moderator.
- Do not use the argument of broken checking broken. Should your argument rest on your opinion that banning the Pokemon or mechanic being tested in this suspect test will make a Pokemon or mechanic broken, overpowered, and/or uncompetitive; don't. If something needs to be banned because of the result this suspect, then so be it.
- This thread is not to voice complaints about the suspect process or decisions of the council. While we are more than open to hearing complaints that may arise, this isn't the place for it. I suggest you message the OU Council, PM our Tier Leaders, Finchinator and Ruft, or make a post in Senior Staff requests, should you have a badge.
Keep in mind that our suspect tests are decided by the community; anyone who rightfully achieves voting requisites is allowed to vote. The outcome is up to you.
and the future of SV OU tiering,
. With their standard sets, these all turn Gliscor into a huge liability. Great Tusk acolytes, you can even do this with your old god, 
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