Don't expect to be wowed by Glalie's physical attacking prowess. Still, Glalie gets reasonably good type coverage with Ice, Ground and Dark-type attacks. A Choice Banded Explosion is nothing to scoff at, and quite a few things will have a lot of trouble surviving that. Get rid of Ghosts with Crunch and Steels with Earthquake, and finally take out Glalie and his opponent with a bang. Ice Fang provides his most powerful STAB move, although when both attacks are neutral, it has slightly less power than Earthquake. As such, you may want to opt for Ice Shard to bypass Glalie's rather mediocre Speed. Ice Shard will 2HKO an incoming Hitmonlee (Ice Fang and Earthquake fall short of guaranteeing a OHKO), and has a slight chance of taking down Primeape in two hits. Avalanche is absent here as Glalie does not want to be going last if he can help it, and Ice Fang has more power against incoming enemies.
Ice Beam may be a better STAB move than Glalie's physical options, but other than that the improvements are few. Shadow Ball is a good move to have in general since it's super effective against Grumpig and Hypno, two of the most common special walls in UU. Hidden Power Ground provides coverage against Steel, Fire, and Rock-types. Explosion once again provides Glalie's most reliable way of killing stuff off.
Be careful with this set and don't let it be a worse Froslass. It may seem like that at first, as Glalie has a very similar moveset to a Spiking Froslass without the Shadow Ball STAB (it also can't block Rapid Spin). Despite these shortcomings, it can still Explode and either destroy or leave a gigantic dent in anything that thought it could stop Glalie's Spiking fun. Block would be a good option on this set, but it is illegal with Spikes.
Although using Glalie in OU battles is not recommended, this is his best shot at being somewhat useful as part of a Hail based team. Walrein is a better option for the Sub + Protect + Toxic combination, and Froslass is a superior choice for a Spiker, but Glalie can fill both roles, taking up only one team slot rather than two. Like Walrein, this set really works best in conjunction with something that knows Toxic Spikes. Substitute and Protect allows you to bypass Glalie's middling staying power, while Spikes lets you get in some more residual damage (it works even better with Toxic Spikes when you have a shuffler too). Taunt prevents your foe from using recovery moves or attempting to phaze you. It will also generally stop your run being cut short by Perish Song, as users of the move generally do not focus on their Speed stat at all. Blizzard is an obvious choice to take advantage of the 100% accuracy during Hail (in which case you'll want to use a Bold nature), or you can opt for Earthquake to wear down Poison and Steel-types (specifically Tentacruel and Heatran), who will foil the whole strategy. Toxic is also worth considering so Glalie isn't overly reliant on Toxic Spikes support, and allows him to poison incoming Flying-types or those with Levitate. Other OptionsSheer Cold can go nicely with Explosion if you're lucky and it's not written out. Light Screen can go with Spikes to provide some support. Hail allows Glalie to reap the benefits of Ice Body and is the only way to get the weather effect moving in UU, where Abomasnow is banned. EVsMax Speed is possibly the most important thing for Glalie, though you can take some off if you plan on using Ice Shard. A nice healthy investment in his offensive stat of choice is usually the best for him as well. From there, you can go with HP or either defense really. OpinionAs represented by its stats, Glalie isn't very good. Its movepool is rather unexciting and it isn't powerful enough to take advantage of the Ice STAB, while at the same time having stats too low to make up for poor defensive typing. As a physical attacker it's eclipsed by Mamoswine and Weavile, as a special attacker it's eclipsed by anything that can learn Ice Beam, and as a staller it's eclipsed by Walrein (who even shares the relatively exclusive Ice Body trait). He does have the ability to Spike, but his cousin Froslass can Spike and block Rapid Spin at the same time. CountersWhen countering Glalie, watch out for a potential Explosion. Fighting-types work well, as most are faster than him. The Hitmons are good choices, thanks to their healthy base Special Defense, with Hitmontop being the best of the three as he packs Intimidate to soften the blow from physical attacks too. Poliwrath is also a good counter as he resists Ice and has good defenses. Grumpig is a good option against special sets, although Shadow Ball can wear him down. Water-types including Mantine and Blastoise are particularly effective, although the former can't take as much physical punishment. |
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