Smogon Community - Gallade (QC 3/3)

Gallade
http://veekun.com/dex/media/black-white/475.png
http://veekun.com/dex/media/chrome/types/psychic.png http://veekun.com/dex/media/chrome/types/fighting.png

Will write up soon.

QC Checks: 1/3 Chou Toshio, 2/3 Oglemi, 3/3 PKGaming

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[Overview]

Gallade is truly an awesome looking Pokemon. The blades it possesses on its arms look incredibly strong, and of course, Gallade itself is tremendously powerful. Possessing Fighting-type STAB attacks in Close Combat and Drain Punch allows Gallade to effectively annihilate a huge number of Pokemon, as the coverage granted by those moves is excellent—almost as much so as Gallade's sleek looks. Gallade can utterly destroy Chansey, which is a much-needed trait in today's metagame, as the specially defensive behemoth is seen everywhere. Gallade can also boast a movepool that stretches over a huge expanse; it includes moves such as Swords Dance and Bulk Up for setup, and also coverage moves such as Ice Punch, Shadow Sneak, Night Slash, and Stone Edge. To top it off, though, Gallade gets Justified from Dream World. When switching into a Dark-type attack, Gallade can grab an Attack boost, which means after setting up, Gallade's Attack reaches levels that are just ridiculously high.

However, although Gallade is ridiculously strong after setting-up, its defenses, like its body, are paper-thin. Unfortunately, this means that like most sweepers it can be easily revenge killed, especially after a defense drop from Close Combat. Gallade is also relatively slow; it spends so much time showing off its sleek looking blades that it is easily outsped by Pokemon such as Flygon, Crobat, and Rotom-A, which can easily revenge kill it. Gallade's sleek looks and excellent style means its a Pokemon to look out for both aesthetically and competitively.

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Ice Punch / Stone Edge
move 4: Shadow Sneak / Night Slash
item: Life Orb
ability: Justified
nature: Adamant
evs: 68 HP / 252 Atk / 188 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Gallade's huge attacking power after a Swords Dance allows it to wreak havoc upon the UU tier. Its extremely powerful STAB move in Close Combat allows Gallade to tear apart a huge number of Pokemon — even standard Donphan is KOed 100% of the time, and defensive variants have a chance to fall to the same fate after Stealth Rock damage. Gallade's 766 Attack after a Swords Dance is truly monstrous, and it allows Gallade to smash Flying-types into the ground with Ice Punch, while fast, frail Pokemon such as Azelf and Mismagius are taken care of by Shadow Sneak.

Each of the moves listed in the set are equally useful: Stone Edge can be used over Ice Punch for a better hit on Moltres, while it also hits Arcanine super effectively; however, Ice Punch is a more reliable move on the whole, and it is able to OHKO Flygon before a Swords Dance, meaning Gallade can easily eliminate it, before switching in later and setting back up. Night Slash can be used over Shadow Sneak to deal out damage to bulky Psychic-types like Slowbro and Deoxys-D, which otherwise completely wall Gallade.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

Gallade can use a lot of other moves over the options listed.
Zen Headbutt is useful for Weezing, and it is also good against Nidoqueen and Nidoqueen.
Stone Edge is a more powerful move against Flying-types, and it offers great coverage with Close Combat. It does have a tendency to miss at crucial times, though.
Night Slash can be used to smash through Psychic- and Ghost-types, and it does a great deal more damage than Shadow Sneak. It does mean that Gallade has to forgo priority, though.
Drain Punch can be used over Close Combat: healing is pretty sweet, but what Gallade really wants now is POWER!!!
The EV spread allows Gallade to outspeed 4 Speed Celebi, along with Honchkrow. Attack is maxed for the biggest damage output, while the rest is dumped into HP.
You can choose to run max Speed, but there really isn't much point, as tieing with Mamoswine, who doesn't often run max Speed; Medicham, who is in the same boat as Mamo; and Altaria, which also often choose not to run max Speed, is undesirable. Running max Speed does, however, enable Gallade to outspeed Adamant Heracross, although they usually carry a Choice Scarf.
Leftovers can be used, but the chance to run a Life Orb, and OHKO Pokemon such as Milotic and Donphan after some residual damage, is just too good to pass up.
Pokemon that pair well with Gallade include Pokemon that can lure in and defeat physical walls. Mixed Victini is an interesting specimen, and it can destroy Pokemon such as Donphan, Milotic, and Rhyperior, with a super effective Grass Knot.
Also, Pokemon that can lure in and defeat fast Choice Scarfers, such as, again, Mixed Victini will work well. Choice Band Heracross and Houndoom can beat Pokemon such as Mismagius, as well as doing huge damage to Dusclops and Psychic-types that would otherwise give Gallade huge trouble.

Gallade has literally tons of things it can do to vary this set. When I say tons, I really mean it. Its excellent movepool includes moves for almost any situation — it can beat virtually any Pokemon with the right move. Zen Headbutt is useful to help beat Weezing, which is the bane of most Fighting-types. Zen Headbutt also offers a great flinch chance; it can save any team in a last ditch situation. Drain Punch can too be used, since it allows Gallade to heal off any residual damage taken. It also doesn't amend Gallade with any defense drops, which Close Combat, unfortunately, does. However, Drain Punch is illegal with Justified, so Gallade must run Steadfast instead. Of course, there are other move options like Leaf Blade, Psycho Cut, Fire Punch, and Headbutt that Gallade can use, but the ones listed will usually suffice, unless your team really needs to deal with a specific threat.

The EVs listed are optimal, although they can be changed to meet your needs. The only reason to run max Speed is to tie with Adamant Heracross (basically Choice Band variants), but most tend to use a Choice Scarf. You may, though, choose to do so, as the added bulk from the few HP EVs is really very little. Maximizing Speed and giving Gallade a Jolly nature also comes with the benefit of tying with max Speed Mamoswine, as well as Altaria, although it isn't really as important. Gallade's other ability: Steadfast, can be used to help out against Pokemon that use flinching moves, like Durant. This is really very gimmicky though, as the few times Gallade may get flinched would be from a Togekiss Air Slash, which Gallade isn't surviving anyway. Finally, Gallade can choose to run Leftovers over Life Orb for the added recovery, although Gallade loses a lot of power; it's the same argument for virtually every single other offensive Pokemon.

Physical walls are the bane of this set, and almost every other Gallade set, too. Donphan and Milotic, especially after the latter is statused, are almost complete hard stops to Gallade. Their attacking moves hit Gallade hard through its paper-thin defenses, and Gallade can't do much in return, even after a boost to its offenses from Swords Dance.

[SET]
name: Choice
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Ice Punch / Stone Edge
move 3: Zen Headbutt / Night Slash
move 4: Trick
item: Choice Scarf / Choice Band
ability: Justified
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

With a Choice Scarf, Gallade can act as a speedy revenge killer, or an all out Close Combat spamming monster, which can be fantastic late game. With a Choice Band in hand (hehe), however, Gallade can dent almost anything thrown in front of it, whether by use of its STAB Close Combat, or a coverage move.
The crux of this set, though, is arguably Trick, as with it, Gallade can severely cripple an opposing wall, such as Slowbro, Dusclops, Deoxys-D, Gligar, Rhyperior, or Donphan.
Ice Punch, once again, beats Flying-types, while Zen Headbutt is another STAB move, which comes with a neat chance to flinch.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

Other moves can be used, once again. Night Slash can be used to beat Psychic-types, and it also takes care of Ghost-types such as Spiritomb, Duslops, and Mismagius.
Stone Edge is cool for smashing Flying-types, and it wrecks Bug-types too. Bye bye Scyther!
EVs are fairly obvious, max Speed for... well speed, and max Attack for POWER!!!
A Jolly nature can be used to outspeed Adamant and Modest Heracross and Nidoking respectively, whether with or without a Choice Scarf, depending on what you're holding.
For teammates, once again, you should try to eliminate bulky walls for the Choice Scarfer, while beating down resistances for the Choice Bander.
Bug- and Dark-types are cool for smashing Psychic- and Ghost-types, while Grass-, Water-, and Ice-types can make short work of the bulky physical Ground-types that trouble the Choice Scarfer.

[SET]
name: Bulk Up
move 1: Bulk Up
move 2: Drain Punch
move 3: Ice Punch / Stone Edge
move 4: Night Slash / X-Scissor
item: Leftovers
ability: Steadfast
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 188 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

Bulk Up is so Gallade can do some muscle flexing baby!!!
Seriously, though, with a boost to Gallades mediocre-at-best Defense, it can rely on its already great Special Defense to take almost any attack, and it can hit back hard with its great Attack.
Drain Punch gives Gallade recovery, while it is a fantastic STAB move that does great amounts of damage.
Ice Punch hits Ground- and Flying-types, while Night Slash beats up Ghost- and Psychic-types.

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

X-Scissor can be used for Psychic-types: it's more powerful than Night Slash, but the Gallade is helpless against Ghost-types.
Stone Edge is a sexy move for busting up dem Flying-types, and it is more or less on par with Ice Punch, as its power makes up for the accuracy issues in my opinion. You decide, though.
EVs mean Gallade can outspeed 4 Speed Celebi, along with Honchkrow. Max HP for bulk, while rest in Attack for POWER!!!
You can, though, but the Attack EVs into Special Defense if you want an easier time setting up. Your choice, though.
Burn and Toxic are huge threats to this set, as Gallade don't like neither of those nasty status problems. A burn practically ruins Gallade's attacking prowess, while Toxic poisoning means Gallade really gets worn down fast.
Dusclops is pretty much the best counter, as it is immune to Drain Punch, while it takes pittance from Night Slash even at +1 -- it is able to burn Gallade with ease.
Slowbro and Deoxys-D are in the same boat, as their immense Defense stats allow them to take Night Slashes unless Gallade has boosted up to ridiculously high levels.

[Other Options]

Gallade has a tremendous movepool.
Let's just list out the competitively viable moves that aren't in any of the aforementioned sets shall we? They are: Leaf Blade, Toxic, Taunt, Light Screen, Protect, Rain Dance, Earthquake, Brick Break, Reflect, Facade, Will-o-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Rock Slide, Trick Room, Substitute, Disable, Memento, Encore, Hypnosis, Focus Punch, Rest, Sleep Talk, Fire Punch, Thunderpunch, and Pain Split. That, my friends, is a huge movepool.
A Trick Room set can be used, as Gallade's low Speed means it can avoid being revenge killed.
Any of the aforementioned moves can be made use of, but the best sets are listed above.

[Checks and Counters]

Gallade is frail. Fraility = revenge killing. Any Pokemon that can take advantage of Gallade's low Speed, along with its miserable Defense stat can beat Gallade. Flygon, Heracross, and Aerodactyl all come to mind.
Gallade can be walled, and the typical Donphan, Rhyperior, and Gligar bulky Ground-types can all do this well. At +2, though, Close Combat can OHKO Donphan and Rhyperior, and Gligar must beware of Ice Punch. Both are 2HKOed by the Choice Band set, too.
Bulky Psychic- and Ghost-types that can take a Night Slash work well. Slowbro, Deoxys-D, and Dusclops each come to mind almost immediately.
On the whole, if you outspeed Gallade, and you pack a strong, physical attack, you'll be able to beat Gallade most of the time, so long as it doesn't use Bulk Up first, in which case status is the way to go.