Pokémon Gallade

[Celticpride]

Gallade (M) @ Galladite
Ability: Justified
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Close Combat / Drain Punch
- Zen Headbutt / Knock Off
- Substitute

So I've been messing around with this for a while now, and it's interesting to say the least. Dropping one of Knock Off or ZenButt hurts, but both combinations (Psy/Fight or Fight/Dark) have good enough coverage on their own. You're only walled by Psychics or Fairies depending on what you drop. By carrying Sub and SD you basically pick which ever way you want to destroy the opposing team and then go from there. You can really catch them off guard if you bluff SD and 3 attacks, only to surprise them with a Sub later on. If you drop Zen Headbutt pair with Heatran, if you drop Knock Off pair with Bisharp, easy enough. You most likely won't get Sub and an SD up during the same match, but Sub is mostly for offensive teams and SD is mostly for Stall teams. I've always been a fan of SubSD sets, and this one doesn't disappoint.

Slashed Drain Punch because ZANBAKUResh makes a decent point. Dropping Close Combat for Drain Punch gives up immediate power, but you don't have to deal with defense drops and recover back some health for more Subs. So whatever you prefer.

 

[DiddlySquat]

Would Ttar with Pursuit be a good partner? It can get rid of Talonflame, Thundi-I (if using Scarf), Scarf Latios and MegaBro (although it probably needs a Choice Band for that, providing calcs when I get home), while also setting up SR and lure Lando-T with Ice Beam/Ice Punch. Gallade in return can switch in on the Fighting attacks that Ttar attracts. They stack a Fairy weakness though.

 

[Starfall11]

Tyranitar is a pretty solid partner for Gallade. But Gallade can't take the fighting attacks aimed at Ttar, so I would recommend running a ghost or something more bulky. A steel or poison type would help to tank fairy attacks.

Speaking of which, what are some good poison pokemon that compliment Gallade and help take some of the fairy/fighting attacks aimed at it's partners (Bisharp). Amoongus comes to mind. I think Roserade could make a good offensive partner as well. Taking out the pesky fairies that trouble Gallade. And forms an interesting offensive core with Gallade and Bisharp.

 

[Blizzy]

Would Clefable be a good partner for Gallade on a more balanced team? Can heal pesky burns, is a good check to Sableye (and other Gallade) and with Gallade's defensive stats might be able to pass a wish or two as well. I'm quite new to this whole thing so I don't know, but it looks good from where I'm standing :)

 

[Gladio]

Would Clefable be a good partner for Gallade on a more balanced team? Can heal pesky burns, is a good check to Sableye (and other Gallade) and with Gallade's defensive stats might be able to pass a wish or two as well. I'm quite new to this whole thing so I don't know, but it looks good from where I'm standing :)

Clefable, more specifically the Unaware variant, is pretty good right now and blends very well with many pokemon, and Gallade is no exception. Having built a team around Mega Gallade, I'd say Physically Defensive Unaware Clefable works pretty well as a partner and not only does what you have listed, but also checks AV/BD Azumarill, Altaria, and can be used as an emergency check against Landorus-T (among other such things), as the defensive variants fails to 2HKO with EQ and more offensive variants are sightly easier to weaken thanks to the lack of Leftovers.
I'd suggest to pair these two with Rotom-W, because the duo is pretty weak to Talonflame and Rotom serves as a check to that,as well as Lando-T and MegaGross (watch out for boosted Zen Headbutts), and provides momentum with Volt-Switch (seriously, Rotom goes together with the new megas like mozzarella and pizza. It's THAT good).

 

[Josh Morales]

Is Shadow Sneak even a good move on SD Mega Gallade? I think I should share these rather disappointing calcs:

+2 252 Atk Gallade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 84.3% chance to 4HKO

+2 252 Atk Gallade Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 83.4% chance to 4HKO

The first calc is from a Jolly Gallade with base 165 attack(simulating Mega Gallade), and the second calc is with a Jolly Mega Gallade using Mach Punch(simulating Gallade being given Mach Punch and thus STAB base 40 priority as opposed to non-STAB Shadow Sneak). The sad thing is that the second calc is with a Gallade set to base 93 attack and it does the same amount of damage because of STAB. I really don't think Shadow Sneak is a good move on Mega Gallade, priority is amazingly useful and all but it's just so piss weak without STAB I'd rather run another coverage move. Heck, I'd rather run Skill Swap to get past Mega Sableye.

 

[zbr]

Is Shadow Sneak even a good move on SD Mega Gallade? I think I should share these rather disappointing calcs:

+2 252 Atk Gallade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 84.3% chance to 4HKO

+2 252 Atk Gallade Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 83.4% chance to 4HKO

The first calc is from a Jolly Gallade with base 165 attack(simulating Mega Gallade), and the second calc is with a Jolly Mega Gallade using Mach Punch(simulating Gallade being given Mach Punch and thus STAB base 40 priority as opposed to non-STAB Shadow Sneak). The sad thing is that the second calc is with a Gallade set to base 93 attack and it does the same amount of damage because of STAB. I really don't think Shadow Sneak is a good move on Mega Gallade, priority is amazingly useful and all but it's just so piss weak without STAB I'd rather run another coverage move. Heck, I'd rather run Skill Swap to get past Mega Sableye.

It is entirely up to you. The standard set for the current meta state should be just SD + 3 attacks or Taunt + 3 Attacks. I would say you only use sneak if you want to pick opponents off.

 

[Norne]

Is Shadow Sneak even a good move on SD Mega Gallade? I think I should share these rather disappointing calcs:

+2 252 Atk Gallade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 84.3% chance to 4HKO

+2 252 Atk Gallade Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 83.4% chance to 4HKO

The first calc is from a Jolly Gallade with base 165 attack(simulating Mega Gallade), and the second calc is with a Jolly Mega Gallade using Mach Punch(simulating Gallade being given Mach Punch and thus STAB base 40 priority as opposed to non-STAB Shadow Sneak). The sad thing is that the second calc is with a Gallade set to base 93 attack and it does the same amount of damage because of STAB. I really don't think Shadow Sneak is a good move on Mega Gallade, priority is amazingly useful and all but it's just so piss weak without STAB I'd rather run another coverage move. Heck, I'd rather run Skill Swap to get past Mega Sableye.

I consider knock off/ Ice Punch and WoW/Taunt more useful than SS on MGallade to be honest, You could run Leaf blade if you are paranoid of Mgyarados and Slower, but I honestly don't consider it worthy.

 

[56k]

Offhand I'd pair him up with a HP Ice rotom/thundurus/zapdos and a tanky heatran to spread out options for lando salamence slowbro sabeleye talonflame clefable greninja. I think spikes support is well worth considering and to that end gallade/rotom/heatran/chestnaught seems pretty solid to build around.

 

[hobreezy]

Is Shadow Sneak even a good move on SD Mega Gallade? I think I should share these rather disappointing calcs:

+2 252 Atk Gallade Shadow Sneak vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 84.3% chance to 4HKO

+2 252 Atk Gallade Mach Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Arceus-Electric: 90-106 (23.6 - 27.8%) -- 83.4% chance to 4HKO

The first calc is from a Jolly Gallade with base 165 attack(simulating Mega Gallade), and the second calc is with a Jolly Mega Gallade using Mach Punch(simulating Gallade being given Mach Punch and thus STAB base 40 priority as opposed to non-STAB Shadow Sneak). The sad thing is that the second calc is with a Gallade set to base 93 attack and it does the same amount of damage because of STAB. I really don't think Shadow Sneak is a good move on Mega Gallade, priority is amazingly useful and all but it's just so piss weak without STAB I'd rather run another coverage move. Heck, I'd rather run Skill Swap to get past Mega Sableye.

If you're gonna use the SD set as more of a wallbreaking set then youd probs be better off running knock off, ice punch, or willo. However, I find Shadow Sneak usefull if you're using gallade as a late game sweeper because of his ability to pick off weakened revenge killers like azumarill and occasionally greninja or scarf lando. Also Shadow Sneak is really usefull in avoiding spead ties against incredibly common pokes namely latios.

 

[Karxrida]

Mega Gallade's Shadow Sneak is weaker than Aegislash's, and SD Aegislash could never sweep or clean with it lol. It doesn't really hit anything outside of Scarf Latios (who shouldn't be hard to revenge anyway) and other Mega Gallades, and even then I'd never use it because Wisp, Taunt, Ice Punch, Knock Off, and even Sub are much more useful overall.

 

[Josh Morales]

Mega Gallade's Shadow Sneak is weaker than Aegislash's, and SD Aegislash could never sweep or clean with it lol. It doesn't really hit anything outside of Scarf Latios (who shouldn't be hard to revenge anyway) and other Mega Gallades, and even then I'd never use it because Wisp, Taunt, Ice Punch, Knock Off, and even Sub are much more useful overall.

Yeah lol, such is my point. I didn't want to put it this way but from my experience Shadow Sneak on Mega Gallade is just total shit.

 

[Emerald Master]

the fact that megallade loses to mega slowbro can be made into a benefit by the fact that Bisharp can easily take out a weakened Mbro and proceed to sweep

 

[havokchomp123]

Mega gallade could always use leaf blade if it is afraid of mega bro plus it can give it good coverage against lots of water/ground along with waer types in general. Of course if you are carrying close combat then leaf blade is less effective, but even then this mega gallades best bet against mega bro.

 

[Kurona]

Or, alternatively, don't use Mega Gallade against one of the biggest physical walls in the metagame and have one of your other 5 Pokémon handle it.

 

[havokchomp123]

Or u could and through Ur opponent off guard while being able to setup on mega bro. So there's that.

 

[Kurona]

Or u could and through Ur opponent off guard while being able to setup on mega bro. So there's that.

Still, it's one move to hit one opponent essentially. I'd rather not give up Dual STAB or Knock Off for it.

 

[Starfall11]

You can't really setup on Mega Slowbro since it always runs scald. And that burn chance is frustrating as hell. 30% = 80% on Showdown servers. I'm trying to do something unconventional and using Hydreigon with Dark Pulse for Mega Slowbro. I also run Bisharp, so I pretty much have it covered. Sableye is another big threat to this core, so a fairy is pretty much necessary.

And I refuse to call him "Mega bro" because he is not my bro. I hate Slowbro with a burning passion. Almost as much as I hate Clefable.

 

[Emerald Acid]

Since having a Fairy working with the Gallade/Bisharp duo to deal with the eventual M-Sableye is pretty important, would a form of Sylveon work well on the team? Mainly the SylveSpecs variation since I wanna make my team fall under Offense over Balance if I can. Or is Unaware Clefable simply the most optimal teammate choice?

And would WebRocks support from Shuckle fit well with the primary duo? Or would it fall under too much of a momentum killer?

 

[Karxrida]

Since having a Fairy working with the Gallade/Bisharp duo to deal with the eventual M-Sableye is pretty important, would a form of Sylveon work well on the team? Mainly the SylveSpecs variation since I wanna make my team fall under Offense over Balance if I can. Or is Unaware Clefable simply the most optimal teammate choice?

And would WebRocks support from Shuckle fit well with the primary duo? Or would it fall under too much of a momentum killer?

Specs Sylveon is probably your best choice if you want to stay offensive, since you can use Baton Pass to preserve momentum. Also Web Shuckle doesn't kill momentum since it can Encore stuff for free switches.

 

[Emerald Acid]

Specs Sylveon is probably your best choice if you want to stay offensive, since you can use Baton Pass to preserve momentum. Also Web Shuckle doesn't kill momentum since it can Encore stuff for free switches.

Cheers. Glad for an outside opinion on that one.

Any other recommendations for the final slot, by chance? I've got M-Gallade, Bisharp, PhysDef Rotom-W, Specs Sylveon, and Shuckle, and I'm not sure who all are bros with Gallade aside from Bisharp. I was thinking Greninja because Greninja OP (Not really but damn is it good), but I'm worried that it might clash with Rotom-W until Protean kicks in. Nothing legendary, event related, or Ditto though. I'm a dirty cartridge player, so it's gotta be something I can reliably achieve within X/Y and/or ORAS.

 

[Starfall11]

Greninja is so annoying right now. You can run him on pretty much any team but stall and profit. I hate it when they ban stuff here. But I almost feel he needs it now.

 

[Emerald Master]

Greninja is so annoying right now. You can run him on pretty much any team but stall and profit. I hate it when they ban stuff here. But I almost feel he needs it now.

he maybe highly effective, but there are still lots of pokemon that give it a hard time. If smogon finds greninja to be over centralizing, they will suspect it

 

[NocturnalQuill]

he maybe highly effective, but there are still lots of pokemon that give it a hard time. If smogon finds greninja to be over centralizing, they will suspect it

I don't think he'll make it to suspect. Aegislash and Mawile were both strong and tanky. Greninja can barely survive regular hits, and is wrecked by any form of priority.

 

[Emerald Master]

I don't think he'll make it to suspect. Aegislash and Mawile were both strong and tanky. Greninja can barely survive regular hits, and is wrecked by any form of priority.

I know, that is why I didn't say he needed to be banned. Now back to discussing Gallade: what would be some good defensive partners to take hits targeted at Gallade?