cant say
twitch.tv/jakecantsay
[OVERVIEW]
Glalie finds a niche for itself in Battle Spot Singles with two very important traits in its ability Moody and access to Sheer Cold, an OHKO move no type is immune to. Glalie is able to effectively take advantage of Moody to gain boosts to all of its stats, making it faster, bulkier, more evasive, and more powerful. Additionally, it can fall back on Sheer Cold to get rid of almost every single Pokemon in the metagame. While Glalie's stats may be mediocre, they are just high enough to get by; for example, it is just fast enough to set up Substitutes in front of Pokemon like Dragonite, Cresselia, Suicune, Rotom-W, and Venusaur, and it only needs a +1 boost to its Speed to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame bar Mega Alakazam and Mega Aerodactyl. This means that, with a bit of luck, Glalie can fish for Moody boosts against almost anything. Glalie is also fantastic against stall or defensively oriented teams. Since those teams are typically slower, Glalie does not have to rely on lucky boosts to its Speed and can immediately become a threat. However, Glalie's Ice typing leaves it with no useful resistances and with many weaknesses to common offensive types, such as Fighting, Fire, and Rock. This means that unless it is behind a Substitute, Glalie is quite vulnerable to being KOed. Most notably, Glalie is weak to several common priority moves such as Bullet Punch, Mach Punch, and Vacuum Wave, all of which have common users such as Scizor, Breloom, and Lucario. This means that even if Glalie has Speed boosts, it can easily be picked off by these moves. Moody can also be incredibly unreliable, as Speed and defensive drops can spell doom for Glalie, and it doesn't benefit at all from an Attack or accuracy boost. Sometimes, Glalie will lose simply because it just got the wrong boosts, and there's nothing you can do about that. However, if luck is on your side, Glalie can beat almost anything.
[SET]
name: Welcome to Crystal Lake (Moody Booster)
move 1: Protect
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Sheer Cold
move 4: Frost Breath / Freeze-Dry
item: Leftovers
ability: Moody
nature: Timid
evs: 172 HP / 84 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Protect and Substitute are used in combination in order to gain as many Moody boosts as possible. Protect nets Glalie guaranteed Moody boosts and Leftovers recovery, whereas Substitute takes away 25% of Glalie's HP in order to let it avoid powerful attacks or status moves. Sheer Cold allows Glalie to OHKO any Pokemon in the metagame other than Sturdy users, such as Skarmory. However, Sheer Cold's low PP means it is prone to running out if you are unlucky, so a secondary offensive option is necessary. Frost Breath is fantastic due to its 100% critical hit chance, effectively giving Glalie a 90 Base Power STAB move that also ignores potential Special Attack drops and ignores its foe's defensive boosts. This means that if Glalie is unlucky and keeps lowering its Special Attack, Frost Breath will not lose power, and that Calm Mind users, such as Clefable and Raikou, do not take reduced damage from it. Freeze-Dry can be used as an alternative to Frost Breath to hit Water-types such as Suicune, Azumarill, Rotom-W, and Greninja super effectively, and it even hits Gyarados, Swampert, and Quagsire for 4x damage. However, all these Pokemon fear Sheer Cold, and Frost Breath is generally better, especially for hitting Skarmory.
Set Details
========
172 EVs in HP maximize the amount of HP Glalie gets from its Leftovers and minimizes the HP lost from setting up a Substitute. Maximum Speed investment is used together with a Timid nature to make Glalie as fast as possible, which is important for setting Substitutes up in front of as many foes as possible; the increased Speed also means that Glalie needs fewer boosts to outspeed the entire metagame. Notably, Glalie can outspeed Pokemon like Dragonite, Suicune, Cresselia, and Venusaur when unboosted and, with a boost, faster threats like Mega Gengar and Greninja. The remaining 84 EVs are put into Special Defense to pump up Glalie's resilience to Hyper Voice from the likes of Sylveon and Gardevoir. Moody is used for its stat-boosting properties, and Leftovers is chosen to extend Glalie's lifespan by providing passive recovery.
Usage Tips
========
Glalie should absolutely not be switched into attacks, as it is too frail and needs as much health as it can get. Instead, Glalie should be brought in after one of your Pokemon has been KOed, preferably after the foe has been sufficiently crippled with status or weakened with stat-reducing moves. This helps Glalie set up Substitutes because of the foe being too weak to break them, being unable to attack due to a status ailment, or having to switch out to a check. A Glalie behind an intact Substitute is dangerous, so getting one up and maintaining safety behind one is imperative to Glalie's success. If you're faced with a faster Pokemon such as Garchomp or Greninja and Glalie already has a Substitute set up, you should expect it to be broken and use Substitute again. Alternate between doing that and using Protect until Glalie is faster than the foe, and then you can use Glalie's Speed advantage to attack before its Substitute gets broken and replace Substitutes before being attacked again. Hopefully, Glalie should accrue enough defensive or evasion boosts that it can avoid having its Substitutes broken every turn, giving it chances to attack. Sheer Cold's PP should be preserved for when it is absolutely needed, so use Frost Breath to attack until faced with a dangerous Pokemon, such as Suicune, Cresselia, Porygon2, Heatran, or Tyranitar, and hope that Sheer Cold lands on them. If your opponent brings in a Pokemon that threatens Glalie but it is behind a Substitute, use the opportunity to fish for a Sheer Cold hit before the foe breaks the Substitute, rather than immediately switch out.
Glalie struggles against fast heavy offense teams, as it cannot get Substitutes up reliably without taking hard hits. If you see at Team Preview that your opponent has a team stacked with heavy hitters, such as Mega Kangaskhan, Blaziken, Thundurus, Garchomp, and Mega Salamence, don't be afraid to leave Glalie out of the battle entirely. This also means that your team cannot be overly reliant on Glalie.
Team Options
========
Glalie thrives with Thunder Wave support, as the decreased Speed of the foe and free turns that full paralysis can provide make setting up Substitutes far easier. Thundurus is Glalie's most common teammate for this reason, as its priority Thunder Wave allows it to cripple even the fastest of Pokemon, such as Greninja, Serperior, and Mega Salamence. There are many other great paralysis inducers including Serperior, Klefki, Chansey, Cresselia, Rotom-W, and Zapdos.
Physically defensive checks to Pokemon like Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, and Blaziken are crucial for Glalie's success. Thundurus again is valuable here, though Pokemon such as Suicune, Mega Slowbro, Cresselia, Rotom-W, and Zapdos can all be used. Sylveon is a massive threat because of Hyper Voice being able to hit through Glalie's Substitutes; Mega Gengar is able to trap Sylveon and KO it with Sludge Bomb if it's taken some prior damage or take it down with Destiny Bond. Aegislash can take Hyper Voice relatively well and KO Sylveon with Iron Head or Flash Cannon, while Chansey can tank any move except Psyshock and whittle Sylveon down with Toxic. Specially defensive Talonflame is a great partner for Glalie, being able to beat Blaziken, Volcarona, and Heracross and wall Sylveon and Mega Gardeoir. Mega Kangaskhan is the preferred Mega Evolution to use with Glalie, as it provides a reliable backup when Moody doesn't work in your favor and also provides a lot of pressure at Team Preview, forcing your opponent to bring defensive checks to it that Glalie can set up on, such as Ferrothorn and Cresselia. Mega Salamence is also a fine option, being able to threaten Blaziken, Heracross, and Volcarona lacking Hidden Power Ice; Intimidate also provides valuable support for Glalie. Because Glalie can be used as setup fodder with its predictable alternation of Protect and Substitute, an Unaware user such as Clefable can work as a check to opposing sweepers. Ditto can also be used to take advantage of the foes' stat boosts if they manage to break through Glalie.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Glalie does not have an extensive list of moves to use outside of the main set; however, there are a few with niche uses. Earthquake in combination with a Jolly nature can be used to get past Heatran without relying on Sheer Cold. Swagger can be used against special attackers to help gain free turns to get Substitutes up; this can be paired with support from Ditto to take advantage of the Attack boost against physical attackers. Icy Wind allows Glalie to outspeed faster Pokemon without having to rely on Moody to increase its Speed and is another way to ease the process of getting Substitutes set up. Disable can make a foe's most effective move against Glalie unusable. Spite helps stall out the foe's PP, potentially leaving it with no useful moves to use against Glalie at all.
Mega Glalie may seem like an interesting option with its Refrigerate ability and access to Return and Explosion; however, its Ice typing combined with low bulk and mediocre base Speed leave it extremely vulnerable to common Pokemon such as Blaziken, Talonflame, Aegislash, and Mega Mawile, and it is 2HKOed by almost the entire metagame. This means that Mega Glalie needs excessive team support to work and not waste a Mega Evolution slot. If you want to try it, Return, Explosion, Earthquake, and Ice Shard is the best moveset.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Mega Kangaskhan**: Mega Kangaskhan is able to break through Glalie's Substitutes and easily knock it out due to its ability, Parental Bond; it is especially threatening with Power-Up Punch, which simultaneously busts through the Substitutes and boosts Mega Kangaskhan's Attack.
**Talonflame**: Flare Blitz hits Glalie for super effective damage and easily KOes it. Brave Bird, which has priority thanks to Gale Wings, can be used if Glalie has boosts to its Speed stat to hit it before it gets a Substitute up. Talonflame can also carry Taunt to prevent Glalie from using Protect and Substitute in the first place.
**Blaziken**: Glalie is weak to both of Blaziken's STAB moves, and Blaziken's Speed Boost ability lets it steadily gain Speed, while Glalie needs to be lucky with Moody. Mega Blaziken is also faster than Glalie; thus, Glalie will always be outsped by Mega Blaziken if it has the same number of (or more) boosts to its Speed. It can also use the predictable Protect turns to set up with Swords Dance.
**Fire-types**: Glalie struggles against most Fire-types, as they resist its Frost Breath and can retaliate with their STAB moves, often resulting in a KO even if Glalie has defensive boosts due to its low natural bulk. These threats include Heatran, which 4x resists Frost Breath and often has Substitute to help against Sheer Cold; Mega Charizard X, which can use Flame Charge to break Glalie's Substitutes while simultaneously boosting its Speed; Volcarona, which can use the predictable Protect turns to set up with Quiver Dance and bypass Glalie's Substitutes with Bug Buzz or break them with its Fire STAB moves; and Infiltrator Chandelure, which bypasses Glalie's Substitutes no matter what.
**Gengar**: Shadow Tag lets Mega Gengar trap Glalie and allows it to cripple Glalie with Taunt or remove it with Destiny Bond or Perish Song. Gengar also commonly carries Focus Blast, which hits Glalie extremely hard, or Substitute, which protects it from Sheer Cold.
**Hyper Voice**: Hyper Voice bypasses Glalie's Substitutes and can hit for massive damage. Sylveon and Mega Gardevoir are the two most common users, and their naturally high Special Defense helps them easily survive Frost Breath. Mega Salamence is the only other common user of the move, but it can't survive a Frost Breath.
**Aegislash**: Aegislash resists Frost Breath and can stall out Sheer Cold's PP with King's Shield. It can also carry Substitute itself to protect it from potential hits from Sheer Cold or go on the offensive with Sacred Sword, which hits Glalie super effectively and ignores evasion and defensive boosts.
**Multi-hit Attacks**: Mega Heracross's ability, Skill Link, combined with Rock Blast allows it to break Glalie's Substitutes and continue doing damage, OHKOing Glalie unless it has defensive boosts. Breloom can use Bullet Seed to break Glalie's Substitute and provide enough damage afterwards to follow up with a KO from Mach Punch. Cloyster can use Glalie to set up a Shell Smash and proceed to KO it with Rock Blast.
**Super Effective Priority**: Glalie's Ice typing leaves it weak to common priority moves such as Mach Punch, Bullet Punch, and Vacuum Wave, which means Pokemon such as Breloom, Conkeldurr, Lucario, Scizor, and Mega Metagross can hit Glalie before it gets to set up a Substitute, either KOing it or putting its HP too low to even use Substitute.
**Phazing**: Roar and Whirlwind ignore Protect and Substitute, so they can force Glalie out and rid it of its boosts without fail. Glalie is not built to come into the battle multiple times and often requires sacrificing a teammate to get it in, so phazing it can really mess it up. Common users of such moves include Skarmory, Swampert, Suicune, and Hippowdon.
Last edited: