AG Defensive (Garganacl) [QC 1/2]

JK

JK

Formerly Jaishy
Defensive (Garganacl) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Flying / Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Salt Cure
- Iron Defense / Stealth Rock
- Body Press / Protect
- Recover

[SET COMMENTS]
Salt Cure puts a timer on any Pokemon attempting to set up against Garganacl, while also breaking offensive Ho-Oh's Substitute and dealing considerable damage to Zacian-C, Giratina-O, and Kyogre, which try to switch in. Iron Defense allows Garganacl to keep up with Swords Dance Arceus, and also allows it to check Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground after Terastallization. Iron Defense, in combination with Body Press, allows Garganacl to do significant damage to Pokemon like Arceus and anything else that attempts to switch in. Alternatively, Stealth Rock further chips defensive Arceus formes and Choice Scarfers, allowing Garganacl to aid its team. Body Press, usually used in conjunction with Iron Defense, allows Garganacl to become a late-game sweeper while also dealing considerable damage to more offensive Pokemon like Arceus, Arceus-Ground, and Koraidon. Protect lets Garganacl safely scout Choice item users, like Choice Band Koraidon and Choice Specs Kyogre, as well as providing an additional turn of Salt Cure chip. Tera Flying gives Garganacl an immunity to Arceus-Ground, Landorus-T, and Ting-Lu's Earthquake, as well as a resistance to Koraidon's Low Kick. On the other hand, Tera Water gives Garganacl a resistance to Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade, Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike, and Kyogre's Water-type attacks in a pinch. Garganacl is an especially effective Ho-Oh check, as Purifying Salt nullifies its Sacred Fire burns.

Physically frail Pokemon like Blissey and Clodsire enjoy having Garganacl on their team, as it excels in checking both Extreme Killer and Bulk Up Arceus. Even physically defensive Pokemon like Gliscor, various bulky water types, and Skeledirge appreciate Garganacl for its ability to wall both Offensive Ho-Oh sets and Giratina-O with ease. However, although Garganacl can wall many physical threats, its special defenses are lacking. Powerful special attackers like Kyogre, Miraidon, and Calyrex-S can easily break through Garganacl. Thus, Garganacl appreciates having teammates like Blissey, Special Defense Ho-Oh, and Clodsire, who find it far easier to handle special-attacking threats. Although Garganacl has excellent defenses, it still cannot handle supereffective hits from Koraidon, Zacian-C, Arceus-Ground, and Necrozma-DM. Pokemon like Alomomola, Skeledirge, and Gliscor, which switch into their attacks, are very effective when paired with Garganacl.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jk.665318/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/swas.487990/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Tera Fairy allows Garganacl to wall Koraidon fully, but since Garganacl no longer walls Arceus nor Substitute Ho-Oh, this set is not regularly used. Garganacl could also opt to use Curse, increasing the damage of Salt Cure while simultaneously allowing Garganacl to keep up with boosting threats. Yet, the additional Salt Cure damage is inconsequential, and it takes many more turns for Garganacl to do the same amount of damage with Body Press if it were instead using Iron Defense.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Special Attackers**: Special attackers like Kyogre, Miraidon, and Calyrex-S can easily exploit Garganacl's poor special defenses to threaten massive damage.

**Koraidon**: Koraidon's supereffective Low Kick does great damage to Garganacl, forcing it to switch out even after an Iron Defense boost.

**Knock Off Users**: Knock Off users like Gliscor significantly cripple Garganacl's defensive capabilities, causing it to be much less effective in checking Pokemon like Earthquake Ho-Oh after some hazard chip.

**Zacian-C**: Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade, especially in combination with Swords Dance, tears through even boosted Garganacl's HP and forces it to switch out.

**Necrozma-DM**: Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike, in combination with a move like Dragon Dance or Swords Dance, threatens great damage to Garganacl, forcing it to switch out.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jk.665318/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/swas.487990/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
 
Last edited:
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[OVERVIEW]
Garganacl is a defensive wall, primarily used on stall teams, (need you say primarily when garg is stall exclusive?) that uses its Rock typing and great defenses to halt opposing threats like Extreme Killer Arceus and Tera Flying Substitute Ho-Oh, the latter being one of the most difficult Pokemon to handle for most stall teams. Its unique typing and signature move in Salt Cure set it apart from stall's other physically defensive giants like Skeledirge, Dondozo, and Alomomola, and its potential to rapidly whittle down Pokemon that switch into its attacks makes it a formidable force for both bulky and hyper offense to deal with. (i'm not honestly sure if salt cure is even as threatening as you make it out to be, like you can rarely find games where it is really putting in the work, and it doesn't "rapidly" whittle down either. also, mons with one sets don't need overview and since the first part of this will already be repeated and the second not being much helpful, you can just cut overview totally)

Defensive (Garganacl) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Purifying Salt
Tera Type: Flying / Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Salt Cure
- Iron Defense / Stealth Rock
- Body Press / Protect
- Recover

[SET COMMENTS]
Salt Cure puts a timer on any Pokemon attempting to set up against Garganacl, while also breaking offensive Ho-Oh's Substitute and dealing considerable damage to defensive Arceus formes, Ting-Lu, and Koraidon, which may attempt to switch in. (salt cure chipping xyz mons is rather common sense and chipping stuff like lu arc formes when teammates hard wall them isn't that important, zac and ogre should be mentioned especially since they won't like the 1/4 chip per turn. girao can be mentioned as well) Iron Defense increases the damage Body Press deals, while also shielding from boosted attacks coming from Pokemon like Arceus, as well as Arceus-Ground's Stone Edge and Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade or Wild Charge after Garganacl Terastallizes. (really scuffed and fluff, just word it like this: ID lets garg keep up with SD arceus and can check threats like DD Arceus-Ground after tera'ing, zac mention isnt needed, ID+BP lets garg do solid damage to arceus, and anything that tries to come in etc) Alternatively, Stealth Rock further chips defensive Arceus formes and Choice Scarfers, allowing for Garganacl and its team to pressure their opponents far more easily. (weird line tbh. this just feels like what srock do in general and not in particular for garg) Body Press, usually used in conjunction with Iron Defense, allows Garganacl to become a late-game sweeper while also dealing considerable damage to more offensive Pokemon like Arceus, Arceus-Ground, and Koraidon. (mention ID and BP together) Protect allows Garganacl to take further advantage of Salt Cure, staying in against threats that could otherwise KO it for additional chip damage. (id word it like this: "Protect lets Garganacl safely scout Choice users like Choice Band Koraidon, Choice Specs Kyogre,.. and gives an additional turn of Salt Cure chip") This is especially effective when combined with Gliscor or Clodsire's Toxic Spikes. Protect also allows Garganacl to scout out the moves of choice-locked Pokemon, judging its next action far easier and gaining momentum for its team. Tera Flying gives Garganacl an immunity to Arceus-Ground, Landorus-T, and Ting-Lu's Earthquake, as well as a resistance to Koraidon's Low Kick. On the other hand, Tera Water gives Garganacl a resistance to Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade, Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike, and Kyogre's Water type attacks in a pinch. (could somewhere mention purifying salt's advantages of blocking hoohs sfire burn)

Physically frail Pokemon like Blissey and Clodsire enjoy having Garganacl on their team, as it excels in checking both Extreme Killer and Bulk Up Arceus. Even physically defensive Pokemon like Gliscor, various bulky water types, and Skeledirge appreciate Garganacl for its ability to wall both Offensive Ho-Oh sets with leisure. (mention checking girao) However, though Garganacl can stand up to many physical threats, its special defenses are lacking. Powerful special attackers like Kyogre, Miraidon, and Calyrex-S can easily break through Garganacl. Thus, Garganacl appreciates having teammates like Blissey, specially defensive Ho-Oh, and Clodsire, who find it far easier to handle the aforementioned Pokemon. Although Garganacl has excellent defenses, it still cannot handle supereffective hits from Koraidon, Zacian-C, Arceus-Ground, and Necrozma-DM. Pokemon like Alomomola, Skeledirge, and Gliscor that can switch into their its attacks are very effective when paired with Garganacl.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jk.665318/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Garganacl could opt to run Tera Steel, which allows it to wall Calyrex-S due to its Purifying Salt ability and a resistance to both Grass Knot and Draining Kiss. However, this makes Garganacl weak to Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire and maintains a weakness to Koraidon's Low Kick, so it is not useful in the majority of scenarios. Tera Steel is also usually paired with Heavy Slam to punish Tera Fairy Calyrex-S to the maximum. (tera steel sounds incredibly fake and heavy slam even worse, id not keep it esp when ur not even walling caly astral at +2) Tera Fairy allows Garganacl to wall Koraidon fully, but since Garganacl maintains a weakness to Steel-type moves and no longer walls Arceus nor Substitute Ho-Oh, this set is not regularly used.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Special Attackers**: Special attackers like Kyogre, Miraidon, and Calyrex-S can easily exploit Garganacl's poor special defenses to threaten massive damage.

**Koraidon**: Koraidon's supereffective Low Kick does great damage to Garganacl, forcing it to switch out even after an Iron Defense boost.

**Knock Off Users**: Knock Off users like Gliscor significantly cripple Garganacl's defensive capabilities, causing it to be much less effective in checking Pokemon like Earthquake Ho-Oh after some hazard chip.

**Zacian-C**: Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade, especially in combination with Swords Dance, tears through even boosted Garganacl's HP and forces it to switch out.

**Necrozma-DM**: Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike, in combination with a move like Dragon Dance or Swords Dance, threatens great damage to Garganacl, forcing it to switch out.

[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/jk.665318/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
 
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