National Dex Double Steel Gliscor SpikeStack [27-17 in Tournament Play]

sealoo · Mar 25, 2025

Introduction
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Odds are if you've played / watched NatDex OU in the past 3 months or so, you've seen this team at some point. I vividly remember building the original core at 1am on a random December night after watching JJK (hence the names) and it featured a Mandibuzz > Ferrothorn since it hypothetically patched up Great Tusk / Ogerpon-W / DD Dragapult matchups and could Defog, but then I realized Mandibuzz is really really bad while Ferrothorn isn't. In the few tests I ran with that team that night though, however, one thing was that this Gliscor set felt ABSURDLY strong. It pretty much solo won 2 games before I certified that this team went hard. I'd like to say/take credit that this team is also what paved the way for Gliscor's meteoric rise (this set particularly) to one of the best and most defining mons in the tier. Since then, it's been heavily seen in any tournament containing the tier and ensuring a playable matchup versus it has became essential for success, with it also inspiring various offshoots.

I think this team encapsulates balance and my own playstyle really well, with a mix of offensive and defensive pieces but none of whom are necessarily passive or free game for faster offense to walk over. You can outplay just about any matchup so long as you understand the sequences well.

Building / Explanations
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:sv/gliscor:

You Jerk (Gliscor) @ Toxic Orb :toxic-orb:

Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Ground
EVs: 248 HP / 36 Def / 216 SpD / 8 Spe
Careful Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Protect
- Spikes

Was mulling about Gliscor is the metagame as a whole, more so about Spikes + ToxTect bc people in NDOU have traditionally always ran Roost for obvious reasons. A pretty iconic tera meta team dubbed "Chinese Stall" ran ToxTect Gliscor and whenever I played that team it felt very powerful, so I wanted to look into trying it on more balanced applications off hard stall (it is now standard for any Toxic Gliscor). Despite the lack of instant recovery, Gliscor is a pretty decent check to just about anything to some degree, often trading Toxic and Protecting up throughout the game which it can do so vs stuff like Mega Charizard Y, Ogerpon-W, Ice Beam Terapagos etc..., mon is just ridiculously good at trading a tox v anything early and somehow being at 100% 10 turns later, while also being one of your main avenues around NP Ghold, Mega Diancie, Raging Bolt, and Tapu Koko. This strategy was also posed to me by my good friend George, exchange pictured below:

Visionary.

:sv/gholdengo:

Evening Festival (Gholdengo) @ Ghostium Z :ghostium-z:

Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 60 SpD / 72 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Focus Blast
- Hex
- Thunder Wave
- Recover

Gholdengo felt like a pretty natural compliment to Gliscor, able to keep Spikes up and deny Spin from the usual suspects. I actually dont find that you block removal that much with Ghold, but its main selling point is its incredible capability to apply pressure with TWave + Hex & Z Ghost for Grounds like Tusk/Lando or Electrics like Koko/Bolt. Its also essentially foolproof vs Lele and Iron Valiant which is great for balance, while contradictory to what I said above, being really important vs Terapagos in particular who I'll get into later. Z Ghost Hex is particularly a very good set innovated by myself with help from Adriyun, seth, and hidin very early on in the tera-less meta that has also became common, the Knock reduction is also kinda bonkers. Focus Blast is chosen to prevent Kingambit Pursuit (less relevant post-Dragapult) and force damage faster onto Steels & HSam. Real stand-up guy Ghold is.

:sv/toxapex:

Malevolent Shrine (Toxapex) @ Heavy-Duty Boots :heavy-duty-boots:

Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Poison
EVs: 248 HP / 24 Def / 220 SpD / 16 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Toxic Spikes
- Haze
- Recover

Toxapex...oh my beautiful sweet Toxapex. Staves off Zama, Urshifu, Yard, Volc. Can switch into just about anything. Just about everything you could ask for honestly. Toxic Spikes are chosen due to Gliscor being able to Toxic most the targets Pex wants to, so tspikes help keep offense neutralized much better and pair nicely w/ Hex Gholdengo . I cant really be bothered to write more lines about Toxapex NGL. You know what it does I hope.

:sv/diancie-mega:

Red Scale (Diancie-Mega) @ Diancite :diancite:

Ability: Magic Bounce
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Rock
EVs: 28 Atk / 228 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Moonblast
- Earth Power
- Diamond Storm
- Mystical Fire

Team was lacking in offensive pressure so what better than Mega Diancie which is perhaps the most unwallable mon in the tier if you play your cards right? Standard 4A set, really helpful for revenge killing mid speed balance breakers ala SD Kart, NP Gholdengo, Raging Bolt, and Kingambit. Additionally, MDia claims a kill just about every time it comes in vs sun teams which are quite common with Mega Charizard Y which makes that mu much more tolerable. Very consistently good offensive threat and appreciates the massive chip this team does good at obtaining.

:sv/urshifu-rapid-strike:

Resolve (Urshifu-Rapid-Strike) @ Choice Scarf :choice-scarf:

Ability: Unseen Fist
Tera Type: Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Surging Strikes
- Close Combat
- Ice Spinner
- U-turn

Speed control is essential for just about anything in this format given the wealth of breakers that you need to be able to revenge kill, and Urshifu is a swiss army knife able to rkill just about anything necessary, including but not limited to SD Ogerpon-W, SD Garchomp, Offensive NP Ghold, CM Lele, and opposing Mega Diancie. Another benefactor of the hazards, and also can easily get Mega Diancie in to force progress. Ice Spinner is chosen for SD Garchomp mainly who is a pretty big threat to this team once boosted.

:sv/ferrothorn:

Dull Knife (Ferrothorn) @ Rocky Helmet :Rocky-helmet:

Ability: Iron Barbs
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 248 HP / 196 Def / 64 SpD
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Gyro Ball / Power Whip
- Knock Off
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed

Out of all the mons on the team, I feel like Ferrothorn has the most misconceptions of how to use from people who end up using this team. It is explicitly meant to force chip onto various targets and not stick around that long compared to a normal Ferrothorn. Most notably, this is how you can force chip onto threats such as Taunt Landorus-T, Great Tusk, Hisuian Samurott, and Alomomola. The comparison I drew in ND Discord earlier was that this mon is more of a TankChomp than a traditional Ferrothorn--you want to get as much value as you can as early as you can with Ferro to make things easier for your core to outlast the opponents in the endgame. Gyro was better during Pult meta as this was usually your avenue to secure a lot of chip on it to revenge kill with something, but now Power Whip is fine too to make HSam and Pon easier to force damage versus, but makes Roaring Moon much harder. It's also the only Knock user on the team which ngl has always been one of my biggest gripes with this build, but idrk how to fix it. Can lead to some weaknesses that I will talk about below.

Threatlist
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:kingambit:

Not really the worst matchup ever, but can get really dicey late game. Keep it chipped with Spikes and play to keep Urshifu healthy as well as Diancie. A lot of times they will also just get sniped by Focus Blast Gholdengo early too. Do not be afraid to trade Ferrothorn to force chip to push into range of Mega Diancie if needed!

:terapagos-terastal:

You really want to try and keep Glisc at 100% for this so you can safely trade Toxic, but this mon is a massive pain due to Toxapex not having direct Toxic if its Flamethrower which most are. Generally i try to trade tox but if not ill go to ghold and twave and attempt to fish through it with full paras. Its a really awkward matchup to play around but not the worst thing in the world.

:volcanion:

Try to revenge kill with Diancie and i think ghold can live a fire move from full? This mon is actually next to impossible though, single worst matchup you can play.

:kyurem:

I have managed to outplay Kyurem with this team however if ur opponent is good its very very difficult to win versus if subroost.

:latios-mega:

kind of difficult but try to sequence Ghold in on aura / luster and hope it doesnt drop then force twave on it, glisc also can force a toxic if needed badly but it loses 1v1 if you get dropped on switch. MDia can win the tie and scarf shifu spinner/uturn does decent damage. Classic outplay matchup

:alomomola:

(

)
i think next to volcanion, the single hardest matchup is these opposing Mola Bootspam teams. During reqs I played multiple Alomomola bootspam teams and there was nothing I could do. Technically you can break them open w/ Mega Diancie, but the ones i played versus also had their own spikes which made things really hard. It was particularly this boots gking + mola with spikes ferro and taunt rocks lando. Just got 4v6ed. GG. Technically this applies to Slowbro too who is also annoying, but at least it cant heal ferrothorn back to 100%...

Replays
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This team has a shit ton of tour use, so I took the liberty of trying to gather every single replay I could recall/find on Smogon (probably missed some tho), so enjoy some VERY interesting and fun gameplay:

s/o PRC & GCN

seth · Mar 25, 2025

sealoo said:
I'd like to say/take credit that this team is also what paved the way for Gliscor's meteoric rise (this set particularly) to one of the best and most defining mons in the tier

ur not the innovator lil bro ppl been running glisc since 2006

hidin · Mar 25, 2025

Ts dude posts ToxTect spam and expects a likewhore? Yeah no…just haha this post man. Freaking fatty

Sami · Mar 25, 2025

chuddy ahh team, made by skibidi bluds, for skibidi bluds

Runo · Mar 25, 2025

I've never lost to this team its so bad lel

Kinzo · Mar 26, 2025

Dick n Balls

Oculars · Mar 26, 2025

7/10 not enough Ting lu

Dead by Daylight · Mar 26, 2025

proud to have dealt this fire team its only NDBD loss

CalamityISComing · Apr 1, 2025

idk but an offensive msciz with hazard support looks strong against you. set up on gliscor and ferro, and can knock off pex . idk tho

CalamityISComing · Apr 1, 2025

also taunt waterpon may cause issues

National Dex Double Steel Gliscor SpikeStack [27-17 in Tournament Play]

sealoo

PaulGod

seth

hidin

Sami

formerly S0A0M0I0

Runo

I look like Einstien but if he was a crackhead

Kinzo

Challenging The Sun

Oculars

WO CHIEN BE UPON YE

Dead by Daylight

Sundown Syndrome

CalamityISComing

CalamityISComing