[OVERVIEW]
With a gargantuan Attack alongside Sharpness, nothing in the tier can safely switch into Gallade. Its two STAB moves hit the tier for nearly unresisted coverage. Psychic-types like Cresselia and Galarian Slowbro that can pivot into Gallade's STAB combination are taken out by Dark-type coverage moves in Night Slash and Knock Off. Leaf Blade allows it to easily beat Diancie and defensive Water-types like Swampert, Milotic, Quagsire, and Vaporeon. Shadow Sneak allows Gallade to circumvent its relatively low Speed to pick off weakened threats, while Agility lets it clean after its teammates have weakened the opposing team. Scope Lens makes Gallade even harder to switch into, as Psycho Cut and Night Slash already have high critical hit ratio and can beat even bulky setup sweepers like Tera Poison Kee Berry Cresselia and Bronzong. Gallade is quite slow, being outpaced by lots of non-Choice Scarf Pokemon such as Brambleghast, Mienshao, and Flygon. This, combined with Gallade's low Defense, also leaves it open to be revenge killed by these Pokemon. Gallade also faces rough competition for the Fighting-type slot from the likes of Mienshao, Infernape, and Toxicroak, which are not nearly as easily revenge killed.
[SET]
name: Scope Lens
move 1: Sacred Sword
move 2: Psycho Cut
move 3: Night Slash
move 4: Leaf Blade / Shadow Sneak
item: Scope Lens
ability: Sharpness
nature: Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
tera type: Dark / Ghost
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
====
Sacred Sword lets Gallade break through even boosted targets like Curse Alolan Muk and Iron Defense Registeel. Night Slash hits Psychic-types like Cresselia, Galarian Slowbro, and Munkidori, which all resist its STAB moves. Leaf Blade allows Gallade to hit common bulky Water-type switch-ins like Swampert, Vaporeon, and Milotic. However, Shadow Sneak can be run to pick off weakened threats. Tera Dark is preferred to resist Ghost-type attacks and boost Night Slash's damage output, improving Gallade's matchup versus Bronzong and Cresselia. However, Tera Ghost can be run to boost Shadow Sneak's revenge killing prowess.
Thanks to Gallade's ability to easily beat special walls such as Alolan Muk, Diancie, and Bronzong, it pairs well with special sweepers like Munkidori, Dragalge, and Inteleon, which can all pivot Gallade in and reap the benefits of its wallbreaking abilities. Poison-types like Vileplume and Dragalge can be easily handled by Gallade, so pairing Gallade with another Fighting-type like Mienshao or Infernape works amazingly. Thanks to Leaf Blade Gallade beating bulky Water-types like Swampert, Milotic, and Vaporeon, Pokemon that enjoy these walls gone like Inteleon, Incineroar, and Flygon are good partners. Gallade's low Speed and Defense leave it open to being revenge killed by faster physical attackers like Flygon or priority moves like Sucker Punch from Brute Bonnet. To counteract this issue, partners like Bellibolt, Wo-Chien, and Vileplume pair amazingly alongside Gallade; they can even paralyze foes via Static for the former and Stun Spore for the latter two. Additional paralysis support such as Thunder Wave from Klefki and Umbreon is also appreciated. Ghost-types like Brambleghast, Hisuian Typhlosion, and Choice Scarf Chandelure all easily outspeed Gallade and threaten it back with super effective STAB moves, making Dark-types like Alolan Muk, Scrafty, Incineroar, and Alolan Muk vital. Pivots like Talonflame, Mienshao, and Dragalge easily bring Gallade in versus bulky Water- and Steel-types, allowing it to force progress.
[SET]
name: Setup Sweeper
move 1: Swords Dance / Agility
move 2: Sacred Sword
move 3: Psycho Cut
move 4: Night Slash / Shadow Sneak
item: Life Orb / Lum Berry / Scope Lens
ability: Sharpness
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
tera type: Dark / Ghost
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Details
====
Swords Dance Gallade is a strong wallbreaker with no switch-ins, but Agility allows it to become a dangerous late-game cleaner. Night Slash hits Psychic-types like Galarian Slowbro and Cresselia. On the other hand, Shadow Sneak can be used on Swords Dance sets to bypass Gallade's low Speed and pick off a weakened threat. Life Orb is preferred to always 2HKO Unaware Quagsire with Sacred Sword. Lum Berry can be used instead to nullify debilitating contact effects such as Effect Spore and Flame Body and status moves like Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave from Talonflame and Klefki, respectively. Alternatively, Agility Gallade could also opt for Scope Lens for better chances against Bronzong and Cresselia; however, Gallade is weaker if it fails to land a critical hit. Tera Dark and Tera Ghost boost Night Slash and Shadow Sneak, respectively. On top of that, Tera Dark lets Gallade take a Ghost-type attack from Chandelure and Hisuian Typhlosion in a pinch and KO them in return, but it makes Gallade weak to the common U-turn, Infernape's and Mienshao's Close Combat, and most forms of priority like Flygon's First Impression and Breloom's Mach Punch. However, Tera Ghost allows Gallade to completely blank an incoming Fighting-type attack from these Pokemon, circumventing its low Defense.
Due to Gallade's low Speed tier for being a sweeper, it pairs greatly with Galvantula, which can set up Sticky Web. However, even with Sticky Web up, Choice Scarf Pokemon like Mienshao, Munkidori, and Rotom-C easily outspeed Gallade, so Choice Scarf Chandelure and Hisuian Typhlosion can both counteract this and give Gallade a way to deal with opposing Ghost-types. Both Swords Dance Breloom and Shell Smash Drednaw pair well with Gallade, as together they can overwhelm each other’s checks like Talonflame, Vileplume, and Milotic. Another way to circumvent Gallade's low Speed is through paralysis from either Bellibolt's Static, Klefki's Thunder Wave, or Vileplume's Stun Spore. Without Leaf Blade, Gallade can't easily threaten a KO on bulky Water-types. This means Grass- and Electric-types like Tsareena, Rotom-C, and Kilowattrel make for great partners, as they all also provide extra utility in hazard control, Trick, and drawing in Steel-types, respectively. Faster physical attackers like Brambleghast, Flygon, Mienshao, and Infernape are difficult for Gallade to deal with, so defensive and offensive checks like Vileplume, Sylveon, Dragalge, and Inteleon make for excellent teammates. As Agility Gallade has difficulty sweeping right away, it requires wallbreakers or fellow setup sweepers, such as Inteleon, Incineroar, Flygon, and Drednaw, alongside entry hazard support from leads like Froslass and Brambleghast or supportive teammates like Klefki and Swampert to wear down opposing teams.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Due to Gallade's weakness to contact effects such as Flame Body, Static, and Rocky Helmet, Protective Pads can work well on setup sets; it loses out on Life Orb boosting its attacks, though. Choice Scarf can be used too, but it’s a somewhat poor option, as Gallade remains easily outsped by faster Choice Scarf users like Flygon, Staraptor, and Mienshao. Knock Off can be used over Night Slash on some sets, but the extra and consistent power granted by Sharpness-boosted Night Slash is hard to give up. Aqua Cutter can be run over Leaf Blade to hit Talonflame, but then Gallade fails to threaten the tons of Water-types that love to switch in against it. Assault Vest can be run to take more hits, but with how Gallade then struggles a bit more against bulky setup sweepers like Bronzong and Kee Berry Cresselia, it typically isn't worth it. Gallade's only counter is Scream Tail, so as a fourth move, Poison Jab can be run to ensure you aren't beat by it as easily. Tera Fire can be used on Gallade to not worry about burns from Talonflame's Flame Body and Will-O-Wisp.
Checks and Counters
====
**Faster Pokemon**: Faster Pokemon like Mienshao and Flygon all commonly carry Choice Scarf, negating Sticky Web, and they can easily take advantage of Gallade's low Speed and Defense to KO it even with a resisted hit before it can attack. Notably, Mienshao's Close Combat 2HKOes offensive Gallade after Stealth Rock.
**Contact Move Punishment**: With most of Gallade's attacks making contact, punishing items and abilities like Rocky Helmet, Static, Effect Spore, and Flame Body are quite a pain to deal with, cutting into its Speed, longevity, and wallbreaking capabilities, the former two already being a problem for Gallade.
**Ghost-types**: Faster Ghost-types like Brambleghast and Hisuian Typhlosion easily outspeed and KO Gallade with their Ghost-type STAB moves. Slower Ghost-types like Chandelure and Basculegion, on the other hand, are forced to run a Choice Scarf to outspeed and KO Gallade. All of these Ghost-types can take advantage of Gallade's strongest attack in Sacred Sword and switch in unharmed, but they fear Psycho Cut.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/powerofmemes.583607/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/stories.400664/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/milak.262594/
Last edited:
