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Overview
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Glaceon shines as a powerful wallbreaker in NU thanks to its great offensive presence and decent bulk. However, numerous crippling flaws prevent Glaceon from reaching its true potential—its horrible defensive typing leaves it weak to common attacking types, such as Fire and Fighting, and it is outsped by many offensive threats. Finally, it suffers from a small coverage movepool and faces heavy competition for a team slot from Jynx, which boasts higher Speed and a larger movepool.
Choice Specs
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name: Choice Specs
move 1: Ice Beam
move 2: Hidden Power Ground
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Baton Pass
ability: Ice Body
item: Choice Specs
evs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
nature: Modest
Moves
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Ice Beam is Glaceon's STAB move and hits the majority of the tier hard thanks to Glaceon's amazing Special Attack and Choice Specs. The fact that Lickilicky and Audino are both cleanly 2HKOed after Stealth Rock damage is indicative of Glaceon's power with Choice Specs. Hidden Power Ground has great coverage with Ice Beam and hits the Fire- and Steel-types that resist Ice Beam. Shadow Ball is a coverage attack for hitting Pokemon such as Jynx, Grumpig, and Musharna for super effectively damage. Baton Pass lets Glaceon flee from opponents foes that counter it. Toxic is an option in the last moveslot that allows Glaceon to cripple Water-types, Grumpig, Hariyama, and special walls.
Set Details
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Special Attack and Speed EVs are maxed out so Glaceon inflicts as much damage and outspeeds as many opponents as possible. A Modest nature ups Glaceon's damage output, and Glaceon can afford to run it, as because a Timid nature doesn't let Glaceon outspeed anything too notable. Choice Specs capitalizes on Glaceon's brilliant Special Attack and poor movepool, turning it into a mighty wallbreaker. Glaceon's abilities are both pretty useless; it is largely irrelevant whether you opt for Ice Body or Snow Cloak, (comma) as neither has a major advantage over the other.
Usage Tips
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Glaceon should be using Ice Beam most of the time; its other coverage options are best used if you predict something that resists Ice Beam to switch in. Glaceon is free to spam Ice Beam if the opponent has no Pokemon that resist it left. Hidden Power Ground should be used if your opponent has a Pokemon that might try to switch into on Glaceon, such as Probopass and or Typhlosion, whereas Shadow Ball is a safe option that hits most foes that resist Ice for neutral damage. Shadow Ball can also be used if you're unsure what Pokemon your opponent might switch to in and can nail the likes of Jynx and Grumpig, which resist Ice Beam, on the switch in. Glaceon should aim to dispatch walls that would trouble its teammates, allowing them to clean up afterwards.
Team Options
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Glaceon is capable of functioning well on offensive teams thanks to its wallbreaking power. Fighting-types, (remove comma) such as Sawk and Gurdurr, (remove comma) make for good teammates, as they can dispose of Steel- and Ice-types. Water-types, (remove comma) such as Carracosta and Kabutops, (remove comma) can switch into and deal with the Fire-types that Glaceon despises. As Glaceon is a wallbreaker, it should be paired with Pokemon that need walls removed in order to sweep or do some late-game cleaning, such as Ludicolo and Choice Scarf Primeape. Spinners, (remove comma) such as Kabutops and Sandslash, (remove comma) are useful for clearing Stealth Rock from your side of the field of Stealth Rock, as the hazard eats a hefty chunk of Glaceon's HP away when it switches in, which it may need to do a lot given the nature of this set. Sticky Web support allows Glaceon to outpace many foes that it normally couldn't, and it can be provided by Pokemon such as Ariados and Leavanny.
Other Options
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Glaceon's shallow movepool means that there are not many other viable options for it. Frost Breath lets Glaceon bypass Special Defense boosts its opponent may have acquired. Glaceon can try using a Choice Scarf set to fix its Speed problems and function as a revenge killer, though Jynx is far superior in this role due to its to far higher Speed stat and access to Trick and Lovely Kiss to cripple opponents with. Roar, Wish, and Heal Bell are options for a defensively inclined set, though Glaceon's awful defensive typing means that this role is best left to another Pokemon. Finally, Blizzard can replace Ice Beam if a teammate provides hail support, though in light of Glaceon's horribly barren movepool, Blizzard can be used without hail support because Glaceon can afford to drop another move, such as Shadow Ball, to have an option more powerful than Ice Beam.
Checks and Counters
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**Foes with Thick Fat**: Thick Fat Hariyama is particularly problematic due to its type advantage over Glaceon, resistance to its STAB, and neutrality to Glaceon's coverage moves. It can simply switch into on any of Glaceon's attacks and OHKO it with Close Combat. In a similar vein, Grumpig's good special bulk in combination with Thick Fat means that it can easily sponge Ice Beams from Glaceon.
**Bulky Pokemon that Resist Ice**: Pokemon that resist Ice-type attacks, such as Cryogonal, Piloswine, (comma) and Regice, have the special bulk and resistance to Glaceon's STAB needed to tank its assaults. The uncommon Lapras can also hassle Glaceon for similar reasons.
**Steel-types**: Steel-types, (remove comma) such as Probopass and Klinklang, (remove comma) can switch in on Glaceon thanks to their resistance to its STAB, (comma) but they have to watch out for Hidden Power Ground. Klinklang can set up should it force Glaceon to switch, (comma) but, (remove comma) unlike Probopass, it cannot take two Ice Beams.
**Faster Attackers**: Attackers that outspeed Glaceon tend to have moves that can exploit one of its many weaknesses. For example, the likes of Typhlosion, Pyroar, Primeape, and Sawk all have moves to send Glaceon packing.
**Fire-types**: Fire-types, (remove comma) such as Typhlosion, Pyroar, (comma) and Magmortar, (remove comma) can come in on an Ice Beam, outspeed Glaceon, and proceed to KO it with their STAB attacks. They must, however, be wary of switching in, however, as Glaceon runs Hidden Power Ground to deal with them.
