[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Roost
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Facade
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Jolly
evs: 244 HP / 52 Def / 192 SpD / 20 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Gliscor sports a great typing, reliable recovery, and an amazing ability in Poison Heal, which allows it to ignore the effects of status afflictions and the omnipresent Knock Off once it is activated. Said traits make Gliscor a very resilient wincon in National Dex, capable of outlasting many Pokemon that can pressure it offensively, such as Weavile, Kyurem, and Ash-Greninja. These characteristics also allow it to check huge threats in Heatran, Mega Mawile, and Mega Tyranitar, take advantage of defensive staples such as Toxapex, Zapdos lacking Hidden Power Ice, and bulky Landorus-T, and serve as a Volt Switch blocker and source of Ground immunity. Swords Dance uses the abundance of free turns Gliscor gets against passive Pokemon to boost its average Attack stat to dangerous levels. Roost helps Gliscor in continuously checking strong attackers such as Heatran and Mega Tyranitar, allows it to shrug off any damage passive Pokemon may cause, and minimizes Hidden Power Ice damage from Landorus-T. Facade is a good coverage option, nailing common switch-ins to Earthquake such as Landorus-T and Zapdos. The given EV spread allows Gliscor to outspeed Modest Heatran with a Jolly nature and heal more HP from Poison Heal. 52 Defense EVs are run in order to take a Play Rough into Sucker Punch from Mega Mawile once Poison Heal is in effect. The remaining EVs are dumped into Special Defense to let Gliscor better take on threats such as Heatran and Clefable. 112 Speed EVs can be run instead in order to outspeed the likes of Timid Heatran, Adamant Rillaboom, and Jolly Bisharp, but this noticeably compromises Gliscor's bulk.
Gliscor fits best on balance and bulky offense teams that are in need of a wincon capable of taking advantage of Pokemon like Heatran, Zapdos, and Toxapex. As Gliscor forces many switches due to its resiliency paired with its boosting prowess, pairing it with entry hazard-stacking cores of Pokemon like Mega Tyranitar, Clefable, and Ferrothorn is often a good idea, allowing Gliscor to overwhelm offensive checks such as Kyurem, Weavile, and Ash-Greninja. Clefable and Ferrothorn can also provide Knock Off support to remove Heavy-Duty Boots from Slowbro, Zapdos, and Blissey, whereas Mega Tyranitar can Pursuit trap a roadblock to Gliscor in Mega Latias, as well as Weavile and Ash-Greninja locked into Dark-type moves. Even though Gliscor, is immune to Ground, it can be overwhelmed by the likes of Swords Dance Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Excadrill. Pokemon that better limit these threats, such as Corviknight, Ice Beam Slowbro and Mega Latias, and Tangrowth, are useful teammates to have. Revenge killers in the form of Weavile, Ash-Greninja, Mega Lopunny, and Tapu Koko are important to limit the likes of Kyurem and Kartana. A few Steel-types in Curse Mega Scizor, Corviknight, and Skarmory have the typing, bulk, and recovery to take Gliscor on indefinitely. Therefore, Pokemon that can pressure or defeat them, such as Heatran and Magnezone, make for good partners as well. Furthermore, Gliscor can easily fall prey to dangerous offensive threats, particularly Kyurem, Mega Charizard Y, Ash-Greninja, and Weavile. Thus, sturdy counterplay to these, such as Clefable for the former and Toxapex for the latter three, is important. Lastly, as Gliscor is a capable wallbreaker, it benefits late-game cleaners such as Mega Lopunny, Swords Dance Mega Mawile, and Mega Scizor. All of them hugely appreciate Gliscor's ability to take advantage of Toxapex, and in case of the latter two, Heatran as well.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Knock Off is situationally helpful over Facade in getting rid of items from the likes of Landorus-T, Slowbro, and Corviknight. However, it is considerably weaker against neutral targets, and forgoing Facade invites dangerous wallbreakers such as Mega Charizard Y and Rillaboom into battle. Gliscor may run utility-oriented sets with moves such as Stealth Rock, Defog, and U-turn as well. However, Gliscor fails to keep Stealth Rock up against the popular Corviknight, and thus requires support from Magnezone as an entry hazard setter. Meanwhile, Defog sets aren't viable outside of stall teams due to how passive they are.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ice-type Pokemon and Coverage**: Ice-types such as Weavile and Kyurem pressure Gliscor immensely with their STAB moves. Both have to meticulously manage their health in order to keep up with Gliscor's resiliency, however. Ice-type coverage from the likes of Magearna, Clefable, Mega Tyranitar, and Mega Mawile can catch Gliscor off guard as well.
**Offensive Water-types**: The likes of Ash-Greninja, Mega Swampert, Greninja, Mega Gyarados, and Manaphy can all easily threaten Gliscor and force it out with their STAB moves.
**Setup Sweepers**: Due to Gliscor's less-than-stellar initial damage output, it can fall prey to various setup sweepers such as Swords Dance Garchomp, Landorus-T, Rillaboom, and Kartana; Calm Mind Clefable and Tapu Lele; and Bulk Up Cinderace.
**Physical Walls**: Pokemon such as Slowbro, Curse Mega Scizor, Tangrowth, Corviknight, and Skarmory all boast the bulk and typing to hold Gliscor off throughout a match.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Guard, 360582]]
- Quality checked by: [[Jordy, 395754], [Sputnik, 475916], [Solaros & Lunaris, 471780], [Zneon, 487629]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Finland, 517429]]
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