[OVERVIEW]
Ground
========
Gliscor's good bulk and movepool let it serve as an effective stallbreaker and defensive pivot on Ground teams. Poison Heal is a great defensive ability that allows Gliscor to avoid harmful status such as burns and heals 1/8 of its health every turn after it has been poisoned by a Toxic Orb. These traits allow it to switch into passive walls like Mantine and Celesteela and threaten them with Taunt. Gliscor is also one of the best users of Knock Off on Ground teams, helping remove items like Eviolite to make certain Pokemon like Chansey easier to break past. While Gliscor's secondary Flying typing grants it a useful neutrality to Grass-type attacks, it also burdens it with a 4x weakness to Ice-type moves, letting Pokemon that have Ice-type coverage such as Porygon-Z and Kyurem-B easily force it out. In addition, Gliscor's only decent bulk means powerful wallbreakers like Mega Gallade and Hydreigon can punch through it with little issue.
[SET]
name: Stallbreaker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Roost
move 3: Taunt
move 4: Knock Off
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Jolly
evs: 244 HP / 32 Def / 120 SpD / 112 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Earthquake is Gliscor's strongest and only STAB move, being able to deal consistent damage to threats that are not immune to it. Roost allows Gliscor to keep itself healthy so it can effectively switch into attacks throughout the battle. Taunt helps Gliscor to stallbreak, preventing passive walls like Skarmory from healing themselves or laying entry hazards. Knock Off provides utility by removing items such as Dragonite's Choice Band and Chansey's Eviolite so they can be dealt with more easily. It also can hit key Ground-immune targets like Celesteela and Air Balloon Heatran.
Set Details
========
244 HP EVs in conjunction with 32 Defense EVs allow Gliscor to always avoid a 2HKO from Choice Scarf Tapu Bulu's Horn Leech after Stealth Rock while also maximizing its recovery from Poison Heal. 112 Speed EVs with a Jolly nature let Gliscor outspeed threats such as Adamant Diggersby and Timid Heatran, letting it check them more effectively. The remaining EVs are put into Special Defense to take special hits such as Latios's Draco Meteor more easily. Alternatively, more EVs can be moved from Special Defense to Speed to hit certain benchmarks, such as 120 Speed to outspeed Jolly Diggersby, and 176 Speed to outspeed Nidoking and Suicune. Toxic Orb combined with Poison Heal allows Gliscor to heal 1/8 of its health per turn while also making it immune to harmful status after it has activated.
Usage Tips
========
Gliscor should be brought in on passive walls like Celesteela and proceed to use Taunt to prevent them from healing and slowly whittle them down. It's important to be careful before Gliscor's Toxic Orb has activated to avoid getting it burned by Will-O-Wisp or Scald users such as Mega Sableye and Swampert, respectively. This risk can be avoided if Gliscor comes via a double switch when your opponent is likely to switch out. Once it is poisoned, Gliscor can effectively be used as a status absorber for the team, being able to switch into Toxic or Will-O-Wisp aimed for a teammate like Gastrodon. Gliscor also makes for a good pivot into Knock Off due to it not needing Toxic Orb after it has activated. Since opponents might try to predict Gliscor using Taunt and directly bring in an offensive check like Greninja, it is sometimes worthwhile to try to predict this and attack them on the switch in. Knock Off is a good move to spam early-game, as removing Leftovers or Eviolite from defensive walls like Staraptor and Chansey makes them easier to wear down and break past for Gliscor's teammates. Taunt can sometimes allow Gliscor to stall out the PP of walls with one attacking move, such as Ferrothorn, forcing them to use Struggle. However, Gliscor can also be stalled out of Taunt PP if the opponent switches between their Pokemon repeatedly and Stealth Rock is not up.
Team Options
========
Gliscor's decent bulk and ability to take advantage of and shut down passive walls let it fit onto many Ground teams. Gastrodon and Seismitoad make for great defensive partners due to their typing and abilities granting them an Ice-neutrality and a Water immunity, covering both of Gliscor's weaknesses. Gastrodon can reliably switch into threats like Choice Specs Keldeo and Choice Scarf Greninja thanks to Recover, while Seismitoad has the ability to outspeed and KO Belly Drum Azumarill. In exchange, Gliscor can switch into Toxic from walls like Chansey as well as take on Grass-types like Cradily. Landorus is a good offensive partner for Gliscor that is able to deal with Pokemon immune to Ground-type attacks with Gravity, as well as outpace threats such as Kyurem-B. In return, Gliscor can weaken special walls that give it trouble such as Mantine. Garchomp and Mega Garchomp are powerful wallbreakers that can use Swords Dance to break foes like Swampert. With Gliscor supporting them by relieving pressure from them dealing with walls, they can break the majority of balanced cores in the metagame. Mega Garchomp also can choose to run a mixed wallbreaking set that can threaten types like Water and Flying with its broad coverage, being able to hit Mantine with Stone Edge and Celesteela with Fire Blast. Excadrill with Hippowdon to provide Sand Stream support forms a core that can revenge kill and clean weakened threats such as Keldeo while also providing entry hazards and phazing support. In exchange, Gliscor can deal with bulky Flying-types such as Staraptor, which can otherwise can switch into both Hippowdon and Excadrill. Excadrill can also check Ice-types like Alolan Ninetales with a STAB Iron Head. Mega Steelix serves as a good defensive partner for Gliscor, boasting great mixed bulk and a valuable Ice-neutrality that allow it to take on huge threats like Belly Drum Azumarill, Tapu Bulu, and Kyurem-B, as well as being able to serve as a wincon with Curse to threaten types like Fairy and Dragon. Gliscor can support it by dealing with its checks such as Zapdos. Dugtrio can trap huge threats to Gliscor such as Greninja and Kyurem-B thanks to Arena Trap and a Focus Sash. Gliscor's Taunt helps make this easier by preventing hazards from common setters such as Ferrothorn. Mamoswine is a powerful wallbreaker that appreciates Gliscor's ability to soften up teams to make switching into it more difficult. In return, it provides a unique Ice-type resistance for Ground-teams as well as strong priority Ice Shard to pick off threats like Hydreigon and Tapu Bulu and Icicle Crash to threaten Flying teams.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Gliscor can opt to run Swords Dance over Taunt to still be able to muscle past bulky walls while also being less passive against offensive threats. Facade is an option over Knock Off on these sets to hit Pokemon such as Tapu Bulu and Breloom hard after a Swords Dance boost. However, this set doesn't have the benefits of denying entry hazards and recovery with Taunt and is less consistent against bulky phazers such as Swampert. A moveset of Earthquake or Knock Off, Substitute, Protect, and Toxic can make Gliscor a menace against types like Psychic, being able to stall out foes effectively thanks to Poison Heal. However, this set is either utterly walled by Celesteela when running Earthquake or very passive and exploitable when running Knock Off.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Ice-type Attacks**: Gliscor has a crippling 4x weakness to Ice-type moves, which allows foes with Ice-type coverage such as Porygon2 and Tapu Koko to heavily damage or OHKO it.
**Water-types**: Though weak Water-types like Gastrodon and Toxapex cannot 2HKO Gliscor thanks to Poison Heal, more offensive Water-type attackers like Gyarados and Keldeo can outspeed and blow past Gliscor. Gliscor also fears Scald burns before its Toxic Orb is activated, which cripple it severely.
**Wallbreakers**: Gliscor's only above-average bulk means powerful wallbreakers like Diggersby and Dragonite can 2HKO it with their STAB moves, making it unable to switch into them.
**Trick**: Gliscor is completely crippled by Trick giving it a Choice item due to it being very exploitable when locked into a single move and completely unable to stallbreak effectively. However, Toxic Orb will badly poison the Pokemon that receives it after Trick has been used.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Guwahavel, 446329]]
- Ground analysis by: [[Guwahavel, 446329]]
- Quality checked by: [[Havens, 391540], [Eien, 100418], [maroon, 305839]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Electrolyte, 148071]]
Last edited:
