Gen 3 Glalie [WIP]

Rabia

is a Site Content Manageris a Top Social Media Contributoris a Community Leaderis a Community Contributoris a Smogon Discord Contributoris a CAP Contributoris a Top Tiering Contributoris a Top Contributoris a Top Smogon Media Contributoris a Battle Simulator Moderator
GP & NU Leader
[OVERVIEW]

Glalie defines NU. It is the best Spikes setter without question in a format where viable removal is limited to a single Pokemon, and its offensive traits make trying to deny Spikes is really hard. Offensive sets are hard to pressure because of their coverage and speed, and Glalie's Explosion is one of the most powerful in the format and a possibility that has to be considered every turn you try and play around it. Meanwhile, defensive sets check prevalent wallbreakers like Wailord and Haunter despite offering no useful resistances and still have a solid enough Speed tier to threaten a sizable amount of the bulkier metagame. Glalie's versatility goes beyond picking between an offensive or defensive set, though, as its movesets are quite flexible; tinkering with different utility moves like Light Screen, Torment, and Icy Wind vastly changes what constitutes reliable counterplay to Glalie. Really, the only notable drawbacks to Glalie are its Speed tier not being at the very top—there are many faster wallbreakers like Pikachu, Choice Band Golbat, and Raticate that need minimal chip damage to KO it—and Explosion being a risky move to use without knowledge of the opponent's entire team.

[SET]
name: Physical Attacker
move 1: Earthquake
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Explosion
move 4: Spikes
item: Leftovers
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 8 HP / 244 Atk / 120 SpD / 136 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

Earthquake + Shadow Ball gives Glalie the best possible coverage. The former targets Fire- and Steel-types like Flareon, Torkoal, and Metang and is Glalie's best move for Wailord, while the latter OHKOes Haunter and does good damage to Chimecho. Explosion OHKOes any foe that doesn't resist it, which is great for getting rid of physical walls like Pelipper and Torkoal. 244 Attack EVs guarantee Earthquake KOes Flareon after Spikes and Shadow Ball OHKOes Haunter. 136 Speed EVs give the jump on positive-natured Flareon. 8 HP EVs prevent Choice Band Pidgeot's Double-Edge from OHKOing Glalie, with the remaining EVs put into Special Defense for a buffer against attackers like Haunter, Plusle, and Huntail. Lum Berry can be run if using Glalie as a lead for the Venomoth matchup, and lead Glalie oftentimes forgoes bulk investment entirely to maximize its offensive capabilities. If running Soft Sand, then Glalie can run 200 Attack EVs and 224 Speed EVs with an Adamant nature to beat Flareon while retaining the Haunter KO threshold. Keep in mind that Glalie's EV spread is very flexible, and team composition will dictate what EV benchmarks are worth aiming for.

Team Options
========

Include potential teammates for the Pokemon, as well as descriptions and details as to why.

[SET]
name: Specially Defensive
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Protect
move 3: Shadow Ball / Light Screen / Earthquake
move 4: Explosion / Light Screen / Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 252 SpD / 4 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========

Protect generates extra Leftovers recovery and blocks Explosion from users like Wailord, Haunter, and opposing Glalie. Shadow Ball targets Haunter and Chimecho. Explosion lets Glalie remove Water-types like Wailord, Pelipper, and Dewgong, and it's useful for immediately ending turns. Light Screen and Earthquake are also great options; the former gives Glalie a buffer against Fire-types like Torkoal and Flareon as well as other powerful special wallbreakers, whereas the latter gives useful coverage for those foes as well as Steel- and Electric-types such as Metang, Mawile, Pikachu, and Plusle.

Torment lets Glalie deny attackers from using their super effective attacks against it when used in conjunction with Protect. Rain Dance is similar to Light Screen but also supports Huntail. Toxic helps against Water-types and doesn't force Glalie to KO itself.

Team Options
========

Include potential teammates for the Pokemon, as well as descriptions and details as to why.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

A specially offensive set with Spikes / Ice Beam / Hidden Power Grass / Taunt and Never-Melt Ice lets better target Grass- and Flying-types in Bellossom, Pidgeot, and Golbat, which it'd usually have to use Explosion to take out. Though, this set is wholly walled by Fire-, Steel-, and Water-types like Flareon, Metang, and Wailord that it'd normally not struggle with as much. Taunt has general use on lead Glalie to annoy other Glalie, Cacturne, and Venomoth, though its short duration makes it inconsistent.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Insert Counterplay Here**: Describe the counterplay / check / counter.

**Insert Counterplay Here**: Describe the counterplay / check / counter.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[, ]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
 
Last edited:

Bughouse

Like ships in the night, you're passing me by
is a Site Content Manageris a Forum Moderator Alumnusis a CAP Contributor Alumnusis a Tiering Contributor Alumnusis a Contributor Alumnus
I think the best all-purpose Glalie is a hybrid of some bulk and some attacking power. 252/252 speed and attack is certainly easy to suggest, but in reality, not investing at all in Glalie's 80/80/80 bulk is not super efficient imo, since it does need at least some investment to accomplish certain defensive tasks, which it otherwise has the bulk do. It's very handy for even an offensive Glalie to still function as a switch in/emergency check. And on a Pokemon with Explosion, being able to live extra hits is hugely impactful since it means you can trade with an enormous amount of Pokemon. This is even more true against slower opponents, since it means you can even set extra Spikes first before then booming.

I would recommend doing some work to find a more jack of all trades spread. Bulkless Glalie can't switch into Plusle with a spike up for example. Let's say your team could really use an additional Plusle switch in, so you want to invest just enough special bulk to be able to do so.

252 SpA Plusle Thunderbolt vs. 36 HP / 112 SpD Glalie: 123-145 (39.6 - 46.7%) -- guaranteed 3HKO after 1 layer of Spikes and Leftovers recovery

This could for example give a spread therefore of:
36 HP / 224 Atk / 112 SpD / 136 Spe Jolly (outruns 252+ Flareon)

Which still does this:
224 Atk Glalie Shadow Ball vs. 0 HP / 4 Def Haunter: 229-270 (99.1 - 116.8%) -- 93.8% chance to OHKO
224 Atk Glalie Earthquake vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Flareon: 232-274 (85.6 - 101.1%) -- 87.5% chance to OHKO after 1 layer of Spikes

This took me 5 minutes to put together a sample spread and I'm sure there's even better ones out there. I have a similarly-aimed spread that I do currently use a lot of the time, but I can't backtrack what calcs were behind it, so it's not really suitable for an analysis.

They both have their merits to be clear - I do think there's certain teams where I would push to 252 Spe or even 252 Spe Jolly and use Soft Sand etc. But a more all purpose Glalie is what I'd probably recommend first.
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top