[OVERVIEW]
Gliscor has several qualities that make it extremely frustrating for balance and bulky offense teams to deal with. For one, the combination of Poison Heal and Toxic Orb gives it an immunity to status and great passive recovery. Gliscor's Ground / Flying typing offers a myriad of resistances, including an immunity to Spikes and a neutrality to Stealth Rock. When combined with Poison Heal, this essentially makes Gliscor almost entirely unaffected by opposing entry hazards. Additionally, Gliscor has access to a support movepool that most Pokemon could only dream of, featuring Spikes, Toxic, Toxic Spikes, and Knock Off. As such, Gliscor is a fantastic pivot in Ubers, notably taking Sacred Fire from Ho-Oh with ease and setting up hazards on staple threats like Choice Scarf Koraidon and Ting-Lu. This makes Gliscor one of the best Pokemon to take advantage of the lack of entry hazard removal options in Ubers. However, Gliscor is held back by its lackluster stats for Ubers standards; its Defense, while decent, is nowhere near good enough to take on titans like Scale Shot Koraidon, meaning Gliscor has limited use against hyper offense teams. Gliscor is also setup bait for one of the most common threats in the tier, Necrozma-DM, which is only 4HKOed by Earthquake. Gliscor's pathetic Special Defense by Ubers standards leaves it forced out by the vast majority of special attackers.
[SET]
Defensive (Gliscor) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water / Fairy
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD
244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD
Impish / Careful Nature
- Earthquake / Knock Off
- Toxic / Knock Off
- Spikes / Toxic Spikes
- Protect
[SET COMMENTS]
The combination of Earthquake and Toxic works very well together, as Earthquake deals super effective damage to Steel- and Poison-types, which are immune to Toxic. Alternatively, Knock Off may be run in either slot to remove Heavy-Duty Boots from opposing Pokemon like Ho-Oh and Kyogre, and thus make Gliscor's hazard stacking more effective. Do note that the lack of Earthquake makes Gliscor unable to check threats like Zacian-C, while the loss of Toxic makes Gliscor very passive against Pokemon with reliable recovery like the various Arceus formes that don't mind Knock Off. Spikes and Toxic Spikes are both powerful entry hazard options; Spikes is less matchup-dependent than Toxic Spikes is, but Toxic Spikes can be devastating against teams without a Poison-type. Protect is highly recommended, as it provides an easy way to activate Toxic Orb, can stall for Poison Heal recovery, and has good synergy with Toxic. Gliscor can run both defensive and specially defensive sets; Defense investment is more common thanks to Gliscor's decent Defense stat allowing it to check physical attackers like Zacian-C, but Special Defense investment lets Gliscor act as a pseudo-check to Heavy-Duty Boots Miraidon and set up hazards more easily against Arceus formes and Eternatus. Tera Water is chosen for defensive Gliscor, as it covers Gliscor's Water- and Ice-type weaknesses and provides a useful resistance to Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike and Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade. Tera Fairy is used on specially defensive sets to take Miraidon's Draco Meteor if needed.
While Gliscor is helpful against physical threats like Koraidon, Zacian-C, and Arceus-Ground, it should never be your main check to them, as Gliscor's bulk simply won't hold up over time. Therefore, teammates like Necrozma-DM, Arceus-Fairy, Arceus-Water, and Skeledirge are excellent for their ability to better take on physical attackers. Necrozma-DM is also greatly appreciated for its ability to Knock Off Heavy-Duty Boots. Gliscor works well with other hazard setters like Ting-Lu, Arceus-Fairy, and Clodsire, which can set Stealth Rock or Spikes that Gliscor may be missing out on. Arceus-Water, Ting-Lu, defensive Swords Dance Necrozma-DM, and Arceus-Dark are good partners for handling Dragon Dance Necrozma-DM that may attempt to set up on Gliscor. For specially defensive Gliscor, alternate switch-ins to Miraidon such as Arceus-Ground, Arceus-Fairy, Zacian-C, and Flutter Mane are nigh-mandatory, as Gliscor cannot take repeated Draco Meteors reliably.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Swords Dance can be run to make Gliscor a surprisingly effective wallbreaker when combined with Earthquake and Knock Off. However, this set relies on the surprise factor quite a bit, so it's not very consistent. Bulldoze and Sand Tomb are both viable attacking options, with Bulldoze notably annoying Dragon Dance users like Arceus-Ground, but Earthquake and Knock Off generally have more use. Taunt is possible to prevent set up from opposing Pokemon, although its utility is usually not enough to justify it over Gliscor's other options. U-turn may be run as a momentum option, but the loss of Protect greatly reduces Gliscor's bulk.
Checks and Counters
====
**Necrozma-DM**: Necrozma-DM takes little from Earthquake, is immune to Toxic, and can easily use Dragon Dance or Swords Dance on Gliscor without much worry. However, Necrozma-DM must be wary of Knock Off, especially if Spikes are on the field.
**Special Attacks**: Gliscor quickly falls apart against the many strong special attackers in Ubers, such as Miraidon, Kyogre, Eternatus, and Calm Mind Arceus formes. These Calm Mind Arceus formes like Arceus-Water or Arceus-Ground use Tera Poison or Steel to become immune to Gliscor's Toxic. Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground may run Ice Beam to quickly dispatch Gliscor as well, although specially defensive Gliscor is only 2HKOed.
**Taunt**: Taunt from various Arceus formes, Miraidon, and Landorus-T can completely stop Gliscor from doing anything useful.
**Poison-immune Flying-types**: While rare, Corviknight utterly walls Gliscor and can prevent it from gaining momentum with Defog. Skarmory is immune to Toxic and Earthquake and can Spikes or Whirlwind with impunity on Gliscor.
**Orthworm**: Orthworm is immune to Earthquake and Toxic and can use Gliscor as a free Shed Tail opportunity.
**Ice-types**: Calyrex-I and Chien-Pao have little issue OHKOing any Gliscor that has not used Tera Water.
**Giratina-O**: While it despises Toxic, Giratina-O can Defog away Gliscor's entry hazards and heavily damage Gliscor with Hex. Giratina-O can also use Tera Steel to become immune to Toxic.
**Gliscor**: Gliscor is ironically a check to itself, as it is immune to Toxic and Earthquake and takes little from Knock Off. Thus, the Gliscor that has more PP will win.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
[https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/manaphy.50695/]
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/corvere.306317/
[https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aberforth.249382/]
Grammar checked by:
[https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aurora.109385/]
Gliscor has several qualities that make it extremely frustrating for balance and bulky offense teams to deal with. For one, the combination of Poison Heal and Toxic Orb gives it an immunity to status and great passive recovery. Gliscor's Ground / Flying typing offers a myriad of resistances, including an immunity to Spikes and a neutrality to Stealth Rock. When combined with Poison Heal, this essentially makes Gliscor almost entirely unaffected by opposing entry hazards. Additionally, Gliscor has access to a support movepool that most Pokemon could only dream of, featuring Spikes, Toxic, Toxic Spikes, and Knock Off. As such, Gliscor is a fantastic pivot in Ubers, notably taking Sacred Fire from Ho-Oh with ease and setting up hazards on staple threats like Choice Scarf Koraidon and Ting-Lu. This makes Gliscor one of the best Pokemon to take advantage of the lack of entry hazard removal options in Ubers. However, Gliscor is held back by its lackluster stats for Ubers standards; its Defense, while decent, is nowhere near good enough to take on titans like Scale Shot Koraidon, meaning Gliscor has limited use against hyper offense teams. Gliscor is also setup bait for one of the most common threats in the tier, Necrozma-DM, which is only 4HKOed by Earthquake. Gliscor's pathetic Special Defense by Ubers standards leaves it forced out by the vast majority of special attackers.
[SET]
Defensive (Gliscor) @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
Tera Type: Water / Fairy
EVs: 244 HP / 252 Def / 12 SpD
244 HP / 12 Def / 252 SpD
Impish / Careful Nature
- Earthquake / Knock Off
- Toxic / Knock Off
- Spikes / Toxic Spikes
- Protect
[SET COMMENTS]
The combination of Earthquake and Toxic works very well together, as Earthquake deals super effective damage to Steel- and Poison-types, which are immune to Toxic. Alternatively, Knock Off may be run in either slot to remove Heavy-Duty Boots from opposing Pokemon like Ho-Oh and Kyogre, and thus make Gliscor's hazard stacking more effective. Do note that the lack of Earthquake makes Gliscor unable to check threats like Zacian-C, while the loss of Toxic makes Gliscor very passive against Pokemon with reliable recovery like the various Arceus formes that don't mind Knock Off. Spikes and Toxic Spikes are both powerful entry hazard options; Spikes is less matchup-dependent than Toxic Spikes is, but Toxic Spikes can be devastating against teams without a Poison-type. Protect is highly recommended, as it provides an easy way to activate Toxic Orb, can stall for Poison Heal recovery, and has good synergy with Toxic. Gliscor can run both defensive and specially defensive sets; Defense investment is more common thanks to Gliscor's decent Defense stat allowing it to check physical attackers like Zacian-C, but Special Defense investment lets Gliscor act as a pseudo-check to Heavy-Duty Boots Miraidon and set up hazards more easily against Arceus formes and Eternatus. Tera Water is chosen for defensive Gliscor, as it covers Gliscor's Water- and Ice-type weaknesses and provides a useful resistance to Necrozma-DM's Sunsteel Strike and Zacian-C's Behemoth Blade. Tera Fairy is used on specially defensive sets to take Miraidon's Draco Meteor if needed.
While Gliscor is helpful against physical threats like Koraidon, Zacian-C, and Arceus-Ground, it should never be your main check to them, as Gliscor's bulk simply won't hold up over time. Therefore, teammates like Necrozma-DM, Arceus-Fairy, Arceus-Water, and Skeledirge are excellent for their ability to better take on physical attackers. Necrozma-DM is also greatly appreciated for its ability to Knock Off Heavy-Duty Boots. Gliscor works well with other hazard setters like Ting-Lu, Arceus-Fairy, and Clodsire, which can set Stealth Rock or Spikes that Gliscor may be missing out on. Arceus-Water, Ting-Lu, defensive Swords Dance Necrozma-DM, and Arceus-Dark are good partners for handling Dragon Dance Necrozma-DM that may attempt to set up on Gliscor. For specially defensive Gliscor, alternate switch-ins to Miraidon such as Arceus-Ground, Arceus-Fairy, Zacian-C, and Flutter Mane are nigh-mandatory, as Gliscor cannot take repeated Draco Meteors reliably.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
Swords Dance can be run to make Gliscor a surprisingly effective wallbreaker when combined with Earthquake and Knock Off. However, this set relies on the surprise factor quite a bit, so it's not very consistent. Bulldoze and Sand Tomb are both viable attacking options, with Bulldoze notably annoying Dragon Dance users like Arceus-Ground, but Earthquake and Knock Off generally have more use. Taunt is possible to prevent set up from opposing Pokemon, although its utility is usually not enough to justify it over Gliscor's other options. U-turn may be run as a momentum option, but the loss of Protect greatly reduces Gliscor's bulk.
Checks and Counters
====
**Necrozma-DM**: Necrozma-DM takes little from Earthquake, is immune to Toxic, and can easily use Dragon Dance or Swords Dance on Gliscor without much worry. However, Necrozma-DM must be wary of Knock Off, especially if Spikes are on the field.
**Special Attacks**: Gliscor quickly falls apart against the many strong special attackers in Ubers, such as Miraidon, Kyogre, Eternatus, and Calm Mind Arceus formes. These Calm Mind Arceus formes like Arceus-Water or Arceus-Ground use Tera Poison or Steel to become immune to Gliscor's Toxic. Dragon Dance Arceus-Ground may run Ice Beam to quickly dispatch Gliscor as well, although specially defensive Gliscor is only 2HKOed.
**Taunt**: Taunt from various Arceus formes, Miraidon, and Landorus-T can completely stop Gliscor from doing anything useful.
**Poison-immune Flying-types**: While rare, Corviknight utterly walls Gliscor and can prevent it from gaining momentum with Defog. Skarmory is immune to Toxic and Earthquake and can Spikes or Whirlwind with impunity on Gliscor.
**Orthworm**: Orthworm is immune to Earthquake and Toxic and can use Gliscor as a free Shed Tail opportunity.
**Ice-types**: Calyrex-I and Chien-Pao have little issue OHKOing any Gliscor that has not used Tera Water.
**Giratina-O**: While it despises Toxic, Giratina-O can Defog away Gliscor's entry hazards and heavily damage Gliscor with Hex. Giratina-O can also use Tera Steel to become immune to Toxic.
**Gliscor**: Gliscor is ironically a check to itself, as it is immune to Toxic and Earthquake and takes little from Knock Off. Thus, the Gliscor that has more PP will win.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
[https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/manaphy.50695/]
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/corvere.306317/
[https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aberforth.249382/]
Grammar checked by:
[https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/aurora.109385/]
Last edited:
