Richard's Reasoning - Gligar

Welcome to the twelfth entry of Richard's Reasoning, where we discuss Pokemon in Crystal Clear's unique metagame. This time we'll be talking about a Pokemon that received a significant buff in the latest patch. Let's talk about Gligar.

Base Stats: 65 HP / 75 Attack / 105 Defense / 35 Sp. Attack / 65 Sp. Defense / 85 Speed

The latest patch has bestowed upon Gligar the gift of recovery via Moonlight. It has also been given Whirlwind, allowing it to act as a phazer. These buffs allow it to serve as a reliable answer to some common threats in our metagame. Of note, Gligar completely blanks Heracross, as well as shutting down Marowak and most other Fighting types in the metagame. Gligar's unique type combination and high Defense stat makes it a pretty good defensive pivot. Gligar has a myriad of options at its disposal as well, which allows it a degree of flexibility that most defensive Pokemon don't have. This time I have two sets for Gligar, so let's take a look at what it can do.

-Beetle Breaker-

Gligar@ Leftovers
Earthquake
Moonlight
Wing Attack / Protect / Toxic / Baton Pass / Swords Dance / Counter / Whirlwind
Wing Attack / Protect / Toxic / Baton Pass / Swords Dance / Counter / Whirlwind

Gligar's ability to act as a defensive answer to common metagame staples makes it a valuable Pokemon. Earthquake is your main STAB attack here, boasting good power even off Gligar's modest Attack stat, thanks to STAB.

Moonlight is a necessity on Gligar, allowing it to repeatedly check powerful physical attackers throughout the course of a game. 50% healing plus the 6% from Leftovers means that it's very difficult for physical attackers to break through Gligar.

The third and fourth slots are more flexible and based on what you prefer, and what your team needs, so we'll go through each one individually.

Wing Attack provides a secondary STAB, but more importantly, allows Gligar the ability to deal good damage to Fighting types. Standard Hidden Power Rock Heracross takes 80-94% from Wing Attack, so even a little bit of chip damage will usually bring it into KO range.

Protect pairs very well with Gligar's natural bulk, and allows it even more passive recovery via Leftovers. It also allows you to scout the opponent's intentions, and potentially rack up more Toxic damage if you use that as well. As always, Protect is exploitable in various ways, so smart timing is required to make the most of it, but Gligar certainly appreciates being able to relieve pressure.

Toxic is very helpful for Gligar, allowing it to focus on staying healthy while Poison plays the game for it. It's also a great attack to use early in a game to punish many of Gligar's usual counters for switching into it, such as Slowbro, Vaporeon, and Quagsire. As mentioned above, Protect pairs very well with Toxic and gives Gligar passive healing while the opponent's Toxic counter increases and mounts pressure on them.

Baton Pass may seem odd without a boosting move, but given that Gligar will force many switches when brought in against physical attackers, Gligar can Baton Pass out to see what the opponent switches to and give you a chance to respond with an appropriate switch of your own. If you're struggling to understand why this would be valuable, keep in mind that since Baton Pass is a move, it will always go after the opponent manually switches out, so you get to scout what they switch to before you switch via Baton Pass. It can also be paired with Swords Dance, so let's talk about that.

Swords Dance is definitely worth considering. Being able to boost the power of Earthquake and Wing Attack and heal off the damage taken in that time is an appealing prospect, but the problem with this is that Gligar has very common counters that will frequently switch into it. Most of these are slow, bulky Water types like Slowbro, Vaporeon, and Quagsire, so if you're going to utilize Swords Dance, the set should probably be: Earthquake / Wing Attack, Moonlight, Swords Dance, Baton Pass. This will allow it to still function as a physical wall and give it flexibility to switch gears if the situation calls for it. It also means that if a Gligar counter shows up, you can just pass to something that will appreciate the boost.

Counter is a really neat option for Gligar if the opponent wants to try their luck in breaking through Gligar with a physical attack. This is especially helpful as a surprise tactic for turning the tables against a physical attacker that has a boosting move like Swords Dance Machamp or Marowak that don't want to switch out and lose their boost. It is risky, however, since they might just opt for a second boost while you fail a Counter, which could be devastating. Which leads us into our final option.

Whirlwind allows Gligar to shut down any attempts for physical attackers to boost themselves high enough to break through Gligar. This in itself might not be enough to discourage them from boosting as Gligar switches in on them, so team support in the form of Spikes is valuable here. Additionally, Toxic somewhat paradoxically pairs well with Whirlwind here, as spreading poison throughout the opposing team and healing off damage against ineffective opponents can quickly cause momentum to snowball in your favor without much effort from you, given the right situation and execution.

Given the nature of this set and Gligar's stats, it appreciates a partner that has good Sp. Defense and longevity. Lanturn stands out as one of the best partners, absorbing Surf and Ice Beam aimed at Gligar, while also boasting Heal Bell in case Gligar gets Poisoned. Slowking and Lapras also make good partners for combating Gligar's usual counters.

I'd be remiss not to mention that Gligar pairs very well with Chansey, as a new wave sort of SkarmBliss pairing. Chans...gar. Glisey? Hate these. But the pair seems extremely powerful defensively. We've taken some pains to prevent this from being too powerful by making many mixed sweepers more effective in the metagame - Poliwrath, Nidoking and Electabuzz can all threaten this core pretty effectively with the buffs they've received over the patches, to name a few. Keep this core in mind when team building.

-Marathon Mon-

Gligar@ Leftovers / PrzCureBerry / PsnCureBerry
Baton Pass
Agility / Swords Dance
Agility / Swords Dance / Moonlight
Moonlight / Earthquake / Wing Attack / Toxic

What an odd set, but Gligar can function as a very effective pure Baton Passer. Its access to both Agility and Swords Dance means it can serve as a flexible passer. You can opt for one, or both. If you're just going for one move, it's usually worth having Moonlight in slot 3 so that you can setup the boost multiple times per match if necessary. The last slot is either Moonlight if you're running both boosting moves, or an attack to have some offensive presence so that Gligar can actually fight if it has to. Toxic can be used in this slot, but it's not as effective in general as it is on the first set since the timing required to make it useful is asking a lot for a Pokemon that's already spending multiple turns to setup a pass to something else.

The item here isn't as strict as set 1, since Gligar might not be spending a lot of time on the field. Leftovers is still nice, but PrzCureBerry can be helpful for staving off Miltank Body Slams, while PsnCureBerry can heal Gligar from a Toxic attempt once, and potentially give it more time to setup if the opponent feels the need to use Toxic a second time.

Believe it or not, Gligar has even more options to choose from. Rock Slide pairs extremely well with Earthquake, but it's not especially useful for Gligar in this metagame, in my opinion. It'd rather have Wing Attack or Toxic as offensive pressure options most of the time. Still, it can allow Gligar to beat Aerodactyl, which is an important consideration to make. Twineedle is a weird offensive option that mostly exists to punish Exeggutor's existence, but it can also Poison Steel types, which means it's one of Gligar's best options for beating Skarmory, amusingly. Thief can allow Gligar to steal an item, but if this item isn't Leftovers you're not making effective use of Gligar's walling potential, and even if it is your move slots are too valuable to really make this worth it, in my opinion. Finally, Hidden Power Flying is stronger than Wing Attack and you can use it if you want a 20% chance to KO Heracross from full or a stronger attack for the fourth slot of the Baton Pass set, but it cuts into Gligar's HP pretty deeply, forcing it to run 7 HP, which I don't think is worth the trade-off for this Pokemon. Dig is a rather gimmicky option to use alongside Toxic and Protect for even more stall potential, since it cannot be hit while underground, but is less effective in general than just having Earthquake.

-My Opinion-

That was a lot of text. Gligar is pretty neat. I really like Gliscor's design though, I think it's one of the coolest Pokemon the series ever gets and ranks pretty highly among my favorite Pokemon. Gligar isn't as cool, but it's pretty cute, and I think the concept for the design is really interesting.