General Gallade finished Gen 5 as one of LU's elite Pokémon. Now it's yours to use in NU, and should always be considered if you're looking for a Fighting type. Its excellent base 125 Attack and vast movepool make it a very potent physical attacker, and unlike most Fighting types it has a good base 115 Special Defence. No one trick pony, Gallade can run many different sets ranging from powerful wallbreaking sets to bulky boosting sets and all points in between. It can even wield Choice items. Its Psychic typing gives it a valuable niche over other Fighting types in the tier: it can smash clean through the likes of Vileplume and Amoongus. Gallade does have a few flaws though. Its Speed is average at best, and on the physical side Gallade is rather frail. Bulky Swords Dance Gallade @ Lum Berry / Leftovers Trait: Justified EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk -SAtk) Swords Dance Drain Punch Psycho Cut / Zen Headbutt Knock Off / Shadow Sneak Showcasing Gallade's great power and bulk, this set is designed to clear up late game. Swords Dance takes Gallade's Attack up to an epic 766, giving this set the power it needs to sweep. Drain Punch serves as the main STAB, as its healing effect makes Gallade harder to revenge kill. As for the alternate STAB, go with Psycho Cut if you prefer reliability, Zen Headbutt if you prefer power. Knock Off hits the Ghost and Psychic types that resist Drain Punch super effectively. You could also use Shadow Sneak to get the jump on Sigilyph and Mismagius. The EVs maximise Gallade's Attack, while using 56 Speed EVs enables Gallade to outrun max Speed neutral natured base 55s. The rest is in HP for bulk. A Lum Berry lets Gallade have a one time insurance against burns, while the passive recovery of Leftovers can make Gallade harder to take down. Offensive Swords Dance Gallade @ Life Orb / Lum Berry Trait: Justified EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd -SAtk) Swords Dance Close Combat Zen Headbutt Knock Off / Shadow Sneak This set trades the last set's bulk for raw power, and as such is best used as an early to mid game hole puncher. The main advantage over the Bulky Swords Dance set is that it can still do a lot of damage before boosting. Swords Dance cranks the power up to 11, enabling Gallade to 2HKO almost everything in NU. Close Combat serves as the main STAB, getting 2HKOs on everything not resisting it at +2. Zen Headbutt is the secondary STAB, destroying the likes of Weezing, Amoongus and Vileplume. Knock Off hits Ghosts and opposing Psychic-types for super effective damage. You could also use Shadow Sneak to get the jump on Sigilyph and Mismagius. The EVs simply maximise Speed and power, as Close Combat reduces both defences there's no point investing in bulk. An Adamant nature is recommended for the extra damage, although Jolly can be used to outrun the likes of Adamant Sawk and Stoutland outside Sandstorm. Life Orb is the recommended item, as this set is all about power. If you're worried about Burns though, a Lum Berry is still viable. Assault Vest Gallade @ Assault Vest Trait: Justified EVs: 200 HP / 252 Atk / 56 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk -SAtk) Drain Punch Psycho Cut Knock Off Shadow Sneak / Leaf Blade Rather than smashing stuff up, this set is meant to be a bulky pivot. Assault Vest makes Gallade extremely bulky on the special side. A Fire Blast from Life Orb Magmortar has only a small chance to 2HKO, while a +2 Surf from Shell Smash Omastar will never OHKO. Drain Punch serves as the STAB, keeping Gallade healthy and doing good damage thanks to Gallade's great 125 base Attack. Psycho Cut 2HKOes Weezing and Amoongus after Stealth Rock. Knock Off damages Ghost and Psychic types and deprives the opponent of their held item. Shadow Sneak can be used in the last slot to 2HKO Sigilyph and Mismagius and finish off faster heavily weakened Pokémon. Alternatively, Leaf Blade can be used to smash bulky Water types like Quagsire and Gastrodon. EVs maximise Attack with enough Speed to outrun 252 Speed neutral natured base 55s. The rest is in HP for extra bulk. Bulk Up Gallade @ Leftovers Trait: Justified EVs: 248 HP / 204 SDef / 56 Spd Careful Nature (+SDef -SAtk) Substitute Bulk Up Drain Punch Knock Off Another set meant to sweep, although this one is meant to be a slower, bulkier booster. So while it's not as powerful as the Swords Dance sets, it's much harder to revenge kill. Substitute shields Gallade from status and Leech Seed. Bulk Up improves Gallade's Attack and lacklustre Defence, making it more powerful and bulkier. Drain Punch is perfect for a bulky booster like this set to do damage and keep Gallade healthy simultaneously. Knock Off hits the Ghost and Psychic types that resist Drain Punch super effectively, and deprives the opponent of their held item. The EVs allow Gallade to outrun max Speed neutral natured base 55s. 248 HPs give Gallade good overall bulk while keeping its HP odd, thus allowing Gallade to create more Substitutes. The rest is placed in Special Defence and a Special Defence boosting nature chosen to make the best of its Special bulk. As Bulk Up boosts Attack and Defence, they don't need investment. Choice Gallade @ Choice Band / Choice Scarf Trait: Justified EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spd Adamant Nature (+Atk -SAtk) / Jolly Nature (+Spd -SAtk) Close Combat Zen Headbutt Knock Off Trick / Leaf Blade / Shadow Sneak Designed to either amplify Gallade's already excellent Attack or patch up its average Speed. While it faces stiff competition from Sawk as a Choice item user, Gallade has STAB Zen Headbutt to beat Amoongus and Vileplume, Trick, and a better movepool. Close Combat and Zen Headbutt again serve as the STAB moves. Knock Off damages Psychic and Ghost-types and deprives the foe of their held item. Trick enables Gallade to cripple a would be wall like Quagsire or Spiritomb, while Leaf Blade demolishes most bulky Water types. Shadow Sneak can be used with a Choice Band for some priority. The EVs simply maximise Speed and power, as with Close Combat's stat penalties investing in bulk is pointless. Adamant nature is best for Choice Band, Jolly is best for Scarf. Specially Defensive Gallade @ Leftovers Trait: Steadfast EVs: 252 HP / 200 SDef / 56 Spd Careful Nature (+SDef -SAtk) Will-O-Wisp Taunt / Protect Drain Punch Wish Instead of trying to do damage, this set takes on a more defensive role, spreading burns and breaking down defensive Pokémon and neutering many of Gallade's usual switch ins. Will-O-Wisp cripples incoming physical attackers hoping to take advantage of Gallade's low physical bulk. Taunt can be used to prevent opponent's being able to set up on Gallade, while Protect can be used to grab an extra turn of Leftovers recovery or guarantee Wish will activate. Drain Punch gets STAB, and even with no investment still does reasonable damage to anything not resisting it thanks to Gallade's great 125 base Attack. Wish keeps Gallade healthy for longer. The EVs allow Gallade to outrun max Speed neutral natured 55s. 252 HP EVs give it a Leftovers number, with the remainder in Special Defence and a boosting nature chosen to give it more balanced bulk. Steadfast is the chosen ability, as Wish is illegal with Justified. Team Options Powerful Special attackers like Magmortar and Specs Rotom-A can soften up the opponent's team for the bulky Swords Dance and Bulk Up sets to sweep later on. Weezing can switch in on Spiritomb and Granbull and cripple them with Will-O-Wisp. Vaporeon can keep Gallade healthy with Wish and cure its status with Heal Bell. Sticky Web setters like Smeargle, Ariados and Leavenanny can help make up for Gallade's average Speed. Sweepers like Dragon Dance Feraligatr, Shell Smash Omastar and Virizion appreciate the holes the Offensive Swords Dance set can punch in the opponent's team. Other Options Stone Edge and Ice Punch are other coverage moves Gallade can use, but they don't hit much that isn't already covered. Magic Coat reflects back status moves, but it's extremely prediction reliant and Gallade just can't fit it in. A set with 3 attacks and a utility move could be used to combine Gallade's power and support movepool. A set with Substitute and Disable is possible, although Haunter does such a set better with its superior Speed and 3 immunitites. A Dual Screens set is possible, but Uxie is normally superior in that role. Thunder Wave and Toxic both have their merits, but normally Will-O-Wisp is more useful as most of Gallade's switch ins won't mind paralysis or poison but they will hate a burn. Poison Jab can be used on the offensive Swords Dance set to OHKO Granbull after Stealth Rock, but gets lacklustre coverage otherwise. While gimmicky, Wonder Room allows Gallade to smash physical walls like Hippowdon. Checks and Counters Spiritomb is immune to both STABs and can cripple with Will-O-Wisp even while Gallade is behind a Substitute thanks to Infiltrator. However, it will hate getting burned or Tricked a Choice item. Granbull isn't OHKOed by anything Gallade normally uses and OHKOes in turn with its STAB Play Rough. It can also cure a burn with Heal Bell. Quagsire walls the Bulky Swords Dance and Bulk Up sets, but a Life Orb boosted Close Combat will 2HKO and Leaf Blade can OHKO after Stealth Rock. Hippowdon walls the Assault Vest set, and avoids a 2HKO from the Bulky Swords Dance set even at +2, but a +2 Life Orb boosted Close Combat can OHKO after Stealth Rock. It will also hate being burned or Tricked a Choice item. Uxie resists both STABs and can set up Reflect to shut Gallade down. Knock Off will do heavy damage though, and it will hate being Taunted or Tricked a Choice item. Faster physcially inclined Flying types like Swellow can outrun and OHKO with their respective super effective STABs Life Orb Mismagius and Haunter outrun and OHKO with their respective Shadow Balls, but Knock Off OHKOs both of them.
S.T.A.L.L.B.R.E.A.K.E.R. Taunt/WoW/Wish/ Drain Punch or Knock Off the god Pokémon. beats all those usual "counters" like Spiritomb. You mentioned Healing Wish in OO, unfortunately Gallade doesn't learn HW as amazing as that would be. The fourth move on the AV set should probably be Shadow Sneak. Shadow Sneak can also handily find its way onto the offensive SD Set. Knock Off is really good tho :^[ Don't think I really need to explain why Shadow Sneak is a good move. It's fairly obvious. Offensive SD could also slash Lum Berry, in fact I think it's more deserving of it there than on the bulky one. Might even be better than LO. This set should also, imo, run Jolly. Since Adamant has about a 30% chance to OHKO Hippo with LO After Rocks. Vaporeon is the only thing it truly makes a difference for, that is, when you're running Lum. Adamant Lum will OHKO 70% of the time if they come in on rocks and use protect for a turn. While Jolly only has about a 12% chance. However if it does read the protect and SD it doesn't matter, it can also afford to take a Scald a lot more than LO can. Bulk-Up should not run Night Slash. Night Slash is only 5 BP Stronger than Knock Off with no item, it's a trade that is 100% not worth it. Offensive Utility should probably run Jolly, especially if it's running Dbond or Memento. Personally I'd run Jolly anyway. OO potentials: (some more than others :^] ) Dual Screens Trick Room Wonder Room (don't pretend it wouldn't be fuckin' hilarious, not suggesting it's good but you curbstomp Physdef Hippo etc) Magic Coat SubDisable (what a god,,,) There might be other things but this is a quick glance over.
Ties offensive Mesprit Outpaces Sandless Stoutland Outpaces Modest Rotom Formes (kinda rare) +1 Bulky Scrafty Adamant Kanga Adamant Sawk Neutral Magmortar. Gets a solid outspeed on Shiftry Also things like Timid Magneton and Tyrantrum that aren't awfully common.
@Afro Smash , @Daybreak Can't think of anything else that needs changing/adding, so would you guys mind having a look please?
I wouldnt say offensive utility is really worthy of its own set, could add scyther to Checks/Counters list, and finally a Life Orb isn't necessary to kill Haunter or Mismag with Knock Off. Oh and Slash Protect with Taunt on Sp Def imo Other than that approved 1/2 Wait for Daybreaks opinions before makin changes tho.
agreeing w/ afro also put shadow sneak on choice set slashed with trick and say it's there for choice banded only 2/2