Gligar

Tier-OU

Abilities:

Sand Veil: Evasion is increased by 20% in a sandstorm.

Hyper Cutter: Prevents Attack reduction.

HP

Atk

Def

Sp Atk

Sp Def

Spd

	Set Name	Nature		Item

SD Gligar

Jolly

Life Orb / Leftovers

	Moves	EVs

Swords Dance
Night Slash
Earthquake
Stone Edge / Rock Slide

252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def

A standard Swords Dance set, and works very well if Gligar finds a chance to use Swords Dance. Gligar's high Speed is only rivaled by a handful of NFEs, although it should be noted that most of these Pokemon pack Ice attacks, which Gligar takes serious damage from. The choice between Leftovers and Life Orb is an ever-circumstantial decision of an extra set-up turn over extra power. With Gligar's natural Defense, it's sometimes possible to suffer a 3HKO, allowing Gligar an extra Swords Dance set-up or attacking turn, giving a better chance of a sweep. However, if Gligar sets Swords Dance up, and receives little damage in return, the small amount of recovery from Leftovers becomes useless unless Gligar is repeatedly hit with weaker attack

	Set Name	Nature		Item

Lead

Jolly

Leftovers

	Moves	EVs

Stealth Rock
Taunt
Stone Edge
Earthquake

224 HP / 224 Spd / 60 Sp Def

This Gligar works as a potent lead with access to Stealth Rock and Taunt, and its high Speed. Gligar can Taunt many slower Stealth Rock leads such as Marshtomp (watch out for Ice Punch), Graveler, Onix and Pupitar, and even as fast leads as Monferno and Skiploom, denying them of Stealth Rock or other set-up attacks, while being able to deal with almost any attack that is aimed at Gligar thanks to its defenses.

224 Speed allows you to outspeed anything slower than a lead Monferno, including the aformentioned Skiploom. Max Speed Skiploom itself sits at a Speed of 284, requiring at least 216 Speed EVs to outspeed, so it is advised to stay with 224, as the extra EVs will rarely help Gligar in withstanding Special attacks.

	Set Name	Nature		Item

CounterTank

Impish

Leftovers

	Moves	EVs

Counter
Roost
Rock Slide / Stone Edge
Earthquake

252 HP / 172 Def / 28 Sp Def / 56 Spd

This is a bulkier set that attempts to surprise some of Gligar's typical physical counters who pack Ice Punch with a nasty Counter attack that causes serious damage. After the surprise is revealed, Gligar can then Roost away damage on a switch-out, or if Gligar is faster than the opponent, either Roost stall for another Counter, or finish it off with one of the last two listed attacks.

172 Def / 252 HP ensures Gligar always survives a Life Orb'ed Ice Punch from a max Attack Croconaw before SR damage and Dragon Dance, and will always OHKO back with Counter. It also ensures that a 0 Attack, 252 HP Marshtomp's Ice Punch will never OHKO, while the Counter damage will always KO it back. 56 Speed allows Gligar to outspeed a neutral-natured, 252 Speed Nuzleaf, Riolu, Luxio, Combusken and Tangela, allowing Gligar to attack them with Earthquake, as well as max Speed Shelgon before a Dragon Dance, Mantyke and Croagunk. It allows Gligar to outspeed neutral-natured, 252 Speed Cranidos and Wartortle to switch between Roost and Counter for the physical variants, although a Wartortle with Ice Beam will cause issues.


	Team Benefit
	Gligar has a tendency to attract bulky Water-types such as Prinplup, Poliwhirl and Marshtomp, making Roselia a good teammate in that it can set up Spikes or Toxic Spikes to aid stall teams. Bayleef works in the same way, although using one of these Pokemon will give a team 2 teammates with an Ice weakness. Tentacool provides passable synergy with its resistance to Water and Ice, Gligar's only weaknesses, and can combine with its Special Defense to take most of these types of attacks, especially from the bulkier versions of the mentioned Water-types. Tentacool can also be switched-out when it is faced with Earthquake or Thunderbolt/Thunderpunch, giving Gligar a chance to set-up. Mantyke, who has very high Special Defense to sponge Ice attacks and carries a Water immunity with Water Absorb, can also set-up against Special Water or Ice attacks aimed at Gligar. Poliwhirl, Croconaw and Wartortle also work well as teammates, as they all are resistant to Ice and Water attacks, have enough defenses to be at most 3HKOed by such attacks, and can be given the opportunity to set up. The tankier versions of Gligar highly appreciate Stealth Rock support to aid in damaging the foe with their attacks, as they will not cause as many 2HKOs and 3HKOs as the offensive counterparts.
	Counters
	As mentioned before, Prinplup, Poliwhirl and Marshtomp all make sturdy counters for nearly any Gligar set that hasn't had an Attack boost, while retaliating with STAB Water attacks or Ice attacks. Sneasel can outspeed any variant of Gligar, and cause massive damage with Ice Punch. Gligar lacks a priority move outside of Quick Attack, which is often not enough to take down Sneasel before it attacks Gligar. Piloswine doesn't suffer a super-effective hit from Gligar's most powerful attacks, has respectable Defense and HP to be able to weather them, and can take Gligar down with Avalanche or Ice Shard. Grovyle can outspeed even a max Speed set, and only fails to KO Gligar with HP Ice if it doesn't invest very heavily in Special Defense, of which can be dealt with if Gligar has previously taken Stealth Rock damage.