Introduction
Out of every mon available in GSC, only Skarmory takes less damage from a +2 attack Marowak. And if you consider Fire Blast, there is no better check to +0 Marowak than Gligar. Similarly its typing is great into Machamp. Surely there must be something here, right? With enough creativity can I unleash the 1999 edition of Landorus on GSC? Alas there is not much here for Gligar. But with an entire team designed around it, I think I have carved out the smallest niche for Gligar on a moderately viable GSC OU team. In an effort to find some application for the scorpion lobster bat I have tested versions of this team for the last three odd years. After much deliberation (and like 6 months of procrastinating to write this post lol) I bring you Gligar stall.
Teambuilding Process
Now armed with the EQ Lax checking and Spikes setting menace of Rest Forretress I felt I had the tools to construct a niche for Gligar. Throw in the obligatory Snorlax and the team begins to take shape. My Forretress and Gligar set were decided from the start, but it took some more time and teammates before Snorlax's could be decided.
With the Earthquake Snorlax check covered, my next priority was deciding on a FireLax check. There are many options for this slot, but I ultimately decided on Umbreon as the best mix of longevity and utility. The combination of Forretress's Reflect and Umbreon's charm also helps the team be a little less passive. Instead of just walling Lax, these moves allow teammates to switch in and get something done.
Rapid Spinners are pretty much mandatory on modern stall teams. With Forre's moveset maxed out and Umbreon occupying what could have been Golem's FireLax check role, Starmie was a pretty obvious shoo-in for the spinner role. I experimented with Tentacruel in this slot but ultimately decided that Tenta has too difficult of a time spinning against Gengar offenses. As this team was shaping up to be very passive, Starmie got the nod over Tentacruel.
At this point in teambuilding, I thought this team could use a little more backbone against Zadpos and Raikou. My first thought was my own Raikou, but I didn't like my chances against other stall teams with only Snorlax and Raikou to wallbreak. For this reason I decided to include Growth + Rest Jolteon as an electric check with some stall breaking power.
Team Breakdown
Forretress @ Leftovers
- Spikes
- Toxic
- Reflect
- Rest
Reflect Forretress unironically does a great job walling non Fire move Snorlax sets and aside from these FireLax matchups, Forre is this teams primary Snorlax switch in. To permanently stall Snorlax out Rest is needed in combination with Reflect. Spikes is of course the whole reason to use Forretress - compressing the important roles of a Spiker and Eq Lax check. This team's only real avenues of offense are Spikes Snorlax and Jolteon so it is pretty important that Spikes get up. Toxic is my preferred option in the last moveslot, allowing Forretress to put Cloyster on a timer as well as force Rests out of Snorlax. This move choice means Forretress is help against other Forre spiking and spinning on it. In fact this team cannot keep Spikes up against Spin Forre. However, I think Toxic offers the most upsides in the most matchups. Replacing Toxic with HP Fire helps out against other Forrestress but flops against spin Cloyster, Starmie, and Golem. Since this team is super passive, Forre is in the lead to Toxic lead Cloy or Spike on lead Lax, gambling no fire move. Forretress seems like an odd lead, but Spikes and Toxic are some of the only proactive options this team has, every other mon is predominantly reactive.
Snorlax @ Leftovers
- Double-Edge
- Earthquake
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
Since the team includes Rest Forre, Rest Jolteon, Non-Rest Starmie and Jolteon, it is in desperate need of a status absorbing Sleep Talker. Even if Umbreon was using Sleep Talk, I feel the team would be too pressured by Zapdos and Raikou without Sleep Talk Snorlax. For these reasons I decided to include Double Edge / Earthquake / Rest / Sleep Talk Snorlax as a catch all mixed and special wall. This set gives up a lot of Snorlax's offensive potential, but I think it is sufficiently threatening against offensive teams. Alternatives to Earthquake, such as Curse and Flamethrower, are not as useful against offense as Earthquake and do nothing to fix Sleep Talk Snorlax's inability to break stall teams. Lax could be much more, but this set is a necessary evil for this team to function defensively.
Starmie @ Leftovers
- Surf
- Rapid Spin
- Recover
- Substitute
Starmie's job is to spin, and this set does it about as consistently as one can hope. Surf, Rapid Spin, and Recover are all Stallmie staples and I don't have a good reason to deviate from them. Substitute is also quite a common pick and helps Starmie dodge Toxic when spinning against Cloy or Forre. While this doesn't mean Starmie will never get statused, absorbing one Toxic can be all you need to get an edge in the Spikes war. Sub also eases predictions if the opponent instead switches out into something like Gengar or Zapdos. While Starmie could get value out of other moves like Psychic, Thunder or even Nightmare, this sets makes Starmie the most consistent for spinning. Aside from spinning, Starmie is also a useful checks to mons like Machamp, Steelix, and Tyranitar. It shares a lot of its defensive duties with Gligar, but it doesn't hurt to have backups.
Jolteon @ Leftovers
IVs: 14 HP / 28 Atk / 26 Def
- Thunderbolt
- Hidden Power [Water]
- Growth
- Rest
Jolteon's role on this team is very narrow but also very important. Defensively it is only intended to check Zapdos and Raikou (it can also check Gengar in a pinch). This eases the burden on Snorlax a little, while also helping the team not fold to electric types if Snorlax goes down. However its most important role is to provide the team with some way to win against stall. This is certainly a slow grind though. It takes some effort to remove or sufficiently weaken the opponent's Snorlax while any Roar Raikou or Light Screen Blissey will delay Jolteon progress for many turns. Fortunately Jolteon's Growth has more PP than Roar or Light Screen, so while Growth Jolteon is not a silver bullet for the stall matchup, it can eventually get the team over the finish line. HP Water over HP Ice since I'd rather try to wear down an Exeggutor than a Steelix.
Umbreon @ Leftovers
- Mean Look
- Charm
- Toxic
- Rest
Umbreon is here as the team's FireLax check, which would typically dictate a Charm / Rest / Sleep Talk set. However, FireLax not a super common set, and I find it acceptable to cheat a little on a Umbreon set without Sleep Talk. Charm and Rest are self explanatory for Umbreon's role, but Mean Look and Toxic are a little less common. Mean Look is primarily here to prevent the team from being picked apart by Mean Look / Perish Song Gengar and Misdreavus sets due to the team's lack of phazing moves. While rare, it is undesirable to have near auto-lose matchups. Mean Look is also useful to trap opposing Snorlax and PP stall them down with a combination of Charm + Rest. This can really help speed up the progress of a game and helps Jolteon break through stall teams. You really only get one shot to pull this off so its a little too gimmicky to be consistent but revealing Charm + Toxic first is a good way to lull the opponent into a false sense of familiarity. Toxic over Pursuit in the last slot because this team doesn't really need to trap ghost or psychic types. Toxic makes Umbreon a little less free to switch into.
Gligar @ Leftovers
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Counter
- Protect
Now for the coup de grace of the team: Counter Gligar.
So here's the funny thing about Counter Gligar: neither Marowak, Quagsire nor Machamp can OHKO Gligar - even at 999 attack. (Yes crits can one shot but let me have this) In a perfect world Gligar switches in as the opponent sets up and scores a KO with Counter, but even if the opponent expects Counter Gligar can spam Protect / Counter and eventually weave in a Toxic to cripple the opponent on a turn they do not attack. This strategy is susceptible to flinches / crits, but its performance in these situations is not much different than Skarmory's. Earthquake is just here to give Gligar a button to click when it has nothing else to do and also isnt free entry to anything not scared of Toxic. Aside from Toxic/Counter/Protect mind games Protect is also great to heal up Gligar if it switches in on any hits.
In the worse case scenario when Marowak or Machamp flinches with Rock Slide, the optimal play is to go for the double Protect (or a single Protect if Rock Slide was a low roll) then go back to Counter. After considering flinch odds, damage rolls, rock slide accuracy and double protect odds, Gligar only has a ~15% chance of falling to flinches. Not terrible. Rest on Marowak and Quagsire as well as the opponent switching out after Counter was revealed complicate the matchups, but Gligar's presence dissuades the opponent from clicking set up moves. Just Gligar's presence gives you the opportunity for mix ups.
Gligar is also useful as a switch in/sack to Steelix Explosion, is a decent pivot against Tyranitar or Rhydon, and can PP stall Heracross. (Though this last one rarely comes into effect with Reflect Forretress) Gligar is also a hilarious answer to WW Hp Water Zapdos who has to run in fear of Toxic, cannot 2HKO Gligar, cannot Whirlwind against Counter, and takes >85% if its HP Waters into Counter.
In matchups where you can't find a use for Gligar, it's not bad to take a coinflip against HP Ice electrics, Zapdos HP Ice only OHKO's 56% of the time.
For ease of understanding how this team works, here's a brief overview of how it checks offensive threats:
Snorlax:
Physical attackers: *
Mixed attackers:
Special attackers: (Electrics, Gengar) (Jynx, Some Exeggutor) (Exeggutor, Jynx, Gengar, Alakazam, Espeon), (Jynx, Fires, Some Exeggutor)
* Basically every pure physical attacker besides Lax uses Ground + Rock coverage, nice for Gligar
Physical attackers:
*Mixed attackers:
Special attackers:
(Electrics, Gengar) (Jynx, Some Exeggutor) (Exeggutor, Jynx, Gengar, Alakazam, Espeon), (Jynx, Fires, Some Exeggutor)* Basically every pure physical attacker besides Lax uses Ground + Rock coverage, nice for Gligar
Other options
Here are a few alternatives I've tried with this team as well as my impressions on them:
Double Edge/ Curse / Rest / Sleep Talk
+ Pursuit This change is pretty much a side grade to the current team, but I like it a little less overall. MonoLax gives the team a direct way to make progress and makes it a little more difficult for the opponent to rip off explosions. However replacing Toxic with Pursuit on Umbreon makes Umb much easier to switch into. (even if ML + Pursuit is a cute 50/50) Replacing ML with Pursuit basically resigns this team to PP stalling Snorlax when facing stall teams as it can be difficult to Lax into a Jolteon vulnerable state. Replacing ML is also bad news if you run into any Perish Trappers. Making Umbreon Pursuit / Charm / Rest / Sleep Talk combines all the previously mentioned problems.
Return / Curse / Roar / Rest
over + Pursuit / Sleep Talk Curse + Roar Kangaskhan is a stall breaking alternative to Jolteon and helps the team by giving it an actual phazer. However this shifts the defensive burden of Zapdos/Raikou onto Sleep Talk Umbreon + makes the team worse into Vaporeon. Kang's winpath vs stall is more straightforward than Jolteon's, but make the team worse against common offensive threats. Ok to matchup fish for stall, but Gligar is already kinda matchup fishing into offense.
over Misdreavus can fill a similar niche to Umbreon as a FireLax check and even run a remarkably similar Mean Look / Growl / Toxic / Rest set. It can also slip in Perish Song over Growl to KO trapped opponents instead of PP stalling them. Misdreavus also greatly helps with the Spikes game by spin blocking. However Misdreavus is liable to get Pursuit trapped, it more likely to be suspected of carrying Mean Look, and sacrifices the mixed walling abilities of Umbreon. Missy does improve the team's matchup against stall, but I have found it to be less consistent in aggregate against stall and offense. Still a relatively fine substitution.
Closing Remarks
Since my Forretress set cannot keep Spikes up against Rapid Spin Forre and Starmie will eventually be worn down by Toxic, the team is not well suited to playing drawn out Spikes centric games against other stalls. As such this team is better suited to matchups against offense. Of course it is not an autowin matchup as the team still needs to be wary of Explosion + mixed attackers, but it helps that this team plays different than the traditional stall. People that are unfamiliar with the structure may struggle to properly identify win conditions when faced with Reflect Forre instead of Skarmory. For example using Self Destruct Snorlax with a back Heracross or Cloyster prematurely exploding on Starmie to open up Machamp are unlikely to succeed against this team. On the flip side this does mean the team becomes less effective as more people become familiar with the style. Mean Look Umbreon and Counter Gligar also become a lot easier to play around when you know they exist. Suffering from success.
This team is intentionally designed in a way to give Gligar a niche as a Marowak/Machamp/Quagsire/misc. Ground + Rock attacker check. This inherently makes sacrifices, but I think the team is viable enough to be an occasional tournament pick. For example, this team is unacceptably vulnerable to Vaporeon and Growth + Baton Pass Eeveelutions to be a reliable meta-pick, but these matchups are not auto-losses, just very difficult.
I've presented this team in a more or less complete form, but I am legitimately interested in feedback. Ideally any changes keep Gligar, but it would be fun to see any evolutions on this team's core concept.
Thanks for reading.
