[SET]
name: Wallbreaker (Fighting)
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Zen Headbutt
move 3: Close Combat
move 4: Knock Off / Shadow Sneak
item: Galladite
ability: Justified
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Massive Attack stat, good Speed stat and access to Swords Dance makes Mega Gallade a fearsome setup sweeper and wallbreaker that is capable of breaking apart defensive cores such as that of Water-, Poison- and Steel-type teams. Swords Dance boosts its already good Attack stat to monstrous levels, letting it take care of Pokemon such as Toxapex, Swampert, and Hippowdon with ease. Zen Headbutt lets it beat Toxapex, Mega Venusaur, Zapdos and Tapu Bulu for Fighting-type teams. Close Combat is its hardest hitting STAB move and is used to take on defensive behemoths such as Celesteela, Skarmory and Mandibuzz especially when boosted by Swords Dance. Knock Off is important coverage move as it lets it deal with Ghost- and Psychic-type Pokemon such as Galarian Corsola, Aegislash, Victini and Latios. Shadow Sneak can also be used over Knock Off to revenge kill threats to the team like Alolan Raichu, Dragapult and Spectrier which otherwise outspeed Mega Gallade. Mega Gallade should find setup opportunities against Pokemon that cannot do much damage to it in return like Drapion, and Skuntank. It can also setup Swords Dance due to forced switching against Pokemon like Toxapex and Nidoking. Maximum Attack investment along with maximum Speed investment and a Jolly nature not only optimizes the overall damage output but also lets Mega Gallade outspeed a threat like Alolan Ninetales and speed tie with other base 110 Speed Pokemon like Latios, Gengar and Mega Diancie. Justified is used as an ability here giving it an attack boost by switching on weak Knock Offs.
Entirety of Fighting-type team benefit from the wallbreaking done by Mega Gallade to improve match up against type like Poison and Water. Utility Cobalion as a teammate can not only take care of Fairy-type Pokemon like Mimikyu and Mega Diancie for it but also provide Stealth Rock and Thunder Wave support to cripple threat like Dragapult, Latios, and Barraskewda. It can also use Volt Switch to bring Mega Gallade safely into the field. Urshifu-S provides the team with an important immunity from Psychic-type attacks and can beat Ghost-type Pokemon like Gengar, Blacephalon and Spectrier for the team and it forms a great wallbreaking and anti Psychic core with Mega Gallade. Kommo-o as a teammate can take care of physical walls for Mega Gallade like Hippowdon and Slowbro with its Kommonium Z set and prove to be a pain for Water-, Steel and Poison-type teams due to its good coverage moves, easing pressure off of Mega Gallade. Other physical attackers like Terrakion, Breloom, and Galarian Zapdos work well to weaken shared defensive checks like Amoongus, Toxapex, and Slowbro. Terrakion can be Speed control when equipped with a Choice Scarf to cover Flying-type threat to Mega Gallade like Tornadus-T and Mega Aerodactyl or it can utilize a Swords Dance set to wallbreak alongside Mega Gallade as not many teams can handle both of them when boosted. Breloom can help improve matchups against Ground- and Water-type teams even more and cripple a Pokemon with Spore, giving setup opportunities to its teammates while Galarian Zapdos can run a Choice Scarf set with U-turn to bring in Mega Gallade safely to setup. Choice Scarf Buzzwole and Heracross can also be used to aid in the Psychic-type matchup and help in cleaning after Mega Gallade plows through the opposing team.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Fighting
Substitute can be used over Knock Off to make Mega Gallade much more hard to deal with for balance teams like Water- and Poison however Mega Gallade losses out on important coverage move and cannot reliably deal with Pokemon like Aegislash and defensive Psychic-type Pokemon like Slowbro and Mew. A Bulk Up + Drain Punch set can also be used to make Mega Gallade harder to beat for types like Dark, Poison and Ground.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Status**: Being a physical attacker, Mega Gallade despises status like burn from Scald as it halves its Attack stat and leaves it unable to do any meaningful damage without boosting extensively. Mega Gallade also dislikes paralysis and Toxic poison as the former makes it prone to be revenge killed by slower Pokemon like Victini and Mega Charizard Y while the latter puts it on a timer making it unable to sweep effectively.
**Super Effective Attacks**: Super effective attacks from Pokemon like Spectrier, Galarian Zapdos, Mega Diancie can easily KO Mega Gallade and deal with it however Ghost-types should watch out for boosted Shadow Sneak.
** Revenge Killers **: Faster Pokemon like Regieleki, Tapu Koko, Weavile, and Barraskewda can check Mega Gallade effectively especially after it incurs stat drop from using Close Combat.
**Priority Moves**: Mega Gallade is suspectible to strong priority moves from Pokemon like Bisharp, Mega Scizor, Aegislash and Dragonite that can revenge kill Mega Gallade or leave it severly weakened after it uses Close Combat.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[320110, Harpp]]
- Quality checked by: [[Maple, 473171], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]
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