Gallade
Blade Pokémon
A master of courtesy and swordsmanship, it fights using extending swords on its elbows.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Forms
Evolution Chain
Moves
Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
With a great STAB combination, great coverage options, and access to Swords Dance, Gallade differentiates itself from other Fighting-type wallbreakers by being able to beat many traditional checks to Fighting-types like Slowking, Weezing, and Dhelmise with its Psychic-type moves and Knock Off. It also has usable special bulk, giving it setup opportunities against Pokemon like Blastoise and defensive Decidueye. However, Gallade is outsped by many threats like Vivillon and Rotom because of its average Speed, and it cannot take even resisted physical hits like Passimian's Close Combat safely due to its lackluster bulk. Additionally, a Psychic / Fighting typing is quite bad defensively, making Gallade neutral to Dark while still having the same weaknesses as other Fighting-types. Being neutral to Dark also makes Gallade unable to switch into Dark-type attacks safely to utilize its ability Justified. Aside from this, other Fighting-types give it competition by providing better utility for the team, like U-turn from Passimian and priority from Pangoro. Scrafty also has higher overall bulk and better abilities in Shed Skin, which allows it to set up without fear of status, and Moxie, which allows it to snowball and sweep.
Most Used Moves
Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc