Gallade, the Blade Pokémon. When trying to protect someone, it extends its elbows as if they were swords and fights savagely. Because it can sense what its foe is thinking, its attacks burst out first, fast, and fierce.
Overview
As the branched evolution to the Gardevoir line, Gallade has boasted a good deal of popularity over the years, even as it fell to the wayside due to power creep. This has not helped with Gallade having the same base defenses as Gardevoir. 68 base HP is paltry and with 65 Defense, Gallade can’t stomach any physical blows, while said HP prevents Gallade from taking many special blows despite its good Special Defense. This is worsened by the fact that Fighting is a far worse defensive typing that Fairy, further compromising Gallade’s defensive utility. This makes Gallade’s base 80 Speed all the more glaring of an issue as it struggles into many offensive threats that naturally outspeed and OHKO it. This isn’t even getting into the issue of being a physically attacking Fighting type, of which there is no shortage of Pokémon that are faster and tougher than Gallade. Looking at all of this, it is easy to see why Gallade has fallen into relative obscurity, especially after the loss of its Mega Evolution.
However, the ninth generation has pushed Gallade’s already good power to exceptional. Sharpness is an absurd ability on Gallade, who has an exceptional movepool full of the cutting moves. Gallade’s base Attack was already great at base 125, but an effective free Choice Band boost from its ability makes Gallade a lot scarier, with its coverage moves now having pseudo-STAB and giving Gallade a proper strong physical Psychic STAB in Psycho Cut. Being a member of the Gardevoir line has benefited Gallade in that it possesses the same absurd support movepool as Gardevoir, with disruption with the likes of Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, Taunt and Encore just a small sampling of what Gallade can do to ruin an opponent’s day or create its own opportunity for setting up. All this together gives Gallade an incredible degree of unpredictability that few Pokémon can stomach. While good power and movepool alone does not make a great Pokémon, Gallade possesses just enough Speed and Special Defense that its strong points can shine, allowing tales of this gallant knight’s blade to be passed on.
Positives
Base 125 is immense and the incredible boost from Sharpness gives Gallade an unprecedented level of a power.
Incredible coverage options on top of Synergistic STABs gives Gallade potent offense that can threaten most Pokémon.
Truly absurd support movepool allows Gallade to fulfill many niches in addition to damage.
Negatives
Physically frail with poor HP and Defense and few resistances leave Gallade struggling to get in and stick around.
Base 80 Speed, while not technically slow, still falls short of many offensive threats that can outspeed and eliminate Gallade.
Movesets
Proto Knight
-Sacred Sword
-Psycho Cut
-Leaf Blade
-Knock off
Ability: Sharpness
Item: Choice Scarf
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
Choice Scarf Gallade differentiates itself from Scarf Gardevoir in the fact that it trades out the utility of Trace for unique counterplay for the sheer unrelenting power that Sharpness provides. This pays dividends considering how one of Gallade’s biggest downfalls is its unimpressive speed highlights Gallade’s poor Defense. Sacred Sword is the preferred STAB as after the Sharpness boost it is slightly stronger than Close Combat with no drawbacks. This, in tandem with Fighting’s fantastic coverage makes Gallade an invaluable revenge killer against the likes of Cyclizar, Lycanroc-Dusk, Mamoswine and Terrakion whose high speed would normally give Gallade and its allies a lot of trouble. Psycho Cut is secondary STAB, and just as invaluable, handling Galarian Zapdos, Gengar, Venusaur and Hisuian-Lilligant while being a non-Contact option that prevents Flame Body Talon Flame or Rocky Helmet users from wearing Gallade down. Leaf Blade is all around fantastic, handling prominent Grass weak attackers like Basculegion, Feraligator, while still allowing Scarf Gallade to threaten prominent walls like Hippowdon, Slowbro and Suicune. Knock Off rounds out the set, not only offering valuable coverage into opposing Ghost and Psychic types that are called upon to absorb Gallade’s STABs, but also utility in the form of item disruption, making many Pokémon hit by the move worse at their assigned roles. Ruin opposing revenge Scarf users, defang a Choice Band or Choice Specs using wallbreaker, expose a defensive backbone to hazards by removing their Heavy-Duty Boots or deprive them of their passive recovery from Leftovers, Knock Off is priceless in what it does.
Tera Types:
Gallade poor typing does give it some woes, though Scarf Gallade tends to prefer hit and run over sticking around to slug it out. Surprisingly enough, a defensive Tera in Tera Steel is preferred for Gallade, giving it invaluable counter play against fellow Choice Scarf users Galarian Zapdos, Chandelure and Gardevoir, as well as improve the matchup against Mamoswine’s and Cetitan’s Ice Shard allowing Gallade to check these attackers if healthy. Tera Dark is for the opposing Psychic types that resist it STABs, giving Gallade an immunity to their STAB while boosting Knock Off to the point it OHKO’s Armarouge, reliably 2HKO’s Reuiniclus and can 2HKO Slowbro and Mew. Otherwise, offensive Terastalizations to boost Gallade’s damage to reliably pick up knock outs are recommended. Tera Fighting secures 2HKOs on Bellibolt and Bronzong while enabling OHKOs on Regidrago, and Rotom-Heat, and guaranteeing Knock Outs on Flygon, Ninetales, Haxorus, Umberon, and Raikou. Tera Psychic does slightly poorer against neutral targets in comparison to Tera Fighting due to the lower power of Psycho Cut but can grab OHKOs against opposing Gallade, and is valuable in its non-Direct contact utility. Given the large number of Grass weak physical walls, Tera Grass is worth a strong consideration as well, enabling 2HKOs on Donphan, Hippowdon, and Slowbro regardless of Leftovers, as well as threaten Suicune with a one hit KO.
EVs and Items:
As standard for a Choice Scarf user, Max Speed and respective offensive stat (in this case, Attack) are reommended. Jolly nature is near non-negotiable. There are several other very scary Choice Scarf users sitting at the same base Speed of 80 in Chandelure, Regidrago, and Gardevoir that Gallade cannot afford to be outsped by in addition to no longer outspeed Banded Barraskewda out of the Rain. Choice Scarf is the name sake of the set and does answer one of Gallade’s biggest issues, its unimpressive Speed. Choice Band can also be used, with the movesets being identical, but role would be very different as a wall breaker rather than a revenge killer.
Partners:
:
Gallade’s horrid physical bulk requires allies that can handle such attacks, especially given the wealth of physical priority attacks that simply ruin Gallade’s day. Slowbro is an excellent example, resisting Aqua Jets sent Gallade’s way, while absorbing the naturally faster Scarf Zapdos and Scarf Mienshao’s attacks with ease. This isn’t even getting into how Scald, Psychic Noise and Future Sight are all fantastic at chipping opponents down into OHKO range for Gallade to take care of. Gallade in turn handles opposing Water types that Slowbro can struggle with ironically enough. Fortress and Hippowdon take a more passive role, grinding down opponents with Hazards to make it easier for Gallade to clean up later. Fortress is notable for being a slow pivot with Volt Switch to get Gallade in safely, while Hippowdon’s sand is more active chip damage and great in stopping Endure Armarouge from using Gallade as setup fodder. Both love Gallade’s Knock Off in making their hazard setting efforts meaningful.
As Scarf Gallade is a revenge killer first and foremost, allies that can compromise walls so Gallade has such opportunities are invaluable. Specs Hisuian Goodra is a notable example, effortlessly blasting holes with its wide coverage while drawing in Fighting and Ground types that Gallade can easily dispatch with Psycho Cut and Leaf Blade respectively. Even moreso thanks to its access to Gooey, sapping the speed of faster Fighting types like Galarian Zapdos and Mienshao, making it trivially easy for Gallade to clean them up.
Other Options:
Trick is standard on any Choice Scarf Pokémon that gets it and for good reason. Scarf users often lack the power to muscle through walls, and a timely Trick can effectively knock out the wall trying to stop Gallade by preventing it from performing its duties.
Night Slash is a much stronger alternative to Knock Off and far more reliable in handling opposing Ghost and Psychic types, though the utility from Knock Off is very hard to pass up.
Aqua Cutter is another Sharpness boosted move Gallade gets, but is largely redundant with Leaf Blade, excepting Armarouge and Entei.
Thunder Wave is a powerful option for Speed control if Gallade can’t knock out a target.
Doubles and VGC Options
Gallade’s frailty and unimpressive speed have largely kept it out of VGC and Doubles formats as well, its excellent coverage and absurd support movepool not being enough to keep it in contention. The introduction of Sharpness has changed all of this. Now Gallade is a viable threat with its power going from good to exceptional. With this, Gallade is enjoying unprecedented popularity as an offensive support piece on Trick Room teams, being both a setter and abuser. It isn't just offense either, with Gallade boasting an incredible support movepool befitting of its base line, with Helping Hand, Wide Guard, Feint, Life Dew, Imprison, Screens, and Coaching just being a small selection of the support Gallade can offer. However, Gallade does suffer in being rather fast and frail for a Trick Room Pokémon, leaving it frequently outsped in Trick Room and struggling to tank blows others of the archetype would be expected and can be easily outslowed by Pokémon. Being a physical attacker is also unfortunate, leaving Gallade rather exposed to Intimidate and leaving it rather beholden to Clear Amulet to keep applying pressure. These flaws also make Gallade much harder to justify in higher power formats, where its power is no longer exceptional and its downsides even more apparent.
Gallant Defender
-Sacred Sword
-Psycho Cut
-Wide Guard
-Trick Room
Ability: Sharpness
Item: Clear Amulet
Tera Type: Grass
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Brave Nature
Gallade's combination of STABs, power and utility make it invaluable for Trick Room teams, dealing incredible damage while checking common threats to such teams. Sacred Sword is Gallade's bread and butter attack and with the boost from Sharpness is even stronger than STAB Close Combat. The rider effect is handy as well, allowing Gallade to easily take out IronPress users like Hisuian Goodra and Kommo-o regardless of the boosts as well as reliably 3HKO Commander Dondozo. It also gives Gallade invaluable utility with fellow Trick Room setters and abusers in Farigiraf, Oranguru and Indeedee-F, answering the Dark types that threaten them and reducing the team's Psychic weakness. Psycho Cut is secondary STAB and while redundant with Gallade's other psychic typed partners, it is still valuable for its neutrality into Fairy and Tera Fairy Pokémon while threatening famed anti-Trick Room Pokémon Amoonguss. Wide Guard offers important protection to Gallade and its team from spread moves, especially from Torkoal's Eruption, given how Torkoal is near impossible to outslow in Trick Room. Not just Torkoal, but other deadly spread moves like Ursaluna's Earthquake, Ursaluna-Bloodmoon and Primarina's Hyper Voice, Typhlosion's Eruption, and Gholdengo's Make It Rain are all blocked by Gallade's Wide Guard, reducing the threat level of such Pokémon. Last and not least is Trick Room itself, giving Gallade potent speed control and a way to mess with opponent's if sent out with another Trick Room setter, making them wonder who is setting up Trick Room.
As with any Trick Room attacker, Gallade wants to maximize bulk and attack while dropping its speed as much as possible. Tera Grass is a popular Tera Option for Gallade, greatly improving its matchup into Amoonguss by blocking Spore and Rage Powder, while also granting resistances to Ursaluna's Earthquake, Dondozo's Wave Crash and the near universal Rillaboom's Grass STABs.
Preferred Partners:
Indeedee-F is a common partner in crime for Gallade, its Psychic Surge shielding Gallade from Fake Out and Prankster Taunt that would stop Trick Room as well as other priority that looks to take Gallade out regardless of Trick Room. Indeedee-F also addresses Gallade's own frailty with Follow Me, redirecting single target attacks sent Gallade's way, while Gallade handles the Dark types that trouble Indeedee-F. Oranguru is a similar, albeit more offensive partner, allowing Gallade to effectively double up in a single turn and pick up knock outs otherwise not possible.
As a Trick Room setter and abuser, Gallade partners well with other Trick Room staples. Torkoal, and Ursaluna adore the speed control Gallade offers as it enables their own terrifying offenses.
Protect is one of the best moves in Doubles and as such always deserves mention, helping Gallade stall out for Trick Room setup from an ally.
Night Slash offers complimentary coverage in taking out opposing Trick Room setters like Farigiraf, Indeedee and Oranguru, while also threatening staples like Basculegion, Dragapult, Hisuian Typhlosion and Gholdengo.
Leaf Blade threatens a wide range Ground and Water typed targets, but often feels redundant between Sacred Sword and Night Slash.
Countering Gallade
Gallade’s huge movepool, and insane power making checking it difficult, even if it tends to be more predictable than its branched evolution.
Defensively checking Gallade is a tall order, with Choice’ sets shutting down most defensive Pokémon with Trick, incredible coverage and impeccable power with Sharpness defying easy answers. The closest to those are Scream Tail and Sableye. Scream Tail is a massive problem, able to outrun even Scarf Gallade thanks to Booster Energy, cripple with Thunder Wave while enduring STABs or even Night Slash with Leaf Blade being more problematic. Sableye also does well, being immune to both STABs, able to endure a boosted Leaf Blade or Night Slash and ruin Gallade with Prankster Will-O-Wisp. However, both can be ruined in turn by being Tricked a Choice Item. Torkoal struggles with boosted hits, but otherwise solidly 3HKOs Gallade while threatening a game-ending Burn with Lava Plume.
Other defensive checks are incredibly reliant on what Gallade isn’t running. Psychic types are reliable if Gallade isn’t running Dark coverage, resisting both STABs while striking Gallade neutrally back with their own. Armarouge stands out by far, resisting common coverage in Leaf Blade, while Weak Armor allows Armarouge to outrun even Scarf Gallade, allowing Armarouge to use it as setup fodder. Max HP and Defense Mew can also absorb Gallade’s attacks well, being 3HKO’d by an unboosted Leaf Blade and outright cripple Gallade with Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp. Physcially bulky Reuniclus can similarly cripple with Thunder Wave, and even outlast unboosted Knock Offs but can’t switch in freely and boosted Leaf Blades can 2HKO while Psychic Noise only 3HKOs in turn.
If lacking Leaf Blade, Hippowdon becomes problematic, able to endure even a boosted Sacred Sword while wiping away the boosts with Whirlwind or simply threaten a knock out on a softened Gallade with Earthquake.
Offensively checking Gallade is more reliable given how horrid its HP and Defense stats are. As such priority users often have their way with Gallade, if not knocking it out, dealing catastrophic damage. Mimikyu solidly 2HKOs with Shadow Sneak, and can OHKO with Life Orb Tera Ghost while always surviving a blow thanks to Disguise. Mamoswine can take a full third off with Ice Shard, or half of Gallade’s HP if Mamoswine is Choice Banded. Banded Crawdaunt’s Aqua Jet does two thirds to Gallade while Barraskewda does about half. Banded Entei also does around two thirds to Gallade with Extreme Speed and can OHKO with Tera Normal.
Naturally faster attackers are also anathema for Gallade, given how poor its defense is, though none of them save Scarf Gengar, Tidy Up Maushold, Swift Swim Barraskewda and Chlorophyll Hisuian-Lilligant can outspeed Adamant Gallade after an Agility. Scarf Galarian Zapdos is a massive headache for Gallade, able to easily OHKO with Brave Bird while outspeed Choice Scarf variants and ignoring the Sticky Web that Swords Dance and Choice Band Gallade could use to excel. Chandelure and Gardevoir Speed tie with Gallade, but are otherwise common Scarf users that easily threaten a OHKO back to Gallade. Other faster attackers like Krookodile, Salamence and Noivern while unable to handle a Scarf or Agility Gallade provide invaluable pressure in preventing it from setting up in the first place.
Locations in Games
Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game.
Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Not in game.
Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Not in game.
FireRed/LeafGreen:
Not in game
Colosseum/XD:
Not in game.
Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Evolve Kirlia.
HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Evolve Kirlia.
Black/White:
Evolve Kirlia.
Black 2/White 2:
Evolve Kirlia.
X/Y:
Evolve Kirlia
Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Evolve Kirlia.
Sun/Moon:
Trade from Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon.
Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Evolve Kirlia
Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game.
Sword/Shield:
Bridge Field, Challenge Road
Max Raid Battles: Dusty Bowl, North Lake Miloch, Rolling Fields, Stony Wilderness
Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl:
Evolve Kirlia
Legends: Arceus:
Alabaster Icelands: Snowpoint Temple , Massive Mass Outbreak
Scarlet/Violet:
Alfornada Cavern, Dalizapa Passage, Glaseado Mountain, North Province Area One, Fellhorn Gorge, Kitakami Wilds, Timeless Woods
Tera Raid Battles: 5 Star Raid Battles, 6 Star Raid Battles

Anime Appearences