Glaceon

Glaceon, The Fresh Snow Pokémon. As a protective technique, it can completely freeze its fur to make its hairs stand like needles. By controlling its body heat, it can freeze the atmosphere around it to make a diamond-dust flurry.

Overview

130 Special Attack may seem very appealing, but that is all the pure Ice type Glaceon has to offer, really. It has less than ideal HP, an awful typing and lacks a good movepool. It also has low Speed, which makes it a pretty awful sweeper. However, it can be pretty powerful if used properly.

Ability

Snow Cloak: only useful on a team with Abomasnow. It gets an evasion boost in hail. It is basically the hail version of Sand Veil. As Glaceon should always be paired with Abomasnow, this evasion will be in play constantly.

Move Sets

Choice

- Blizzard / Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
- Shadow Ball
- Baton Pass / Sleep Talk / Ice Beam
Item Attached: Choice Specs / Choice Scarf
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -Atk) / Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)

Simple but effective. Blizzard in hail is simply ridiculous. When factoring in Glaceon's base 130 Special Attack, the 120 base power, 100% accuracy, freeze effect move really does shine out as one of the most powerful attacks in the game. However, if you decide not to use Glaceon in hail, Ice Beam is the better option for the main STAB Ice move. Hidden Power [Fighting] beats down most of the Steel types that try to resist Blizzard, and has some good coverage alongside it. Shadow Ball helps take out bulky Psychic types and Ghosts, like Grumpig and Froslass. The last move is whatever you want. Baton Pass helps for scouting, Sleep Talk makes Glaceon into a sleep absorber and Ice Beam works as a secondary STAB to Blizzard.

Choice Specs or Choice Scarf is something that requires a lot of thought. Glaceon already has amazing Special Attack, so you may swing towards Choice Scarf to try to boost the base 65 Speed. However, is that really worth doing, when you could maximise the potential of the base 130 Special Attack with Choice Specs? It is up to you.

Fake Tears

- Blizzard / Ice Beam
- Fake Tears
- Substitute / Wish
- Hidden Power [Fighting]
Item Attached: Leftovers / Bright Powder
Ability: Snow Cloak
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 208 HP/252 SAtk/48 Spd
Modest Nature (+SAtk, -SAtk)

Fake Tears is an interesting option. It can let Glaceon hit obnoxiously high, or it can force the opponent to switch their Pokémon. Blizzard is the standard attack for Glaceon, for the reasons stated with the last set. It should only not be used if you aren't running hail or if you want more PP. This is why Ice Beam is still an option. Substitute works well with the forced switching aspect of Fake Tears, but it also works well with Snow Cloak, which is why hail is more or less mandatory when using Glaceon. Wish really helps in keeping Glaceon alive, so is a strong option over Substitute. Hidden Power [Fighting] has good coverage with Blizzard and hurts any Steel and Ice types that want to absorb Blizzard.

Although frowned upon, Bright Powder is a very serious option. If you want to rely on luck, the extra evasion really does help in setting up and maintaining Substitute.

EVs and Nature:

Choice
Glaceon wants to hit hard and as fast as possible. Max Special Attack and max Speed is the only way to go.

Fake Tears
Needs a bit more bulk than the other set, as it is meant to last longer and requires a turn to set up. Max Special Attack hits as hard as possible, and the small Speed investment lets Glaceon outrun base 70s like Poliwrath. The HP is leftover but really helps with survivability.

Other Options

Baton Pass, Roar, Yawn, Wish, Heal Bell, Toxic

Baton Pass could be used with Curse to make Glaceon fill a role other than special sweeping.

Roar would be useful on a more defensive set, as a tool for phasing.

Yawn is a good sleeping move and can also force the opponent to switch, racking up residual damage.

Wish could be the main focus of a set if you wanted, making Glaceon much more defensively inclined.

Heal Bell, defensive set blah blah.

Toxic would work on a defensive set as a way to deal damage bar through STAB Ice moves.

Countering Glaceon

Steel types, especially Registeel, work great against Glaceon. They resist its only STAB as well as hit it for super effective damage. Grumpig works really well thanks to great bulk and Thick Fat. Froslass resists Blizzard and Hidden Power [Fighting] which makes it a pretty good switch in. Bulky Waters such as Lanturn and Blastoise can take hits from Glaceon repeatedly and hit back with a STAB move. Chansey has ridiculous special walling abilities so needs a mention.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Not in Game

Colosseum/XD

Not in Game

Fire Red/Leaf Green

Not in Game

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Evolve Eevee

HeartGold/SoulSilver

Trade from DPPt

Animé Appearences

Glaceon has had a few Animé Appearences. Most notably, it was used by May after she evolved her Eevee when she visited Snowpoint City in Sinnoh. She used it in her Wallace Cup contest battle. The rest are cameos

Giratina & The Sky Warrior
Pikachu's Great Ice Adventure
Episode 544: A Full Course Tag Battle!
Episode 547: Strategy With a Smile!
Episode 560: Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine
Episode 588: Mysterious Creatures: Pokémon
Episode 595: Sliding Into Seventh