The one and only set for Wobbuffet. Choose Counter if your opponent is clearly a physical sweeper or Mirror Coat if it's special. If it uses both physical and special moves, Encore whatever move it used so that your opponent can't switch around. Encore also works against non-damaging moves that your opponent may use in an attempt to stall Wobbuffet out of PP. Forcing a Pokémon to repeat a move while preventing them from switching is one of the most sadistic strategies in Pokémon battles. Both Charm and Safeguard can come in handy as your last move. Charm annoys physical attackers that try to set up on you and is especially effective if they have been Encored. Safeguard is obviously there to prevent Wobbuffet from being crippled by status ailments. The only downside is that Wobbuffet is slow and will most likely be statused before it can use Safeguard, so having teammates support it with Wish and Aromatherapy can ensure its longevity. Other OptionsWobbuffet's movepool consists of a whopping 8 moves. Besides the absolutely useless Splash, the only moves not covered above are Destiny Bond and Tickle. Destiny Bond may seem appealing since it allows you to take one more opponent down when you're low on health, but Wobbuffet does not have the Speed to pull it off effectively. Tickle can be employed very effectively with Encore and a Choice Band or Life Orb Tyranitar's Pursuit, but the legitimacy of all "Event Moves" (of which Wobbuffet's Tickle is one) is currently under fire and it's expected they will be removed from Shoddy Battle in the near future. EVsWobbuffet has the third highest base HP of any Pokémon, but its defenses are terrible. Similar to Blissey, who needs max Defense in order to take physical hits, Wobbuffet needs to pour EVs into both Defense and Special Defense so that it can take hits without losing too much health in the process. OpinionDespite its tiny movepool, a lot can be said about Wobbuffet. It jumped straight into the Ubers tier in the Advance generation mainly because of its unique ability, which utterly shatters the concept of switching and countering. Nintendo changed Shadow Tag around in D/P so that two Pokémon with this same ability will be able to switch if both are sent out. This means the dreaded scenario of two Wobbuffet facing each other will no longer end in a draw. However, Shadow Tag is still a ridiculous ability and the abundance of Choice items limiting Pokémon to only one attack makes Wobbuffet's job even easier. The only thing that prevents Wobbuffet from being a complete god among Pokémon is the lack of a recovery move. Wobbuffet's May 30, 2008 movement from the Limbo Tier to the OU tier was a direct result of no conclusive evidence of the Pokémon overwhelming the standard metagame arising after three months of testing on Shoddy Battle's Official Server's Ladder. It was decided overwhelmingly through a "bold voting" process (voting UBER or OU with a detailed argument) at the end of June 2008 that Wobbuffet belongs in the Uber tier in DP. CountersA proper counter must be able to switch in against whatever it is they are trying to counter. As mentioned, Wobbuffet's ability prevents the opponent from switching which means it essentially has no real counters. So if you should meet this Pokémon during one of your battles, what can you do against it? Taunt is probably the most effective defense against the blue blob. It will completely shut down Wobbuffet for a few turns, and all it can do is Counter and Mirror Coat for no damage. Sleep moves are also a temporary solution. By putting it to sleep, you can force it to switch out, use the opportunity to stat boost, or simply hit it with your strongest moves and hope you can score a KO before it wakes up. The Trick + Choice item strategy is also effective since it will limit it to only one move and therefore ruin its usefulness. Toxic will help only if Wobbuffet is the last Pokémon on the team. Otherwise, it will simply Encore your Toxic and switch out to a cleric or one of the many Pokémon immune to poison. Finally, Roar and Whirlwind will force it to switch out although it will still come back to haunt you later in the battle. Baton Pass and U-Turn are the only moves that have the ability to allow users to escape from Shadow Tag's grip. U-Turn is super effective, but if you use it and Wobbuffet Counters in the same turn, the Pokémon that gets switched in will receive a pretty nasty dent. Shed Shell also allows you to switch, but Skarmory is the only Pokémon this item is viable on. Since Mirror Coat is a Psychic move, it will not affect Dark-types which means Dark Pokémon can pound Wobbuffet with special attacks without fear of getting Mirror Coated back. Darkrai and Dark-type Arceus are particularly good choices for this when battling in Ubers. Likewise, Ghosts are unaffected by the Fighting-typed Counter and can hit it with physical moves. Spiritomb, being both Dark and Ghost-type, is completely immune to both Counter and Mirror Coat; however, it is unlikely that any intelligent trainer will leave their Wobbuffet in against a Dark and/or Ghost Pokémon. In the end, you will probably lose one Pokémon to Wobbuffet simply because you weren't expecting it. Don't worry if this happens, as Wobbuffet is not one of those Pokémon every team should be prepared for. It's not used much in ubers because it can't take any real offensive assault. |
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