Cobalion <3
Status: Done
QC approvals: 3/3 [ Delta 2777 || Bloo || PK Gaming ]
GP approvals: 2/2 [ Fatecrashers || Snorlaxe ]
[Overview]
<p>Fighting-types became very common in 5th generation. A total of 15 new ones came to us, including a legendary trio. One of them is Cobalion, who also offers a secondary Steel typing. Cobalion's typing is almost unique, as it is only shared with Lucario. However, both Pokemon work entirely differently. While Lucario is more of a strong, but frail, set up sweeper with Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, and Agility, Cobalion has more bulk and higher Speed, which makes the lack of priority almost a non-issue for it. Thanks to its total of 10 resistances, immunity to Toxic Spikes, and 4x resistance to Stealth Rock, it can do its job rather well due to the switch in opportunities these resistances and immunities provide. Despite the fact its movepool is rather limited, it boasts base 90 Attack and Special Attack and just enough moves to use both of them effectively.</p>
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Focus Blast
move 3: Flash Cannon
move 4: Hidden Power Ice / Hidden Power Grass
nature: Timid
item: Life Orb / Leftovers
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set utilizes Cobalion's acceptable base 90 Special Attack while also boosting its pitiful Special Defense at the same time by simply using Calm Mind. Without access to any reliable recovery move, it will often only have time to obtain one or two boosts; however, that’s more than enough to attempt a sweep. Focus Blast is the main attacking option, though it has shaky accuracy. Flash Cannon gives Cobalion a secondary STAB move which hits most Pokemon that resist Fighting for at least neutral damage, most notably anything that’s part Ghost.</p>
<p>On the last slot you can choose between several Hidden Power types. Ice is most likely the best as it gives Cobalion strong overall coverage and deals especially well with both Landorus and Gliscor. When using Life Orb, 252/0 Gliscor and 4/0 Landorus are both easily OHKOed even without any Calm Mind boosts. Hidden Power Grass is also very effective as Cobalion otherwise has a hard time against several Water-types that resist its STABs, most notably Slowbro, Jellicent, and Quagsire. Don’t worry about not having a super effective move against Dragons; with Life Orb and +1 SpA, Flash Cannon deals at least 60.6% to 4/0 Latios.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Taunt can be placed over Flash Cannon or Hidden Power to prevent the opponent from phazing or setting up on Cobalion, giving it somewhat stallbreaker-oriented qualities. With it, it can beat even Skarmory and opposing Calm Mind users such as Reuniclus, Latias, and Suicune one-on-one, as it also shuts down their recovery moves.</p>
<p>Cobalion doesn’t fear priority as long as it’s healthy enough. Adamant 252 Atk Mach Punch from Conkeldurr even fails to 2HKO. With 120 HP / 136 SpD, Conkeldurr barely survives +1 Life Orb Focus Blast at full HP. Without a Calm Mind boost, it’s still 2HKOed by Focus Blast (factoring in Leftovers and assuming both hit). Cobalion has bigger problems with faster opponents. At +1 SpD, Timid Life Orb Thundurus deals 89.8% minimum damage to Cobalion with Focus Blast, while Timid Life Orb Gengar does 92.3%. Life Orb-boosted Hidden Power Fire from Latios 2HKOs Cobalion without fail. Any sort of Ghost-type makes an irreplaceable teammate for Cobalion. Jellicent deals with both Fire- and Fighting-types very easily. Latias is also viable as its typing and ability allows it to resist any super effective move aimed at Cobalion, and together they resist any attacking type in the game bar Flying. Both recommended partners have access to Recover, which makes them effective sponges.</p>
<p>Excadrill is incredibly hard to deal with. Earthquake has a very high chance to OHKO from full HP; that’s where Air Balloon comes into play, as it’s Cobalion's only chance to deal with the Subterrene Pokemon one-on-one. In case you decide to run Life Orb, it’s recommended to bring a good counter to deal with Excadrill. Gliscor is probably the best choice for this job, but Conkeldurr with its STAB Mach Punch is also effective. Hippowdon makes a great check thanks to its very high physical Defense, as well as its access to Roar, Slack Off, and a STAB Earthquake that can KO Excadrill as long as its Air Balloon isn't intact. Latios is able to survivie a +2 Rock Slide, while Hidden Power Fire can KO back easily. Flygon with Fire Punch can stop Excadrill as well, but also offers a quite useful U-turn and a strong dual STAB in Outrage and Earthquake. Mixed Salamence is probably one of Cobalion's best sweeping partners. A Dragon Dance variant is also viable, as both Cobalion and Salamence can set up as soon as they get the opportunity, putting the opponent under pressure rather easily.</p>
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Close Combat
move 3: Stone Edge / Taunt
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
nature: Naive / Hasty
item: Life Orb / Air Balloon
EVs: 228 Atk / 88 SpA / 192 Spe
IVs: 30 Atk / 30 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With many resistances and its impressive physical Defense, Cobalion has an easy time coming in, setting up and sweeping through teams. With the given EVs, Cobalion hits 330 Speed, making it faster than positive natured Base 100 Speed Pokemon and anything slower, which includes a huge amount of the current metagame. Close Combat is Cobalion's main attacking move, offering great damage output, easily OHKOing 120/0 Conkeldurr with Close Combat after a Swords Dance. Stone Edge is there for coverage as it deals with Flying-types who resist Close Combat, such as Gyarados, Zapdos, Salamence, Thundurus, and many more Pokemon. With the given investment in Special Attack, Hidden Power Ice is able to OHKO 4/0 Landorus without fail, and has a very high chance to KO 252/0 Gliscor without any prior damage. Thanks to its ability, Justified, Cobalion loves to switch into any Dark-type move and abuse the +1 Attack boost. Cobalion is probably the best abuser of it, mainly because of its 4x resistance to Dark-type moves and its great defensive capabilities, making Pokemon such as Tyranitar look quite harmless. However, Cobalion isn't all that powerful, so bulkier opponents like Vaporeon, Jellicent, and Wobbuffet usually are able to survive a hit even after a Swords Dance.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Thanks to Cobalion's 108 base Speed, a Naughty / Lonely nature can be used to deal more damage, but it loses the jump on Volcarona and other positive nature base 100s. This ultimately might cost your Cobalion its life, making it the inferior option. However, if you don’t mind this loss of Speed, Cobalion can still outrun max EV positive-natured base 86 Speed Pokemon (Rotom-A) and neutral-natured base 100 Speed Pokemon.</p>
<p>Again, Taunt can be a viable option to prevent phazing or set up moves, though without Stone Edge, Cobalion loses its neutral coverage which Hidden Power Ice can't fully replace, leaving it open against Gyarados, Slowbro, and Jellicent, as well as a myriad of Ghost-types. However, they are most likely shut down by Taunt anyway, so it might not be too harmful. An Air Balloon might come in handy with the numerous Earthquake users around. However, without a Life Orb, Cobalion can't OHKO Gliscor and Landorus anymore unless you invest a heavy amount of EVs into Special Attack.</p>
<p>Fast special attackers can cause some problems for Cobalion, as its Special Defense isn't the best. Despite this, it's able to take some neutral hits at full HP as long as its defensive stats aren't dropped. For example, Life Orb 252 SpA Timid Starmie's Hydro Pump can't manage to OHKO Cobalion (77.2% - 91.0%). The same goes for Life Orb Thundurus's Thunderbolt, as long as Cobalion runs a neutral SpD nature. Super effective hits still tear it apart though, so be careful of anything that might run Focus Blast, Earth Power, and almost any Fire-type move.</p>
<p>Cobalion likes the presence of mixed Salamence on its side. They can cover each other's weaknesses rather well, but also can hit hard with their respective STAB moves. Salamence's Outrage and Draco Meteor are powerful moves resisted only by Steel-types, which Cobalion can deal with thanks to Close Combat. Gengar also helps a lot as it's immune to 2 of 3 weaknesses Cobalion has; additionally, it can lure Dark-type moves, which help Cobalion activate its Justified ability.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Iron Head and Thunder Wave is a fairly common strategy, and it's also usable by Cobalion. Without the Serene Grace ability, it's not as effective, but still worth a mention. Volt Switch is an interesting choice to allow Cobalion to scout for dangerous Pokemon before setting up, but you won't like to switch out after setting up Swords Dance or Calm Mind. Additionally, Cobalion sadly has a natural ability to lure in virtually every Ground-type in existance, which is a major drawback. Rock Polish might seem like an attractive choice to set up, but without getting its attacking stats boosted, Cobalion becomes nothing more than a fast, average attacker. Cobalion's offensive movepool is rather restricted, including just Metal Burst, Poison Jab, X-Scissor, and Retaliate; however, Cobalion won't find much use for them due to their poor coverage.</p>
<p>Boasting great defenses, Cobalion can make good use of its supportive movepool, including Substitute, Roar, Toxic, Safeguard, and Reflect. However, the lack of a reliable recovery move is just too big of a flaw for a Pokemon with such good defenses. With the new sleep mechanics, Rest became too unreliable without access to Sleep Talk. Feel free to run an Occa Berry to remove Cobalion's Fire weakness, which might help in a metagame full of Hidden Power Fire users, but it's most just inferior to the mentioned items on the sets.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Even with access to Swords Dance, bulky Pokemon give Cobalion a hard time. The real problems are the bulky Water- and Ground-types who can switch into Close Combat and Swords Dance rather easily, take a hit, and scare Cobalion out with effective moves. Slowbro, Slowking, and Jellicent are prime examples because they resist both of its STAB moves and have extremely large movepools which allow them to cripple Cobalion easily with a variety of moves, including Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, and Scald. Quagsire is probably Cobalion's worst nightmare as it even nullifies any Swords Dance and Calm Mind boosts thanks to its Unaware ability, while having a super effective STAB Earthquake at the same time. Gliscor, Hippowdon, and their fellow Ground-types also cause problems as long as Cobalion doesn't run Hidden Power Ice. Speaking of sand abusers, Excadrill is a tough Pokemon to deal with. The opponent will likely expect you to switch out instantly, which gives them a free turn to set up with Substitute or Swords Dance. You'd better have a counter for it, or you'll be forced to risk Cobalion by just going straight for Close Combat to nail it before it can set up and sweep.</p>
<p>Faster opponents, especially specially-based ones, have no problem switching into Cobalion and immediately threatening him. In fact, there are quite a few Pokemon that are faster than Cobalion, including Gengar, Starmie, Raikou, Latias, Latios, Thundurus, Accelgor, and several others who all usually have at least 1 super effective move against Cobalion. You might like to have Jellicent in your team, as it can absorb both Fire- and Fighting-type moves rather easily. The same goes for Latias, which even has a valuable Ground immunity. Both of them have access to Recover, so you don’t have to fear losing your special wall too early. Volcarona deserves special attention, as it resists both Cobalion's STAB moves and almost any other move Cobalion has access to bar Stone Edge and Volt Switch, making it one of the biggest threats to deal with. Volcarona will usually try to KO Cobalion with its Fire STAB at the first chance it has. You need to know whether to risk Stone Edge missing, or simply bring an effective counter to it.</p>
<p>Some former Ubers are also able to counter Cobalion, such as Deoxys-S and -D, who are either faster or just too bulky for Cobalion to deal with, and have access to Superpower and Focus Blast to KO Cobalion. Wobbuffet can be even more dangerous, as it can lock Cobalion rather easily thanks to Encore and Shadow Tag. If team preview reveals that you have to face one, it’s recommended to Volt Switch around (if you have it) until it’s not a threat anymore. A +2 Iron Head is strong enough to 2HKO a Bold 28 HP / 252 Def Wobbuffet at full HP, but if you set up on the switch, Cobalion might be in trouble.</p>
