F*CKIN' BASED
Overview
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-In a metagame filled with Toxic, being naturally immune to the move gives Poison Arceus a significant advantage as a Calm Mind user.
-The added buff to Poison-types through the resistence to Fairy-types and being able to hit them for SE damage allows this Arceus forme to serve as a check to the popular Geomancy Xerneas.
-Despite the very poor offensive coverage that Poison has as well as the major weakness to Ground-types that it has defensively, Poison-Arceus is capable of minimizing these weaknesses through the use of Will-O-Wisp and raw bulk.
-Although Psychic is normally a poor typing itself, it's still quite common and seen on some of the most dangerous offensive threats. Mewtwo is especially dangerous to Poison Arceus which is a crippling weakness to have.
Calm Mind
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name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Recover
move 3: Will-O-Wisp
move 4: Judgment / Sludge Bomb
item: Toxic Plate
evs: 236 HP / 160 SpA / 112 Spe
nature: Timid
Moves
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-Calm Mind is Poison Arceus's niche as it allows it to take advantage of it's strong defensive typing, raw stats, and immunity to Toxic to be incredibly tough to crack.
-Recover helps with being difficult to force out by easily keeping Poison Arceus in excellent condition.
-Will-O-Miss rounds the set out by crippling physical attackers, especially the Ground-types Poison Arceus is weak to. It also compensates for Poison's terrible offensive coverage by crippling most of the things it can't touch like Steel-types.
-Judgment is a strong consistent option while Sludge Bomb is nearly as strong but comes with a high chance of inflicting poison. That poison rate isn't as useful as it might appear, however, as it can collide with Will-O-Wisp. All the same, it helps significantly against threats that Will-O-Wisp can't touch like Ho-Oh.
-Alternative coverage moves can be used over Will-O-Wisp but they are generally inferior.
-Fire Blast is the last option to hit Steel-types and nails the two most common: Klefki and Scizor. It's fairly similar to Will-O-Wisp except that it doesn't cripple Ground-types besides the sun summoning Groudon and doesn't help with physical attackers in general.
-Earth Power can hit some Steel-types like Dialga and Heatran as well as Poison-type.
-Focus Blast also hits Steel-types but it gets supereffective coverage on targets like Ferrothorn in exchange for Klefki.
Set Details
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-The ev spread is for outspeeding Garchomp while being able to OHKO Fairy Arceus with a +1 Judgment. The rest is poured into HP to maximize bulk
-A simple max HP and max Speed ev spread can also be used if you want to be as fast and as bulky as possible. You can also maintain the same speed benchmark as the standard set but instead of increasing the special attack, place the remaining evs into HP and Defense, which helps it handle Earthquakes better.
Usage Tips
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-Poison Arceus likes coming into play a lot to absorb status and spread around burns and damage.
-That aggressive play suddenly changes when there is a Mewtwo on the opposing team as each time Poison Arceus is brought out becomes an additional opportunity for the offensive monster to tear another hole into your team.
-Mega Gengar is another pest but one that Poison Arceus can play around if you are smart and burn it as it comes in.
Team Options
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-Having something to deal with Mewtwo is highly important when using Poison Arceus. Yveltal is an excellent candidate for this role as it also helps apply pressure on defensive Kyogre and Ho-Oh and can switch into Earthquakes aimed at Poison Arceus. It can help place pressure on Klefki so that it can be removed quickly without mountains of Spikes being placed on your field.
-Ground-types like Groudon and Landorus-T can punish Steel-types that switch in to check Arceus. Landorus-T can also help check opposing Ground-types.
-Reliable Stealth Rock setters like the aforementioned Ground-types or Dialga help Poison Arceus in fighting its way past Ho-Oh.
-An additional Xerneas check to deal with the mediocre but present Psyshock Geomancy Xerneas is a worthwhile consideration. Scizor and Klefki are excellent in this role but general priority like Extreme Speed Genesect or Normal Arceus works as well. Also, general offensive pressure helps Poison Arceus to assume the role of Xerneas check in spite of Psyshock as it fails to OHKO even boosted with Stealth Rock in play while Judgment will deal a solid 44% damage, minimum, in return.
-Defensive Kyogre is quite annoying and so is Heatran so a Rest Palkia variant makes for a helpful partner. You can also opt for more offensive punishes like Choice Specs Palkia or Choice Specs Kyogre if your goal is to make your opponent regret using Heatran in the first place. A similar idea can apply to defensive Kyogre with Choice Band or Mixed Zekrom, although Scald burns are highly bothersome.
Other Options
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-Defog can be used to make Poison Arceus a support set. However, Calm Mind covers essentially the same roles except hazards control while being much more dangerous to deal with in general.
-Poison Jab is also an option on a support set but, again, the support set is pretty much outclassed by the Calm Mind variant and using a physical attack as your main stab means that your Poison Arceus can't absorb burns like before.
-Grass Knot can easily remove Groudon and help with defensive Kyogre but it's a mediocre option outside of that.
Checks & Counters
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**Mewtwo**: An offensive monster that enjoys every free turn it gets, and Poison Arceus gives those free turns on a silver platter. Best Poison Arceus can do is not be brought in but if you do, double switching out of it, burning the possible Mega Mewtwo X, or simply getting chip damage with Judgment can go a long way. Mega Mewtwo Y is the most bothersome because it doesn't mind burns all too much and it has an increased Special Defense.
**Ghost Arceus**: Ghost Arceus resists Poison-type attacks and doesn't mind burns as it is often a special attacker. It can then use Calm Mind alongside of Poison Arceus and likely win the war to the critical hit as it has to use recover much less often thanks to that resist.
**Heatran**: Immune to Poison-type attacks and immune to Fire-type attacks, Poison Arceus can't do anything to this without opting for lesser coverage options like Earth Power or Focus Blast.
**Kyogre**: Defensive Kyogre can check Poison Arceus like it checks every Calm Mind Arceus forme not named Grass Arceus or Electric Arceus. The raw special bulk and Roar makes sure that Poison Arceus won't be pulling off sweeps unless it's the last mon remaining while Scald burns will add some useful chip damage in denying Poison Arceus free turns later on.
**Shadow Tag**: Gothitelle can use it's special defense to Calm Mind alongside Poison Arceus and then punch it with supereffective Psychic or Psyshock. Mega Gengar resists Arceus's STAB which allows it to easily switch in. However, Mega Gengar often struggles to do much back, especially since it's favorite attack options are Sludge Wave and Focus Blast. This forces it to rely on Destiny Bond which Poison Arceus's burn can bypass. In this case, the Poison-type resist can actually backfire as it gives Poison Arceus enough time to play mindgames between Taunt and Destiny Bond in the hopes of having the burn kill Gengar instead of an attack.
**Ho-Oh**: Large special bulk, immunity to burn, and strong physical attack makes Ho-Oh quite annoying to Poison Arceus. It's much less effective as a check if Stealth Rock is in play and/or Poison Arceus uses Sludge Bomb.
**Deoxys-A**: Deoxys-A is much like Mewtwo except that Psycho Boost doesn't bypass Calm Mind boosts and the enormous fragility of Deoxys-A means that it'll struggle to remain a presence beyond early-game, much less switch into Poison Arceus.
**Ground-types**: Offensive Ground-types can threaten Poison Arceus with their powerful Earthquakes and Poison-type resist. Even burned, Earth Plate boosted Earthquakes from Groudon or Landorus-T will be hitting the 50% range. Sadly, this means that Poison Arceus can often Recover stall the Earthquake until burn finishes off the Ground-type, in addition to the Ground-type being crippled for general use. Lum Berry can bypass the issue of burns, however, if it is brought into a one-on-one scenario. Gliscor is immune to burns once Toxic Orb is activated but it's weak Earthquake and soft Special Defense means it will lose to Poison Arceus, although it might just get in enough chip damage to set it up for a revenge kill.
**Giratina**: Resists Poison-type and can phaze out boosts with Dragon Tail. Burns are annoying, especially to Giratina-O, but Rest can be used to remove that issue.
**Dialga**: Is immune to Poison-type attacks and doesn't mind burns too much but can't do anything back to Poison Arceus besides phaze it out to be delt with later.
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