Arbok (GP 2/2)

Cherub Agent said:

[Overview]

<p>Arbok is perhaps better known as "Pikachu's Thunderbolt bait". The poor cobra constantly got fried by Pikachu, but things have finally changed for the mighty serpent. The fifth generation gave Arbok an extremely useful tool that finally makes it competetively viable: Coil. It's a move that boosts raises Arbok's Attack, Defense, and Accuracy, which can allow Arbok to function as turns it into an excellent bulky attacker. Despite having lackluster stats, a combination of an excellent movepool, ability,(comma) and typing lets Arbok take on teams break through unprepared teams with little trouble for it by storm. It's Poison(no hyphen)typing is a blessing, since Arbok resists the STAB moves of the common Grass- and Fighting-types in the tier, and it can absorb Toxic Spikes for your team. One thing is for certain: should Pikachu ever find itself facing Arbok again, it should do what any mouse would when confronting a snake: turn tail and run away as fast as it possibly can.</p>

[SET]
name: Coiling Cobra
move 1: Coil
move 2: Gunk Shot
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Sucker Punch / Aqua Tail
item: Leftovers
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant
evs: 70 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Thanks to its excellent ability, Intimidate, Arbok can come in on many of the physically-based Pokemon in the RU tier, aided by its excellent ability, Intimidate, and begin to set up. Coil is an excellent boosting move, beefing up Arbok's Attack, Defense, and accuracy by one stage in a single turn; it's not uncommon for Arbok to be able to set up multiple Coils before attacking. The accuracy boost is particularly welcome helpful, since this allows Arbok to abuse it's powerful STAB move, Gunk Shot. Gunk Shot initially suffers from an undesirable 70% accuracy, but this is remedied by Coil. At With 120 Base Power and a good chance to poison the opponent, it's the move that Arbok will be using the most. Despite Although Gunk Shot only hits Grass-types for super(no hyphen)effective damage, that's not neccessarily a bad thing, it's an effective move due to the large amount of Grass-types that populate the metagame. It also has pretty good neutral coverage. Earthquake hits the Rock-, Poison- and Steel-types that do resist Arbok's Gunk Shot super(no hyphen)effectively. Many of these Pokemon have high Defense though, so it's a good idea to have a teammate soften them up before unleashing Arbok onto them. The move in the last slot provides a move is used to mainly to strike down the Pokemon that can hit Arbok for super(no hyphen)effectively damage: Sucker Punch deals a heavy blow to fast and frail Psychic-types, such as Kadabra, whereas Aqua Tail can smack around bulky Ground-types like such as Claydol and Sandslash. Just pick your poison (excuse the pun) and remember to make sure that the rest of your team can deal with the Pokemon that Arbok's last move doesn't cover.</p>

[Additional Comments]

<p>The listed EVs allow Arbok to outrun 252 Speed Honchkrow that run maximum Speed and a neutral nature. Arbok's Attack stat is maximised to deal the most damage possible, and the rest is dumped into HP for survivability. An alternative EV spread is to simply maximise Attack and Speed, allowing Arbok to tie with other neutral natured base 80s. Life Orb is worth a mention on a set like this, since it doesn't capitalize on Arbok's bulk after a Coil,(comma) and attempts to hit as hard and fast as possible after one turn of setup. Arbok also has the ability to run a more defensive EV spread of 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD, with maximum HP and Special Defense, with Rest over either Sucker Punch or Aqua Tail,(comma) and the ability Shed Skin. This spread allows Arbok to obtain numerous Coils, but powerful special attacks like Moltres' Fire Blast will still deal immense damage, and the set is initially far too weak. If one chooses to run Sucker Punch, bulky Grass- and Water-types like such as Lilligant or Slowking make fine partners, thanks to their ability to handle Ground-types without difficulty. If Aqua Tail is the chosen option, a powerful Pursuit user like such as Krookodile is recommended to eliminate pesky Psychic-types.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Arbok has a wide movepool, but it is generally better off sticking with a Coil set. As far as attacking moves go, Poison Jab can be used over Gunk Shot, but it's far weaker and the accuracy boost provided by Coil makes Gunk Shot the superior option as a STAB move. Crunch can be used over Sucker Punch, but the priority provided by Sucker Punch tends to be more useful, although one shouldn't forget that many Psychic-types run support moves, meaning that Sucker Punch may not always hit them. Arbok also has access to the elemental fangs, but they're quite weak and are only useful against Pokemon with a quadruple weakness to them. Arbok can also force opponents out with Dragon Tail. Two other decent physical moves that Arbok has are Seed Bomb and Rock Slide. Seed Bomb and Rock Slide are options; the former can be used to hit Unaware Quagsire, while which is a threat to Arbok. the latter unfortunately doesn't provide any noteworthy coverage. As far as supportive moves go, Arbok can use the now 100% accurate Glare to paralyze any opponent, but has difficulty finding a moveslot to spare. Stockpile is basically a worse Coil: it boosts both defensive stats, but leaves Arbok with a middling Attack stat.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Depending on it's coverage move, Arbok will struggle with either Ground- or Psychic-types such as Sandslash or Musharna, who can hit Arbok with their powerful STAB moves. Bulky Ghost-types like such as Cofagrigus and Dusknoir are also nightmares for Arbok, since their massive Defense means they'll take very little from even boosted Sucker Punch, and can even avoid being hit by it by resorting to Will-O-Wisp. Arbok's previous partner in crime, Weezing, is also a complete full stop to Arbok. Arbok also is prone to being revenge killed, since most powerful special attacks,(comma) like such as Fire Blast from Moltres,(comma) or Hydro Pump from Omastar,(comma) kill bring Arbok down.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Unnerve is a pretty useless ability that is inferior to both Intimidate and Shed Skin.</p>

Click to expand...

[Overview]
<p>Arbok is better known as "Pikachu's Thunderbolt bait". The poor cobra constantly got fried by Pikachu, but things have finally changed for the mighty serpent. The fifth generation gave Arbok an extremely useful tool that finally makes made it competitively viable: Coil. It raises Arbok's Attack, Defense, and Accuracy, which turns it into an excellent bulky attacker. Despite having lackluster stats, a combination of an excellent movepool, ability, and typing lets Arbok break through unprepared teams with little trouble. Its Poison typing is a blessing, since Arbok it resists the common Grass- and Fighting-types moves in the tier, and it can absorb Toxic Spikes for your team. One thing is for certain: should Pikachu ever find itself facing Arbok again, it should do what any mouse would when confronting a snake: turn tail and run away as fast as it possibly can.</p>

[SET]
name: Coiling Cobra
move 1: Coil
move 2: Gunk Shot
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Sucker Punch / Aqua Tail
item: Leftovers
ability: Intimidate
nature: Adamant
evs: 70 HP / 252 Atk / 184 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Thanks to its excellent ability, Intimidate, Arbok can come in on many of the physically-based Pokemon in the RU tier and begin to set up. Coil is an excellent boosting move, beefing up Arbok's Attack, Defense, and accuracy by one stage in a single turn; it's not uncommon for Arbok to be able to set up multiple Coils before attacking. The accuracy boost is particularly helpful, since this allows Arbok to abuse its powerful STAB move, Gunk Shot, which Gunk Shot initially suffers from an undesirable 70% accuracy, but this is remedied by Coil. With 120 Base Power and a good chance to poison the opponent, it's the move that Arbok will be using the most. Although Gunk Shot only hits Grass-types for super effective damage, it's an effective move due to the large amount number of Grass-types in that populate the metagame. It also has pretty good neutral coverage. Earthquake hits the Rock-, Poison- and Steel-types that resist Arbok's Gunk Shot super effectively. Many of these Pokemon have high Defense though, so it's a good idea to have a teammate soften them up before unleashing Arbok onto them. The last slot provides a move to strike down Pokemon that can hit Arbok super effectively: Sucker Punch deals a heavy blow to fast and frail Psychic-types, such as Kadabra, whereas Aqua Tail can smack around bulky Ground-types such as Claydol and Sandslash. Just pick your poison (excuse the pun) and remember to make sure that the rest of your team can deal with the Pokemon that Arbok's last move can't doesn't cover.</p>

[Additional Comments]

<p>The listed EVs allow Arbok to outrun 252 Speed Honchkrow that run a neutral nature. Arbok's Attack stat is maximised to deal the most damage possible, and the rest is dumped into HP for survivability. An alternative EV spread is to simply maximise Attack and Speed, allowing Arbok to tie with other neutral-natured base 80s. Life Orb is worth a mention on a set like this, since as although it doesn't capitalize on Arbok's bulk after a Coil, and attempts it allows Arbok to hit as hard and fast as possible after one turn of setup. Arbok also has the ability to run a more defensive EV spread of 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD, with Rest over Sucker Punch or Aqua Tail, and the ability Shed Skin. This spread allows Arbok to obtain numerous Coils, but powerful special attacks like Moltres' Fire Blast will still deal immense damage, and the set is initially far too weak. If one chooses to run Sucker Punch, bulky Grass- and Water-types such as Lilligant or andSlowking make fine partners, as they can thanks to their ability to handle Ground-types without difficulty. If Aqua Tail is chosen, a powerful Pursuit user such as Krookodile is recommended to eliminate pesky Psychic-types.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Arbok has a wide movepool, but it is generally better off sticking with a Coil set. As far as attacking moves go, Poison Jab can be used over Gunk Shot, but it's far weaker and the accuracy boost provided by Coil makes Gunk Shot the superior option. Crunch can be used over Sucker Punch, but the priority provided by Sucker Punch tends to be more useful. However, although one shouldn't forget that many Psychic-types run support moves, meaning that Sucker Punch may not always hit them. Arbok also has access to the elemental fangs, but they're quite weak and so are only useful against Pokemon with a quadruple weakness to them. Arbok can also force opponents out with Dragon Tail. Seed Bomb and Rock Slide are options; the former can be used to hit Unaware Quagsire, while the latter doesn't provide any noteworthy coverage. As far as supportive moves go, Arbok can use the now 100% accurate Glare to paralyze any opponent, but has difficulty finding a moveslot to spare. Stockpile is basically a worse Coil: it boosts both defensive stats, but leaves Arbok with a middling Attack stat.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Depending on its coverage move, Arbok will struggle with either Ground- or Psychic-types such as Sandslash or Musharna, who can hit Arbok with their powerful STAB moves. Bulky Ghost-types such as Cofagrigus and Dusknoir are also nightmares for Arbok, since their massive Defense means they'll take very little from even from a boosted Sucker Punch, and can even avoid it by resorting to Will-O-Wisp. Arbok's previous partner in crime, Weezing, is also a complete stop to Arbok. Arbok is prone to being revenge killed, since most powerful special attacks, such as Fire Blast from Moltres or Hydro Pump from Omastar, can bring Arbok down.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Unnerve is an almost pretty useless ability that is inferior to both Intimidate and Shed Skin.</p>

Click to expand...