PISTOLERO
I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.
Arceus-Grass
Foliage
Overview
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- Meadow Plate gives arceus a rarely used typing, yet an effective one.
- Possesses typical Arceus-level bulk like all formes do.
- Great niche as a defensive mon due to its unique ability to check Kyogre and Groudon and offensive Palkia all at once.
- Has a wide movepool with many support options such as Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, and Defog.
- Has several glaring weaknesses to common tier members such as Ho-Oh, Mega Gengar and Yveltal.
- Due to these weaknesses, Arceus-Grass must be carefully built around when used, with Pursuit support for Mega Gengar being absolutely mandatory, and may also have to sacrifice one of its support slots to run Earthquake or Stone Edge so that it can deal with its problems itself.
Supportceus-Grass
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name: Supportceus-Grass
move 1: Judgment / Grass Knot
move 2: Will-o-Wisp
move 3: Defog / Stone Edge / Earthquake
move 4: Recover
ability: Multitype
item: Meadow Plate
nature: Timid
evs: 248 HP / 164 SpDef / 96 Spe
Moves
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Usage Tips
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Other Options
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Checks & Counters
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**Shadow Tag**: Mega Gengar destroys Grass Arceus with STAB Sludge Wave. Gothitelle has no difficulty setting up on it while Wobbuffet doesn't have to do much to transform Grass Arceus into total setup fodder for a sweeper. Gothitelle can also trap Arceus-Grass and set up on it.
**Fire-types**: Both Ho-Oh and Blaziken fear next to nothing from Grass-Arceus while they can hit back very hard with their powerful STAB attacks. Blaziken can also use Grass Arceus as a free Swords Dance making it very difficult to check, but is ruined by Thunder Wave. Reshiram can Blue Flare Arceus-Grass into oblivion with ease. Heatran can mess with variants without Earthquake by using Toxic, Taunting Defog, setting up Stealth Rock or simply attacking Arceus-Grass with Lava Plume.
**Steel-types**: Klefki, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress have no qualms about switching in on Grass Arceus and setting up layers of Spikes, although burns are bothersome, and Fire Blast can catch them by surprise. Dialga can setup SR or go straight for the Toxic. Scizor and Mega Lucario can also destroy Grass Arceus if it doesn't run Will-O-Wisp or Fire Blast.
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**Yveltal**: Resists Grass-type attacks and destroys Arceus with Oblivion Wing and Hurricane. It dislikes having extra passive damage from Will-O-Wisp on top of a crippled Sucker Punch, though, and can get caught out by Thunder Wave or Stone Edge.
**Shaymin-S**: x4 Grass Arceus's STAB and barely has to try when flinch haxing with Air Slash. Can safely use Substitute to block whatever status Arceus may have, but will be ruined by Thunder Wave on the switchin.
**Poison Arceus**: Can setup a Calm Mind sweep on Grass Arceus without difficulty, or just eat away at it with Poison Jab.
**Kyurem-W**: Resists Judgment and Grass Knot while hitting back very hard with STAB Ice Beam, but intensely dislikes Thunder Wave.
**Status**: Toxic and Paralysis prevents Grass Arceus from staying in and abusing Recover. Burns aren't as troublesome but the passive damage can still rack up quickly.
Foliage
Overview
########
- Meadow Plate gives arceus a rarely used typing, yet an effective one.
- Possesses typical Arceus-level bulk like all formes do.
- Great niche as a defensive mon due to its unique ability to check Kyogre and Groudon and offensive Palkia all at once.
- Has a wide movepool with many support options such as Thunder Wave, Will-O-Wisp, and Defog.
- Has several glaring weaknesses to common tier members such as Ho-Oh, Mega Gengar and Yveltal.
- Due to these weaknesses, Arceus-Grass must be carefully built around when used, with Pursuit support for Mega Gengar being absolutely mandatory, and may also have to sacrifice one of its support slots to run Earthquake or Stone Edge so that it can deal with its problems itself.
Supportceus-Grass
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name: Supportceus-Grass
move 1: Judgment / Grass Knot
move 2: Will-o-Wisp
move 3: Defog / Stone Edge / Earthquake
move 4: Recover
ability: Multitype
item: Meadow Plate
nature: Timid
evs: 248 HP / 164 SpDef / 96 Spe
Moves
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- Judgment gets first slash due to its reliability as a Grass STAB, hitting for a consistent 100 base power on everything. However, Grass Knot has a base power of 120 on most Ubers Pokemon due to them being heavy - the choice between the two is up to player preference.
- Defog works well on all Arceus to eliminate hazards and screens to support your team, and helps the kind of teams that Arceus-Grass fits well on deal with Spikes and Stealth Rock nicely.
- Stone Edge means that Arceus-Grass is no longer Ho-Oh and Yveltal bait - even with a Timid nature, Stone Edge deals upwards of 85% to max HP Ho-Oh, and almost half to offensive Yveltal.
- Earthquake can deal heavy damage to Mega Gengar (a possible OHKO after SR), as well as doing respectable damage to Dialga and nailing Heatran to the wall.
- Will-O-Wisp deters physical attackers from switching in, and can cripple Extremekiller Arceus or SD Arceus-Ground, as well as Mega Mewtwo X. It cripples Zekrom, Scizor and Aegislash as well, meaning that Scizor in particular cannot have its way with Arceus-Grass. It does give Ho-Oh a completely free switchin, however, so it should be used with Stone Edge or extremely sturdy teammates to check Ho-Oh. However, Thunder Wave is also a very good move for Arceus-Grass to use as no Ground-Types will switch in on it, and Electric-Types don't tend to switch in either. It allows Arceus to cripple Gengar and Yveltal switchins, as well as ruining Palkia without Rest that stay in to try and status you as well, and can catch any other miscellaneous switchins such as Darkrai and Mewtwo. Again
- Recover is standard on all bulky Arceus and allows Arceus-Grass to stay alive throughout the match.
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- The EVs provide nice bulk, and allows sufficient damage with stone edge when needed. A Timid nature and 96 Speed EVs allow Arceus-Grass to outrun Palkia and other base 100s, as well as not compromising Arceus-Grass's defenses - Stone Edge and Earthquake still do enough damage even with a -Atk nature.
- Moves chosen depend on preference and overall team structure.
- An alternative EV spread if running Earthquake would be 252 HP / 72 Atk / 72 Sdef / 112 Spe with hasty nature, as this allows Arceus-Grass to OHKO Mega Gengar after Stealth Rock.
- Another alternate spread to be a backup check to xerneas would be 252 hp / 200 SpD / 56 Speed with Calm nature, with a moveset of Grass Knot / Thunder Wave or Roar / Defog or Will-O-Wisp / Recover (Thunder Wave should not be on the same moveset as Roar or Will-O-Wisp, however). This is however very slow and extremely vulnerable to most Steel-Types.
Usage Tips
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- This set’s moveslots are very interchangeable, and thus it can handle different threats with the right moves, so choose knowing what you want to cover.
- This set is a decent Specs/Scarf Kyogre check with smart prediction, as it takes less than half from Scarf Water Spout, and can outspeed Specs Kyogre and threaten it with Grass Knot.
- Earthquake is only worth using if you have a really solid answer for ho-oh as even with earthquake, Gengar isn't always losing - it can outspeed and use Sludge Wave, or Destiny Bond Arceus-Grass away.
- Avoid Mega-Gengar as much as possible by being careful with your switches, as it can easily remove Arceus-Grass and open your team up to Kyogre and/or Palkia to wreak havoc. For this reason, Pursuit users such as Tyranitar and Mega Scizor work well alongside Arceus-Grass due to their ability to trap Gengar and prevent it from Mega Evolving safely.
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- Water Types are good teammates - Kyogre works nicely as it can douse Arceus-Grass's Fire weakness, as well as dealing with enemy Pokemon such as Kyogre and Palkia.
- As mentioned, Pursuit users like Scizor or Tyranitar help mitigate the weakness to Mega Gengar. Tyranitar does this and can also check Ho-Oh, but is weak to Focus Blast so Mega Gengar can beat it if it catches it on the switchin. Scizor can also be caught by Hidden Power Fire, but this issue is mitigated with the aforementioned rain.
- A Rock or Steel type to help deal with ho-oh and other flying types is nice if you elect not to use Stone Edge.
- Stealth Rock support is of course vital, as it means Ho-Oh and Yveltal pay a high price for switching in instead of being able to come in for free.
Other Options
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- Ice beam can be used instead of Earthquake or Stone Edge, as it provides a way to hit the dragon types in the tier for decent damage - however, outside of that it is redundant, and Arceus-Grass does just fine against Palkia and Zekrom whilst still being able to do nothing against Reshiram and Dialga - it is also weak against Giratina-O and Giratina-A.
- Calm Mind Arceus-Grass is usable, and can use a moveset consisting of Grass Knot, Ice Beam/Fire Blast/Earth Power/other coverage move/Refresh, Calm Mind and Recover, but is easily walled, facepalms if it gets poisoned and doesn't run Refresh, and is always hard walled by something, especially Ho-Oh.
- Fire Blast can fill the same role as Ice Beam and take over the edgequake moveslot, allowing Arceus-Grass to reduce Scizor and Ferrothorn to ashes, as well as dealing significant damage to Klefki.
Checks & Counters
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**Shadow Tag**: Mega Gengar destroys Grass Arceus with STAB Sludge Wave. Gothitelle has no difficulty setting up on it while Wobbuffet doesn't have to do much to transform Grass Arceus into total setup fodder for a sweeper. Gothitelle can also trap Arceus-Grass and set up on it.
**Fire-types**: Both Ho-Oh and Blaziken fear next to nothing from Grass-Arceus while they can hit back very hard with their powerful STAB attacks. Blaziken can also use Grass Arceus as a free Swords Dance making it very difficult to check, but is ruined by Thunder Wave. Reshiram can Blue Flare Arceus-Grass into oblivion with ease. Heatran can mess with variants without Earthquake by using Toxic, Taunting Defog, setting up Stealth Rock or simply attacking Arceus-Grass with Lava Plume.
**Steel-types**: Klefki, Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Forretress have no qualms about switching in on Grass Arceus and setting up layers of Spikes, although burns are bothersome, and Fire Blast can catch them by surprise. Dialga can setup SR or go straight for the Toxic. Scizor and Mega Lucario can also destroy Grass Arceus if it doesn't run Will-O-Wisp or Fire Blast.
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**Yveltal**: Resists Grass-type attacks and destroys Arceus with Oblivion Wing and Hurricane. It dislikes having extra passive damage from Will-O-Wisp on top of a crippled Sucker Punch, though, and can get caught out by Thunder Wave or Stone Edge.
**Shaymin-S**: x4 Grass Arceus's STAB and barely has to try when flinch haxing with Air Slash. Can safely use Substitute to block whatever status Arceus may have, but will be ruined by Thunder Wave on the switchin.
**Poison Arceus**: Can setup a Calm Mind sweep on Grass Arceus without difficulty, or just eat away at it with Poison Jab.
**Kyurem-W**: Resists Judgment and Grass Knot while hitting back very hard with STAB Ice Beam, but intensely dislikes Thunder Wave.
**Status**: Toxic and Paralysis prevents Grass Arceus from staying in and abusing Recover. Burns aren't as troublesome but the passive damage can still rack up quickly.
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