[OVERVIEW]
Ground Arceus has a number of niches, allowing it to fill a useful role on many balanced teams. With excellent bulk and
typical Arceus base 120 stats
across the board, Ground Arceus is able to excellently support its team or threaten to sweep with a Swords Dance set. The most important defensive role for Ground Arceus is to check perhaps the most threatening Pokemon in the metagame, Primal Groudon, with its super effective Ground-type STAB move
s. It
additionally also threatens many entry hazard users such as Klefki, Dialga, Primal Groudon, Tyranitar, and Diancie, with the deadly Swords Dance set having an easy time setting up against them. It has the ability to sweep through a significant number of Pokemon thanks to the coverage
that EdgeQuake provides.
Ground Arceus, particularly special sets
(A special set isn't even a main set though...), do have
some flaws; it has a hard time against Pokemon immune to Judgment, such as Ho-Oh, Latios, and Latias. Furthermore, it lacks the power to break through specially bulky Pokemon, and it has redundant synergy
(offensive or defensive? If it's both, just use type synergy) with Primal Groudon. Luckily, the better and more common Swords Dance set can smash some of the checks to the special set, giving Ground Arceus a fair bit of unpredictability and very few safe switch-ins
(But SD is its only main set, so won't opponents prepare for it?). Pokemon such as Choice Scarf Kyogre and Grass Arceus are
less uncommon
as well, allowing Ground Arceus to be even deadlier.
[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Recover
item: Earth Plate
ability: Multitype
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Swords Dance
is the move that makes this set threatening, enabling enables Ground Arceus to sweep
with by giving it a +2
Attack boost
in Attack under its belt. Earthquake gets the STAB bonus and is what Ground Arceus uses to hit most targets,
particularly Primal Groudon
in particular. Stone Edge hits most Pokemon that Earthquake doesn't, such as Flying-types and Levitate users. Recover might seem somewhat surprising on a set that is meant to sweep. It is used to give Ground Arceus more longevity, which is very useful when switching in on Pokemon such as Mega Diancie and, most importantly, Primal Groudon. This way, Ground Arceus can threaten out the opposing Pokemon when there isn't an opportunity to sweep, use Recover, and
can then make sure
that it can do so later.
Set Details
========
Maximum Attack investment is used because the point of this set is to sweep. Ground Arceus needs the extra power to immediately threaten Primal Groudon, and it's also useful for
doing deling more damage to physically bulky Pokemon such as Lugia and
(physically?) defensive Yveltal. A Jolly nature and 252 Speed EVs let Ground Arceus outspeed Latios
, (AC) and Latias
, (AC) and non-Mega Gengar
, as well as and Speed tie with other fully invested Arceus
formes.
Usage Tips
========
Ground Arceus is a very threatening mid- and late-game sweeper. Try to get it in on Pokemon it threatens out as often as possible so
that you can create ample opportunity for it to set up. Examples include Steel-types such as Klefki and other Pokemon weak to
Ground Arceus's coverage moves Stone Edge. In practice
, (AC) there are very few reliable checks to Ground Arceus, so it's mostly a matter of creating opportunity. Recover combined with Arceus's natural bulk
lets allows it
to play very offensively, but make sure to keep it
at good health
y if you want to reliably check Primal Groudon, as even an uninvested Precipice Blades can hurt. Ground Arceus must be especially wary of switching in on Primal Groudon carrying Lava Plume, as a
burnt burned (use the American spelling) Ground Arceus is effectively useless.
Team Options
========
Ground Arceus doesn't need a lot of team support; it's very deadly on its own. In fact, it supports the team by checking bothersome Steel-types and Primal Groudon when you need it to.
Something to A Pokemon that can absorb burns is much appreciated, as Ground Arceus becomes almost useless when
burnt burned. Ground Arceus is
the most threatening when your team has Pokemon that appreciate an offensive check to Primal Groudon, such as Fairy-
(space)and Steel-types, as well as Pokemon that suffer from opposing Steel-types. This way you can get
in Ground Arceus
in as often as possible. While Ground Arceus does provide good offensive pressure, it needs a way to get around its checks and counters. Generally speaking, you will need an answer to bulky
Primal Kyogre variants, support Arceus variants such as Water Arceus and Grass Arceus, and fast revenge killers such as Darkrai and Shaymin-S. Latios, Latias
, (AC) and Primal Groudon can take care of Primal Kyogre. Primal Groudon that carry a Fire-type move can dispose of Grass Arceus
, (AC) whereas Latios and Latias
(Sweep, clutch qc help pls, do I mention Latias’ CM set too? It’s rather uncommon, but not mentioning would make it seem like that set is not a usable option on Latias) that carry Calm Mind beat both Grass Arceus and Water Arceus. Priority users
like such as Swords Dance Arceus Normal (or ExtremeKiller Arceus, gp?) (yeah use Extreme Killer Arceus) can beat problematic revenge killers. Healing Wish users such as Latias and Shaymin-S can heal a weakened Ground Arceus, which it appreciates, as finding the time to use Recover can be a challenge.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=========
Both Shadow Force and Refresh have a tiny niche
on the Swords Dance set,
with Shadow Force arguably
having a the bigger one. Shadow Force circumvents Giratina-O and the uncommon Giratina checking Ground Arceus reliably and can damage Lugia more than Stone Edge while still hitting Pokemon such as Latios and Latias. Because you give up important coverage in Stone Edge, which allows Ground Arceus to hit Mega Salamence, among other things, you can also run Shadow Force alongside Stone Edge. Refresh can shrug off status
ailments, such as the dreaded burn or Toxic from Klefki, for example, so that Ground Arceus has more longevity. Extreme Speed can finish off Pokemon that would otherwise revenge kill Ground Arceus
, (AC) such as Shaymin-S, Darkrai, and Mewtwo, though it is rather weak. For each of these options, it is hard to justify the loss of recovery. Dragon Claw still hits Mega Salamence as well as Giratina-O for more damage than Stone Edge
, (AC) but
it is weaker versus almost anything else, most notably Lugia. Ground Arceus can also run a special set with Judgment, Recover, Defog or Calm Mind, and Will-O-Wisp or Ice Beam. The Defog set can reliably Defog
on against many entry hazard users and is a good check to Primal Groudon. The Calm Mind set aims to set up on and power through the opposing team with its coverage. Both sets, however, fail to threaten Ho-Oh,
thus engendering leaving a huge gap in the defensive backbone of the team
that Ground Arceus is used on.
Balanced Additionally, balanced teams often have a hard time dealing with Ho-Oh already. Thunder on the Calm Mind
set can
indeed beat Ho-Oh while also beating
Primal Kyogre, but you then lose the ability to hit
Mega Salamence
, (AC) as well as Latios
, (AC) and Latias, among others. Both Toxic and Will-O-Wisp are great options when using Defog, letting Ground Arceus cripple common switch-ins effectively. Being able to hit those Pokemon makes
Ground Arceus much less passive and more effective in practice.
Checks and Counters
============
**Skarmory and Bronzong**: Both of these Pokemon are immune to Ground Arceus
’'(no curly apostrophes) STAB move
s, forcing it to rely on the weaker Stone Edge to hit them. However, because Bronzong resists Rock-type moves
, (AC) and Skarmory has stellar physical bulk
, (AC) and Ground Arceus's Stone Edge doesn't rank among the strongest of moves, they take little damage from it. Bronzong must be wary of Shadow Force, but
it the move is uncommon.
**Water-types**: Water-types such as Primal Kyogre and Water Arceus can sufficiently deal with Ground Arceus. Defensive Kyogre variants have the bulk to eat up a +2 Earthquake and OHKO with Scald. Offensive variants can check Arceus as long as it remains unboosted. Water Arceus can hit Ground Arceus with Judgment or Will-O-Wisp; however, Ground Arceus can beat the most common
Water Arceus
Water variant
, (AC) which carries Toxic and Ice Beam.
**Grass-types**: Grass-types such as Shaymin-S and Grass Arceus have strong STAB moves to OHKO Arceus with. Shaymin-S outspeeds Ground Arceus
, (AC) whereas Grass Arceus can take Stone Edges well. Both can switch in on Earthquake as well.
**Giratina and Giratina-O**: Giratina
(remove spacE)-O is immune to Earthquake and has good natural bulk, so it can phaze Ground Arceus with Dragon Tail. Giratina, while uncommon, can do the same thanks to its stellar bulk
, (AC) and
it can burn
it Ground Arceus as well. It can also use Rest to get rid of the damage, whereas Giratina-O cannot do so.
**Revenge Killers**: Fast Pokemon such as Mewtwo, Deoxys-A, and Darkrai can effectively check Ground Arceus thanks to their superior Speed stat
s. Mewtwo can
fire off launch a super effective Ice Beam, Deoxys-A has an even stronger Psycho Boost, and Darkrai can put it to sleep and proceed to use Nasty Plot or Dark Pulse. Extreme Speed can pick these Pokemon off before they can do so in return, but Mewtwo and Darkrai need to have already incurred a bit of chip damage.
**Burn
s**: Ground Arceus despises burn
s because
it they effectively render
s it useless. A
burnt burned Ground Arceus will fail to sweep anything, and it cannot effectively check the Pokemon it could before because of the residual damage.