Overview
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Sableye once again finds itself at home in UU as one of the tier's few viable spinblockers. Thanks to Prankster, Sableye is able to utilize priority on support moves such as Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, and Recover to shut down set-up sweepers, physical attackers, and support Pokemon alike. These shenanigans are made further annoying by the newfound buff to Knock Off, making it even more adept at slowly wittling down and punishing its foes. On top of all of this, Sableye's semi-unique Dark/Ghost typing grants a neutrality to Dark-type attacks, making it the only ghost with reliable recovery to survive the 2HKO from both CB Mienshao's Knock Off and Mega-Blastoise's Dark Pulse, allowing it to fully abuse Ghost's immunities against these Pokemon.
However, the introduction of the new Fairy-typing means that Sableye can no longer claim to have zero weaknesses, making it easily forced out by one of the most common support Pokemon, Florges. To make matters worse, UU has more Fire-types in the tier than ever before, which have an easy time blazing through Sableye thanks to their Will-O-Wisp immunity. Additionally, old threats such as Guts Heracross and certain strong special attackers prey on Sableye's poor stats, meaning a strong defensive backbone is needed to support the goblin. However, if properly supported, Sableye's unique attributes will be able to shine through and keep the control of the match in your favor. (nice overview, nothing blatantly wrong here)
Prankster (i don't like the name, change it to "support" or "utility" or something)
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name: Prankster
move 1: Recover
move 2: Will-O-Wisp
move 3: Taunt
move 4: Knock Off / Foul Play
ability: Prankster
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
nature: Careful / Calm
Moves
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This set aims to make use of Sableye's good support movepool in conjunction with Prankster to become a nuisance to both defensive and offensive teams alike. Recover allows Sableye to stay continually healthy,(RC) and is notable on this set for being the only defensive pokemon Pokemon in the game with priority recovery. Will-O-Wisp is also a staple in Sableye's repertoire, allowing it to cripple most physical attackers while at the same time spreading residual damage at the same time. Taunt has many uses on this set, preventing support moves, set-up moves, and opposing Taunts Taunt users from using Sableye as set-up bait. (Taunts can't use Sableye as set-up bait, but Taunt users can) Knock Off rounds off the set as a fantastic STAB to further enhance Sableye's tactics of wittling down its foes. However, if another member of the team aims to make use of Knock Off's power boost to facilitate a sweep, Foul Play is still a decent alternative STAB, allowing Sableye to straight up OHKO common switch-ins such as Victini and Darmanitan as well as punishing set-up from foes foes that set-up, such as Swords Dance Heracross.
Set Details
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The EVs provide Sableye with balanced defensive capabilties, with an emphasis on Sableye's Special Defense because of Sableye's access to priority burns to can bolster its Defense.
Usage Tips
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Knock Off is best used early-game if they don't the opponent doesn't have any Mega Evolutions in order to wear down the opponent. However, keep an eye out for Justified users such as Lucario, Cobalion, and pre-evolved Mega Absol (Absol will have justified, Mega-Absol will have Magic Bounce, so need to mention it specifically), as activating their ability may be more harmful than helpful. Will-O-Wisp is useful for spreading residual damage, but can be completely nullified by Fire-type switch-ins, so keep an eye out for those (You said this a sentence ago, so just take it out so you aren't repetitive), and so make sure to keep up Stealth Rock to punish them and wear them down. In addition, using Will-O-Wisp can sometimes backfire, either due to being bounced back by common Synchronize users such as Mew and Umbreon, or by giving a free attack boost to Guts Heracross. And finally, make sure to never fodder Sableye until you truly need to, as thanks to its access to priority Recovery, it can bring itself back to full health as long as it is still able to switch in.
Team Options
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Bulky Water-types such as Swampert, Alomomola, Suicune, and Slowbro all make good partners as they are able to soak up V-creates, Flare Blitzes, and Sacred Fires that are often thrown in Sableye's direction. Thick Fat Snorlax stands out in particular as it appreciates Sableye's immunity to Fighting-type attacks. Cleric support from the likes of Blissey, Florges, or Aromatisse help cure burns and poisons that cripple Sableye, while also providing Wish support to cushion Sableye's entry to the battlefield. Hazards go well with Sableye due to it being able to block Rapid Spin, with Roserade and Forretress standing out due to their ability to cleanly switch in and set up on Florges, with the. The former being is also able to absorb Toxic Spikes for Sableye,(AC) while the latter is able to Rapid Spin away accumulating hazards. Sableye can also find home on more offensive teams by making use of the double Ghost-type strategy alongside Froslass to guarantee Spikes stay up against Rapid Spinners.
Other Options
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Snarl allows Sableye to punish strong special attackers that tend to switch into it, but has a really paltry base power. Night Shade is able to provide consistent damage to even Dark-type resists and really hurts low base HP pokemon Pokemon such as Forretress. Confuse Ray can be used thanks to Prankster to allow Sableye to confuse its opponent during really tight situations, but is also incredibly unreliable,(RC) and synergizes poorly with Will-O-Wisp. Toxic can also be used over Will-O-Wisp, but for the most part, it (you have a comma splice otherwise) is incredibly overshadowed compared to the utility of a burn.
Checks & Counters
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**Fire-types**: Physical Fire-types such as Victini, Darmanitan, and Entei threaten to take Sableye out in a single hit, although none of them are super thrilled about taking a Foul Play. Special Fire-types like Chandelure and Rotom-H have high power Overheats to scare Sableye out, and take almost nothing from Foul Play. However, Fletchinder and Mega-Houndoom stand out in particular due to being unaffected by Knock Off's side effect, and are able to set up Swords Dance and Nasty Plot respectively to harm the rest of Sableye's team.
**Fairy-types**: While Florges and Aromatisse won't appreciate having their items knocked off, both of them have STAB on Sableye's one weakness, and have the ability to use Aromatherapy to cure any burns that Sableye has spread. Special mention goes to Aromatisse's Aroma Veil for making it immune to Taunt, allowing even predicted Taunts to have no effect on her clerical duties.
**Unaffected by burns**: Guts Heracross and strong special attackers like Shaymin and Roserade don't mind anything but Knock Off, and are able to easily force Sableye out with high power STABs STAB attacks (there's a discussion about how to use "STAB" in the grammar standars thread, check it out if you don't understand) to penetrate through Sableye's poor base stats.
**Status**: Status makes Sableye much more inefficient at doing its job. Scald burns are often a way to slow down Sableye's shenanigans while Toxic puts Sableye on a timer, although the latter is much harder to affect Sableye with due to its access to Prankster Taunt.
**Mega-Evolutions**: Due to Sableye's reliance on Knock Off, certain Mega-evolutions such as Ampharos and Absol are easily able to switch in and damage Sableye, especially Absol, who is gets Justified boosts pre-Mega before Mega Evolving and has Magic Bounce to ward off burns post-Mega after Mega Evolving.
