Topic of the Week — Mark III (Week 16- SUBSTITUTE)

[Electrolyte]

approved by Audiosurfer

XY Smogon Doubles​

Topic of the Week

Alright so the last few topics of the week discussions have just about died down by now. Audiosurfer gave me his permission to keep this awesome thread series running, so I'll be using this thread to host the topics and the discussion.

General rules:
I will be posting a new topic every week (or maybe longer if more discussion can be added) and we will discuss that topic.

What makes a good post?
~Make coherent points
~Considers the metagame / teambuilding / competitive / battling aspects of the topic
~Comments on other posts
~Brings up new ideas that have not been previously discussed


That's pretty much it. The atmosphere in this thread will be fairly laid back discussion, so feel free to let your ideas flow (but don't base your posts off of gimmicks, as this is competitive discussion) In the next post, I will keep track of previous Topic of the Weeks in this thread.

Past topics:

Week 14- Priority

WEEK #14:

Priority Attacks
(BESIDES Protect / Detect / Quick Guard / Wide Guard, which were covered in a previous TOTW)

images borrowed from Bulbapedia
Priority grows more and more important with every passing generation, because old Pokemon and old strategies must rely on priority in order to handle the increasingly powerful glass cannons that are introduced every generation. In Doubles, almost every team carries multiple forms of priority, be it Fake Out, Prankster support, or priority offense.

Questions / Topics to think about while posting:
~What makes priority so useful?
~What are some common forms of priority? What roles do they play?
~What are some common users of priority?
~How do you utilize priority / counter priority?
~How does priority effect metagame / teambuilding / playstyle strategies?

Have fun posting, guys!

Week 15- Status Effects

Topic of the Week #15:
Status Effects

Images borrowed from Bulbapedia

With the recent removal of Sleep Clause, status has become even more useful than before. Sleep can now be freely spread, bringing some previously unviable Pokemon such as Jumpluff into the spotlight. Other forms of priority have always been common- Thundurus-I's Thunder Wave has always been quite annoying, while SwagPlay has always been regarded as a cheap and unfair strategy. Some status effects see more use than others, while some make up the framework for entire teams in Doubles.

Questions / Topics to think about while posting:
~What makes status effects so useful?
~What are some common forms of status effects? What roles do they play?
~What are some common users of status effects?
~How do you utilize / counter status effects?
~How do status effects affect metagame / teambuilding / playstyle strategies?
~What are the advantages / disadvantages of using different status moves?

Have fun posting, guys!

 

[Electrolyte]

WEEK #14:

Priority Attacks
(BESIDES Protect / Detect / Quick Guard / Wide Guard, which were covered in a previous TOTW)​

images borrowed from Bulbapedia
Priority grows more and more important with every passing generation, because old Pokemon and old strategies must rely on priority in order to handle the increasingly powerful glass cannons that are introduced every generation. In Doubles, almost every team carries multiple forms of priority, be it Fake Out, Prankster support, or priority offense.

Questions / Topics to think about while posting:
~What makes priority so useful?
~What are some common forms of priority? What roles do they play?
~What are some common users of priority?
~How do you utilize priority / counter priority?
~How does priority effect metagame / teambuilding / playstyle strategies?

Have fun posting, guys!

 

[Lolk]

Priority is great to have on a team because it isn't affected by any of the common playstyles in Doubles. Mega Kangaskhan, Talonflame, and Bisharp are great options for any team because they can function well against Trick Room, Tailwind, Swift Swim, and Chlorophyll strategies. Talonflame specifically can do work whenever it wants to because it doesn't need to play smart to be as effective, unlike Fake Out or Sucker Punch.

On the other hand, I like how Doubles offers more tools to beat priority than Singles, including a much more effective Intimidate and Quick Guard.

Will post more when I am not in class lel.

 

[Nollan]

Can't post a whole lot atm (will probably edit this later), but the big appeal to priority is that it bypasses speed control, a defining element of Doubles. Being able to ignore the effects of Trick Room, Tailwind, Icy Wind, and so on is pretty huge.

Some common priority attackers include Talonflame, Mawile, Kangaskhan, Bisharp, Conkeldurr, and Scizor.

Priority isn't always about damage though, as Prankster has become one of the best supporting abilities in Doubles. Priority Thunder Waves, Dual Screens, Taunts, and Encores are great for crippling threats no matter what field effects are in use.

 

[youngjake93]

This is actually one of the things Dragonite(might as well not beat a dead horse with Talonflame) excels at. Often STAB will be the go-to option, but Dragonite can pick off lots of threats at the 45% range. Having a calc on hand can be very crucial in deciding whether to go for the e-speed or some other move.

 

[BlankZero]

I love Priority. I always have a place on my teams for at least 2-3 priority users. I could go on and on about why it's great, but with Nollan and Lolk already having "I'll edit later" remarks, I'll forgo being ninja'd and post the Offensive Priority users by Moves. I'm not including silly stuff though, like Magmar. :)

Move - Users
Bullet Punch - Scizor, Lucario, Hitmontop (all Hitmons), Machamp, Hariyama, Metagross, Medicham
Mach Punch - Breloom, Conkeldurr, Hitmons, Infernape
Fake Out - Blastoise, Hariyama, Hitmons, Infernape, Kangaskahn, Ludicolo, Medicham, Meowstic, Sableye, Scrafty, Weavile
Sucker Punch - Banette, Bisharp, Hitmons, Kangaskahn, Mawile, Sableye
Extremespeed - Arcanine, Deoxys, Dragonite, Entei, Genesect Lucario, Togekiss, Zygarde
Feint - Blaziken, Gallade, Goodra, Hariyama, Heracross, Hitmons, Infernape, Kabutops, Lucario, Medicham, Pinsir, Sableye, Scizor, Weavile
Aqua Jet - Azumarril, Blastoise, Dragonite, Kabutops
Vacuum Wave - Blaziken, Hitmons, Lucario, Scizor
Shadow Sneak - Aegislash, Banette, Gallade, Gardevoir, Greninja, Gourgeist, Sableye
Ice Shard - Abomasnow, Cloyster, Mamoswine, Weavile
Quick Attack - Blaziken, Darkrai, Diggersby, Pinsir (Notable due to Aerilate), Skymin, Terrakion
Water Shuriken - Greninja

Something not mentioned much yet is Utility Priority moves, such as Helping Hand and Follow Me/Rage Powder. I'll go ahead an make a reference list for them too.

Moves - User
Helping Hand - Cresselia, Hitmons, Jirachi, Keldeo, Latias, Latios, Terrakion
Follow Me - Clefable, Lucario, Togekiss
Rage Powder - Amoongus, Volcarona
Baby Doll Eyes - Unsure of who gets this competitively

Another mention would be all of the current Prankster mons we have, which turn any non-attacking move into a Priority move. I won't list all their utility, but Klefki, Whimsicott, Eviolite Murkrow, Meowstic, and Sableye are all fantastic support mons thanks to this ability.

Finally, Talonflame gets special mention, as its ability Gale Wings makes it the current holder of the strongest Priority move in the game with Brave Bird, and access to Priority Roost and Tailwind.

If I forgot any Prankster mons or Priority users from Gen6, please let me know and I will add them into the list for reference purposes. Smogon isn't up to date on its Gen6 material.

 

[Bughouse]

EDIT: Well I see you ninja'ed some of these suggestions but oh well...

Hey Blank, here are a few you missed, bolding the particularly notable ones:

Fake Out - Meowstic, Ambipom
Sucker Punch - Mawile, the Hitmons, Dusknoir
Extreme Speed (two words now) - Genesect, Entei, Zygarde
Feint - Goodra, Gallade (tbh almost anything that learns it can use it because breaking Protect is so good)
Vacuum Wave - Blaziken
Shadow Sneak - Dusknoir, Gallade, Greninja, Gourgeist, Sableye
Ice Shard - Abomasnow

Also, Water Shuriken can be used on Greninja


I'll post later about my favorites of the bunch.

 

[Qazoo306]

I want to give agislash special mention as one of he best priority users in the tier, because unlike a lot of the common priority users, agislash resists most priority, notably having a resistance to brave bird and an immunity to Mach Punch and fake out, being only weak to sucker punch and shadow sneak. His low speed means sucker punch will activate while he is still in shield form, so he can survive a few hits and retaliate with his own priority, going before everything else.

I don't consider Ambipom to be competitive, but I'll add all the others, except for Dusknoir because it has such piss poor offense.

Ambipom is useful for STAB + technician fake out. With fake out being such a great and useful move, especially in doubles, and ambipom having one of, if not then THE, most powerful fake outs in the game, I think it deserves a mention

 

[Speedholes]

Just wanted to chime in to say that Feint is an amazing move. Lifting the effects of protective moves is incredibly valuable support and eases predictions enormously, and being able to finish off most other priority users before they get a chance for a last ditch attack is pretty baller. It can even hit around Rage Powder/Follow Me if you outspeed naturally.

Imo Mega Pinsir is easily the greatest user of this move, since its Feint is actually damn strong thanks to Aerilate and STAB. Its typing means it pairs up well with both Ground types and Heatran, who appreciate the ability to spam Earthquake and Heat Wave respectively without getting cockblocked by Wide Guard. It can even Feint Ghost types in a pinch. Slower users like Hariyama, Scizor and Gallade can be standouts on Tailwind and TR/Semi-TR teams since they prevent the opponent from just stalling out turns with Protect. I shouldn't even need to mention Hitmontop.

I feel like this move has more than enough viable users and yet I hardly ever see it. Weird, it's easily one of my favourite moves to have on a team.

 

[BlankZero]

Just wanted to chime in to say that Feint is an amazing move. Lifting the effects of protective moves is incredibly valuable support and eases predictions enormously, and being able to finish off most other priority users before they get a chance for a last ditch attack is pretty baller. It can even hit around Rage Powder/Follow Me if you outspeed naturally.

Imo Mega Pinsir is easily the greatest user of this move, since its Feint is actually damn strong thanks to Aerilate and STAB. Its typing means it pairs up well with both Ground types and Heatran, who appreciate the ability to spam Earthquake and Heat Wave respectively without getting cockblocked by Wide Guard. It can even Feint Ghost types in a pinch. Slower users like Hariyama, Scizor and Gallade can be standouts on Tailwind and TR/Semi-TR teams since they prevent the opponent from just stalling out turns with Protect. I shouldn't even need to mention Hitmontop.

I feel like this move has more than enough viable users and yet I hardly ever see it. Weird, it's easily one of my favourite moves to have on a team.

Feint - Blaziken, Gallade, Goodra, Hariyama, Heracross, Hitmons, Infernape, Kabutops, Lucario, Medicham, Pinsir, Sableye, Scizor, Weavile

the problem here isn't distribution, but rather who is good enough already to warrant a slot on your team, THEN distribution. Heracross is great, but Pinsir needs its Mega to be viable on a team. Same with Lucario or Medicham. Sableye could run it but it's usually got Fake Out/Taunt/WoW/Recover already. Scizor is a good pick but you give up SD. Weavile is barely viable anymore, as it's only niche is one of 2 mons that learn Fake Out and Fast Taunt (Mew is the only other one I believe). That leaves Hitmontop and maybe Scizor, both mons who have seen a stark drop in usage this Gen.

 

[Speedholes]

I'll agree that most things which could run Feint can be hard to fit onto a team. Though Scizor, Hitmontop and Sableye aren't exactly uncommon, even with drops in usage. I'm more just surprised that I pretty much never see this move, the utility it provides in breaking through the most common defensive move in Doubles can be well worth giving up Scizor's SD or Sableye's Fake Out for depending on the team. I would never argue that it's a staple move on anything but Pinsir, but I would always strongly consider being able to check Protect/Wide Guard/Quick Guard/etc.

 

[BlankZero]

I'll agree that most things which could run Feint can be hard to fit onto a team. Though Scizor, Hitmontop and Sableye aren't exactly uncommon, even with drops in usage. I'm more just surprised that I pretty much never see this move, the utility it provides in breaking through the most common defensive move in Doubles can be well worth giving up Scizor's SD or Sableye's Fake Out for depending on the team. I would never argue that it's a staple move on anything but Pinsir, but I would always strongly consider being able to check Protect/Wide Guard/Quick Guard/etc.

I tend to to run it on Toppers over Close Combat actually, and on non-Mega Scizor. Sableye needs Fake Out and Will o Wisp to be viable, but you could drop Recover since it dies to so many things now.

 

[Laga]

why over close combat?

all you need is fake out / feint / close combat / wide guard. Tops may have a tiny bit of 4MSS, but it doesn't really "need" anything else than that to be a great supporter.

The way I see priority in Doubles compared to Singles is that there is much more utility in it; you don't really use it to "pick off" as much as you use it to help a teammate. For example if there is a skymin and a rotom-w against a breloom and a conkeldurr, and the skymin is at low HP. One of the two fighting types can kill skymin with mach punch, giving the other the ability to either knock rotom out with a BS or Drain Punch for some HP back on conk, depending on which one gets to punch the skymin.

The other reason why priority is utility in Doubles is because of Fake Out / Feint. Fake Out and Feint are amazing utility moves that can help ease prediction, break through defensive structures of a team, and generally just make life easier in Doubles.

edit: ah ok fair enough. I use defensively oriented tops with enough atk to knock out 252 HP MegaTar, and I personally like to have one STAB move on each Pokemon that isn't something weird like liepard :p

 

[BlankZero]

why over close combat?

all you need is fake out / feint / close combat / wide guard. Tops may have a tiny bit of 4MSS, but it doesn't really "need" anything else than that to be a great supporter.

I tend to run Feint/Fake Out/Helping Hand/Wide Guard on my Toppers with a lot of Defensive investment. I don't like the pseudo power CC has, especially when it lowers your defenses right after, and the loss of Gems really cemented it for me. I now use him as a bulky supporter with lots of offensive utility.

depending on which one gets to punch the skymin.

This made me laugh like a lot. I can see Conk/Breloom arguing over who gets to punch Skymin in the face.

 

[Electrolyte]

As has been stated, Mega Pinsir is actually an underrated yet really effective user of Feint, especially since Aerilate gives it STAB and a x1.3 boost to the attack for an overall base power of 58.5, which is decent. (I faced one and it OHKOd my Protecting Volcarona :[)

In terms of the metagame, a lot of Pokemon rely pretty much solely on their access to priority in order to retain their spots in usage. For example, Mega Kangaskhan would definitely be much less threatening without its trademark Fake Out / Sucker Punch, and Prankster Thundurus-I loses a lot of viability without its priority support moves. Other things, such as Klefki and Talonflame, might not even be viable if they didn't have priority basically making their usage.


Nollan and Lolkomori made really great points regarding Speed Control in their posts. Priority at its core is basically just a form of offensive Speed Control since it ignores typical speed tiers and always goes first. Priority is extremely useful in Doubles since it provides players with an offensive way to help control the tide of the battle. By bypassing speed tiers and effects like Trick Room, priority helps keep glass cannons at bay by forcing them to sacrifice a bit of power for bulk in order to stay viable. This effect is really prominent in Pokemon such as Deoxys-A, who has godly offensive stats but defenses like paper and is so susceptible to priority that it must wear a Focus Sash in order to sponge an attack. Priority helps the game from being solely a competition of who is the fastest and strongest.

Priority can also enhance the effectiveness of certain combinations. Because of their ability to remove almost any weakened opponent quickly and painlessly, things like Scizor, Talonflame, and Azumarill hold top usage spots in the tier. This helps give huge breathing space for slower partners and can easily turn the tide of a battle.

You might think that the low base power of most priority attacks make them not worth it, but on the contrary they are almost essential for any kind of Doubles team.


There has been some awesome discussion in this thread. Nice job guys, keep up the great work!

 

[Stratos]

the ability to attack with priority is obviously ridiculously useful in theory, which is why Nintendo was very careful to balance it. The priority attacks are all physical (or vacuum wave which has ass distribution) so they can be brought to basically 0 power by a single intimidate; they're all weak except ESpeed which is literally never STAB, and Sucker Punch which can be played around. Honestly, though I always pack priority on my team because it's a valuable utility and "oh shit" button, it's usually ineffective at turning the tide in matches where my opponent firmly has the upper hand, and it's mostly useless for pushing an offensive advantage. It'd be nice if priority moves were more usable as offensive options but they're sadly not.

lol jk

everything I said in the above paragraph is true, except there ARE two Pokemon that can use Priority as an offensive option; I speak of SD Mega Scizor and SD Talonflame. Especially in the case of the latter (because nobody expects it so they switch in their landog anyways), these Pokemon are amazing because they ignore the typical method used to defeat physical attackers, Intimidate (and SD Talon dgaf even about burn!) I'll admit I was skeptical about SD Talon but Braverius managed to shit on me with it even though I had Rotom-W and Tran on my team; it's a ridiculous lot frailer than scizor but it has a much better STAB typing, extra speed, and a stronger attack; in general it's more threatening offensively but also more difficult to use. Fortunately, it can be used well on a heavy offense team that complements it by removing its counters, and it also very threatening vs TR because it has prio. so yeah if you're going to use prio and not be a pussy bitch about it then use it with swords dance, it's fucking awesome B)\

some calcs:

+1 252+ Atk Life Orb Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Landorus-T: 333-394 (104 - 123.1%) -- guaranteed OHKO

no other calcs because i am too lazy



EDIT: arctic has informed me that i forgot bd azu but tbh im not a fan too much personally, because it HAS to use aqua jet or else it will probably be outsped and OHKOed, but yeah obviously people run it and shit

 

[Nollan]

I'd just like to add that Talonflame is very threatening even with just a Choice Band boost as well. To put things into perspective:

252+ Atk Choice Band Talonflame Brave Bird vs. 4 HP / 0 Def Latios: 283-334 (93.7 - 110.5%) -- 62.5% chance to OHKO

Being able to straight up OHKO fast but not very bulky threats off the bat with +1 priority is definitely nothing to scoff at, especially when you add on the fact that even without priority, 252 Spe EVs w/ Adamant will get the jump on positive natured base 110s, and the fact that Talonflame can set priority Tailwind if it has nothing better to do (which isn't often, but still). There is probably nothing that comes close to making use of priority the way Talonflame can (well Thundurus I suppose, but Talonflame definitely gets more points on the offensive side of things).

 

[BlankZero]

You're kind of overlooking Defiant mons here Pwnemon. Bisharp shits all over Intimidate spam and gets Suckerpunch, which got a buff with Steel Types losing their resistance. While it is susceptible to Burns, it's not hard to see it coming, and act accordingly, especially if paired up with something with Flash Fire (Heatran/Chandy come to mind).

 

[Bughouse]

Through a ton of playing the tier recently, I've concluded that Feint is bar none the best priority move in Doubles. It has a massive distribution and most definitely the most important effect, breaking Protect, which is a completely unique niche no other move can claim to do.

Moreover, it's not even necessarily weak. On Scizor or Mega Pinsir (my personal favorite, thanks based Laga) it is actually a totally reasonable attacking option that will do more than the 2% damage you may associate with Feint when used by stuff like Goodra. And on top of that, many users of Feint are plenty viable in Doubles, but not associated with Feint, so it's not all that hard to get a surprise kill out of it.

Also +2 priority is the shit.

 

[Braverius]

Talonflame is a really awkward topic, but my two cents on it:

I don't like it that much in doubles. I feel like it does well against / on specific teams, but it's not something I would suggest forcing onto a team. I think it's better than Moltres, but I mean...

ANYWAYS, I ended up using that SD Talonflame because I thought simply trying to punch holes and sweep was the best thing ever at the time. It probably is, but it's also hard to do against certain players. Gavin was someone that I should not have tried to do that against because he usually doesn't give me an opening to set up like that (and thankfully I never did bring it vs him.)

The team I used vs Joim with the Adamant CB Talonflame was actually my friend's 2013 top 8 nationals team revamped. He had Cresselia / Rotom-W / Landorus-T / Escavalier / Tornadus / Tyranitar. I changed the Tornadus to Talonflame since it did exactly what Tornadus did but better (he had mixed Acro / Heat Wave Naive Tornadus) and Venusaur over Tyranitar because it helped with my Rotom-W issues I had by dropping Tornadus (which also had Smack Down + Landorus-T Earthquake, which was his main answer to it). Tyranitar was a patch mon on his team and was very expendable in this case, and I needed a mega anyways, so it happened. So it was more of just a team synergy preference rather than a "WOW TALONFLAME IS GOOD" thing.

I don't know if I really like it or hate it. It's one of the most bittersweet Pokemon. I like to stay around a while and not kill myself usually, but sometimes that damage output is amazing and worth it. There's some vocal VGC hate for it (Ray notably), and I understand his feelings for it for the most part, but it's still a viable option and probably won't go away all season. It's just too hard to ignore base 120 STAB priority and some decent pivot typing.

Now, "support Talonflame" I have pretty strong opinions about...and pretty easy to explain ones, at that. Before you consider using that, please take a look at its base stats, realize its need for either pivoting (Protect or U-Turn), and the fact that it needs its two strong STAB moves on almost any team to be useful. One support move (Taunt or Tailwind) is alright, but Quick Guard in general is pretty bad and having more than one support move is ridiculous.

 

[Nollan]

I probably oversold Talonflame a bit. My general point was that it packs the strongest reliable priority attack in the metagame, though it doesn't have all that much to boast outside of that.

Speaking from experience, I don't really like Talonflame in the VGC format. Any solid player will have one if not more counters to it, which will easily pick it off. However, I have found it works better in 6 vs 6 due to the fact that A) the opponent can't just opt not to bring things that are weak to it, and B) the extended duration in comparison to VGC often allows its teammates to chip away at checks to it, allowing it to sweep late game. Don't get me wrong as its definitely a niche pick and will stay that way for all eternity, but I definitely think its pretty effective in the Smogon Doubles metagame.

 

[Laga]

I think the main reason people like using talonflame is because it really isn't affected by Speed control; in fact you can use it to great effect on a semi Trick Room team, because it's just going to be spamming Brave Bird anyway.

It really makes it easy for you when you don't have to worry about your "sniper" getting Icy Winded on the switch. If your Scarf Genesect gets Icy Winded on a switch, it's now just a Genesect, if your banded burd gets icy winded on a switch, it's still going to outpace and knock out your Charizard Y. This is the key to why Talonflame is considered good (and that it hits hard enough to knock out a lot of key fast frail threats like latios and charizard).

 

[Ultimathunder]

Priotity is one of the most important kind of moves in the Metagame and competitive Pokemon as a whole. It can sometimes make some Pokemon single-handedly far more viable (examples that come to mind are Conkeldurr, Scrafty, and Azumarill), others less viable because they are weak to priority (Deoxys-A, Skymin).

Though priority offensive moves are cool and all, I'd like to talk about non-offensive priority attacks.

The first one that comes to mind would be Prankster. The ability to make all non-damaging moves go first is extremely threatening. Pokemon like Thundurus can run Thunder Wave to stop fast Pokemon from running through a team (unless that fast mon has its own priority) or taunt to prevent stuff like Sleep and Trick Room from going up.

Another good user would be Sableye- in fact, the only reason Sableye is viable is because he gets Prankster and a plentiful movepool. He has a wide variety of moves to use with Prankster, such as Taunt, Will-O-Wisp, and Gravity.

A priority user that combines both support and offensive moves would be Talonflame. It almost always gets tailwind up, thanks to Gale Wings, and has a powerful Brave Bird. talonflame is unique for having an especially powerful Priority attack, which lets it fit on pretty much every team Archetype, from Semi-Trick Room to even Rain teams effectively.

 

[Audiosurfer]

I wouldn't say Sableye is all that viable tbh. It's pretty lackluster for the most part. The only threatening aspect of it is really that trying to damage it with most physical attackers is so difficult due to it being able to burn you before it hits, which can make it hard to kill off. I find Prankster users with Encore to be much more troubling since they can lock me into a move and mess up potential plays, forcing me to switch out to avoid my Pokemon being made useless later on.

But yeah, in response to srk, Fake Out is without a doubt the best priority move in the tier, if not one of the best in the tier in general. No matter what your opponent does once you use it on a target it will accomplish its goal, which is to render the mon useless for the turn. Even if they Protect or switch out, that Pokemon was still unable to make a move for the whole turn which is what makes Fake Out so powerful.

 

[BlankZero]

I wouldn't say Sableye is all that viable tbh. It's pretty lackluster for the most part. The only threatening aspect of it is really that trying to damage it with most physical attackers is so difficult due to it being able to burn you before it hits, which can make it hard to kill off. I find Prankster users with Encore to be much more troubling since they can lock me into a move and mess up potential plays, forcing me to switch out to avoid my Pokemon being made useless later on.

But yeah, in response to srk, Fake Out is without a doubt the best priority move in the tier, if not one of the best in the tier in general. No matter what your opponent does once you use it on a target it will accomplish its goal, which is to render the mon useless for the turn. Even if they Protect or switch out, that Pokemon was still unable to make a move for the whole turn which is what makes Fake Out so powerful.

Sableye has lost a chunk of viability this Gen, mainly because of the inclusion of better Pranksters, as well as a Faster Prankster with Fake Out in Meowstic. It also has a weakness now in Fairy types, and is still super slow outside of Prankster, and is just as frail as ever, meaning it still dies to faster Priority.