Cubone @ Thick Club
Ability: Battle Armor
Level: 5
EVs: 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Bonemerang / Earthquake
- Rock Tomb
- Knock Off
- Fire Punch / Swords Dance
Roles: Wallbreaker
What It Does: Cubone shatters even the metagme's most defensive walls thanks to the item, Thick Club, doubling Cubone's attack. With Thick Club, Cubone reaches an astounding 28 attack with an neutral nature. This monstrous attack is sturdily supported with Cubone's movepool, leaving a grand total of zero safe switch ins for this beast. Bonemerang allows Cubone to bypass Sturdy (sometimes) and Focus Sash pokemon, especially useful with Sticky Web support, however using Earthquake is also an option to avoid untimely misses. Rock Tomb is a perfect second move, allowing Cubone to outpace the entire unboosted metagame and providing EdgeQuake coverage, while also remaining powerful enough (and more accurate than the other alternatives). Knock Off is Cubone's third move, allowing pokemon to be crippled easily while also securing the 2HKO on Berry Juice pokemon and Lileep/Slowpoke. Lastly, Fire Punch is used over Swords Dance to defeat Ferroseed with much more ease, however Swords Dance allows Cubone to OHKO
almost the entire tier, save a few select pokemon.
Good Teammates: Torchic is an obvious pairing with Cubone, as Torchic can pass both Speed and attack boosts to Cubone, letting it annihilate everything if successful. Archen can set up Stealth Rock for Cubone allowing it to secure more KOes after a Swords Dance, while also providing a decent answer to the numerous Fighting types who'll try to land a Knock Off on Cubone. Mienfoo, Trubbish, and Shellos each easily sponge the Knock Offs aimed at Cubone, each with their individual perks; Mienfoo is just a generally great pokemon which can easily deal with most Knock Off users while also retaining insane longevity, Trubbish provides hazard support for Cubone, securing everything dies if they come in on two layers of spikes when Cubone is at +2, and Shellos has the perk of being amazingly bulky with burn support and reliable recovery. Sticky Web support is also a godsend for Cubone, letting it outspeed much more of the metagame, letting even less check it.
What Counters It: Nothing actually can boast to counter Cubone. However, a fair amount of pokemon can revenge kill Cubone or cripple it. For example, Mienfoo can take one hit, then cripple with Knock Off, and then switch out again for Regenerator. Staryu can abuse Cubone's lower Speed and Special Defense KO with Scald. Vulpix outspeeds and KOes as well. Eviolite Aipom beats Cubone with the combination of Knock Off and Fury Swipes/Seed Bomb.
Any Additional Info: Don't let it get a pass from Torchic, or set an SD with Sticky Web support. Also actively try to hit Cubone with a Knock Off, it makes Cubone useless usually.