Araquanid 0/2

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:ss/araquanid:


[SET]
name: Standard Web Setter
move 1: Sticky Web
move 2: Liquidation
move 3: Leech Life
move 4: Toxic/Magic Coat
item: Heavy Duty Boots
ability: Water Bubble
nature: Adamant
evs: 104 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Araquanid is one of the staple UU web setters in the meta, and can accomplish this particularly well due to its natural Special bulk and unique typing, as well as access to Water Bubble for boosted damage. A dedicated webs team benefits from this build the most, but you can also fit this Araquanid onto other teams that have enough Hyper Offense to take advantage of the webs. Araquanid does not have great Defense though, so it needs to avoid strong physical attackers that use unresisted moves. Heavy Duty Boots is essential to avoid Stealth Rock damage, as rocks is the main downfall of using any Araquanid. The 152 Speed EVs allow it to outspeed non-invested Incineroar, Grimmsnarl, Sylveon, and Weezing-G, the former which Araquanid can usually KO if chipped even after Intimidate, and the latter three can usually be KO'd if they are around 50% HP. Leech Life is used here to hit enemy grass types, Zarude and Celebi in particular, that would otherwise resist a Liquidation. Enemies that shrug off Araquanid's two main attacks, like Keldeo, Slowbro, and most water types, can usually be worn down with Toxic. However, there are other options for the fourth move if you already have a few other party members to easily deal with these. Magic Coat can be used to reflect Stealth Rocks and other hazards back at the user, as well as reflect status moves like Toxic. This is very situational though and is usually useless against anything that doesn't use hazards. Mirror Coat is also an option, as Araquanid has extremely high natural Special Defense and can take a hit from almost any special attacker and KO it in return. A drawback in doing so is that Araquanid has no recovery, so it can effectively only do this once per battle unless you have Wish support on your team.

Since the goal of this set is to keep webs up, a spin blocker and/or an anti-defogger are great teammates for Araquanid. Bisharp is usually a good choice, as its Defiant ability allows it to get an easy +2 Attack boost against a defogger, and can KO most defoggers, in particular Weezing-G and Noivern, back in one hit afterwards with Iron Head or Sucker Punch. Bisharp also resists Rock and Flying, which account for two out of Araquanid's three weaknesses, and acts as a sweeper as well with the enemy team slowed down. Other good teammate options include any anti-defogger or spin-blocker, like Chandelure or Mimikyu, both of which can also act as sweepers. With the prevalence of HDB, a teammate with Knock Off also helps make the webs more relevant. Finally, since the webs are used to slow down the enemy and allow you to sweep more easily, you can take your pick from the abundance of available sweepers in UU play, such as Terrakion, Bisharp, Mimikyu, and many others. Terrakion can set up Stealth Rock, and webs allow Terrakion to outspeed almost everything except Noivern. Mimikyu can also outspeed mostly anything with webs, and is a great check for Noivern which would otherwise pose a problem to an Araquanid webs team.


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[SET]
name: Fat Spider
move 1: Sticky Web
move 2: Liquidation
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Water Bubble
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
This is a very niche set that takes advantage of Araquanid's superb Special Defense stat to provide webs/toxic support and stall and outlast many special attackers. The point is to wall special attackers, set up webs, and slowly debilitate the enemy team to help you with a late game sweep. While there are other special walls in the tier like Chansey and Slowking, Araquanid has a unique spot as a special wall with its access to webs, unique typing, and decent physical damage output with Water Bubble Liquidation, allowing it to threaten things that would otherwise try to set up on your special walls. At max Special Defense, Araquanid can withstand a Choice Specs Hurricane from Noivern. It also takes very minimal damage from most Rotom Volt Switches, allowing Araquanid to remain in play and set up webs or use Toxic to debilitate an opponent. Nearly all UU Special Attackers, including Chandelure, Special Sharpedo, and Keldeo, can barely touch this Araquanid set, allowing Araquanid to be a mostly safe switch in to these. A Choice Specs Sylveon or Porygon-Z needs three hits to KO Araquanid after Leftovers recovery, and Water Bubble allows Araquanid to 2HKO them back with Liquidation even with no Attack invest. Protect is essential to scout enemy sets and also help with leftovers recovery. Protect also allows you to scout a Trick and then switch out to a teammate that can afford be tricked a choice item. It also helps scout out choice users attacks directly, and helps with Toxic damage against the enemy. Despite it's low physical Defense stat, Araquanid can still tank some physical attacks decently, including most U-Turns and attacks from physical support Pokemon like support Cobalion, which can't do much to Araquanid as it resists both of its main attacks and takes negligible damage from Volt Switch. All of this allows Araquanid to slowly cripple a good chunk of the enemy team, set up web support, and leave the rest of your team open to clean up the rest.

There are three main issues with this Araquanid set - Poison, Knock Off, and Stealth Rock. Once Araquanid is Toxic'd or Poisoned, its usefulness plummets here. Rocks and Spikes also hinder it since this set depends on Leftovers recovery instead of HDB. And if it loses its leftovers with Knock Off, then it loses all of its staying power. As such, two of the most important teammates for Araquanid here are a hazard clearer and anything that can take a Toxic. Since you are setting up webs, it is usually better to have Hyper Offensive options to do this, such as Guts Obstagoon and an offensive Starmie or Tsareena. Tentacruel works as a Toxic/Toxic Spikes absorber and a hazard clearer, but it shares Araquanid's electric weakness and lack of Physical Defense, and doesn't provide much Offensive utility like Tsareena or Starmie, so it is usually not a great option. Bisharp is always a good teammate for any Araquanid set, as it can be used as great sweeper, resists Rock and Flying attacks, stops Toxic, and hinders enemy defoggers. Cobalion is also a great teammate, as it can outspeed most of the tier including Choice Scarf users after webs are down, can absorb Knock Off well with its Justified ability, set up Stealth Rock, and provide good damage output. Even though Araquanid can eat most Volt Switches, a good electric stopper like Krookodile or Mamoswine is a good teammate, particularly if you are able to Protect scout a choiced electric move. Having one dedicated physical wall, like Weezing-G, compliments it well and can actually help further debilitate the enemy team to allow your other 4 HO teammates to clean up afterwards. Full Hyper Offense takes advantage of this set well, but it is not required as Araquanid can slowly debilitate enough of the team to allow 2-3 of your sweepers to clean up afterwards.



[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[BigFatMantis, 507497 ]]
- Quality checked by: [[username1, userid1], [username2, userid2]]
- Grammar checked by: [[username1, userid1]]
 
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