Proposal Arbok in RBY ZU

[Sabelette]

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It's a shame I'm not phoopes because the "I did it again" joke would absolutely rule here with the double post.

Anyway, RBY recently formed a ZU council (composed of Sabelette, Gangsta Spongebob, gastlies, NotVeryCake, Medeia, torkonpeter, BeatsBlack) in the wake of two major tournaments - Zoomer, an individual double elimination tournament, and ZU Olympiad II, a team tournament that featured RBY ZU. Throughout the tournaments, no topic was more hotly discussed than Arbok’s impact on the tier, and majority sentiment trended toward banning it, prompting a suspect test. Arbok relies heavily on the inconsistent combination of Glare and Wrap to chip down and sometimes single-handedly defeat entire teams; it is only outsped by a handful of Pokemon, of which only one, Abra, has a consistent way to neutralize it. Top threats like Primeape and Pidgeot fall to Wrap after taking paralysis, and Arbok is capable of wiping out entire teams once faster threats are eliminated. Every team now carries a minimum of two Arbok checks, with many carrying anywhere from 3-5 due to the inconsistency of said checks. Beating Arbok is often a game of luck, often requiring Primeape and Pidgeot to hit it with Hyper Beam and usually get KOed in retaliation (as well as risking Hyper Beam hitting a target like Marowak, which can then use Counter freely). Arbok also packs coveted QuakeSlide coverage, hitting most foes for significant damage and allowing it to quickly finish tier staples like Pidgeot, Flareon, and Tentacool. However, Arbok’s inconsistency and terrible defensive typing leave a few lanes open for counterplay. Sandslash, Onix, Marowak, and Rhyhorn can stay in on Wrap and wait for a miss to immediately chip it into range of faster threats, though this is predictable and allows in threats like Tentacool and Poliwag. Arbok also can be chipped down by Quick Attack from Flareon and Pidgeot, and a number of faster Pokemon like Primeape, Ponyta, and Poliwag can chip it or threaten status, as Arbok falls apart when paralyzed or burned, to say nothing of sleep. However, Arbok’s bulk is just enough that foes like Ponyta and Poliwag cannot beat it one-on-one even without Wrap, and they also can't get it into Pidgeot range in a single attack, so Arbok often manages to status and KO multiple Pokemon.

As a result, the ZU council is opening this discussion thread and will be suspecting Arbok. Voting reqs are as follows:

Played at least 3 games and won at least 1 game of RBY ZU in ZU Olympiad II: nicole7735, SaDiSTiCNarwhal, Ice Yazu, Sabelette, gastlies, NotVeryCake

Made top 16 of Zoomer: A RBY ZU Tournament: sinnabyss, NotVeryCake, Melbelle, torkonpeter, Medeia, Sceptross, Ice Yazu, BeatsBlack, Murm, acluh1, Gangsta Spongebob, Sabelette, YBW, Toxin boost, Maris Bonibell, JonAmon 25

This thread will remain open for discussion for 2 weeks (until April 1) before the vote commences. Both voters and nonvoters are invited to post in the thread; see here to request posting access if you are not badged. A 60% majority will be required for a ban.

 

[Sabelette]

Personal thoughts: I don't think Arbok is "broken" in the sense of "lacks counterplay and is way more powerful than everything else." I think Arbok has two major problems that convince me to vote ban.

1. Arbok is uncompetitive. Glare and Wrap accuracy is really stupid and creates swingy games. I would actually be less inclined to vote ban if Glare was 100% accurate because then you'd know what to expect from this mon instead of a random 25% chance for it to miss and do nothing. As things stand, Arbok's sheer variance creates uncompetitive games because the difference between a hit or miss is enormous, and it's not like, say, Surf vs Hydro Pump where you can control the variance, these moves are core to what Arbok does. This for me by itself is enough reason to ban it, it adds an immense RNG element to the tier just by existing.

2. Arbok constricts the builder heavily because it has literally one "good" check and it's ass (Abra). Either you load the shitty check that takes 10% from Wrap and is easily pivoted on, or you load like 4 Arbok soft checks on every team and still have to give up a lot to remove the stupid snake. It's already a pretty limited tier but Arbok single handedly reduces the viability of like 75% of the mons in the tier.

 

[Gangsta Spongebob]

I agree with Sabelette here. The biggest issues with Arbok are mostly a result of its very limited counterplay and inconsistent nature, though I want to elaborate on those points.

As it stands in ZU, we have very few Pokemon that outspeed Arbok. Those are: Pidgeot, Primeape, Ponyta, Poliwag, Abra, Hitmonlee, Pikachu, Voltorb, Diglett, Meowth, and Golbat. The actually good Pokemon in this list, those that are commonly seen on teams, are Pidgeot, Primeape, and Ponyta. The issue with them is that they're not reliable at all. Pidgeot cannot OHKO Arbok without a crit Hyper Beam, letting it Glare and Wrap Pidgeot into oblivion. Additionally, Pidgeot is an exceptionally important on teams, so sacrificing it for half an Arbok is really bad.

The other two are even worse off. Primeape has to rely on Body Slam's 30% paralysis chance or Hyper Beam rarely doing over half to make progress against Arbok, while being vulnerable to the same Glare + Wrap shenanigans as Pidgeot, while Ponyta can only 3HKO with Fire Blast, relying on 30% burns while Arbok can either paralyze or even 2HKO it back.

Abra's niche in the current metagame is solely based on Arbok's overcentralization, it's pretty much unviable otherwise. At this role it's fine, it outspeeding Arbok means it can paralyze it, though it can't even OHKO Arbok without a crit and struggles to switch in. Given Abra's terrible matchups against numerous threats like Pidgeot and Primeape, using it to trade with Arbok is a tough sell.

The other "answers" to Arbok are barely worth talking about. Poliwag must pray for Hypnosis and gets ruined by Glare. Hitmonlee can only hope for Body Slam's 30% paralysis chance to do anything against Arbok. The Pokemon after these two are essentially memes. Pikachu and Voltorb have faster Thunder Waves but are comically easy to switch into. Diglett needs a crit Earthquake or Body Slam paralysis to actually deal with Arbok without risking Glare, and it's walled by Pidgeot. The less said about Meowth and Golbat, the better.

This is a massive issue when Arbok tends to dominate everything slower than it. More on the RNG later, but Arbok has good odds to Wrap anything that doesn't resist it into KO range. And Rock-types still get pivoted all over Arbok, aren't that hard to switch into, and if they end up becoming big enough issues Arbok can easily slot in Mega Drain to reliably beat them one-on-one.

And Arbok isn't even a good answer to itself. Arbok Wars are REALLY RNG dependent, between Glare, Wrap, and crits. Ideally both Arbok get paralyzed and become a non-issue, but there is a good likelihood that Glare misses or the faster Glare leads to a full paralysis. Arbok can use Earthquake instead, putting it in range of something like Pidgeot Hyper Beam, but that still leaves the other Arbok unparalyzed and thus free to spam Wrap.

There is the argument that ZU is underdeveloped, but players have basically done everything to deal with Arbok and it's still overcentralizing. Like Sabelette said, if you're running 4 soft checks and still have to give up a lot to stop Arbok, the Pokemon is too much. The best-case scenario, excluding misses and crits, is basically trading your Pokemon to weaken Arbok into another Pokemon's KO range, because every faster paralysis user either gets one shot with Body Slam or is terrible.

The issue of RNG is debatably the bigger issue. Thing is, Arbok really shouldn't try chipping down something like Sandslash or Parasect from full health. But everyone who's played enough RBY ZU has seen that happen. Arbok is just reliable enough to when push comes to shove, it really can just Wrap a slower team to death. And then we've had other games when it just missed twice and died. Arbok's RNG can decide games due to how powerful it is, but the nature of the Pokemon means a single miss massively could decide the outcome of the game. Unlike something like Poliwag, who even in the best-case scenario has plenty of counterplay, Arbok on a good day has so little that you have to pray for RNG to beat it.

Those are the main issues with Arbok. It has too little reliable counterplay, which usually involve sacking a mon to paralysis to let another take it out, and the RNG makes it a nightmare to both face and use. It just makes ZU way too centralized and RNG reliant, which is why I implore every voter to vote Ban.

 

[Sabelette]

Arbok is now banned!