[SET]
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Shadow Force
move 3: Taunt / Recover
move 4: Brick Break / Extreme Speed
item: Ghostium Z
ability: Multitype
nature: Adamant
evs: 236 Atk / 20 Def / 252 Spe or 32 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Def / 4 SpD / 68 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Arceus-Ghost differentiates itself from other Dragon Dance sweepers in the tier such as Zekrom and Kyurem-B with its unique Ghost typing making it quite difficult for some teams to reliably switch into and allowing Arceus-Ghost to break through Giratina, which Extreme Killer Arceus would otherwise struggle with. Brick Break and Extreme Speed give Arceus-Ghost nearly unresisted coverage, with both moves being useful for cleaning up weakened foes during a sweep without needing to resort to the awkward Shadow Force, while still being able to use utility moves such as Taunt and Recover, distinguishing it from Marshadow. However, Dark-types such as Yveltal and Arceus-Dark are major issues for Arceus-Ghost, especially since its coverage options are quite weak, and Marshadow can revenge kill it after minor chip. Additionally, Arceus-Ghost faces competition from Arceus-Ground and Ultra Necrozma as a sweeper or wallbreaker on hyper offense teams, especially since Arceus-Ghost lacks a lot of defensive utility due to its poor resistances barring coming into Extreme Speed from opposing Arceus.
* Dragon Dance allows Arceus-Ghost to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame, including Deoxys-A and Marshadow, both of which would revenge kill it with ease. Dragon Dance boosts Attack, letting Arceus-Ghost OHKO Ho-Oh, defensive Primal Kyogre and offensive Primal Groudon after Stealth Rock with Never-Ending Nightmare after a boost, while being able to OHKO Zygarde, support Arceus formes, and defensive Primal Groudon at +2.
* While Shadow Force is ran for its strength, which allows Arceus-Ghost to have a good roll to OHKO defensive Necrozma-DM and Rayquaza after a boost, its two-turn nature makes it awkward to use against teams with Dark-types like Arceus-Dark and Yveltal and Normal-types like Extreme Killer Arceus. To this end, running Ghostium Z removes this issue entirely via Never-Ending Nightmare providing a one-turn nuke for Arceus-Ghost against its desired targets. Shadow Force also allows Arceus-Ghost to defeat Ditto by itself, since Ditto will always outspeed and therefore will never hit Arceus-Ghost if they both use Shadow Force at the same time.
* Taunt allows Arceus-Ghost to set up on passive Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Alomomola, and Zygarde, limiting the latter's effectiveness as a check. Alternatively, Recover lets Arceus-Ghost set up on bulky attackers such as defensive Primal Groudon while keeping itself healthy, although it has to be more wary about status conditions inflicted by moves like Toxic from Pokemon such as Alomomola and Primal Groudon.
* Brick Break gives Arceus-Ghost a way of hitting Arceus-Dark and Extreme Killer Arceus for super effective damage, 2HKOing the latter at +1 after Stealth Rock while also removing opposing screens from Deoxys-S and Grimmsnarl. Extreme Speed gives Arceus-Ghost a way of revenge killing faster threats like Chien Pao and Deoxys-A without any boosts while limiting Sucker Punch Yveltal's ability to revenge kill it.
* The first given EV spread allows Arceus-Ghost to avoid the OHKO from Tera Ghost Choice Band Marshadow's Shadow Sneak, while maximum Speed investment lets Arceus-Ghost Speed tie with Modest Palkia-O and Adamant Mega Salamence, letting Arceus-Ghost avoid taking hits from them with Shadow Force, although this may be problematic against Substitute variants of the former. The Attack EVs allow Arceus-Ghost to OHKO Double Dance Primal Groudon with its Z-Move after a boost. Alternatively, the second EV spread avoids the OHKO from the previously mentioned Choice Band Tera Ghost Marshadow's Shadow Sneak—now after Stealth Rock — as well as Tera Flying Choice Band Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent and fully invested Primal Groudon's Overheat; however, it also makes Arceus-Ghost significantly slower, with it now being unable to outspeed fully invested Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, although it does still outspeed Deoxys-A after a boost.
* After setting up, the Z-Move is best used on bulkier targets such as defensive Primal Groudon, Zygarde, and support Arceus formes rather than frailer targets such as Mega Mewtwo Y. It is better to try to avoid using the boosted Z-Move just for the sake of hitting in one turn against Pokemon that aren't defensive walls, since said defensive walls will become significantly harder to break through.
* Unboosted Never-Ending Nightmare is still a strong option if Arceus-Ghost cannot set up, weakening opponents for teammates like Primal Kyogre and Eternatus to clean up more easily. If Dark-types like Arceus-Dark and Yveltal are present, then Arceus-Ghost should be used late-game where these two have been weakened so that Arceus-Ghost can pick them off with its coverage options.
* Arceus-Ghost struggles against Dark-types, so Fairy-types like Zacian-C can be effective to threaten them while wearing down shared checks like Primal Groudon. Eternatus is a good teammate, since it can reliably switch into Arceus-Dark and defensive Yveltal for Arceus-Ghost and can take down the latter with Meteor Beam. Marshadow forms a potent Ghost-spam combo with Taunt variants of Arceus-Ghost, with it dealing with Arceus-Dark and Yveltal with Low Kick while Arceus-Ghost breaks through defensive Pokemon like Zygarde for it.
* Specially offensive Pokemon such as Primal Kyogre, Eternatus, and offensive Yveltal are great options for Arceus-Ghost, since they can assist in breaking through physical walls while Taunt variants of Arceus-Ghost are able to set up on special walls like Ferrothorn and Chansey while avoiding Leech Seed and Toxic; offensive Yveltal is also able to switch into Dark-type moves for Arceus-Ghost and can stop hazards from being removed, helping Arceus-Ghost wallbreak more easily.
* Suicide leads like Shuckle and Smeargle can set StickyWebs Web for Arceus-Ghost to let it outspeed certain Pokemon unboosted such as Zacian-C and Eternatus. Glimmora can set up hazards such as Stealth Rock and Toxic Spikes, which helps Arceus-Ghost break through defensive structures more easily with all the switches it encourages. Arceus-Ghost's natural spinblock against Iron Treads is greatly appreciated across all suicide leads.
[SET CREDITS]
Set(s) by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/s0a0m0i0.604820/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bobsican.434487/
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/s0a0m0i0.604820/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bumboclaat.523420/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bobsican.434487/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zrp200.327515/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zrp200.327515/
name: Dragon Dance
move 1: Dragon Dance
move 2: Shadow Force
move 3: Taunt / Recover
move 4: Brick Break / Extreme Speed
item: Ghostium Z
ability: Multitype
nature: Adamant
evs: 236 Atk / 20 Def / 252 Spe or 32 HP / 252 Atk / 152 Def / 4 SpD / 68 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
* Arceus-Ghost differentiates itself from other Dragon Dance sweepers in the tier such as Zekrom and Kyurem-B with its unique Ghost typing making it quite difficult for some teams to reliably switch into and allowing Arceus-Ghost to break through Giratina, which Extreme Killer Arceus would otherwise struggle with. Brick Break and Extreme Speed give Arceus-Ghost nearly unresisted coverage, with both moves being useful for cleaning up weakened foes during a sweep without needing to resort to the awkward Shadow Force, while still being able to use utility moves such as Taunt and Recover, distinguishing it from Marshadow. However, Dark-types such as Yveltal and Arceus-Dark are major issues for Arceus-Ghost, especially since its coverage options are quite weak, and Marshadow can revenge kill it after minor chip. Additionally, Arceus-Ghost faces competition from Arceus-Ground and Ultra Necrozma as a sweeper or wallbreaker on hyper offense teams, especially since Arceus-Ghost lacks a lot of defensive utility due to its poor resistances barring coming into Extreme Speed from opposing Arceus.
* Dragon Dance allows Arceus-Ghost to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame, including Deoxys-A and Marshadow, both of which would revenge kill it with ease. Dragon Dance boosts Attack, letting Arceus-Ghost OHKO Ho-Oh, defensive Primal Kyogre and offensive Primal Groudon after Stealth Rock with Never-Ending Nightmare after a boost, while being able to OHKO Zygarde, support Arceus formes, and defensive Primal Groudon at +2.
* While Shadow Force is ran for its strength, which allows Arceus-Ghost to have a good roll to OHKO defensive Necrozma-DM and Rayquaza after a boost, its two-turn nature makes it awkward to use against teams with Dark-types like Arceus-Dark and Yveltal and Normal-types like Extreme Killer Arceus. To this end, running Ghostium Z removes this issue entirely via Never-Ending Nightmare providing a one-turn nuke for Arceus-Ghost against its desired targets. Shadow Force also allows Arceus-Ghost to defeat Ditto by itself, since Ditto will always outspeed and therefore will never hit Arceus-Ghost if they both use Shadow Force at the same time.
* Taunt allows Arceus-Ghost to set up on passive Pokemon such as Ferrothorn, Alomomola, and Zygarde, limiting the latter's effectiveness as a check. Alternatively, Recover lets Arceus-Ghost set up on bulky attackers such as defensive Primal Groudon while keeping itself healthy, although it has to be more wary about status conditions inflicted by moves like Toxic from Pokemon such as Alomomola and Primal Groudon.
* Brick Break gives Arceus-Ghost a way of hitting Arceus-Dark and Extreme Killer Arceus for super effective damage, 2HKOing the latter at +1 after Stealth Rock while also removing opposing screens from Deoxys-S and Grimmsnarl. Extreme Speed gives Arceus-Ghost a way of revenge killing faster threats like Chien Pao and Deoxys-A without any boosts while limiting Sucker Punch Yveltal's ability to revenge kill it.
* The first given EV spread allows Arceus-Ghost to avoid the OHKO from Tera Ghost Choice Band Marshadow's Shadow Sneak, while maximum Speed investment lets Arceus-Ghost Speed tie with Modest Palkia-O and Adamant Mega Salamence, letting Arceus-Ghost avoid taking hits from them with Shadow Force, although this may be problematic against Substitute variants of the former. The Attack EVs allow Arceus-Ghost to OHKO Double Dance Primal Groudon with its Z-Move after a boost. Alternatively, the second EV spread avoids the OHKO from the previously mentioned Choice Band Tera Ghost Marshadow's Shadow Sneak—now after Stealth Rock — as well as Tera Flying Choice Band Rayquaza's Dragon Ascent and fully invested Primal Groudon's Overheat; however, it also makes Arceus-Ghost significantly slower, with it now being unable to outspeed fully invested Primal Groudon and Primal Kyogre, although it does still outspeed Deoxys-A after a boost.
* After setting up, the Z-Move is best used on bulkier targets such as defensive Primal Groudon, Zygarde, and support Arceus formes rather than frailer targets such as Mega Mewtwo Y. It is better to try to avoid using the boosted Z-Move just for the sake of hitting in one turn against Pokemon that aren't defensive walls, since said defensive walls will become significantly harder to break through.
* Unboosted Never-Ending Nightmare is still a strong option if Arceus-Ghost cannot set up, weakening opponents for teammates like Primal Kyogre and Eternatus to clean up more easily. If Dark-types like Arceus-Dark and Yveltal are present, then Arceus-Ghost should be used late-game where these two have been weakened so that Arceus-Ghost can pick them off with its coverage options.
* Arceus-Ghost struggles against Dark-types, so Fairy-types like Zacian-C can be effective to threaten them while wearing down shared checks like Primal Groudon. Eternatus is a good teammate, since it can reliably switch into Arceus-Dark and defensive Yveltal for Arceus-Ghost and can take down the latter with Meteor Beam. Marshadow forms a potent Ghost-spam combo with Taunt variants of Arceus-Ghost, with it dealing with Arceus-Dark and Yveltal with Low Kick while Arceus-Ghost breaks through defensive Pokemon like Zygarde for it.
* Specially offensive Pokemon such as Primal Kyogre, Eternatus, and offensive Yveltal are great options for Arceus-Ghost, since they can assist in breaking through physical walls while Taunt variants of Arceus-Ghost are able to set up on special walls like Ferrothorn and Chansey while avoiding Leech Seed and Toxic; offensive Yveltal is also able to switch into Dark-type moves for Arceus-Ghost and can stop hazards from being removed, helping Arceus-Ghost wallbreak more easily.
* Suicide leads like Shuckle and Smeargle can set Sticky
[SET CREDITS]
Set(s) by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/s0a0m0i0.604820/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bobsican.434487/
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/s0a0m0i0.604820/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bumboclaat.523420/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/bobsican.434487/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zrp200.327515/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/zrp200.327515/
Last edited:
