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ZU Bulky Attacker Arboliva QC [1/2]

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[SET]
Bulky Attacker (Arboliva) @ Leftovers
Ability: Seed Sower
Tera Type: Poison / Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 164 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm / Giga Drain
- Hyper Voice
- Leech Seed
- Strength Sap / Protect

[SET COMMENTS]

Arboliva is a solid bulky attacker in ZU due to its incredible sustain from the combination of Leech Seed, Leftovers and Grassy Terrain and formidable defensive and offensive stats. Outside of Steel-types, such as Magneton and Orthworm, and Trevenant, which still do not enjoy switching into Arboliva's attacks, the combination of Leaf Storm and Hyper Voice is unresisted in ZU. Giga Drain is a solid alternative to Leaf Storm which helps in prolonged 1v1s but lacks immediate power since Leaf Storm can pickup 2HKOes on foes like Mesprit and Whimsicott. Leech Seed helps Arboliva fend off many Pokemon, especially in tandem with Strength Sap, which is great when up against slower attackers such as Snorlax, or Protect can be ran instead, which lets Arboliva safely accumulate healing. 92 speed EVs let Arboliva outspeed base 50 speed Pokemon such as Muk and Regirock. Tera Poison and Ghost help Arboliva turn the tables on the plethora of Fighting-types in ZU such as Passimian and Hisuian Sneasel. While Ghost provides a Fighting immunity, Poison is usually preferred due to its immunity to being poisoned and neutrality to Dark.

Bulky Attacker Arboliva fits on slower-paced Bulky Offense and Balance teams and works best when paired with Pokemon that are able to make great use of the Grassy Terrain it provides such as Muk and Spiritomb. Arboliva's worst matchup is Venusaur, who is immune to Leech Seed and is able to shrug off Arboliva's Grass-type attacks and make progress with Knock off or Sludge Bomb, so Pokemon who are well equipped at dealing with Venusaur such as Muk, Cryogonal and Orthworm make for solid teammates. Spiritomb is an excellent partner as it provides a solid switch in to Fighting- and Poison-type attacks, while Grassy Terrain creates many set up opportunities for it. Other Fighting- and Poison-resistant pokemon like Sandslash and Weezing also work well. Regirock and Snorlax are great switch-ins to Fire types such as Charizard and Magmortar and they also enjoy the passive recovery Grassy Terrain provides. Arboliva is often a liability against setup sweepers, especially against Quiver Dance users like Oricorio-Baile and Lilligant, which makes some sort of setup prevention, like Prankster Encore from Whimsicott and Sableye or Roar from Charizard preferred.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
============
Eject Pack allows for a one time free entry for Arboliva's teammates after a Leaf Storm, however, with how long Arboliva tends to stay on the field, missing out on leftovers recovery ends up not being worth it most of the time. On top of that, it is mostly outclassed as a bulky Eject Pack user by Exeggutor-Alola, which is equipped with more threatening Draco Meteor and a better defensive typing and Venusaur who doesn't miss Leftovers as much thanks to Synthesis. An EV spread which invests in defense instead of Special Attack can be used to help bolster the team's defensive core against Pokemon such as Basculin. However, in this case, Grass-types such as Venusaur, Dipplin and Shaymin are preferred for their better matchup into Fighting-types like Hitmontop and Passimian.


Checks and Counters
============

**Venusaur**: Arboliva is never able to threaten a Venusaur above half HP, and Venusaur tends to be difficult to switch into, with even its checks usually disliking being hit by Knock off, Leech Seed, or risking being poisoned by Sludge Bomb.

**Poison-types**: Muk can shrug off Arboliva's attacks and retaliate with Knock Off and Poison Jab to disassemble Arboliva. Hisuian Sneasel and Grafaiai can switch in at least once and fire back with their strong Poison STAB.

**Special Walls/Tanks**: Cryogonal, Orthworm, and Braviary can all stomach Arboliva's hits and respond back with supereffective moves. The likes of Glastrier, Magneton, and Vikavolt can switch in and immediately threaten Arboliva back since it's so slow.

**Quiver Dance Sweepers**: Arboliva is unable to do much to stop Quiver Dance sweepers such as Oricorio-Baile and Lilligant. It gives them a free opportunity to set up and relies on its teammates to prevent a sweep.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/yo-cho.610452/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sleid.601970/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kriegueur.634210/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
 
Last edited:
add remove comment
[SET]
Bulky Attacker (Arboliva) @ Leftovers
Ability: Seed Sower
Tera Type: Poison / Ghost
EVs: 252 HP / 164 SpA / 92 Spe
Modest Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Leaf Storm / Giga Drain
- Hyper Voice
- Leech Seed
- Strength Sap / Protect

[SET COMMENTS]

Arboliva is a solid bulky attacker in ZU due to its incredible sustain from the combination of Leech Seed, Leftovers and Grassy Terrain and formidable defensive and offensive stats. Outside of steel types, such as Magneton and Perrserker and Trevenant which still do not enjoy switching into Arboliva's attacks, the combination of Leaf Storm and Hyper Voice is unresisted in ZU (This sentence reads a little weirdly but I'm not GP so idk). Giga Drain is a solid alternative to Leaf Storm which helps in prolonged 1v1s but lacks immediate power (it would be nice to have examples of leaf storm valuable rolls such as ohko beartic or regirock after rocks). Leech Seed helps Arboliva fend off against many pokemon, especially in tandem with Strength Sap, which is great for against slower attackers such as Snorlax (Does this mean great against slower attackers or great to help slower attacker teammates ? I assume first but I would mention something other than snorlax which often runs heat crash), or protect which lets Arboliva safely accumulate healing. 92 speed EVs let Arboliva outspeed base 50 speed Pokemon such as Muk and Regirock. Tera Poison and Ghost help Arboliva turn the tables on the plethora of fighting types in ZU. While Ghost provides a Fighting immunity, Poison is usually preferred due to its immunity to being poisoned and neutrality to Dark.

Bulky Attacker Arboliva fits on slower-paced Bulky Offense and Balance teams and works best when paired with Pokemon that are able to make great use of the grassy terrain it provides (such as ?). Arboliva's worst matchup is Venusaur, who is immune to Leech Seed and is able to shrug off Arboliva's attacks Leaf Storm (venusaur doesn't really shrug off hyper voice, especially offensive spreads, but it's presence does mean you loose most of your midgrounds) and make progress with Knock off or Sludge Bomb or heal in your face with Synthesis, so pokemon who are well equipped at dealing with Venusaur such as Muk, Cryogonal and Perrserker Orthworm make for solid teammates (Perrserker does not deal with Earth Power venu, I put orthworm but feel free to put something else). Spiritomb is an excellent partner as it provides a solid switch in to fighting and poison-type attacks, while grassy terrain creates many set up opportunities for it. Other fighting and poison resistant pokemon like Sandslash and Weezing also work well although Levitate Weezing does get healed from grassy terrain. Regirock and Snorlax are great switch-ins to Fire types such as Charizard and Magmortar and they also enjoy the passive recovery grassy terrain provides. Arboliva is often a liability against setup sweepers, especially against Quiver Dance users like Oricorio-Baile and Lilligant, which makes some sort of setup prevention, like Prankster Encore from Whimsicott and Sableye or Roar from Charizard preferred.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
============
Eject Pack allows for a one time free entry for Arboliva's teammates after a Leaf Storm, however, with how long Arboliva tends to stay on the field, missing out on leftovers recovery ends up not being worth it most of the time. On top of that, it is mostly outclassed as a bulky Eject Pack user by Exeggutor-Alola, which is equipped with more threatening Draco Meteor and a better defensive typing or Venusaur which doesn't miss Leftovers as much thanks to Synthesis. An EV spread which invests in defense instead of special attack can be used to help bolster the teams defensive core against Pokemon such as Basculin. However, in this case, grass types such as Venusaur, Lurantis Dipplin (Lurantis is irrelevant) and Shaymin are preferred for their better matchup into fighting types like Virizion Hitmontop (Virizion is not a key threat) and Passimian. (I'm unsure of how often arboliva runs tera blast over hyper voice but if it does it should be mentionned)


Checks and Counters
============

**Venusaur**: Arboliva is never able to threaten a Venusaur above half HP, and Venusaur tends to be difficult to switch into, with even its checks usually disliking being hit by Knock off, Leech Seed, or risking being poisoned by Sludge Bomb.

**Quiver Dance Sweepers**: Arboliva is unable to do much to stop Quiver Dance sweepers such as Oricorio-Baile and Lilligant. It gives them a free opportunity to set up and relies on its teammates to prevent a sweep.

[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/yo-cho.610452/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.102/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.103/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user5.104/
 
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