QC approvals: 3/3 [ jc104 || PK Gaming || shrang ]
GP approvals: 2/2 [ SuperJOCKE || Zystral ]
[Overview]
<p>When talking about the Musketeers, everyone comes up with Terrakion and Keldeo, due to their very potent offensive options. Cobalion, which looks at least as badass as Terrakion, sadly cannot even come close to them when it comes to raw power. However, it has its very own merits, which make it worth using in OU. In addition to Cobalion's great defensive typing, its outstanding base 129 Defense and solid base 91 HP and 108 Speed certainly help Cobalion in finding itself a role as a defensive pivot for almost any team. Access to a variety of supportive moves—such as Thunder Wave, Stealth Rock, and Volt Switch—which are extremely uncommon for a Fighting-type Pokemon gives Cobalion a notable niche in OU. In fact, it is the only Musketeer that can join in in the ever-so-common VoltTurn mindgames.</p>
<p>The only other Pokemon that shares its Steel / Fighting typing is Lucario; however, these two play entirely different to each other. Lucario has clearly better offensive stats, compared to Cobalion's still useable base 90 Attack and Special Attack, but doesn't even come close to Cobalion's Speed and Defense. Nonetheless, even though Cobalion's physical Defense is impressive, its Special Defense is simply underwhelming and thus its only real downpoint. Being unable to deal with any special Fire-type move, Focus Blast, and even Earth Power, is what gives Cobalion the most trouble. But such things can be easily fixed by the team it will be on.</p>
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Stealth Rock / Taunt
move 3: Close Combat / Volt Switch
move 4: Hidden Power Ice
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold / Impish
evs: 252 HP / 208 Def / 48 Spe
ivs: 30 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Cobalion's great physical Defense is what makes it worthwhile; with this set, it has all the toys it needs to do its best in that role. Tanking physical hits with almost no effort is just great, so Cobalion can spread Thunder Wave across the opponent's team very easily, opening up ways for its sweeper teammates to rip through the opponent's team. Stealth Rock is almost indispensable on any successful team, so Cobalion shoul carry it. If something else runs Stealth Rock on your team already, Taunt can replace it, giving Cobalion an option to stop the opponent from any form of setup and healing; thanks to its naturally high base Speed, it can stop a good number of threats from doing so, even with so little EV investment.</p>
<p>Close Combat is Cobalion's most powerful STAB move. Even when running a Bold nature, it is the more preferable option over Focus Blast, because Focus Blast's accuracy is just too shaky for Cobalion to use. Defensive Pokemon can all use the momentum advantage gained by Volt Switch extremely well; Cobalion follows suit on this rule. Volt Switch also grants BoltBeam coverage along with Hidden Power Ice, which is an irreplaceable move for Cobalion, denting most Ground-types that switch into it, such as Dugtrio or Landorus, and most importantly, it's a clean 2HKO on 252 / 0 Gliscor. It also catches the common Dragon-types that are running rampant in OU—mostly Dragonite and Salamence—thanks to its amazing ability to take almost no damage from unboosted Outrage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>With the given Speed EVs, Cobalion outspeeds positive natured base 70 Speed Pokemon, including Politoed and Breloom; the rest of the EVs are put into HP and Defense to maximize its bulk. Cobalion is able to take even super effective hits—for example, even Choice Band Mamoswine has just a small chance to KO Cobalion at full health. Choice Band Jolly Breloom Low Sweep fails to OHKO (71.5 - 84.72%), and same goes for Jolly Life Orb Terrakion's Close Combat (82.38 - 96.37%). Cobalion can paralyze both with Thunder Wave to essentially remove them as potential threats. However, Choice Band Terrakion has a vital chance to OHKO Cobalion, so it's advised to not stay in on it. When running Volt Switch, Cobalion gains immediate momentum for the team, either switching into an appropriate teammate or checking the upcoming switch-in.</p>
<p>Even though Cobalion's Special Defense isn't nearly as amazing as its Defense, it can take weaker super effective and neutral hits rather well, even when factoring in potential Stealth Rock damage. Outside of rain, Life Orb Starmie and Rotom-W can't KO with Hydro Pump. Politoed needs Choice Specs to safely OHKO with Hydro Pump in the rain. Choice Scarf +1 Genesect (which always gets +1 SpA when switching into Cobalion's lower SpD) fails to OHKO with Flamethrower, as does uninvested Life Orb Salamence with Fire Blast. Even Life Orb Tornadus-T can't achieve an OHKO with Hurricane. In return, however, Cobalion can't hurt any of them particularly hard. Salamence is an exception, as it is OHKOed by a Bold Hidden Power Ice after Stealth Rock damage. In fact, Cobalion doesn't do much damage to anything that is not named Lucario or isn't 4x weak to either Close Combat or Hidden Power Ice.</p>
<p>Cobalion has some other move options it can run on this set. Iron Head gets STAB, and can work well with Thunder Wave, possibly creating a ParaFlinch combo to take the opponent down. Toxic might seem weird at first, but Cobalion naturally scares out most Steel-types that don't have a secondary Bug typing or are named Heatran, so it can cripple bulky Water-types to reduce their survivability. Roar can be used over Thunder Wave if your team has problems with Substitute users and setup sweepers, while it also racks up additional entry hazard damage against the opponent.</p>
<p>Bulky Latias is one of Cobalion's best partners to form a defensive core with; not only do they resist each other's weaknesses, but also a total of 16 out of the 17 attacking types in the game—only Flying-type attacks will hit the two neutrally. Wish is pretty much mandatory in order to keep Cobalion healthy. Latias can use it, but Jirachi and Vaporeon also perform well in the role of Wish-passing; however, they can't replace Latias's spot by any means. Cobalion's Thunder Wave supports slower, bulkier Pokemon, such as Dragonite, Tyranitar, Conkeldurr, and Metagross, letting them set up easier, and giving them better chances to attempt a sweep once their checks and counters are crippled. When running a sandstorm team, Gliscor makes an ideal choice for a sweeper, as it can come in on most attacks aimed at Cobalion and takes advantage of paralyzed opponents, making a set with Substitute and Swords Dance even more reliable.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Cobalion has a nice list of setup moves, such as Swords Dance, Calm Mind, Work Up, and Rock Polish. However, if you're looking for a Steel / Fighting-type setup sweeper, Lucario does it way better thanks to its higher offensive stats and access to Swords Dance, Nasty Plot and priority moves. Rest and Sleep Talk increase Cobalion's survivability and can work along with Calm Mind as a mono-attacker, however, outside of Flash Cannon, it's hard to find a move that might work on such a set.</p>
<p>In terms of offensive moves, Cobalion can use the Musketeers' signature move, Sacred Sword, to bypass Bulk Up users, giving it a chance to beat things such as weakened Conkeldurr, dealing 24.4 - 29.13% when uninvested and 40.94 - 48.29% when running 252 Atk with a Life Orb. It can also use Focus Blast, Metal Burst, Bounce, X-Scissor, Zen Headbutt, Retaliate, and maybe even Poison Jab. Its supportive movepool also includes Reflect, Toxic, and Safeguard. </p>
<p>An offensive EV spread of 120 Atk / 136 SpA / 252 Spe combined with a Hasty or Naive nature can be used along with Close Combat and Hidden Power Ice to severely dent most Pokemon, if not straight up OHKOing them in the case that they are hit for super effective damage. In the last two slots, one can chose between Volt Switch, Thunder Wave, and Taunt, which all have their merits.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Cobalion can deal with almost any physical threat, but struggles against special attackers. Especially users of Flamethrower, such as Volcarona, Infernape, Salamence, and Hydreigon, as well as Pokemon with access to Focus Blast and Aura Sphere, such as Gengar, Reuniclus, Alakazam, and Lucario as they will deal heavy damage to Cobalion without question. Volcarona, however, can't manage to KO Cobalion with an unboosted Fiery Dance from full health, and bulky sets are being outsped by Cobalion, so at least Cobalion can paralyze it before going down, rendering Quiver Dance almost useless.</p>
<p>Bulky Water-type Pokemon, such as Politoed, Vaporeon, Jellicent, Tentacruel, and even Starmie—due to Natural Cure—don't care much about Thunder Wave, while tanking uninvested Volt Switches. Magic Bounce is a problem, as it stops Cobalion's defensive playstyle. Espeon outspeeds Cobalion, but even Life Orb boosted Hidden Power Fighting is not able to OHKO it. Bulky Ground-types, such as Hippowdon and Donphan, have an easy time against defensive Cobalion, as unboosted Hidden Power Ice is completely unable to 2HKOeither of them. Donphan might be 3HKOed (32.81 - 39.06%), but Hippowdon is out of reach (26.19 - 30.95%) due to its access to Slack Off.</p>