[OVERVIEW]
Arceus-Water is one of the tier's premier defensive Arceus formes and a strong fit on bulky teams. Its pure-Water typing, access to status moves like Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave, and ability to phaze with Roar or Dragon Tail allow it to check several of the most prominent threats in the tier, including Koraidon, Zacian-C, Arceus-Ground, Necrozma-DM, and Calyrex-I, while giving its team more leeway to pivot around Kyogre. However, for all the defensive benefits that Arceus-Water's typing provides, they come with the caveat of making Arcues-Water incredibly passive. It heavily reliant on super-effective damage and its support moves to check many foes, as it struggles to do meaningful damage to neutral or resisted targets, especially under Koraidon's ubiquitous sun. This can be exploited by Pokemon that can prevent its support moves like Taunt Koraidon, Substitute Zacian-C, Eternatus, and Kyogre. It is also susceptible to all forms of status and entry hazards, making it prone to getting worn down over time. Finally, Arceus-Water's stiff competition makes it harder to justify using; Kyogre is generally easier to fit on teams because it's much more immediately threatening and doesn't fill a team's Arceus slot, while other Arceus formes like Arceus-Fairy and Extreme Killer Arceus are easier to use and fit on a wider variety of teams.
[SET]
Arceus-Water @ Splash Plate
Ability: Multitype
EVs: 240 HP / 252 Def / 16 Spe
Tera Type: Fairy / Poison
Bold Nature
- Judgment
- Will-O-Wisp / Thunder Wave
- Roar / Dragon Tail
- Recover
[SET COMMENTS]
Judgment is necessary to hit Pokemon like Arceus-Ground, Ho-Oh, Landorus-T, and Groudon, as well as Tera Fire foes like Koraidon, Calyrex-I, and Necrozma-DM. Will-O-Wisp is preferred to threaten the myriad of physical attackers in the tier, most notably Koraidon, Zacian-C, Arceus-Ground, and Calyrex-I. However, Thunder Wave can occasionally be used to threaten special attackers like Eternatus and Arceus-Fairy. Roar allows Arceus-Water to phaze Calm Mind Arceus-Fairy, Substitute Zacian-C, and Substitute Koraidon, while Dragon Tail allows Arceus-Water to phaze Taunt Koraidon and Taunt Arceus-Ground. Tera Fairy is the preferred Tera Type for its ability to block Koraidon's Scale Shot in a pinch, but Tera Poison can be used to block Toxic from Eternatus and absorb Toxic Spikes.
Because of its passivity and weakness to entry hazards, defensive Arceus-Water is almost exclusively found on Spikes balance teams that can afford to work around these drawbacks and appreciate Arceus-Water's ability to help stave off several of the tier’s biggest threats. Groudon is a standout partner, serving as both a Spikes setter and additional counterplay to threats that Arceus-Water can struggle to check on its own, most notably Koraidon, Zacian-C, Kyogre, Extreme Killer Arceus, and Arceus-Ground. While Ting-Lu is worse off against these threats than Groudon, it fares better against special threats like Lunala, Eternatus, Arceus-Ghost, and Arceus-Electric that Arceus-Water struggles to check. Hatterene is another standout partner, mitigating both Arceus-Water's weakness to entry hazards and its opportunity cost of not using Arceus-Fairy. Arceus-Water also appreciates Eternatus's ability to absorb Toxic Spikes, help stave off Kyogre, and handle other special threats like Arceus-Fairy, Arceus-Electric, Arceus-Ghost, and non-Psyshock Lunala.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Checks and Counters
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**Sun**: While Koraidon and Groudon don’t want to switch directly into Arceus-Water, the harsh sunlight they set greatly exacerbates Arceus-Water's passivity
**Taunt and Substitute**:
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/oreospeedruns.597293/
Quality checked by:
QC 1
QC 2
Grammar checked by:
GP 1
Last edited: