[Overview]
- As good as a Pokemon with 380 BST is ever likely to get when 600-BST juggernauts are roaming around the metagame.
- Nearly every support move you could ask for, and Prankster to back them up.
- Low defensive stats, but compensates with typing and Will-o-wisp / Captivate giving it great pseudo-bulk.
- Low offensive stats, but compensates with Foul Play / Night Shade.
- Low speed, but compensates with Prankster.
- In spite of all of this, Sableye's stats still stop it from being more than a niche pick.
- Competition from the likes of Mew as a jack-of-all-trades.
- Biggest selling point is probably Prankster + Will-o-wisp, which is unique to Sableye.
- A good option to deal with those physical attackers that don't care about Intimidate.
[SET]
name: Utility
move 1: Will-o-wisp
move 2: Fake Out / Taunt
move 3: Foul Play
move 4: Detect / Taunt
ability: Prankster
item: Sitrus Berry
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
nature: Careful
[Set comments]
- Will-o-wisp is the main reason to use Sableye, and shuts down physical attackers. This is especially useful if you have problems with Tornadus, Metagross and Bisharp since these cannot be affected by Intimidate.
- However, it fails to do anything to Blaziken, Victini and Hariyama.
- It also misses annoyingly often.
- Fake Out can buy a turn to allow a partner to attack, switch or set up some field effect.
- Foul Play allows Sableye to have some offensive presence, as much as its opponents have at least. Note that Foul Play will ignore an opponent's burn.
- Taunt is always a good move to have to shut down opposing supporters, prevent Trick Room, Tailwind and Thunder Wave. It also prevents Sableye being Taunted itself.
- Detect b/c Imprison.
[AC]
- Sitrus Berry increases Sableye's bulk.
- Invest in Special Defense b/c Will-o-Wisp gives Sableye good physical bulk.
- Feint is cool to punish Protect; Feint and Fake Out always work well together.
- You can run Night Shade over Foul Play but the latter normally does more to attackers and you are better off Taunting support Pokemon rather than attacking them anyway. A big selling point is the ability to break Heatran's Substitutes, which Foul Play doesn't.
- Captivate can be used to cripple special attackers, and affects both opponents. If you use Captivate, set Sableye's gender to female to enable it to disarm male-only special attackers such as Latios, Thundurus-T and Landorus.
- However, Captivate will be useless a lot of the time, especially as some of the top special attackers are genderless.
- Sableye can run Rain Dance or Sunny Day to support weather-reliant teams. Sunny Day is particularly useful to alleviate a team's weakness to rain, but it also strengthens opposing Fire-types that Sableye can't burn.
- Pokemon who struggle against Tornadus, Metagross and Bisharp appreciate Sableye's ability to neuter them, eg non-scarfed Tyranitar.
- Terrakion is a cool teammate, as he really appreciates Sableye's immunities to Fighting and Psychic. In return, he can take down the Fire-types Sableye can't burn.
- Sableye can also help Trick Room and Tailwind setters do their thing with Fake Out and Prankster Taunt. Sableye is also immune to Fake Out himself.
- Fire-types like Heatran, Volcarona and Victini appreciate Sunny Day. Fake Out can give them an opportunity to set up Substitute, Quiver Dance and Trick Room respectively.
- Sableye can fit into most team archetypes, but should avoid paralysis-spreading teams, as its main weapon, Will-o-wisp, clashes with the team's chosen speed control.
[OO]
- Swagger if you'd prefer to rely on coin-flips and not skill.
- Confuse Ray, similarly.
- Recover can work but it takes away a movelsot Sableye could be using to help his teammates.
- Likewise for Substitute.
- Sucker Punch is a priority attack but it's really weak.
- Snarl is more reliable than Captivate but is weaker and doesn't combine with Prankster.
- Icy Wind is another great move Sableye doesn't have room for.
- Magic Coat if you are really bored of Thundurus Taunting you all the time.
- Gravity is a cool move, and Sableye certainly appreciates Will-o-wisp not missing.
- Metal Burst would certainly surprise your opponent.
- Knock Off and Incinerate are highly situational.
- Other fun gimmicks like Trick + Lagging Tail.
[C & C]
- Sableye has a lot of options, and is much easier to deal with once you have scouted its moves.
- Faster Prankster users, mainly Thundurus, Taunt it to stop it doing anything useful. However, if Trick Room is active, Sableye Taunts them first.
- Physical attackers are crippled by Will-o-Wisp, special attackers by Captivate, supporters by Taunt, so there aren't many Pokemon that can avoid all these.
- However, physical Fire-types (Victini, Blaziken, Arcanine), genderless special attackers (Shaymin-S, Zapdos, Rotom-W, Darkrai, Manaphy) and Guts users (Hariyama) don't mind any of these moves. Blaziken, Darkrai and Hariyama also resist Foul Play.
- Without Captivate, most special attackers do fine, and several of the most powerful OHKO it, such as Latios's Draco Meteor.
- Heatran doesn't care about Will-o-Wisp or Foul Play, and also ignores Captivate and Fake Out when sitting behind a Substitute.
- Scizor's Steel Gem Bullet Punch can take out a weakened Sableye before it can be burnt.
- Manually setting your special attackers to female can guard against Captivate Sableye.
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