[OVERVIEW]
* As a Pokemon with Dark / Ghost typing, Mega Sableye possesses a good combination of traits that Dark- and Ghost-types in Balanced Hackmons metagame possess.
* Taking neutral damage from U-turn, as well as Dark- and Ghost-type attacks and being immune to Fighting make Mega Sableye a unique defensive Pokemon that can function as a more capable check to dangerous Pokemon like Mega Mewtwo X, and, to a lesser extent, Mega Mewtwo Y. Mega Sableye's solid matchup against Poison Heal Regigigasa and an ability to completely shut down Sturdy Shedinja, are notable as well.
* Mega Sableye's defensive typing also makes it less vulnerable to moves like Knock Off and Pursuit when compared to other Ghost-types and enables it to safely block Rapid Spin from Yveltal.
* Abysmal base Speed stat and neutrality to U-turn combine to make Mega Sableye a major nuisance to teams that rely on other defensive Pokemon to generate momentum. With an exception of Ferrothorn, Mega Sableye is slower than all viable defensive Pokemon in the metagame, and this opens a room for it to utilize moves like Knock Off and Will-O-Wisp to make switching into Mega Sableye difficult. Slow pivoting also proves to be valuable to balanced and defensive teams.
* While Mega Sableye has only one weakness, its low base HP stat undermines its overall bulk. Strong, neutral hits like Mega Gengar's Judgment and Mega Rayquaza's Aerilate-boosted Boomburst can easily 2HKO Mega Sableye, and boosting sweepers like Poison Heal Primal Kyogre can overwhelm Mega Sableye even when it is healthy.
* Running Poison Heal can make Mega Sableye less vulnerable to minor damage and allow it to narrowly avoid potential 2HKOs. However, Mega Sableye's mediocre bulk still limits the number of offensive Pokemon it can effectively handle. Vulnerability against common -ate users, as well as a notable weakness to Fairy, leaves Mega Sableye as a Pokemon that will focus more on handling specific threats and providing utility and quite heavily rely on its teammates to check a large pool of offensive Pokemon.
[SET]
name: Poison Heal
move 1: Knock Off
move 2: Will-O-Wisp
move 3: King's Shield / Core Enforcer / Stealth Rock
move 4: U-turn / Spectral Thief / Strength Sap
item: Toxic Orb
ability: Poison Heal
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Def / 252 SpA / 252 SpD
IVs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
* Knock Off is an attack that comes with a valuable utility of removing foes' items like Leftovers and Eviolite.
* Will-O-Wisp is used to cripple physical attackers like Mega Mewtwo X and cause residual damage on opposing defensive foes like Registeel and Fur Coat Chansey. With Knock Off, this move increases the difficulty for most Pokemon to safely switch into Mega Sableye, as many defensive Pokemon are slower than Mega Sableye and thus will struggle to generate a free switch.
* The remainder of the moves are flexible and are chosen depending on the utility moves that Mega Sableye's teammates are using. King's Shield can be used to scout moves from a choice-locked Pokemon, get an extra turn of recovery from Poison Heal, and weaken foes' physical attacks on contact. If Mega Sableye is not using a reliable form of recovery, this move also eases Mega Sableye's attempts to restore its health while confronting a passive foe.
* Core Enforcer enables Mega Sableye to shut down Mega Mewtwo X and Regigigas using Poison Heal. These Pokemon can be dealt with if one of Mega Sableye's teammates has Purify to permanently remove said threat's poison status after Mega Sableye removes Toxic Orb with Knock Off, but Core Enforcer enables Mega Sableye to fulfill its job more independently should its team lack a solid defensive backbone.
* Stealth Rock can be run to allow Mega Sableye to provide the team with different support. Mega Sableye's immunity to Rapid Spin and an ability to potentially outlast Magic Bounce users with Knock Off and Poison Heal recovery makes it an acceptable Stealth Rock setter against defensive teams as well.
* U-turn can be used to generate momentum against essentially most Pokemon.
* In place of U-turn, Spectral Thief allows Mega Sableye to harshly setup sweepers, such as Mega Mewtwo X, Mega Mewtwo Y, and Mega Gengar, should they attempt to set up on Mega Sableye.
* Strength Sap can be used to ease Mega Sableye's health management, especially under the offensive pressure of strong physical attackers like Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Tyranitar. Other recovery moves like Shore Up may seem worthy of consideration, but Mega Sableye prefers a larger amount of recovery against offensive foes. Strength Sap can also creates possibility to entirely prevent Imposter from recovering while transformed into Mega Sableye by pairing Mega Sableye with a Magic Bounce user or an extremely weak Pokemon like Chansey.
Set Details
========
* Minimum Speed and Relaxed nature make Mega Sableye a capable check against physical attackers like Mega Mewtwo X and Regigigas and an effective pivot that can secure momentum against most foes.
* Toxic Orb in conjunction with Poison Heal gives Mega Sableye a pseudo-immunity to other status ailments, and a passive recovery that alleviates Mega Sableye's overall mediocre bulk.
Usage Tips
========
* Keeping a poisoned, healthy Mega Sableye will be crucial to allow it to effectively pivot into Mega Mewtwo X. Therefore, it is advised to safely activate Mega Sableye's Toxic Orb through free switches from pivoting in the early game.
* After successfully fulfilling a condition to utilize Poison Heal, Mega Sableye can start hindering opposing team with Knock Off or Will-O-Wisp. Removal of items will annoy just about every Pokemon due to offensive Pokemon like Mega Mewtwo Y or Mega Rayquaza often relying on their items to effectively wallbreak and defensive foes commonly using items like Safety Goggles to avoid Spore and Leftovers to restore minor damage. Will-O-Wisp can cripple physical attackers and potentially reveal Magic Bounce or Flash Fire from certain foes.
* While most defensive walls lack a way to supereffectively hit Mega Sableye, it is often better to quickly withdraw Mega Sableye from the field once it had a turn to use one of its utility options. Unless Mega Sableye has Strength Sap or repeatedly uses King's Shield, it will take sizeable damage from attacks, such as Giratina's Core Enforcer, Knock Off from Mega Tyranitar, and Revelation Dance from Primal Kyogre. Once these foes have been hindered by Mega Sableye, it is often better to pivot out against them unless Mega Sableye no longer has to carefully manage its health to pivot into foes like Mega Mewtwo X and Mega Mewtwo Y.
* Note that moves like Stealth Rock and Spectral Thief can be kept unrevealed and can punish opponents when they have a wrong sense of security against Mega Sableye. Magic Bounce users won't like to repeatedly switch into Mega Sableye due to Knock Off's general annoyance and Mega Sableye's potency to pivot out of the matchup with U-turn or remove Magic Bounce with Core Enforcer, so there will eventually be a moment where Mega Sableye can slip past Magic Bouncers. Spectral Thief can be handy when punishing setup sweepers like Mega Gengar or Kartana, especially if Mega Sableye isn't healthy. Note that using Spectral Thief against a foe that can overwhelm Mega Sableye is going to be a reasonable move only if potentially sacrificing Mega Sableye outweighs the preventing danger of allowing opposing Pokemon's setup.
* Determine the necessity of setting entry hazards or removing them. Against defensive teams, Mega Sableye can generate predictable reactions quite well, as Magic Bounce users will likely continue to switch into Mega Sableye to deter Stealth Rock and prevent more teammates from getting hindered by Knock Off and Will-O-Wisp. Entry hazards like Stealth Rock will therefore wear down foes every time they pivot into a fodder for Mega Sableye's utility moves, and Mega Sableye will eventually outlast them due to Poison Heal. However, against teams with enough offensive Pokemon to quickly force out or pressure Mega Sableye, keeping entry hazards may be a wise move to allow Mega Sableye to heal off more damage by utilizing Poison Heal recovery.
Team Options
========
* Mega Sableye will need Steel-types like Registeel, Celesteela, or Ferrothorn to patch up its vulnerability against Fairy-types like Mega Diancie and Xerneas. The Steel-types can also run moves like Stealth Rock to allow Mega Sableye to run another move, check -ate users and act as additional checks to Mega Mewtwo Y. In return, Mega Sableye can pivot into Mega Mewtwo X and Sturdy Shedinja, as well as status moves like Will-O-Wisp or Nuzzle after activating Toxic Orb.
* Mega Sableye's use of Knock Off and Will-O-Wisp opens up a room to viably shut down opposing Poison Heal users with a teammate using Purify. While this may not seem like the most sensible strategy, Mega Sableye can remove Toxic Orb from a poisoned Poison Heal user on the switch and switch out to mentions Steel-types or other defensive Pokemon like Primal Kyogre to permanently remove poison status from them. As Mega Sableye requires assistance from said teammates when facing wallbreakers, this strategy can be used with relatively low opportunity risk.
* Specially defensive teammates like Primal Kyogre and Fur Coat Chansey can deal with special attackers, particularly special Poison Heal users and Triage Mega Rayquaza. Fur Coat Chansey also notably checks most -ate users with ease. Yveltal is also a viable pick despite its shared weakness against Fairy-types, as it can function as a very effective countermeasure against many variants of Mega Gengar and equip Assault Vest to sponge strong hits for Mega Sableye.
* Due to Mega Sableye's defensive typing, it can assist in the creation of the unique core of an offensive threat and an Imposterproofing Pokemon. Mega Mewtwo X in Mega Sableye's team can use Choice Band or even a sweeping set involving a Pixie Plate or an Icicle to extremely narrow its defensive counterplay without worrying about Imposter. Mega Mewtwo Y can do the similar while running moves like Psystrike and Secret Sword alongside Judgment. These Pokemon can even benefit from Mega Sableye hindering their setup targets with Will-O-Wisp.
* Imposter Chansey can assist Mega Sableye by threatening to countersweep against many offensive threats, and it synergies with Mega Sableye the best with Choice Scarf due to Mega Sableye's general inability to effectively deter setup without using Spectral Thief.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Fur Coat makes Mega Sableye more durable against foes like Choice Band Mega Mewtwo X that has a higher damage output, but Mega Sableye typically prefers passive recovery from Poison Heal to improve its matchup against defensive foes.
* The set using a Assault Vest and Regenerator makes Mega Sableye less reliant on recovery, less vulnerable to repeated weak damages, and a better switch-in to Mega Mewtwo Y, but Mega Sableye's bulk is still somewhat lacking with Assault Vest and the set can't handle -ate users too well.
* Prankster is another possibility, but Giratina performs a quick check to setup sweepers better with its far more superior bulk.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types like Pixilate Mega Diancie and Poison Heal Xerneas resist Knock Off, can pivot into Core Enforcer, and offensively threaten Mega Sableye with their STAB moves. Though Mega Diancie barely finds a safe opportunity to directly switch into Mega Sableye, Xerneas can easily take advantage of Mega Sableye after activating its Toxic Orb.
**Red Orb Groudon**: Red Orb Groudon has Fire typing and irremovable Red Orb to easily switch into Mega Sableye's Will-O-Wisp and Knock Off. When compared to other wallbreakers, Red Orb Groudon is more problematic due to its ability to outright OHKO Mega Sableye using sun-boosted V-create, set up on a forced switch, or set Stealth Rock to mess with Mega Sableye's passive recovery.
**Wallbreakers**: Mega Sableye rather relies on its typing to defensively check foes due to its middling bulk, and this leaves it vulnerable to many strong attackers. Most -ate users, including Mega Rayquaza and Kyurem-B, can 2HKO Mega Sableye with Boomburst. Other powerhouses like Mega Gengar and Kartana can overwhelm Mega Sableye by threatening to at worst 2HKO it.
**Magic Bounce**: Though Magic Bounce users dislike switching into Knock Off and U-turn, the likes of Registeel and Mega Audino can limit Mega Sableye's utility options and potentially prevent immediate recovery from Strength Sap.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[DMDW, 434601]]
- Quality checked by: [[], [], []]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
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