[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 7 onwards
**Price Range**: 4-5 points
**Overview**: Thanks to Prankster, Sableye is one of the best disruptors of offensive Pokemon, since it can cripple setup sweepers with Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave or force them into non-desirable moves with Encore. An excellent defensive typing, a sole weakness to Fairy, and access to priority Recover makes up for its mediocre bulk. However, the inability to make significant progress against Dark-types and a weakness to one of the best offensive types in Fairy often makes it a tough fit on teams.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Defensive Utility**: Sableye is spoiled for choice when it comes to offering support to its teammates. Encore and Recover are pretty much a lock on all defensive sets along with a status move in Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave. The combination of these moves allows Sableye to reliably check certain opposing Pokemon without being passive like other bulky walls. It can further support teammates with Knock Off, although Night Shade is often preferred for consistent damage. Foul Play is also an option to punish physical attackers.
**Dual Screens Support**: On more offensive builds, Sableye can provide support with Prankster + Light Screen and Reflect in conjunction with Light Clay to allow ample setup opportunities for its teammates. This set often forgoes Recover for Encore and uses a status move to ensure opposing Pokemon cannot take advantage of it.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Knock Off, Shadow Sneak, Hex, Foul Play, Sucker Punch, Poltergeist
**Setup Moves**: Bulk Up, Calm Mind
**Utility Moves**: Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Encore, Taunt, Recover, Light Screen, Reflect, Trick, Substitute, Night Shade, Brick Break, Disable
**Coverage**: Dazzling Gleam, Drain Punch, Low Kick, Power Gem, Energy Ball, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Icy Wind, Thunder Punch, Psychic, X-Scissor, Gyro Ball
Niche Moves
========
**Special STAB moves**: Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse are the primary special STAB moves of choice on Calm Mind sets. Hex can be run along with Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave for a stronger Ghost-type STAB move.
**Sunny Day / Rain Dance**: Prankster Sunny Day and Rain Dance allow Sableye to support weather sweepers. They can also be used to counter opposing weather.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: As Sableye is vulnerable to all forms of entry hazards, Heavy-Duty Boots allows it to not take any damage from them, enabling it to pivot in more easily.
**Rocky Helmet**: Sableye makes use of it excellent defensive typing to punish physical attackers and gain chip damage on them with Rocky Helmet.
**Leftovers**: Leftovers allows Sableye to gain passive recovery, which helps it survive hits more easily.
**Light Clay**: Light Clay is used on the dual screens set to ensure maximum turns of Reflect and Light Screen.
**Air Balloon**: Air Balloon allows Sableye to safely pivot into Pokemon like Excadrill, Iron Treads, and Donphan to spinblock and threaten them with an Encore or Will-O-Wisp.
Niche Items
========
**Lagging Tail / Sticky Barb**: Lagging Tail, Sticky Barb, and other similar hindering items can be run in conjunction with Trick to cripple opposing Pokemon.
**Eject Button**: As Sableye has no momentum-generating moves of its own, it can utilize Eject Button to gain momentum and bring in a teammate safely.
Tera
========
Sableye already has an excellent typing that is immune to three types and weak to only one type. Changing the typing with Tera would severely hinder its defensive profile. Sableye is also not very strong offensively, and thus it is not recommended to make it a Tera Captain at all, as there are much better candidates for both primary and secondary Tera Captains. If it is chosen as a Tera Captain, it can utilize Tera Poison to gain a resistance to Fairy while keeping its resistance to Fighting.
Draft Strategy
========
Sableye is a good fit on offensive and balance teams that need a way of dealing with opposing setup threats. While it is not passive, it does not do significant damage to the opposing team. Thus, it is strongly recommended to have strong offensive teammates that are able to prosper off the support it provides.
**Offensive Threats**: Strong offensive Pokemon like Iron Valiant and Ogerpon-W are recommended to partner with Sableye. Their offensive profiles are further bolstered by the support it provides.
**Ghost-resistant Pokemon**: As Sableye is a Dark-type that does not resist Ghost, it is recommended to pair it with another bulky Dark-type like Ting-Lu or a bulky Normal-type like Dudunsparce to reliably handle Ghost-types.
**Solid Fairy- and Dark-Resistant Pokemon**: Sableye invites in both Fairy- and Dark-types, as it is not able to do meaningful damage to them. Thus, having Fairy-resistant Pokemon like Metagross and Gholdengo and Dark-resistant Pokemon like Diancie is recommended.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark-types**: As Dark-types are immune to Prankster, they are able to safely pivot in on Sableye and proceed to set up or set entry hazards. Setup sweepers can also utilize Tera Dark to be immune to Prankster shenanigans.
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types like Enamorus and Diancie are able to pivot into Sableye and threaten it out with their STAB moves. They have to be wary of Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp, however.
**Special Attackers**: Sableye's Special bulk is lackluster, making it vulnerable to strong special attackers like Iron Moth, Zapdos, and Raging Bolt. They are also able to pivot in relatively safely, as they do not fear Foul Play or Will-O-Wisp.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/professor-shuckle.530941/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scionicle.599989/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pzz.472700/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
**Draft Order**: Round 7 onwards
**Price Range**: 4-5 points
**Overview**: Thanks to Prankster, Sableye is one of the best disruptors of offensive Pokemon, since it can cripple setup sweepers with Will-O-Wisp and Thunder Wave or force them into non-desirable moves with Encore. An excellent defensive typing, a sole weakness to Fairy, and access to priority Recover makes up for its mediocre bulk. However, the inability to make significant progress against Dark-types and a weakness to one of the best offensive types in Fairy often makes it a tough fit on teams.
[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Defensive Utility**: Sableye is spoiled for choice when it comes to offering support to its teammates. Encore and Recover are pretty much a lock on all defensive sets along with a status move in Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave. The combination of these moves allows Sableye to reliably check certain opposing Pokemon without being passive like other bulky walls. It can further support teammates with Knock Off, although Night Shade is often preferred for consistent damage. Foul Play is also an option to punish physical attackers.
**Dual Screens Support**: On more offensive builds, Sableye can provide support with Prankster + Light Screen and Reflect in conjunction with Light Clay to allow ample setup opportunities for its teammates. This set often forgoes Recover for Encore and uses a status move to ensure opposing Pokemon cannot take advantage of it.
Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Knock Off, Shadow Sneak, Hex, Foul Play, Sucker Punch, Poltergeist
**Setup Moves**: Bulk Up, Calm Mind
**Utility Moves**: Will-O-Wisp, Thunder Wave, Encore, Taunt, Recover, Light Screen, Reflect, Trick, Substitute, Night Shade, Brick Break, Disable
**Coverage**: Dazzling Gleam, Drain Punch, Low Kick, Power Gem, Energy Ball, Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Icy Wind, Thunder Punch, Psychic, X-Scissor, Gyro Ball
Niche Moves
========
**Special STAB moves**: Shadow Ball and Dark Pulse are the primary special STAB moves of choice on Calm Mind sets. Hex can be run along with Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave for a stronger Ghost-type STAB move.
**Sunny Day / Rain Dance**: Prankster Sunny Day and Rain Dance allow Sableye to support weather sweepers. They can also be used to counter opposing weather.
Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: As Sableye is vulnerable to all forms of entry hazards, Heavy-Duty Boots allows it to not take any damage from them, enabling it to pivot in more easily.
**Rocky Helmet**: Sableye makes use of it excellent defensive typing to punish physical attackers and gain chip damage on them with Rocky Helmet.
**Leftovers**: Leftovers allows Sableye to gain passive recovery, which helps it survive hits more easily.
**Light Clay**: Light Clay is used on the dual screens set to ensure maximum turns of Reflect and Light Screen.
**Air Balloon**: Air Balloon allows Sableye to safely pivot into Pokemon like Excadrill, Iron Treads, and Donphan to spinblock and threaten them with an Encore or Will-O-Wisp.
Niche Items
========
**Lagging Tail / Sticky Barb**: Lagging Tail, Sticky Barb, and other similar hindering items can be run in conjunction with Trick to cripple opposing Pokemon.
**Eject Button**: As Sableye has no momentum-generating moves of its own, it can utilize Eject Button to gain momentum and bring in a teammate safely.
Tera
========
Sableye already has an excellent typing that is immune to three types and weak to only one type. Changing the typing with Tera would severely hinder its defensive profile. Sableye is also not very strong offensively, and thus it is not recommended to make it a Tera Captain at all, as there are much better candidates for both primary and secondary Tera Captains. If it is chosen as a Tera Captain, it can utilize Tera Poison to gain a resistance to Fairy while keeping its resistance to Fighting.
Draft Strategy
========
Sableye is a good fit on offensive and balance teams that need a way of dealing with opposing setup threats. While it is not passive, it does not do significant damage to the opposing team. Thus, it is strongly recommended to have strong offensive teammates that are able to prosper off the support it provides.
**Offensive Threats**: Strong offensive Pokemon like Iron Valiant and Ogerpon-W are recommended to partner with Sableye. Their offensive profiles are further bolstered by the support it provides.
**Ghost-resistant Pokemon**: As Sableye is a Dark-type that does not resist Ghost, it is recommended to pair it with another bulky Dark-type like Ting-Lu or a bulky Normal-type like Dudunsparce to reliably handle Ghost-types.
**Solid Fairy- and Dark-Resistant Pokemon**: Sableye invites in both Fairy- and Dark-types, as it is not able to do meaningful damage to them. Thus, having Fairy-resistant Pokemon like Metagross and Gholdengo and Dark-resistant Pokemon like Diancie is recommended.
Checks and Counters
========
**Dark-types**: As Dark-types are immune to Prankster, they are able to safely pivot in on Sableye and proceed to set up or set entry hazards. Setup sweepers can also utilize Tera Dark to be immune to Prankster shenanigans.
**Fairy-types**: Fairy-types like Enamorus and Diancie are able to pivot into Sableye and threaten it out with their STAB moves. They have to be wary of Thunder Wave and Will-O-Wisp, however.
**Special Attackers**: Sableye's Special bulk is lackluster, making it vulnerable to strong special attackers like Iron Moth, Zapdos, and Raging Bolt. They are also able to pivot in relatively safely, as they do not fear Foul Play or Will-O-Wisp.
[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/professor-shuckle.530941/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/scionicle.599989/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/pzz.472700/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/techno.527276/
Last edited:
