Sabelette
from the river to the sea
[OVERVIEW]
Arbok's access to Glare and Wrap creates a small niche for it in NU. It's a faster Wrap user than Dragonair, outspeeding key targets like Blastoise and Kingler, and while Glare is less accurate than Thunder Wave, it's also able to paralyze Ground-types, allowing Arbok to outspeed Nidoking. Arbok's coverage is decent—while it lacks STAB options, it has QuakeSlide coverage to hit the entire tier well. This is, unfortunately, where the positives end; Arbok's stats are mediocre, its defensive typing is incredibly detrimental, and it lacks consistency thanks to its inaccurate moves. Base 80 Speed falls short of many key threats, like Mr. Mime, Venomoth, Charizard, and Nidoking. Arbok's mediocre bulk and Poison typing leaves it 2HKOed by all of these Pokemon and more, and non-STAB moves coming off a mediocre base 85 Attack fails to threaten them enough in return. This leaves Arbok reliant on landing Glare so it can use Wrap to chip down and pivot around these foes, a strategy with low consistency that is easily ruined by paralysis, misses, and critical hits. Its main competition, Dragonair, may be slower, but it has a better movepool, Agility to easily set up and outspeed all foes, and several useful resistances, so Arbok is generally considered a terrible option for most teams.
[SET]
name: Wrap
move 1: Glare
move 2: Wrap
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Hyper Beam
[SET COMMENTS]
Glare acts as a poor man's Thunder Wave against most foes, but it does allow Arbok to paralyze Golem and, more notably, Nidoking. Wrap lets Arbok chip down and force out slower foes like Clefable and Blastoise, and it also lets Arbok immobilize paralyzed foes. This ensures the opponent must send in an unparalyzed Pokemon and risk taking a Glare to make consistent progress, unless they intend to wait for a Wrap miss. Wrap's control lets Arbok safely pivot in threatening allies if it does not want to attempt to land Glare against the opponent's switch-in. Earthquake provides useful coverage and is Arbok's strongest move without drawbacks, hitting foes like Nidoking, Golem, and Ninetales super effectively. Rock Slide provides a 4x effective attack to finish Charizard and Moltres, but Arbok can use Hyper Beam for a stronger finisher against neutral targets like Mr. Mime and Clefable.
Arbok can be used as part of a partial trapping core alongside teammates like Dragonair, Charizard, and Moltres, spreading paralysis or poison and wearing foes down without allowing them to move, but this is an inconsistent strategy. It appreciates support from status spreaders like Mr. Mime, Clefable, and Exeggcute; Exeggcute notably resists both of Arbok's relevant weaknesses, allowing it to act as a pivot or blockade Mr. Mime. Arbok also does well in supporting teammates that need paralysis support to function well, like Kabutops, Golem, and Kingler; it can paralyze and chip down foes and then pivot these threats in freely.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sabelette.583793/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/togkey.400664/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/mrsoup.375193/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/p-squared.168392/
Arbok's access to Glare and Wrap creates a small niche for it in NU. It's a faster Wrap user than Dragonair, outspeeding key targets like Blastoise and Kingler, and while Glare is less accurate than Thunder Wave, it's also able to paralyze Ground-types, allowing Arbok to outspeed Nidoking. Arbok's coverage is decent—while it lacks STAB options, it has QuakeSlide coverage to hit the entire tier well. This is, unfortunately, where the positives end; Arbok's stats are mediocre, its defensive typing is incredibly detrimental, and it lacks consistency thanks to its inaccurate moves. Base 80 Speed falls short of many key threats, like Mr. Mime, Venomoth, Charizard, and Nidoking. Arbok's mediocre bulk and Poison typing leave
[SET]
name: Wrap
move 1: Glare
move 2: Wrap
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Hyper Beam
[SET COMMENTS]
Glare acts as a poor man's Thunder Wave against most foes, but it does allow Arbok to paralyze Golem and, more notably, Nidoking. Wrap lets Arbok chip down and force out slower foes like Clefable and Blastoise, and it also lets Arbok immobilize paralyzed foes. This ensures the opponent must send in an unparalyzed Pokemon and risk taking a Glare to make consistent progress, unless they intend to wait for a Wrap miss. Wrap's control lets Arbok safely pivot in threatening allies if it does not want to attempt to land Glare against the opponent's switch-in. Earthquake provides useful coverage and is Arbok's strongest move without drawbacks, hitting foes like Nidoking, Golem, and Ninetales super effectively. Rock Slide provides a 4x effective attack to finish Charizard and Moltres, but Arbok can use Hyper Beam for a stronger finisher against neutral targets like Mr. Mime and Clefable.
Arbok can be used as part of a partial trapping core alongside teammates like Dragonair, Charizard, and Moltres, spreading paralysis or poison and wearing foes down without allowing them to move, but this is an inconsistent strategy. It appreciates support from status spreaders like Mr. Mime, Clefable, and Exeggcute; Exeggcute notably resists both of Arbok's relevant weaknesses, allowing it to act as a pivot or blockade Mr. Mime. Arbok also does well in supporting teammates that need paralysis support to function well, like Kabutops, Golem, and Kingler; it can paralyze and chip down foes and then pivot these threats in freely.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/sabelette.583793/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/togkey.400664/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/mrsoup.375193/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/p-squared.168392/
Last edited: