In-battle formes
Base
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| HP: | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 75 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 75 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 65 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 65 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 50 |
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Mega
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| HP: | 50 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Attack: | 85 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Defense: | 125 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Atk: | 85 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sp. Def: | 115 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Speed: | 20 |
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Strategies
- en
Overview
Sableye's great Dark / Ghost typing leaves it with three immunities and only one weakness, notably letting it serve as a great counter to all of the Fake Out + Extreme Speed users in the tier. Its amazing ability in Prankster paired with its expansive support movepool with moves such as Will-O-Wisp, Parting Shot, Topsy-Turvy, and Taunt allows it to quickly cripple foes. Access to recovery keeps it alive for a while, which allows it to support the team throughout the battle. Because of its versatility, it is able to partner well with many Pokemon and fit well on most teams and most playstyles. It is, however, easily beaten by Prankster Taunt and can suffer from four-moveslot syndrome.
Mega Sableye, with its ability Magic Bounce, can turn foes' status moves back at them. With its increased Defense and Special Defense stats, Mega Sableye has the capability to set up and sweep teams. However, its below average HP, Attack, Special Attack, and Speed stats give it trouble at times, making it either frail, easily set up on, or outsped.
Utility
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Moves
Parting Shot allows Sableye to switch out to avoid taking unwanted hits, as well as having the added benefit of weakening the foe by lowering each of its attacking stats by a stage. Will-O-Wisp allows Sableye to cripple physical attackers by halving their Attack, as well as damaging them each turn. Topsy-Turvy allows Sableye to stop setup sweepers in their tracks, as it reverses their stat changes. Foul Play is another option over Topsy-Turvy, as once Sableye has crippled physical sweepers with a burn, it can hit them hard with Foul Play if they try to boost. Recover allows Sableye to regain half of its health, which helps it stay around as long as possible. Knock Off allows Sableye to rid its foes of their items, something that can cripple many opposing strategies. Taunt is also an option that can help make Sableye a nice stallbreaker. Toxic can help break down bulky foes by dealing an increasing amount of damage each turn.
Set Details
Prankster allows Sableye to bypass its awful Speed and increases the priority of its status moves, letting it Recover, fire off Will-O-Wisp, or pivot out with Parting Shot before the foe can attack. The maximum EVs in HP and Special Defense with an Impish nature paired with Will-O-Wisp allow Sableye to be as bulky as possible and take as many hits as possible. Leftovers allows Sableye to slowly regain health over the course of the battle, keeping it alive longer. 252 HP and Defense EVs along with an Impish nature could also be run to take more physical hits. Sablenite can be used to allow Sableye to Mega Evolve, giving it enhanced defensive stats and Magic Bounce.
Usage Tips
If you use Parting Shot on a foe with Magic Bounce, such as Mega Diancie, the foe will be forced to switch out and Sableye's attacking stats will drop a stage, which then becomes a mind game with the opponent. Sableye is the slowest Prankster user in STABmons, so if the opponent runs another Prankster user such as Thundurus or Whimsicott, they can easily shut Sableye down with Taunt or status it with Thunder Wave and Spore, so it is best to switch out against them. Sableye is a check—not a counter—to most physical threats, meaning it isn't bulky enough to switch into them. It is better to switch Sableye in after a teammate has fainted or with a clean switch from U-turn. From there, it can either status a threat with Will-O-Wisp or force it out. Because of the versatility of this set, it can be used throughout the entire battle. This makes it important to keep using Recover whenever you have the chance. If you are sure the foe will do less than 50% to Sableye, it is helpful to use Recover to set it up to better take more hits. If Sableye Mega Evolves, it will gain Magic Bounce, which is good for reflecting Taunt and other status moves; however, it will lose the ability to pivot out before the foe attacks and instead will have to rely on a slow pivot.
Team Options
Steel-types such as Heatran and Scizor are great switch-ins to Fairy-types such as Mega Diancie and Sylveon that would otherwise beat Sableye. Special walls such as Chansey, Porygon2, and Meloetta work well, as they appreciate opposing physical attackers being crippled by a burn. Entry hazard setters such as Landorus-T, Terrakion, and Heatran pair well with Sableye because the hazards help to wear down foes due to the switches that Sableye forces. VoltTurn users, such as Rotom-W, Landorus-T, and Thundurus, go great alongside Sableye, keeping up the momentum along with Parting Shot to wear down the foes over the course of the battle. Hazard removers such as Landorus-T, Starmie, and Mega Blastoise are good teammates for Sableye, as it will be switching in many times. Because this set is countered by opposing Mega Sableye, Pokemon that beat it are great teammates; Mega Diancie is an option if you are not running Sablenite.
Mega Calm Mind
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Moves
Will-O-Wisp allows Mega Sableye to cripple physical attackers by halving their Attack stat, giving it time to set up. Recover allows Mega Sableye to stay healthy by restoring half of its health. Calm Mind boosts Mega Sableye's Special Attack and Special Defense, making it harder to KO and letting it hit hard after a few boosts. Snarl, while not hitting the foe hard, drops its Special Attack by one stage each time it hits, making Mega Sableye extremely hard to KO when paired with Will-O-Wisp and Calm Mind. It also has 24 PP, allowing it to be used many times throughout the battle. Dark Pulse is a powerful STAB option that has 24 PP and can be used if you want to inflict more damage. Night Daze is a similarly strong STAB move that has a 40% chance to lower the foe's accuracy. This is useful because once the foe has had its accuracy lowered a few times, it is forced to either switch out or rely on inaccurate attacks hitting. However, it only has 16 PP, which isn't the optimal for this set. Shadow Ball is another option to chip Fairy-types such as Mega Diancie and Mega Gardevoir, which would otherwise wall this set.
Set Details
Prankster is important the turn before you Mega Evolve Sableye, as it lets Sableye either cripple a foe with a priority Will-O-Wisp or get a quick Calm Mind boost. Sablenite allows Sableye to Mega Evolve, which dramatically increases its defensive stats, as well as giving it Magic Bounce for an ability. Magic Bounce is an extremely useful ability after Mega Evolving, as it lets Sableye send status moves back at the user. A Bold nature increases Sableye's Defense while lowering its Attack, making it as physically bulky as possible. The EVs in HP and Defense along with burn support allow Sableye to take on many physical hits.
Usage Tips
It is not necessary to Mega Evolve right away. Prankster is a great ability before Mega Evolving and has some advantages over Magic Bounce, such as getting off a quick burn with Will-O-Wisp to cripple a physical attacker or getting in a quick Calm Mind to be able to take an extra hit. Don't stay in on Fairy-types like Clefable and Sylveon, as they don't care about Dark-type moves and are able to hit hard with their own STAB moves. This set works best late-game once all of its checks and counters, such as Fairy- and Dark-types, have been removed. With Will-O-Wisp, this set serves as a great check to many physical threats in the game; however, because of its low Speed, make sure that Mega Sableye is able to take two hits from whatever it is facing, as it will need one turn to use Will-O-Wisp and another to Recover the damage. Afterwards, you can start setting up Calm Mind and prepare for a sweep. Reflecting status moves with Magic Bounce is helpful because it prevents Mega Sableye from being phazed with Roar or Whirlwind. Beware, however, of opposing Sableye, as your Sableye can be phazed by Parting Shot.
Team Options
Steel-types such as Scizor and Heatran work well with Mega Sableye, as they are able to switch into and eliminate Fairy-types that Mega Sableye doesn't like. Fighting- and Fairy-types such as Terrakion and Sylveon also work well, as they can take out Dark-types that stand in the way of a Mega Sableye sweep. Entry hazard setters such as Landorus-T, Garchomp, and Heatran can wear down foes over the length of the battle, something that Mega Sableye appreciates. Teammates that can switch into powerful wallbreakers like Mega Gardevoir and Keldeo, such as Latios, Porygon2, Chansey, and Jirachi, make for good teammates as well, as Mega Sableye would struggle with them otherwise.
Focus Sash
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Moves
Will-O-Wisp allows Sableye to check physical attackers, cutting their Attack in half. Destiny Bond allows Sableye to take a foe with it if it is KOed, which works great alongside Prankster. Memento is another option that can be used to drop the foe's Attack and Special Attack by two stages each at the expense of Sableye itself, which gives a teammate an easy setup opportunity. Parting Shot allows Sableye to switch out with priority and drop the foe's Attack and Special Attack by one stage each. Knock Off rids foes of their items while also hitting with STAB. Foul Play hits foes that have boosted their Attack hard. Taunt is another option that works well with Destiny Bond, as it forces a foe to use an attack, which will activate Destiny Bond if it KOes. Topsy-Turvy can be used to reverse the stats of setup sweepers and then allow Sableye to pivot into a setup sweeper to take advantage of a weakened foe.
Set Details
Prankster increases the priority of status moves, which is extremely important with this set, as it allows Sableye to take down a foe with Destiny Bond. The 72 Attack EVs allow Sableye to OHKO Espeon with Knock Off. The rest of the EVs go to HP and Defense to make Sableye as bulky as possible. Focus Sash is used so Sableye can be a last-resort check to many setup sweepers on opposing teams, allowing it to switch into them once and then take them down with Destiny Bond the following turn.
Usage Tips
This set works at any point in the game because of its versatility, although it cannot switch into foes with multi-hit or priority moves, such as Azumarill, Cloyster, and Stoutland. Sableye can also be used to build momentum on a VoltTurn team by using Parting Shot to switch to a teammate with a better matchup. If you are running Memento, this set works really well when paired with a setup sweeper; in that case, make sure that the counters to your sweeper are eliminated before using the move.
Team Options
Rotom-W makes for a decent teammate, as it is able to handle Azumarill, Cloyster, and Mega Diancie, which can all give Sableye issues. Setup sweepers such as Ursaring, Substitute + Calm Mind Keldeo, Thundurus, and Mega Scizor also make for good teammates. To keep Sableye's Focus Sash intact, the field needs to be entry hazard free; teammates like Mega Blastoise, Landorus-T, and Defog Gyarados help do this.
Other Options
Sableye can use a Choice Scarf set with Switcheroo, although this is very niche and outclassed. Sableye can also run Confuse Ray as an alternative to Will-O-Wisp; however, it is outclassed by Will-O-Wisp, as confusion doesn't cripple the Attack stat of the foe. Sucker Punch is an option to surprise and pick off weak foes such as Gardevoir, Latios, and other Psychic-types with low Defense. Metal Burst is another niche option that is possible on the Focus Sash set.
Checks and Counters
Fairy-types: Fairy-types such as Mega Diancie, Sylveon, and Clefable are able to counter Sableye, as they don't care about its Dark-type STAB moves and are able to hit back hard with their own STAB moves. Mega Diancie makes for a particularly good counter, as it is able to reflect status moves back with its own Magic Bounce.
Scrappy Foes: Foes like Mega Lopunny and Stoutland are able to hit Sableye and heavily damage Sableye with Fake Out + Extreme Speed thanks to Scrappy. Mega Lopunny is also able to OHKO Mega Sableye with a Fighting-type STAB move.
Opposing Prankster Foes: Opposing Prankster users like Thundurus and Whimsicott will outspeed and Taunt non-Mega Sableye, shutting it down. Whimsicott handles Mega Sableye as well by resisting Dark-type attacks and hitting it hard with Moonblast.
Powerful Wallbreakers: Powerful wallbreakers such as Keldeo, Thundurus, and Mega Charizard Y are strong enough to overpower Sableye.
Credits
- Written by Scyther NO Swiping
- Quality checked by baconbagon and skies
- Grammar checked by P Squared and Lumari
