Arbok (CB / Update) +

Caelum

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Arbok http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/arbok

Just a small rewrite of the CB set. Not much change here.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Gunk Shot / Poison Jab
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Seed Bomb
item: Choice Band
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>A powered up Gunk Shot is really quite scary (if it hits) and Earthquake and Crunch provide excellent type coverage. Poison Jab is a viable option as well if the 70% accuracy of Gunk Shot is a turn off. In the last slot, Seed Bomb, is Arbok's best option against bulky Water or Ground Pokemon such as Gastrodon, Quagsire, and Relicanth. While Aqua Tail will hit Ground types slightly harder then Seed Bomb, Seed Bomb is overall the superior option for its ability to take out combination Water / Ground or Water / Rock Pokemon. Pursuit is good for chasing down a fleeing opponent and could work in place of Seed Bomb, but the coverage given by Seed Bomb is a bit too good to pass up.</p>

<p>With these EVs, Arbok hits 270 Speed, beating neutral Toxicroak and Jolly Solrock.</p>


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mixed Discussion.

I thought this would be the appropriate place to bring up the mixed set and that's partially why I created the thread, With Seed Bomb now available to CB Arbok, is the mixed set with Giga Drain even viable? I can't think of a single reason to use it and it should probably be removed from the analysis entirely, but I thought it was worthy of discussion before taking it anywhere.

Counter: I'll tweak this section later.
 
Caelum said:
Arbok http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/arbok

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Gunk Shot
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Seed Bomb
item: Choice Band
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
A powered up Gunk Shot is really quite scary (if it hits) (no comma) and Earthquake and Crunch provide excellent type coverage. The last slot, Seed Bomb, is Arbok's best option against bulky Ground and Water Pokemon such as Gastrodon, Quagsire, and Relicanth. Pursuit is good for chasing down a fleeing opponent and could work in place of Seed Bomb, but the coverage given by Seed Bomb is a bit too good to pass up.</p>

<p>With these EVs, Arbok hits 270 Speed, beating neutral Toxicroak and Jolly Solrock.</p>
Click to expand...

Soup sounds funny. I would also probably change Ground and Water to Ground / Water, because it sounds like you are referring to them separately. If that was the case, Aqua Tail would be its best option against Ground Pokemon!
 
I put in why Aqua Tail isn't as good of option as Seed Bomb & the first sentenced was copied from the current analysis so its not my fault! :D

Opinions on the current mixed set?
 
Poison Jab should be listed as an alternative to Gunk Shot, for the more prudent player. Personally I've had Gunk Shot miss too many times, and at too critical moments, to use it.


I thought this would be the appropriate place to bring up the mixed set and that's partially why I created the thread, With Seed Bomb now available to CB Arbok, is the mixed set with Giga Drain even viable?
Click to expand...

I would suggest not ... if you really want to go mixed with a poisonous serpent, then Seviper is the way to go. Arbok's SpA really isn't good enough to be viable.
 
Threw in Poison Jab because I agree w/ ODDish and yeah the mixed set is pointless with Seed Bomb now (and it was a bit gimmicky to begin with anyway).
 
I'm having a hard time thinking of why you would ever want to use any special attacks on arbok now that it gets Seed Bomb to cover many of the things that countered it well beforehand.

Is it worth mentioning that Steel wormadam is immune to Gunk Shot and resists Seed Bomb and Crunch? It takes Earthquake neutral for quite a bit if it is EVed toward special defense rather than defense and Arbok does learn Fire Fang, so I don't know if it can be called a counter or not.

Does Arbok miss out on any notable OHKOs or 2HKOS when using Life Orb over Choice Band? While it's pretty unanimous that a mixed life orb set is outclassed now, I don't see why it couldn't still use the item.
 
Yuki said:
I'm having a hard time thinking of why you would ever want to use any special attacks on arbok now that it gets Seed Bomb to cover many of the things that countered it well beforehand.

Is it worth mentioning that Steel wormadam is immune to Gunk Shot and resists Seed Bomb and Crunch? It takes Earthquake neutral for quite a bit if it is EVed toward special defense rather than defense and Arbok does learn Fire Fang, so I don't know if it can be called a counter or not.

Does Arbok miss out on any notable OHKOs or 2HKOS when using Life Orb over Choice Band? While it's pretty unanimous that a mixed life orb set is outclassed now, I don't see why it couldn't still use the item.
Click to expand...

Not that I know of specifically, but I think its generally assumed that any pure attacking Choice set can always make use of Life Orb. I can throw in Womadam-S in the counters section of Arbok at a later point as well.
 
Yeah, I think mixed should be taken out.

Giga Drain was used for Golem, Relicanth, Quagsire, Gastrodon etc, but Seed Bomb hurts these big time still.
 
Yeah, Arbok lacks a special Fire move (really, the only reason you'd go mixed), and Seed Bomb now does everything that Giga Drain did, only better. The potential healing was never really the issue, as Arbok is, well, Arbok.
 
I just did a rewrite with this set included. Yeah.

[SET]
name: Choice Band
move 1: Gunk Shot / Poison Jab
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Crunch
move 4: Seed Bomb
item: Choice Band
ability: Intimidate
nature: Jolly
evs: 56 HP / 252 Atk / 200 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>A powered up Gunk Shot is really quite scary (if it hits) and Earthquake and Crunch provide excellent type coverage alongside it. Poison Jab is a viable option over Gunk Shot if the 70% accuracy of Gunk Shot is a turn off. In the last slot, Seed Bomb, is Arbok's best option against bulky Water or Ground Pokemon such as Gastrodon, Quagsire, and Relicanth. While Aqua Tail will hit Ground types slightly harder then Seed Bomb, Seed Bomb is overall the superior option for its ability to take out combination Water / Ground or Water / Rock Pokemon. Pursuit is good for chasing down a fleeing opponent and could work in place of Seed Bomb, but the coverage given by Seed Bomb is a bit too good to pass up.</p>

<p>With these EVs, Arbok hits 270 Speed, beating neutral Toxicroak and Jolly Solrock.</p>

[SET]
name: Neurotoxin
move 1: Glare
move 2: Poison Jab / Gunk Shot
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Rock Slide / Crunch
item: Leftovers
ability: Intimidate
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

<p> This set takes advantage of two of Arbok's underutilized assets, Glare and Intimidate. With these EVs and Intimidate, Arbok actually takes physical hits better than Weezing (albeit with a Ground type weakness). This fact allows it to comfortably counter the top Fighters of UU, bulky Grass-types, Scyther, and Drapion.</p>

<p> The real magic of this set, however, comes from Glare. With no way to trap the Pokemon you're countering, expect to see a lot of switches, particularly to Special attacking Pokemon. Where Weezing's status of choice would be useless against these Pokemon, Arbok's Glare cripples sweepers from both ends of the spectrum, as well as those thinking that they have a free switch under normal circumstances like Venusaur. Glare also has the added bonus of being able to paralyze anything it hits, regardless of type. Unfortunately, it does come attatched to a not-so-hot 75% accuracy.</p>

<p> The attacks chosen give Arbok the best coverage available. Poison Jab and Gunk Shot make up its main STAB, with the former having a lower base power and the latter losing considerable accuracy to land a harder hit. The two other attacking moves round out coverage on types that Poison attacks can't hit. Earthquake hits incoming Steels and Drapion for Super Effective damage, while Rock Slide allows Arbok to hit Drifblim for Super Effective damage when they attempt to switch in and resist your Poison attacks. It also allows Arbok to hit Scyther harder, as well as Altaria. Crunch can be an option over Rock Slide if you feel that you really need to hit Rotom harder then Rock Slide. The final slot could also be replaced with one of the elemental fangs, but their damage output is rather lackluster in comparison, especially without any boost to Arbok's Attack stat.</p>

[Other Options]
<p>Not much. It has all the elemental fang attacks (Thunder Fang, Ice Fang, Fire Fang), but they're too weak to offer any kind of useful type coverage. Gastro Acid isn't worth a moveslot most of the time, but it can be helpful to rob some Pokemon of their ability.</p>

<p>Stockpile, Rest and Shed Skin can help Arbok tank a little, but with such a low HP stat and weak defenses, it will rarely prove effective.</p>

[EVs]
<p>You could move a few HP EVs into Speed to outspeed further Pokemon in the first set. 274 beats Jolly Absol, although it often has Sucker Punch, so your Speed advantage will be lost.</p>

[Opinion]
<p>Arbok is really a one trick pony... snake. Use the listed movesets or use another Pokémon. It does not fit any other role adequately. Intimidate is a handy ability, but forgettable Defense and HP undermine it. However, it can switch in to the odd physical Fighting, Poison, or Bug attack.</p>

[Counters]
<p>Claydol, Solrock, and Lunatone can switch into Gunk Shot and Earthquake, but Crunch and Seed Bomb will leave a dent in them. Steelix will easily survive Earthquakes and switches into Gunk Shot, Crunch, and Seed Bomb quite easily. Bulky Grounds like Sandslash, Quagsire, and Golem can switch in; but beware of Seed Bomb.</p>

<p>More sweeper-oriented switch ins must be careful to not switch into a Glare as the paralysis could cripple there sweeping intentions.</p>
 
The Glare set is technically named Neurotoxin if you want to be completely accurate, according to Light.

Yeah, no Mixed set.
 
seviper is 90% better than Arbok with a Mixed set. Let arbok do the things hes good at instead of making him compete for a job he will always lose lol
 
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