Type: Poison
Base Stats: 60/95/69/65/79/80 (BST 448)
Abilities: Intimidate, Shed Skin, Unnerve
Notable Moves:
- Poison Jab
- Earthquake
- Fire Fang
- Ice Fang
- Thunder Fang
- Gunk Shot
- Knock Off
- Glare
- Switcheroo
- Trailblaze
- Toxic Spikes
- Toxic
- Crunch
- Coil
- Body Slam
- Haze
- Sucker Punch
- Tera Blast
Pros:
- Having a typing that resists Fighting and Fairy is very useful, as well as offensively being able to take on Fairy and Grass types.
- Two decent abilities in Intimidate and Shed Skin. Intimidate to drop the opposing Pokemon's attack stat, while Shed Skin gives Arbok a decent chance of being able to shrug off burns/paralysis/freeze e.t.c.
- Decent movepool, having plenty of coverage options such as the elemental fangs, Earthquake and Crunch. Access to boosting moves in Coil, as well as a decent support movepool with Glare, Haze, Knock Off, Toxic/Toxic Spikes. Switcheroo can cripple a lot of Pokemon if you make the right call.
- Terrible defensive bulk, combined with a weakness to Ground, which is a very common OU typing makes life difficult for Arbok to be able to take anything other than relatively weak hits from typings it resists.
- While not terrible, it's speed and attack stats could be vastly better, meaning it cannot capitalize on it's decent movepool.
- Other poison types such as the Lousy 3, Clodsire, Amoongus, Sneasler, G-Slowking, Weezing/G-Weezing do a lot of what Arbok wants to do but better, making it non-viable in the OU format.
Grass: Turns Arbok's Ground weakness into a resist, while still retaining it's Grass resist and gaining immunity to the likes of Spore.
Fairy: Decent overall defensive typing, has Ground type coverage to deter Steel/Poison types.
Flying: Immunity to ground typing while still retaining it's Fighting resist. Flying Tera Blast allows it to more effectively deal with Fighting types.
Dark: With access to Knock Off, Sucker Punch and Crunch, Tera Dark can be used as a more offensive Tera Type, especially in the lower tiers.
Sets:
Switcheroo
Arbok @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Intimidate/Shed Skin
Tera: Grass/Flying/Fairy
Nature: Jolly
4HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Switcheroo
Gunk Shot/Poison Jab
Earthquake
Elemental Fang/Knock Off/Tera Blast
With Jolly and 252 Speed EV's, Arbok outspeeds the entire unboosted OU metagame with Choice Scarf. Switcheroo can potentially cripple many would be defensive checks, that typically rely on needing their full movesets to function effectively as walls. Gunk Shot for more raw power which Arbok desperately needs, but Poison Jab can be an alternative for consistency. Earthquake is a must to deal with Steel types that are immune to Poison, as well as hurt Rock, Electric and Fire types. The last move can be whatever coverage you require, whether it be and elemental fang, Tera Blast Grass to deal heavy damage to Ground types/Bulky waters or Knock Off for additional utility. Either Intimidate/Shed Skin can be used on this set.
Coil
Arbok @ Leftovers/HDB/Black Sludge/Lum Berry
Ability: Shed Skin/Intimidate
Tera: Flying/Grass/Fairy
Nature: Adamant/Impish
252 HP/4 Atk/252 Def
Coil
Gunk Shot/Poison Jab
Earthquake
Sucker Punch/Knock Off/Tera Blast/Glare
Coil and defensive investment can patch up Arbok's otherwise terrible bulk while bringing it's attack stat up to respectable levels. Shed Skin is the preferred ability to attempt to rid status such as Burn. Leftovers or Black Sludge for passive recovery, HDB to avoids hazards, especially if you opt to use Tera Flying and Lum Berry as an emergency status remover. Gunk Shot or Posion Jab for STAB, Earthquake to hit steels. Sucker Punch is there to give Arbok priority, while Knock Off is a utility option and Tera Blast is a decent coverage option.
Choice Band
Arbok @ Choice Band
Ability: Intimidate/Shed Skin
Tera: Grass/Flying/Fairy
Nature: Jolly
4HP/252 Atk/252 Speed
Gunk Shot/Poison Jab
Earthquake
Elemental Fang/Knock Off/Tera Blast
Sucker Punch/Knock Off/Crunch
Choice Band attempts to make use of Arbok's acceptable Attack stat. Gunk/Shot/Poison Jab are the two main STAB options, Earthquake for Steels. Sucker Punch allows Arbok to become a potential revenge killer, while Knock Off offers utility and Crunch offers a consistent Dark attack. E-Fang/Tera Blast for potential coverage.
Summary
Arbok does not have the tools needed to be effective in the OU environment. However it's decent movepool could see it being utilised effectively in RU/NU/PU tiers.
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