Archeops Discussion


Archeops
Type: Rock / Flying
Base Stats: 75 / 140 / 65 / 112 / 65 / 110
Abilities: Defeatist

The first thing you'll notice when looking at Archeops's Pokedex page is its massive base 140 Attack stat. You'll also see a good base Special Attack stat and a great base 110 Speed. But why is it in RU, this is too good to be true. The next thing you'll notice is probably Archeops's ability, Defeatist, which halves its Attack and Special Attack if its HP drops below 50%. Archeops's defenses are extremely frail, and being a Flying-type, it also has a Stealth Rock weakness, making it much easier to halve its offenses. This is an extreme turnoff, and is the sole reason why Archeops is rarely seen in competitive play. However, in BW2, Archeops gained Roost. With Roost, Archeops can recover the damage it takes and negate the effects of Defeatist. This will allow Archeops to spam its powerful attacks (Acrobatics, Stone Edge, Earthquake) for longer periods of time. Archeops doesn't have many counters, so it will surely do damage to the opponent's team. Archeops is a powerful Pokemon that will no doubt be doing major damage to your opponent's team now that it has something to combat its own Defeatist ability.

  • Acrobatics
  • Agility
  • AncientPower
  • Aqua Tail
  • Crunch
  • Dragon Tail
  • Earth Power
  • Earthquake
  • Focus Blast
  • Head Smash
  • Heat Wave
  • Hidden Power
  • Hone Claws
  • Knock Off
  • Roar
  • Rock Slide
  • Roost
  • Stealth Rock
  • Stone Edge
  • Tailwind
  • Taunt
  • U-turn

Set(s):

Archeops (M) @ Flying Gem
Trait: Defeatist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly / Naive Nature
- Acrobatics
- Earthquake / Earth Power
- U-turn / Stone Edge
- Roost

A STAB Flying Gem-boosted Acrobatics coming off of a base 140 Attack is nothing to laugh at. Archeops will demolish almost anything with this move, except for Rock- and Steel-types. It can then use Earthquake to remove those Rock- and Steel-types, so the only reliable counters are Steelix and Rhydon. It can even use Earth Power to take advantage of the low Special Defense of Steelix and Rhydon. Archeops can then U-turn out to a specific counter to these Pokemon and come in later. Because Archeops is going to be scaring a lot of things out with its mammoth Attack stat, this gives it the opportunity to Roost off the damage taken from Stealth Rock. Stone Edge is also really powerful, and is a great STAB move provided that it hits. You can also use a Rock Gem to power up Stone Edge, if needed.

Despite hitting extremely hard, Archeops does have a few counters even if they aren't that common. These include the aforementioned Steelix and Rhydon, Qwilfish, Ferroseed, and Sandslash. However, none of these Pokemon have reliable recovery, and with hazards up on the enemy's field, Archeops will quickly wear them down. This leaves priority users such as Feraligatr and Spiritomb and Choice Scarf users such as Manectric and Rotom-C to deal with Archeops, but they all have trouble switching in. This makes it easy for Archeops to wear down the opposing team, possibly leading to a sweep from a teammate.

In my opinion, with Roost, Archeops is 10 times better than it was before. With a high Speed, Archeops can definitely sweep once Steelix / Rhydon are removed. It does, however, fear priority, but that can be worked around. If you have any other suggestions or opinions about this Archeops set, please post them! What if it used a Life Orb instead of a Flying Gem? Are the Choice sets good? Discuss!

In addition to a physical set, Archeops can potentially run a special set due to its great base 112 Special Attack. It also has moves such as Earth Power, Focus Blast, and Heat Wave at its disposal. I haven't tested this out yet, so I'll leave it to you guys to discuss its potential! Archeops has a ton of other options, so hopefully someone will find a better set than the one above!
 
I like it. :)
Acrobatics Earth Power, Stone Edge and Roost is pretty much my preferred set, its best used as a late game sweeper so U-Turn isn't usually needed. Another alternative to Earth Power is to run HP Grass, it hits Rhydon stronger. Also for the EVs I'd rather just run a naive nature and a small amount of SpATT EVs, just so EP/HPGrass doesn't get lowered.
 
I don't think that Roost Archeops is as great as you're making it out to be, no offense. Unless the opponent is switching out or using a status move, Archeops' Roost Hp recovery will be negated (and probably even more than negated) by the opponent's next attack. If the opponent uses as status move, it'll probably be Thunder Wave or Will-O-Wisp, which would severely cripple either his Speed or Attack - which are the main stats that make Archeops appealing to competitive gamers. If the opponent switches in something that threatens Archeops (like Choice Band Bullet Punch Scizor), Archeops will have to make a run for it. Then, the next time he switches in, he takes some more SR damage (unless the aforementioned Scizor decided to chase after him and KO him with Pursuit).
I really don't think that Roost Archeops has anything going for it besides a wasted moveslot. Sorry.
 
I'm pretty sure that Scizor is banned seeing that this is the RU tier :p. Archeops can use Roost when the opponent switching out, and I stated that this will happen pretty often because Archeops demolishes so many things with its STAB moves such as Cryogonal, Roselia, Poliwrath, Entei, Gallade, Tangrowth, Mandibuzz, Moltres, Typhlosion, and more. As for dealing with status conditions, I like to run Heal Bell Lanturn with Archeops because it removes status and resists the Water-, Ice-, and Electric-type moves that hurt Archeops.

What are some other good partners to Archeops? :)
 
Poliwrath itself is also a good partner, as it also resists Rock and Steel type moves that may give Archeops trouble.It can then phase, status or just plain attack any bulky ground types like Sandslash while absorbing stray Scalds and Hydro Pumps at the same time.
 

Diatom

An enigma
is a Battle Simulator Moderator Alumnus
I think one of the best partners to Archeops is Slowking. If I'm not mistaken, Slowking can tank attacks from all threats faster than Archeops, and proceed to paralyze them. This lets Archeops KO stuff such as Aerodactyl easily. In addition, Slowking can easily deal with the aforementioned two biggest threats to Archeops: Steelix and Rhydon. What's more, Slowking can phase, which can potentially give Archeops a free switch in.

An honorable mention goes to Cryogonal. Even though they share the nasty rock weakness, Cryogonal can tank special attacks all day and reliably spin away the hazards that are undoubtedly the biggest threat to Archeops.
 
I think Archeops seems to be quite a bit stronger with rest. It will allow the pokemon to live even longer, especially if the enemy is paralyzed or has any status affects. However, It seems that both ground and rock (earthpower and stone edge) are not both exactly needed, so I would recommend switching out stone edge with aquatail. Aquatail will be able to damage rock and ground types, while earthpower can easily demolish Steelix, and Aquatail will be able to take out any fire sweepers that may come into play.
 

Endorfins

Your Worst Nightmare
is a Contributor Alumnus
Rest leaves Archeops a sitting duck as it will be helpless for 3 turns, more than enough time for the opponent to destroy Archeops.
Ive found Earth Power to be more useful than Earthquake as the majority of its targets have a far higher Defense stat eg. Steelix, Rhydon, Qwilfish. Once you remove these guys, there is actually very little that can sponge Archeops's Acrobatics and Stone Edge combination. Personally, I have found Roost to be less than amazing, once Archeops falls below 50% HP, (the best time to use Roost) the opponent will likely just stay in and kill Archeops. Even walls such as Tangrowth and Cofagrigus can strip off more than half of Archeops's HP if not more. Another very useful set is Choice Scarf, it outspeed every other common Choice Scarf users and has a powerful U-turn. Although Acrobatics isn't as useful with a Choice Scarf, Archeops still has a plethora of options, Physical and Special.
 
Archeops is an amazing choice scarf user as well. It can out speed almost anything and use u-turn to scout. Here is my set

Archeops@Choice Scarf
Ability: Defeatist
Evs: 252 Attack/252 Speed/ 4 HP
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge
-U-Turn
-Dragon Claw
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top