[SET]
Defensive Pivot (Arghonaut) @ Leftovers / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Unaware
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 248 HP / 224 Def / 32 SpD
Impish Nature
- Circle Throw
- Knock Off
- Recover
- Spikes
[SET COMMENTS]
Arghonaut is one of the best defensive pivots in CAP, with access to Unaware, strong defenses and a fantastic support movepool. Circle Throw phazes setup sweepers such as Roaring Moon, Volcarona, and Stratagem. It also forces out Equilibra, the tier's premier spinner, making it easier to stack layers of Spikes. Knock Off threatens the Ghost-types that try to switch into Circle Throw such as Dragapult and Gholdengo and puts pressure on foes that rely on Heavy-Duty Boots to switch into entry hazards such as Venomicon, Volcarona, and Dragonite. 248 HP and 224 Defense EVs with an Impish nature guarantee that Arghonaut survives +2 Miasmaw's 5-hit Scale Shot, Hemogoblin's Bitter Blade into Tera Fairy-boosted Extreme Speed, and Kimgambit's Tera Blast Fairy with 5 fainted allies. The remaining 32 EVs are put into Special Defense to better tank special attacks, allowing Arghonaut to survive Krilowatt's Surf and Thunderbolt combination, as well as avoid being 2HKOed by its Tera Water-boosted Surf after Arghonaut has Terastallized. While Leftovers gives Arghonaut much appreciated passive recovery, Heavy-Duty Boots can be run instead to ignore Spikes at the cost of being more reliant on Recover. Tera Fairy allows Arghonaut to completely change its defensive profile, letting it beat Hemogoblin, Tera Flying Roaring Moon, Iron Valiant, and stop Miasmaw's Scale Shot.
Arghonaut fits best on balance and stall teams, checking most setup sweepers and gaining momentum through the combination of Circle Throw and Spikes. Stealth Rock setters such as Clefable, Venomicon, and Heatran can aid in stacking hazards. Venomicon in particular is a great partner, alleviating defensive pressure from Arghonaut by checking Fairy-types like Hemogoblin and Iron Valiant as well as offensive Grass-types like Ogerpon-W and Meowscarada. Bulky Ground-types such as Equilibra, Ting-Lu, and Gliscor can help against offensive Electric-types such as Krilowatt, Caribolt, and Raging Bolt. The former two also help check opposing Psychic-types, while Gliscor can act as a solid Knock Off switch-in once its Poison Heal has activated, while Equilibra can remove hazards with Rapid Spin to keep Leftovers Arghonaut as healthy as possible. Offensive pivots such as Dragapult, Krilowatt, and Rillaboom appreciate the Spikes support and item disruption that Arghonaut provides.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
====
A set consisting of Bulk Up / Knock Off / Circle Throw / Recover with an 248 HP / 224 Def / 18 SpD / 12 Spe can be utilized to turn Arghonaut into a sort of setup sweeper that outspeeds uninvested Mollux, but not only does it loses the mirror even harder, but also requires the team support Arghonaut would usually provide. Ice Punch can be run to hit Gliscor and Landorus-T, but the utility of its other moves makes it niche at best. Toxic can be used over Spikes if there's another setter on the team, but Venomicon remains a hard counter. Tera Poison is an option that allows Arghonaut to be immune to Toxic and resist Fairy, but keeping the Psychic weakness and obtaining a Ground weakness is not worth it. Finally, Covert Cloak allows Arghonaut to best Garganacl and become a more consistent switch-in to Heatran, Mollux, and Pecharunt, but provides very little otherwise.
Checks and Counters
====
**Fairy-types**: Offensive Fairy-types such as Hemogoblin, Iron Valiant, Primarina, and Enamorus all threaten Arghonaut and have ways to deal with it even if it Terrastalizes. Defensive Fairy-types like Clefable and Cresceidon both can similarly force it out. Only Iron Valiant and Clefable want to switch into Knock Off, however.
**Flying-types**: Venomicon, Zapdos, Gliscor, and Tomohawk all can shrug off Arghonaut's attacks and threaten it with either a strong STAB move or their utility options. The former two do not appreciate losing their item and so can't mindlessly switch in, and Gliscor's Poison Heal must be activated before it can switch in freely. Skarmory can't immediately threaten Arghonaut but can phaze Arghonaut out with Whirlwind. Venomicon-E threatens huge damage even after Arghonaut Terastallizes. Tera Flying Acrobatics Roaring Moon similarly threatens to KO Arghonaut after minimal damage.
**Electric-types**: Krilowatt, Caribolt, Raging Bolt, and Plasmanta can all hit Arghonaut super effectively, with Plasmanta even being able to beat it after Terastallizing. However, Arghonaut can take the others on after it Terastallizes into a Fairy type and Krilowatt is scared of switching into Arghonaut as it gets crippled by Knock Off.
**Grass-types**: Ogerpon-W, Rillaboom, and Meowscarada all threaten to OHKO Arghonaut and can pivot out with U-turn on a predicted Tera Fairy. They also all can disturb Arghonaut's item with their own Knock Off, making it easier to pick off by their teammates. Serperior threatens huge damage with Leaf Storm despite Arghonaut's Unaware and can even paralyze it with Glare.
**Status**: Gliscor, Snaelstrom, and Pecharunt call all badly poison Arghonaut, while Cresceidon, Gholdengo, and Zapdos can paralyze it through Thunder Wave or Static, making it significantly more passive. Similarly, Heatran, Rotom-W, Mollux, and Volcanion all threaten to burn it, making Arghonaut deal pitiful damage. All of the above also empower Hex users like Dragapult, Gholdengo, and the aforementioned Pecharunt.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/lasen.273339/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/quziel.297859/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/spoo.251944/
Grammar checked by:
1
Last edited:
