[Overview]
<p>When looking at Sableye's stats, it seems as though it should have no place in Ubers . However, Sableye's awesome combination of a vast support movepool and Prankster enable it to function as a immensely useful supporter if used correctly. Prankster is a massive advantage that Sableye has over other Ubers utility Pokemon; it allows Sableye to fully invest in its bulk while outrunning some of the most eminent threats in the tier and smacking them with a Will-O-Wisp before they can strike back. Access to Foul Play only compounds this advantage, giving Sableye a tool to hit many opponents exceptionally hard without needing to worry about investment.</p>
<p>Because of priority Will-O-Wisp, Sableye can serve as a formidable physical wall despite its terrible bulk; it is in its use that Sableye finds one of its more important niches: countering Extreme Killer Arceus. Because it's immune to ExtremeSpeed, Sableye can—assuming a hit—burn Arceus before it can hit back; even if Arceus uses Swords Dance on the switch, it can't OHKO, regardless of its item. That being said, Sableye's horrible special bulk holds it back. Priority Taunt is another reason that Sableye is so useful. By restricting defensive opponents' options, Sableye can function as an effective stallbreaker; for example, Sableye can completely shut down Forretress and the pink blobs with Taunt and by virtue of its Ghost typing, while Sleep Talkers are prevented from recovering and rendered helpless while they sleep. Sableye is an anti-metagame Pokemon thanks to said capabilities, and it is capable of handling entry hazard leads, Baton Pass teams, and stall teams on its own. Overall, Sableye must be played with caution, but in the right hands, it can be an effective tool against stall and offense alike.</p>
[SET]
name: Prankster
move 1: Will-O-Wisp
move 2: Recover
move 3: Taunt
move 4: Foul Play
item: Leftovers
ability: Prankster
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Sableye's dangerous combination of Prankster, key support moves, and fair effective physical bulk thanks to Will-O-Wisp enables it to be a powerful tool for combating offensive and defensive threats. The moveset is fairly obvious, but every move plays a part. Foul Play and Priority Will-O-Wisp allow Sableye to hold its own against a wide variety of physical threats, including Excadrill, Groudon, and Extreme Killer Arceus. Once burned, the opponent can't boost up to try to break Sableye without taking a powerful Foul Play—for instance, a burned Extreme Killer Arceus is easily OHKOed by Foul Play at +4, while Sableye can otherwise easily stall out its attacks with Recover. Priority Taunt lets Sableye break down stall in conjunction with entry hazards by preventing the opponent from recovering or laying entry hazards, while against hyper offense it allows Sableye to prevent setup sweeps, though Sableye's lack of bulk means that in such a situation it will often end up taking loads of damage. It also allows Sableye to function as a potent anti-lead, due to the fact that it neuters Deoxys-S and gives you breathing room against Darkrai if necessary. Finally, Sableye is a decent spinblocker. Defensive Excadrill's Substitute is broken by Foul Play and Forretress can be shut down with Taunt. When using Sableye, however, it's important to gauge the advantages that another spinblocker could bring. Sableye's bulk pales in comparison to that of the other Ubers spinblockers, and its cardinal role is annoyer, not spinblocker. Sableye is notably one of the only Pokemon that can guarantee success against Baton Pass in any form, due to priority Taunt shutting down any attempts to pass boosts.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread maximizes physical bulk. Generally, Sableye should not serve as a part of a team's defensive core—its capacity for taking hits simply isn't up to par with other contenders like Ho-Oh, Kyogre, and Ferrothorn. Rather, a separate core should exist with Sableye aiding in shutting down sweepers and keeping entry hazards up if played well. Sableye can only spinblock if used with extreme care and correct prediction. All of the Rapid Spinners in Ubers have weapons with which they can eliminate Sableye easily otherwise—Forretress can use Toxic and Excadrill, Tentacruel, and Kabutops can all 2HKO, though the latter two require weather to be in their favor. Sableye requires entry hazard control to function as well; any form of residual damage is detrimental to Sableye's ability to take a hit on the switch. Finally, Sableye also appreciates cleric support to remedy status resulting from mispredictions. In the case of Toxic Spikes, it can also alleviate the imminent problem of constant Toxic poison; however, Rapid Spin support or a Poison-type teammate to swiftly remove Toxic Spikes is required, such as that from Excadrill, Forretress, or Tentacruel.</p>
<p>A specially defensive spread could be used to beat Tentacruel and some Mewtwo, but doing so greatly weakens Sableye's ability to take on physical attackers, and is thus unwise. Likewise, Toxic could be run over Will-O-Wisp to break down opponents faster and to hit Ho-Oh, but it forfeits Sableye's niche. In general, it's best to just stick to the original set.</p>
<p>When using Sableye, remember not to underestimate its ability to take physical hits; you can easily come in on offensive Excadrill, burn it, recover HP, and use Foul Play with no chance of dying barring a critical hit or a Will-O-Wisp miss. An important thing to note is that Sableye itself does not have good bulk. Rather, it is its access to priority Will-O-Wisp that indirectly grants it the ability to sponge attacks from physical attackers. Sableye is an excellent addition to hyper offense teams, keeping entry hazards up when utilized correctly and neutering physical cleaners that hyper offense teams tends to struggle with. Sableye's priority Taunt means that it pairs up well with a spinner in teams that absolutely require a lack of entry hazards. Because of its spinblocking ability and tendency to force switches, Sableye works best on a team whose focus is taking advantage of entry hazards. Sableye also forms an excellent core with Ferrothorn, due to several factors. Firstly—and most obviously—Ferrothorn's key proactive ability is laying Spikes, which Sableye can usually keep on the field.However, as has been noted previously, excellent prediction is required to spinblock successfully. Secondly, between Leech Seed, Will-O-Wisp, Iron Barbs, and Spikes, the opponent will also be taking an immense amount of residual damage; this residual damage is rendered even more deadly when combined with Sableye's ability to shut down recovery. Thirdly, Sableye's Will-O-Wisp in conjunction with Ferrothorn's bulk and typing will usually mean that any physical attacker that lacks a Fire-type move will be powerless against the duo.</p>
<p>Weather has an interesting effect on Sableye's utility. If on a weather team, Sableye should only ever be used with sun or rain, as residual damage to Sableye of any kind is detrimental to Sableye's main goal. When running sun, Sableye can take advantage of its newfound ability to take on Tentacruel. However, the weathergives a boost to opposing Fire-types, which are inconveniently immune to Will-O-Wisp. Meanwhile, rain cripples the aforementioned Fire-types. Kyogre as a teammate is very beneficial to Sableye; it has the capacity to take many of the special hits that Sableye cannot and shares stupendous synergy with Ferrothorn, one of Sableye's best partners. However, it guarantees that any opposing Tentacruel and Kabutops will be able to muscle through Sableye, compromising its ability to spinblock against the two should it be necessary.</p>
[OTHER OPTIONS]
<p>Because of Sableye's extensive support movepool, it has several other options for moveslots. A myriad of miscellaneous support moves along the vein of Trick, Torment, and Knock Off could be run, but they force Sableye to give up one of its core moves. Night Shade could be used in place of Foul Play to hit special attackers harder, but it's generally ineffective due to the fact that most special attackers will slaughter Sableye. A Calm Mind and Will-O-Wisp set could be run to boost both defenses, but once again, a key move must be forfeited. A Substitute and Recover set faces a similar issue. While Moonlight may appear to be an attractive option in combination with sun, its inherent unreliability greatly outweighs the potential increase in survivability it could grant.</p>
[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
<p>Sableye is hard countered by hard-hitting Fire-types, such as Blaziken, Reshiram, Ho-Oh, Heatran, and the rare Arceus-Fire; Ho-Oh needs to watch out for Foul Play, though, because offensive variants are OHKOed after Stealth Rock. In return, however, Ho-Oh can easily OHKO Sableye with a sun-boosted Sacred Fire. Heatran in particular works extremely well betweenits typing and specially offensive approach. Though Lava Plume cannot OHKO, it does a massive amount of damage and can leave Sableye with a problematic burn. Though not immune to Will-O-Wisp, Kyogre can OHKO Sableye with a rain-boosted STAB after Stealth Rock. Espeon and Xatu can both stop Sableye's annoyance by reflecting Taunt back at Sableye, but Foul Play does quite a number to both. A max Special Attack Arceus can OHKO Sableye with a neutral Judgment while fearing little in return. Essentially any special attacker, ranging from Dialga to Palkia to Kyogre, can take on Sableye and emerge victorious. Dialga easily switches in on Sableye and OHKOes with Draco Meteor, but a burn is detrimental to its otherwise formidable defenses. Likewise, Darkrai can check Sableye and 2HKO with Dark Pulse, but a burn will wear it down fairly quickly. As annoying as it is, Sableye doesn't pose a massive threat without walls to back it up; it can generally be outmanouvered and without its teammates, you can usually just beat the crap out of it. Mixed attackers work especially well in this role, as often times they can bait a Will-O-Wisp and take Sableye out with a powerful special attack. Bear in mind, however, that they will emerge from the confrontation with a burn unless Will-O-Wisp misses. While a faster Prankster Taunt seems to be an effective strategy to counter Sableye, the two main users of it—Thundurus and Tornadus— would rather simply OHKO with a powerful Thunder or Hurricane. Heracross is another rare threat that fears nothing from Sableye; Will-O-Wisp gives it a Guts boost and it can easily shrug off a Foul Play. Entry hazards are another approach, especially Toxic Spikes; while it's nearly impossible to directly status Sableye unless it's unexpected, Toxic poison is an extremely effective way to take it down, compromising what little bulk it has and preventing it from annoying for long.</p>
<p>When looking at Sableye's stats, it seems as though it should have no place in Ubers . However, Sableye's awesome combination of a vast support movepool and Prankster enable it to function as a immensely useful supporter if used correctly. Prankster is a massive advantage that Sableye has over other Ubers utility Pokemon; it allows Sableye to fully invest in its bulk while outrunning some of the most eminent threats in the tier and smacking them with a Will-O-Wisp before they can strike back. Access to Foul Play only compounds this advantage, giving Sableye a tool to hit many opponents exceptionally hard without needing to worry about investment.</p>
<p>Because of priority Will-O-Wisp, Sableye can serve as a formidable physical wall despite its terrible bulk; it is in its use that Sableye finds one of its more important niches: countering Extreme Killer Arceus. Because it's immune to ExtremeSpeed, Sableye can—assuming a hit—burn Arceus before it can hit back; even if Arceus uses Swords Dance on the switch, it can't OHKO, regardless of its item. That being said, Sableye's horrible special bulk holds it back. Priority Taunt is another reason that Sableye is so useful. By restricting defensive opponents' options, Sableye can function as an effective stallbreaker; for example, Sableye can completely shut down Forretress and the pink blobs with Taunt and by virtue of its Ghost typing, while Sleep Talkers are prevented from recovering and rendered helpless while they sleep. Sableye is an anti-metagame Pokemon thanks to said capabilities, and it is capable of handling entry hazard leads, Baton Pass teams, and stall teams on its own. Overall, Sableye must be played with caution, but in the right hands, it can be an effective tool against stall and offense alike.</p>
[SET]
name: Prankster
move 1: Will-O-Wisp
move 2: Recover
move 3: Taunt
move 4: Foul Play
item: Leftovers
ability: Prankster
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Sableye's dangerous combination of Prankster, key support moves, and fair effective physical bulk thanks to Will-O-Wisp enables it to be a powerful tool for combating offensive and defensive threats. The moveset is fairly obvious, but every move plays a part. Foul Play and Priority Will-O-Wisp allow Sableye to hold its own against a wide variety of physical threats, including Excadrill, Groudon, and Extreme Killer Arceus. Once burned, the opponent can't boost up to try to break Sableye without taking a powerful Foul Play—for instance, a burned Extreme Killer Arceus is easily OHKOed by Foul Play at +4, while Sableye can otherwise easily stall out its attacks with Recover. Priority Taunt lets Sableye break down stall in conjunction with entry hazards by preventing the opponent from recovering or laying entry hazards, while against hyper offense it allows Sableye to prevent setup sweeps, though Sableye's lack of bulk means that in such a situation it will often end up taking loads of damage. It also allows Sableye to function as a potent anti-lead, due to the fact that it neuters Deoxys-S and gives you breathing room against Darkrai if necessary. Finally, Sableye is a decent spinblocker. Defensive Excadrill's Substitute is broken by Foul Play and Forretress can be shut down with Taunt. When using Sableye, however, it's important to gauge the advantages that another spinblocker could bring. Sableye's bulk pales in comparison to that of the other Ubers spinblockers, and its cardinal role is annoyer, not spinblocker. Sableye is notably one of the only Pokemon that can guarantee success against Baton Pass in any form, due to priority Taunt shutting down any attempts to pass boosts.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EV spread maximizes physical bulk. Generally, Sableye should not serve as a part of a team's defensive core—its capacity for taking hits simply isn't up to par with other contenders like Ho-Oh, Kyogre, and Ferrothorn. Rather, a separate core should exist with Sableye aiding in shutting down sweepers and keeping entry hazards up if played well. Sableye can only spinblock if used with extreme care and correct prediction. All of the Rapid Spinners in Ubers have weapons with which they can eliminate Sableye easily otherwise—Forretress can use Toxic and Excadrill, Tentacruel, and Kabutops can all 2HKO, though the latter two require weather to be in their favor. Sableye requires entry hazard control to function as well; any form of residual damage is detrimental to Sableye's ability to take a hit on the switch. Finally, Sableye also appreciates cleric support to remedy status resulting from mispredictions. In the case of Toxic Spikes, it can also alleviate the imminent problem of constant Toxic poison; however, Rapid Spin support or a Poison-type teammate to swiftly remove Toxic Spikes is required, such as that from Excadrill, Forretress, or Tentacruel.</p>
<p>A specially defensive spread could be used to beat Tentacruel and some Mewtwo, but doing so greatly weakens Sableye's ability to take on physical attackers, and is thus unwise. Likewise, Toxic could be run over Will-O-Wisp to break down opponents faster and to hit Ho-Oh, but it forfeits Sableye's niche. In general, it's best to just stick to the original set.</p>
<p>When using Sableye, remember not to underestimate its ability to take physical hits; you can easily come in on offensive Excadrill, burn it, recover HP, and use Foul Play with no chance of dying barring a critical hit or a Will-O-Wisp miss. An important thing to note is that Sableye itself does not have good bulk. Rather, it is its access to priority Will-O-Wisp that indirectly grants it the ability to sponge attacks from physical attackers. Sableye is an excellent addition to hyper offense teams, keeping entry hazards up when utilized correctly and neutering physical cleaners that hyper offense teams tends to struggle with. Sableye's priority Taunt means that it pairs up well with a spinner in teams that absolutely require a lack of entry hazards. Because of its spinblocking ability and tendency to force switches, Sableye works best on a team whose focus is taking advantage of entry hazards. Sableye also forms an excellent core with Ferrothorn, due to several factors. Firstly—and most obviously—Ferrothorn's key proactive ability is laying Spikes, which Sableye can usually keep on the field.However, as has been noted previously, excellent prediction is required to spinblock successfully. Secondly, between Leech Seed, Will-O-Wisp, Iron Barbs, and Spikes, the opponent will also be taking an immense amount of residual damage; this residual damage is rendered even more deadly when combined with Sableye's ability to shut down recovery. Thirdly, Sableye's Will-O-Wisp in conjunction with Ferrothorn's bulk and typing will usually mean that any physical attacker that lacks a Fire-type move will be powerless against the duo.</p>
<p>Weather has an interesting effect on Sableye's utility. If on a weather team, Sableye should only ever be used with sun or rain, as residual damage to Sableye of any kind is detrimental to Sableye's main goal. When running sun, Sableye can take advantage of its newfound ability to take on Tentacruel. However, the weathergives a boost to opposing Fire-types, which are inconveniently immune to Will-O-Wisp. Meanwhile, rain cripples the aforementioned Fire-types. Kyogre as a teammate is very beneficial to Sableye; it has the capacity to take many of the special hits that Sableye cannot and shares stupendous synergy with Ferrothorn, one of Sableye's best partners. However, it guarantees that any opposing Tentacruel and Kabutops will be able to muscle through Sableye, compromising its ability to spinblock against the two should it be necessary.</p>
[OTHER OPTIONS]
<p>Because of Sableye's extensive support movepool, it has several other options for moveslots. A myriad of miscellaneous support moves along the vein of Trick, Torment, and Knock Off could be run, but they force Sableye to give up one of its core moves. Night Shade could be used in place of Foul Play to hit special attackers harder, but it's generally ineffective due to the fact that most special attackers will slaughter Sableye. A Calm Mind and Will-O-Wisp set could be run to boost both defenses, but once again, a key move must be forfeited. A Substitute and Recover set faces a similar issue. While Moonlight may appear to be an attractive option in combination with sun, its inherent unreliability greatly outweighs the potential increase in survivability it could grant.</p>
[CHECKS AND COUNTERS]
<p>Sableye is hard countered by hard-hitting Fire-types, such as Blaziken, Reshiram, Ho-Oh, Heatran, and the rare Arceus-Fire; Ho-Oh needs to watch out for Foul Play, though, because offensive variants are OHKOed after Stealth Rock. In return, however, Ho-Oh can easily OHKO Sableye with a sun-boosted Sacred Fire. Heatran in particular works extremely well betweenits typing and specially offensive approach. Though Lava Plume cannot OHKO, it does a massive amount of damage and can leave Sableye with a problematic burn. Though not immune to Will-O-Wisp, Kyogre can OHKO Sableye with a rain-boosted STAB after Stealth Rock. Espeon and Xatu can both stop Sableye's annoyance by reflecting Taunt back at Sableye, but Foul Play does quite a number to both. A max Special Attack Arceus can OHKO Sableye with a neutral Judgment while fearing little in return. Essentially any special attacker, ranging from Dialga to Palkia to Kyogre, can take on Sableye and emerge victorious. Dialga easily switches in on Sableye and OHKOes with Draco Meteor, but a burn is detrimental to its otherwise formidable defenses. Likewise, Darkrai can check Sableye and 2HKO with Dark Pulse, but a burn will wear it down fairly quickly. As annoying as it is, Sableye doesn't pose a massive threat without walls to back it up; it can generally be outmanouvered and without its teammates, you can usually just beat the crap out of it. Mixed attackers work especially well in this role, as often times they can bait a Will-O-Wisp and take Sableye out with a powerful special attack. Bear in mind, however, that they will emerge from the confrontation with a burn unless Will-O-Wisp misses. While a faster Prankster Taunt seems to be an effective strategy to counter Sableye, the two main users of it—Thundurus and Tornadus— would rather simply OHKO with a powerful Thunder or Hurricane. Heracross is another rare threat that fears nothing from Sableye; Will-O-Wisp gives it a Guts boost and it can easily shrug off a Foul Play. Entry hazards are another approach, especially Toxic Spikes; while it's nearly impossible to directly status Sableye unless it's unexpected, Toxic poison is an extremely effective way to take it down, compromising what little bulk it has and preventing it from annoying for long.</p>