Pokemon Focus: #493 - Arceus

Introduction

It was only a matter of time before we covered Arceus, currently the true deity of Pokemon. Regardless of whether the religious implications of such are good or not, one thing's for sure: Arceus is powerful. Really powerful. Do not ever take it lightly.

Capture/Training

Arceus has yet to be given out at any U.S. event. Stay tuned for developments, though.

One thing about Arceus is that it is captured at Level 100. On one hand, that means no need to train it. On the other hand, that limits its EV training; it can only use vitamins, and as such can only get 100 in any stat. This does rather limit its potential in any actual battling environment, but in-game, there still won't be anything that can stand up to it.

Stay tuned, though. If anything so much as a Level 99 one becomes available in the future, you can guarantee the destruction of all around it.

Stats

120 HP, 120 Atk, 120 Def, 120 SpA, 120 SpD, 120 Spe

Yeah, deadly stats across the board. The only-100-EVs-in-any-one-stat thing keeps those stats from reaching their full potential, though. Still quite powerful. How you want to distribute those vitamins is up to you.

Ability

Multitype is Arceus's little trick. Give it a Plate, and it immediately becomes the Plate's type. This gives Arceus much variety as to what it can assume. It also makes Arceus the only Pokemon that can become a somewhat-stable pure-Flying type...

Moves

With so many types Arceus can assume, it's hard to say there is a "primary" move type for it to use. There is, however, Judgment. This move assumes the same type as Arceus's plate, and by consequence, Arceus himself. This has two benefits: because it matches the plate type, it gets the 20% bonus from the plate, and because it matches Arceus, it gets a STAB bonus as well. Expect Judgment to be an extremely powerful attack in whatever type you have it as.

As for physical moves, its primary "attack" will be whichever of the following attacks match its type. Normal obviously gets Return, but you'll also love ExtremeSpeed and its priority-hitting powers. Arceus can also get Waterfall and Aqua Tail for Water needs. Ice? Play around with Avalanche. Fighting? Smack enemies around with a Brick Break. Poison? Try Poison Jab. Ground? Did you really think it wouldn't get Earthquake? Flying? Well, Arceus can Fly, and considering it isn't entering any competitive environment anytime soon, it'll do just fine in-game. Psychic? Use Zen Headbutt. Bug? I'd like an explanation for how Arceus can use X-Scissor, but I'm not likely to get one, so... enjoy it. Rock? Stone Edge away. Ghost? You can go for Shadow Claw, or even Shadow Force if you get the one that comes with the giveaway. Dragon? Go for reliability with Dragon Claw, or hit hard with Outrage. Dark? Hit stat-boosters hard with Punishment. Steel? Iron Head for reliability, Iron Tail for power. No good physical moves exist for Fire, Electric, or Grass, though.

For Arceus, secondary attacks are, well, secondary to whatever type Judgment is. Here is the full list of choices. If you really want a Normal special attack, Hyper Voice is available. Fire? Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Overheat, or Heat Wave in doubles. Water? Surf. Electric? Thunderbolt or Thunder in rain. Grass? Energy Ball or Grass Knot, or SolarBeam in sunlight. Ice? Ice Beam or Blizzard in hail. Fighting? You'll have to make do with Focus Blast. Poison? Sludge Bomb. Ground? Earth Power. Psychic? Self-explanatory. Bug? You'll have to make do with Signal Beam. Rock? AncientPower will have to suffice. Ghost? Shadow Ball away. Dragon? Dragon Pulse and Draco Meteor are available readily, or you can get the giveaway Arceus and use Spatial Rend. Dark? Dark Pulse. Steel? Flash Cannon.

With so many attack options as it is, it's crazy to think Arceus might have other attacks to use, but it does have one more: Seismic Toss is great for when nothing else really works. Expect it to land a 100-HP hit without fail (except against Ghost types, that is).

From here, Arceus also has a large list of support moves. Recover is a good move to have, restoring half of its health with no drawbacks.

Arceus has a few ways of powering itself up. Calm Mind is its main source of Special power, while access to Swords Dance allows it to quickly power up its Attack power. Cosmic Power works on the defensive side, making Arceus near-impossible to take down.

Arceus can team-support with Gravity, which opens up the use of its less accurate attacks as well. It also supports with Light Screen and Reflect. It also has Sunny Day and Rain Dance for support options, though they are somewhat redundant in Uber battling with Groudon and Kyogre around.

Perish Song can mess up opponents nicely. Stealth Rock is a fun move to have. Magic Coat forces certain moves back to opponents, namely status moves and stat drops.

All your standard status moves are out there: Toxic, Thunder Wave, and Will-o-Wisp.


Protect and Substitute have their uses, as always.

Effective Movesets


1. All-Purpose Arceus (Special Attacker)

- Judgment
- Ice Beam/Psychic
- Thunderbolt/Energy Ball
- Earth Power/Flamethrower/Calm Mind

Note: The idea here is to use the ever-reliable BoltBeam strategy to hit most foes when your Judgment type doesn't work. Earth Power hits two of the main Pokemon that resist BoltBeam, Magnezone and Lanturn, whereas Flamethrower hits Magnezone and also Shedinja, and is arguably the better choice is the Judgment type is already good at hitting Lanturn. If your Judgment type hits Shedinja, or you're not too worried about it, go ahead and use Earth Power. If you're not worried about any of the three particularly, you can use Calm Mind to just power up. If using Ice- or Electric- Arceus, go ahead and replace the corresponding move with the slashed move; it will help cover the weaknesses of that type.

2. Normal: Extreme Killer
- Swords Dance
- ExtremeSpeed
- Earthquake
- Shadow Claw/Judgment
Item: Silk Scarf/Life Orb
Note: This is an example of a workable Normal Arceus, showing Arceus doesn't need to assume any other type.

3. Fire: Sunny Day
- Judgment
- Solarbeam
- Recover
- Draco Meteor/Sunny Day
Note: Fire Arceus works best in the sunlight. If you can't provide your own, try to have a teammate set it up.

4. Water: Rain Dance
- Judgment
- Thunder
- Waterfall
- Recover/ExtremeSpeed/Dragon Claw
Note: Similar idea here as above, but with rain instead of sun. You can go a BoltBeam route, but this set is designed to differentiate itself from Kyogre: it can use both special and physical moves, and has the option of a Water/Normal or Water/Dragon combo on the physical side that is nearly unresisted.

5. Electric: Mixed BoltBeam
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- ExtremeSpeed
Note: A different take on BoltBeam. Use ExtremeSpeed to pick off opponents, or to potentially hurt Blissey.

6. Grass
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Earth Power/Thunderbolt/Calm Mind
- Recover

7. Ice
- Judgment
- Thunderbolt
- Earth Power
- Recover

8. Fighting
- Judgment
- Shadow Ball/Dark Pulse
- Recover
- Brick Break
Note: Judgment+Shadow Ball is completely unresisted, while the Pokemon that resist Judgment+Dark Pulse are few and far between (think Heracross).

9. Poison
- Judgment
- Flamethrower/Fire Blast
- Recover
- Calm Mind
Note: Poison is a hard type to use, but it works pretty well defensively against Fighting-types.

10. Ground: Mixed Edgequake
- Judgment
- Earthquake
- Stone Edge
- Swords Dance/Recover

11. Flying: The only pure Flyer
- Judgment
- Surf
- Thunderbolt
- Recover

12. Psychic
- Judgment
- Will-o-Wisp
- Ice Beam
- Recover
Note: You want something to differentiate this Psychic-type from practically every other psychic Uber? How about access to Will-o-Wisp to cripple Pursuiters?

13. Bug
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Recover
- Calm Mind

14. Rock: Mixed
- Judgment
- Ice Beam
- Stone Edge
- Recover
Note: There are really few special Rock attackers (to say nothing of the lack of actual special Rock attacks worth a dime), so this could be an interesting change of pace.

15. Ghost: Mixed
- Judgment
- Shadow Claw
- Brick Break
- Swords Dance
Note: More mixed fun. Nothing resists Ghost+Fighting, by the way.

16. Dragon: Mono-Attacker
- Judgment/Dragon Claw
- Recover
- Calm Mind/Swords Dance
- Substitute
Note: Dragon is probably the only type that could viably run a mono-attack set. Steel-types can give trouble, but few will have a good way of forcing Arceus out anyways, and can be beat after multiple stat-ups.

17. Dark: Punisher
- Judgment
- Punishment
- Psychic/Focus Blast/Brick Break
- Recover

18. Steel: Defensive
- Judgment
- Earth Power
- Recover
- Calm Mind

Closing Notes

There are way too many more possible sets Arceus can run than just the above; they just give a few examples of its sheer versatility. It truly is the Omega Pokemon, in that regard.