Utility Spinblocker Arceus-Ghost
Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Judgment
- Surf
- Fire Blast/Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
I run this set on a rain balance team that has trouble with Ho-Oh. The alternative to this is running the standard Judgment/Focus Blast/Filler/Recover set (where Filler is either Calm Mind or Will-O-Wisp), which performs poorly when trying to KO spinners that hold Toxic such as Sub Excadrill and Forretress. Excadrill can evade the 70% Focus Blast fairly easily especially if already under a Sub while Forretress will just shrug off the damage, cripple Arceus-Ghost with Toxic, and Pain Split until the switch comes.
Surf allows you to reliably burst down Excadrill and pokemon like Ho-Oh, Arceus-Ground, Landorus-T, Groudon, while also being able to give you a better typing for chip damage than Focus Blast. Vs a team with a Mewtwo and Darkrai, Judgmenting in prediction of a Mewtwo switch could lose the game if Darkrai switches in and vice versa. Rain boosted, you can do up to 60% vs a Forretress which is great if your team needs your Arceus-Ghost to run a defensive move like WoW rather than Fire Blast, since Fire Blast is generally a bad option on rain teams because it won't do much to Excadrill (around 25-30 percent max). Surf also reliably hammers down Heatran. Reliability is the key word here since Focus Blast, as we all who have used it know, is fucking terrible.
Like Stone Edge Arceus-Fight (A set which I used 4 times in SPL but unfortunately never got matched against a Ho-Oh), Surf is a niche move that adds a great surprise factor on Arceus. Using underused sets is one of the best ways to be successful in this metagame. The only issue with this set is Tentacruel which with the addition of Latias and Latios has fallen out of favor and is less viable.
Arceus-Ghost @ Spooky Plate
Trait: Multitype
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SDef / 252 Spd
Timid Nature (+Spd, -Atk)
- Judgment
- Surf
- Fire Blast/Will-O-Wisp
- Recover
I run this set on a rain balance team that has trouble with Ho-Oh. The alternative to this is running the standard Judgment/Focus Blast/Filler/Recover set (where Filler is either Calm Mind or Will-O-Wisp), which performs poorly when trying to KO spinners that hold Toxic such as Sub Excadrill and Forretress. Excadrill can evade the 70% Focus Blast fairly easily especially if already under a Sub while Forretress will just shrug off the damage, cripple Arceus-Ghost with Toxic, and Pain Split until the switch comes.
Surf allows you to reliably burst down Excadrill and pokemon like Ho-Oh, Arceus-Ground, Landorus-T, Groudon, while also being able to give you a better typing for chip damage than Focus Blast. Vs a team with a Mewtwo and Darkrai, Judgmenting in prediction of a Mewtwo switch could lose the game if Darkrai switches in and vice versa. Rain boosted, you can do up to 60% vs a Forretress which is great if your team needs your Arceus-Ghost to run a defensive move like WoW rather than Fire Blast, since Fire Blast is generally a bad option on rain teams because it won't do much to Excadrill (around 25-30 percent max). Surf also reliably hammers down Heatran. Reliability is the key word here since Focus Blast, as we all who have used it know, is fucking terrible.
Like Stone Edge Arceus-Fight (A set which I used 4 times in SPL but unfortunately never got matched against a Ho-Oh), Surf is a niche move that adds a great surprise factor on Arceus. Using underused sets is one of the best ways to be successful in this metagame. The only issue with this set is Tentacruel which with the addition of Latias and Latios has fallen out of favor and is less viable.