i won't make a shot of this idt, sort of notoriously poor about getting around to laddering, but i've taken a bit of interest in araquanid and just thought i'd share some thoughts on it. i think that araquanid is mildly difficult to justify on teams in part for the opportunity cost weighed by running it over escavalier; while it doesn't run in the exact same lane as escavalier, araquanid's application as a band user finds itself in a very similar place, with the unfortunate distinction of being a bit easier to wall and sr weak. to that end, i find it extremely important when considering it for your team to take into consideration its strong points over him, notably its ability to loosely check nidoqueen, an immunity to scald (which mainly offers up a more comfortable slowking / bro switch), and the speed to put it over dudes sitting in that 50-65 speed tier w/comfort. a particularly noteworthy application of the latter comes up in the case of umbreon, who keeps escavalier honest via the potential to outpace and 2hko it with foul play, while araquanid both outpaces and avoids that 2hko. for reference, i was running the following:
Araquanid @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 104 HP / 216 Atk / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Toxic
- Mirror Coat / Sleep Talk
frankly any non-stab attack, with the possible exception of crunch if / when jellicent surges back in popularity, is hardly worth using so i just dodge them outright. toxic reaffirms its ability to play into waters not intrinsically weak to it, nabs chesnaught switches, etc., which is fine for teams that'd be running this in the first place. mirror coat i like a bit more than sleep talk for the time being, netting the surprise ko on special dragons like drag and kommo-o that would generally find themselves nabbing moderately free shots here is way more useful most of the time imo. otherwise the spread is simply, umbreon down get outpaced as i feel to be necessary to separating araquanid's niche.
however, due to the problems i mentioned w/araquanid's inability to meaningfully pressure certain pokemon, i did a little theorymonning in beta stages and feel as tho this particular set has a unique niche in dismantling certain pokemon:
Araquanid @ Apicot Berry
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spider Web
- Rest
- Scald
- Toxic
the main application of this set rests pretty heavily on the premise of basically every other araquanid being banded, striving to capitalize by trapping and stalling out select defensive pokemon. spider web is a trapping move that works through protect, meaning that pokemon that araquanid might find themselves switching into (umbreon, florges, and other such clerics) as well as bulky water-types such as milotic and mantine (even air slash, as i'll expand on later) that switch in as general initial pivots will find themselves trapped and thereafter stalled out via toxic+rest cycles. scald provides that same utility in relation to your traditional bulky steels, should they find themselves as the middle-ground switch of choice. since the idea of feigning choice is so important initially, i opted for apicot berry, which boosts spdef once you hit 25%, allowing not only added leniency against pokemon like cm florges and air slash mantine (the latter of which can no longer ko you in 3 w/o 2 crits), but can even switch into non-bolt nidoqueen on the sr, spider web on the sludge wave, and rest into the next one, effectively allowing you to pp stall that out provided you can avoid a crit within those 16 hits. cool set, give it a try on a team that struggles to piece apart a traditional defensive backbone.
Araquanid @ Choice Band
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 104 HP / 216 Atk / 188 Spe
Adamant Nature
- Liquidation
- Leech Life
- Toxic
- Mirror Coat / Sleep Talk
frankly any non-stab attack, with the possible exception of crunch if / when jellicent surges back in popularity, is hardly worth using so i just dodge them outright. toxic reaffirms its ability to play into waters not intrinsically weak to it, nabs chesnaught switches, etc., which is fine for teams that'd be running this in the first place. mirror coat i like a bit more than sleep talk for the time being, netting the surprise ko on special dragons like drag and kommo-o that would generally find themselves nabbing moderately free shots here is way more useful most of the time imo. otherwise the spread is simply, umbreon down get outpaced as i feel to be necessary to separating araquanid's niche.
however, due to the problems i mentioned w/araquanid's inability to meaningfully pressure certain pokemon, i did a little theorymonning in beta stages and feel as tho this particular set has a unique niche in dismantling certain pokemon:
Araquanid @ Apicot Berry
Ability: Water Bubble
EVs: 248 HP / 208 Def / 52 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Spider Web
- Rest
- Scald
- Toxic
the main application of this set rests pretty heavily on the premise of basically every other araquanid being banded, striving to capitalize by trapping and stalling out select defensive pokemon. spider web is a trapping move that works through protect, meaning that pokemon that araquanid might find themselves switching into (umbreon, florges, and other such clerics) as well as bulky water-types such as milotic and mantine (even air slash, as i'll expand on later) that switch in as general initial pivots will find themselves trapped and thereafter stalled out via toxic+rest cycles. scald provides that same utility in relation to your traditional bulky steels, should they find themselves as the middle-ground switch of choice. since the idea of feigning choice is so important initially, i opted for apicot berry, which boosts spdef once you hit 25%, allowing not only added leniency against pokemon like cm florges and air slash mantine (the latter of which can no longer ko you in 3 w/o 2 crits), but can even switch into non-bolt nidoqueen on the sr, spider web on the sludge wave, and rest into the next one, effectively allowing you to pp stall that out provided you can avoid a crit within those 16 hits. cool set, give it a try on a team that struggles to piece apart a traditional defensive backbone.