Zoroark Discussion

[Porgon-XYZ]

Insprired by other Discussion threads, I introduce to you one of the most unique pokemon that the 5th Gen. brought us: Zoroark

Zoroark is a cool pokemon. Not only does he look like a beast, but he's got the power of one to! 105/120/105 offensive stats are nothing to scoff at, and these are complimented with a brialliant movepool. The thing that seperates Zoroark from all other pokemon is it's unique ability: Illusion. Illusion changes Zoroark's sprite, name, and gender to the last pokemon in your party which lasts until you take damage(by an attack) which also can easily trick your opponent into letting you have a free turn of set up! This can turn the tables on your opponent and allow you to sweep the rest of their team, as long as the main threats have been elimated, or at least weakened. Zoroark may be great, but not everything's sunshine for the dark fox. 60/60/60 defensive stats are horrible, I mean you'll be lucky to survive the first attack unless you sash him. Also thanks to the new mechanic in Black & White, some abilities will show up as soon as the pokemon switches in, so it's a dead giveaway when your using Zoroark when it doesn't show up. Dark is a great offensive typing, but it leaves you with weaknesses to Fighting and Bug which just happen to be very popular moves to use. Weakness to Mach Punch and Vacuum Wave is not fun. However, dispite his Cons, Zoroark is a great pokemon that should always be considered for a team that plays with the mind.


Life Orb Sweeper
Zoroark@Life Orb
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Naive/Rash
EVs: 4Hp/252satk/252spe
Moveset:
-Night Daze/Dark Pulse
-Flamethrower/Focus Blast
-Grass Knot/U-Turn
-Sucker Punch

Thanks to Illusion, the opponent will have a difficult time deciding if this is Zoroark or that Gengar in the back of your Party which is a clean advantage. Night Daze and Dark Pulse are your STAB special choices, Night Daze being slightly more powerful, and having a chance of lowering accuracy is nice, but Dark Pulse can flinch with that nice speed and doesn't suffer an inperfect accuracy. Flamethrower eliminates Steel types, but Focus Miss deals with Heatran and scum. Grass Knot hits alot of heavy pokemon for super effective damage, while U-Turn can be used for Scouting. Sucker Punch is Zoroarks only Priority attack and can finish off weaker pokemon and frail, fast attackers like Alakazam.


Nasty Plot
Zoroark@Life Orb
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Timid
EVs: 4Hp/252satk/252spe
Moveset:
-Nasty Plot
-Dark Pulse/Night Daze
-Focus Blast
-Flamethrower/Grass Knot

Say hello to Zoroarks most powerful set. Nasty Plot boosts your special attack to dangerous levels and now your ready to sweep! Dark Pulse/Night Daze is for STAB while defeating Ghosts and Psychics and such, Focus Miss kills Heatran and such, Flamethrower fries Ferrothorn and ect., and You can use Grass Knot if you want to demolish those pesky bulky waters.


Swords Dance
Zoroark@Life Orb
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Naughty/Naive
EVs: 252atk/40satk/216spe
Moveset:
-Swords Dance
-Sucker Punch/Night Slash
-Flamethrower
-Low Sweep

Zoroarks physical movepool isn't the best out there, but it can work out pretty well thanks to Swords Dance and Illusion. +2 Attack is dangerous, and can OHKO a large amount of the metagame with the appropriate move. Sucker Punch is stronger than Night Slash and has Priority, but Night Slash has a much higher PP and has the ability to hit even when they aren't attaking(plus it has a high-critical-hit ratio!). Flamethrower is need to beat Scizor and the other x4 weak to it. Low Sweep gives you perfect coverage while getting an OHKO on Tyranitar and Blissey. Be careful with this set however, because it has trouble with stall teams.


Choice Fox
Zoroark@ChoiceSpecs/ChoiceScarf
Ability: Illusion
Nature: Timid/Naive
EVs: 4hp/252satk/252spe
Moveset:
-Dark Pulse/Night Daze
-Focus Blast
-Flamethrower
-Grass Knot/U-Turn

This set works much like the Nasty Plot set, only it has immediate power/speed right off the bat. Dark Pulse/Night Daze is STAB, Focus Miss and Flamethrower go well together as they destroy all steel types ruining your day, and Grass Knot takes out Bulky Waters while U-Turn gives your scouting powers.



Other Options:

Like I said, Zoroark has a brilliant movepool, but the rest of his moves are usually inferior options to what he can do with the sets above. Taunt works with Zoroarks speed, but he is so frail that you might as well forget it. Hidden Power Ice can be used to OHKO those with x4 weaknesses, but usually this would be best with Choice Scarf since Nasty Plot/Choice Specs already makes NightDaze/Darkpulse strong enought to OHKO(It's not like with HP Ice your going to OHKO Dragonite anyways). Extrasensory can take care of Fighting Types, but that is it. Zoroark has access to the famous Pursuit, but most pokemon would rather KO him than run away from him. For Boosting moves, he has Calm Mind and Agility, however Calm Mind is outclassed by Nasty Plot and Zoroark purfers power over more speed in most cases. A choice band can go with his already excellent attack, however his physical movepool disagrees with that dream. He has Memento and Torment, but these are better left to bulkier pokemon.


Checks and Counters:

Countering Zoroark can be difficult, because Illusion can trick you into thinking it's something else which can lead you into making a mistake that allows Zoroark to set up and sweep. The easiest way to counter him is to break Illusion, which usually leads to it's death anyways. Blissey can come in on special sets, but a +2 Focus Blast can 2HKO it. A Zoroark missing a fighting type move is always walled by Heatran. Bulky Fighting types are usually the best counters, being able to switch in and OHKO him with STAB Mach Punch and such. In fact, any Priority user can usually OHKO Zoroark. Revenge Killing him also is a great way to beat him, because although he is fast, he's not the fastest. Any Fighting type move can dispose of Zoroark really. Even when Zoroark has lost his Illusion, he is still pretty dangerous in the right hands. A well-played Zoroark can eliminate an entire team with proper support. Underestimate Zoroark at your peril, because after a Nasty Plot, Zoroark will more than likely destroy the rest of your team.



Zoroark's a cool Fox, Discuss!​

 

[complete legitimacy]

In OU, Zoroark is just outclassed by Thundurus as a Nasty Plot sweeper. The ability is amazing for playing mind games, however.

 

[Larry]

In OU, Zoroark is just outclassed by Thundurus as a Nasty Plot sweeper. The ability is amazing for playing mind games, however.

Indeed. I fooled my friend with it twice today with it. He thought my Dragonite had a hacked moveset.

 

[The Imposter]

As complete_legitimacy said, Zoroark is outclassed in OU by Thundurus. However, in UU he is incredibly useful. Weezing makes a surprisingly good illusion.

 

[complete legitimacy]

Indeed. I fooled my friend with it twice today with it. He thought my Dragonite had a hacked moveset.

When my Zoroark disguised as Haxorus used Nasty Plot and Flamethrower I had to explain that the dragon I was using was called the troll dragon.

 

[Zachmac]

Once I was fighting with team viewer, on someone tried to use drain punch on my Gengar, thinking it's a Zoraork.

It even helps play mind games if your enemy knows you have a zoraork.

 

[Ilan]

I use it with excadrill somehow people always want to wall excadrill with ferrothorn then they get surprised to know it have flamethrower I tell them I use a special excadrill for gimmick then I switch to my real excadrill :530: it is a fun pokemon especially when you are playing on a simulator where there isn't a team preview
yeah I use it with excadrill so they switch into a physical wall then they get the special attack :571:

it is a nice pokemon too even without the illusion

 

[Zachmac]

I use it with excadrill somehow people always want to wall excadrill with ferrothorn then they get surprised to know it have flamethrower I tell them I use a special excadrill for gimmick then I switch to my real excadrill :530: it is a fun pokemon especially when you are playing on a simulator where there isn't a team preview
yeah I use it with excadrill so they switch into a physical wall then they get the special attack :571:

it is a nice pokemon too even without the illusion

You know what, it would make a surprisingly good teammate for Excadril. It can 2HKO Gliscor with Night Daze, and handle Bronzong/Skarmory with flamethrower. It can't OHKO heatran with focus blast, but it can break it's air balloon.

 

[3.14kachu]

I just want to say that it is usually not a good idea to keep a Gengar in the back of your party as a Zoroark illusion. If your Zoroark gets hurt by hazards, it's a dead giveaway that your Gengar is a fake. You want pokemon that take neutral damage from Stealth Rock, get hurt by Spikes, resist Zoroark's weaknesses, don't have Intimidate or some other such obvious ability, and are defensive enough that the opponent has incentive to attack it with super-effective moves.

Good Zoroark decoy pokemon include (but are not limited to): Cofagrigus, Dusclops, Venusaur, Amoonguss, Roserade, Tentacruel, Musharna, Slowbro, and Beheeyem. Make sure you get rid of bug move using and priority wielding foes before bringing up Zoroark, because they ruin a lot of disguises and strategies.

 

[Larry]

I just want to say that it is usually not a good idea to keep a Gengar in the back of your party as a Zoroark illusion.

This is dissapointing. I just got a Gengar to use as an illusion for my Zoroark and haven't used it yet.

 

[Monster Guy]

I just want to say that it is usually not a good idea to keep a Gengar in the back of your party as a Zoroark illusion. If your Zoroark gets hurt by hazards, it's a dead giveaway that your Gengar is a fake. You want pokemon that take neutral damage from Stealth Rock, get hurt by Spikes, resist Zoroark's weaknesses, don't have Intimidate or some other such obvious ability, and are defensive enough that the opponent has incentive to attack it with super-effective moves.

Good Zoroark decoy pokemon include (but are not limited to): Cofagrigus, Dusclops, Venusaur, Amoonguss, Roserade, Tentacruel, Musharna, Slowbro, and Beheeyem. Make sure you get rid of bug move using and priority wielding foes before bringing up Zoroark, because they ruin a lot of disguises and strategies.

Dusclops has Pressure. It says when you send it out.

"Dusclops is exerting it's Pressure"

A pure Ghost is the best partner typing wise.

Ghost: Immune to Fighting, Resist Bug, Weak to Ghost and Dark

Dark: Resists Ghost and Dark, weak to Bug and Fighting.

 

[Fortunato]

Zoroark is kind of cool, but honestly he's a gimmick at best. you'd have to really play him smart because most players that see a Zoroark on the opposing team are just gonna spam powerful neutral attacks against whatever you have in so that they can kill it whether its Zoroark or not. He might get one surprise kill but after that he can become set up bait or just get slaughtered.

He's interesting but not something I would use for a team.

 

[emboarrocks]

Zoararks awesome! The reason its in UU is probably because of team preview

 

[Creeper]

It's attacking stats are: 105/115/105.

Has both Nasty Plot AND Swords Dance.

Sucker Punch.

But it's UU.

WTF Smogon.

 

[MetalFlygon08]

Partners best with Pokemon that have an instant activation effect (Like intimidate) that is superior to their other ability. When you lead with the Pokemon and their ability does not try to activate, the opponent will guess Zoroak.

Note this is usually only doable in Team Preview matches.

 

[Blue Harvest]

It's attacking stats are: 105/115/105.

Has both Nasty Plot AND Swords Dance.

Sucker Punch.

But it's UU.

WTF Smogon.

1) Tiers are based off usage. Smogon does not dictate what tier things are in besides ban tiers like Ubers or BL.

2) Why the hell would you use Zoroark over something like SD or NP Terrakion / Infernape / Azelf / Virizion / Lucario. Its sorta usable as a lure but once its disguise is gone its useless.

 

[3.14kachu]

Dusclops has Pressure. It says when you send it out.

"Dusclops is exerting it's Pressure"

Oh, right. I forgot about that. In that case, Dusclops is off of the list. You can add instead Jellicent, Victini, and Heracross, which I had missed on the first run of the list. I would also like to add that the use of poison-type partners for Zoroark is also risky due to Toxic Spikes.

Top 10 list of viable Zoroark partners:

1) Cofagrigus
2) Heracross
3) Jellicent
4) Victini

5) Musharna
6) Slowbro
7) Deoxys-D
8) Beheeyem

9) Tentacruel
10) Slowking

This is my personal opinion, of course. I should also add that this excludes gimmicky Zoroark-based strategies such as a Skarmory with Night Slash and an Air Balloon. I chose Cofagrigus first because it fits all of the classifications for a Zoroark bait, and its weaknesses and resistances are all the opposite of Zoroark's. Heracross and Jellicent are similar, but they are less effective as they attract other types of attacks as well, like electric or fire. Victini is also pretty good, being resistant to fighting while being neutral to bug, unlike most other psychic-types. After that come some psychics that are great at baiting ghost and dark attacks and discouraging fighting. Tentacruel is good because it can get you a free Psychic, but bad because it can get you a free Earthquake, and is a giveaway when Toxic Spikes are in play. Banette carries all of the benefits of Cofagrigus, but it's generally too terrible to use outside of Trick Room, which is terrible for Zoroark. That's why I didn't put it on the list.

I divided the list up into 3 parts; the top part consists of good candidates, the middle is decent, and the bottom is decent, but risky.

Does anyone have questions/comments/revisions to the top 10 as shown?

 

[R4GEKILL!!!]

1) Tiers are based off usage. Smogon does not dictate what tier things are in besides ban tiers like Ubers or BL.

2) Why the hell would you use Zoroark over something like SD or NP Terrakion / Infernape / Azelf / Virizion / Lucario. Its sorta usable as a lure but once its disguise is gone its useless.

What she said. It's outclassed in... Almost every way. It can annoy people if you're... Alakazam weak... Or something... I guess...
You have no bulk. And if you run sash like a little nub, you get screwed over by hazards. Then you either have to lead it or run a spinner. Leading it is a mildly obvious play, and probrably his best use, although with any revengers or things over 105 base speed or even priority (which anyone competent should be running), you become a one-trick pony with little use outside of netting a possible kill against... Something that leads. On the other hand, spinners... Wasting ANOTHER teamspot to support a generally frail Pokemon that can't outspeed most competently fast sweepers COULD work, but it's a waste of time. It's no volcarona.
You COULD run choice, but Band combined with THAT movepool is... Meh. The definition of meh.
Specs? Good for surprise. Just revenged. Hard.
Scarf? Not enough power behind your attacks. Not getting a kill will often cost your zoroarks life.

Overall? It sucks. Hard. Even Bisharp is better then this Anal Sh!t.

 

[Soperman]

Zoroark will never make OU because of the bazillions of Fighting types. ;068; for one.
In UU, however, it is an utter beast. Massive Sp. Atk, Nasty Plot, and Illusion are amazing there.

 

[TropiOUs]

Top 10 list of viable Zoroark partners:

1) Cofagrigus
2) Heracross
3) Jellicent
4) Victini

5) Musharna
6) Slowbro
7) Deoxys-D
8) Beheeyem

9) Tentacruel
10) Slowking

Does anyone have questions/comments/revisions to the top 10 as shown?

Personally I would remove Victini from your lists just because of Stealth Rock that gives away the illusion and ruin Zoroark surprise coming or free set up turn.