Competitive Pokemon History - Ariados Quiz

Answer: Spider Web

Like Mean Look, Spider Web traps the target and prevents them from switching out. Combined with its access to Baton Pass, Ariados could Spider Web something, Baton Pass out to a setup sweeper that could boost in front of the trapped target, and potentially win the game then and there. It even had the utility of counter-trapping Misdreavus, a top 5 threat in the tier, and forcing it to KO itself if it Perish Songed to punish a potential Ariados Baton Pass. If the two used Spider Web and Mean Look, respectively, they were both trapped and Ariados, through use of Disable + Protect, could force Misdreavus to KO the tandem with Perish Song by blocking off its only attacking move of choice. If the Misdreavus player refused to Perish Song, Ariados could alternate between Sludge Bomb and Protect to PP stall the Misdreavus- or just Baton Pass into something that could easily check Misdreavus, like Tyranitar or Houndoom, if it tried to get too cute.

Due to Ariados' poor all around base stats, this set took some finesse to effectively use. It was also mostly hard countered by Skarmory and Steelix, as they walled Ariados' only attacking move forever, and could Whirlwind or Roar out whoever Ariados would Baton Pass to. They could also just deal heavy damage to it with Drill Peck and Earthquake, respectively, or just boost with Curse against it.

It was far from a perfect, uncounterable strategy, but if pulled off, Ariados could trap, say, an incoming Rhydon, and then could either Baton Pass into a Vaporeon to demolish the Rhydon with a Water move, or a Swords Dance Marowak, who could boost with Swords Dance, destroy Rhydon with Earthquake, then potentially threaten a game-ending sweep if its checks were weakened or out of the way. This game Ariados a legitimate niche in second generation standard play, as a useful accessory to offensive teams.

Answer: Screech

In theory, Ariados could try and fit Agility and Screech onto the same moveset, but it would often lack the bulk to use these two moves, as well as the coverage to hit most of the tier hard. It could try just using Agility, but it would usually lack the power to clean up teams.

Therefore, Ariados took up the mantle of being a physical wallbreaker/stallbreaker with Screech, Thief, and a usable movepool of Sludge Bomb + Hidden Power Bug. After Screeching the opponent once, Ariados would usually have at least an easy 2HKO unless the target resisted both Bug and Poison. If the opponent simply tried switching out to remove the Defense boosts, they'd be giving Ariados a free turn to hit something else, potentially spreading poison with Sludge Bomb, predicting the switch in and simply Screeching it, or even just doing decent damage with Hidden Power Bug or Sludge Bomb. With Thief, Ariados was meant to run without an item.

The idea was that it could steal a target's Leftovers, making it easier to wear down since they'd no longer have the passive recovery.

This would be a major annoyance to physical walls which commonly tried to switch into Ariados, and it was also Ariados' only way of doing meaningful damage to Haunter. If Haunter was somewhat weakened, Ariados could actually function as a check to it thanks to Thief hitting it super effectively.

Answer: Baton Pass chains

Ariados' access to Agility, Spider Web, Baton Pass, and its ability in Insomnia meant it was a useful member of Baton Pass chains. Insomnia meant the entire chain could not be cut off by a Hypnosis or Sleep Powder user. Ariados could be relied upon to be a team's source of speed-passing thanks to its access to Agility. In some cases, Ariados could even Spider Web an opponent and, if appropriate, just Baton Pass out to the setup sweeper to potentially end the game. For example, Octillery's immunity to Whirlwind and Roar meant that, if Ariados could lure in Skarmory, and the player could make an excellent prediction in Skarmory switching in, Ariados could Spider Web Skarmory and pass whatever boosts it had down to Octillery, and because Octillery could freely put up a Substitute against Skarmory, that was game- Octillery would clean house.

Of course, there's an unfortunate reason these types of teams were gimmicky- they were ridiculously matchup reliant, and almost forced each Baton Passer and Baton Pass recipient to have a good matchup, with which to have at least two turns to first boost, then Baton Pass to something else. If momentum was ever cut off at any point, be it from a random, unexpected phasing move, a surprise coverage move that KOed a Baton Passer, or paralysis/sleep incapacitating something, the Baton Pass chain could be cut off, and the player may as well wave the white flag at that point. Baton Pass chains also attempted to essentially engage in a long, drawn out boosting war against a team that could simply switch in a Salamence against a Pokémon like Ariados or fellow Baton Passers such as certain Celebi movesets, counter-boost with Dragon Dance, and proceed to destroy the user's team.

Because of these drawbacks, along with the fact Ariados was generally useless except on full Baton Pass teams, it did not see nearly enough usage to be OverUsed by usage statistics. In fact, because Baton Passing more than one kind of stat boost was banned in UnderUsed, Ariados fell all the way to NeverUsed. There, it could be a functional physical attacker, but it wasn't anything special, and was hard countered by Flareon, Pupitar, and to a degree, Yanma- the tier's super stars.

Answer: Baton Pass Clause

The Clause would have numerous variations of it over the years to come, but no matter what, it limited how much a Pokémon could Baton Pass certain stats or conditions to a teammate, which was bad news. In the fourth generation, a team in standard play or lower was banned from having more than three Baton Passers.

In this regard, Ariados was now mostly outclassed in its Baton Passing endeavors, as its unique access to Spider Web was not enough to make up for its horrible base stats compared to the competition.

This Clause extended to UU and below, as well.

Answer: Sticky Web

Sticky Web did not exist at the time, rendering that answer incorrect. Toxic Spikes gave Ariados a new niche as a decent suicide entry hazard setting lead. While Toxic Spikes by themselves were nothing too impressive, Ariados' main selling points as a lead aside from them where its access to Insomnia, stopping Venusaur and other friends from rendering it useless with sleep, and its new access to Sucker Punch and Shadow Sneak, letting it take out Pokémon who were at 1 HP due to their Focus Sashes, and letting it get in one more hit before going down itself. Ariados would usually run Bug Bite as its fourth attack, to do good damage to Psychic types. Because Ariados itself always ran a Focus Sash in this role, it could assuredly survive a single Psychic type attack, hit back hard with Bug Bite, then KO the target with a follow-up Sucker Punch or Shadow Sneak, which would be hitting super effectively. If it could be kept at full health, Ariados could potentially employ this strategy to check Psychic types in general at any stage of the game, though its weakness to Stealth Rock and inability to switch in made it less effective at doing this in practice, making it best used as a lead.

The ubiquitous nature of Venusaur unfortunately meant Ariados' Toxic Spikes would rarely ever last long, due to Venusaur being a grounded Poison type. However, Venusaur could rarely ever switch in safely against hyper offensive teams, which were the best teams Ariados fit on, and because Toxic Spikes made life on stall teams very hard, Ariados proved key in tilting the tide of the Hyper Offense vs Stall matchup in its team's favor.

Answer: It was absurdly outclassed at anything it could try and do

As a Toxic Spikes user, Ariados was absurdly outclassed by Roselia and Garbodor, who had more bulk, more utility, more of an offense and defensive presence and, unlike Ariados, both could come in to the match multiple times and reliably set Toxic Spikes, something Ariados' poor bulk and typing stopped it from doing. Ariados' only reason for use was access to a priority move and Insomnia, but neither were enough to let it stand out in any meaningful way.

Answer: Sniper

Ariados already had access to Swarm for two full generations, but the ability was never particularly useful, often being cast aside in favor of Insomnia. Sniper, too, was generally inferior to Insomnia and even Swarm; Ariados' lack of good stats, shaky movepool and bad typing meant trying to use Sniper in an offensive role would be ineffective, and arguably outclassed by Swarm to begin with.

Answer: Sticky Web

Unlike Spider Web, Sticky Web was an entry hazard, which would reduce the speed of a Pokémon coming onto the battlefield. Sadly, Ariados was outclassed in PartiallyUsed, the new lowest tier in the game, as a Sticky Web setter by both Leavanny and Smeargle. The latter could even run Toxic Spikes if it wanted, depriving Ariados of a niche consisting of Sticky Web + Toxic Spikes.

Answer: Toxic Thread

When used, Toxic Thread applies regular Poison and reduces the target's Speed by 1 stage. Before "Pokémon Sun and Moon" were released, the move was originally leaked to be an entry hazard with this effect- a mechanic Nintendo changed up at the last moment, much to Ariados and its massive fanbase's chagrin.

As such, the move was not generally useful and did not help Ariados become useful in competitive play.

Answer: No

Ariados, clearly the superior spider to its rival Galvantula, decided that it had had enough of the spotlight, and gave up its ticket- which Nintendo clearly intended on giving to the greatest, coolest spider in history- to Galvantula, as an act of kindness and pity to the misfortuned, outclassed spider. Ariados now lives in the Galar region vicariously through Galvantula, who, again, is totally the inferior spider and should be praying to Ariados on a nightly basis, giving thanks for its status as an active member of the game.