Competitive Information for Archen [Black/White]
Rock / Flying
Abilities:
Movesets for Singles
What is a good competitive moveset for Archen? These builds have been optimized for Pokemon competing in Black/White Single Battles. The movesets and EVs have been specifically calibrated to deal the most amount of damage to the largest group of potentially common opponents and typing threats for the Black/White generation metagame.
Archen is pretty popular Rock and Flying-typed Pokemon. Archen is not a Pokemon anyone usually expects sees on the battlefield. Archen can be quite a contender in the LC tier (Little Cup). Archen is weak to Electric, Ice, Rock, Steel, and Water-typed attacks.
Item: Life Orb / Mystic Water
Ability: Defeatist
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Aqua Tail / Return
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake
- Wing Attack / Pluck
Physical Sweeper Archen
Archen is a spectacular Physical Sweeper. It's purpose is to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Focus Sash helps protect Archen from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Life Orb boosts the power of Archen's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Defeatist, while Archen has 1/2 or less of its max hp its attack and sp. atk are halved. Aqua Tail was added to provide additional threat coverage.
♦ Return is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at maximum happiness).
♦ Rock Slide is a physical STAB-boosted 75-base power Rock-type move (30% chance to flinch the foes).
♦ Earthquake is a physical 100-base power Ground-type move (hits adjacent pokemon).
♦ Wing Attack is a physical STAB-boosted 60-base power Flying-type move that deals damage.
♦ Pluck is a physical STAB-boosted 60-base power Flying-type move (Archen steals and eats the target's berry).
Link (click to copy):
https://hohoushome.com/b/fs10a236
Item: Focus Sash
Ability: Defeatist
Nature: Jolly (+Spe, -SpA)
EVs: 252 Hp / 4 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Stealth Rock
- Tailwind / Taunt
- Endeavor
- Quick Attack / Knock Off
Archen Support (Big Bird)
Archen is a marvelous Support. Focus Sash helps protect Archen from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. With Defeatist, while Archen has 1/2 or less of its max hp its attack and sp. atk are halved. An attack stat more dangerous than life orb abra or even flygon? That is OP for LC. The ability doesn't help much, though. This set is to be used for early set up. I saw it done with an archeop, so why not?
♦ Tailwind is a status move (for 4 turns, allies' speed is doubled).
♦ Taunt is a status move (target can't use status moves its next 3 turns).
♦ Endeavor is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (lowers the target's hp to your Archen's hp).
♦ Quick Attack is a physical priority-increased 40-base power Normal-type move (usually goes first).
♦ Knock Off is a physical 20-base power Dark-type move (removes the target's held item).
Link (click to copy):
https://hohoushome.com/b/fs11a236
Movesets for Doubles
What is a good doubles moveset for Archen? These builds have been optimized for Black/White Double Battles. They have movesets and EVs specifically calibrated to generally work best versus multiple Pokemon at once as well as helping to support other team members and allys in the Black/White generation metagame.
Item: Life Orb / Hard Stone
Ability: Defeatist
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 4 Hp / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Moveset:
- Rock Slide
- Earthquake / Bulldoze
- Aqua Tail / Frustration
- Wing Attack / Pluck
Doubles Physical Sweeper Archen
Archen is a spectacular Physical Sweeper. It's goal is to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Focus Sash helps protect Archen from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Life Orb boosts the power of Archen's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Defeatist, while Archen has 1/2 or less of its max hp its attack and sp. atk are halved. Aqua Tail was added to provide additional threat coverage.
♦ Earthquake is a physical 100-base power Ground-type move (hits adjacent pokemon).
♦ Bulldoze is a physical 60-base power Ground-type move (100% chance lower adjacent pkmn speed by 1 stage).
♦ Aqua Tail is a physical 90-base power Water-type move that deals a substantial amount of damage.
♦ Frustration is a physical 0-base power Normal-type move (max 102 power at minimum happiness).
♦ Wing Attack is a physical STAB-boosted 60-base power Flying-type move that deals damage.
♦ Pluck is a physical STAB-boosted 60-base power Flying-type move (Archen steals and eats the target's berry).
Link (click to copy):
https://hohoushome.com/b/fd10a236
Movepool
Wondering what moves can Archen learn? Here is the list of moves this Pokemon can learn in this selected generation.
Sort and organize the learnset by move type, category, accuracy, and power. Bolded moves will gain the same-type attack bonus (STAB) if this Pokemon uses them.
Damage Modifiers:
Combo List
These are a list of several common move combinations Archen can perform in Black/White. Not every combo going to be game-changing, but some can be pretty fun to play with. Sometimes these can be easily overlooked or forgotten, hence why we find and list them here. Discover what items, abilities, and moves this Pokemon can use in combination with each other to gain a strategic advantage in competitive battles.
Competitive BW Move and Ability Combos for Archen
- Moves: Rest + Sleep talk
- Moves: Rest + Snore
- Move: Swagger + Item: Mirror Herb
- Move: Facade + Item: Flame Orb
- Move: Facade + Item: Toxic Orb
- Move: Endeavor + Item: Focus Sash
- Move: Acrobatics + Item: Red Card
- Move: Acrobatics + Item: Flying Gem
- Moves with Priority: Quick Attack, Protect, Quick Guard
- Moves that Break Screens: Defog
- Moves that inflict status: Toxic
Moves that boost Archen's stats
- Agility
- Ancient Power
- Hone Claws
- Iron Defense
- Rock Polish
- Steel Wing
Most notable and possible best moves for Archen
- Earthquake
- Head Smash
- Knock Off
- Protect
- Rest
- Roost
- Stealth Rock
- Taunt
- Toxic
- U-turn
Common Effort Values for Archen in Black and White
- Nature ( )
- Nature ( )
- Optimize Archen's EV spread for Pokemon Black and White
Related Videos
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Here are the best movesets for Archen. Top rated Archen Black/White movesets. You can find Archen builds Black/White. Archen movesets Black/White are listed here. VGC Archen Competitive Movesets can be found here. Find various EV spreads, find the best nature for Archen in Black/White along with competitive movesets. Basic info and Movesets for Archeops evolution