Wouldn't Zoroark be better off illusioned as a Poison type?

Question

I see a lot of people saying to disguise him as a Fighting type... why though? It's still weak to Fairy, and Poison resists all three of Dark's weaknesses. So why Fighting over Poison?

Comments

just peoples opinions, i guess

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In which format?

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why does it matter which format
but if you want i choose singles

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Some formats have lots of fighting-weak threats, like Chansey or Heatran, so it would be good to disguise Zoroark as a fighting Pokemon in those formats. Some other formats have no good poison Pokemon, so its players would have to go for the next best thing. Are you playing on Showdown! or a 3DS?

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Let me add a tag...

Answer 1

A number of reasons really. The main reason was until US/UM poison type was a pretty awful typing. There were pretty much no competitively viable poison type Pokemon aside from maybe aloan muk and Nihelgo which is a poison/dark and so isn't exactly useful on a team with Zoroark too. This is going to change now bc Naganadel is op af so it makes Zoroark more viable too.

Secondly fighting Pokemon have much more useful moves in general than poison. Poison generally isn't a very offensive type at all with barely any typings being weak to poison. Although fighting is the same, in general fighting types have better movepools and fighting type moves are generally very strong, similar to normal. One thing you have to consider is Zoroark Illusion is good for one move. After that if Zoroark dies you need a team that can hold itself and poison is simply not as strong as fighting.

Finally a lot of people just don't remember that fairy is strong against fighting.

Answer 2

There is some debate on the best typing to turn into. Fighting is okay, however shares a weakness to fairy as of gen 6 so is rendered obsolete. Not saying it's a bad idea, but Zoroark is built like Alakazam. It's fast and hits hard but one strong hit and your streak is done. Personally Zoroark in my opinion outclasses Alakazam because of its ability and typing. 1 misplay is GG. Poison is a good typing and probably the best option in my opinion. Naganadel, Toxapex, and Nihilego are big on the board so having one in your corner is always a good option in case your sweep ends suddenly. It resists all of Zoroark's weaknesses so unless it's boosted you'll likely survive to get a nasty plot in and start cleaning house.

I run Zoroark typically with Sableye as I can render physical threats useless with will o wisp then send out Zoroark as my win condition. Poison is also good as you'll be less likely to be Toxic as well. Ultimately you just have to pay attention to plays, especially in ou as Lele is a threat to Zoroark. As such Nihilego will be a good illusion because Lele doesn't wanna go down to a sludge wave and as Nihilego is specially defensive it'll take the hit. So easy switch out, free nasty plot. Watch out for psyshock though.

If you want another option for typing, ghost is good as it resists all it's weaknesses as well and be less likely to be hit by a physical fighting move. Chandelure, Alolan Marowak, Drifblim are good for this, or get the best of both worlds with Gengar

Pro tip, most people I see on showdown run focus sash as they get used to play then switch to choice scarf and trick with experience as usually they have a bug and fighting check so it makes room for Trick, however, darkinium z can be a good Trump card after a nasty plot.