Is Spectrier good support?

Question

My Spectrier in Showdown has a moveset of Disable, Substitute, Shadow ball, & Nasty plot (I don't know about Shadow ball and Nasty plot, but Disable/Substitute is for sure on Spectrier). Am I throwing by having Spectrier use this set? If so, can anyone recommend a better set? My held item is Leftovers. I am playing Generation 8 Doubles OU and my team is Regieleki,Rillaboom,Arcanine(edited sorry if it confuses you)Dracovish, & Celesteela. Thanks.

Side Note:
Once I finally know what are my other two moves on Horse the Spectrier, I'm going to edit this question so that Horse has the correct moveset and delete this side note. Please don't judge me on this.

Comments

Most Pokémon who learn Explosion learn Self-Destruct first. I guess Self-Destruct is like Ember for Flamethrower, a move you learn before the better one.

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Why are you not using protect? Aren't offensive Pokemon more likely to get double-targeted?

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Calyrex-S is Doubles Ubers...

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A lot of sets.

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Horse had will o wisp

Answer 1

Even though it's really frail, it might work. Spectrier is made to be a sweeper, with horrible bulk and great SpA. It has terrible bulk, in 100 / 65 / 80 in their respective stats. Spectrier's movepool also stinks. The only nice moves I can think of that it can learn are Haze, Will-O-Wisp and Taunt. Spectrier also doesn't get any nice recovery other than Rest, which is an unreliable gimmick as it puts the Pokemon to sleep, making Spectrier vulnerable to hits. So, no. It isn't good support, with a bad movepool and poor bulk and no recovery to back it up. Anyways, your set looks much more like a sweeper set, with Nasty Plot and Shadow Ball. The set gets ruined by Normal types, though. From what I see, your set looks like this:

Spectrier
Ability: Grim Neigh
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Substitute
- Disable
- Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot

Which is classified by Fast Special Sweeper according to Smogon's spread guesser.

Comments

I edited the answer because I misunderstood the question. Sorry.

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Why do you still recommend disable over protect? Disable is useless against double targeting and almost useless when the opponent has multiple moves that can break a substitute (which is most of the time).

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I basically just formatted his / her set into the Showdown! teambuilder. I didn't particularly make a new set.

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it’s just the 4 hp evs that I don’t know about

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the 4 HP evs are just placeholders

Answer 2

If you want to use Spectrier offensively, this is a better moveset.

Spectrier @ grassy seed/focus sash
EVs: 4 Def / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid nature
- protect
- nasty plot
- shadow ball
- will-o-wisp/mud shot/snarl

Protect punishes double targeting, stalls out stuff like trick room or tailwind, and gives teammates more time to use support moves. The last move should depend on whether the team is more threatened by physical attackers, special attackers, or Incineroar.
source
If you want to disable the opponent's moves, the best support moves to use are usually fake out, taunt, encore, or sleep moves like hypnosis and spore. This is because you'd want to disable stuff like tailwind and trick room before the opponent gets a chance to use them. Spectrier can learn taunt, but it's usually better to put taunt on a less offensive Pokemon that doesn't need protect and nasty plot as much, like Zeraora.
source

Comments

why grassy seed?

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It raises physical defense by a significant amount and gives Spectrier a better chance of successfully using will-o-wisp or nasty plot.

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Spectrier is used with regieleki as a whole late/mid game sweeper and rillaboom is usually a lead and grassy terrain is probably gone by then

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In that case, use the focus sash. The rest of the moveset is good, right?

Answer 3

Here are a few sets for Spectrier that I made if you still want some.
> Spectrier
Ability: Grim Neigh
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect / Substitute
- Will-O-Wisp
- Taunt
- Hex

Spectrier
Ability: Grim Neigh
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 248 Def / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect / Substitute
- Haze
- Taunt
- Shadow Ball

Spectrier
Ability: Grim Neigh
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Def / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Taunt
- Protect / Substitute
- Scary Face
- Shadow Ball

The Defensive investments are because this is a rare case Def investment will help more than HP. Spectrier is actually pretty bulky. It’s just lacking in Defense.

Set 1: Taunt setup opponents and burn them. Hex to make that hurt. Protect and substitute to avoid hits. This indirectly supports its teammate.

Set 2: This set has Haze to instead of Will-O-Wisp to accomplish a different goal. Fast Haze eliminates opponent boosts quickly. Shadow Ball is better than Hex without a burn. This also indirectly helps its teammate.

Set 3: This set has Scary Face to slow down opponents and give more setup opportunities for your teammate. Shadow Ball has been explained.

So these three sets are practically duplicates that differ on the second support move(Cause Spectrier’s movepool stinks). Taunt is vital and should always be kept to avoid a lethal Tailwind or Trickroom. The other support move is for whatever your team needs. Hope this helped!

Comments

I don’t think the question asks for good support Spectrier movesets only, it’s primarily asking for if a support Spectrier is viable in Gen 8 Doubles OU.

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Oh, well than no. Am I allowed to make an answer that just says no? My hard work is wasted!

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You’d probably want to thoroughly explain *why* Spectrier isn’t viable as support.

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Zeraora is a better taunt user because it also learns fake out and knock off. Hex isn't that great because Spectrier probably won't live very long after using will-o-wisp. Stat reset moves are better on Pokemon that can take a boosted hit, like Tyranitar or Amoonguss. Mud shot is better than scary face for speed control because it hits both opponents and does heavy damage to Incineroar.

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My answer technically did this, but a more in-depth explanation would be appreciated.

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Rillaboom has fake out already