I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard chickens called “tiny dinosaurs”. Most people know birds are the closest things we have today to those colossal beasts. They came from the Archaeopteryx, a now extinct species that is not quite a dino’, nor quite avian, but somewhere in between. In the real world, we cannot see a living version of this raven sized animal.
Yet in the Pokemon universe, they have the supernatural ability to bring fossil Pokemon back to life from thousands of years ago. In that world the archaeopteryx is called “Archeops”, and it’s a monster. It’s four feet tall, much larger than any bird should be, made of rocks, and is also a predator according to its Pokedex entry.
This Pokemon is clearly much more powerful than its real world counterpart. With 140 attack, it’s stronger than the Sun God Lion Solgaleo, Mega Aerodactyl, and Mega Lopunny, without holding any kind of mega stone.
112 special attack is exceptionally decent for a Pokemon that looks at though it should be a physical attacker, still higher than some defensive special attackers. 75 health points with 65 defenses is also okay.
It’s speed is also insane. Being in the top ten percent of all speedy Pokemon, without holding any kind of mega stone, and also having a mammoth attack stat, is no small feat.
Having just discussed leads, I feel it is important to describe how good Archeops is at that role. Having access to U-Turn, it provides great momentum, as well as Toxic, Taunt, Stealth Rocks, Knock Off, Defog, and Tailwind, it provides great team support, being able to neuter a wall with Toxic and Knock Off, and totally control who gets hazards with its fast Taunt, Rocks and Defog.
Yet that’s not all this guy does when he comes out. Specially defensive Toxapex, one of the strongest walls in the game, has a 25% chance to simply be OHKO’s by Choice Band Archeops with Head Smash. Aside from all its utility, this monster just threatens whoever it is out against as soon as it comes in. With its high special attack, Pokemon that should be able to check it, like Ferrothorn, can be caught off guard by a cheeky HP Fire. Endeavor and Acrobatics pair well with a Focus Sash Set, and Earthquake is an excellent coverage move. Head Smash is the best brute force move it gets, but Stone Edge is also quite strong, with none of the recoil.
This thing has tools on tools. Yet you may have noticed, it remains in PUBL, not good enough for NU, but too good for PU. Why is it so low with an almost pseudo-legendary 600 base stat total? One reason:
As soon as it gets off one powerful Head Smash, with recoil, it is almost certainly guaranteed to be into this below 50% range. Suddenly 145 doesn’t look so good, when its halved to 73, the attack stat of Unown. Especially from a flying Pokemon that takes 25% from Stealth Rocks, this guy’s attack stats are guaranteed to be halved from three switch ins (if you give Archeops an odd amount of health, it will be at 51% after two Rocks switch ins and Defeatist won’t activate).
Despite how heavily Defeatist hurts Archeops, it does make it an even better lead. Go in, get in Stealth Rocks and do some serious damage. Once it’s below 50%, because it has reliable recovery move, more or less, it just provides a free sack or a fast utility move. Luckily it has many of those to provide, even when it can no longer effectively attack.
Archeops’s initial insane attack and fantastic movepool make it both a powerful offensive threat, and a great utility ‘mon, even in some higher tiers. Here’s hoping you folks can make it work despite its glaring weakness. Play him smart, and nickname him “Smuckers” for luck. Just trust me on that last one.
Good luck, and as always, have fun!
Image Credit: BBC, Bulbapedia, Smogon, and Pokemon Showdown, Respectively
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