Sableye

Looking at it here, you probably wouldn’t believe it if I told you that Sableye was once one of the most threatening Pokemon in the console games. In Pokemon Black and White, Sableye gained the ability “Prankster” which allowed it to use its massive arsenal of utility moves to great effect. It didn’t matter that Sableye had extremely low stats, because if someone wasn’t prepared to deal with it then they literally couldn’t. Later down the line, Sableye gained a Mega Evolution, taking its abysmal defenses to the next level while improving its quality as a tricky, utility Pokemon with the ability “Magic Bounce” which nullified and reflected opponent’s own utility moves right back at them! Unfortunately, none of these wonderful abilities, utility moves, or mega evolutions exist yet in Pokemon GO.

As with its debut in Ruby and Sapphire, Sableye is all around a very underwhelming Pokemon in Pokemon GO. As with earlier generations of Pokemon, Sableye is just a collectable fan favorite rather than a potent threat. While Sableye is a pretty mediocre Pokemon now, looking at its performance in later generations, it certainly has room to grow!

Best PvE Offensive Moveset

• Shadow Claw is slightly superior to Feint Attack, offering slightly higher DPS, slightly less energy gains, and similar coverage.
• Foul Play is strictly superior to both Shadow Sneak and Power Gem, offering significantly better damage and more relevant coverage respectively.

Best PvE Defensive Moveset

• Feint Attack is better than Shadow Claw, with higher damage and energy gains.
• Foul Play is strictly superior to both Shadow Sneak and Power Gem, offering better damage, lower charge times, and an earlier damage window.
• Power Gem can offer better coverage against Dragonite and offending Fairy-type Pokemon.

Shadow Claw is much better than Feint Attack. It deals the same damage and has significantly better energy generation. Additionally, Ghost has much better coverage than Dark does.

Foul Play is Sableye's best charged move. It's cheap, spammy, and has solid coverage. Return is only available on Purified Sableye, but it can be incredibly helpful. Notably, it actually lets Sableye have a potentially winning matchup against Azumarill! In other matchups, it can just be nice to have that high-damage nuke, or just to deal meaningful damage to Dark-types. Power Gem is now a viable (and good!) option on Sableye thanks to its buff in Pokemon GO: Max Out. Shadow Sneak is terrible.