I don’t know why Infestation is worse for Araquanid than Bug Bite, according to PvPoke.
Infestation has an EPT of 4, and a DPT of 2. Bug Bite has an EPT of 3, and a DPT of 3. Bug Bite is mediocre while Infestation is okay.
Araquanid is a Bubble Beam user. Bubble Beam users spam/bait with Bubble Beams with their fast-charging fast moves, and deal their final blows with high-damage fast moves. Because of that, I think Infestation, the fast-charging move, should be superior.
The likely reason that Infestation isn’t preferred over Bug Bite is that Bug Bite’s higher damage adds up over the prolonged battles that Araquanid will likely find itself in due to its bulk.
Look at the individual battle sims on PvPoke for Araquanid vs the GL meta - you’ll see that across all 3 even shield scenarios, BB Araquanid picks up more wins than it would with Infestation.
Now, are there specific situations where Infestation may prove more beneficial? Sure - I’d love to see it lined up against the Halloween Cup meta.
The charged moves of araquanid are shit, therefore it’s an exception: most of the damage is due to continuous bug bite spam. Also you gave one reason by yourself, the use of Bubble beam (low damage) lowers the opponents attack, so you can deal even more damage (prolonged fight as stated before)
Example: vs Azumarill bug buzz of the water spider deals 36 damage. However, the bug bites until you reach the charged move add up to already 40 damage! Your assumption that charged moves deal the most damage is therefore not true, especially considering they can be shielded.
This is, btw, a reason why I think araquanid is very boring: long fights, lot of tapping, usually no shielding.
Interesting observations. Sounds like its very situational. The two fastmoves aren’t that different, both are fairly average. I’d guess being a 1-turn move also helps sneak in some damage with Bug Bite and at lower levels its DPT is probably consistent (as opposed to longer duration moves, see the article on Dragon Tail vs Dragon Breath). Even if it was given Bubble, Bug Bite would still be the preferred move because of that added chip damage:
Vs Azumarill, infestation does a laughable 3 DMG, that’s one per turn - half of that of bug bite. You’ll even have problems with infestation vs a hydro pump/ice beam azu (close win for the spider).
Also it’s always best to do the zero shield scenarios for araquanid. Mirror coat is not completely off as well vs some fighters. Bad that the most common fighters (Medicham and scrafty) are neutral or resist it :D
Take note also that bug bite is a 1 turn move, infestation is a 3 turn move instead. Breakpoints and tapping (easy play, switch, snipe, etc) benefits BB wich is the superior move even outside simulations
I wonder if that can also be said for Water Gun and Bubble?
It could apply to some Pokémon with trashy Charged Moves.
Very good question. Partly, yes. Water gun would be slightly better on Ara than bubble as well
Bubble’s base power is just slightly higher than Infestation. They’re similar moves overall, with the same DPT + EPT. Look at Jellicent, who has Bubble and Hex (Infestation clone), Bubble Beam and Shadow Ball (a little cheaper than Bug Buzz). In most cases Hex is the preferred fast move owing to faster energy generation.
Jelli is different, it doesn’t have a fast high damage move (water gun) but instead has good charged move and water gun would not be of advantage thus. Bubble again here is more of a coverage issue (ground, fire, dark)
It can be true in some scenarios. But bubble and hex have different ofensive type, wich makes them quite different not taking in consideration energy generation.
Also, this difference is so minor that you need 5 bubbles or hex to reach shadow ball, 5 more to the next one, and hex “outperforms” bubble in the race to reach the third shadow ball (in perfect scenario involving no bait or fast move desync). How many times that is going to make a difference in a fight? Not many… so it comes up to preference and what you need in the meta you’re in (coverage)
In great I tend to run hex (bar a remix that was infested with nido + 2 dark), but when I used jelli in ultra (old premier) I used bubble for coverage for the meta (talonflame, stun-g, a ton of darks) as it gave me semi reliable water coverage to add up in long fights, and because the nuke with shadow ball was already there. Bubble jelli got me to legend that season, so it was quite nice indeed.
Obstagoon, gunfisk, nidoqueen, scrafty and all that stuff are harder to fight withouth bubble, I wouldn’t call hex the “preffered fast move”.
Water gun and bubble have a bigger brother called Waterfall in this game, BB and Infestation do not, and that’s a pity
