Out of all of the sets that Cacturne can run, this one will without a doubt cause the most grief for your opponent, as it has a very good chance of ripping through their team, while simultaneously causing them to rip their hair out. After all, BrightPowder coupled with Sand Veil makes attacks that would normally have 100% accuracy have a mere 72% chance of hitting. This is good news for Cacturne as it cannot afford to take many hits in the first place. The set works perfectly fine without BrightPowder as well, and without BrightPowder, Liechi Berry works well as the item, but only if Swords Dance is not on the set. Substitute is a necessity on this set, as it can protect Cacturne from crippling status such as paralysis while possibly securing a free turn to Swords Dance or attack due to the evasion change from BrightPowder and/or Sand Veil. Cacturne's immunity to Psychic is also a big help here as it allows it to switch in on things like Azelf, and put up a Substitute while they switch, as they will have a huge risk of death if they stay in. Swords Dance allows Cacturne to gear itself up for a sweep, and is rather easy to set up with all of the evasion. Focus Punch can be taken from the final slot and easily fit over Swords Dance to have all 3 attacks on the set and some amazing coverage. Once again this will work to its fullest only if Liechi Berry is the item, otherwise, Swords Dance is needed so that Cacturne can still have a way to boost its Attack, preventing him from getting stalled out. Sucker Punch is Cacturne's main attack as it compensates for Cacturne's low base Speed, and after a Swords Dance or Liechi Berry boost, it can OHKO several revenge-killers that could easily OHKO Cacturne otherwise. The final slot is quite variable, and the choice depends on the type of player that Cacturne's user is, and the team it is on. Seed Bomb is the best option here, as it can OHKO several strong walls after a Swords Dance, such as Hippowdon, Suicune, Swampert, and Donphan without the risk that Sucker Punch carries. Keep in mind that even though Grass/Dark has double STAB for Cacturne, it does not have the best coverage out there and is walled by several opposing types. However, Focus Punch is a great option for those who have telepathic minds. Dark/Fighting is a great attacking combination, only resisted by Heracross and Toxicroak. The way that the Sucker Punch/Focus Punch combo works, is that the opponent is damned if they do, and damned if they don't, especially after a Swords Dance. If they attack, they're in trouble, if they don't, they're in even more trouble. Also note that Focus Punch goes extremely well with Substitute, as it can take Focus Punch's need for prediction away if Cacturne is behind a Substitute. If you enjoy messing with your opponent's mind, then Focus Punch is for your Cacturne. Just be careful that you do not let your opponent outmaneuver you, because if it gets attacked during Focus Punch, or status inflicted during Sucker Punch, it's in a lot of trouble. The EVs are quite simple, but they are quite good at getting the job done. Max Attack with an Adamant nature is a given, as Cacturne wants to be able to shatter skulls as efficiently as possible. Max Speed allows Cacturne to out-speed minimum Speed base 85s such as Suicune and Cresselia. This allows it to OHKO Suicune with Seed Bomb (if it carries it) after a Swords Dance. It also lets it Substitute before Cresselia can status it, forcing Cresselia to attack you so that Cacturne can severely dent her with Sucker Punch. The remaining 4 EVs are put into Defense instead of HP so that Cacturne can create 4 Substitutes as opposed to 3 thanks to having odd HP.
Taking advantage of some new physical STAB Attacks, Cacturne can now hit hard without heavily relying upon Focus Punch. With one use of Swords Dance, Cacturne can tear apart most Water and Ground-types with Seed Bomb, regardless of their EV layout. Pokémon like Suicune and Hippowdon would need to max out their HP and Defense EVs in order to survive the attack. Sucker Punch forces Pokémon like Azelf, Starmie and Gengar to switch out as it KOs them in one hit unless they have an unusually large investment in Defense and HP EVs. If you are at full health, Counter can be used as a surprise answer to physical attackers that are causing problems like Metagross, Gyarados or Garchomp. Going from full health to 1 HP will do 562 damage to the opponent. This KOs everything except Wobbuffet, Chansey, and Blissey, which should be handled by direct attacks. The Focus Sash can also be used to get a free Swords Dance. Even at 1 HP, Cacturne is still a threat through the use of Sucker Punch. Prediction is vital to this Cacturne set. If you play your cards right, you can get off a Swords Dance or two while threatening to KO the opponent with Sucker Punch. Max Speed EVs are necessary so that Cacturne will outrun most Suicune and smash them with a Swords Danced Seed Bomb before being downed by Ice Beam. Speed EVs can also be put into HP instead in order to give Cacturne better survivability for when the opponent puts down a Stealth Rock or Spikes, deactivating Focus Sash.
This is a bit of an odd moveset but it usually KOs one of your opponent's Pokémon in exchange for Cacturne's life. It uses Endure to activate a Salac Berry and then it uses Destiny Bond to try and takes the opponent out with it. If for some reason they didn't KO you, you use alternate Focus Punch and Destiny Bond until they do. Sucker Punch takes out some faster enemies (especially Ghosts like Gengar), or you can try throwing out some Spikes on the turn you could be using Focus Punch.
This set has a great combination of attacks, all of which work very well with Substitute. With a Substitute up, Cacturne can freely Focus Punch enemies, and as Substitute encourages them to attack, he can get in a hit with Sucker Punch before the Sub is broken. Leech Seed rounds out the set and completes the SubSeed combination, allowing Cacturne to recover more HP at the expense of his opponents. Although it is hard to recommend breaking up this combination of attacks, Spikes can be thrown in over either of the Punch attacks. SubSeeding often causes opponents to switch, so throwing out Spikes on a predicted switch will further aid Cacturne in his goal to wear down the opposition. It is not a necessity, but this set greatly benefits from support in the form of Sandstorm, Stealth Rock, and Toxic Spikes.
Cacturne doesn't have too big a special movepool, but it still has what it needs to do well. Dark Pulse and Focus Blast provide good type coverage and can hit at least neutrally on almost any opponent. Grass Knot is used over Energy Ball because it hits harder on the Pokémon you would attack with it like Rhyperior, Suicune, Hippowdon, and Milotic. However, in UU battles, Energy Ball is the more reliably powerful option, but Grass Knot is still a good option as it packs more power against Mantine, who soaks up special attacks well. Hidden Power Fire covers Heracross, Breloom, Toxicroak and other assorted Bugs and Steels, as well as providing more power than Dark Pulse against most Grass-types. Other Hidden Power types to consider are Flying, which has more power than Fire against Breloom, Heracross and Toxicroak; Ground, for a more reliable way to dispose of Steels like Heatran (given the shaky accuracy of Focus Blast), and hitting Toxicroak; Ice hits Flying, Grass and Dragon-types; Rock covers Flying, Fire and Bug-types.
This set is the physical version of the last one, with the excellent Sucker Punch and Focus Punch. Sucker Punch fails if your opponent doesn't attack, so it isn't much use against incoming opponents. However, Payback is boosted to an effective base power of 150 (including STAB) against anything that switches in, so it becomes the superior option. Return is Cacturne's best physical attack against Toxicroak and Heracross, 2HKOing them both. Seed Bomb is a good reliable attacking move for Cacturne. Other OptionsPoison Jab is a rather poor choice, especially without STAB to back it up, but it's there if you want to hit Grass-types a little harder. Brick Break and Drain Punch are on offer if you don't want to rely on predicting with Focus Punch. Teeter Dance can annoy opponents, and might buy Cacturne some time to set up a Sub or Swords Dance. GrassWhistle has terrible accuracy, but will send an enemy to sleep if you're lucky. ThunderPunch is decent for bringing down Gyarados. EVsFocus on Cacturne's offense stats. 52 Speed EVs will give Cacturne a Speed of 159, allowing it to outrun Pokémon with base 61 or lower that have no Speed EVs. The Destiny Bond set would require max Speed, otherwise the rest of the EVs would go to HP. The Focus Sash Cacturne would require max Speed in order to outrun Suicune to Seed Bomb it. With a neutral nature, max Speed lets Cacturne outrun the likes of Suicune and Milotic, so they don't get a chance to finish it off with Ice Beam. Switching to a boosting nature means he will outrun most Gliscor and Adamant Tyranitar. OpinionCacturne hits hard with its base 115 offensive stats, but has paper defenses. With attacks like Focus Punch that encourages the opponent to attack, and Sucker Punch, Counter or Destiny Bond that deter the opponent from attacking it, Cacturne is very prediction reliant. It can be dangerous if used well, more so under the influence of Sand Veil evasion. CountersOU: Skarmory takes physical sets easily, but won't enjoy switching into Focus Blast or Hidden Power Fire from the Choice Specs set. Heracross shrugs off everything barring Hidden Power Flying (Choice Specs Hidden Power Fire and Choice Band Return will 2HKO). Heatran, Lucario, Breloom, Infernape, and Blaziken resist both STAB moves, but take care not to switch them into a Focus Punch. Gliscor and Weezing both do well against physical sets, but switching into Choice Specs boosted attacks will hurt. Blissey handles the Choice Specs sets quite easily, but is quickly destroyed by Focus Punch or boosted physical attacks. Salamence gets in easily on physical sets, and thanks to Intimidate doesn't fear being taken down by Sucker Punch. He can switch in easily on most of the attacks on the Choice Specs set too, although Dark Pulse will 2HKO, and Hidden Power Ice is an easy OHKO. UU: Toxicroak is the best counter you will find in UU, resisting most of Cacturne's attacks. Torkoal can handle physical sets, but loses to special attacking sets, as Dark Pulse can nearly OHKO. Aggron and his Rock/Steel comrades wall any set without a Fighting attack, although a Choice Specs Grass Knot can OHKO them. Hitmontop has Intimidate to soak up Seed Bomb, Payback, Sucker Punch, and Focus Punch, high Special Defense to take the special sets and Fake Out to bypass Focus Sash/Counter. He can then finish Cacturne with his STAB attacks. Honchkrow can get in on both STAB moves and easily kill Cacturne with Drill Peck, but beware of switching into Focus Punch/Blast, and watch out for Counter or Destiny Bond. Since Cacturne often relies on Sucker Punch, sending in something to set up a Substitute will let you kill him off without fearing a hit. |
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