Reflect and Thunder Wave both work well against most of Cresselia's counters. They both help to cut down on damage taken from Pursuit, although Thunder Wave requires a little luck from full paralysis in order to avoid taking a hit. Cresselia works well as a Garchomp counter, so Ice Beam is the standard attack. The listed EVs are one option for this set, as they give Cresselia the most effective anti-Garchomp setup—269 Special Attack will always OHKO 0 HP / 0 Special Defense Garchomp with Ice Beam. Charge Beam gives the "BoltBeam" combination but is mostly notable for hurting Gyarados in addition to grabbing a Special Attack boost occasionally. Psychic helps to take on Infernape, although paralyzing it with Thunder Wave already makes it much easier for a team mate to finish off. This is a respectable wall, but Sand Stream cripples Cresselia's Moonlight, leaving it only able to recover 25% per use. Replacing Moonlight with Rest is always an option, but without Sleep Talk you will find Cresselia dead weight on your team when it's sleeping. It is better to pack Aromatherapy or Heal Bell on your team in such a case.
This set is like the above, but Rest / Sleep Talk gives Cresselia more survivability, particularly when a Sand Stream dominated environment makes Moonlight undesirable. Once again you have three good options to choose from in the last slot. Charge Beam is going to deter Gyarados again while you're awake, but if you're sleeping, Gyarados will just Taunt you to prevent you from Sleep Talking, and Charge Beam won't do enough to stop Gyarados when Cresselia finally wakes up. Thunder Wave will generally help you more against a lot of other fast sweepers that try to set up on an offensively incapable Pokémon such as Cresselia. Psychic allows Cresselia to deal with Infernape, but quite a significant amount of Special Attack is required to OHKO it. In a Sandstorm and Stealth Rock dominated metagame, however, it is not required to pack a lot of Special Attack, for the indirect damage from Sandstorm and Stealth Rock will aid in destroying Infernape.
Part sweeper, part tank. This plays somewhat like a special version of Curse Snorlax. The Speed is designed to outspeed Adamant Heracross, a major threat to Cresselia (after a Calm Mind, Psychic will OHKO). What you plan on using for your secondary attack depends on your team. Charge Beam is for Gyarados once again, Hidden Power Fighting is for Tyranitar and Weavile and Ice Beam works on Garchomp, Salamence, and other Dragons. Hidden Power Bug is also an option if you want to hit Darks and other Psychic-types. However, it does far less damage to Tyranitar and Weavile compared to Hidden Power Fighting and has inferior type coverage. Other OptionsBesides the attacks already mentioned, Cresselia also learns Grass Knot and Shadow Ball, although neither is especially inviting when compared to its other options. Sunny Day makes Moonlight much more effective, and can be used once you have eliminated Tyranitar, Hippowdon, and Abomasnow. It does limit Cresselia's moveset, but is worth considering if you also have a Fire-type to benefit from it. Light Screen can be used over Reflect should your desire some extra protection from special attackers. Toxic can be a nuisance to other Cresselia if they lack Rest and is a fine choice on something this bulky. You can use Protect in conjunction with Toxic to scout Heracross's Choice Banded or Choice Scarfed moves and switch to an appropriate counter. Additionally, Toxic in tandem with Reflect can whittle down even a Choice Banded Tyranitar. Special mention goes to Lunar Dance, Cresselia's signature move. If you're willing to sacrifice Cresselia, you can revitalize a stricken team mate with it. EVsThere are a lot of ways to manage EVs on Cresselia. Here are a few EV spreads to consider. Modest, 20 HP / 252 Defense / 236 Special Attack. This guarantees Ice Beam will OHKO a minimum HP / Special Defense Garchomp and focuses on taking physical hits. Bold, 252 HP / 108 Defense / 148 Special Defense. This provides Cresselia with equal defenses, allowing it to take hits from both sides of the attacking spectrum. Timid, 96 HP / 252 Special Attack / 160 Speed. This hits 270 Speed, allowing Cresselia to outspeed Adamant Heracross and KO it with Psychic after a Calm Mind. Generally, you should be focusing on Cresselia's HP and defenses. Speed EVs aren't required unless you're running a Calm Mind set. Unless you're aiming for sufficient power to KO Garchomp, then Special Attack EVs can also be sacrificed. OpinionBeing a primarily defensive Pokémon, Cresselia's lack of a reliable recovery move is somewhat of a let down, compounded by the fact that it is weak to Pursuit and lacks many important resistances. Still, Cresselia has massive defenses that even Lugia would be proud of and while its attack power is rather weak, Cresselia's decent movepool allows it to function as a great counter for many of the more potent attacking threats in OU, such as Garchomp and Infernape. Cresselia is very tough to take down, making it a solid addition to most OU teams. CountersTyranitar, Heracross, Weavile, Scizor, and Houndoom do lots of damage with their STAB Dark and Bug moves, often much more than Cresselia is able to respond to, unless it carries a specific move to counter them (Grass Knot or Hidden Power Fighting for Tyranitar, Psychic for Gengar and Heracross). Metagross is virtually immune to all of Cresselia's attacks. All of them can use Pursuit too, and while Cresselia's durability is enormous, it can be (almost) knocked out by a Pursuit from Tyranitar or Weavile if it tries to switch out. Thunder Wave and Reflect really help out against a lot of these, however. Blissey just shrugs off Cresselia's attacks, but a Cresselia vs. Blissey match usually descends into a stall fest unless one of them is carrying Calm Mind. Rest Cresselia will win in the end, though, while Moonlight Cresselia is easily stalled out of PP if a Sandstorm is active. Snorlax will easily take Cresselia's attacks and can just Curse up and finish Cresselia off with its STAB attack or Crunch. Generally, you'll find that Cresselia relies a lot on status, Calm Mind or a super effective move to really stop things that can set up. Without Charge Beam, Dragon Dance + Taunt Gyarados is going to set up on it with ease. Swords Dance or Nasty Plot Infernape can outdamage those Cresselia without Psychic, Thunder Wave or Toxic. |
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