Kricketune’s most impressive stat is Attack, and at base 85 it’s average at best. But with Swords Dance we can double its 295 (269) attack to 590 (538) which makes it look a lot better. The low Speed isn’t as much of an issue if you can manage to activate the Salac Berry, though if you’re willing to take a risk of Kricketune being out-sped, you can use Life Orb for even more damage. The strategy is to attempt to Swords Dance on something you know can’t OHKO you, and something that is unlikely to hinder you with a status attack such as Will-O-Wisp or Thunder Wave. Once you’ve managed a Swords Dance, you can use Endure to take a hit from a potentially faster foe to activate your Salac Berry and also your Swarm ability, allowing you to have a good chance at sweeping, provided your opponent doesn’t have any priority moves or a faster Choice Scarf user. X-Scissor is your main attack; with STAB and Swarm activated it can be incredibly strong. Brick Break will help combat Steel-types, as well as hitting Fire-types harder. Aerial Ace is mainly filler, but it does provide greater coverage over Fighting- and Poison-types, as well as Pokémon that are both Bug- and Flying-type. Sing is listed as a means of ridding of a counter to Kricketune and allowing for a free Swords Dance.
Kricketune can just about pull off a Choice set as well, with four usable attacking moves in X-Scissor, Brick Break, Aerial Ace and Return. Return is a welcome addition as it allows you to hit Poison- and Flying-types harder than your other moves. The Choice Band will give you a good Attack stat, but it’s not really as beneficial as the Choice Scarf as there are better physical Choice Band users with greater coverage out there. However, the Choice Scarf with Sing is good for a fast sleep move in the lower tiers which can help eliminate big threats. Endeavor can work well on the Choice Scarf set due to Kricketune's 2x weakness to Stealth Rock. Other OptionsScreech can work in a similar fashion to Swords Dance, but it’s generally best to have the stat boosts yourself rather than rely on lowering your opponent’s stats as they can usually switch out. Toxic can work to infect bulkier Pokémon you may not be able to defeat. As already mentioned, Perish Song can help beat a troublesome last Pokémon or counter Baton Pass teams. EVsKricketune generally just wants max Attack and Speed in order to enhance sweeping, using an Adamant or Jolly nature. Adamant nature is preferred since Kricketune needs all the power it can get, and after a Speed boost there isn’t much that will be quicker anyway. Jolly is only really useful in the off chance that something already slower than Adamant Kricketune is using a Choice Scarf. OpinionMany will say that Kricketune is basically an inferior Beedrill, and for the most part this is true. However, Kricketune has a slight edge in Attack, as well as coming out on top in HP and Defense. Being only Bug-type, Kricketune should be able to shrug off a weak Earthquake or two, where as Beedrill wouldn’t. The only other bonuses Kricketune has are Sing and Perish Song, which can be very useful in the right circumstances. But in the end, Kricketune is quite a poor Pokémon. CountersFearow and Pidgeot are good counters, as they resist X-Scissor, are faster and can KO with STAB Flying-type attacks. Altaria is another nice counter, and with Natural Cure your sleep status won’t last as long as they can switch out, providing Sing actually hits. Torkoal has a tremendous Defense stat and resists Bug; it’ll find Kricketune easy to dispose of with STAB Fire-type moves. Seviper and Arbok resist Kricketune’s best attacks and will be able to take down Kricketune with relative ease. Swalot is another Poison-type that can resist Kricketune's attacks, as well as having a huge HP stat. Pelipper has high Defense, resists X-Scissor, Brick Break and will KO with STAB Air Slash. You’ll usually be able to stop Kricketune if you’re not weak to any of its attacks, as it only takes rather average defensive, or offensive stats to defeat it. |
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