p2
Banned deucer.
QC: AM | TDK | Leftiez
GP: GatoDelFuego | SM979
[OVERVIEW]
Cresselia boasts fantastic bulk, coupled with a solid support movepool and Levitate, which allows it to check the biggest threats in the OU metagame while also being one of very few Pokemon that can completely hard counter Landorus, one of the most potent wallbreakers in the tier. Its typing and ability provide a very useful resistance to Fighting-type moves and an immunity to Ground-type moves. Cresselia also has access to Moonlight, which is fairly reliable but is held back by its low PP and the current prevalence of sand in OU. Despite having titanic defenses, Cresselia is very weak offensively, which leaves it relying on Toxic to deal any real damage, and its Psychic typing leaves it weak to Dark-, Ghost-, and Bug-type moves.
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Moonlight
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Ice Beam / Skill Swap
move 4: Thunder Wave / Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Levitate
nature: Calm
evs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 220 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Moonlight is absolutely necessary on Cresselia, as it needs the recovery to consistently handle threats such as Landorus, Thundurus, and Keldeo. However, Moonlight is cut from 50% healing to 33% in rain or sand. Psychic deals more damage to more physically defensive Pokemon such as Landorus-T, Hippowdon, and Mega Lopunny, while Psyshock allows Cresselia to do more damage to Calm Mind users such as Clefable or Pokemon that have more Special Defense, such as Assault Vest Conkeldurr and Assault Vest Azumarill. Ice Beam allows Cresselia to 2HKO Pokemon such as Landorus and Thundurus while also doing large amount of damage to Gliscor, Garchomp, and Dragonite. Thunder Wave is used to cripple Pokemon that commonly switch into Cresselia, such as Choise Scarf Tyranitar, Bisharp, or fast Bug-types such as Scolipede and Mega Beedrill, while Toxic can be used to wear down more defensive pokemon such as Hippowdon, Rotom-W, Raikou, and Unaware Clefable. Skill Swap is a very solid move on Cresselia, as it allows Cresselia to beat Pokemon that are reliant on their abilities, such as Mega Sableye and Mega Diancie, which both lose Magic Bounce, allowing Cresselia to wear them down with Toxic. Clefable and Gliscor also don't appreciate losing their abilities, as Calm Mind Clefable cannot take on Cresselia due to Toxic damage and Gliscor loses Poison Heal, which removes its useful passive recovery.
Set Details
========
A Calm nature allows Cresselia to take on the most powerful special attackers in the tier; outside of Mega Charizard Y's Fire Blast, Life Orb Gengar, and Tail Glow Manaphy, Cresselia avoids the 2HKO from every special attacker. Despite the low Defense investment, Cresselia can still handle the more powerful physical attackers in the tier, being able to avoid the 2HKO from Adamant Mega Lopunny, Jolly Mega Metagross, and Rash Landorus's Knock Off. Leftovers provide passive recovery for Cresselia which lets it avoid being 2HKOed by certain Pokemon, such as Nasty Plot Thundurus, and Mega Metagross
Usage Tips
========
Cresselia should be used to check and cripple powerful attackers in OU, such as Landorus-T, Mega Metagross,Mega Lopunny, Keldeo, Landorus, Thundurus, Tornadus-T and plenty of more threats. Cresselia one of two Pokemon, the other being Mega Latias, that can hard counter Landorus, even Calm Mind variants. This is really useful, as Landorus can destroy stall and bulky balance teams lacking Cresselia or Mega Latias.
Cresselia should also be used to spread status and cripple things, such as using Toxic on Pokemon that are prone to being worn down, such as Hippowdon, Rotom-W, Raikou, and Zapdos.
Team Options
========
Cresselia only fits on stall or semi-stall teams, as it is too passive to be used on an offensive team. Cresselia likes having teammates that can absorb status or Heal Bell / Aromatherapy users, such as Magic Guard Clefable or Chansey, because Cresselia has no way to remove status without team support, and due to this, is very weak to status. Other teammates include Quagsire or Unaware Clefable, as Cresselia is very easy to take advantage of and set up on, more specifically by Pokemon such as Bisharp and Mega Scizor. Unaware allows Quagsire and Clefable to ignore stat changes, which means Bisharp and Mega Scizor are completely countered by Quagsire. Quagsire is more preferable, as Bisharp and Mega Scizor have very powerful Steel-type STAB moves which can ruin Clefable, even if it has Unaware. Chesnaught is another option for a teammate, because it is a solid counter to Bisharp and Tyranitar, it can get chip damage on Pokemon with Leech Seed, and it has access to Roar and Spikes which allow Chesnaught to deter setting up and switching. Mega Sableye threatens Pokemon that can try to set up hazards or status Cresselia, such as Ferrothorn. Defensive Mega Altaria is also a good teammate for Cresselia, as it can handle both Mega Charizard X and Mega Charizard Y, which can break past Cresselia fairly easily, while also beating opposing Mega Sableye if Cresselia isn't running Skill Swap.
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Lunar Dance
item: Mental Herb / Leftovers
ability: Levitate
nature: Sassy
evs: 248 HP / 40 Def / 220 SpD
ivs: 0 Atk / 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Trick Room allows slower Pokemon to move first while faster ones move last. This can turn slow, powerful wallbreakers into fast, potent sweepers. Psychic acts as a STAB move and hits Pokemon weak to Psychic-type moves such as Gengar, Mega Lopunny, and Terrakion, while Psyshock can be used to hit Pokemon with a higher Special Defense stat. Ice Beam is for Pokemon such as Landorus, Thundurus, Garchomp, and Dragonite, as Cresselia can handle all of these Pokemon easily. Lunar Dance allows Cresselia to completely heal a teammate, including their PP, though it makes Cresselia faint.
Set Details
========
A Sassy nature with 0 IVs make as Cresselia slow as possible so it can move quickly under Trick Room. Mental Herb is run to guarantee that Cresselia can set up Trick Room at least once a game, while Leftovers can be run for additional recovery. Colbur Berry can be run to weaken damage from Dark-type moves. as Trick Room teams can stack a Dark-type weakness very easily. The EV spread allows Cresselia to avoid being 2HKOed by the most powerful special attacks in the tier, apart from Mega Charizard Y's Fire Blast, boosted Manaphy from Tail Glow, and Life Orb Gengar, while also being able to handle powerful physical attackers such as Mega Metagross, Mega Lopunny, and Landorus-T.
Usage Tips
========
Lead with Cresselia to set up Trick Room as soon as possible, as this allows your team to grab momentum, especially against fast offensive teams. Try to preserve Cresselia until the late-game, where it can set Trick Room again, as it is guaranteed to end by then and use Lunar Dance to completely heal one of your Trick Room sweepers to clean up your opponent's team.
Team Options
========
This set should only be used a Trick Room team with slow, powerful wallbreakers such as Mega Heracross, Mega Camerupt, Azumarill, and Crawdaunt, along with secondary Trick Room setters such as Porygon2, Slowbro, and Diancie. Porygon2 is a very bulky setter, but is passive like Cresselia and is very weak to Knock Off due to its reliance on Eviolite. Slowbro has access to Regenerator and Oblivious which means it can constantly pivot in and out of moves to stay healthy, while Oblivious gives it an immunity to Taunt so it can set up Trick Room very easily. Diancie is an effective Trick Room setter as well, thanks to it being one of the few viable Trick Room setters that can set up Stealth Rock. It can also beat Talonflame, which is a very big issue for Trick Room teams because of it practically ignoring Trick Room due to its powerful priority courtesy of its ability. Bisharp and Talonflame are other Pokemon that can work in and outside of Trick Room, which is very useful because Trick Room won't be up the entire game. They are usable in Trick Room because they have access to powerful priority moves.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Fire can be used to deal damage to Steel-types such as Ferrothorn or Scizor which can set up on Cresselia. Cresselia can be used for dual screens, which provides its teammates with easier setup opportunities. Rocky Helmet can be used to punish physical attackers such as Tyranitar, Scizor, Mega Lopunny, and Mega Metagross. Cresselia can use Rest + Sleep Talk as an alternate form of recovery, but it uses up two moveslots instead of one. Cresselia can run Calm Mind sets, but is generally outclassed by other Calm Mind users such as Reuniclus and Clefable.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Magic Guard and Magic Bounce**: Pokemon with Magic Bounce and Magic Guard can easily set up on Cresselia if it lacks Skill Swap.
**Weather**: Rain and sand reduce Moonlight's recovery from 50% down to 33%, which makes Cresselia much easier to wear down.
**Dark-types**: Bisharp, Weavile, and Choice Band Tyranitar do massive amounts of Cresselia and can usually OHKO after two rounds of Stealth Rock damage.
**Bug-types**: Bug-types like Scizor, Mega Beedrill, Scolipede, and Mega Heracross can deal massive damage to Cresselia.
**Status**: Cresselia cannot recover from status without team support and thus is severely crippled by being poisoned or burned.
**Taunt**: Cresselia has weak offenses, so it can be taken advantage of by common Taunt users such as Mew or Heatran.
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