Crawdaunt

[AuraRayquaza]

Crawdaunt

Base Stats

Movepool

Crawdaunt. This amazing Pokemon really caught my attention when I decided to use it for fun on a team. After some testing, I found that it was able to OHKO Cresselia without any boosts! This a feat that very few other Pokemon can say they can do and can be a real game-changer if the opponent isn't expecting it, as many player's teams rely on Cresselia for Trick Room or speed control in general. It has a great ability in Adapatability, which changes the STAB damage modifier to x2 instead of x1.5. This can be useful to get important KOs on Pokemon you would not normally take out. However, its speed is quite abysmal and so it can really only function well within Trick Room. It's typing is not too good defensively either, along with paper-thin 63/85/55 defenses, mean it cannot take virtually any super effective hit in the metagame, although it is mostly an offensive poke. It's very small movepool limits it as well, but don't let this deter you from using it, though, as with the right team support, this Pokemon can be a monster.

Useful sets



Crawdaunt @ Dark Gem
Trait: Adaptability
Brave/Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Waterfall/Crabhammer
- Superpower
- Protect

This set is easily the most effective set for Crawdaunt and can sweep unprepared teams, which is the case for most teams. A dark gem and adaptability boosted crunch OHKOs a 252/60 neutral natured Cresselia 100% of the time (spread was used from the smogon analysis, which has 60 def evs). It can also do massive damage, if not OHKO, most pokemon in the metagame that do not resist it.

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252Atk Dark Gem Adaptability lvl 50 Crawdaunt (+Atk) Crunch vs 252HP/84Def Levitate lvl 50 Cresselia (Neutral): 100% - 119% (228 - 272 HP). Guaranteed OHKO

The next move is the common accuracy-or-power choice. Waterfall is listed first because it has 80BP and 100% accuracy, meaning it is only 10BP weaker but more accurate. The 20% flinch rate is also quite handy. Crabhammer has 90BP but is only 90% accurate, which can cost games, even though it is more powerful. Waterfall can also grab the same KOs as Crabhammer, meaning the power increase is not very useful. The high critical hit ratio is not as good as the flinch chance either. Superpower is there to hit Ferrothorn, who resists both STABs (and because there is nothing else to use due to Crawdaunt's movepool), but should not be used EVER outside of it. Superpower lowers your attack and defense, and does not receive an adaptability boost, so it is not very good. Protect is staple on VGC pokemon, as it can protect from all damage/fake out for a turn, it can stall trick room and tailwind and for many more reasons. Brave nature is used for trick room to "outslow" pokemon, and adamant nature can be used for tailwind. Jolly is not listed because you cannot OHKO Cresselia without an attack boosting nature, thus removing Crawdaunt's biggest niche in this metagame.



Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Trait: Adaptability
Brave/Adamant Nature
- Crunch
- Waterfall/Crabhammer
- Superpower
- Rock Slide

This set is good if you want a boost for all of your moves, not just crunch. Rock slide is the only difference, and is only used as a replacement for protect. It is weak and provides little coverage. However, the 30% flinch chance is quite cool, so rock slide is not that bad after all. Crawdaunt cannot run any other moves or natures effectively, so the natures and other moves are the same as the other set.

EV Spreads

There is not really much to say here about Crawdaunt, it is so frail that pretty much every super effective attack with OHKO it or do massive damage to it. You need at least 236 EVs in attack to be able to OHKO Cresselia 100% of the time. If you are using trick room, you can then run 32 HP and 236 Def to only be OHKOed 84% of the time by a neutral max attack leaf blade from Virizion, still a very low chance, but that is a downside of using Crawdaunt: bad defences. If you are using tailwind, then you will have to settle for max speed as well if you have any hope of outspeeding some faster threats in the metagame.

Cool partners

+ //
Crawdaunt + Trick Room setters
Because of it's very bad speed, Crawdaunt appreciates trick room support to get the jump on faster (nearly every) pokemon in the metagame. Psychic types are preferred to ghost types because they can hit fighting types hard, a type that checks Crawdaunt very well.

+ //
Crawdaunt + Fake Out users/fighting types
Fake out users are good with any pokemon but are especially good with Crawdaunt because they can stop a pokemon from KOing it (which is good due to its bad defences) or leaving it open to be KOed by crunch or waterfall. I have included fighting types in this part as well because most good fake out users are fighting types. Infernape gets a special mention, because it's STABs can OHKO Ferrothorn and Breloom, which resist all/most of Crawdaunt attacks, and can OHKO back. However, Hitmontop has intimidate, which can help Crawdaunt live some potentially fatal physical attacks. Kangaskhan is also a good fake outer for Crawdaunt as it can fake out ghost types with scrappy, allowing Crawdaunt to OHKO it with Crunch. Ghost types will not normally protect on a fake out user, so it can have some surprise factor and can leave you at an advantage on turn 1.

+ //
Crawdaunt + Lightningrod users
Crawdaunt hates thunderbolts and thunder waves. So what better partner to have than a lightingrod pokemon? The three pokemon I have listed all function under trick room as well so can be very effective partners to Crawdaunt as well good team players.

Troublesome opponents

Crawdaunt is not without its flaws though.

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Electric/Fighting/Grass-types
Crawdaunt is OHKOed by pretty much every super effective hit out there, so any pokemon with an electric, grass or fighting STAB is a threat. All of the pokemon can outspeed and OHKO, which can mean trouble for Crawdaunt.

/
Intimidate users
The only thing Crawdaunt has got going for it is its massive attack stat and adaptability. If you lower its attack, then Crawdaunt can become useless as it cannot KO anything and so can be KOed easier. Hitmontop can also OHKO with close combat whereas there is a chance that Crawdaunt will only 3HKO it at -1 attack.

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You may now discuss.

[Lucien Lachance]

I would definitely use Dark Gem for the set due to allowing you to still OHKO Cresselia while also being able to switch moves to hit Terrakion with Waterfall. This also let's you use Protect which is very useful if your partner is using Trick Room or Thunder Wave. Thunder Wave can be very effective and I wouldn't neglect it! Good luck with the rest of the letter!

[IstheCakeReallyaLie]

SDance can also be used on the DGem set.

[AuraRayquaza]

Swords dance is not practical as set up sweeping is very hard in VGC with 2 opponents and all. And with crawsaunts horrible defenses it will be even harder to set up. And what would you change it for? Superpower is necessary for ferrothorn and the other moves are strong STABs, so it is not a good use of a moveslot

[King of Blades]

I can testify with real VGC experience that this guy works. He 1hkos and 2hkos so many things it's not even funny. I can say that the best set if any of you are actually brave enough to use crawdaunt, is just a simple dark gem set with waterfall, crunch, superpower, and protect. (I got stuck using night slash because training fail, but it still did awesome.)

[AuraRayquaza]

I don't know if bumping is allowed or not but let's try and get some more thoughts on crawdaunt going!

[Golden Piloswine]

I used Crawdaunt at Philly in Fall 2012 with this set.

Adaptablility
Dark Gem
Brave

Crabhammer
Crunch
Superpower
Protect


Twas used in Trick Room. Anyway I see you have it up there, so do you guys think this is to standard to reuse for spring regionals?

[voodoo pimp]

It's standard for a reason, nothing wrong with using it. Crawdaunt is uncommon enough that most people won't even know what its standard set is, and I'm sure nobody will specifically prepare for it.

I'd use Waterfall, though, unless there's some specific KOs that Crabhammer gets.

[Golden Piloswine]

Well the sole reason I missed top 8 in philadelphia is because I missed 5 or 6 times in a row on Veil Chomp. I used Crabhammer over crunch, and missed, now I wonder what would've happened if I used crunch. Could 252 atk adaptability crunch kill a regular 4HP chomp?

[voodoo pimp]

252Atk Dark Gem Adaptability lvl 50 Crawdaunt (+Atk) Crunch vs 4HP/0Def lvl 50 Garchomp (Neutral): 80% - 95% (148 - 176 HP). Guaranteed 2HKO.

[Golden Piloswine]

The Dark Gem was already used during that battle. Well maybe they'll alter sand veil so it's not as good for gen 6. :/ Thanks for that voodoo, that cleared my mind.