Cradily (Full Revamp)

I made some substantial changes to Cradily's OU analysis, and was asked to make a thread before putting it through SCMS. So here it is:

Status: Done
Quality Control: Iconic, Bloo, Bloo
Grammar Check: Engineer Pikachu (stamped by V0x) & iss (stamped by cosmicexplorer)


Cradily

[Overview]

<p>Meet Cradily, the fossilized barnacle. Although Cradily did not receive many new toys this generation, it was endowed with the ability Storm Drain via Dream World. This bolsters Cradily's niche as a solid defensive pivot against Water-types in sand teams. Cradily also maintains an array of unique moves for a Rock- and a Grass-type Pokemon, such as Recover, Stockpile, and Curse, giving it the same utility it had in the fourth generation. However, this barnacle is not without its flaws. Cradily possesses an abysmal base 43 Speed, which, while not impeding the Curse variants much, forces it to either run Rock Polish or receive a few Agility boosts if it hopes to sweep. Moreover, Cradily's Rock typing, which shields it from a weakness to common Fire-type attacks, acts as a curse in this generation with all the new Fighting-types running around, especially Conkeldurr and Terrakion. Despite this, Cradily remains a distinguished addition to sand teams, acting as a great special wall under sandstorm and a great user of Curse.</p>

[SET]
name: Mono-Attacker
move 1: Curse
move 2: Rest
move 3: Sleep Talk
move 4: Rock Slide / Seed Bomb
item: Leftovers
nature: Careful
ability: Suction Cups
evs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>One of Cradily's best sets in the fourth generation still holds nicely this generation, thanks to Cradily's great special bulk in sandstorm and usable physical bulk. With its ability Suction Cups, Cradily does not fear phazers. The EVs have been tweaked to give it better physical bulk, such that after a single Curse Cradily has a high chance of surviving a Life Orb-boosted Close Combat from Terrakion or a Superpower from Choice Band Scizor. At the same time, however, the barnacle still maintains a solid Special Defense stat under sandstorm.</p>

<p>This set revolves around Curse boosting Cradily's Attack and Defense. Thanks to Cradily's great overall bulk, it can set up Curse with ease once it switches in safely. Rest heals Cradily of any damage or status it might have taken while setting up. Cradily can then use Sleep Talk to prevent itself from becoming a sitting duck, permitting for even more Curse-stacking. Either Rock Slide or Seed Bomb serves as decent option as Cradily's sole offensive move, because there are no viable OU threats immune to them. Overall, Rock Slide has superior coverage, but Seed Bomb does come in handy to more readily plow through Fighting-, Water-, and Ground-types, particularly Terrakion, Unaware Quagsire, and Hippowdon.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Since Storm Drain and Sleep Talk are illegal together, Cradily cannot possess its Dream World ability when utilizing this set. Stone Edge provides immediate power, and Sleep Talk somewhat compensates for the lack of PP. However, Cradily's lackluster Attack combined with Stone Edge's low PP count makes this STAB move a shaky alternative. Sleep Talk may be replaced for Earthquake to better deal with Pokemon resisting its main STAB move. If you choose to do this, though, Recover should be considered over Rest to heal Cradily in this case due to the loss of Sleep Talk.</p>

<p>Sandstorm support is greatly appreciated as it provides Cradily a passive 50% Special Defense boost. Tyranitar and Hippowdon are great teammates, as they both summon sandstorm; the latter in particular is beneficial, as Hippowdon shrugs off most physical Fighting-type attacks aimed at Cradily. Most Steel-types easily wall Cradily's sole STAB offensive move. For this reason, Magnezone works as a great partner alongside Cradily, as it traps and removes these Steel-types from the battle. Since Fighting-types pose an immediate threat to Cradily, packing a bulky Psychic-type can really help. Pokemon such as Reuniclus, Slowbro, and Celebi thus establish themselves as great teammates for Cradily. Beware of Trick users, which will nullify this set, as Cradily cannot afford to be locked into one move.</p>

[SET]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Earthquake
move 3: Rock Slide / Seed Bomb
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
nature: Impish
ability: Suction Cups / Storm Drain
evs: 252 HP / 200 Def / 56 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set is similar to the Curse set, but it takes a more aggressive approach with Swords Dance. With this particular set up, Cradily can dish out heavy damage sooner. Both of Cradily's abilities offer useful utility to this set; Suction Cups blocks phazing, while Storm Drain protects Cradily from Scald burns.</p>

<p>This set utilizes Grass + Ground or Rock + Ground dual offense to better apply offensive pressure once it has obtained Attack boosts. Having the Ground-type coverage move drastically minimizes the risk of being walled; specifically, Earthquake removes a number of Steel-types and Toxicroak, both of which resist Cradily's STAB assaults. For Cradily's STAB move, Rock Slide is the best STAB choice, as it offers excellent coverage and the freedom to run either ability. However, Seed Bomb is a viable alternative to dispatch Water- and Ground-types with ease; Quagsire, whose ability ignores Cradily's Attack boosts, is a particular nuisance that Seed Bomb can overcome. Unfortunately, Seed Bomb is only usable with Suction Cups, meaning Cradily loses its immunity to Scald and powerful rain-boosted Water-type moves granted by Storm Drain.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The EVs provided focus more on Cradily's physical defense, as this set won't always have sandstorm support. This also allows Cradily to survive powerful STAB Fighting-type moves, such as an unboosted Close Combat from Terrakion. If you really want Cradily to hit harder, Life Orb is an option, as you do have Recover to heal off the recoil. However, Life Orb recoil hampers its tanking capabilities. Alternatively, Stone Edge may replace Rock Slide for considerably more power. Cradily who opt for Rock Slide over Seed Bomb may be able to overcome Quagsire by nullifying Unaware with Gastro Acid; however, in order to do this, Cradily must sacrifice Recover to fit Gastro Acid into its moveset. Stockpile can be used to boost both of Cradily's defensive stats and makes it a tremendous pain to KO, thanks to its boosted defenses and access to Recover.</p>

<p>Unlike the Curse variant, this Cradily lacks Rest to erase status conditions, making clerics excellent teammates. Both Chansey and Blissey make fantastic partners, as both of them can switch into Ice-type attacks with ease due to their massive special bulk, though it must be noted that either cleric compounds Cradily's Fighting-type weakness. Lanturn also works well, as it can come in on Ice- and Steel-type attacks aimed at Cradily, use Heal Bell, and proceed to spread status. Despite access to Earthquake, a handful of Steel-types possess unbreakable Defense and secondary typing to still wall Cradily, especially Skarmory. Once again, Magnezone is Cradily's best friend, as it effortlessly eliminates these Steel-types. Xatu works as a great partner for Cradily as well, as it not only 4x resists Fighting-type onslaughts, but also bounces back status targeted towards Cradily. However, it shares Cradily's Ice-type weakness and must be wary of super effective coverage moves, such as Ice Punch and Crunch, when switching into Cradily's Fighting-type adversaries. Although this set is less dependent than the Curse set for the special defense boost, sandstorm support does help Cradily. Again, Hippowdon makes a good partner, as it also serves as a solid answer to Fighting-types. Entry hazards aid Cradily's sweep; Skarmory is capable of setting up both Spikes and Stealth Rock, while checking Fighting-types as well.</p>

[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Toxic
move 2: Stealth Rock / Earthquake
move 3: Recover
move 4: Rock Slide / Energy Ball
item: Leftovers
nature: Impish / Relaxed
ability: Storm Drain
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Usable bulk, a solid recovery move, Storm Drain, and unique typing provide Cradily a respectable defensive niche in OU sandstorm teams. With sandstorm's special defense buff, Cradily boasts special bulk comparable to a specially defensive Tyranitar. Because of many new Fighting-type threats, Cradily needs all the physical bulk it can muster to survive physical hits, while sandstorm increases its uninvested Special Defense. With its ability, Storm Drain, Cradily supplies solid defense against Water-types that plague sand teams. Cradily certainly bolsters a sand team's ability to combat rain teams, as Storm Drain provides immunity to deadly Water-type assaults while it is raining; beware of taking strong Ice Beams outside of sandstorm, though.</p>

<p>Cradily not only covers a sand team's weakness to Water-type offense, but also contributes to the Toxic-Spikes-Sandstorm (TSS) strategy utilized by sand teams to wear down the opposing team. Toxic is the main move of this set, enabling Cradily to spread status through the opponent's team. Stealth Rock is a very handy entry hazard; when coupled with Toxic and sandstorm damage, Stealth Rock lets Cradily do a fair amount of indirect damage to the opposing team. If you have another Pokemon to lay down entry hazards, Earthquake may be used to increase Cradily's damage output. Recover heals off any damage that Cradily has accumulated. The final slot represents Cradily's attacking option; Rock Slide offers a STAB option that hits Tornadus, Gyarados, Volcarona, and Zapdos for super effective damage, while STAB Energy Ball further bolsters Cradily's role in handling Water-type threats.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Cradily has access to a respectable support movepool, so there are a couple of options. Once again, Gastro Acid can be a situational option on this set, as the move allows Cradily to cripple Magic Guard and Poison Heal users, such as Reuniclus and Gliscor, with Toxic. Rest may be used over Recover to rid Cradily of status; a cleric is suggested to wake up Cradily if you choose to do so. STAB Giga Drain may be used to gain HP while damaging the opponent. However, Giga Drain is incompatible with Recover. Hidden Power Fire is an alternative over Earthquake to smash incoming Scizor and Ferrothorn, two ubiquitous Cradily checks.</p>

<p>Since this Cradily is more of a defensive one, it should be placed on a team to provide balance and support rather than having a team built around it. However, sand support is still essential, and both Tyranitar and Hippowdon form good partners for the same reasons explained in the sets above. Cradily's ability to rack up residual damage through sandstorm damage, Toxic, and Stealth Rock softens up the opponent's team for sweepers, such as Landorus.</p>

<p>Although it is unnecessary, clerics enhance Cradily's tanking potential, allowing the barnacle to spread more status. Chansey and Blissey can switch in, use Heal Bell, and pass large Wishes to Cradily, increasing its survivability. As for Cradily's other teammates, Skarmory and Xatu fend off Fighting-types, the former providing further entry hazard support while the latter bounces back entry hazards and status. Bulky Ghost-types are also fair alternatives to not only switch into Fighting-type moves with impunity but also block Rapid Spin. Jellicent, in particular, resists all of Cradily's weaknesses and cripples most Fighting-types with Will-O-Wisp, while Cradily can take Electric-type attacks aimed at Jellicent with ease. Poison Heal Gliscor and Skarmory are two excellent counters for this set. The two do not fear Toxic and freely set up on Cradily, the former with Swords Dance and the latter with Spikes.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Confuse Ray is an option for inflicting more residual damage, but it faces competition for a moveslot. Cradily can also use Protect on its support sets, as it contributes to an easier Toxic stall while also scouting the move of Choice-locked enemies. Wring Out may be used to hit foes at full HP for relatively large damage, but it offers poor coverage.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Scizor and Breloom are two of Cradily's best counters if it does not carry Hidden Power Fire, as they can come in on any of its STAB attacks and strike in return with their respective super effective STAB move. Steel-types utterly wall Cradily lacking Earthquake or Hidden Power Fire. In particular, Ferrothorn and Skarmory are major threats, only taking significant damage from a Storm Drain-boosted Hidden Power Fire and easily setting up entry hazards on Cradily. Toxicroak poses a massive problem for Cradily that do not carry Earthquake, as it sets up Swords Dance or Bulk Up on the forced switch. Cradily is also major setup bait for Conkeldurr, who possesses Guts to take advantage of Cradily's Toxic. Sableye stops Cradily in its tracks with priority Taunt and Will-O-Wisp, forcing a switch. Chansey and Blissey can tank a hit from Cradily and cripple it with Toxic, while shrugging off status with Natural Cure.</p>

<p>Trick users ruin Cradily incredibly well, especially Jirachi and Metagross. The two of them can come in on both of Cradily's STAB moves, Trick it a Choice item, and drastically reduce Cradily's utility.</p>

Wait, is this an update?

More of a revamp of established analysis in BW SmogonDex. Some of the articles were outdated, mentioning Excadrill and stuff, so people are looking over and making revisions. I made many changes to this article, virtually changing phrases / wording, so C&C mods suggested to make a thread first.

OK, just glanced through "5th Gen Reservation Index" and found this:

bugmaniacbob - --- RE: Naming threads. If you are writing an analysis from scratch with nothing previously on-site, the title should have (Analysis) in it. If you are updating a currently on-site analysis, the title should have (Full Revamp) in it. Finally, if you are writing a single set for an existing analysis, then the title should have (Set Name) in it, where the name is whatever you happen to be calling your set. No custom names, though.

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So this would be a Full Revamp. Oglemi said that this should probably go through Quality Check again, so here it is. Sorry for the confusion!

Okay, I just reduced the analysis to bullet points. Also revised the Overview section to remove the excessive hyperbole and glorification.

Sorry for not being familiar with the C&C process -_-. Anyways, this should now be viable for Quality Checks!

the stallbreaking beast from gen 4 returns.........

this looks good, but you should probably mention politoed/rain somewhere in the support set. most rain teams don't run anything that can touch cradily thanks to storm drain, so its niche is definitely supporting sandstorm teams by countering drizzle teams

QC Approved 1/3

Thanks for the approval, Iconic! I myself have an issue with the support set's offensive choice. I can see how Rock Slide may be useful for some solid damage against Gyarados, Tornadus, Volcarona, and Zapdos, so it can stay as the primary slash. However, I think Energy Ball should be slashed next to Rock Slide rather than Earthquake. Earthquake is good for hitting Toxicroak, Heatran, Tentacruel, and Jolteon, but having Ground as your only offense is never good (unless you're Hippowdon / Donphan I guess...). I think Earthquake should be slashed next to Stealth Rock as a complementary move to either of its STAB offense. Does this sound good? I will change it back if anyone disagrees.

Iconic - this looks good, but you should probably mention politoed/rain somewhere in the support set. most rain teams don't run anything that can touch cradily thanks to storm drain, so its niche is definitely supporting sandstorm teams by countering drizzle teams

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eases the sand team's ability to combat Rain teams, discouraging the opponent from spamming Rain-boosted Water moves. Beware of taking Ice Beams when it is raining, though.

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Done, thanks.

@Pocket's above post: That's a fine change. You can start working on this now.

Thanks for the double quality approval, Bloo! This analysis is now ready for GP!

MINE (placeholder) ok done

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Thanks for the very thorough GP check, Engineer Pikachu! Revisions are made!

EDIT: Engineer Pikachu, are you an amateur or can you stamp your GP Check?

EDIT 2: Thanks, V0x, I removed the 2nd Storm Drain mention!

He can't (yet), but 1/2

<p>Since Storm Drain and Sleep Talk are illegal together, Cradily cannot possess its Dream World ability, Storm Drain, when utilizing this set. Stone Edge provides immediate power, and Sleep Talk somewhat compensates for the lack of PP. However, Cradily's lackluster Attack combined with low PP count makes this STAB move a shaky alternative. Sleep Talk may be replaced for Earthquake to better deal with Pokemon resisting its main STAB move. If you choose to do this, though, Recover should be considered over Rest to heal Cradily in this case due to the loss of Sleep Talk.</p>

You may consider removing Storm Drain in the underlined portion since "Dream World ability" technically implies the previously mentioned Storm Drain. It's a bit repetitive currently, but your call.
Nice job Engineer and Pocket


I need mobile irc so I can get off when i actually get off

Unofficial check

2/2

Thanks for the GP check, iss. I didn't agree with some of the subjective changes you've made on the analysis (esp. the revisions on the Mono-Attacking set), so I didn't input some of the changes. Otherwise, I have revised the analysis in accordance to your check. I would like to deem this analysis done, but if I should be more loyal to iss's check, then I would make the proper changes.

uploaded