Va Va Voom
[Overview]
- Solid Defensive stats of 86 / 96 / 107 and an acceptable Grass/Rock typing make it quite durable and make cradily difficult to KO in one move
- Great ability in Storm drain gives it an immunity to water type attacks, which in turn gives cradily a special attack boost and some much needed fire power
- Instant recovery move in recover allows it to function as a decent wall, allowing it to not be worn down unlike fellow grass types amoongus and tangrowth
- Counters the vast majority of water types in RU and serves as an excellent pivot against rain teams thanks to its immunity and grass STAB
- Weak to common fighting and bug attacks makes walling difficult and requires cradily to carry appropriate partners to succeed at its best
- Introduction of hail in ru makes cradily's life tough as hail negates leftovers and exposes it to strong blizzards that at worst, can OHKO
- Low speed stat keeps it from sweeping the opposing team and makes a swords dance set difficult to use in a high paced metagame
- New threats in nidoqueen, escavalier, and durant trouble cradily as all of them can 2HKO cradily's bulkiest sets or use it for setup bait
- Overall, cradily is a solid pokemon on offensive and defensive orientated teams. If you play it to its strengths, you won't be disappointed.
[SET]
name: Defensive Pivot
move 1: Recover
move 2: Giga Drain / Toxic
move 3: Stealth Rock
move 4: Earth Power / Hidden Power Rock / Hidden Power Fire
item: Leftovers
ability: Storm Drain
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
- Beats all the water types in RU 1 on 1, such as Crawdaunt, Feraligatr, Kabutops, and Lanturn, with ease thanks to its immunity to water type attackers and giga drain to restore health while attacking.
- Walls Certain Physical attackers such as Cinccino, Archeops, and Drapion something its competitor tangrowth, cannot do, because it is weak to their stab attackers(bar cinccino)
- Storm Drain gives cradily a much needed water immunity, allowing it be immune to the pesky scald burns. When targeted with a water attack, cradily gains a special attacks boost making it powerful enough to do some damage
- Recover lets cradily repeatedly survive the onslaught of powerful attacks in RU, while simultaneously out stalling its opponents, unlike synthesis, it isn't affected by the presence of hail
- Thanks to the new move tutors in BW2 cradily's ability Storm Drain, is now compatible with both stealth rock and giga drain giving it much more utility as a wall
- Giga drain is the attack of choice which allows cradily to hit water and ground type hard while simultaneously recovering copious amounts of health
- With Stealth rock being legal on a defensive pokemon, having it on cradily is almost mandatory so that it can support its team to the best possible degree.
- Earth Power is nice move that is now legal with Storm Drain. With it, cradily is able to beat pokemon such as magneton, steelix, and drapion, pokemon who would have normally beat cradily
- Hidden Power fire nails pokemon such as durant and escavalier pretty hard while doing damage to fellow grass-types lilligent and sceptile
- Hidden Power rock is cradily's only option for a stab rock attack on the special side. With it, it can OHKO moltres after rocks while doing a ton of damage to flying types attempting to wall cradily.
- Toxic when it is used in conjunction with recover and Hidden Power fire allows cradily to Toxic-stall its opponents, while Hidden Power fire targets the Steel-Types who are immune
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- A physical attacking version of the Defensive set is plausible as cradily has equal offensive stats and an acceptable move pool in each of them to make good use of its attacks
- Seed bomb is decent stab options that can replace giga drain. Seed bomb hits Ground and water types pretty hard and does more damage to slowking than giga drain.
- Earthquake and Rock slide are acceptable alternatives to the final attacking slot hitting fire types pretty hard. Rock slide is better to hit flying types such as braviary, while earthquake targets steel types such as magneton.
- If a physical attacking version of the defensive set is used, the nature should be calm, lowering the special attack stat instead of the physical attacking stat.
- The special set, however is better to use as it is is not susceptible to attack drops from burns or intimidate, while also taking advantage of the special attack boost from storm drain.
- Alternatively, cradily can run a mixed offensive wall set with a relaxed nature due to rock slide and earthquake having a much higher base power, however most threats cradily targets are hit much harder on the special and the boost from storm drain is often too good to pass up.
- Cradily can replace Stealth rock with a coverage like Hidden Power Fire or Rock, allowing it hit a large array of pokemon for SE and be an excellent pivot for a larger array of pokemon
[SET]
name: Curse
move 1: Curse
move 2: Recover
move 3: Seed Bomb / Rock slide
move 4: Earthquake
item: Leftovers
ability: Suction Cups
nature: Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
- This set attempts for cradily to slowly start sweeping thanks to curse raising the defense of cradily while providing an attack boost
- The EVs are dumped into special defense which allows cradily to survive a plethora of special attacks such as avoiding the 2HKO from nidoqueen's sludge wave
- After a few boost cradily becomes incredibly difficult to take down, recover allows cradily to sustain longevity through out the match while continuously boosting
- Seed bomb murders the water types that infest the tier, while also being an acceptable stab option
- Rock slide works better with earthquake and lets cradily get past flying types such as moltres and braviary. Rock slide and earthquake give cradily the excellent edge/quake coverage
- Suction cups prevents a phazer from forcing cradily out of the match allowing to it rack up boosts with out worry
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
- Cradily can run Stone Edge to replace Rock slide for the extra power boost. However, as a defensive booster, the extra PP and accuracy is much more appreciated
- Storm Drain can be used to replace suction cups, giving cradily in immunity to water attacks. At the same time, cradily can use Ingrain in replacement of recover, allowing cradily to benefit from the water Immunity while also being insusceptible to phasing. However the combination of recover+suction cups is superior in most situations and requires less effort.
- Bullet seed can be used over seed bomb as it has the ability to break through substitutes and can even be stronger than seed bomb if it 4 or 5 times. The consistent power provided by seed bomb generally makes it the better option.
- Cradily can end up running a rest-talk set in place of recover and and a coverage move in order to function more as a status aborber, while also being able to stall out walls with toxic such as uxie and slowking
- Hazard support along with the elimination of fighting types is much appreciated. This makes Uxie a wonderful partner as it can set up SR and blast away at the fighting types with psychic
- Slowking, while not able to set up hazards, can defeat fighting type attackers while also dealing well with hail teams that cradily has trouble with
- Confuse ray and swagger are decent options which could potentially give cradily a free turn, but it is generally an inferior option with not too much utility
- Stockpile, amnesia, and barrier are all decent defensive boosting moves, however cradily is better off boosting its attack and defense with curse
- A swords dance set is also plausible but with all the new threats that can trouble cradily along with the resurgence of hail in ru, it generally isn't a good idea to attempt to sweep with something so vulnerable and slow
- Mirror coat can be used for a surprise KO, but after the surprise factor fades away, it becomes useless and a waste of a move slot. Tickle is an alright option, this allows cradily to weaken fighting type switch ins and eases the job of its teammates.
- Due to the omnipresence of hail, cradily can set up sandstorm to disrupt the opposing hail team while also gaining a meaty Special defense boost.
[Checks and Counters]
- Fighting types are the number one way to combat cradily. Pokemon such as gallade and medicham can easily demolish cradily with either Close combat and Hi Jump kick, respectively.
- Hail is also a good way to deal with cradily. The hail damage negates cradily's leftover recovery making it easier to take out. Hail abusers such as jynx and rotom-f can take cradily out with ease thanks to high powered stab blizzards
- Durant and escavalier can both come in easily and set up on cradily and ko her with their respective stab attacks, however both have to be wary of Hidden Power Fire
- Other bug types such as accelgor and Galvantula both threaten cradily with a powerful stab bug buzz, both have to watch out for an incoming rock slide or Hidden power
- Amoongus deals well against cradily as it can remove the boost with clear smog and then cripple it by using spore and continually attacking it with giga drain
- Fire types like moltres and magmortar can blast away at cradily, however moltres has to watch out for Rock Slide and its respective Hidden Power, while magmortar has to be wary of cradily's coverage moves.
- Toxic is another good way to get rid of cradily. As a wall with no way to remove status, toxic severely limits cradily's longevity making it easier to take out through repeated attacks
