#342: Crawdaunt
Crabs and Bivalves have generally gotten a sweet deal with Black and White, with most of them gaining cool new moves (such as Shell Break on Cloyster/Omastar) and excellent abilities (such as Encourage on Kingler) Crawdaunt, whilst slightly overshadowed by Kingler, is no exception, getting the excellent Adaptability, working well with his powerful dual STAB. What Crawdaunt has over Kingler is a decent Special Attack stat to use, the aforementioned powerful dual STAB, and a fairly decent movepool to abuse with it.
Base Stats
63 / 120 / 85 / 90 / 55 / 55
63 / 120 / 85 / 90 / 55 / 55
-- Bubble
Lv7 Harden
Lv10 Vicegrip
Lv13 Leer
Lv20 Bubblebeam
Lv23 Protect
Lv26 Knock Off
Lv30 Swift
Lv34 Taunt
Lv39 Night Slash
Lv44 Crabhammer
Lv52 Swords Dance
Lv57 Crunch
Lv65 Guillotine
Lv7 Harden
Lv10 Vicegrip
Lv13 Leer
Lv20 Bubblebeam
Lv23 Protect
Lv26 Knock Off
Lv30 Swift
Lv34 Taunt
Lv39 Night Slash
Lv44 Crabhammer
Lv52 Swords Dance
Lv57 Crunch
Lv65 Guillotine
Claw Sharpen
Toxic
Hail
Hidden Power
Ice Beam
Blizzard
Hyper Beam
Protect
Rain Dance
Frustration
Return
Dig
Brick Break
Sludge Wave
Sludge Bomb
Rock Tomb
Aerial Ace
Facade
Rest
Attract
Troll
False Swipe
Boiling Water
Fling
Payback
Vengeance
Giga Impact
Rock Slide
X Scissor
Swagger
Substitute
Rock Smash
Black Out
Cut
Surf
Strength
Waterfall
Dive
Toxic
Hail
Hidden Power
Ice Beam
Blizzard
Hyper Beam
Protect
Rain Dance
Frustration
Return
Dig
Brick Break
Sludge Wave
Sludge Bomb
Rock Tomb
Aerial Ace
Facade
Rest
Attract
Troll
False Swipe
Boiling Water
Fling
Payback
Vengeance
Giga Impact
Rock Slide
X Scissor
Swagger
Substitute
Rock Smash
Black Out
Cut
Surf
Strength
Waterfall
Dive
Mud Sport
Endeavor
Body Slam
Ancientpower
Superpower
Metal Claw
Dragon Dance
Trump Card
Little By Little
Double Edge
Endeavor
Body Slam
Ancientpower
Superpower
Metal Claw
Dragon Dance
Trump Card
Little By Little
Double Edge
Pros
> Adaptability, obviously. This turns Crawdaunt into a battering ram with almost 500 attack when using STAB moves, whilst still getting Dragon Dance. :D
> Good STAB coverage with Waterfall, Crabhammer, Surf, Night Slash and Crunch, which is very helpful with Adaptability. The lack of Dark Pulse (since a 4th gen TM is incompatible with a 5th gen ability) is annoying, but Crunch is usually superior anyways. If you really want a special Dark attack, Hidden Power Dark will do in a pinch.
> A plethora of boosting moves; having Swords Dance, Dragon Dance and Claw Sharpen gives Crawdaunt a lot of versatility, and gives him the option to either boost his attack or add a nice side-effect.
> Unpredictability. With the equivalent of 288 Special Attack with no EVs and a neutral nature (249 with Adamant) physical walls aren't guaranteed an easy time. Adaptability Surf, even uninvested, will deal a lot of damage to Hippowdon and Skarmory.
> Incredibly versatile. You should be able to see from the number of sets that I've posted that Crawdaunt can try a lot of different things with success. My favorite sets are the Dragon Dance, Trick Room and BP Receiver sets, since they all let Crawdaunt overcome his rather miserable speed.
> Good STAB coverage with Waterfall, Crabhammer, Surf, Night Slash and Crunch, which is very helpful with Adaptability. The lack of Dark Pulse (since a 4th gen TM is incompatible with a 5th gen ability) is annoying, but Crunch is usually superior anyways. If you really want a special Dark attack, Hidden Power Dark will do in a pinch.
> A plethora of boosting moves; having Swords Dance, Dragon Dance and Claw Sharpen gives Crawdaunt a lot of versatility, and gives him the option to either boost his attack or add a nice side-effect.
> Unpredictability. With the equivalent of 288 Special Attack with no EVs and a neutral nature (249 with Adamant) physical walls aren't guaranteed an easy time. Adaptability Surf, even uninvested, will deal a lot of damage to Hippowdon and Skarmory.
> Incredibly versatile. You should be able to see from the number of sets that I've posted that Crawdaunt can try a lot of different things with success. My favorite sets are the Dragon Dance, Trick Room and BP Receiver sets, since they all let Crawdaunt overcome his rather miserable speed.
Cons
> Slow as shit. You aren't going to be outspeeding a lot with Crawdaunt, you aren't outspeeding +Speed base 110s even with a Dragon Dance, 252 Evs and a +Speed nature under your belt (you can make that base 95s with a neutral nature). This combined with frailty is not a good thing.
> As I said, frail. Unless you resist it, or it's a non STABed physical attack, try not to switch in, you'll be unpleasantly surprised. Don't be tempted to switch this into Shanderaa, he'll still absolutely fry you with that special attack stat. Thankfully, you can revenge him afterwards most of the time.
> Not great defensive typing. You're weak to increasingly popular Electric moves, as well as Close Combat, Mach Punch and U-Turn. But you should already know not to keep Crawdaunt in on any of these.
> No priority moves. If this thing got Aqua Jet and Sucker Punch it'd be insanely good, but alas, it's not happening. Not having Pursuit is also a bit of a shame. No Shell Break either! D:
So as you can see, Crawdaunt has gained a lot of utility in this generation; although it hasn't quite picked up the priority move it needs, it still has plenty of potential. Here's some sets to show you what options he has.
> As I said, frail. Unless you resist it, or it's a non STABed physical attack, try not to switch in, you'll be unpleasantly surprised. Don't be tempted to switch this into Shanderaa, he'll still absolutely fry you with that special attack stat. Thankfully, you can revenge him afterwards most of the time.
> Not great defensive typing. You're weak to increasingly popular Electric moves, as well as Close Combat, Mach Punch and U-Turn. But you should already know not to keep Crawdaunt in on any of these.
> No priority moves. If this thing got Aqua Jet and Sucker Punch it'd be insanely good, but alas, it's not happening. Not having Pursuit is also a bit of a shame. No Shell Break either! D:
So as you can see, Crawdaunt has gained a lot of utility in this generation; although it hasn't quite picked up the priority move it needs, it still has plenty of potential. Here's some sets to show you what options he has.
Physical Dragon Dance
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb/Salac Berry
Adaptability, Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
~ Dragon Dance
~ Waterfall
~ Crunch
~ Aerial Ace / Taunt
Pretty standard set, but boosted by Adaptability for extra potency. After one DD, you'll have 558 (725 with Life Orb) Atk and 314 Speed, which is cool. Waterfall and Crunch have excellent coverage and should easily muscle through anything but dedicated physical walls, and even then they can't switch in. Aerial Ace is the only coverage you'll ever need, hitting Breloom, Poliwrath, Toxicroak and Kerudio for SE damage when they resist both of your STABs. Once you've DD'd, Taunt can also be decent, stopped you from being phazed, and stopping non-priority setup.
Crawdaunt really appreciates speed, and he has plenty of power, so you can use a Salac Berry over a Life Orb, should you want to risk not getting a OHKO for the chance for an ultimate sweep.
Crawdaunt really appreciates speed, and he has plenty of power, so you can use a Salac Berry over a Life Orb, should you want to risk not getting a OHKO for the chance for an ultimate sweep.
Swords Dance Wallbreaker
Crawdaunt @ Salac Berry / Custap Berry
Adaptability, Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Speed
~ Swords Dance
~ Waterfall
~ Crunch / Payback
~ Aerial Ace
This set really isn't a lot different on paper, but it functions as a wallbreaker rather than a sweeper. Swords Dance Adaptability Waterfall is only a little bit less retarded than Nasty Plot Porygon-Z Tri Attack, and given that it's super effective against most physical walls... yeah. The item absolutely needs to give that speedy edge. The speed EVs let you outrun uninvested base 80's, you won't need to use any more without consistent boosting. Salac Berry is good if you feel like sticking around (and will let you outspeed fully invested base 85s), Custap Berry gives you a one off moment of epic pwnage. Once again, Aerial Ace is nice for unstoppable coverage. Still, don't stay in on Breloom unless your berry's activated, for God's Sake. Payback is there if you feel like being tricky, and generally it gets good use on Crawdaunt unless your Salac has activated.
Trick Room Sweeper
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Adaptability, Brave (+Atk, -Speed)
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA (0 Speed IVs)
~ Waterfall
~ Crunch
~ Aerial Ace / Swords Dance
~ Surf / Taunt
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb
Adaptability, Brave (+Atk, -Speed)
252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpA (0 Speed IVs)
~ Waterfall
~ Crunch
~ Aerial Ace / Swords Dance
~ Surf / Taunt
Trick Room can really help Crawdaunt to shine, letting him outspeed almost everything from the get go whilst still have the versatility to switch moves or boost. It also allows you to make Crawdaunt more bulky, which is always nice, letting you actually take a hit. Waterfall / Crunch provide great coverage, Aerial Ace finishes it off, but can be replaced with Swords Dance if you want to risk a free boost if you manage to force a switch. Surf is for physical walls, but after a Swords Dance it might become irrelevant, so Taunt can be useful to take advantage of your speed against set-up pokes.
Claw Sharpen
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb / Salac Berry
Adaptability, Naughty (+Atk, -SpD)
252 Atk / 40 SpA / 216 Speed
~ Claw Sharpen
~ Crabhammer
~ Crunch
~ Blizzard
Woot for unpredictability. Okay, the idea with this set is to get a boost up with Claw Sharpen, which then lets you abuse Crabhammer, which is pretty sweet with 90 Base Power (180 with STAB) and a high crit ratio. It also lets you use Blizzard to deal with Grass types, which are mostly physically defensive like Leafeon and Tangrowth, as well as Dragons who think they can switch in on Waterfall. The Speed EVs are the same as before, with the remainer poured into Special Attack to help bolster Blizzard.
Mixed Dragon Dance
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb / Salac Berry
Adaptability, Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
4 Atk / 252 SpA / 252 Speed
~ Crunch
~ Surf / Waterfall
~ Ice Beam / Taunt
~ Dragon Dance / Hidden Power Grass
Eh, I'm not entirely sure about this one. Crunch is excellent as the primary physical option, since nothing's immune to dark, and it takes care of special walls in the lower tiers. Surf devestates physical walls, and if you can hit them on the switch, you've basically got a free kill. Ice beam is for Grass types and Dragons who think they can shit on your parade, whilst Dragon Dance gives you a much needed speed boost and powers up Crunch. You can run Taunt with DD if you don't mind the loss in coverage. Hidden Power Grass is there for Poliwrath and Swampert, but tbh isn't essential with Crunch's significant increase in power.
Choice Scarf
Crawdaunt @ Choice Scarf
Adaptability, Naive (+Speed, -SpD)
252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Speed
~ Waterfall
~ Crunch
~ Aerial Ace
~ Surf
This set is a bit risky since it lacks the versatility that Crawdaunt loves, but it can be excellent at catching an opponent off guard. It can revenge anything up to +Speed base 110s, and has the option of using a special attack against physical walls. There's not really a lot of other options here, since Adaptability Waterfall and Crunch make running coverage moves slightly redundant. Again, Aerial Ace is there to rape Breloom and not much else, and Surf is there to screw physical walls over. Feel free to use a Hidden Power over Aerial Ace, if you want to be able to revenge certain threats effectively, like Scizor with HP Fire (CB Bullet Punch only deals 35%, and you'll outspeed him if he tries to U Turn)
Choice Band
Crawdaunt @ Choice Band
Adaptability, Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
40 HP / 252 Atk / 216 Speed
~ Waterfall
~ Crunch
~ Aerial Ace / X-Scissor
~ Superpower
Not a big fan of this set, but the immediate presence of STAB attacks coming off of the equivalent of 750 attack has a certain appeal. :P Basically, running a Choice Band lets you have perfect coverage off of a massive attack stat, but only if you predict correctly, and only if you don't get outsped and killed. Waterfall and Crunch are self-explanatory, Aerial Ace provides coverage against Breloom, Poliwrath and Kerudio, and Superpower lets you OHKO Empoleon (whilst unfortunately telegraphing a switch) X-Scissor /can/ be used on this set, but be aware that Superpower might not manage to OHKO Breloom, and will fail to 2HKO a 252/252 version, which could be disastrous. You already have Crunch for Celebi, anyways.
Choice Specs <3
Crawdaunt @ Choice Specs
Adaptability, Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
40 HP / 252 SpA/ 216 Speed
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Hidden Power Dark (or something else)
~ Superpower
Crawdaunt @ Choice Specs
Adaptability, Rash (+SpA, -SpD)
40 HP / 252 SpA/ 216 Speed
~ Surf
~ Ice Beam
~ Hidden Power Dark (or something else)
~ Superpower
Warning, gimmick inbound. With Choice Specs, a +nature and 252 EVs, Crawdaunt can use its STAB attacks with the equivalent of 612 SpA (coverage moves get 459 SpA to work with) Not many will see this coming, so you can fire off a Surf at any physical wall they send in and destroy it. Ice Beam is there for grass types, OHKOing everything, IIRC. Then you have to use a Hidden Power, either Dark for STAB or something else like Electric or Fire to deal with specific threats. Superpower is there for the 4th slot since it hits Blissey hard, but be aware that it'll only do around 60% damage, so don't try and use it unless Blissey is already damaged. It's still worth it, though, since it deals three times as much damage as Surf in this circumstance.
Baton Pass Receiver
Crawdaunt @ Life Orb / Leftovers
Adaptability, Jolly (+Speed, -SpA)
4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Speed
~ Waterfall
~ Crunch
~ Aerial Ace / Protect
~ Taunt
Final set, I promise. The premise is to get this in using something like Ninjask, giving it +2 Atk and +2 Speed. Then you can just rape face, Taunting anything that tries to phaze you and killing anything that lacks a priority move. Protect is only slashed in case you want to scout for priority moves, but tbh you shouldn't need to. It might be worth running if Technician Breloom becomes as popular as the Spore Puncher, though.
Hmmm. Night Slash is always there over Crunch should you prefer the chance for a crit over base power, but it probably isn't needed with Crawdaunt's Attack stat. Crabhammer can be slashed over Waterfall on any set, since in Gen 5 it's basically Aqua Tail with a high crit rate, which is very nice. Just be prepared for a ribbing if you miss, though. Hidden Powers can be used for coverage that probably isn't needed (although HP Fire is REQUIRED if you want to stand a chance against Nattorei), and Boiling Water can be used over Surf in the mixed sets if you fancy a burn chance. Superpower is there to hit Empoleon and little else, so it probably isn't worth it in the long run, although it does have utility on the Choice Sets. Substitute might be good on the Swords Dance set, if you think you can force something out, but Taunt on a DD set is generally superior at stopping status users. Endeavor is completely unnecessary on something with Crawdaunt's attacking power, so don't use it. Body Slam is there if you want Paralysis, but is useless otherwise.
Also, Nattorei is pretty much the perfect counter to Crawdaunt unless you run Hidden Power Fire, so if that thing becomes popular then don't expect Crawdaunt to break UU.
My message is, give Crawdaunt a chance in this metagame! It's an excellent battering ram, and if you can force something out and get a speed boost, prepare from some free kills. Just try and work around it's lack of priority, Pursuit and bulk in general, and you'll do fine.
EDIT: I'm pretty sure that Dark Pulse is incompatible with Adaptability, but in the end only one set really felt the need to use it, so there we go. So I've removed it from the analysis. X Scissor has also been removed, since SE X Scissor does the same as neutral Crunch off this guy, and is thus completely pointless thanks to Adaptability. I've also added and modified GLS' Trick Room set because it makes the most out of Crawdaunt, which can run Swords Dance over X Scissor should you be good at forcing things out. The BP Receiver has been edited (used to run Surf until I realised it was /not/ necessary with +2 and a Life Orb) and I've fleshed out the Swords Dance sets. I've also added Choice Band and Choice Specs sets, although I'm not sure about how viable they are.
Other Options
Hmmm. Night Slash is always there over Crunch should you prefer the chance for a crit over base power, but it probably isn't needed with Crawdaunt's Attack stat. Crabhammer can be slashed over Waterfall on any set, since in Gen 5 it's basically Aqua Tail with a high crit rate, which is very nice. Just be prepared for a ribbing if you miss, though. Hidden Powers can be used for coverage that probably isn't needed (although HP Fire is REQUIRED if you want to stand a chance against Nattorei), and Boiling Water can be used over Surf in the mixed sets if you fancy a burn chance. Superpower is there to hit Empoleon and little else, so it probably isn't worth it in the long run, although it does have utility on the Choice Sets. Substitute might be good on the Swords Dance set, if you think you can force something out, but Taunt on a DD set is generally superior at stopping status users. Endeavor is completely unnecessary on something with Crawdaunt's attacking power, so don't use it. Body Slam is there if you want Paralysis, but is useless otherwise.
Also, Nattorei is pretty much the perfect counter to Crawdaunt unless you run Hidden Power Fire, so if that thing becomes popular then don't expect Crawdaunt to break UU.
My message is, give Crawdaunt a chance in this metagame! It's an excellent battering ram, and if you can force something out and get a speed boost, prepare from some free kills. Just try and work around it's lack of priority, Pursuit and bulk in general, and you'll do fine.
EDIT: I'm pretty sure that Dark Pulse is incompatible with Adaptability, but in the end only one set really felt the need to use it, so there we go. So I've removed it from the analysis. X Scissor has also been removed, since SE X Scissor does the same as neutral Crunch off this guy, and is thus completely pointless thanks to Adaptability. I've also added and modified GLS' Trick Room set because it makes the most out of Crawdaunt, which can run Swords Dance over X Scissor should you be good at forcing things out. The BP Receiver has been edited (used to run Surf until I realised it was /not/ necessary with +2 and a Life Orb) and I've fleshed out the Swords Dance sets. I've also added Choice Band and Choice Specs sets, although I'm not sure about how viable they are.
