[OVERVIEW]
*Cresselia is a staple of the Battle Spot Doubles format and one of its best tanks with its insane 120/120/130 defenses.
*It has a great ability in Levitate, making it immune to all Ground-type moves thusmaking it a great switch-in to Landorus-T and other Tectonic Rage users.
*With its respectable Speed tier, Cresselia can be effective in and out of Trick Room.
*A relatively low Special Attack stat means a lot of times it can be a sitting duck.
*With only weak Psychic- and Ice-type attacks, Cresselia is easily walled by Dark- and Steel-type Pokemon.
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Psychic / Psyshock
move 2: Trick Room
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Helping Hand / Skill Swap
item: Mental Herb / Sitrus Berry / Leftovers
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET DETAILS]
Moves
========
*Cresselia is one of the bulkiest Pokemon that learns Trick Room, which it uses to assist its strong, bulky partners, flipping the turn order in each priority bracket.
*Psychic provides a reliable STAB attack that does decent damage to a wide variety of Pokemon. Psyshock, on the other hand, trades some power to hit Pokemon with weaker physical defense for more damage.
*Ice Beam is for hitting Pokemon that resist Psychic-type attacks or are very weak to Ice-type attacks, such as Salamence and Landorus-T.
*Skill Swap takes away useful abilities such as Intimidate, Aerilate, and Parental Bond and gives Levitate to teammates such as Heatran.
*Helping Hand boosts the power of Cresselia's teammates, and can turn 2HKOs into OHKOs.
Set Comments
========
*Cresselia's great staying power makes it an obvious choice for setting up Trick Room.
*Mental Herb prevents the likes of Taunt and Encore from stopping Cresselia's setup, which are common ways to prevent Trick Room.
*The EV spread is used to patch up Cresselia's slightly weaker Defense.
*Sitrus Berry maximizes the chances of setting Trick Room a second time, which can be game winning.
*Leftovers is the best item for long term recovery and increasing the amazing staying power that Cresselia already possesses.
Usage Tips
========
*It's advised to not bring Cresselia against teams with dedicated Trick Room answers, such as Amoonguss.
*Use Team Preview to judge the Speed of the opposing team, if it is on the faster end, lots of times it won't be as defensive, and Cresselia and its partners can just tear through the opposing team.
*Watch out for Pokemon such as Aegislash and Tyranitar that can one-shot Cresselia with their insanely strong super effective Z-moves.
Team Options
========
*Amoonguss is one of the classic partners for Trick Room Cresselia, as its great bulk allows it to sponge hits rather easily with Rage Powder while Cresselia sets up. Then, Amoonguss is able to put things to sleep with Spore while other Pokemon get to work.
*Tyranitar is slow and very powerful, and complements Cresselia well by hitting Ghost types that it doesn't enjoy facing, and OHKOing some Dark-types with Superpower.
*Mega Kangaskhan, while not necessarily a slow Pokemon, can be built to be slow and assist Cresselia with setting up Trick Room using Fake Out.
*Conkeldurr is one of the strongest and slowest Pokemon in the metagame, and having something like Cresselia to support its power complements it really well.
*Heatran can be run with a slow and bulky set as well, which means it can take advantage of Trick Room and can cover Cresselia's bad Steel-type matchup with strong Fire-type STAB attacks. Cresselia can also utilize Skill Swap to give Heatran Levitate, removing its 4x weakness to Ground.
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psychic / Psyshock
move 3: Icy Wind / Ice Beam / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Moonlight
item: Kee Berry / Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
ability: Levitate
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET DETAILS]
moves
========
*Cresselia is very deadly after a Calm Mind boost, as the majority of the offensive attackers in the format are specially oriented.
*Psychic is the strongest Psychic STAB Cresselia learns, and the damage output drastically increases with a few Calm Minds. Calm Mind can also negate the slight power drop of Psyshock, if hitting Pokemon with less Defense is more desired.
*Icy Wind can be used as team support, while Ice Beam deals strong damage to Pokemon that have an exploitable Ice Weakness and is a guaranteed OHKO on Landorus-T and Salamence at +1 Special Attack.
*Moonlight keeps Cresselia on the field longer, which is vital for a set that thrives on setting up for multiple turns.
*Hidden Power Ground hits Steel-types, especially Heatran.
*Moonlight keeps Cresselia on the field longer, which is vital for a set that thrives on setting up for multiple turns.
Set Comments
=======
*Kee Berry is used to give Cresselia a way to increase both its defenses. Electric Seed and Grassy Seed also boost Defense if you have Tapu Koko or Tapu Bulu, respectively, as a teammate.
*Leftovers can increase longevity and recovery.
*This EV spread maximizes Defense, as with Calm Mind it's easy to boost Special Defense and very quickly have a prolific mixed wall.
*Rocky Helmet makes physical attackers wary of hitting Cresselia and also makes it easier to pick up KOs once it has racked up a few boosts.
Usage Tips
========
*This set is at its best when used against teams with lots of Special attackers and few Dark- and Ghost-type Pokemon that threaten its setup.
*Identifying which Pokemon are the threats to Cresselia and removing them is a key strategy, as then Cresselia becomes a win condition by itself.
*With Kee Berry especially, it's good to stack Intimidate or switch in on weak physical attacks such as Fake Out to gain quick Defense boosts while lowering your opponent's damage output.
*Calm Mind Cresselia isn't as effective against teams that run rain, sand, or hail due to the fact that Moonlight recovers less HP than it would normally, which severely cuts Cresselia's staying power.
Team Options
========
*Heatran is one of the best partners for Cresselia, as it can easily remove Steel-types, that Cresselia struggles with using strong Fire STAB attacks or Earth Power.
*Landorus-T makes a great pairing for Cresselia, complementing its bulk with Intimidate and removing opposing Steels. Landorus-T also has the ability to use Earthquake freely due to Cresselia's Levitate.
*Tapu Fini, though it doesn't give Cresselia immunity to status effects, covers Cresselia as a way to deal with Heatran and can potentially support Cresselia with Heal Pulse.
*Mega Kangaskhan and Cresselia make a great duo of bulky attackers, hitting from both the special and physical sides.
*With Drought, Mega Charizard Y gives Cresselia greater recovery from Moonlight, and obliterates all Steel-types, not named Heatran.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========
*Dual Screens gives Cresselia amazing utility and increases the bulk of its entire team.
*Toxic and Moonlight are great options for 1v1 situations with opposing bulky walls that teammates cannot break.
*Thunder Wave can be used as a permanent form of speed control, thought it has less accuracy than Icy Wind and is blocked by Misty Terrain.
*Iapapa Berry is restores health once Cresselia drops below 25%, and the extra recovery can swing momentum in tight games.
Checks and Counters
=========
**Steel-types**: Most Steel-type Pokemon, such as Heatran, Celesteela, Aegislash, and Metagross, completely wall out all of Cresselia's attacks aside from a potential Hidden Power Ground and will eventually wear it down.
**Ghost-types**: While most Ghost-types don't resist Psychic-type attacks, Pokemon like Mimikyu and Aegislash can absorb a few hits and either set up or go for big damage with attacks like Never-Ending-Nightmare. In the case of Alolan Marowak, Psychic does minimal damage while Shadow Bone does lots to even the bulkiest of Cresselia.
**Dark-types**: Dark-types are immune to Psychic and hit Cresselia hard with their STAB attacks, and the bulkiest of them, such as Alolan Muk and Tyranitar, are not going to take much damage from Ice Beam.
**Toxic/Perish Song**: Cresselia is the epitome of staying power. So when faced with Toxic or Perish Song, which dictates how long it has to remain on the field, its role is made worthless.
*Cresselia is a staple of the Battle Spot Doubles format and one of its best tanks with its insane 120/120/130 defenses.
*It has a great ability in Levitate, making it immune to all Ground-type moves thusmaking it a great switch-in to Landorus-T and other Tectonic Rage users.
*With its respectable Speed tier, Cresselia can be effective in and out of Trick Room.
*A relatively low Special Attack stat means a lot of times it can be a sitting duck.
*With only weak Psychic- and Ice-type attacks, Cresselia is easily walled by Dark- and Steel-type Pokemon.
[SET]
name: Trick Room
move 1: Psychic / Psyshock
move 2: Trick Room
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Helping Hand / Skill Swap
item: Mental Herb / Sitrus Berry / Leftovers
nature: Relaxed
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET DETAILS]
Moves
========
*Cresselia is one of the bulkiest Pokemon that learns Trick Room, which it uses to assist its strong, bulky partners, flipping the turn order in each priority bracket.
*Psychic provides a reliable STAB attack that does decent damage to a wide variety of Pokemon. Psyshock, on the other hand, trades some power to hit Pokemon with weaker physical defense for more damage.
*Ice Beam is for hitting Pokemon that resist Psychic-type attacks or are very weak to Ice-type attacks, such as Salamence and Landorus-T.
*Skill Swap takes away useful abilities such as Intimidate, Aerilate, and Parental Bond and gives Levitate to teammates such as Heatran.
*Helping Hand boosts the power of Cresselia's teammates, and can turn 2HKOs into OHKOs.
Set Comments
========
*Cresselia's great staying power makes it an obvious choice for setting up Trick Room.
*Mental Herb prevents the likes of Taunt and Encore from stopping Cresselia's setup, which are common ways to prevent Trick Room.
*The EV spread is used to patch up Cresselia's slightly weaker Defense.
*Sitrus Berry maximizes the chances of setting Trick Room a second time, which can be game winning.
*Leftovers is the best item for long term recovery and increasing the amazing staying power that Cresselia already possesses.
Usage Tips
========
*It's advised to not bring Cresselia against teams with dedicated Trick Room answers, such as Amoonguss.
*Use Team Preview to judge the Speed of the opposing team, if it is on the faster end, lots of times it won't be as defensive, and Cresselia and its partners can just tear through the opposing team.
*Watch out for Pokemon such as Aegislash and Tyranitar that can one-shot Cresselia with their insanely strong super effective Z-moves.
Team Options
========
*Amoonguss is one of the classic partners for Trick Room Cresselia, as its great bulk allows it to sponge hits rather easily with Rage Powder while Cresselia sets up. Then, Amoonguss is able to put things to sleep with Spore while other Pokemon get to work.
*Tyranitar is slow and very powerful, and complements Cresselia well by hitting Ghost types that it doesn't enjoy facing, and OHKOing some Dark-types with Superpower.
*Mega Kangaskhan, while not necessarily a slow Pokemon, can be built to be slow and assist Cresselia with setting up Trick Room using Fake Out.
*Conkeldurr is one of the strongest and slowest Pokemon in the metagame, and having something like Cresselia to support its power complements it really well.
*Heatran can be run with a slow and bulky set as well, which means it can take advantage of Trick Room and can cover Cresselia's bad Steel-type matchup with strong Fire-type STAB attacks. Cresselia can also utilize Skill Swap to give Heatran Levitate, removing its 4x weakness to Ground.
[SET]
name: Calm Mind
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Psychic / Psyshock
move 3: Icy Wind / Ice Beam / Hidden Power Ground
move 4: Moonlight
item: Kee Berry / Leftovers / Rocky Helmet
ability: Levitate
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
[SET DETAILS]
moves
========
*Cresselia is very deadly after a Calm Mind boost, as the majority of the offensive attackers in the format are specially oriented.
*Psychic is the strongest Psychic STAB Cresselia learns, and the damage output drastically increases with a few Calm Minds. Calm Mind can also negate the slight power drop of Psyshock, if hitting Pokemon with less Defense is more desired.
*Icy Wind can be used as team support, while Ice Beam deals strong damage to Pokemon that have an exploitable Ice Weakness and is a guaranteed OHKO on Landorus-T and Salamence at +1 Special Attack.
*Moonlight keeps Cresselia on the field longer, which is vital for a set that thrives on setting up for multiple turns.
*Hidden Power Ground hits Steel-types, especially Heatran.
*Moonlight keeps Cresselia on the field longer, which is vital for a set that thrives on setting up for multiple turns.
Set Comments
=======
*Kee Berry is used to give Cresselia a way to increase both its defenses. Electric Seed and Grassy Seed also boost Defense if you have Tapu Koko or Tapu Bulu, respectively, as a teammate.
*Leftovers can increase longevity and recovery.
*This EV spread maximizes Defense, as with Calm Mind it's easy to boost Special Defense and very quickly have a prolific mixed wall.
*Rocky Helmet makes physical attackers wary of hitting Cresselia and also makes it easier to pick up KOs once it has racked up a few boosts.
Usage Tips
========
*This set is at its best when used against teams with lots of Special attackers and few Dark- and Ghost-type Pokemon that threaten its setup.
*Identifying which Pokemon are the threats to Cresselia and removing them is a key strategy, as then Cresselia becomes a win condition by itself.
*With Kee Berry especially, it's good to stack Intimidate or switch in on weak physical attacks such as Fake Out to gain quick Defense boosts while lowering your opponent's damage output.
*Calm Mind Cresselia isn't as effective against teams that run rain, sand, or hail due to the fact that Moonlight recovers less HP than it would normally, which severely cuts Cresselia's staying power.
Team Options
========
*Heatran is one of the best partners for Cresselia, as it can easily remove Steel-types, that Cresselia struggles with using strong Fire STAB attacks or Earth Power.
*Landorus-T makes a great pairing for Cresselia, complementing its bulk with Intimidate and removing opposing Steels. Landorus-T also has the ability to use Earthquake freely due to Cresselia's Levitate.
*Tapu Fini, though it doesn't give Cresselia immunity to status effects, covers Cresselia as a way to deal with Heatran and can potentially support Cresselia with Heal Pulse.
*Mega Kangaskhan and Cresselia make a great duo of bulky attackers, hitting from both the special and physical sides.
*With Drought, Mega Charizard Y gives Cresselia greater recovery from Moonlight, and obliterates all Steel-types, not named Heatran.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========
*Dual Screens gives Cresselia amazing utility and increases the bulk of its entire team.
*Toxic and Moonlight are great options for 1v1 situations with opposing bulky walls that teammates cannot break.
*Thunder Wave can be used as a permanent form of speed control, thought it has less accuracy than Icy Wind and is blocked by Misty Terrain.
*Iapapa Berry is restores health once Cresselia drops below 25%, and the extra recovery can swing momentum in tight games.
Checks and Counters
=========
**Steel-types**: Most Steel-type Pokemon, such as Heatran, Celesteela, Aegislash, and Metagross, completely wall out all of Cresselia's attacks aside from a potential Hidden Power Ground and will eventually wear it down.
**Ghost-types**: While most Ghost-types don't resist Psychic-type attacks, Pokemon like Mimikyu and Aegislash can absorb a few hits and either set up or go for big damage with attacks like Never-Ending-Nightmare. In the case of Alolan Marowak, Psychic does minimal damage while Shadow Bone does lots to even the bulkiest of Cresselia.
**Dark-types**: Dark-types are immune to Psychic and hit Cresselia hard with their STAB attacks, and the bulkiest of them, such as Alolan Muk and Tyranitar, are not going to take much damage from Ice Beam.
**Toxic/Perish Song**: Cresselia is the epitome of staying power. So when faced with Toxic or Perish Song, which dictates how long it has to remain on the field, its role is made worthless.
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