Pokémon Crobat

[Pipotchi]

Personally I dont see the point of giving your crobat extra bulk/leftovers and roost if you aren't running him with taunt and using him for stallbreaking. With 85/80/80 defenses he's not going to have staying power against anything but defensive pokemon, so may as well maximise attack and speed otherwise? He has a couple of good 4x resistances but they cant be relied on to defend you from most offensive pokemon.


I know stallbreaker crobat with high longevity is popular, but I wanted to try something else:

Crobat @ Focus Sash
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Cross Poison
- Defog
- Hypnosis
- U-turn

By giving up the ability to extend his longevity, Crobat gains the ability to be an even better momentum shifter. Focus sash helps crobat stay alive for 2 turns, and with high speed and u-turn as well as spikes/toxspikes/earthquake/toxic immunities he can likely grab even more. With the fastest sleep + infiltrator combo paired with a focus sash Crobat can stop incredibly scary pokemon mid-sweep even when they are behind a substitute. With Hypnosis paired with u-turn, you can force their sweeper to switch out whilst also switching out and completely turning the momentum in your favour. Defog allows you to remove the spikes and toxspikes you are immune to for your teammates, as well as giving you a 80% accuracy hypnosis on the following turn. Unfortunately Brave Bird + focus sash is not really an option but Cross Poison is a reliable STAB attack and will be painful for the various grass type subseeders when paired with u-turn.
Other items could be used but I think Focus sash is somewhat mandatory if using something as unreliable as Hypnosis. Having 2 turns allows either 2 shots at hypnosis or the ability to defog -> hypnosis. And having the focus sash also allows to maximise attack instead of investing in bulk, something quite needed when being unable to use Brave Bird.


The other set I really liked the look of was a Choice Band set:

Crobat @ Choice Band
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 Def
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Cross Poison
- Brave Bird
- Hypnosis
- U-turn

Now any subseeder or user of subpunch will be crying with the fear of being obliterated by a choice band brave bird. Similarly, all the fighting types with guts who might already be statused (and therefore immune to hypnosis) will also fear that flying STAB. Every virizion and breloom set is destroyed by this provided you don't get hit by spore- 4x effective attack through its substitute which can cancel focus punches as well as 4x resistances to both of its STABs is so cruel that I cant stop laughing. However crobat must avoid getting hit by the initial spore as well as stone edge on the switch ( i can imagine with low sweep gaining 5 damage that breloom will start taking stone edge instead).
Brave Bird also hits all the speed boosting baton passers who may try and use substitute for super effective, somewhat limiting the number of boosts they can build up before passing. Note that crobat will still outspeed adamant blaziken after 1 speed boost and that jolly blaz, scolipede and ninjask(who has higher speed to start with lol) all outspeed after 1.
Hypnosis is a good move for a choice band set because while you have to switch out after the hit, so do they. (Note the main move for this set is definitely not the hypnosis, however: it has good synergy with brave bird as mentioned above). Poison also got a new buff gaining new super effective coverage. Overall I think this crobat got a lot of buffs this generation even though not much seems to have changed. What do you guys think?

 

[L0calLEGEND]

Crobat @ Focus Sash
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Speed / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Cross Poison
- Defog
- Hypnosis
- U-turn

By giving up the ability to extend his longevity, Crobat gains the ability to be an even better momentum shifter. Focus sash helps crobat stay alive for 2 turns, and with high speed and u-turn as well as spikes/toxspikes/earthquake/toxic immunities he can likely grab even more. With the fastest sleep + infiltrator combo paired with a focus sash Crobat can stop incredibly scary pokemon mid-sweep even when they are behind a substitute. With Hypnosis paired with u-turn, you can force their sweeper to switch out whilst also switching out and completely turning the momentum in your favour. Defog allows you to remove the spikes and toxspikes you are immune to for your teammates, as well as giving you a 80% accuracy hypnosis on the following turn. Unfortunately Brave Bird + focus sash is not really an option but Cross Poison is a reliable STAB attack and will be painful for the various grass type subseeders when paired with u-turn.
Other items could be used but I think Focus sash is somewhat mandatory if using something as unreliable as Hypnosis. Having 2 turns allows either 2 shots at hypnosis or the ability to defog -> hypnosis. And having the focus sash also allows to maximise attack instead of investing in bulk, something quite needed when being unable to use Brave Bird.

Running defog with a focus sash is a bad idea, unless you have another spinner or another defogger for some reason. Yes, I do know the reason of defog on the set is to get rid of spikes and toxic spikes, but spikers usually have rocks too and will set rocks up earlier than spikes. (Unless it's a tentacruel or cloyster who don't get rocks.)

 

[Zumaren]

Cross poison will only get a guaranteed OHKO with an adament nature and 248 EVs, so you must be talking about a offensive variant and not a support one.
I would think poison fang would fit onto a support set well. Maybe switching defog for it if something else on your team can learn defog.

We really need to list which kind of variant we are discussing to avoid confusion.

Mega gardevoir's 100 base speed is okay, but it's still able to be checked by faster physical mons and scarfed revenge killers. I doubt mega gardevoir will wreck an entire team.

i speak of Choiceband

 

[Pipotchi]

Running defog with a focus sash is a bad idea, unless you have another spinner or another defogger for some reason. Yes, I do know the reason of defog on the set is to get rid of spikes and toxic spikes, but spikers usually have rocks too and will set rocks up earlier than spikes. (Unless it's a tentacruel or cloyster who don't get rocks.)

You dont run the set for the defog, and for the sole aim for defogging. The aim of the set is using the hypnosis. Crobat does not have a wide range of options and I think defog is the most effective for momentum keeping, being able to use high speed for good effect to defog -> hypnosis in situations where you can remove hazards. The main aim of the set is to be able to hit a hypnosis against a scary sweeper and change momentum with the added side effects of being able to defog hazards and being a good scout. Focus sash has good synergy with the main aim of the set which is why it is there.

Crobat also suffers a bit from 4MSS when trying to mix stallbreaker and another role so I didnt give him roost or taunt as he needs both ideally to perform as a stallbreaker. Instead I chose to give him defog as it works fine as a standalone move which works well alone as well as with hypnosis.

 

[RoyRenard]

Well, to say the least, I've been quite impressed with Crobat's performance on my team so far. I really think he's being so damn underrated, especially with his Utility/Stallbreaker sets countering stall mons/teams so hard. After running Forretress for Rapid Spin and encountering so many Trevenants out there, I came to the conclusion that, either I use my Mega slot for Mega Blastoise in order to effectively keep hazards away or I run a Defogger. I started using Crobat since then and, as I said, he's being godly at his role, raping Trevenants, shutting down everything that tries to inflict status/lay hazards/set-up/etc, denting down opposing Pokémon with Brave Bird (which does very goord damage) and also tanking stuff like a boss (even some SE attacks after Stealth Rock damage). He can also U-Turn away when in trouble and act as a great defensive pivot.
Seriously, people should give him a chance.

The set I've been using so far is:

@ Black Sludge - Jolly
Infiltrator
252 HP/ 200 Spe/ 56 Atk
-Defog
-Taunt
-Brave Bird
-U-Turn

The dilemma here is whether I should run Roost instead of U-Turn. I know, his main role being a defogger, Roost is, perhaps, mandatory, but U-Turn just works too well with my current team (I'm running Choice Band Talonflame, Choice Band Scizor, Assault Vest Tyranitar, Physically Defensive Rotom and bulky Mega-Kangaskhan).
Anyways, TL; DR: Crobat is extremely underrated, try him out.

 

[Tylendal]

People with more experience than me are probably going to tell me all the ways this is a terrible idea, but I've actually been having a lot of success, at least in the Battlespot, with a defensive Crobat.

Crobat @ Black Sludge
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 HP / 168 Def / 84 SpD / 4 Spd
Calm/Careful Nature
- Hypnosis
- Toxic
- Substitute
- Roost

Even without speed investment, it manages to outrun anything not heavily invested in speed, and can use Hypnosis on anything genuinely threatening.

 

[Garchompi]

^ Use Poison Fang over Toxic on that set. This way you have at least a damaging move and since Poison Fang now has a 50% chance to Toxic it's a valid alternative.

 

[FredFord]

Hypnosis and Nasty Plot is a legal combo now, unfortunately you can't use it with Heat Wave though I think.

 

[big nipples]

Why do not change hypnosis for protect?

 

[LELIS.M]

From personal experience, this Crobat set is awesome:

Crobat @ Black Sludge
Infiltrator 252HP / 252Spe /4Atk

- Confuse Ray
- Toxic
- Roost
- Brave Bird

As Crobat is freaking fast, Confuse Ray is always first. Then I use Toxic; if the foe manages to strike on Bro even if confused, I Roost. Usually it works really well as Crobat is relatively bulky with HP investment and has quite a few resistances. Also, Infiltrator is nice, as I can Brave Bird things behind subs. Lost the count on how many Scolipede, Breloom, Trevenant, Grass and Fighiting types in general etc have fallen to Crobat. He's essential to my team!

 

[strongarm85]

I personally use this set on my Crobat for Doubles, in game.

Crobat@ Inner Focus
Infiltrator 252atk/252spd/4hp - Jolly

- Cross Poison
- Haze
- Brave Bird
- Defog

Haze deals with Speedboost Scolipede Baton Pass, it also ruins Belly Drum Azumaril. Defog clears hazards. + Speed nature with base 130 speed means you get to outrun the likes of Mega-Gengar and Mega-Alakazam and OHKO them with Brave Bird. It's very common in Doubles for someone to try to flinch stall against sweeper like Azumaril while it sets up, and Innerfocus negates that tactic. Also since Crobat outspeeds even the fastest Greninja with this set-up, Crobat gets a hit in before Greninja can use Mat Block. This also sets up a Guarantee kill Geninja the following turn with Bravebird if Geninja is Protean.

Crobat with this set-up gets completely walled by Steal types, but in Doubles you'll ideally partner Crobat with something that's good at taking out Steal, like Diggersby, or Mega Charizard Y.

 

[L0calLEGEND]

Crobat@ Inner Focus
Infiltrator 252atk/252spd/4hp - Jolly

- Cross Poison
- Haze
- Brave Bird
- Defog

Umm... What is your item? You never mentioned it in your set.

 

[strongarm85]

Black Sludge, mainly because it takes the edge off of Brave Bird.

 

[Ganigumo]

Ive been running a Crobat set thats been doing wonders in Battle Maison and Free battle.
Crobat@ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
Timid 4HP 252spA 252 Spe
Hypnosis
Nasty Plot
Sludge Bomb
Shadow Ball

It isn't compatable with giga drain and heat wave, but with the way new egg moves work crobat can run both hypnosis and nasty plot, allowing it to set up its own sweep. landing a hypnosis is almost a guaranteed free nasty plot if they switch or stay in. He outspeeds almost everything, and ties what he doesn't outspeed. Ive had it take down Mega Gengar.
with steel no longer resisting Ghost this set hits heatran for neutral as well. The only pokemon that resist both attacks are, bisharp, tyranitar, krokorok, drapion,Diggersby and skuntank. Tyranitar is the only problem pokemon but you can just put him to sleep and switch out. Infiltrator allows you to put someone to sleep behind a substitute.

*edit implied that shadow ball was a dark type attack

 

[Velits]

Ive been running a Crobat set thats been doing wonders in Battle Maison and Free battle.
Crobat@ Life Orb
Ability: Infiltrator
Timid 4HP 252spA 252 Spe
Hypnosis
Nasty Plot
Sludge Bomb
Shadow Ball

It isn't compatable with giga drain and heat wave, but with the way new egg moves work crobat can run both hypnosis and nasty plot, allowing it to set up its own sweep. landing a hypnosis is almost a guaranteed free nasty plot if they switch or stay in. He outspeeds almost everything, and ties what he doesn't outspeed. Ive had it take down Mega Gengar.
with steel no longer resisting Ghost this set hits heatran for neutral as well. The only pokemon that resist both attacks are, bisharp, tyranitar, krokorok, drapion,Diggersby and skuntank. Tyranitar is the only problem pokemon but you can just put him to sleep and switch out. Infiltrator allows you to put someone to sleep behind a substitute.

*edit implied that shadow ball was a dark type attack

You can breed Giga Drain on Crobat since it's an eggmove. You are right about Heat Wave though.

 

[Ogami]

I know Kang is probably gonna leave soon, but for now having something that can handle it is necessary for any team that isn't HO. Crobat is one of the fastest users of Haze, probably the fastest and this set tries to use it with one of my favorite items and at this point pretty standard Kang check, Rocky Helmet. This is nice too for things like Flame Orb Conk so it suicides itself and of course bu conk cries. It can even help against CM or Cosmic Power clefable, which i think can be a pretty potent pokemon, as even stored power isn't gonna do a whole lot without any boosts. Taunt and Roost still make it a great wall breaker but it needs more momentum than usual to be truly efficient at it without defog. Black Sludge recovery is definitely missed, but Rocky Helmet passive damage is necessary to make sure kang doesn't just hit you over and over waiting for a crit.

Here's the spread:

Crobat@Rocky Helmet
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Hp / 144 Def / 112 Spe
Nature: Jolly
-Brave Bird
-Taunt
-Haze
-Roost

Forget 4mss this thing would have 5mss if it were possible and even 6mss. I would love defog of course, but hypnosis/u-turn are also seriously tempting. Gah Crobat is awesome.

Anyways, the Ev's are to max out physical bulk while still being able to outspeed max positive natured base 112's, aka Mega Lucario. Going up to 115's might be necessary for starmie, but that isn't super common and I don't think most players will plan their strategy on Crobat being slower than their starmie unless you've already shown them it is. The only problem I have with Mega Luc is that if he chooses to boost while I switch the e speed kills after rocks and leaves bat at extremely low percentages before bat can haze. Not sure what to do about that. it's better if they go for ice punch, but that still does a ton. Not sure. Going down to outspeeding Gengar and other max110's might be better for a bit more bulk.

As for partners, this crobat definitely needs a reliable spinner/defogger as it is so much worse at it's job with rocks up. This is where black sludge/ defog is missed the most. A pursuit trapper is another great partner for those pesky psychics. I'm in love with assault vest bisharp right now, but T-Tar is often the best at what it does. T-Tar also handles talonflame which Crobat isn't bulky enough to switch in on.

Kang Matchup
252 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 144 Def Crobat: 247-292 (66 - 78%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
The key is to switch in on PuP with this one. It's risky but i rarely face kang's that start with Return. The main thing that perturbs me is the possible OHKO after rocks. Maybe more bulk and less speed. The nice thing is that often times when you switch in on the pup, taking less damage than Kang does, Kang will often go for sucker punch next expecting an attack from the faster crobat. This is a free haze and allows you to get in a brave bird next turn if you have the Hp in order to shorten the time you have to stay in on Kang or roost up before a return hit which almost guarantees Crobat lives with enough Hp to annoy more shit and threaten a quick roost after Kang bites it.

Unfortunately Crobat isn't bulky enough to be a main wall for things like CB talonflame or anything with a strong stone edge. Where i think it's strength lies is its dual role of being a solid answer to Kang and most fighting types and being a stall breaker as well.

 

[ColtCababa]

The set I've been running has worked wonders for me:

Crobat @ Black Sludge/Safety Goggles
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 76 HP / 232 Atk / 200 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost
- U-Turn

Running it with Mega Banette as a Stallbreaker with Taunt, negating the reliance of Taunt for Crobat. It appreciates Crobat's ability to remove hazards greatly. The Atk EVs allow it to OHKO 252 / 4 Trevenant, as well as Keldeo. 200 Spd EVs let it outpace Noivern and Greninja, while the rest are invested into HP, giving it a Leftovers and SR number. U-Turn is very useful for grabbing momentum, and it hits both Espeon and Mega Absol for SE damage, two Magic Bouncers that can be otherwise huge potential threats. As previously stated, Safety Goggles could prove to be effective with Crobat, especially since this variant isn't running Taunt to stop Spore leads.

 

[pkmn-taicho321]

I don't understand why you have a Crobat thread without Defog mentioned anywhere, along with Infiltrator Brave Bird making it one of the best checks to Breloom around IMO.

EDIT: That's what I get for only reading the first page.

Anywho, I'm running:
Infiltrator Crobat@Leftovers
Jolly
~ B Bird
~ U-Turn
~ Taunt
~ Defog
252 HP/ 252 Spe
It's a great Pivot lead and surprisingly bulky while still hitting hard. I'm Considering Lum Berry so I can switch in on Spore Breloom for free, but since I don't run Roost Lefties is my only recovery.

 

[pokemick17]

i like how nasty plot is somewhat wasted on crobat. hes the fastest nasty plot user and he has access to heat wave,sludge wave and giga drain that wouldbe the only use for a nasty plot. even though a sludge wave/sludge bomb would be useful, i think that cross poison would be better because of that 90 base attack. oh and dat defog would be good because he is fast and just cripple light/reflect screeners. you can obiosly replace air slash with brave bird and give him a black sludge or roost to heal off the recoil damage.

this is the best moveset i could make for him for an attack revenge killer based set. possibly i could add payback in there. correct it if you can see better
.brave bird
.cross poison
.roost/defog/taunt
.u-turn

if your using nasty plot, its a diferent story
.nasty plot
.heat wave
.sludge wave/sludge bomb
.giga drain/air slash

 

[skies]

i like how nasty plot is somewhat wasted on crobat. hes the fastest nasty plot user and he has access to heat wave,sludge wave and giga drain that wouldbe the only use for a nasty plot. even though a sludge wave/sludge bomb would be useful, i think that cross poison would be better because of that 90 base attack. oh and dat defog would be good because he is fast and just cripple light/reflect screeners. you can obiosly replace air slash with brave bird and give him a black sludge or roost to heal off the recoil damage.

this is the best moveset i could make for him for an attack revenge killer based set. possibly i could add payback in there. correct it if you can see better
.brave bird
.cross poison
.roost/defog/taunt
.u-turn

if your using nasty plot, its a diferent story
.nasty plot
.heat wave
.sludge wave/sludge bomb
.giga drain/air slash

I actually use Nasty Plot Crobat as well, after one Nasty Plot it hits 478 Special Attack, which is effectively 173 Special Attack. It can just smash things from there with such a great Speed tier honestly.

 

[Sarpyn]

The set I've been running has worked wonders for me:

Crobat @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 76 HP / 232 Atk / 200 Spd
Nature: Jolly
- Brave Bird
- Defog
- Roost
- U-Turn

i really love this set with safety goggles, it counters megasaur so hard, congratulations. But having rocks on field is going to gimp this crobat's life span pretty hard since it doesn't have black sludge, so a magic bouncer on team is pretty useful, so you don't have rocks on your field early game. The only problem is if megasaur isn't around safety goggles are pretty useless, so keep that in mind

 

[EternalZ]

Can't this thing toxic through subs? If it can I can see it having a niche in 100% accurate, unblockable toxic (bar steels/poisons/lum berry)

Thats a pretty good niche.

 

[Dododoggy]

Awesome smeargle counter:

Crobat @Safety Goggles
156 atk/ 100 hp/ 252 spe
Jolly
-Brave Bird
-U-turn
-Taunt
-Roost

Basically you just switch on a spore and the safety goggles will prevent sleep then taunt and have brave bird/U-turn to take it down and roost for recovery! Works against breloom really good too!

 

[L0calLEGEND]

Why safety goggles on a crobat just to counter smeargle? If you see a smeargle in team preview, you might a well lead with crobat and taunt it or U-turn if it doesn't lead. I do know the other problem is letting smeargle come in safely and sporeing something on your team and is almost guaranteed if hazards not named sticky web are up.

It would be better to have something like overcoat forretress, sap supper goodra, magic bounce espeon, sleep talk or something than to give up a item slot just to specifically counter/check maybe a handful of pokes.

As for breloom, it needs to get to +6 to even get a chance of 2HKOing crobat with it's stabs, with crobat OHKOing it unless it has focus sash, (Lol) or breloom is carrying rock slide.

 

[Dododoggy]

Why safety goggles on a crobat just to counter smeargle? If you see a smeargle in team preview, you might a well lead with crobat and taunt it or U-turn if it doesn't lead. I do know the other problem is letting smeargle come in safely and sporeing something on your team and is almost guaranteed if hazards not named sticky web are up.

It would be better to have something like overcoat forretress, sap supper goodra, magic bounce espeon, sleep talk or something than to give up a item slot just to specifically counter/check maybe a handful of pokes.

As for breloom, it needs to get to +6 to even get a chance of 2HKOing crobat with it's stabs, with crobat OHKOing it unless it has focus sash, (Lol) or breloom is carrying rock slide.

Good point I was just pointing out a set in case you have trouble with smeargle/breloom.. lol