DP Crawdaunt

[Bourbon]

It's no secret Crawdaunt is one of my favourite pokemon. The current analysis is better than most UU analysis are but there are still a few problems.

The first and biggest problem is the speed EVs. 188 speed EVs does not make Crawdaunt outrun no speed base 80s. In fact, it underspeeds them by three points. To reach 197 speed, and outrun these pokemon, 204 speed EVs are required. This needs to be fixed.

Secondly, none of the sets take advantage of Crawdaunt's decent Special Attack stat. This is what I am about to do right now, with this neat mixed set I cooked up.

http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/crawdaunt

[SET]
Name: Mixed Sweeper
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Surf
move 3: Ice Beam
move 4: Hidden Power Grass
Item: Life Orb
trait: Shell Armor
Nature: Rash
EVs: 8 HP / 12 Atk / 32 Def / 252 SpA / 204 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p> With its respectable Special Attack stat, and STAB on one of the most potent attacking types in the game, Crawdaunt can do fairly well using a mixed sweeper set. Crunch is the only physical attack required as it destroys the special walls of the tier: Hypno and Grumpig are OHKOed, while Mantine and Lanturn are 2HKOed. Surf is for STAB and it handily washes away Steelix and Weezing: It OHKOs the metal snake and 2HKOs the latter. Ice Beam has good coverage with Surf and deals huge damage to Altaria and Meganium. Hidden Power Grass is for Quagsire, Blastoise and Poliwrath, who would otherwise make good switch-ins for Crawdaunt. Watch out for Clefable, as there is a good chance it will survive two Surfs or Crunches, depending on it's EVs. </p>

<p> The EVs are fairly specialized. 8 HP minimizes Life Orb recoil. 12 Attack guarantees the OHKO on Hypno. The Special Attack stat is maximized, giving your special attacks considerable power. This allows you to defeat physical walls, which typically would be safe switching in. The Speed EVs allow you to achieve 197 speed, outrunning things such as no speed Meganium. The rest of the EVs are dumped into Defense to allow switching into weaker physical attacks. Shell Armor helps with this, as moves like Night Slash and Shadow Claw are excellent opportunities that could be ruined by a critical hit.</p>

<p>Stealth Rock is highly recommended with this set as some pokemon may escape being KOd without its presence. That extra little bit of damage puts nearly every wall in UU in danger of being defeated by Crawdaunt. </p>




And of course, to seal the deal, I will post damage calculations. Since Stealth Rock is almost omnipresent, I will include it's damage when I say "OHKO" or "2HKO".

Crunch Calculations:

252/56 Hypno: 87.7%-103.48%. OHKO
252/0 Grumpig: 103.02%-121.43%. OHKO
40/0 Lanturn: 51.37%-60.6%. 2HKO
252/40 Mantine: 50.3%-59.28%. 2HKO

Surf Calculations:

252/136 Steelix: 114.69%-135.03%. OHKO
252/0 Weezing: 68.86%-81.14%. 2HKO
252/0 Drapion: 63.37%-74.71%. 2HKO
252/0 Claydol: 88.02%-103.89%. (59% chance of a OHKO)
252/0 Hitmontop: 51.97%-61.51%. 2HKO
252/0 Clefable: 47.46%-56.09% (21.1% chance of a 2HKO with Leftovers)


Ice Beam Calculations:

252/0 Leafeon: 97.6%-114.97%. OHKO
216/0 Meganium: 64.51%-76.06%. 2HKO
252/56 Altaria: 110.45%-130.23%. OHKO

Hidden Power Calculations:

252/0 Poliwrath: 48.18%-56.77%. (87% chance of a 2HKO with SR and Leftovers)
252/0 Quagsire: 121.83%-143.4%. OHKO
252/252 Gastrodon: 65.02%-76.53%. 2HKO
252/0 Blastoise: 45.03%-53.04% (86% chance of a 2HKO with SR and Leftovers)



[SET]
Name: Choice Band
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Waterfall / Crabhammer
move 3: X-Scissor
move 4: Aerial Ace / Body Slam
Item: Choice Band
trait: Shell Armor
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 54 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Although Crawdaunt is rather slow, it is still capable of outrunning most UU walls and tearing into them with it's respectable Attack stat. It's easy to revenge kill, but difficult to switch into. Crunch should be treated as the main attack here. It is rather difficult to wall, and it's the main thing setting Crawdaunt apart from Kingler. Waterfall is a nice secondary STAB, hitting Dark resists Steelix, Probopass and Aggron for Super Effective damage. X-scissor hits Water resists like Meganium, and other Dark types who resist Crunch. Three of Crawdaunt's weaknesses, Bug, Fighting and Grass, are hit hard by Aerial Ace, the most important of these are Poliwrath and Toxicroak, who resist every other move on the set. Body Slam can also be used to try for some paralysis, which Crawdaunt would greatly benefit from, given its low speed.</p>

<p>The EVs allow you to outrun no speed base 80's, such as Meganium. This is an important benchmark, as most walls sit at or below this speed level. This allows you to hit them twice before taking any damage. The attack stat is maximized, reaching a whopping 558 with the Choice Band attached. This is one of the highest attack stats in UU, and should not be taken lightly. The remaining EVs are thrown into HP. Shell Armor is the recommended trait for Crawdaunt. There is only two Intimidators in UU (Masquerien and Granbull) and Charm and Growl are rarely used. Shell Armor makes switch-ins to Shadow Claw, Night Slash, and weak Stone Edges less frightening. Always take advantage of your Psychic immunity as well; Hypno makes a good entry point to start harassing a UU team.</p>



[SET]
Name: Swords Dance
move 1: Crunch
move 2: Waterfall
move 3: Aerial Ace / Substitute
move 4: Swords Dance
Item: Life Orb / Salac Berry
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 54 HP / 252 Atk / 204 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Crawdaunt, unlike his Water/Dark competitor Sharpedo, has access to Swords Dance. After a boost, Crawdaunt becomes a very slow, impossibly powerful sweeper. With the Life Orb equipped, he can reach 967 attack after one Swords Dance. This allows you to tear through more defensive UU teams quite easily. Crunch, is again, the main attack, with Waterfall, the secondary STAB used for hitting UU Steel types and other pokemon that resist Crunch. Aerial Ace is chosen over X-Scissor because again, Poliwrath is somewhat of a nuisance. The strategy of this set is more of a late game cleaner, as it doesn't quite pack as much power as two hits from the Choice Bander. You'll need some of the walls to be at less than 80% for it to work, or they will interrupt your sweep. Again, like most Crawdaunt sets, beware of revenge kills. Because of this, it may be a good idea to just fire off attacks until you are sure that any faster pokemon are dead.</p>

<p>There is, however, an alternative that makes Crawdaunt harder to take down, bypassing his low speed. By changing to a 252/252/6 sweeper spread, and using Substitute and Salac Berry, you can attempt to get a Swords Dance and then Substitute down into Salac Berry range. You can achieve a speed stat of 313 with Adamant (outrunning Rotom and Adamant Primape) or an impressive 343 with Jolly, putting your just ahead of Scyther. Watch out for Hitmontop though, it's Mach Punch will bypass the speed and kill you before you can move. This alternative, however, lacks power when compared to the Life Orb option, packing only 710 or 678 attack, but it's still fairly frightening. It is better used against frailer offensive teams. Kingler usually does this better, but Crawdaunt does have the advantage of Waterfall, and STAB Crunch. </p>

[OTHER OPTIONS]

<p> Crawdaunt learns a few other physical attacks, but most are not worth your time. Rock Slide hits flying types like Altaria very hard. Superpower can take down Empoleon if you're crazy enough to try this outside UU. Brick Break is another fighting type alternative. As far as Dark attacks go, Night Slash has a good chance of landing a critical hit, while Payback hits harder on the switch than Crunch does. However, two successive Crunches does more than two Paybacks, as the second Payback will be half power. Dark Pulse can be used over Crunch on the "Mixed Sweeper" which will allow for a Modest nature, however, beating Mantine and Lanturn will be difficult. </p>

<p> Standard Dark type moves such as Taunt and Knock Off are available, but they are better used on a more defensive pokemon. </p>

[EVs]

<p> Always maximize the offensive stat of choice. Then, decide how much speed you want. 204 speed EVs is standard fare, allowing you to outrun no speed base 80's. 244 speed EVs outruns no speed base 85's. Put any remaining EVs into HP or Defense to help you switch in easier. Putting any further EVs into defense isn't a very good idea. You always want to be hitting as hard as possible, not tanking hits. </p>

[OPINION]

<p> ADV generation was cruel to Crawdaunt, giving him a high attack stat, but dual special STAB. Now that he has some physical moves at his disposal, he is much more useful. He will probably always be in Sharpedo's shadow, but Crawdaunt takes physical hits much better, and has access to a different mix of moves. Some say that Kingler is better than Crawdaunt, thanks to higher Attack and Speed stats, but Crawdaunt's movepool is fairly impressive for a UU pokemon, something Kingler cannot boast. If you are going to be using Crawdaunt, take advantage of his Dark STAB first and foremost. </p>

[COUNTERS]

<p> The choice band set has only one counter: Weezing. However, you can still play around it if you are good at prediction. Poliwrath can switch into any move except for Aerial Ace. Meganium can do decently provided it avoids X-Scissor. Steelix only needs to worry about Waterfall. Same goes for most other Steel types. The Swords Dance set has similar counters, but be careful it doesn't get a Salac boost, or it may be difficult to stop. For the most part, just take advantage of Crawdaunt's low speed, and hit it hard with special attacks. Then serve it with butter sauce and enjoy.</p>

<p> The mixed sweeper is stopped by completely different pokemon. With proper prediction, almost any wall will come crashing down, with Crunch warding off those special walls, and the special attacks dealing with Steelix, Weezing and Meganium. However, Clefable can usually take it on. A defensive Hitmontop can do decently as well, as Mach Punch should be able to scare it away. Unfortunately, it is difficult to tell if Crawdaunt is going mixed until it fires off an attack, so one of your pokemon might have to take a hit for the team. </p>

 

[Janenmori]

In your set comments you should make mention of Clefable. That thing is hard to take down, and after factoring Wish and Leftovers, you may have a bit of a problem. Overall, I think it sounds very good and makes me want to try it myself.

 

[Bourbon]

Fixed. I mentioned how it has a chance of surviving two surfs/crunches (depending on how it is EVd one or the other may do more damage)

 

[Lee]

Any real reason to use this over Sharpedo? Sharpedo is obviously frailer, but when Crawdaunt starts running a -Def nature, Life Orb and small defensive investments, I can't see it making up for Sharpedo's vastly superior Speed and slightly better SpA.

 

[CraftySouthpaw]

It looks like a great set. Hitmontop is still a problem as it can switch in on a Crunch and can OHKO with Close Combat. I am not sure if Lanturn can OHKO with Thunderbolt but I am pretty sure it can. Other than that I like this set and can't wait to try it out!

Also, I agree with Lee and Crawdunt has a base 85 Defense while it has a base 55 Special Defense so why give it a hindering nature in defense? I would probably change that.

 

[twash]

Agreeing with Lee, what does this do better than Sharpedo?

Special Attack should be capitalized.

Crunch is the only physical attack required, as destroys the main special walls of the tier: Hypno and Grumpig are OHKOed, while Mantine and Lanturn are 2HKOed.

Made into one sentence for easier reading.

I would just go through and remove some full stops, seems very...Stop. Start. Stop. Start. etc.

eg. "Surf is for STAB and it handily washes away Steelix and Weezing. It OHKOs the metal snake and easily 2HKOs Weezing. Ice Beam deals huge damage to Altaria and Meganium." could be "Surf is for STAB and it handily washes away Steelix and Weezing, OHKOing the metal snake whilst easily doing the same to Weezing. Ice Beam deals huge damage to Altaria and Meganium."

Just little changes, just add more connectives really, makes it a lot more pleasant to read.

Nice set though, i'm just worried about the Sharpedo thing. If you could explain the differences, that would be cool :)

 

[Havak]

I think I have to agree on the Sharpedo thing, so unless Crawdaunt becomes NU in the near future I doubt this set will be useful.

It's pretty well written and does look good (and obviously works) but it's just done better by Sharpedo in the long run.

 

[cim]

Crawdawnt has slightly higher Special Attack, I guess...

Also, nature should be Rash, always. It means less Defense points lost, and that's his only "useful" stat outside of offense.

 

[Lee]

Crawdawnt has slightly higher Special Attack, I guess...

Incorrect, Sharpedo has 95 SpA vs Crawdaunt's 90.

 

[User 12783]

Following the band wagon on this one, as Sharpedo's speed is the asset Crawdaunt needs to be anywhere near the same potential. It is outclassed in Offense, by a long shot.

 

[Bourbon]

Well, orginally this was an effort for both Sharpedo AND Crawdaunt, however, I found the Sharpedo one to be less effective, as even NVE moves were leaving pretty big dents in it. Losing 50% of your HP switching into fairly weak attacks was devestating. I couldn't even Wish pass to it because usually the NVE attack + Stealth Rock damage outweighed the Wish Pass.

Here is an example of the difference in defensive prowess:

Blastoise's Surf against Crawdaunt: 29.74%-35.32%

Blastoise's Surf against Sharpedo: 35.23%-41.64%


And that's on the special side. Here is an example of a physical attack. Adamant Banette's Shadow Claw:

Shadow Claw on Crawdaunt: 23.42%-27.88%

Shadow Claw on Sharpedo: 41.28%-48.75%

I also couldn't think of any real threats that Sharpedo could outrun and kill better than Crawdaunt could. There isn't very many pokemon hovering around the 289> mark that Sharpedo could feasibly take on. Anyways, I suppose I could dig up the original post. It'll be hard to find though.

I suppose Sharpedo would have an easier time "sweeping" with it's higher Speed stat, but with all the revenge killers (scarfers, hitmontop, aerodactyl, etc) I would rather have more switch-in oppurtunities than speed. This set is designed to break walls anyways, not defeat other sweepers, although many of them can be killed on the switch if you predict well.

8/32/0 Rash Crawdaunt

Crawdaunt's Defense Tier: 114.41
Crawdaunt's Spc. Def Tier: 109.41

32/0/0 Rash Sharpedo

Sharpedo's Defense Tier: 108.81
Sharpedo's Spc. Def Tier: 107.77

So Sharpedo's defense is lower than Totodile's... and Crawdaunt's is on par with Charizard's. On the special side there is only about a 15% difference though :P

 

[Janenmori]

I agree with Skiddle here. It really seems more like a hard hitting wall breaker than a sweeper, especially since it can take a hit or two. That also allows it to get in and do damage before it dies.

 

[Lee]

especially since it can take a hit or two. That also allows it to get in and do damage before it dies.

A hit or two? You can't be serious. With the given spread, Crawdaunt has 269 HP, 185 Def and 154 SpD.

It's -significantly- frailer than standard Naive Infernape who has 295 HP, 178 Def and 160 SpD. Except Infernape runs 341 Speed, whereas this Crawdaunt runs 197. Hit or two indeed!

 

[Bourbon]

In practice, it isn't as bad as you are thinking, Lee.

I revisited the UU ladder with it and it is still frighteningly effective. In fact, I faced someone using the exact same Crawdaunt set as me and it was pretty effective. I also fought a Sharpedo using the same set, and while it outran some of my stuff, it died off quickly.

I may however, switch to Rash nature, as 214 defence is not too shabby, and I have been seeing some pretty good physical switch-in oppurtunities.

 

[jrrrrrrr]

This set is outclassed by Sharpedo, who has a higher base SpAtk, the same Atk stat, the same STABs and an astonishing 40 more base Speed. You could literally use the exact same moveset, item, nature and EV spread on a Sharpedo and get significantly better results. There are a few reasons to use Crawdaunt over Sharpedo, most notably Swords Dance and some slight movepool differences. Unfortunately, this set doesn't utilize any of those which makes this set just a worse Sharpedo.

This moveset is not competitive, at least not with Sharpedo still in the same tier.

 

[Bourbon]

Wait, cmon, just because it's outclassed in some ways doesn't mean it's not a decent set. This thing isn't supposed to be sweeping, it's supposed to be coming in, and hitting the incoming wall with the right moves. Suppose that I raised the attack EVs and lowered the Special Attack, and gave it an Expert Belt!? Would that please you people?

EDIT 2: Has anyone actually tried this, or are you all theorymonning that Sharpedo is better at this? I've tried both of them, have you?

 

[cim]

Well, when theorymon indicates the only advantage to Crawdaunt here is a slight Defense buff, you can't really blame them. Can you tell us the advantage we're missing?

I'm also a proponent of "outclassed pokemon not listing sets that other pokemon do a lot better in the same tier".

 

[jrrrrrrr]

Theorymon is a perfectly acceptable argument. Sharpedo is statistically better at this set. There is no reason to use the moveset you gave on Crawdaunt, since Sharpedo will be better at it. It doesn't matter what the EV spread is, because if you use the same one on Sharpedo it would be more effective. Using this on Crawdaunt is simply uncompetitive.

Crawdaunt may have "better" defenses than Sharpedo, but when you take the time to actually look at them, you'll quickly realize that they are both equally as worthless.

This set is outclassed in its tier. There really needs to be a mention of how Sharpedo does this set much better in the analysis. Also remove the "if a smart player is using this, its impossible to counter" since that is basically code for "guess right and you win", which is true for basically every single pokemon set in every analysis.

 

[Bourbon]

I added a paragraph of how Sharpedo can pull off the same set at a higher speed. However, I mentioned it requires a great deal more prediction because of it's paper defenses.

Thanks for giving me a second chance Jrrrrrrr (is it just me or does the number of r's vary)

UPDATE: I've logged in about fifteen battles with each pokemon, Sharpedo and Crawdaunt. It's really hard to tell which one works better. Crawdaunt is pretty easy to get in most of the time, and usually gets a kill when I get in safely... but occasionally I've actually swept with Sharpedo. Sadly this is very rare, as he is hard to get in without losing a huge chunk of health.

 

[cim]

You just showed us calcs that demonstrated there's about an 8% difference in taking resisted attacks. even the weak ones still can 3HKO either of them...

It appears you've missed the point of both Pokemon. They're at a level of frailness where switching in on a resist works maybe once in a pinch. You're supposed to send them in on switches or after a sacrifice.

Point is, both are offensive Pokemon. They're both not tanks designed to repeatedly come take an Absol Night Slash or something like that. They're sweepers. And Sharpedo is better in SAtk and way better in Speed, the most important stats.

 

[Bourbon]

Look at the new calculations, Chris Is Me... I changed the EV spread to Rash and put in the EVs into Defense LONG ago, I just never editted that post.

Crawdaunt is nearly twice as durable on the physical side and is still tougher on the special side.

Edit: I forgot to make Sharpedo rash so the special defense calculations favor Crawdaunt even more than I have shown. Will fix later

 

[the pugilist]

Hmmm, I disagree with the notion that this set shouldn't be listed because it's inferior. Let's look at Feraligator and Gyarados for a similar scenario - Gyarados is used alot more as a DDer then Feraligator. Therefore, one could assume that Gyarados is the better DDer is it is the preferred option of the majority and that Feraligator is indeed inferior. This is true because of Gyarados having several appealing features that Gatr lacks such as higher stats and a more reliabe ability (Gatr might not always be at the right number of HP to activate Torrent in comparison while Intimidate will always activate when Gyarados is switched in).

So why does Feraligator still have a DD set when Gyarados is superior? Because of Gatr's lack of a SR weakness among other things. This isn't the only occasion where a similar occurence appears. Cahrizard having a mixed set that Infernape can do largely better, Mespirit having a Scarf set where Deoxys E can pull of the set offensive wise much better and Blastoise having a CB set (No joke)which Azumarril can pull of better due to higher attack. They each have some small differences which can make them better choices for a team in some rare circumstances (Different immunities/Resistances for Charizard, bulk for Mespirit and different moves for Blastiose).

In this case, Crawduant does have some advantages over Sharpedo - Bulky and TR useability. Even though Crawduant has similar defenses then Infernape, Sharpedo has similar defences to Deoxys N (Compare 70/40/40 to 50/50/50 for Deoxys - both are beyond awful) which means even resisted hits do a fair amount of damage to Sharpedo (check out Skiddles calculations of a defensive Blastiose's surf for a general idea). Crawdaunt, however, can switch into attacks from walls such as a Steelix Gyro Ball much easier. These defences are useful as they allow Crawduant to carry out its task of breaking walls with greater ease as it provides more opportunities to switch in. Crawdaunt's low speed allows it to function perfectly in Trick Room conditions and allow it to heavily damage opposing walls enough for your sweepers to break through. This is a great boon as Trick Room teams hate getting stopped by sturdy walls, which Crawduant overcomes. Sharpedo cannot pull of this feature due to vastly higher speed.

I honestly believe Crawduant has enough unique niches to have the set posted in the analysis due to more bulk and suitability for Trick Room conditions (Of course a separate spread will need to be mentioned if it is to be used in the Tricky Room).

Ps. I have tried this set out in UU a whileback and it definatly works. It reminds me of Glaceon - Powerful but vunerable to revenge killing.

 

[Havak]

Just a quick look over at that, Feraligatr and Charizard are BL, where as Gyarados and Infernape are not.

Mesprit's Scarf set was probably added before Deoxys-S became OU, so I won't argue that one.

CB Blastoise has a surprise factor, but I'd probably agree that the Blastoise CB set shoudl go. Though Azumarill was probably BL when the CB set was written.

Just wanted to point out the difference in Tiers being the main issue, where as Crawdaunt and Sharpedo are currently in the same Tier.

They also all have different weaknesses and resistances (bar Azumarill and Blastoise), where as Sharpedo and Crawdaunt have exactly the same, even if Crawdaunt takes hits a bit better. they'll rarely survive a super effective attack.

 

[ODDish]

Just wanted to point out the difference in Tiers being the main issue, where was Crawdaunt and Sharpedo are currently in the same Tier.

Although "currently" is very much the operative word, as useage suggests that Crawdaunt will end up NU/third tier after the tier overhaul, where as Sharpedo at least has a chance of remaining UU/second tier.

#22 | Sharpedo | 2685 |
#88 | Crawdaunt | 463

Therefore I vote for inclusion.

 

[Aldaron]

Well, I guess another way to look at it is this:

how effective is a mixed set in terms of perception for the opponent?

For example, when facing a Sharpedo, I know I always take into account that it could be mixed.

When facing a Crawdaunt, I never take that into account.

That could potentially allow Crawdaunt to run a mixed set more effectively, even with the substantially less speed.

I guess the question if looking at it from this perspective is does that surprise enough to transcend this Crawdaunt set from the level of gimmick (think Nasty Plot Weavile) to something effective (think about the various extremely fast Pokemon that run Choice Scarf solely to outspeed the other extremely fast Pokemon with Choice Scarf, like Hasty Azelf or Timid Gengar)?

I dunno, can't say.

All I know is that Sharpedo's mixed set is still a monster in UU, and if perception about Crawdaunt allows it to run that set potentially more effectively (let's say you decide to add Hydro Pump on it, 2hko on Weezing? Whereas most Weezing I know would hesitate to switch into Sharpedo), then this set certainly deserves to go into the analysis, even if it is pretty much outclassed on paper.