Cradily

Suction Cups
Cannot be forced to switch. Increases chance of encountering Pokémon while fishing.
Type Tier
Rock / Grass UU
Statistics
Min- Min Max Max+
HP
86
- 313 376 -
Atk
81
178 198 261 287
Def
97
207 230 293 322
SpA
81
178 198 261 287
SpD
107
225 250 313 344
Spe
43
109 122 185 203
Name Item Nature

Physical-based Cradily

Leftovers Adamant
Moveset EVs
~ Rock Slide
~ Earthquake
~ Toxic
~ Recover
252 HP / 164 Atk / 92 SpD

Standard Cradily. Toxic foes, Recover off the damage. Try to catch Metagross on switches with Earthquake, as it will OHKO you with Meteor Mash. Cradily is a truly great special sponge, and makes the majority of Electrics cry for their respective Pokémon mothers. You can also Toxic Suicune and Recover off the damage from it relatively easy.

Name Item Nature

Staller

Leftovers Careful
Moveset EVs
~ Amnesia
~ Barrier
~ Toxic
~ Rest
252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD

Industrial strength stalling bullshit. This only works because of Suction Cups, and you better hope your opponent doesn't have a Weezing.

Name Item Nature

Barrier + Mirror Coat

Leftovers Careful
Moveset EVs
~ Rock Slide
~ Barrier
~ Mirror Coat
~ Recover
252 HP / 164 Def / 92 SpD

Barrier up, and when they give up and attack you with a special attack Mirror Coat it back in their faces.

Name Item Nature

Special-based Cradily

Leftovers Modest
Moveset EVs
~ Giga Drain
~ Hidden Power Fire
~ Toxic / Rock Slide / Earthquake
~ Recover
252 HP / 164 SpA / 92 SpD

Special Cradily, and a great Swampert counter. Watch out for Giga Drain's PP.

Other Options

Psych Up is funny if you can pull it off on Curselax or Dragon Dance Salamence or Gyarados, but using it with Swagger isn't a great idea. Further, it can Confuse Ray if you really feel the need to use the move.

EVs

Lots of HP and Special Defense. If you are using a Mirror Coat version, concentrate on your attack stats and Defense more.

Opinion

Cradily is a great special sponge with physical STAB not found on such fiends as Milotic and Regice. Don't underestimate it's ability.

Counters

Overused counters are Skarmory(depending on the set), Weezing, Metagross, Swampert(depending on the set), Snorlax. Cradily is also acceptable for use in the Underused metagame. In that environment the counters for Cradily are Meganium and Gligar. These two can generally switch into Cradily without fear, Sandslash also can switch into physical Cradily's without much trouble. Watch out for Pokémon carrying the move Toxic, especially if you use recover as your method of regaining health.