As much as Ceruledge is the goat. The hype is getting overblown. I’m already hearing players calling for a suspect test which is an absurd proposition to consider, especially with Drakingvonite running the streets.
Ceruledge is indeed a fantastic wallbreaker/sweeper but it has clear limitations holding it back.
Ceruledge needs specific conditions in order to sweep. Rocks need to be off the field, it desires support from screens/terrain/webs, LO/Sash should be intact, and more importantly, it needs to be hit with a physical move. This is all doable on paper and practice, but it limits the builds Ceruledge fits on, and means Ceruledge counterplay is simple.
To achieve most of those insane calcs, Ceruledge has to burn Tera, otherwise Pokemon like Lando, Tusk, and Dnite will survive and OHKO Ceruledge. As stated earlier it also needs LO, which can be difficult to preserve vs Balance/BO with many staples carrying Knock Off.
Ceruledge is hella slow without a boost and prefers to invest in bulk or speed to offset that. Even so, there are several mons who can outspeed, live a +2 Sneak and kill it. Glimmora (Red Card variants 1v1 Ceru after the item is used), Wake, Tusk, Scarf Ghold post-Tera, Darkrai, Treads, Lando, Tusk, Samu, Scale Shot DD Kyu, Sucker Cinderace, Wellspring, Weavile etc. Encore also stops Ceruledge sweeps before they start.
Ceruledge is also not difficult to deal with post-Weak Armor boost. Balance teams have stuff like Payback Ting-Lu, Tera Dark Pecha, Tera Normal Dtail Dnite, Sucker Samu, ID/Curse Garg (underrated set), and Gambit. More offensive teams have priority to rkill it post-Tera or Booster Raging Bolt.
Players do not prep for Ceruledge as they do for the other offensive threats, but that is likely to change very soon. H-Samu has been overlooked, but it appreciates several meta trends such as higher Hatt and Tran usage, but more importantly it punishes Ceruledge well with priority or Encore. Galarian-Weezing usage has also lowered in recent memory, so I wouldn’t be surprised if Samu gets more attention as we move forward to December. It will incentivize Ceruledge to run CC more frequently which means less Poltergeist nuking every physical wall in the meta.
Also, if you look at the current usage stats for SCL, not only is Ceruledge rarely popping up, it’s underperforming with a 16.67% winrate. Normally winrate isn’t something to seriously consider, but wanting to ban a mon with an abysmal winrate is wild. Looking through OUPL replays, most of the games that featured Ceruledge resulted in losses where Ceruledge didn’t get to contribute much, or wins which were the doings of other mons on the team. Even during the last few weeks of OLT, Ceruledge didn’t do much. In Vert’s semifinals game, Ceruledge does put in work forcing Ting-Lu down to low HP and forces Tera, but nothing outright broken. In Separation’s Finals match, Ceruledge didn’t even come out lol
Ceruledge is a positive presence in the tier. It punishes brainless pivot spam (the most uninteractive playstyle only behind Stall) and promotes proactive gameplay. Having a burn immunity is important for Offense and Ceruledge fulfills that role and more. Compared to other sweepers we’ve banned and Dnite, Ceruledge demands a ton of support. Beating it is about playing smart; situational awareness and not staying in to give it a free boost.


















