Right, I'm taking over Crobat, thanks to Rising_Dusk and Bloo.
Feel free to suggest sets!
QC: 1/3 Iconic, 2/3 Delta 2777, 3/3 Bloo
GP: 1/2 Calm Pokemaster, 2/2 Erebyssial
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[Overview]
<p>When introduced in GSC, Crobat was immediately relegated to UU, due to having sub-par stats and a relatively small movepool. Sadly, not much has changed, and once again Crobat sits in the UU tier. However, there is some light at then end of the tunnel for everyone's favorite cave dweller. Crobat's unique typing grants it a 4x resistance to Fighting-type attacks, one of the most common in the tier, and this, in conjunction with its blistering Speed, gives Crobat a useful niche in the OU metagame. Crobat can also utilize Taunt and a relatively exclusive move in Super Fang to easily break down the major part of most stall teams, while STAB Brave Bird gives it the ability to be an effective check against most offensive teams.</p>
<p>Don't think it's all roses for Crobat though, as a crippling Stealth Rock weakness and sub-par offensive stats mean that Crobat is often outclassed by other Pokemon, and it will often find itself fighting for a team slot. On the whole, if you want to utilize Crobat on your team, make sure that you play it to its strengths, as otherwise, you will find that it is outclassed by other Flying-types such as Staraptor.</p>
[SET]
name: Taunt + Roost
move 1: Taunt
move 2: Roost
move 3: Brave Bird
move 4: Super Fang / Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Crobat's blazing Speed and resistance to Fighting-type moves, along with a valuable Ground-type immunity, it can quite effectively come in on Choice-locked attacks, Taunt the opponent, and proceed to cause havoc with a combination of Super Fang and Brave Bird. This set is effective as the majority of defensive Pokemon that try to wall Crobat are crippled by Taunt and Super Fang, while not many offensive Pokemon will like taking a STAB Brave Bird.</p>
<p>Taunt is the main move of the set, and it is practically the only reason to use Crobat in OU. With Taunt and Roost, Crobat can continuously recover in the face of defensive Pokemon while wearing them down with Super Fang and Brave Bird. The remaining moves on the set are to give Crobat some offensive prowess. Brave Bird is used as a general STAB move, which still hits hard despite Crobat's mediocre base 90 Attack stat. Finally, Super Fang is used in the last slot to bring down Pokemon into the KO range of Brave Bird; this is a very effective tactic, as only Ghost-types are immune to Super Fang, most of which will take a large amount of damage from Brave Bird.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Crobat does not have many other options to use on this set. However, Toxic can be used over Super Fang to stall out the opposition with Toxic and Roost instead of whittling their HP down with Super Fang. This does come with the drawback of not being able to do anything to Steel-types, and some Poison-types too. Also, though Toxic hits Ghost-types, the most common Ghost-type in OU is Gengar, which is immune to Toxic and maimed by Brave Bird anyway.</p>
<p>Crobat can also choose to run an extra attacking move on this set. For example, U-turn is often a good option for scouting out counters to Crobat, and making them take added residual damage. However, U-turn is incredibly weak when used on Crobat, and Crobat does not like to switch around a lot due to its Stealth Rock weakness. Cross Poison can be another effective option, but Poison-type attacks have awful coverage, and it will leave Crobat even more vulnerable to Steel-types. Finally, more EVs can be invested in Crobat's respectable defenses to further abuse its resistances, or instead invested in Attack to give it more of a kick with Brave Bird. The EV spread listed is more effective in most situations, though.</p>
<p>Considering that Crobat's main moves are all support moves, any Pokemon that can take advantage of switching into Taunt is a good teammate. For example, any Choice user can come in on Crobat , and start to spam high powered STAB attacks. However, one must beware of switching into Super Fang, as that can take away a large chunk of health. As such, to avoid this, a Ghost-type is almost the perfect counter to Crobat, and Gengar is perhaps the best of the bunch. It can switch in, absorb Toxic or Super Fang, and then proceed to fire off Shadow Balls and Focus Blasts to weaken opposing team members. As such, good partners for Crobat include Pokemon that can easily remove Ghost-types. Tyranitar and Scizor are among the best candidates, as they can almost guarantee a KO on any opposing Ghost-type with Pursuit.</p>
<p>Other good teammates for Crobat include Pokemon that can remove Stealth Rock, as Crobat enjoys switching around a lot, and Stealth Rock really hampers its ability to do this. Excadrill is a fantastic Rapid Spin user in OU, and Crobat enjoys good synergy with it, being able to take the Ground- and Fighting-type attacks that are aimed at the mole, while Excadrill can take Electric-type attacks that scare Crobat. Finally, Excadrill can take out Ghost-types with a +2 Earthquake, destroy Psychic-types that plague Crobat, and pair well with the aforementioned Tyranitar.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Unfortunately, Crobat is not one of those Pokemon that can boast a plethora of other options, as most of the other sets that it could possibly run are mostly outclassed. Crobat can run a Nasty Plot set, but its awful special movepool and middling Special Attack stat mean that other stronger special attackers such as Thundurus and Starmie work to a better effect. Toxic is effective on any of Crobat's sets, and as such, it should always be considered. Finally, a Choice Band set can make an effective revenge killer with Brave Bird, but on the whole, it is outclassed by Choice Scarf Staraptor, who can perform the same role with better coverage moves and more power thanks to Reckless.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Since Crobat is relatively frail, it is easy to take out with a super effective hit. Any Pokemon that doesn't mind Taunt can easily eliminate Crobat with a super effective attack. Thundurus is a great example of such a Pokemon, as with its great Special Attack stat and priority Nasty Plot, it can even set up on Crobat. Rotom-W is also a solid check, as it can easily OHKO Crobat with STAB Thunderbolt, while recovering off any damage taken from Super Fang later with Pain Split. Gengar is a fantastic check to Crobat, as it is immune to both Super Fang and Toxic, doesn't particularly mind Taunt, and can hit back hard with Shadow Ball. Finally, most Steel-types can easily wall Crobat, thanks to their resistance to Brave Bird. If they can hit back hard, then Crobat is almost certainly going to be forced out. It is important to remember that when wanting to counter Crobat, you must utilize Stealth Rock, as most of the time, Crobat will take any oppotunity to switch out of danger with glee, and as such, it is important to put a tax on its excessive switching.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Once again, Crobat isn't saved by Game Freak; like many other Pokemon, it is given a fairly useless Dream World ability. Infiltrator allows Crobat to bypass Light Screen, Reflect, and Safeguard with its attacks. However, this is outclassed by Inner Focus on the whole, as it allows Crobat to hit back against attacks that flinch often, such as Iron Head from Jirachi and Air Slash from Togekiss.</p>
<p>When introduced in GSC, Crobat was immediately relegated to UU, due to having sub-par stats and a relatively small movepool. Sadly, not much has changed, and once again Crobat sits in the UU tier. However, there is some light at then end of the tunnel for everyone's favorite cave dweller. Crobat's unique typing grants it a 4x resistance to Fighting-type attacks, one of the most common in the tier, and this, in conjunction with its blistering Speed, gives Crobat a useful niche in the OU metagame. Crobat can also utilize Taunt and a relatively exclusive move in Super Fang to easily break down the major part of most stall teams, while STAB Brave Bird gives it the ability to be an effective check against most offensive teams.</p>
<p>Don't think it's all roses for Crobat though, as a crippling Stealth Rock weakness and sub-par offensive stats mean that Crobat is often outclassed by other Pokemon, and it will often find itself fighting for a team slot. On the whole, if you want to utilize Crobat on your team, make sure that you play it to its strengths, as otherwise, you will find that it is outclassed by other Flying-types such as Staraptor.</p>
[SET]
name: Taunt + Roost
move 1: Taunt
move 2: Roost
move 3: Brave Bird
move 4: Super Fang / Toxic
item: Leftovers
ability: Inner Focus
nature: Jolly
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Crobat's blazing Speed and resistance to Fighting-type moves, along with a valuable Ground-type immunity, it can quite effectively come in on Choice-locked attacks, Taunt the opponent, and proceed to cause havoc with a combination of Super Fang and Brave Bird. This set is effective as the majority of defensive Pokemon that try to wall Crobat are crippled by Taunt and Super Fang, while not many offensive Pokemon will like taking a STAB Brave Bird.</p>
<p>Taunt is the main move of the set, and it is practically the only reason to use Crobat in OU. With Taunt and Roost, Crobat can continuously recover in the face of defensive Pokemon while wearing them down with Super Fang and Brave Bird. The remaining moves on the set are to give Crobat some offensive prowess. Brave Bird is used as a general STAB move, which still hits hard despite Crobat's mediocre base 90 Attack stat. Finally, Super Fang is used in the last slot to bring down Pokemon into the KO range of Brave Bird; this is a very effective tactic, as only Ghost-types are immune to Super Fang, most of which will take a large amount of damage from Brave Bird.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Crobat does not have many other options to use on this set. However, Toxic can be used over Super Fang to stall out the opposition with Toxic and Roost instead of whittling their HP down with Super Fang. This does come with the drawback of not being able to do anything to Steel-types, and some Poison-types too. Also, though Toxic hits Ghost-types, the most common Ghost-type in OU is Gengar, which is immune to Toxic and maimed by Brave Bird anyway.</p>
<p>Crobat can also choose to run an extra attacking move on this set. For example, U-turn is often a good option for scouting out counters to Crobat, and making them take added residual damage. However, U-turn is incredibly weak when used on Crobat, and Crobat does not like to switch around a lot due to its Stealth Rock weakness. Cross Poison can be another effective option, but Poison-type attacks have awful coverage, and it will leave Crobat even more vulnerable to Steel-types. Finally, more EVs can be invested in Crobat's respectable defenses to further abuse its resistances, or instead invested in Attack to give it more of a kick with Brave Bird. The EV spread listed is more effective in most situations, though.</p>
<p>Considering that Crobat's main moves are all support moves, any Pokemon that can take advantage of switching into Taunt is a good teammate. For example, any Choice user can come in on Crobat , and start to spam high powered STAB attacks. However, one must beware of switching into Super Fang, as that can take away a large chunk of health. As such, to avoid this, a Ghost-type is almost the perfect counter to Crobat, and Gengar is perhaps the best of the bunch. It can switch in, absorb Toxic or Super Fang, and then proceed to fire off Shadow Balls and Focus Blasts to weaken opposing team members. As such, good partners for Crobat include Pokemon that can easily remove Ghost-types. Tyranitar and Scizor are among the best candidates, as they can almost guarantee a KO on any opposing Ghost-type with Pursuit.</p>
<p>Other good teammates for Crobat include Pokemon that can remove Stealth Rock, as Crobat enjoys switching around a lot, and Stealth Rock really hampers its ability to do this. Excadrill is a fantastic Rapid Spin user in OU, and Crobat enjoys good synergy with it, being able to take the Ground- and Fighting-type attacks that are aimed at the mole, while Excadrill can take Electric-type attacks that scare Crobat. Finally, Excadrill can take out Ghost-types with a +2 Earthquake, destroy Psychic-types that plague Crobat, and pair well with the aforementioned Tyranitar.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Unfortunately, Crobat is not one of those Pokemon that can boast a plethora of other options, as most of the other sets that it could possibly run are mostly outclassed. Crobat can run a Nasty Plot set, but its awful special movepool and middling Special Attack stat mean that other stronger special attackers such as Thundurus and Starmie work to a better effect. Toxic is effective on any of Crobat's sets, and as such, it should always be considered. Finally, a Choice Band set can make an effective revenge killer with Brave Bird, but on the whole, it is outclassed by Choice Scarf Staraptor, who can perform the same role with better coverage moves and more power thanks to Reckless.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>Since Crobat is relatively frail, it is easy to take out with a super effective hit. Any Pokemon that doesn't mind Taunt can easily eliminate Crobat with a super effective attack. Thundurus is a great example of such a Pokemon, as with its great Special Attack stat and priority Nasty Plot, it can even set up on Crobat. Rotom-W is also a solid check, as it can easily OHKO Crobat with STAB Thunderbolt, while recovering off any damage taken from Super Fang later with Pain Split. Gengar is a fantastic check to Crobat, as it is immune to both Super Fang and Toxic, doesn't particularly mind Taunt, and can hit back hard with Shadow Ball. Finally, most Steel-types can easily wall Crobat, thanks to their resistance to Brave Bird. If they can hit back hard, then Crobat is almost certainly going to be forced out. It is important to remember that when wanting to counter Crobat, you must utilize Stealth Rock, as most of the time, Crobat will take any oppotunity to switch out of danger with glee, and as such, it is important to put a tax on its excessive switching.</p>
[Dream World]
<p>Once again, Crobat isn't saved by Game Freak; like many other Pokemon, it is given a fairly useless Dream World ability. Infiltrator allows Crobat to bypass Light Screen, Reflect, and Safeguard with its attacks. However, this is outclassed by Inner Focus on the whole, as it allows Crobat to hit back against attacks that flinch often, such as Iron Head from Jirachi and Air Slash from Togekiss.</p>
