[SET]
Swords Dance (Ceruledge) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Poltergeist
- Shadow Sneak
[SET COMMENTS]
Wielding the Lucarionite, Mega Ceruledge inherits a new stat spread of 75/150/98/85/100/107, and the formidable ability Adaptability, establishing itself as one of the most feared wallbreakers and midgame boost sweepers of the tier. Utilizing its excellent offensive Adaptability STAB moves of the life-siphoning Bitter Blade and high power Poltergeist, a Swords Dance boosted Ceruledge is capable of OHKOing all but the very bulkiest Pokemon in the tier. Ceruledge effortlessly picks off Pokemon that do not resist both its Fire and Ghost attacks and/or are outran by its 107 speed tier, that equivalent to Pinsirite Great Tusk. Shadow Sneak further deepens its destructive capabilities to pick off chipped Pokemon in the midgame that would otherwise outspeed and threaten a KO. Adamant is important to maximize Ceruledge's capabilities as a wallbreaker, though Jolly can allow it to outspeed the likes of Adamant Arceus forms and Blue Orb Zapdos.
While its Fire/Ghost type combination is offensively elite, it, coupled with very brittle defensive stats, leaves Ceruledge extremely susceptible to the tier's fast and powerful offense such as Great Tusk's Headlong Rush, Urshifu-Rapid-Strike's Surging Strikes, and Arceus-Ground's Earthquake/Judgement. The aforementioned threats and weakness to Stealth Rock make positioning Ceruledge to safely use Swords Dance very challenging, and as such Ceruledge performs best in situations in front of passive Pokemon such as Magearna and Corviknight. To circumvent the weakness of its lacking speed tier, however, Ceruledge can delay its Mega Evolution to take advantage of its Weak Armor ability on light physical attacks such as Regieleki's Rapid Spin and Corviknight's U-Turn, letting it now outspeed everything in its path. Such a maneuver to obtain both the speed and attack boosts requires careful positioning, but if achieved becomes an unstoppable wincon. Unlike most sweepers, Ceruledge's Fire typing grants it a valuable resistance to the abundant Altarianite Extreme Speeders such as Regieleki and Dragonite, nullifying the speed control that many teams rely on so long as Ceruledge is not extremely low, which it often is not due to Bitter Blade's vampirism.
With its role as a glass cannon wallbreaker and boost sweeper, Ceruledge thrives when accompanied by teammates that help enable its setup and can wall the fast and powerful threats that would outspeed it. Pivots like Pecharunt, Galarian Slowking, and defensive Lunala help Ceruledge hit the field safely repeatedly, enabling Ceruledge to repeatedly fire off its powerful nukes that even unboosted deal devastating chip over the course of a game. Hazard removal from spinners like Great Tusk and Regieleki are near mandatory due to Ceruledge's Stealth Rock Weakness. Sturdy counters to offensive checks such as Rocky Helmet Eternatus, Magearna, Garganacl, and Arceus Forms compliment Ceruledge by sustaining the advantage and allowingits cycle of destruction. Defensive Groudon is a particularly synergistic partner that offers Will-O-Wisp support to cripple physical attackers, Stealth Rocks to guarantee otherwise uncertain KOs such as maximum defense Arceus, and sun to empower its Bitter Blades even further.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kiradiance.550647/
Quality checked by:
Grammar checked by:
todo: mention flash fire, premega garg, list mons ceru doesnt always ohko like alomamola mandi and gyarapech, kingambit/rbolt matchup, mention itemless poltergeist interactions, reduce fluff a little
also if ur reading this anything i missed lmk
Swords Dance (Ceruledge) @ Lucarionite
Ability: Weak Armor
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant/Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Poltergeist
- Shadow Sneak
[SET COMMENTS]
Wielding the Lucarionite, Mega Ceruledge inherits a new stat spread of 75/150/98/85/100/107, and the formidable ability Adaptability, establishing itself as one of the most feared wallbreakers and midgame boost sweepers of the tier. Utilizing its excellent offensive Adaptability STAB moves of the life-siphoning Bitter Blade and high power Poltergeist, a Swords Dance boosted Ceruledge is capable of OHKOing all but the very bulkiest Pokemon in the tier. Ceruledge effortlessly picks off Pokemon that do not resist both its Fire and Ghost attacks and/or are outran by its 107 speed tier, that equivalent to Pinsirite Great Tusk. Shadow Sneak further deepens its destructive capabilities to pick off chipped Pokemon in the midgame that would otherwise outspeed and threaten a KO. Adamant is important to maximize Ceruledge's capabilities as a wallbreaker, though Jolly can allow it to outspeed the likes of Adamant Arceus forms and Blue Orb Zapdos.
While its Fire/Ghost type combination is offensively elite, it, coupled with very brittle defensive stats, leaves Ceruledge extremely susceptible to the tier's fast and powerful offense such as Great Tusk's Headlong Rush, Urshifu-Rapid-Strike's Surging Strikes, and Arceus-Ground's Earthquake/Judgement. The aforementioned threats and weakness to Stealth Rock make positioning Ceruledge to safely use Swords Dance very challenging, and as such Ceruledge performs best in situations in front of passive Pokemon such as Magearna and Corviknight. To circumvent the weakness of its lacking speed tier, however, Ceruledge can delay its Mega Evolution to take advantage of its Weak Armor ability on light physical attacks such as Regieleki's Rapid Spin and Corviknight's U-Turn, letting it now outspeed everything in its path. Such a maneuver to obtain both the speed and attack boosts requires careful positioning, but if achieved becomes an unstoppable wincon. Unlike most sweepers, Ceruledge's Fire typing grants it a valuable resistance to the abundant Altarianite Extreme Speeders such as Regieleki and Dragonite, nullifying the speed control that many teams rely on so long as Ceruledge is not extremely low, which it often is not due to Bitter Blade's vampirism.
With its role as a glass cannon wallbreaker and boost sweeper, Ceruledge thrives when accompanied by teammates that help enable its setup and can wall the fast and powerful threats that would outspeed it. Pivots like Pecharunt, Galarian Slowking, and defensive Lunala help Ceruledge hit the field safely repeatedly, enabling Ceruledge to repeatedly fire off its powerful nukes that even unboosted deal devastating chip over the course of a game. Hazard removal from spinners like Great Tusk and Regieleki are near mandatory due to Ceruledge's Stealth Rock Weakness. Sturdy counters to offensive checks such as Rocky Helmet Eternatus, Magearna, Garganacl, and Arceus Forms compliment Ceruledge by sustaining the advantage and allowingits cycle of destruction. Defensive Groudon is a particularly synergistic partner that offers Will-O-Wisp support to cripple physical attackers, Stealth Rocks to guarantee otherwise uncertain KOs such as maximum defense Arceus, and sun to empower its Bitter Blades even further.
[SET CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/kiradiance.550647/
Quality checked by:
Grammar checked by:
todo: mention flash fire, premega garg, list mons ceru doesnt always ohko like alomamola mandi and gyarapech, kingambit/rbolt matchup, mention itemless poltergeist interactions, reduce fluff a little
also if ur reading this anything i missed lmk
Last edited:
