[OVERVIEW]
As a Water-type, Tentacruel distinguishes itself from its competition thanks to its secondary Poison typing and access to Swords Dance and Rapid Spin. With the former move, Tentacruel can act as a dangerous sweeper due to its good Speed and ability to exploit a lot of passive Pokemon like Forretress, Umbreon, and Blissey as well as other Water-types like Vaporeon and especially the omnipresent Cloyster. As a spinner, Tentacruel has a great matchup against the two best Spikes users in the metagame in Cloyster and Forretress thanks to its Toxic immunity and resistances.
However, Tentacruel's mediocre offensive stats mean that even with a Swords Dance boost, it fails to 2HKO important Pokemon like Snorlax and Zapdos. Additionally, crippling weaknesses to Electric, Psychic, and Ground mean that you cannot rely on Tentacruel to check the likes of Steelix, Marowak, Nidoking, and Rhydon, something you would typically want from your Water-type. These factors also mean that Tentacruel is plagued with a large number of checks like Raikou, Gengar, Misdreavus, and Starmie. Starmie is also a huge competitor to Tentacruel as a spinner due to its Speed and secondary Psychic typing, which allows it to better deal with common spinblocker Gengar and check Machamp much more effectively. Furthermore, Tentacruel cannot use Swords Dance and Rapid Spin on one set, forcing the player to choose what they feel will be most beneficial.
[SET]
name: Druidcruel (Swords Dance)
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Sludge Bomb
move 4: Hydro Pump / Surf
item: Leftovers
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Although Tentacruel doesn't look like an offensive threat with such average offensive stats, it's surprisingly one of the most effective Swords Dance users in the metagame, mostly due to the many opportunities it has to set up throughout the match. Substitute makes this task even easier, as it discourages Cloyster and Forretress from using Explosion in front of Tentacruel to trade, prevents Pokemon like Umbreon from using Charm or Growl, and allows Tentacruel to exploit the overuse of Thunder from the likes of Zapdos, Raikou, and Misdreavus due to the move's accuracy. Sludge Bomb is Tentacruel's best physical STAB attack, and the added probability to inflict poison to the opposing Pokemon can prove to be very handy. Hydro Pump is another important STAB attack that deters all of Tyranitar, Steelix, Marowak, Nidoking, Rhydon, Golem, and Piloswine while hitting Skarmory, Gengar, and Misdreavus relatively hard. Surf is an alternative that lacks Hydro Pump's low PP and accuracy, but you'll miss the guaranteed 3HKO on Skarmory, Gengar, and Misdreavus and the 2HKO on Tyranitar.
Team Options
========
Even though Tentacruel can take advantage of the popularity of Thunder with Substitute, Zapdos and Raikou remain two big annoyances. Hence, Pokemon that can check them like Steelix and Snorlax or bait them in like Exeggutor and Gengar are teammates of choice. Likewise, Gengar and Misdreavus usually pack an Electric move, making the aforementioned Steelix, as well as Pursuit users like Tyranitar, Houndoom, and Umbreon, good partners too; Umbreon also deals nicely with another Tentacruel nemesis in Starmie. Outside of those with a natural typing advantage, Tentacruel's enemies include other bulky Pokemon with the ability to damage it significantly or phaze it such as Snorlax, Skarmory, Miltank, and Roar Suicune. Therefore, Pokemon that can cripple most of these like Zapdos, Misdreavus, and Gengar should be considered. Most of Tentacruel's problems are naturally fast Pokemon; thus, it's a good idea to pair it with paralysis spreaders like Exeggutor and Porygon2, which are suited to lure out most of the above targets. This improves Tentacruel's matchup against these significantly, especially if they rely on Thunder to deal with it, as they will be even less likely to break the Substitute. Finally, Tentacruel not only needs to have its checks crippled or out of the picture if it wants to sweep, it also requires a setup opportunity, namely on Pokemon like Cloyster, non-Acid Armor Vaporeon, non-Roar Suicune, Forretress, and Blissey, something greatly appreciated by the likes of Tyranitar and, once again, Steelix, as they tend to draw in most of these Pokemon for Tentacruel to take advantage of.
[SET]
name: Rapid Spin
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Sludge Bomb / Toxic
move 3: Surf
move 4: Screech / Curse / Protect
item: Leftovers
[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Even if it doesn't act as a sweeper that enjoys the popularity of Cloyster and Forretress, Tentacruel remains a big nuisance to these two with this set. They have no way to keep Tentacruel from getting rid of their Spikes with Rapid Spin, and the best they can do against it is trade themselves for it with Explosion after Tentacruel clears the field. Surf reliably hits Ghost-types neutrally and prevents Ground-types like Marowak and Nidoking from taking advantage of Tentacruel. Sludge Bomb, when used in tandem with Screech or Curse, allows Tentacruel to directly threaten the likes of Exeggutor and check non-Acid Armor Vaporeon. Screech tends to be more effective against the likes of Snorlax, as Tentacruel doesn't want to fight a Curse war against it; however, Curse still holds some merits, like boosting Tentacruel's Defense and making it a potential wincon in some scenarios. On the other hand, you can opt for a less offensive approach by using Toxic, which bothers just about any Pokemon that isn't a Steel- or Poison-type itself, including Misdreavus, which will have a harder time spinblocking Tentacruel if poisoned. Protect has some desirable features, especially when coupled with Toxic, like stalling for free Leftovers recovery, punishing a reckless Cloyster or Forretress trying to trade with Explosion, and scouting the opposing Pokemon's moves while burning its PP.
Team Options
========
Unlike Starmie, Tentacruel has a hard time against Gengar, which can spinblock it without much trouble; hence, Dark-types like Tyranitar and Umbreon are teammates of choice due to their ability to severely damage Ghost-types with Pursuit. Tentacruel tends to invite dangerous Pokemon like Snorlax, Zapdos, Raikou, and Jolteon in due to its tendency to use Rapid Spin every time it switches in, so Pokemon that can reliably handle them, such as Skarmory, Misdreavus, and Raikou, make for excellent teammates. However, keep in mind that you can cripple all of the aforementioned Pokemon with Toxic. This is something to take into account if you're playing the likes of Nidoking, Zapdos, and Machamp alongside Tentacruel, as they will greatly appreciate having these annoyances poisoned or forced into using Rest.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
============
Mirror Coat can be game changing if you successfully pull it off against Zapdos, Raikou, or Gengar, but it is incompatible with both Swords Dance and Rapid Spin. Giga Drain is an option on the Rapid Spin variant to directly threaten Cloyster. Rest can be considered on the Rapid Spin set if you're looking for increased longevity, but using it will grant the opponent an opportunity to create pressure with Spikes, which it is the entire purpose of Rapid Spin Tentacruel to avoid.
Checks and Counters
==================
**Electric-types**: Just like almost every Water-type in the metagame, Tentacruel suffers from the popularity of Electric-types like Zapdos, Raikou, and to a lesser extent Jolteon, although their reliance on Thunder to deal with it can bite them if Swords Dance Tentacruel avoids the attack.
**Ghost-types**: Gengar and Misdreavus have a weaker Thunder and aren't as bulky, but they still remain solid answers due to their resistance to Sludge Bomb and immunity to Rapid Spin. However, Misdreavus needs to watch out for Toxic and can fail to take on a Tentacruel that keeps spamming Substitute thanks to its higher Speed and Thunder's poor accuracy.
**Psychic-types**: While not as common, faster Psychic-types like Starmie, Espeon, and Alakazam are big threats to Tentacruel due to their powerful STAB attacks and access to instant recovery. They fear potentially being poisoned by Sludge Bomb or Toxic, however.
**Bulky Pokemon**: Other bulky Pokemon like Snorlax, Miltank, and by a smaller margin Skarmory can interrupt Tentacruel's attempts to sweep. Snorlax is so strong and bulky that Tentacruel will often lose even if Snorlax switches in as it uses Swords Dance, whereas Miltank will not go down quickly and threatens Tentacruel with Body Slam paralysis. Skarmory doesn't care how many Swords Dance boosts Tentacruel has acquired, and it can phaze Tentacruel in exchange for a blow from Tentacruel's Water STAB attack. This is disadvantageous for Skarmory in the long run, but poses difficulties for Tentacruel early on.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Wenderz, 331114]]
- Quality checked by: [[Lavos, 129513], [Earthworm, 15210]]
- Grammar checked by: [[The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216], [Rabia, 336073]]
Last edited by a moderator:
