THE LOST WORLD

[Cretacerus]

Omastar:
The Reptile
nv
Cretacerus
Quantum Tesseract
G-Luke
Omastar is most notable for running both supportive and boosting sets, so I chose primarily the spreads which can run both proficiently while still remaining balanced. I also noticed, that Mold Breaker might be a bit too strong on my spread, so I'm glad The Reptile and nv both went with more conservative options.


Carracosta:
Cretacerus
The Reptile
nv
Quantum Tesseract
OM room

In my opinion, a primarily defensive and tanky approach to Carracosta sounds somewhat more interesting and healthy for the metagame than yet another set-up sweeper, which was reflected in my ranking of the spreads. The main criteria here was a low speed stat in order to discourage the use of Shell Smash, while access to a phazing option was nice as well considering the prominence of set-up sweepers in the metagame.

 

[QT]

Omastar:
Quantum Tesseract
nv
The Reptile
OM room
G-Luke
Cretacerus

Carracosta:
Quantum Tesseract
nv
The Reptile
Cretacerus

I didnt submit any Carracostas.....

I fail at cp forever, Has been fixed.

 

[canno]

Omastar:
nv
The Reptile
Cretacerus

Carracosta:
The Reptile
Cretacerus
nv
Quantum Tesseract

 

[Pika Xreme]

Omastar:
Quantum Tesseract
The Reptile
G-Luke

Carracosta:
Cretacerus
Quantum Tesseract
nv

Only G-Luke and Quantum Tesseract provided any flavor justifications. With several viable options, I decided to go flavor first. However, because I'm not THAT stupid, I decided to go with the most balanced and viable of the options that matched provided flavor. Oh well, me, you'll be able to pitch in NEXT time... ;-;

 

[G-Luke]

Omastar:
Quantum Tesseract
nv
The Reptile
OM room
Cretacerus

Carracosta:
Quantum Tesseract
nv
G-Luke
The Reptile
Cretacerus
G-Luke

I didnt submit any Carracostas.....

 

[Cretacerus]

PREHISTORIC SHELLS | Discussion


Alright, here are the results of the vote! With only five votes this round it was pretty close between some of the submissions, but in the end I can present you the following winning spreads:

Omastar:

1. nv
2. The Reptile
3. Quantum Tesseract

Carracosta:

1. Cretacerus
2. The Reptile
3. nv

To collect your prizes please send me a message. ^^


--------------------------------------


And with that, here are the new spreads:

Omastar
Typing:

/

Stats: 85 / 80 / 150 / 135 / 90 / 60
Abilities: Shell Armor, Oblivious
Movepool additions: Shadow Ball, Poison Jab, Destiny Bond

Sample sets

Shell Smash:
Omastar @ White Herb
Ability: Shell Armor / Oblivious
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Modest Nature
- Shell Smash
- Hydro Pump
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]

Lead:
Omastar @ Focus Sash
Ability: Oblivious
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Toxic Spikes / Destiny Bond
- Scald

Carracosta
Typing:

/

Stats: 85 / 140 / 145 / 95 / 100 / 35
Abilities: Battle Armor, Water Veil
Movepool additions: Drain Punch, Circle Throw, Bulk Up

Sample sets

Tank:
Carracosta @ Assault Vest
Ability: Water Veil / Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 Def
Adamant Nature
- Drain Punch
- Waterfall
- Knock Off
- Circle Throw / Aqua Jet

Bulk Up:
Carracosta @ Leftovers
Ability: Water Veil / Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Atk / 4 SpD
Adamant Nature
- Bulk Up
- Drain Punch
- Aqua Jet / Waterfall
- Knock Off

RestTalk:
Carracosta @ Leftovers
Ability: Shell Armor
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Scald
- Circle Throw / Knock Off
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

Shell Smash:
Carracosta @ White Herb / Life Orb
Ability: Water Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly / Adamant Nature
- Shell Smash
- Aqua Tail / Aqua Jet
- Drain Punch / Superpower
- Knock Off / Aqua Jet

As always, feel free to discuss the influence of these guys on the metagame! Adjustments to the spreads can of course still be made, if found necessary.

• How balanced are these spreads in the current metagame?
• Can the sample sets be refined, and are there other sets that could be added?
• What would be effective partners for Omastar and Carracosta?
• How could the metagame adapt around these new threats?

The next submission stage start on 04.03.16, featuring our next fossil Pokemon. See you guys there! ;)

 

[canno]

• How balanced are these spreads in the current metagame?

I feel like both of these mons are very good, however, they are still pretty balanced overall. The low speed on both of them is what keeps them in check imho - obviously, Carracosta is balanced due to ridiculously slow speed. Omastar meanwhile has a usable speed stat - it speed ties with base 150 at +2 assuming you have Modest, and it has the bulk to set-up. What I feel holds Omastar back is its kind of mediocre coverage - specifically, it's best way to handle bulky Water-types is Hidden Power or Shadow Ball (which has mediocre power).

Carracosta in general can do a lot of things due to its cool typing - having a good, bulky Fighting / Water is really cool. Thanks to its good bulk and Water Veil, it can check monsters like Keldeo, Bisharp, Mega Zard X, Excadrill, and Mega Scizor. It can phaze those that want to try and use it as set-up fodder with Circle Throw while having pseudo-recovery in Drain Punch. A Bulk Up set is probably the best way to go, although I can see ResTalk being popular.

• Can the sample sets be refined, and are there other sets that could be added?

I feel that Omastar's Shell Smash set should have Shadow Ball in there somewhere - probably over Ice Beam, actually. Shadow Ball hits targets that Ice Beam hits like Latias and Celebi while having a better neutral game against things like Ferrothorn, Mega Venusaur, and Manaphy. You miss out on Dragons, but I feel that neutral Shadow Ball is enough for them. At least it should be slashed next to HP Electric.

• What would be effective partners for Omastar and Carracosta?

Omastar appreciates something that can get rid of bulky Grass- and Water-types that plague it and prevent a sweep. Things like Mega Manectric, lure Heatran (the Solar Beam set), Mega Venusaur, and Serperior are places to start for teammates. Bisharp is also very annoying to it, as Sucker Punch will destroy it even with its titanic defenses (although it doesn't OHKO, which is pretty scary - 252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Omastar: 234-276 (75.2 - 88.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO). Maybe something like Breloom can work well with it?

As for Carracosta, Tyranitar seems like a perfect partner for it - checks the Flying-types that it hates while also being able to pursuit trap things like Latias for it. Steel-types also pair well with it, as Carracosta can tank Fire-type attacks aimed at them, while the Steel-type can help deal with Fairies. Heatran and Klefki seem like they would work well - maybe Skarmory too. You could form a FWG core with it - something like Carracosta + Heatran + Celebi / Mega Venusaur ?

 

[Cretacerus]

THE ORDOVICIAN ORCHID | Submissions

Cradily
Original typing:

/

Original stats: 86 / 81 / 97 / 81 / 107 / 43 (BST 495)
Original abilities: Suction Cups / Storm Draim

Hey everyone, welcome to a new submission stage!

Today's slate features the last defensive Pokemon among the fossil roster, Cradily. Its Grass typing has the potential to be quite interesting in this metagame considering the amount of Water- and Ground-type top threats such as the recently added Omastar and Carracosta. However, it also bestows Cradily with a wide range of weaknesses which might have to specifically be covered up by a suitable secondary typing, abilities and stats, in order for it to compete with both Ferrothorn and Mega Venusaur.


As always, please factor in the following criteria when making your submisssion:

• Flavor: Any changes should be sensible with the original concept and design of the Pokemon.
• Competitiveness: The goal is to make each Pokemon a top threat by OU standards (S/A-rank).
• Originality: Avoid making the Pokemon too similar to current OU threats and previously winning entries.

Try to be as explicit as possible with your justification, so other people can follow your thought process more easily.
Feedback and constructive criticism for others is very appreciated, in case you feel that certain aspects of their submission could use a more thorough reasoning. Make sure to be specific though, and give them a chance to explain the rational behind their decisions.

Format

Cradily:

Typing: Grass / ...
Stats: 86+ / 81+ / 97+ / 81+ / 107+ / 43+ (BST 600)
Abilities: 1 / 2
Movepool additions: 1 / 2 / 3

Niche in the metagame: ...
Sample set(s): ...

Typing:
> The primary type is given depending on the original typing.
> The secondary type can be anything besides Rock.
Stats:
> The Base Stat Total has to be 600.
> The original Base Stats can't be decreased.
Abilities:
> Each fossil Pokemon will get a total of 2 abilities.
> They should be sensible flavorwise and competitively.
Movepool additions:
> Each fossil Pokemon will receive a total of 3 new moves.
> They should be sensible flavorwise and competitively.
Niche in the metagame:
> Intended role in the metagame?
> Advantages over it's competition?
> Pokemon it threatens / is threatened by?
Sample set(s):
> Represents the most viable set.
> Multiple sets can be listed if the Pokemon has different viable roles.
> Follow the standard format.

[Name] @ [Item of Choice]
Ability: [Ability of Choice]
EVs: [EV Spread]
[Nature of Choice] Nature
- [Move 1]
- [Move 2]
- [Move 3]
- [Move 4]

Prizes

As a little incentive for quality submissions, the top ranked candidates will be rewarded with a shiny fossil Pokemon! You must have a handheld copy of either YX or ORAS in order to receive the following:

Top three entries for Cradily:

#345 Lileep ♂ | Lv.1 (Untouched)
Ability: Storm Drain
Sassy Nature
IVs: 31.31.31.31.31.31
EMs: Recover, Stealth Rock, Curse, Mirror Coat
OT: Tekniskyr (14073)
Hatch Location: Cave of Origin

Submissions will remain open until 13.03.16, after which the most popular spread will be determined in a vote! All the best, and have fun! ;)

 

[nv]

Cradily:
Typing:

Stats: 100 (+14) / 95 (+14) / 130 (+33) / 95 (+14) / 135 (+28) / 45 (+2) (BST 495)
Abilities: Poison Heal / Analytic
Movepool additions: Scald, Spore, Soak

Niche in the metagame: Basically, as the last defensive Fossil Pokemon, Cradily needs something to set itself apart from the rest of the defensive mons. So I gave it a somewhat unique Grass / Water typing, leaving it with only 2 somewhat uncommon weaknesses in Bug and Poison and a really common Flying weakness. Poison Heal gives Cradily a reliable way to absorb status and gives it better passive recovery than Leftovers. Analytic, however, gives Cradily's moves amazing power as it is slower than most Pokemon such as Omastar, Carracosta, Kabutops, and Armaldo. Scald gives Cradily a way of spreading burn and hits decently hard with base 95 Special Attack. Spore is another way Cradily can spread status as it can cripple a mon fairly easily. Spore also helps Curse sets as it can cripple a check or counter and continue setting up. Soak was added for flavor purposes since it represents a barnacle and it rest near the edge of oceans.

Sample sets:

Wall

Cradily @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Recover
- Spore / Stealth Rock

Curse

Cradily @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recover
- Seed Bomb
- Earthquake

Specs

Cradily @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave / Spore / Hidden Power [Fire]

 

[canno]

Typing:

Stats: 106 +20 / 96 +15 / 122 +25 / 96 +15 / 122 +15 / 58 +15 [BST 600]
Abilities: Suction Cups / Sap Sipper (HA)
Movepool additions: Scald / Hydro Pump / Waterfall

Niche in the metagame: Cradily has a powerful Grass / Water typing, allowing it to check many Water-types and threaten them back with a decently powerful Grass STAB. Meanwhile, Sap Sipper makes it a great check to Grass-type Pokemon as well, giving it a neat niche. This also makes it a pretty good check to Manaphy, as the best hit it has against Cradily is Ice Beam, and Keldeo due to its high bulk.
Sample set(s):

Bulky Wall

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Recover
- Stealth Rock

Bulky Sweeper

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper / Suction Cups
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse / Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Seed Bomb / Earthquake
- Recover / Earthquake

(fun set) Offensive Tank

Cradily @ Choice Specs / Expert Belt / Life Orb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain / Energy Ball
- Earth Power
- Scald / Recover

 

[QT]

Cradily:
Typing: Grass/Water
Stats: 120 (+34) / 90 (+9) / 120 (+23) / 90(+9) / 125 (+188) / 55 (+12) (BST 600)
Abilities: Storm Drain/Regenerator
Movepool additions: Scald, Baton Pass, aqua ring
Flavor: Cradily is an extinct member of the order of crinoids, which includes many undersea animals. The other two crinoid pokemon, Starmei and Gastrodon, are both water types, so I felt it made sense to add that.
Scald is a generic water move that helps cradilies defensive prowess. I wanted to add surf, but it appears largely immobile. Baton Pass rectifies a hole in its movepool (It should have it already) and gives it a pivot move for regenerator. Aqua ring is mostly flavor (about half of water types get it), but might serve a purpose on dedicated baton pass teams.
The abilities are fairly Straightforward. Strom drain, while almost useless given cradily's new typing, had to be its primary ability. It had it before it became a fossil (why would a rock type be able to absorb water) and it was shared by gastrodon. The only one of them I was really concerned about was regenerator. While from a flavor point of view it makes perfect sense, (Starfish regenerate limbs, Starmies natural cure, all three of the crinoids learning recover), With cradilies amazing defenses that kind of recovery could quickly get out of hand. I ultimately decided for it, however, because of just how easily it is crippled by status and how mediocre its typing is (weak to talonflame, kabutops, armaldo, aerodactyl, archeops, aurorus). As things stand, it looks to be an amazing shell smash check that can switch in multiple times.
Niche in the metagame:
As a highly defensive regenerator on both sides of the spectrum with both active and passive recovery, cradily looks to be an annoying nut for offense to crack, especially considering it shares has none of the weaknesses of current regenerators such as tornadus and the slows. This means that only a select few pokemon can break through them. WHile 120/120/125 bulk is good, however, it isn't unbreakable, epecially with hazards in play. be sure to stack with a defog user or rapid spinner.

Sample sets:

utility crinoid

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain

Assualt Vest Pivot

Cradily @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Spd/ 8 SpA
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave/Sludge Bomb/Energy Ball

Baton pass booster

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Amnesia
- Baton Pass
- Curse/Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb

dedicated Baton pass

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Ingrain
- Aqua Ring
- Baton Pass
- Amnesia

 

[Pika Xreme]

Cradily:
Typing:

Stats: 105 / 105 / 115 / 105 / 120 / 50 (BST 600 must match 600)
Abilities: Technician, Storm Drain (HA)
Movepool additions: Needle Arm, Water Pulse, Aqua Jet

Flavor: All those tentacles give it a lot of dexterity. It's water-type because it's an aquatic lifeform, and all of its new moves are Water moves.

Niche in the metagame: Cradily is an incredibly bulky and unpredictable threat with a great typing both offensively and defensively.

Sample sets:

Scizor Wannabe

Cradily @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def
Ability: Technician
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Needle Arm
- Recover
- Swords Dance

Special Technician

Cradily @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpA
Ability: Technician
Modest Nature
- Water Pulse
- Recover
- Grass Knot / Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

 

[CuteandScary]

Typing: Grass / Ground
Stats: 86 / 81 / 97 / 81 / 107 / 43--->111(+25), 96(+15), 117(+20), 96(+15), 127(+20), 53(+10) BST 600(+105)
Abilities: Suctions Cups/Natural Cure HA: Water Absorb
Movepool additions: Coil/Power Whip/Baton Pass
Flavor:
Typing) In trying to be different from everyone else, I tried to find a different secondary type. I decided on ground. a) it's another underrepresented type combination, b) it's a good type in general. Ground typing is rooted in the X pokedex info, "It lives in the shallows of warm seas. When the tide goes out, it digs up prey from beaches." because it's not deep sea, I feel like it works kinda like stunfisk. And in OR, it walks on the ocean floor, instead of swimming. I know, bit of a stretch.
Abilities)I kept suction cups as an ability because I knew I wanted to use Coil on Cradily, and it's a pseudo-signature ability. Natural Cure because I felt like regenerator might be too strong, but wanted something to signal the regenerative nature of the animal it’s based of off. I changed Storm Drain to Water Absorb because it makes more sense for an undersea non-water type to be healed by water than to be empowered by it.
Moves) Coil, mostly because I also wanted Power Whip. Coil, for flavor, I feel like it's long ass neck would work. Hopefully. Power Whip because it's a huge plant and already uses it's head tentacles to attack, according to Y "It ensnares prey with its eight tentacles." Baton Pass was added because clearly meant to be apart of baton pass chain with it's ability.


Competitive:
Typing)it's typing my have gotten rid of it's poison type weakness, but also its resistance to water and grass and doubled, now a quadruple, weakness to ice. It's also good at deterring otherwise obnoxious fire and steel types. Ground does give it a resistance to rock, and more importantly, stealth rock, letting it switch out more often either from baton pass or for natural cure. It also makes it resist the ever common EdgeQuake, which is good for a wall. On top of this, it can still be used by Sand teams to deal with water types and could be used as a partner to SpD Tyranitar.
Abilities) Suction Cups stayed because I knew I wanted cradily to become a set-up sweeper. Natural Cure makes for a good wall ability, and is not as dominating as Regenerator could be. I changed Storm Drain to Water Absorb because it helps tank cradily to help alleviate the need for recover on sets, and also keeps it from scald burns.
Moves) Coil shifts cradily to physical, and we don’t have many physical grass types, as well as patching up it’s slightly lower defense and the accuracy of power whip and stone edge. Power Whip because Cradily didn’t have a strong physical grass attack, and coil synergy. Baton Pass hs the obvious Baton Pass team, but it also allows Cradily to be used as a slow pivot bringing in frailer teammates which is always nice.
Essentially, this would make cradily a physical ground type that isn't afraid of scald or water types in general. It is niche in being also a physical grass type and uses a poorly distributed move.

Wall:
Cradily@Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure/Water Absorb
EVs: 252 hp, 252 def, 4 whatever.
Nature: +Def/-Atk
-Giga Drain
-Recover
-Stealth Rock/Earth Power
-Baton Pass/Earth Power


Set-up Sweeper: The set this entire idea is set around.
Cradily @ Leftovers/Ice Resist Berry
Ability: Water Absorb/Suction Cups
EVs: Hp 252/Atk 4/SpD 252
Nature: +SpD/-SpA
Moves:
-Coil
-Power Whip
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge/Baton Pass/Recover

 

[Cretacerus]

Cradily:
Typing:

Stats: 105 (+19) / 90 (+9) / 110 (+13) / 115 (+34) / 135 (+28) / 45 (+2)
Abilities: Storm Drain / Flame Body
Movepool additions: Leech Seed, Lava Plume, Clear Smog

Niche in the metagame:
With its unique typing and great bulk, Cradily carves out a niche of as a strong defensive Pokemon in a metagame full of wallbreakers and set-up sweepers. The Grass/Fire typing leaves it with only three weaknesses in Flying, Rock and Poison, and allows Cradily to counter many prominent Steel, Electric, Fairy and Grass types in the metagame including top threats such as Rotom-W, Aurorus, Mega Metagross, and Mega Altaria. Storm Drain was kept as Cradily's main ability, and allows it to take on the many prominent Water type Pokemon which have been added to the metagame over the course of this project. Alternatively, Flame Body deters physical attackers such as Armaldo, Landorus-T and Scizor from repeatedly clicking U-Turn, and adds further Fire-type flavor for Cradily.
Lava Plume is an excellent STAB option due to the 30% burn chance, and gives Cradily a major edge over its fellow Grass types which usually have to resort to a noticeably weaker HP Fire for coverage. This also allows Cradily to run a very effective Leech Seed set which can quickly rack up large amounts of passive damage against opposing teams.
With its typing and ability, Cradily naturally walls many common stat boosters in the metagame including Clefable, Mega Altaria, Manaphy, and Omastar, so Clear Smog is a viable option to deal with them and remove their boosts before they become too threatening.

Sample sets: Defensive

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power / Giga Drain
- Clear Smog / Leech Seed

Recover allows Cradily to reliably replenish its health and continuously wall opposing threats over the course of the battle. Lava Plume is the main STAB move on this set and has a 30% chance to burn the foe. Earth Power primarily deals with Heatran which takes little to nothing from Cradily's other options, while also hitting opposing Electric- and Rock-types, such as Raikou and Mega Diancie. Alternatively, Giga Drain has excellent coverage with Lava Plume as well, and hits Water types such as Rotom-W, Omastar, and Manaphy for super-effective damage while providing additional passive recovery. In the last slot, Clear Smog is the preferred option allowing Cradily to beat common set-up sweepers such as Clefable and Mega Altaria one on one. However, Leech Seed is a viable alternative to rack up further passive damage.


-----------------------------------

Hey guys, great submissions so far as always! Please remember though that each submission has to have a BST of 600, exactly 2 abilities, and 3 movepool additions. Tagging The Reptile, Quantum Tesseract, Pika Xreme, and CuteandScary so that they can make the necessary edits until the end of this week. ;)

 

[Adeleine]

Cradily's my favorite Pokemon so I'll take a shot :).

Cradily: Grass / Poison
Abilities: Arena Trap / Suction Cups
Movepool Additions: Glare / Aromatherapy / Venom Drench

Stats: 134 (+48) / 81 (+0) / 117 (+20) / 96 (+15) / 129 (+22) / 43 (+0)
Niche in the metagame: Cradily plays a niche still very unexplored in any metagame: that of a bulky Shadow Tag/Arena Trap trapper. This bulk, a mixed bag defensive typing, and a decent movepool let Cradily come in on many top threats and effectively eliminate them. While Cradily does have flaws, its unique niches will let it find a spot on many teams who love what it has to offer. Its ability to reliably dispatch so many threats gives it many excellent partners.

Sample sets:

Trapper Extraordinaire

Cradily @ Black Sludge
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Relaxed Nature
- Toxic
- Recover
- Sludge Bomb / Aromatherapy / Venom Drench
- Earth Power / Aromatherapy / Venom Drench

This set uses Cradily's excellent bulk and maximizes its movepool to trap and kill a wide variety of threats. Cradily's non-spectacular Special Attack leaves Toxic as generally its best way to wear down threats it doesn't hit for super effective damage. Recover is essential for Cradily to brush off scratch damage from its victims. Sludge Bomb is a solid STAB attack that has an additional chance to poison. Earth Power is the general move of choice to deal with Steel types (even though Cradily is weak to Steel by typing, it can still wall a shocking number of them).
Aromatherapy allows Cradily to support its team while it walls its trapped target. Venom Drench makes trapped and poisoned Pokemon even more passive and easy to deal with. This set can trap and kill troublesome threats such as Clefable, Diancie-Mega, Keldeo, and more. An optional specially bulky set is certainly possible.

Flavor: I've always thought that Cradily would make an excellent Poison-type Pokemon. Sludge Wave and Bomb, Gastro Acid, and the Pokedex's mentions of how its tentacles inject venom into prey. These tentacles also inspired me to use Arena Trap... and that's all I'll say about that.

Calc: And here's some of these too.
76 Atk Mega Diancie Diamond Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 111-132 (23.5 - 27.9%) -- possible 5HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Icy Wind vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Cradily: 146-172 (30.9 - 36.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 87-102 (18.4 - 21.6%) -- possible 7HKO after Black Sludge recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 214-253 (45.3 - 53.6%) -- 39.5% chance to 2HKO without Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 105-124 (22.2 - 26.2%) -- 11.6% chance to 4HKO

 

[Cretacerus]

ORDOVICIAN ORCHID | Voting

Alright, we got seven contending spreads for Cradily to choose from, and even though the majority of them shares the same typing, there is still plenty to make each of them stand out especially in terms of their abilities!
Below are all the entries that are eligible for the poll, be sure to read through their justifications carefully, since they are an integral part of the submissions and show the level of thought put into them!

Cradily

nv
Typing:

/

Stats: 100 / 95 / 130 / 95 / 135 / 45
Abilities: Poison Heal, Analytic
Movepool additions: Scald, Spore, Soak

Justification

Niche in the metagame: Basically, as the last defensive Fossil Pokemon, Cradily needs something to set itself apart from the rest of the defensive mons. So I gave it a somewhat unique Grass / Water typing, leaving it with only 2 somewhat uncommon weaknesses in Bug and Poison and a really common Flying weakness. Poison Heal gives Cradily a reliable way to absorb status and gives it better passive recovery than Leftovers. Analytic, however, gives Cradily's moves amazing power as it is slower than most Pokemon such as Omastar, Carracosta, Kabutops, and Armaldo. Scald gives Cradily a way of spreading burn and hits decently hard with base 95 Special Attack. Spore is another way Cradily can spread status as it can cripple a mon fairly easily. Spore also helps Curse sets as it can cripple a check or counter and continue setting up. Soak was added for flavor purposes since it represents a barnacle and it rest near the edge of oceans.

Sample set: Wall

Cradily @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Recover
- Spore / Stealth Rock

Sample set: Curse

Cradily @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse
- Recover
- Seed Bomb
- Earthquake

Sample set: Specs

Cradily @ Choice Specs
Ability: Analytic
EVs: 248 HP / 252 SpA / 8 Spe
Modest Nature
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave / Spore / Hidden Power [Fire]

The Reptile
Typing:

/

Stats: 106 / 96 / 122 / 96 / 122 / 58
Abilities: Suction Cups, Sap Sipper
Movepool additions: Scald, Hydro Pump, Waterfall

Justification

Niche in the metagame: Cradily has a powerful Grass / Water typing, allowing it to check many Water-types and threaten them back with a decently powerful Grass STAB. Meanwhile, Sap Sipper makes it a great check to Grass-type Pokemon as well, giving it a neat niche. This also makes it a pretty good check to Manaphy, as the best hit it has against Cradily is Ice Beam, and Keldeo due to its high bulk.

Sample set: Bulky Wall

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Giga Drain
- Scald
- Recover
- Stealth Rock

Sample set: Bulky Sweeper

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Sap Sipper / Suction Cups
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Careful Nature
- Curse / Swords Dance
- Waterfall
- Seed Bomb / Earthquake
- Recover / Earthquake

Sample set: Offensive Tank (fun set)

Cradily @ Choice Specs / Expert Belt / Life Orb
Ability: Sap Sipper
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpA
Modest Nature
- Hydro Pump
- Giga Drain / Energy Ball
- Earth Power
- Scald / Recover

Quantum Tesseract
Typing:

/

Stats: 120 / 90 / 120 / 90 / 125 / 55
Abilities: Storm Drain, Regenerator
Movepool additions: Scald, Baton Pass, Aqua Ring

Justification

Flavor: Cradily is an extinct member of the order of crinoids, which includes many undersea animals. The other two crinoid pokemon, Starmei and Gastrodon, are both water types, so I felt it made sense to add that.
Scald is a generic water move that helps cradilies defensive prowess. I wanted to add surf, but it appears largely immobile. Baton Pass rectifies a hole in its movepool (It should have it already) and gives it a pivot move for regenerator. Aqua ring is mostly flavor (about half of water types get it), but might serve a purpose on dedicated baton pass teams.
The abilities are fairly Straightforward. Strom drain, while almost useless given cradily's new typing, had to be its primary ability. It had it before it became a fossil (why would a rock type be able to absorb water) and it was shared by gastrodon. The only one of them I was really concerned about was regenerator. While from a flavor point of view it makes perfect sense, (Starfish regenerate limbs, Starmies natural cure, all three of the crinoids learning recover), With cradilies amazing defenses that kind of recovery could quickly get out of hand. I ultimately decided for it, however, because of just how easily it is crippled by status and how mediocre its typing is (weak to talonflame, kabutops, armaldo, aerodactyl, archeops, aurorus). As things stand, it looks to be an amazing shell smash check that can switch in multiple times.

Niche in the metagame: As a highly defensive regenerator on both sides of the spectrum with both active and passive recovery, cradily looks to be an annoying nut for offense to crack, especially considering it shares has none of the weaknesses of current regenerators such as tornadus and the slows. This means that only a select few pokemon can break through them. WHile 120/120/125 bulk is good, however, it isn't unbreakable, epecially with hazards in play. be sure to stack with a defog user or rapid spinner.

Sample set: Utility Crinoid

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Bold Nature
- Recover
- Scald
- Stealth Rock
- Giga Drain

Sample set: Assault Vest Pivot

Cradily @ Assault Vest
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Spd/ 8 SpA
Calm Nature
- Scald
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power
- Sludge Wave/Sludge Bomb/Energy Ball

Sample set: Baton Pass Booster

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Amnesia
- Baton Pass
- Curse/Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb

Sample set: Dedicated Baton Pass

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Regenerator
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold Nature
- Ingrain
- Aqua Ring
- Baton Pass
- Amnesia

Pika Xreme
Typing:

/

Stats: 105 / 105 / 115 / 105 / 120 / 50
Abilities: Technician, Storm Drain
Movepool additions: Needle Arm, Water Pulse, Aqua Jet

Justification

Flavor: All those tentacles give it a lot of dexterity. It's water-type because it's an aquatic lifeform, and all of its new moves are Water moves.

Niche in the metagame: Cradily is an incredibly bulky and unpredictable threat with a great typing both offensively and defensively.

Sample set: Scizor Wannabe

Cradily @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 252 Atk, 4 Def
Ability: Technician
Adamant Nature
- Aqua Jet
- Needle Arm
- Recover
- Swords Dance

Sample set: Special Technician

Cradily @ Leftovers
EVs: 252 HP, 4 Def, 252 SpA
Ability: Technician
Modest Nature
- Water Pulse
- Recover
- Grass Knot / Energy Ball
- Hidden Power [Fire]

CuteandScary
Typing:

/

Stats: 111 / 96 / 117 / 96 / 127 / 53
Abilities: Suctions Cups, Water Absorb
Movepool additions: Coil, Power Whip, Baton Pass

Justification

Flavor:

• Typing) In trying to be different from everyone else, I tried to find a different secondary type. I decided on ground. a) it's another underrepresented type combination, b) it's a good type in general. Ground typing is rooted in the X pokedex info, "It lives in the shallows of warm seas. When the tide goes out, it digs up prey from beaches." because it's not deep sea, I feel like it works kinda like stunfisk. And in OR, it walks on the ocean floor, instead of swimming. I know, bit of a stretch.
• Abilities)I kept suction cups as an ability because I knew I wanted to use Coil on Cradily, and it's a pseudo-signature ability. Storm Drain was changed to Water Absorb because it makes more sense for an undersea non-water type to be healed by water than to be empowered by it.
• Moves) Coil, mostly because I also wanted Power Whip. Coil, for flavor, I feel like it's long ass neck would work. Hopefully. Power Whip because it's a huge plant and already uses it's head tentacles to attack, according to Y "It ensnares prey with its eight tentacles." Baton Pass was added because clearly meant to be apart of baton pass chain with it's ability.

Competitive:

• Typing)it's typing my have gotten rid of it's poison type weakness, but also its resistance to water and grass and doubled, now a quadruple, weakness to ice. It's also good at deterring otherwise obnoxious fire and steel types. Ground does give it a resistance to rock, and more importantly, stealth rock, letting it switch out more often either from baton pass or for natural cure. It also makes it resist the ever common EdgeQuake, which is good for a wall. On top of this, it can still be used by Sand teams to deal with water types and could be used as a partner to SpD Tyranitar.
• Abilities) Suction Cups stayed because I knew I wanted cradily to become a set-up sweeper. Natural Cure makes for a good wall ability, and is not as dominating as Regenerator could be. I changed Storm Drain to Water Absorb because it helps tank cradily to help alleviate the need for recover on sets, and also keeps it from scald burns.
• Moves) Coil shifts cradily to physical, and we don’t have many physical grass types, as well as patching up it’s slightly lower defense and the accuracy of power whip and stone edge. Power Whip because Cradily didn’t have a strong physical grass attack, and coil synergy. Baton Pass hs the obvious Baton Pass team, but it also allows Cradily to be used as a slow pivot bringing in frailer teammates which is always nice.
• Essentially, this would make cradily a physical ground type that isn't afraid of scald or water types in general. It is niche in being also a physical grass type and uses a poorly distributed move.

Sample set: Wall

Cradily@Leftovers
Ability: Water Absorb
EVs: 252 hp, 252 def, 4 whatever.
Nature: +Def/-Atk
-Giga Drain
-Recover
-Stealth Rock/Earth Power
-Baton Pass/Earth Power

Sample set: Set-up Sweeper

Cradily @ Leftovers/Ice Resist Berry
Ability: Water Absorb/Suction Cups
EVs: Hp 252/Atk 4/SpD 252
Nature: +SpD/-SpA
Moves:
-Coil
-Power Whip
-Earthquake
-Stone Edge/Baton Pass/Recover

Cretacerus
Typing:

/

Stats: 105 / 90 / 110 / 115 / 135 / 45
Abilities: Storm Drain, Flame Body
Movepool additions: Leech Seed, Lava Plume, Clear Smog

Justification

Niche in the metagame: With its unique typing and great bulk, Cradily carves out a niche of as a strong defensive Pokemon in a metagame full of wallbreakers and set-up sweepers. The Grass/Fire typing leaves it with only three weaknesses in Flying, Rock and Poison, and allows Cradily to counter many prominent Steel, Electric, Fairy and Grass types in the metagame including top threats such as Rotom-W, Aurorus, Mega Metagross, and Mega Altaria. Storm Drain was kept as Cradily's main ability, and allows it to take on the many prominent Water type Pokemon which have been added to the metagame over the course of this project. Alternatively, Flame Body deters physical attackers such as Armaldo, Landorus-T and Scizor from repeatedly clicking U-Turn, and adds further Fire-type flavor for Cradily.
Lava Plume is an excellent STAB option due to the 30% burn chance, and gives Cradily a major edge over its fellow Grass types which usually have to resort to a noticeably weaker HP Fire for coverage. This also allows Cradily to run a very effective Leech Seed set which can quickly rack up large amounts of passive damage against opposing teams.
With its typing and ability, Cradily naturally walls many common stat boosters in the metagame including Clefable, Mega Altaria, Manaphy, and Omastar, so Clear Smog is a viable option to deal with them and remove their boosts before they become too threatening.

Sample set: Defensive

Cradily @ Leftovers
Ability: Storm Drain
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpA / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
- Recover
- Lava Plume
- Earth Power / Giga Drain
- Clear Smog / Leech Seed

Recover allows Cradily to reliably replenish its health and continuously wall opposing threats over the course of the battle. Lava Plume is the main STAB move on this set and has a 30% chance to burn the foe. Earth Power primarily deals with Heatran which takes little to nothing from Cradily's other options, while also hitting opposing Electric- and Rock-types, such as Raikou and Mega Diancie. Alternatively, Giga Drain has excellent coverage with Lava Plume as well, and hits Water types such as Rotom-W, Omastar, and Manaphy for super-effective damage while providing additional passive recovery. In the last slot, Clear Smog is the preferred option allowing Cradily to beat common set-up sweepers such as Clefable and Mega Altaria one on one. However, Leech Seed is a viable alternative to rack up further passive damage.

TheTiksiBranch
Typing:

/

Stats: 134 / 81 / 117 / 96 / 129 / 43
Abilities: Arena Trap, Suction Cups
Movepool additions: Glare, Aromatherapy, Venom Drench

Justification

Niche in the metagame: Cradily plays a niche still very unexplored in any metagame: that of a bulky Shadow Tag/Arena Trap trapper. This bulk, a mixed bag defensive typing, and a decent movepool let Cradily come in on many top threats and effectively eliminate them. While Cradily does have flaws, its unique niches will let it find a spot on many teams who love what it has to offer. Its ability to reliably dispatch so many threats gives it many excellent partners.

Calcs

76 Atk Mega Diancie Diamond Storm vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 111-132 (23.5 - 27.9%) -- possible 5HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 SpA Choice Specs Keldeo Icy Wind vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Cradily: 146-172 (30.9 - 36.4%) -- guaranteed 4HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Huge Power Azumarill Play Rough vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 87-102 (18.4 - 21.6%) -- possible 7HKO after Black Sludge recovery
+2 252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Iron Head vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 214-253 (45.3 - 53.6%) -- 39.5% chance to 2HKO without Black Sludge recovery
252+ Atk Choice Band Technician Scizor Bullet Punch vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cradily: 105-124 (22.2 - 26.2%) -- 11.6% chance to 4HKO

Flavor: I've always thought that Cradily would make an excellent Poison-type Pokemon. Sludge Wave and Bomb, Gastro Acid, and the Pokedex's mentions of how its tentacles inject venom into prey. These tentacles also inspired me to use Arena Trap... and that's all I'll say about that.

Sample set: Trapper Extraordinaire

Cradily @ Black Sludge
Ability: Arena Trap
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpA
Relaxed Nature
- Toxic
- Recover
- Sludge Bomb / Aromatherapy / Venom Drench
- Earth Power / Aromatherapy / Venom Drench

This set uses Cradily's excellent bulk and maximizes its movepool to trap and kill a wide variety of threats. Cradily's non-spectacular Special Attack leaves Toxic as generally its best way to wear down threats it doesn't hit for super effective damage. Recover is essential for Cradily to brush off scratch damage from its victims. Sludge Bomb is a solid STAB attack that has an additional chance to poison. Earth Power is the general move of choice to deal with Steel types (even though Cradily is weak to Steel by typing, it can still wall a shocking number of them).
Aromatherapy allows Cradily to support its team while it walls its trapped target. Venom Drench makes trapped and poisoned Pokemon even more passive and easy to deal with. This set can trap and kill troublesome threats such as Clefable, Diancie-Mega, Keldeo, and more. An optional specially bulky set is certainly possible.

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In order to vote, copy the listed names and rank them according to your preference. You may choose to rank as many or as few candidates as you like.

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Complete List

nv
The Reptile
Quantum Tesseract
Pika Xtreme
CuteandScary
Cretacerus
TheTiksiBranch

Voting will be open until 18.03.16. Good luck to every participant, and may the best entry win!

 

[nv]

nv
Cretacerus
CuteandScary
Quantum Tesseract

 

[QT]

Quantum Tesseract
nv
TheTiksiBranch

 

[Adeleine]

TheTiksiBranch
Cretacerus
Quantum Tesseract

 

[OM]

Cretacerus
nv
TheTiksiBranch

 

[G-Luke]

Quantum Tesssarct
nv
TheTikisBranch
Cretacerus

 

[canno]

nv
The Reptile
TheTikisBranch
Quantum Tesssarct

 

[CuteandScary]

Quantum Tesssarct
The Reptile

 

[Cretacerus]

Cretacerus
nv
Quantum Tesseract
Pika Xtreme
CuteandScary
The Reptile
TheTiksiBranch

 

[T.I.A.]

Cretacerus
nv
Quantum Tesseract
Pika Xtreme
CuteandScary
The Reptile
TheTiksiBranch