VGC 15: The threats and you. Cresselia!
[[[[If this thread gets enough support and what not I'll do one of these every day]]]]
Hello everyone! I was thinking that this thread would be a good idea and a lot of you would enjoy it. I wanna pick at some of the biggest threats in this format, and do a small explanation of each of them. Hopefully this will help you when it comes to building a team, thinking of weaknesses, or just filling in that last member. For those of you that are newer to VGC, you might be a little out of your element this year. Why? Well lets get the Meowth out of the bag. Legendaries. Legendaries everywhere. I know you sometimes saw that Zapdos last year, but it's much more this year. But fear not! All of them are beatable, and even easier to handle if you expect them fully. Let's start with an old favorite in VGC 13. The bulky monster itself, Cresselia.
![[Image: 488.gif]](http://media.pldh.net/pokemon/gen6/xy-animated/488.gif)
If you've never used this before, let me tell you why it's so scary. Actually, I don't even need to explain that much. Let this info talk for me.
Typing: Psychic
Weaknesses: Bug, Ghost, Dark (All x2)
Resistances: Fight, Psychic
Ability: Levitate (Immune to ground type moves)
Stats-
HP: 120
Attack: 70
Defense: 120
Sp. Atk: 75
Sp. Def: 130
Speed: 85
As you can see this is easily one of the best support Pokemon in the game. With Defenses and HP like that, it's very challenging to OHKO this thing. Not to mention with Levitate you can earthquake freely without worrying about your Cresselia getting hit. Here's a few damage calcs against from some powerful mons.
Adamant vs Bold:
252+ Atk Mega Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Cresselia: 294-348 (66.2 - 78.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
Adamant vs Bold:
252+ Atk Mega Absol Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Cresselia: 252-296 (56.7 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Modest vs Bold:
252+ SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Cresselia: 282-332 (63.5 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Adamant vs Bold
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Crunch vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Cresselia: 254-302 (57.2 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
These are only a few, feel free to play with a damage calc and look around on your own. There are some things that can OHKO Cress, however. Things like mega Heracross with pin missle, or choice banded escavalier, and of course mega beedrill with just about any bug move. But that's what makes this thing even more of a threat. You might be in trouble if you don't have one of these, and if your opponent builds their team to counter cress's weaknesses: You're gonna have trouble.
But, enough of that. Let's talk move set. The stats alone aren't enough, it also has a strong move pool.
Noteable Moves:
Icy Wind- A weaker ice type move that will always drop your opponents speed by -1. Have fun making those mons slower than a slowbro!
Trick Room- Honestly the best Trick Room user IMO. Soak up those hits, set up trick room, and do work! (If you didn't know, Trick Room makes slower pokemon move first for 5 turns.)
Helping Hand- Using this will make your pokemon next to Cresselia have the base power of their next move boosted by 50%.
Calm Mind- boosts the users special attack and special defense by 1!
Gravity- Negates all ground type moves for your members for 5 turns.
Light Screen- For 5 turns, special attacking damage to allies is halved.
Reflect- For 5 turns, attacking damage to allies is halved.
Magic Coat- Bounces back non damaging moves.
Moonlight- Heals the user. (weather dependent)
Sunny Day- Boosts the attack of fire type moves, while weakening water type moves. (5 turns)
Rain Dance- Boosts the attack of water type moves, while weakening fire type moves. (5 turns)
Thunder Wave/Toxic- Paralyzes the target/Poisons the target.
Substitute- Uses 1/4 of the pokemons HP to create a substitute.
Trick- Switches the pokemons held item with another pokemon.
Psycho Shift- Transfers the users status ailment to the target.
Swagger- Boosts the targets attack by 2 and confuses it.
Secret Power- Destroy your opponent by sliding into their secret base when they aren't looking and take it for yourself. kappa
The rest of these are just your basic attacking moves for you to choose from.
Ice Beam / Psychic / Psyshock / Moonblast / Shadow Ball / Signal Beam / Energy Ball
Here's some of your average Cresselia builds in VGC 13
Specially Defensive:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Icy Wind
- Psychic
- Helping Hand
- Swagger
Choice Specs:
EVs: 92 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 160 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
Trick Room:
Evs: Hp 252/Def252/SpDef4
Relaxed Nature
-Trick Room
-Light Screen
-Swagger
-Shadow Ball
There are WAAAAY too many builds for me to cover. Almost everyone runs a different spread with different moves. I showcased these 3 that were used by high ranking players for you to get the general idea.
Overall Cresselia was almost a staple in VGC 13, and it'll still be valuable this year. Good luck to everyone when it comes to landing a good one, good luck to all who build a team around it, and good luck to all who build against it.
I hope some of you enjoyed this, and helped you! Thanks for reading!
Hello everyone! I was thinking that this thread would be a good idea and a lot of you would enjoy it. I wanna pick at some of the biggest threats in this format, and do a small explanation of each of them. Hopefully this will help you when it comes to building a team, thinking of weaknesses, or just filling in that last member. For those of you that are newer to VGC, you might be a little out of your element this year. Why? Well lets get the Meowth out of the bag. Legendaries. Legendaries everywhere. I know you sometimes saw that Zapdos last year, but it's much more this year. But fear not! All of them are beatable, and even easier to handle if you expect them fully. Let's start with an old favorite in VGC 13. The bulky monster itself, Cresselia.
If you've never used this before, let me tell you why it's so scary. Actually, I don't even need to explain that much. Let this info talk for me.
Typing: Psychic
Weaknesses: Bug, Ghost, Dark (All x2)
Resistances: Fight, Psychic
Ability: Levitate (Immune to ground type moves)
Stats-
HP: 120
Attack: 70
Defense: 120
Sp. Atk: 75
Sp. Def: 130
Speed: 85
As you can see this is easily one of the best support Pokemon in the game. With Defenses and HP like that, it's very challenging to OHKO this thing. Not to mention with Levitate you can earthquake freely without worrying about your Cresselia getting hit. Here's a few damage calcs against from some powerful mons.
Adamant vs Bold:
252+ Atk Mega Tyranitar Crunch vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Cresselia: 294-348 (66.2 - 78.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after sandstorm damage and Leftovers recovery
Adamant vs Bold:
252+ Atk Mega Absol Sucker Punch vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Cresselia: 252-296 (56.7 - 66.6%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Modest vs Bold:
252+ SpA Mega Gengar Shadow Ball vs. 252 HP / 0 SpD Cresselia: 282-332 (63.5 - 74.7%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
Adamant vs Bold
252+ Atk Mold Breaker Mega Gyarados Crunch vs. 252 HP / 0+ Def Cresselia: 254-302 (57.2 - 68%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
These are only a few, feel free to play with a damage calc and look around on your own. There are some things that can OHKO Cress, however. Things like mega Heracross with pin missle, or choice banded escavalier, and of course mega beedrill with just about any bug move. But that's what makes this thing even more of a threat. You might be in trouble if you don't have one of these, and if your opponent builds their team to counter cress's weaknesses: You're gonna have trouble.
But, enough of that. Let's talk move set. The stats alone aren't enough, it also has a strong move pool.
Noteable Moves:
Icy Wind- A weaker ice type move that will always drop your opponents speed by -1. Have fun making those mons slower than a slowbro!
Trick Room- Honestly the best Trick Room user IMO. Soak up those hits, set up trick room, and do work! (If you didn't know, Trick Room makes slower pokemon move first for 5 turns.)
Helping Hand- Using this will make your pokemon next to Cresselia have the base power of their next move boosted by 50%.
Calm Mind- boosts the users special attack and special defense by 1!
Gravity- Negates all ground type moves for your members for 5 turns.
Light Screen- For 5 turns, special attacking damage to allies is halved.
Reflect- For 5 turns, attacking damage to allies is halved.
Magic Coat- Bounces back non damaging moves.
Moonlight- Heals the user. (weather dependent)
Sunny Day- Boosts the attack of fire type moves, while weakening water type moves. (5 turns)
Rain Dance- Boosts the attack of water type moves, while weakening fire type moves. (5 turns)
Thunder Wave/Toxic- Paralyzes the target/Poisons the target.
Substitute- Uses 1/4 of the pokemons HP to create a substitute.
Trick- Switches the pokemons held item with another pokemon.
Psycho Shift- Transfers the users status ailment to the target.
Swagger- Boosts the targets attack by 2 and confuses it.
Secret Power- Destroy your opponent by sliding into their secret base when they aren't looking and take it for yourself. kappa
The rest of these are just your basic attacking moves for you to choose from.
Ice Beam / Psychic / Psyshock / Moonblast / Shadow Ball / Signal Beam / Energy Ball
Here's some of your average Cresselia builds in VGC 13
Specially Defensive:
EVs: 252 HP / 252 SDef / 4 Def
Calm Nature
- Icy Wind
- Psychic
- Helping Hand
- Swagger
Choice Specs:
EVs: 92 HP / 4 Def / 252 SAtk / 160 Spd
Modest Nature
- Hidden Power [Fire]
- Ice Beam
- Psyshock
- Energy Ball
Trick Room:
Evs: Hp 252/Def252/SpDef4
Relaxed Nature
-Trick Room
-Light Screen
-Swagger
-Shadow Ball
There are WAAAAY too many builds for me to cover. Almost everyone runs a different spread with different moves. I showcased these 3 that were used by high ranking players for you to get the general idea.
Overall Cresselia was almost a staple in VGC 13, and it'll still be valuable this year. Good luck to everyone when it comes to landing a good one, good luck to all who build a team around it, and good luck to all who build against it.
I hope some of you enjoyed this, and helped you! Thanks for reading!
Bisharp is going to have fun this year. Gets +1 attack from landorus's intimidate, and can take out Cresselia with a +1 knock off (:
