Stoward
Ah, you're finally awake
[OVERVIEW]
* Celesteela boasts solid bulk and a brilliant defensive typing, meaning that it can act as a decent answer to many common threats in the tier, such as Arceus-Ground, Arceus-Fairy, Mega Salamence, and Dragon Dance Rayquaza.
* It is able to recover HP very easily with Leftovers, Leech Seed, and Protect, which makes it very hard to wear down and very annoying to beat in a one-on-one situation.
* Unlike most common bulky Steel-type Pokemon used in the tier such as Ferrothorn, Mega Scizor, Magearna, and support Necrozma-DM, Celesteela also provides its team with an immunity to Ground-type attacks, which is a trait that it only shares with Skarmory. However, unlike Skarmory, Celesteela tends to wear down foes with a combination of Leech Seed and Toxic as well as threaten frailer Pokemon with Heavy Slam.
* Celesteela is relatively passive, and it is therefore quite easily trapped by Shadow Tag users such as Gothitelle and Mega Gengar. That being said, Mega Gengar does have to be careful when dealing with Celesteela, as it is 2HKOed by Heavy Slam.
* Celesteela is shut down relatively easily by Pokemon that utilize Substitute and setup moves, such as Primal Kyogre, Zygarde-C, and Arceus-Ground, as Pokemon behind a Substitute are immune to Leech Seed and Toxic. Furthermore, many of the aforementioned Substitute users can avoid having their Substitute broken by Heavy Slam by resisting Steel-type attacks, having enough natural bulk, or investing enough EVs in Defense. This causes Celesteela to become setup fodder for these Pokemon.
* Unfortunately, due to the passive nature of Celesteela, it struggles to effectively utilize its ability Beast Boost, as it is quite easily revenge killed by an opposing dedicated check.
[SET]
name: Physically Defensive
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Heavy Slam
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Protect
item: Leftovers
ability: Beast Boost
nature: Impish
evs: 248 HP / 8 Atk / 252 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
===========
* Leech Seed makes it easy for Celesteela to wear down opposing Pokemon, helps force switches, and provides Celesteela with a means of recovery other than Leftovers.
* Protect is useful for scouting for super effective coverage moves, determining if foes are using Choice-items, and allowing for further recovery, and it is especially useful when paired with Leech Seed.
* Toxic helps wear down every non-Steel- or Poison-type Pokemon in the tier and is especially useful for easing the process of wearing down foes when combined with Leech Seed and Protect.
* Heavy Slam prevents Celesteela from being completely passive, allowing it to do a reasonable amount of damage to foes such as Mega Salamence, Rayquaza, Mega Gengar, Ultra Necrozma, and Mega Diancie.
Set Details
============
* Maximum HP and Defense EVs are set in order for Celesteela to effectively check many common physical threats in the tier, such as Mega Salamence, Arceus-Ground, Marshadow, Rayquaza, and Primal Groudon lacking Fire-type attacks.
* Alternatively, a set with 104 Attack EVs and 156 Defense EVs can be used to ensure that Heavy Slam breaks Impish Mega Salamence's Substitute over 75% of the time, 2HKOes Gothitelle after Leech Seed and Stealth Rock damage, and OHKOes a -1 Defense Marshadow after Stealth Rock damage while still surviving Close Combat from Life Orb Marshadow with ease.
Usage Tips
=============
* Bring Celesteela in on Pokemon that it takes very little damage from, such as Arceus-Ground, Arceus-Fairy, Mega Salamence, Double Dance Primal Groudon, support Necrozma-DM, and Lugia.
* Leech Seed is easily Celesteela's most spammable move, as it provides recovery and tends to encourage Pokemon to switch out. Try to use this move liberally if you think that your opponent is going to switch their Pokemon, as Celesteela can help wear down Pokemon that would otherwise counter it with Leech Seed + Protect.
* Heavy Slam stops Celesteela from being completely passive and should be used to wear down foes alongside Leech Seed, Toxic, and Protect, pick off foes that have been worn down, and deal decent damage to frailer foes such as Deoxys-A, Mega Gengar, Xerneas, and Mega Diancie. It is also useful for breaking Substitute from frailer foes, such as Mega Salamence and Mega Gengar. Heavy Slam is also Celesteela's only way of dealing damage to Mega Sableye and Mega Diancie.
* Spamming Toxic to slowly wear down foes is incredibly useful, as this helps make things easier for other teammates to KO them and puts pressure on clerics such as Choice Scarf Xerneas, which is the most common cleric on offensive builds and dealt with by Celesteela quite easily.
* Use Protect in order to scout for coverage moves from Primal Groudon, Calm Mind Arceus formes, and Choice-locked Pokemon such as Yveltal, Ho-Oh, and Xerneas.
* Celesteela has to be careful to not take Fire- or Electric-type attacks from common threats such as Primal Groudon, Ho-Oh, Xerneas, mixed Rayquaza, mixed Primal Kyogre, and Naganadel.
* Celesteela also tends to not run any EVs in Special Defense if it wishes to effectively act as a physical wall, so it should avoid taking any damage from common special attackers such as Yveltal, Primal Kyogre, Lunala, and Naganadel.
* Although Celesteela is a complete deadweight against Gothitelle, it is possible for it to deal with Mega Gengar, as it 2HKOes Mega Gengar with Heavy Slam and is able to potentially deal with more aggressive variants if it correctly predicts when Mega Gengar uses Taunt and Destiny Bond.
* Avoid staying in against setup sweepers with Substitute, as Pokemon are immune to Leech Seed and Toxic when behind a Substitute. Primal Kyogre and Zygarde-C are especially noteworthy examples, as even when Celesteela invests EVs into Attack, Heavy Slam still fails to break their Substitute.
Team Options
========
* Celesteela is a defensive wall that is much better at taking hits, rather than dishing them out. Therefore, it tends to fit well on teams of a similar nature.
* Pursuit users such as Marshadow and Tyranitar are nice partners for Celesteela, as they are able to trap and remove the two main Shadow Tag users in the tier, Gothitelle and Mega Gengar. It should be noted that Marshadow doesn't appreciate taking Ghost-type attacks from Mega Gengar and Tyranitar dislikes facing Mega Gengar variants with Focus Blast.
* Many different variants of Primal Groudon make useful partners for Celesteela. The defensive set is able to set Stealth Rock for Celesteela, which punishes just about every viable Pokemon in the tier when they switch in, ultimately making it easier for Celesteela to wear down foes. Primal Groudon can also quite easily deal with Power Herb Xerneas and Swords Dance Necrozma-DM as well as other Steel-types such as Ferrothorn, Mega Lucario, and Dialga. Defensive Primal Groudon also provides the team with a potential switch-in to Primal Kyogre, which is only really annoyed by Leech Seed and Toxic. Mixed Rock Polish Primal Groudon is able to take care of Zygarde before it transforms into Zygarde-C with Hidden Power Ice, and variants with Rock-type coverage are able to KO Ho-Oh, which otherwise 2HKOes Celesteela with Sacred Fire.
* Primal Kyogre is useful, as its ability makes it immune to Fire-type attacks and it threatens Primal Groudon and Ho-Oh with powerful Water-type attacks.
* Arceus-Water is able to remove Stealth Rock for Celesteela with Defog, as well as acting as a reasonable check to Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon.
* Arceus-Ground is also able to remove Stealth Rock for Celesteela with Defog and deal with Primal Groudon, as well as Mega Lucario, Zygarde-C, and Necrozma-DM to an extent.
* Zygarde-C is a brilliant partner both offensively and defensively, as it is able to deal with Pokemon that threaten Celesteela such as Mega Lucario, Primal Groudon, and Ho-Oh. Zygarde-C also appreciates the fact that Celesteela can threaten many of the Pokemon it dislikes dealing with, such as Arceus-Fairy, Arceus-Ground, and Choice Scarf Xerneas.
* Yveltal also pairs well with Celesteela, as it pressures trappers such as Gothitelle and Mega Gengar. It also appreciates Celesteela's ability to wear down Pokemon, which eases Yveltal's wallbreaking.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
* Fire Blast or Flamethrower can be useful for dealing with opposing Steel-types and preventing Celesteela from being setup fodder for Mega Lucario and Ferrothorn. However, Celesteela can't really afford to sacrifice anything in its moveset in order to run Fire-type coverage.
* Substitute can be useful in place of Toxic,(AC) as Celesteela can PP stall super effective moves such as Ho-Oh's Sacred Fire. However, Toxic is much more useful for wearing down foes, and having Toxic means Celesteela will be able to more efficiently recover HP, as it isn't losing any health from using Substitute.
* Flame Charge can be used to boost Celesteela's Speed by one stage and can be useful when combined with Substitute, as Celesteela is able to quickly set up a Substitute without having to take damage beforehand.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Fire-type Attacks**: Fire-type Pokemon such as Ho-Oh and Primal Groudon are both unfazed by Celesteela's attacks and are able to deal heavy amounts of damage with Fire-type attacks. Celesteela also doesn't appreciate having to deal with Fire-type coverage moves from Pokemon like, Naganadel, Rayquaza, and Calm Mind Arceus-Fairy.
**Mega Sableye**: Mega Sableye can bounce back Leech Seed and Toxic and easily recover off any damage from Heavy Slam.
**Shadow Tag Trappers**: Pokemon with Shadow Tag such as Gothitelle and Mega Gengar are able to trap Celesteela. Gothitelle is able to recover the damage dealt by Celesteela and PP stall it thanks to Rest, and Mega Gengar can cause a trade.
**Special Attackers**: Celesteela tends to invest its EVs in Defense in order to deal with physical attackers. It takes heavy damage from neutral special attacks from Pokemon such as Yveltal, Primal Kyogre, and Palkia.
**Steel-types**: Steel-type Pokemon are immune to Toxic and take minimal damage from Heavy Slam. Ferrothorn is an especially notable example, since it is immune to Leech Seed, can set its own Leech Seed back, and can set up hazards in front of Celesteela. Mega Lucario is able to set up and then OHKO Celesteela with +2 Close Combat. Necrozma-DM is only really fazed by Leech Seed, and therefore it is able to freely set up against Celesteela. Dialga is able to 2HKO Celesteela if it runs Fire Blast.
**Zygarde-C**: All variants of Zygarde-C are rather unfazed by any of Celesteela's attacks. RestTalk variants are able to recover off any damage that Celesteela dishes out and 3HKO it with Thousand Arrows. Substitute + Dragon Dance variants get a free Substitute against Celesteela and are able to set up easily, since Heavy Slam doesn't break Zygarde-C's Substitute.
**Substitute Users**: Substitute users are often problematic for Celesteela, as in many cases, Heavy Slam doesn't do enough damage to break the foe's Substitute, which then allows Pokemon like Primal Kyogre and Zygarde-C to set up for free.
**Electric-type Attacks**: Although Electric-type Pokemon are rare and not considered to be very viable, Zekrom and Arceus-Electric are able to deal heavy amounts of damage to Celesteela with their STAB attacks. Celesteela also dislikes taking Electric-type attacks from other Pokemon, such as Thunder from Xerneas, Calm Mind Arceus-Ground, and Primal Kyogre.
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