That duck that wouldn’t fucking stay alive in that one mission in PMD. Also kinda stealing ehT’s format cause it’s cool af.
QC: martha / Amane Misa / Hilomilo
GP: Fireflame679 / The Dutch Plumberjack
Finished!
QC: martha / Amane Misa / Hilomilo
GP: Fireflame679 / The Dutch Plumberjack
Finished!
[OVERVIEW]
Cresselia has a niche on bulkier teams due to its ability to remove multiple stallbreakers in the tier like Crawdaunt and Haxorus. Cresselia's humongous bulk also allows it to stomach hits from the strong physical wallbreakers in the tier such as Terrakion and Mamoswine. However, Cresselia not only provides defensive teams with a mixed wall and an emergency way to deal with the aforementioned threats but also can be a bulky wincon through the use of Calm Mind. Its defensive typing and ability are also decent, providing it with a good resistance to Fighting-types and a Ground-immunity to allow it to check Cobalion, Nidoking, and Choice Band Swampert, but its Psychic typing also makes it more susceptible to Pursuit and U-turn from Scizor while failing to offer resistances to anything else. Cresselia does get completely walled by Steel-types if it attempts to set up and is setup fodder against other setup sweepers such as Swords Dance Scizor, Nasty Plot Togekiss, and Curse Mega Steelix. Cresselia's Twinkle Tackle is also unfortunately pretty weak and fails to OHKO even Pokemon that are weak to it such as Latias and Mega Altaria. It often needs a Calm Mind boost to take them out, but this can take up a turn where it must take another hit to remove the threat. Furthermore, Cresselia's only form of recovery, Moonlight, can be unreliable due to its low PP in longer games, and its lacking recovery also makes it a little more susceptible to constant chip damage from entry hazards and status.
[SET]
name: Defensive Z-Move
move 1: Psyshock
move 2: Moonblast
move 3: Moonlight
move 4: Calm Mind
item: Fairium Z
ability: Levitate
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 240 Def / 16 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Psyshock works as Cresselia's primary attack, hitting Blissey and other special walls while also nailing Poison-types like Nidoking, Nihilego, and Tentacruel. It also improves Cresselia's matchup against Calm Mind users such as Latias and Suicune. Moonblast enables Cresselia to lure in and damage common Dark-types that assume they have no issues switching in like Krookodile and Hydreigon. Calm Mind is on this set to allow Cresselia to muscle through and OHKO Terrakion, Heracross, and more offensive variants of Mega Altaria with Twinkle Tackle while also giving it a stronger Psyshock for Blissey. Cresselia can also be a possible bulky wincon through accumulating multiple Calm Mind boosts. Toxic can be used over Calm Mind to wear down passive threats and stallbreakers that aren't immune to Poison such as Jellicent and Mega Houndoom but this prevents Cresselia from being a wincon and OHKOing the aforementioned threats.
Set Details
========
16 EVs in Speed allow Cresselia to outspeed Adamant Crawdaunt and OHKO it with Twinkle Tackle. The rest of the investment into Defense allows Cresselia to survive two Stone Edges from Choice Band Terrakion or Outrage from a boosted Dragon Dance Haxorus. Fairium Z lets Cresselia use a Twinkle Tackle and also reduces the damage of Knock Off from Krookodile and Mamoswine.
Usage Tips
========
Twinkle Tackle should be used as a last resort against any stallbreakers that have gone out of control that the rest of your team cannot handle. It is also useful to surprise Dark-types that believe that they can come in with no penalty, so use careful predictions and scouting to ensure you make the most out of Twinkle Tackle. Avoid Toxic, as it cripples Cresselia as a possible bulky wincon by reducing its longevity. Burn damage can also be an issue, as it places Cresselia in range of being knocked out from Pokemon it's supposed to check such as Terrakion, Mega Altaria, and Choice Band Infernape. Toxic and Calm Mind are massive assets to Cresselia, so they must be used correctly depending on the situation. Calm Mind should be used when Cresselia needs to possibly break through and OHKO an offensive threat like Crawdaunt, Haxorus, or Terrakion. Use cleric support whenever it is necessary to assist Cresselia in removing status ailments so it isn't crippled by Toxic and other status. Even in quicker games, liberally using Moonlight can waste its PP and make Cresselia a complete liability for the rest of the game. Only use Moonlight when necessary to restore health to allow it to stomach a hit from a wallbreaker or avoid the KO from fast threats like Terrakion.
Team Options
========
Cresselia fits best on stall and bulkier teams that can be troubled by frightening stallbreakers while appreciating a defensive sweeper. Cresselia appreciates cleric and Wish support from Blissey and Umbreon, as it keeps Cresselia from having to use up Moonlight PP and stops it from being crippled. Cresselia is easily pressured by Dark-types, so Mega Altaria, Sylveon, and Florges are able to stomach blows from them, and the last two can also pass Wishes. Steel-types such as Mega Aggron, Mega Steelix, and Stakataka can use Cresselia to remove Fighting-types that trouble them while also dealing with Bug-types like Scizor and Mega Beedrill that attempt to put a dent into Cresselia while gaining momentum. Entry hazards are key to chip Cresselia's victims down into range of Twinkle Tackle while also letting it sweep much more easily. The aforementioned Steel-types double as Stealth Rock setters for Cresselia due to their defensive typing to deal with Bug-types. Chesnaught works as a bulky Spikes setter that can handle Dark-types for Cresselia. Gligar and Moltres check Scizor and other Steel-types that Cresselia cannot harm while also providing pivoting through slow U-turns to give Cresselia more opportunities to come in without risking any damage.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Hidden Power Fire can be used over Moonblast to lure in and remove Scizor, but this removes one of Cresselia's biggest niches in its Fairy coverage to eliminate traditional answers to Psychic-types such as Crawdaunt. If Cresselia can't afford to run a Z-Move, it still can use Leftovers to offer passive recovery throughout the match; however, Cresselia lacks the power it needs from Twinkle Tackle to remove threats such as Crawdaunt and Terrakion. Cresselia is seen on dedicated Trick Room teams as a defensive setter with a Mental Herb in order to guarantee setup once throughout the match and Lunar Dance to give a sweeper a second chance to setup. The archetype itself, however, is almost a gimmick in the tier and has many negative matchups against many different teams.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Toxic-Immune Setup Sweepers**: Cresselia is still prone to being setup fodder to Swords Dance Scizor and Mega Steelix, which shrug off Toxic and resist both of its attacks.
**Status**: Cresselia is seriously susceptible to status, especially Toxic, as it cripples it as a bulky sweeper while also wearing it down much faster due to a lack of passive recovery. Status from opposing walls such as Blissey and Slowbro can harm Cresselia immensely because of this.
**Steel-types**: Most Steel-types such as Mega Aggron and Stakataka do not care for Cresselia's attacks and are immune to Toxic. They can easily capitalize on this and gain free turns to set up entry hazards or deal damage.
**Dark-types**: While some Dark-types have to be wary of Twinkle Tackle, Hydreigon and Mega Sharpedo can beat out Cresselia, while Bisharp and Mega Houndoom have the added advantage of taking neutral damage from it. These Dark-types outside of Bisharp also need to wary of possible poison.
**Ghost-types**: Ghost-types like Chandelure and Doublade use Cresselia as setup fodder, while Jellicent is able to use Taunt on Cresselia and prevent it from recovering. However, Chandelure and Jellicent cannot freely come in and risk getting poisoned.
[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[BackAtYouBro, 451000]]
- Quality checked by: [[martha, 384270], [Amane Misa, 312356], [Hilomilo, 313384]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Fireflame679, 231476], [The Dutch Plumberjack, 232216]]
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