Community POTW #006

[Serebii]

Time for the next Pokémon of the Week and we're again going for a Pokémon unavailable in Gen 8

This week we're focusing on Crabominable!

Go nuts

Crabominable #740 - Serebii.net Pokédex

Crabominable Pokémon Serebii.net Pokédex providing all details on moves, stats, abilities, evolution data and locations for Pokémon Scarlet & Violet

www.serebii.net

 

[XaelOstigian]

Fun Fact, there actually is such a species of crab in real called the yeti crab:

The snow white variants that Crabominable is likely based off of ironically live close to volcanic vents where they feed on chemosynthetic bacteria on the seafloor and where the temperatures can exceed boiling at times. A sharp contrast from its Ice typing. Then again the nearby waters are also freezing, so perhaps there is a future where we can finally get an Ice/Fire type in the form of a regional variant? Anyways, Crabominable is pretty standard for a Fighting type with high HP and Attack but low speed. And while the added Ice typing certainly gives it a coveted secondary STAB, the Ice typing does it no favors defensively when paired with the low speed. Still, this furry crab can bring the fury if you play into its strengths.

Jabby Crabby
Ability: Iron Fist
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Adamant
EVs: (HP 252) (Attack 252) (Def 4)
Tera Type: Fighting or Electric

Moves:
Bulk Up
Ice Hammer
Drain Punch
Thunder Punch

Set Details:
A tanky set that exploits its ability Iron Fist to provide extra power. Use Bulk Up to increases your offensive output and make Crabominable harder to KO on the physical side. Ice Hammer gets the Iron Fist boost, jacking its 100 base power to a spammable 120 at the cost of a speed drop, but given the base 43 speed this wooly crab won't outspeed much anyways, though a teammate with Trick Room will certainly help. Drain Punch is your safest Fighting STAB since the stat drops from Superpower and Close Combat are not ideal on a Pokemon as slow as Crabominable, and Dynamic Punch despite getting the Iron Fist boost is far too inaccurate to rely on. Drain Punch gets the Iron Fist boost too though, increasing the base power from 75 to 90 and granting a means of HP recovery all in one. Finally for coverage we have Thunder Punch which also goes from 75 to 90 and bestows a physical variant of the coveted Bolt-Beam combo leaving next to nothing that won't take at least a neutral hit from Crabominable. An Adamant nature gives the yeti crab all the power it can possibly get, investing all in HP makes it as bulky as possible, and Leftovers provides supplemental recovery in tangent with Drain Punch to keep Crabominable healthy and on the field as long as possible. As for the new Tera type mechanic, removing your bad defensive Ice typing while retaining the STAB is a welcome mechanic. Fighting is the easiest to obtain obviously, and it gives Drain Punch the added power it needs to be truly threatening while stealing as much HP as possible from your opponent. Electric is also an option to give you an STAB on your phys Bolt-Beam set while leaving you with only a solitary weakness to Ground.

 

[Mestorn]

The snow white variants that Crabominable is likely based off of ironically live close to volcanic vents where they feed on chemosynthetic bacteria on the seafloor and where the temperatures can exceed boiling at times. A sharp contrast from its Ice typing. Then again the nearby waters are also freezing, so perhaps there is a future where we can finally get an Ice/Fire type in the form of a regional variant?

Galarian Darmanitan Zen Mode was Ice Fire, so we've already had the typing, just in a limited form.

Crabominable has a bit of potential. Ice Fighting is a potent STAB combination, that can hit 50% of all the base types for Super Effective and has no common resist, which with Crabominable's Attack is rather terrifying. However, Crabominable is very much a product of Aslowla, and its poor Speed coupled with lackluster bulk and horrid defensive typing (weak to Fire, Steel, Flying, Fighting, Psychic, Fairy) have prevented it from seeing much play. Generation 9 has changed that. While Crabominable always had a remedy for its Speed in Trick Room, that alone was not enough. Terastalization is just the ticket, enabling Crabominable to shed its horrid typing for a much better one defensively. While competition for slots on a Trick Room team are still fierce, I do believe Crabominable has a niche.

Yeti Space
Crabominable
-Ice Hammer
-Drain Punch
-Earthquake/Stomping Tantrum/Liquidation
-Protect
Ability: Hyper Cutter
Item: Expert Belt
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 ATK / 4 SDEF
Nature: Brave (+ATK, -SPE)

Crabominable makes for a terrifying Trick Room sweeper. Ice Hammer hits hard as it is, and makes Crabominable near impossible to outslow in Trick Room. Drain Punch gives it a bit of resilience, able to stick around longer while applying damage. Coverage is dependent on what Tera type you want. Gholdengo, Armorouge and Skeledirge all resist Crabominable's STABs. Tera Ground Earthquake or Stomping Tantrum deals with them, but Tera Ground has a lot of unfortunate weaknesses. Tera Water Liquidation still deals with the latter two and is a much better typing, offering a resist to Gholdengo's Make It Rain. Protect is there to stall for Trick Room setup and in general.

Hyper Cutter is ability of choice so your attack isn't ruined by Intimidate/Charm or Feather Dance while giving up your item slot.
Earthquake vs Stomping Tantrum -power reduction places Earthquake on par with Stomping Tantrum. Earthquake hits everything on the field and that spread damage may be valuable, but requires extra team building so you don't wreck your own team. Stomping Tantrum isn't spread, but isn't blocked by Wide Guard and powers up if Crabominable was flinched by Fake Out.

 

[ThatDarnCabbage]

Just curious, would a punching glove not be a good held item for Crabominable? Does it stack with Iron Fist?

 

[Divine Retribution]

Punching Glove is only a 10% boost (plus making punching moves non-contact, which is nice but matters significantly less in a metagame with no Zapdos and relatively low Ferrothorn and Volcarona usage). This is a barely noticeable boost, comparable to a Muscle Band. Crabominable has no way of boosting its own Attack, extremely low Speed, and only barely passable bulk, so it either wants as much immediate power as it can get in the form of a Choice Band or Life Orb, or an Assault Vest to patch up its bulk.

That being said, Crabominable honestly isn't very good in inclusive formats. On paper it seems like a scary Trick Room attacker, and it's not really bad per se, it just struggles to justify a team slot over other even scarier Trick Room abusers like Skeledirge, Azumarill, Hatterene, and Iron Hands. I've actually tried to build with Crabominable several times in Gen 7 to no significant success; Crabominable was decent and put in some work most matches, but there was just very little it did that another Trick Room abuser couldn't do better. Gen 9 does have less competition for Trick Room abusers (no Alolan Marowak, Crawdaunt, etc.), and Terastalyzation does patch up Crabominable's terrible defensive typing, but its other flaws are still glaring and there are still plenty of other Trick Room abusers, some of which will make far better use of your Tera slot than Crabominable.

 

[ThatDarnCabbage]

Just curious, does POTW do alternative builds beyond for doubles? I know that's extra work but I was curious if there would be a standard build, then maybe also a trick room build for Pokémon who fit niches for specific teams like that or other strategies, or will that just be mentioned in some of the following paragraphs to the main build?

Just wondering since this is my first time really following POTW and building each Pokémon alongside it.

 

[Divine Retribution]

If a Pokemon has multiple viable sets that are completely different from one another (to the point where you wouldn't just mention alternative moves/items in the other options section) then they are usually listed separately. A random example off the top of my head might be Azumarill; Belly Drum, Choice Band, and Sap Sipper/Perish Trapper all play quite differently and would probably be listed as separate sets if Azumarill were to feature in a POTW.

For Crabominable it's hard to say, really. An offensive Trick Room abuser is really the only option for inclusive formats and the main choices are between Close Combat and Drain Punch, which item to run, and perhaps some thought given to coverage options (Thunder Punch to dent Toxapex and other bulky Waters, Rock Slide for Volcarona, or maybe Crabhammer with Tera Water to patch up his defensive typing). All of those could be reasonably covered under other options.

Also to be clear I don't write for the POTW so if one of the writers comes along and contradicts anything I said, take their word over mine. This is just what I've noticed having followed the POTW articles for a few generations now.

 

[XaelOstigian]

Just curious, does POTW do alternative builds beyond for doubles? I know that's extra work but I was curious if there would be a standard build, then maybe also a trick room build for Pokémon who fit niches for specific teams like that or other strategies, or will that just be mentioned in some of the following paragraphs to the main build?

Just wondering since this is my first time really following POTW and building each Pokémon alongside it.

For what it's worth, I honestly read the posts leading up to the Pokemon of the Week rather than the POTW posting itself these days. The wider Serebii community has such nice ideas for sets outside of the final ones that get posted. So hang around the forums more, and feel free to post your own sets to accommodate your play style and others who may have a similar mindset. ~_^