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Community POTW #068

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Serebii

And, as if by magic, the webmaster appeared...
Staff member
Admin
Time for the next Pokémon of the Week, and we have a mainstay of many a VGC team, the legendary Pokémon Cresselia!

488.png


Cresselia is a bulky Pokémon and can do so much that it is ridiculous.

http://www.serebii.net/pokedex-xy/488.shtml

Go nuts
 

Chinonso

Therians
Cresselia is a Pokemon I also use a lot in VGC, and as a hot contender for the top spot (of usability), there are reasons why she should be used:

Positives:
+ An amazing defensive movepool. This includes Thunder Wave, Protect, Moonlight and the ever-risky Lunar Dance.
+ 120/120/130 bulk is amazing. It's even better than Arceus at being bulky/defensive!
+ Base 85 Speed puts it just out of the 'Dead Zone', meaning it's perfectly usable in terms of Speed.
+ A cool design, as always.
+ Amazing in Doubles, which is why it's a hot contender for VGC.

Negatives:
- Cannot learn Cosmic Power. That would have been the icing on the cake that would have boosted her from RU (although tiers do not matter here in VGC.)
- Offensives are lacking at Base 70 Attack and Base 75 Special Attack.
- ...that's it.

Abilities:
Levitate: This Pokemon is immune to all Ground-type attacks. Cress cannot be trapped by Arena Trap nor can it be hurt by Spikes. This ability is very nice in Doubles, because Earthquake is a move that is used a lot and when you're immune to it, you can have sweepers sweeping for days whilst Cress annoys the opposing team with its selection of moves.....

Movesets:
Supremely annoying.
Protect
Thunder Wave
Psychic
Ice Beam
EV's: 252 HP, 252 SpD, 4 SpA
Calm Nature
Held Item: Mental Herb
For a quick run-down:
Protect is there because it's Doubles and why not. Also, you'll most likely be leading with this, so it's useful to scout what the opponent will be doing. (There may be a Taunt coming your way.)
Thunder Wave is my annoying move of choice. Because Cresselia can stand up to almost any hit, you can just paralyse and pray for para-hax. You can also use Moonlight, but I do prefer T-wave.
Psychic is there for STAB.
Ice Beam is there because 99 percent of VGC players use a Mega Salamence. With no crit, you will be dealing around 70-75% damage. So that's nice.

The Mental Herb is to get rid of things like Taunts, that can ruin Cresselia's day.
 
Dark Side of the Moon
Cresselia @ Leftovers
Levitate
-Calm Mind
-Thunder Wave
-Psychic
-Thunderbolt/Ice Beam
Calm (+SpDef -Atk) 182HP 76SpAtk 252SpDef
It gives Cresselia some bulk and lets Cresselia hit quite hard, especially with Calm Mind. Thunderbolt and Ice Beam are good coverage moves for it to have. Thunder Wave helps in slowing down and immobilizing faster foes.
 

Ckeen

Active Member
Finnaly a pokemon worth potw, first and formost this thing is a god in versatilty and has so many options its crazy. As a standalone in singles it can sponge atks and spread statuses twave and toxic come to mind and in doubles it just shines so much brighter with moves like helping hand and icywind, access to both screans a good recovery move and ground imunity and I think im only listing the short list in what it can do.

So here goes my first real entry into the potw with out bad mouthing the pokemon in question

Cress(doubles)
Levitate
Item leftovers
Bold

Icywind
Helping hand
Moonlight
Reflect

252 sp def 252 hp 4 def, is how I built it its kinda strange I know but in doubles this gets the job done, and I pair it with mcy since it can hh heat waves and get the super moonlight from being in sunlight etc yall get the drift this thing is good just plain good.
 

Carbonific

Trainer
Battle Spot Doubles (VGC '15)

(OO is used to avoid slashing five or six moves. For each set, the listed options are in paragraph three)

Trick Room

- Trick Room
- Ice Beam
- Psychic
- Helping Hand / [OO]
Item Attached: Sitrus Berry / Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 140 HP / 156 Def / 212 SpA
Relaxed Nature

Trick Room allows Cresselia to support it's slower teammates by allowing them to move first. Ice Beam's excellent super-effective coverage makes up for Cresselia's lower base Special Attack stat, allowing it to potentially 1HKO 4x Ice-weak Pokemon such as Landorus-T and 2HKO those 2x Ice-weak. Psychic 2HKOs physically defensive Amoonguss which would otherwise be problematic for the majority of Trick Room teams, and provides a stronger neutral alternative to Ice Beam. Helping Hand is useful for maintaining offensive pressure by boosting the power of a partner's attacks.

Sitrus Berry is by far the preferred item, as it near-guarantees a 3HKO from Adamant Mega-Kangaskhan's Double Edge in addition to further complimenting Cresselia's already excellent bulk. However, Mental Herb is a fine alternative for hard Trick Room teams as it further increases the chance of setting up against Taunt users. The listed EVs in combination with a Relaxed nature are very specific; defensively they allow Cresselia to survive both a Choice Band Bisharp's Knock Off 15/16 times and Choice Specs Hydreigon's Dark Pulse. They also prevent a number of 2HKOs including: Modest Charizard-Y's Heat Wave 15/16 times, Choice Specs Sylveon's Hyper Voice and Jolly Mega-Kangaskhan's Return. Offensively 212 SpA EVs guarantee the KO on 4 HP Landorus-T with Ice Beam, and also KOs 44 HP variants 15/16 times.

As with most Cresselia sets, there are a lot of other options for the fourth slot. Rest in combination with a Chesto Berry can recover health faster from big hits and provides a check against opposing Spore users such as Amoonguss and Breloom. Psyshock is a potential replacement for Psychic if picking up a 2HKO on Amoonguss is less crucial (for example, if the aforementioned Chesto Berry is used) as it hits most other Psychic-weak Pokemon harder. Swagger can be a useful deterrent against special attackers as, under Trick Room, Cresselia can likely confuse them before they have a chance to move. Swagger can also be used in self-Swagger combos with a partner's Lum or Persim Berry to boost the Attack stat of a teammate by two stages. Lastly, Sunny Day synergizes very well on teams featuring Fire-types like Mega-Camerupt or Heatran by aiding them both offensively and defensively.

Slow and offensive Pokemon that can not only take advantage of Trick Room, but also support Cresselia in setting it up are the best partners. Sylveon, Mega-Mawile, Hariyama and Scrafty all provide offensive synergy alongside Cresselia's main attacks, and defend it against Dark-types that threaten to remove Cresselia from the field. Hariyama and Scrafty are both also notable for providing Fake Out support. Amoonguss can likewise help set up Trick Room with Rage Powder and is able to abuse it's access to Spore once set up with it's low speed stat. Fire-types like Mega-Camerupt and Heatran make good partners as they deal with opposing Steel-types which would otherwise wall this set. Lastly, Ground-types like Rhyperior also deal with Steel-types, and are able to use Earthquake without damaging Cresselia thanks to Levitate.

Speed Control

- Icy Wind / Thunder Wave
- Psyshock
- Helping Hand / [OO]
- Light Screen / [OO]
Item Attached: Rocky Helmet / Sitrus Berry
Ability: Levitate
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 252 HP / 244 Def / 12 SpA
Bold Nature

Icy Wind is the primary option, as it provides Ice-type coverage without sacrificing another move slot for Ice Beam and leaves the option for teammates to inflict their own status on opponents. Thunder Wave however is applied pseudo-permanently; not being reset when the opponent switches out like with Icy Wind. It also synergizes with moves that cause confusion like Cresselia's potential Swagger, or flinches from teammates, as they increase the chance of an opponent being unable to move. Psyshock is Cresselia's best STAB option against Psychic-weak opponents as most are hit harder by it than Psychic, which is particularly relevant given a lack of Special Attack investment. Helping Hand and Light Screen are listed as the primary last two options as they are generally the most versatile, supporting teammates both offensively and defensively.

A Rocky Helmet in combination with near-max physical Defense investment maximizes the chance that Cresselia will avoid 2HKOs from Jolly Mega-Kangaskhan and Adamant Mega-Salamence's Double-Edge, some of the strongest physical attacks in the format, whilst passively inflicting significant recoil damage in return. This is also effective against Fake Out users, opponents carrying a Focus Sash, or other Pokemon that also rely on recoil moves like Talonflame. 12 SpA EVs are used to guarantee a 2HKO on 4 HP Terrakion with Psyshock. Sitrus Berry is an optional alternative to Rocky Helmet as it's still a great item, and may be preferred to keep Cresselia on the field for as long as possible.

This set probably has the most other options of any other Pokemon in the format, but here are mentions of the most common ones. Ice Beam should be a very strong contender for sets not using Icy Wind, as Ice-type coverage is highly sought after in a metagame filled with both 2x and 4x Ice-weak Pokemon. Skill Swap works well in combination with Ground-weak teammates, like Heatran, as Cresselia can pass it's Levitate ability to them. Ability dependent opposing Pokemon like Sylveon or Kangaskhan don't appreciate having their abilities stolen with Skill Swap either. Safeguard prevents opponents from normalizing speed with their own Thunder Wave users, and provides a check against other status effects like sleep and confusion. Swagger can be used both preventatively against Special Attackers, but also in combination with a Lum or Persim Berry to form a self-Swagger combo; raising the attack of an ally by two stages. Using both Safeguard and Swagger also allows you to freely Swagger your own physical attackers without the need for a berry. Lastly, Moonlight is a strong option alongside Mega-Charizard Y as it heals for a massive amount when the sun is up. Moonlight is also notably potent with Rocky Helmet as you'll usually recover more HP than you can lose to a single hit whilst inflicting recoil damage back to your opponent's physical attackers.
 
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DasManiac

Well-Known Member
Well there isn't much Cresselia really does well these days. With its pitiful attacking stats and Knock Off being everywhere, Cresselia has a very hard time doing much of anything. Despite its gargantuan defensive stats, it has no way of removing status and therefore doesn't function well on stall teams. The best strategy is to inflict status on your opponent and watch them squirm.

Pros:


-Its defensive stats are very impressive
-Can recover health with Moonlight

Cons:

-Weak to Knock Off
-Bisharp exists
-Still doesn't have access to Focus Blast
-For a defensive wall, not having Refresh means Moonlight probably won't save you.
-Still not Fairy which means Darkrai walks all over it.
-Laughable offensive stats.
-Pure Psychic typing does it more harm than good.
-Mega Sableye is not only immune to Psychic moves but has Magic Bounce as an ability.

Checks and Counters

Bisharp is Cresselia's biggest counter. Not only is it immune to Psychic moves but it has STAB Knock Off and resists or is immune to most of Cresselia's movepool. Mega Sableye is also another counter. It's immune to Psychic type moves and bounces back all status moves.
 

Karxrida

Lost in the Waves
Whoever wrote the counters section for Goth, wtf? Dusknoir and Dusclops are completely unviable and Shadow Tag means it has no counters since it prevents switching. The only way to deal with it is giving a Shed Shell to your walls (Skarmory and Ferrothorn should have it anyway since it also stops Magnezone/Magneton), double switching to Pursuit Trappers when you think it'll come in, or not having anything it can trap (i.e. play offense).
 
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Mestorn

Wandering Battler
Oh Cresselia, how I loathe you. With your penchant to run away, defenses that make you nigh impossible to take down in one day, encountering you makes me feel blue.

Complaining aside, Cresselia is a tank to be feared… for its tanking prowess. 120/120/130 defenses are fantastic, able to weather many assaults, while 85 speed is surprisingly high for a pokemon known for its bulk. Unfortunately, with so many good points, it stands there must be some bad points as well. 70/75 offenses are poor, barely within the realm of usability, and with the buffs that Ghost and Dark moves received this generation, Cresselia’s weakness’ are more common than ever. Oh, and few resistances means that strong neutral hits are as common as salt. Cresselia has had difficulties, but if you don’t have a way to break through it, you will find yourself prey to teams that specialize in defense. Oh and thank goodness Double Team is banned in competitive play (…wish I could say the same about the Battle Maison).

By the Light of the Moon, I will Protect my friends
Cresselia (Levitate)
Item: Light Clay
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Moonlight
-Psychic/Shadow Ball/Psyshock
Nature: Bold (+DEF, -ATK)
EVs: 252 HP/252 SPD/4 Def

Dualscreen set. I’ve posted similar sets before, and for good reason. Everything benefits from more defense. Moonlight is the only healing that Cresselia’s only healing move outside of Leftovers, but with another viable Drought user and the weather wars of the last generation dying down, it’s more reliable than it has been previously. Psychic and Psyshock are obligatory STAB moves, targeting the defense of your choice, while Shadow Ball offers great coverage at the price of being walled by normal types.

Other Options

Rain Dance/Sunny Day
-Weather is insanely helpful given the right team.

Psycho Shift
-Why just get rid of your status when you can give it to your opponent too?

Thunder Wave/Toxic
-Ruin your opponent’s day with the status of your choice.

Lunar Dance
-While killing off your Wall is always questionable, this technique offers amazing clerical support and can bring a pokemon your opponent has written off back to full.
 

Karxrida

Lost in the Waves
Oh Cresselia, how I loathe you. With your penchant to run away, defenses that make you nigh impossible to take down in one day, encountering you makes me feel blue.

Complaining aside, Cresselia is a tank to be feared… for its tanking prowess. 120/120/130 defenses are fantastic, able to weather many assaults, while 85 speed is surprisingly high for a pokemon known for its bulk. Unfortunately, with so many good points, it stands there must be some bad points as well. 70/75 offenses are poor, barely within the realm of usability, and with the buffs that Ghost and Dark moves received this generation, Cresselia’s weakness’ are more common than ever. Oh, and few resistances means that strong neutral hits are as common as salt. Cresselia has had difficulties, but if you don’t have a way to break through it, you will find yourself prey to teams that specialize in defense. Oh and thank goodness Double Team is banned in competitive play (…wish I could say the same about the Battle Maison).

By the Light of the Moon, I will Protect my friends
Cresselia (Levitate)
Item: Light Clay
-Light Screen
-Reflect
-Moonlight
-Psychic/Shadow Ball/Psyshock
Nature: Bold (+DEF, -ATK)
EVs: 252 HP/252 SPD/4 Def

Dualscreen set. I’ve posted similar sets before, and for good reason. Everything benefits from more defense. Moonlight is the only healing that Cresselia’s only healing move outside of Leftovers, but with another viable Drought user and the weather wars of the last generation dying down, it’s more reliable than it has been previously. Psychic and Psyshock are obligatory STAB moves, targeting the defense of your choice, while Shadow Ball offers great coverage at the price of being walled by normal types.

Other Options

Rain Dance/Sunny Day
-Weather is insanely helpful given the right team.

Psycho Shift
-Why just get rid of your status when you can give it to your opponent too?

Thunder Wave/Toxic
-Ruin your opponent’s day with the status of your choice.

Lunar Dance
-While killing off your Wall is always questionable, this technique offers amazing clerical support and can bring a pokemon your opponent has written off back to full.
Dual Screens is meant to support Offensive teams, so it should have Lunar Dance and Thunder Wave over Moonlight and the damaging move so it isn't dead weight after the screens go up. The EV spread should also be 248 HP, 112 Def, 12 SpD, and 136 Speed. That lets you take 2 Banded Pursuits from Band Tyranitar (with Reflect up), outspeed max Speed Adamant Bisharp/Modest Politoed, and reduce the damage you take from SR to give you an extra switch-in. You could run 228 Speed for Jolly Bisharp (which has been more common recently) by taking out points from SpD and Def, since behind Reflect LO Jolly Knock Off does 40% tops.
252 Atk Life Orb Bisharp Knock Off (97.5 BP) vs. 248 HP / 24+ Def Cresselia through Reflect: 153-181 (34.5 - 40.8%) -- guaranteed 3HKO

You ensure you at least get 8 turns of Reflect this way and can easily switch out without dying to Pursuit since it does less than that.
 

philzone

Ready for trumpets
Cresselia, A.K.A. the queen of the old VGC metagame. It was a tank then, and is still today. It is versatile, and durable, so is brilliant. The hardest thing with cress is just the EV spread. Never go for a standard 252/252 spread, as this wastes cresselia's main potential. It is the hardest thing for any VGC player to do, as it can do so much. CM sweeper, general support, TR setter, you name it: Cress has probably already been used like that.
 

Crash & Charm

Back I guess
Cresselia (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 124 Def / 8 SpA / 124 SpD
Modest Nature
- Calm Mind
- Moonlight
- Psyshock
- Moonblast

This is a good calm mind set. It has pulled me through much hardship, and has killed many mega pidgeot.

Calm mind for set up. and Moonlight is there to ensure a couple calm minds. Psyshock is to take out other things that run calm mind, or special walls. Moonblast kill pangro and dents bisharp with a couple calminds behind it. Losing her item is not too much of a problem, and the defense investments helps to minimize knock off damage.

The hardest part about this is the ev spread. It is largely dependent on what you need. This is the type of pokemon that you add to a team, instead of building around you simply need to add in.
 
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Black Murder Heavangelon

Ow! Ow! Harder! Ow!
Don't ever let it be forgotten that ChestoRest + Recycle makes a wall into an immovable object, and Cresselia is one of the lucky pokemon that keeps the strategy consistent and abusable. Granted, Recycle is vulnerable to Knock Off and Cresselia is already Knock Off weak, but should all Knock Off users be out of commission, a ChestoRest Recycle Cresselia won't ever die. I've used a Recycle Cresselia as a Baton Pass recipient in Gen 5 and proved to be very hard to kill. Just something that should be brought up.
 
Trick Room Support:
Cresselia @ Safety Goggles / Sitrus Berry / Mental Herb
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
Relaxed / Sassy Nature
- Trick Room
- Ice Beam / Dazzling Gleam
- Reflect/Light Screen/Protect/Helping Hand
- Reflect/Light Screen/Protect/Helping Hand
This set is designed for Doubles and Triples.

Cresselia is a very bulky pokemon, and can be used to support allies.
Safety Goggles makes Cresselia take no damage from weather and immune to Spore and other powder moves, Sitrus Berry makes Cresselia even harder to take out, and Mental Herb makes it immune to Taunt so it can continue to function. The EVs are there to maximize bulk for both stats, although they can be adjusted to make it wall specific threats if needed. The natures reduce its speed, making it move earlier in Trick Room. You can raise your defensive stat of choice.

Trick Room is an obvious choice. Ice Beam and Dazzling Gleam provide attacks, in case it gets aunted or is the last pokemon left. Your last two slots depend on what needs to happen. Protect is there to see what the opponent will do, and Helping Hand is to boost the power of your ally's moves. Reflect and Light Screen can make Cresselia even bulkier and help patch up any lack of bulk your teammates may have.

As far as teammates go, slow and powerful attackers are great teammates. They get helped by the Trick Room and can get rid of some pokemon that could threaten Cresselia. Examples include Mega Mawile, Tyranitar (regular or mega), and Conkeldurr.
 

ampfire101

Well-Known Member
Epic Troll Set:
Cresselia
Moves:
-Toxic/Thunder Wave
-Moonlight
-Double Team
-Psychic/Magic Coat/Protect/Moonblast
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 252 HP, 128 Def, 128 Sp Def
Nature: Relaxed/ Sassy
Item: Leftovers/ Mental Herb/ Lum Berry

This set is meant for pure trolling, as Double Team will allow you to piss your opponent off while poisoning or paralyzing them. I myself, would use Toxic over Thunder Wave, as Poison-Types are taken care of with Psychic. The EV spread will allow you to wall a considerable number of attacks, and you can even heal back with Leftovers and Moonlight. If taunters or other status inflicters are causing you grief, simply change Psychic to Magic Coat or the item, though I personally wouldn't. This set may not be seen a whole lot in competitive play, due to the time limits set on Wi-Fi battles, but this is a pretty good set if you want to troll.
 

MokKish

Breeding Enthustiast
I remember back fighting a mean Psycho Shift Cresselia that really destroyed my unprepared team. Don't know about exact nature/IVs, but Bold/Calm with enough speed IVs to outrun 'mons like Bisharp would propably be good.

Psycho Shift
Cresselia @ Flame Orb/Leftovers
Bold/Calm
EVs: idk
- Psycho Shift
- Thunder Wave/Toxic/Psychic
- Rest
- Sleep Talk

The idea is to spam status either directly or via Psycho Shift. Equipping Cress with Flame Orb allows you to completely shut down physical attackers with Psycho Shift, whereas T-Wave or Toxic are there to slow down you opponent or get incearsing damage on walls etc. You can also run Psychic/Psyshock over these if you don't want Cress to become a total Taunt bait. Finally, the beauty of this set is RestTalk. Rest allows you to get your health completely back, while Sleep Talk will allow you to spam status, even your own Sleep curing you while putting the opponent to sleep. Problem with this set is that after Flame Orb activates any skilled opponent knows exactly ehat you're up to.
 
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