Brave Bat
Crobat@Life Orb/Black Sludge/Choice Band
Jolly nature
Infiltrator
252 Attack/252 Speed/4 HP
~Brave Bird
~Cross Poison
~Hypnosis/Steel Wing
~U-turn/Roost
Crobat is that which the lowliest of wild Zubat aspires to be. Nice attacking stats, and incredible Speed. Brave Bird and Cross Poison are your STAB moves here, both of which capable of dealing out excellent amounts of damage. Hypnosis is a nice move to put opponents to sleep, though I really wish they hadn't returned its accuracy back to 60% in Platinum. What was so bad about 70% accurate Hypnosis that they had to change it back mid-generation, anyway? Acid Rain lasted all the way until Generation V, but oh, no, this couldn't wait! Anyway, Steel Wing is a lovely alternative to Hypnosis, and U-turn is useful for a hasty retreat. Alternatively, Roost can help deal with that Brave Bird recoil.
Item is for boosting Crobat's Attack or healing up Brave Bird recoil. It's basically your call. Ability ensures that Reflect and Substitutes are not a problem.
Nasty Bat
Crobat@Black Sludge/Focus Sash
Timid nature
Infiltrator
252 Sp. Atk/252 Speed/4 HP
~Nasty Plot
~Sludge Bomb
~Air Slash
~Heat Wave/Dark Pulse
Crobat also gains access to Nasty Plot to give its Special Attack a lovely little buff. Sludge Bomb and Air Slash are your STAB moves of choice- Air Slash in particular is likely to make enemies flinch thanks to Crobat almost being guaranteed to move first. Heat Wave is a nasty little surprise for those Steel-types, though Dark Pulse works as well.
Item is for either helping Crobat to regain HP or survive the setup turn, whichever you think is necessary. Ability, same as last time.
Double The Wings, Doubly Annoying
Crobat@Black Sludge/Mental Herb
Jolly nature
Infiltrator
252 HP/252 Speed/4 Defense
~Mean Look
~Confuse Ray/Swagger
~Toxic/Poison Fang
~Roost/Taunt/Substitute
Anyone who's ever encountered a wild Golbat in Victory Road knows exactly where this is going. Mean Look traps the enemy, Confuse Ray confuses it (Swagger works as well to give the confusion damage that little extra edge), Toxic poisons it (Poison Fang has a 50% chance to badly poison and also prevents this Crobat from being total Taunt bait), and Roost helps Crobat recover any HP it might lose. Taunt is also a good option to prevent enemies from using Taunt themselves, and Substitute is also an option to make Crobat even more annoying. This moveset has been brought to you by a large flock of Golbat in an undisclosed Victory Road, in exchange for them allowing me to survive when they soon rise up and take over the world. I for one welcome our new Golbat overlords.
Item helps keep Crobat alive or lets it shrug off a Taunt, whichever you think is necessary. Ability, same as last time, because nobody likes to work around a Substitute. Or Safeguard in this case.
Other options:
*X-Scissor, Shadow Ball, Giga Drain, and Zen Headbutt are viable options for their respective attacking sets.
*Crobat learns Acrobatics, but since there's yet to be a way to get a Flying Gem in a Generation VI game, it's not quite so useful at this time. That said, if you got another idea that'll make it work, then by all means.
*Oh, yeah- Crobat has Defog as an Egg move, and now that it removes entry hazards on both sides, it's decidedly more useful than it used to be. I'd call it worth consideration.
Abilities:
*Inner Focus: Crobat can't flinch. A great way to discourage Fake Out usage, but that's pretty much it- Crobat's way too fast for you to need to worry about non-priority moves causing it to flinch.
*Infiltrator: Crobat's Hidden Ability. Crobat's attacks are not hindered or blocked by the effects of Reflect, Light Screen, Mist, Safeguard, or Substitute, the last of which is new to this generation and was first discovered when yours truly first had an Infiltrator Noibat unleash Shadow Ball against a wild Rotom's Substitute, only to hit the Rotom itself. True story. Anyway, clearly the superior Ability for any Crobat, because Substitutes can be hell to deal with, and this lets you bypass them altogether? Yes, friggin' please! Thankfully completely legal on Crobat.
Partners:
Rapid Spin support, especially if you're using the Choice Band set. Alternatively, Hypnosis followed by U-turn is a perfect opportunity to bring in something that relies on a setup move- a sleeping enemy would buy it at least one turn for setting up.
Counters:
The annoyer set is out-and-out shut down by any semi-decent Klefki, who does it better, does it faster, and will Foul Play the s*** out of you before you so much as get off a Confuse Ray. Priority Taunt from a Whimsicott achieves the same effect unless you happen to be running the 4x super effective Poison Fang, though any other Crobat set destroys Whimsicott completely. Avalugg also springs to mind as something that can wall Crobat's physical moves, survive a special move with Sturdy, and either way, OHKO back with Avalanche. Really, just be wary of anything with decent bulk (or Sturdy!) and high Attack or Special Attack.
Opinion:
Crobat is awesome. No other word for it.
Prediction for next week:
Slurpuff.