Blaziken
01-27-2008, 03:28 PM
This week's POTW, Crobat.
Crobat
3rd Generation
Being one of the fastest pokemon, Crobat was widely used. Boasting plenty of helpful attacks as well as news ones it didn’t have in the previous generation, Crobat could’ve been used in many ways. It was hard to see a bad point in Crobat and with the great stats and movepools it had, it was obvious that Crobat was definitely in the OU section.
Choice Bander
Item: Choice Band
Nature: Adamant/ Jolly
Attacks:
Sludge Bomb
Aerial Ace
Shadow Ball
Steel Wing/ Return
A basic Choice Band set for a Crobat in the 3rd generation without using Hidden Power. Sludge Bomb is its main attacking move, having the most power from the STAB. Aerial Ace gave it the advantage against those pokemon who liked to raise their evasiveness. Shadow Ball covered one of its weaknesses, psychic while the final move it just for move coverage or power. Basic Choice Bander Crobat, not much to explain here.
Rating: 8.5/10
Tank
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
Attacks:
Confuse Ray
Mean Look
Toxic
Fly
As you can see, besides the powerful offensive attacks, Crobat also had good defensive attacks. A useful tanking version of Crobat with many positives. Toxic is what does most of the damage here. Mean Look prevents your opponent from escaping so the damage Toxic will gradually take your opponent down, getting more and more powerful every turn. Confuse Ray might prevent your opponent from attacking while doing damage. Finally Fly bides you some more time so eventually your opponent will faint due to the Toxic. Quite a simple tanker but very effective, if you have a little luck on your side.
Rating: 7.5/10
3rd Generation Contests
Contest Type: Tough/Cute
Moves:
Thief
Swift/ Curse
Rest
Snore
Crobat isn’t as good in contests as it is in battling. To avoid using the not so successful jamming strategy, I’ve come up with something that might be a bit more risky. Your main combination here is the Rest Snore combo. However only use this one when you think that you’re about to be jammed by somebody or if you’re going first for the turn. Combine it with Snore for an eight star appeal. Remember though this combo isn’t supposed to be used like a Sunny Day combo as this one does get risky because it might not get you a high amount of points. That’s where Thief comes in handy. If you are going to be going last, Thief will give you a pretty good boost if nothing too bad happens to your opponents. To add in even more risk, Curse can be used to set up your combo with Thief (its not an official combo so don’t expect your score to double) but don’t do this one too often as it is very risky. On your last turn if no one is going to try and jam, that is the best time to use this. If you want, Swift is a good move to add here instead of Curse for times, which you’re going first. As you can see, a risky combination with Crobat but if might come it handy. Just to warn you, don’t expect too much since this could make or break you depending on what position you’re in. If you want to know an order, I’d use Thief, (I usually like to start last on the first turn) Rest, Snore, Curse and Thief.
Rating: 7/10
Rating of Pokemon in 3rd Generation: 8/10
4th Generation
With the battling changes, you might think that Crobat wouldn’t be as strong. If you said that, you’ve wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Yes without Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball as physical attacks anymore, Crobat does lose some power if it wasn’t for some extra moves that were added. Crobat now has become a pokemon for coverage rather than damage at a price of its physical sweeper capabilities. Crobat is still simply as strong as it was before but is some different ways.
Physical Sweeper
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Adamant
Attacks:
X-Scissor
Brave Bird/ Aerial Ace
Quick Attack/ Substitute/ Confuse Ray/ Haze/ Hypnosis/ Roost/ Steel Wing
Quick Attack/ Substitute/ Confuse Ray/ Haze/ Hypnosis/ Roost/ Steel Wing
Crobat has gotten a tiny bit weaker as a physical sweeper but it now has a lot more options with its moves. Firstly since Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball have become special attacks, Crobat loses those two moves in its physical moveset. However Shadow Ball is replaced with X-Scissor, still covering its weakness of psychic pokemon. Brave Bird is a new attack for Crobat, like Double Edge except it’s a flying type move. If you don’t want the recoil damage though, Aerial Ace would be your other option. The next 2 attacks are the important ones. Do not choose both Steel Wing and Quick Attack together. Only chose one of them is you are going to chose them. Most people will want to slow the ever-fast Crobat down with Thunder Wave so Substitute might be a suitable option. One noticeable thing here is that Crobat gains the move Hypnosis. However keep this in mind, I’m pretty sure its impossible to have a Crobat knowing Hypnosis and Brave Bird in the same moveset so chose wisely. Roost will restore Crobat’s health while Steel Wing takes care of rock and ice pokemon. A decent Crobat which isn’t going to take a lot of risk to use. One small note, I’ve chosen Black Sludge as its item because Leftovers can now be given to another pokemon in your party and Black Sludge restores the same amount of health as Leftovers does.
Rating: 7.5/10
Special Sweeper
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Jolly
Attacks:
Nasty Plot
Sludge Bomb
Shadow Ball
Hypnosis/ Air Slash/ Giga Drain/ Substitute/ Taunt
Crobat is actually quite a good special sweeper. It has a good movepool and with its stats, it can become very lethal. Nasty Plot is the key here, basically doubling Crobat’s special attack power when used. Sludge Bomb now becomes its main sweeping move while Shadow Ball will cover Psychic types. Its final move is quite interesting. Hypnosis gives you enough time to execute Nasty Plot but it might not need it and does miss quite often. Air Slash might not be too useful due to the fact that Crobat is already resistant to the attacks that Air Slash covers and it is weaker than Sludge Bomb so it’ll only be taking up space. Giga Drain takes care of rock pokemon who do tend to have a low special defense and water pokemon who tend to have Ice Beam. Finally Substitute is to protect it from those pokemon like Blissey who try to paralyze Crobat. If successful, Crobat will be able to execute a Nasty Plot almost without any problems. Taunt does the same thing at the cost of health, forcing your opponent to attack so moves like Thunder Wave won’t work. Air Slash is probably to most useless move there. Chose any one you like but do remember now Crobat might become more used as special sweeper.
Rating: 9/10
4th Generation Contests
Contest Type: Smart
Moves:
Nasty Plot
U-Turn
Shadow Ball
Poison Fang
Crobat isn’t too bad in the contest department either. Nasty Plot will double its next round score. Because you’ll most likely go first next turn, Shadow Ball has been put here but if you find yourself going second, Poison Fang should still give you that 8 heart score as well. However beware of pokemon who try to prevent voltage from rising because then your appeal is a bust unless you manage to pick a judge that has the lowest voltage points possible for one final dash with U-Turn. All these moves can result in two 8 star appeals but each of them have their weaknesses. Because of the rather disappointing procedures of the appeal round, there isn’t going to be much else for Crobat to try.
Rating: 8/10
Rating of Crobat in 4th Generation: 8.5/10
Type:
Crobat is a dual type pokemon being both a flying and poison type pokemon. Because of this, Crobat resists all Spikes and Poison Spikes damage but is open to Stealth Rock. With this combination of types, Crobat has some handy x0.25 resistances meaning it can switch into battle with some ease but Crobat also has four common weaknesses that one should watch out for. The best way to take down Crobat is to try and weaken it with Thunder Wave or Willo-Wisp but if that doesn’t work, try using a pokemon that can break through Substitute and cause damage at the same time. Crobat has very decent defensive skills so taking this pokemon down isn’t easy but Bronzong and Skarmory stand a very good chance. Another pokemon that could cause it trouble is Garchomp or Salamence with Lum Berry. Trying to outrun it also might work but that’ll be hard even with pokemon such as Jolteon.
Ability:
Inner Focus- This ability prevents Crobat from flinching. Because of Crobat’s high speed, this ability isn’t going to be too helpful since not many pokemon will bother outrunning it just for a chance to flinch it. The only real good that will come from this ability is if Crobat does somehow get paralyzed and your opponent is going to use a Flinch/Hax pokemon or if your opponent is going to use Fake Out. Besides that, this ability serves no real purpose. Unfortunately this is the only ability Crobat can have.
Overall Rating for Crobat: 8.5/10
Gender: 50% ♀ / 50% ♂
Type: Flying/ Poison
Species: Bat Pokemon
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 165.3lbs
Weaknesses: Rock (x2) Ice (x2) Electric (x2) Psychic (x2)
Resistances: Poison (0.5) Grass (0.25) Fighting (0.20) Bug (0.25)
Immunities: Ground
Pokedex Entries:
Diamond- Having four pairs of wings enables it to fly faster and more quietly. It turns active when the night comes.
Pearl- A pokemon that has gained vastly enhanced flying performance by having its legs turn into wings.
Evolution: Evolves from Golbat if happiness is at full
Location: Evolve Golbat
Ability: Inner Focus- Prevent flinching
National Dex No.: 169
Popularity: High
Generation Introduced: 2nd
Anime Appearances: Around 20
Crobat
3rd Generation
Being one of the fastest pokemon, Crobat was widely used. Boasting plenty of helpful attacks as well as news ones it didn’t have in the previous generation, Crobat could’ve been used in many ways. It was hard to see a bad point in Crobat and with the great stats and movepools it had, it was obvious that Crobat was definitely in the OU section.
Choice Bander
Item: Choice Band
Nature: Adamant/ Jolly
Attacks:
Sludge Bomb
Aerial Ace
Shadow Ball
Steel Wing/ Return
A basic Choice Band set for a Crobat in the 3rd generation without using Hidden Power. Sludge Bomb is its main attacking move, having the most power from the STAB. Aerial Ace gave it the advantage against those pokemon who liked to raise their evasiveness. Shadow Ball covered one of its weaknesses, psychic while the final move it just for move coverage or power. Basic Choice Bander Crobat, not much to explain here.
Rating: 8.5/10
Tank
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
Attacks:
Confuse Ray
Mean Look
Toxic
Fly
As you can see, besides the powerful offensive attacks, Crobat also had good defensive attacks. A useful tanking version of Crobat with many positives. Toxic is what does most of the damage here. Mean Look prevents your opponent from escaping so the damage Toxic will gradually take your opponent down, getting more and more powerful every turn. Confuse Ray might prevent your opponent from attacking while doing damage. Finally Fly bides you some more time so eventually your opponent will faint due to the Toxic. Quite a simple tanker but very effective, if you have a little luck on your side.
Rating: 7.5/10
3rd Generation Contests
Contest Type: Tough/Cute
Moves:
Thief
Swift/ Curse
Rest
Snore
Crobat isn’t as good in contests as it is in battling. To avoid using the not so successful jamming strategy, I’ve come up with something that might be a bit more risky. Your main combination here is the Rest Snore combo. However only use this one when you think that you’re about to be jammed by somebody or if you’re going first for the turn. Combine it with Snore for an eight star appeal. Remember though this combo isn’t supposed to be used like a Sunny Day combo as this one does get risky because it might not get you a high amount of points. That’s where Thief comes in handy. If you are going to be going last, Thief will give you a pretty good boost if nothing too bad happens to your opponents. To add in even more risk, Curse can be used to set up your combo with Thief (its not an official combo so don’t expect your score to double) but don’t do this one too often as it is very risky. On your last turn if no one is going to try and jam, that is the best time to use this. If you want, Swift is a good move to add here instead of Curse for times, which you’re going first. As you can see, a risky combination with Crobat but if might come it handy. Just to warn you, don’t expect too much since this could make or break you depending on what position you’re in. If you want to know an order, I’d use Thief, (I usually like to start last on the first turn) Rest, Snore, Curse and Thief.
Rating: 7/10
Rating of Pokemon in 3rd Generation: 8/10
4th Generation
With the battling changes, you might think that Crobat wouldn’t be as strong. If you said that, you’ve wouldn’t be entirely wrong. Yes without Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball as physical attacks anymore, Crobat does lose some power if it wasn’t for some extra moves that were added. Crobat now has become a pokemon for coverage rather than damage at a price of its physical sweeper capabilities. Crobat is still simply as strong as it was before but is some different ways.
Physical Sweeper
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Adamant
Attacks:
X-Scissor
Brave Bird/ Aerial Ace
Quick Attack/ Substitute/ Confuse Ray/ Haze/ Hypnosis/ Roost/ Steel Wing
Quick Attack/ Substitute/ Confuse Ray/ Haze/ Hypnosis/ Roost/ Steel Wing
Crobat has gotten a tiny bit weaker as a physical sweeper but it now has a lot more options with its moves. Firstly since Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball have become special attacks, Crobat loses those two moves in its physical moveset. However Shadow Ball is replaced with X-Scissor, still covering its weakness of psychic pokemon. Brave Bird is a new attack for Crobat, like Double Edge except it’s a flying type move. If you don’t want the recoil damage though, Aerial Ace would be your other option. The next 2 attacks are the important ones. Do not choose both Steel Wing and Quick Attack together. Only chose one of them is you are going to chose them. Most people will want to slow the ever-fast Crobat down with Thunder Wave so Substitute might be a suitable option. One noticeable thing here is that Crobat gains the move Hypnosis. However keep this in mind, I’m pretty sure its impossible to have a Crobat knowing Hypnosis and Brave Bird in the same moveset so chose wisely. Roost will restore Crobat’s health while Steel Wing takes care of rock and ice pokemon. A decent Crobat which isn’t going to take a lot of risk to use. One small note, I’ve chosen Black Sludge as its item because Leftovers can now be given to another pokemon in your party and Black Sludge restores the same amount of health as Leftovers does.
Rating: 7.5/10
Special Sweeper
Item: Black Sludge
Nature: Jolly
Attacks:
Nasty Plot
Sludge Bomb
Shadow Ball
Hypnosis/ Air Slash/ Giga Drain/ Substitute/ Taunt
Crobat is actually quite a good special sweeper. It has a good movepool and with its stats, it can become very lethal. Nasty Plot is the key here, basically doubling Crobat’s special attack power when used. Sludge Bomb now becomes its main sweeping move while Shadow Ball will cover Psychic types. Its final move is quite interesting. Hypnosis gives you enough time to execute Nasty Plot but it might not need it and does miss quite often. Air Slash might not be too useful due to the fact that Crobat is already resistant to the attacks that Air Slash covers and it is weaker than Sludge Bomb so it’ll only be taking up space. Giga Drain takes care of rock pokemon who do tend to have a low special defense and water pokemon who tend to have Ice Beam. Finally Substitute is to protect it from those pokemon like Blissey who try to paralyze Crobat. If successful, Crobat will be able to execute a Nasty Plot almost without any problems. Taunt does the same thing at the cost of health, forcing your opponent to attack so moves like Thunder Wave won’t work. Air Slash is probably to most useless move there. Chose any one you like but do remember now Crobat might become more used as special sweeper.
Rating: 9/10
4th Generation Contests
Contest Type: Smart
Moves:
Nasty Plot
U-Turn
Shadow Ball
Poison Fang
Crobat isn’t too bad in the contest department either. Nasty Plot will double its next round score. Because you’ll most likely go first next turn, Shadow Ball has been put here but if you find yourself going second, Poison Fang should still give you that 8 heart score as well. However beware of pokemon who try to prevent voltage from rising because then your appeal is a bust unless you manage to pick a judge that has the lowest voltage points possible for one final dash with U-Turn. All these moves can result in two 8 star appeals but each of them have their weaknesses. Because of the rather disappointing procedures of the appeal round, there isn’t going to be much else for Crobat to try.
Rating: 8/10
Rating of Crobat in 4th Generation: 8.5/10
Type:
Crobat is a dual type pokemon being both a flying and poison type pokemon. Because of this, Crobat resists all Spikes and Poison Spikes damage but is open to Stealth Rock. With this combination of types, Crobat has some handy x0.25 resistances meaning it can switch into battle with some ease but Crobat also has four common weaknesses that one should watch out for. The best way to take down Crobat is to try and weaken it with Thunder Wave or Willo-Wisp but if that doesn’t work, try using a pokemon that can break through Substitute and cause damage at the same time. Crobat has very decent defensive skills so taking this pokemon down isn’t easy but Bronzong and Skarmory stand a very good chance. Another pokemon that could cause it trouble is Garchomp or Salamence with Lum Berry. Trying to outrun it also might work but that’ll be hard even with pokemon such as Jolteon.
Ability:
Inner Focus- This ability prevents Crobat from flinching. Because of Crobat’s high speed, this ability isn’t going to be too helpful since not many pokemon will bother outrunning it just for a chance to flinch it. The only real good that will come from this ability is if Crobat does somehow get paralyzed and your opponent is going to use a Flinch/Hax pokemon or if your opponent is going to use Fake Out. Besides that, this ability serves no real purpose. Unfortunately this is the only ability Crobat can have.
Overall Rating for Crobat: 8.5/10
Gender: 50% ♀ / 50% ♂
Type: Flying/ Poison
Species: Bat Pokemon
Height: 5’11”
Weight: 165.3lbs
Weaknesses: Rock (x2) Ice (x2) Electric (x2) Psychic (x2)
Resistances: Poison (0.5) Grass (0.25) Fighting (0.20) Bug (0.25)
Immunities: Ground
Pokedex Entries:
Diamond- Having four pairs of wings enables it to fly faster and more quietly. It turns active when the night comes.
Pearl- A pokemon that has gained vastly enhanced flying performance by having its legs turn into wings.
Evolution: Evolves from Golbat if happiness is at full
Location: Evolve Golbat
Ability: Inner Focus- Prevent flinching
National Dex No.: 169
Popularity: High
Generation Introduced: 2nd
Anime Appearances: Around 20