fatty
NUPL Champion
[Overview]
• Impeccable offensive stat distribution--85 base Atk and SpA
• Good amount of versatility
• Tremendous stat-upping moves in the form of Swords Dance, Nasty Plot, and Growth
• Solid offensive movepool
[Set]
name: Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Seed Bomb
move 4: Drain Punch
item: Life Orb
ability: Sand Veil
nature: Adamant / Jolly
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
[Set Comments]
• Extremely powerful after a SD boost
• Sucker Punch provides a strong priority move which is always appreciated
• Physical Grass STAB helps with some of the top-tier physical walls like Will-O-Wisp Pururiru, Slowpoke, and Hippopotas
• Life Orb helps boost attack power even more
• Fairly standard' sweeper spread' with max Atk and Spe EV's
• Drain Punch in correspondence with the other attacking options allows good coverage and the ability to recover back some HP in certain situations
[Additional Comments]
• Either Encore or Substitute may be used over Brick Break, but the coverage offered by the latter is often times too hard to pass up
• Like most sweepers, Cacnea enjoys spike and stealth rock support
[Set]
name: Mixed Growth Sweeper
move 1: Growth
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Giga Drain
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Drain Punch
item: Life Orb
ability: Sand Veil
nature: Naive
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
[Set Comments]
• Growth boosts both Atk and SpA by 1 level and by 2 levels when sun is active, making a very powerful mixed sweeper
• Sucker Punch provides a strong priority move
• Giga Drain's power buff and ability to recover back some HP lost by Life Orb as well as being a good special STAB option make it more than worthwhile on this set
• HP Fire serves to fill in some coverage holes
• Life Orb helps boost attack power even more
• Max speed is used to force a speed tie between Cacnea and neutral-natured Croagunk, a common Cacnea switch-in, netting a potential KO with HP Fire
[Additional Comments]
• If a physical STAB is more appealing, than Seed Bomb may be used (note that Water Absorb may be used with Seed Bomb)
• If Dark Pulse's advantages outweigh that of a strong priority attack, then it may be used over Sucker Punch in conjunction with either
Seed Bomb over Giga Drain or Brick Break over HP Fire
• Again, spike and stealth rock support is greatly appreciated
[Set]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Giga Drain / Seed Bomb
move 2: Dark Pulse
move 3: Drain Punch
move 4: Hidden Power Fire
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Sand Veil
nature: Naive
EVs: 36 HP / 156 Atk / 76 SpA / 236 Spe
[Set Comments]
• Choice Scarf remedies Cacnea's speed issue, giving it 21 speed, consequentely letting it outspeed all non-scarfed pokemon
• All 4 moveslots are put to good use and provide solid coverage
• Giga Drain's power buff and ability to recover back some HP lost by Life Orb as well as being a good special STAB option make it a great asset to this set
• HP Fire serves to fill in some coverage holes
• Drain Punch helps deal with common walls like Munchlax and Lickitung, as well as Houndour, who walls the rest of the set
[Additional Comments]
• Switcheroo would be fun on this set, but it is illegal when used with most of Cacnea's attack options
• Either Giga Drain or Seed Bomb may be used for STAB depending on what side of the attacking spectrum is more useful to hit
[Set]
name: SandHax Swords Dance
move 1: Swords Dance
move 2: Substitute
move 3: Sucker Punch
move 4: Focus Punch / Seed Bomb
item: BrightPowder
ability: Sand Veil
nature: Adamant
EVs: 36 HP / 236 Atk / 236 Spe
[Set Comments]
• Still very powerful after a SD boost
• BrightPowder in conjunction with Sand Veil (only in sand) make it extremely annoying to try and hit Cacnea
• Substitute makes great use of the misses granted by brightpowder and sand veil
• Sucker Punch and Focus Punch work very well in conjunction with Substitute
• Hippopotas is an absolute must to get the most out of the set
[Additional Comments]
• Seed Bomb may be used over Focus Punch to give access to a STAB option
[Set]
name: BondPunch
move 1: Substitute / Endure
move 2: Focus Punch
move 3: Destiny Bond
move 4: Sucker Punch
item: Salac Berry
ability: Sand Veil
nature: Jolly
EVs: 236 Atk / 36 Def / 236 Spe
[Set Comments]
• Very annoying when played right
• Sub down to Salac range, then alternate between Destiny Bond and Focus Punch
• If the opponent kills attacks and kills, Destiny Bond takes them out as well. If they choose to not attack, a free Focus Punch is in order
• Sucker Punch provides priority and wors very well with Substitute and Focus Punch
[Additional Comments]
• Endure may be used over Substitute if getting a Sub up is too difficult and good prediction is used
[Optional Changes]
• As previously mentioned, Cacnea has pretty much interchangeable physical and special STABs for the Mixed and Choice Scarf sets
• Hidden Power [Ice] is an option on the Choice Scarf set to hit Dragons and Gligar a lot harder
• A Nasty Plot set may be used, but it is often times outclassed by either Swords Dance or Mixed Growth
• On any set utilizing Seed Bomb, Bullet Seed may be used over it if the small chance of more damage output and the ability to break subs is more appealing
[Team Options]
• Magnemite can trap and kill opposing Steel-types who resist both of Cacnea's common attacking types--Grass and Dark
• Teammates to deal with common Cacnea switch-ins like Croagunk, Houndour, and Bulky Ghosts are recommended. These include the likes of Slowbro and Pururiru for Croagunk, Munchlax for Houndour, and a Houndour of your own for Bulky Ghosts
• Any Pokemon that can set up entry hazards are helpful
• Generally, Pokemon that can take Cacnea's Flying, Fire, Bug, Poison, and Ice weaknesses can prove useful. A Steel-type like Tesshido or Magnemite can help with most of those, barring Fire of course and Bug in Tesshido's case.
• Hippopotas can set up Stealth Rock as well as Sandstream which helps Cacnea abuse its Sand Veil ability
[Counters]
• Croagunk and Houndour both resist Cacnea's most common attacking types and can strike back with powerful STAB attacks
• Koffing is extremely annoying due to it's tendency to run Will-O-Wisp, resistance to Cacnea's STAB, and neutrality to most of Cacnea's movepool
• Due to Cacnea's below average defenses, any Pokemon that can outspeed and has a resistance to Sucker Punch can likely check it
• Most Fire-types can switch-in and dispatch of Cacnea with strong STAB moves