Friday, July 25, 2014

Week 2--Crobat: Useful Bat is Useful

Crobat
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Vulpix says:
I have forever underestimated Crobat. When it rolled out, I thought “Whoa… big deal! Another useless, flimsy bat! Zubat… USELESS. Golbat? USELESS! Crobat? Mehhhh. I pwned those things in adventure mode without giving it much of a second thought. Leech Life. I’m shaking in me little space boots!

Aww, how adorable and un-terrifying.

It wasn’t until I began competitive battling that I became a believer. Crobat is WICKED FAST, and Acrobatics is the most frightening move ever. Giratina’s Crobat is a truly humbling spectacle to behold, and having to face his Greninja and Crobat together was the first time I ever felt stumped. I couldn’t outpace either of them and they were hitting me HARD.

Crobat was introduced in Generation 2, one of the first Pokemon to be evolved by happiness. There isn’t really much to be said about it besides the obvious—Crobat is one of the fastest Pokemon in the game, and Acrobatics is excruciatingly painful!

I am NOT. Flimsy.

My Build
Nature: Jolly (Up Spd, Down SpAtk)
Ability: Inner Focus
EVs: 252 Spd, 252 Atk, 6 HP
Item: None

Moveset:
Cross Poison
U-Turn
Acrobatics
Protect

Explanation: Many will tell you that nothing can outspeed Crobat anyway, so why waste your Nature on making it faster? With the addition of all the new Mega evolutions and the threat of ANOTHER Crobat, I thought it might be smart to be SURE nothing was faster than me. That said, spend all your EVs in speed and attack. Crobat’s purpose is to hit fast and leave no room for revenge, so don’t fall short!

Don’t give Crobat an Item. Acrobatics deals massive damage when wielded by a Pokemon without an item, and Crobat gets STAB with it. Combine that with how fast he is, and you’ve got one heck of a move! I round it out with Cross Poison (again, STAB, and good Fairy coverage!) and U-Turn for flexibility. Crobat still can’t take a hit, so I get him out of there when it looks rough. And, of course, Protect, whose usefulness does not need to be explained.

Giratina says:
Crobat is one of my favorite Pokémon in the whole Pokéuniverse! Ever since I found out about him (around 3rd gen when I REALLY started getting into pokemon) I've ALWAYS had a zubat on my team and never took it out! Everyone goes to a zubat cave and goes "omg zubat suuuucks" but everytime I walk in one of those caves I catch the first one I see! and I think it's one of the best pokemon to have as your favorite because-

1: They are in EVERY pokemon game (except Coliseum) so it's easiest to get
2: It is the 7th fastest pokemon out of ALL 722, beaten only by Deoxys, Ninjask, Electrode, Jolteon, Aerodactyl, and finally Mewtwo
3: It flies silently and sneaks up on prey, so It might as well be batman a.k.a. crobatman

I am the night!
Besides all that, Crobat can be useful in many many ways, and I will show you two :)

Crobat:
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Adamant (Up Atk, Down SpAtk)
EV: 252 Attack, 252 Speed, 4 Defense
Item: N/A

Moveset:
Acrobatics
Cross Poison
Steel Wing
Confuse Ray

Explanation: This Crobat build is all about hitting them first and hitting them hard! The Ability helps to prevent moves like Fake Out from flinching you, and the Nature improves Attack rather than speed in exchange for lowering Sp.Attack (A useless stat for this build) because it already outspeeds most of the pokemon world, so there is no need to increse speed further than having 252 EV :3 Acrobatics + no item makes the power of this attack up to a whopping 110! usually devastating against all foes! Cross Poison has a high critical hit rate so if acrobatics is not very effective then Cross Poison will definitely do the trick! Steel Wing will cover two, count 'em, two of your weaknesses. It may not be a STAB move but your Attack is so high that it kills rocks and ice in one hit! If all of that fails, Confuse Ray is your Ace in the Hole! if none of your attacks are effective, or Crobat is at red, use confuse ray and leave them a little something  to remember you by ;)

lol wut.

Crobat: (Saboteur Build)
Ability: Inner Focus
Nature: Jolly (Up Spd, Down SpAtk)
EV: 252 Speed, 128 Defense, 128 Sp.Defense
Item: Lum Berry/None/Wide Lens

Moveset:
Confuse Ray
Poison Fang
Acrobatics/Hypnosis
Rest/Roost

Explanation: This Crobat build is all about status effects, nothing else. The Inner Focus prevents flinching and Jolly raises it's speed to max! Max EV the speed and split the other EV for both defenses so crobat will last a bit longer when it's attacked. I always start off with Confuse Ray, because it's guaranteed 100% to hit. Next turn the enemy might hit themselves and while they are busy doing that, you hit them with a poison fang which has a 50/50 chance of poisoning the target. Now if by chance you are low on health all you need to do is use rest/roost and you are up to full health again as the enemy keeps hitting themselves in confusion! at this point you will have used your Lum Berry and if need be can use Acrobatics to pack a punch! I mostly use Saboteur Crobat to cause status effects and then switch out to a new pokemon after the damage is done and finish the job, although if needed crobat can take down enemies by itself. If you prefer, you can also have crobat learn Hypnosis instead of Acrobatics to have more status moves up your sleeve, in which case give the him wide lens so Hypnosis will hit more often and when needed. While the enemy is asleep you can heal crobat, use confuse ray, or switch him out if needed. Either way you build him, Crobat is a mean bean sabotaging machine!

Now that you've seen what crobat can do... think twice when you run away from that annoying zubat ;)

We all have to level up, but we can still be immature forever. 
Raikou says:
Raikou here!!! This weeks PotW is Crobat, and I am here to give you my personal low down on this guy.

For those that play Smogon rules, or even just go by their tier system, this dude (or dudet) is and always has been a great contender in the UU tier. With its blinding base 130 base speed, it outspends everything in that tier except for things that have been speed boosted, and beats most of the scarf users. It has two viable abilities, which are Inner Focus, and the H.A. of infiltrator. Infiltrator is generally the more chosen one as sub/set up is very common, and it can run moves like taunt and haze to prevent those things from happening. Inner Focus can be used more often in doubles as fake out is so very prominent.

Thanks to its decent base attack of 90, and it gaining a little more bulk based on the fact it resists the fairly common new fairy typing (as well as it having super effective stab on fairy as well, it has always been a poke to deal decent damage. This new game has brought some interesting new aspects to the game that give pokemon like Crobat another chance to shine. With access to items such as Assault Vest, it gives it some real special bulk staying power. Here are a few sets that are interesting to run.

Stallbreaker (Crobat)
Nature: Jolly/Adamant (Up Spd/Up Atk, Down SpAtk)
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Item: Black Sludge

Moveset:
Brave Bird/Super Fang
Cross Poison
Roost
Haze/Taunt/Toxic

This set does a lot of which I already stated it can do, deal out decent damage, prevent set up, and have two good STAB options with cross poison and BB. This set is used rather often, and it gives him/her the ability to heal back up if need be, as well as deal damage to pretty much anything.

Mama said I could be anything I wanted. I said, "Mama, I want to be everything."
Assault (Crobat)
Nature: Gentle (Up SpDef, Down Def)/Hardy (-)
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 52 Spd / 152 SDef / 204 Atk / 100 HP
Item: Assault Vest

Moveset:
Brave Bird
Super Fang
Cross Poison
U-Turn

This set makes it so he can survive things that would normally take him out on the special side of things. The major issue with this set is that it looses the ability to heal, but wish passing can easily prevent that.

Can't touch this.
Speedy Power (Crobat)
Nature: Jolly/Adamant (Up Spd/Up Atk, Down SpAtk)
Ability: Infiltrator
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 HP
Item: Choice Band

Moveset:
Brave Bird
Super Fang
Cross Poison
Zen Headbutt

This set is the one you should run if you are looking to deal some real damage. Due to his already high speed, I prefer to run Adamant, but to each their own. This move set gives him good coverage on a lot of types, and plus with Zen Headbutt, he can have some power against other poison types that may threaten to out stall you. Plus U-turn is always a good option to give yourself the upper hand when you need to have a better switch in if you realize right after sending him in that it wasn't a good idea.

If you're not first... you're last.
The funny thing about Crobat is that it doesn't have that great of a special attack, but for those of you that are bold enough to try it, replace moves out for Sludge Bomb, Air Slash, Heat Wave, ect., change the EVs to special attack. The only item that you would have to change if you choose that route is the choice band for choice specs. On that set I'd still recommend using u-turn, as that is always a good option to have. Now this set is a rather risky set, because Crobats special Attack isn't the best, but it can be done, and have some viability if you choose to use it to have a bit of a different set up. It will surely surprise those that see it expecting to be Physically Rocked. :p

 
There's a reason that Crobat evolves by happiness...
and it's no wonder this wicked winger will be your best friend. #Crobat4Lyfe


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