Cacturne

[CT Chia]

#332 Cacturne
Typing: Grass/Dark
Ability: Sand Veil- Evasion increases by 20% in a sandstorm.
70/115/60/115/60/55



C.R.A.P. (Counters, revenges, and punches)

Cacturne@Focus Sash
Lonely/Sand Veil
252Spe/252SAtk/4HP
-Counter
-Sucker Punch
-Destiny Bond
-Focus Punch/Seed Bomb

Anything that has low defensive capabilities and counter has the capability of doing a somewhat good job counter killing. Counter first thing then sucker punch and you should kill with some exceptions (see troublesome pokes). If you are pit against a special sweeper, Destiny Bond and, unless they decide to stall, they die. The last movespot is up to choice. Focus punch is great for dealing with walls like blissey and normal types, while seed bomb is good for secondary stab and dealing with water types (which also carry a super effective ice move likely).



Dancing Punch

Cacturne@Focus Sash
Adamant/Sand Veil
252Atk/252Spe/4HP
-Sword Dance
-Focus Punch
-Sucker Punch
-Seed Bomb/ Substitute

This is the most standard moveset you could use and one of the more preferred sets. Switch out on a wall, then either SD to increase the amount of damage you can do or substitute if you decide to use that. Then choose either one of your punches; Sucker Punch if you expect an attack, Focus punch if you expect a setup, status, or you are safely behind a substitute.

If you want, you can use Seed Bomb. Frankly the best use is if you don’t have the HP to set up substitute. Focus sash could also easily work if you decide to use seed bomb over substitute.


Ima be a hyper irritating Cacturne now

Cacturne@Bright Powder
Sand Veil/Adamant
252Atk/252Spe/4HP
-Substitute
-Leech Seed
-Focus Punch
-Sucker Punch

My famous Cacturne that I know you are at least somewhat familiar with. This only works well on sandstorm teams and is amazingly potent if you use it right (and you get lucky). Substitute and unleash your barrage of punches, leech seeding if you ever have the need. The advantage to this is that, with dual accuracy drops, you can keep your substitute amazingly long, meaning you don’t have to fear you getting killed and can unleash focus punch after focus punch.

This can easily work without sandstorm support; it just requires you to put up substitute more often. Leftovers are also a considerable item option as you will be losing your substitute much more often.

Extra Options

Sandstorm: works great with his ability, but you’d be better leaving it to another poke to set up as a wasted turn could easily mean murder.

Thunder Punch: Good for getting a super effective hit against flying and water types (and most notably gyrados). Grass already deals with most water types (sans Swampert and the ground/water types) and and the only real common flying types are Gyrados and Skamory, both of which are dealt with by Focus Punch and Seed Bomb.

Brick Break and Drain Punch: Preferred for dealing with pokes whether attacking or not. Drain punch can also act as a substitute for Leech seed guaranteeing a bit more attack, but requiring constant use. Focus Punch hits a ton harder and the only excuse for not using it is if you are using the counter setup.

Life orb: If you sacrifice one of your setup moves (and likely focus punch) for another option, this can be effective. Just be aware that you’ll live a lot shorter when you take damage every single turn

EVs

Attack and Speed should be top priority, though a strong HP boost could be beneficial on a more defensive set.

Troublesome Pokemon

Most ghost types (but most notably Dusknoir) can be a pain in the rear to deal with (bearing in mind Sucker Punch hits super-effective) as they are immune to Focus punch and Counter. Dusknoir often knows brick break and either fire or ice punch; all 3 of which hit super effective. Add in priority and it ain’t pretty. All it really has to look out for is sucker punch.

Scizor is also a huge threat. That 4x bug weakness isn’t looking good on its resume and stabbed x-scissor can be a pain in the rear to deal with. It also has priority and a better overall speed stat, meaning if it comes down to minimal HP it will likely BP you to your grave.

Abomasnow, though a bit less common, stops any weather currently in place and sets in hail, shutting down any sandstorm based setups as well as effectively thwarting counter-sash. It also has stabbed ice and often a fighting move thrown in.

Cacturne has several elemental weaknesses plus a mediocre defense stat. Anything with a fire, bug, ice, fighting, flying, or poison move or ghost types (as they are immune to at least one of its moves) can easily switch in and deal with it. Just be weary of counter and any tricks it has up its sleeve. It’s a gimmick-y poke, so the key is to shut it down early and try to remove any possible ways it can perform em.

Written by A_man13.