Competitive Pokemon History - Cresselia Quiz

Answer: Calm Mind

With excellent bulk and numerous recovery options, a Calm Mind set was an easy route to explore when looking at how Cresselia could fit the average standard play team in the fourth generation. In its debut generation, these sets would start with Psychic, or Psyshock in the fifth generation and onward, and then the overall state of the meta would dictate Cresselia's coverage move of choice. Hidden Power Fire was usually the most popular pick in its debut generation, to roast Scizor and most other Steel types with. Hidden Power Fighting was a good idea too, to retain coverage on some Steel types, gain coverage against Heatran, but more importantly hit the Dark types that took nothing from Psychic for super effective damage. Ice Beam had good neutral coverage and hit some big fourth generation players such as Gliscor and Dragonite very hard. Finally, if the objective was to install this Cresselia variant onto a stall team as the team's game-ending sweeper, the tandem of Rest + Sleep Talk, removing a coverage move to further aid Cresselia's longevity, was viable.

Answer: Sacrifices Cresselia to fully heal a teammate

While the move may seem like a Healing Wish clone, it does two things that Healing Wish doesn't. For one, it also fully restores the recipient's PP, which is something Healing Wish notably doesn't do. For another, it also renders the recipient immune to entry hazard damage on the turn that they are brought in by the move.

This was very helpful to Stealth Rock-weak Pokémon like Dragonite, Moltres or Rayquaza in Ubers.

Answer: A dual screens setter

Lunar Dance mostly saw usage in Ubers as opposed to standard play in the fourth, fifth and sixth generations. Here, the user would generally lead with a Pokémon like Palkia, Lucario or Rayquaza, a Pokémon with tons of power but low PP and/or poor longevity.

After taking a hit or two and using up their PP, the soon-to-be recipient should switch out. Later in the game, when the opponent's team has been beaten up a bit, Cresselia should enter play, put up Light Screen and/or Reflect, sacrifice itself with Lunar Dance to get the recipient in safely, and then clean house with the recipient. Cresselia's massive bulk for a dual screens setter and PP-restoring utility in Lunar Dance made it a great pick for Ubers, as well as the occasional standard play team.

Answer: Lack of Stealth Rock weakness

A move which sacrifices the user is not a good fit for a Pokémon meant to stick around for a long time, so Cresselia's walling sets did not have room for Lunar Dance. Cresselia also notably was hardpressed to stop an ExtremeKiller Arceus sweep, while Lugia happened to hard counter it.

However, Cresselia is a bit more consistent at walling the threats it's supposed to wall than Lugia is because the former does not have a weakness to the ubiquitous Stealth Rock. The entry hazard can put Lugia into range for KOs that it normally wouldn't be vulnerable to, while Cresselia's lessened impact from it normally prevents this from being a problem. Thus, Cresselia was not fully outclassed as a Wall by Lugia, since its bulk wasn't that much lower and it was a bit more consistent than Lugia was due to this lack of weakness. Still, Lugia was slightly superior due to its better bulk, better healing options and access to a phasing move.

Answer: Rayquaza

Rayquaza's combination of Draco Meteor followed up by Outrage would always KO Lugia after it took Stealth Rock damage, meaning Lugia had to be careful blindly switching in to Rayquaza, especially if it wasn't at full HP. However, Cresselia would always survive this combination after Stealth Rock, and it could OHKO Rayquaza with a retaliating Ice Beam. Cresselia was also able to counter the likes of Groudon, Arceus-Ground to an extent and Salamence, which Lugia notably could have trouble doing as well.

Answer: Groudon

Tyranitar and Abomasnow's presence hindered Cresselia greatly, as their respective weathers not only damaged Cresselia every turn, but also reduced Moonlight's HP restoration from 50% to a measle 33%, putting Cresselia's ability to take strong hits into jeopardy. Kyogre's rain didn't inflict passive damage on Cresselia, but it too nerfs Moonlight's HP recovery. Groudon, however, brings forth the sun when it enters, raising Moonlight's HP recovery from 50% to a sweet 67%, amplifying Cresselia's longevity significantly. Cresselia is also countered by Tyranitar, Scizor, Heracross, Chansey and most Steel types, all of whom Groudon walks all over. Thus, Groudon was usually viewed as a mandatory partner for Cresselia, giving it one more nifty advantage that Lugia could not claim as a wall. Cresselia's ability to provide backup against Garchomp, Rayquaza and Zekrom helped Groudon preserve its HP to take on other threats, so the partnership was beneficial for the mover of continents as well.

Answer: Literally anything with the move Taunt

Mega Rayquaza didn't exist in the fifth generation, ruling it out as an answer. However, you didn't need to venture into the future, or even look particularly hard to find a reliable Cresselia answer. Cresselia's offenses are very bad, and because Taunt forces Cresselia to only use attacks which do direct damage, anything packing the move is going to be able to shut it down completely. Common examples of Taunt users that Cresselia could encounter were Darkrai, Skarmory, Mismagius, Hydreigon, Infernape and Heatran. All but Infernape of the aforementioned bunch took next to no damage from any attacking move Cresselia could feasibly run.

Answer: Speed control

In general, Walls were very mediocre picks in doubles formats due to the nature of the meta lending itself to mostly offensive gameplay. The existence of double targeting means walling various threats is generally impossible or rather impractical over the course of a game.

The existence of a timer also means a theoretical stall team wouldn't get much mileage out of playing for the long haul, since the long haul itself would be quite short. Additionally, Cresselia's bad offenses made sweeping sets impractical and silly to attempt.

However, Cresselia has consistently been the best Trick Room setter in the entirety of the National Pokedex from its inception. Its bulk for the role is second to none, its Speed is quite low so it can take advantage of the effect, and its access to Lunar Dance can setup an allied threat with a beautiful late-game position to bring the win home.Its access to Icy Wind presents an alternate option for speed control, directly lowering the Speed of the opposing team and netting big chip damage on important threats like Landorus-T or Mega Salamence. Altogether, no other speed control Pokémon can even come close to boasting the salivating utility Cresselia brings to the table as a Trick Room setter.

Its dominance extends even into Restricted formats, where cover legendaries and other frightening threats begin to take center stage.

Answer: Levitate

Levitate gives Cresselia the immunity to Ground type attacks that it needs to counter Groudon and Garchomp in singles, while easily dealing with Landorus-T and other common Ground types in doubles. A nifty immunity to support its great bulk is very useful.

Answer: Helping Hand

Helping Hand boosts the power of a teammate's attack that it uses that turn by 1.5X, essentially giving it a temporary +1. Pairing Cresselia with a brutalizing attacker such as Mega Salamence can quickly put tons of pressure onto the opponent. They either must deal with Mega Salamence to mitigate the offensive threat in front of them, while leaving Cresselia free to support its team and harass the opponent, or they must attempt to disrupt Cresselia, but give Mega Salamence free avenues with which to heavily damage their team in the process. Really, fill in "Mega Salamence" with any general threatening Pokémon, and the dilemma remains. Cresselia was an astounding overall Pokémon in doubles even without Helping Hand, but access to this move was icing on the cake.

Answer: Its popularity

Being popular in a competitive metagame has historically been more of a con than a pro. When teambuilding for a doubles format, particularly VGC, the first thing any player worth their stuff must think to themselves is "okay, how do I deal with Cresselia?" Simply put, teams without some degree of pushback against the lunar duck don't have a chance at doing well at all. Unfortunately for Cresselia, its bland mono-Psychic typing and poor offenses make this endeavor rather feasible. Dark types can cleave through it rather easily, Bugs can as well, while Steel types can setup on Cresselia and its teammate if its teammate cannot do anything to deter or otherwise stop said setup efforts. Cresselia is usually able to augment the offensive presence of its teammate to a degree where this is not usually a major problem, but it can become a problem in the face of a bad typing matchup.

For example, if Cresselia is paired with a Mega Salamence, and the opponent sends out a Yveltal (type advantage against Cresselia) and a Xerneas (good matchup against Mega Salamence) then things could get out of hand very quickly without some immensely clever play from the Cresselia user. That said, this disadvantage can be mitigated through smart partnerships, like pairing Cresselia with a Fairy type who can deal with Dark, and to an extent Bug types, but Cresselia has always had a huge target on its back. Any decent team has multiple ways to deal with it, sometimes via hidden/secret coverage moves, so the metagame has become quite hostile towards it over the years.

Answer: It was immensely passive

Cresselia's walling sets can take hits all day, but that's generally about it. What is Cresselia doing back to the opponent? Take a stab based on its nickname- nothing. It just sits there and takes hits until the time comes to switch out, the game ends, or it gets KOed somehow.

The worst it can do is use Toxic on the opposing Pokémon, where it then proceeds to ( wait for it) do nothing while they are whittled away from Toxic or just switch out. Even Cresselia's Calm Mind sets have to spend a few turns boosting before they can actually do something to the opposing team.

This was all due to Cresselia's progressively terrible offenses, posing little immediate threat.

Answer: Moonblast

Moonblast hit Dark types super effectively, a notable thing Cresselia had never been able to do without equipping the extremely suboptimal Hidden Power Fighting. It notably OHKOes Hydreigon and Mega Sharpedo, Pokémon who would otherwise switch in on Cresselia, paying no regard to what it did to them on the switch.

It also hit Dragon types super effectively, removing the need to use Ice Beam. Thus, Moonblast became a staple even on Cresselia's defensive sets.

Answer: Snorlax

Snorlax's old Curselax set pushed Cresselia aside like a stiff breeze. It could Rest off whatever status effect Cresselia hit it with, while taking little damage from any of its attacks due to its great bulk. Even Calm Mind Cresselia's progressively stronger special attacks only aided its non-STAB Moonblasts, which Snorlax could take with ease, since it frequently used Psyshock instead of Psychic, which would be hitting Snorlax's protected Defense stat due to Curse. Thus, Snorlax was definitely a seventh generation counter.

Answer: Excellent bulk

Cresselia's 120/120/130 bulk is just amazing on all sides, consistently able to take physically and specially offensive hits with relative ease in whatever metagame it ends up being used in. While Mewtwo is more than likely the best singles Pokémon ever, Cresselia is very much in the debate for "greatest doubles Pokémon ever" and it can be respectfully spoken of as an amazing all-around singles Pokémon as well, even though it fell to RarelyUsed in the seventh generation.

Its high bulk has always been front and center to aid it in these discussions.