Draft Tentacruel

[Nyx]

[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards

**Price Range**: 8-9 points

**Overview**: Tentacruel is a solid form of entry hazard control that can both set and remove entry hazards to help support its teammates. It's also blessed by having a great utility movepool on top of this, which turns it into a very solid support Pokemon. However, it's held back by having incredibly common and exploitable weaknesses and no reliable recovery, as well as tending to overlap too heavily with better, more expensive Pokemon. For these reasons, Tentacruel is never going to be your first choice for its roles, but it can serve as a very valuable backup.

[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Utility Support**: Tentacruel utilizes its vast movepool, from Toxic Spikes to Knock Off to Flip Turn with many more in between, acting as a great enabler for its teammates. It can be especially disruptive against teams with poor entry hazard removal, as it's able to both remove hazards from its own side and set them on the other.

**Specially Defensive Wall**: Typically paired with an Assault Vest to enhance its already-great Special Defense, Tentacruel is able to check nearly all special attackers and force them to take a strong hit, thanks to Mirror Coat.

Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Surf, Hydro Pump, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Gunk Shot

**Setup Moves**: Acid Armor, Acid Spray

**Utility Moves**: Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Flip Turn, Mirror Coat, Haze, Chilling Water, Icy Wind, Whirlpool, Reflect Type

**Coverage**: Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Ice Beam, Tera Blast, Weather Ball

Niche Moves
========
**Swords Dance**: Despite its relatively low Attack, Swords Dance Tentacruel is able to punch holes through specially defensive teams due to the combination of its surprise factor and good STAB moves such as Gunk Shot and Liquidation, especially when powered up by a Life Orb.

Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: The standard item of choice, it grants Tentacruel the longevity to safely come in and fulfill its role as support for its teammates.

**Black Sludge / Leftovers**: Against teams with poor entry hazard setters, Tentacruel benefits more from the passive recovery granted by Black Sludge and Leftovers, especially if they are paired with Protect. Black Sludge is nearly always optimal, but Leftovers is better when Tentacruel is a Tera Captain.

**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest allows Tentacruel to act as a sponge for most special hits, which works well in conjunction with Mirror Coat.

Niche Items
========
**Rocky Helmet**: Due to resisting Bug, Tentacruel can be used to punish most U-turn spammers with Rocky Helmet.

**Sitrus Berry**: Sitrus Berry is a sidegrade to Black Sludge / Leftovers in games where Tentacruel is expected to only have to take a handful of hits, usually in quick succession.

Tera
========
Tentacruel should rarely, if ever, be considered as a Tera Captain. Its teammates nearly always benefit from Tera more than it does. In the event that you still make it a Tera Captain, it can utilize types such as Grass, Steel, and Ground defensively, as well as benefitting from Tera Blast Electric and Dark offensively.

Draft Strategy
========
Tentacruel is never something one plans for going into the draft, but it can find itself fitting well alongside the following kinds of Pokemon.

**Entry Hazard-weak Wallbreakers**: Tentacruel is able to be a reliable entry hazard remover and can pivot, making it a great partner alongside the likes of Chi-Yu, Enamorus, and Weavile.

**Physical Bulk**: Tentacruel's key weakness is its poor Defense, offsetting its specially defensive prowess. It can form a strong backbone alongside traditionally physically defensive tanks and walls such as Landorus-T, Skarmory, and Iron Hands.

**Fighting-type Answers**: While Tentacruel
resists Fighting, it often finds itself vulnerable to Fighting-types as a whole due to its poor physical bulk. It works well in conjunction with Pokemon such as Scream Tail, Uxie, and Zapdos for this reason.

Checks and Counters
========
**Electric-types**: Tentacruel finds itself in a tough spot when trying to remove entry hazards, as it becomes a free switch in for Electric-types such as Zapdos, Raging Bolt, and Iron Hands. It's unable to punish them effectively and is thus forced out, putting its user on the back foot.

**Physical Attackers**: Tentacruel's poor Defense means that it's unable to deal with strong physical attackers such as Baxcalibur and Ogerpon and is even 2HKOed by resisted hits such as Palafin's Wave Crash.

**Taunt**: Due to Tentacruel's poor offensive stats and reliance on Toxic and Toxic Spikes to help make progress against bulkier teams, it is incredibly susceptible to Taunt.

**Poison- and Steel-types**: Since they both resist or are immune to Sludge Bomb and Toxic, most Poison- and Steel-types can switch in safely on Tentacruel. They tend to not fear its Water-type attacks and usually take very little damage from coverage moves, causing Tentacruel to become deadweight against them.

[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.300000
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/

 

[abriel]

not gonna say it

[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards

**Price Range**: 8-9 points

**Overview**: Tentacruel is a solid form of hazard control that can both set and remove entry hazards to help support its teammates. It's also blessed by having a great utility movepool on top of this which turns it into a very solid support Pokémon. However, it's held back having incredibly common and exploitable weaknesses, as well as tending to overlap too heavily with more expensive, better, Pokémon. For these reasons it's never going to be your first choice for its roles, but it can serve as a very valuable backup.

[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Utility Support**: Tentacruel utilizes its vast movepool, from Toxic Spikes, to Knock Off, to Flip Turn, with many more in between, acting as a great enabler for its teammates. It can be especially disruptive against teams with poor removal as it's able to both remove hazards from its own side, while setting them on the other.

**Specially Defensive Wall**: Typically paired with an Assault Vest to enhance it's already great Special Defense, Tentacruel is able to check nearly all special attackers, and force them to take a strong hit thanks to Mirror Coat.

Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Surf, Hydro Pump, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave could add Gunk Shot for its high base power against specially defensive targets even outside of swords dance

**Setup Moves**: Acid Armor, Acid Spray

**Utility Moves**: Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Flip Turn, Mirror Coat, Haze, Chilling Water, Icy Wind, Whirlpool, Reflect Type

**Coverage**: Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Ice Beam, Tera Blast, Weather Ball

Niche Moves
========
**Swords Dance**: Despite its relatively low Attack, Swords Dance Tentacruel is able to punch holes through specially defensive orientated teams due to the combination of its surprise factor in the builder, and good STABs such as Gunk Shot and Liquidation, especially when powered up by a Life Orb.

Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: The standard item of choice, it grants Tentacruel the longevity to safely come in and fulfil its roles. perhaps emphasize that its particularly useful given that it wants to remove hazards for teammates?

**Black Sludge / Leftovers**: Against teams with poor hazard setters, Tentacruel will benefit more from the passive recovery, especially if they are paired with Protect. Black Sludge is nearly always more optimal, but Leftovers is better when Tentacruel is a Tera Captain. could emphasize lack of reliable recovery, don't think it's required though since you could argue it's dex info

**Assault Vest**: Primarily paired with Mirror Coat, Assault Vest allows Tentacruel to act as a sponge for most special hits. if i was writing this sentence i'd reverse the order of the points, but i think it works as is

Niche Items
========
**Rocky Helmet**: Due it resisting Bug, Tentacruel can be used to punish most U-turn spammers.

**Sitrus Berry**: A sidegrade to Black Sludge / Leftovers in games where Tentacruel is expected to only have to take a handful of hits, usually in quick succession.

Tera
========
Tentacruel should rarely, if ever, be considered as a Tera Captain. Its teammates nearly always benefit from Tera more than it does. In the event that you still make it a Tera Captain, it can utilise utilize hah brit types such as Grass, Steel, and Ground defensively, as well as benefitting from Tera Blast Electric and Dark offensively.

Draft Strategy
========
Tentacruel is never something one plans for going into the draft, but it can find itself fitting well alongside the following kinds of Pokemon.

**Entry Hazard-Weak Wallbreakers**: Tentacruel is able to be a reliable entry hazard remover, with the ability to pivot as well, making it a great partner alongside the likes of Chi-Yu, Enamorus, and Weavile, as it can both remove hazards, and pivot into them safely.

**Physical Bulk**: Tentacruel's key weakness is its poor defense, offsetting its specially defensive prowess. It can form a strong backbone alongside traditionally physically defensive tanks and walls such as Landorus-Therian, Skarmory, and Iron Hands.

**Fighting-type Answers**: While Tentacruel is able to resist Fighting-type attacks, it often finds itself vulnerable to the Pokemon as a whole due to its poor physical bulk. It’s not a reliable answer to Fighting-types and works well in conjunction with Pokemon such as Scream Tail, Uxie, and Zapdos for this reason.

Checks and Counters
========
**Electric-types**: Tentacruel finds itself in a tough spot when trying to remove hazards, it becomes a free switch in for Electric-types such as Zapdos, Raging Bolt, and Iron Hands. It’s unable to punish them effectively and is thus forced out, putting the user on the back foot.

**Physical Attackers**: Tentacruel’s poor Defense means that it’s unable to deal with strong physical attackers such as Baxcalibur and Ogerpon, and even being 2HKO’d by resisted hits such as Palafin’s Wave Crash.

**Taunt**: Due to Tentacruel’s poor offensive stats and reliance on Toxic and Toxic Spikes to help make progress against bulkier teams, it becomes incredibly susceptible to Taunt.

[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.300000
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.400000

qc1 good work, not much to say other than nitpicking

 

[vmnunes]

i'm gonna spare everyone the overdone joke

[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards

**Price Range**: 8-9 points

**Overview**: Tentacruel is a solid form of hazard control that can both set and remove entry hazards to help support its teammates. It's also blessed by having a great utility movepool on top of this which turns it into a very solid support Pokémon. However, it's held back having incredibly common and exploitable weaknesses, as well as tending to overlap too heavily with more expensive, better, Pokémon. For these reasons it's never going to be your first choice for its roles, but it can serve as a very valuable backup. Could maybe mention something about its lack of reliable recovery alongside its weaknesses? Idk if this would fall under dex info or not.

[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Utility Support**: Tentacruel utilizes its vast movepool, from Toxic Spikes, to Knock Off, to Flip Turn, with many more in between, acting as a great enabler for its teammates. It can be especially disruptive against teams with poor removal as it's able to both remove hazards from its own side, while setting them on the other.

**Specially Defensive Wall**: Typically paired with an Assault Vest to enhance it's already great Special Defense, Tentacruel is able to check nearly all special attackers, and force them to take a strong hit thanks to Mirror Coat.

Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Surf, Hydro Pump, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Gunk Shot

**Setup Moves**: Acid Armor, Acid Spray

**Utility Moves**: Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Flip Turn, Mirror Coat, Haze, Chilling Water, Icy Wind, Whirlpool, Reflect Type

**Coverage**: Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Ice Beam, Tera Blast, Weather Ball

Niche Moves
========
**Swords Dance**: Despite its relatively low Attack, Swords Dance Tentacruel is able to punch holes through specially defensive orientated teams due to the combination of its surprise factor in the builder, and good STABs such as Gunk Shot and Liquidation, especially when powered up by a Life Orb.

Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: The standard item of choice, it grants Tentacruel the longevity to safely come in and fulfil its role as a support for its teammates.

**Black Sludge / Leftovers**: Against teams with poor hazard setters, Tentacruel will benefit more from the passive recovery, especially if they are paired with Protect. Black Sludge is nearly always more optimal, but Leftovers is better when Tentacruel is a Tera Captain.

**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest allows Tentacruel to act as a sponge for most special hits, which works well in conjunction with Mirror Coat.

Niche Items
========
**Rocky Helmet**: Due it resisting Bug, Tentacruel can be used to punish most U-turn spammers.

**Sitrus Berry**: A sidegrade to Black Sludge / Leftovers in games where Tentacruel is expected to only have to take a handful of hits, usually in quick succession.

Tera
========
Tentacruel should rarely, if ever, be considered as a Tera Captain. Its teammates nearly always benefit from Tera more than it does. In the event that you still make it a Tera Captain, it can utilize types such as Grass, Steel, and Ground defensively, as well as benefitting from Tera Blast Electric and Dark offensively.

Draft Strategy
========
Tentacruel is never something one plans for going into the draft, but it can find itself fitting well alongside the following kinds of Pokemon.

**Entry Hazard-Weak Wallbreakers**: Tentacruel is able to be a reliable entry hazard remover, with the ability to pivot as well, making it a great partner alongside the likes of Chi-Yu, Enamorus, and Weavile, as it can both remove hazards, and pivot into them safely.

**Physical Bulk**: Tentacruel's key weakness is its poor defense, offsetting its specially defensive prowess. It can form a strong backbone alongside traditionally physically defensive tanks and walls such as Landorus-Therian, Skarmory, and Iron Hands.

**Fighting-type Answers**: While Tentacruel is able to resist Fighting-type attacks, it often finds itself vulnerable to the Pokemon as a whole due to its poor physical bulk. It’s not a reliable answer to Fighting-types and works well in conjunction with Pokemon such as Scream Tail, Uxie, and Zapdos for this reason.

Checks and Counters
========
**Electric-types**: Tentacruel finds itself in a tough spot when trying to remove hazards, it becomes a free switch in for Electric-types such as Zapdos, Raging Bolt, and Iron Hands. It’s unable to punish them effectively and is thus forced out, putting the user on the back foot.

**Physical Attackers**: Tentacruel’s poor Defense means that it’s unable to deal with strong physical attackers such as Baxcalibur and Ogerpon, and even being 2HKO’d by resisted hits such as Palafin’s Wave Crash.

**Taunt**: Due to Tentacruel’s poor offensive stats and reliance on Toxic and Toxic Spikes to help make progress against bulkier teams, it becomes incredibly susceptible to Taunt.

Could maybe add a comment about opposing poison / steel types, as they generally can switch into tentacruel very freely since they don't risk getting poisoned by sludge bomb / toxic and usually don't take too much damage from your water STAB.

[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/vmnunes.613460/
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user4.400000

QC 2/2, can't think of much else I'd add. Well done.

 

[SolarBeam]

1/1

is this a squid?

blue = add
red = remove
(orange) = comment

(NOTE: you used some curly apostrophes, so I replaced them with ASCII apostrophes and marked them as (ASCII) where I did)

[overview]
**Draft Order**: Round 5 onwards

**Price Range**: 8-9 points

**Overview**: Tentacruel is a solid form of entry hazard control that can both set and remove entry hazards to help support its teammates. It's also blessed by having a great utility movepool on top of this, (AC) which turns it into a very solid support Pokémon Pokemon. However, it's held back by having incredibly common and exploitable weaknesses (RC) and no reliable recovery, as well as tending to overlap too heavily with better, more expensive, better, Pokémon Pokemon. For these reasons, (AC) Tentacruel is it's never going to be your first choice for its roles, but it can serve as a very valuable backup.

[strategy comments]
Common Roles
========
**Utility Support**: Tentacruel utilizes its vast movepool, from Toxic Spikes (RC) to Knock Off (RC) to Flip Turn (RC) with many more in between, acting as a great enabler for its teammates. It can be especially disruptive against teams with poor entry hazard removal, (AC) as it's able to both remove hazards from its own side (RC) while setting and set them on the other.

**Specially Defensive Wall**: Typically paired with an Assault Vest to enhance its (RA) already-great (AH) Special Defense, Tentacruel is able to check nearly all special attackers (RC) and force them to take a strong hit, (AC) thanks to Mirror Coat.

Common Moves
========
**Primary STAB Moves**: Surf, Hydro Pump, Sludge Bomb, Sludge Wave, Gunk Shot

**Setup Moves**: Acid Armor, Acid Spray

**Utility Moves**: Toxic, Toxic Spikes, Rapid Spin, Knock Off, Flip Turn, Mirror Coat, Haze, Chilling Water, Icy Wind, Whirlpool, Reflect Type

**Coverage**: Dazzling Gleam, Giga Drain, Hex, Ice Beam, Tera Blast, Weather Ball

Niche Moves
========
**Swords Dance**: Despite its relatively low Attack, Swords Dance Tentacruel is able to punch holes through specially defensive orientated teams due to the combination of its surprise factor in the builder (RC) and good STABs STAB moves such as Gunk Shot and Liquidation, especially when powered up by a Life Orb.

Common Items
========
**Heavy-Duty Boots**: The standard item of choice, it grants Tentacruel the longevity to safely come in and fulfil fulfill (sorry but your british is showing) its role as a support for its teammates.

**Black Sludge / Leftovers**: Against teams with poor entry hazard setters, Tentacruel will benefit benefits more from the passive recovery granted by Black Sludge and Leftovers, especially if they are paired with Protect. Black Sludge is nearly always more optimal, but Leftovers is better when Tentacruel is a Tera Captain.

**Assault Vest**: Assault Vest allows Tentacruel to act as a sponge for most special hits, which works well in conjunction with Mirror Coat.

Niche Items
========
**Rocky Helmet**: Due it to resisting Bug, Tentacruel can be used to punish most U-turn spammers with Rocky Helmet.

**Sitrus Berry**: A Sitrus Berry is a sidegrade to Black Sludge / Leftovers in games where Tentacruel is expected to only have to take a handful of hits, usually in quick succession.

Tera
========
Tentacruel should rarely, if ever, be considered as a Tera Captain. Its teammates nearly always benefit from Tera more than it does. In the event that you still make it a Tera Captain, it can utilize Tera types such as Tera Grass, Steel, and Ground defensively, as well as benefitting from Tera Blast Electric and Dark offensively.

Draft Strategy
========
Tentacruel is never something one plans for going into the draft, but it can find itself fitting well alongside the following kinds of Pokemon.

**Entry Hazard-Weak Hazard-weak Wallbreakers**: Tentacruel is able to be a reliable entry hazard remover (RC) with the ability to and can (avoiding repetition with "able to be") pivot as well, making it a great partner alongside the likes of Chi-Yu, Enamorus, and Weavile, as it can both remove hazards, and pivot into them safely (redundant).

**Physical Bulk**: Tentacruel's key weakness is its poor defense Defense, offsetting its specially defensive prowess. It can form a strong backbone alongside traditionally physically defensive tanks and walls such as Landorus-Therian, Skarmory, and Iron Hands.

**Fighting-type Answers**: While Tentacruel is able to resist Fighting-type attacks resists Fighting, it often finds itself vulnerable to the Pokemon Fighting-types as a whole due to its poor physical bulk. It’s not a reliable answer to Fighting-types and It (redundant, you just said this) works well in conjunction with Pokemon such as Scream Tail, Uxie, and Zapdos for this reason.

Checks and Counters
========
**Electric-types**: Tentacruel finds itself in a tough spot when trying to remove entry hazards, as it becomes a free switch in for Electric-types such as Zapdos, Raging Bolt, and Iron Hands. It's (ASCII) unable to punish them effectively and is thus forced out, putting the its user on the back foot.

**Physical Attackers**: Tentacruel's (ASCII) poor Defense means that it's (ASCII) unable to deal with strong physical attackers such as Baxcalibur and Ogerpon (RC) and is even being 2HKO’d 2HKOed by resisted hits such as Palafin's (ASCII) Wave Crash.

**Taunt**: Due to Tentacruel's (ASCII) poor offensive stats and reliance on Toxic and Toxic Spikes to help make progress against bulkier teams, it becomes is incredibly susceptible to Taunt.

**Poison- and Steel-types**: Since they both resist/are resist or are immune to Sludge Bomb and Toxic, most Poison- and Steel-types can switch in safely on Tentacruel. They tend to not fear its (RA) Water-type attacks (RC) and will usually take very little damage from coverage moves, causing Tentacruel to become deadweight against them.

[credits]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/nyx.564960/
Quality checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/abriel.473082/
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/user3.300000
Grammar checked by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/solarbeam.470115/