Cacturne
Scarecrow Pokémon
It becomes active at night, seeking prey that is exhausted from the day’s desert heat.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Held Items
Evolution Chain
Moves
Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
At a glance, it is difficult to justify the use of Cacturne in the RU metagame. With so many potent Grass-types available for use, it hardly seems wise to handicap yourself with a Pokemon like Cacturne. However, despite its appearance, Cacturne is actually quite unique in what it offers. Due to Cacturne's high offensive stats and powerful STAB Sucker Punch, it is one of the tier's best offensive Spikes users, capable of threatening a variety of common Pokemon in order to set up entry hazards. To add to this, Cacturne is also able to apply significant offensive pressure to both Kabutops and Cryogonal, the most common and effective Rapid Spin users of the tier, allowing it to effectively prevent its entry hazards from being removed on its own. What's more, its unique typing, complemented by its useful ability in Water Absorb, makes it a very effective choice for offensively-inclined teams, checking threatening Pokemon such as Slowking and Substitute + Calm Mind Uxie, as well as comfortably switching into bulky Water-types. However, Cacturne's lack of natural bulk means that it is heavily reliant on its resistances to take hits of any kind, meaning that it often struggles to switch in and can be forced out just as easily. What's more, being as slow as it is, Cacturne relies heavily on Sucker Punch to handle offensive threats, making it a very prediction-heavy Pokemon in many situations. While Cacturne is by no means a Pokemon that can be thrown on any team, it does retain a significant niche in the RU metagame and should be taken into consideration when building offensive teams.
Most Used Moves
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc