Crobat

Crobat’s great Speed, access to Taunt, and good defensive typing make it a solid lead and threat to passive, bulkier Pokemon. With Taunt and Crobat's base 130 Speed, it can outspeed most common leads to prevent Stealth Rock, most notably Azelf and tying with Aerodactyl. Against more threatening leads such as Metagross, Empoleon, and Machamp, Crobat can U-turn out to break Focus Sash and switch into a more favorable Pokemon. Crobat’s defensive profile is also nothing to scoff at, as with Roost and its resistances, it can be a threat to slower teams. From here, it can slowly wear down foes such as Hippowdon, Clefable, and Skarmory while healing off their attacks.

However, Crobat is mainly held back by its mediocre stats besides Speed, its weakness to Stealth Rock, and its inability to deal with common Pokemon, such as Zapdos, Rotom-A, and Jirachi. Due to these mediocre stats, Crobat struggles to deal damage to anything that can shrug off Brave Bird and can hit it hard back. Additionally, Crobat is not very bulky even with investment and relies on its Speed and recovery to handle defensive Pokemon; it crumbles to strong neutral attacks such as Heatran's Fire Blast, Tyranitar's Crunch, and Gyarados's Waterfall. This vulnerability is made worse by its weakness to Stealth Rock—while it can be an excellent scout with U-turn and its Speed, it struggles to do so repeatedly with Stealth Rock up. While Crobat's typing makes it an excellent check to Breloom, it also gives it major issues dealing with common Pokemon on defensive teams such as Rotom-A and Zapdos. Both easily at least 2HKO Crobat with Thunderbolt and Crobat can't damage them effectively. While Crobat is immune to flinching from Jirachi's Iron Head, it cannot stop Jirachi from ruining it with paralysis from Body Slam. These vulnerabilities mean it is largely outclassed by Gliscor, who is slower but has much greater bulk, more versatility, and a better defensive typing.