Crustle
Stone Home Pokémon
Competing for territory, Crustle fight viciously. The one whose boulder is broken is the loser of the battle.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Held Items
Evolution Chain
Moves
Locations
Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
Crustle's access to the combination of Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Shell Smash along with its good Attack and two useful abilities allows it to function as both a Shell Smash sweeper and a suicide lead. Shell Smash turns Crustle into a offensive threat, as it can boost its already decent attack to very high levels while also allowing it to outspeed most of the unboosted metagame. In addition, Crustle's naturally high Defense allows it to set up on tier staples such as Komala, Bouffalant, and Muk. STAB Stone Edge and X-Scissor along with options such as Earthquake and Knock Off allow Crustle to hit the entire tier for at least neutral damage. Crustle's access to both Spikes and Stealth Rock along with its two best abilities in Sturdy and Weak Armor allow lead sets to often get up multiple layers of entry hazards. Unfortunately, Crustle's impressive physical bulk is somewhat offset by a vulnerability to all entry hazards, as well as by its poor defensive typing and Special Defense. Thus, Crustle is not as bulky in practice as it may seem, and it struggles to set up if offensive threats such as Golem, Swanna, and Pawniard are present. Crustle also struggles with a mediocre Speed stat, as it is quite slow unboosted and will still be outrun by the tier's most common Choice Scarf users, such as Electivire, Rapidash, Swanna, and Mr. Mime even at +2, although it can generally tank a hit if they lack super effective coverage. The lead set also fails to threaten several of the tier's most common entry hazard removers, and Pokemon such as Silvally-Water and Sandslash can come in without much trouble and remove its entry hazards.
Most Used Moves
Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc