NationalDex
cacturne
#332

Cacturne

Scarecrow Pokémon

GrassDark

It becomes active at night, seeking prey that is exhausted from the day’s desert heat.

Base Stats

HP 70
Attack 115
Defense 60
Sp. Atk 115
Sp. Def 60
Speed 55
Total 475

Type Effectiveness

Abilities

Held Items

Evolution Chain

cacturne Cacturne Lv. 32

Moves

Details

Category Scarecrow Pokémon
Height 1.3 m
Weight 77.4 kg
Base Exp 166
Growth Rate Medium Slow
Capture Rate 60
Base Happiness 35
Gender 50% ♂ / 50% ♀
Habitat Rough Terrain
Egg Groups Plant ,Humanshape

Sprites

cacturne Front Front
cacturne Back Back
cacturne Front Shiny Front Shiny
cacturne Back Shiny Back Shiny
cacturne Front ♀ Front ♀
cacturne Front Shiny ♀ Front Shiny ♀
cacturne Official Art Official Art
cacturne Official Art (Shiny) Official Art (Shiny)

Competitive

nu Usage: 0.8%
Mixed Attacker
Item
Life Orb
Ability
Water Absorb
Nature
Mild
EVs
Atk 4
SpA 252
Spe 252

Strategy Overview

Thanks to its great mixed offensive prowess alongside a potent STAB type combination of Dark and Grass, Cacturne finds its place in NU as a stellar wallbreaker. To complement its formidable offensive capabilities, Cacturne possesses a myriad of support options, including Spikes, Destiny Bond, and Spiky Shield. In particular, Cacturne is an excellent user of Spikes, being able to offensively pressure all common users of Rapid Spin while being more offensively inclined than the other two relevant users of Spikes, Garbodor and Roselia. In addition, Cacturne's ability Water Absorb lets it check many of the Water-types of NU, most notably Lanturn, Prinplup, and Quagsire. Despite these positives, Cacturne is not without its issues, the most apparent being how it faces stiff competition from Shiftry, which boasts better Speed, access to the coveted Defog and Knock Off, and a level of unpredictability, as it's able to run a multitude of sets alongside unique coverage options, most notably Explosion and Extrasensory. However, Cacturne separates itself with its excellent mixed attacking stats, Water Absorb, and access to Spikes. Cacturne's frailty is also noteworthy, preventing it from switching in on much other than a Water- or Psychic-type attack; even then, most Pokemon that use those attacks have coverage to hit Cacturne, such as Lanturn carrying Ice Beam and Mesprit having Signal Beam, making every direct switch into Cacturne a risky one. Furthermore, due to its low Speed, Cacturne struggles against faster-paced offensive teams, as its reliance on Sucker Punch to deal with faster attackers can be easily exploited by sweepers to achieve free turns to set up.

Most Used Moves

Seed Bomb
48.1%
Disable
20.8%

Most Used Items

Life Orb
69.4%

Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc