Post by Plague von Karma on Oct 8, 2020 8:10:34 GMT
<h1>Introduction</h1>
<p>
Tentacruel is an extremely dominant and centralizing in RBY UU, often forcing teams to carry a check to even hope to be viable in the tier. The combination of bulk, powerful STABs backed by Blizzard coverage, Wrap, and Speed enable it to put heavy pressure on teams the second a game starts. Tentacruel also has a good deal of set variety, with many interesting options available, such as Swords Dance. Once Tentacruel hits the field, many teams need to quickly change their strategy lest they be manipulated by Wrap pivoting or mowed down by its powerful offensive presence.
</p>
<p>
To say Tentacruel is a perfect threat would be a lie, though. Its typing can often be a hindrance, as Poison gives it weaknesses to Ground and Psychic-type moves. This makes it a bit easier to check overall, with Pokemon like Dugtrio and Kadabra often exploiting this. In addition, Tentacruel despises paralysis, as it ruins its ability to threaten foes with Wrap while becoming noticeably slower. It's not like Tentacruel is the fastest threat in the tier either, and some threats such as Kadabra will definitely outrun and threaten it as well. Accounting for these weaknesses is critical to being successful with Tentacruel in UU play.
</p>
<h1>Sets</h1>
<h3>Wrap Pivot</h3>
<p><set>
Tentacruel <br>
- Surf <br>
- Blizzard <br>
- Wrap <br>
- Rest <br>
</set></p>
<h3>Set Details</h3>
<p>
Surf and Blizzard provide Tentacruel with virtually unresisted coverage in RBY UU; as you would expect, this gives it an extremely high threat level when considering its high Special stat. However, Wrap is what gives Tentacruel its amazing potential. With this, Tentacruel can whittle down opposing teams quite easily while pivoting around slower threats with ease. Given paralysis support against its faster checks, it can be very difficult to stop Tentacruel. Rest gives Tentacruel more staying power, as well as a way to rid itself of paralysis should it switch out thereafter. However, in this case, Tentacruel will often find it difficult to use Rest in front of a Wrap user; players should try to use Rest against a more passive threat first. Good examples of passive threats would be Vaporeon or other Pokemon that have used Rest, like Hypno. Tentacruel is bulky enough to shake off the sleep turns, and can easily do so by switching into opposing Wrap if it's already asleep. This can usually be facilitated through predicting the actions of another Tentacruel.
</p>
<p>
Tentacruel can be used in a variety of ways, such as using it as a lead. The sheer utility of Tentacruel's Wrap makes it fairly difficult for slower leads to get momentum; even Haunter is immobilized by Wrap, though it won't take damage. However, faster threats like Kadabra and Electabuzz can paralyze Tentacruel off the bat or deal large amounts of damage with their super-effective STABs. Tentacruel can function outside of a lead position though, as its offensive presence enables it to counter many threats throughout a game, making it great in mid and late-game scenarios.
</p>
<h2>Other Options</h2>
<p>
Swords Dance would be the first choice for alternative options, giving Tentacruel more damage per Wrap turn and making it more difficult to counter. Hyper Beam can be used alongside this to be more dedicated to the Wrap strategy as well, though it's difficult to compress this into a single moveset given the importance of its other moves.
</p>
<h2>Checks and Counters</h2>
<p>
<b>Haunter: </b>Haunter avoids the 2HKO from Surf and Blizzard while threatening Tentacruel with Sleep or a 3HKO from its Thunderbolt. Should Haunter be unable to secure a KO on Tentacruel, it can deal over 50% with Explosion and have a partner attempt to finish the job. A Thunderbolt followed by Explosion does have a chance to KO Tentacruel outright as well. Since Haunter is immune to Wrap, using it on Haunter is largely a waste outside of getting a safe switch-in. Despite all this, though, a critical hit from Tentacruel's Surf will deal enough damage to Haunter to cripple it, forcing an Explosion.<br><br>
<b>Fast Thunder Wave users: </b>Paralysis is a big threat to Tentacruel's playstyle, making Wrap only work around 66% of the time on average. The speed drop also makes slower threats into strong threats, like Hypno, Sandslash and Golem. Ergo, users of Thunder Wave, such as Raichu, Kadabra and Electabuzz, tend to force it out. Kadabra and Electabuzz, being faster than Tentacruel and capable of surviving two uses of Surf, can switch in on it during Wrap turns to force it out once it's done, threatening with paralysis or a 2HKO from their STABs. It's possible to bait a Wrap out by switching in a bulky Water-type like Vaporeon or Omastar to achieve this. Kadabra is the less consistent of the two, with a critical hit from Surf forcing it to Recover, giving Tentacruel ample opportunity to pivot into a threat to take advantage of the free turn while maintaining momentum. <br><br>
<b>Faster Threats: </b>Tentacruel's threat level largely comes from its Speed, and as such, faster threats can be a danger. Persian and Dodrio are capable of 3HKOing Tentacruel with their STABs, and can match Tentacruel's Speed. Dodrio in particular can use Agility to outspeed Tentacruel, and can also try to use Hyper Beam after a high roll from Body Slam for a 2HKO instead. Dugtrio is also a notable faster threat, and while Surf is a guaranteed OHKO, it can easily revenge kill a Tentacruel below 80% with STAB Earthquake. Should any of these Pokemon become paralyzed, however, they will be incapable of beating Tentacruel.<br><br>
</p>
<p>
Author: <span style="font-style: italic;">Plague von Karma</span><br>
Quality Checked by: <span style="font-style: italic;">--</span><br>
Grammar Checked by: <span style="font-style: italic;">--</span><br>
Publish Date: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Date (e.g. 7th June 2020)</span>
</p>
<p>
Tentacruel is an extremely dominant and centralizing in RBY UU, often forcing teams to carry a check to even hope to be viable in the tier. The combination of bulk, powerful STABs backed by Blizzard coverage, Wrap, and Speed enable it to put heavy pressure on teams the second a game starts. Tentacruel also has a good deal of set variety, with many interesting options available, such as Swords Dance. Once Tentacruel hits the field, many teams need to quickly change their strategy lest they be manipulated by Wrap pivoting or mowed down by its powerful offensive presence.
</p>
<p>
To say Tentacruel is a perfect threat would be a lie, though. Its typing can often be a hindrance, as Poison gives it weaknesses to Ground and Psychic-type moves. This makes it a bit easier to check overall, with Pokemon like Dugtrio and Kadabra often exploiting this. In addition, Tentacruel despises paralysis, as it ruins its ability to threaten foes with Wrap while becoming noticeably slower. It's not like Tentacruel is the fastest threat in the tier either, and some threats such as Kadabra will definitely outrun and threaten it as well. Accounting for these weaknesses is critical to being successful with Tentacruel in UU play.
</p>
<h1>Sets</h1>
<h3>Wrap Pivot</h3>
<p><set>
Tentacruel <br>
- Surf <br>
- Blizzard <br>
- Wrap <br>
- Rest <br>
</set></p>
<h3>Set Details</h3>
<p>
Surf and Blizzard provide Tentacruel with virtually unresisted coverage in RBY UU; as you would expect, this gives it an extremely high threat level when considering its high Special stat. However, Wrap is what gives Tentacruel its amazing potential. With this, Tentacruel can whittle down opposing teams quite easily while pivoting around slower threats with ease. Given paralysis support against its faster checks, it can be very difficult to stop Tentacruel. Rest gives Tentacruel more staying power, as well as a way to rid itself of paralysis should it switch out thereafter. However, in this case, Tentacruel will often find it difficult to use Rest in front of a Wrap user; players should try to use Rest against a more passive threat first. Good examples of passive threats would be Vaporeon or other Pokemon that have used Rest, like Hypno. Tentacruel is bulky enough to shake off the sleep turns, and can easily do so by switching into opposing Wrap if it's already asleep. This can usually be facilitated through predicting the actions of another Tentacruel.
</p>
<p>
Tentacruel can be used in a variety of ways, such as using it as a lead. The sheer utility of Tentacruel's Wrap makes it fairly difficult for slower leads to get momentum; even Haunter is immobilized by Wrap, though it won't take damage. However, faster threats like Kadabra and Electabuzz can paralyze Tentacruel off the bat or deal large amounts of damage with their super-effective STABs. Tentacruel can function outside of a lead position though, as its offensive presence enables it to counter many threats throughout a game, making it great in mid and late-game scenarios.
</p>
<h2>Other Options</h2>
<p>
Swords Dance would be the first choice for alternative options, giving Tentacruel more damage per Wrap turn and making it more difficult to counter. Hyper Beam can be used alongside this to be more dedicated to the Wrap strategy as well, though it's difficult to compress this into a single moveset given the importance of its other moves.
</p>
<h2>Checks and Counters</h2>
<p>
<b>Haunter: </b>Haunter avoids the 2HKO from Surf and Blizzard while threatening Tentacruel with Sleep or a 3HKO from its Thunderbolt. Should Haunter be unable to secure a KO on Tentacruel, it can deal over 50% with Explosion and have a partner attempt to finish the job. A Thunderbolt followed by Explosion does have a chance to KO Tentacruel outright as well. Since Haunter is immune to Wrap, using it on Haunter is largely a waste outside of getting a safe switch-in. Despite all this, though, a critical hit from Tentacruel's Surf will deal enough damage to Haunter to cripple it, forcing an Explosion.<br><br>
<b>Fast Thunder Wave users: </b>Paralysis is a big threat to Tentacruel's playstyle, making Wrap only work around 66% of the time on average. The speed drop also makes slower threats into strong threats, like Hypno, Sandslash and Golem. Ergo, users of Thunder Wave, such as Raichu, Kadabra and Electabuzz, tend to force it out. Kadabra and Electabuzz, being faster than Tentacruel and capable of surviving two uses of Surf, can switch in on it during Wrap turns to force it out once it's done, threatening with paralysis or a 2HKO from their STABs. It's possible to bait a Wrap out by switching in a bulky Water-type like Vaporeon or Omastar to achieve this. Kadabra is the less consistent of the two, with a critical hit from Surf forcing it to Recover, giving Tentacruel ample opportunity to pivot into a threat to take advantage of the free turn while maintaining momentum. <br><br>
<b>Faster Threats: </b>Tentacruel's threat level largely comes from its Speed, and as such, faster threats can be a danger. Persian and Dodrio are capable of 3HKOing Tentacruel with their STABs, and can match Tentacruel's Speed. Dodrio in particular can use Agility to outspeed Tentacruel, and can also try to use Hyper Beam after a high roll from Body Slam for a 2HKO instead. Dugtrio is also a notable faster threat, and while Surf is a guaranteed OHKO, it can easily revenge kill a Tentacruel below 80% with STAB Earthquake. Should any of these Pokemon become paralyzed, however, they will be incapable of beating Tentacruel.<br><br>
</p>
<p>
Author: <span style="font-style: italic;">Plague von Karma</span><br>
Quality Checked by: <span style="font-style: italic;">--</span><br>
Grammar Checked by: <span style="font-style: italic;">--</span><br>
Publish Date: <span style="font-style: italic;">The Date (e.g. 7th June 2020)</span>
</p>
