• Bulk Up Ceruledge makes excellent use of both its respectable bulk and Bitter Blade's high recovery. By changing its typing to a more defense oriented one, while maintaining the Fire immunity thanks to Flash Fire, Ceruledge can set up Bulk Ups on a variety of common Pokemon, ranging from Corviknight, Kingambit, Azumarill and Gholdengo.

• Taunt: Taunt lets Ceruledge set up Bulk Up without needing to fear common phasing moves (with the exception of attacking moves such as Dragon Tail), as well as opposing setup moves such opposing Bulk Up and Iron Defense, provided you outspeed.

• Shadow Sneak Priority of some form is always nice to have on a Pokemon, which makes Shadow Sneak an easy contender for the last move. Gaining extra added strength against Pokemon such as Flutter Mane, Dragapult and Annihilape is certainly charming.

• Grass Tera Blast: This allows Ceruledge to eliminate Dondozo more quickly. While Taunt can shut down Dondozo's Yawn, it cannot shut down Fissure. The only way to beat Dondozo would be to eliminate it as quickly as possibly, which Grass Tera Blast aids with.

• Flame Charge: Flame Charge provides Ceruledge an extra net of safety against potential Scarf users and Annihilape, who are capable of turning the tides against it. While normally, Ceruledge is prone to faster Taunt + Bulk Up users and Scarfed Trick, Flame Charge helps mitigate both of those weaknesses.

• Will-O-Wisp: Ceruledge can be a status spreader in games where it can't set up as easily. It also helps Ceruledge set up more easily against threats such as Unaware Clodsire.

Tera Types

• Fairy: Tera Fairy helps Ceruledge's matchup against prominent Dark-types such as Roaring Moon and Hydreigon.

• Grass: An immunity to Spore and a resistance to Water makes Grass the most notable Tera type for this set. Flash Fire eliminating one of Grass's many weaknesses is also noteworthy.

• Fire: Increasing Bitter Blade's power will always be a valuable trait. Eliminating Ghost's weaknesses to Ghost and Dark also allows Ceruledge to set up more comfortably.

• Bug: Tera Bug is similar to Tera Grass, but in exchange for losing the Water resistance and maintaining the Rock weakness of Fire / Ghost, Ceruledge can tank Volcarona's Bug Buzz with significantly more ease.

EV Spreads

• 252 HP / 252 Def with Impish: Investing into Defense prepares Ceruledge and its mediocre physical bulk for the physical-biased metagame. Bulk Up will boost its Defense, but it can struggle to take some physical hits even after a boost, and its special bulk is naturally high.

• 252 HP / 252 Spe with Jolly: A faster spread helps Ceruledge outspeed other Bulk Up users, like Annihilape opting to invest in bulk. Being faster, more often than not, lets Ceruledge win these matchups with ease.

• 252 HP / 252 SpD with Careful: While most threats in the metagame at the moment are physical, a specially defensive spread is still noteworthy for its ability to surprise Hydreigon.

• With a stellar offensive typing, a unique set of attacks, Weak Armor allowing it to outspeed a large part of the metagame, and its immunity to Extreme Speed and Mach Punch, Ceruledge proves itself to be a very solid Focus Sash option.

• Bitter Blade: Bitter Blade's recovery can make Focus Sash usable even if entry hazards chip it. If Ceruledge is brought down to 1 HP, a +2 Bitter Blade can heal it to the point that it can tank an extra attack.

• Close Combat versus Shadow Claw: Close Combat hits the Normal-, Dark-, and Rock-types that resist Ceruledge's STAB combination. Still, Shadow Claw is a noteworthy choice to guarantee the KO on Mimikyu and let Ceruledge pressure Skeledirge. Note, however, that maximum Defense Skeledirge can recover more than Shadow Claw's damage, barring critical hits, and a Terastallized Skeledirge can completely wall this set.

• Swords Dance versus Destiny Bond: As powerful as Swords Dance boosted attacks from Ceruledge are, the abundance of Unaware Pokemon, primarily Dondozo, has made some players opt to use Destiny Bond to snag surprise kills. Destiny Bond can also make the matchup against KOing common Sucker Punch Pokemon, such as Meowscarada and Kingambit, easier to win without having to rely on predictions.

• Adamant versus Jolly: Adamant's added damage output is valuable, but Jolly allows Ceruledge to outspeed non-Scarf Gholdengo, and gives it a chance at outspeeding Modest Rotom formes and Glimmora. All of the mentioned examples are Special Attackers, meaning Ceruledge's Weak Armor often does not trigger in these matchups.

Tera Types

• Fire: Giving Bitter Blade an extra push in damage is quite useful, giving Ceruledge more recovery.

• Normal: Normal is an exceedingly common Tera Type on Ghost types due to the immunity it brings to the table. Ceruledge makes particularly excellent use of Normal Tera by resisting both Steel and Fairy, making it very difficult for Gholdengo and Mimikyu to click anything other than a Ghost type move when facing off against Ceruledge.

• Fighting: Giving extra reach power to Close Combat, a powerful option against Pokemon such as Hydreigon, makes Fighting a solid choice for a Tera Type.