BSS Ceruledge

[Tachipoyo]

name: Focus Sash Attacker
move 1: Bitter Blade
move 2: Close Combat / Shadow Claw
move 3: Shadow Sneak
move 4: Swords Dance / Destiny Bond
ability: Weak Armor
item: Focus Sash
nature: Adamant / Jolly
tera type: Fire / Normal / Fighting
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* 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'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 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.

* 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 attempt Dondozo—makes Destiny Bond viable to snag surprise kills. KOs. Destiny Bond can also make the matchup against KOing (I imagine this works?) common Sucker Punch Pokemon, such as Meowscarada and Kingambit, easier to win without having to rely on predictions. less prediction reliant.

* 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 (if you meant like wash and heat, add "formes". if you meant the electric/ghost type, keep as is) 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 pwer to Close Combat, a powerful option against Pokemon such as Hydreigon, makes Fighting a solid choice for a Tera Type.

[SET]
name: Bulk Up Sweeper
move 1: Bitter Blade
move 2: Bulk Up
move 3: Taunt
move 4: Shadow Sneak / Tera Blast / Flame Charge / Will-O-Wisp
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Impish
tera type: Grass / Fire / Bug
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

* Bulk Up Ceruledge makes excellent use of both Ceruledge's 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 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.

* 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 Dragapult and Annihilape is certainly charming.

* Tera Blast (Grass) 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 Tera Blast (Grass) aids with.

* 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 is a good option to let Ceruledge 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
========

* **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 Hydreigons. Hydreigon.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Tachipoyo, 613881]]
- Quality checked by: [[Theorymon, 29010]]
- Grammar checked by: [[Adeleine, 517429]]

 

[Theorymon]

Time for me to check this! Before I get more in-depth though, I want to be clear: I think this analysis clearly demonstrates that you know your stuff about Cerluedge, I actually don't have a ton of feedback on that part, great job!

What I want to focus on instead, is making this analysis more conicse. While I admire the amount of detail this analysis (in fact, I used to do this stuff a lot lol), due to how rapidly the metagame changes + potential ruleset changes coming at short notice, we're trying to keep things much shorter than most analyses you see on the site, so we can rapidly edit them without putting them through the C&C process again (something that was recently put into practice for a LOT of stuff you suggested yourself, I'll post about that soon!)! So like say, if you notice Cerluedge having a change of some sort in Series 2 or something, we can implement the changes very rapidly!

Anyways, I think four of the best tips for making this analysis shorter is:

1. Focus more on the the general stuff moves target, rather than specific mechanical intricacies and play-by-play scenarios.

2. Try to condense multiple points together if you can.

3. Avoid writing information that can be provided by clicking on the move in the dex.

4. Try to keep each bullet point about a sentence long, two sentences worst case scenario.

I'll try to help out by showing examples of how we can condense your writing to make it easier to update for when say, Series 2 hits. I'm mostly going to be more rearranging and editing your writing here to better fit what we're going for, but feel free to make any personal touches to make it feel like yours, because this is your analysis after all!

So for example, lets take your first bullet

* Access to a stellar offensive typing and coverage move in Close Combat, alongside Weak Armor allowing it to outspeed a large part of the metagame, Ceruledge proves itself to be a very solid Focus Sash option. Its immunity to both Extreme Speed and Mach Punch cannot be understated either. In a format like BSS, where Pokemon that can win tradeoffs are highly valued, these combination of traits gives Focus Sash Ceruledge its respectable viability.

With these concepts in mind, we can reduce it to something like this.

* With access to a stellar offensive typing and coverage, immunity to Extreme Speed and Mach Punch, and enough speed to outspeed a large part of the metagame with Weak Armor, Ceruledge is a very solid Focus Sash option.

This is pretty similar to what you wrote above, but its smaller size lets us check for things to update more quickly, and sells the reader on the Pokemon faster (which is what you want to do with that first bullet). We leave out the talk about BSS intricacies, because while that is VERY interesting, it's actually better served for a BSS article (Note: we can actually discuss how you can cover more longform content in articles if you're interested, because what we cut here wasn't wrong or anything!)

Let's also look at these two bullets, where I see the potential to condense some info together!

* Bitter Blade’s recovery allows Ceruledge to recover back damage it gets dealt. This means that Ceruledge is capable of regaining Sash’s functionality after getting chipped by hazards like Stealth Rocks and Spikes depending on the situation.

* When paired with Swords Dance increasing the range of its damage, it also means that after using Focus Sash to set up +2 Attack, Bitter Blade can recover Ceruledge a significant amount of HP. Combined with its respectable bulk, it often means Ceruledge can get to a point in which it can tank another hit for extra survivability.

So here, I see mention of dex description stuff for Swords Dance and Bitter Blade. When you hover or touch a move on the dex, it actually shows a little pop up that explains what the move does, so we can make this more concise! Here's an example of what happens when we combine these two bullets together! I also see very specific mentions of Stealth Rock and Spikes, which we can condense by just saying hazards.

* Bitter Blade's recovery is capable of regaining Focus Sash's capability after getting chipped by hazards. With Swords Dance, it often means Cerluedge can tank an extra hit.

Let's look at an opposite example: splitting a bullet point up.

* Close Combat allows Ceruledge’s offensive potential to truly shine, letting it hit the Normal/Dark/Rock types that resist its Fire/Ghost STAB combination. However, Shadow Claw is a noteworthy choice that guarantees the KO on Mimikyu, and allows Ceruledge to utilize its immunity to Will-o-wisp stemming from its excellent type, pressuring Skeledirge with a powerful move. It should be noted, however, that max defense invested Skeledirge can out-recover the damage dealt by Shadow Claw, and that a Terastalized Skeledirge is able to completely wall this set of Ceruledge.

Since Close Combat and Shadow Claw are "two different topics", they're worth giving their own bullet point. This makes it much easier to update mentions, like if say, we update to mention Close Combat being needed for Chi-Yu in a future series

* Close Combat allows Ceruledge’s offensive potential to truly shine, letting it hit the Normal/Dark/Rock types that resist its Fire/Ghost STAB combination.

* Shadow Claw is a noteworthy choice that guarantees the KO on Mimikyu, and pressures Skeledirge. However, it should be noted that max Defense invested Skeledirge can out-recover the damage dealt by Shadow Claw, and that a Terastallized Skeledirge is able to completely wall this set.

Let's look at one more bullet point for Sash Attacker.

* While generally, Adamant’s added damage output is valuable, Jolly allows Ceruledge to outspeed specific threats before activating Weak Armor. Most notably, Jolly ensures Ceruledge outspeeds non-Scarf Gholdengo, and gives it a chance at outspeeding Modest Rotom and Glimmora. All of the mentioned examples are Special Attackers, meaning Ceruledge’s Weak Armor often does not trigger in these matchups.

Something to remember is that since we use a bullet point structure, you can rely less on "transitionary sentences" so to speak! So let's look at a shortened version.

* Adamant’s added damage output is valuable, but Jolly ensures Ceruledge outspeeds non-Choice Scarf Gholdengo, and gives it a chance at outspeeding Modest Rotom and Glimmora. All of the mentioned examples are Special Attackers, meaning Ceruledge’s Weak Armor often does not trigger in these matchups.

Removing that one sentence might not seem like much, but it starts to add up a LOT once you do it in several bullets, making it easier to scan the dex and realize new stuff that needs to be added or removed!

I'd like to look at two more bullet points in the Bulk Up set before I get to my two only actual nitpicks on the information!

* Bulk Up Ceruledge makes excellent use of both Ceruledge’s 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. Ceruledge’s longevity once it manages to boost its own stats cannot be overstated.

* Taunt lets Ceruledge set up Bulk Up without needing to fear common phasing moves. Roar, Whirlwind, Yawn, Encore, Taunt and Perish Song are each respectively used in varying degrees to shut down setup Pokemon. With Taunt, however, Ceruledge can stop a large majority of these 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.

Here, we can condense these quite a bit by focusing on "implied" info. So for example, we don't need to list all the phazing moves that are around: just mentioning phazing is enough to get a good idea of why you want to use Taunt. Doing this, we have a similar amount of info, but way less words!

* Bulk Up Ceruledge makes excellent use of both Ceruledge’s 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 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.

The ACTUAL nitpick

So really, the only nitpick I have is that, I think its worth explaining the main EV Spread on Bulk Up in the EVs section. Yes, I realize its a simple 252 / 252 spread, so it seems like it goes without saying... but the twist is that its a physically defensive Bulk Up set. A lot of players tend to assume that slow Bulk Up sets like this are Specially Defensive, such as Annihilape, so I think going into why you'd use physically defensive is a good idea!

Also for the record, I don't mind if you put in a Specially Defensive spread too. Granted, a LOT of the stuff that irritates Cerluedge physically based so I don't mind physical being the main spread, but I'm pretty sure I've run into some with SpD investment too.

I realize this is a LOT to take in despite this check being almost entirely based around making things more concise, but I think this is important, because it saves us a lot of work down the line by avoiding having to revamp stuff as much, which can help us keep things up to date for our readers!

If you need any more help, don't hesitate to ask me! Once you make this more concise (and address that little nitpick), I'll give it another check, and probably approve this analysis!

 

[Tachipoyo]

No worries about the longer post! It helps a lot knowing which points I should look out for going forwards, so thanks for the detailed review ^^

I've edited the overall post while reading through your notes, hopefully its a bit more concise come now. I also added in a spotlight for a SpD invested set, since while I haven't seen many around its still more than a noteworthy option

 

[Theorymon]

This looks good to me now, QC Approved 1/1!

GP Team

 

[Adeleine]

Add/Fix Remove Comment
(AC): Add Comma
changed curly apostrophes to straight ' pls be mindful of this in the future

Hide

[SET]
name: Focus Sash Attacker (added spaces before/after the slashes)
move 1: Bitter Blade
move 2: Close Combat / Shadow Claw
move 3: Shadow Sneak
move 4: Swords Dance / Destiny Bond
ability: Weak Armor
item: Focus Sash
nature: Adamant / Jolly
tera type: Fire / Normal / Fighting
evs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

* With access to a stellar offensive typing and unique coverage, alongside 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's recovery allows Ceruledge to regain Focus Sash, even after getting chipped by hazards. If no hazards are set up, a +2 Bitter Blade boosted by Swords Dance can even recover Ceruledge to a point it can tank an extra attack after being brought down to 1 HP. 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. (I imagine this works? change things if i missed or misunderstood anything)

* 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. (I imagine this makes sense? change anything if needed)

* As powerful as Swords Dance boosted attacks from Ceruledge are, makes Ceruledge, the abundance of Unaware Pokemon—primarily Dondozo, has made some players opt to use Destiny Bond to attempt Dondozo—makes Destiny Bond viable to snag surprise kills. KOs. Destiny Bond can also make the matchup against KOing (I imagine this works?) common Sucker Punch Pokemon, such as Meowscarada and Kingambit, easier to win without having to rely on predictions. less prediction reliant.

* Close Combat allows Ceruledge's offensive potential to truly shine, letting it hit the Normal/Dark/Rock types that resist its Fire/Ghost STAB combination.

* Shadow Claw is a noteworthy choice that guarantees the KO on Mimikyu, and allows Ceruledge pressure Skeledirge. It should be noted, however, that max defense invested Skeledirge can out-recover the damage dealt by Shadow Claw, and that a Terastalized Skeledirge is able to completely wall this set.

* Adamant's added damage output is valuable, but Jolly allows Ceruledge to outspeed non-Choice Scarf Gholdengo, and gives it gives a chance at outspeeding Modest Rotom (if you meant like wash and heat, add "formes". if you meant the electric/ghost type, keep as is) and Glimmora. All of the mentioned examples are Special Attackers, special attackers, meaning Ceruledge's Weak Armor often does not trigger in these matchups. (removed extra line break under)

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. type on Ghost-types due to the Ghost immunity it brings. Ceruledge makes particularly excellent use of Normal Tera Normal by initially 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 use anything besides a Ghost-type move 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. type.

[SET]
name: Bulk Up Sweeper
move 1: Bitter Blade
move 2: Bulk Up
move 3: Taunt
move 4: Shadow Sneak / Tera Blast / Flame Charge / Will-O-Wisp (added space before flame charge)
item: Leftovers
ability: Flash Fire
nature: Impish
tera type: Grass / Fire / Bug (added spaces before/after slashes)
evs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def

[SET COMMENTS]

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

* 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. without fearing most phazing moves, as well as opposing setup moves from slower Pokemon, such as Bulk Up and Iron Defense.

* 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 Dragapult and Annihilape is certainly charming. Not only does Shadow Sneak provide priority, but it adds extra strength against Pokemon such as Dragapult and Annihilape.

* Tera Blast (Grass) with Tera Grass 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 Tera Blast (Grass) aids with. Fissure, which pressures Ceruledge to KO Dondozo as quickly as possible.

* Flame Charge provides Ceruledge an extra net of safety against potential a safety net against potential Choice Scarf users and Annihilape, who are capable of turning the tides against it. While normally, Ceruledge is which can shut down its sweep with attacks or Trick. Also, Ceruledge is normally prone to faster Taunt + Bulk Up users and Scarfed Trick, Flame Charge helps mitigate both of those users, and Flame Charge mitigates that weaknesses.

* Will-o-wisp is a good option that allows Ceruledge to function as Will-O-Wisp is a good option to let Ceruledge 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. (removed extra line break under)

Tera Types
========

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

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

* **Bug**: In exchange for losing the Water resistance and gaining a shared Rock weakness with Fire, Bug Ceruledge is able to tank Volcarona's Bug Buzz with significantly more ease than Tera Grass. 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 allows Ceruledge to get the most bang for its buck. Ceruledge's naturally high special bulk is charming, but its physical bulk is far from stellar. Depending on the matchup, it can struggle to comfortably take physical hits, even with a +1 boost. 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. (I imagine this makes sense?)

* **252 HP / 252 Spe with Jolly**: The early bird eats the worm, the faster Bulk Up user wins the mirror. Jolly Ceruledge has a chance of outspeeding Annihilapes that opted to invest in bulk, which more often than not means that you win the matchup 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 (I imagine this makes sense?) with ease.

* **252 HP / 252 SpD with Careful**: While most threats in the metagame at the moment are physical, a special defense invested specially defensive spread is still noteworthy for its ability to surprise Hydreigons. Hydreigon. (removed line break under)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[Tachipoyo, 613881]]
- Quality checked by: [[]] (fill this)
- Grammar checked by: [[Adeleine, 517429]]

GP Team done

 

[Tachipoyo]

Changes should all be applied!

 

[Theorymon]

This is now onsite!