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Description
Tentacruel's good defensive typing and stats allow it to check some of the largest threats in the metagame such as Azumarill, Slurpuff, and Clefable. However, its main claim to fame is being a Rapid Spin user that can beat Mega Sableye. It can not only set up Toxic Spikes but also absorbs Toxic Spikes as well, which are very common in the current metagame. Another thing worth mentioning is that Tentacruel is surprisingly fast for a tank Pokemon, boasting a 100 base speed stat! Though its not without its weaknesses, Tentacruel has some common weaknesses to Electric-, Psychic-, and Ground-type moves, which substantially hinder its defensive capabilities. Tentacruel also lacks any form of reliable recovery, making it easy to wear down. It also faces competition as a Water-type Rapid Spin user from Starmie, which has reliable recovery, a much better Speed tier, and more coverage options. However, Tentacruel differentiates itself with its much better support options, lack of Pursuit weakness, and some unique resistances. What's more is that unlike Starmie, Tentacruel has much better defensive stats than Starmie does, and that's honestly the best kind of Pokemon to run Rapid Spin.
Here’s my Tentacruel's summary.
Nature: Bold
Held Item: Black Sludge
Ability: Liquid Ooze (or Clear Body)
EVs: 240 HP / 244 Def / 24 Spe
-Scald
-Venoshock / Sludge Bomb / Ice Beam
-Toxic Spikes
-Rapid Spin
Scald is used for STAB and a very useful burn chance. Toxic Spikes punishes many teams, especially offensive teams lacking entry hazard removal. Rapid Spin is useful for removing hazards on your own side of the field, especially against opposing leads. I gave it Venoshock for this set because not only does it get STAB, but the move also does double the damage when the opponent is poisoned (which will be always happen so long as the layers of Toxic Spikes are up on their field). Though if you want to rely on a more powerful Poison STAB that doesn't depend on the opponent being poisoned in order to do more damage, remember Sludge Bomb is always an option. Or you could run Ice Beam so that Tentacruel can better cover its to Ground-types and deal x4 damage to Garchomp, Landorus-T, and Mega Salamence.
The given EVs with a Bold nature maximize Tentacruel's physical bulk, allowing it to take on a plethora of Fire- and Fighting-types, as well as still outspeeding some offensive threats. Black Sludge, Tentacruel's only method of recovery, is used over Leftovers to scare away Trick users. Liquid Ooze is a good ability to run Tentacruel, particularly now in the current VGC 2017 Metagame to help counter Celesteela and Tapu Bulu, punishing them for using Leech Seed or other attack moves that recover their health like Giga Drain and Horn Leech (because Liquid Ooze makes them lose HP rather then gain it). An alternate ability you can run is Clear Body, which allows Tentacruel to ignore special attack drops from Snarl or speed drops from Icy Wind or Sticky Web.
Of course Tentacruel can run a variety of other moves. Here are some suggestions:
-Rain Dish is not completely useless since it provides additional recovery in the rain, but is generally inferior since Tentacruel already walls the cores of rain teams fairly well.
-Knock Off is great when paired with Toxic Spikes, as it helps by further wearing down the opponent's team and removing foe's items.
-Sludge Bomb or Sludge Wave are secondary STAB moves that can be used instead of Venoshock to help Tentacruel beat Fairy- and Grass-types much more effectively without having to rely on the opponent being poisoned like Venoshock does.
-Surf is the 101 go to reliable-yet-strong move if you don't want to go with Scald. No added effects, 95 power, 100 accuracy, good type, it's an amazing move.
-Ice Beam hits Dragon-types, Gliscor, and Landorus-T for huge damage, but it is weak otherwise on Tentacruel.
-Acid Spray lowers a target's Special Defense by two stages, thus weakening foes and making them more vulnerable to special attacks (whether its from Tentacruel or any other special attackers on its team). In particular, it allows Tentacruel to beat most variants of Calm Mind users. What's more is that it can force some extra switches to take advantage of Toxic Spikes.
-Tentacruel is very much like Muk, a powerful Poison type with both offensive and defensive potential but has a relatively low physical Defense stat. You can run Barrier on your Tentacruel to raise its defense to help it better tank a super effective Earthquake.
-Haze is also an option as it allows Tentacruel to reliably check setup sweepers such as Swords Dance Users and Belly Drum Azumarill, and other slower boosters by removing all of their stat boosts completely.
-Protect can be used for scouting Choice-locked moves and gaining an extra turn of Black Sludge recovery, as well as getting an extra turn of Toxic damage on the opponent.
-Acupressure ups a random stat by 2, which can be incredible if you get lucky.
-Confuse Ray forces switches or deals free damage, but it's so easy to cure, it isn't worth the move slot.
-Magic Coat can reflects status as well as Entry Hazards. Pretty cool. Though not really necessary in the case of Tentacruel. You can also run one with the ability Clear Body, with prevents the opponent from lowering its stats, and Rapid Spin already deals with getting rid of entry hazard moves. So Magic Coat is completely unnecessary for a Tentacruel!
-An offensive set with Hydro Pump, Hidden Power Fire, and Ice Beam or Sludge Bomb with Black Sludge can do significant amounts of damage on Tentacruel's usual counters and make good use of Tentacruel's Speed tier. Though an offensive Tentacruel should have either a Modest or Timid Nature and should have EV's invested into its Special Attack and its already high Speed.
-For more offensive Tentacruel sets, Wiki Berry (or any other berry that will recover 50% health and not cause confusion) greatly increases Tentacruel's longevity in battle.
-A set consisting of Mirror Coat with Assault Vest can lure Pokemon such as Thundurus and Raikou. It can even enable Tentacruel to absorb attacks from Tapu Koko or Tapu Lele better, even in their respective terrains. However, it is pretty bad otherwise.
-Giga Drain provides strong grass-type coverage and recovery.
-Icy Wind is always good for speed control. Especially given Tentacruel's rather high speed stat.
-Now with Z-Moves, you can have offensive Tentacruel unleash more power given their unique dual typing and rather wide movepool. The same is said for running support sets.
-Running Poisonium-Z gives Tentacruel access to powerful Poison STAB Z-Moves (which are capable of KOing Tapus Lele and Fini). In fact, you can even use Z-Toxic Spikes to both set up Toxic Spikes as well as raise Tentacruel's physical defense stat by 1.
-You can run Icium-Z and Haze to give Tentacruel a one-off healing move.
Notes:
This Tentacruel was traded over to me by a friend, so I was unable to nickname it. But here are some options if you wish to nickname your own Tentacruel.
-Man o' War, after the species of Jellyfish that floats on the ocean surface (which Tentacool and Tentacruel are based on). Fun fact though, the Portuguese Man o' War is actually not a Jellyfish but a species of polyps formed into a cluster that resembles one.
-Kraken, after the infamous mythological giant squid. Though Tentacruel is technically a Jellyfish, it does have many aspects of cephalopods such as octopus and squid. So this nickname can work.
-Gezora, after the lesser known giant Cuttlefish Kaiju from the Godzilla series (though it never actually appeared in a movie with Godzilla).
-Squidward, primarily because Tentacruel looks like a cephalopod, has a bald head, and its beak-like protrusion does look like a big nose. Sooooo......
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3wlltU… XD
Do you have your own Tentacruel moveset and strategy? Comment below with your own moveset!