Shadow Crustle
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
The Shadow Boost gives Crustle more power, but not enough to actually matter. Even though it's now an evil lasagna, it's still just a lasagna.
Offense
- Smack Down and Rock Wrecker give Shadow Crustle a STAB Rock Type moveset
- Fury Cutter and X-Scissor give Shadow Crustle a STAB Bug Type moveset
- Rock Blast and Rock Slide are weaker options overall.
Defense
- Smack Down is leagues better than Fury Cutter on defense
- X-Scissor and Rock Blast both have the advantage of being 3-bar. X-Scissor is off-type with Smack Down and is harder to dodge, but Rock Blast has higher damage and more relevant coverage.
- Rock Wrecker hits harder but less often, while Rock Slide is Rock Wrecker, but worse.
Furry Cutter and Smack Down are polar opposites of each other; the former focuses on fast energy generation at the cost of stronger damage output, while the latter forgoes energy gains in favor of more STAB damage. Either option can be viable depending on the situation.
X-Scissor costs the least amount of energy, and provides decent Bug-type coverage backed by STAB. Rock Slide is a very efficient charge move, costing a moderate amount of energy with a very respectable 1.8 DPE (Damage Per Energy). Rock Blast is inferior.
Crustle fits a relatively unique role as a Bug/Rock Pokemon, gaining advantages over various other Bug-types, such as having coverage options against popular Flying-types. Unfortunately Bug-types are typically not favored for the meta due to poor relevancy, unspectacular movesets, and inferiority to other typings. Other Pokemon with Rock-type coverage perform better in the meta, and Crustle's bulk isn't particularly impressive either. It also doesn't help that Crustle has a major weakness against incredibly common Water-types.
