Crawdaunt, The Rogue Pokémon. Loving to battle, this Pokémon pinches all Pokémon that enter its territory with its pincers and throws them out.It is a ruffian that uses its pincers to pick up and toss out other Pokémon from its pond.A brutish Pokémon that loves to battle. It will crash itself into any foe that approaches its nest.

Overview

Crawdaunt is a force to be reckoned with in RU. With a nearly unresisted STAB combination, Crawdaunt can sweep through the majority of the tier with its base 120 attack stat. This is further boosted by its ability Adaptability, which boosts the power of its STAB even further. Unfortunately, Crawdaunt's speed is a complete letdown, and its defenses aren't that great either. On the other hand, Crawdaunt was also blessed with Dragon Dance, meaning it has a way to recover from its terrible speed. And even with its low speed, Crawdaunt still outruns parts of the tier without the boosts, meaning it does get the opportunity to set up depending. Overall, Crawdaunt is a decent pokemon that teams should be prepared for, but not excessively so.

Abilities

Hyper Cutter: Prevents Crawdaunt's Attack from being lowered, a decent ability to help prevent Intimidate drops and the like, but its basically useless compared to Adaptability.
Shell Armor: Prevents Critical Hits, good if you don't want to have any chance of hax, but otherwise a pretty bad ability.
Adaptability: Boosts the power of STAB moves from 1.5x to 2x, makes your STAB moves that would normally be neutrally effective the equivalent of super effective hits. This ability is ridiculously good, and Crawdaunt is the best of the pokemon that have it. If you haven't guessed already, this is really the only ability you should be using on Crawdaunt.

Movesets

LOOK, I'M A DRAGON

-Dragon Dance
-Waterfall
-Crunch
-Superpower / Substitute
Item Attached: Life Orb / Leftovers
Ability: Adaptability
EVs and Nature:
EVs:4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe Jolly Nature (+Spe, -SAtk)

Yeah, I'm not even going to try to guess the logic behind Gamefreak giving Crawdaunt Dragon Dance (Serebii edit: a common eastern name for a lobster is a dragon shrimp). Anywho, Dragon Dance is very useful in the fact that it neutralizes Crawdaunt's horrible speed and gives it a chance to redeem itself. The Attack boost is nice to have too. Waterfall is both powerful and accurate, and gets the boost from Adaptability, making for a reliable STAB move. Crunch also benefits from Adaptability, and rounds off Crawdaunt's coverage other than on certain combinations of types. Superpower hits Steel types for very high damage, and ensures that things like Ferroseed don't end up walling Crawdaunt. Substitute is another option, as it prevents Crawdaunt from being statused, allowing it to be able to set up better. The option between items is the same as it usually is, whether or not you want more power or better survivability.

The Call of the Harvest

-Waterfall
-Crunch
-Superpower
-Rock Slide / Double Edge / Endeavor / Toxic / Rest
Item Attached: Choice Band / Choice Scarf
Ability: Adaptability
EVs and Nature:
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature (+Spe, -Atk)

This set is for when you either just want to straight up smash through things, or hope that Crawdaunt outrunning things will surprise people. Waterfall and Crunch are both powerful STAB that have nearly perfect coverage, with Superpower rounding off said coverage nicely. The last slot is purely preference. Rock Slide and Double Edge both give neutral coverage that could be used to hit certain pokemon harder. Endeavor could be used on the Scarf set for when Crawdaunt is low on HP, putting a very large dent in whatever the opponent thinks can beat Crawdaunt. Toxic is Crawdaunt's best option to beat Poliwrath, as nothing else Crawdaunt has does that much to it. Rest is for eliminating status and healing Crawdaunt, though you'll probably want Heal Bell / Aromatherapy support because it's doubtful Crawdaunt could survive long enough to wake up. As said earlier, the option for items depends on what you want / need Crawdaunt to do.

Other Options

Body Slam, Brick Break, Crabhammer, Hone Claws, Night Slash, Payback, Swords Dance, Taunt
Body Slam can be used as neutral covergae and if you're hoping to paralyze something with it.
Brick Break can be used to avoid the Attack and Defense drops of Superpower, though the difference in strength could have repurcussions.
Crabhammer can be used instead of Waterfall, though the slight power gain isn't worth the loss in accuracy
Hone Claws can be used if you desperately want to use Crabhammer, otherwise use Dragon Dance.
Night Slash can be used over Crunch if you want to be able to crit more often.
Payback is decent on Crawdaunt if you're expecting to go second (which with Crawdaunt is likely)
Swords Dance can be used over Dragon Dance for more power more quickly, but the loss of the speed boost can hurt.
Taunt can be used on the Scarf set to shut down walls and set up pokemon, and possibly force a switch out.

Double & Triple Battle Options

Crawdaunt is relatively viable in D&T battles, especially as a Trick Room sweeper. It would run Protect over Dragon Dance, and have 0 speed IVs.

Partners

Good partners for Crawdaunt is anything that can dismantle faster pokemon and Poliwrath. Sceptile is a very good partner for Crawdaunt as it is faster and deals with threats from the special side.

Countering Crawdaunt

In RU, the safest Pokemon against Crawdaunt are probably Poliwrath and Ferroseed, though Ferroseed has to be wary of Superpower. These two both have the advantage of resisting both of Crawdaunt's STAB moves, helping to nullify Adaptability a little bit. Poliwrath even gets Water Absorb, which is an enormous benefit especially when switching in. Tangrowth is also a good option, thanks to Regenerator and Giga Drain, the latter of which would either cripple or even OHKO the lobster. The main counter to Crawdaunt though is to not let it or it's teammates set up. Without the Speed boosts, Crawdaunt is left to be outsped by most of the tier anyhow. Another good counter is Durant, who at max speed with a boosting nature outruns +1 Crawdaunt. Same with Cincinno, Galvantula, Sceptile, Scolipede, and Whimsicott. Sceptile is especially common in RU, and being countered by RU's #1 most used pokemon doesn't help Crawdaunt out any.

Locations in Games

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Evolve Corphish .

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Colosseum/XD:
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Celestic Town

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Trade from Diamond/Pearl/Platinum

Black/White:
Evolve Corphish (White)
Trade from White (Black)

Black 2/White 2:
Route 3, Striaton City

Animé Appearences

Crawdaunt has made a few appearances. Mostly notably, it was used by Team Aqua in their attempts to control Kyogre and Hoenn # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 293 Stairway to Devon! Devon Corporation! Shadow of Team Aqua! Pics 294 On a Wingull and a Prayer! Old Man Briney and Peeko The Wingull! Pics 330 Fight for the Meteorite! Once Again, Team Magma Vs. Team Aqua! Mt. Chimney Battle! Pics 359 Unfair Weather Friends Castform & The Weather Institute! Pics 373 Gaining Groudon Groudon VS Kyogre! (Part One) Pics 399 Deceit And Assist! Fierce Fighting! Grand Festival! (2)! Pics 429 On Olden Pond! Dragonair's Lake! Pics 501 All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go! It's Love! Pokémon Transformation Convention!! Pics 546 Pruning a Passel of Pals! Fierce Battles! Everyone's Respective Rival! Pics 547 Strategy With a Smile! Decisive Match! Dawn VS May! Pics 557 Up Close and Personable Research Release - "The Legend of the Lake"! Pics 563 Battling the Generation Gap Pokémon Contest! The Celestic Convention! Pics 606 Strategy Begins At Home Dawn VS Mom! Showdown Between Parent & Child!! Pics 902 The Legend of the Ninja Hero! Welcome to the Ninja Village! The Legend of the Hero Greninja!! Pics 1066 A Fiery Training Camp Trick! Master the Z-Move! Kiawe's Fierce Boot Camp!! Pics 1177 Looking Out for Number Two! Trial Mission! The Deep Sea Diver Research Team!! Pics