Toedscruel, the Woodear Pokémon. These Pokémon gather into groups and form colonies deep within forests. They absolutely hate it when strangers approach. It coils its 10 tentacles around prey and sucks out their nutrients, causing the prey pain. The folds along the rim of its head are a popular delicacy.

Overview

Toedscruel is one of the most fascinating Pokémon introduced in the 9th generation. Not only is it the odd numbered Generation’s mushroom Pokémon it is a case of convergent evolution where two species with no relation to each other develop incredibly similar traits; in this case, Toedscruel and Tentacruel. And Toedscruel backs this up with a bevy of fascinating traits. Base 100 Speed is quite potent, making Toedscruel the fastest mushroom Pokémon and backing that up with a potent Special Grass and Ground moves which hit the many Rock, Ground, Water and Steel types weak to them on their generally weaker Special Defense. And Toedscruel’s support movepool is not lacking either. In addition to the game warping Spore, Toedscruel has access to Rapid Spin, Spikes, Knock Off, the rare non Poison type getting Toxic, and Leech Seed giving Toedscruel a veritable kitchen sink to throw and disrupt the opposing team with.

Sadly, awkward describes Toedscruel as much as fascinating. Grass Ground has amazing STAB coverage, but with lacking resistances, being a Grass type that doesn’t resist Water and is super weak to Ice Coverage and being a Ground type weak to Fire can make it difficult for Toedscruel to check what should be its favored targets. Grass Ground STABs being mutually resisted by 3 Mono types in Flying, Bug, and Grass further worsens Toedscruel’s offensive profile on top of its middling Base 80 Special Attack. And Gamefreak, fearing the power of a Base 100 Speed Spore user, saddled Toedscruel with an incredible nerf of an ability in Mycelium Might, ensuring that Toedscruel can use its good speed in support, leaving Toedscruel’s weakness laden typing and poor Defense easy for opponents to exploit. As a result, Toedscruel has stiff competition in Amoongus, who is as effectively as slow as Toedscruel using status moves, but actually has the bulk to tank attacks and can’t be Poisoned. Toesdcruel has an incredible movepool and traits that should enable it to see play, but its lodestone of an ability prevents this mushroom from spreading.
Positives
Base 100 Speed is the gold standard, tying with many popular offensive Pokémon and outspeeding nearly every defensive one.
Special Grass and Ground offense is fantastic hitting many physically defensive Pokémon for Super Effective damage.
Base 120 Special Defense is incredible, ensuring Toedscruel can eat a few special attacks
Fantastic Support movepool with Spikes, Rapid Spin, Toxic, Knock Off, Leech Seed and more all available.
Spore is a fantastic move for any Pokémon to have

Negatives
Grass Ground is awkward typing offensively being joint resisted by Bug, Flying and Grass
Grass Ground fares no better defensively having a cripplingly common Ice and Fire weaknesses while lacking a resistance to the Water types Toedscruel is expected to check.
Poor 65 Defense is an easy weak point to exploit.
Mycelium Might ruins Toedscruel, forcing it to throw away its great Speed whenever it wants to use a support move and leaving its noticeable achilles heels easy to exploit.

Movesets

Fungal Infection

-Spore
-Spikes
-Rapid Spin
-Earth Power
Ability: Mycelium Might
Item: Heavy Duty Boots
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 4 Def /252 SDef
Calm Nature

Support Toedscruel leverages its fantastic movepool to control the field on more Balanced teams. Spore is a great setup tool, not only for Toedscruel, but its teammates, enabling Toedscruel to easily setup multiple layers of Spikes or get a sweeper in safely to setup thanks to the slow Sleep guaranteeing a lost turn. Toedscruel is one of the fastest entry hazard removers available and unlike Maushold actually has some defensive utility, making it easy for Toedscruel to come in and wipe away hazards multiple times. Earth Power rounds out the set, giving Toedscruel some teeth and preventing Spin blockers like Skeledirge and Gholdengo from pivoting in safely as well as opposing hazard setters like Garganacle, Iron Treads, Glimmora and Toxapex.

Tera Types:
While not as flashy as an offensive Terastalization user, Toedscruel still has a few good options in a pinch. Tera Fire wipes away many of Toedscruel’s common weaknesses, turning them into resistances. Conversely, Tera Ghost is useful if Toedscruel wants to perform some Rapid Spin blocking of its own, keeping Spikes up and getting an opportunity to Spore the wannabe Spinner.

EVs and Items:
Max HP and Special Defense to turn Toedscruel into a dedicated Sponge, able to eat many opposing Special Attacks, though Speed and Special Attack investment are viable as well, enabling Toedscruel to threaten many would be checks otherwise and would have Toedscruel fit on more offensive teams. 128 Speed with Timid Nature is the minimum needed to Guarantee outrunning max speed Gholdengo. Heavy Duty Boots is preferred, ensuring Toedscruel can repeatedly pivot in and remove hazards. If not running Rapid Spin, Leftovers is preferred for greater longevity. If planning on using Toedscruel as a suicide lead, go Max Speed and Special Attack with a Focus Sash to help ensure a Spore and as many layers of Spikes as Toedscruel can manage.

Partners:
Dondozo and Skeledirge make for excellent partners for Toedscruel, being physical walls to Toedscruel’s Special and resisting the Fire and Ice attacks that plague it so forming part of a Water-Grass or Fire-Grass core. They in turn enjoy the Sleep for getting them in safely to setup with Skeledirge enjoying both Spore and Toxic for Hex abuse. Rain teams in general use Toedscruel in a similar role to Ferrothorn in previous generations, as a Grass type hazard controller, enabling Rain's powerful sweepers to easily reach KOs while answering opposing Water types that Rain teams may otherwise struggle with. Setup Sweepers in general love Toedscruel. The slow Spore and Spikes are incredible tools for a guaranteed safe switch while Spikes helps close out damage thresholds that can mean the difference between a successful sweep and a failed one.

Other Options:
Knock Off -used more for utility, but has incredible synergy. Toedscruel’s Spikes often draw in Defoggers and Rapid Spinners, so depriving them of their Heavy Duty Boots can cripple their bulk for the rest of the match.
Giga Drain -helps keep Toedscruel around for longer enabling multiple layers of Spikes and spins while hitting Water types and Grout Tusk hard.
Leech Seed -adds in chip damage stacking with Spikes and helping Toedscruel teammates recover from damage accrued on a switch or setting up, but like Spore is blocked by opposing Grass types.
Toxic -one of the few non Poison types that gets it, is another source of chip damage and punishes setup Sweepers who don’t respect Toedscruel enough.
Sludge Bomb -punishes Grass types that think they can wall Toedscruel’s STABs and Spore.

Massive Mushroom

-Growth
-Earth Power
-Leaf Storm
-Rapid Spin
Ability: Mycelium Might
Item: Life Orb
EVs and Nature:
4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Offensive Toedscruel finds itself on more offensive teams leveraging its good speed and the fantastic quality of its STABs to deal damage to the opposing team. Growth is vital for this set, boosting Toedscruel’s offense to appreciable levels against more neutral targets. Earth Power and Leaf Storm are STABs, offering invaluable Special coverage against the many Fire, Steel, Rock, Ground and Water types that are popular right now. Rapid Spin rounds out the set giving Toedscruel some utility with clearing hazards and further setup enabling Toedscruel to outspeed would be checks.

Tera Types:
Tera Fire is highly recommended here, not only for its defensive merits but also for giving Toedscruel a valuable STAB that helps it melt Orthworm and Corviknight, two Pokémon that otherwise complete wall Toedscruel. Tera Fire also synergizes well with the Sun, not only protecting Toedscruel from the boosted Fire attacks but also bolstering its new Fire STAB as well.

EVs and Items:
Max Speed and Special Attack. Toedscruel needs as much speed and power as it can to deal appreciable damage. Life Orb is preferred for extra power given Toedscruel’s otherwise middling Special Attack, though Expert Belt can work in a pinch.

Partners:
Torkoal is king here, not only setting up the Sun that synergizes beautifully with Growth but also forming an amazing Fire-Grass core and being a physically bulky Pokémon to Toedscruel’s special. Rotom Heat also works well with Toedscruel, able to get it in safely with Volt Switch and having STABs that melt the Bug, Grass and Flying types that otherwise give Toedscruel so much trouble while Toedscruel itself checks Rock and to a lesser extent, Water types that give Rotom Heat headaches. Other physically bulky Fire types like Arcanine and Tauros Blaze also provide similar benefits sans the Flying coverage.

Other Options:
Sludge Bomb -punishes Grass types that think they can wall Toedscruel’s STABs and Spore. Spore -if your team already has an excellent spinner, this move is a great fallback option, enabling Toedscruel to accrue multiple Growths without issue. Dazzling Gleam -best coverage against Salamence, Roaring Moon, Hydreigon and Noivern.

Doubles and VGC Options

Toedscruel’s issues with Mycelieum Might and stiff competition leave it struggling to leave an impact in Doubles Formats. Mycelium Might ensures that when going for Spore Toedscruel is effectively slower than Amoongus, giving an opponent ample time to exploit Toedscruel’s weaker Defense and knock it out before the Spore and Rage Powder goes down to a mere +1 Priority leaving Toedscruel ineffectual in stopping Dragonite’s Extreme Speed and other, faster Priority users like Palafin’s Jet Punch and Chien-Pao’s Sucker Punch. And Mycelium Might’s benefit means even less in Doubles were Safety Goggles is far more common, which is something Mycelium Might doesn’t bypass. Toedscruel still has a few unique tricks up its tendrils, however. Trick Room is an amazing piece of support that Amoongus wishes it had. Additionally, that Ground typing and relatively high speed gives Toedscruel an edge against the many Fire and Tera Steel types running around and can catch opponents off guard if they were expecting a Spore.

The Mush Room

-Spore
-Rage Powder
-Earth Power
-Trick Room
Ability: Mycelium Might
Item: Rocky Helmet
Tera Type: Fire
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 196 Def / 60 SDef
Bold Nature

Toedscruel plays a variant of Amoongus’ game plan, offering fantastic disruption and Trick Room setup in a single team slot. While getting Mycelium Might Spore off can be a chore, the effects are amazing once you do. Unlike fast Spores, slow Spores means that your opponent can’t burn a turn of Sleep until the next round, guaranteeing at least one round of no attacks from that slot, and possibly even more. Rage Powder is still potent even at +1 priority thanks to Toedscruel’s above average Speed enabling your Toedscruel’s partner to setup or attack with less risk of disruption. Earth Power is a fantastic STAB option that hits the many Fire types and Kingambit running around, applying pressure where Amoongus normally can’t. Trick Room rounds out the set, punishing most forms of Speed Control as well as a reliable out to opposing Trick Room teams.

Rocky Helmet pairs well with Rage Powder and Toedscruel’s low defense often drawing physical attacks towards itself. Tera Fire because of the many Fire types running around and Iron Bundle kills Tera Water with Freeze Dry regardless.

Partners & Other Options:
Protect -Best attack in doubles. Scout, stall out beneficial conditions, etc. Protect is invaluable for information gathering.
Giga Drain, Grass STAB plus recovery to keep Toedscruel around longer.
Iron Hands loves Toedscruel, benefitting greatly from Trick Room as well as enjoying Toedscruel’s Spore and Rage Powder making it easy to setup. Toedscruel in turn likes Iron Hands for answering opposing Flying types.
Armarouge likes Toedscruel for the synergies with being relatively speedy Trick Room users that function well in and out of it. Armarouge and Toedscruel also form a potent Fire-Grass core, having complimentary typings that cover each other weaknesses, making Rage Powder more potent.
Baxcalibur loves the Rage Powder and Spore support to enable its own setup or to avoid being forced to Protect after using Glaive Rush.

Countering Toedscruel

Ironically, opposing physical Grass types consistently give Toedscruel problems, being immune to Spore and Leech Seed alongside resisting both STABs and only fearing the rare Sludge Bomb and occasional Toxic while their own STABs are neutrally effective. Brambleghast and Decuideye both give extra problems in being neutral to Sludge Bomb and able to Rapid Spin Block Toedscruel quite effectively. Meowscarada and Breloom deal with any attack except Sludge Bomb and can easily 1-2HKO back with Protean U-Turn and Bullet Seed respectively.

Outside of Grass types, it is simply not safe to switch into Toedscruel unless you are running the niche Safety Goggles, as Mycelium Might’s Mold Breaker effect rends Hatterene and Espeon’s Magic Bounce, Gholdengo’s Good as Gold and Garganacl’s Purifying Salt useless, leaving them vulnerable to Spore.

If you can get something in without being Spored the number of Toedscruel’s counters greatly increases, given Toedscruel’s negative priority and crippling achilles heels. Bug and Flying types are especially effective, given the resist Toedscruel’s STABs and threaten with their own Super Effective STABs. Corviknight doesn’t like Knock Off and Spore but otherwise is not bothered by anything else Toedscruel does, can wipe away its Spikes with Defog. Lokix, Salamence, Scizor, Staraptor and Slither Wing all handily deal with most Toedscruel, easily getting the OHKO.

Other Faster attackers can fare well -Cinderace, Weavile, Greninja, etc. all can easily outspeed and OHKO Toedscruel before it can act, though be wary of Rapid Spin pushing Toedscruel ahead of them.Do note that Toedscruel’s Special Defense is quite excellent and most Special Attackers can find themselves missing a OHKO even with Super Effective STAB.

Anime Appearences

Toedscruel has yet to make an appearance in the Pokémon anime # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 31 TBC The Song in the Mist Pics 32 TBC Lapras' Thoughts for its Companions Pics 45 TBC To Places Far Far Away Pics