Base Stats: 75 HP / 125 Atk / 80 Def / 60 SpA / 100 SpD / 85 Spe (525 Total)
Abilities: Flash Fire | Weak Armor
Type: Fire / Ghost
Notable Moves:
- Shadow Claw
- Flame Charge
- Will-O-Wisp
- Swords Dance
- Bitter Blade
- Psycho Cut
- Tera Blast
- Substitute
- Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Bulk Up
- Taunt
- Phantom Force
- Destiny Bond
- Shadow Sneak
Pros:
- Ceruledge’s solid base 125 attack in conjunction with Swords Dance and Bulk Up make it a very strong attacker.
- Fire / Ghost STABs with Close Combat as coverage has no resistances in the entire Pokédex.
- Bitter Blade is a reliable, drawback-free STAB that also heals the user.
- 85 base speed is decent and enables Ceruledge to serve as a reasonably fast wallbreaker or a Choice Scarf user.
- Access to moves such as Taunt and Will-O-Wisp alongside the healing from Bitter Blade allow for some defensive utility.
- Flash Fire is a free immunity that boosts its STAB.
- Weak Armor is potentially usable since +2 Speed is very nice in the late game.
- Shadow Sneak can become very threatening in the late game after a Swords Da
Cons:
- Fire/Ghost is a mixed bag defensively, with many common weaknesses.
- Base 85 speed is not exceptional and other powerful threats will easily outrun it.
- Ceruledge doesn’t have very good physical bulk and its special bulk is merely decent.
- Its only options for physical Ghost moves are Shadow Claw and Phantom Force, or potentially Ghost Tera Blast. They are weak, require a turn to charge, and require Terastallizing, respectively.
- Bulk Up isn’t easy to use due to Ceruledge’s mediocre defensive typing and lack of reliable recovery.
-They didn’t give it Cutter. Why didn’t they give it Cutter?
Terastallize Potential:
- A Ghost Tera type enables Ceruledge to hit very hard with the otherwise weak Shadow Claw or make good use of Tera Blast while becoming neutral to Stealth Rock.
- A Fighting Tera type enables it to switch into Dark and Rock types and resist Stealth Rock.
- A Dark Tera type can be used to beat the plethora of powerful Ghost and Dark types in the new meta.
- A Steel Tera type provides many useful resistances and has good synergy with Flash Fire.
Potential Sets:
Swords Dance
Ceruledge @ Life Orb / Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw / Shadow Sneak
- Bitter Blade / Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
This set is designed to overwhelm opponents with boosted attacks, making its already-great coverage increasingly difficult to switch into. Shadow Claw is better for wallbreaking while Shadow Sneak helps clean in the late game. Bitter Blade vs Flare Blitz is a choice of no drawbacks and some healing vs extra power and recoil damage.
Choice Band
Ceruledge @ Choice Band
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Bitter Blade / Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Shadow Sneak
This set gives Ceruledge excellent immediate power. Opponents will have to play around it carefully as it has the necessary coverage and power to 2HKO nearly any Pokémon on the switch.
Choice Scarf
Ceruledge @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ghost
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Shadow Claw
- Bitter Blade / Flare Blitz
- Close Combat
- Flare Blitz / Destiny Bond
Choice Scarf Ceruledge is fast enough to outrun positive speed nature Pokemon whose base speed is in the 140s and can pick off weakened targets without trouble or clean in the late game. Any two of the three of Bitter Blade, Flare Blitz, and Destiny Bond are good options on the set. Destiny Bond in particular is convenient panic button against opponents.
Substitute Set-Up
Ceruledge @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting / Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Substitute
- Bulk Up / Swords Dance
- Shadow Claw / Phantom Force / Shadow Sneak
- Close Combat / Bitter Blade
This set invests in bulk to help keep its Substitute intact while it sets up with Bulk Up or Swords Dance. These EVs are highly customizable and not yet optimized; better speed tiers and defensive benchmarks will be discovered as the meta progresses.
Stallbreaker
Ceruledge @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Leftovers
Ability: Flash Fire
Tera Type: Ghost / Fighting / Dark
EVs: 252 HP / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Taunt
- Bulk Up / Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Claw / Phantom Force
- Bitter Blade
Taunt + Bulk Up or Will-O-Wisp enables Ceruledge to heavily pressure bulky teams. Bulky Steel and Fairy types in particular are easy to switch in against, providing an opportunity to regain HP with Bitter Blade.
Other Options:
- Tera Blast becomes Ceruledge’s best Ghost STAB if it activates its Ghost Tera type. But Tera Blast is a wasted move slot if it does not do so.
-A Normal Tera type helps Ceruledge avoid being revenge killed by other Ghost types.
- Flame Charge can be used alongside Swords Dance or Bulk Up as a pseudo double dance set.
- Weak Armor can be used to attempt a sweep.
Overall:
This second Fire/Ghost of Paldea has plenty of potential. With access to boosting moves, good attack and decent speed, and unresisted coverage, Ceruledge is a potential threat to every team. It can even use bulkier sets to harass stall. However, Ceruledge is not without its drawbacks. Its power isn’t exceptional and many other strong attackers easily outspeed it, which is made worse by their ability to easily KO it. Ceruledge is also held back by the low base power of its Ghost STAB options and by not getting Cutter. Curse you Gamefreak.
In the short term it will have to compete with yet-to-be-banned threats with even more power and much better speed so its capabilities may not be immediately apparent. I think it will eventually find a consistent home in a tier lower than OU but it will certainly still be usable there. For now I expect it to be decent.
What do you think about Ceruledge? Have you enjoyed using it or found success with it? Should its cry have been changed to a neckbeard voice saying “Heh, nothing personnel, kid…”? Share your thoughts below.
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