Cacturne/ Shiftry...?

[Gloom Guy]

What are some standard movesets for these pokemon?
I was thinking of using...

Cacturne:
Needle Arm/ Giga Drain (Doesn't seem to have the speed to utilize Needle Arm's flinching advantage)
Teeter Dance
Faint Attack (?)
???

[Nathan]

I know spikes is pretty common on cacturne.... So is sandstorm. I've never used him for anything but spikes actually. I know a standard on Shiftry is explosion. I wish I could help more!

[Gloom Guy]

Thanks for the help you could give...
Any other suggestions anyone?

How about this...?

Needle Arm/ Giga Drain
Sandstorm
Teeter Dance
???

[Dark Sage]

Both pokemon have strengths - Shiftry has Faint Attack (an okay Dark attack) and Extrasensory (a great Psychic attack), Nature Power (useful best on grass, beaches, and buildings, where it becomes Stun Spore, Earthquake, and Swift, respectively) and you can teach it some useful TMs, like Double-Team.

Cacturn has a lot of good moves too, like Ingrain (instant Leftovers), Leech Seed, Spikes (useful in trainer fights), and Sandstorm.

Oh course, there's no reason you can't raise both...

- Venusaur

[Cytrus]

i think there is, they have the same weakness, but hey you don't have to use both in battle

[Gloom Guy]

I'm probably gonna go w/ Cacturne...
I wasn't sure which one I wanted to raise.

Okay, so far I have:

Needle Arm/ Giga Drain
Teeter Dance
Sandstorm
Spikes/ Counter/ Faint Attack

[ramonerockn]

cacturne
-sandstorm
-spikes
-teeter dance
-toxic/giga drain

[Dr Crocodile]

Do you need a Spiker? Do you have other members on your team that are immune to Sandstorm and resistant to some of Cacturnes weakness? If you answered yes then Cacturne should be fine. If you answered no to either question then get a Shiftry.

[Gligar_Man]

so youve got your heart set on a grass/dark for some reason? well, let me thoroughly go through the advantages of each, ... and cacturne makes a horrible spiker, it is much more of an offensive pokemon, like octillery but with worse defenses and much more weaknesses... shiftry shiftry shiftry... only good move it gets through breeding is leech seed, seedot+nuzleaf give it nothing too credible besides explosion wich is very useful on something of a grass/darks options leave, besides swagger and torment, i may reccomend torment for it is very useful in these sort of situations, obviously you can see the advantages to this... but shiftry, early bird early bird early bird... sleeps for one turn... i would reccomend something along the lines of leech sead, explosion/rest, faint attack, giga drain, lets face it hes not exactly a defensive powerhouse either at 219, but has good life and good attax, so id reccomend this set... explosions lethal no matter who does it and maybe he could seed a situation then explode or rest whatever, sux he has to be so defensively weak, now to cacturne, same defensively weak, but offensively stronger, less life, much slower... being shiftry isnt that lsow at all it has very uch average seed for an attacking cacturne set, i would reccomend teeter dance/counter, giga drain, faint attack, leech seed/protect/toxic/filler... both have there advantages personally, i prefer shiftry both are defensively weak but i like them to explode, lol and shiftry is faster and has a bit more staying power, if you can pull off an early bird rest id reccomend it, but splosion is always just as good... cacturne has both attax at 329 maxed but 219 defenses, either way id reccomend giving these guys a boosted defensive nature... either defense, lol, but cacturne having counter isnt such a bad thing,

[Gloom Guy]

Wow, thanks!!
I need a grass/ dark because I'm making an all Grass team... I've been increasingly obsessive w/ grass pokemon lately. I tried to make an all grass team way back when, but the selction just wasn't as good. Now I've got pokemon like Cradily, Ludicolo, & Tropius. So I'm really excited.
Thanks everybody!!

[123LTJ]

Who else is on your all grass team? I've been looking to make some all-one-type teams ( I did a water one back in Crystal ), and I wanted to see what others were doing. I was thinking Cacturne, Breloom, Tropius, Cradily, Ludicolo, and I wasn't sure about the 6th.

[Dark Sage]

Shiftry is vulnerable to Fighting, but its fast, and can cream a Fighter with Extrasensory if it is high enough level.

Another Grass? Well, lets see; if you don't have a Sceptile, all have been covered (Breloom is pretty good). You might add a Bellossom to it as the sixth.

When the unobtainables become obtainable, there are some good ones, and not just Bulbasaur and Chikorita: Sunflora, Tangela, and Execuggtor are good; and of course, there's Celebi.

- Venusaur

[soggy_cardboard]

annoyer:
w/lefties
-ingrain
-leechseed
-sandstorm
-some kind of attack

[Gligar_Man]

*does not endorse ingrain on anything with as many weaknesses as dark/grass*

its like asking to die, and extracensory wont let oyu cream a fighting unless you get them on the switch and are lucky... i wouldnt even try and counter a crick break wich is floating around way more commonly than any fighters

[Dr Crocodile]

Best Shiftry set in my opinion is

Shiftry@Silk Scarf or Twisted Spoon or whatever
Ability: Chlryophyll

-Sunny Day
-Solar Beam
-Faint Attack or Extrasensory
-Explosion

[Gloom Guy]

My grass team was gonna be the following... (I'm going to do them in twos because when I'm done this team will be able to work in single battles & double battles)

-Vileplume (Giga Drain, Attract, Stun Spore/ Arometherapy, Return/ Sludge Bomb)

-Tropius (Sunny Day, Synthesis, Solar Beam, Aerial Ace/ Return/ ?)

[This Sunny Day weather set above will work well together since they will both get the speed boost w/ their clorophyll ability from Sunny Day & Tropius will take greater healing from synthesis & faster shots with Solar Beam]

-Cacturne (Giga Drain/ Needle Arm, Teeter Dance, Sandstorm, Faint Attack/ ?)

-Cradily (Giga Drain, Confuse Ray, Ancient Power/ Rock Slide, Recover/ ?)

[This Sandstorm pair is great because Sandstorm raises Cacturne's evasion & Cradily is immune to it & can't be roared or whirlwinded away to bring out a pokemon that will be hurt by sandstorm]

-Ludicolo (Giga Drain, Rain Dance, Surf/ Water Pulse/ Waterfall/ Dive, ?)

-Breloom (Spore, Counter, Brick Break, Giga Drain -- or something like that...)

[Ludicolo recovers w/ rain dance, its speed doubles, & its water move power doubles, also Breloom benefits because Fire moves become halved]

[Gligar_Man]

ludicolos speed doubles or it recieves hp every turn, rain dish or swift swim, you chose... i reccomend rain dish... but it doesnt get both advantages

[Gloom Guy]

What do you mean? All pokemon w/ two abilities don't get both? You have to pick? How/ When do you do that? Is it only during 2vs2 battles?

[MadmanMike620]

Each pokemon has an ability and a nature.
Ability=Rain Dish and Swift Swim. You can only choose one. Well for you Ludicolo of course.

[Gloom Guy]

So it's random like the pokemon's nature?

[Gligar_Man]

yes its random, hey, at least you learned something today

[Gloom Guy]

Wow, good point, but that's depressing... Well, I guess it doesn't make Ludicolo worse or anything... but which ability would be better by one my team?

[Gligar_Man]

rain dish is usually a better choice on ludicolo

[Mr.E]

Rain Dish is overrated. Any single hit the double speed boost protects you from automatically makes it better in most cases.

[Gloom Guy]

Okay, now I'm torn. How's the rest of the team for an all grass?

[Ultimate Pikachu]

Cacturne is very slow. A very anoying set is:
Cacturne
@Leftovers
abilityand Veil
Ingrain
Sandstorm/Spikes
Leech Seed
Giga Drain

A lot of recovery. The downside is only attacking move is Giga Drain. But recovery is huge! Leftovers+Ingrain+Leech Seed+Giga Drain is crazy! I would recommend Shiftry because it has more hp. Stop calling it life. You could put amnesia (egg) to help Special Defense and give a +Defense Nature, but defenses will still suck.