Tragosso Movesets & Wettbewerbs-Sets

Moves Bonemerang is Cubone's STAB move of choice, breaking Focus Sash, Substitute, and besting Sturdy + Berry Juice users. Also, because of the damage rolls in Little Cup, it hits harder than Earthquake. For example, a Cubone using Earthquake might deal 16 damage 50% of the time and 18 damage the other 50% of the time, whereas Bonemerang will deal consistent damage of 9, meaning you'll be getting 18 damage most of the time, unlike with Earthquake. Knock Off rids Cubone's checks and counters of their Eviolites, so they will have a harder time switching in a second time. Rock Slide keeps Flying-types such as Fletchling, Archen, and Vullaby in check, although Thunder Punch also does this. Both of these moves have their own benefits; for instance, Rock Slide can OHKO Larvesta, while Thunder Punch can OHKO Mantyke. Fire Punch is used to hit Grass-types such as Cottonee, Chespin, and Ferroseed. Set Details The EV spread listed gives Cubone as high Attack as it can possibly have, hitting 28 Attack while holding Thick Club. The Defense EVs allow Cubone to take less damage from Fletchling's Acrobatics, so that Cubone can land a Thunder Punch or Rock Slide more consistently. The Speed EVs leave Cubone with 14 Speed, which means that while Sticky Web is active, Cubone will be able to outspeed the whole unboosted metagame. Cubone can also be used on Trick Room teams with a spread of 116 HP / 196 Atk / 76 Def / 116 SpD, a Brave nature, and 0 Speed IVs. With this spread, Cubone can switch into attacks more often. Usage Tips Cubone should avoid being hit by Knock Off, as it will instantly lose half of its sheer power. After Sticky Web is active, Cubone can be switched in on resisted hits or attacks it's immune to and begin to sweep. The big difference for teams using Cubone in Trick Room is that Cubone has limited turns to sweep; however, because it's bulkier, it's able to take strong attacks such as Abra's Psychic, Chinchou's Scald, Bunnelby's Return, and Corphish's Life Orb-boosted Aqua Jet. Due to this, Cubone is able to switch into most non-resisted hits and begin its sweep. Even without support from Sticky Web, Baton Pass, or Trick Room, it can often only switch into slow walls, but Cubone's power can force the opponent to switch out, allowing you to weaken their team. Team Options Either Surskit or Spinarak would be the first partners to look at, as they're the best Sticky Web users in the metagame. Croagunk is able to beat Corphish and Carvanha, which threaten Cubone with Aqua Jet, making it a solid partner. Drilbur and Psychic-types such as Abra and Gothita can KO Koffing, which also poses a threat for Cubone. Baton Passers such as Torchic may be used as partners to pass Speed boosts to Cubone. Pokemon that spread paralysis around the opposing team, such as Cottonee and Porygon, allow Cubone to outspeed the opposing team later on. For Trick Room, bulky Trick Room users such as Porygon and Spritzee make for good partners, as they don't share a weakness with Cubone.

Baton Pass receiving is Cubone's trademark talent, and there is a reason behind this. 30 Attack gives Cubone a chance to sweep, and its only problem is a lack of Speed; however, using the utility of Baton Pass, Cubone's objective becomes a lot easier. With an Agility or Rock Polish boost, Cubone will outspeed and defeat many common threats that would normally defeat it, such as Staryu and Choice Scarf Snover. Cubone's great bulk means it can receive boosts very well from common Baton Pass users such as Deerling and Venonat, both of which have good synergy with it. The aforementioned Pokemon also have unique traits which make them great for passing to Cubone, namely Sap Sipper and Sleep Powder, respectively. While Cubone's Attack is already very high, Swords Dance makes Cubone's life much easier. The best strategy is to pass to Cubone while facing a Pokemon which is easily scared by it. Fire- and Rock-type Pokemon are great examples, because it is almost guaranteed that they will switch to an opponent ready to take Earthquake, such as Gastly. Cubone can then use Swords Dance and sweep. With such high Attack and perfect coverage, nothing is stopping Cubone any time soon once it sets up. Earthquake is the crux of Cubone's sweep. Any Pokemon that is hit at least neutrally with Earthquake will probably die, and its coverage with Fire Punch is excellent, hitting all but Mantyke, Ducklett, and Wingull for neutral damage. Swords Dance comes into play to raise Cubone's Attack to high levels, which can go up to 60 after one use. Double-Edge is considered a filler, but it is the best filler Cubone can possibly have as it completes the coverage chart and does good damage to physically defensive Pokemon. Buizel, Deerling, and Venonat are all excellent choices for Baton Pass users. Buizel can pass Agility and Bulk Up to Cubone, aiding it in Attack and Speed, which are both necessary to sweep, as well as giving it a nice boost in Defense. While they share a Grass-type weakness, Buizel can Baton Pass to Cubone to avoid Electric-type attacks, and people won't aim Water- or Ice-type attacks at Buizel, so Cubone won't come in being hit by a super effective attack other than Grass-type moves. An option to avoid Grass-type attacks is to pass to Deerling. Deerling's unique ability, Sap Sipper, will generate an Attack boost when hit by Grass-type moves, and this boost can be passed to Cubone. Deerling can also pass Work Up, Swords Dance, and Agility to Cubone to aid a mixed or physical sweep, and it can set up Light Screen to make Cubone very sturdy. Venonat can come in on a Grass-type move and use Agility on the switch. Then, it can move first and put the opponent to sleep using Sleep Powder, and Baton Pass to Cubone or another Pokemon to create a chain that will end up with Cubone. Lastly, Thunder Punch can be used in the last slot if desired. It has the same minimum damage as Earthquake against Slowpoke, but its range is bigger than Earthquake's, meaning it can do more damage with a bit of luck.

This set is probably the most effective that Cubone can run, and is great if all you need is a physically bulky heavy-hitter on your team. With Cubone's massive Attack and reasonable defense, it can play like a standard bulky Choice Band user, except it gets the freedom to change attacks; all thanks to Thick Club, which doubles its Attack. Earthquake is obvious, being Cubone's basic STAB move; it will most likely OHKO anything that is not resistant or immune to it. Double-Edge is effective at hitting almost everything that Earthquake doesn't, barring Ghost-types with Levitate (and Drifloon). Pokemon that are immune to both Double-Edge and Earthquake are hit hard by Fire Punch. For example, here are some damage calculations: Cubone Fire Punch vs. 116 HP Gastly: 85.7% - 104.8% (40% chance of OHKO) Cubone Fire Punch vs. 196 HP / 36 Def Impish Duskull: 47.6% - 57.1% (3HKO through Oran, possible 2HKO if it gets a minimum damage roll followed by a maximum one) Cubone Fire Punch vs. 196 HP / 4 Def Drifloon: 60.7% - 71.4% (guaranteed 2HKO) Cubone Fire Punch vs. Max HP/ Max Def Impish Levitate Bronzor: 72% - 88% (2HKO through Oran) In addition, Fire Punch serves as Cubone's weapon-of-choice against Grass-type Pokemon and Bronzor. Substitute can help ease prediction somewhat, as Cubone's immense power tends to cause switches. Alternatively, Ice Beam can be used over Substitute for a more powerful hit against Gligar; just remember to transfer the 36 EVs from Special Defense to Special Attack; with 36 Special Attack EVs, Gligar is OHKOed by Ice Beam 77% of the time, and is OHKOed 100% with Stealth Rock in play. Being the slow, bulky sweeper that it is, Cubone absolutely loves Trick Room support. Gastly, Porygon, and Slowpoke are all effective at setting up Trick Room, which in turn allows Cubone to take advantage of his horrible Speed stat. Slowpoke is a notable Trick Room supporter because it can take any Water-type attack aimed at Cubone, while Cubone can come in on any Electric-type attack. Unfortunately, both Pokemon share a weakness to Grass, so it's good to have a Trick Room Bronzor waiting in the wings to sponge Grass-type hits.

This set focuses on Cubone's talent for sweeping after being Baton Passed Speed boosts. Swords Dance's purpose is obvious; after a Swords Dance, the attacks listed can OHKO almost any Pokemon in Little Cup. Just one Swords Dance gives Cubone a massive Attack stat of 56 or 60 (depending on Cubone's nature). Substitute, on the other hand, allows Cubone to take advantage of its ability to cause switches. Even without a Swords Dance boost, Cubone is still incredibly dangerous, and Substitute just compounds that by giving protection against revenge killers and as well as easing prediction. Substitute is the option for the cautious player; it might not seal the game, but it will help increase Cubone's survivability on the field. Swords Dance can effectively bring you automatic victory if it gets set up once certain Scarfers are taken out, but Cubone's relatively poor Special Defense means that an incorrect prediction could be spell instantaneous doom for Cubone. Choosing Cubone's nature is a matter of personal preference. Jolly is preferred here, as 14 Speed allows Cubone to outpace all non-Choice Scarfed Pokemon after a +1 Speed boost, while +2 Speed gives it enough Speed to outpace all Choice Scarfed Pokemon, except Voltorb, Elekid, and Diglett. An Adamant nature, however, is still a good option if you're likely to be able to take out faster scarfers before the pass, or if you need that little extra brute force. Aipom, Gligar, and Venonat all work well with this set. They can effectively pass an Agility or two to Cubone, giving it enough Speed to outpace all non-Choice Scarfed Pokemon, as well as many Scarfed Pokemon. Aipom and Venonat work the best out of the three, as they don't share any common weaknesses with Cubone, so there is less of a risk involved when it's time to pass.

Cubone looks useless on paper with its absolutely awful stats, but it has a solid niche thanks to Thick Club doubling its Attack. As a result, Cubone is arguably the best and most dangerous recipient of Baton Passed Agility boosts, capable of OHKOing almost everything in the metagame after it uses Swords Dance. By receiving an Agility boost from Ledian, Farfetch'd, or the less common Ariados, Cubone can very easily end games when it gains +2 Attack and +2 Speed. It also has decent physical bulk, giving it a few opportunities to set up against strong physical attackers like Stantler as well as letting it avoid having its Substitute broken by any resisted Rock- and Poison-type attacks and notably giving it a 49% chance to survive Pineco's Explosion. Cubone is next to worthless outside of its incredible Attack, though, being very slow while also having poor longevity because it is frail and can't hold Leftovers. In addition, its +2 Earthquake fails to OHKO certain Water-types like Azumarill, Kingler, and Dewgong, and other bulky Pokemon like Wigglytuff also have a chance of surviving. Earthquake is Cubone's best STAB attack and threatens to OHKO the numerous Poison-, Rock-, and Fire-types in GSC NU. Rock Slide is also mandatory to hit Flying-types like Xatu and Fearow as well as other threats like Pineco. Swords Dance rapidly boosts Cubone's Attack, turning it into a near unwallable threat at +2. It should be noted that due to how overflow mechanics work in GSC, Cubone should never use Swords Dance more than once, as its Attack stat will overflow and it will do very little damage. Substitute is generally preferred for Cubone's last move, as it lets it dodge status moves such as Gloom's Stun Spore and avoid taking heavy damage from Explosion. Hidden Power Bug is also an option to hit Grass-types such as Exeggcute, Bayleef, and Tangela, but these Pokemon are uncommon in GSC NU, leaving Substitute as the preferred option. Cubone should virtually only be used on Agility + Baton Pass teams, as it is incredibly slow, quite frail, and outclassed by other Pokemon that exploit paralysis like Kingler. Pokemon that can pass Agility are close to mandatory partners for Cubone, and the traditional choices for this role are Farfetch'd and Ledian. Farfetch'd can notably save Cubone a turn, as it can pass Swords Dance to Cubone itself, while Ledian can also pass Barrier or set up Light Screen to help Cubone set up. Ariados is another less common Baton Pass user that can also trap a foe with Spider Web. It is worth noting that Dugtrio is the only Pokemon in GSC NU able to outspeed Cubone at +2 Speed, though it is only capable of 3HKOing it. Spikes support from Pineco is another way of supporting Cubone, as the chip damage notably gives it a chance to OHKO Azumarill and almost guarantees an OHKO on Dewgong, Lickitung, and Dunsparce.