Pokemon Scarlet and Violet recent update spells doom for Legendary Cresselia

Pokemon Scarlet and Violet has become one of the franchise's most competitive entries yet. With so many great new items and creatures built to compete, the ninth generation has grown to be one of the most interesting from a ranked play standpoint. However, in a similar vein, this has brought some unfortunate changes.

Cresselia is among the most notorious creatures in the franchise's ranked battles. Sporting some of the best defensive stats in the franchise, a Psychic typing, an amazing movepool, and a base stat total of 600, it would not be too farfetched to call Cresselia the face of the metagame's stall strategy.

In the generational shift bringing some minor nerfs that go under the radar for the franchise's casual playerbase, Cresselia was debatably hit the hardest. However, not many trainers seem to be talking about this nerf that hit the ranked scene's most notorious tank. Despite not yet being available in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, some troubling changes to the Legendary Pokemon's stats can still be seen.

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Cresselia in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet: The demise of the Lunar Pokemon

Cresselia as it appears in the anime (Image via The Pokemon Company)

Being a tank in Pokemon's competitive battling scene is more complex than it sounds. Fitting the role of a tank is more than just about having high sustainability. Three stats determine a creature's tanking role: Defense, Special Defense, and HP. Most tanks only specialize in two of these stats, leaving it vulnerable in a few scenarios.

This fundamental flaw is not present with Cresselia. With a base 120 in both Defense and HP and a 130 in Special Defense, Cresselia is more than capable of taking a few hits. Pair this with the creature's access to health-restoring moves like Lunar Blessing, Moonlight, and Rest, and players have an imperious wall. Give Cresselia the move Toxic, and there lies a textbook definition of the competitive scene's take on stall strategies.

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Cresselia in Pokemon Scarlet and Violet

Turning our focus to Pokemon Scarlet and Violet, Game Freak has decided to reduce the total of two of Cresselia's most important stats: Defense and Special Defense. While this initially does not sound like much of a problem, competitive Pokemon is a numbers game. As such, a slight alteration to stats can greatly impact a creature's performance in the competitive scene.

Reducing these important stats for Cresselia by just 10 per category may be enough to knock the Legendary Pokemon down from the franchise's tier of OU down to UU. Threats like Annihilape and Flutter Mane having the upper hand by just that slight amount could lead to Sinnoh's Moonlight Guardian falling from grace.

Thankfully, Cresselia is going into Pokemon Scarlet and Violet with some new tools thanks to its recent inclusion in Pokemon Legends: Arceus. In these games, Cresselia received the new move, Lunar Blessing, as previously mentioned. This move not only heals Cresselia but also removes status conditions and makes the creature harder to hit for the turn.

With Pokemon Scarlet and Violet's metagame being much more fast-paced and offense-oriented than generations prior, it is unclear if Cresselia will still remain on top of the stall strategy in the new titles. With the ruler of the tanks now having the same base stat total of Uxie, it is entirely possible that the two become interchangeable.