Hello and welcome to my second installation of Pokemon of the Week! This week I am focusing on a Pokemon that is often overlooked. This week, I will be talking about Cacturne.

Cacturne was first introduced in Pokemon Ruby and Pokemon Sapphire. Cacturne is one of two fully evolved Pokemon to have the Grass/Dark typing (the other being Shiftry). Before Gen V, Cacturne's evolution line had the honor of being the only Pokemon to learn Needle Arm, giving it a signiture move. Cacturne's stats are generally very low, with the exception of Attack and Sp. Attack. As Cacturne will be quick to show you, however, it has ways to bypass its lower stats and be a destructive force.

Cacturne resides in the depths of the NU tier, but this is where it shines the brightest. Cacturne provides something very important, and very rarely seen in NU - Spikes. This move alone gives Cacturne an incredible niche in the tier, but that isn't where the usefulness ends. Cacturne's Dark typing makes it a great check to Calm Mind Musharna that lack Hidden Power Fighting, which is a very dangerous NU threat, and Cacturne can even stop some of the most common Stealth Rockers from setting their entry hazards on your field.

Cacturne@ Leftovers Sand Veil Jolly nature (+Speed, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Attack / 4 HP Spikes Sucker Punch Bullet Seed Substitute / Encore

Cacturne's role as a Spiker in NU is the biggest thing it has going for it. Spikes will chip up to 25% of the opponent's health off each time they switch in. This is Cacturne's biggest niche in the tier, and it does it fairly well. Sucker Punch bypasses Cacturne's low Speed and hits the opponent with powerful STAB priority. The only drawback to this is that it will fail if the opponent doesn't use a damaging move, which can leave Cacturne susceptible to the opponent setting up on it. Bullet Seed may seem like an odd choice for Cacturne who lacks Technician as well as having access to Seed Bomb, but this move allows Cacturne to beat Golem in one hit, bypassing Sturdy, before it can setup Stealth Rock.

Finally, the last move is Cacturne's method of disrupting the foe. Substitute can do this well, forcing the opponent to attack, which makes them bait for Sucker Punch. It also blocks Cacturne from status moves. Encore, on the other hand, can screw up an opponent that tries setting up on a predicted Sucker Punch, forcing them out and chipping 25% of the switch-in, due to Spikes (as long as they're not Flying type, a Levitate Pokemon, or a Magic Guard Pokemon). Prediction is the biggest key to using Cacturne; one mistake can easily cost this Pokemon it's life in a single turn. Water Absorb isn't used as the ability simply because it's illegal with Bullet Seed.

Cacturne@ Life Orb Sand Veil Jolly nature (+Speed, -Sp. Attack) EVs: 252 Speed / 252 Attack / 4 HP Swords Dance Sucker Punch Bullet Seed Drain Punch / Encore / Substitute

After a Swords Dance, Cacturne can do some serious damage. Setup an SD on the switch or on something that doesn't pose a threat to Cacturne. From there, Sucker Punch is your main move, coming off an incredible 722 Attack (after SD) plus STAB and Life Orb. Bullet Seed is your secondary STAB, and gives Cacturne a niche over SD Absol. Bullet Seed can break Substitutes, gets the OHKO on Golem and Gigalith, bypassing their Sturdy ability, and provides good coverage.

In the last slot, Drain Punch will allow you to hit Steel types that otherwise wall this set. In particular, Bastiodon and Probopass will be OHKOd (barring Bastiodon's Sturdy), and it will recover health lost by Life Orb recoil. Encore is an option to force a Pokemon out to allow Cacturne time to setup an SD. This is very helpful with Cacturne's low defenses. Finally, Substitute can be used to block status and possibly buy you time to setup an SD.

For anyone looking to train a Cacnea in BW, obtaining one is the first obstacle. Without transferring one from a previous generation, Dream World is your only method of obtaining it. Cacnea can be found in the Rugged Mountain area of DW. These Cacnea will have Water Absorb, which is a great ability, but it cuts Cacturne off from Bullet Seed, a move only available to it in gens 3 and 4. Still, this isn't a problem for a non-competitive Cacturne, and actually gives Cacturne a wonderful immunity to come in on Water type moves and heal off some damage.

Raising Cacnea is slow. It doesn't learn anything good via level-up until level 29, when it learns Faint Attack, and it doesn't even get STAB on that until it evolves. The best way to raise Cacnea is to teach it Energy Ball or Grass Knot via TM, and train it until it evolves. At level 32, Cacnea will evolve into Cacturne, and with the Dark type it gains, you will be able to use Sucker Punch at full power. Training spots are really easy to find for Cacnea and Cacturne; there are many, many Pokemon weak to Grass, and even more weak to Grass or Dark in Unova. Early level training can be done in Wellspring cave on Roggenrola, while later level training can be done in just about any Surfing route. For an in-game moveset without Egg moves, 3rd/4th gen moves or BW2 tutor moves, this is probably the most effective you'll get:

Cacturne Grass Knot / Energy Ball / Needle Arm / Seed Bomb Sucker Punch Brick Break Thunderpunch / Poison Jab / Swords Dance

Since Cacturne's Attack and Sp. Attack stats have the same 115 base, Grass Knot is usually Cacturne's best bet if you can't breed for Seed Bomb. Energy Ball is next in line, doing consistant damage against opponents, regardless of the opponent's weight. If you'd rather hit Jellicent harder and use the boost from Swords Dance, Needle Arm is your best move. If you can breed for Seed Bomb, however, that is the move you should be using above all else. The only reason it isn't listed first is because it's an Egg Move. Sucker Punch is the strongest Dark type STAB Cacturne gets, and it will bypass Cacturne's low Speed. Brick Break will hit Steel and Dark types hard. Thunderpunch comes with Dream World Cacturne... while it's not very useful, it hits Swanna harder than anything else you've got. You can use Poison Jab to hit other Grass types, like those darn Maractus that pretend they're the coolest cactus on the block. Swords Dance, on the other hand, can power Cacturne's moves up and allow it to sweep through the competition after one boost. Honestly, beyond the first three moveslots, there isn't much Cacturne can do, so the last slot is filler.

Cacturne is far from popular, and is easily one of the most forgotten Pokemon ever to exist. Seriously, when's the last time you saw anyone with a Cacturne, hmm? Never? Well, this may not be a great mystery... when we open up the nightmaredex. Here's the entry for Pokemon Sapphire: If a traveler is going through a desert in the thick of night, Cacturne will follow in a ragtag group. The Pokémon are biding their time, waiting for the traveler to tire and become incapable of moving.

Oh. My. God. Cacturne form gangs in deserts and follow people at night, waiting until they're too tired to run from them anymore. This is nightmare fuel. You ever wonder why no one has a Cacturne? It's because the only people to ever own them get their soul devoured by them. You ever wonder why night time wasn't included in RSE like it was in GSC? It's because Cacturne killed so many Trainers that Hoenn banned night time from the region entirely.

Something else worth noting is that Cacturne's Japanese name translates to Noctus. When you combine Cacturne with Noctus, you get Cactus and Nocturne, which is pretty neat. While Cacturne hasn't been a major player in Pokemon, I think it's a Pokemon that deserves a bit more recognition... or else they'll find you.

This week, I am honored to be joined by Kay, for a new section she will be contributing called Unearthed, which will focus on the origin of Pokemon in each Pokemon of the Week article.
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Cacturne, as its name and status as the "Scarecrow Pokémon" imply, is based on a combination of a cactus and a scarecrow. His jolly floppy hat adds to his slightly scruffy, handmade scarecrow look.

The cactus he's based on is likely the Saguaro, which is everyone's first mental image of a very tall cactus with arms, though his hat more closely resembles other members of the Pachycereeae tribe of cacti. One of these is the Old Man cactus, which is covered in a fine, fluffy white down - I can only imagine this is why Cacturne learns Cotton Spore! Another slightly peculiar move he learns is Grasswhistle, which is possibly because the Sandman is a mythical entity said to put sleep in people's eyes. While there isn't much similarity, Cacturne could be considered a "sandman" due him living in the sand and also having something akin to sand instead of blood, according to the Dex.

Cacturne's Dex entries talk about how he remains inactive during the day to prevent water loss, and starts to move more at night once the desert has cooled off - this is exactly what real-life cacti do! Normally, a plant photosynthesises (makes "food" for itself) and transpires (takes in carbon dioxide to use in photosynthesis) simultaneously during the day. However, transpiration involves opening lots of tiny pores on the plant's leaves, so water can escape from it. If cacti transpired during the day, the heat of the sun would cause them to lose too much water, so they wait and only transpire at night, with many of them (including the Saguaro) only flowering at night too. This is probably also why Cacturne is a Dark type.

Real-life cacti are also exceptionally good at gathering up water after rainfall due to their roots system, which is very wide but very shallow, lying just under the sand to catch as much rain as possible as it falls (the Saguaro can hold up to 200 gallons of water!). And what is Cacturne's Hidden Ability? Water Absorb.

He's a surprisingly short cactus at 4'03", given that Saguaros can grow over 60ft tall, but I feel that we should thank GameFreak for at least making him a diminuitive monster.

We hope you've enjoyed this issue of Pokemon of the Week! Comment below with suggestions for future Pokemon!

Article written by Richard and Blaziken

Unearthed by Dragonpika

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