Competitive Information for Cacnea [Diamond/Pearl]
Grass
Abilities:
Movesets for Singles
What is a good competitive moveset for Cacnea? These builds have been optimized for Pokemon competing in Diamond/Pearl Single Battles. The movesets and EVs have been specifically calibrated to deal the most amount of damage to the largest group of potentially common opponents and typing threats for the Diamond/Pearl generation metagame.
Cacnea is a wonderful Grass-typed Pokemon. Cacnea is not a Pokemon anyone usually expects sees on the battlefield. Cacnea can be quite a contender in the LC tier (Little Cup). Cacnea is weak to Bug, Fire, Flying, Ice, and Poison-typed attacks.
Item: Focus Sash / Choice Band
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 120 Hp / 252 Atk / 68 Def / 68 SpD
Moveset:
- Thunder Punch / Brick Break
- Seed Bomb / Needle Arm
- Poison Jab / Poison Sting
- Sucker Punch / Payback
Physical Sweeper Cacnea (Sand Veil)
Cacnea is an awesome Physical Sweeper. The purpose of this moveset is to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Focus Sash helps protect Cacnea from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Choice Band will increase the damage of Cacnea's physical moves by 1.5x at the cost of locking you into the first move you pick. With Sand Veil, if sandstorm is active Cacnea's evasiveness is 1.25x; immunity to sandstorm. Thunder Punch or Brick Break are added to provide additional threat coverage.
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, even if the target is immune).
♦ Seed Bomb is a physical STAB-boosted 80-base power Grass-type move that deals a substantial amount of damage.
♦ Needle Arm is a physical STAB-boosted 60-base power Grass-type move (30% chance to flinch the target).
♦ Poison Jab is a physical 80-base power Poison-type move (30% chance to poison the target).
♦ Poison Sting is a physical 15-base power Poison-type move (30% chance to poison the target).
♦ Sucker Punch is a physical priority-increased 80-base power Dark-type move (usually goes first. fails if target is not attacking).
♦ Payback is a physical 50-base power Dark-type move (power doubles if your Cacnea moves after the target).
Link (click to copy):
https://hohoushome.com/b/es10a14b
Item: Razor Fang / Life Orb
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 120 Hp / 68 Def / 252 SpA / 68 SpD
Moveset:
- Energy Ball / Solar Beam
- Dark Pulse
- Acid
- Snore
Special Sweeper Cacnea (Sand Veil)
Cacnea is a pretty decent Special Sweeper. It is meant to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Life Orb boosts the power of Cacnea's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Sand Veil, if sandstorm is active Cacnea's evasiveness is 1.25x; immunity to sandstorm.
♦ Solar Beam is a special STAB-boosted 120-base power Grass-type move (charges turn 1. hits turn 2. no charge in sunlight).
♦ Dark Pulse is a special 80-base power Dark-type move (20% chance to flinch the target).
♦ Acid is a special 40-base power Poison-type move (10% chance to lower the foes special defense by 1 stage).
♦ Snore is a special 40-base power Normal-type move (Cacnea must be asleep. 30% chance to flinch target).
Link (click to copy):
https://hohoushome.com/b/es11a14b
Movesets for Doubles
What is a good doubles moveset for Cacnea? These builds have been optimized for Diamond/Pearl Double Battles. They have movesets and EVs specifically calibrated to generally work best versus multiple Pokemon at once as well as helping to support other team members and allys in the Diamond/Pearl generation metagame.
Item: Focus Sash / Choice Band
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Adamant (+Atk, -SpA)
EVs: 120 Hp / 252 Atk / 68 Def / 68 SpD
Moveset:
- Thunder Punch / Brick Break
- Seed Bomb / Needle Arm
- Poison Jab / Poison Sting
- Sucker Punch / Payback
Doubles Physical Sweeper Cacnea (Sand Veil)
Cacnea is a spectacular Physical Sweeper. It's primary goal is to take down the opponent's team with brute physical power. Focus Sash helps protect Cacnea from being one-shotted and allowing it to atleast use a crucial move when brought out. Choice Band will increase the damage of Cacnea's physical moves by 1.5x at the cost of locking you into the first move you pick. With Sand Veil, if sandstorm is active Cacnea's evasiveness is 1.25x; immunity to sandstorm. Thunder Punch or Brick Break are added to provide additional threat coverage.
♦ Brick Break is a physical 75-base power Fighting-type move (destroys screens, even if the target is immune).
♦ Seed Bomb is a physical STAB-boosted 80-base power Grass-type move that deals a decent amount of damage.
♦ Needle Arm is a physical STAB-boosted 60-base power Grass-type move (30% chance to flinch the target).
♦ Poison Jab is a physical 80-base power Poison-type move (30% chance to poison the target).
♦ Poison Sting is a physical 15-base power Poison-type move (30% chance to poison the target).
♦ Sucker Punch is a physical priority-increased 80-base power Dark-type move (usually goes first. fails if target is not attacking).
♦ Payback is a physical 50-base power Dark-type move (power doubles if your Cacnea moves after the target).
Link (click to copy):
https://hohoushome.com/b/ed10a14b
Item: Razor Fang / Life Orb
Ability: Sand Veil
Nature: Modest (+SpA, -Atk)
EVs: 120 Hp / 68 Def / 252 SpA / 68 SpD
Moveset:
- Energy Ball / Solar Beam
- Acid
- Dark Pulse
- Snore
Doubles Special Sweeper Cacnea (Sand Veil)
Cacnea is an extraordinary Special Sweeper. It's purpose is to take down the opponent's team with high-damaging special attacks. Life Orb boosts the power of Cacnea's damaging moves by 1.3x but it then loses 1/10 its max HP immediately after the attack. With Sand Veil, if sandstorm is active Cacnea's evasiveness is 1.25x; immunity to sandstorm.
♦ Solar Beam is a special STAB-boosted 120-base power Grass-type move (charges turn 1. hits turn 2. no charge in sunlight).
♦ Acid is a special 40-base power Poison-type move (10% chance to lower the foes special defense by 1 stage).
♦ Dark Pulse is a special 80-base power Dark-type move (20% chance to flinch the target).
♦ Snore is a special 40-base power Normal-type move (Cacnea must be asleep. 30% chance to flinch target).
Link (click to copy):
https://hohoushome.com/b/ed11a14b
Movepool
Wondering what moves can Cacnea learn? Here is the list of moves this Pokemon can learn in this selected generation.
Sort and organize the learnset by move type, category, accuracy, and power. Bolded moves will gain the same-type attack bonus (STAB) if this Pokemon uses them.
Damage Modifiers:
Combo List
These are a list of several common move combinations Cacnea can perform in Diamond/Pearl. Not every combo going to be game-changing, but some can be pretty fun to play with. Sometimes these can be easily overlooked or forgotten, hence why we find and list them here. Discover what items, abilities, and moves this Pokemon can use in combination with each other to gain a strategic advantage in competitive battles.
Competitive DP Move and Ability Combos for Cacnea
- Moves: Sunny day + Solar beam
- Moves: Sunny day + Growth
- Moves: Rest + Sleep talk
- Moves: Rest + Snore
- Moves: Substitute + Drain punch
- Moves: Substitute + Leech seed
- Moves: Ingrain + Leech seed
- Moves: Toxic + Leech seed
- Move: Swagger + Item: Mirror Herb
- Move: Fling + Item: King's Rock
- Move: Facade + Item: Flame Orb
- Move: Facade + Item: Toxic Orb
- Item: Blunder Policy + Move: Dynamic Punch
- Moves with Priority: Endure, Protect, Sucker Punch
- Moves that Break Screens: Brick Break
- Moves that inflict status: Toxic
Moves that boost Cacnea's stats
- Growth
- Nasty Plot
- Swords Dance
Most notable and possible best moves for Cacnea
- Destiny Bond
- Protect
- Rest
- Toxic
Common Effort Values for Cacnea in Diamond and Pearl
- Nature ( )
- Nature ( )
- Optimize Cacnea's EV spread for Pokemon Diamond and Pearl
Related Videos
Here are various how-to-use and competitive moveset analysis video guides for Cacnea in Diamond/Pearl. These featured videos will most likely contain additional strategies and combos not listed on our site. Disclaimer: All videos belong to their respective owners along with the views, thoughts, and opinions expressed in the videos. They belong solely to the author and not to us.
We currently do not have any competitive video guides for Cacnea in Diamond/Pearl
Want to have your Competitive Pokemon videos sponsored on our site? Contact us!
Some builds on this page have been hidden, click here to display them
Here are the best movesets for Cacnea. Top rated Cacnea Diamond/Pearl movesets. You can find Cacnea builds Diamond/Pearl. Cacnea movesets Diamond/Pearl are listed here. VGC Cacnea Competitive Movesets can be found here. Find various EV spreads, find the best nature for Cacnea in Diamond/Pearl along with competitive movesets. Basic info and Movesets for Cacturne evolution