Cresselia
VGC Guide
Cresselia’s Lunar Dance is VGC’s most unique revival move — it fully restores the next Pokémon’s HP, cures status conditions, and restores all PP. Combined with Trick Room setting, Levitate granting Ground immunity, and exceptional 120/120/130 defensive stats, Cresselia is one of the hardest support Pokémon to eliminate in VGC.
Lunar Dance: Full Partner Revival
Lunar Dance causes Cresselia to faint itself, but the next Pokémon switched in is fully restored: 100% HP, all status conditions cured (including Sleep), and all move PP restored. This allows a Spore-slept core Pokémon or PP-depleted sweeper to re-enter at full strength. Lunar Dance is the only move in the game that restores PP.
- • HP fully restored to 100%
- • Sleep, Poison, Burn status all cured
- • All move PP fully restored
- • Consumed item effects not restored (e.g. Life Orb)
- • Revive core Pokémon after Spore sleep
- • Reset PP for PP-depleted offensive core
- • Restore Calyrex-Shadow to re-stack Grim Neigh
- • Sacrifice before Cresselia is KO’d involuntarily
Levitate + Icy Wind: Dual Speed Control
Levitate grants Cresselia complete immunity to Ground moves, further complementing its exceptional 120/120 defenses. Icy Wind is a spread speed-drop move (lowers Speed by 1 stage) targeting both opponents — in non-TR team compositions, Cresselia can use Icy Wind to control field tempo and create favorable speed differentials for allies.
EV Spreads
Team Partners
Lunar Dance is maximally impactful on Calyrex-Shadow — reviving at full HP, curing status, and restoring Astral Barrage PP to restart the Grim Neigh SpAtk chain. This is VGC’s most feared late-game revival combination.
Cresselia + Porygon2 creates a dual-setter strategy ensuring reliable TR establishment. Both have exceptional bulk, making the TR team structure extremely consistent across all matchups.
Iron Hands under Trick Room is one of VGC’s strongest physical threats. After Cresselia sets TR, Iron Hands’ 58 Spe becomes an advantage; Rock Slide spread damage is devastating.
Incineroar’s Fake Out protects Cresselia during its TR setup turn. Parting Shot reducing opposing Attack also helps Cresselia survive long enough to use Lunar Dance at the optimal moment.
How to Counter Cresselia
Cresselia is Psychic-type; Dark-type moves deal 2× damage. Dark-type offensive cores apply pressure that forces Cresselia to spend Lunar Dance prematurely or sacrifice itself earlier than planned.
Bug and Ghost are also super-effective against Psychic. Calyrex-Shadow’s Astral Barrage threatens Cresselia — creating a cyclical counter-play where revived Calyrex-Shadow threatens the same Cresselia that revived it.
Tornadus’ Prankster Taunt blocks Cresselia’s status moves before it can act, preventing both Lunar Dance and Trick Room from being used in the same turn.
Despite massive bulk, Cresselia has modest SpAtk (75) and mediocre Speed (85). Fast offensive cores can pressure it into using Lunar Dance early or collapsing the TR setup window with speed advantage.