Cetitan, the Terra Whale Pokémon. This Pokémon wanders around snowy, icy areas. It protects its body with powerful muscles and a thick layer of fat under its skin. Ice energy builds up in the horn on its upper jaw, causing the horn to reach cryogenic temperatures that freeze its surroundings. .

Overview

The latest in attempts to make Snow a viable weather, Cetitan is one of the more successful iterations of the Ice weather abuser. Being the fastest Slush Rush Pokémon, Cetitan has plenty of leeway to exercise its boosted speed against its opponents. Base 113 Attack is quite serviceable, especially when backed by the offensively potent Ice STAB and Cetitan boasts wide coverage in Liquidation, Earthquake, Play Rough, and Knock Off leaving few safe. Add in the ability to boost with Belly Drum and the resulting combination of speed and power allows Cetitan to steamroll all in its path. STAB Ice Shard further adds to the package, giving Cetitan a modicum of use outside of snow and enabling it to pick off weakened targets. Even Cetitan’s bulk isn’t too shabby, its immense 170 HP allowing Cetitan to tank at least one hit, especially with the defense boost from Snow.

Sadly, Snow remains one of the weaker playstyles and Cetitan’s reliance on it has it suffer as a result. Being forced to stack the defensively impotent Ice types opens heavily exploitable weaknesses. Cetitan is reliant on the Defense boost from Snow for better hit taking ability, which runs contrary with Terastalization which would remove that defense boost. Without that defense boost, Cetitan’s frailty is much more apparent. Cetitan’s base 73 Speed is wholly unimpressive outside of Snow, making it difficult to use Cetitan in other capacities, despite access to the amazing Sheer Force ability. Furthermore, Cetitan’s inability to boost outside of Belly Drum makes it extremely exposed to entry hazards, as Stealth Rocks can quickly knock Cetitan into knock out range if not shutdown Belly Drum, while Choice Band sets are heavily limited on the number of times they can come in. Despite these flaws, Cetitan is a terror in the snow and letting it get into position may be the last thing you do.
Positives
Pair of amazing abilities in Slush Rush and Sheer Force, providing plenty of Speed or Power respectively.
Base 113 Attack with amazing Ice STAB and good coverage makes Cetitan a threatening attacker.
Base 170 HP is frankly absurd, allowing Cetitan to take one hit…

Negatives
…but not many more with horrid defenses bringing down its HP.
Ice typing further exasperates Cetitan’s defensive woes, giving it numerous exploitable weaknesses and only a single resistance, greatly limiting pivoting opportunities
Speed without Slush Rush is unimpressive, leaving Cetitan exposed against many offensive Pokémon.

Movesets

Attack on Cetitan

-Belly Drum
-Ice Shard
-Ice Spinner
-Earthquake
Ability: Slush Rush
Item: Sitrus Berry
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 4 SDef / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature

Slush Rush Belly Drum Cetitan takes speed and power to its logical conclusion as a mid to late game cleaner outspeeding everything and threatening all but the sturdiest of walls. Belly Drum allows Cetitan to maximize its attack in a single move enabling the sheer power that makes Cetitan so terrifying, while the Defense boost and extra speed from Snow pull double duty in making Cetitan faster and increasing the likelihood of enduring an attack post Belly Drum setup. Ice Spinner is primary STAB being an Ice attack that doesn’t miss, since a miss after Belly Drum often spells Cetitan’s own end instead. Ice Shard is for when Cetitan is caught outside of the Snow or when Snow ends on top of allowing it to pick off opposing targets that may have priority of their own. Earthquake is the preferred coverage, slamming the Ice resistant Steel and Fire types while boasting nice synergy with Cetitan’s Ice STAB; the Flying and Grass types that resist Ground want nothing to do with Cetitan’s STAB, leaving a small handful of Pokémon that can reliably tank the Ice Ground coverage.

Tera Types:
Cetitan is an awkward position when it comes to Terastalizing. Like other Sand and Snow reliant Pokémon, it gets a noticeable bulk boost in the Snow, but its base typing is so horrid defensively it often wants to Terastalize out of it to better tank attacks. More often than not you want a non-Ice Tera to better improve Cetitan’s defensive profile and enable it to survive an attack while having HP to spare for Belly Drum. Tera Ground is recommended for this set, boosting Earthquake up to Pseudo-STAB allowing Cetitan to ape Mamoswine, while the Rock resistance is handy into Lycanroc’s Accelrock. Tera Water is another popular option, giving Fire and Steel resistances while being a generally good defensive type and even has offensive merit if running Liquidation. Tera Fairy is in a similar boat, offering a Fighting resistance and bolstering Play Rough, though the shared Steel weakness does slightly lessen its value.

EVs and Items:
As for many sweepers, max Attack and Speed are recommended, in this case to get the most out of Belly Drum and Slush Rush. You want as much speed as possible to make Cetitan outspeed every target it can, limiting counterplay as well as outspeeding targets when out of Snow. If looking only at the Slush Rush boosted speed one could argue for Adamant, as it still runs even Base 100 Choice Scarf users. Otherwise, Jolly is greatly preferred nature, allowing Cetitan to outrun Base 110 Speed Pokémon at +1 and tie with base 114 Choice Scarfers. Sitrus Bery is the Belly Drum classic, refunding half of the health paid for Belly Drum while still allowing for it to activate if Cetitan is dropped under half. Heavy-Duty Boots is also tantalizing, preventing entry hazards from pushing Cetitan into KO range when it switches in.

Partners:
: Snow setters are all but mandatory for this set as the Defense bonus and near peerless Speed are what give this Cetitan set its figurative teeth. Abomasnow and Alolan Ninetails are perfect at this given their passive setup with Snow Warning, and their access to Aurora Veil greatly facilitates not only setup but making Cetitan stupidly bulky. Hazard control is paramount for this set as Stealth Rocks alone can quickly knock Cetitan into OHKO range, especially after Belly Drum and that is before even talking about Spikes and Toxic Spikes. Alolan Sandslash is an amazing partner in this regard, as in addition to its hazard clearing rapid Spin it also boasts many of the same checks as Cetitan and thus can draw and weaken if not KO such checks to pave the way for Cetitan.

Other Options:
Icicle Crash is alternative to Ice Spinner and as much as the imperfect accuracy may cost you games, the increased power and flinch chance can just as much seal games for you. Knock Off is a staple, being disruption and damage in one, so even if Cetitan falls, it will irrevocably ruin its target, like removing Avalugg’s Heavy Duty Boots or Registeel’s Leftovers can prevent them from performing their duties for the remainder of the match. Liquidation synchronizes well with Water Tera and offers great coverage into opposing Fire and Rock types though it is largely redundant to Earthquake in this regard. Play Rough smacks Fighting types around, especially physically bulky ones like Paldean Tauros Aqua, but boosted Earthquake tends to handle such targets well.

Doubles and VGC Options

With weather being stronger in Doubles formats one would expect Slush Rush Cetitan to flourish more in Doubles as opposed to Singles. In some ways that is true, Cetitan’s superb speed in Snow allowing it to get the jump on many targets without any setup and devastate them with Ice STAB, especially many popular Tailwind setters like Dragonite, Hydreigon, Jumpluff, Kilowattrel and more, depriving the opposing team of speed control. However there are priority Tailwind Setters like Murkrow, Talonflame and Whimsicott that can get the speed in their favor before Cetitan can act and expose its merely decent Speed for what it is. Additionally, while Ice is a powerful offensive type, Cetitan is greatly let down by being a physical attacker, making it incredibly exposed to Intimidates from Incineroar, Paldean-Tauros, and the luck, making it difficult to exercise its power. Belly Drum is even more risky with many opponents able to stifle Cetitan whether it be through opposing Speed Control, Fake Out, and Intimidate cycling, and dual targets make it incredibly difficult for Cetitan to replicate its feats in Doubles. The popularity of weather in general is a sticking point, for while it does allow Cetitan’s team to disrupt such strategies, the reverse is also true, which can cause Cetitan to lose its Slush Rush at inopportune moments. Even as a Snow abuser, Cetitan is far from the best, with Baxcalibur, while not being faster boasts far more power and bulk from the word go. Cetitan can be made to work well, but one has to wonder if it is worth the effort.

Land Whale Hail

-Ice Spinner
-Liquidation
-High Horsepower
-Ice Shard
Ability: Slush Rush
Item: Choice Band
Tera Type: Water/Ground
EVs and Nature:
252 Atk / 20 Def / 128 SDef / 108 Spe Adamant Nature

Banded Slush Rush Cetitan uses the insane Speed provided from Slush Rush and the boost from Choice Band to threaten damage immediately, ripping holes in the opposing team while sticking around thanks to Snow and Aurora Veil support. Ice Spinner is highly recommended as the disrupting terrains such as Rillaboom’s Grassy Terrain and Indeedee’s Psychic Terrain is invaluable in doubles when it does come up. Liquidation threatens numerous Fire types including Incineroar, Talonflame, Volcarona and Magmar that stomach Cetitan’s Ice STAB with ease. High Horsepower answers opposing Steel types such as Kingambit, Gholdengo, Archaludon, and Empoleon while being very synergistic with Ice. Ice Shard provides priority, great for picking off weakened targets before than can do anything else and gives Cetitan utility out of Snow.

EVs are to maximize Cetitan's Attack power to get the most out of every hit, so one is making signifcant progress even if your opponent switches a resist in. 108 Speed allows Cetitan to outrun Jolly/Timid Dragapult in Snow. The rest go into defenses, with more going into Special Defense thanks to Snow account for Cetitan's defense. Tera Water is popular on Cetitan given Water's resistance to Fire and Steel, as well as general defensive excellence while boosting up Liquidation to better smack Incineroar. Tera Ground is mostly as an option to bolster High Horsepower or Earthquake allowing Cetitan to ape Mamoswine.

Other Options:
Alolan Ninetales is mandatory for this set, its passive Snow setting unmatched in enabling Cetitan and Aurora Veil paying dividends in keeping Cetitan around. Pokémon that dissuade Intimidate are amazing partners for Cetitan, allowing it to fire its attacks unabated. Kingambit and Annihilape are notable examples, their high bulk synergizing well with Aurora Veil and loving Cetitan's ability to handle Ground and Flying types before they can threaten them. Assault Vest works well with this set, combining with Snow's Defense boost and potentially Aurora Veil to make Cetitan difficult to remove. Play Rough is mostly for Tauros-Aqua, an Intimidator that resists most common coverage moves. Icicle Crash remains an eternal alternative to Ice Spinner. Earthquake is an alternative to High Horsepower, though one must contend with the friendly fire.

Countering Cetitan

A setup Cetitan in the snow is near impossible to handle, so removing its Snow and its absurd speed makes it far easier to handle. Torkoal is decent at this, between its absurd Defense allowing it to eat even +6 Ice STAB and ruining Snow with Drought, but its horrid speed ensures that boosted Earthquake will OHKO and +6 Liquidation will soundly 2HKO even in the sun. Otherwise, one will have to sacrifice a Pokémon to get their weather setter in safely to remove Cetitan’s Snow. Ninetales does well if healthy, naturally outspeeding and can OHKO with Fire STAB. Every other non-Legendary passive Weather setter is slower than Cetitan and is vulnerable to its vicious Ice STAB or coverage.

Priority can be a handy way of dealing with Cetitan, as between Belly Drum, potentially hazards and whatever damage it took on the way in means that such attackers rarely must deal with a healthy Cetitan. However, as it possesses priority in Ice Shard of its own, such attackers must be able to endure a boosted Ice Shard. Choice Band Infernape, Banded Aqua Tauros, Guts Hariyama and Tera Normal Banded Arcanine all have the requisite durability and priority but thanks to Snow’s Defense boost requires Cetitan to be around a fourth of its health to secure the KO.

Defensively checking Belly Drum Cetitan is a tall order given the sheer power it outputs. Usually one’s best bet are other physically bulky Ice types like Avalugg and Glastrier, as the Snow benefits them as well and can threaten with their Fighting coverage. Fluffy Houndstone also works, able to cripple Cetitan with Will-O-Wisp and making it far more manageable, though none of these Pokémon can come in freely as they are still 2HKOd. Orthworm is also notable for its ability to no sell Earthquake while heavily resisting Ice STAB.

If not facing Belly Drum Cetitan, its offense is far tamer and can be handled by a wider variety of Pokémon. In addition to the aforementioned, there is physically defensive Gastrodon, Milotic, Regirock, Tauros-Aqua and Curse Thick Fat Snorlax who can all stomach Choice Banded Cetitan blows. If not running Knock Off, Araquanid, Bronzong, Rotom Heat, and Weezing can be added to the list, though Rotom-Heat must be wary of Liquidation..

Anime Appearences

Cetitan has appeared in the anime several times. In it, it was used by Grusha in his battles against Liko. # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 63 TBC An Ice Battle! Cold-Eyed Grusha! Pics