Croagunk Guide

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Having began his writing career at Veryali Gaming, Alex has changed gears and has decided to write about his one true passion, Pokémon! Alex is one of our resident competitive experts and loves messing around with peculiar EV's, move sets and typing combos to keep his opponents on their toes. Also, when he's not out tossing Pokeballs in the tall grass, he's quite a handy guitar player and a decent photographer to boot!

Bottom Line-Up Front

Croagunk’s unimposing defense stats may make it look weak. However, Croagunk’s defenses come from its unique dual typing of Poison and Fighting. This, coupled with its Poison Touch and Dry Skin abilities, grant it immunity to Water-type moves and leave Crogunk only vulnerable to three move types: Flying, Ground, and Psychic.
The Eviolite is the best item to equip Croagunk with as it multiplies the holder’s physical and special defense stats by 1.5 if the user can evolve. This helps with Croagunk’s terrible defense stats giving it more survivability in combat.
Croagunk is unpredictable to fight against its equaling attack and special attack stats allow the user to build it accordingly.
Croagunk synergizes well with Onix and Mienfoo in PVP, due to Onix’s Stealth Rock and Mienfoo’s Fake Out and U-Turn.

Croagunk Creepy But Comical

Taking inspiration from Poison Dart Frogs, Croagunk wields a deadly poison used to defend itself from predators and attack its prey. The Pokedex names Croagunk as the Toxic Mouth Pokemon, and for a good reason, it features two large sacs to store its deadly poison. When threatened or hunting, it expands these sacs and creates ghoulishly creepy sounds to spook its prey before jabbing them with its hand to issue a noxious strike of poison and power.

Croagunk may sound like a terrifying Pokemon, but it is actually used as a mascot for a pharmaceutical company in the Pokemon World. As its poison, when prepared and heated, is a potent ingredient in medicine to relieve back pain!

Pastoria City of the Sinnoh region, located near the Great Marsh, features a Crogunk billboard next to the Great Marsh Gate and Pokemon Center. Whether it is a promotional advertisement of the pharma company is unknown. However, its location next to the Great Marsh Gate may be advertising the park.

In Pokemon Platinum, a Croagunk will walk into the frame when your character is looking through the billboard and promptly through the Great Marsh Gate. If Game Freak didn’t push this Pokemon enough, it is also prominently used by Team Galactic Members.

Croagunk in the Anime

Croagnuk and Brock — Image from Wiki Fandom

Croagunk is a beloved Pokemon within the Pokemon anime fandom, no more so than Brock’s Croagunk. As these two characters’ bond is both hilarious and unbreakable. Croagunk was first introduced in “Gymbaliar” the eighth episode of Diamond and Pearl season. Where heroes Ash, Dawn and Brock, encounter Team Rocket posing as gym leaders in a scheme to steal Pokemon from trainers.

Croagunk is abandoned by Team Rocket once their plan had been foiled by Ash and the gang. Brock offers Croagunk to join him on his journey and Croagunk agrees and is promptly caught by Brock. Seconds later Croagunk leaps from its Pokeball and Poison Jabs Brock for flirting with Minnie taking over Misty and Max’s role of pinching Brock’s ear when flirting with girls.

Brock’s Croagunk is shown to be a skilled fighter throughout the series and has a quirky personality. It is also shown to be highly competitive and intelligent as seen when battling Saturn’s Toxicroak, in “Enter Galactic!” and posing as a Politoad allowing Brock to win an egg in the All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go!” episode.

As a Pokemon of a main character Croagunk appears in over a hundred episodes sometimes playing a significant role and sometimes a minor role just to Poison Jab Brock! Therefore I’ve compiled all major appearances of Croagunk in the Anime.

Gymbaliar
Leave it To Brocko!
All Dressed Up With Somewhere To Go!
Glory Blaze!
Smells Like Team Spirit!
Enter Galactic!
Cream of the Croagunk Crop!
Losing its Lustrous!
Battling a Cute Drama!
A Faux Oak Finish!
The Needs of the Three!
Rampaging Heatran!!

Croagunk features in a few Pokemon movies here is a list:

The Rise of Darkrai
Giratina & The Sky Warrior
Arceus and the Jewel of Life
Zoroark Master of Illusions

Croagunk in the TCG

Croagunk has been around a while, its prominence in both the anime and mainline games has resulted in a multitude of card releases in the TCG since its debut in the Diamond and Pearl Mysterious Treasures set. With a base, HP of 60 Croagunk has two moves that offer support utility.

The first Ghastly Sound is a move that costs one normal energy and stops your opponent from playing and supporter cards for their hand next turn. Finger Poke is the second move dealing 20 damage and poisoning the target if the user wins a coin toss.

Croagunk from the Steam Siege is another notable card that allows you to apply three damage counters to a poisoned target with the Poison Up move. Other cards focus on pure attacks such as the Croagunk from the Supreme Victors and Burning Shadows sets.

However, Croagunk from the Arceus set takes the cake featuring both utility and attack like the move Punch and Astonish a move that allows you to choose a card from your opponent’s hand to look at followed by shuffling it into their deck.

Croagunk Locations

Croagunk is a commonly found Pokemon in the main line series and can be found in many wetlands and marshes across the Pokemon World. Croagunk originates from the Great Marsh in the Sinnoh region and as a result, can be found in all generation four Pokemon games. Croagunk is an easy Pokemon to catch that won’t threaten your Pokemon much out of poisoning them.

Sinnoh Region Locations – Pokemon Diamond, Pearl, Platinum, Brilliant Diamond, and Shining Pearl

Diamond and Pearl – Great Marsh.
Platinum – Route 212, Great Marsh.
Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl – Swampy Cave, Riverbank Cave, Still-Water Cavern, Bogsunk Cavern.

Unova Region Locations – Pokemon Black, White, Black 2, and White 2

Black and White – Route 8.
Black 2 and White 2 – Route 8, Icirrus City, Moor of Icirrus.

Kalos Region Locations – Pokemon X and Y

X and Y – Route 7.

Galar Region Locations – Pokemon Sword and Shield

Sword – N/A
Shield – Bridge Field, Dusty Bowl, Giant’s Cap, Motostoke Outskirts, Stony Wilderness, Galar Mine No. 2, Forrest of Focus, Soothing Wetlands.

Hisui Region Locations – Pokemon Legends of Arceus

Ancient Quarry, Gapejaw Bog, Holm of Trials, Scarlet Bog.

Stats

	HP	Attack	Defense	Sp. Atk	Sp. Def	Speed
Base Stats	48	61	40	61	40	50

Croagunk’s stats are fairly average. Its reasonable physical attack and special attack stats allow you to build Croagunk as either a physical attacker or a special attacker. I really like this as this gives me more options when building him for competitive battle. It also leaves the most experienced opponent guessing your build and strategy as Croagunk can be unpredictable.

However, while it has decent attacking power, it has feeble defense and health stats that make it susceptible to OHKOs. Flying, Ground, and especially Psychic-type moves will rip through Croagunk, leaving it dead in the water. Its slow speed stat contributes to Croagunk’s downfall as it cannot keep up with many other Pokemon competitively.

However, do not let this deter you, as Croagunk is a great Pokemon to use in your solo adventure and in a competitive battle with the proper setup and items.

One of them is the Evolite, which multiplies the holder’s physical defense and special defense by 1.5 if the user can evolve, totaling Croagunk’s physical and special defense to 60. This grants Croagunk a buffer to its reasons proving Croagunk to be a formidable warrior who can provide utility and power to your team.

Croagunk’s Unique Dual Typing

Croagunk’s unique dual typing is one of its most potent and valuable qualities. While it may not have the most robust defense, its typing leaves it vulnerable to only three move types:

Flying – Croagunk takes double damage from Flying-type attacks.
Psychic – Croagunk takes quadruple damage from Psychic-type attacks.
Ground – Croagunk takes double damage from Ground-type attacks.

As you can see, Croagunk will need to look out for Psychic-type Pokemon, as just one hit will render it knocked out of battle.

However, remember that Croagunk is a sly little frog with many tricks up its poisonous sleeve. This is where Croagunk’s extensive movepool comes to its aid. Croagunk’s Sucker Punch has rescued me countless times when facing off against a Psychic-type as this move will always attack first if your opponent uses an attacking move.

The following moves inflict half the damage to Croagunk excluding Bug-type moves that inflict a puny quarter damage to Croagunk.

Croagunk’s Abilities Explained

Croagunk’s abilities are one of my favorite characteristics of Croagunk as they make battling with him not only fun but versatile.

Anticipation – Croagunk shudders at the start of the battle, warning you of an OHKO move.
Poison Touch – Croagunk has a 30% chance to inflict the Poison status ailment on its opponent.
Dry Skin (Hidden Ability) – This ability makes Croagunk immune to Water-type moves and restores a small amount of health when inflicted by Water-type moves. However, it also reduces Croagunk’s max health points when affected by harsh sunlight and receives more damage from Fire-type attacks.

In my opinion, Anticipation should be ignored as it provides little use in battle. However, Poison Touch and Dry Skin are fantastic abilities that offer way more use and will give Croagunk survivability in combat.

Key Strengths and Weaknesses

Croagunk has many strengths in battle, and even more, if tuned correctly, for this reason, it’s an excellent choice for PVP battle. However, you’ll constantly be back and forth, tumbling with advantages and disadvantages every round. Croagunk’s comprehensive move coverage makes it great for removing your opponent’s item, with Knock-off devastating your opponent’s defenses and strategy.

Croagunk has access to many priority moves such as Sucker Punch, Fake Out, Bullet Punch, Vacuum Wave, and Feint. These moves are absolute life savers for Croagunk as they are capable of wiping out Pokemon that are dangerous to Croagunk. Such as Psychic-types with Sucker Punch.

Croagunk can decimate Fairy-types with the Steel-type Bullet Punch move, a trait limited to only a few Pokemon within the Little Cup competitive tier. However, you can knock out a Fairy-type easily with this move on round one of its entry to the battle.

Consider using Sludge Bomb instead, as this move is not only a stab move but will serve as a decisive move to use alongside the Poison Touch ability. Alternatively, Venoshock is an excellent choice as this move’s power is doubled if the target is poisoned. This allows me to sweep tanky Pokemon with big health pools.

Poison Touch is a robust and viable strategy, especially alongside the move Drain Punch allowing you to sustain damage with health recovery while chipping away at your opponent. I prefer Poison Touch over the Anticipation ability, as the Anticipation ability gives you little use in battle other than information on whether your opponent has an OHKO move.

Moreover, Croagunk’s Dry Skin ability is my favorite ability for Croagunk as it grants immunity to Water-types and gives Croagunk health regeneration from them. This allows me to support Croagunk with a Water-type Pokemon in Double battles and counter my opponent if they use a rain-based team.

Croagunk Lacks Damage Output

While Croagunk’s attack and special attack stats hold the most points out of all its stats, it doesn’t have enough firepower to threaten its opponent.

I often encounter Pokemon in a battle faster than my Croagunk, resulting in Croagunk taking hits before the match even starts. This would be problematic as Croagunk must inflict several attacks before it can knock out its opponent.

Sacrificing one of your move slots for either Nasty Plot or Bulk Up can resolve this problem. As Bulk Up raises Croagunk’s physical attack and defense, Nasty Plot increases Croagunk’s special attack and special defense by two stages. Simply use Bulk Up if your build revolves around physical attacks, or use Nasty Plot if your build incorporates special attacks instead.

Croagunk Counters

Abra

Abra is a nightmare to deal with in battle. This is due to Abra’s fast speed and incredible special attack stat. As a result, Abra can easily OHKO Croagunk out of combat. Therefore Sucker Punch will be your only savior. Note that Sucker Punch only takes priority if your opponent uses an attacking move.

More experienced trainers will likely suspect a Sucker Punch off your Croagunk. Although a gamble, I have used Nasty Plot when Abra has entered the field to call my opponents bluff to raise my Croagunk’s special attack. This does not always work, however, resulting in a knocked-out Croagunk.

Note that although Abra has high speed and special attack, it has abysmal health and physical defense, leaving it open for Croagunk to quickly knock it out. However, it’s common to encounter Abra’s holding the Focus Sash, an item that leaves the holders HP one 1 health point if its health is full and takes damage that would otherwise OHKO it.

Diglett

Diglett is another Pokemon that will leave your Croagunk shuddering in fear. Diglett has an immense speed of 95 points but has abysmal health points and has other low stats. Despite this, Diglett can inflict severe damage to Croagunk with the move Dig.

Dig has a high attack power of 80, which is further enhanced as a stab move. Diglett will always be able to initiate Dig before Croagunk as the first phase of Dig doesn’t count as an attack as the user digs underground and attacks in the next turn. As a result, Sucker Punch will fail.

I’ve used Bulk Up on Digletts entry to provide a bit of defense for Croagunk. However, this is not enough to save Croagunk, as Ground-type moves are super effective against Croagunk. Moreover, if Diglett opens with Earthquake, there isn’t much you can do to save Croagunk other than equipping it with a Focus Sash. The bottom line is Diglett is way too fast for Croagunk to react.

Unfortunately for Croagunk, Diglett’s Arena Trap ability stops you from being able to switch Croagunk out. Leaving him trapped in a battle with Diglett.

Hippopotas

Hippopotas is a dangerous Ground-type Pokemon against in the LC tier. Its Sand Stream and Sand Force abilities not only create sandstorms when it enters the field but also raise the power of Hippopotas’s Ground-type moves such as Earthquake, a fatal move to inflict on Croagunk.

Although Hippopotas is a very slow Pokemon, it has excellent health, defense, and attack stats that will render Croagunk’s attacks ineffective. Hippopotas further counters Croagunk’s Dry Skin ability by changing the weather effects from rain to a sandstorm.

I usually swap Croagunk in this situation as it won’t be able to do much in battle and is quickly knocked out. However, this can prove dangerous as Stealth Rock is a frequently used move by Hippopotas to inflict damage to switching Pokemon.

Natu

Natu is a nightmare for Croagunk to deal with as Natu is a Flying/Psychic-type. As a result, Natu is weak to Croagunk’s Ghost and Dark-type moves. However, remember that these are not stab moves for Croagunk, and Natu will typically be encountered holding an Evolite, increasing its physical and special defenses. Although Life Orb is also very common in PVP.

Natu poses a significant threat to Croagunk due to its reasonably high special attack and speed stats. You won’t be landing any moves outside of Sucker Punch and Vacuum Wave first, and the latter is not very effective to Natu due to its Flying-type. Natu is equipped with Psychic, a decisive special attack stab move that will easily knock Croagunk out due to its 4x weakness.

I’d recommend switching out Croagunk in this fight as I have tried to brute force Natu with a Sucker Punch, and it’s just way too risky. If Natu isn’t bad enough, its Magic Bounce ability reflects all incoming status ailments and affects back towards its opponent, meaning it cannot be poisoned by Croagunk.

Best Pokemon to Fight Against

The Dry Skin ability practically makes Croagunk strong against any Water-type pokemon. Because Water-type moves recover Croagunk’s health. I’ve managed to use opponents to heal my Croagunk using Drain Punch alongside taking hits from Water-type moves.

Croagunk has extraordinary sweeping abilities and is a Fairy-type killer. No longer am I scared of cotton candy, cake, and a set of keys. Although I’m mocking Fairy-types, it’s only because I feel safe to do so behind my trusty Croagunk. Otherwise, I’d cower from these Pokemon and their deadly sparkly moves.

Competetive Setup and Strategy

Nasty Plot Offensive Croagunk

Shadow Ball
Nasty Plot
Vacuum Wave
Sludge Bomb/Venoshock

This build focuses on Croagunk’s special attack offensive capabilities and therefore requires a Modest Natured Croagunk for an increase in Sp. Atk at the price of Atk. To get the most out of this build, you will want to use Nasty Plot on Croagunk’s entry to set it up for high-power attacks. However, identify your opponent before doing this and consider your opponent’s speed, moveset, and typing.

Remember that Vacuum Wave will take priority in battle but deals average damage and will need a buff from Nasty Plot to deal threatening damage. You can circumvent this by equipping Croagunk with a Life Orb, or Choice Specs.

I like this build as it uses Croagunk’s Fighting and Poison-type stab moves to grant it a much-needed boost to its attacks and defense. Nasty Plot steals the spotlight here as raising Croagunk’s special defense by two stages relieves a bit of stress in battle. However, this is why you must carefully choose your opponents, as going head to head with a physical attacker such as a Flying-type will easily wipe Croagunk out.

Bulk Up Pulveriser Croagunk

Bulk Up
Poison Jab
Drain Punch/Power-Up Punch
Sucker Punch/Knock Off

This build turns Croagunk into a physical attacker powerhouse and centers around increasing Croagunks physical attack and defense stats. Note that Bulk Up only increases attack and defense stats by one stage at a time, meaning it takes longer to set up Croagunk.

However, this fantastic, straightforward build is a lot of fun. I like this build as it can be interchangeable with some move slots. You may opt for a more strategic build by adding Knock Off to the setup to hinder your opponent’s strategy and deal extra damage from your opponent’s held items.

Sucker Punch is all too valuable as my only physical attacking option to get priority over my opponent. It can be a life saver and take out Psychic-types before they can knock my Croagunk out. Drain Punch is a must as the higher Croagunk’s attack stat is raised, the more health it recovers, making Life Orb a viable option and granting Croagunk a significant attack boost. Poison Jab deals tremendous power as a stab move and has the potential to poison Croagunk’s opponent.

An Adamant Nature Croagunk is best used for this build as this gives a slight boost to the attack stat at the cost of the special attack stat, but this is not used in the build. Power-Up Punch is an excellent alternative to Drain Punch as each hit increases Croagunk’s physical attack stat. Making Croagunk gain strength each round is even more powerful when coupled with a Choice Band.

Best Team for Weakness Coverage

Onix

Onix can lay down Stealth Rock to inflict damage to switching opponent Pokemon. This works fantastically with Croagunk as it deals enough damage to allow Croagunk to finish or leave its opponent in critical health with a Sucker Punch or Vacuum Wave.

Onix also allows Croagunk to safely switch out to a wall. Note that switching Croagunk will result in losing all its status effects. Meaning it will need to be set up again.

Although Onix has a great defense and speed stat, it has a poor attack. However, Stone Edge provides excellent power and has a high critical hit ratio countering the threat of Natu for Croagunk.

Mienfoo

Mienfoo is my favorite Pokemon to include on my team with Croagunk. Its powerful Reginarator and Reckless ability allow me to deal bursts of damage and promptly switch Mienfoo out with U-Turn into Croagunk to finish the opponent with either Vacuum Wave or Sucker Punch.

Croagunk, Mienfoo, and Onix work exceptionally well together as Onix can provide damage with Stealth Rock out the bat allowing me to clear up with either Mienfoo or Croagunk. It gets better, though, as Mienfoo’s Regenerator ability will enable it to regen outside of battle, giving your team more sustain.

Mienfoo’s Fake Out is another reason why It’s my favorite alongside Croagunk, as this move has priority if the user has just entered the field. Fake Out inflicts the flinch status effect making the target skip a round in battle. This makes a lot of space for me to plan my next move. U-Turn and Fake Out is a great combo as you’ll be able to flinch your opponent over and over.

Flinching my opponent allows me to quickly switch to Onix to relay Stealth Rock in the field before jumping out with Croagunk with a Sucker Punch. Croagunk will lose stat effects from moves such as Nasty Plot, Bulk Up, and Power-up Punch. Therefore, only switch Croagunk into battle with a plan to leave it there.

FAQs

Question: Why is Tracy’s Scyther Always Tired in the Pokemon Anime?

Answer: Tracy’s Scyther is always tired because it is a very old Pokemon. Tracy and the gang first encounter Scyther in the Tracy Gets Bugged” episode where they stumble across Scyther in critical condition after fighting a group of young Scyther in a battle to become the leader.

As a result Tracy always makes sure to retrieve Scyther from battle when it gets tired from battling. However, Scyther proves to be a valuable team member throughout its featured episodes.

Question: What Happened to Looker’s Croagunk?

Answer: Looker is an international police officer investigating the many criminal organizations established in the Pokemon universe. He is first encountered in the mainline series in Pokemon Platinum and is shown to own a Croagunk who helps him in his investigations.

In Pokemon X and Y, Looker explains to the player that his partner Pokemon was killed. Although Looker never states that this is Croagunk, a photo on the desk in Looker’s Bureau suggests that it was, in fact, Croagunk who died.

Question: Do you Ever Battle Commander Saturn’s Croagunk?

Answer: No, Commander Saturn’s Croagunk evolves into Toxicroak before the main character first encounters Saturn. However, Saturn’s Croagunk can be seen in the Pokemon Adventures Manga.

Croagunk Guide: Conclusion

In conclusion, Croagunk is a fantastic little fighter to add to your team in Diamond and Pearl and is a viable option for competitive battle.

I really enjoy Croagunk’s dual typing of Poison and Fighting as I rarely use Poison-types due to the type being unable to inflict super-effective damage to many typings. However, the Poison-type grants Croagunk high defense from many kinds of moves. Due to Poison dulling, several move typings.

I love the idea that Croagunk appears to have limited defense on the surface. At the same time, privately, it’s equipped with powerful abilities and typings that indirectly grant it defense and survivability in battle. From my experience, using Croagunk in combat and fighting against this devious little frog. I learned that it’s tough to predict what this little guy will do.

With so many combinations and strategies, from Nasty Plot builds to heavy fighting physical Bulk Up builds and support, you never know whether Croagunk will mess with your plan by removing your Pokemons-equipped item with Knock Off.