Thunderbolt and Ice Beam is moderately effective on everything except dedicated special sponges, Magnezone, Lanturn, and Shedinja. Sadly Clefable doesn't get STAB on any special move worth using. Softboiled and the defensive EVs make it pretty easy for you to Calm Mind up. You can't even get hurt by Toxic and such because of Magic Guard. While Leftovers would be the obvious choice for this tankish set, Life Orb is a very good choice as Magic Guard negates its recoil damage. Sandstorm and Hail don't hurt Clefable either, so that takes away the two main reasons why so many other Pokémon usually are too afraid of using it. Alternatively, you can use Focus Blast and Shadow Ball as your attacks. Nothing resists both of them, and Focus Blast can 2HKO Blissey after 3 Calm Minds when holding a Life Orb. Its accuracy and PP are low though. Lastly, it should be noted that Softboiled and Magic Guard are legal together on one set. You can teach Clefairy Softboiled in the 3rd Generation; it's ability may change upon evolving in a 4th Generation game.
This is the second way Clefable can attempt a sweep with special attacks. With this set, you cover everything in the Pokémon world type-wise. Shadow Ball and Psychic are alternatives for Gengar and Dusknoir mainly. If you wish to use either of them, Flamethrower is the least necessary as Ice Beam can kill Grassers and Thunderbolt hurts most Steels well enough. Psychic has the advantage of killing Heracross and Weezing. Choice Scarf can be used instead, so the EVs suggested have been tuned for that. You'll lose a boatload of offensive power, but you just might get the surprise jump on something.
Basically, any move that works on Blissey can work on Clefable. Clefable has no Natural Cure and no infinite HP and Special Defense, but at least it has Magic Guard and Reflect to work with. Paralyze fast threats like Alakazam and Azelf, shrug off hits with Softboiled, and support the team or wear the opponent down further. This is a set where Stealth Rock can be put in. Wish is very good as well with or without Protect—the other sets need Softboiled to stay at high health, but this one usually has time to live through more attacks and therefore can afford Wish. The core of the set is Softboiled and very defensive EVs; everything else can be juggled with.
And this is another thing Clefable has and Blissey doesn't: Encore. This set is extremely tedious to bring down, especially now that Toxic no longer works on it. If you try to set up, you'll get paralyzed and Encored. If you attack Clefable, it won't take too much damage and shrug it off with Softboiled. If you do none of this, you eat 100 Seismic Toss damage.
Clefable's only wins over other Normal Choice Banders like Staraptor, Snorlax and Ursaring are its trait, Meteor Mash and more Special Attack. Magic Guard allows him to use Double-Edge with no drawbacks whatsoever. This set is mostly novelty, but the idea of Clefable mashing in heads is just too funny, and its Attack isn't half bad. Facade can be used if you want to absorb paralysis or poison—Magic Guard prevents the extra damage.
This set makes Clefable a pretty good lead. Protect kills three birds with one stone: it triggers Toxic Orb to prevent enemies from putting Clefable to sleep, it scouts enemy Choice Banders, or rather enemies in general, and it allows you to fire 140 base power Facades from turn 2 without taking any damage beforehand. Restore health with Softboiled or kill Steels like Skarmory and Bronzong with Fire Blast.
The moment Clefable puts up a Substitute, its opponent may laugh, cry or do both. Laugh because Clefable will only have three moves, limiting its versatility—cry because he still won't know what those three moves are, and whether they can hit his Pokémon hard. This set could work pretty well in Advance, but in Diamond/Pearl you will quickly find you'll always be stuck against too many things. Thunderbolt is for Gyarados, Starmie and Slowbro, while Meteor Mash covers (fragile) Ghosts and kind of hurts Rock-types if you don't want to Focus Punch them. There are myriad other moves you can use in the last two slots. Moral of the story: Clefable can beat Blissey and Tyranitar if it wants to.
Use Calm Mind or Light Screen to put your opponent into a dilemma: hit Clefable's mighty Special Defense, or have a go at its physical Defense and risk a Counter to the face. Clefable survives all sorts of Choice Banded hits at near full health, and Softboiled makes sure it stays there. If you're using Calm Mind, you should use Ice Beam. With Light Screen, you can pick any of the three moves in the fourth slot. Counter is pretty good on its own on Clefable and can be put into a lot of sets. Just don't combine it with Thunder Wave. You don't want to spoil your Counter surprise on a full paralysis. Protect is very good to combine with Counter to see if your opponent does what you're expecting. It prevents embarrassing moments where Clefable takes a Salamence Draco Meteor to the face and then looks dumb using Counter.
Clefable has many chances to come in and set up because of its decent overall bulk and amazing ability. It is an excellent supporter and team player because it almost always successfully sets up the screens. What separates Clefable from other dual screeners is its access to Wish and wide variety of support moves, which most dual screeners lack. Softboiled is the more reliable healing move, although Wish can help your other teammates immensely by restoring 50% of their health on the switch-in. You can run Encore to ruin Pokémon trying to set up on you. On the offensive side, Seismic Toss is your best option to deal a respectable amount of damage since Clefable doesn't have any other viable moves to utilize with this set. Clefable can also make use of Gravity instead of the three moves mentioned so that teammates such as Nidoking, Rhydon, and Torterra can hit Flying-type or Levitating foes with STAB Earthquake. Nidoking's Fire Blast also receives a boost, allowing it to deal considerable damage to Tangrowth and Torterra without fear of missing. Clefable will generally have trouble against Pokémon that have access to Fighting-type moves. Hitmonlee and Hariyama can threaten Clefable with Close Combat and Force Palm respectively, making Mismagius and Spiritomb excellent partners. They are both immune to Fighting-type attacks and have access to Calm Mind, making it much easier to boost their stats when the screens set up by Clefable are in play. When it comes to dealing damage, Ghost-types can walk right into Seismic Toss and start something nasty such as boosting their stats, but Clefable is able to Encore them if they do so, which gives you a good chance at setting up screens.
Clefable is immune to Toxic damage and other hindrances fellow Belly Drummers like Linoone and Poliwrath do not enjoy. If you feel you are prevented from sweeping (like you're about to get phazed), Softboiled off the damage and sound the retreat. You can set yourself up with Thunder Wave if you like, but it'll cost you versatility. Better leave Clefable's Speed issues to Salac Berry and your team's paralysis support. Jolly allows you to outspeed base 70 Pokémon without a Speed boosting nature before Salac Berry triggers and guarantees you beat 110 base and lower after Salac kicks in, whereas Adamant lets you tie all these 100 base Speed Pokémon with a +Speed nature at 328 Speed, which might just cost you your sweep.
Though Clefable is usually defensively-oriented, this set allows Clefable to strike hard right off the bat to break down walls. Double-Edge is Clefable's main form of attack, 2HKOing Clefable, Lanturn, and Hypno. Fire Blast tears through Steelix like a baked potato through snow, dealing a minimum of 91.52% to standard (252 HP / 132 SpD) Steelix. Fire Blast also 2HKOs Venusaur, Weezing, and Rotom (among others), while OHKOing Leafeon and Scyther. Grass Knot will always 2HKO 252 HP / 0 SpD Claydol; OHKO Omastar, Kabutops, and Relicanth; and 2HKO max HP Aggron. However, what sets this apart from other UU wall breakers such as Sharpedo is its bulk and Softboiled. Most walls switching in will have a lot of trouble breaking past those 331/182/216 defenses, and most UU walls lack a recovery move, so Clefable will be beating most walls even if they predict properly to get in on a non-damaging move. For example, let's look at some calculations against 252 HP / 252 SpD Calm Venusaur. Its strongest attack against Clefable, Sludge Bomb, can only muster a maximum of 38.08% damage. Meanwhile, Clefable will be hitting it for 52.74% damage minimum with Fire Blast, and Double-Edge causes 52.19% damage minimum, so Clefable will always be able to stall it out by cycling between Softboiled and Double-Edge or Fire Blast, even if Venusaur comes in on a Grass Knot or Softboiled. Other common walls, such as Steelix, Claydol, and Lanturn will not be able to 2HKO Clefable with their standard movesets and lack recovery, so they too will usually lose to Clefable on the switch-in. 76 Speed EVs are to outspeed minimum Speed Weezing, which can allow Clefable to knock it out with two Fire Blasts without getting burned. 216 Attack EVs ensure that Double-Edge 2HKOs 252 HP / 0 Def Calm Clefable. The rest of the EVs are placed in Special Attack to maximize the damage output from Fire Blast and Grass Knot.
A bulkier version of the previous Belly Drum set. It loses Speed and the ability to hit Ghosts for a much better chance of setting up a Belly Drum. The aim of the set is simple; switch in Clefable on something it can force out, Cosmic Power on the switch, and keep boosting your defenses until you are confident that you can pull off a Belly Drum safely. Softboiled is what sets it apart from other Belly Drummers; the ability to heal off the 50% damage with little risk to yourself, thanks to Cosmic Power, is very handy indeed. Toxic Orb is the item of choice here, both for boosting Facade's power to obscene levels and to protect Clefable from unwanted sleep, paralysis or burn. If you would prefer to do slightly more damage, using Life Orb and Double-Edge together on this set is fine. Something of note is that after a Belly Drum, the Life Orb variant actually has a guaranteed 2HKO on Steelix. 252 Attack EVs are mandatory on this set to pack as much power as possible. In fact, after a Belly Drum, Clefable will do a minimum of 50% to Relaxed, minimum Defense Steelix. Maxing defense looks like an attractive option at first, but it leaves you with only a slight chance of surviving a maximum Attack Life Orb Close Combat from an Adamant Hitmontop after a single Cosmic Power, so it simply isn’t worth it. With the EV’s listed above, a Choice Specs Modest Glaceon, the most powerful special attacker in UU, will do 45 – 54% damage with Ice Beam after a single Cosmic Power. Therefore, the EV’s above are designed to maximize Clefable’s walling capabilities on the special side of the spectrum without compromising its ability to tank physical hits. The 8 speed EV's are to outrun minimum speed Weezing, who can potentially Haze away your Attack boosts. The element of surprise will usually net you a few surprise KOs with this set; but getting walled entirely by Steel and Ghost Pokémon can be frustrating. Thus, it is highly recommended that you pair this with support from a powerful Pursuit user. Choice Band Absol is an ideal choice for this job for its ability to Pursuit Ghost-types and does 64% on average to Relaxed Steelix with Superpower. Absol's ability to lure in Fighting-type Pokémon and OHKO them with Psycho Cut can also aid in Clefable setting up later in the game. If you dislike Absol's frailty, then Drapion is also a fine choice as a Pursuit user. You lose the ability to defeat Steelix, but in return you gain the ability to switch into battle much more easily. There is no "better choice" in terms of a Pursuiter, it is all up to personal preference.
Wish Clefable works in UU, just as Blissey works in OU. Wish is a fantastic move for Clefable, especially when you consider that Clefable cannot be touched by residual damage, courtesy of Magic Guard. This also means Clefable isn’t troubled by the likes of Toxic or Toxic Spikes, which could cause common Wish users problems. Protect also works excellently for Clefable, for a handful of reasons. First of all, and most obvious, Protect allows Clefable to usually take no damage, meaning that the healing support provided by Wish is next to guaranteed. Pair this with Leftovers, and suddenly Clefable can keep strong for a long time. Protect also means Clefable takes less hits, making Toxic damage all the more problematic for the opponent, as it racks up quickly. Protect also allows Clefable to dodge Explosions from random Pokémon. Finally, Protect is useful for scouting. Choice Band Hitmonlee, a common switch into Clefable and now suddenly becomes easier to handle as Clefable can Protect to see what move it uses, and then switch to the appropriate counter. Toxic too works excellently on Clefable. Toxic will stop Rest-less Rotom and Calm Mind Jynx as well as make it much easier to take out Pokémon which would otherwise take a while to knock out, such as Claydol and Flareon. Persian will absolutely hate Toxic when it has Life Orb, and Toxic also allows Clefable to avoid Froslass’ Destiny Bond. In a 1 v 1 situation, it also becomes very handy against the defensive Altaria, where Toxic Spikes would have no effect. The last moveslot is a tough choice. Psychic allows Clefable to hit the many Poison-types of UU for super effective damage, notably Nidoking, Weezing, Nidoqueen, and Venusaur. On top of this, it will also hit common Fighting-type switch-ins for super effective damage. However, this leaves Clefable totally helpless against Drapion. Flamethrower provides good coverage with Toxic, also hitting Venusaur for super effective damage, as well as doing good damage to Steelix. Flamethrower also manages to break SubRoost Articuno’s Substitutes, which allows Clefable to use Toxic as it Roosts, eventually winning out. Finally, Grass Knot may be used, as hits Probopass, Bastiodon, and Aggron all harder than Flamethrower, as well as doing moderate damage to Nidoking and Nidoqueen. Grass Knot will also break Lapras’ Substitutes, something which Psychic and Flamethrower fail to do. However, it leaves you practically hopeless against Venusaur and Drapion. The EVs are relatively simple, max HP for overall defensiveness, and then 216 go to Special Defense, allowing for two more stat points than 212. The rest of the EVs go to Special Attack, allowing Clefable to have slightly more firepower.
Clefable with Trick is a great surprise, especially when you consider its common switch-ins. Trick means that you can cripple many common switch-ins, such as Hypno. The combination of Shadow Ball, Focus Blast, and Psychic is unresisted, and also hits many of the UU Pokémon for super effective damage. Shadow Ball will hurt Grumpig, Hypno, and Claydol, whilst Focus Blast will always 2HKO opposing Clefable. Psychic also damages Weezing and many Fighting-types which may come in on Clefable. However, you may prefer the attacking option of Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Fire Blast. It hits everything in UU for neutral damage bar Lanturn, and can hurt Pokémon such as Mantine and Swellow much harder. Ice Beam will also do more damage to Claydol than Shadow Ball. This is especially recommended in OU play, allowing Clefable to hit Gyarados, Salamence, Skarmory, and other common Pokémon much harder. The 44 Speed EVs allow Clefable to outrun any base 65 Pokémon with a neutral Speed nature and no EVs.
This set centers around Clefable's ability to use Trick, but unlike the standard Trick set, this uses the status orbs to cripple the opponent. In UU, some of the most common switch-ins to Clefable are Fighting-type Pokémon, such as Hitmonlee and Hitmontop, and other hard hitting physical Pokémon. This is where Flame Orb does its job. Flame Orb inflicts the holder with a burn status, but thanks to Clefable's ability Magic Guard, Clefable won't be taking any damage from that burn. Clefable is then able to Trick away the Flame Orb to the aforementioned common switch-ins. Toxic Orb is another item option, but it isn't recommended because Clefable can already use Toxic. Toxic Orb can help against Pokémon who are unaffected by burn, but are vulnerable to the worsening poison. This set is just as successful in OU due to the abundance of Fighting types, but Clefable must be wary of activating Heracross's Guts ability. Note in UU Clefable should also watch out for Swellow, who may try to also grab a Guts boost. The moves here aren't any different from the Blissey With Weight Loss set. Softboiled gives Clefable a reliable form of recovery and Seismic Toss allows Clefable to wear down bulky opponents, especially in conjunction with a status affliction. Clefable has the options of Ice Beam and Stealth Rock here as well. Reflect provides more defensive coverage on the physical side, while Light Screen provides more Special Defense, so it's a personal choice here.
Clefable boasts a huge advantage over other low level Endeavor users, namely its unique ability Magic Guard, which prevents sandstorm, hail, Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes from breaking your Focus Sash prematurely. The idea behind this set is simple: get in, survive one hit using Focus Sash, and then Endeavor, reducing the opponent to either 15 (if your opponent did not attack) or 1 HP. This Clefable is meant to be used with sandstorm, hail, or Toxic Spikes support, which would then finish your weakened opponent at the end of the turn (all of the preceding will damage the opponent before leftovers recovery). Either way, you should have a priority move user waiting in the wings should your target be resistant to your field hazard of choice. Hopefully you have Stealth Rock up, so even if your target switches out he is essentially out of the battle. Clefable should net one KO per battle, possibly more if your opponent doesn’t catch on to the low level and switches or tries to set up. Protect helps to scout for Fake Out or a sleep move, while Encore is useful should something that resists your field hazard try to recover hp before finishing you off (assuming your sash was broken). After Encoring a recovery move, you would then use your fourth move, Endeavor again if you predict a switch, or switch yourself to something that can set up. Thunder Wave, Sing, or Toxic is to be used if you think your opponent is about to switch to a ghost type. Swagger and Knock Off are also viable for that fourth slot, along with Snatch, which stops Substitute from ruining your day, but requires a good deal of prediction. (Endeavor will break subs as long as your opponent has more than ¼ of their hp remaining, but will fail to break them afterward.) The advantage of using this Clefable as opposed to CB Metagross with Explosion is its ability to selectively eliminate key Pokémon, as a switch to a non-ghost type effectively gives a free KO. Clefable also functions as a sacrificial revenge killer, especially useful in stopping dangerous sweeps. Heracross, Latias, Salamence and Suicune, along with countless others, are forced to sacrifice themselves should Clefable come in on them (if your opponent has no Ghost-types). Special mention goes to the possibility of using this on a Trick Room team, where Clefable can easily net two kills, outspeeding even Shuckle during Trick Room with its paltry 6 speed. Because of the low level, nature and EVs are irrelevant to the performance of this set. Other OptionsFifteen movesets are already listed, and Clefable still has other moves that haven't been touched yet. Toxic is good for status if paralysis isn't your thing. Elemental punches are also optional. Snatch and Psych Up can grab you stat boosts in some situations. Whether Clefable's average stats can get it to win a one on one war with Calm Minders or Swords Dancers is questionable though. Clefable can set up Gravity for itself and its teammates, but you should be wary of your opponent taking advantage of it. When Gravity is active, Thunder, Fire Blast and Blizzard become superior over their 95 base power counterparts. You may want to stick to the safer side though, as Gravity may not always be active when you want to attack. Drain Punch or Brick Break might help against Tyranitar and Weavile. Grass Knot is hands down his best option for fighting Rhyperior and Swampert, but don't ever let it be its only attacking move, both because Grass is a horrible offensive type and because lightweights such as Azelf will use the spare time to set up. Unlike many other Pokémon, Clefable can afford to sacrifice Leftovers recovery and use Life Orb instead, because it doesn't take damage from Life Orb, Stealth Rock, Sandstorm, poison, burn, Hail or Spikes. EVsYou should usually just take what's suggested and play around with that. There are a few general guidelines, but not much beyond that. If your Clefable is playing defensively, you should max out HP before touching its defenses. In this case, using a nature that boosts Special Defense tends to give you more stat points than one that boosts Defense, simply because Clefable's Special Defense is higher. If you're playing Clefable offensively, pay attention to magic numbers. 236 Special Attack to KO 4 HP/0 Special Defense Salamence, ~240 Attack to 2HKO Blissey and OHKO Tyranitar with Focus Punch, etc. Run some damage calculations and see what works the best for you. OpinionClefable hands-down wins the entertainment award in Pokémon Diamond/Pearl competitive play. With a movepool out of the wazoo, offensive and defensive stats barely enough to exploit it and Magic Guard to prevent enemies from getting rid of Clefable in uncool ways (read: Toxic), Clefable is a one-man(?) show. It'll keep you guessing again and again what to do and you'll likely be wrong. If you're in for something different in your standard team that is good enough to get away with, but cool enough not to get yelled at for using, Clefable is a top recommendation. Lastly, it should be noted that Softboiled and Magic Guard are legal together on one set. You can teach Clefairy Softboiled in the 3rd Generation; it's ability may change upon evolving in a 4th Generation game. CountersSince Advance, a 100% counter was impossible to most things that were a threat. For Clefable, you would only have 20% counters percentage-wise. It's as unpredictable as a suicidal murderer that escapes from prison. Fortunately, Clefable's attacking stats are decent but not too special, so a mistake will usually not cost you the game. It learns a lot of moves, but in Pokémon you only get to use four of them, so after you discover Clefable's set it will be quite easy to handle. Your best bet is switching to something with all-around good durability and type that doesn't get screwed up too quickly to check what Clefable's opening gambit is. Most physical sets can be stopped by Rhyperior, Steelix, Skarmory, Metagross, and Dusknoir, while special sets often have trouble with Blissey. Cresselia and Celebi tend to take little damage from either side. All of the more defensive switch-ins should beware of Trick. |
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