Come in on other defensive Pokémon and physical attackers that are not going to use Rock, Fighting, Electric, or Grass moves and attempt to set up Spikes or Toxic Spikes. Rapid Spin as needed to clear Spikes / Stealth Rock from your side of the field and use Explosion when Cloyster has had enough or to off a particularly perilous Pokémon posing a threat to your team. You can use Surf over Explosion, if you don't want Fire-types coming in easily and threatening Cloyster with Flamethrower or Fire Blast. Surf also hurts Froslass, who will block Rapid Spin and resists Ice Beam, and Forretress who can Rapid Spin away your Spikes.
Automatically statusing incoming Pokémon with Toxic Spikes and sapping their Hit Points is a great way to wear down your opponent’s walls and limit the lifespan of Pokémon like Swampert and Hippowdon, but there is a risk that comes with such a lovely effect. That risk is activating the Guts ability of Heracross, boosting its already impressive Attack score by 50%. If you want to try and utilize Toxic Spikes Cloyster in OU, you better have a max HP, max Defense Impish Gliscor waiting in the wings to stop Heracross's inevitable rampage, or this strategy will backfire more often than a '72 Ford. The rest of the set: Spikes / Rapid Spin / offensive move of your choosing functions in the same manner described in the first set. Other OptionsThere are three other options for Ice STAB to consider, all of which run of Cloyster's decent Attack. Icicle Spear takes advantage of Cloyster's new Skill Link ability. Including STAB it has an effective base power of 75, the same as Ice Punch. The multiple hits allow you to attack through Garchomp Substitutes, though you expose yourself to the possibility of a Stone Edge or some other move going critical. Avalanche powers up to 120 if Cloyster takes a hit, and he's slow enough to not mind going last. Ice Shard is great for taking out speedy Dragons, or other weakened enemies. Payback hits incoming Ghosts with a 100 BP Dark attack and is particularly useful if Froslass comes in to block Rapid Spin. It also hurts Starmie if it comes in to remove Spikes, although a OHKO is unlikely, even with max Attack. If you are really enamored of Skill Link, Spike Cannon also takes advantage of it, but has little utility. Protect could be useful for scouting Choice Band Pokémon and getting an extra turn of Leftovers recovery, and possibly draining an opponent if Toxic Spikes are set up. Hidden Power Electric or Grass can hurt opposing Cloyster, with the former also useful for hitting Mantine and Gyarados, the latter is helpful against Quagsire and Swampert. EVsAlways maximize Cloyster's dismal Hit Points stat with 252 EVs and choose a nature that boosts Defense. You usually won't need a lot of Defense EVs, but they can be helpful when switching into Stone Edge from Ground-types. Maxing out Defense does give Cloyster the chance to survive three hits from things like CB Dodrio's Brave Bird and CB Nidoking's Stone Edge. Otherwise, spread your EVs between Special Defense, Special Attack and Attack (if you're using Explosion or other physical attacks). It is amazing how helpful Special Defense EVs are when Cloyster is getting pummeled with Surf over and over. 260 Attack (136 EVs) will OHKO Blissey with Explosion, which is a good option when using Cloyster in OU. OpinionSadly, Cloyster is not nearly as useful in the fourth generation of Pokémon as it was in the first three. In Advance, it was unique in that it was the only capable Spiker able to switch out of Magneton. Now, Skarmory and Forretress have the option of equipping themselves with Shed Shell to escape Magnet Pull, and the new Ice / Ghost Froslass is capable of Spiking and blocking Rapid Spin on its own. On top of those things, Cloyster is weak to Stealth Rock, which limits how much he will be able to switch into Garchomp, Swampert, Hippowdon and even his fellow Spikers that have access to Stealth Rock like Skarmory and Forretress. Still, he can perform well in UU, where he makes a great counter for Dragon Dance Altaria, and can soak up CB Returns and such. In the Uber metagame, Cloyster makes a good substitute for Forretress as STAB Ice Beam does decent damage to Giratina trying to switch in to block Rapid Spin. CountersCloyster folds to most neutral special attacks, and despite his massive Defense, attacks like Close Combat and Stone Edge should be avoided too. It would take pages upon pages to make a comprehensive list of the Pokémon that can knock Cloyster out, so instead, I will just focus on strategies and moves that really render him useless. Obviously, laying down Spikes is how Cloyster attempts to be effective, so teams prepared with a Rapid Spinner and a method of dealing with Dusknoir (Pursuit anyone?) will beat Cloyster handily. Starmie is the best choice as it resists both STAB moves and easily kills Cloyster with Thunderbolt. Stealth Rock is another efficient way to kill Cloyster off. Teams with Cloyster likely will not have another spinner, therefore he will have to take a minimum of 25% damage each time he wants to clear the field. |
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