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http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/celebi
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Leech Seed / Thunder Wave / Reflect
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Recover
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice / Earth Power
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Recover and solid base 100 Defenses, Celebi is an excellent candidate for a defensive Pokemon. Leech Seed will quickly frustrate most of its opponents, and Recover just makes life harder for them. Leech Seed also works well if you surround Celebi with Stealth Rock and Spikes since it will often force switches. Thunder Wave is also a very good option for the ability to cripple sweepers such as Gyarados, Salamence, and Azelf. Reflect is great for Celebi's own defenses and for team support. Grass Knot is easily Celebi's most reliable attacking move, as it has STAB, 20 PP (32 with PP max) and being surprisingly powerful on many of the Pokemon that thrive in the OU metagame, most notably Tyranitar and Gyarados. Celebi's last move mostly depends on the trainer's need. Hidden Power Fire gives Celebi the opportunity to hurt Steel-types such as Forretress, Scizor, and Metagross reasonably hard, whereas Hidden Power Ice severely dents Salamence and Gliscor. Earth Power is also a decent option to consider for the ability to dent Heatran on the switch and hurts Metagross more then Hidden Power Fire, but otherwise has very little utility.</p>
<p>Stealth Rock can be considered for your utility option if your team lacks that. Light Screen can be used to patch up Celebi's lesser Special Defense abilities.
<p>The EVs give Celebi the best overall physical defenses while still outrunning Jolly Tyranitar. This particular Celebi set is often used as a utility counter in a team, as its typing and magnificent defenses allow it to counter threats such as Gyarados and Breloom. </p>
[SET]
name: Calm Mind Passer
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Grass Knot / Psychic
move 3: Baton Pass
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Celebi is one of the most reliable Calm Mind/Baton Passers in the game. It has the defensive stats, Recover and resistances to take a few beatings, and this version has enough Speed to ensure it gets in a Baton Pass against anything slower than 308, which includes Adamant Garchomp and any kind of Tyranitar that does not hold Choice Scarf, and most importantly, base 90 Speed Pokémon that run a Speed boosting nature, such as Lucario or Porygon-Z. While Psychic used to be the most popular attacking move on Celebi, Grass Knot helps Celebi to defend itself against Weavile better. You can Baton Pass out against Salamence and non-Choice Scarf Heracross anyway. As a bonus, it nearly OHKOs Dugtrio, but it isn't as much of a threat anymore as he was in Advance because Hidden Power Bug is now special and his best bet is the 3HKO Night Slash. A great thing about Baton Passing Celebi is that it helps against Pursuiters: if the Pursuiter is faster it will deal damage with 40 base power, and if it's slower it will hit your recipient.</p>
<p>Psychic can still be used if you want to hurt Heracross and Salamence on the switch. Infernape will not be pleased either.</p>
[SET]
name: Uber Lead
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Recover
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Stealth Rock / Earth Power / Hidden Power Fire / Leech Seed
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
nature: Calm
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This Celebi is designed to give the user information about the opponent's team, paralyze the opponent, and play accordingly. Its defense EVs allow it to never be OHKOed by a Life Orb Groudon's Fire Punch, and its special defense EVs allow it to never be OHKOed by a Choice Specs Mewtwo's Ice Beam.</p>
<p>On the first turn, Celebi Thunder Waves and notes how much damage it takes. If it took 80%+, the opponent was most likely Banded / Speced and now crippled due to Thunder Wave. Celebi can switch to an appropriate counter, having given information to the user and still having the chance to remain relevant late battle with Recover. Thunder Wave and Recover allow Celebi to beat most Kyogre, Deoxys-A, Mewtwo (non Specs or Taunt versions) and Groudon (low Speed versions) one on one.</p>
<p>The choice for the fourth slot is a team issue. Stealth Rock will help attackers like Rayquaza and Groudon sweep more effectively. Earth Power is an excellent choice for the ability to dent Dialga, Heatran, and Metagross. Leech Seed can be served to Pokemon like Blissey, Lugia and Giratina, all of whom generally force Celebi to switch out. Finally, Hidden Power Fire is there to deal damage to both Scizor and Forretress.</p>
[SET]
Name: Physical Baton Pass
Move 1: Baton Pass
Move 2: Swords Dance
Move 3: Seed Bomb
Move 4: Recover / Substitute / Zen Headbutt
EVS: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Celebi's defenses are phenomenal and usually allow it to survive enough hits that it can find the time for at least one Swords Dance. Celebi can then either sweep with boosted Seed Bombs or Baton Pass away to a more dangerous threat such as Agility Lucario.</p>
<p>Its two STAB moves, Seed Bomb and Zen Headbutt are the best physical options Celebi has. The former is recommended here because nothing is immune to it, though Zen Headbutt may be used as well if you wish to take advantage of its flinch rate, and don't mind losing Recover. With 80 EVs in attack, Seed Bomb has a 87% chance of OHKOing maximum HP Tyranitar after a Swords Dance if it switches into Stealth Rock. If you have other means of dealing with Tyranitar and would rather just Baton Pass out against it, you may shift those EVs to one of your defenses instead.</p>
<p>In addition to Attack boosts, Celebi is also well-suited to passing bulky 101 HP Substitutes.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Signal Beam / U-turn / Trick
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Fire / Earth Power
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Unlike the other sets recommended, this one puts Celebi on the offense and your opponent on the defense. Leaf Storm will hurt anything not resistant—too bad a lot of things actually are resistant, which is why you have Psychic for secondary STAB. A Choice-locked Psychic is Pursuit bait so it is best to scout the opposing team before using it. The third slot is reserved to hit other Psychics: Silver Wind will obviously do more damage, but U-turn gives you scouting potential. If damaging other Psychic types is of little concern, Trick is an interesting alternative to cripple common Celebi counters such as Blissey, Snorlax, and Cresselia. The fourth slot deals with Celebi's obvious weaknesses. Hidden Power Fighting hurts Dark-types with Pursuit a lot, such as Tyranitar and Weavile. Hidden Power Fire beats up Steels, in particular Scizor, and other Grasser and Earth Power pulverizes Steels that aren't up in the air (like Metagross and especially Heatran).</p>
[SET]
name: Offensive CM
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Recover / Psychic
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice / Earth Power
item: Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Offensive CM Celebi works alot like Offensive Suicune. However, unlike Suicune, it gets Recover, which gives Celebi more turns to attack. This also allows Celebi to take more hits and set up.</p>
<p>Grass Knot gives Celebi obvious STAB. In the third slot, Recover is preferred as Life Orb damage really adds up quickly. However, if it is desired Celebi to have as much type coverage as possible, Psychic is an option. Psychic + Hidden Power Fire hits every OU Pokemon excluding Tyranitar, Starmie, and Heatran for at least neutral damage. There are three choices in the final slot; Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Ice, and Earth Power. Hidden Power Fire hits Steels and other Celebi. Hidden Power Ice also hits other Celebi, while doing good damage against Dragons, such as Salamence and can OHKO Shaymin-S. Earth Power nails any Heatran switch-ins and also is your best option against Jirachi and Metagross.</p>
<p>The EVs give you maximum sweeping potential with 252 Special Attack EVs. 176 Speed EVs lets you outspeed all base 90 Speed Pokemon such as Timid Roserade and Jolly Lucario. The remaining EVs are delegated to HP for some bulk.</p>
[SET]
name: Cleric
move 1: Psychic / Grass Knot
move 2: Recover
move 3: Heal Bell
move 4: Leech Seed
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The focus of this set is Heal Bell. Like with Aromatherapy on Blissey, it has obvious pros and cons. On the plus side, it gets rid of status on your entire team. Gone with the freeze Weavile inflicted on your Metagross, the unsuspected paralysis or burn Gallade gave your Salamence or that surprising Toxic on your bulky Water. On the other hand, Heal Bell is pretty much telegraphed to your opponent if you send in Celebi after one or more of your Pokémon got inflicted with status. It does nothing to repel nasty opponents at all, and it gives things like Tyranitar an invitation ticket to come in for free and do horrible things with Celebi and/or its team mates. So if you think you can afford to trade a turn for nursing all your Pokémon, use this Celebi, but beware as that one turn may cost you the game sometimes.</p>
<p>The rest of the deal is pretty obvious: attack or Leech Seed counters on the switch, and if you have suffered a wound so severe that Leftovers and Leech Seed don't cure it fast enough, Recover it off. It's the way this set worked in GSC and Advance, and it will probably remain this way forever.</p>
[SET]
name: More Leech Seed and Calm Mind
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Calm Mind
move 3: Recover / Substitute
move 4: Psychic / Grass Knot
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 36 Spe / 220 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Both Leech Seeding Celebi and Calm Minding Celebi can be horribly annoying, depending on what you're sending in as a counter. Imagine the face of your opponent when it turns you got both! This kind of Celebi not only stalls like a Brazilian on the losing end of a rated battle on NetBattle, but can also actually sweep with enough Calm Minds. Try not to get greedy because Celebi has the horrible tendency to get itself killed by critical hits.</p>
<p>A bias to Defense is present in this set to avoid taking heavy damage from Pursuit. However, a Calm nature with a sizable EV investment in Special Defense is also viable, allowing you to more easily set up against special attackers. Even those that would hit for super effective will have trouble, if they don't have Choice Specs or STAB behind them.</p>
[SET]
name: SubSeed
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Leech Seed
move 3: Baton Pass / Recover / Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Psychic
item: Leftovers
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 176 Spe / 80 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>A Celebi with this set takes ages to get rid of if you only have slow Celebi counters like Metagross and Tyranitar. Leech Seed opponents, repeatedly use Substitute to wear them down, and finish off with Psychic. Use Stealth Rock and/or Spikes to punish people trying to switch out of Leech Seed. Psychic is the better attacking option here because you'll want something to hit other Grassers like Sceptile. Baton Pass can hand some other team mate a 101 HP Substitute to work with, Recover makes Celebi's durability nearly overkill, and the Hidden Powers can be used to hit super effectively on other Grassers as well as specific threats. Basically, Fire is for Steels and Ice is for Dragons.</p>
[SET]
name: Tinkerbell
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Leaf Storm
move 3: Psychic / Hidden Power Fire / U-turn
move 4: Rest / Recover
item: Life Orb
nature: Modest
evs: 232 HP / 32 Spe / 240 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p> This is a good multi-purpose set that acts as a deterrent to Celebi's usual counters. Most things that switch into Celebi will not enjoy being crippled by paralysis, which makes you faster than the myriad of offensive pokemon eager to blast through Celebi's defenses. Leaf Storm, backed up by a Life Orb and heavy EV investment is a new definition of pain, blasting through even a Max HP Tyranitar's defenses for a OHKO with the aid of Stealth Rock.</p>
<p> The last two slots can be tailored to what you would like Celebi to handle. Psychic is a strong STAB option that will dispatch of Gengar, Heracross, and Infernape. Hidden Power Fire will hit Shaymin-S for a minimum of 66% and easily OHKO Forretress and Scizor switch-ins. U-turn is great for getting Celebi out of there after you've crippled something with Thunder Wave. Rest is the primary method of healing here, as Celebi can fully replenish its HP against a faster opponent and switch out thanks to Natural Cure. Recover is a great alternative, as you can scout for a full paralysis before switching.</p>
<p> The EVs let you outspeed Jolly Tyranitar so you can kill them before they even think about setting up. It also makes sure that you take the minimum damage from Life Orb with the highest possible HP.</p>
[SET]
Name: Life Orb Sweeper
Move 1: Recover
Move 2: Leaf Storm
Move 3: Psychic
Move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Earth Power / U-turn
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 36 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Nature: Timid
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set's purpose is to deal as much damage as possible to the opposition, unlike most of the other Celebi sets, which are primarily used defensively. Only Heatran and Houndoom resist the attacking combination of Fire + Grass + Psychic. Recover is on the set to heal off residual Life Orb recoil damage, as Celebi will have many opportunities to heal in battle due to its useful Fighting and Ground resistances. Earth Power can be used to deal damage to Fire Pokemon switching in on Celebi, like Heatran, Houndoom, and Arcanine. U-turn can be considered in order to save Celebi from potentially bad matchups, and it works well in conjunction with Leaf Storm due to the -2 Special Attack drop.</p>
<p>Timid is chosen over Modest because it is impossible to have a Speed IV of 31 with Hidden Power Fire, meaning Celebi would always be slower than other neutral base 100 Speed Pokemon. 319 Speed allows Celebi to always outspeed and KO Lucario, Roserade, Porygon-Z, and Electivire unless they hold a Choice Scarf.</p>
<p>Life Orb is the optimal item on this set instead of Expert Belt because Celebi will hit most of its targets for neutral damage. As for Leftovers, this particular Celebi set is not meant to take hits anyway.</p>
[SET]
Name: Trick Orb
Move 1: Trick
Move 2: U-Turn
Move 3: Psychic
Move 4: Recover
Item: Flame Orb
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def /176 Spe
Nature: Timid
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Pokemon such as Scizor, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross, and Lucario will often switch into Celebi expecting to take a weak Grass Knot and proceed to set up themselves. This set relies on Celebi's ability to lure in these common physical threats and Trick a Flame Orb onto them, crippling them with the Burn status. Celebi can then U-Turn out and rid itself of the Burn with Natural Cure. Psychic is used so Heracross and Infernape are not guaranteed a free switch in since neither mind receiving a Flame Orb, in particular Heracross.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Celebi gets three alternate Grass moves worth considering. Energy Ball works better than Grass Knot if the opponent is rather light—it has 80 base power, which wins against Weavile, Dugtrio and Vaporeon. However, Grass Knot has a lot more power against Milotic, Tyranitar, Rhyperior and others, so the vast majority of the time it is a superior option. Leaf Storm has only been mentioned on the Choice Specs set, but is worthwhile on any set except Calm Minding ones. Celebi has to hop in and out a lot, making the Special Attack drop not as significant, and the extra power is welcome. The low PP, however, is not, which is why Giga Drain isn't getting much more mentioning than the following: it was quite useful in Advance to take out Dugtrio in one hit and still have some HP to spare, but in this generation Dugtrio isn't an effective Celebi killer anymore and you've got many other good alternates.</p>
<p>Charge Beam has a few cool uses. For one, it nets Celebi a nice boost in Special Attack 63% of the time you use it (factoring in the 90% accuracy). It's also a nice way of self defense against the monster that is Gyarados as well as against Skarmory. The fact that you can Baton Pass these lucky boosts makes it all the more worth considering. The base power is beyond pathetic though; if you want something a little better than that you can use Hidden Power Electric. If you don't have access to Hidden Powers like that, Shock Wave can be a substitute, but it's quite weak as well.</p>
<p>While Hidden Power tends to be pretty hard to get right on Celebi in WiFi environment, it is a big help if you manage to get a proper one, or are playing on a simulator. As outlined in the Choice Specs set, Fighting helps against all these dangerous Dark-types and a few Steels.</p>
<p>Stealth Rock also found its way into Celebi's movepool. While Spikes would have been preferable on a Pokémon with as much durability as this floating head of lettuce, it's better than nothing. Still, Celebi has so many awesome options that you're better off rounding out some other Pokémon's moveset with it. Stealth Rock hits quite hard on Celebi's "good friends" Salamence and Gyarados though, so it complements it nicely wherever you choose to put it on your team. Celebi makes a nice switch enforcer, and even better with Perish Song. It is arguably not as good as Roar or Whirlwind, but it helps a lot against Baton Pass chains unless they can get to Mr. Mime in time, or if your opponent has one Pokémon remaining. Protect stalls for Leftovers and Leech Seed recovery and scouts your opponent. I would say "it also speeds up the process of the Perish Song countdown", but using both of them on the same Celebi is wasting its versatility.</p>
<p>Celebi also makes a very good user of Trick Room for the same reason Bronzong and Dusknoir do: they can take a hit or two and therefore get it in more than once without rolling over and dying. If you're looking for something to set it up for you, be sure to glance in Celebi's direction. Light Screen is great for adding some Special Defense to your team, and helps against that Choice Specs Salamence that loves to come in on Celebi. Reflect is a better choice though as it protects you against Pursuit.</p>
<p>AncientPower would be good if it had more base power. As it stands, a super effective AncientPower does less than a neutral Psychic, making it pretty much only useful against Weavile or in situations where you don't know whether Skarmory, Weavile or Salamence is coming in while you want to hit all three reasonably hard.</p>
<p>Heal Block would be interesting if it blocked Leftovers recovery, but sadly, it doesn't. Healing Wish is basically trading Celebi's life for that of one of your other Pokémon (since you should only be using it when something else is at death's door), but it isn't much more than novelty because it's so situational. Celebi is fast and durable enough to save its own butt with Recover, and is usually more valuable than whatever you're healing. Psych Up is pretty cool to copy Calm Minds and such from enemies. If Celebi can't win the war by itself, just Baton Pass to something else.</p>
[EVs]
<p>Unless Celebi is trying to sweep the opponent with Choice Specs, it should max out HP to take hits well from either side of the spectrum. 244, 305, and 308 are the Speeds it should be aiming at most of the time: 244 beats Jolly Tyranitar to the punch and 305 gets the jump on Adamant Garchomp. If you elect to invest to 305, you might as well go the full stretch and run 308 to outspeed all base 90 Speed Pokémon without Choice Scarf. Most of the EVing is obvious and outlined under each specific set, but generally you'll want to focus on one defense with your leftover EVs.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>In Advance, there were a lot of doubts about Celebi being Uber or not. Diamond/Pearl pretty much declared Celebi "a good standard" by giving Pursuit to some extremely big threats and adding/evolving more Pokémon to counter it (Weavile and Heatran, most notably). However, it's still a highly viable Pokémon in OU play. Dugtrio lost a lot of power against this plant pixie with both Hidden Power and Sludge Bomb becoming special attacks. They gave Celebi Thunder Wave, Leaf Storm, U-turn, Trick, and Grass Knot to toy with while keeping all of its old options. Celebi can be a pretty good offensive threat with Choice Specs and Calm Mind, but much more notable are its refusal to die to anything not named Megahorn and its ability to stall everything that doesn't carry that. Celebi's movepool is so insane and its stats complement it so well that it can easily stray from the recommended sets above and just do what it wants. None of its moves are necessary, but nearly all of them are useful.</p>
[Counters]
</p>You probably saw it coming: Celebi's #1 counters pack Pursuit. Tyranitar and Weavile have been mentioned before: both of them have great Attack scores and get STAB on Pursuit. Tyranitar may be weak to Grass Knot, but his Special Defense boost in Sandstorm almost negates that. However, switching Tyranitar in is not as easy as said, as with Stealth Rock on its field, Tyranitar is 2HKOed by Grass Knot. Tyranitar also needs to be holding a Choice Band or Life Orb, and pack the move Payback in order to OHKO defensive Celebi. Weavile can switch into Grass Knot and Recover with relative ease, but must be wary of Thunder Wave, Reflect, Leech Seed and Hidden Power Fire. Thunder Wave is quite disabling to Weavile in the long run, disintegrating its famed Speed stat into the likes of Snorlax's. Reflect will completely wall Weavile's moves and prevent it from getting past Celebi. A Seeded Weavile also struggles to bypass Celebi as unless it is holding a Choice Band, Recover, Leftovers and the HP drained by the seed are enough to even overcome the damage done by an Expert Belt boosted Ice Punch. Even with Choice Band, Ice Punch will not OHKO Celebi, and Celebi can safely use Recover to scout what it will use so that it does not end up getting wasted by a well-predicted Pursuit. Houndoom resists Grass Knot and is immune to Psychic. It can perform a STABed Pursuit, except its Attack is rather unimpressive, so it may be better off using Nasty Plot or Will-O-Wisp while Celebi runs for the hills - it must be careful for Earth Power though.</p>
<p>Skarmory learns Pursuit as well but obviously isn't going to use it. Instead, he will use his huge amount of free time against Celebi (earned courtesy of his resistance to both of Celebi's STAB attacks) to rack up Spikes or get in Stealth Rock. He can Whirlwind away Celebi's stat boosts and Substitute as well. Forretress can set up Toxic Spikes and Spikes against Celebi, and hurt it with Bug Bite. Scizor can not only Pursuit from 130 base Attack, but also use the horrifying U-turn to OHKO Celebi, or at least break his Substitute and/or shrug off Leech Seed. Both Scizor and Forretress must watch out for Hidden Power Fire though. Forretress also struggles to stop the Baton Pass variant.</p>
<p>These Pursuiters will pose a big threat to Celebi, but their trap is not guaranteed to work. If Celebi goes out using Baton Pass, Pursuit remains 40 base power. The same goes when a slower Celebi uses U-turn.</p>
<p>Salamence is 4x resistant to Grass. Usually you will find a Salamence coming into Celebi throwing a Choice Specs Flamethrower at you, which will be a 2HKO. Choice Band or Life Orb versions will dislike being Tricked a Flame Orb though. Dusknoir's Pressure can deplete PP pretty quickly, but he won't really harm Celebi without a lot of Attack investment and he won't do a thing against the Baton Passing variants.</p>
<p>Heatran does a great job at stopping Celebi dead in its tracks. It shares the resistances to its STAB moves that Skarmory has, but it deals much more damage with its STAB Fire moves. However, Heatran must be wary of Earth Power. It can't really stop a Baton Passing Celebi though unless it is carrying a Choice Scarf. If Heatran is carrying a Choice Scarf, it must avoid Thunder Wave at all costs.</p>
<p>Azelf resists Psychic and takes a pathetic 20 base power attack from Grass Knot, and can seriously dent Celebi with Flamethrower or U-turn. If that Azelf carries Taunt, it can stop Celebi from Calm Minding, Swords Dancing, Recovering, Seeding, Heal Belling, etc. However, it is OHKOed by the Choice Specs set and is 2HKOed by Energy Ball assuming Celebi gets a Calm Mind in when Azelf switches into it.</p>
<p>Weezing can Haze away Celebi's stat-ups and hit it with a super effective Sludge Bomb. Only use him if you made sure the particular Celebi you're facing is one without Psychic or you won't get your healthy Weezing back. Suicune should play the reverse way when Roaring away stat-ups. Its generally more sturdy against special attacks, but it shouldn't be taking Leaf Storms or Grass Knots.</p>
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/celebi
[SET]
name: Defensive
move 1: Leech Seed / Thunder Wave / Reflect
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Recover
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice / Earth Power
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>With Recover and solid base 100 Defenses, Celebi is an excellent candidate for a defensive Pokemon. Leech Seed will quickly frustrate most of its opponents, and Recover just makes life harder for them. Leech Seed also works well if you surround Celebi with Stealth Rock and Spikes since it will often force switches. Thunder Wave is also a very good option for the ability to cripple sweepers such as Gyarados, Salamence, and Azelf. Reflect is great for Celebi's own defenses and for team support. Grass Knot is easily Celebi's most reliable attacking move, as it has STAB, 20 PP (32 with PP max) and being surprisingly powerful on many of the Pokemon that thrive in the OU metagame, most notably Tyranitar and Gyarados. Celebi's last move mostly depends on the trainer's need. Hidden Power Fire gives Celebi the opportunity to hurt Steel-types such as Forretress, Scizor, and Metagross reasonably hard, whereas Hidden Power Ice severely dents Salamence and Gliscor. Earth Power is also a decent option to consider for the ability to dent Heatran on the switch and hurts Metagross more then Hidden Power Fire, but otherwise has very little utility.</p>
<p>Stealth Rock can be considered for your utility option if your team lacks that. Light Screen can be used to patch up Celebi's lesser Special Defense abilities.
<p>The EVs give Celebi the best overall physical defenses while still outrunning Jolly Tyranitar. This particular Celebi set is often used as a utility counter in a team, as its typing and magnificent defenses allow it to counter threats such as Gyarados and Breloom. </p>
[SET]
name: Calm Mind Passer
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Grass Knot / Psychic
move 3: Baton Pass
move 4: Recover
item: Leftovers
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 80 Def / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Celebi is one of the most reliable Calm Mind/Baton Passers in the game. It has the defensive stats, Recover and resistances to take a few beatings, and this version has enough Speed to ensure it gets in a Baton Pass against anything slower than 308, which includes Adamant Garchomp and any kind of Tyranitar that does not hold Choice Scarf, and most importantly, base 90 Speed Pokémon that run a Speed boosting nature, such as Lucario or Porygon-Z. While Psychic used to be the most popular attacking move on Celebi, Grass Knot helps Celebi to defend itself against Weavile better. You can Baton Pass out against Salamence and non-Choice Scarf Heracross anyway. As a bonus, it nearly OHKOs Dugtrio, but it isn't as much of a threat anymore as he was in Advance because Hidden Power Bug is now special and his best bet is the 3HKO Night Slash. A great thing about Baton Passing Celebi is that it helps against Pursuiters: if the Pursuiter is faster it will deal damage with 40 base power, and if it's slower it will hit your recipient.</p>
<p>Psychic can still be used if you want to hurt Heracross and Salamence on the switch. Infernape will not be pleased either.</p>
[SET]
name: Uber Lead
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Recover
move 3: Grass Knot
move 4: Stealth Rock / Earth Power / Hidden Power Fire / Leech Seed
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 128 Def / 128 SpD
nature: Calm
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This Celebi is designed to give the user information about the opponent's team, paralyze the opponent, and play accordingly. Its defense EVs allow it to never be OHKOed by a Life Orb Groudon's Fire Punch, and its special defense EVs allow it to never be OHKOed by a Choice Specs Mewtwo's Ice Beam.</p>
<p>On the first turn, Celebi Thunder Waves and notes how much damage it takes. If it took 80%+, the opponent was most likely Banded / Speced and now crippled due to Thunder Wave. Celebi can switch to an appropriate counter, having given information to the user and still having the chance to remain relevant late battle with Recover. Thunder Wave and Recover allow Celebi to beat most Kyogre, Deoxys-A, Mewtwo (non Specs or Taunt versions) and Groudon (low Speed versions) one on one.</p>
<p>The choice for the fourth slot is a team issue. Stealth Rock will help attackers like Rayquaza and Groudon sweep more effectively. Earth Power is an excellent choice for the ability to dent Dialga, Heatran, and Metagross. Leech Seed can be served to Pokemon like Blissey, Lugia and Giratina, all of whom generally force Celebi to switch out. Finally, Hidden Power Fire is there to deal damage to both Scizor and Forretress.</p>
[SET]
Name: Physical Baton Pass
Move 1: Baton Pass
Move 2: Swords Dance
Move 3: Seed Bomb
Move 4: Recover / Substitute / Zen Headbutt
EVS: 252 HP / 80 Atk / 176 Spe
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Jolly
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Celebi's defenses are phenomenal and usually allow it to survive enough hits that it can find the time for at least one Swords Dance. Celebi can then either sweep with boosted Seed Bombs or Baton Pass away to a more dangerous threat such as Agility Lucario.</p>
<p>Its two STAB moves, Seed Bomb and Zen Headbutt are the best physical options Celebi has. The former is recommended here because nothing is immune to it, though Zen Headbutt may be used as well if you wish to take advantage of its flinch rate, and don't mind losing Recover. With 80 EVs in attack, Seed Bomb has a 87% chance of OHKOing maximum HP Tyranitar after a Swords Dance if it switches into Stealth Rock. If you have other means of dealing with Tyranitar and would rather just Baton Pass out against it, you may shift those EVs to one of your defenses instead.</p>
<p>In addition to Attack boosts, Celebi is also well-suited to passing bulky 101 HP Substitutes.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Specs
move 1: Leaf Storm
move 2: Psychic
move 3: Signal Beam / U-turn / Trick
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting / Hidden Power Fire / Earth Power
item: Choice Specs
nature: Modest / Timid
evs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Unlike the other sets recommended, this one puts Celebi on the offense and your opponent on the defense. Leaf Storm will hurt anything not resistant—too bad a lot of things actually are resistant, which is why you have Psychic for secondary STAB. A Choice-locked Psychic is Pursuit bait so it is best to scout the opposing team before using it. The third slot is reserved to hit other Psychics: Silver Wind will obviously do more damage, but U-turn gives you scouting potential. If damaging other Psychic types is of little concern, Trick is an interesting alternative to cripple common Celebi counters such as Blissey, Snorlax, and Cresselia. The fourth slot deals with Celebi's obvious weaknesses. Hidden Power Fighting hurts Dark-types with Pursuit a lot, such as Tyranitar and Weavile. Hidden Power Fire beats up Steels, in particular Scizor, and other Grasser and Earth Power pulverizes Steels that aren't up in the air (like Metagross and especially Heatran).</p>
[SET]
name: Offensive CM
move 1: Calm Mind
move 2: Grass Knot
move 3: Recover / Psychic
move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice / Earth Power
item: Life Orb
nature: Timid
evs: 80 HP / 252 SpA / 176 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Offensive CM Celebi works alot like Offensive Suicune. However, unlike Suicune, it gets Recover, which gives Celebi more turns to attack. This also allows Celebi to take more hits and set up.</p>
<p>Grass Knot gives Celebi obvious STAB. In the third slot, Recover is preferred as Life Orb damage really adds up quickly. However, if it is desired Celebi to have as much type coverage as possible, Psychic is an option. Psychic + Hidden Power Fire hits every OU Pokemon excluding Tyranitar, Starmie, and Heatran for at least neutral damage. There are three choices in the final slot; Hidden Power Fire, Hidden Power Ice, and Earth Power. Hidden Power Fire hits Steels and other Celebi. Hidden Power Ice also hits other Celebi, while doing good damage against Dragons, such as Salamence and can OHKO Shaymin-S. Earth Power nails any Heatran switch-ins and also is your best option against Jirachi and Metagross.</p>
<p>The EVs give you maximum sweeping potential with 252 Special Attack EVs. 176 Speed EVs lets you outspeed all base 90 Speed Pokemon such as Timid Roserade and Jolly Lucario. The remaining EVs are delegated to HP for some bulk.</p>
[SET]
name: Cleric
move 1: Psychic / Grass Knot
move 2: Recover
move 3: Heal Bell
move 4: Leech Seed
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 220 Def / 36 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The focus of this set is Heal Bell. Like with Aromatherapy on Blissey, it has obvious pros and cons. On the plus side, it gets rid of status on your entire team. Gone with the freeze Weavile inflicted on your Metagross, the unsuspected paralysis or burn Gallade gave your Salamence or that surprising Toxic on your bulky Water. On the other hand, Heal Bell is pretty much telegraphed to your opponent if you send in Celebi after one or more of your Pokémon got inflicted with status. It does nothing to repel nasty opponents at all, and it gives things like Tyranitar an invitation ticket to come in for free and do horrible things with Celebi and/or its team mates. So if you think you can afford to trade a turn for nursing all your Pokémon, use this Celebi, but beware as that one turn may cost you the game sometimes.</p>
<p>The rest of the deal is pretty obvious: attack or Leech Seed counters on the switch, and if you have suffered a wound so severe that Leftovers and Leech Seed don't cure it fast enough, Recover it off. It's the way this set worked in GSC and Advance, and it will probably remain this way forever.</p>
[SET]
name: More Leech Seed and Calm Mind
move 1: Leech Seed
move 2: Calm Mind
move 3: Recover / Substitute
move 4: Psychic / Grass Knot
item: Leftovers
nature: Bold
evs: 252 HP / 36 Spe / 220 Def
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Both Leech Seeding Celebi and Calm Minding Celebi can be horribly annoying, depending on what you're sending in as a counter. Imagine the face of your opponent when it turns you got both! This kind of Celebi not only stalls like a Brazilian on the losing end of a rated battle on NetBattle, but can also actually sweep with enough Calm Minds. Try not to get greedy because Celebi has the horrible tendency to get itself killed by critical hits.</p>
<p>A bias to Defense is present in this set to avoid taking heavy damage from Pursuit. However, a Calm nature with a sizable EV investment in Special Defense is also viable, allowing you to more easily set up against special attackers. Even those that would hit for super effective will have trouble, if they don't have Choice Specs or STAB behind them.</p>
[SET]
name: SubSeed
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Leech Seed
move 3: Baton Pass / Recover / Hidden Power Fire / Hidden Power Ice
move 4: Psychic
item: Leftovers
nature: Timid
evs: 252 HP / 176 Spe / 80 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>A Celebi with this set takes ages to get rid of if you only have slow Celebi counters like Metagross and Tyranitar. Leech Seed opponents, repeatedly use Substitute to wear them down, and finish off with Psychic. Use Stealth Rock and/or Spikes to punish people trying to switch out of Leech Seed. Psychic is the better attacking option here because you'll want something to hit other Grassers like Sceptile. Baton Pass can hand some other team mate a 101 HP Substitute to work with, Recover makes Celebi's durability nearly overkill, and the Hidden Powers can be used to hit super effectively on other Grassers as well as specific threats. Basically, Fire is for Steels and Ice is for Dragons.</p>
[SET]
name: Tinkerbell
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Leaf Storm
move 3: Psychic / Hidden Power Fire / U-turn
move 4: Rest / Recover
item: Life Orb
nature: Modest
evs: 232 HP / 32 Spe / 240 SpA
[SET COMMENTS]
<p> This is a good multi-purpose set that acts as a deterrent to Celebi's usual counters. Most things that switch into Celebi will not enjoy being crippled by paralysis, which makes you faster than the myriad of offensive pokemon eager to blast through Celebi's defenses. Leaf Storm, backed up by a Life Orb and heavy EV investment is a new definition of pain, blasting through even a Max HP Tyranitar's defenses for a OHKO with the aid of Stealth Rock.</p>
<p> The last two slots can be tailored to what you would like Celebi to handle. Psychic is a strong STAB option that will dispatch of Gengar, Heracross, and Infernape. Hidden Power Fire will hit Shaymin-S for a minimum of 66% and easily OHKO Forretress and Scizor switch-ins. U-turn is great for getting Celebi out of there after you've crippled something with Thunder Wave. Rest is the primary method of healing here, as Celebi can fully replenish its HP against a faster opponent and switch out thanks to Natural Cure. Recover is a great alternative, as you can scout for a full paralysis before switching.</p>
<p> The EVs let you outspeed Jolly Tyranitar so you can kill them before they even think about setting up. It also makes sure that you take the minimum damage from Life Orb with the highest possible HP.</p>
[SET]
Name: Life Orb Sweeper
Move 1: Recover
Move 2: Leaf Storm
Move 3: Psychic
Move 4: Hidden Power Fire / Earth Power / U-turn
Item: Life Orb
EVs: 36 Def / 252 SpA / 220 Spe
Nature: Timid
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set's purpose is to deal as much damage as possible to the opposition, unlike most of the other Celebi sets, which are primarily used defensively. Only Heatran and Houndoom resist the attacking combination of Fire + Grass + Psychic. Recover is on the set to heal off residual Life Orb recoil damage, as Celebi will have many opportunities to heal in battle due to its useful Fighting and Ground resistances. Earth Power can be used to deal damage to Fire Pokemon switching in on Celebi, like Heatran, Houndoom, and Arcanine. U-turn can be considered in order to save Celebi from potentially bad matchups, and it works well in conjunction with Leaf Storm due to the -2 Special Attack drop.</p>
<p>Timid is chosen over Modest because it is impossible to have a Speed IV of 31 with Hidden Power Fire, meaning Celebi would always be slower than other neutral base 100 Speed Pokemon. 319 Speed allows Celebi to always outspeed and KO Lucario, Roserade, Porygon-Z, and Electivire unless they hold a Choice Scarf.</p>
<p>Life Orb is the optimal item on this set instead of Expert Belt because Celebi will hit most of its targets for neutral damage. As for Leftovers, this particular Celebi set is not meant to take hits anyway.</p>
[SET]
Name: Trick Orb
Move 1: Trick
Move 2: U-Turn
Move 3: Psychic
Move 4: Recover
Item: Flame Orb
EVs: 252 HP / 80 Def /176 Spe
Nature: Timid
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Pokemon such as Scizor, Tyranitar, Salamence, Metagross, and Lucario will often switch into Celebi expecting to take a weak Grass Knot and proceed to set up themselves. This set relies on Celebi's ability to lure in these common physical threats and Trick a Flame Orb onto them, crippling them with the Burn status. Celebi can then U-Turn out and rid itself of the Burn with Natural Cure. Psychic is used so Heracross and Infernape are not guaranteed a free switch in since neither mind receiving a Flame Orb, in particular Heracross.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Celebi gets three alternate Grass moves worth considering. Energy Ball works better than Grass Knot if the opponent is rather light—it has 80 base power, which wins against Weavile, Dugtrio and Vaporeon. However, Grass Knot has a lot more power against Milotic, Tyranitar, Rhyperior and others, so the vast majority of the time it is a superior option. Leaf Storm has only been mentioned on the Choice Specs set, but is worthwhile on any set except Calm Minding ones. Celebi has to hop in and out a lot, making the Special Attack drop not as significant, and the extra power is welcome. The low PP, however, is not, which is why Giga Drain isn't getting much more mentioning than the following: it was quite useful in Advance to take out Dugtrio in one hit and still have some HP to spare, but in this generation Dugtrio isn't an effective Celebi killer anymore and you've got many other good alternates.</p>
<p>Charge Beam has a few cool uses. For one, it nets Celebi a nice boost in Special Attack 63% of the time you use it (factoring in the 90% accuracy). It's also a nice way of self defense against the monster that is Gyarados as well as against Skarmory. The fact that you can Baton Pass these lucky boosts makes it all the more worth considering. The base power is beyond pathetic though; if you want something a little better than that you can use Hidden Power Electric. If you don't have access to Hidden Powers like that, Shock Wave can be a substitute, but it's quite weak as well.</p>
<p>While Hidden Power tends to be pretty hard to get right on Celebi in WiFi environment, it is a big help if you manage to get a proper one, or are playing on a simulator. As outlined in the Choice Specs set, Fighting helps against all these dangerous Dark-types and a few Steels.</p>
<p>Stealth Rock also found its way into Celebi's movepool. While Spikes would have been preferable on a Pokémon with as much durability as this floating head of lettuce, it's better than nothing. Still, Celebi has so many awesome options that you're better off rounding out some other Pokémon's moveset with it. Stealth Rock hits quite hard on Celebi's "good friends" Salamence and Gyarados though, so it complements it nicely wherever you choose to put it on your team. Celebi makes a nice switch enforcer, and even better with Perish Song. It is arguably not as good as Roar or Whirlwind, but it helps a lot against Baton Pass chains unless they can get to Mr. Mime in time, or if your opponent has one Pokémon remaining. Protect stalls for Leftovers and Leech Seed recovery and scouts your opponent. I would say "it also speeds up the process of the Perish Song countdown", but using both of them on the same Celebi is wasting its versatility.</p>
<p>Celebi also makes a very good user of Trick Room for the same reason Bronzong and Dusknoir do: they can take a hit or two and therefore get it in more than once without rolling over and dying. If you're looking for something to set it up for you, be sure to glance in Celebi's direction. Light Screen is great for adding some Special Defense to your team, and helps against that Choice Specs Salamence that loves to come in on Celebi. Reflect is a better choice though as it protects you against Pursuit.</p>
<p>AncientPower would be good if it had more base power. As it stands, a super effective AncientPower does less than a neutral Psychic, making it pretty much only useful against Weavile or in situations where you don't know whether Skarmory, Weavile or Salamence is coming in while you want to hit all three reasonably hard.</p>
<p>Heal Block would be interesting if it blocked Leftovers recovery, but sadly, it doesn't. Healing Wish is basically trading Celebi's life for that of one of your other Pokémon (since you should only be using it when something else is at death's door), but it isn't much more than novelty because it's so situational. Celebi is fast and durable enough to save its own butt with Recover, and is usually more valuable than whatever you're healing. Psych Up is pretty cool to copy Calm Minds and such from enemies. If Celebi can't win the war by itself, just Baton Pass to something else.</p>
[EVs]
<p>Unless Celebi is trying to sweep the opponent with Choice Specs, it should max out HP to take hits well from either side of the spectrum. 244, 305, and 308 are the Speeds it should be aiming at most of the time: 244 beats Jolly Tyranitar to the punch and 305 gets the jump on Adamant Garchomp. If you elect to invest to 305, you might as well go the full stretch and run 308 to outspeed all base 90 Speed Pokémon without Choice Scarf. Most of the EVing is obvious and outlined under each specific set, but generally you'll want to focus on one defense with your leftover EVs.</p>
[Opinion]
<p>In Advance, there were a lot of doubts about Celebi being Uber or not. Diamond/Pearl pretty much declared Celebi "a good standard" by giving Pursuit to some extremely big threats and adding/evolving more Pokémon to counter it (Weavile and Heatran, most notably). However, it's still a highly viable Pokémon in OU play. Dugtrio lost a lot of power against this plant pixie with both Hidden Power and Sludge Bomb becoming special attacks. They gave Celebi Thunder Wave, Leaf Storm, U-turn, Trick, and Grass Knot to toy with while keeping all of its old options. Celebi can be a pretty good offensive threat with Choice Specs and Calm Mind, but much more notable are its refusal to die to anything not named Megahorn and its ability to stall everything that doesn't carry that. Celebi's movepool is so insane and its stats complement it so well that it can easily stray from the recommended sets above and just do what it wants. None of its moves are necessary, but nearly all of them are useful.</p>
[Counters]
</p>You probably saw it coming: Celebi's #1 counters pack Pursuit. Tyranitar and Weavile have been mentioned before: both of them have great Attack scores and get STAB on Pursuit. Tyranitar may be weak to Grass Knot, but his Special Defense boost in Sandstorm almost negates that. However, switching Tyranitar in is not as easy as said, as with Stealth Rock on its field, Tyranitar is 2HKOed by Grass Knot. Tyranitar also needs to be holding a Choice Band or Life Orb, and pack the move Payback in order to OHKO defensive Celebi. Weavile can switch into Grass Knot and Recover with relative ease, but must be wary of Thunder Wave, Reflect, Leech Seed and Hidden Power Fire. Thunder Wave is quite disabling to Weavile in the long run, disintegrating its famed Speed stat into the likes of Snorlax's. Reflect will completely wall Weavile's moves and prevent it from getting past Celebi. A Seeded Weavile also struggles to bypass Celebi as unless it is holding a Choice Band, Recover, Leftovers and the HP drained by the seed are enough to even overcome the damage done by an Expert Belt boosted Ice Punch. Even with Choice Band, Ice Punch will not OHKO Celebi, and Celebi can safely use Recover to scout what it will use so that it does not end up getting wasted by a well-predicted Pursuit. Houndoom resists Grass Knot and is immune to Psychic. It can perform a STABed Pursuit, except its Attack is rather unimpressive, so it may be better off using Nasty Plot or Will-O-Wisp while Celebi runs for the hills - it must be careful for Earth Power though.</p>
<p>Skarmory learns Pursuit as well but obviously isn't going to use it. Instead, he will use his huge amount of free time against Celebi (earned courtesy of his resistance to both of Celebi's STAB attacks) to rack up Spikes or get in Stealth Rock. He can Whirlwind away Celebi's stat boosts and Substitute as well. Forretress can set up Toxic Spikes and Spikes against Celebi, and hurt it with Bug Bite. Scizor can not only Pursuit from 130 base Attack, but also use the horrifying U-turn to OHKO Celebi, or at least break his Substitute and/or shrug off Leech Seed. Both Scizor and Forretress must watch out for Hidden Power Fire though. Forretress also struggles to stop the Baton Pass variant.</p>
<p>These Pursuiters will pose a big threat to Celebi, but their trap is not guaranteed to work. If Celebi goes out using Baton Pass, Pursuit remains 40 base power. The same goes when a slower Celebi uses U-turn.</p>
<p>Salamence is 4x resistant to Grass. Usually you will find a Salamence coming into Celebi throwing a Choice Specs Flamethrower at you, which will be a 2HKO. Choice Band or Life Orb versions will dislike being Tricked a Flame Orb though. Dusknoir's Pressure can deplete PP pretty quickly, but he won't really harm Celebi without a lot of Attack investment and he won't do a thing against the Baton Passing variants.</p>
<p>Heatran does a great job at stopping Celebi dead in its tracks. It shares the resistances to its STAB moves that Skarmory has, but it deals much more damage with its STAB Fire moves. However, Heatran must be wary of Earth Power. It can't really stop a Baton Passing Celebi though unless it is carrying a Choice Scarf. If Heatran is carrying a Choice Scarf, it must avoid Thunder Wave at all costs.</p>
<p>Azelf resists Psychic and takes a pathetic 20 base power attack from Grass Knot, and can seriously dent Celebi with Flamethrower or U-turn. If that Azelf carries Taunt, it can stop Celebi from Calm Minding, Swords Dancing, Recovering, Seeding, Heal Belling, etc. However, it is OHKOed by the Choice Specs set and is 2HKOed by Energy Ball assuming Celebi gets a Calm Mind in when Azelf switches into it.</p>
<p>Weezing can Haze away Celebi's stat-ups and hit it with a super effective Sludge Bomb. Only use him if you made sure the particular Celebi you're facing is one without Psychic or you won't get your healthy Weezing back. Suicune should play the reverse way when Roaring away stat-ups. Its generally more sturdy against special attacks, but it shouldn't be taking Leaf Storms or Grass Knots.</p>
