Cloyster [4N] - Utility+

[Heysup]

UU + Utility = UUtility. I wrote this up a while ago, so I just added team options now and am posting it, even though Cloyster didnt make Standard UU. Cloyster is seriously underrated as hell with its awesome defenses and spikes. The "standard" Cloyster didnt work out for me when I tested Cloyster a While back, so I came up with a new set that worked wonders.

www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/cloyster

[SET]
name: UUtility
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Rapid Spin
move 3: Payback / Avalanche
move 4: Ice Shard / Explosion
item: Leftovers
ability: Shell Armor
nature: Impish / Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Cloyster is a great support Pokemon in UU, and is a decent candidate for any team in need of Spikes or Rapid Spin support. Cloyster's main job is to set up Spikes, but it fulfills many other roles as well, unlike Omastar, who is slightly bulkier but nowhere near as versatile. For example, Cloyster functions as a great spinner, because you can play mind games with your opponent with your own Spikes and a 100 base power Payback. It also helps you with either a STAB priority attack or Explosion, coming from a base 95 Attack stat. Cloyster also has the ability to take a lot of physical punishment, but is often overlooked because of its poor typing, though it's second only to Slowbro for taking Azumarill's Choice Band Waterfall. Switching it in to Azumarill, or many other physical attackers, is rather safe due to Cloyster's amazing Defense.</p>

<p>The advantages of Payback include hitting Rotom and Mismagius very hard, and denting many other Pokemon on the switch. Avalanche, however, hits fairly hard (120 base power if attacked prior to use, plus STAB) against many physically frail foes, such as Chansey. Ice Shard lets Closyter double as a revenge killer, but Explosion is also an option if you want to use the good old "spike, spin, and 'slpode" strategy that is commonly used by Forretress in OU.</p>

<p>Since Cloyster has amazing Defense, an Impish nature gives Cloyster more of a stat boost and is recommended for this reason. However, with a Careful nature, Cloyster can set up Spikes more easily against Pokemon such as Milotic (without Hidden Power Electric) and Slowbro. Toxic Spikes can be used over Spikes, but Toxic Spikes are better left to Pokemon without the ability to effectively set up regular Spikes, such as Drapion or Nidoqueen, because bulky Pokemon to set up Spikes are hard to come by.</p>

<p>Pokemon such as Drapion, Espeon, and Mismagius, who can set up a sweep for themselves, can definitely take advantage of Cloyster's Spikes. With Spikes, Pokemon such as Registeel can no longer effectively wall Espeon, and Steelix can no longer effectively wall Drapion. The best partner for Cloyster is Spiritomb, who can take Fighting-type attacks aimed at Cloyster, and more importantly, block Rapid Spin. Mismagius and Rotom work fine as well, but they lack Spiritomb's bulk. Hitmontop is quite helpful for Cloyster as well, taking the Rock-type attacks aimed at Cloyster while helping Cloyster get rid of Stealth Rock (which is terribly annoying to Cloyster because of its Rock weakness). Hitmontop can also revenge kill a Belly Drum Poliwrath, who can set up on Cloyster quite easily.</p>

<p>Since Cloyster has Stealth Rock problems, Cloyster will appreciate any Pokemon who can either Taunt early game to avoid them getting set up, or a Pokemon who can take out Ghost-types so that Cloyster can Rapid Spin away Stealth Rock. Cloyster also appreciates Wish support, as it has no reliable recovery move, and Stealth Rock damage can add up quickly. Chansey and Umbreon are great candidates for Wish passing, because they lure out physical attackers for Cloyster to more easily switch into. Gardevoir is also a good bet, allowing Cloyster to almost definitely not take a Fighting-type attack as it switches in.</p>

 

[Lemmiwinks MkII]

I really don't like the part about Cloyster making a good switch into Azumarill. It's misleading as Cloyster is weak to Focus Punch and has no means of breaking Azu's Subs. Even against CB variants it fears Superpower. It is more of a situational switch-in IMO, i.e. choiced Water and Ice attacks for free Spikes. Certainly not a foolproof counter by any means.

 

[Erazor]

UU + Utility = UUtility. I wrote this up a while ago, so I just added team options now and am posting it, even though Cloyster didnt make Standard UU. Cloyster is seriously underrated as hell with its awesome defenses and spikes. The "standard" Cloyster didnt work out for me when I tested Cloyster a While back, so I came up with a new set that worked wonders.

www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/cloyster

[SET]
name: UUtility
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Rapid Spin
move 3: Payback / Avalanche
move 4: Ice Shard / Explosion
item: Leftovers
ability: Shell Armor
nature: Impish / Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Cloyster is a great support Pokemon in UU, and is a decent candidate for any team in need of Spikes or Rapid Spin support.(that sounds better, and is less hyped) Cloyster's main job is to set up Spikes, but it fulfills many other roles as well, unlike(removed "much") Omastar, who is slightly bulkier but nowhere near as versatile. For example, Cloyster functions as a great spinner, because you can play mind games with your opponent with your own Spikes and a(not "an") 100 base power Payback. It also helps you with either a STAB priority attack or Explosion, coming from a base 95 Attack stat. Cloyster also has the ability to take a lot of Physical punishment, but is often overlooked because of its poor typing, though its second only to Slowbro for taking Azumaril hits. Switching it in to Azumaril, or alot of Physical attackers is rather safe due to Cloyster's amazing Defense.</p>

<p>The advantages of (removed "using")Payback include hitting Rotom and Mismagius very hard, and denting many other Pokemon on the switch. Avalanche, however, hits fairly hard (120 base power if attacked prior to use, plus STAB) against many physically frail foes, such as Chansey. Ice Shard lets Closyter double as a revenge killer, but Explosion is also an(not another) option if you want to use the good old "spike, spin, and 'slpode" strategy that is commonly used by Foretress in OU.</p>

<p>Since Cloyster has amazing Defense, an Impish nature gives Cloyster more of a stat boost and is recommended for this reason. However with a Careful nature, Cloyster can easier set up Spikes against Pokemon such as Milotic (without Hidden Power Electric) and Slowbro.</p>

<p>Pokemon such as Drapion, Espeon, and Mismagius, who can set up a sweep for themselves, can definitely take advantage of the Spikes set up by Cloyster. With Spikes, Pokemon such as Registeel can no longer effectively wall Espeon, and Steelix can no longer effectively wall Drapion. The(removed "obviously") best partner for Cloyster is Spiritomb, who can take Fighting-type attacks aimed at Cloyster, and more importantly, block Rapid Spin. Mismagius and Rotom work fine as well, but they aren't as bulky as Spiritomb. Hitmontop is quite helpful for Cloyster as well, taking the Rock-type attacks aimed at Cloyster while helping Cloyster get rid of Stealth Rock, which is terribly annoying to Cloyster because of its weakness to Rock.(It's understood that rock is a type)</p>

<p>Since Cloyster has Stealth Rock problems, Cloyster will appreciate any Pokemon who can either Taunt early game to avoid them getting set up, or a Pokemon who can take out Ghost-types so that Cloyster can Rapid Spin away Stealth Rock. Cloyster also appreciates Wish support, as it has no reliable recovery move, and Stealth Rock damage can add up quickly. Chansey and Umbreon are great candidates for Wish passing, because they lure out Physical attackers for Cloyster to more easily switch into. Gardevoir is also a good bet, allowing Cloyster to almost definitely not take a Fighting-type attack as it switches in.</p>

Changes/ additions in bold, including commas.
This looks decent, but try not to overhype Cloyster's hit taking ability - it is weak to two very common physical attacking types, Rock and Fighting. That hurts it quite a lot.

 

[Fuzznip]

Toxic Spikes should be slashed with Spikes, Cloyster could set them up quite easily.

 

[franky]

Poliwrath deserves a mention who walls the entire set and can perform a Belly Drum set-up or a Sub-Punch set up. Spiritomb can't stop a Belly Drum + Waterfall. It also has a hard time breaking through Substitute because it resist it's STAB attacks. You should explain how to get around it.

 

[Heysup]

Toxic Spikes should be slashed with Spikes, Cloyster could set them up quite easily.

Toxic Spikes is much less viable in UU, but more common. Good Spikers are much harder to come by, I'll mention it in Set Comments.

Poliwrath deserves a mention who walls the entire set and can perform a Belly Drum set-up or a Sub-Punch set up. Spiritomb can't stop a Belly Drum + Waterfall. It also has a hard time breaking through Substitute because it resist it's STAB attacks. You should explain how to get around it.

Good Point, adding it in.

I really don't like the part about Cloyster making a good switch into Azumarill. It's misleading as Cloyster is weak to Focus Punch and has no means of breaking Azu's Subs. Even against CB variants it fears Superpower. It is more of a situational switch-in IMO, i.e. choiced Water and Ice attacks for free Spikes. Certainly not a foolproof counter by any means.

Yea good catch. As I said I wrote this a while ago, and back then SubPunch Azumarill was incredibly rare.

 

[Draco Zephyr]

UU + Utility = UUtility. I wrote this up a while ago, so I just added team options now and am posting it, even though Cloyster didnt make Standard UU. Cloyster is seriously underrated as hell with its awesome defenses and spikes. The "standard" Cloyster didnt work out for me when I tested Cloyster a While back, so I came up with a new set that worked wonders.

www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/cloyster

[SET]
name: UUtility
move 1: Spikes
move 2: Rapid Spin
move 3: Payback / Avalanche
move 4: Ice Shard / Explosion
item: Leftovers
ability: Shell Armor
nature: Impish / Careful
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Cloyster is a great support Pokemon in UU, and is a decent candidate for any team in need of Spikes or Rapid Spin support. Cloyster's main job is to set up Spikes, but it fulfills many other roles as well, unlike Omastar, who is slightly bulkier but nowhere near as versatile. For example, Cloyster functions as a great spinner, because you can play mind games with your opponent with your own Spikes and a 100 base power Payback. It also helps you with either a STAB priority attack or Explosion, coming from a base 95 Attack stat. Cloyster also has the ability to take a lot of physical punishment, but is often overlooked because of its poor typing, though it's second only to Slowbro for taking Azumarill's Choice Band (eliminated "boost") Waterfall. Switching it in to Azumarill, or many other physical attackers, is rather safe due to Cloyster's amazing Defense.</p>

<p>The advantages of Payback include hitting Rotom and Mismagius very hard, and denting many other Pokemon on the switch. Avalanche, however, hits fairly hard (120 base power if attacked prior to use, plus STAB) against many physically frail foes, such as Chansey. Ice Shard lets Closyter double as a revenge killer, but Explosion is also an option if you want to use the good old "spike, spin, and 'slpode" strategy that is commonly used by Forretress in OU.</p>

<p>Since Cloyster has amazing Defense, an Impish nature gives Cloyster more of a stat boost and is recommended for this reason. However, with a Careful nature, Cloyster can set up Spikes more easily against Pokemon such as Milotic (without Hidden Power Electric) and Slowbro. Toxic Spikes can be used over Spikes, but Toxic Spikes are better left to Pokemon without the ability to effectively set up regular Spikes, such as Drapion or Nidoqueen, because bulky Pokemon to set up Spikes are hard to come by.</p>

<p>Pokemon such as Drapion, Espeon, and Mismagius, who can set up a sweep for themselves, can definitely take advantage of Cloyster's set-up. With Spikes, Pokemon such as Registeel can no longer effectively wall Espeon, and Steelix can no longer effectively wall Drapion. The best partner for Cloyster is Spiritomb, who can take Fighting-type attacks aimed at Cloyster, and more importantly, block Rapid Spin. Mismagius and Rotom work fine as well, but they lack Spiritomb's bulk. Hitmontop is quite helpful for Cloyster as well, taking the Rock-type attacks aimed at Cloyster while helping Cloyster get rid of Stealth Rock (which is terribly annoying to Cloyster because of its Rock weakness). Hitmontop can also revenge kill a Belly Drum Poliwrath, who can set up on Cloyster quite easily.</p>

<p>Since Cloyster has Stealth Rock problems, Cloyster will appreciate any Pokemon who can either Taunt early game to avoid them getting set up, or a Pokemon who can take out Ghost-types so that Cloyster can Rapid Spin away Stealth Rock. Cloyster also appreciates Wish support, as it has no reliable recovery move, and Stealth Rock damage can add up quickly. Chansey and Umbreon are great candidates for Wish passing, because they lure out physical attackers for Cloyster to more easily switch into. Gardevoir is also a good bet, allowing Cloyster to almost definitely not take a Fighting-type attack as it switches in.</p>

Minor nitpicks. Remember to eliminate all phrases in parentheses when you're c/ping.

 

[Heysup]

Thanks, got those in.

 

[Heysup]

Any further thoughts on this?

 

[Havak]

Okay, added this it's been here long enough.

 

[jrrrrrrr]

This still needed quite a bit of grammatical edits but w/e I'll just add them directly into the analysis.

Can we please be more careful before uploading things