Belly Drumming Clefable is quite fun, but not too good since after a Belly Drum its Attack is only 1048. Clefable is also quite slow which makes it hard to take advantage its super high Attack, so make sure to paralyze some sweepers beforehand, or do it yourself with Thunder Wave. Even if you aren't able to find an opportunity to use Belly Drum, you can still get some random Attack boosts by using Meteor Mash if you picked that. Cosmic Power is an option as well to make this set more tankish, basically you Cosmic Power until you're not taking much damage from the opponent, use Softboiled to recover the damage, Belly Drum up and start hitting things. If you come across a Ghost or something that can kill you in the long run, Softboiled to full HP, then switch out to come back later and try again. These EVs make you outspeed Blissey and Weezing in standard play, if you're playing UU you can shift these EVs to HP if you wish.
Standard Calm Mind Clefable, Ice Beam and Thunderbolt are only resisted by Magneton, Lanturn and Shedinja. It doesn't do much against good Special sponges like Snorlax either. In UU, this Clefable's greatest enemy is Toxic. You can Rest it off, but expect to get hit hard physically then by Fearow or Aggron, for example. You can toy around with the EVs: more Special Defense means Calm Mind will make your Special Defense absolutely impregnable by Manectric or other Special Attackers, more Defense means you will get great defenses on both sides, more Speed can help for Weezing or Skarmory in standard and more Special Attack means you will have more firepower.
Counter is one of Clefable's coolest moves. Pokémon that can be surprised by Counter include Snorlax, Fearow, Tauros, Quagsire, Swampert, Aerodactyl and many more. Clefable survives all of these, and it can also live through Choice Band Megahorn from Heracross. The first two moveslots can be about anything: Ice Beam + Thunderbolt is a good idea as well, and Calm Mind works to lure even more physical attacks, make sure to use a Special Attack in the other free moveslot then. You can also use Light Screen in a similar way. Preferably don't use Thunder Wave here: if you Counter against a paralyzed Pokémon, you risk that they get fully paralyzed and your surprise will be given away. Make sure to switch to Bold and to shift Attack EVs to Special Attack when running Special Attacking moves.
If anyone wants to get rid off Clefable by sending in Tyranitar or Blissey, they're going to be in a world of pain. And after they catch up with Focus Punch, you can still beat Skarmory with your third move. Flamethrower for Steel-types, Thunderbolt for Water and Flying-types. Shadow Ball messes up Ghost-types, and is a very safe choice considering Fighting + Ghost isn't resisted by anything. Meteor Mash is to bring down Rock-types like Tyranitar without having to Focus Punch, and it hits Ghost-types too, while Ice Beam solves your Salamence trouble, and kills Flying-types too if you didn't go with Thunderbolt. Very diverse set, you can put about anything in the last moveslot. With these EVs you will be slower than Blissey, so you can Substitute up and 2HKO with Focus Punch. You can also easily OHKO Tyranitar. Choice Band Salamence with just 4 HP EVs and no Special Defense EVs will get OHKOed by Ice Beam. Flamethrower will OHKO Forretress, both that and Thunderbolt will 2HKO Skarmory.
A stalling set, takes a long time to win with. I don't like this set because you usually get forced to Rest and then phazed, you can't touch Gengar, and stalling for so long is just begging to eat a critical hit. I'd always go with Rest here, using Softboiled makes you vulnerable to status. Use Encore on some attacking move and Seismic Toss them to death, or Toxic so your opponent loses HP even while you are setting up or recovering. Flamethrower / Fire Blast is a good option on this set to shut down Steel-types and Weezing.
It is very hard to get a sweeper to break through this as long as this thing is at high health. Thunder Wave ruins anything speedy, and makes Encoring stat-upping just easier. You can play mind games with Encore too. For example, you Encore a Cursed Swampert Earthquake. Normally, Clefable cannot do anything to this Swampert, because Earthquake will kill Clefable before it can do anything to Swampert. So, Swampert will stay in. This is where you switch to your Belly Drumming Charizard and sweep the hell out of your opponent.
A more novel set. Please, use one of your many other Normal Choice Bander options. The only thing Clefable has over them is Meteor Mash, which isn't that great anyway. Feel free to blend in a special move like Flamethrower or Thunderbolt to hurt Skarmory. With these EVs you should be able to outpace Meganium, Blastoise, Metagross and about anything else with 200 Speed or lower.
Hipmonlee's set. A very circumlocutious Suicune counter. Hit away with Thunderbolt while it Calm Minds, then at about 3 or 4 Calm Minds (never get too greedy), Psych Up him. Of course, Suicune wants to Roar you away now, and that's when you Encore. Now your opponent has to face a Calm Minded Boltbeamer. Other OptionsCharm is a great hinderance for Curse Snorlax and Swampert, and to a lesser extent to Dragon Dancers. Fire Blast as a more powerful option over Flamethrower. Hidden Power Grass puts a big dent into Swampert, and hurts Tyranitar as well; you may want to use Magical Leaf if you're afraid of Counter. Psychic is for Fighting-types, though Heracross is hurt more by Fire moves and Medicham is neutral to it. Reflect is a great move to support your team with and can work in tandem with Counter. Safeguard supports, too, but to a lesser extent. Sing can catch any Clefable counter with a quick Sleep, and can help you set up Calm Mind or Belly Drum. Snatch can get you a Substitute, Calm Mind, Recover, Softboiled, Aromatherapy or Dragon Dance, as long as you're good at predicting. It's a novelty move though. Wish can be considered an option over Softboiled most of the time, Clefable is an above average Wisher. It might be wise to use Protect with it, which can also check what a Choice Bander is going to do, it can help your Leftovers recovery and it saves you from Explosion. EVsDepends completely on the set, and there's still no strict way of doing them. Using the Magic Stat Numbers article gives you an idea what you can use for EVs on Clefable. Stick with what's given on the sets. OpinionClefable is really unpredictable and that's where its strength lies. There are zero safe counters for him. However, once its set is found out, its average stats across the board will cause difficulties in damaging things effectively. Counter, SubPunch, Calm Mind and the supportive sets work well in standard, and all sets are quite viable for UU play. CountersCountering Clefable safely is hard, you'll usually have to use a combination of Pokémon. In standard, Clefable is really rare so you shouldn't worry too much. With any counter, it might be put to sleep by Sing Clefable. Swampert is a good wall for any set that doesn't use Hidden Power Grass or Magical Leaf. He can hit Clefable quite hard with Earthquake, but the more defensive Clefable will shrug it off with Softboiled. You can try to Curse up against it and then Earthquake, but watch out for being Encored, or worse, Countered. Jirachi resists a lot of things from Clefable, it can Calm Mind up against it and recover the damage with Wish. The only thing remotely threatening to it is switching into Fire Blast or Flamethrower, or a Choice Banded Focus Punch. Jirachi can also make 101 HP Substitutes which somewhat nullifies Seismic Tossing Clefable, and it's immune to Toxic. Again, beware of Encore. Celebi works as a counter in the same way, except he is also weak to Ice Beam and doesn't resist Choice Band or Belly Drum Clefable so well. Leech Seed and Calm Minded Psychics take care of Clefable quite easily. Great thing about Celebi is that it can shrug off Thunder Wave and Toxic with Natural Cure. Milotic and Suicune can somewhat wall Clefable, but won't pose much of a threat offensively. If Clefable has Softboiled, all they can is Toxic him, or in Milotic's case, Hypnosis. Mirror Coat may work as well on Thunderbolting Clefable. Suicune can Calm Mind up and Roar Clefable away unless Clefable is running Encore. The Psych Up set is its greatest nightmare. Metagross takes diddly from any Clefable except ones that use Fire Blast or Flamethrower, and it doesn't really enjoy being paralyzed by Thunder Wave or Body Slam either. If Clefable Counters Metagross, it's dead. Tyranitar dies to Brick Break or Focus Punch Clefable, doesn't enjoy paralysis, but can Focus Punch himself, or Dragon Dance up and Rock Slide. Counter can be a small problem if Clefable actually lives to use it, and Charm can be annoying if Tyranitar cannot Substitute or Taunt in time. Heracross can switch in on Clefable (except if it uses a Fire attack), it absorbs paralysis or even Sleep nicely (if it has Sleep Talk), just don't attack until you know it won't Counter, and avoid Charm as well. Choice Band Brick Break or Focus Punch should OHKO it. Machamp does the same as Heracross except with Cross Chop. Medicham can OHKO Clefable as well but has a lot more problems dealing with paralysis or damaging attacks in general. If Clefable doesn't have Thunderbolt and it doesn't paralyze on the switch, Gyarados with Taunt is a great counter. Zapdos can put a hurting in a Clefable that hasn't focused on Special Defense. Any Pokémon with Rest stalls out the Toxic staller. Steel and Poison-types work as well, though Weezing and the Steels should beware of Fire moves. Generally, powerful offense, Toxic, and Leech Seed stop Clefable. It often has to use Softboiled, so use that to switch in a counter easily. This goes for UU too. Quagsire does about as well as Swampert and counters it under the same conditions. Hypno can Toxic or Thunder Wave Clefable and wall it, though Choice Band Clefable or generally Shadow Baller can hurt. Hypno doesn't like being Toxiced. Some offense from Aggron or Fearow can hurt Clefable a lot, but beware of Counter. |
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