Dat AM Check doe. Also someone REALLY hates Claydol, don't you? What did the poor thing ever do to you? ;-; Anyways, GatoDelFuego took most of the fun stuffs in my opinion, so disregard the mediocre quality of it. Anyways, asides from all the Claydol hatred, love the analysis. (Pssst, frenzyplant should totally love me and my AM Checks. Imeanwot?)
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Overview
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Contrary to popular belief among some players who think Claydol looks good on paper, it is in fact a very bad Pokemon for various reasons. It gets both Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin, although it is a bad user of both movesbecause unlike other spinners, Claydol absolutely cannotas it is virtually unable to touch any spinblockers outside of Doublade, andwhile other Pokemon like Rhyperior and Cobalion set up Stealth Rock a lot better, and are much better Pokemon in general, being able to seal with such spinblockers much easier. Additionally, Claydol outright lacks any offensive presence at all which gives the opponent free turns. As a hazard remover, it is outclassed by Gligar and Sandslash, the former which hashaving a much better typing, supportive movepool, and more bulk, while the latter has strong offensive presence as well as Knock Off and Swords Dance, not to mention that other spinners such as Hitmonlee or Hitmontop are much better as well, not being entirely walled by common switch ins they hold, such as Jellicent and Spiritomb. To add more salt to the wound, Claydol's typing leaves it with 6 glaring weaknesses, all of which are common attacking types in RU with the most notable being Dark-type attacks and Knock Off, and while it does have two immunities, those are mitigated by its many weaknesses.
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DON'T USE CLAYDOL
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name: DON'T USE CLAYDOL (I thought sets were supposed to be named something vague referencing it, unless it is "historical". Ex: AfroSmash ?)
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Stealth Rock
ability: Levitate
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
nature: Bold
Moves
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Rapid Spin removes entry hazards, although it is blocked by all Ghost-type Pokemon, which Claydol struggles against, otheroutside thanof Doublade. Earth Power hits the aforementioned Doublade though, and while it won't do much damage to most Pokemon it is still Claydol's best STAB option. Toxic is Claydol's only way of dealing any significant damage against anything not Steel- or Poison-type. Stealth Rock is a good entry hazard to have on any team. Protect can also be used for more Leftovers recovery, but it can be exploited by the opponent.
Set Details
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Claydol uses a physically defensive spread to best make use of its resistances to Rock- and Fighting-types, which mostlywill carry Knock Off anyway. Leftovers are used because its the best item on defensive Pokemon for passive recovery. Additionally, a specially defensive spread can be used to tank special attacks, butalthough Claydol has a poor defensive typing for a special tank.
Usage Tips
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If the opponent has a Doublade and you need to get a Rapid Spin off, then more often than not hitting Doublade on the switch is the key, so Earth Power would be preferred to in that situation. However, if the opponent has another Ghost-type, then hitting them with Toxicthenand proceeding to switching out to a better Pokemon to handle it is the only way to go about beating them. Use Claydol whenever you need entry hazards gone or whenever you need Stealth Rock, but it's outclassed by other Stealth Rock users.
Team Options
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Pokemon that benefit from having entry hazardsgoneremoved can make good teammates, although Claydol can be a bit shaky at removing hazards. Some examples are Moltres, Delphox, and Braviary. Knock Off sponges like Cobalion or Virizion are also good partners, the former of which has good synergy with Claydol. Special attackers like Clawitzer and Heliolisk can check Doublade and remove it for Claydol to spin more easily,(AC) and canwhile being able to hurt other spinblockers. Counters to the aforementioned Ghost-types are preferred and therefore, Dark-types are good Pokemon to go with Claydol. Some examples are Drapion and Skuntank, which have good synergy with it.
Other Options
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Claydol sucks and you should be using a different Pokemon in the first placeClaydol is entirely outclassed by a variety of other Pokemon designed to Rapid Spin,(What did Claydol ever do to you?) but other sets can be used on Claydol even though they won't make it better, at allimprove its viability in the slightest. Trick along with a Choice item or Iron Ball can work to surprise the opponent, but Whimsicott does a better job of that. Earthquake shouldn't be considered because Earth Power is Claydol's only way of ever getting past Doublade. Lastly, Explosion is a good move, even on a bad Pokemon like Claydol.
Checks & Counters
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In general, anything not weak to Ground-type moves and/or hits Claydol neutrally can be considered a solid check.
**Ghost-types**: Rotom, Mismagius, Banette, Gourgeist, and Spiritomb are all immune to Rapid Spin and take pitiful damage from Claydol's other attacks or, in Mismagius and Rotom's case, are immune. They also have STAB Ghost-type attacks to hit Claydol super effectively with. Spiritomb is especially problematic because it hits Claydol hard with Pursuit on the way out.
**Super Effective Attacks**: Shiftry, Abomasnow, Virizion, Rotom-C, Sharpedo, Clawitzer, and Escavalier among others can all hit Claydol super effectively with their STAB moves while not caring about Earth Power and mostly notcaring aboutdeterred immensely by Toxic.
**Flying-types**: SubToxic Moltres or Substitute Bulk Up Braviary completely set up on Claydol provided they don't switch in on Toxic, and can't be touched at all by it. Golbat is immune to literally everything Claydol has on its main set bar Rapid Spin and has Defog, as well as one of Toxic or Super Fang, to cripple Claydol. Sigilyphliterallyeasily sets up for free on Claydol without fearing anything, not even Toxic, thanks to Magic Guard.
**Regenerator Pokemon**: Slowking, Amoonguss, and Alomomola don't mind Toxic as much as other Pokemon do and have super effective STAB attacks that can take down Claydol.
Overview
########
Contrary to popular belief among some players who think Claydol looks good on paper, it is in fact a very bad Pokemon for various reasons. It gets both Stealth Rock and Rapid Spin, although it is a bad user of both moves
i
DON'T USE CLAYDOL
########
name: DON'T USE CLAYDOL (I thought sets were supposed to be named something vague referencing it, unless it is "historical". Ex: AfroSmash ?)
move 1: Rapid Spin
move 2: Earth Power
move 3: Toxic
move 4: Stealth Rock
ability: Levitate
item: Leftovers
evs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
nature: Bold
Moves
========
Rapid Spin removes entry hazards, although it is blocked by all Ghost-type Pokemon, which Claydol struggles against
Set Details
========
Claydol uses a physically defensive spread to best make use of its resistances to Rock- and Fighting-types, which mostly
Usage Tips
========
If the opponent has a Doublade and you need to get a Rapid Spin off, then more often than not hitting Doublade on the switch is the key, so Earth Power would be preferred to in that situation. However, if the opponent has another Ghost-type, then hitting them with Toxic
Team Options
========
Pokemon that benefit from having entry hazards
Other Options
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Checks & Counters
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In general, anything not weak to Ground-type moves and/or hits Claydol neutrally can be considered a solid check.
**Ghost-types**: Rotom, Mismagius, Banette, Gourgeist, and Spiritomb are all immune to Rapid Spin and take pitiful damage from Claydol's other attacks or, in Mismagius and Rotom's case, are immune. They also have STAB Ghost-type attacks to hit Claydol super effectively with. Spiritomb is especially problematic because it hits Claydol hard with Pursuit on the way out.
**Super Effective Attacks**: Shiftry, Abomasnow, Virizion, Rotom-C, Sharpedo, Clawitzer, and Escavalier among others can all hit Claydol super effectively with their STAB moves while not caring about Earth Power and mostly not
**Flying-types**: SubToxic Moltres or Substitute Bulk Up Braviary completely set up on Claydol provided they don't switch in on Toxic, and can't be touched at all by it. Golbat is immune to literally everything Claydol has on its main set bar Rapid Spin and has Defog, as well as one of Toxic or Super Fang, to cripple Claydol. Sigilyph
**Regenerator Pokemon**: Slowking, Amoonguss, and Alomomola don't mind Toxic as much as other Pokemon do and have super effective STAB attacks that can take down Claydol.
