Clefable (RBY UU) [WIP]

[pac]

[OVERVIEW]

Clefable in RBY UU succeeds as an offensive early game threat, being able to threaten pokemon such as Hypno and Kadabra with its wide movepool. It also as possesses decent special bulk similar to that of notable defensive threats like Tangela and Omastar, allowing it to fulfill this role successfully. This combination of desirable traits allows it to be an effective lead, as two of the three most popular leads in the format are the aforementioned Hypno and Kadabra, and Tentacruel is forced to attempt to pivot out in order to avoid paralysis from Thunder Wave.




[SET]
name: Lead
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Body Slam
move 3: Blizzard / Thunderbolt / Psychic
move 4: Hyper Beam / Counter

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Thunder Wave and Body Slam are Clefable's two most important moves. Between the two of them, Clefable can threaten every Pokemon in the tier with paralysis and large damage. They also help mitigate Clefable's primary weakness in its speed. For your remaining moves, you have multiple options based on what targets you want to prioritize. Hyper Beam will deal significant damage to a large portion of the tier. Tentacruel, Paralysed Kadabra, Persian, and more will hate taking on a Hyper Beam, with Tentacruel notably being KO'd from around half health. Blizzard is Clefable's strongest Special move, and will obliterate Pokemon weak to it such as Aerodactyl, Golem, or Venusaur. Thunderbolt will deal super effective damage against relevant Water-types such as Dewgong or Vaporeon, as well as landing a 3HKO on Dewgong and a 4HKO on Vaporeon. Thunderbolt is especially relevant against the occasional Omastar, which resists Blizzard, Body Slam, and Hyper Beam, as well as landing a 2HKO on Gyarados. Between Psychic and Body Slam, Clefable is able to hit every Pokemon in the tier for at least neutral damage. Also, Psychic is relevant for Poison-types such as Haunter or Tentacruel, while also being able to threaten dangerous Special drops, although Thunderbolt will deal more damage against Tentacruel. However, when taking into account Special drops, Psychic will typically deal more damage. Counter is useful against physical attackers that use Normal-type moves, such as Kangaskhan, Dodrio, or Persian. However, this will likely only work once; Kangaskhan may use Earthquake in order to check if you are running Counter, and Dodrio may use Drill Peck. Using Counter will require you to be patient enough until a Kangaskhan or Dodrio no longer suspects the presence of Counter. Persian is less fortunate here, as its coverage moves in Bubble Beam and Thunderbolt are much less useful against Clefable, both dealing middling damage, encouraging it to use Slash. When using a Clefable with Counter, you have a good option to switch-in on a Hyper Beam due to Clefable's high physical bulk. Notably, this allows it to act as a very solid Kangaskhan switch-in.

Bringing in Clefable can be a tricky situation, primarily due to its low speed. Using partial trapping moves, such as Wrap or Bind, will help you bring Clefable in safely, because switching out during partial trapping will end the turn. Due to this issue, one of the better ways to use Clefable is as a lead, as Clefable has a decent matchup against multiple popular leads, such as Tentacruel, Kadabra, Dodrio, and Electabuzz, and has to worry less about switching in. A set containing Psychic, Hyper Beam, Body Slam, and Thunder Wave allows Clefable to succeed in the earlier parts of the game. A Tentacruel lead will have to be concerned about the possibility of missing Wrap, and afterwards being punished by Psychic or Thunder Wave. Hypno will either lose, be severely crippled, or be forced to use Hypnosis when facing Clefable early on. Kadabra will die to a Body Slam followed up by a Hyper Beam, meaning that it's either forced out or sacked.

Clefable is able to fit on a variety of teams due to its flexibility, including outside of the lead. A team that is weak to Hypno may utilize it for its ability to muscle past Hypno, while teams featuring Kadabra can benefit from a Clefable that runs Counter, as foes will attempt to KO Kadabra with a Hyper Beam or Slash from a physical attacker such as Kangaskhan or Persian. Sets running Blizzard and Thunderbolt have a favorable matchup against teams running the popular combination of Vaporeon and Dragonite, although the downside is your lesser ability to muscle past Hypno. Clefables that run Sing allow your Hypno to drop Hypnosis for something more useful, particularly Seismic Toss for the ditto. ln general, use Clefable to patch up holes against certain troublesome matchups, as well as in teams with heavy paralysis support that will let it shine. Clefable is most effective when its foes are slower than it, so paralysis support can help it threaten them more efficiently. Clefable also functions well once Tentacruel is handled or otherwise paralyzed, as Tentacruel is able to abuse Clefable extremely effectively with Wrap.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Clefable's expansive movepool allows it to be very customizable, meaning that it has plenty of other options. Sing can be used to turn the tables against Pokemon that would otherwise be checks, and due to RBY's notoriously powerful sleep mechanics , this can mean a KO. Mega Kick is stronger than Body Slam and does not force a recharge turn like Hyper Beam, notably being able to 2HKO Tentacruel and Hypno, as well having a decent chance of 2HKOing the occasional Raichu. However, it has the disadvantage of not spreading paralysis like Body Slam, making it less consistent. Rest allows Clefable to heal off damage and status it has taken over time, and due to the prevalence of Wrap in the tier, it has multiple opportunities to wake up, as Wrap will burn sleep turns. However, Clefable has a hard time fitting it into its moveset, and offensive threats such as Kangaskhan will be happy to punish a Rest. It's also rather slow, making it easy to put to sleep again if Sleep Clause isn't active.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Partial Trappers**: As mentioned above, Clefable being as slow as it is means that Dragonite, Tentacruel, and Pinsir can simply Wrap or Bind it to death a lot of the time. Clefable will usually start dying to a +2 Hyper Beam from Pinsir after only 1 round of Bind, a Tentacruel Surf starting at 38.9%, and a Dragonite Hyper Beam starting at 48%. However, if Wrap or Bind misses, Clefable can threaten them with Thunder Wave or the less consistent Sing in order to mitigate this issue. The partial trappers may also use Wrap or Bind to pivot into a threat such as Dugtrio or Persian, which can also finish the job against Clefable.

**Haunter**: Haunter is immune to Clefable's Body Slam and Hyper Beam, takes very little from a Thunderbolt, can threaten Clefable with 50.3-59.2% damage with Explosion, and is able to 4HKO Clefable with Night Shade. However, a Haunter that has been paralyzed due to Thunder Wave loses its ability to work effectively as a Dragonite check. Also, if Clefable is running Psychic, Haunter is forced out due to the guaranteed 3HKO that Psychic threatens with.

**Articuno**: Clefable has trouble dealing with Articuno, as a Clefable that has taken minor chip beforehand will be 2HKOed by Blizzard, and Clefable will only threaten Articuno with a 4HKO from Thunderbolt. It's worth noting that Clefable can paralyze Articuno to cripple it, slowing down a potential sweep.

**Hypnosis Lead Hypno**: While a full HP Clefable will punish a Hypno that is asleep very effectively, in the lead position when Sleep Clause is not active Hypno will outspeed Clefable and threaten it with Hypnosis. Hypno is usually a tough Pokemon for teams to take down, and while Clefable is threatened by it, it's still one of the better Pokemon at handling it if it is awake later in the game.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[pacattacc, 520967]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

 

[Plague von Karma]

I'm gonna summon Hipmonlee in case he wants to say anything while this gets rolling. He's used Clefable more than most modern UU players.

 

[Hipmonlee]

Clefable is much bulkier than a lot of UU, does great damage with Normal stab, has no weaknesses to speak of and can twave things. Anything trying to go toe to toe with it is gonna end up at least crippled before it takes Clefable out. Then Clefable has so many options its really hard to play safely against it. You never know if it's gonna counter you, or finish you off with hyperbeam, and if you try to predict these things you can find out youre facing a different set entirely. It's really frustrating to deal with.

Your two most important moves are thunder wave and body slam. Basically you want to be clicking one of these two moves on as many turns as possible. The point of the others are to support those two.

Body slam you can lock in, the only reason to drop this is because you are doing something absolutely wild, like counter, sing, twave, hyperbeam or something. Clefable's slam is stronger than Kingler's (just less than Dragonite's). And it's just such a great move to click in UU (actually in RBY in general), it does great damage to almost everything, and it has the amazing paralysis chance.

Thunder wave is great for Tentacruel and Dragonite. It means the wrappers have no choice but to wrap you. And every time they do they have that 15% chance of getting screwed. Plus paralysis is the best status and UU is pretty light on Twavers. And clefable is slow as hell. You technically can drop it, but I would say that you want to have this at least 75% of the time...

And then after that point you should just go wild.

Clefable's Hyperbeam is really strong, (again, stronger than Kingler's). Great for finishing off things, but special mention to Hypno, who is most team's main defence against Clefable.
Psychic is nice for hitting Haunter, the one thing that makes you not want to click body slam.
Blizzard obviously takes care of Golem and is the otherwise strongest special move.
Tbolt for Omastar, and the myriad waters in UU.
Counter is an amazing move. Switch into a Persian Slash, and if they dont want to get paralysed, they have to risk taking 300ish damage on whatever they switch to. It also means if normals want to stay in against you they have to use their coverage moves, which mostly suck. If you can come into a Kadabra seismic toss, then you're threatening 200 damage on whatever they switch to, or a 96% chance of 2hkoing with slam (even a faint chance to OHKO with hyperbeam).
Sing for catching people unawares. It's accuracy is so poor its hardly worth it if your opponent is expecting it. I generally find I am always too afraid to click it and just twave things because its safer to do so.

I dont think rest is the way to go. The problem with resting on Clefable is it has no resistances. So there isn't much it can safely wake against.

Megakick also is kinda cool, but just because body slam is so great, megakick isnt really good enough to replace it. IMO anyway.

Clefable is so brutally strong against Kadabra in particular, try to double it in, and the threat of 2hkoing with Body slam, means Kadabra basically has to switch out. Even if it stays in for damage your special resistance is great anyway, it's hardly worth it for your opponent.

If I had to put together a set it might look like:
Twave
Slam
psychic/tbolt/blizzard
hyperbeam/counter

But you should probably slash all 5 moves together twice. Any combination of those will give you a sensible set. Even using wave, slam, hyperbeam, counter is fine. Your opponent isnt gonna know you have no coverage until you click counter, and once you click counter clefable has probably done its job.

And I'd put sing in other options. You could mention rest and megakick there too, I am just not a fan of those options.

 

[Plague von Karma]

I know it's a WIP but I thought I'd give a few criticisms to help it along.

Overview

Clefable succeeds as a niche threat in UU for multiple reasons.

This doesn't really explain anything nor define Clefable as a Pokemon. Clefable is a diverse, bulky threat that can do tons of things. Give it some welly, yeah? You could possibly merge it with the second sentence in some way to make this work. The first line should grab the reader's attention and make them think "yeah, I can use this, this is viable".

This is enhanced by its Normal-typing, which gives it STAB on Body Slam and Hyper Beam, allowing it to deal extraordinary damage.

We gotta get some examples down. You have a shot at KOing Hypno with Hyper Beam after two Body Slams, just like Kangaskhan. I wouldn't call it extraordinary though, something like "surprisingly high damage" works fine.

Clefable is able to cripple nearly every threat in the tier, usually leaving its foes to be cleaned up by a teammate such as Dugtrio.

Again, we need examples. Clefable is the Status Guru of UU, much like Hypno, you should draw some comparisons. Thunder Wave and Sing are your big ones.

It is also a great check to Kadabra, one of the best Pokemon in the tier. Kadabra only threatens Clefable with a possible 3HKO using Psychic, while Clefable is able to 2HKO Kadabra with Body Slam 96.2% of the time.

I'd say just put "2HKOes Kadabra in return with Body Slam", 96% is "basically always happens" anyway. You should use this to demonstrate its special bulk in context though, the Overview isn't really for matchups, moreso "this is what it does, here are some examples of it in action, etc".

You seriously need to reference its coverage, that's a big part of what makes Clefable work. It's very difficult to switch into if you don't know the set, and even then, it's scouting with a STAB Body Slam. It's good on the offence as well as the support.

However, Clefable is not without its flaws. Its slow speed allows it to be danced around by partial trappers such as Tentacruel, Dragonite, and the rare Moltres, being at the same speed as the infamously slow Tangela.

I would sooner reference Pinsir than Moltres, which is actually ranked. In fact, I'd say Pinsir beats it more convincingly. You should mention that Clefable doesn't have reliable recovery, and can't really fit Rest into the set (though it absolutely can use it), which makes it reasonably easy to wear down. This makes Wrap even more dangerous since it can't take too much chip. You could also go over how it can't do everything at once, so once you know the set, it becomes significantly more manageable.

Set Details

[SET]
name: Offensive Support
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Body Slam
move 3: Hyper Beam/Counter/Blizzard/Thunderbolt/Psychic
move 4: Hyper Beam/Counter/Blizzard/Thunderbolt/Psychic

You've gotta pick one move in the 4th slot to go first. I'd say, Psychic, as it's the best "neutral" tool that also hits Tentacruel, I really like using that. Also, space the slashes, that's really important for the CMS.

I would personally default to what Hipmonlee recommended though, which is akin to my thought process as well when building it. This would also help your set explanation.

Twave
Slam
psychic/tbolt/blizzard
hyperbeam/counter

For your remaining moves, you have multiple options based on what targets you want to prioritize.

It's moreso what the team needs. Does the team want something neutral that also covers Haunter, a Gyarados zapper, or the frosty nuke button? After that, do you want to muscle past stuff like Hypno, or is your team weaker against Kangaskhan and friends?

Hyper Beam will deal significant damage, allowing it to finish off notable threats such as Hypno.

It also has a very very small chance to OHKO Kadabra, so if it's taken any amount of damage, it dies. It also KOes Tentacruel from half HP, so scale that with everything else.

You should mention calcs for all the special moves.

Thunderbolt will deal super effective damage against relevant Water-types such as Dewgong or Vaporeon. Thunderbolt is especially relevant against the occasional Omastar, which resists Blizzard, Body Slam, and Hyper Beam. Psychic is relevant for Poison-types such as Haunter or Tentacruel, while also being able to threaten dangerous Special drops.

Tentacruel is threatened more by Thunderbolt, so it should be noted there. You also really really need to note Gyarados, that's a big part of its niche on your moveset as it deals massive damage.

Psychic isn't really for Poison-types, it's moreso for neutral coverage that snowballs quickly with special drops and its bulk. Clefable can score quite a few free turns, so it gains momentum quickly. It cores with Body Slam and Hyper Beam because it gives you your best shot at beating Haunter, but as established, it's not the primary reason.

Also, note that Counter is for Kangaskhan, Dodrio and Persian, yada yada yada.

and the usage tips and such zzz

Other Options

Sing can be used in order to spread sleep, although its poor accuracy makes this risky.

Well, you're not spreading sleep, it's just knocking something out. The poor accuracy itself isn't the problem, but Clefable's lack of reliable recovery, which gives it less free turns than, let's say, Chansey.

Mega Kick is stronger than Body Slam, and does not force a recharge turn like Hyper Beam. However, like Sing, its low accuracy is unreliable.

You need to show some calcs that give you a call to use it. It guarantees a 3HKO against Tentacruel and Hypno, as well as scores a sort-of-reliable 2HKO on Raichu. Outside of that, its special coverage is often superior.

Rest allows Clefable to heal of damage and status it has taken over time. However, Clefable's lack of useful resistances or immunities give it very few chances to wake up after you use it.

Hardly! The problem is that it has major issues fitting it into its moveset and Pokemon like Kangaskhan will love to punish the Rest. Clefable wants to do a lot of things, and defensive Rest isn't really what we want. Waking up from Rest isn't that difficult in UU due to Wrap being used so often. Additionally, similar to Vaporeon, it's slow and can be put to sleep again if Sleep Clause isn't active.

I suppose you could mention Toxic?

Checks & Counters

**Partial Trappers**: As mentioned above, Clefable being as slow as it is means that Dragonite or Tentacruel can simply wrap it to death a lot of the time. However, if Wrap misses, Clefable can threaten them with Thunder Wave in order to mitigate this issue.

Remove the reference to the above, it's too vague. If you're mentioning partial trapping, you may as well chuck Pinsir in. If it's at +2, it's having a rough time against that Bind, it straight up dies to +2 Hyper Beam after like one round of it. Bind Tangela is worth a mention since it can threaten with sleep as well. You also need to mention the lack of recovery, that's why Clefable gets worn down so fast!

**Haunter**: Haunter is immune to Clefable's Body Slam and Hyper Beam, takes very little from a Thunderbolt, and can threaten Clefable with 50.3-59.2% damage with Explosion. However, a Haunter that has been paralyzed loses its ability to work effectively as a Dragonite check. Also, if Clefable is running Psychic, Haunter is forced out.

Chuck in the fact it's 4HKOed by Night Shade, people often forget it ignores type immunity.

**Fighting-types**: While Poliwrath is an uncommon choice, it will 2HKO Clefable with Submission 92.8% of the time, while also having the option of putting Clefable to sleep with Hypnosis. Other Fighting-types can accomplish this as well, but none of them are particularly relevant threats. It is worth noting that Hitmonlee, Primeape, and Machamp will 2HKO Clefable much more consistently than Poliwrath will.

No...just mention Poliwrath, none of the other Fighting-types are relevant. This doesn't help people.

Mention that Kangaskhan and Dodrio can really lay the smackdown on Clefable, their Hyper Beams kill it from half HP. They naturally hate Counter though. Clefable has issues beating Articuno, which 2HKOes with Blizzard if it's taken minor chip beforehand.

 

[pac]

Plague von Karma I believe I implemented everything you suggested, correct me if i'm wrong.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Gonna do this in a GP-style format since there's a lot here that's difficult to visualize in quotes. Modern gens do this so it may even be something I should do regularly...getting a bit into QC territory despite it being a WIP but it'll help me later on.

Overview

Clefable succeeds as a diverse and bulky threat in RBY UU, being bulkier than much of the tier, while also having a large movepool. It is able to put pressure offensively due to its powerful attacks large special movepool, which is enhanced by its Normal-typing which gives it STAB on Body Slam and Hyper Beam, allowing it to deal surprisingly high damage. Notably, it is able to KO a Hypno with Hyper Beam after two Body Slams, (RP) as well as a Tentacruel at half HP. Similar to Hypno, Clefable is able to cripple nearly every threat in the tier with moves like Sing and Thunder Wave, usually leaving its foes to be cleaned up by a teammate such as Dugtrio. It is similar to Hypno in that it is able to threaten Pokemon with both sleep and paralysis, through Thunder Wave and Sing. (this sentence really wasn't necessary and only added vagaries to the previous one) It is also a great check to Kadabra, one of the best Pokemon in the tier. Kadabra only threatens Clefable with a possible 3HKO using Psychic, while Clefable is able to 2HKO Kadabra with Body Slam in return. (Again, this should be used to demonstrate its bulk. Otherwise, take it to Set Details...) It is also extremely difficult to switch into a Clefable early on, as it has the potential to be running a move to counter just about any Pokemon you could send in. And e Even then, Clefable is often scouting with its STAB Body Slam, threatening with P paralysis. This makes Clefable both a good offensive tool, as well as a good supportive one.

However, Clefable is not without its flaws. Its slow speed allows it to be danced around by partial trappers such as Tentacruel, Dragonite, and the rare Pinsir, as well as being at the same speed as the infamously slow Tangela (this gives a bit more info since Tangela carries Bind). It also doesn't have reliable recovery, as it struggles to fit Rest into its moveset, which leaves it susceptible to being worn down over time. Also, once an opponent knows what set you are running, it is much easier to counter, as Clefable cannot fit all of its coverage and support moves into its moveset.

Set Details

Thunder Wave and Body Slam are Clefable's two most important moves. Between the two of them, Clefable can threaten every Pokemon in the tier with paralysis and large damage. They also help mitigate Clefable's primary weakness in its speed. For your remaining moves, you have multiple options based on what targets you want to prioritize. Hyper Beam will deal significant damage, allowing it to finish off notable threats such as Hypno. Blizzard is Clefable's strongest Special move, (RC) and will obliterate Rock-type Pokemon such as Aerodactyl or Golem, as well as Grass-types like Venusaur. Thunderbolt will deal super effective damage against relevant Water-types such as Dewgong or Vaporeon (cite calcs). Thunderbolt is especially relevant against the occasional Omastar, which resists Blizzard, Body Slam, and Hyper Beam, as well as Gyarados (cite calcs ig?). Psychic is relevant for Poison-types such as Haunter or Tentacruel, while also being able to threaten dangerous Special drops, although Thunderbolt will deal more damage against Tentacruel. (Refer to my previous post, this isn't really what it's for. Focus on the unresisted coverage alongside Body Slam, the effectiveness against Haunter and Tentacruel is largely a bonus.) Counter is useful against phsyical physical attackers that use Normal-type moves, such as Kangaskhan, Dodrio, or Persian. However, this will likely only work once.; (RP, ASC) Kangaskhan will use Earthquake if it knows that you are running Counter (It's checking for Counter first, not using it just because it knows. You need to emphasize that Counter requires a patient player to be used effectively.), and Dodrio will use Drill Peck. Persian is less fortunate here, as its coverage moves in Bubble Beam and Thunderbolt are much less useful against Clefable, both dealing middling damage. Clefable will also KO Persian with Hyper Beam after two Body Slams. This can still be useful for conditioning your opponent into using certain moves, to help with switch-ins.

Other Options

Clefable's expansive movepool allows it to be very customizable, meaning that it has plenty of other options. Sing can be used in order to apply sleep, which usually means a KO for the Pokemon that has been inflicted with Sleep. However, Sing's poor accuracy, as well as Clefable's lack of reliable recovery, makes this difficult to use effectively at times. (Dex Info, re-contextualize this into a metagame perspective. Something like "Sing can be used to turn the tables against would-be checks, and with RBY's sleep mechanics, this can effectively mean a KO.) Mega Kick is stronger than Body Slam, (RC) and does not doesn't force a recharge turn like Hyper Beam, notably being able to 2HKO Tentacruel and Hypno, as well as having a decent chance of 2HKOing the occasional Raichu. However, like Sing, its low accuracy is unreliable. (dex info) It also However, it has the disadvantage of not spreading paralysis like Body Slam. Rest allows Clefable to heal off damage and status it has taken over time, and due to the prevalance prevalence of Wrap in the tier, (AC) it has multiple opportunities to wake up, as Wrap burns sleep turns. However, Clefable has a hard time fitting it into its moveset, and offensive threats such as Kangaskhan will be happy to punish a Rest. It is also rather slow, and is able to be put to sleep again if Sleep Clause is not active. (subjective: reword to "It's also rather slow, making it easy to put to sleep again if Sleep Clause isn't active." As it stands, this is a lot of words for a simple point.)

Everything else seems fine so far.

 

[pac]

Words

Implemented! I believe I actually got everything this time.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Pac asked for one last once-over before we can put this into QC.
Add
Remove
Comments
Highlighting for comments
(AC) = Add Comma

There's also a lot of "it is" uses that could be better-read with "it's". Read it out loud and see what rolls off the tongue better.

[OVERVIEW]
Clefable succeeds as a diverse and bulky threat in RBY UU, being bulkier than much of the tier, while also having a large movepool. It is able to put exert pressure offensively due to its large special movepool, which is enhanced by its Normal-typing, (AC) which gives it STAB on Body Slam and Hyper Beam, allowing it to deal surprisingly high damage. Notably, it is able to KO a Hypno with Hyper Beam after two Body Slams, as well as a Tentacruel at half HP. Similar to Hypno, Clefable is able to cripple nearly every threat in the tier using Thunder Wave and Sing, usually leaving its foes to be cleaned up by a teammate such as Dugtrio. It is also extremely difficult to switch into a Clefable early on, as it has the potential to be running a move to counter just about any Pokemon you could send in. Even then, Clefable is often scouting with its STAB Body Slam, threatening with paralysis and forcing damage onto the opposing team. (STAB Body Slam is a powerful thing, the paralysis can even be considered a bonus tbh) This makes Clefable both a good offensive tool, as well as a good supportive one. (It's almost like you missed a clause here here; "This makes Clefable both a good offensive and defensive tool, as well as a good supportive one". Is that what you meant?)

However, Clefable is not without its flaws. Its slow speed allows it to be danced around by partial trappers such as Tentacruel, Dragonite, and the rare Pinsir, as well as being at the same speed as the infamously slow Tangela. It also doesn't have reliable recovery, as it struggles to fit Rest into its moveset, which leaves it susceptible to being worn down over time. Also, once an opponent knows what set you are running, it is becomes much easier to counter, as Clefable cannot fit all of its coverage and support moves into its moveset. (It's not that Clefable itself is easy to counter, its sets are, which have to be revealed. It can be a while beforehand too, as it's often clicking slam and twave. So it's better to say "becomes" in this case.)

[SET]
name: Offensive Support
move 1: Thunder Wave
move 2: Body Slam
move 3: Blizzard / Thunderbolt / Psychic
move 4: Hyper Beam / Counter

[SET COMMENTS]
Set Description
=========
Thunder Wave and Body Slam are Clefable's two most important moves. Between the two of them, Clefable can threaten every Pokemon in the tier with paralysis and large damage. They also help mitigate Clefable's primary weakness in its speed. For your remaining moves, you have multiple options based on what targets you want to prioritize. Hyper Beam will deal significant damage, allowing it to finish off notable threats such as Hypno. (This explanation isn't adequate. Hyper Beam deals amazing damage to anything with lesser Defense as you established in the Overview. Paralyzed Kadabra hates it, Tentacruel hates it, so many things hate it. Calc it and see what you wanna note. This is a big part of what makes Clefable threatening, and it's just one of many things it can run.) Blizzard is Clefable's strongest Special move, and will obliterate Rock-type Pokemon (Rock-type is kind of inaccurate as that's not causing the weakness, I think you should just say Pokemon weak to it.) such as Aerodactyl or Golem, as well as Grass-types like Venusaur. Thunderbolt will deal super effective damage against relevant Water-types such as Dewgong or Vaporeon, dealing a (maybe "as well as" and then reword the rest of the sentence?) 3HKO to Dewgong and a 4HKO to Vaporeon. Thunderbolt is especially relevant against the occasional Omastar, which resists Blizzard, Body Slam, and Hyper Beam, as well as landing a 2HKO on Gyarados. Between Psychic and Body Slam, Clefable is able to hit every Pokemon in the tier for at least neutral damage. Also, Psychic is relevant for Poison-types such as Haunter or Tentacruel, while also being able to threaten dangerous Special drops, although Thunderbolt will deal more damage against Tentacruel. (Thunderbolt deals more damage in a vacuum, but in the long-run, it's very likely that Psychic wins out because of how common the Special drops are. You need to establish this; again, this is a big part of why Clefable works.) Counter is useful against physical attackers that use Normal-type moves, such as Kangaskhan, Dodrio, or Persian. However, this will likely only work once; Kangaskhan will may (This isn't definitive, really. Counter itself isn't that common on Clefable, and it's not common itself either) use Earthquake in order to check if you are running Counter, and Dodrio will may use Drill Peck. Using Counter will require you to be patient enough until a Kangaskhan or Dodrio no longer suspects the presence of Counter. Persian is less fortunate here, as its coverage moves in Bubble Beam and Thunderbolt are much less useful against Clefable, both dealing middling damage, encouraging it to use Slash. When using a Clefable with Counter, you have a good option to switch-in on a Hyper Beam due to Clefable's high physical bulk. Notably, this allows it to act as a very solid Kangaskhan check switch-in. will also KO Persian with Hyper Beam after two Body Slams. (I think this is from your Hyper Beam explanation on Clefable's side? Move it if so, remove it otherwise.) This can still be useful for conditioning your opponent into using certain moves, to help with switch-ins. (Mostly fluff)

Bringing in Clefable can be a tricky situation. Due to Clefable's lack of useful resistances or immunities, it will be susceptible to taking chunks of damage from most of the tier's primary attackers. (I think you're underselling Clefable's bulk a bit here, it's significant enough for its lack of resistances to not really matter) Another primary reason for this issue is that Clefable's slow Speed makes it harder for it to revenge KO kill, which means that it will still be taking a hit in these situations that would otherwise let it come in safely. (Is this really its purpose, though? Its purpose is to be a fat fuck that's hard to switch into, like Rest-less Snorlax in OU) Using partial trapping moves, such as Wrap or Bind, will help you bring Clefable in safely. (You should explain that switching out during partial trapping ends the turn, newbies won't know that) Due to these issues, one of the better ways to use Clefable is as a lead, as Clefable has a decent matchup against multiple popular leads, such as Tentacruel, Kadabra, Dodrio, and Electabuzz, (may as well have the examples here) and has to worry less about switching in. A set containing Psychic, Hyper Beam, Body Slam, and Thunder Wave allows Clefable to succeed in the earlier parts of the game. A Tentacruel lead will have to be concerned about the possibility of missing Wrap, and afterwards being punished by Psychic or Thunder Wave. Hypno will either lose, be severely crippled, or be forced to use Hypnosis when facing Clefable early on. Kadabra will die to a Body Slam followed up by a Hyper Beam, meaning that it is either forced out or sacked.

Clefable is able to fit on a variety of teams due to its flexibility, including outside of the lead. A team that is weak to Hypno may utilize it for its ability to muscle past Hypno, while teams featuring Kadabra can benefit from a Clefable that runs Counter, as foes will attempt to KO Kadabra with a Hyper Beam or Slash from a physical attacker such as Kangaskhan or Persian. Sets running Blizzard and Thunderbolt have a favorable matchup against teams running the popular combination of Vaporeon and Dragonite, although the downside is your lesser ability to muscle past Hypno. Clefables that run Sing allow your Hypno to drop Hypnosis for something more useful, particularly Seismic Toss for the ditto. ln general, use Clefable to patch up holes against a certain troublesome matchups, (note a few that it can help with, like Vaporeon, then we can go into the paralysis bit) as well as in teams with heavy paralysis support that will let it shine. Clefable is most effective when its foes are slower than it, so paralysis support can help it threaten them more efficiently allowing it to threaten them more effectively. Clefable also functions well once Tentacruel is handled or otherwise paralyzed, as Tentacruel is able to abuse Clefable extremely effectively with Wrap.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
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Clefable's expansive movepool allows it to be very customizable, meaning that it has plenty of other options. Sing can be used to turn the tables against Pokemon that would otherwise be checks, and due to the mechanics of Sleep in RBY (maybe "RBY's notoriously powerful sleep mechanics" for engagement?), this will usually can (it's not usually a KO per se, a 0 turn wake after trying to sleep something with clef is fuckin awful) mean a KO. Mega Kick is stronger than Body Slam and does not force a recharge turn like Hyper Beam, notably being able to 2HKO Tentacruel and Hypno, as well having a decent chance of 2HKOing the occasional Raichu. However, it has the disadvantage of not spreading paralysis like Body Slam, making it less consistent (very important to note, switching into a clef paraslam is depressing lmfao). Rest allows Clefable to heal off damage and status it has taken over time, and due to the prevalence of Wrap in the tier, (AC) it has multiple opportunities to wake up, as Wrap will burn sleep turns. However, Clefable has a hard time fitting it into its moveset, and offensive threats such as Kangaskhan will be happy to punish a Rest. It's also rather slow, making it easy to put to sleep again if Sleep Clause isn't active.

Checks and Counters
===================

**Partial Trappers**: As mentioned above, Clefable being as slow as it is means that Dragonite, Tentacruel, and Pinsir can simply Wrap or Bind it to death a lot of the time. Clefable will usually start dying to a +2 Hyper Beam from Pinsir after only 1 round of Bind. However, if Wrap or Bind misses, Clefable can threaten them with Thunder Wave or the less consistent Sing in order to mitigate this issue. (Cite calcs for Dragonite's Blizzard / Hyper Beam, Tentacruel's Surf and maybe +2 Hyper Beam. You never actually try to KO with strictly your partial trapping moves, you're chipping foes into range for you to kill them. You should also explain that these Pokemon will also switch into potential checks like Dugtrio or Persian to finish the job if they push their luck too hard.)

**Haunter**: Haunter is immune to Clefable's Body Slam and Hyper Beam, takes very little from a Thunderbolt, can threaten Clefable with 50.3-59.2% damage with Explosion, and is able to 4HKO Clefable with Night Shade. However, a Haunter that has been paralyzed loses its ability to work effectively as a Dragonite check. Also, if Clefable is running Psychic, Haunter is forced out. (You should cite the calc as a potential reason. Note that Clefable itself threatens with paralysis too! It's not as comfy as it looks!)

**Articuno**: Clefable has trouble dealing with Articuno, as a Clefable that has taken minor chip beforehand will be 2HKOed by Blizzard, and Clefable will only threaten Articuno with a 4HKO from Thunderbolt. (I suppose paralysis could be mentioned, as it does technically stall Articuno's rampage...)

**Hypnosis Lead Hypno**: While a full HP Clefable will punish a Hypno that is asleep very effectively, if Sleep Clause is not active, (AC) Hypno will outspeed Clefable and threaten it with Hypnosis. Hypno is usually a tough Pokemon for teams to take down, and while Clefable is threatened by it, it is still one of the better Pokemon at handling it. (This should be framed as a lead situation, as it's the primary way Hypno will check Clefable. Otherwise, chances are that Sleep Clause is already active, though it's obviously not definitive. Maybe frame it as a lead situation and then go into scenarios where later sleep attempts are plausible.)

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[pacattacc, 520967]]
- Quality checked by: [[, ], [, ]]
- Grammar checked by: [[, ], [, ]]

 

[Plague von Karma]

QC 1/2, I'm pretty sure there'll be more that others have to say

 

[Volk]

Surprise! First things first, this post has a lot of prose issues. You should really consider rereading it and making fixes. As written, it is quite choppy, unclear, and ineloquent. I want to focus mainly on metagame stuff, but you should seriously revamp much of the language here. It is very distracting.

Clefable succeeds as a diverse and bulky threat in RBY UU, being bulkier than much of the tier, while also having a large movepool.

This is a weird sentence for a few reasons. Firstly, a singular entity can't really be "diverse," so I'd refrain from call Clefable itself diverse. It has diverse coverage or can fulfill a diverse array of of roles, but it, itself, isn't diverse. Secondly, you should probably give a frame of reference for its bulk. Realistically, Clefable isn't remarkably bulky, plenty of stuff is bulkier, like Vaporeon, Dragonite, and Gyarados. Moreover, plenty of Pokemon have it beat on one side, like Kangaskhan who has better physical bulk and Tentacruel who has better special bulk. Give a calc or common Pokemon who have roughly the same bulk to paint a picture for your reader.

It's able to exert pressure offensively due to its large special movepool, which is enhanced by its Normal-typing, which gives it STAB on Body Slam and Hyper Beam, allowing it to deal surprisingly high damage.

There is no need to specify a "special" movepool. Clefable has access to a wide array of physical, special, and status moves. You should probably mention some of these, such as Thunderbolt, Blizzard, Psychic, Thunder Wave, Sing, and Counter. The movepool is one of the main reasons to use Clefbale, so you should cover it in the introduction at least fairly comprehensively.

Similar to Hypno, Clefable is able to cripple nearly every threat in the tier using Thunder Wave and Sing, usually leaving its foes to be cleaned up by a teammate such as Dugtrio.

I'd keep Hypno comparisons to a minimum. While the two have a fair bit in common, using Clefable as a "second Hypno" is usually not a great strategy. Most often, Clefable is an early game bully that applies pressure to the opponent's Hypno, thus freeing up the Clefable user's Hypno. Clefable does this well not only due to its reasonable offenses, but also because it has coverage and status moves to threaten Pokemon that could otherwise check physical attackers like Kangaskhan and Omastar.

Tentacruel, Paralysed Kadabra, Persian, and more will hate taking on a Hyper Beam, with Tentacruel notably being KO'd from around half health.

There is no need to to say "Paralyzed Kadabra;" no Kadabra wants to take that hit. You also already mentioned the Tentacruel calculation.

Blizzard is Clefable's strongest Special move, and will obliterate Pokemon weak to it such as Aerodactyl, Golem, or Venusaur.

I think "obliterate" is a bit of a strong word here, especially for Venusaur, which is 2HKOed a mere 5.4% of the time by Blizzard.

Thunderbolt will deal super effective damage against relevant Water-types such as Dewgong or Vaporeon, as well as landing a 3HKO on Dewgong and a 4HKO on Vaporeon.

"Thunderbolt deals super effective damage to Water-type Pokemon, notably 4HKOing Vaporeon, 3HKOing Dewgong, and 2HKOing Gyarados."

Thunderbolt is especially relevant against the occasional Omastar, which resists Blizzard, Body Slam, and Hyper Beam, as well as landing a 2HKO on Gyarados.

"Thunderbolt is especially notable for hitting Omastar, which resists Blizzard and Clefable's Normal-type moves."

Between Psychic and Body Slam, Clefable is able to hit every Pokemon in the tier for at least neutral damage. Also, Psychic is relevant for Poison-types such as Haunter or Tentacruel, while also being able to threaten dangerous Special drops, although Thunderbolt will deal more damage against Tentacruel. However, when taking into account Special drops, Psychic will typically deal more damage.

"Psychic, when paired with Body Slam, gives Clefable perfect neutral coverage. Psychic comes with the added bonus of hitting Poison-type Pokemon, most notably Haunter, for super effective damage. Special drops from Psychic can also help Clefable do more damage and further slow down Paralyzed foes." Or something like that. Also, use the word "relevant" less. Depending on the context, "common" or "useful" is a much better word.

However, this will likely only work once; Kangaskhan may use Earthquake in order to check if you are running Counter, and Dodrio may use Drill Peck.

This is all backwards. First you say Counter will only work once, but then you go on to describe Counter-checking, which would mean that Counter wouldn't work at all. Break this up or reword it, because it makes no sense right now. Also, there need not be a comma after "Counter."

Persian is less fortunate here, as its coverage moves in Bubble Beam and Thunderbolt are much less useful against Clefable, both dealing middling damage, encouraging it to use Slash.

"Persian, however, has weaker coverage options and is very likely to use Slash regardless."

A set containing Psychic, Hyper Beam, Body Slam, and Thunder Wave allows Clefable to succeed in the earlier parts of the game.

Is this really the best lead set? Why is Psychic better than Blizzard or Thunderbolt here? How did you settle on this one?

Hypno will either lose, be severely crippled, or be forced to use Hypnosis when facing Clefable early on.

Being "forced to use Hypnosis" doesn't really make any sense. Hypno is delighted by the opportunity to use Hypnosis on targets that are slower than it. It isn't forced if it was going to do that anyway.

A team that is weak to Hypno may utilize it for its ability to muscle past Hypno, while teams featuring Kadabra can benefit from a Clefable that runs Counter, as foes will attempt to KO Kadabra with a Hyper Beam or Slash from a physical attacker such as Kangaskhan or Persian.

We got a lot to unpack here. First, what is "a team that is weak to Hypno?" Hypno is on every team. If you built a team that was weak to Hypno, you should probably scrap it right there. Clefable exists more as an alternative route to circumvent Hypno. Most players deal with Hypno with their own Hypno or Kadabra. These matchups get messy, as they tend to be dictated by Hypnosis misses and full Paralysis. Clefable, as well as other alternative routes like Venusaur, allow the player to pressure Hypno without risking a piece as valuable as your own Hypno. This, right here, is Clefable's main niche and hould be made very clear. Clefable is a Pokemon that can apply pressure to Hypno and Kadabra while simultaneously keeping one's own Psychics safe and preventing the opponent from switching out to something like Kangaskhan or Tentacruel, thanks to the threat of status. The Hyper Beam fact is kind of a side note relative to this, and has some inconsistencies, as a critical hit Hyper Beam from Kangaskhan may just OHKO Clefable, keeping it from ever using Counter.

ln general, use Clefable to patch up holes against certain troublesome matchups, as well as in teams with heavy paralysis support that will let it shine. Clefable is most effective when its foes are slower than it, so paralysis support can help it threaten them more efficiently. Clefable also functions well once Tentacruel is handled or otherwise paralyzed, as Tentacruel is able to abuse Clefable extremely effectively with Wrap.

I feel these sentences suggest a lack of understanding of how Clefable functions. Clefable isn't really much of a glue Pokemon or a sweeper, which these sentences imply. Clefable is an early game threat that applies pressure to Hypno. Clefable honestly doesn't really care about Tentacruel's health, as Tentacruel is very unlikely to just switch into Clefable, thanks to Thunder Wave and Body Slam. Getting Clefable in is the important part. Once it gets in, it's job is basically done, it's only a matter of how many turns and if Paralysis screws it over.

Checks and Counters

Omastar checks it well if you don't have Thunderbolt. Vaporeon is also a decent answer, being faster and having a good chance to 3HKO with Surf.

Hypnosis Lead Hypno

I'd just change this to Users of Sleep-inducing moves. Clefable is so slow, that if pretty much any user of a Sleep move gets in in front of it, the Sleep is pretty much completely free. This applies to Hypno, Venusaur, Haunter, and, to a lesser extent, Tangela. Considering Clefable is often used early on, Sleep Clause usually hasn't activated yet, meaning these Pokemon can bully it worry free if they manage to matchup against it.

That's it for now. I'll look over this again when this is all implemented. Cheers!

 

[pac]

Talked it over with Plague von Karma, reverting this back to WIP so it can be rewritten from the ground up. It has a lot of issues that are hard to fix with just QCs and the like. Will look messy for a while.

 

[Plague von Karma]

Pac has asked this to be shelved, so I'm archiving it and putting Clefable back up for reservation.