Ubers Cloyster

[Oshim]

QC Checks: Minority, Hack, Fireburn
GP Checks: Haund

[OVERVIEW]

• Excellent entry hazard setter thanks to its access to Spikes and Toxic Spikes, both of which can be very prominent in the tier due to the majority of the Pokemon being grounded. However, Gengar is now able to remove Toxic Spikes from the field without Mega Evolving, making it easier to deal with the hazard.
• It can use Shell Smash paired with Icicle Spear to pressure and beat opposing entry hazard leads such as Excadrill, Deoxys, and Scolipede.
• It has access to Rapid Spin to get rid of opposing hazards as well. Cloyster also has a niche in being able to weaken Giratina, which is a common spinblocker as well as a Defogger in the tier.
• It has low Special Defense and HP stats, which can leave it vulnerable to any special attackers and generally limit its use to a single turn.

[SET]
name: Hazard Lead
move 1: Spikes / Toxic Spikes
move 2: Shell Smash
move 3: Icicle Spear
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Focus Sash
ability: Skill Link
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Setting up Toxic Spikes or Spikes is Cloyster's main role so that it can provide good support for its teammates by gradually weakening the opposing team.
• Icicle Spear is an amazing 125-Base-Power STAB move Skill Link that can weaken opposing leads and hazard setters such as Groudon, Dialga, Deoxys, Excadrill, and Scolipede.
• Shell Smash increases Cloyster's offensive presence while allowing it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame at +2 as well as common Choice Scarf users such as Lunala, Landorus-T, and Xerneas.
• Rapid Spin is a staple to prevent opposing Pokemon from setting up their own entry hazards and thus allowing its teammates to switch in more easily.

Set Details
========

• Focus Sash is needed to survive any hit to be able to set up at least a layer of hazards or use Shell Smash.
• Maximum Attack investment is used to increase its offensive presence and maximize damage dealt by Icicle Spear.
• Maximum Speed EVs with a Jolly nature is used to outpace the entire unboosted metagame after a Shell Smash boost.
• An Adamant nature can be used to favor its offensive presence.

Usage Tips
========

• Use Cloyster as a entry hazard setter. Try to wear down opposing suicide leads such as Deoxys, Excadrill, and Scolipede with Icicle Spear.
• Try to preserve its Focus Sash so that later on it can switch in to tank a hit and Rapid Spin away entry hazards on your side of the field. As Cloyster is very prone to special attacks, it needs its Focus Sash to guarantee a turn of survival.
• Use free turns to set up hazards or use Shell Smash, as at +2 Cloyster can 2HKO opposing Primal Groudon, Dialga, and Xerneas.
• Lead matchups with Cloyster should be played around carefully. Proper prediction should be used to take advantage of free turns to use Shell Smash and deal damage to opposing leads or hazard setters such as Excadrill, Scolipede, and Deoxys with STAB Icicle Spear.

Team Options
========

• Teammates that appreciates entry hazards gone such as Yveltal, Rayquaza, Ho-Oh, and Salamence so they do not need to take Stealth Rock damage make for good partners. Lunala also benefits from Cloyster's Rapid Spin support, as it can preserve its Shadow Shield.
• Hex users such as Gengar and Giratina-O can benefit from Toxic Spikes being present on the opposing side of the field enabling them to power off a powerful 130-Base-Power Hex.
• Ghost-types such as Giratina-O, Arceus-Ghost, and Lunala can act as spinblockers, preventing Rapid Spin from opposing Pokemon that aim to remove Toxic Spikes and Spikes set up by Cloyster.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Cloyster does not have much free space in its moveslot to fit in other options, as its hazards control set is its best bet and niche in Ubers.
• Explosion could be used to deal some damage to bulky Water-types such as Arceus-Water and Kyogre.
• Ice Shard could also be an option to pick off weakened threats or to revenge kill Mega Salamence and Rayquaza.
• An Adamant nature over a Jolly one can be chosen if you prefer the increased the damage output of Icicle Spear but leaves Cloyster outsped by Deoxys-S, Choice Scarf Genesect, and Xerneas after a Geomancy at +2.

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

**Bulky Water-types**: Arceus-Water and Kyogre can tank any move Cloyster uses against them and 2HKO it back, with the former also being able to Defog away its hazards pretty easily.

**Special Attackers**: While Cloyster may have a good Defense stat, its poor HP and Special Defense leave it vulnerable to being 2HKOed by any neutral special attack. Faster special attackers such as Xerneas, Lunala, and Kyogre can therefore get rid of Cloyster easily.

**Steel-types**: While they don't prevent entry hazards from being set up, Steel-types such as Magearna, Solgaleo, and Lucario can tank Icicle Spear quite easily while setting up on Cloyster and KOing it with their respective neutral STAB moves.

 

[Hack]

We'll start with the overview.

• Excellent hazard setter with access to both toxic spikes and spikes.

It's a good way to start, but I want a nuanced picture here. Why are tspikes good in this tier (when are they not, ie vs gar)?

• Can use shell smash paired with icicle spear to pressure and beat opposing entry hazard leads

Which ones? Don't be vague!

• Has access to rapid spin to prevent opposing hazards as well

Again, vague. What hazard users does it (not) beat? What about ghosts (relevant since spinner)?

• Requires aggressive plays to keep of hazards from the field

I am planning on eradicating statements like this from all analyses, so don't take this personally... "Agressive play" conveys exactly nothing. Remove this for now, we'll find a better way to describe this later.

• Poor SpDef and HP stat

Why is this bad? You can read this in builder.

In general, good start, and I will get to the rest later. My main tip is that you need to make a casual link between facts and the tier. Otherwise there is no information in what you write.

 

[Oshim]

Thanks for the reply, edited the points you mention as well as other parts of the skeleton.

 

[Oshim]

Ready for QC now i think

 

[Perry]

Just want to mention that lead Excadrill will never beat Cloyster unless they are running Iron Head and you are flinched like twice because +2 Icicle Spear will always OHKO so you should probably change the Exca's mention to things like the rare Darkrai, spore Smeargle, Encore Shuckle and the even rarer Mega Kanga that will more often than not beat it (rock tomb from excadrill will make Cloyster much more manageable however, because common scarf Pokemon such as Xerneas and Yveltal would all outspeed it). Something you could have pointed is Cloyster's glaring weakness to priority.
Another thing I personally didn't like is your tip to keep Cloyster healthy to possibly spin later. Cloyster's niche is as a suicide lead so that doesn't make much sense for me (even though not as suicide as Deoxys formes or Smeargle I guess) because there will be few games Cloyster would be worth keeping because its power would fall short late game and tbh most leads will lose to Cloyster anyway so you can just spin out hazards in the early game.

Only small tips I got from my cloyster / excadrill teams tho :@

 

[Hack]

Adamant nature mention or slash?

Idk where you get the part about Exca beating Cloy, it's the other way around and hardcore at that. Remove.

Checks and counters are too vague. What taunters are good vs Cloyster? I know for fact that the most common one (Deoxys-S) isn't. Taunting isn't exactly what I think about when I think of ways to beat this mon. Arc Water (Kyogre) > Steel types afaik counters go

Fix this and qc 1/3

 

[Oshim]

Adamant nature mention or slash?

Idk where you get the part about Exca beating Cloy, it's the other way around and hardcore at that. Remove.

Checks and counters are too vague. What taunters are good vs Cloyster? I know for fact that the most common one (Deoxys-S) isn't. Taunting isn't exactly what I think about when I think of ways to beat this mon. Arc Water (Kyogre) > Steel types afaik counters go

Fix this and qc 1/3

Removed exca beating cloy and taunt and added kyogre in c&c. Also added mention of adamant nature in OO. Is slash really worth it? Doesn't icicle spear hit harder even to those who 0.5x resists the move than slash without a crit?

 

[Minority]

Adamant nature should be slashed.

Unboosted you only become slower against Speed invested Geo Xern and some esoteric things. Boosted you're now slower than Timid Scarf Lunala, fast +1 Mega Mence, and boosted Speed invested Geo Xern. Although potentially game-changing, most of these situations are highly specific and don't happen very often in practice.

The only other thing on the set I question is the slashing of Toxic Spikes over Spikes. To me Spikes should be the default hazard, and T Spikes should only be used when your team is able to reap their inclusion. Maybe other QC can provide more input on this.

Otherwise everything else looks good and I can stamp later.

 

[Oshim]

My bad, thought of the move slash lol

 

[Minority]

Looks good now.

QC: 2/3

 

[Fireburn]

Looks good, there are some capitalization errors so you may want to do a cursory grammar check before formally moving this to GP stage.

QC 3/3

 

[Oshim]

Fixed the capitalization errors. Ready for GP check now!

 

[Haund]

add remove comments

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[OVERVIEW]

• Excellent entry hazard setter with thanks to its access to both toxic spikes Spikes and Toxic Spikes, both of which and spikes. Both spikes and Tspikes can be very prominent in the tier with due to the majority of the Pokemon being grounded. grounded, hurting them. However However, Gengar is now able to remove Toxic Spikes it has its downsides as well due to Gengar now being able to remove Tspikes from the field without Mega Evolving, making it easier to deal with the hazard. (stuff like "however, x is not without its flaws" or "however, x has its drawbacks" is fluff; i added this last part so that the sentence isnt too scarce) mega evolving.
• Can It can use shell smash Shell Smash paired with icicle spear Icicle Spear to pressure and beat opposing entry hazard leads such as Excadrill, Deoxys, and Scolipede.
• Has It has access to rapid spin Rapid Spin to prevent get rid of opposing hazards as well. Cloyster also has a niche to in being able to weaken Giratina Giratina, which is a common spinblocker as well as a defogger Defogger in the tier.
• Poor SpDef It has low Special Defense and HP stat stats, which can leave it vulnerable to any special attackers limiting and generally limit its use to it to generally a single turn.

[SET]
name: Hazard Lead
move 1: Spikes / Toxic Spikes
move 2: Shell Smash
move 3: Icicle Spear
move 4: Rapid Spin
item: Focus Sash
ability: Skill Link
nature: Jolly/Adamant
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe


[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

• Setting up toxic spikes / spikes Toxic Spikes or Spikes is it's Cloyster's main role so that it can provide good hazard (i believe support in general is better? also to avoid repeating hazard every other half sentence ) support for it's its teammates by gradually weakening the opposing team team.
• Icicle Spear is an amazing 125-Base-Power STAB move paired with skill link Skill Link reaching 125 BP able that can to weaken opposing leads and hazard setters such as Groudon, Dialga, Deoxys, Excadrill, and Scolipede Scolipede.
• Shell smash Smash increases it's Cloyster's offensive presence while at +2 speed it can allowing it to outspeed the entire unboosted metagame at +2 as well as common scarfers Choice Scarf users such as Lunala, Landorus-t, Landorus-T, and Xerneas Xerneas.
• Rapid spin Spin is a staple to prevent opposing Pokemon from setting up their own entry hazards supporting and thus allowing it's its teammates to switch in more easily easily.

Set Details
========

• Focus Sash is needed to survive any hits hit to be able to set up at least a layer of hazard hazards or use Shell Smash. shell smash
• Max attack Maximum Attack invstment is used to increase it's its offensive presence and increase maximize damage dealt by icicle spear Icicle Spear.
• Max speed Maximum Speed EVs with a jolly Jolly nature is used to outpace the entire unboosted metagame after a shell smash Shell Smash boost boost.
• An adamant Adamant nature can be used to favor its offensive presence.

Usage Tips
========

• Use Cloyster as a entry hazard setter. Try to wear down opposing suicide leads such as Deoxys, Excadrill, and Scolipede with Icicle Spear Spear.
• Try to preserve its sash Focus Sash so that later on it can later on switch in freely (focus sash does not allow it to switch in freely, in fact you do not want to switch in at all so that the sash doesnt break) to spin tank a hit and Rapid Spin away entry hazards on your side of the field. As Cloyster is very prone to special attacks, it needs its sash Focus Sash to guarantee a turn of survival.
• Use free turns to set up hazards or shell smash use Shell Smash, as at +2 it Cloyster can 2HKO opposing Primal Groudon, Dialga, and Xerneas Xerneas.
• Lead matchups with Cloyster should be played around carefully. Proper prediction should be used to take advantage of free turns to use Shell Smash shell smash and deal damage to opposing leads or hazard setters such as Excadrill, Scolipede, ans Deoxys with STAB Icicle Spear.

Team Options
========

• Teammates that appreciates entry hazards gone such as Yveltal, Rayquaza, Ho-oh Ho-Oh, Ho-Oh, and Salamence so they do not need to take stealth rock Stealth Rock damage. damage make for good partners (Comment: this was incomplete ) Lunala also benefits from Cloyster's spinning Rapid Spin support support, as it can preserve its Shadow Shield Shield.
• Hex users such as Gengar and Giratina-o Giratina-O can benefit from toxic spikes Toxic Spikes being present on the opposing side of the field enabling them to power off a powerful 130 BP 130-Base-Power Hex. hex
• Ghost Types Ghost-types such as Giratina-o, Giratina-O, Arceus-Ghost, and Lunala can act as a spinblocker spinblockers, preventing Rapid Spin from opposing Pokemon that aim to remove Toxic Spikes and Spikes to remove Toxic Spikes / Spikes set up by cloyster Cloyster.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============

• Cloyster does not have much free space in its moveslot to fit in other options options, as its hazard hazards control set is its best bet and niche in ubers. Ubers.
• Explosion could be used to deal some damage to bulky water types Water-types such as Arceus-water Arceus-Water and Kyogre Kyogre.
• Ice Shard could also be an option to pick of off weakened threats or to revenge kill Mega Salamence and Rayquaza Rayquaza.
• An adamant Adamant nature over a jolly Jolly one can be chosen to if you prefer the increased the damage output from of Icicle Spear but leaves it Cloyster outsped by Deoxys-speed, Deoxys-S, Choice Scarf Genesect Genesect, and Xerneas after a Geomancy at +2.

Checks and Counters
===================
**Bulky Water Types Water-types**: Arceus water Arceus-Water and Kyogre can tank any move Cloyster uses against it them and 2HKO it back back, with while the former can also being able to defog Defog away its hazards pretty easily.
**Special Attackers**: While Cloyster may have a good defense Defense stat, it's its poor HP and SpDef Special Defense stat leave it vulnerable to being 2HKO'd 2HKOed by any neutral special attacks. attack. Faster special attackers such as Xerneas, Lunala, and Kyogre can therefore get rid of Cloyster easily easily.
**Steel Types Steel-types**: While they don't prevent hazard from being set up, Steel types Steel-types such as Magearna, Solgaleo, and Lucario can tank Icicle Spear quite easily while setting up on Cloyster and KO-ing KOing it with their respective neutral STAB moves.

a couple of things: lots of capitalization, please :( and bullet points should be complete sentences with subject verb object more fancy stuff and a period at the end, even if they are not meant to be long and detailed. hmu for any concern
1/1

 

[Oshim]

Thanks for the check, will keep the points you mention in mind next time.
This is now done.

 

[Nayrz]

this required some further editing to the formatting (proper use of spacing is important, don't forget it in the future)

but its uploaded!