The Clamps

[TheWinrar]

NU RMT: The Clamps

A while ago, I was playing on Pokemon Online and found myself up against a Clamperl. I completely underestimated it, not knowing its power remotely, and was subsequently swept by it. It bamboozled me how this tiny pre-evolution was so powerful, so I checked out its Smogon page only to find the secret to unlocking its potential. In front of me, I had pure untapped power. I decided to tap it.

The resulting team can be divided into two groups: the main core of 4, whose goals are to wear the opposing team down with residual damage, weakening them for Clamperl later by defeating key threats, if not outright winning the games by themselves (which happens): Cacturne, Golem, Swellow, and Throh; and the duo responsible for the unstoppable Clamperl sweep, Gardevoir and Clamperl.

Cacturne @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Spikes
- Bullet Seed
- Sucker Punch
- Encore

Cacturne is a very situational but very effective Pokemon, crucial to the success of this team. Sucker Punch is his greatest asset, dealing massive damage to sweepers and usually successfully revenge killing them. However, the laying of Spikes is his true goal. Catching an opponent in a non-damaging move with Encore, Cacturne can usually lay a few layers of Spikes, crucial for when Throh comes out later.

Golem @ Leftovers
Trait: Sturdy
EVs: 252 Atk / 212 HP / 44 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Earthquake
- Rock Blast
- Sucker Punch

Golem tends to be the Pokemon I lead with, and for good reason. His ability to essentially guarantee Stealth Rock (due to Sturdy) makes him essential to the team. He also shares good type synergy with Cacturne, being able to tank all of his weaknesses short of Fighting. Golem's massive attack stat is nothing to scoff at, and should he get the opportunity he can blast chunks into the opposing team with Earthquake and Rock Blast. Usually, however, his contribution is limited to Stealth Rock, being hit by a super effective move and being dropped to 1 HP, and then Sucker Punching the opposing attacker before going down.

Clamperl @ DeepSeaTooth
Trait: Shell Armor
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SAtk / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]

The star of the team, Clamperl is pure terror in a shell. Blessed with a unique item in DeepSeaTooth, Clamperl's special attack is doubled from the onset. But it is his access to Shell Smash that makes him truly terrifying. After a Shell Smash, Clamperl reaches a dizzying 984 Special Attack. Surf, Ice Beam and HP Grass give him perfect neutral coverage, and nothing short of the biggest special walls will be able to take one of his attacks. And on that front, there's little to choose from in NU.

Clamperl's biggest downfalls are surviving long enough to Shell Smash, and priority attacks. Status, particularly sleep and paralysis, can also prevent a sweep. These downfalls are mitagated by the existance of Gardevoir, and keeping him until the late-game when hopefully the rest of the team has destroyed the priority users.

Gardevoir @ Light Clay
Trait: Trace
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Timid Nature
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Taunt
- Memento

Gardevoir exists on this team for one purpose, and one purpose only: granting Clamperl a guaranteed Shell Smash.

This is done through the use of Dual Screens and Memento. Gardevoir comes out on something she can tank, sets up her screens, Taunts if they have a status move, and then suicides with Memento to give a -2 Attack and -2 Special Attack to the defending Pokemon. The incredible defensive boon allows Clamperl to have essentially a free turn when it switches in. The opponents options are either to switch out, or to attack for hilariously low damage. Clamperl is free to Shell Smash, and proceed to sweep.

Swellow @ Toxic Orb
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spd
Jolly Nature
- Facade
- Brave Bird
- U-turn
- Protect

Swellow is an undeniable physical powerhouse, especially in NU. With Guts and Facade, a Toxic Orb lets Swellow deal massive damage to nearly everything that stands in its way. Swellow's primary goal is to take out threats, a task made easier due to the entry hazards and phazing on the team. It can usually handle anything apart from Rock and Steel types, or physically defensive mons. In this case, it will U-Turn out to a teammate more suited for the job, typically Throh.

Throh @ Chesto Berry
Trait: Guts
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature
- Bulk Up
- Circle Throw
- Payback
- Rest

A bulky phazing monster, Throh exists to capitalize on the entry hazards set up by Golem and Cacturne, and rack up the residual damage. Bulk Up lets him improve his physical bulk and damage output on his free turns. Circle Throw is the main move, hitting for large damage unresisted and smacking an unsuspecting foe back into the rocks and spikes. It also doubles as phazing for sweepers who are trying to set-up. Payback hits Ghost types. Rest + Chesto allows Throh effectively one free full restore, doubling his longevity.


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The team's performance was on and off on Pokemon Online, the major problem being, as I discovered, the different tiers they have there. Swellow and Gardevoir are LU there, and as a result my team was dragged up into a tier outside of its full potential. By migrating to Pokemon Showdown, the true fierceness of my team was allowed to shine.

The most surprising thing about this team was the sheer effectiveness of the 4-core. A whole two team members being devoted to one specific, situational sweep, was barely missed by the rest of the team. Cacturne, Golem, Swellow, and Throh can tackle eachothers weaknesses very effectively. The Sucker Punches of Cacturne and Golem revenge-kill awesomely. Swellow tears through nearly anything put into its way. Throh wears down teams with incredible phazing prowess. Opponents can become so preoccupied with defeating these threats, that by the time Gardevoir comes out to set up, they tackle her in entirely the wrong way, by poisoning her or hitting her with blows softened by screens. Nobody expects Clamperl to come and steal their victory away with a last minute Shell Smash sweep.

Alright. That's about all I've got to say. Thoughts, suggestions?

 

[watashi]

Cacturne's spread is pretty inefficient since it doesn't outrun anything notable except for Misdreavus, who is not used as much in this metagame due to the prevalence of Golurk. Since you rely on Cacturne to put up Spikes, I would suggest running a spread of 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spe with an Adamant nature which grants you slightly more bulk and offensive prowess and the ability to outrun max Speed Golem.

I also doubt the ability of Clamperl to sweep. Sure, you have screen support and it's extremely powerful, but it's also very slow and has bad bulk even under screens after a Shell Smash. Once the Memento'ed Pokemon dies or switches out, Clamperl's 35 / 85 / 55 defenses aren't going to cut it. It is still outrun by everything above 114 base Speed, which includes popular attackers such as Cinccino, Swoobat, Swellow, Scarf Emboar, Braviary, Gardevoir, and Sawk, to name a few. Although it's the focus of your team, I'd highly suggest replacing it with Gorebyss, who has the option of running White Herb to preserve it's surprisingly good bulk and doesn't miss out on many 2HKO's or OHKO's. It also outspeeds the Pokemon listed above with a Timid nature which prolongs it's sweep considerably. To demonstrate White Herb Gorebyss' effectiveness, here are some calcs of both Pokemon under Screens versus the tier's most popular Gorebyss revenge-killer.

Calcs

252 SpAtk Rotom-S Thunderbolt vs 0 HP/0 SpDef Gorebyss: 68.13% - 81.27%
2 hits to KO

252 SpAtk Rotom-S Thunderbolt vs 0 HP/0 -1 SpDef Clamperl: 154.98% - 183.41%
Guaranteed OHKO

With White Herb, Screen support, and Memento support, Gorebyss can set up on a weaker Pokemon, most likely KO it, and then Shell Smash again as Rotom comes in for the revenge-kill. It also has the advantage of beating Choice Scarf Ditto under Screens while Clamperl will be easily beaten. I understand that Clamperl was not meant to run through entire teams, but most players tend to keep their revenge-killers alive until the end, especially when they see a Shell Smasher. White Herb Gorebyss' bulk can often overwhelm them under Light Screen, which makes it a much more effective sweeper.

Summary of changes:

Cacturne —> 80 HP / 252 Att / 176 Spe spread with Adamant nature
Clamperl —> White Herb Gorebyss

Sets

Cacturne @ Leftovers
Trait: Sand Veil
EVs: 80 HP / 252 Atk / 176 Spd
Adamant Nature
- Spikes
- Bullet Seed
- Sucker Punch
- Encore

Gorebyss @ White Herb
Trait: Swift Swim
EVs: 252 SAtk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Timid Nature
- Shell Smash
- Surf
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Grass]

Interesting team and good luck with it!

 

[Jrod]

The thing with Gorebyss is that it's soooooo slow. So slow. And frail. EXTREMELY frail. Everyone and their mother runs Rotom-S as a revenge killer for the main purpose of outspeeding +2 Gorebyss. If you so desire a Special Attacking Water Type, which works because of good synergy, you can use Samurott. This also grants you a better use Gardevoir's team slot. As you really don't need dual screens and Memento on an offensive team without a set-up sweeper (yeah, Throh, but that doesn't sweep it just racks up damage.) I'd recommend Specially Defensive Para-Shuffler Dragonair. Yes, lol. Use it. It's so amazing. I have the set right here.

Dragonair @ Eviolite [Marvel Scale]
252 HP/ 252 Sp. Def/ 4 Attack [Is it CAREFUL that does +Sp. Def, -Sp. Attack?)

-Rest
-Sleep Talk
-Dragon Tail
-Thunder Wave

Btw, Substitute on Cacturne over Encore is preferred because you can set up a sub on alot of things that can't touch you at all. (Alomomola helllllooooo!)

 

[Nyanswag]

Encore is for locking mons that try to set up on you, or lockin them them into subs, etc.
This allows you to set up more layers off your precious spikes.

 

[Jrod]

Encore is for locking mons that try to set up on you, or lockin them them into subs, etc.
This allows you to set up more layers off your precious spikes.

Behind a Sub, however, if you switch into Alomomola or anything else that can't touch you, you get a guaranteed layer of Spikes and usually kill because the only way to break your Sub is to attack and you can just Sucker Punch. You won't be Encoring much because Cacturne is so slow. Really, I guess, it comes down to personal preference but I much prefer Sub.

 

[WhiteDMist]

After a long consideration, I have to say that Golem seems to be the weakest link for your team. You REALLY don't want Cinccino to Bullet Seed you to death before you can set up Rocks. Regirock is probably a better alternative since it can tank a Bullet Seed and either hit back with a Drain Punch or set up Rocks. I agree with FLCL's changes because your team is very dedicated to setting up a powerful sweep.

The other problem I see with the team is the fact that Rotom-S can easily handle most of your team on its own. Throh seems to be out of place on your team, since its more of a phazer than a set-up sweep supporter. There are some better options for the team slot I feel. Rotom-F is an excellent revenge killer and helps handle Rotom-S better. Golurk provides a strong offense as well as spiblocking. It also helps check Rotom-S pretty well. Haunter is a very nice spinblocker as well, and can take advantage of dual screens to set up a Sub. All 3 options help support the main focus of the team, which is letting Gorebyss and Swellow sweep (either by protecting your hazards, or by checking certain counters). The sets are up to you of course.

As for the debate about Substitute and Encore, they both have viability for your team. A slow Encore is actually as effective as a fast Encore is many situtations. You can Encore a set-up sweeper on the same turn that they set up, thinking that you are no threat. Cacturne also outspeeds quite a few walls, so it can easily Encore them into a harmless move. Substitute provides a defense against status, and a buffer against attacks. It is only less useful because of all the multi-hit moves in the tier, but it is still useful. It's pretty much a pick your poison, so I'd say leave it to The WinRar to decide.

 

[spuds4ever]

I agree with FLCL and WhiteDMist. Gorebyss is definitely a better option for a non-TR team.

I would also recommend that you take haunter>Swellow. You could really use a spin-blocker and sub-disable haunter functions beautifully with spikes support. You also complete your fighting-ghost-dark core with it. Swellow probably isn't too important anyway seeing as you have a dedicated slot to let gorebyss sweep.

I might also consider running choice scarf trace on gardevoir as you are pretty weak to rain teams at the moment and a scarfer is always nice for an offensive spike-stacking team. Plus gorebyss isn't nearly as hard to set up as clamperl so you probably don't need a whole slot to help her out.

 

[dinosaurdan]

FLCL is right, Gorbyss is a much better option, and Dragonair is a great idea too. But I would reccomend using Golurk over Golem. He spinblocks and sets up SR better than Golem. Since you're stacking spikes, it's very important you have a solid spinblocker.

For the Encore/Sub choice, I myself would go with Encore, because it allows caturne to set up at least one turn of Spikes (encore most likely will cause a switch), but Subs will probably be cracked wide open by Cinccino.

 

[Espyboss]

I have used a similar Dragonair set (Physically defensive), and I can say that it works great. I highly recommend that you at least try it. You don't need to set up bulk ups, and you can spread paralysis throughout the other team easily. My personal preference is Shed Skin as his ability because you wake up earlier, and might not need to rest as soon because it gets rid of a toxic for you. Try that out too.

A problem that I see however is a large weakness to Ice attacks. Even more if you use Dragonair. You have nothing that resists Ice right now except your sweeper. You don't want to bring your sweeper in too early though, because that isn't how your team works. I'm not sure what a good fix for that would be though, so maybe you other guys can help out with that.

I agree with WhiteDMist that you should use Golurk over Golem because you really need a spinblocker with all of those hazards up.

 

[Gengan]

Looking across your team, a lot of your team is weak to moves commonly used in battling. I can actually put them all into one Pokemon, even.

Hide

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Focus Blast
- Dark Pulse / Sucker Punch
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Hypnosis

Although you'd have to suck pretty bad to let a Gengar sweep your entire team that easily, one with that set could be a major problem. Sucker Punch might help, but bad predictions could lead to bad results, and you could try to use it during a Hypnosis (or when it counters with it's own Sucker Punch), and next thing you know, you're sleeping with the fishes (ew, corny joke.)

And, like some one listed above, with lots of your Pokemon lacking Speed and Defense, it's possible to take major hits from these moves.

So, all in all, your team covers nicely, but since a lot of the moves listed above appear commonly is almost ANY team, you might need different types to close those gaps.

EDIT: Of course, I'm not saying one entire Gengar is going to beat your whole team. I hope to god that never happens.

 

[WhiteDMist]

Looking across your team, a lot of your team is weak to moves commonly used in battling. I can actually put them all into one Pokemon, even.

Hide

Gengar @ Focus Sash
Synchronize
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature (+Spe, -SpA)
- Focus Blast
- Dark Pulse / Sucker Punch
- Thunderbolt / Thunder
- Hypnosis

Although you'd have to suck pretty bad to let a Gengar sweep your entire team that easily, one with that set could be a major problem. Sucker Punch might help, but bad predictions could lead to bad results, and you could try to use it during a Hypnosis (or when it counters with it's own Sucker Punch), and next thing you know, you're sleeping with the fishes (ew, corny joke.)

And, like some one listed above, with lots of your Pokemon lacking Speed and Defense, it's possible to take major hits from these moves.

So, all in all, your team covers nicely, but since a lot of the moves listed above appear commonly is almost ANY team, you might need different types to close those gaps.

EDIT: Of course, I'm not saying one entire Gengar is going to beat your whole team. I hope to god that never happens.

Gengan, this is an NU RMT. Gengar is an OU Pokemon,and thus will never be seen. Haunter is considerably slower than Swellow and can't beat Gorebyss at +2. As for the Pokemon that DO outspeed his team, that is what priority moves are for. But thank you for pointing out that this team has quite a few defensive weaknesses, though it IS an offensive team, so its less of a problem.

 

[Gengan]

Gengan, this is an NU RMT. Gengar is an OU Pokemon,and thus will never be seen. Haunter is considerably slower than Swellow and can't beat Gorebyss at +2. As for the Pokemon that DO outspeed his team, that is what priority moves are for. But thank you for pointing out that this team has quite a few defensive weaknesses, though it IS an offensive team, so its less of a problem.

Ah, silly me, you're right. Gengar is OU >.< And since there's no other Pokemon that could threaten the team any worse than Gengar(not even Kadabra), and the offensive-team thing, I guess he's pretty covered...