Gen 5 Claydol (UU) (Mini) (QC 1/2)

SBPC

stranded on an island
is a Forum Moderator Alumnus
[OVERVIEW]

Claydol is a Pokemon that often looks appealing, due to its partially defensive typing, decent bulk, and access to both Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock for compressed hazard control. However, Claydol often finds itself in sticky situations every time it enters the field due to its incredibly passive style, making it unable to pressure spinblockers such as Cofagrigus and Mismagius at all. Additionally, as a user of Rapid Spin it is consistently outdone by Blastoise, who can pressure spinblockers with Scald, and has much better bulk. Claydol often times fails to perform well as a user of Stealth Rock as well, due to how easily it lets in spinners such as Blastoise due to its low damage output, and inability to stop setup from threats such as Cofagrigus, Dragon Dance Kingdra, and Calm Mind Slowbro, to name a few. Claydol is finally one of the easiest pokemon to take down despite its bulk, partly due to its weakness in Pursuit from the likes of Weavile and Snorlax. Adding onto this, it typically fails to check the Electric-types it carries an immunity to such as Raikou and Zapdos, as they can carry super effective Hidden Power types to break Claydol while it fails to pressure them out.

[SET]
name: Overachiever
move 1: Stealth Rock / Toxic
move 2: Rapid Spin
move 3: Earthquake
move 4: Ice Beam / Psychic
item: Leftovers
ability: Levitate
nature: Sassy
evs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD

[SET COMMENTS]
Paragraph 1:
Claydol's ability to compress roles may attempt to justify its use on a team, however due to how awful Claydol is as a Pokemon, getting effective chances to set Stealth Rock is neigh impossible without throwing away momentum, while spinning with Claydol requires the opponent to not have a Ghost-type in sight as it will nullify Claydol entirely. Despite its passivity, Claydol carries decent coverage in STAB Earthquake to pose a somewhat real threat to Steel-types such as Cobalion and Empoleon. Ice Beam is for netting some chip damage on Grass-types such as Roserade who could otherwise set Spikes for free, on a spinner of all things. Psychic is an alternative STAB to try and halt the spin from an opposing Hitmontop, or threaten other Fighting-type pokemon such as Mienshao. Toxic is a last resort at making Claydol useful, giving it a status to inflict upon opposing pokemon before leaving the field or being sacked off.


Paragraph 2:
Claydol is a unique version of the battle timer, as when it enters the field, you only have a limited number of turns before your opponent threatens to setup and sweep your entire team from all the free turns it gives while active. When attempting to make Claydol function, it should only be to do whatever is absolutely necessary before leaving the field to a stronger teammate. In addition to this, Claydol requires an army's worth of support behind it, due to how many weaknesses it carries as a Pokemon. This is included but not limited to: Water-type resists, Grass-type resists, Dark-type resists, threats to stop setup as Claydol will allow most opposing Pokemon to setup without issue, and revenge killers to come in after it inevitably dies from the closest breeze in the wind that manages to hit it. Pokemon such as Shaymin and Roserade are good for some of these roles, as they prey on threats that attempt to abuse Claydol's passivity, while phasers such as Rhyperior and Suicune can put a stop to setup before it has a major chance to take off against the remainder of your team.

[CREDITS]
- Written by: [[SBPC, 468904]]
- Quality checked by: [[name, id], [name, id]]
- Grammar checked by: [[name, id]]
 
Last edited:
there is only one thing that I personally miss and it's Toxic being slashed on the Stealth Rock slot but not a big deal to me.

Other than that I'm fine with the analysis being the way it is. Theoretically you could mention weird trick scarf shenanigangs but it's not necessary to do so.

qc 1/2
 

Users Who Are Viewing This Thread (Users: 1, Guests: 0)

Top