Pokemon Focus: #36 - Clefable

Introduction

Clefable, the wild card of standard competitive Pokemon battling. It has a massive movepool using all sorts of attacks and support moves, leading to a nearly infinite number of possible movesets. Completely unpredictable and extremely versatile, Clefable is certainly one of the most fun Pokemon to use. Add to that a new and really neat ability, and Clefable is one wild fairy.

Capture/Training

Clefairy can be found at Mt. Moon at night, with an encounter rate of 5% and a catch rate of 150. There's one factor that makes it easier to capture; instead of having to put it to sleep, one can attempt to poison or burn it. The Clefairy we want would have Magic Guard, and so the poison or burn shouldn't deal damage, while increasing the capture rate. (Burn is preferable as it does lower Clefairy's attack, still.) On a side note, Clefairy's family is one that has a 3-to-1 ratio of females to males. This helps for breeding certain moves (namely Wish and Aromatherapy) onto Clefairy.

If the 5% encounter rate isn't working for you, Clefairy are much more common in Sinnoh, so one can be traded from there.

Also, certain moves that Clefable would like aren't available in 4th Gen, so they have to be taught to it in 3rd Gen and then Pal Parked over. That said, it should be a Clefairy that is sent over, so that when it evolves, there is a chance that its ability will change to Magic Guard.

Statistics

95 HP, 70 Atk, 73 Def, 85 Sp. Atk, 90 Sp. Def, 60 Spd

Stats are pretty good; nothing special, but workable with Clefable's varied movesets.

With so many movesets possible, it's hard to say that any given stat should be focused on or not focused on; each set will fit different strong stats.

Movesets

Cute Charm is nice, but Magic Guard is the choice ability, preventing all sorts of indirect damage and overall being really good.

With such a varied movepool, there really doesn't exist such a thing as a "primary attack". Return is obviously there, but what might work better as a primary attack is Facade. Combine it with a Toxic Orb and you'll not only poison yourself without ever taking poison damage (and thus shield you from more crippling status conditions), but Facade then becomes a 140 base power attack with STAB. Ouch. If you're bringing in a Clefairy from 3rd Gen, Double-Edge contains all the power, but now with none of the recoil. Again, ouch. Unfortunately, nothing really exists in the way of a primary special attack.

That's hardly a huge worry, though, as Clefable's list of secondary attacks is ridiculously huge. On the physical side, Meteor Mash is one of those oddball moves that's just too cool, and has the bonus of hitting Rock-types hard. Clefable can also learn all the elemental punches, ThunderPunch, Ice Punch, and Fire Punch, the latter of which is arguably best for hitting Steel-types. It also has Zen Headbutt. As for Special Attacks... well, let's just list them off: Ice Beam, Blizzard (good for use in Hail as Clefable won't be taking Hail damage), Thunderbolt, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Flamethrower, Fire Blast, Focus Blast, Grass Knot, and Signal Beam. Yeah, that's a lot. Oh, and of course, a Hidden Power of your choice.

Wild-card attack options include Endeavor and, if taught to a Clefairy in 3rd Gen, Counter and Seismic Toss. That last move can easily be Clefable's primary attack, although the main difficulty will be properly teaching it to a Clefairy that will become a Magic Guard Clefable upon transfer.

Of course, these are far from Clefable's only options.

Sing is horribly inaccurate, but if it lands, it will shut down a potential counter. Toxic and Thunder Wave are classic disruptors. Encore can also mess up an opponent if timed correctly. If you want to Burn an opponent, what can be done is to equip a Flame Orb (possibly taking the burn to protect yourself from status), then using Trick to send it to an opponent. Alternatively, Clefable can just Knock Off an opponent's item. Fake Tears might be able to weaken a foe to be blasted by a special attack... or it might just force a switch.

Gravity is a unique attack. It grounds Flyers and makes any move with at least 60% accuracy fully accurate. It's a team move, and works best with teammates who can abuse the accuracy boost (and perhaps Earthquake) to hit enemies really hard.

Ideally, Clefable's best method of healing itself is Softboiled, which has to be taught to a Clefairy in 3rd Gen and then Pal Parked over. If that isn't an option, it will have to do with either Moonlight or Wish. The latter is potentially good for team support, though.

On a more extreme end, Clefable can sacrifice itself with Healing Wish before fully healing a stronger teammate who can proceed to sweep opponents.

Using Protect to scout out moves is never a bad idea. Alternatively, if Clefable is leading and is using the Toxic Orb-Facade combo, the move will ensure that the poison activates. Another defensive option for Clefable is Cosmic Power, boosting both of its defensive stats for a nice little shield against attacks. Clefable can also set up Substitutes.

Clefable can protect its team with Light Screen, Reflect, and Safeguard. If the screens are used, Light Clay comes into play, as usual.

Snatch, Psych Up, and Magic Coat are more fun options with varying use for Clefable to play with.

Clefable can also set up Stealth Rock, which has a reputation of really messing with opposing teams.

Clefable's Magic Guard does not block the damage from Belly Drum, but Clefable can just heal off the damage with its healing moves. After a Belly Drum, Clefable can be expected to really go to town on enemies.

Clefable has access to both Heal Bell and Aromatherapy. The latter is generally preferable for not being blocked by Soundproof, but it is incompatible with any move that comes from 3rd gen, as it is an Egg Move. In those cases, Heal Bell should be used.

Of course, no Clefable move analysis would be complete without mentioning Metronome, easily the most fun move in the game. While the move is a pretty poor choice for serious competitive battling, it makes for fun times during casual battles, including the incredibly entertaining Metronome battles. And hey, it might just pull off a move that completely seals the fate of the battle for you.

Effective Movesets

Note: When Return is placed in a set, many times it is merely a placeholder and can be replaced with practically any offensive move.

1. Wishful Stalling
- Wish
- Protect/Cosmic Power
- (primary attack)
- Toxic/Heal Bell
Note: There are a ton of Clefable movesets available. This is one of the more specialized ones. If Toxic Spikes aren't in play already, use your own Toxic. Wish+Protect is basically the same thing as a Softboiled, but taking two turns instead of one, which is sort of the point with stalling. Hail-stalling is also an option, in which case Blizzard is a nice primary attack to go with.

2. Lv. 2 Endeavor
- Endeavor
- Protect
- Encore
- Thunder Wave

This is a sort of a joke moveset that nevertheless has potential to destroy enemies under the right conditions. First, Sandstorm, Hail, or Toxic Spikes should be in effect, or the enemy should be poisoned, so that they will be knocked out if they are brought down to a Level 2 Clefable's HP. Then, using a Focus Sash, use Endeavor, then laugh as the opponent is completely floored. Protect can be used to see if the opponent is going to try something sneaky. While unlikely to last more than one round, this Clefable is near-guaranteed to bring at least one foe to its knees. Throw this Clefable into a Trick Room, though, and you might get to pull off two KOs...

Just in case, have someone with a first-strike attack if the indirect damage method of choice doesn't work, or if something goes wrong. Having a Stealth Rock up is also a way to guarantee that, if the opponent survives the Endeavor, they won't survive if they ever switch out...

3. The Gravity of the Situation
- Gravity
- Sing/Toxic
- Fire Blast/Thunder/Blizzard/Focus Blast/Meteor Mash
- Encore/Wish

If you're looking to play with gravity, here's a good set to use. Among other things, Gravity makes Sing, previously a rather unreliable 55%-accurate move, a 92%-accurate move: a huge improvement that allows it to shut down enemies easily. Meanwhile, all those other moves, which have accuracies from 70 to 85%, now hit 100% of the time. This makes Clefable rather dangerous, to say the least. That said, Gravity is a team move, and works best if you have teammates to take advantage of the increased accuracy (and the grounding of flyers and levitators). Wish works to this extent by healing a weakened teammate, while Encore is a pre-Gravity move, used to catch the opponent doing something worthless before activating Gravity.

4. Toxic Orb Facade
- Facade
- Protect
- Meteor Mash/Fire Blast
- Wish/Moonlight
Item: Toxic Orb
A more offensive approach than the Wishful Stalling set. Use Protect mainly to activate Toxic Orb, then strike away with powerful Facades.

5. Offensive Wall-Breaker
- Return
- Fire Blast
- Grass Knot
- Moonlight
Item: Life Orb
An offensive set that mainly uses Return, but uses its alternate moves when a tough wall like Steelix or Milotic comes along to try to ruin your day. Magic Guard negates Life Orb recoil, which is awesome.

6. Physical Life Orb
- Return
- Meteor Mash/Ice Punch
- Fire Punch/ThunderPunch
- Moonlight
Item: Life Orb
Note: Recoil-less Life Orb is awesome. Note: use either Meteor Mash with Fire Punch, or Ice Punch with ThunderPunch.

7. Special Life Orb
- Ice Beam
- Thunderbolt
- Psychic
- Moonlight
Item: Life Orb
Note: While BoltBeam is clearly the best choice here, that third slot can go to almost anything. Flamethrower, Grass Knot, Focus Blast, Shadow Ball... just choose what you want. You can even use Substitute, healing the Sub damage with Moonlight.

8. Dual Screen
- Reflect
- Light Screen
- Wish/Moonlight/Healing Wish
- Return
Item: Light Clay

9. Belly Drum
- Belly Drum
- Moonlight
- Return
- Meteor Mash/Fire Punch
Item: Life Orb/Leftovers/Toxic Orb
Note: The first gives pure power. The second has more staying power. The third opens up Facade and provides status immunity.

10. Team Support
- Stealth Rock
- Wish
- Heal Bell
- Return

And so many, many more possible movesets.

Items

Clefable can use Leftovers, of course, along with Light Clay if it's running a dual-screen set (which it certainly can). However, three other items stand out for Clefable's special use with its ability: Flame Orb, Toxic Orb, and Life Orb. The first two inflict damaging status on the holder, which Clefable ignores the "damaging" part of. Both have the advantage of blocking arguably worse status like paralysis, sleep, and freezing. The former should be used with special attacks (or Seismic Toss), and can be used with Trick as a way to pseudo-burn an opponent. The latter can also be Tricked, but it's generally more effective to just keep it and let loose with Facade, which will suddenly become fearsomely powerful. Finally, there's the Life Orb, a classic item which powers up all moves by 1.3x, at the cost of 10% HP per hit... but wait! Clefable won't take that 10% HP damage thanks to Magic Guard! In other words, Life Orb gives Clefable a drawback-free power boost to any of its attacks. Great stuff.

Postscript: Things that Magic Guard will block

Burn/Poison: It'll still take the attack cut, though. That said, Clefable's great for absorbing these statuses, and it can even bring them upon itself using an Orb strategy mentioned above.

Spikes/Stealth Rock: Clefable has the distinction of being the only Pokemon that is *completely immune* to Stealth Rock. In a metagame where entry hazards seems to be the big way of wearing down switch-happy teams, Clefable has one less thing to worry about.

Leech Seed, Nightmare, Ghost-Curse, Bad Dreams, trap-move damage: More examples of residual-damage that Clefable will evade.

Sandstorm/Hail: Clefable can fit onto any Sandstorm/Hail team, as it won't be taking any damage from said weather.

Recoil/Life Orb: Life Orb was already mentioned, but Magic Guard also safeguards Clefable from the recoil from Double-Edge (which it can bring over from 3rd Gen). This gives Clefable a rather fearsome primary Normal-type attack, if you're willing to try for it. Other than that, this will come into play if Metronome pulls out a recoil move.

Jaboca/Rowap Berry held by opponent: If the opponent holds either of these berries, normally it will hurt the attacker if they use a physical or special attack, respectively. Clefable's Magic Guard will keep these berries from activating.

Full-paralysis: An odd little bonus, as full-paralysis isn't really damage, but while Clefable's Speed will still be cut, if it is paralyzed, it won't ever lose a turn from full paralysis.