Come here... missy missy missy... Come here =D

Today I was reading some warstory on Smogon (UU of course) and the author mentioned Claydol... And that's where it all started. Haha terrible back story, huh?

OK so I honestly forgot that Claydol even existed in UU anymore... It's main use is a spinner, which of course we all know that Donphan and Hitmontop are the best options for spinning in UU. BUT! Not anymore =D
I was thinking that Donphan has Assurance to beat Ghost switch-ins, and Hitmontop has the Foresight-Rapid Spin-Close Combat combo going for it. So, here is a set I came up with to help Claydol do its job, cripple at least 1 enemy Pokémon (if you predict correctly) etc...

NOTE: This is for Gen IV not V

Claydol @ Choice Scarf
EVs: 100 HP / 244 SpA / 164 Speed
Nature: Modest
Ability: Levitate
~Shadow Ball
~Earth Power/ Psychic
~Rapid Spin
~Trick


To be honest I have not tested this... But I certainly will once Pokélab starts working for me again. So, when facing any decent UU team that runs hazards, a Ghost is practically a must to keep hazards up so you aren't just trying to kill every enemy Pokémon with Registeel's Iron Head, Chansey's Seismic Toss, and Weezing's Sludge Bomb etc... and to keep threats like Moltres and Scyther at bay. Therefore, when someone sends in the lol Doll the first reaction to it should usually be to switch into Mismagius or Rotom, the most common UU spinblockers. Keep in mind that this set has trouble with Pursuit Spiritomb, though. So, with these EVs, Claydol will ALWAYS 2HKO 4/0 Mismagius with Shadow Ball after SR damage and Leftovers recovery. Keep in mind that without SR, Mismagius has about an 85% chance of surviving 2 consecutive Shadow Balls with Leftovers, and a 28% chance to survive without Leftovers. Since Rotom is much less bulky than Mismagius, I didn't bother to run a calc for it since it shall be 2HKOed as well with 28 less base SpD and 10 less base HP. With the Choice Scarf attached, you will surprise Mismagius who decide to stay in thinking that you may just be Speced to nab a quick KO with a Shadow Ball of its own by outspeeding it by one point with the given EVs. The rest of the EVs were dumped into HP so it could get more opportunities to switch into things like NP Toxicroak's Sludge Bomb and Hitmontop's Close Combat.

For the second move slot, either STAB option is good, however I would personally run EP because of its great coverage in UU. Weezing cannot touch you anyways, and Toxicroak is already weak to EP, as is the Nidos... I personally don't see much merit in using Psychic except for good neutral coverage and the ability to hit Fighters, who you wall anyways, super effectively and things like Moltres who take poor damage from Shadow Ball.

When you have disposed of your opponent's Ghost Pokémon, Trick away your Scarf to something like *insert defensive Pokémon here along with a witty statement* and spin spin SPIN!

The sucky part is, when Claydol has taken out the Ghost and has spun the hazards away, it doesn't do much else. However, if it DID accomplish all of that before it fainted, I don't think it should need to do much else =D

Thoughts? Move changes? Etc... are always welcome unless your name is Momo! Just kidding haha

Hmm, I think this might be good for an unexpected lead or something. Maybe you can use it to set-up like this: Trick, Trick Room/SR, Explosion, L.Screen/Reflect/EQ.

Pialga wrote:

Hmm, I think this might be good for an unexpected lead or something. Maybe you can use it to set-up like this: Trick, Trick Room/SR, Explosion, L.Screen/Reflect/EQ.

Yeah, that sounds good but this version of Claydol is supposed to be a lure

In my other forum I am in the Elite 4 and I am ground type.
I have a Claydol in it! It is doubles and he is lead with hippowdon

The Underminer wrote:

In my other forum I am in the Elite 4 and I am ground type.
I have a Claydol in it! It is doubles and he is lead with hippowdon

so do I, I have some videos where I use my ground team