Claydol
Clay Doll Pokémon
If it gets wet, its body melts. When rain starts to fall, it wraps its whole body up with its psychic powers to protect itself.
Base Stats
Type Effectiveness
Abilities
Held Items
Evolution Chain
Moves
Details
Sprites
Competitive
Strategy Overview
Claydol has somewhat of a niche in its access to both Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock. While it's not the only viable Pokemon to get both of these moves, it has other advantages such as its typing; Ground / Psychic is a reasonable defensive typing that allows Claydol to serve as a switch-in to Rock- and Ground-types such as Lycanroc and Alolan Dugtrio, while also giving Claydol a means to defeat traditional Psychic-resists such as Skuntank and Metang. It also gives Claydol a notable niche in being both resistant to Stealth Rock and immune to all other entry hazards thanks to Levitate. Finally, its typing also gives Claydol a good offensive matchup against various hazard setters and removers such as Aggron and Hitmonchan. However, while it does have great defensive stats, its HP is extremely underwhelming, preventing Claydol from being able to take a large number of hits, especially with its lack of recovery. Its offensive presence is very mediocre, preventing it from picking up many OHKOs such as Earth Power on Skuntank and leaving it as setup fodder for Pokemon such as Jynx and Calm Mind Oricorio-E. While its typing is good in various ways, it gives Claydol a bad matchup against spinblockers such as Jellicent and Oricorio-G, as well as against common offensive Pokemon such as Torterra and Ludicolo. Alolan Sandslash is rightfully the more popular pick for a Pokemon with both Rapid Spin and Stealth Rock. This is because of its better defensive typing that allows it to check more offensive threats such as Aurorus and Oricorio-G. Furthermore, even if they don't have access to Rapid Spin, Pokemon such as Mudsdale and Regirock largely outclass Claydol as a Stealth Rock user with their better bulk. The same can be said of Rapid Spin users such as Hitmonchan and Kabutops who provide a vastly stronger offensive presence.
Most Used Moves
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc