NationalDex
cloyster
#091

Cloyster

Bivalve Pokémon

WaterIce

Its hard shell cannot be shattered—not even by a bomb. The contents of the shell remain unknown.

Base Stats

HP 50
Attack 95
Defense 180
Sp. Atk 85
Sp. Def 45
Speed 70
Total 525

Type Effectiveness

Abilities

Held Items

Evolution Chain

Moves

Locations

Details

Category Bivalve Pokémon
Height 1.5 m
Weight 132.5 kg
Base Exp 184
Growth Rate Slow
Capture Rate 60
Base Happiness 70
Gender 50% ♂ / 50% ♀
Habitat Sea
Egg Groups Water3

Sprites

cloyster Front Front
cloyster Back Back
cloyster Front Shiny Front Shiny
cloyster Back Shiny Back Shiny
cloyster Official Art Official Art
cloyster Official Art (Shiny) Official Art (Shiny)

Competitive

Shell Smash

Strategy Overview

Cloyster's viability is solely carried by Shell Smash, which lets it outspeed the entire unboosted metagame and double its offensive stats in a single turn. To complement this, it has strong STAB options that cover each other well and a Defense stat that lets it set up in front of many physical attackers, notably tanking any hit from Melmetal after Stealth Rock, as well as from Dragonite and Mega Aerodactyl. It also has Self-Destruct, which lets it sacrifice itself to OHKO or heavily damage Pokemon that could otherwise take it on like Alolan Muk and Mega Gyarados. Unfortunately, Cloyster's poor offensive movepool utilizes its lower Special Attack stat and leaves it unable to meaningfully damage Water-type Pokemon without using Self-Destruct, which can make handling it quite easy. Its abysmal special bulk limits its setup opportunities, and it faces competition from Omastar, which is vulnerable to revenge killing from the metagame's fastest Pokemon due to its poor Speed but is much more powerful and can even support its team with Stealth Rock.

Most Used Moves

Ice Beam
98.5%
Surf
65.2%
Twineedle
10.1%

Most Used Items

Nothing
100.0%

Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc