Celebi

[Nonary Game]

For completeness' sake, we have Celebi. Let's just get to it, shall we? This thread is not for discussing it's tier ranking.

[B]
#251 - Celebi[/B]
[B]Type[/B]: Psychic / Grass

[B][Base Stats][/B]

100 HP
100 Atk
100 Def
100 SpA
100 SpD
100 Spe

[B][Abilities][/B]

[U]Natural Cure[/U]:  heals any status ailments upon switching out. 

[B][Movepool] (NOTABLE MOVES IN BOLD)[/B] 

Level Up:
[B]
-:Leech Seed[/B]
-:Confusion
[B]-:Recover[/B]
[B]-:Heal Bell[/B]
lv10: Safeguard
lv19: Magical Leaf
lv28: Ancientpower
[B]lv37: Baton Pass[/B]
lv46: Natural Gift
lv55: Heal Block
lv64: Future Sight
[B]lv73: Healing Wish[/B]
[B]lv82: Leaf Storm
lv91: Perish Song[/B]

TMs / HMs
[B]
TM04 - Calm Mind
TM06 - Toxic
TM10 - Hidden Power
[/B]TM11 - Sunny Day
TM15 - Hyper Beam
TM16 - Light Screen
TM17 - Protect
TM18 - Rain Dance
[B]TM20 - Safeguard[/B]
TM21 - Frustratio
TM22 - Solar Beam
TM27 - Return
[B]TM29 - Psychic[/B]
[B]TM30 - Shadow Ball[/B]
TM32 - Double Team
TM33 - Reflect
TM37 - Sandstorm
TM40 - Aerial Ace
TM42 - Facade
TM44 - Rest
TM48 - Round
TM49 - Echoed Voice
[B]TM53 - Energy Ball
[/B]TM56 - Fling[B]
TM57 - Charge Beam[/B]
TM68 - Giga Impact
TM70 - Flash
[B]TM73 - Thunder Wave[/B]
[B]TM75 - Swords Dance[/B]
TM77 - Psych Up
TM85 - Dream Eater
[B]TM86 - Grass Knot[/B]
TM87 - Swagger
[B]TM89 - U-Turn[/B]
[B]TM90 - Substitute[/B][B]
TM92 - Trick Room[/B]
HM01 - Cut

Previous Generation-only moves

Water Pulse - Gen IV TM04
Giga Drain - Gen IV TM19
Shock Wave - Gen IV TM34
Secret Power - Gen IV TM43
Skill Swap - Gen IV TM48
Endure - Gen IV TM58
Silver Wind - Gen IV TM62
[B]Stealth Rock - Gen IV TM76[/B]
Sleep Talk - Gen IV TM82
Sucker Punch - Move Tutor DPPt
[B]Trick - Move Tutor DPPt[/B]
Zen Headbutt - Move Tutor DPPt
Helping Hand - Move Tutor DPPt
Last Resort - Move Tutor DPPt
Snore - Move Tutor DPPt
Swift - Move Tutor DPPt
Synthesis - Move Tutor DPPt
Uproar - Move Tutor DPPt
[B]Earth Power - Move Tutor DPPt[/B]
[B]Mud-slap - Move Tutor DPPt
Seed Bomb - Move Tutor DPPt[/B]
Signal Beam - Move Tutor DPPt
Worry Seed - Move Tutor HGSS
[B]Magic Coat - Move Tutor HGSS[/B]
Role Play - Move Tutor HGSS

Event-only moves

[B]Nasty Plot - 13th Movie distribution, every single event afterwards as of 3/27/2011[/B]

Typing:
Weaknesses: Fire, Ice, Poison, Flying, Bug, Ghost, Dark
Neutral: Normal, Rock, Dragon, Steel
Resists: Water, Electric, Grass, Fighting, Ground, Psychic

Pros:

~ Interesting typing: Grass/Psychic is shared only by two other Pokemon, Exeggcute and Exeggutor. Also technically a con, Celebi has no less than 7 weaknesses, all but Poison being extremely common. All have gotten more common to the point where Celebi has to be careful with it's switches. However, her typing does afford her a very nice resistance set. For example, Water and Electric means she's an excellent answer to Rotom-W, alongside killing bulky waters, especially Quagsire and friends. The other typings are incredibly common, making her a fairly useful option this generation.

~ 100 Base stats across the board. This needs no explanation.

~ Excellent support movepool. If there's a support option you need, Celebi can probably provide it. She can do almost anything, whether it be status support, baton passing, cleric duties... you name it.

Cons:

~ Seven weaknesses, if you include Poison, a rare offensive type. That leaves Fire (Blaziken, Volcarona, Infernape), Ice (Starmie, Mamoswine, etc), Flying (Gliscor, Archeops, Braviary, Crobat), Bug (Scizor, Volcarona, Galvantula), Ghost (Chandelure, Gengar), and Dark (Tyranitar, Scrafty). That is a LOT of things that can threaten Celebi. Celebi will absolutely need support to thrive despite her bulk. This generation really has not been kind to Celebi, as she really got no new awesome toys to use, and more and more dangerous threats keep her at bay.

~ A somewhat barren offensive movepool. Celebi gets a fairly decent-sized Psychic and Grass movepool, but outside that, there's admittedly not much. Signal Beam, Earth Power, and Hidden Power are the basic limit to your offensive movepool. U-turn and Charge Beam are alright options, but otherwise unnecessary.

Example Moveset(s):

Celebi @ Life Orb (Support #1)
Trait: Natural Cure
EVs: 232 HP / 240 SpA / 36 Spe
Modest Nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Thunder Wave
- Leaf Storm
- Hidden Power [Fire] / Psychic / U-turn
- Recover


Yes, this set is from the DP analysis, but it is still useful. Thunder Wave is great for stopping faster threats from doing much, such as Gyarados and Dragonite. Leaf Storm and HP Fire are the crux of this set, allowing Celebi to deal heavy damage to bulky waters and Ferrothorn / Forretress / Scizor, respectively. With the EV spread provided, Celebi achieves optimal bulk, enough power to OHKO the aforemtioned Steels with HP Fire, and enough speed to outspeed what it needs to, mainly faster Tyranitar variants.

~~~
Well, that's that. Discuss as you please.

 

[Lou Cypher]

I still find U-Turn to be one of its best assets. Thunder Wave/Leech Seed/Leaf Storm/UTurn pisses off a lot of the meta since thanks to Celebi's impressive bulk, even a shot on its weakness isn't likely to OHKO it. This gives you the chance to not only paralyze it but seed it too, then UTurn the heck away from it. Later in the game you can fire off Leaf Storms.

Set I used was EV'd for max HP and equal defenses, with a -ATK nature...UTurn isnt gonna do a lot of damage anyway, but helps in getting out so not like it needs the ATK.

 

[yankstar]

I would add some recovery in there. Life orb attack with rest is pretty good.

 

[Green Mage]

I'm not a big fan of u-turn on the 'tinkerbell' set because you really want psychic this gen, unless you have some other way to deal with the plethora of ridiculous fighters on every team. Thunder Wave + U-Turn definitely has its merits though.

I've also always been torn on the life orb. Is it really necessary? I think it would appreciate the added recovery that leftovers would give it. I haven't done much testing with celebi due to my love of Erufuun though.

The thing about grass' weaknesses is that they are easily covered. Heatran for example covers every one of Celebi's weaknesses and vice versa...of course, the same could be said about Lati@s.

 

[Lou Cypher]

Yeah, the Celebi I posted above used Leftovers. Leftovers + Leech Seed proved to be adequate healing, especially when used on tanks. This Celebi really loves Spikes support tho.

 

[ginganinja]

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe Celebi gets Nasty Plot via event if you wanted to go for that sweeping route. Personally though, I like Celebi's niche support moves like Heal bell and Perish Song. With decent bulk and Recover Celebi can function pretty well if you play to its strengths. However, that said, with Scizor and increasing numbers of SDef Tyranitar around, the metagame is not yet favorable towards Celebi at present

 

[TLK]

I've always loved Celebi, but the current OU metagame is harsh to it. Outside of paralyse, it can't do too much to big threats like Latios, which is a shame.

Celebi's ridiculous versatility shouldn't be underestimated though. Specs, Scarf, Life Orb, support - Celebi can just about to it all.

 

[Neb555]

Not much new here

Celebi is a pretty good Pokemon, but it didn't get much new this generation. Luckily the metagame has shifted around it in terms of an increase in fighting types and boosts to water types like Shell Break Cloyster and Drizzle Politoed, though Ferrothorn also reduces the popularity of water types on that end.

Due to the lack of a dream world ability and breeding, Celebi doesn't take too much of a hit this generation. It loses some attacks if you transfer it from Gen 4 too early, but there's no tough decisions in terms of "new ability vs old moves."

Wait a second, Celebi doesn't get Psychock. This means that, due to its weak physical movepool, you're either going to need to run a mixed set or risk getting walled by Chansey and other special walls. It's not the biggest fault since Celebi focuses more on support than offense, but it's still a bit disappointing.

 

[BurningMan]

Wait a second, Celebi doesn't get Psychock. This means that, due to its weak physical movepool, you're either going to need to run a mixed set or risk getting walled by Chansey and other special walls. It's not the biggest fault since Celebi focuses more on support than offense, but it's still a bit disappointing.

Nasty Plot + Gigadrain allow you to beat blissey/Chansey one on one if they lack toxic.

Nasty Plot is generally pretty cool on Celebie since it often surprises people who expect a more defensive version its also a really cool baton passer for a rain team because you can just switch out of TTar without fearing pursuit and pass the boost to scarf/specs toed who can then threaten the team with absurdly powerful attacks OHKOing almost everything that isn't immune.
Other good recipients are jolteon, Raikou, Heatran (not on a rain Team ofc^^), Tornadus and thundurus.
things like Latios and Starmie make good recipients too, but share too many weaknesses to be reliable.

 

[Nonary Game]

Correct me if I am wrong but I believe Celebi gets Nasty Plot via event if you wanted to go for that sweeping route. Personally though, I like Celebi's niche support moves like Heal bell and Perish Song. With decent bulk and Recover Celebi can function pretty well if you play to its strengths. However, that said, with Scizor and increasing numbers of SDef Tyranitar around, the metagame is not yet favorable towards Celebi at present

Hmm. You're right actually. I'll go ahead and update the OP with event moves.

 

[Gerard]

Nasty Plot + Giga Drain is awesome since you don't have to worry a lot of status and it makes celeb a lot harder to kill with it's natural bulk, also, the fact that he is resistant to the most common water attack and "immune" to it's secondary effect is something you should consider (i'm talking about scald), and this gen is full with fighters so yeah, the little pixie will probably see some action

 

[Sprocket]

Celebi has some rocking resistances, that's for sure. It's one of the few Pokemon that can shrug off Earthquake, Hydro Pump, and Thunder. It's also got some surprising bulk. In gen 4 I've seen my physically defensive Celebis survive a 4x super effective U-Turn (depending who the attacker is of course; a choice band Scizor would most likely OHKO with U-Turn).

With the buff to Giga Drain this generation, Nasty Plot + Giga Drain @ Life Orb is a fearsome combo. Even an unboosted Giga Drain from a 0 SpA EV'd neutral-natured Celebi can do 62.4% - 74.3% to a Calm 252 HP 252 Sp.D Swampert.

All varieties of Celebi have to beware Pursuit users and anything that can overpower it with super effective attacks. With a whopping 7 weaknesses, it's not hard to find an attack that can do super effective damage to Celebi.

Volcarona can pretty much decimate it, forcing Celebi to switch out, giving Volcarona a chance to set up (it's only viable attack moves versus Volcarona is Psychic or *shudder* Aerial Ace). If Celebi lacks Earth Power, Heatran walls it (even with Earth Power, Heatran might have a balloon). Slower fighting types with Payback can also muscle through Celebi's defenses, provided they aren't OHKO'd by Psychic. And most Celebis that lack HP Fire are walled by the likes of Ferrothorn, Skarmory, and Scizor. And of course Chansey/Blissey wall it if it lacks Nasty Plot.

 

[Glen ^^]

This metagame is much better to Celebi than DP, Drizzle helps him keep his Leftovers recovery and eliminate one weakness, while he has many useful resistances that helps keep the team together.

I've been trying a lot of sets and one I've liked a lot is Heal Bell/Giga Drain/Baton Pass/Substitute, pairing with Subpunch + Bulk Up Poliwrath. Usually the Sub won't break after the pass, allowing Poliwrath to do some good damage.

 

[Sprocket]

If Sun were more common, or more viable, I could see Sun + Solar Beam being pretty fun to play around with. Solar Beam is Celebi's second most powerful attack, after Leaf Storm (and has the benefit of not inducing a special attack drop).

Of course Sun would give Celebi a 4x resistance to Water, and a 3x weakness to Fire.

 

[breh]

Macho Brace / Iron Ball TR Celebi is pretty good actually. Hits hard as fuck with Leaf Storm, has U-turn, and has a nice recovery move. What's not to like?

Also CM/Giga Drain/Rest/Sleep Talk seems good. Being Nattorei setup fodder is not, but you can run Magnezone for that I guess.

 

[Heir Kaiba]

I've been running a specs Celebi on wi-fi.

Nature: Modest
Ability: Natural Cure
Evs: 252 spec attk/4 def/252 speed

Moves:
- Leaf Storm
- Shadow Ball
- Physic
- Hidden power fire/rest

It's basically shaymins old set without earth power although you can earth if you like but it kind of sucks with ballon running around.

Also stab leaf storm two hit kos carfeul conkeldurr.

 

[Farewell]

Set name: Calm Stall

Celebi: @ Leftovers
252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Bold

Leech Seed
Earth Power
Giga Drain
Calm Mind

 

[Arcanite]

Baton Pass + Nasty Plot is awesome. Heatran is great reciever with Nitro Charge.

 

[alphatron]

^Was just about to mention that.
On the CM/Giga Drain/Rest/Sleep Talk set, couldn't you squueze hp fire in there somewhere. Or psychic? With natural cure, celebi can wake himself up if you really need to switch out. Besides that, you know a set isn't very effective when the likes of Victreebel turn you into setup fodder.

 

[truevillany]

Celebi is a pretty good Pokemon, but it didn't get much new this generation. Luckily the metagame has shifted around it in terms of an increase in fighting types and boosts to water types like Shell Break Cloyster and Drizzle Politoed, though Ferrothorn also reduces the popularity of water types on that end.

Due to the lack of a dream world ability and breeding, Celebi doesn't take too much of a hit this generation. It loses some attacks if you transfer it from Gen 4 too early, but there's no tough decisions in terms of "new ability vs old moves."

Wait a second, Celebi doesn't get Psychock. This means that, due to its weak physical movepool, you're either going to need to run a mixed set or risk getting walled by Chansey and other special walls. It's not the biggest fault since Celebi focuses more on support than offense, but it's still a bit disappointing.

meh... chansey and blissey are not a concern to celebi... @ all... Perish song celebi can switch in to them to save the rest of ur team from getting statused... as t wave or toxic are usually its 1st move. then perish song it and either uturn out to a set up sweeper. sub seed celebi fairs extremely well against them too... it really just depends on which celebi u are using... celebi is so damn versatile...

 

[blasphemy1]

Wait, what? Chansey/Blissey? Volcarona? Sure, if you're using purely offensive sets, then it loses to those, however defensive sets have no problems since Leech Seed + Substitute will stall out Blissey and Thunder Wave will cripple Volcarona. Are we forgetting Celebi can make 101 HP subs? Nasty Plot + Substitute can set up on Chansey and Blissey without Ice Beam/Flamethrower, while Calm Mind + Substitute can set up on them both no matter what... Perish Song Celebi is still a great member of stall, forcing out (most) CM Reuniclus, Conkeldurr, etc. Celebi is great this gen, imo.

 

[Cromat]

Celebi is still very effective, but I think Thunder Wave is really crucial to cripple pokemon which would otherwise wall it completely (Heatran, Tyranitar, Scizor, Latis). Since Celebi has tons of opportunities to switch in (water types, grass types, Blissey, some fighting types) it would probably end up paralyzing a lot of the opposing team, which is extremely useful for the rest of its team.

I think in general the importance of status has gone up in Gen 4 and 5, especially on defensive pokemon that don't deal a lot of damage.

 

[shofly12]

isnt celebi almost obligated to cary u-turn or baton pass to escape strong pursuits?

 

[Zebstrika]

U-turn doesn't escape Pursuit anyways.

Also, it can use Leaf Storm or Giga Drain on Tyranitar, making it less of a problem.

 

[ARandomDude]

Celebi wants max speed otherwise non-scarf Hydreigon makes Celebi its toy.