Clodsire @ Black Sludge
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP/56 Atk/200 SpD
Careful Nature
Tera-Type: Water
- Poison Jab/Gunk Shot
- Earthquake
- Recover/Waterfall
- Curse
Yes, yes, I know what you're all thinking: "You've been asked to lure in a Grass-type Pokemon and you choose a Poison-type? The hell's
wrong with you, Stalfos?" And to that, I'd like to make three very clear points.
A.) This specific one's also a Ground-type
B.) It almost
always only runs one attack at most
C.) It's not gonna use an offensively poor STAB in Poison over its much more reliable one in EQ
Clodsire is a rather passive Pokemon by nature, and its stats are to blame for its passivity. Base 75 isn't high by any means (least of all for an Attack stat), and the only way it gets to go before
anything is if Trick Room happened to be up at the time. And Meowscarada, being an offensive Pokemon, would love to switch in and claim its 2HKO on the pushover that is the typical standard Clodsire. Well, it's not wrong, as Flower Trick ignores any Defense due to always critically hitting, and not even a physically defensive Clodsire can always avoid said 2HKO
252 Atk Choice Band Meowscarada Flower Trick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Clodsire on a critical hit: 226-267 (48.7 - 57.5%) -- 49.2% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
However, where it's wrong is in its thinking it'll get that 2HKO for
free. Enter this more offensively inclined Curse Clodsire. The 56 Atk EVs allow a +1 Poison Jab to OHKO Meowscarada 100% of the time.
+1 56 Atk Clodsire Poison Jab vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Meowscarada: 294-348 (100.3 - 118.7%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Gunk Shot is slashed on the side in case you find yourself being forced to Recover on or attack the mon you switched Clodsire in against instead more often than not, as the unboosted variant achieves this exact same calc. Although you do lose out on accuracy, which can always prove to be the deciding factor.
Black Sludge is the item of choice since it provides passive recovery and punishes Trick users (there're only a few Poison types that can learn Trick and
none of them want to take a STAB EQ). HP gets the full 252 EVs so said recovery can be maximized; if not for that mechanic, I'd have recommended the HP and SpD EVs to have been swapped around. Of course, you'll still want Recover because Sludge really doesn't give you enough HP back to keep taking attacks forever.
Waterfall is an option over Recover if you want your Clodsire to also lure in Corviknight and take it on, since neither of its STABs inflict any damage to it. Waterfall is preferred over Stone Edge since the latter is easily Pressure-stalled out of PP, and you have Tera-Water to provide an extra power boost for the former. Do note that you'll need to get to +6
and Terastallize in order to do meaningful damage, and that's only if Corviknight doesn't Iron Defense alongside Clodsire's Curses.
+6 56 Atk Tera Water Clodsire Waterfall vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 204-240 (51.1 - 60.1%) -- 88.3% chance to 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+1 56 Atk Clodsire Waterfall vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Corviknight: 51-61 (12.7 - 15.2%) -- possibly the worst move ever
Clodsire also gets Megahorn, which is overkill on Meowscarada and not useful enough for anything else, and Counter, which I ultimately decided against because that'd be too easy.