Clodsire, the Spiny Fish Pokémon. When attacked, this Pokémon will retaliate by sticking thick spines out from its body. It’s a risky move that puts everything on the line. It lives at the bottom of ponds and swamps. It will carry Wooper on its back and ferry them across water from one shore to the other.

Overview

Clodsire was introduced as the evolution to Paladaen Wooper and has captured the hearts of many for the same design aesthetics as its Johtoian counterpart. However, Clodsire’s battling prowess points to a far rockier road. While Clodsire is one of 4 available Unaware users, it is the only one with considerable Special Bulk and Toxic Immunity enabling it to carve out a niche of its own. 130 HP and 100 Special Defense is immense, and Recover makes whittling down that HP an even more Titanic task. Access to every non-Sticky Web Entry Hazard, Yawn, Haze and Toxic is wonderful for a Pokémon as defensive as Clodsire and has it stand out in its tanking role. And STAB Earthquake is always a nice tool to have.

Clodsire’s typing hurts it as much as it helps it, however. While Ground Poison has many resistances, many of them are predominantly physical while its weaknesses are usually special, narrowing the pool Clodsire can wall without Terastalizing. Clodsire’s low Attack is also a pain point, not doing considerable damage without Toxic or striking a weakness even with STAB Earthquake. And while Clodsire’s bulk is impressive, it pales in comparison to Ting-Lu whose similar type profile and role along with far higher Attack make it a very appealing option. However, no Pokémon can claim to wall the same selection of threats that Clodsire does, providing it a role as a defensive backbone for many teams.
Positives
Base 130 HP and 100 Special Defense is immense. In conjunction with Recover, Clodsire can take considerable damage repeatedly.
Clodsire’s Support movepool is amazing. Stealth Rock, Spikes and Toxic Spikes, PHazing Options in Yawn and Haze, actual Toxic, Clodsire can easily wear down the opposition while avoid becoming setup bait.
Unaware and Water Absorb are both amazing abilities that enable Clodsire to wall a large range of targets

Negatives
Poison Ground is rather mismatched for Clodsire’s stats, leaving it weak to several Special Attacks it should be tanking.
Poor Base 60 Defense is a noticeable achilles heel that can be taken advantage of.
Base 75 Attack is barely usable and Clodsire struggles against opponents it can’t Poison or hit Super Effectively with Earthquake.
Base 20 Speed ensures Clodsire will almost always take an Attack before acting.

Movesets

Clodding Wall

-Earthquake
-Toxic
-Recover
-Spikes
Ability: Unaware
Item: Leftovers
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SDef
Careful Nature

Clodsire acts as an effective wall to setup special sweepers, especially Iron Moth, Nasty Plot Gholdengo, Volcarona and H-Zoroark. Have Clodsire pivot in while they setup and punish them for their efforts with Toxic and or Earthquake depending on which is more effective. Even non setup Sweepers can find Clodsire immoveable, like Torkoal and Special Dragapult. Recover is tantamount to Clodsire’s success, ensuring it can’t be worn down quickly. Spikes rounds out the set, enabling Clodsire to setup even more passive damage when Toxic is not the correct move.

Tera Types:
Clodsire is a classic example of a Defensive Terastalization user, changing its awkward Poison Ground typing to a more favorable one. Tera Poison removes Clodsire’s troubling Water and Ice weaknesses while improving its matchup against Grass Attacks. Tera Steel improves Clodsire’s matchup against Dragons and Ice attacks and has a wide defensive profile in general. drops. Tera Dark is rather niche, but import for stopping Espartha’s Stored Power from annihilating Clodsire.

EVs and Items:
EVs are to make Clodsire as specially bulky as possible. Focusing on Special Defense is recommended as Clodsire’s poor Speed and typing makes being able to tank Special Attacks tantamount to excelling. Leftovers is recommended for extra longevity -Clodsire really is only inconvenienced by Spikes. Black Sludge can be used, but Clodsire must be Tera Poison as otherwise Black Sludge will start chipping away Clodsire as well. Heavy Duty boots is worth consideration

Partners:
Physically bulky Pokémon work great with Clodsire, having complimentary defensive profiles to form a Defensive core. Corviknight and Dondozo excel at this, Immune to the Ground attacks that give Clodsire trouble and able to pivot into most Psychic attacks and to a lesser extent, Ice as well. Clodsire in turn blanks the Electric attacks that give them trouble and wipes away Toxic Spikes so Dondozo isn’t forced to rest early. Other options like Toxapex and Garganacl work as well, but don’t have the same level of synergy.
Great Tusk may have a rather redundant typing with Clodsire, but its high Defense, Item and Hazard Control alongside Clodsire’s propensity to Terastalize make them rather good partners.
Rotom-Wash deserves mention for its excellent immunities blanking most of Clodsire’s weaknesses and Will-o-Wisp to help increase Clodsire’s bulk and is an excellent pivot to bring Clodsire in.
Clodsire in general excels on Balanced and Defensive teams who can stall to accrue extra Toxic damage.

Other Options:
Water Absorb -Water Absorb is worth consideration. While Unaware stopping setup sweepers from going out of control is generally more important, Clodsire becomes a hard counter to Pokémon like Dondozo, Rotom-Wash, Pelipper and Toxapex (and Iron Bundle with Tera Steel). Unaware ignoring the Special Attack drops from Draco Meteor and Make It Rain can also be a pain point.
Stealth Rock/Toxic Spikes -Clodsire can viably run any Entry Hazard -Mix and Match based on your team’s needs.
Yawn -great at forcing switches and racking up Entry Hazard damage or outright turning an opponent into setup fodder.
Amnesia/Curse -setup options Clodsire has; either to make it nigh immune to Special Attacks or to boost its Attack and Defense to appreciable levels.
Haze -sets back setup Sweepers if Clodsire can’t handle them, but you are often better off using Toxic.

Countering Clodsire

First and foremost, Physical Attacks are the best way to route Clodsire. Its Defense is horrid in comparison to its Special Defense, so most physical attackers can dispatch Clodsire rather easily. Great Tusk, Iron Leaves, Baxcalibur are examples that easily OHKO Clodsire.

If not running Water Absorb, Water typed attackers give Clodsire a lot of problems. Quaquaval, and Azumarill have enough power to muscle through and Dondozo can heal off Toxic with Rest while accruing Curses of its own. Iron Bundle also excels, provided Clodsire doesn’t Terastalize.

However Clodsire is not likely to stay in against Physical attackers and will likely Toxic or setup entry hazards on the switch before switching out itself keeping momentum in its favor. And due to almost every Toxic Immune Pokémon being weak to Earthquake, that severely limits options to dealing with Clodsire. Corviknight can switch in safely and wipe away hazards but struggles to meaningfully damage Clodsire. Other floating Steel types like Air Balloon/Tera Flying Gholdengo and Tera Steel Hydreigon are also safe switch ins and can all but freely attack Clodsire, but still struggle with Clodsire’s massive Special Defense. Garganacl thanks to Purifying Salt negating Toxic can tank an Earthquake thanks to its high Defense, but really needs to Terastalize to do so repeatedly.

Lures may be the best way to deal with Clodsire, to drag it out and eliminate it before its walling becomes a problem, but will all but require Terastalization. Otherwise, Psychic type attackers and Psyshock users like Espartha, Fluttermane, and Armarouge all dispatch Clodsire easily.

Anime Appearences

Clodsire has not yet been showcased in the anime # -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics 55 TBC Showdown! The Paldea Elite Four! Pics 56 TBC Liko VS Rika! At the End of the Battle Pics 57 TBC A Terapagos I Don't Know! Pics 63 TBC An Ice Battle! Cold-Eyed Grusha! Pics