Pokemon of the Week 7/3/11

Cleaver: The Four-Leaf Clover Pokemon - Cleaver are very rare Pokemon and considered a wonder to even have. It's because of this that it's believed any trainer lucky enough to obtain one will be met with great fortune.

Cleaver is a cool dude. In fact, he's just flat out great. Good offensive typing, outstanding move-pool, two rather good abilities, average to above average stats across the board, sweet design, I spoiled Cleaver. Grass types usually have a pretty generic early move-pool with a couple of small and usually less-than-noteworthy surprises in the upper levels. For the most part, only the first half of that is true. Very generic early move-pool with stuff like Absorb, Leech Seed, and Stun Spore. However, his TM's and later level-up moves are pretty outstanding, especially for a solid grass type.

Trait(s)

Super Luck - Given the altered critical hit mechanics of the game, Super-Luck has become fairly useful as it doubles the 1/10 chance of scoring a critical hit to 2/10. Given the decent number of High Critical Hit Ratio moves that already come with doubled chance (making it 4/10) and items that double it (making it 6/10) This guy is like the new Critical Hit master, kicking Honchkrow from it's spot.

Chlorophyll - The most generic Grass-Type ability in any game, this is rather useful when up against anything that Flies and/or has 100+ Speed (Barring stupid fast Pokemon like Aerodactyl, Eletrode, Jolteon, and Bluradical).

Move Sets

Critical Clover
-Leaf Blade
-Night Slash
-Cross Chop
-Slash
Item Attached: Scope Lens
Trait: Super Luck

As trivial a move-pool as this may seem, it covers basically every type. The best thing is that you get the lovely 6/10 Critical Hit Ratio on EVERY MOVE. That's literally why these moves are so all over the place. Leaf Blade for Waters and Grounds plus STAB. Cross-Chop for Steels, Rocks, and Ices. Night Slash for Psychic and Ghosts. Then, of course, the remaining types are covered by Slash or the other moves if not resisted. The only Pokemon that escapes this is the ever powerful Hollauto.

Sun Sweeper
-Synthesis/Sunny Day
-Solarbeam
-Brick Break/Close Combat
-Night Slash
Item Attached: Leftovers
Trait:

Pretty straightforward set. The reason there's the Sunny Day versus Synthesis slot is for the type of battle. In a double battle, let the partner Pokemon learn Sunny Day. This gives you Synthesis for a useful heal. Packing Solarbeam is a lethal thing to opposing teams when the user is faster and has up Sunny Day. The classic Brick Break versus Close Combat battle also returns. Do you want Power or Safety? Take your pick. They break down steel types. Night Slash pwns Gengar and Mismagius.

Countering Cleaver
Hollauto is the only Pokemon that resists every move in both sets. That said, it can wall Cleaver to glory and pound on it with Steel moves. Metagross can do pretty well. It gets away with neutral damage though doesn't resist the Fight or Dark moves. Skarmory is good at this simply because it's so defensive that it can take a Close Combat from it then pound away with Drill Peck. There aren't many noteworthy counters. Weezing is also debatable because of its Walling abilities and since it's a poison type, it can run through Cleaver with Sludge Bomb.