Battle Spot: Octillery Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

Ability – Sniper 
Stats – HP (252), Special Attack/SpA (252), Special Defence/SpD (4)

Nature – Quiet
Item – Focus Sash

Moveset – Hydro Pump (stab), Fire Blast, Ice Beam, Protect

Similarly to Seviper's case, Octillery also suffers the same problem with average HP, defensive capabilities and horrendous Speed. On the other hand, its Attack and SpA stats are quite good, making it ideal for a Trick Room candidate wrecking destruction with a wide array of moves. Let's take a look of how the octopus should be used. 

Strength

As mentioned earlier, both Attack and SpA stat are high enough to cause damage to your opponent, that also makes your movepool vast and you have many options to choose from there. Staying true to its name, Octillery's role is just simply an artillery in your Trick Room and use it to your heart's content when the move is activated. Pretty straight forward here. 

If you're brave enough, you could let loose Protect and slot in another attacking move then give it Assault Vest boosting its SpD. As a pure Water-type, its two weakness Electric and Grass (not forgetting the rare Freeze Dry Ice-move) are usually SpA-based so that makes it tougher to take it down.

Weakness

Aside from the obvious poor defensive capabilities, Octillery’s abilities are somewhat less desired. It has Sniper, Sticky Feet and Moody. Sticky Feet is the most useless one and Moody is too random. So it’s better off with Sniper since critical hits in the current metagame seems to be appearing more now for some reason.

Also, since you're better off with all SpA-based moveset. That pretty much means the Attack stat is rendered useless, quite a pity to be honest, unless if you really want Gunk Shot then it's only recommended to max both Attack and SpA. Speaking of moves...

Moveset

Hydro Pump should be Octillery's main STAB move for good reasons, but Surf can do too if you have a Pokemon that benefits from it like Maractus. Your second move should be Fire Blast to get rid of those pesky Grass-type Pokemon, and Ice Beam as well for wide coverage.

If you already have a Pokemon that has a Fire or Ice move, Octillery still has plenty of moves left. Namely Gunk Shot, Seed Bomb, Scald, Energy Ball, Sludge Bomb, Flamethrower, Psychic, Waterfall and Flash Cannon. So many choices!

One interesting thing to note is it can learn Focus Power too, and if it wears a Scope Lens item it can easily OHKO most Pokemon 99% of the time with critical hit since it's compatible with Sniper ability. But in order for that to work, Trick Room is not the right choice and you'd need a Fake Out Pokemon for Octillery to setup, that would also mean you'd have to sacrifice Focus Sash and make way for Scope Lens, just be wary of offensive physical attackers. 

Closing thoughts

(image credit to _Absol_'s Bucket)

Generally, it’s a much better idea to go with the SpA build as it can learn a wide variety of TMs (and SpA TMs have higher power). If you want to go for a physical set, that's ok too but it will lack the artillery power compared to SpA. Had some fun with Octillery, but in the end, there are better Trick Room Water-type Pokemon out there such as Clawitzer and others. 

So Octillery, I choose you! Glhf!

Battle Spot: Clawitzer Trick Room and Doubles strategy

Build set as of Gen 6

• Ability – Mega Launcher
• Stats – HP (252), Special Attack/SpA (252), Special Defence/SpD (4)
• Nature – Quiet/Modest
• Item – Life Orb
• Moveset – Water Pulse (stab), Aura Sphere, Ice Beam, Protect

If you know your animal dictionary, you'll immediately know where this Pokemon got its inspiration from. Based on the Pistol Shrimp in the animal kingdom, it has the ability to create and shoot out small shockwave vacuum to stun its prey. In this case, the Mega Launcher ability, which boost all pulse and sphere moves by 50%, makes it a terrifying water Pokemon to face in Trick Room.

Strength

With 120 SpA stat combining with Mega Launcher ability, this makes Clawitzer one of the best wall-breakers in the metagame. And if you add in Life Orb, that's another 30% increase in power. If you find that you have to give up the Life Orb to other members (not recommended), Expert Belt does quite well, Choice Specs is great too but I'm not really a fan of being locked to one move. 

Weakness

Ah, although a piledriver by nature. This also makes it quite a predictable Pokemon as well, with only so few moves chosen, veteran trainers would prolly know what's coming and react accordingly. 

Keep a watch out for Electric and Grass type Pokemons, especially Rotom-W who's is a pain in the ass to take down if it has Sitrus Berry, and also Amoongus which it fears the most. Your Clawitzer lacks a form of recovery so you will have to rely on your partner for that. 

Keep note that it has a tough time against Pokemon who has high SpD like Chansey. So never waste your time attacking a Pokemon like that, it's too time-consuming. 

Moveset

Depending on your Pokemon combination team, having 2-3 pulse and sphere moves is a must have for the lobster. First, having Water Pulse is a no-brainer for its STAB move and it does a lot of damage with a chance of confusing the opponent. On the other hand, Surf is also a great addition to boost your partner who has Storm Drain or Water Absorb ability. Scald lacks the punch, but at least it has a chance of burning.  

Dragon Pulse is probably the least favoured move because it’s only super effective against Dragons, although on paper it does a lot more power than Ice Beam; but Ice Beam has more coverage and it counters Grass type Pokemon. Another great coverage move is none other than Aura Sphere and it's a good move to have. 

As for Dark Pulse, it's not a bad move either because of the 20% flinch chance and great for taking down tanky ghost and psychic Pokemons. Same goes for Sludge Bomb although not really recommended as most Fairy type Pokemon tend to have high SpD, The last move slot should be Protect to keep this RPG alive as long as possible.

Interestingly, Clawitzer can also learn Heal Pulse and it heals quite a lot of HP for its partner thanks to its Mega Launcher ability. But it should be focusing on shooting down opponents while it still can under Trick Room, so don't you even think of including it.  

Closing thoughts

(image credit to Silent Flame)

Clawitzer is an integrated part of my Trick Room member since XY and has not been changed since then, barely anything could go wrong if you have the right partners and move set. Thanks, Gamefreak for creating this wonderful Pokemon. So Clawitzer, I choose you! Glhf!