Is Cloyster Good in Ruby & Sapphire Playthrough?
AbilityShell Armor blocks critical hits, which protects Cloyster's enormous physical Defense from being bypassed. Ice attacks handle Drake's Dragon team. Trade-only in RS, and Walrein covers Ice/Water natively, but Cloyster's Defense stat is in a class of its own.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Roxanne's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Brawly's team.
Wattson's team hits Cloyster's weaknesses hard.
Flannery's team hits Cloyster's weaknesses hard.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Norman's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Winona's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Tate & Liza's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Wallace's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Sidney's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Phoebe's team.
Cloyster trades roughly evenly with Glacia's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Drake's team.
Cloyster has the type edge here and should clean up Steven's team.
Trade
Cloyster cannot be caught in this game. It must be traded in from a compatible game where it appears in the wild. Cross-region trading typically becomes available after defeating the Elite Four.
Recommended Moves
- STARTING (Lv 5)
- LV 5IceAurora BeamPower 98Accuracy 100%PP 20
- After Brawly
- TM13IceIce BeamPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 10Abandoned Ship
- After Norman
- TM14IceBlizzardPower 180Accuracy 70%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- HM03WaterSurfPower 143Accuracy 100%PP 15Petalburg City
- TM15NormalHyper BeamPower 150Accuracy 90%PP 5Lilycove Department Store
- TM42NormalFacadePower 70Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Norman
- After Winona
- HM08WaterDivePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 10Mossdeep City
- After Wallace
- TM03WaterWater PulsePower 90Accuracy 100%PP 20Prize for defeating Wallace
How to Get Cloyster in Ruby & Sapphire
Cloyster needs a Water Stone on a traded Shellder. The line never appears wild in Hoenn, so the stone is the whole step.
How to Obtain Cloyster in RS
- Step 1Obtain ShellderLATER APPEARANCEfrom Red & BlueNot TradeableAppears in Red & Blue via Super rod · Route 11. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom YellowNot TradeableAppears in Yellow via Super rod · Route 18. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.LATER APPEARANCEfrom Gold & SilverNot TradeableAppears in Gold & Silver via Super rod · Route 26. Forward-only transfer — no path back to this game from a later one.
- Step 2Cloyster ✓
How to Get Shiny Cloyster in Ruby & Sapphire
No Hoenn shore holds Cloyster, so trade a shiny in from a game such as FireRed or LeafGreen. See every game where Shiny Cloyster can be hunted
Cloyster Weakness
Cloyster's Water/Ice typing leaves it vulnerable to Electric, Grass, Fighting, and Rock. Cloyster's physical bulk (base 180 Def) helps cushion physical weakness hits, but special attackers are the bigger threat.
| Damage | Types |
|---|---|
| 2x (Weak) | Electric, Grass, Fighting, Rock |
| 0.5x (Resist) | Water |
| 0.25x (Resist) | Ice |
- Dark and Steel types added — Fairy does not exist yet
- Moves are Physical or Special based on type, not per move
What is Cloyster Weak Against
VulnerableBest Pokemon Against Cloyster
 Heracross BugFighting | A | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Heracross builds →Focus Punch 2x99-118%KO Rock Tomb 2x23-27% | ||
 Hariyama Fighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Hariyama builds →Focus Punch 2x95-112%KO Rock Tomb 2x22-26% | ||
 Breloom GrassFighting | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Breloom builds →Focus Punch 2x102-121%KO Solar Beam 2x134-158%KO | ||
 Blaziken FireFighting | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Torchic (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Blaziken builds →Focus Punch 2x95-112%KO Rock Tomb 2x22-26% | ||
 Machoke Fighting | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Machoke builds →Focus Punch 2x82-96% Rock Tomb 2x19-22% | ||
 Ludicolo WaterGrass | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Ludicolo builds →Solar Beam 2x185-218%KO Focus Punch 2x42-49% | ||
 Medicham FightingPsychic | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Medicham builds →Focus Punch 2x55-65% Thunder Punch 2x56-67% Rock Tomb 2x13-15% | ||
 Sceptile Grass | B | |
Obtain MethodEvolve Treecko (Route 101 Gift) Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Sceptile builds →Solar Beam 2x210-247%KO Focus Punch 2x47-56% Rock Tomb 2x16-20% | ||
 Manectric Electric | C | |
 Raichu Electric | C | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Raichu builds →Focus Punch 2x50-60% Thunderbolt 2x147-174%KO | ||
 Magneton ElectricSteel | A | |
 Electrode Electric | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Electrode builds →Thunderbolt 2x134-158%KO Rollout 2x8-9% | ||
 Vileplume GrassPoison | C | |
 Cacturne GrassDark | B | |
Available Moves Moves
Damage vs Cloyster View Cacturne builds →Solar Beam 2x228-268%KO Focus Punch 2x61-73% | ||
Cloyster Evolutions
Getting Cloyster requires an evolution item, not just grinding levels. The chain starts at Shellder. Breed this form to get Shellder eggs (average hatch time). Defense grew the most through evolution (+80 over Shellder), and Cloyster peaks at 525 total stats. View every chain in the Evolution Chart.
How to Evolve
Breeding
Breed with Cloyster to get Shellder eggs easily using 19 partners from the Water 3 egg group. Notable egg moves include Barrier, Bubble Beam, Icicle Spear and 3 more.
RS Cloyster Best Moveset
180 Defense blocks the physical side, and AbilityShell Armor blocks critical hits on top. MoveSpikes sets the format's most impactful entry hazard. MoveExplosion delivers massive physical damage after the spikes are down. Held ItemLeftovers sustains. Premier hazard setter.
Best Build
Cloyster best EVs are Sp. Def and Speed
Hazard Setter Moveset
- Spikes
- Explosion
- Surf
- Rapid Spin
Recommended Teammates
Moves List
You'll want to breed for Barrier and Bubble Beam on Cloyster. These egg moves aren't just nice to have. Combined with STAB from Blizzard and Ice Beam, they expand what Cloyster can actually threaten in practice.
How to Read the Moves Table
Tabs
- Level-Up
- Learned by leveling up.
- TM
- Taught by a Technical Machine.
- Egg
- Inherited via breeding.
- Tutor
- NPC tutor (cost: items, BP, money).
- Reminder
- An NPC reteaches any move this Pokemon could have learned by leveling up.
- Transfer
- Carried over from an older game using Pokemon HOME.
- Event
- Given out through Mystery Gift events.
Visual Signals
CAT (Category)
How the move deals damage and which stats it uses.
A small dot on the icon's corner marks the move as contact. That triggers abilities like Static, Flame Body, Rough Skin, or Iron Barbs, plus items like Rocky Helmet and Sticky Barb.
Tier (S to D)
Each move's competitive rank in RankedBoost's system. TM, Egg, and Tutor sort by tier by default (best first). On Level-Up, click the Tier header to do the same.
PWR (Power)
Base damage. Numbers shown in a type color include STAB (base × 1.5). Hover any colored number to see the math.
— means no power (status moves) or variable power.
Sorting & Filter
Click any column header to sort. Level-Up opens with Lv 1 at the top. TM, Egg, and Tutor open with the highest-tier moves at the top.
Search filters by move name or type. The Filter button limits the list to STAB, Physical, Special, or Status moves.
Level-Up Moves
TM Moves
All 19 TMs are obtainable before the Elite Four
Egg Moves
Tutor Moves
Base Stats
CLOYSTER is capable of swimming in the sea. It does so by swallowing water, then jetting it out toward the rear. This POKéMON shoots spikes from its shell using the same system.
Cloyster Ruby & Sapphire Guide
Cloyster isn't catchable in Ruby & Sapphire. Obtain one in FireRed, then trade it to Ruby & Sapphire.
Game Availability
One of the original 151, Cloyster has appeared in 20 games: most mainline games. From Red & Blue through the latest titles, it's rarely been left out of a regional Pokedex.
Click a game to view version-specific details
- Gen 1RBDebut
Red & Blue - Gen 1Y
Yellow - Gen 2GS
Gold & Silver - Gen 2C
Crystal - Gen 3RS
Ruby & Sapphire - Gen 3E
Emerald - Gen 3FRLG
FireRed & LeafGreen - Gen 4DP
Diamond & Pearl - Gen 4Pt
Platinum - Gen 4HGSS
HeartGold & SoulSilver - Gen 5BW
Black & White - Gen 5B2W2
Black 2 & White 2 - Gen 6XY
X & Y - Gen 6ORAS
Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire - Gen 7SM
Sun & Moon - Gen 7USUM
Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon - Gen 7Let's Go
Let's Go Pikachu & Eevee - Gen 8SwSh
Sword & Shield - Gen 8BDSP
Brilliant Diamond & Shining Pearl - Gen 8PLA
Legends: Arceus - Gen 9SV
Scarlet & Violet - Gen 9LZA
Legends: Z-A - Gen 10WW
Winds & Waves
Explore
Where to go next after Cloyster.
Keep playing · Ruby & SapphireRuby & Sapphire Tier ListThe best Pokemon ranked tier by tierSee Ruby & Sapphire Tier List