**To use Cloyster effectively in the current VGC format, leverage its Water/Ice type typing and build around its top-performing movesets.** Cloyster appears as a prominent choice in the current Pokémon Champions format, with usage data pulled from competitive teams, tournament results and Showdown-ready pastes tracked by MetaVGC. This page brings together its most common moveset, nature, ability, item, teammates and type weaknesses so you can judge where Cloyster fits in a VGC team.

The most common build highlights Shell Armor, King's Rock and Adamant 2/32/0/0/0/32. Its frequent moves include Shell Smash, Icicle Spear, Rock Blast, Protect, Helping Hand, and Hydro Pump. Treat those choices as a data-backed starting point: they show what players are bringing, while EV spreads, Tera Type and the final move slot should still respond to your expected matchups.

Defensively, Cloyster has important weaknesses to electric 2x, fighting 2x, grass 2x, rock 2x. That matters during teambuilding because a strong composition needs ways to cover those attacks without giving up offensive pressure. Partners such as Annihilape, Ninetales-Alola, Archaludon, Tyranitar, and Sneasler appear often because they can add positioning, type coverage, speed control or safer switches into common checks.

MetaVGC tracks recent teams using Cloyster. Open the Cloyster teams page to compare complete structures, copy Showdown pastes and see how players combine Cloyster with other Pokémon in the active format.