Why is Clefable in the S rank in Gen 8 OU?

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Clefable is effective because it is an extremely good response to the defensive function of balance and stall teams. Its combination of Magic Guard and self-recovery means it doesn’t really mind chip damage that comes from Pokemon like Corviknight, Hippowdon, Toxapex, Kommo-o, Mandibuzz, Tyranitar etc., which makes it an ideal switch-in to those Pokemon. There is no other Pokemon in OU that can so consistently switch into opposing pivots and apply pressure for them to switch; and in a meta currently dominated by slow balance teams, Clefable is invaluable. If you’re playing anything that isn’t hardcore HO, Clefable has to be a consideration for your OU team.

Clefable is assisted in its role by its pure Fairy typing, which happens not to be vulnerable to the attacks used by most defensive Pokemon in the tier, and lets it use a very good move in Moonblast as STAB. Fairy-type also makes Clefable a soft-check to Urshifu-S (which are in relatively short supply in OU) and solid response to offensive pivots like Dragapult and Zeraora. Its bulk is just good enough to keep the 252 HP / 252 Def set out of 2HKO range from neutral attacks by physical wallbreakers.

Clefable’s movepool is another reason it is so good at its job:

Clefable is also able to run the less common Unaware set, which allows it to soft-check set-up sweepers for stall teams. (Though, the majority of the time, Magic Guard is the more useful ability over the course of a battle.)

The current OU meta is about to change massively with the release of DLC 2, but it probably won’t mean much for Clefable’s viability, because many of the pivots being re-introduced (e.g. Landorus-T and Garchomp) have unfavourable matchups against Clefable. So don’t expect Clefable to be going anywhere any time soon.

Ok. Let’s look at Clefable’s stats.HP:95Def:73SpD:90Atk:70SpA:95Spe:60Nothing overly impressive, but it’s rather bulky. Abilities:Cute Charm, Magic Gaurd. HA:Unaware.Magic Gaurd is awesome, becuase it negates damage from weather, status conditions, and the life orb. Unaware is also good, because it ignores Pokémon that have set up on you. It has a mono Fairy typing, which resists Dark, Bug, and fighting, is weak to Poison and Steel, and is immune to dragon. Not bad. It has a spectacular movepool, with Moonlight, Moonblast, Cosmic Power, Stored Power, Meteor Beam, Follow Me, and Life Dew. It’s movepool is very large, so it’s not very predictable. A common strategy is to spam cosmic power while healing with moonlight here and there and then use Stored Power.