AOTW: Klutz

Gilligan. Urkel. Bulk and Skull. Comic foils, or the spiritual precursors to our Ability of the Week? …Well, clearly comic foils, but hey, don’t we all love Gilligan, Urkel, and Bulk and Skull? This week we’re examining an unusual Ability that evokes all of these icons on televised shenanigannery. Prepare for the pratfalls, people. This is Ability of the Week: Klutz!

Klutz was introduced in the generation four titles, and at the time, it was found exclusively on Buneary and Lopunny. Nowadays, you’ll also find it on Audino via the Dream World, as well as the Swoobat and Golurk lines naturally. The thing about Klutz is that your strategy pretty much has to revolve around it, because the effect of this Ability is to totally negate the effects of held items. Now, there are a few exceptions to the rule. Training items, like the Power Belt or Lucky Egg, or prize money increasers like Luck Incense and Amulet Coin will still work. And the speed decrease from Iron Ball will still occur as well.

All your other mainstream items- Leftovers, Life Orb, Expert Belt, etc- don’t affect a pokémon with Klutz, though. But on the upshot, neither do the Toxic or Flame Orbs. And one particular move that Lopunny can be bred to have makes Klutz her bread and butter. Lopunny can be bred to have the attack Switcheroo, which forcibly swaps held items with the opponent. Want to nerf your opponent’s Sweeper’s Attack stat? Switcheroo a Flame Orb onto it. Think your opponent will attempt to Dragon Dance their way to certain victory? Switcheroo on a Choice item. There are plenty of possibilities. The best part is that not only have you given your opponent a negative condition, you’ve probably decimated their strategy, as so many tactics are reliant upon a specific held item.

To the uninitiated, Klutz is more of a bane than a blessing, but should you find yourself on the wrong end of a strategy dependent upon it you’ll have a job overcoming a clever opponent. That does it for this week, guys! I’ll see you next time!

-Wil
www.wheretheresawil.com