Game:

Pokémon Sword and Shield (2019)

Duration: 21:30

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For this week's Surprise Trades, the Pokémon I will be trading is Shellder, a Pokémon that has been around since Gen 1, but it didn't get any huge improvements until Gen 5. Like with all other Pokémon that I have Surprise Traded, I usually aim for at least 4-5 perfect IVs (Individual Values), and some Egg Moves, and these Shellder have an Adamant Nature, I've checked every competitive site like Smogon and Pikalytics, and every set for Cloyster is usually a Physical attacker, but you could go with Naive for a mixed attacker, and Skill Link is an important Ability to go with, its Hidden Ability is Overcoat, but you should never use that over Skill Link.
I feel that Shellder's Egg Moves are a bit too basic for a Water-type, it can get Aqua Ring, Water Pulse, Bubble Beam, and Life Dew, I will list which parents from the Water 3 Egg Group that can learn those moves.
Aqua Ring: Corsola
Bubble Beam: Tentacool, Tentacruel, Krabby, Kingler, Corsola, Corphish, Crawdaunt
Life Dew: Corsola
Water Pulse: Tentacool, Tentacruel, Clauncher, Clawitzer

Those can be tough moves to get, because the Tentacool line was recently added in the Isle of Armor Update, and Corsola, well the Water/Rock-type Johto variant, has to be transferred from a previous game, and this is all to get very basic Egg Moves on Shellder, because I remember it getting some nice moves like Rock Blast and Rapid Spin as Egg Moves.
As for Shellder and its evolved form Cloyster, and since you can evolve Shellder with a Water Stone, you can use the Move Reminder to teach all of Shellder's level up moves to Cloyster, so even if you get it very early on, you can have Hydro Pump and Shell Smash very early, and Shell Smash is Cloyster's best move, as it not only lowers its defensive stats, but it greatly boosts its Attack, Special Attack, and Speed, and this was made Cloyster really good in the competitive scene since Gen 5.
For level up moves, it can get Ice Shard, Whirlpool, Aurora Beam, Razor Shell, Iron Defense, Ice Beam, Shell Smash, and Hydro Pump, and when evolved into Cloyster, it can get Icicle Spear upon evolution, and it can even get Spikes, Toxic Spikes, and Icicle Crash.
Cloyster can learn some decent moves through TMs and TRs, starting with TMs, it can get Rock Blast, Pin Missile, Self-Destruct, Light Screen, Icy Wind, Rain Dance, Mud Shot, Brine, Avalanche, Payback, and Smart Strike, and for TRs, it can learn Blizzard, Surf, Poison Jab, Tri Attack, Liquidation, and a few others.
Now onto Cloyster in the competitive scene, and even since Gen 5, the main reason why Cloyster is that good is because it is one of few Pokémon to learn Shell Smash, and it is believed to be the best Shell Smash user out of any Pokémon, and with Skill Link, it can ensure that Icicle Spear and Rock Blast will always hit 5 times. Even if Cloyster can get Pin Missile, it is not recommended, as Icicle Spear is already good enough on it. For its fourth move, Cloyster can use Ice Shard for priority or Liquidation for a Water-type move, or Hydro Pump if you want to go mixed. The downside to Cloyster is its low Special Defense, so try to keep it away from Special Attackers, and its HP stat leaves much to be desired. Most Cloyster sets use a Focus Sash to ensure it will get the boost from Shell Smash, as the Defense drops can hold it back, a King's Rock is another alternative so Cloyster will get higher odds at flinching its target with Icicle Spear and Rock Blast.
Cloyster isn't as useful in Double Battles than in Single Battles, so it does require team support to get the best use out of it, like Follow Me from Togekiss or Indeedee, or Rage Powder from Amoonguss or Volcarona. Another reason why Cloyster isn't recommended for Double Battles is that Lapras is a better choice and has the same type combination of Water/Ice, and when Gigantamaxed, its G-Max Resonance allows it to set up Aurora Veil without the need for Hail.
Aside from that, Cloyster is one of my favourite Pokémon from Gen 1, although it wasn't till Gen 5 that I came to appreciate Cloyster even more, because I liked the thought of it having access to Shell Smash and Icicle Spear, and because Liquidation didn't exist in Gen 5, Razor Shell was the Physical Water-type move it could get back then. I don't believe that I have even used Cloyster for online battles from Gen 5 onwards, because I remember how tough it was to get Rock Blast on Shellder, you had to breed it with a male Corsola, which was tricky as Corsola had a 25% chance of being male, and even if Omastar and Armaldo could also get Rock Blast, they couldn't learn it till around the mid level 50s, and I do like to have Egg Moves when breeding Pokémon for online battles.

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