In Cobblemon battles, having a strong defensive core can be the key to victory, allowing you to stall opponents, tank hits, and slowly wear down even the toughest enemies. Cobblemon with excellent defensive movesets can protect your team while providing utility and disrupting the opponent’s strategy. In this guide, we’ll explore the top five Cobblemon with the best defensive movesets and how to use them effectively.
1. Toxapex (Water/Poison)
Why Toxapex Is a Top Defender:
- Toxapex is one of the best defensive Cobblemon due to its incredible bulk, access to recovery, and its ability to poison and stall opponents. With high Defense and Special Defense stats, it’s nearly impossible to take down without the right counters.
Key Moves:
- Toxic: Inflicts the target with badly poisoned, causing increasing damage each turn.
- Recover: Heals Toxapex by 50% of its max HP, allowing it to stay on the battlefield for a long time.
- Haze: Resets all stat changes on both sides, shutting down opponents that rely on boosting their stats.
- Scald: A Water-type move that has a chance to burn the target, further weakening physical attackers.
How to Use:
- Use Toxic to slowly wear down bulky opponents while healing with Recover.
- Haze is essential for preventing the opponent from setting up with moves like Swords Dance or Calm Mind.
- Scald helps deter physical attackers by potentially burning them and halving their damage output.
2. Ferrothorn (Grass/Steel)
Why Ferrothorn Is a Top Defender:
- Ferrothorn excels as a defensive wall thanks to its resistances, defensive typing, and access to key utility moves like Leech Seed and Stealth Rock. Its Iron Barbs ability also punishes opponents for using physical contact moves.
Key Moves:
- Leech Seed: Drains the target’s HP every turn and heals Ferrothorn, increasing its longevity.
- Stealth Rock: Sets up entry hazards that damage opponents when they switch in, especially punishing those weak to Rock-type moves.
- Protect: Stalls for additional turns, allowing Leech Seed and other status effects to chip away at the opponent's health.
- Gyro Ball: A Steel-type move that deals more damage the slower the user is compared to the target, which works well with Ferrothorn’s low Speed stat.
How to Use:
- Use Leech Seed and Protect to drain your opponent’s HP while keeping Ferrothorn healthy.
- Set up Stealth Rock early in the battle to punish frequent switches and weaken the opponent’s team.
- Gyro Ball provides a powerful offensive option against faster opponents.
3. Blissey (Normal)
Why Blissey Is a Top Defender:
- With the highest HP stat in the game and excellent Special Defense, Blissey is a top-tier special wall that can absorb powerful special attacks while healing itself and its teammates. It’s particularly effective at outlasting special attackers that lack physical moves.
Key Moves:
- Soft-Boiled: Heals Blissey by 50% of its max HP, allowing it to stay healthy and stall for long periods.
- Toxic: Inflicts the opponent with poison, ideal for wearing down opposing Cobblemon over time.
- Heal Bell: Cures all status conditions from your team, making Blissey invaluable in prolonged battles.
- Seismic Toss: Deals a flat 50 HP in damage, making it a reliable damage-dealing move regardless of Blissey’s Attack stat.
How to Use:
- Use Soft-Boiled to keep Blissey’s HP high and Toxic to slowly whittle down your opponents.
- Heal Bell is great for removing status conditions like Paralysis or Burn from your team.
- Seismic Toss provides consistent damage, especially against Cobblemon with low HP.
4. Corviknight (Flying/Steel)
Why Corviknight Is a Top Defender:
- Corviknight combines excellent bulk with a solid defensive typing, giving it resistances to many common attack types. Its ability to set up defensive moves and recover with Roost makes it a premier physical wall.
Key Moves:
- Roost: Heals Corviknight by 50% of its max HP, allowing it to recover and stay in the battle longer.
- Defog: Removes entry hazards from the field, like Stealth Rock and Spikes, making it a great support move.
- Body Press: A Fighting-type move that deals damage based on the user’s Defense stat, making it a powerful offensive option for Corviknight.
- Iron Defense: Increases Corviknight’s Defense stat, making it even harder to take down with physical moves.
How to Use:
- Use Roost to stay healthy while tanking hits, and Defog to clear entry hazards that threaten your team.
- Body Press becomes extremely powerful after using Iron Defense, allowing Corviknight to deal significant damage to opponents.
- With its typing and defensive moves, Corviknight can stall out physical attackers while applying pressure with Body Press.
5. Umbreon (Dark)
Why Umbreon Is a Top Defender:
- Umbreon is a defensive powerhouse with excellent bulk, strong support moves, and access to reliable recovery. Its ability Synchronize can also punish opponents who try to inflict status conditions like Poison or Burn.
Key Moves:
- Wish: Heals Umbreon (or a teammate) by 50% of its max HP at the end of the next turn, making it a great support option.
- Protect: Allows Umbreon to stall for time and safely heal itself with Wish.
- Foul Play: A Dark-type move that uses the opponent’s Attack stat to deal damage, making it an offensive threat against physical attackers.
- Toxic: Inflicts poison on the opponent, which slowly increases in damage each turn.
How to Use:
- Use Wish to heal both Umbreon and its teammates, especially in longer battles.
- Protect allows you to stall and safely heal with Wish while avoiding damage.
- Foul Play makes Umbreon a surprise offensive threat to physically offensive Cobblemon, while Toxic whittles down bulky opponents.
Conclusion
Defensive Cobblemon are the backbone of many successful teams, providing essential support and sustainability. Whether you're using Toxapex to poison and stall, Ferrothorn to set up hazards and drain the opponent’s HP, or Blissey to tank special attacks, having these Cobblemon on your team can ensure you outlast and outmaneuver your opponents. With the right movesets and strategies, these defensive powerhouses can carry your team to victory.
Which defensive Cobblemon do you rely on in battle? Let us know in our Discord!