Celebi

Celebi, The Time Travel Pokémon. This Pokémon wanders across time. Grass and trees flourish in the forests in which it has appeared. It has the power to travel across time, but it is said to appear only in peaceful times. This Pokémon came from the future by crossing over time. It is thought that so long as Celebi appears, a bright and shining future awaits us.

Overview

Tomorrow is the site's 20th anniversary and there is no better way to celebrate it in POTW other than inviting you to use the Pokemon that inspired the man and made it possible for the best Pokemon site to appear: Celebi. It isn't only Serebii's favorite Pokemon but for starters it has good balanced stats and an interesting defensive typing that allows it to check some dangerous threats, such as Azumarill, Mega Lopunny, Keldeo, Suicune and Toxapex. However, it suffers from an horrendous x4 weakness to Bug which makes U-turn users a pain for Celebi to deal with. It also suffers from not being strong offensively to put dents on a team without a boost. Nevertheless, despite its shortcomings, Celebi can shine as bright as Joe's cake if you know how to use it.
Positives
Balanced 100 stats across the board makes Celebi a versatile Pokemon that can adapt itself to any role either as a wall, cleric or sweeper.
Celebi has excellent support and utility options like Baton Pass, Stealth Rock, Recover, U-turn and boosting moves like Swords Dance and Nasty Plot. Its offensive movepool is quite varied, much more from its special side thanks to Leaf Storm, Giga Drain, Psychic, Earth Power and Hidden Power.
Natural Care is a useful ability which removes status effects upon switching.

Negatives
A nasty x4 weakness to Bug is Celebi's major flaw as any Pokemon that carries U-turn will be able to pressure Celebi. Also, stronger STAB users like Mega Scizor will make Celebi disappear in an instant.
Base 100 offenses are not strong enough for Celebi to pick KOs even after a Nasty Plot boost which means that many bulky Pokemon that wall it can still damage it badly.
While its typing grants it plenty of resistances, it also makes Celebi weak to Dark, Ghost, Poison, Ice, Fire and Flying, which hurts its ability to wall certain Pokemon if they hit it with their coverage moves.

Movesets

FAKE RUMOR

- Nasty Plot
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power / Hidden Power Fire
- Recover / Baton Pass
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 148 Def / 108 Spe
Bold Nature

With its great bulk and access to Nasty Plot, Celebi becomes a bulky sweeper capable not only of checking dangerous threats such as Keldeo, Tapu Fini and Mega Lopunny but also turn into an immediate threat. Nasty Plot is what allows this set to shine as Celebi obtains respectable power after a boost. Giga Drain is Celebi's main STAB which allows it to also recover lost health in the process. Earth Power is Celebi's best coverage move to use alongside Giga Drain as it hits the Pokemon resistant to Grass such as Mega Metagross, Heatran, and Mega Charizard X while still providing coverage on Toxapex. On the other hand, Hidden Power Fire ravages Mega Scizor and Kartana but it comes at the expense of being walled by Volcarona and Heatran hopelessly. Recover is the final slot which simply improves Celebi's own sustainability on situations where Giga Drain's recovery is not enough to keep Celebi healthy through the match. On the other hand, Baton Pass is an option in order to pass down the boosts to another teammate that will likely appreciate them like Tapu Lele.

108 Spe EVs allows Celebi to outspeed positive base 70s, Bisharp in particular, while giving it as much physical bulk as possible. With 252 HP / 148 Def Celebi is able to switch into plenty of physical attacks such as avoiding the 2HKO from Azumarill's Knock Off, Mega Lopunny's Return and the OHKO from Bisharp's Knock Off. Leftovers is the best item to use on this set in order to increase its longevity.

Partners

Heatran: With Heatran being immune to Fire and resisting Celebi's weakness except for Dark and Ghost, both form a very solid backbone. Heatran is also able to check Mega Scizor and Volcarona which are Celebi's biggest nightmare to face.
Rotom-Wash: Thanks to its resistance to Flying and Fire, it can also provide safe switch-ins for Celebi via Volt Switch while being able to check Tornadus-Therian and Staraptor.
Tyranitar: Tyranitar can easily defeat the Psychic types that can check Celebi such as the Lati@s twins and Pursuit trap them. It also provides Stealth Rock support while relying on Celebi to defeat the Water and Ground types it hates facing.
Excadrill: It forms a solid partnership with Tyranitar while being able to check the Fire, Steel and Flying types that pose a threat for Celebi's sweep.
Weavile: Similar to Tyranitar, however, due to its greater Speed and STAB Ice attacks, it can Pursuit trap the Psychic types that can put a halt to Celebi's sweep while removing the Dragon types that are troublesome for Celebi such as Naganadel.
Landorus-Therian: It heavily appreciates Celebi's ability to check Manaphy, Tapu Fini and Keldeo while also providing U-turn support.

IT IS CONFIRMED

- U-turn
- Recover
- Psychic / Giga Drain
- Leech Seed / Stealth Rock / Thunder Wave
Item Attached: Leftovers
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs and Nature:
252 HP / 176 Def / 80 Spe
Bold Nature

Celebi is also a decent support Pokemon capable of providing its team with great utility thanks to its wide movepool. U-turn allows Celebi to regain momentum on upcoming switches while also preventing it from getting trapped from the likes of Mega Scizor or Weavile if they come in. Recover keeps Celebi consistently healthy throughout the match allowing it to recover its lost health. Psychic is the preferred STAB on this set as it prevents Celebi from becoming complete setup fodder for Toxapex. On the other hand, Giga Drain hits Rotom-Wash harder preventing it from consistently removing its hazards. Finally, Leech Seed works quite well on this set making Celebi a much more annoying Pokemon to face for its switch-ins. Stealth Rock can also be used on this slot in case no one else in Celebi's team carries the move. Finally, Thunder Wave allows it to cripple dangerous switch-ins such as Mega Charizard X or Volcarona. Heal Bell should also be mentioned as an option allowing Celebi to cure its teammates' status conditions.

80 Spe allows Celebi to outspeed neutral max Speed Heatran, Bisharp and Tapu Bulu while max HP is used in order to increase Celebi's bulk. The rest is dumped in Defense to increase Celebi's physical bulk. Once again, Leftovers is the item of choice to use on this set providing Celebi a passive way to recover its lost health.

Partners

Heatran: With Heatran being immune to Fire and resisting Celebi's weakness except for Dark and Ghost, both form a very solid backbone. Heatran is also able to check Mega Scizor and Volcarona which are Celebi's biggest nightmare to face.
Rotom-Wash: Thanks to its resistance to Flying and Fire, it can also provide safe switch-ins for Celebi via Volt Switch while being able to check Tornadus-Therian and Staraptor.
Tyranitar: It can easily trap the opposing Psychic types that are able to take into this set like Reuniclus, Lati@s and Cresselia.
Mega Lopunny: Despite sharing a Flying weakness, it appreciates Mega Lopunny's ability on switching into Bisharp, who can be a thorn on Celebi's side while scaring Mega Gengar away.
Landorus-Therian: Its typing allows it to switch into Mega Scizor and it can also use Rocky Helmet to chip down common U-turn users like Tapu Koko.

WIDE-SPREAD LEAK

- Nasty Plot
- Psychic
- Giga Drain
- Earth Power / Hidden Power Fire
Item Attached: Psychium Z
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs and Nature:
252 SpA / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Timid Nature

Thanks to its decent Speed tier and bulk, Celebi can also take into a fully offensive route. On this set, Psychic is the main STAB to use, which allows Celebi to dispatch the Fighting and Poison types it can defeat. Once powered by a Psychium Z, Shattered Psyche will easily destroy Toxapex and anything that isn't resistant to it. Giga Drain is a secondary STAB that offers Celebi a way to recover its lost health while providing decent power. Finally, on the last slot, Earth Power is the best coverage move to complement its STABs hitting Heatran and Mega Charizard X for super-effective damage. If Mega Scizor or Ferrothorn are a huge concern for Celebi's team, Hidden Power Fire is an option to hit them super-effectively.

Max Speed and Special Attack is what Celebi needs in order to maximize its sweeping potential. A Psychium Z is used in order to allow Celebi OHKO Volcarona after a Nasty Plot boost and OHKO Toxapex after SR without a boost.

Partners

Heatran: With Heatran being immune to Fire and resisting Celebi's weakness except for Dark and Ghost, both form a very solid backbone. Heatran is also able to check Mega Scizor and Volcarona which are Celebi's biggest nightmare to face.
Rotom-Wash: It gains momentum for this set with Volt Switch allowing Celebi more opportunities to switch safely and set up.
Tyranitar: Pursuit will easily get rid of the Pokemon that can wall this set like Lati@s and Reuniclus.
Keldeo: Celebi appreciates Keldeo's ability to get rid of the Dark types that plagues it and it also beats Chansey. In return, Celebi gets rid of Toxapex which is huge for Keldeo.
Weavile: Similar to Tyranitar, however, due to its greater Speed and STAB Ice attacks, it can Pursuit trap the Psychic types that can put a halt to Celebi's sweep while removing the Dragon types that are troublesome for Celebi such as Naganadel.
Landorus-Therian: U-turn support, Intimidate and Stealth Rock are good attributes to pair up with Celebi.

Other Options

A much more offensive set with Stealth Rock and a Modest nature is also possible to use and give Celebi more offensive presence. However, Celebi is quite weak without a boost which makes it outclassed by other offensive SR users like Garchomp.
Calm Mind is also an option that not only allows Celebi to increase its Special Attack but also increase its special bulk, however, considering how Celebi is easily forced out by faster U-turn users like Scarfed Landorus-Therian, Greninja and Tapu Koko, it is too passive to be a game changer for Celebi.
Dazzling Gleam is an option that grants Celebi coverage against Dark types like Umbreon and Dragon types like the Lati@s. It is an inferior option to Hidden Power Fire or Earth Power though considering what the latter moves can hit.
Choice items can always be taken into consideration, but due to Celebi's average offensive stats, it is heavily outclassed by other Grass types such as Serperior or Tapu Bulu who have greater power.

Countering Celebi

Bulky Steel types are able to stop Celebi depending on the coverage move it chooses. Heatran will wall any Celebi set without Earth Power while Mega Scizor will easily eat sets without Hidden Power Fire. Jirachi does a good job as well in checking Celebi thanks to Iron Head and U-turn.

Fire types are pretty dangerous for Celebi to deal with. Volcarona is Celebi's worst nightmare thanks to its secondary Bug STAB and its ability to use non-Thunder Wave Celebi as set-up fodder. Mega Charizard X does the same in a similar fashion but it must be wary of Earth Power. Mega Charizard Y deserves a mention as not only it can take Shattered Psyche from full health but it is also able to OHKO any set with Drought-boosted Flamethrowers.

Additionally, any Pokemon that has a super-effective STAB move to use against Celebi like Mega Gengar, Kyurem-Black, Naganadel, Ash Greninja, Mega Venusaur, Tornadus Therian and Weavile will do a great job on heavily denting Celebi.

Special walls like Chansey and Blissey do a good job on being able to wall Celebi, although Leech Seed will annoy them a lot.

Any U-turn user will be able to do at least around ~50% even if it isn't a physical attacker due to Celebi's x4 weakness to Bug. Fast U-turn users like Hydreigon, Landorus-Therian, Greninja and Tapu Koko will be able to easily pressure Celebi while also providing momentum to another switch-in.

Locations in Games

Red/Blue/Yellow:
Not in game

Gold/Silver/Crystal:
Event (Gold/Silver)
Ilex Forest (Crystal)

Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald:
Event

FireRed/LeafGreen:
Event

Colosseum/XD:
Bonus Disc (Japanese Colosseum)
Trade from Ruby/Sapphire/Emerald/FireRed/LeafGreen

Diamond/Pearl/Platinum:
Event

HeartGold/SoulSilver:
Event

Black/White:
Event

Black 2/White 2:
Event

X/Y:
Event

Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire:
Event

Sun/Moon:
Event

Ultra Sun/Ultra Moon:
Event

Let's Go, Pikachu!/Let's Go, Eevee!:
Not in game

Animé Appearences

Celebi has made multiple appearances in the anime. Most notably it causes people to travel through time

# -English Episode Name- -Jp. Episode Name- Pics
M4 Celebi: Voice of the Forest Celebi: A Timeless Encounter Pics
M6 Jirachi - Wish Maker The Wishing Star of Seven Nights - Jirachi Pics
C12 Celebi & Joy! Another Legend of Celebi! Pics
S20 The Mastermind of Mirage Pokémon The Terrifying Mirage Pokémon Pics
432 Green Guardian Pokémon Ranger Appears! Celebi Rescue Operation! Pics
M10 The Rise of Darkrai Dialga VS Palkia VS Darkrai Pics
560 Lean Mean Team Rocket Machine Return to the Basics, Team Rocket! Pics
611 An Egg Scramble Johto Festa! Chikorita and Totodile Appear!! Pics
M13 Zoroark - Master of Illusions Phantom Champion Zoroark Pics
1068 A Timeless Encounter! Ash: A Timeless Encounter! Pics
1069 Pikachu's Exciting Adventure! Pikachu's Exciting Expedition! Pics
1121 Time After Time! Celebi: A Timeless Promise Pics
M22 Pokémon: Secrets of the Jungle Pokémon: Koko