Klefki #707: the key ring that locks down the whole field

A key ring with attitude. Klefki (Trousselin in French) is the Key Ring Pokémon of Kalos: a steel ring just 20 centimeters tall that collects keys, jangles its loot loudly to intimidate opponents and never gives back the ones it has adopted. It's also the only Pokémon in the games that can lock down the entire battlefield.

Contents

• Who is Klefki?
• A fiercely possessive key collector
• Steel and Fairy type, Abilities and signature move
• Evolution: Klefki has none
• A key goblin, and a French exclusive
• Klefki fact sheet
• Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Klefki?

Listed as #707 in the National Pokédex, Klefki is the "Key Ring Pokémon" of Generation VI, the generation of Pokémon X and Pokémon Y. At 20 centimeters and 3 kilos, it fits in a pocket — which is the whole point of a key ring.

Its body is a thin, grayish-white steel ring topped by a round head: two black dots serve as its eyes, a keyhole serves as its mouth, and a two-toothed key bit sits on top.

A detail people often forget: the four keys hanging from its ring aren't part of its body; they're its trophies. On a Shiny Klefki, the gray turns an ocher yellow reminiscent of brass and the pink turns blue.

A fiercely possessive key collector

The Pokédex is adamant: Klefki never parts with a key it likes. Pokémon X shows it jangling its collection to intimidate its enemies, and Pokémon Sword promises it will keep an important key safe no matter what.

That inability to let go has earned it a job: people entrust it with the key to their strongbox so they won't get robbed. Pokémon Violet adds that noble families handed it the keys to their vaults and cared for it from generation to generation.

Why keys? For the metal: it slips the appendage on its head into metal crevices to extract the ions, then tosses the key away — except the ones it likes, which it keeps for years. It may even look like a key because it imitates the object it loves so much.

That doesn't make it a saint, though: Pokémon Sun shows it sneaking into homes to steal their keys. Pokémon Ultra Moon says it once lived in mines, before moving into villages when minerals grew scarce.

🎁 Want to give someone a piece of Kalos? The little keeper of keys fits right in among our Pokémon gift ideas.

Steel and Fairy type, Abilities and signature move

Steel and Fairy is one of the most rewarding suits of armor in the games: Klefki has only two weaknesses, Fire and Ground. Eight types are halved — Normal, Grass, Ice, Flying, Psychic, Rock, Dark and Fairy — and Bug is cut to a quarter.

On top of that come two immunities, one from each type: Steel cancels out Poison, Fairy cancels out Dragon. That means eleven of the eighteen types are either resisted or ignored. A classic trap: Fighting, so dangerous against Steel, is brought back to neutral by Fairy, and so is Steel itself.

Klefki has only one regular Ability, but it's a big one: Prankster, which raises the priority of its status moves by one. Two limits: since Generation VII, Dark-type Pokémon have been completely immune to those moves, and Psychic Terrain makes them fail against a grounded target.

Its hidden ability is Magician : when it hits the opponent with a damaging move, it steals its held item in the process. It's hard to be more on-brand for a Pokémon the Pokédex accuses of pinching house keys.

Its true signature move, Fairy Lock, belongs to it alone: this Fairy-type status move makes chains spring up around the battlefield. On the next turn, nobody can leave the field.

A nuance that often gets glossed over: the lock also applies to its own side, and it only holds as long as Klefki stays in battle. When it debuted, it shared this exclusivity with Crafty Shield, which other Pokémon have since learned.

Evolution: Klefki has none

The answer is clear-cut, and Poképédia states it plainly: Klefki doesn't evolve and doesn't evolve from any Pokémon. No level threshold, no stone, no trade, no friendship condition: its line begins and ends with it.

So it has only one set of stats, for a total of 470 points : 57 HP, 80 Attack, 91 Defense, 80 Special Attack, 87 Special Defense and 75 Speed. Defense is its highest stat.

Another common question since Mega Evolution returned to Kalos: it has no Mega Evolution, no regional form and no Gigantamax form. It is still playable in Pokémon Legends: Z-A, at No. 188 in the Lumiose Pokédex, and even in the Mega Dimension expansion — without any Mega Stone.

A key goblin, and a French exclusive

Its French name is a stroke of genius: trousseau de clés (a bunch of keys) blended with gobelin (goblin), the thieving imp of folklore. The German name, Clavion, combines the Latin clavis, meaning key, with the word ion — a nod to its metal diet.

Its dual type is no accident: Klefki is said to be inspired by the tradition that blamed fairies for making keys and shoes vanish, and by the iron charm people carried to protect themselves from their mischief.

On the design side, the idea came from Mana Ibe, who, according to Junichi Masuda, came up with it while thinking about old mansions and secret keys. A delightful detail for us: in Pokémon GO, Klefki is a regional Pokémon exclusive to France.

Pokémon Legends: Z-A gives it its finest moment: in the Lumiose Sewers, a locked door blocks the way and you have to catch the Klefki holding its key. In the anime, it's the Pokémon of Monsieur Pierre, the host of the Pokémon Showcases.

Its grumpy key-ring face makes it a collectors' favorite, in desk figure form as well as in perfectly round plush.

Klefki fact sheet

Frequently Asked Questions

• Does Klefki have an evolution?
  No. Klefki doesn't evolve and doesn't evolve from any Pokémon: it's alone in its evolutionary line. No level, stone, trade, friendship or time-of-day condition changes its form. It therefore keeps the same stats from start to finish, for a total of 470 points.
• What is Klefki's signature move?
  Fairy Lock. Klefki is the only Pokémon in the games that can learn it, at level 16 in Generation IX. It's a Fairy-type status move with 10 PP: chains surround the battlefield and prevent every Pokémon present from fleeing or leaving the field on the next turn. Careful: the effect really targets the whole field, not just the opponent, and it only holds as long as Klefki stays in battle.
• What are Klefki's Abilities?
  It has only one regular Ability, Prankster, which raises the priority of its status moves by one. Since Generation VII, Dark-type Pokémon are immune to moves given priority by this Ability, and Psychic Terrain makes them fail against a grounded target. Its Hidden Ability is Magician: it steals the target's held item when it hits it with a damaging move.
• What are Klefki's weaknesses?
  As a Steel and Fairy type, it has only two weaknesses: Fire and Ground, which deal double damage. It's completely immune to Poison, thanks to Steel, and to Dragon, thanks to Fairy. Bug deals only a quarter of the damage, and it halves Normal, Grass, Ice, Flying, Psychic, Rock, Dark and Fairy. Fighting and Steel, on the other hand, hit it for normal damage, because its two types cancel each other out in those two cases.
• Does Klefki have a Mega Evolution?
  No. Klefki has no Mega Evolution, no regional form and no Gigantamax form, even after Pokémon Legends: Z-A and its Mega Dimension expansion, which brought Mega Evolution back to Kalos. It does appear in the game, at No. 188 in the Lumiose Pokédex, but no Mega Stone is associated with it.
• Why does Klefki collect keys?
  For the metal. It inserts the appendage on its head into metal crevices to absorb the ions. The Pokédex explains that once the ions are extracted, it gets rid of the key, but keeps the ones it likes for years. Several entries also admit that the exact reason for this collection remains unknown, and Pokémon Ultra Sun adds that it only accepts master keys.

In short

Small, stubborn and perfectly armored, Klefki never evolves and doesn't need to: just two weaknesses and a lock that only it can set are enough to keep it on the team.