Community POTW #45

[halodeoxys]

I love this thing. I've never used it much(except in Ruby), though. Its forgettable stats(except Attack, thats actually quite nice) make it not really appealing, however when you think of it, defensive stats don't even matter on this guy. That means that if there is anyone to have Shell Smash baton passed to, its Shedinja. I also think its hilarious that the pokemon with an awesome ability has the word "nuke" in its Japanese name.
The problem with Shedinja is that its typing is somewhat bad defensively, and with sandstorm teams becoming popular with the dream world making many teams a weather-battle(forcing more hail/sand teams to bring Shedinja down), forcing Shedinja into NU. However, sand and hail is somewhat less-common in Uber, as well as Shedinja being able to resist a whole lot. STAB Shadow Sneak is tasty though, so the dead bug can actually do some stuff.
It is also disturbing that Shedinja can learn Sandstorm, one of its fears.


THE FIGHTING DEAD BUG

Shedinja@Focus Sash(gives you time to switch out if your opponent Roars sheddy in or if a Super Effective move is used against it
Lonely/Naughty
252Atck 252Speed
-Shadow Sneak
-X Scissor
-Sucker Punch
-Swords Dance

Shadow Sneak gets STAB priority, good to take down some ghosts and others on the switch in. X Scissor is a very reliable STAB, not much else to say about it. Sucker Punch has some nice coverage and priority. Just be careful, as some could use Toxic and thus screw up your Sucker Punch, as well as killing you. Swords Dance allows you to potentially sweep, and with Wonder Guard, you could possibly get in 2-3 Swords Dances, which paired up with Shadow Sneak Priority, is very tasty sweeping possibilities.

EDIT: oops, i put Night Slash on the moveset when I offered Sucker Punch in the description. Oopsie daisies. :|
EDIT2: Never put Final Gambit on Shedinja, my bad.

Criticism is very much appreciated, thank you. Please tell me if you disagree with anything on my set or if I was incorrect on something.

[Missingno. Master]

Shed Band
Shedinja@Choice Band
Adamant nature
Wonder Guard
255 Atk/255 Spd
~Shadow Sneak
~X-Scissor
~Sucker Punch
~Aerial Ace

One of Shedinja's many problems is its awful movepool. It can cover its STAB types well enough, but not much else. Sucker Punch is actually more powerful than Shadow Sneak, but the latter is more reliable. However, given that Shedinja has little else to work with, both will do fine on it. X-Scissor for STAB, and Aerial Ace for filler.

You may have noticed that I opted for a 255/255 EV spread as opposed to the traditional 252 offensive stat/252 Speed/4 HP. This is because Shedinja can't gain any EVs in HP, due to its HP maxing out at 1.

Item is obvious. Ability is all it gets.

Agilihusk
Shedinja@Focus Sash
Adamant nature
Wonder Guard
255 Atk/255 Spd
~Agility
~Shadow Claw
~X-Scissor
~Aerial Ace/Protect

Shedinja's low Speed is the main thing that prevents it from becoming one of the great sweepers of our time. Yeah, that sentence didn't look right to me either. More like, Shedinja's low Speed is one of many things that prevents it from becoming one of the great sweepers of our time. The others include its lackluster Attack stat, its single hit point, its shallow movepool, the fact that Wonder Guard doesn't have Magic Guard mixed in... Yeah. But this at least solves the Speed problem. Agility up, relying on Shedinja's Focus Sash to keep it at full health, then attempt to sweep. Protect is an option over Aerial Ace for scouting purposes or something. Whatever keeps it alive longer, right?

Also, a little note. For those of you who want to try this set out in the actual games, as opposed to a simulator, bear in mind that there is a glitch in Generation V games, which constructs Shedinja's movepool from the moves the Nincada knew just before it evolved, as opposed to after the new Ninjask learns anything. As that's the only way to get Agility or Swords Dance on Shedinja, it's no longer possible in Generation V.

Item is obvious, ability I already explained.

Swordinja
Shedinja@Focus Sash
Adamant nature
Wonder Guard
255 Atk/255 Spd
~Swords Dance
~Shadow Sneak
~X-Scissor
~Sucker Punch

Basically the same as the last set, but with Swords Dance and the return of its priority moves, minus Protect. Take heed of the note on the previous Shedinja set.

Item, ability, blah blah blah.

Obligatory Joke Set
Shedinja@Life Orb/Sticky Barb/Toxic Orb/Flame Orb/Black Sludge
Bold nature
Wonder Guard
252 Def/252 Sp. Def/4 Sp. Atk
~Double-Edge/Final Gambit
~Harden/Sandstorm
~Substitute
~Leech Life/Rest

It had to be done. It's physically impossible to do a Shedinja analysis without slipping in a set like this.

Other options:
*Bug Bite has limited usage on Shedinja. In the extremely rare event that Shedinja gets burned or poisoned by something holding a Lum Berry, Bug Bite could save its hollow ***. Of course, nobody's really gonna try to status Shedinja.
*Confuse Ray's a decent option to attempt to hold off a super effective hit, but extremely unreliable. Swagger also works, as Shedinja faints in one hit regardless, so it's not sweating the opponent's Attack increase.
*A Baton Pass set is workable, but Shedinja can only get the move before Generation V, and instead of Agility or Swords Dance. It also can't use Substitute (despite being able to learn it), meaning all it can pass other than anything that's passed to it is... Harden and Hone Claws.
*Speaking of which, Hone Claws works over Swords Dance if you can't get your hands on a Nincada in a past generation, but it's just useless in comparison, as Shedinja doesn't have any good moves that benefit from the Accuracy boost.


Abilities:
*Wonder Guard: Shedinja's one and only ability, and the only reason it's not completely useless. Prevents Shedinja from taking damage from attacks that aren't super effective. Note that this only applies to direct damage. Anything Magic Guard blocks, Wonder Guard does not. That's really something GameFreak should fix for Generation VI, don't you think? Still, Wonder Guard has managed to screw over more than one unwary trainer.


Partners:
Rapid Spin support and Ninetales/Politoed are practically mandatory, as Hail, Sandstorm, and any and all entry hazards can and will end Shedinja extremely quickly. It's also not a bad idea to put Shedinja on the recieving end of a Baton Pass chain, preferably one that involves a Substitute. Taunt support can help as well, as Shedinja is ended by quite a few non-attacking moves.

Counters:
Heeeeeere we go. First off, Snover, Abomasnow, Tyranitar, Hippopotas, and Hippowdon are all automatic Shedinja counters right off the bat. And if your team's packing entry hazards, you're more or less Shedinja-proof. But in the event that you're not running entry hazards or anything with Snow Warning or Sand Stream, you want to make sure that all of your Pokémon are packing a Fire, Flying, Ghost, Dark, or Rock move, or at least Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, Leech Seed, Poisonpowder, Supersonic, Confuse Ray, Swagger, Poison Gas... You get the idea. Tricking any item mentioned in that joke set onto Shedinja can also work. Oh, yeah, and all of Shedinja's physical attacks are contact moves, so Ferroseed and Ferrothorn are also automatic Shedinja counters. Yeah, Wonder Guard doesn't block Iron Barbs, either. Also doesn't block Rough Skin, for you Druddigon users out there. I'd mention Sharpedo here as well, but seriously, who the hell runs Rough Skin on Sharpedo anymore? Besides, its Crunch is all it needs against Shedinja.

Opinion:
Shedinja is one of the most awesome non-Poison-types I have ever seen, and it saddens me to type up that great wall of text in the counters section. Seriously, GameFreak needs to get their act together on Shedinja. Fix the glitch that doesn't let it learn a move that Ninjask just learned, and tweak Wonder Guard to have Magic Guard built in. And stop trolling the damn thing too. I mean, come on. It only gained one Egg move in Generation V- Final Gambit. Final Gambit on a Pokémon with one HP? If that ain't trolling, I don't know what is.

Shedinja, however, does have a place where it can really shine- ubers. The prevalent weather conditions in ubers? Sun and rain. The only two weathers that don't destroy Shedinja. Not to mention, it's rare to see Kyogre or Palkia run anything that affects Shedinja. Just be wary of Reshiram and Zekrom, as their abilities are basically Mold Breaker in new wrappers. Which means they can do whatever the hell they want to Shedinja. Reshiram's a Fire-type anyway, so that would have been a problem in any case.

[ajhockeystar99]

shedinja is ONLY good at rotation battles... my set:

focus sash
252 atk 252 spd 4 sp atk?
no need for the special attack boost...
will-o-wisp/toxic
x-scissor
shadow claw
shadow sneak

ya, it really sucks... partner it up with some pokemon that are resistant to shedinja's weaknesses.... it can learn trick... maybe endure(egg move LOL!!!) um... that's it...

[wunderkind]

If using Shedinja in Doubles/Triples, a good way to mess with people is to partner it with a Pokemon that knows Soak. It loses its STAB moves, but only has two weaknesses then. And since it's no longer Ghost-type, you can freely switch it, as it's immune to Pursuit. It could be an unexpected move that could mess up an opponents strategy.

[wunderkind]

Final Gambit might sound stupid, but when you think about it, Sheddy has 1 HP at all times(unless it fainted), making so that the next pokemon you send in can wipe out a potentially dangerous threat.

Final Gambit does damage equal to the users HP, and since Shedinja only has 1 HP, then Final Gambit does 1 damage.

[Meowmeow]

Shedinja is a piece of junk. Sandstorms are popular. Spreading burns are popular. Entry Hazards are popular. It dies before it does anything. Do not use thing unless you have one hell of a strategy to use.
Wonder Guard would be awesome. However, Fighting Types have risen to power and are packing Stone Edge and/or a Ghost striking move. Ferrothorn exists, meaning Fire attacks are everywhere. It's also weak to Pursuit, so it can't run. Hitting Shedinja is too easy.
Shedinja is a horrible movepool. It might have Shadow Sneak, but that's really the only good thing.
The worst thing about Shedinja: One HP. Wonder Guard will never bypass the fact that this piece of crap has only one HP. If it is put in a situation where taking damage is guaranteed, you can't save it. Period.
Bottom line is: Shedinja needs so much support that a whole team would revolve around the use of Shedinja, which is suicide.

I will give Shedinja one saving grace: switching into Choice-locked enemies. This gives Shedinja a free switch in. This lets Shedinja scout. This saving grace will not last long though. You have been warned.

[GirlKirbyZombie]

Heh. I saw videos where shedninja gets the ability sturdy from ability swaps. However, status and damaging weather can be deadly to shedninja. Paralyzing sheddie will go around the status problem as long as you have a trick room up. Having a drizzle politoad, a drought ninetales, or a cloud niner can get around the weather issue.

Last note: Here's a theme for a successful sweep: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE-rD8vcY4U

[chrisv.987]

Doubles & Triples:
Shedinja isn't very useful but it does have one incredible niche. Remember the hacked Wonderguard Sableyes and Wondertombs of Gen 4? Well Gamefreak made this possible to acheive in doubles and triples. It's simple: partner Shedinja with a DW Prankster Sableye that knows Role Play. On turn one, have Shedinja use Protect and have Sableye use Role Play on Shedinja. Sableye then gains Wonderguard for the rest of the match, making it almost invincible. The only ways to counter it are through Toxic, using a pokemon with Mold Breaker, such as Haxorus or Rampardos, or by having a Pokemon hit it with Foresight then attack it with a fighting move. A very cheap but also effective strategy.

[Charizard Lizzy]

If using Shedinja in Doubles/Triples, a good way to mess with people is to partner it with a Pokemon that knows Soak. It loses its STAB moves, but only has two weaknesses then. And since it's no longer Ghost-type, you can freely switch it, as it's immune to Pursuit. It could be an unexpected move that could mess up an opponents strategy.

That's quite an interesting point and a good out-of-the-ordinary startegy! Since everyone else has covered the only two worthwhile movesets for Shedinja to high noon, I feel like contributing this week by looking into this unusual way to use Shedinja in battle.

Some noteworthy Water-types that aquire Soak (although they may not be the most popular choices in higher tiers) include:

Cloud Nine Golduck to cancel out all weather effects and prevent Hail and Sandstorms from wiping Shedinja out.

Pressure Wailord for more bulk and a faster PP reducer to your opponent's team.

Lightningrod Seaking. Yes, I know, Seaking is a forgettable Pokémon, but Lightningrod will draw away Electric attacks from Soaked Shedinja, reducing its weaknesses to a measley 1 - Grass.

Other Lightningrod Pokémon include Zapdos and Zebstrika, although I wonder if Zebstrika is actually better suited for Sap Sipper instead. There's Manetric, but it's rather frail. And Rhyperior... Shouldn't have any ability outside of Solid Rock.

However, even if you have a partner with Soak and Lightningrod, Soaked Shedinja is still weak to status ailments, Leech Seed, passive damage from Stealth Rock, Spikes, and Toxic Spikes... Actually, any passive damage. A Magic Bouncer could at least get rid of the Spikes (and a Poison-type for Toxic Spikes in specific).

You could attach a Lum Berry to Shedinja to survive a status ailment once. There's also the Focus Sash to keep Shedinja alive from one potentially lethal attack.

Actually, now that I think about it, what if you Baton Passed a Substitute to Shedija? Because of Shedinja's frail defenses, the Substitute will break upon one hit, but it'll at least be immune from status ailments and Leech Seed for the time it stays up, as well as act as two Focus Sashes if you're already holding one. If you plan to Substitute some stat boosts to Shedinja, the only worthwhile ones are Attack and Speed.

Even though using Soak on Shedinja will take away its STAB, it can still pull off enough power with access to Swords Dance. The defensive/status-throwing variation that has been mentioned so many times before me wouldn't have any problems being converted to Water-type.

Shedinja overall is still an all-or-nothing Pokémon, but at the very least using Soak on it will greatly help it suddenly become immune to the frequent weaknesses that plague it.

[Jazz Hands]

It walls stuff like Kyogre and Dialga in Ubere.

My Kyogre runs Ice beam.
and Uber is spelt wrong.

[halodeoxys]

Final Gambit does damage equal to the users HP, and since Shedinja only has 1 HP, then Final Gambit does 1 damage.

Oh, oops. Well, I should probably fix that. Thanks for telling me.
In that case, why did Nintendo give that move to Shedinja.
And, Jinkies, 85 people viewing the POTW thread...

[Charizard Lizzy]

Ninja Shedinja
Shedinja @ Air Balloon
Trait: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SDef
Bold Nature (+Def, -Atk)
- Substitute
- Sandstorm
- Final Gambit
- Hyper Beam

With the right spread Shedinja becomes almost impossible to kill.With the given evs it can survive up to100+ bullet punches from 6+adamant banded technician scizor,outrage from 6+adamant banded rivalry haxorus etc etc.
the moves are pretty simple:
sub to check if ttar has fire blast,stone edge,crunch or any kind of move at all.sandstorm to stop sun which boost fire attacks and that might get shedinja killed in 500 turns,final gambit to ohko bliss in the switch in if its very weakened(though scarf magikarp might also work) and hyper beam because of stab air baloon because of earth power heatran and hidden power gound magikarp

Seriously, though, that set is not going to work at all. Remember, Shedinja has ONE HP. Repeat, ONE HP. It does NOT matter how much EV investment you make into its defenses, because it will ALWAYS have 1 HP.

Shedinja is weak to all forms of passive damage, including Sandstorm and Hail. You will only make people laugh as Shedija whips us its own death.

Final Gambit depends on how much numerical HP is remaining on your Pokémon. Because Shedinja has 1 HP, Final Gambit will only deal 1 damage.

Not only will Hyper Beam use Shedinjas unbelievably horrible Special Attack (base 30), but it'll leave it exposed for one turn for your opponent to switch out and bring in another Pokémon to use an attack that will kill it in one hit.

An Air Balloon will do nothing to help Shedinja, as Wonder Guard already makes it immune to Ground attacks.

[wunderkind]

Oh, oops. Well, I should probably fix that. Thanks for telling me.
In that case, why did Nintendo give that move to Shedinja.
And, Jinkies, 85 people viewing the POTW thread...

Probably the same reason they gave Cofagrigus Dream Eater and Nightmare, but no sleep-inducing moves :P

[TVSmasher66]

Defensive
Item: Flame Orb
Nature: Bold
EVs: 252 HP/128 Defensive/128 Spd
Moveset:
~Substitute
~Sandstorm
~Endure
~Harden

This set is obvious. With Shendinja's terrible HP stat, Ev training in defenses is necessary. Substitute allows him to survive a few hits. Sandstorm can allow damage to the opponent while Shedinja takes it. Endure allows him to take a turn, to allow Flame Orb to turn on. Harden allows a raise in Shedinja's defensive. This set really is undefeatable!

[briguin]

Overview
Poor Shedinja. He has awful Stats, his best being attack, which is decent at best, a movepool that doesn't support his attack, he's just no where near as cool or good as Ninjask. However, his ability does make him unique, and suitable for the lower tiers. But, I can't say I'd recommend it.

Ability
Wonder Guard: This makes Shedinja special. He only takes damage from Super Effective moves. Okay.

[Suspence]

Seriously, though, that set is not going to work at all. Remember, Shedinja has ONE HP. Repeat, ONE HP. It does NOT matter how much EV investment you make into its defenses, because it will ALWAYS have 1 HP.

Shedinja is weak to all forms of passive damage, including Sandstorm and Hail. You will only make people laugh as Shedija whips us its own death.

Final Gambit depends on how much numerical HP is remaining on your Pokémon. Because Shedinja has 1 HP, Final Gambit will only deal 1 damage.

Not only will Hyper Beam use Shedinjas unbelievably horrible Special Attack (base 30), but it'll leave it exposed for one turn for your opponent to switch out and bring in another Pokémon to use an attack that will kill it in one hit.

An Air Balloon will do nothing to help Shedinja, as Wonder Guard already makes it immune to Ground attacks.

Are you serious? This set is clearly a joke. I think the person who created this set knew full well that this was probably the worst shedinja set you could possibly make. How on earth did you take this seriously?

[TVSmasher66]

Are you serious? This set is clearly a joke. I think the person who created this set knew full well that this was probably the worst shedinja set you could possibly make. How on earth did you take this seriously?

THANK YOU. I always lol'd at Shedinja's 1 hp. So I decided to make a joke set, hoping to use it for April Fools or something :P

[xucretis]

about shedinja,i think a good choice to double battles is to put a cloud nine golduck and put the item rechargeble batery,that makes shedinja with 1 weakness-grass,that isnt common at high tiers and because of golduck wouldnt have to worry about weather efects,the only weakness he has is covered easily by it bug moves,maybe just ferrothorn would be a trouble,so the set would be:
-X-scissors
-agility
-swords dance
-protect
its a big risk to have just 1 move,but who uses shedinja really doesnt care about risk,right?

[Vandslaux]

Pretty much the only set you should see:

Shedinja @Focus Sash
Wonder Guard
Adamant
252 Atk/252 Speed
Swords Dance
Shadow Sneak/Shadow Claw
Sucker Punch/Dig
X-Scissor

Counters:
Tyranitar, Hippowdon, Abomasnow, entry hazards, anything with an SE move that isn't weak to Shadow Sneak or Sucker Punch, except if they can take one.

Partners:
Something with Rain Dance or Sunny Day (Tornadus and Whimsicott come to mind, who get priority Rain Dance and Sunny Day, respectively), a Spinner, and something that can beat weather inducers.

[Dragonite's]

Shedinja, one of my personal favorites, can be terrible or perfect. It can be defeated easily w/ fire, rock, dark, ghost, flying, poison status, burn status, ability eliminating moves/abilities, hail, sandstorm, stealth rock, and more so most teams can hit him even if you didn't plan for it, although IF you can't hit him then you're in big trouble. You'll either lose or have to struggle him(which practically gets rid of one of your pokemon). So as far as the generation change he hasn't really gotten much. He can't get a better ability, Wonder and Magic Guard showed up so Status moves can be tricky to use(at least most of them are Psychic types), move set hasn't really changed, although now there's rotation battles which can be interesting. He can't really be put into a category like OU or UU because every time he battles it changes from best to worst. So anyway here's the move set:


Statinja

Will-o-wisp
Toxic
Shadow claw
Grudge

Adamant, 255atk, 255spd,
Focus Sash/Lum Berry

Pretty much if they can hit you then grudge. If they can hit you and they're slower than you than attack than use grudge. If they can not hit you then use a status move then shadow claw. If they switch then just do as posted above.
Pretty much attack or grudge. Usually it will be grudge but on a lucky occasion you can take out their whole team. Unfortunately that luck doesn't happen very often.




I love Articuno