Shedinja, not?

[Music Dragon]

Uh, hi everybody. I'm wondering if Shedinja is a good Pokemon to use on a team, and if he is, what moves?

[andyizcool]

Two team ideas to remember when you have Shedinja:

1. Have a Rapid Spinner because Spikes are commonly used and they would just OHKO Shedinja.
2. Have a Pokemon with Sunny Day/Rain Dance because if it's Hailing or there's a Sandstorm Shedinja will just be OHKO'd. Mostly Tyranitars are being used and they have Sandstream (Auto-Sandstorm) that lasts the whole Battle.

[Music Dragon]

Hmm, ok I'll keep that in mind. BTW, (fftopic what are these poke-balls displayed by your name on this site?

[andyizcool]

Hmm, ok I'll keep that in mind. BTW, (fftopic what are these poke-balls displayed by your name on this site?

Just how many posts you've made in total around the Forums.

Remember keeping Shedinja as your last Pokemon you send out could work quite well. If your friend's last Pokemon has no moves that are Super Effective on Shedinja then you should be able to win easily.

[Chris 2.1]

Another thing: make sure you know what you're up against. Aerial Ace is an attack that can be used by a LOT of Pokemon, and some people slip it in sneakily so try and surprise you. Shedinja can be hit by AA since it is a Bug Type, and therefore weak to Aerial Ace. If you see a Pokemon come into battle, asses what attacks it MAY know that could kill off your Shedinja.

[Freyr]

Give it protect/detect if it can learn it, blocking moves may come in handy.

[andyizcool]

Another thing: make sure you know what you're up against. Aerial Ace is an attack that can be used by a LOT of Pokemon, and some people slip it in sneakily so try and surprise you. Shedinja can be hit by AA since it is a Bug Type, and therefore weak to Aerial Ace. If you see a Pokemon come into battle, asses what attacks it MAY know that could kill off your Shedinja.

That's why it's a good idea for Shedinja to have Protect so if you're unsure what attacks your opponent has, you can find out without being OHKO'd. Also Shedinja should hold a Lum Berry so if it's by a Status it'll cure it so it doesn't just faint from the Status.

[Chris 2.1]

That's true, but in the Aerial Ace case, it cannot be blocked. Protect, however, is great suggestion for Shedinja.

[Music Dragon]

Ok, thanks. That sounds good, so I'll buy a Protect TM.

[Joshua Neal]

I plan on having a Shedinja with Swords Dance, Slash, Double Team and I think Agility so that it may attack faster or Protect so that it doesn't get Knocked Out in battle.

[andyizcool]

Shedinja@Lum Berry
Protect
Silver Wind
Shadow Ball
Swords Dance

I think that Moveset works quite well for a Shedinja.

[rinku]

Agility is not reccommended on Shedinja since it is relying on *not* being hit. By all means baton pass it some speed boosts, though.

All Shedinja sets should have Shadow Ball. It is far and away its best move (as well as being level up). Silver Wind is also a good idea (egg move from several bug types). Confuse Ray is superior to Double Team (and again it is a levl-up move) as DT is useless vs Aerial Ace and Shadow Punch, while Confuse Ray gives you a fighting chance. Personally I don't like Swords Dance on Shedinja as you are likely to have to switch it often. Screech goes well with its physical attacks and with Confuse Ray. My suggested set is:

Shadow Ball
Confuse Ray
Silver Wind
Screech/Protect
@Lum Berry

Other things to watch out for:

Leech Seed. It's immune to Grass *damage* attacks, but will go down at the end of the turn if hit with this one.

Confusion. Lum Berry covers this. Otherwise switch.

Hail is as deadly as Sandstorm or Spikes. No defense, unfortunately (you'll die before you can switch).

Burns and Poisons. You're not immune to Will-o-wisp, Poison Gas (hah!) or Toxic, nor to Poison Point, Effect Spore or Flame Body (though Shadow Ball - and I *think* Silver Wind - will not trigger these abilities, so you can usually discount them. One more reason to ignore taking Slash). Any Fire attack will kill you anyway and you *are* immune to Poison attacks that do damage, so you can also discount status effects from that source. Unfortunately, you never know who has Toxic up their sleeve until it is too late. In 2v2 it might well be worth getting a team-mate to deliberately use Thunderwave on Shedinja, to give it total immunity to other status effects. If an enemy paralyzes your Shedinja, remember to thank them politely (no gloating...)

Destiny Bond and Perish Song will get you as much as any other pokémon.

Ghost-type Curse will kill you in one turn, but that may not be a serious problem as your own Shadow Ball attack will probably have killed the imprudent 1/2 HP enemy Ghost anyway (unless for some bizarre reason you don't have Shadow Ball or used some other lesser move on it).

[GrOuDoN69]

yes.And it should learn sunny day solar beam Aerial Ace shadow ball

[ladyumbra]

could you have it hold quick claw instead of the berry?

[andyizcool]

could you have it hold quick claw instead of the berry?

The Lum Berry is in case you don't see a Status attack coming like Toxic, Will-O-Wisp, or any other Status move that could kill Shedinja at the end of your turn. If you can predict what your opponent will use then you'll use Protect at the right time. If you fail to notice that Lum Berry will cure the Status and teach you to watch out for it next time. Quick Claw only makes you have a 10% chance of going first. That's 1/10 chance it'll go first and that's kind of a low odd to be betting against that you want to strike first.

[Darien Shields]

Shame Nukenin doesn't learn Disable.

Enemy: "Hah! Eat Toxic!"
*Lum Berry*
Nukenin: "Disable!"

And no more toxic...

Anyway, I love old Nukey, I used it back in the OM Ray days (are we allowed to say that we used to use it, but moved on?)

A few questions have sorta started niggling at the back of my head when thinking about Nukenin though, one, if it's holding the faint band, will that (if it works) just stop it from dying, or is it useless? Two, if it could use Pain Split (which sadly, I think it can't), would it just keep halving the foes HP 'til they're on 1, or would it have no effect whatsoever?

P.S. Where's the Lum? Where can that berry be found?

[Crufidal]

Not sure about pain split, too bad it can't learn it... that could lead to some interesting battles.

I know you can get the Lum Berry from the Berry Master's wife. Save in front of her, and give her a random phrase, and if you're lucky, you'll get it. Keep at it until you get the berry you're looking for.

[Poryhedron]

Two, if it could use Pain Split (which sadly, I think it can't), would it just keep halving the foes HP 'til they're on 1, or would it have no effect whatsoever?

The way Pain Split works...when it takes effect, the move redistributes the HP of the user and target so that they each have the average of what the two had. For example, if the user had 100 HP and the target had 200 HP, then after the move they would each have 150. So if Shedinja (with 1 HP) uses Pain Split on a Blissey with 449 HP, the move would add the two to get 450, divide that in half to get 225, and thus set both Shedinja and Blissey at 225 HP. However, Pain Split can't give you more than your max...so 224 of Shedinja's 225 HP would disappear, wasted, leaving Shedinja at 1 and Blissey at 225.
...so, yes, if Shedinja could get Pain Split, each use of it would successfully halve the target's HP. The only catch is Shedinja can't get the move.

[Kari and Mewtwo]

Endeavor Shedinja = False Swipe on Steroids

Steroids = Illegal

Pity. At least the Shedinja i use most of the time (which has a shot at killing the Latis and Ky00ber in Colosseum):

Shedinja @Lum Berry
Protect
Silver Wind
Shadow Ball
Toxic

Toxic if you feel a switch coming on. Also helps kill things faster, providing its not a Blissey or something.