Introduction
A while back, I made a team in may which featured Shedinja and was extremely successful on ladder. As the meta changed and new threats rose the team didn't work quite as well as it used to, so I decided to make a new team. Shedinja is a pokemon that doesn't just require team support, it needs the entire team to be built around it in order to work as best as possible. So all team members and their sets were made to help Shedinja fulfil its niche of walling a collection of threats such as Manaphy and Medicham-Mega throughout the game with no worries about recovery. There are a few threats that this team struggles to deal with, but I will get into that later below. Word of warning, my sets aren't what you would usually expect to see (I will explain them), so just keep that in mind.
Results
For those of you who are unsure about this team, like its predecessor, this team proved to very good on the ladder. Once again I managed to peak #1 by a far margin this time, with my alts being #2 and #3 which you can see from the image below.
The Team
I'll be talking about the team a bit differently than last time. Instead of talking about all the pokemon and then the threats to the team, I'll cover the pokemon, the way they prevent hazards for the team and then the threats to the team as a whole.
Shedinja
Shedinja @ Safety Goggles
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpA / 252 Spe
Hasty Nature
IVs: 0 Def
- Protect
- Secret Power
- Shadow Sneak
- Will-O-Wisp
The Pokemon: Once again being the star of my most successful team, Shedinja was the pokemon i wanted to build around. Wonder Guard is an amazing ability as it prevents damage from attacking moves unless super effective, allowing it to wall threats like Zygarde, Manaphy, offensive Magearna sets, Tapu Koko and more without taking damage. The fact that Shedinja doesn't take any damage is great as it means it will always be able to wall those threats at any point in the game (Assuming that hazards aren't up). The ability to block both Volt Switch and U-turn is great as it means my other pokemon aren't worn down and the opponent can't freely pivot against my team.
The Item: Safety Goggles was my item of choice, as it allows Shedinja to not be deadweight against any team that runs Hippowdon, Tyranitar or Ninetales-Alola, as the the mere presence of those would make it so Shedinja is unable to switch in without dying. This does make it so I have to properly scout the opponent's moves as one wrong switch and Shedinja would be gone for the remainer of the game.
The Spread: Due to the feedback of my last RMT, I changed Shedinja from jolly to hasty with 0IVs as this gives a high chance of OHKOing Ditto with Shadow Sneak as if it transformed into it, while still letting me be fast enough to Outspeed Mega Mawile and burn it with max speed Evs. the rest of the Evs went into attack to deal as much damage as possible and also due to the fact that Shedinja doesn't really need Evs anywhere else due to Wonder Guard.
The Moves: Protect was my first choice as I needed to scout moves with Shedinja to see if they were running a move that could hit it, and to also see what pokemon were choice locked into, to see if that would give Shedinja a free turn to attack. Secret Power is a move that is non-contact, meaning that Shedinja won't die if it hits a Rocky Helmet on pokemon like Zapdos and Tangrowth. The 30% chance to paralyze is very nice, and the other effects in Terrains such as Grassy are also good. Shadow Sneak was important to deal alot of damage to pokemon such as Blacephalon and Alakazam once they had a small amount of prior damage. The good amount of pp that Shadow Sneak has also allows Shedinja to out PP stall threats like Sub Glare Zygarde should my Unaware user be already out of the game. Will-O-Wisp is to cripple physical threats like Mega Mawile, allowing my other pokemon to deal with it or to put pokemon like AV Magearna on a timer.
Chansey
Chansey @ Eviolite
Ability: Natural Cure
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Soft-Boiled
- Seismic Toss
- Light Screen
- Heal Bell
The Pokemon: My Immortal Queen of my stall teams, Chansey deals with so many special attackers that there isn't much of a reason to not have her. In addition to her amazing bulk, she gets access to support moves that my team needs in the long run (Trust me, I'll cover Light Screen soon).
The Item: As we all know, Eviolite is a staple item for Chansey, and increases her already great bulk to even higher heigths, allowing her to take on more threats then her sister Blissey.
The Spread: Chansey has amazing HP and Special Defence naturally, so I choose to invest in HP and Physical Defence to allow chansey to avoid 2HKOs from pokemon like Lando-T. Investing in Physical Defence was especially important this time around due to some special attackers that love to attack with moves such as Psyshock.
The Moves: Usually I'll go down the moves in order, but lets just get Light Screen out of the way first. Light Screen Chansey. Yes I use Light Screen Chansey on this team. I can already hear shouts of confusion and anger of using Light Screen when better support moves like Stealth Rocks, Toxic, Wish and even Counter exist, so why do I use Light Screen Chansey? For two main reasons. The first of which is Specs Timid Tapu-Lele doesn't force out Chansey in Terrain at full HP if I use Light Screen. Even though Psyshock does damage on the physical side, it is still counted as a special move, meaning that the damage is cut in half. Please look at the two calcs below.
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psyshock vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey in Psychic Terrain: 390-460 (55.4 - 65.4%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
252 SpA Choice Specs Tapu Lele Psyshock vs. 248 HP / 252+ Def Eviolite Chansey in Psychic Terrain through Light Screen: 195-230 (27.7 - 32.7%) -- guaranteed 4HKO
Even if Tapu-Lele had both max rolls, it would not be able to KO Chansey. While I do have Shedinja to switch in Tapu-Lele, I don't want to risk HP Fire at some points, so with Chansey in addition to Sableye-Mega and Shedinja, Specs Tapu-Lele was never much of an issue for this team. The second reason is that Light Screen is just the move that supports my team the most. Stealth Rocks just gives the opponent a chance to set their own hazards and that just means Shedinja can't switch in at all until they are removed, four other members of my team already run status moves, and moves like Counter and Wish just didn't seem to fit the team in this case. Light Screen allows my team to deal with special attackers much more easily, and is great in the event that hazards do go up. Lets look at this example, If Specs Greninja (Not Greninja-Ash) comes in and Sableye is weakened enough I don't want to risk it dying and I switch to Chansey and it does Spikes, I can then set up light screen as they switch out. So if Greninja came back in after on Zapdos, I would be able to live 2 Specs Hydro Pumps after SR, meaning I could live the first hit and Defog, and Roost after the second Hydro Pump, you can see the calc of this below.
252 SpA Choice Specs Greninja Hydro Pump vs. 248 HP / 0 SpD Zapdos through Light Screen: 125-147 (32.6 - 38.3%) -- 4.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery
So thats enough about Light Screen, sorry for it being so long, but I felt I needed to get the point across that Light Screen does actually work great on Chansey as support for the team. Seismic Toss does consisent damage which is great as Chansey has bad attacking stats. Soft-Boiled is for reliable recovery and while some people may raise questions about pairing Heal Bell with Gliscor, as long as you are careful with Knock Off, then it should be fine, But Heal Bell is important for if other members of the team get statused.
Zapdos
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Discharge
- Heat Wave
- Roost
- Defog
The Pokemon: Zapdos is the first out of my two defoggers and its typing to deal with pokemon such as Hawlucha and Kartana in addition to use its ability Pressure to deal with Rockers like Clefable and Defensive Lando-T was the reason why it was picked for this team.
The Item: Leftovers was picked to give Zapdos passive recovery over turns, saving Roost PP. It also helps with roost stalling Hoopa-Us Banded Hyperspace Fury and makes it hard for Serperior to spam Leaf Storm as Leftovers help Zapdos get out of range of repeated hits while making Seperior waste 2 Leaf Storms each hit due to Pressure.
The Spread: Zapdos is max HP and max Physical Defence in order to tank hits from Z-Kartana, Hawlucha and Pinsir-Mega at +2, and other phyiscal threats such as Tapu-Bulu and Gyarados.
The Moves: Discharge is the STAB move, hitting for decent power with a good chance to paralyze pokemon which makes threats like Tapu-Lele think twice about coming in. Paralyze chance aside, Discharge is used for hitting setup users like Pinsir-Mega and Hawlucha after they setup on the switch. Heatwave is used to deal with Kartana, Tapu-Bulu and also a weakened Mawile-Mega. Roost is so that Zapdos can stay healthy and Defog is to remove hazards for Shedinja.
Hazard Setters That Zapdos can deal with:
If Clefable isn't Calm Mind, and Chansey, Gliscor and Toxapex don't carry Toxic or Zapdos has already been statused, then Zapdos is able to come in freely and pressure stall their hazards with Pressure and Defog. Zapdos can also come in on the Defensive Lando-T set, but must be careful about switching into others due to Z-Stone Edge or Explosion. Ferrothorn isn't able to deal much damage to Zapdos, and while it can be annoying with Leech Seed or the rarer Knock Off, Zapdos is still able to Defog the hazards and force Ferrothorn out with Heatwave.
Gliscor
Gliscor @ Toxic Orb
Ability: Poison Heal
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 Spe
Impish Nature
- Earthquake
- Toxic
- Roost
- Defog
The Pokemon: Since Mold Breaker Excadrill was a huge problem for my last Shedinja Team, I wanted to make sure that I could deal it in this recent team. Gliscor easily deals Excadrill in addition to other Stealth Rock pokemon that Zapdos couldn't deal with. Having an immunity to status was nice so Gliscor was the second defogger chosen for my team.
The Item: Toxic Orb with Poison Heal is pretty obvious, this allows Gliscor to get back more HP then with using Leftovers in addition to being immune to status.
The Spread: Max Physical Defence was needed in order to live Stone Edge crits from Band Tyranitar, and to take hits from Charizard-Mega-X and Victini and hit them hard with Earthquake or cripple with Toxic. It also allowed Gliscor to have a chance of not being 2HKO'd by Band Hyperspace Fury and allowed it to take on the more offensive sets of Lando-T to cripple them.
The Moves: Earthquake is my STAB choice, able to hit Fire Types such as Heatran and Victini for super effective damage as well as other common threats like Magearna and Tapu Koko. Toxic allows me to put threats on a timer if the usual member of the team can't deal with it, or to just wear down threats in general. It also prevents pokemon like Lando-T from coming in for free against Gliscor since it is immune to its only attacking move. Roost is because relying on Poison Heal for healing isn't enough in some cases and Defog is to remove hazards for Shedinja and the rest of my team.
Hazard Setters that Gliscor can deal with:
Excadrill and Hippowdon can do no damage to Gliscor normally, and Gliscor can just use Earthquake or Toxic Respectively. If Heatran is a defensive set or not running Spa investment, then Gliscor is able to switch in and Defog the rocks away, forcing heatran out because of the threat of Earthquake. Since Chansey is unable to status Gliscor, Gliscor can just Defog away the rocks while forcing chansey out with Toxic. Depending on the Lando-T Set, it may be tricky due to Hidden Power Ice, but Gliscor is still able to outspeed those and roost off the damage, so if Lando-T has been statused prior, then Gliscor is still able to deal with it.
Sableye-Mega
Sableye @ Sablenite
Ability: Prankster
EVs: 248 HP / 8 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Protect
- Foul Play
- Recover
- Will-O-Wisp
The Pokemon: While having Double Defog was nice, it wasn't enough for teams that liked to stack hazards, so Sableye-Mega was added to allow it bounce back hazards from pokemon such as Chansey and Ferrothorn, creating my own hazards and making it easier to use Shedinja during matches. Sableye was also a much needed Special Defence wall as both Zapdos and Gliscor was Physical Defence.
The Spread: Following on from that, Sableye-Mega was the secondary Special Defence to deal with the pokemon that could set hazards such as Heatrana and Greninja, that Zapdos and Gliscor couldn't handle. I was max Special Defense to take the least damage possible as Specs Hydro Pump and Offensive Heatran deal alot of damage and I didn't want to risk being forced out and allowing them to set up hazards.
The Moves: Protect is helpful for not just scouting the opponents moves, but being able to Mega-Evolve turn 1 vs threats like Tapu-Lele. Knock Off vs Foul Play was a hard choice, but I chose Foul Play just before it supports Shedinja better by dealing with Setup Pokemon more easily. Examples of this are Suicide Lando-T, as I can burn it as it does one SD, negating the boost, and as it does another to negate the burn, Foul Play will OHKO preventing Lando-T from getting up rocks. The same applies to similar pokemon like Garchomp. Foul Play is also useful in the fact that it OHKOs Z-Blacephalon which Knock Off doesn't do. Recover is to keep Sableye-Mega healthy throughout the game, and Will-O-Wisp as mentioned before, is to help with Foul Play prevent pokemon from getting rocks up and cripples physical attackers.
Hazard setters that Sableye-Mega can deal with:
Defensive Heatran is not able to 2HKO Sableye-Mega with Magma Storm, so Sableye-Mega can stall out the Magma Storm with Recover and chip away with Foul Play. Greninja is not able to 2HKO with anything outright, but it can put Sableye-Mega in difficult situations as Sableye-Mega can't afford to recover after every hit, but not doing so can put it risk of being in range for the next switchin. It is still a solid answer and can most of the time can prevent hazards from Greninja. Ferrothorn doesn't do enough damage with Power Whip and is forced out with fear of burn as that would negate Ferrothorn's only recovery option vs Sableye-Mega and make it easier to switch into. Chansey can't touch Sableye-Mega at all with its standard moves allowing Sableye to easily switch in and bounce back Stealth Rock.
Pyukumuku
Pyukumuku @ Leftovers
Ability: Unaware
EVs: 252 HP / 12 Def / 244 Spe
Bold Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Block
- Taunt
- Toxic
- Recover
The Pokemon: Fire types were an issue for the team and it also lacked an Unaware user, so Pyukumuku was the pokemon chosen for the job. The reason why I chose not to use Quagsire was due to the different movepools and that Pyukumuku had moves to support Shedinja by dealing with pokemon that liked to setup Hazards such as Clefable so it was chosen as the last member of this team.
The Item: Leftovers was chosen to give Pyukumuku passive recovery while also helping it take hits better due to some of the Evs being invested into speed.
The Spread: On the subject of the EV spread, investing in a stat that is Base 5 may sound like a joke, but it was crucial to this teams success. Toxapex was an annoying pokemon for this team, it could Toxic Zapdos, Burn Sableye-Mega with Scald or just waste Roost PP on Gliscor with Scald while setting Toxic Spikes. Toxapex also loved to come in when I used Block, knowning full well that if i trapped it, then I would be Toxic'd and be able to deal with a setup pokemon after dealing with Toxapex. So this spread was made to, believe it or not, speed creep Toxapex. The reason for this is down to the moves that we will cover later, and the rest of the Evs is to take Pyukumuku as bulky as possible to avoid 2HKOs from other Stealth Rock pokemon like Swampert-Mega that other members on my team couldn't prevent rocks from.
The Moves: Pyukumuku runs a trapping set, but this trapping set is a bit different from other sets. The goal of this set is to trap pokemon such as Clefable and Toxapex and then Taunt them so they can only use attacking moves, if they set up hazards at another point while trapped then thats fine due to the nature of the set. Once the opponent runs out of attacking moves such as Moonblast or Scald, they will begin to struggle. This is when I will switch to one of my Defog users as I can then defog away the hazards with the opponent either staying in with struggle or switching out. The good thing about this set is now not only is Pyukumuku still relatively healthy for any setup users, but my Zapdos or Gliscor can't be damaged by the pokemon trapped anymore and can Defog for free while being healed by their passive recovery. In addition I can just go Sableye-Mega as since they have no pp for attacking moves, there is nothing they can do to Sableye-Mega. While I could just run another trapping set to actually KO the pokemon instead of letting them switch out, the issue with that was hazards would still be up and the opponent would do everything in their power to keep them up making the battle much more difficult. Taunt is also great for forcing pokemon like Zygarde who would have more pp then Pyukmuku to spam Thousand Arrows as it gets through Substitute. I was also getting tired of how common Manaphy was getting as it easily deals with all other Unaware users and didn't feel comfortable of relying just on Shedinja in case hazards did go up, which when paired with Swampert-Mega was a possibility.
Hazard Setters that Pyukumuku can deal with:
Clefable and Toxapex have already been covered, so moving onto Ferrothorn, if it lacks Power Whip, then it will also follow the same fate. Depending on what the Greninja set is, Pyukumuku is also able to trap and Toxic stall. Swampert-Mega is unable to 2HKO Pyukumuku with Earthquake despite having only a few Evs in Physical Defence, so Pyuku is able to Toxic stall with Recover.
Threat List and Rankings
If you are still here after all this, then congrats, this is almost the end. Now time to briefly cover the threats to this team.
S Tier Threats (Aka I don't have an answer to these pokemon at all on my team so a loss is highly likely)
If Hoopa-Unbound is either Choice Specs or Nasty Plot, I don't really have many options then to either hope Discharge parayzed, Light Screen was already up, I managed to toxic it before hand or they Nasty Plot on Sableye as I Foul Play. But like with most stalls, you will lose to this monster on the rare chance you encounter it. Heracross is a pokemon that I would have to Toxic with Gliscor and hope its not Sub, and then try and play around it with Shedinja, Sableye, Pyukumuku and Protects. But most of the time you will lose one mon if not more, and should it be Sub, with SD and Rock Blast, then I don't have any options for it on this team.
A Tier Threats (Aka I have an answer but I can lose a pokemon in the process)
If Kyurem-Black is Z, then I would have to hope and make it so it wastes its Zmove on Pyukumuku, which is the only way I can escape the situation with no losses. But nothing else on my team will handle Z-Freeze Shock apart from Pyukumuku which due to less Physical Defence, will be 2HKO'd by Fusion Bolt.
B Tier Threats (Aka I can deal with the pokemon, but I have to play around it)
Tapu-Lele is an odd one. While I don't have anything concrete to deal with Specs should it be Hidden Power Fire, It has never been an big problem due to the team. Tapu-Lele can't do anything when screens are up and even if they aren't, have to guess correctly between Chansey, Sableye-Mega and Shedinja. Band Victini can also pose a odd problem for my team as Pyukumuku isn't able to take 2 Bolt Strikes, and Gliscor takes enough damage that even with Poison Heal I am forced to Roost or else I can't live the next hit making a 50/50 for Roost or Earthquake. As bad as that sounds, Victini can't come in on Gliscor, and Shedinja and Sableye scout with Protect with Pyukumuku being able to scout using Recover so while problematic on paper, in actual battles it can be played around without many problems.
??? Tier Threats (Can either not be a huge issue or I lose at team preview)
They had to be mentioned at some point, so here we are, the members of the Pursuit gang. These pokemon basically make it impossible to use Shedinja unless they are either removed from the game or are weakened to the point were Shedinja could 2HKO which is highly unlikely. While Shedinja could burn them, losing my only option to certain setup threats makes the trade not worth it in most cases. Pursuit users are annoying pokemon where you have to use Shedinja sparingly, to reduce the chance of it being trapped, prepare to make alot of doubles if you see these threats.
And that's everything! I know this was an extremely long post, so thanks for keeping with it for this long, the pokepaste to the team is here https://pokepast.es/fc84c41260291541. Would love to see any feedback or comments about this team.
Replays
As someone pointed out, since I usually /ionext all my games, there aren't many replays of the team, so here are some replays of me playing against other people.
In this battle Shedinja walled at least Tapu-Koko and Lopunny-Mega, preventing him from using them throughout the game.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-824038921
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-823530324
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-823527696
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen7ou-823523323
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