Introduction to Triples Shedinja Metronome Battles

While there are moves that are beneficial to the user, ranging from S- to D-rank, there's still a rank above all of them: the W-rank moves, where W stands for "Warning: you'll get bopped too". These moves are devastating for both sides of the field, and can end a battle much quicker than expected. Use them at your own risk, because you could regret using them...

Weathers

Funnily enough, the most threatening weather in TSMB is also the most useless in OU: hail. Take that, fifth gen. Along with Sandstorm, Hail is one of the deadliest moves one could use in battle, since it basically reduces your remaning game time to a maximum of two turns. Since weather bypasses Focus Sash, every Shedinja on the field will go down at the end of the turn, no matter what. That's very useful should you have the advantage in numbers, but if you don't, I'm afraid to inform you that you just dug your own grave. Good job, buddy. Sunny Day and Rain Dance don't have much use in this metagame, although the sun boosts Fire moves, which is... something, I guess?

Searing Shot and Lava Plume

Both of these Fire-type moves share the same downsides. For starters, they're Fire-type moves, which means that they go through Wonder Guard. In addition to this, it is also important to mention that they hit every Pokémon on both sides of the field, including your own. Have fun with your crispy roasted Shedinja, particularly if you're losing. Last but certainly not least, as if it wasn't enough, they also both have a 30% burn chance. On every Pokémon that is hit. Considering that statuses are one of the best way to take down any Shedinja, those two moves are some frightening double-edged swords...

Perish Song

Go back to the paragraph about weathers, and replace "sand and hail" with "Perish Song". In a metagame where manual switching isn't allowed, Perish Song will stimulate your sympathetic nervous system by putting every Pokémon on the field (often Shedinjas) on a three-turn timer. You better pray harder for the right moves to come out, or you'll lose half a team soon. But hey, look, the opponent is in the same spot! What a way to spice things up! The only way to escape your fate is either a) to be KOed before the countdown reaches 0, 0 also being the amount of interest of such a method as you die anyway, or b) to be targeted by Roar or Whirlwind or to use Parting Shot, but only if you have other team members in the back.

Teeter Dance

Is it just me or are musical-themed attacks really dangerous in this meta? Anyway, Teeter Dance can completely flip a match on its non-existent head, since you'll double the prayers: one to call the right move and one not to hit yourself, because hitting yourself is a straight OHKO, whether your Focus Sash is still intact or not. Similarly to Searing Shot, the user of the move is not affected, so at least this is in your favor. Now tell me, are you lucky enough to resist the deadliest dance there is?

Curse

Shedinja is a Ghost-type, as we previously established, which means it will valiantly sacrifice itself upon calling Curse. Yay. But, on the other hand, it will take an foe down for sure with it, so it's a 1-for-1 trade. This has little to no utility outside of making the battle end faster because now it's 5v5, but its noble sacrifice won't be forgotten.

Recoil moves

As moves that deplete the user's HP, recoil moves are especially dangerous for Shedinja. Using them to break a Focus Sash is fine as the recoil will be 0 HP (since the amount of HP lost by the foe will be 0 as well), but on a defenseless Shedinja, you will go down too. It is worthy to note that only Head Smash, Brave Bird, and Flare Blitz hit, with Flare Blitz having a nifty 10% chance to burn, so using it on a Focus Sash might actually be worth it. But in most cases, please use something else to damage your opponent.

In this section, you will find the moves that will make you win if you use them, and will make you lose if your opponent uses them. If you both use them, the battle is certain to become frantic.

Entry hazards

In this aspect, TSMB is exactly like OU: whoever gets their hazards up first wins. It's the best way to pressure your opponent, really, particularly when used early-game. Stealth Rock and Spikes are the most threatening moves of this kind, since your opponent's Shedinjas will outright die when entering the field, creating a nice Shedinja skewer, which may or may not become a refined dish in Hoenn. However, Toxic Spikes and Sticky Web both have their use too: the former puts opposing Shedinja on a timer, and a tight one at that. It's still an inferior version of Spikes, since they still have one turn to (possibly) unleash a powerful attack on you or maybe lay their own hazards, but it's still useful nonetheless. Sticky Web, on the other hand, slows down the opposing team, and can often result in clutch scenarios in such an offensive meta, when striking first can often bring victory.

Worry Seed and Gastro Acid

Both of these moves are almost useless in any mainstream metagame. However, TSMB, being the fresh metagame it is, gives them a chance to shine, and with what bright light! Those powerful moves remove Wonder Guard from an opposing Shedinja, giving your squad a much easier time bringing them down, since the slightest projection of water will KO them. Gastro Acid is a slightly better option, since sleep immunity can (possibly) be useful.

Poison Gas

Poison Gas is ranked above Toxic because it has the same accuracy but actually targets every adjacent foe, which means potentially two or even three poisoned Shedinja. You know how the saying goes: "a poisoned Shedinja is a dead Shedinja". Yes, I created that on the spot, but hey, it's true! It has roughly a 73% chance to hit three times, so if the Shedinja placed in the middle calls Poison Gas, you have a 73% chance to send your opponent into the pits of despair.

Flame Burst

While Flame Burst never saw any use in competitive play apart maybe from some niche use in Doubles or Triples, it is actually one of the most potent moves one could call. Flame Burst is a Fire-type move (which bypasses Wonder Guard) that deals damage to any foe adjacent to the target for 1/16 of its maximum health. Now, let's imagine you manage to hit the Shedinja in the center. That means the Shedinjas on both sides will take indirect damage, which bypasses both Wonder Guard and Focus Sash, likely resulting in 2 KOs. If the targeted Shedinja faints too, then it's a clean 3 OHKOes in only one move!

Those moves are essential to get an advantage in a match, and they are among those you should pray to call. They usually have useful side effects.

Taunt and Torment

Taunt and Torment work in a similar way, as they completely shut down a foe, since Metronome is a status move. They will be forced to use Struggle (unless you play the variant with four Metronome slots as opposed to just one) and take full recoil damage, which bypasses Focus Sash. In the worst case scenario, you'll trade a Shedinja of your own against an opposing one. In the best case scenario, you'll trade a Sash against an opposing Focus Shedinja. It still works in your favor, even if it can be considered by some people as a Pyrrhic victory...

Toxic and Will-O-Wisp

While the accuracy is shaky, hitting when calling one of those moves lets you bypass any intact Focus Sash and take down a Shedinja in one move instead of two, which is nice. Will-O-Wisp also reduces any physical damage that you take, and both staus conditions double the power of Hex! Of course, this is absolutely useless, but the more lines I write, the stronger my point will be when I'll go convince PS! moderators to implement the metagame on the official server

Fire Spin and Magma Storm

Surfacing again from the RBY era, Fire Spin and Magma Storm are, in a way, like Will-O-Wisp: they're both not 100% accurate moves that bypass Focus Sash and Wonder Guard due to their Fire typing. The only differences between them are their accuracy (Fire Spin has better accuracy) and that Magma Storm sounds waaaaaay cooler.

Safeguard

Nobody uses Safeguard, right? Well you should, because it gives your team a five-turn breather against status moves (possibly) coming your way. Now, hopefully you remember what I previously said, say, two paragraphs ago: statuses are one of the best ways to quickly gain an advantage in a match. By that logic, actually preventing status is one of the best ways to not get dunked on by your opponent, and that's where Safeguard comes into play. It also protects against secondary effects, such as Fire Blast's burn chance, so it's pretty neat.

Confusion-inducing moves

Moves such as Lovely Kiss and Supersonic may not have the best accuracy ever, but if an opposing Shedinja is confused, its life relies on a dice roll until confusion wears off, and there's no Focus Sash saving it from hitting itself. Teeter Dance is on a whole other league, but these are safer to use.

Camouflage and Conversion

Contrary to popular belief, Camouflage and Conversion are not as useless as they might seem at first glance. Both moves turn the user into a Normal-type Pokémon in Wi-Fi battles and therefore on Pokémon Showdown! (because Metronome is a Normal-type move in the latter's case), and this can very well turn out to be a key element in certain situations. While Shedinja's regular Bug / Ghost typing has a lot of weaknesses (five in total), its newly gained Normal typing is only weak against Fighting-type moves, which significantly narrows down the pool of attacks that are actually capable of knocking out your Shedinja. It's also worth mentioning that the most powerful Fighting-type moves, High Jump Kick and Focus Blast, are both notorious for missing their targets.

These moves are more useful than the vast majority of the attacks you can call via Metronome. They can (possibly) help you gain a small advantage, but they're most likely not game-changing.

Multi-target moves

Heat Wave, Air Cutter, Diamond Storm, Eruption, Incinerate, Rock Slide, and Snarl are all of the multi-target moves that are super effective against Shedinja. Due to their side effects like a burn or a flinch, Heat Wave and Rock Slide can even be considered the most useful multi-target moves. Incinerate can turn out to be really trolly in case your opponent chose to use the Leppa Berry over the Focus Sash, but ultimately, all of these moves share the same benefit: they allow you to hit two or even three opponents, as opposed to just one.

Mist

Similarly to Safeguard, Mist prevents the opponent from lowering your stats. While that may not be interesting and B-rank-worthy at first glance, there are three crucial stats in the metagame: evasion, accuracy and Speed. Evasion and accuracy drops reduce your time in this world and simply decrease your overall usefulness, respectively, while Speed drops mean you can be KOed before (possibly) KOing a foe. Mist is a always a good thing to have on your side.

Misty Terrain

It's like Safeguard, but for both sides, hence why it's ranked lower.
...Please don't look at me like that, they are pretty similar, aren't they?

Stat-boosting and stat-dropping moves

As I said, there are only three important stats in TSMB: Speed, accuracy and evasion. Raising Speed means you (possibly) can net a KO before anyone else. Raising your accuracy lets you stop being Ray Charles and actually hit those arceusdamn Heat Waves. Finally, raising your evasion lets you dodge attacks more reliably, which significantly increases your staying power. In the same vein, dropping any of the aforementioned stats can net you a decisive advantage.

Despite the fact that these moves are only marginally better than the vast majority of other moves, they can however turn out to be very useful in specific situations.

Recycle

While it may only be beneficial under certain circumstances, calling Recycle after having used up a Focus Sash or a Leppa Berry will provide another safety net or more PP to (possibly) take down a foe or two, respectively. However, it will only waste a turn in any other setting.

Spiky Shield

Not only does it protect you against incoming attacks (albeit without priority), but it's a clean KO on the opponent's side if one of his Shedinjas were to attempt to hit you with a physical attack. In case this happens, feel free to taunt your opponent to remind them you outplayed them, maybe they'll ragequit.

Refresh and Aromatherapy

Removing statuses is once again always a good thing to do in this metagame, that is, if you don't outright die from them. However, since you only have one chance at most to remove poison or a burn, the timing's pretty tight and these moves usually only remove paralysis or sleep.

Paralysis- and sleep-inducing moves

Speak of the yellow-colored devil, here it is. Paralysis is not as useful here as in other metas, but slowing down a foe and simultaneously preventing it from moving while it was about to Rock Slide your team to oblivion can be clutch. Sleep-inducing moves trade permanent crippling and a Speed decrease for a 100% chance of a foe not moving for at least one turn. Plus, it comboes into Nightmare, which is yet another niche move.

Forest's Curse

Here we have yet another move that wears the word "curse" in its name, except that this one will be advantageous for you. Forest's Curse adds a Grass typing to a foe, meaning they now have an Ice weakness to boot, without more resists. It widens the range of attacks you can use to take down this particular Shedinja, even though you should have used a super effective attack to begin with.

Magic Coat

Magic Coat can potentially be useful if called at the beginning of a turn (i.e. your Shedinja is first or second to move), since, once again, it won't have priority. Magic Coat is one of those attacks that you call and then pierce the game log with your gaze, waiting for an opponent to use a status move on you, preferably Toxic or Will-O-Wisp. Due to the fickle nature of Metronome, it won't happen that often, and if your Shedinja moves last, it's absolutely useless. But, hey, once in a lifetime, the stars may align to reflect an otherwise lethal burn to an opponent.

This tier includes every super effective attack against Shedinja, from Gust to Knock Off, which can kill an opposing Shedinja or at least break its Sash.

This tier includes every other attack except for Y-rank moves. It won't affect Shedinja, and does not have any impact on the match whatsoever. Better luck next time!

Now we're there. Now we've reached the bottom of the barrel, the absolute worst of what this metagame has to offer. This is a showcase for the moves that you should never use under any circumstances since they're usually worse for you than for your opponent. They're named "why"-ranked moves for a reason, and a really good one at that.

Self-Destruct and Explosion

These are probably the most unfortunate and frustrating attacks to call during a match. Not only will one of your Shedinjas go poof, but you will also have to watch every "it doesn't affect" message on the screen, slowly turning the knife into the wound. And you'll have lost a Shedinja for absolutely nothing. Great, isn't it?

Lunar Dance and Healing Wish

To continue in the "you lost a Shedinja for nothing", these moves will allow you to bring in a Shedinja for free, and it'll recover all of its HP and be cured of any status. That'd be wonderful, if only I hadn't only 1 HP and if I wasn't forced to sacrifice another Shedinja to do so. Even if the incoming Shedinja was, say, paralyzed, you just traded a healthy Shedinja + a statused one for a healthy Shedinja. At the very best (like no one ever was), you will trade a healthy Shedinja + a poisoned/burned one for a healthy Shedinja. Unless you're a Slowpoke, you should immediately notice that it's quite the bad trade. Fortunately, these moves fail if they're used while you have no remaining Pokémon in the back. Plus, to be fair, Lunar Dance at least replenishes your PP.

Jump Kick and High Jump Kick

Deemed suicide moves, Jump Kick and High Jump Kick almost always miss, except if the opponent used Camouflage or Conversion beforehand. So, let's say it will miss 99.99% of the time. And you know what the price for missing is: 50% of your HP. Due to rounding mechanics, in this case, it'll be 100% of your HP. Which means death. Your Shedinja fainted because it wanted to be Chuck Norris. On the other hand, it fainted for the stupidest reason ever, but at least it went out with style!