Where's the love for Shedinja?

[Sergeant-K]

The ghost-brother of Ninjask deserves some love. I heard he's NU while Ninjask is BL. I know they are entirely different, but look at what Shedinja can do:
-Switch in on Choice Banders and getting a free SD setup
-Same as last but get Will-o-Wisp on incoming pokemon
-Take out Pokemon lategame when no one can hurt him
-Use a Focus Sash for more usage

The downs:
-Dies from Sandstream - any team with a TTar rapes him
-Dies from Stealth Rock - but can be countered with Rapid Spinners
-Has only 1 HP

So, obviously the negatives weigh out the positives but lategame he can do wonders (hence wonderguard).

Which brings me to my question: Why is this thing NU?

 

[Somo]

I never heard it was brought down to NU, I thought shedinja was seeing more usage in ubers because of the lack of sandstorm/stealth rock.

Edit: well not a total lack of, but I don't think there are that many tyranitars roaming in ubers, so shedinja can make a home in ubers.

 

[Sergeant-K]

I never heard it was brought down to NU, I thought shedinja was seeing more usage in ubers because of the lack of sandstorm/stealth rock.

Yes, it is, with only Ghost/dark plate Arceus and Darkrai being its main counters

But I'm talking about standard playing.

 

[Kumar]

1) Hard to set-up.
2) There's better lategame.

 

[Wolfie1412]

Shedinja is powerful, but you need a spinner and possibly a weather changer to make it work.

on the plus side shedinja walls:

electivire
heracross/gyarados without stone edge
blissey
metagross
cresselia
and a bunch of other pokemon I can't remember. Those are the ones I see most often though.

For those who say weavile is a problem max attack shedinja can survive the pursuit with focus sash and kill with x-scissor.

Don't use sword dance on shedinja though as you'll be switching it so often you'd probably rather status (toxic/wow) or attack with x-scissor.

Also shadow sneak makes for the occasional revenge kill

 

[hyl]

like you posted before
-too much stealth rockers these days
-way too much sandstreamers are used
-the fact that he is slow and frail and his attack isnt that great
-Almost everyone has pokemon with ghost/dark/rock/flying and fire attacks in their team because these attacks are common counters to heracross, skarmory, salamence ,gyarados , cressellia and dusknoir etc.

 

[Danigi]

TTar and Hippo/Stealth Rock are so common in ubers it is near impossible to bring in. It is better in Ubers.

(Please note, I am not saying Sheddy is Uber. He just functions well up there.)

 

[Familiar Trainer]

I really like the fact that Shedinja can completely shut down some Pokemon, and even scout for SE attacks now with Focus Sash, but due to a metagame with

Stealth Rock
Spikes
Status Moves
Poison Spikes
Tyranitar
Hippowdon
Abomasnow
Many SE Attacks

It's just not worth it outside of NU and Ubers.

 

[SHUCKLE MAN]

Shedinja wont do well in ubers anymore. Tyranitar will be seen there a ton now, with base 150 Special Defense, and 650 stat total (which, you may want to note, it higher than Mew, Latios, Latias, Deoxys, Manaphy, Darkrai, etc.).

 

[Familiar Trainer]

Shedinja wont do well in ubers anymore. Tyranitar will be seen there a ton now, with base 150 Special Defense, and 650 stat total (which, you may want to note, it higher than Mew, Latios, Latias, Deoxys, Manaphy, Darkrai, etc.).

Except that Sandstream won't always be up with the likes of Kyogre/Groudon/Rayquaza around. Pokemon who clear skies of sand/hail are Shedinja's best friend.

 

[Sergeant-K]

Don't use sword dance on shedinja though as you'll be switching it so often you'd probably rather status (toxic/wow) or attack with x-scissor.

But Swords Dance followed by Shadow Sneak is pretty nice. And if your opponent has no counters you can set up 3 SDs and proceed to finish the match.

 

[Danigi]

Shedinja wont do well in ubers anymore. Tyranitar will be seen there a ton now, with base 150 Special Defense, and 650 stat total (which, you may want to note, it higher than Mew, Latios, Latias, Deoxys, Manaphy, Darkrai, etc.).

We have known that Rock has a boost in Special Def. for a while now, what makes you think he will be used more now? Weather changers/negators are pretty much on every team now, so Sandstream isn't as awesome as there as you make it sound. The fact TTar is as slow as sin in ubers doesn't help much, either.

 

[Sergeant-K]

Except that Sandstream won't always be up with the likes of Kyogre/Groudon/Rayquaza around. Pokemon who clear skies of sand/hail are Shedinja's best friend.

EXACTLY!

Shedinja begs to be on any Uber team with Rayquaza.

 

[Carl]

The problem with Shedinja is that it's a very very situational pokemon. It can do some great damage if your opponent is not prepared for it. However, it's extremely easy to be prepared for it when you only need one move (Spikes/Toxic Spikes/Stealth Rock) or one pokemon in general (Tyranitar/Hippowdon/Abomasnow) to faint the thing. Stealth Rock alone is a such a great force because it abuses typing that people would be almost foolish to not use it on all their teams. Almost everything learns Stealth Rock so really all you need is an open moveslot.. and it's well worth that slot. The effort it takes to remove Stealth Rock is so ridiculous that Shedinja just becomes a huge liability on your team. It's not much easier to remove Sandstream either and if you do remove it all they have to do is send in Tyranitar to put it back in play.

The bottom line is it's too much work on the user's part to even get Shedinja in play for it to really be worth it. 9 times out of 10 you'll be spending the whole battle sacrificing either other pokemon to make sure everything is right for Shedinja or you'll accept the fact that you can't remove Stealth Rock/whatever and start the battle down 6-5. Not worth it. Tons of pokemon can use Swords Dance, have better speed and higher attack.

 

[JimBob]

You can't really Swords Dance with Sheddy since he is so slow that he will get killed by whatever they switch in next, unless you've already killed everything that they have that can kill Shedinja, unless you use Trick Room, and iirc Shedinja might actually be a tad too fast for that but whatever.

I remember I made a sheddy team in advance that packed CB shedinja with Baton Pass and some attacks

I guess you could run Baton Pass / X-Scissor / Shadow Claw / filler

Send it in on something that can't hurt it or prediction or when you think they're gonna use an attack that won't hurt sheddy. If you think they may pack an attack that will kill it, you immidiately switch back out, and if you think that they are gonna switch, you BP to whatever can counter what they switch to or hit it and run. You'll need some support from the team though, with a spinner or two and a Sunny Day/Rain Dance user, and maybe a steel type that can take ghost/dark/flying/rock moves.

 

[Backfall Genius]

Lol yeah. In the BT Electivire was my last pokemon with 1 HP against a Shedinja. I couldn't do anything....

It's not really good for the metagame. It DID stop my Sacrfed Outraging Garchomp and my Stone Edging Banded Aerodactyl, but....still its not effective!

 

[Forsety]

EXACTLY!

Shedinja begs to be on any Uber team with Rayquaza.

Rayquaza doesn't clear weather I seem to recall, if his Airlock works the same as Golduck's Cloud Nine then all it does is pretend theres no weather.

Shedinja wont do well in ubers anymore. Tyranitar will be seen there a ton now, with base 150 Special Defense, and 650 stat total (which, you may want to note, it higher than Mew, Latios, Latias, Deoxys, Manaphy, Darkrai, etc.).

Thats questionnable, Kyogre is the single largest threat in 00bers. Scarf'd it destroys a ton of things, with Mew Nasty Plot BP support its the most ungodly force of pure destruction up in 00bers.

Shedinja is the only thing that stops a Kyogre sweep dead in its tracks unless it has Toxic or Ancientpower (unlikely). Not even Giratina or Blissey can do much against Kyogre on a good day. Seeing everytime Kyogre is in it'll be raining Sandstorm isn't even an issue.

 

[porygon3]

on the plus side shedinja walls:

electivire
heracross/gyarados without stone edge
blissey
metagross
cresselia

Heracross always has Stone Edge and usually Night Slash/Pursuit too, and Gyarados does if the person wants to counter other Gyarados with it. Metagross has Pursuit, but not very often.

Shedinja wont do well in ubers anymore. Tyranitar will be seen there a ton now, with base 150 Special Defense, and 650 stat total (which, you may want to note, it higher than Mew, Latios, Latias, Deoxys, Manaphy, Darkrai, etc.).

I've yet to see Tyranitar in ubers.

And if your opponent has no counters you can set up 3 SDs and proceed to finish the match.

I can say that about any set-up sweeper.

EXACTLY!

Shedinja begs to be on any Uber team with Rayquaza.

Rayquaza's ability only lasts as long as it is active, I think.

edit: forsety beat me to the last part

 

[Deoxys11]

I still don't see any use for shedninja..

Two of it's weaknesses, dark and ghost, are common attacks like shadow ball, night slash, and dark pulse.

 

[sanjay120]

I use Shedinja. You'd be surprised at how people treat Stealth Rock. Like it's nice to have, but not necessary, and when I spin it, they're usually trying to set up something else instead of getting it back. Until they find out I have Shedinja. It works well on a Sunny Day or Rain Dance team, Rain Dance especially since you need something to take rampant grass/electric attacks aimed at the water Pokemon.

 

[Pheonix Gamma]

I like to asses a Pokemon or two, and try to work in Umbreon so that you can Mean Look>Baton Pass to Shedinja after confirming the move types (and of course, clearing sandstorm/stealth rocks/whatever)

 

[Jibaku]

An issue with Shedinja is the illegality. Shedinja cannot have Swords Dance, Agility and Baton Pass at the same time, which kinda ruins it. It would be awesome to go +6 on both speed and attack after a trap/pass from Smeargle/Umbreon, and then passing it off again if a bad situation happens, but it's limited to either one of those and the fact that bringing either Umbreon or Shedinja is hard enough in uber play. Shedinja does soak up Rayquaza's Outrages which might actually be something, but don't push your luck with it.

 

[daksunt]

Like all people said its very situatinal but I also think it can be good in 2vs2 with golducks help but would it survive long enough thats another question.

 

[Monkeydude85]

I'm surprised no one mentioned Whrilwind/Roar, two moves that force an early switch to Shedinja, potentially killing him, if not just revealing the surprise that you have him on your team.

 

[Wilson]

Shedinja's not bad in ubers. But, yeah, Sandstorm and Stealth Rock bringing him down to nothing really doesn't do him any good. And his horrible typing.

Dumb question, but does anyone know if Focus Sash works on a Shedinja? I suppose not.