
http://www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/shuppet
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[Overview]
<p>Although Shuppet has the best Attack stat out of all the Little Cup Ghost-types, it has an extremely shallow movepool; for example, its only STAB physical attack is Shadow Sneak. However, Shuppet's Special Attack is also above average, meaning that it can run mixed sets well. Although Shuppet also has an extremely nice supporting movepool, its defenses are mediocre, meaning most attacks will take a decent chunk of Shuppet's health. Its ability, Insomnia, allows Shuppet to act as a sleep absorber against opponents such as Shroomish and Meowth. All in all, Shuppet has the worst overall stats out of all the LC Ghosts, though it can definitely be an asset if given the right support.</p>
[SET]
name: Trick Room Lead
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Destiny Bond
move 3: Sucker Punch / Shadow Sneak
move 4: Thunderbolt / Taunt
item: Focus Sash
ability: Insomnia
nature: Brave
evs: 4 HP / 236 Atk / 252 SpA / 12 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>The aim of this set is to set up Trick Room early on in the match, then to sacrifice Shuppet with Destiny Bond to provide a safe switch-in for one of your Trick Room sweepers. The third slot is dedicated to a priority move, and is your best bet for removing the Focus Sashes of leads such as Kabuto. Sucker Punch vs. Shadow Sneak is the age-old case of power vs. reliability. Thunderbolt is mainly meant for coverage, while Taunt can halt any opposing attempts at setup, and when used in tangent with Destiny Bond, will almost always guarantee a kill for Shuppet.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Using minimum Speed allows Shuppet to outspeed virtually everything under Trick Room conditions, maximizing the number of leads Shuppet can drag down with it with Destiny Bond. Focus Sash is used to guarantee the set-up of Trick Room. Beware of Snover and Hippopotas though, as the damaging weather that they bring will put an immediate halt to Shuppet's Focus Sash + Destiny Bond strategy. Leads with priority moves can also avoid Destiny Bond dragging them down.</p>
<p>Slow sweepers such as Wailmer and Cranidos are obvious candidates for partnering up with Shuppet, because are extremely slow, yet very powerful, making them ideal for Trick Room. Snubbull is another good teammate, having great synergy with Shuppet, a high Attack stat, andbeingvery slow, not to mention the powerful attacks it has in its arsenal, such as Return and Close Combat.</p>
[SET]
name: Support
move 1: Will-O-Wisp
move 2: Shadow Sneak
move 3: Thunderbolt
move 4: Destiny Bond
item: Oran Berry
ability: Insomnia
nature: Relaxed
evs: 244 HP / 236 Def / 12 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Shuppet has access to a great utility move in Will-O-Wisp, which allows it to check physical sweepers such as Mankey and Machop. Shadow Sneak acts as Shuppet's obligatory STAB move and is also an extremely useful priority move. Thunderbolt is partnered alongside Shadow Sneak to grant good coverage high Base Power. Destiny Bond is a last effort to take down a Pokemon from your opponent's team as Shuppet faints, but is not easy to use as Shuppet is very slow.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Maximum HP and defense investments are used for bulk, allowing Shuppet to check physical sweepers who could otherwise threaten your team. One of the main threats to this set is Houndour, as it can get a Flash Fire boost from Shuppet's Will-O-Wisp, and proceed to use its boosted Fire-type attacks to destroy Shuppet and its teammates. Therefore, it is recommended that you have bulky Water-types such as Mantyke and Squirtle on your team, to act as a check to Houndour.</p>
<p>Gastly and Drifloon are good partners if you want to run the Double Ghost strategy. Shuppet is able to cripple Munchlax or drag it down with Destiny Bond, allowing its other teammates to sweep. Munchlax is also a good partner as it is immune to Ghost attacks aimed at Shuppet, and can threaten all of Shuppet's counters, such as Houndour, with Return. Houndour makes a good teammate because it can handily checkmate enemy Ghost-types with a combination of Sucker Punch and Pursuit, and also beat Munchlax if it is running Crunch.</p>
[SET]
name: Offensive Trick Room
move 1: Trick Room
move 2: Shadow Ball
move 3: Hidden Power Fighting / Thunderbolt
move 4: Sucker Punch
item: Oran Berry / Focus Sash
ability: Insomnia
nature: Quiet
evs: 4 HP / 236 Atk / 252 SpA / 12 SpD
ivs: 0 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set abuses Shuppet's relatively low Speed and above average Attack. Trick Room is the bread and butter of this set, allowing Shuppet to outspeed opposing Pokemon and kill them with the approriate attack. Shadow Ball is Shuppet's main attack, being very powerful and also gaining STAB. Hidden Power Fighting provides better coverage alongside Shadow Ball than Thunderbolt, hitting all Pokemon in the tier for at least neutral damage, although it makes Shuppet lose a point in Special Attack and Special Defense. Sucker Punch is utilized to hit other priority users, and is also helpful to Shuppet for picking off weakened Pokemon, or just hitting first when Trick Room is not in effect.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>The EVs are doctored so that both offensive stats reach 17. Oran Berry is the best item to use as it allows Shuppet to reliably set up, and have enough bulk to hit the opponent a few times before getting knocked out, but Focus Sash can also be used if you are putting it in the lead position. Life Orb is an option, powering up Shuppet's offensive stats by trading off bulk; it is not recommended though, because it usually means that Shuppet will be knocked out even faster. If you are using Hidden Power Fighting, change the EV spread to 4 HP / 236 Atk / 76 Def / 176 SpA / 12 SpD.</p>
<p>A good teammate for this set is Bronzor due to the fact that it can set up Trick Room easily, and can benefit from Trick Room as well. Another viable teammate for this set is Porygon, as it is immune to Ghost-type attacks and can set up Trick Room and benefit from it. Munchlax is considered a counter for this set because it outspeeds Shuppet under Trick Room conditions, doesn't get heavily damaged by Shuppet's attacks, and can trap it with Pursuit.</p>
[SET]
name: Choice Scarf Lead
move 1: Trick
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Destiny Bond
move 4: Thunder Wave
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Insomnia / Frisk
nature: Adamant
evs: 244 HP / 12 SpD / 236 Spe
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set has the ability to cripple a lot of common leads; Trick can be utilized to disable Stealth Rock leads, while it also allows you to take away the opponent's Focus Sash. Trick also cripples non-Stealth Rock leads who are reliant on using a variety of moves, such as Houndour, Meowth, and Aipom. Sucker Punch is Shuppet's best mono-attacking option. Thunder Wave allows Shuppet to spread paralysis and further cripple opposing leads as well as any switch-ins, while also making Destiny Bond easier to use. Destiny Bond is utilized in order to take down at least one Pokemon when Shuppet faints.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>An Adamant nature with Choice Scarf allows Shuppet to reach 21 Speed, while with Jolly it reaches 22 Speed, meaning that it outspeeds some Choice Scarf leads and all non-Choice Scarf leads. Max HP EVs are utilized for maximum bulk and the remaining 12 Special Defense EVs are used for extra bulk.</p>
<p>The ability Frisk is viable on this set, since it will help you decide whether you should Trick Shuppet's Choice Scarf away, which is especially helpful against Gastly leads. Choice Scarf Mankey and Choice Scarf Snover don't mind Sucker Punch and Trick, while both outspeed Shuppet and threaten it with Payback or Punishment and Blizzard, respectively. Bronzor should therefore be used as a teammate as it can set up Stealth Rock on Snover and Mankey or retaliate with Gyro Ball. Gligar can come in on all of Mankey's attacks except for Ice Punch and can either set up Swords Dance or Agility or retaliate with Earthquake.</p>
[SET]
name: Substitute + 3 Attacks
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Shadow Sneak
move 3: Shadow Ball
move 4: Hidden Power Fighting
item: Life Orb
ability: Insomnia
nature: Mild
evs: 4 HP / 236 Atk / 176 SpA / 12 SpD / 80 Spe
ivs: 0 HP
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>This set abuses Shuppet's good offensive potential and allows it to hit extremely hard with both physical and special attacks. Substitute is utilized to ease prediction and offers protection from revenge killers and priority users. Shadow Sneak is utilized as a priority move and severely damages the opponent after the boosts from STAB and Life Orb. Shadow Ball is your primary STAB move, and Hidden Power Fighting is used on this set to maximize coverage.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Maximum Attack and Special Attack EVs give Shuppet maximum power. 80 Speed EVs are used for an extra Speed point outspeeding other Pokemon with 45 base Speed. The leftover EVs are put into Defense to help Shuppet survive certain attacks. A viable alternative is to run 236 Speed EVs to outspeed Porygon, Snover, and neutral-natured Croagunk. Life Orb is a very handy item for this set and helps make some 2HKOs become OHKOs.</p>
<p>This set tends to lure in Dark-types, especially Houndour, which Shuppet can then eliminate with Hidden Power Fighting; Grass and Ghost Pokemon who enjoy having Houndour removed would therefore make decent partners for Shuppet. Entry hazards on your side of the field can combine with Life Orb recoil and Substitute to wear Shuppet down very quickly, so having a reliable Rapid Spinner, such as Squirtle, is a very good idea.</p>
[Other Options]
<p>Natural Gift is pretty much Shuppet's only other option for a decent physical attack, which just goes to show how horrible Shuppet's movepool is. Grudge could be utilized with the Double Ghost strategy to eliminate Muchlax's Pursuit PP, but it's not too useful outside of that. Shuppet also gets Pursuit and Imprison, which is another way it could potentially counter Munchlax. Psychic can also be used if Fighting-types such as Mankey and Machop are troublesome to your team, but it has redundant coverage otherwise.</p>
[Checks and Counters]
<p>A good counter to Shuppet is Houndour since its Dark Pulse is a guaranteed OHKO, and unless Shuppet has Hidden Power Fighting, it cannot do a whole lot to retaliate. Muchlax is Shuppet's ultimate counter, since it doesn't take a lot of damage from any of Shuppet's atacks, and can trap and KO it with Pursuit. Stunky is just like Houndour; it doesn't take a lot of damage from any of Shuppet's attacks besides Hidden Power Fighting, and can OHKO Shuppet with Crunch or Sucker Punch. Also, without Trick Room support or a defensive spread, Shuppet is a sitting duck in front of faster Pokemon due to its frailty and low Speed.</p>