[Overview]
<p>Shuckle has the highest Defense and Special Defense stats in the game, making it a one-of-a-kind wall in both areas. With sandstorm in play, (comma) this little turtle is by no means easily defeated. Not even Alakazam, which boasts the highest Special Attack in the tier, (comma) can get past Shuckle in a sandstorm. If you maximize Shuckle's Special Defense stat it can hit over 900 Special Defense although investing all 252 EVs into Special Defense isn't really worth it. (doesn't sound like it belongs at the overview. actually, i wouldn't mention this anyways, sounds redundant.) Although Shuckle's two defensive stats make it seem like a great Pokemon, there are a great number of factors stopping it from being as efficient as it should, such as its crippling Stealth Rock weakness, its pathetic HP stat, lack of instant recovery, lack of a useful ability, and a incredibly limited movepool. However, with the right support, (comma) Shuckle can wall most Pokemon lacking a super effective attack into oblivion.</p>
[SET]
name: Toxic Stall
move 1: Encore
move 2: Toxic
move 3: Rest
move 4: Knock Off / Protect / Stealth Rock
Item: Leftovers
Nature: Impish
EVs: 248 HP / 252 Def / 8 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
<p>Although Shuckle's movepool is incredibly limited, it has all the moves it needs to be a great Toxic staller. Shuckle's great defensive stats make it extremely hard to defeat, and setting up on it with stat up moves is not an option due to Encore. Once Shuckle's HP is low, (comma) it can fully heal itself with Rest to get it right back up to full. Knock Off is the best choice for the last slot; a lot of Pokemon hold Leftovers, granting them effective immunity to sandstorm, and Knock Off forces them to take sandstorm damage. Knock Off It is also great for removing Choice items from Pokemon that would try to Trick them onto you Shuckle. Protect is another option to place use in the last slot. It allows you Shuckle to get a free turn of Toxic stalling, and grants you it free Leftovers recovery. Stealth Rock is a good move on Shuckle since it is almost guaranteed to get set it up unless it is Taunted, but if you are using a sandstorm team then you should have another Pokemon with Stealth Rock on your team. Shuckle must never use maximum HP EVs because without them, Shuckle can switch into Stealth Rock more times; the reason for this is to allow you to switch into Stealth Rock more times.</p>
[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]
<p>Shuckle can use a specially defensive EV spread of 248 HP / 252 SpD / 8 Def and a Careful nature. With that EV spread, (comma) Shuckle isn’t even 5HKOed by Alakazam's Psychic. In the last slot, (comma) Substitute can be used when predicting a specific switch-in. Shuckle can set up Substitute when predicting one of its is switching in, then safely Toxic them the opponent from behind a the Substitute without fear of an KO.</p>
<p>If you are using Shuckle, Rapid Spin support is required. Hitmontop is probably the best option for this job because it resists Rock-type moves, to which Shuckle is weak. Water types are great counters to Shuckle, so bulky waters of your own are good team choices. Blastoise is one of the best bulky Water-types to pair up with Shuckle due to having Rapid Spin, and being a bulky water. Quagsire is another good team member for Shuckle since Quagsire resists all of Shuckle's weaknesses. Shuckle can not harm requires support against Steel- or Poison-types due to their immunity to Toxic. Dugtrio can trap and kill most Poison- and Steel-types, and has immunity to sandstorm as a bonus. Shuckle also appreciates Toxic Spikes support so that he it can run Protect in Toxic's place. Hippopotas is required for setting up the sandstorm. Wish support helps Shuckle out as well due to Rest's unreliability. Clefable is probably the best choice since it is immune to sandstorm, allowing it to get gain Leftovers recovery. Cleric support from Leafeon and Clefable is also very helpful, although with Rest you Shuckle shouldn't really have to worry about status. (period) but Heal Bell Still, cleric support can wake you Shuckle up if you it have has to switch out while sleeping. Spiritomb can be helpful for getting rid of opponents spinblockers.</p>
(to avoid being repetitive due to only one set being present, you should delete either the repetitive parts from additional comments or the ones from team options, leaving only one section to explain what you wanted to explain. i'll be deleting the additional comments's ones.)
[Team Options]
<p>Hippopotas is required for setting up permanent sandstorm, which increases Shuckle's Special Defense by 50% and also deals 6.25% damage each turn against the foe (bar Rock-, Ground-, and Steel-types), combining greatly with Shuckle's Toxic. Additionally, it can set up Stealth Rock (if Shuckle isn't using it already), which is helpful because Shuckle's Encore almost always causes the opponent to switch out. Stealth Rock, when combined with other entry hazards from Cloyster and Qwilfish, is devastating to your opponent due to Shuckle's ability to stall.</p>
(hippo is definitely very important and has enough information to warrant its own paragraph while transferring into entry hazards.)
<p>Hippopotas is required for setting the permanent sandstorm. The main thing factor holding Shuckle back is its Stealth Rock weakness, so you will want to have a Rapid Spinner on your team. The best Rapid Spinner to use with Shuckle is Hitmontop. Hitmontop is the best Rapid Spinner to use because it can switch into Rock-type attacks directed at Shuckle, resist them, and then spin away the rocks Stealth Rock easily. Another good Rapid Spinner for Shuckle is Blastoise because of its Water resistance. Blastoise and Hitmontop both can learn both use Foresight (removed comma) and Rapid Spin, enabling them to spin on Ghost-types while also being a bulky Water. Still, spinblockers can give your Rapid Spinners trouble, so Spiritomb can be used to trap and kill them with Pursuit.</p>
<p>When using Shuckle, you will always want need to cover up its weakness to Water-types, so bulky Waters are really good teammates members for Shuckle. Quagsire resists all of Shuckle's weaknesses, so making it is a good choice. As previously stated, Blastoise is both a bulky Water, and a Rapid Spinner so he is a good choice as well. Milotic has the best defensive stats of all of the bulky Waters so Milotic it is a good teammate choice as well. Once Shuckle Encores something into a weak attack or a non attacking move they will always switch out, so Spikes and Stealth Rock support are suggested, but Spikes are not required.</p>
(what about grass-types? i think they're actually better than what your water-types can do to other water-types because of their stab grass attacks.)
(also, what do these water-types do to other water-types anyway? mention what moves they would be using to them.)
[Optional Changes]
<p>(backspaced)Shuckle has a very poor movepool, so there aren't many things it can do sets it can run. Shuckle It can use an Acupressure set, however but once you get Shuckle's Attack stat at +6 it will only be reach 520, (comma) and it's outclassed by Drapion, who has higher Attack and Speed. Shuckle's only reliable physical attacks are Stone Edge, Rock Slide, and Earthquake, so using Acupressure on Shuckle isn't a very good idea. (uh, actually, that's pretty good with the quake/edge combo. the reason it sucks is because of its crap Attack stat, which you've already mentioned, and terribad Speed. i'd personally remove this sentence.) A better Pokemon to use for an Acupressure set is Drapion. Drapion has a much higher attack stat than Shuckle, as well as a much better physical movepool. (mentioning this on first accupressure sentence. i didn't mention "better" physical movepool because rock's pretty good.) Another thing niche that Shuckle can do has is a Power Trick set while in Trick Room. Once Shuckle uses Power Trick, (comma) its Attack stat while will go up rise to 614, but his its Defense and Special Defense stats will go down really low suffer, meaning that Shuckle will be OHKOed by common priority attacks. Also, Rhyperior makes a much better Rock-type Trick Room sweeper than Shuckle due to Swords Dance and having great bulk and a deadly Attack stat at the same time, making Power Trick worthless. If you want to use a Rock-type sweeper with move to boost its Attack stat in Trick Room, Rhyperior is a better option. Rhyperior can boost its Attack without having to drop its Defense and Special Defense. Once Rhyperior boosts its Attack stat with Swords Dance, its Attack will reach 832 which is much higher than Shuckle's Attack will reach after using Acupressure.</p>
(so you removed wrap? i'm sure that it's notable for the noobies to use but i don't see why wrap can't be mentioned in optional changes in one sentence to explain why it sucks so people could perhaps stop using it.)
[Counters]
<p>Shuckle's Stealth Rock weakness makes it much more easily counterable. One of the best ways to counter Shuckle is with hard hitting Rock-types such as Rhyperior, Aggron, (comma) or Kabutops. These Pokemon are also capable of setting up Stealth Rock, which will make Shuckle easier to counter. Another way to counter Shuckle is by using Steel- and Poison-types since they are immune to Toxic—Shuckle's only way of damaging opponents. Steel- and Poison-types are immune to Toxic, which is Shuckle's only way of damaging opponents. Anything Pokemon with Taunt can stop Shuckle since the only attacking move a Shuckle will ever be using is Knock Off. A great strategy for beating Shuckle is changing the weather. If you change the weather, (comma) Shuckle will lose its Special Defense boost, and your Pokemon will no longer be losing lose 6.25% health each turn. Players rarely keep their Hippopotas alive throughout the match, so once you change the weather, (comma) sandstorm will likely not be set back up.</p>
