The main selling point of Shiftry is its powerful Sucker Punch, which will dent every fast and frail attacker in the tier after a Swords Dance. Out of the common U-turners or revenge killers, only a full health Mienshao can take a Sucker Punch, and if SR is on the field, it only has 50% chance of surviving it. Seed Bomb is a great coverage move against the premier physical walls in the tier, namely Suicune, Slowbro and Hippowdon. Low Kick is the best option for the third slot, as it does about 75% to MAggron, and cleanly OHKOes all variants of Snorlax. Shiftry loves to have SR support, since it transforms many potential OHKOs into reality. Most notable ones include Mienshao, Kyurem, M-Absol, Shaymin, Doublade, Escavalier, Nidoqueen and physically bulky Tentacruel.
Shiftry invests heavily into bulk because it is pretty frail, and with Sucker Punch, it does not really need Speed. 44 EVs are to outspeed 0 Speed Suicune. However, there are other notable benchmarks. 164 EVs lets you outspeed 0 Speed Tentacruel, whereas 176 EVs ensure you will outspeed Adamant max Speed Cloyster, so you won’t have to rely on Sucker Punch. However, with SR support, you are guaranteed to OHKO Cloyster even with Sucker Punch. Investment in bulk is recommended, as you can find more setup opportunities. It is worth noting, that the bulk mentioned in the set lets you live a Flamethrower from M-Manectric at full health.
The idea with Shiftry is to, ideally, use Swords Dance when the opponent is forced to switch. However, since that’s not always a possible scenario, Shiftry should try to boost against the multitude of bulky water Pokemon in the tier. Suicune and Gastrodon are ideal candidates, although one must be wary of Scald’s burn chance. Outside of a stray Bug Bite, there’s also little Forretress can do, and you will guarantee a 3HKO with +2 Low Kick.
Even though Shiftry has a glaring weakness to Bug, it is really not all that crippling for Shiftry, since no U-turn user can reliably take a Sucker Punch at +2. Shiftry does have a good deal of weaknesses, but it sports some notable resistances also. With Dark-typing, Shiftry possesses a resistance to Ghost, which is quite a rare resistance nowadays. Shiftry can also be utilized in a Fire-Water-Grass core well.
There are still Pokemon which will win against Shiftry in most scenarios, even at +2. Defensive Mew can outspeed Shiftry and burn it. Although Umbreon is 2HKOed by Low Kick, it can try and ToxicStall Shiftry. MAggron will never take more than 75% from Low Kick, and will OHKO with Heavy Slam. M-Ampharos has a 70% chance of surviving Sucker Punch with Rocks up, and it can use Focus Blast to retaliate. Defensive Arcanine (with Intimidate) will never take more than 60% from Sucker Punch. Bulky Honchkrow can also survive a Sucker Punch, even with rocks up, and retaliate with BB. There are also Pokemon which resist Shiftry’s STABs well via typing. Heracross, Chesnaught and Toxicroak can all take a hit and kill Shiftry.
I am proposing an A- rank, because I believe that Shiftry is not specifically outclassed by any other Pokemon in its role. Shiftry sports an enormously powerful priority in Sucker Punch. Honchkrow kinda competes with it in that regard, but Honch needs 2 Moxie kills before it can rival Shiftry's power after a Swords dance. Another Pokemon that comes close to Shiftry’s role is Toxicroak, although its Sucker Punch is nowhere near as powerful as Shiftry’s. The most notable problem with Shiftry is the fact that you practically need to force a switch in order to set up properly. It’s not like Shiftry can’t take a stray Ice Beam from a water Pokemon, but with Life Orb damage added in, Shiftry will just die too quickly. Hence, I would like to see some discussion on Shiftry’s ranking, while starting the discussion with A-.
