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Type: Shadow Effect: Sets a screen that reduces damage taken from Shadow-type moves by 0.66x (0.5x if only one Pokemon is active) and prevents the user's side from having their stats reduced by the opponent for 5 turns. Broken by Brick Break. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: (I didn't have time to fill in the rest) Justification: essentially aurora veil but only against shadow moves + mist. mist is cool so making mist useful is cool, enough though intim isn't as strong here when it's only arcanine/tauros/gyarados kinda
Name: Shadow Down Power: -- Accuracy: 100 PP: 30 Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: Lowers the foe(s)'s Defense by 1 stage. Usually moves first. Hits all adjacent foes. Priority: 1 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: (I didn't have time to fill in the rest) Justification: Copies the homework of Prankster Leer Tornadus in later gens, a hyper niche set I like to run. Can be absolutely terrifying combined with EQ users or just fast physical attackers in general.
Name: Shadow Hold Power: 60 Accuracy: 100 PP: 8 Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: Prevents both the user and the target from switching out. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect, Contact Potential Pokémon With This Move: (I didn't have time to fill in the rest) Justification: shadow jaw lock. Orre lacks pivoting moves, so you need to use smart switches to reposition, which Shadow Hold can stop at the cost of also trapping the user, while also having solid power.
Name: Shadow Mist Power: -- Accuracy: Can't miss PP: 5 Category: Status Type: Shadow Effect: Prevents your Shadow Pokemon's (plural) stats from being dropped, and prevents them from status conditions, for 5 turns. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: We could use a move that gets rid of Intimidate spam, Charm, potential SpA Charm clone (I see you), and status. I mostly gave it to the original users and Mist/Safeguard users.
Name: Shadow Hold Power: 40 Accuracy: 100 PP: 10 Category: Physical Type: Shadow Effect: Prevents the target from switching out and negates their item effect until you switch out. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect, Contact Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: Combination of a trapping move and Neutralizing Gas. Usually used by special attacking mons so it's a kind of backwards move. Gave it to Ghost/Psychic mons that could learn Trick.
Shadow Mist is a neat concept with its extra effect in Shadow Sky to give more reason to use it, but I kinda feel like it's a little too weak to not have the Haze-like effect at all times, so you could consider doing that
I like this Shadow Down, makes for a catch-all disruption move which saves on moveslots, which is important for Shadow mons. It being -3 against Shadow mons might be overkill but I'd be willing to test it out.
Shadow Hold is a bit of a lot, with its good BP and really really strong effects, so I'd definitely have to be careful with the distribution, though at the very least the suggested distribution is fine so far
Mist has always been an underrated but cool move, so combining it with something to make it more usable is neat. I will say, with how strong Thunder Wave is as Speed control, being immune from it for 8 turns might be too much
Shadow Hold is neat, I can already see combos like Shadow Hold + TWave to shut down a Lum Berry mon or Shadow Holding something holding a Persim Berry to mess up a self-Swagger play, should be solid
Voting Phase (1 Day)
After the submission phase is over, voting will begin. This mod will be using the same voting system as Megas Revisited, where you can vote for as many submissions as you want, with each submission getting a certain number of points based on how you ranked it. Slate 1 and all move slates will use the same system, as well as any other kind of slate we need to do if necessitated by what our Shadow mechanics end up being. An example can be seen below.
For a slate with Shadow Rush, Shadow Sky, and Shadow Wave, for example, a ballot would look like this: Shadow Rush: User 1, User 2, User 3 Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9
With this ballot, Submission 1 for Shadow Rush would get 3 points, Submission 2 would get 2, and Submission 3 would get 1. The same goes for Submissions 4, 5, and 6 in the Shadow Sky category and Submissions 7, 8, and 9 in the Shadow Wave category, with them getting 3, 2, and 1 point respectively.
You can add as many submissions are you'd like after your third vote, with each one getting 1 point. Shadow Rush: User 1, User 2, User 3 Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9, User 10, User 11
So, in this ballot, Submissions 10 and 11 would also get 1 point in the Shadow Wave category.
You can vote for your own submission, but it can't be in first place or your only vote in that category. Be sure to mark your self-vote by putting (SV) after it. Shadow Rush: User 12 (SV), User 2, User 3 Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9, User 10, User 11
This wouldn't be a legal ballot as the self-vote is in first place in the Shadow Rush category
Shadow Rush: User 12 (SV) Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9, User 10, User 11
This also wouldn't be a legal ballot as the self-vote is the only vote in the Shadow Rush category
Shadow Rush: User 2, User 12 (SV) Shadow Sky: User 4, User 12 (SV), User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 12 (SV), User 10, User 11
This is a legal ballot because none of the self-votes are in first place or the only vote in a category.
If you vote for only 2 submissions in a category, the first place submission gets 2 points and the second place submission gets 1 point. If you vote for just one, then that submission gets 1 point. Beedrill: User 1 (1 point) Lopunny: User 4 (2 points), User 5 (1 point) Pidgeot: User 7 (3 points), User 8 (2 points), User 9 (1 point), User 10 (1 point), User 11 (1 point)
Move: User, User, User, etc. Move: User, User, User, etc. Move: User, User, User, etc.
The submission with the most points in a category will be added to the mod.
Type: Shadow Effect: Resets all positive stat changes of the target to 0. If Shadow Sky is active, this move always crits and hits all adjacent foes. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect, Wind Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: Originally, it was Air Cutter with Haze-like effects in Shadow Sky, but following comments on it being maybe slightly weak it's been amped up to the modern Frost Breath BP that always clears your positive boosts and a sorta-pseudo Expanding Force in Shadow Sky instead. Distribution's based on if they have sharp wings, a haze like body, or Spheal.
Name: Shadow Down Power: -- Accuracy: 100 PP: 30 Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: Lowers the foe(s)'s Defense by 1 stage. Usually moves first. Hits all adjacent foes. Priority: 1 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: (I didn't have time to fill in the rest) Justification: Copies the homework of Prankster Leer Tornadus in later gens, a hyper niche set I like to run. Can be absolutely terrifying combined with EQ users or just fast physical attackers in general.
Name: Shadow Hold Power: 40 Accuracy: 100 PP: 10 Category: Physical Type: Shadow Effect: Prevents the target from switching out and negates their item effect until you switch out. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect, Contact Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: Combination of a trapping move and Neutralizing Gas. Usually used by special attacking mons so it's a kind of backwards move. Gave it to Ghost/Psychic mons that could learn Trick.
Slate 5 Official Distribution, with my reasonings as usual!
These lists are still subject to change upon suggestion, so if you disagree with me giving something a certain move, or think I missed out on giving something a move, then please let me know!
Shadow Mist -
I had to be a little careful with this one due to the autocrit effect in Shadow Sky, while also avoiding mons that already get the also powerful-in-Shadow-Sky Shadow Storm. I kept a few of the originally suggested mons, leaning towards the more Special Attacking ones that don't already have Shadow Storm (which was just Hoothoot, I think), and swapping out the Bagon line for the Dragonite line. With the Haze effect and mons that use Haze in later gens of VGC being here already like Crobat, Murkrow, and Dragonite, I figured that adding other mons that got Haze like Lapras and Xatu also made sense. The latter is also one of the better attackers to use the move with in Shadow Sky, though Crobat and Dragonite are probably the absolute best there, for the former's super high Speed and the latter's bulk and decently high SpA. The rest were mainly support-leaning mons or slow Special Attackers that didn't have any/many Shadow moves yet.
Shadow Down -
Since I never finished my suggested distribution for Shadow Down, I kinda had an open book here. I mainly gave this to frail support Pokemon since priority Leer is a pretty strong tool to put next to the many strong physical attackers of the tier and it's probably not the best idea to give it to something that can use it like 3 or 4 times before going down, with the bulkiest thing I gave this to being Hitmontop (who doesn't get Fake Out this gen), and then a massive drop down to, of all things, Blaziken and Corsola. Highlights include Fake Out users in Sneasel and Delcatty getting extra utility, Furret as a Follow Me user that can give its STAB a bit more oomph, and Sableye as a Fake Out-immune option.
Shadow Hold -
Mainly gave this to bulkier mons, who should be able to keep a target trapped for a decent number of turns, with a bit more of an even split between physical and special attackers than the suggested more specially-oriented distribution. Probably the most notable addition here in Growlithe, as Arcanine is one of the better mons in the tier and the best Intimidate mon, with the idea being that it can lower something's attack and then trap them in their weakened state (or trap the switch-in). Could end up controversial but I think it should be fine. Gengar is another really good mon with this move, but is definitely a worse user of it, leaning more into the support role that being a Shadow gives it with it having Shadow Wave already. Mr. Mime is another somewhat notable user, since you can trap something that can't do much to it, then spam Follow Me to keep its teammate safe, or use stuff like Encore and Baton Pass for other shenanigans.
Now, let's get to a very special Slate 6!
----
Slate 6 - Shadow Half, Shadow Shed, Custom Move
This next slate includes the last two non-signature Shadow moves from XD, being Shadow Half and Shadow Shed! But since I don't want a slate with just 2 moves, we will also add an entirely new Shadow move in this slate as well!
I've put some notes below to help you make submissions for Shadow moves:
- Remember that every Shadow Pokemon must run all of the Shadow moves they can learn and that every Pokemon will learn at least 2 Shadow moves. Thus, try to avoid making redundant Shadow moves, in case they are both given to the same mon, and think about whether it would be worth giving a Pokemon that already learns 2 Shadow moves an additional one.
- In Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, all non-signature physical Shadow moves are single-target attacks and all non-signature special Shadow moves are spread moves. Keeping this distinction is not a requirement, but is something to consider.
- Shadow moves are super effective against all non-Shadow Pokemon, but don't give the user a STAB boost. Keep this in mind when deciding how strong they should be.
- The Shadow Pokemon mechanic will be a powerful offensive tool, so keep that in mind when giving moves you make strong to already good Pokemon.
- Click here to see Orre Colosseum's Viability Rankings to see what's already strong.
- If you need a reminder of Gen 3 or Orre Colosseum's mechanics, click here to go to this thread's OP.
- If you need a reminder of what the mechanics of Shadow Pokemon are, you can see them below or in the spreadsheet.
Going for something very out there but still faithful to the games (cause they're my favourite Pokemon games)
Shadow Pokemon Effects
Moves: All Shadow Pokemon learn at least TWO Shadow moves (and can learn a max of FOUR, all of which are default/Lv1 moves). All Shadow moves the Pokemon has available to it must be included in the moveset (so some mons have one legal moveset).
Type Chart: Attacking moves are always 2x super effective on non-Shadow Pokemon, and 0.5x effective on Shadow Pokemon, but Shadow is not a Pokemon's type and so there is never STAB. Moves can be physical or special, decided on a per-move basis.
Availability: Any mon that has a Shadow move in its moves is a Shadow Pokemon (keeping in mind how moves work). On its first switch in, there is a message identifying it as a Shadow Pokemon (akin to Terapagos' ability). There isn't a limit on the number of Shadow Pokemon on a team.
The moveset limitation seems interesting to build around and can let us create some very interesting move distribution. A Shadow mon is obviously powerful offensively, giving it near-perfect coverage in one move (which can offset it not getting STAB). Defensively, resisting Shadow is a huge benefit (since there's no STAB, the BP does all the heavy lifting). How moves adapt to this could be interesting as well - the more Shadow moves a Pokemon gets, the less slots for other moves it can run, which could make some unable to run Protect, Fake Out and other meta relevant moves, and so the moves it would get to run would need to be designed around that.
Soo Yoshi left a comment:
For attackers, making it a Shadow (instead of a regular mon) opens up perfect coverage in a single move slot (2x effectiveness vs everything will hit harder than a STAB attack). Depending on its ability to run boosting moves (if it has less than 4 Shadow moves), it could end up snowballing quick. Something like CB Tauros would also be a very scary Shadow mon since it's locked to one move anyways, and this move would have 2x effectiveness on everything.
On defense, the key value is resisting Shadow attacks from the above attackers. It's probably a requirement to have at least one just to be able to switch into Shadow attacks (since being a Shadow effectively quarters damage from Shadow attacks compared to regular mons). Something like Metagross or Arcanine, which have a lot of defensive value already, could benefit from this, especially if their Shadow movepool lets them still run options like Protect. While Shadow attackers don't really get to use their offensive typing, defenders do, and so defensive answers with good typings can get a lot of value from also resisting Shadow attacks.
I have also included the original versions of each of the slated Shadow moves, in case you need inspiration:
Name: Shadow Half Power: -- Accuracy: 100% PP: N/A (Shadow moves didn't have PP in the original games, but they will here) Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: Damages every Pokemon on the field for 50% of their current HP. User must recharge next turn. This damage cannot cause fainting and is counted as an attack for the purposes of Bide, Mirror Coat, and Focus Punch. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect, Recharge Distribution:
Name: Shadow Shed Power: -- Accuracy: 100% PP: N/A (Shadow moves didn't have PP in the original games, but they will here) Category:
And with this slate featuring a slot for a new Shadow move, here are a couple rules/notes for that:
- The new Shadow move must be Shadow-type
- The new Shadow move's name must be two words, with the first word being "Shadow"
- All the tips for making Shadow moves listed above still apply here
- Below I've listed every Pokemon that currently doesn't have a Shadow move, if you need inspiration on what direction to take a completely new Shadow move:
(for a reason)
And lastly, below is the template for making Shadow move submissions, as well as the rules for making subs:
Blank Template
Name: Power: Accuracy: PP: Category: Type: Effect: Priority: Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification:
Template With Explanations
Name: [Name of the move] Power: [Base Power of the Move] Accuracy: [Accuracy of the Move. Has to be a multiple of 5] PP: [Power Points of the Move. Has to be a multiple of 5] Category: [Physical, Special, or Status - Note that offensive Shadow moves are allowed to be either Physical or Special] Type: [Type of the Move] Effect: [What the move does. Can be a secondary effect or an inherent effect like Throat Chop's. Also include whether or not the move is a spread move] Priority: [The priority bracket of the move. The standard priority of a move is 0] Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): [Specify which flags the move has. A full list can be found here.] Potential Pokémon With This Move: [List a few Pokémon that could learn this move. The council ultimately decides what Pokémon get what moves, but we'll generally use the same list] Justification: [Explain what purpose this move would serve]
Type: Shadow Effect: Summons Shadow Sky for 5 turns, a weather that damages all non-Shadow Pokemon for 1/8 of their max HP at the end of every turn. Weather Ball becomes 100 BP and Shadow-type. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move:
After Slate 1 - Adding Shadow Moves (5 Days per slate)
After we decide how our Shadow Pokemon mechanic works, we'll then adjust every Shadow move from XD: Gale of Darkness to fit a PvP setting and make them fit better into whatever our Shadow mechanics are. 3 Shadow moves will be slated each slate for you to sub changes to, for a total of 6 slates for all 18 original Shadow moves, plus any additional slates if deemed necessary. Submissions should follow the template in the spoiler tag below and be balanced for the Orre Colosseum metagame (taking our Shadow Pokemon mechanics into account), as the council reserves the right to veto any submissions deemed broken, uncompetitive, or uncodeable. Shadow moves should generally follow the same idea of their original versions, but they don't need to. You can only make 1 submission per move slated.
Type: Shadow
Effect: Deals damage equal to 50% (75% if the user is under the effects of Helping Hand) of the target's current HP, rounded up. If the target has already used a move in the same turn, also removes 4 PP from that move. If another Pokemon steals the move via Snatch, the other Pokemon will instead take damage equal to half of its maximum HP rounded up. [As in, foe uses Snatch -> steals Shadow Half -> foe gets Steel Beam recoil rather than doing anything else]
Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: Status Nature's Madness with conditional Spite effects, albeit with Hydro Pump accuracy. It's all or nothing here.
Type: Shadow
Effect: Removes the user's volatile [I'm talking stuff like Curse, confusion, seeding, bounding, etc] and non-volatile status conditions and restores its HP by an amount equal to its level, and then switches the user out to the next ally in line that has not fainted. Fails if the user does not have any status conditions or if there are no ally Pokemon that have not fainted. Cannot be stolen by Snatch and is not prevented by Taunt.
Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: The first (possible) Shadow Pivoting move... to an extent. This is essentially a self-inflicted Purify (with healing scaled like Night Shade damaging) that allows some pivoting, but the pivoting option is much more predictable and relies on your team building because it's gonna feel like "I was hit by Circle Throw" rather than "I used U-Turn".
Name: Shadow Shatter
Power: 50
Accuracy: 100%
PP: 8 Category: Physical
Type: Shadow
Effect: If any adjacent foe has selected any status move and has not yet had a chance to execute its move, Shadow Shatter will first remove the effects of Reflect/Light Screen from the target(s)' side of the field, then inflict damage; otherwise, Shadow Shatter will fail. The target(s) are hit even if it is protected by a protection move, and removes the effects of protection moves from the target(s) for the remainder of the turn.
Priority: +2
Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: Not exactly thrilled with the Shadow Break we have... but I wasn't participating until recently, so made my own. It's basically if Sucker Punch/Upper Hand adopted the love child of Brick Break and Feint for status moves.
Type: Shadow
Effect: The User Sheds their Shadow Type in exchange for a 1 stage Attack, Special Attack, and Speed Boost.
Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: WIP, most likely Pokémon that are reliant on boosting moves Justification: When it came time to vote for shadow storm, I realized there was a much more flavorful move to remove the users shadow typing, Shadow Shed. This move takes advantage of the niche for a status boosting shadow move and is also inspired by shell smash. It focuses on giving a good generalist offensive boost that could be taken advantage of by almost any mon, if they don't mind the new shadow move weakness combined with their preset movepool.
Type: Shadow Effect: Damages the user for 50% of their max HP, then deals damage to the target equal to the amount of HP the user lost. HP is still lost even if the move misses or is blocked by Protect/Detect/Shadow Panic. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification:literally half a final gambit, should be a very rare move but makes for some crazy aggressive plays that are less risky then booms but can only hit 1 thing. Highlights here are Swellow for its Speed, Glalie for being able to Shadow Half, maybe get a kill, then Boom for potentially 2 more, and Sharpedo for having recovery with Shadow Panic, letting you click Shadow Half 3 times.
Type: Shadow Effect: Each Shadow Pokemon on the user's side restores 1/4 of its maximum HP, rounded half up, and has its status condition cured. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Snatch Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: i hate lunar blessing cresselia, let's add it to my glorious pet mod. Very strong support option to combat the extremely common Thunder Wave without having to invest your item slot into Lum or Cheri Berries, but it requires you to run a bunch of Shadows to get full value. Highlights are Skarmory and Lanturn for their bulk (with the former being a super good answer to Metagross now that it has recovery), Azumarill for being able to become a hard-to-remove and hard-to-stop bulky attacker that can heal its own burns or paralysis, Hypno for having 2 Shadow recovery moves with this and Shadow Panic, and Shedinja for gaining some utility.
Type: Shadow Effect: Until it switches out, the target's moves ignore all immunities and abilities. Can target either the user or their teammate (a la Acupressure). Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: concept from one of my 97 unreleased solomods (which was also shadow pokemon-based, fittingly), letting you do goofy stuff like using shadow sights on a partner marowak so it can eq everything to death, or allow calm mind latis to destroy dark-types. very niche, though. Highlights are Plusle and Minun for being able to stop Ground-types from blocking their Electric move spam (if you're not too busy spamming double Shadow Rave), and Jumpluff for being fast and still resisting Earthquake after it makes it partner ignore its own immunity to it.
Type: Shadow Effect: Halves the user's HP; applies the Taunt effect to the opponent and damages them for 12.5% of their total HP for 4 turns. Fails if the user's HP is half or below. If the move misses or is Protected against, the HP does not drop (and the effect does not go off). Hits through Substitute. Priority: 0 Flags: Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: A stronger taunt alternative (4 turns instead of 2) that's also like a weaker Ghost-type Curse, with a drawback and a miss chance because it's kinda strong. Given mostly to Psychic/Poison/Dark/Ghost Taunt users.
Type: Shadow Effect: The user fires a 75 BP projectile that is converted to their Hidden Power type (but is always Special). Priority: 0 Flags: Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: Meant to be an out to special attacking Pokemon that don't get a way to capitalize on usually Physical moves with their relevant attacking stat. Given to Psychic/Dark/Ghost types.
Type: Shadow Effect: The user loses 33% of its maximum HP. Lowers the Special Attack and Special Defense of the opposing side by 1 stage. User then switches out. Single Target. Priority: 0 Flags: Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: We have invented Parting Shot. Only it has a lot less PP. And requires HP sacrifice. Allows you to pivot, which is not a concept in Gen 3 yet, while being useful for both offensive and defensive teammates.
Type: Shadow Effect: Damages every Pokemon on the field for 50% of their current HP. Shadow Pokémon are immune to this effect. This damage cannot cause fainting and is counted as an attack for the purposes of Bide, Mirror Coat, and Focus Punch. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Distribution: Justification: I really like the idea of Shadow Half in standard, so I seeked to adapt it. Being able to just, wipe out half the HP of anything on the field sounds cool. The catch? It can miss, and a whole section of Pokémon are immune to it. Theoretically the entire team could be immune to it, no limits to Shadow Teammates! This makes it an interesting yet risky option to use if you can plan around it.
Half - Super Fang + Spite seems pretty alright, with appropriately lower accuracy considering how strong that Spite effect is if the target is faster. I will say that since this isn't a spread move and already has low accuracy, it probably doesn't need to be a recharge move. Only other thing is that I'm a little confused by the wording of the Snatch effect, does it mean that if something Snatches the move then the Snatch user loses their HP?
Shed - Pivoting is neat in a meta that hardly has any of it, super strong move but needing to get statused first makes it more of a reactive kind of move rather than a momentum generator like U-turn is. Only minor note is that what consistutes as a volatile status is extremely broad, so the effect of removing them could lead to weird interactions, though said interactions would also be rare since the move switches you out anyway
Shatter - A lot going on here but the core idea is interesting, basically a better version of Gen 4 Feint, being a Protect counter that only works for that purpose but also works on other status moves, can kinda act like a better Shadow Blitz but with some counterplay since you always know exactly what mons can learn it. I will say that this move should probably have only +2 priority, since Protect and co. have +3 priority, so if you hit Shadow Shatter first then you get the damage still but won't break the protection
Shed - I like it, high reward for a potentially big risk as you make yourself vulnerable to other Shadow Pokemon, could make for some terrifying but fair sweepers with the right distribution
Half - Interesting concept, Taunt famously kinda sucks this gen because it's so short (and also crazy status moves like Tailwind, Trick Room, or Spore either not existing or not being that prevalent) so a longer Taunt that also deals a little damage could be worth it some situations, especially since Taunt blocks Protect so whatever's suffering from it is gonna have to eat a bunch of chip and an attack
Transmogrify - This one is neat but kinda gets ruined by how the Shadow Pokemon mechanic actually works, as Shadow Pokemon don't actually gain the Shadow-typing (and thus don't get STAB on Shadow moves) (in coding terms, it's more like a volatile than a type change), so this would end up always failing since the mon already has both its types
Shed - Strong pivoting limited to some Shadows is a neat idea, but I do think that simultaneously being a spread move and lowering a defensive stat is a bit much, even with the huge drawback. I'd say that it should either lower just offenses while being a spread move, or lower the defenses while being a single target move
Half - I agree that Shadow Half's original version is an extremely interesting concept, so I can get on board with trying to see how it would do in the real game. Make other Shadows immune to it is also interesting, putting another big drawback on it. There is the slight concern of the move forcing teams into having like 5 or 6 Shadows but I don't think this is likely enough to veto the move. Also, if you're keeping the effect of activating Mirror Coat and not Counter from the original (which was weird for it to do since it was a Status move), then this move should probably be Special instead of Physical
Voting Phase (1 Day)
After the submission phase is over, voting will begin. This mod will be using the same voting system as Megas Revisited, where you can vote for as many submissions as you want, with each submission getting a certain number of points based on how you ranked it. Slate 1 and all move slates will use the same system, as well as any other kind of slate we need to do if necessitated by what our Shadow mechanics end up being. An example can be seen below.
For a slate with Shadow Rush, Shadow Sky, and Shadow Wave, for example, a ballot would look like this: Shadow Rush: User 1, User 2, User 3 Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9
With this ballot, Submission 1 for Shadow Rush would get 3 points, Submission 2 would get 2, and Submission 3 would get 1. The same goes for Submissions 4, 5, and 6 in the Shadow Sky category and Submissions 7, 8, and 9 in the Shadow Wave category, with them getting 3, 2, and 1 point respectively.
You can add as many submissions are you'd like after your third vote, with each one getting 1 point. Shadow Rush: User 1, User 2, User 3 Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9, User 10, User 11
So, in this ballot, Submissions 10 and 11 would also get 1 point in the Shadow Wave category.
You can vote for your own submission, but it can't be in first place or your only vote in that category. Be sure to mark your self-vote by putting (SV) after it. Shadow Rush: User 12 (SV), User 2, User 3 Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9, User 10, User 11
This wouldn't be a legal ballot as the self-vote is in first place in the Shadow Rush category
Shadow Rush: User 12 (SV) Shadow Sky: User 4, User 5, User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 9, User 10, User 11
This also wouldn't be a legal ballot as the self-vote is the only vote in the Shadow Rush category
Shadow Rush: User 2, User 12 (SV) Shadow Sky: User 4, User 12 (SV), User 6 Shadow Wave: User 7, User 8, User 12 (SV), User 10, User 11
This is a legal ballot because none of the self-votes are in first place or the only vote in a category.
If you vote for only 2 submissions in a category, the first place submission gets 2 points and the second place submission gets 1 point. If you vote for just one, then that submission gets 1 point. Beedrill: User 1 (1 point) Lopunny: User 4 (2 points), User 5 (1 point) Pidgeot: User 7 (3 points), User 8 (2 points), User 9 (1 point), User 10 (1 point), User 11 (1 point)
Move: User, User, User, etc. Move: User, User, User, etc. Move: User, User, User, etc.
The submission with the most points in a category will be added to the mod.
Type: Shadow Effect: Damages every Pokemon on the field for 50% of their current HP. Shadow Pokémon are immune to this effect. This damage cannot cause fainting and is counted as an attack for the purposes of Bide, Mirror Coat, and Focus Punch. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Distribution: Justification: I really like the idea of Shadow Half in standard, so I seeked to adapt it. Being able to just, wipe out half the HP of anything on the field sounds cool. The catch? It can miss, and a whole section of Pokémon are immune to it. Theoretically the entire team could be immune to it, no limits to Shadow Teammates! This makes it an interesting yet risky option to use if you can plan around it.
Type: Shadow
Effect: The User Sheds their Shadow Type in exchange for a 1 stage Attack, Special Attack, and Speed Boost. [Modedit: Note that "Shedding their Shadow-type" actually functionally means "Losing the Shadow volatile status"]
Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: WIP, most likely Pokémon that are reliant on boosting moves Justification: When it came time to vote for shadow storm, I realized there was a much more flavorful move to remove the users shadow typing, Shadow Shed. This move takes advantage of the niche for a status boosting shadow move and is also inspired by shell smash. It focuses on giving a good generalist offensive boost that could be taken advantage of by almost any mon, if they don't mind the new shadow move weakness combined with their preset movepool.
Type: Shadow Effect: Until it switches out, the target's moves ignore all immunities and abilities. Can target either the user or their teammate (a la Acupressure). Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification: concept from one of my 97 unreleased solomods (which was also shadow pokemon-based, fittingly), letting you do goofy stuff like using shadow sights on a partner marowak so it can eq everything to death, or allow calm mind latis to destroy dark-types. very niche, though. Highlights are Plusle and Minun for being able to stop Ground-types from blocking their Electric move spam (if you're not too busy spamming double Shadow Rave), and Jumpluff for being fast and still resisting Earthquake after it makes it partner ignore its own immunity to it.
You know the drill, a ~24 hour break, then the official distribution and the start of the next slate! And the next slate is a special one, so be sure to check it out!
Kept most of what Luke suggested, removing some that were probably too stuffed on Shadow moves to have it. The highlight is absolutely Clefable, as the already best redirector in the tier can now either troll Shadows by redirecting their moves into its resistance to them, or troll non-Shadows with 50% chip. Skarmory and Forretress are also somewhat notable for their bulk and lacking offensive presence before (aside from boom for Forretress). Linoone is also notable for being the fastest thing with the move, basically being a super Super Fang Raticate (when you're not using Belly Drum ESpeed)
Shadow Shed -
Shadow Shed is basically a better Dragon Dance, so I didn't give it to too many things. Hilariously, the most viable mon here is probably Gyarados, who's already the best Dragon Dance user in the tier, so now it can do that while not having to drop both Protect and coverage move (though it still needs to drop one). Aside from Gyarados, the best user is probably Salamence, who's usually outclassed by Gyarados but can now become a scary mixed attacker (which I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up broken but I do want to try it). Also, did you know that Whiscash doesn't get Dragon Dance this gen?
Shadow Sights -
Kept a lot of my distribution the same, mostly stuff that's fast and/or have types that have immunities, with a couple additions like Aerodactyl for its Speed and also Metagross for reasons.
Now on to a special Slate 7!
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Slate 7 - Shadow Bolt, Shadow Chill, Shadow Fire
This next slate includes the signature Shadow moves of the Legendary Birds, Shadow Bolt, Chill, and Fire, being Shadow versions of Thunderbolt, Ice Beam, and Flamethrower respectively. All 3 Birds are already viable in Orre (Zapdos much more so than the others), so be sure to be careful with these!
I've put some notes below to help you make submissions for Shadow moves:
- Remember that every Shadow Pokemon must run all of the Shadow moves they can learn and that every Pokemon will learn at least 2 Shadow moves. Thus, try to avoid making redundant Shadow moves, in case they are both given to the same mon, and think about whether it would be worth giving a Pokemon that already learns 2 Shadow moves an additional one.
- In Pokemon XD: Gale of Darkness, all non-signature physical Shadow moves are single-target attacks and all non-signature special Shadow moves are spread moves. Keeping this distinction is not a requirement, but is something to consider.
- Shadow moves are super effective against all non-Shadow Pokemon, but don't give the user a STAB boost. Keep this in mind when deciding how strong they should be.
- The Shadow Pokemon mechanic will be a powerful offensive tool, so keep that in mind when giving moves you make strong to already good Pokemon.
- Click here to see Orre Colosseum's Viability Rankings to see what's already strong.
- If you need a reminder of Gen 3 or Orre Colosseum's mechanics, click here to go to this thread's OP.
- If you need a reminder of what the mechanics of Shadow Pokemon are, you can see them below or in the spreadsheet.
Going for something very out there but still faithful to the games (cause they're my favourite Pokemon games)
Shadow Pokemon Effects
Moves: All Shadow Pokemon learn at least TWO Shadow moves (and can learn a max of FOUR, all of which are default/Lv1 moves). All Shadow moves the Pokemon has available to it must be included in the moveset (so some mons have one legal moveset).
Type Chart: Attacking moves are always 2x super effective on non-Shadow Pokemon, and 0.5x effective on Shadow Pokemon, but Shadow is not a Pokemon's type and so there is never STAB. Moves can be physical or special, decided on a per-move basis.
Availability: Any mon that has a Shadow move in its moves is a Shadow Pokemon (keeping in mind how moves work). On its first switch in, there is a message identifying it as a Shadow Pokemon (akin to Terapagos' ability). There isn't a limit on the number of Shadow Pokemon on a team.
The moveset limitation seems interesting to build around and can let us create some very interesting move distribution. A Shadow mon is obviously powerful offensively, giving it near-perfect coverage in one move (which can offset it not getting STAB). Defensively, resisting Shadow is a huge benefit (since there's no STAB, the BP does all the heavy lifting). How moves adapt to this could be interesting as well - the more Shadow moves a Pokemon gets, the less slots for other moves it can run, which could make some unable to run Protect, Fake Out and other meta relevant moves, and so the moves it would get to run would need to be designed around that.
Soo Yoshi left a comment:
For attackers, making it a Shadow (instead of a regular mon) opens up perfect coverage in a single move slot (2x effectiveness vs everything will hit harder than a STAB attack). Depending on its ability to run boosting moves (if it has less than 4 Shadow moves), it could end up snowballing quick. Something like CB Tauros would also be a very scary Shadow mon since it's locked to one move anyways, and this move would have 2x effectiveness on everything.
On defense, the key value is resisting Shadow attacks from the above attackers. It's probably a requirement to have at least one just to be able to switch into Shadow attacks (since being a Shadow effectively quarters damage from Shadow attacks compared to regular mons). Something like Metagross or Arcanine, which have a lot of defensive value already, could benefit from this, especially if their Shadow movepool lets them still run options like Protect. While Shadow attackers don't really get to use their offensive typing, defenders do, and so defensive answers with good typings can get a lot of value from also resisting Shadow attacks.
I have also included the original versions of each of the slated Shadow moves, in case you need inspiration:
Name: Shadow Bolt Power: 75 Accuracy: 100% PP: N/A (Shadow moves didn't have PP in the original games, but they will here) Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: 10% chance to paralyze the foe. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Distribution:
Name: Shadow Chill Power: 75 Accuracy: 100% PP: N/A (Shadow moves didn't have PP in the original games, but they will here) Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: 10% chance to freeze the foe. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Distribution:
Name: Shadow Fire Power: 75 Accuracy: 100% PP: N/A (Shadow moves didn't have PP in the original games, but they will here) Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: 10% chance to burn the foe. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Distribution:
Note that while these moves are signature moves in the original games, making them signature moves here isn't required, just be sure to make that clear in your submission so I don't go and make them signature when distribution happens.
And lastly, below is the template for making Shadow move submissions, as well as the rules for making subs:
Blank Template
Name: Power: Accuracy: PP: Category: Type: Effect: Priority: Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Potential Pokémon With This Move: Justification:
Template With Explanations
Name: [Name of the move] Power: [Base Power of the Move] Accuracy: [Accuracy of the Move. Has to be a multiple of 5] PP: [Power Points of the Move. Has to be a multiple of 5] Category: [Physical, Special, or Status - Note that offensive Shadow moves are allowed to be either Physical or Special] Type: [Type of the Move] Effect: [What the move does. Can be a secondary effect or an inherent effect like Throat Chop's. Also include whether or not the move is a spread move] Priority: [The priority bracket of the move. The standard priority of a move is 0] Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): [Specify which flags the move has. A full list can be found here.] Potential Pokémon With This Move: [List a few Pokémon that could learn this move. The council ultimately decides what Pokémon get what moves, but we'll generally use the same list] Justification: [Explain what purpose this move would serve]
Type: Shadow Effect: Summons Shadow Sky for 5 turns, a weather that damages all non-Shadow Pokemon for 1/8 of their max HP at the end of every turn. Weather Ball becomes 100 BP and Shadow-type. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): N/A Potential Pokémon With This Move:
After Slate 1 - Adding Shadow Moves (5 Days per slate)
After we decide how our Shadow Pokemon mechanic works, we'll then adjust every Shadow move from XD: Gale of Darkness to fit a PvP setting and make them fit better into whatever our Shadow mechanics are. 3 Shadow moves will be slated each slate for you to sub changes to, for a total of 6 slates for all 18 original Shadow moves, plus any additional slates if deemed necessary. Submissions should follow the template in the spoiler tag below and be balanced for the Orre Colosseum metagame (taking our Shadow Pokemon mechanics into account), as the council reserves the right to veto any submissions deemed broken, uncompetitive, or uncodeable. Shadow moves should generally follow the same idea of their original versions, but they don't need to. You can only make 1 submission per move slated.
Type: Shadow Effect: 50% chance to paralyse the target. Its power is increased by 50% if the target is already paralysed. Has a 30% chance to bypass Protection moves when used during rain. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move:
Type: Shadow Effect: 30% chance to freeze the target. Its power is increased by 50% if the target is already frozen. Has a 30% chance to bypass Protection moves when used during hail. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect Potential Pokémon With This Move::
Name: Shadow Fire Power: 70 Accuracy: 80% PP: 16 Category:
Type: Shadow Effect: 50% chance to burn the target. Its power is increased by 50% if the target is already burned. Has a 30% chance to bypass Protection moves when used during harsh sunlight. Priority: 0 Flags (ex: Contact, Sound): Protect, Defrost. Potential Pokémon With This Move:
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(I didn't have time to fill in the rest)
