[OVERVIEW]
Shaymin is blessed by well-rounded bulk, solid Special Attack, and great Speed, enabling it to tap into its colorful coverage to act as a potent specially offensive threat. Seed Flare is a potent offensive STAB move, and it can make Shaymin into a deadly wallbreaker if it gets lucky with Special Defense drops against would-be checks like Snorlax and Muk. A gifted utility movepool makes Shaymin surprisingly flexible when building with it and using it, and Shaymin's customizability makes it even more threatening because of how unpredictable it is. Natural Cure even makes Shaymin a rare, viable status absorber, giving it an edge in taking advantage of status spreaders like Lanturn, Rotom-C, and Hattrem. However, Shaymin sees massive competition from other Grass-types between their many secondary typings and other traits; Rotom-C and Whimsicott can pivot; Abomasnow, Arboliva, and Thwackey all set beneficial field effects to further support their teammates; Alolan Exeggutor and Brute Bonnet are much stronger wallbreakers; Virizion and Whimsicott are both faster than Shaymin, giving them the edge against Charizard; and Dipplin is much bulkier and can absorb Knock Off. Mesprit and Hattrem are both capable of replicating some of Shaymin's utility while compressing entry hazard utility. Shaymin's just above-average Speed leaves it behind faster Pokemon like Sneasel formes, which is a liability when Shaymin's Grass typing undermines its bulk by saddling it with so many weaknesses.
[SET]
Offensive (Shaymin) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Choice Scarf / Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Ground / Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Air Slash / Dazzling Gleam
- Synthesis / Healing Wish / Rest
[SET COMMENTS]
Seed Flare's high Base Power and solid chance to drop a foe's Special Defense make Shaymin a potent offensive threat that can break down its own checks with its coverage and some good luck. Earth Power targets Poison-types like Hisuian Sneasel and Hisuian Qwilfish as well as other Grass-resistant foes like Typhlosion and Magneton. Air Slash covers opposing Grass-types like Arboliva and Lurantis. Dazzling Gleam is an alternative coverage move that synergizes with Tera Fairy and still acts as a good coverage move against Brute Bonnet, Vrizion, Dipplin, and Alolan Exeggutor. Shaymin's well-rounded bulk and Grass typing are shored up by Synthesis for recovery, and Shaymin can use Synthesis to outlast and overwhelm passive foes like Regirock and Orthworm as well as Rotom-C. Healing Wish leans in more to Shaymin as an offensive support for its team and make up for positions where its Grass-type coverage is limited by giving a wallbreaker teammate a second wind or free switch. Rest is an alternative recovery option that takes advantage of Natural Cure curing Shaymin's sleep once it switches out. The protection against entry hazards that Heavy-Duty Boots provides enables Shaymin to worry less about its longevity, so Heavy-Duty Boots sets can more aggressively pivot onto the field to absorb status or passive attackers with hazards up. Additionally, Heavy-Duty Boots Shaymin has a better matchup against Sticky Web teams thanks to Shaymin's good natural Speed. Choice Scarf Shaymin sets take advantage of Seed Flare's spammability and Shaymin's great Speed tier for a Choice Scarf user, and the Speed boost from Choice Scarf helps Shaymin more consistently use Healing Wish. Life Orb variants crank Shaymin's power up higher to break down special walls like Snorlax, and they share the moveset flexibility of Heavy-Duty Boots variants that can flex Shaymin's colorful coverage to beat down Muk. Shaymin can also use Synthesis or Rest to mitigate the recoil damage from running Life Orb. Choice Specs Shaymin commits mostly to spamming Seed Flare, but it can melt through even bulky, Grass-resistant Pokemon like Brute Bonnet and Hisuian Qwilfish can be 2HKOed with good luck and Special Defense drops. Shaymin is a flexible user of Terastallization thanks to not relying on Tera to function yet still having well-rounded stats and diverse coverage for good offensive and defensive Terastallization. Tera Ground powers up Earth Power and gives Shaymin a useful poison resistance to improve its matchups against Poison-types like Hisuian Qwilfish, Weezing, and Muk. Alternatively, Tera Fairy grants Shaymin a good defensive typing that's disruptive against Virizion, Dipplin, Passimian, and Alolan Exeggutor, and the Dark resistance it provides helps against Brute Bonnet and its Sucker Punch.
Shaymin's customizability earns it spots on multiple team archetypes. Hyper offense teams appreciate Healing Wish and can rely on Shaymin's decent bulk and wallbreaking abilities. Shaymin has the natural bulk for bulky offense teams and the power to keep up as a wallbreaker, and its ability to absorb status can let it play more aggressively. Special sweepers like Oricorio-F, Farigiraf, and Jolteon appreciate Shaymin softening up walls like Snorlax, Orthworm, and Muk so they can more efficiently sweep. Other special wallbreakers like Charizard, Typhlosion, and Magneton can pair with Shaymin to overwhelm their shared checks of the aforementioned walls, and these wallbreakers can pressure Cryogonal and Articuno for Shaymin while benefitting from Shaymin's good matchups against Lanturn and Regirock. Pivots like Mesprit and Floatzel can give Shaymin free switches to hit the field and conserve its health as it wallbreaks, which is especially useful if Shaymin forgoes recovery. Fire-types like Charizard and Typhlosion are major obstacles for Shaymin and can exploit its Choice item lock, so Shaymin benefits from partners like Regirock and Lanturn that can switch into Fire-types. Shaymin depends on Poison-resistant Pokemon like Sandslash and Sandaconda to mitigate its difficult matchups against Poison-types like Muk and Hisuian Sneasel. Special walls like Snorlax and Muk are vulnerable to Spikes, and Shaymin can deter Sandslash for Hisuian Qwilfish.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Shaymin's well-rounded stats and flexibility suit it as a good user of Terastallization, so it can tap into a variety of alternative Tera types. Tera Ghost offers Shaymin a good defensive typing against Hisuian Sneasel and other Poison-types, helps Shaymin spinblock against Sandslash, and annoys Snorlax and Terastallized IronPress Regirock. However, Tera Ghost adds an unfortunate Dark weakness to Shaymin that worsens its matchup against Brute Bonnet.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-types**: Charizard and Oricorio-F take 4x resisted damage from Shaymin's Seed Flare, and Articuno can waste Seed Flare PP with Pressure. Both Oricorio-F and Articuno have reliable recovery to wall Shaymin.
**Special Walls**: Without Special Defense drops, Snorlax and Orthworm can be a pain for Shaymin to take down on its own. Cryogonal can use Haze to remove any stat nerfs.
**Poison-types**: Muk has the best special bulk out of any Poison-type and can tank Earth Power, but even it must be wary of Special Defense drops. Hisuian Qwilfish can OHKO Shaymin with Gunk Shot on its offensive sets but must be wary of Earth Power. Hisuian Sneasel naturally outspeeds Shaymin, barring Choice Scarf. Weezing has Levitate for Earth Power, but Choice Specs Shaymin can 2HKO it with Seed Flare.
**Ice-types**: Sneasel naturally outspeeds non-Choice Scarf Shaymin and can pick it off with Ice Shard. Glastrier is bulky enough to tank an attack from Shaymin and usually KO it in return. Beartic can outspeed non-Choice Scarf Shaymin under snow.
**Vikavolt**: Even uninvested, Vikavolt's STAB Bug Buzz OHKOes Shaymin, and Vikavolt is bulky enough to tank Shaymin's attacks provided it doesn't have its Special Defense dropped.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/missangelic.452572/
Quality checked by:
Grammar checked by:
Shaymin is blessed by well-rounded bulk, solid Special Attack, and great Speed, enabling it to tap into its colorful coverage to act as a potent specially offensive threat. Seed Flare is a potent offensive STAB move, and it can make Shaymin into a deadly wallbreaker if it gets lucky with Special Defense drops against would-be checks like Snorlax and Muk. A gifted utility movepool makes Shaymin surprisingly flexible when building with it and using it, and Shaymin's customizability makes it even more threatening because of how unpredictable it is. Natural Cure even makes Shaymin a rare, viable status absorber, giving it an edge in taking advantage of status spreaders like Lanturn, Rotom-C, and Hattrem. However, Shaymin sees massive competition from other Grass-types between their many secondary typings and other traits; Rotom-C and Whimsicott can pivot; Abomasnow, Arboliva, and Thwackey all set beneficial field effects to further support their teammates; Alolan Exeggutor and Brute Bonnet are much stronger wallbreakers; Virizion and Whimsicott are both faster than Shaymin, giving them the edge against Charizard; and Dipplin is much bulkier and can absorb Knock Off. Mesprit and Hattrem are both capable of replicating some of Shaymin's utility while compressing entry hazard utility. Shaymin's just above-average Speed leaves it behind faster Pokemon like Sneasel formes, which is a liability when Shaymin's Grass typing undermines its bulk by saddling it with so many weaknesses.
[SET]
Offensive (Shaymin) @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Choice Scarf / Life Orb / Choice Specs
Ability: Natural Cure
Tera Type: Ground / Fairy
EVs: 252 SpA / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Seed Flare
- Earth Power
- Air Slash / Dazzling Gleam
- Synthesis / Healing Wish / Rest
[SET COMMENTS]
Seed Flare's high Base Power and solid chance to drop a foe's Special Defense make Shaymin a potent offensive threat that can break down its own checks with its coverage and some good luck. Earth Power targets Poison-types like Hisuian Sneasel and Hisuian Qwilfish as well as other Grass-resistant foes like Typhlosion and Magneton. Air Slash covers opposing Grass-types like Arboliva and Lurantis. Dazzling Gleam is an alternative coverage move that synergizes with Tera Fairy and still acts as a good coverage move against Brute Bonnet, Vrizion, Dipplin, and Alolan Exeggutor. Shaymin's well-rounded bulk and Grass typing are shored up by Synthesis for recovery, and Shaymin can use Synthesis to outlast and overwhelm passive foes like Regirock and Orthworm as well as Rotom-C. Healing Wish leans in more to Shaymin as an offensive support for its team and make up for positions where its Grass-type coverage is limited by giving a wallbreaker teammate a second wind or free switch. Rest is an alternative recovery option that takes advantage of Natural Cure curing Shaymin's sleep once it switches out. The protection against entry hazards that Heavy-Duty Boots provides enables Shaymin to worry less about its longevity, so Heavy-Duty Boots sets can more aggressively pivot onto the field to absorb status or passive attackers with hazards up. Additionally, Heavy-Duty Boots Shaymin has a better matchup against Sticky Web teams thanks to Shaymin's good natural Speed. Choice Scarf Shaymin sets take advantage of Seed Flare's spammability and Shaymin's great Speed tier for a Choice Scarf user, and the Speed boost from Choice Scarf helps Shaymin more consistently use Healing Wish. Life Orb variants crank Shaymin's power up higher to break down special walls like Snorlax, and they share the moveset flexibility of Heavy-Duty Boots variants that can flex Shaymin's colorful coverage to beat down Muk. Shaymin can also use Synthesis or Rest to mitigate the recoil damage from running Life Orb. Choice Specs Shaymin commits mostly to spamming Seed Flare, but it can melt through even bulky, Grass-resistant Pokemon like Brute Bonnet and Hisuian Qwilfish can be 2HKOed with good luck and Special Defense drops. Shaymin is a flexible user of Terastallization thanks to not relying on Tera to function yet still having well-rounded stats and diverse coverage for good offensive and defensive Terastallization. Tera Ground powers up Earth Power and gives Shaymin a useful poison resistance to improve its matchups against Poison-types like Hisuian Qwilfish, Weezing, and Muk. Alternatively, Tera Fairy grants Shaymin a good defensive typing that's disruptive against Virizion, Dipplin, Passimian, and Alolan Exeggutor, and the Dark resistance it provides helps against Brute Bonnet and its Sucker Punch.
Shaymin's customizability earns it spots on multiple team archetypes. Hyper offense teams appreciate Healing Wish and can rely on Shaymin's decent bulk and wallbreaking abilities. Shaymin has the natural bulk for bulky offense teams and the power to keep up as a wallbreaker, and its ability to absorb status can let it play more aggressively. Special sweepers like Oricorio-F, Farigiraf, and Jolteon appreciate Shaymin softening up walls like Snorlax, Orthworm, and Muk so they can more efficiently sweep. Other special wallbreakers like Charizard, Typhlosion, and Magneton can pair with Shaymin to overwhelm their shared checks of the aforementioned walls, and these wallbreakers can pressure Cryogonal and Articuno for Shaymin while benefitting from Shaymin's good matchups against Lanturn and Regirock. Pivots like Mesprit and Floatzel can give Shaymin free switches to hit the field and conserve its health as it wallbreaks, which is especially useful if Shaymin forgoes recovery. Fire-types like Charizard and Typhlosion are major obstacles for Shaymin and can exploit its Choice item lock, so Shaymin benefits from partners like Regirock and Lanturn that can switch into Fire-types. Shaymin depends on Poison-resistant Pokemon like Sandslash and Sandaconda to mitigate its difficult matchups against Poison-types like Muk and Hisuian Sneasel. Special walls like Snorlax and Muk are vulnerable to Spikes, and Shaymin can deter Sandslash for Hisuian Qwilfish.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Shaymin's well-rounded stats and flexibility suit it as a good user of Terastallization, so it can tap into a variety of alternative Tera types. Tera Ghost offers Shaymin a good defensive typing against Hisuian Sneasel and other Poison-types, helps Shaymin spinblock against Sandslash, and annoys Snorlax and Terastallized IronPress Regirock. However, Tera Ghost adds an unfortunate Dark weakness to Shaymin that worsens its matchup against Brute Bonnet.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-types**: Charizard and Oricorio-F take 4x resisted damage from Shaymin's Seed Flare, and Articuno can waste Seed Flare PP with Pressure. Both Oricorio-F and Articuno have reliable recovery to wall Shaymin.
**Special Walls**: Without Special Defense drops, Snorlax and Orthworm can be a pain for Shaymin to take down on its own. Cryogonal can use Haze to remove any stat nerfs.
**Poison-types**: Muk has the best special bulk out of any Poison-type and can tank Earth Power, but even it must be wary of Special Defense drops. Hisuian Qwilfish can OHKO Shaymin with Gunk Shot on its offensive sets but must be wary of Earth Power. Hisuian Sneasel naturally outspeeds Shaymin, barring Choice Scarf. Weezing has Levitate for Earth Power, but Choice Specs Shaymin can 2HKO it with Seed Flare.
**Ice-types**: Sneasel naturally outspeeds non-Choice Scarf Shaymin and can pick it off with Ice Shard. Glastrier is bulky enough to tank an attack from Shaymin and usually KO it in return. Beartic can outspeed non-Choice Scarf Shaymin under snow.
**Vikavolt**: Even uninvested, Vikavolt's STAB Bug Buzz OHKOes Shaymin, and Vikavolt is bulky enough to tank Shaymin's attacks provided it doesn't have its Special Defense dropped.
[CREDITS]
Written by:
https://www.smogon.com/forums/members/missangelic.452572/
Quality checked by:
Grammar checked by:
Last edited: