A while back before the Platinum changes were released, I had been working on perfecting a Shedinja based team for Shoddy. This team actually worked very well for a good while, ruining many strategies because of Shedinja being able to counter the oddest things. However, all the new toys that Platinum bring such as Trick and Skymin himself, this team has been struggling enormously.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/96 Spd/160 SDef
Lonely nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
So this was my lead Zapdos. Very bulky, mediocre speed, but Zapdos's job is to set up subs to give to Shedinja to prevent status and allow him to take additional hits. Zapdos really does this job pretty well imo.
Kingdra (M) @ Splash Plate
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 128 HP/128 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Surf
While Kingdra's supporting purpose is to clear the field of weather conditions, Kingdra is very well of sweeping by himself if the opponent doesn't have a bulky special wall like pokemon. Kingdra also can come in on Heatran's Fire attacks, but lately they've been randomly picking Dragon Pulse instead (I know, it's not truly random, but I've had instances where they didn't know I had Kingdra and I'm suddenly down a poke...)
Drapion (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP/12 Atk/244 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Toxic Spikes
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
Drapion's support purpose is to absorb Toxic spikes and set some of his own. This Set also takes sleep for the team and used to be a great Gengar counter before he got Trick.
Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/6 SAtk
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Shadow Sneak
The sweeper of the team, and also the "special conditions wall" as there is really no other way to explain. He can wall some of the most random stuff. He Scizor, Suicune, Vappy (even Toxic if he has a sub), Medicham, Blissey, and all the bolt beamers you can think of.
The two best tools that Shedinja received in DP are Focus Sash and Shadow Sneak. With a stab priority move, Shedinja can KO weak but threatening pokes such as Gengar, and finish off many other damaged pokes, and with Focus Sash, he can stay in to 2HKO a poke that normally has a SE move on Shedinja.
When using Shedinja, if you send in Shedinja without scouting your opponent's entire team, it's probably in your best interest to go ahead and baton pass as soon as he's sent in to avoid the chance of tyranitar, Hippodown, or Abomasnow randomly switching in to kill you. After that initial scouting, it's usually safe to leave Shedinja in w/o much scouting if Zapdos passes a sub to it.
Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/6 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Roar
my sub par rapid spinner that I've increasingly grown to hate for some reason. You would think that Ice Shard could be used as somewhat of a threat, but it isn't (Maybe I should invest Atk EVs?). No one is stupid enough to stay in on Earthquake either. So usually, I wait until their spiker and SRocker are dead and rapid spin before this thing dies clearing the way for Shedinja.
Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/6 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Fire Punch / Earthquake
- Will-o-wisp
- Thunderpunch
- Pain Split
At first, I couldn't help but think it wouldn't be wise to have a pokemon that shares a weakness of Shedinja's. In action though, Dusknoir baits out Ghost killers such as Weavile and Tyranitar and burns them with wow. Afterwords, the opponent usually believes that they can dispose their pokemon which gives more room for Shedinja's sweeping.
In addition, Dusknoir provides the fire move to Abomasnow, Scizor, and Heracross and Thunderpunch allows him to beat Gyarados one on one. The increase of Heatrans jumping in to take advantage of wow though is tempting me to run Earthquake for kicks. I've seen someone run it before, and it worked very well for them.
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Looking at this team, I may have not put enough input into explaining why I chose to use X pokemon to support Shedinja instead of pokemon Y, but I posted this kind of late. Some things I've thought of is replacing Drapion and Donphan with Tentacruel, letting me free up some space for something else, but I don't like the thought of running two water types with similar coverage. Dusknoir could also be a good replaceable pokemon on my team as he could just carry a sign saying "switch in on me, I don't bite".
Overall pros:
- Surprising
- Kingdra and Shedinja can sweep
- Toxic Spike support
- Zapdos really works well with the team by keeping everyone protected with subs
Overall negs:
- Trick rapes me...
- Skymin
- Skarmory (once he starts whirlwind, I have no control of getting Donphan in, thus Shedinja is always in risk of dieing)
- Heatran (once he dragon pulses Kingdra, I have no way to really deal with this monster)
So post what you think. I'll listen to any contributions you can think of if I believe it will benifit my team. The hardest thing is trying to squeeze all the potential support into a team of 5 + sheddy.
Zapdos @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/96 Spd/160 SDef
Lonely nature (+Atk, -Def)
- Baton Pass
- Substitute
- Thunderbolt
- Roost
So this was my lead Zapdos. Very bulky, mediocre speed, but Zapdos's job is to set up subs to give to Shedinja to prevent status and allow him to take additional hits. Zapdos really does this job pretty well imo.
Kingdra (M) @ Splash Plate
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 128 HP/128 Spd/252 SAtk
Modest nature (+SAtk, -Atk)
- Rain Dance
- Ice Beam
- Hidden Power [Electric]
- Surf
While Kingdra's supporting purpose is to clear the field of weather conditions, Kingdra is very well of sweeping by himself if the opponent doesn't have a bulky special wall like pokemon. Kingdra also can come in on Heatran's Fire attacks, but lately they've been randomly picking Dragon Pulse instead (I know, it's not truly random, but I've had instances where they didn't know I had Kingdra and I'm suddenly down a poke...)
Drapion (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Battle Armor
EVs: 252 HP/12 Atk/244 SDef
Careful nature (+SDef, -SAtk)
- Crunch
- Toxic Spikes
- Sleep Talk
- Rest
Drapion's support purpose is to absorb Toxic spikes and set some of his own. This Set also takes sleep for the team and used to be a great Gengar counter before he got Trick.
Shedinja @ Focus Sash
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk/252 Spd/6 SAtk
Adamant nature (+Atk, -SAtk)
- Baton Pass
- Swords Dance
- X-Scissor
- Shadow Sneak
The sweeper of the team, and also the "special conditions wall" as there is really no other way to explain. He can wall some of the most random stuff. He Scizor, Suicune, Vappy (even Toxic if he has a sub), Medicham, Blissey, and all the bolt beamers you can think of.
The two best tools that Shedinja received in DP are Focus Sash and Shadow Sneak. With a stab priority move, Shedinja can KO weak but threatening pokes such as Gengar, and finish off many other damaged pokes, and with Focus Sash, he can stay in to 2HKO a poke that normally has a SE move on Shedinja.
When using Shedinja, if you send in Shedinja without scouting your opponent's entire team, it's probably in your best interest to go ahead and baton pass as soon as he's sent in to avoid the chance of tyranitar, Hippodown, or Abomasnow randomly switching in to kill you. After that initial scouting, it's usually safe to leave Shedinja in w/o much scouting if Zapdos passes a sub to it.
Donphan (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Sturdy
EVs: 252 HP/6 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Earthquake
- Ice Shard
- Rapid Spin
- Roar
my sub par rapid spinner that I've increasingly grown to hate for some reason. You would think that Ice Shard could be used as somewhat of a threat, but it isn't (Maybe I should invest Atk EVs?). No one is stupid enough to stay in on Earthquake either. So usually, I wait until their spiker and SRocker are dead and rapid spin before this thing dies clearing the way for Shedinja.
Dusknoir (M) @ Leftovers
Ability: Pressure
EVs: 252 HP/6 Atk/252 Def
Impish nature (+Def, -SAtk)
- Fire Punch / Earthquake
- Will-o-wisp
- Thunderpunch
- Pain Split
At first, I couldn't help but think it wouldn't be wise to have a pokemon that shares a weakness of Shedinja's. In action though, Dusknoir baits out Ghost killers such as Weavile and Tyranitar and burns them with wow. Afterwords, the opponent usually believes that they can dispose their pokemon which gives more room for Shedinja's sweeping.
In addition, Dusknoir provides the fire move to Abomasnow, Scizor, and Heracross and Thunderpunch allows him to beat Gyarados one on one. The increase of Heatrans jumping in to take advantage of wow though is tempting me to run Earthquake for kicks. I've seen someone run it before, and it worked very well for them.
---------------------------------------------------------
Looking at this team, I may have not put enough input into explaining why I chose to use X pokemon to support Shedinja instead of pokemon Y, but I posted this kind of late. Some things I've thought of is replacing Drapion and Donphan with Tentacruel, letting me free up some space for something else, but I don't like the thought of running two water types with similar coverage. Dusknoir could also be a good replaceable pokemon on my team as he could just carry a sign saying "switch in on me, I don't bite".
Overall pros:
- Surprising
- Kingdra and Shedinja can sweep
- Toxic Spike support
- Zapdos really works well with the team by keeping everyone protected with subs
Overall negs:
- Trick rapes me...
- Skymin
- Skarmory (once he starts whirlwind, I have no control of getting Donphan in, thus Shedinja is always in risk of dieing)
- Heatran (once he dragon pulses Kingdra, I have no way to really deal with this monster)
So post what you think. I'll listen to any contributions you can think of if I believe it will benifit my team. The hardest thing is trying to squeeze all the potential support into a team of 5 + sheddy.
