I realised some things about this Generation:
1. Hatterene was introduced, a OU viable Pokemon with Magic Bounce which reflects Status and Hazards.
2. Heavy-Duty Boots was introduced, a item that makes the Pokemon holding it immune to Hazards.
3. Apart from Super effective attacks and Weather (the former upon further testing being a really big deal) Shedinja is primarily affected by Hazards and Status.
4. Many other strong Pokemon in the previous generations isn't available yet.
If Shedinja is ever going to be OU viable it's going to be now. This knowledge put together made me take my limited Team Building experience and Pokemon skills to try and make a viable Shedinja team.
I'm putting a more detailed report on how well the team worked at the end but the TLDR is that it did way better than it had any rights to, but it's still not good.
Shedinja @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Claw
- Protect
The star of the team. The idea behind this set is to switch into a Pokemon that can't damage it and hit their switch in with your status of choice. It also has added utility of scouting with Protect, perpetuating Poison and Burn turns by switching in on predicted ineffective attacks and protecting, and pivoting especially with Toxepex's Regenerator.
Shedinja is immune to:
- Hatterene's Poison and Steel weakness.
- All of Toxapex's weaknesses.
- Ferrethorn's Fighting weakness.
- Rotom-Heat's Water weakness.
I considered running Confuse Ray or String Shot instead of one of the current status moves. I still don't think it's a terrible idea with all the Fire, Steel, Poison, Burn Orb, and Unaware Pokemon running around.
I chose this over Sword Dance Shedinja since realistically Shedinja would never have the time to setup and attack unless you are already in a position where Shedinja single attack can be your win condition.
I'm honestly surprised that Game Freak didn't give Shedinja Rapid Spin or Defog alongside all the other almost useless moves it has, in the unlikely event they do add those moves it would be a genuinely good move on this set.
Hatterene (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 23 Spe
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
- Trick Room
The Magic Bounce Pokemon that's mandatory for the team to function, switching it in onto predicted status especially against Shedinja. Otherwise it works exactly like normal Trick Room Hatterene. Trick Room also has synergy with Ferrothorn and Toxapex.
I gave it 23 Speed IVs to out-speed neutral speed nature Ferrothorn, as this only comes at the cost of not being able to out-slow -1 Snorlax and Copperajah I believe it's worth it.
I tried Cleric Espeon instead of Hatterene, the issue is that it cannot do anything except for Wish pass and it doesn't do particularly well at that with Espeon's base HP not being high enough.
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic
Classic Specially Defensive Toxapex. A extremely strong stall Pokemon which forms one part of this teams defensive core. Walls many special threats including Clefable and Hydreigon and certain physical threats like Conkeldurr while passing around Toxic and Scald burns.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
Standard Physically Defensive Hazard Ferrothorn. Another strong stall Pokemon forming the last part of this teams defensive core and the most common lead on this team. Walls most physical threats including Corviknight as well as most threats that don't carry Fire or Fighting type moves.
Thunder Wave isn't run as normally this team gets kills with Poison or Burn status. Power Whip and Body Press isn't run as most if not all Pokemon where those moves are super effective this team already stalls.
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Transform
All previous Pokemon are weak to Setup Pokemon, as such Ditto is a natural fit. It also adds some much needed offensive prowess as well as being a universal check which is needed as this team doesn't have much redundancy.
Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Defog
Rotom-Heat provides strong Fire type attacks for Steel types in addition to being a useful Pivot, Defog-mon, and potential sweeper with Nasty Plot. Role compression being Rotom-Heat's selling point. Any Pokemon that replaces this one would have to do all of this or otherwise be strong enough to compensate.
---
Weaknesses of this team:
The first weakness of this team is that it's trying to make Shedinja viable, the second being that it's being piloted by someone who can't predict well. With that out of the way these are the team's other weaknesses.
It has no Ghost or Dark resistances. This should easily be solved by adding a Dark type but it's hard to figure out what to replace. My current ideas are either Hydreigon with U-Turn, Flamethrower/Fire Blast, and Defog or say Hazards be damned and run Banded Tyranitar with Fire Punch.
There is no redundancy on the team. Whenever a single Pokemon goes down this teams ability to check or counter threats goes down dramatically. This is further exasperated by my apparent inability to remember obvious moves including Fire Blast on Dragapult and Brave Bird on Corviknight and accidentally losing a Ferrethorn or Shedinja to it.
There are no specific counters. While a Toxapex + Ferrerthorn defensive core with Shedinja, Magic Bounce Hatterene, and Ditto can universally check or counter offensive threats, stall-mons, and setup-mons respectively, none of those Pokemon are designed to counter specific Pokemon allowing for particularly strong Pokemon or a continual assault is able to to break holes in the team which further exasperates the no redundancy problem.
Shedinja isn't good. There are way too many moves that are supereffective against Shedinja in addition to Steel types and Fire types which are immune to Poison and Burn respectively and Pokemon which are immune to their own status moves reducing the potency of Magic Bounce. While it's extremely fun to annoy people by auto-winning against a Rain team after taking out their Dracovish and Toxic user or Toxic-stalling with Shedinja buying additional turns overall a different defensive Pokemon that doesn't necessitate Magic Bounce support would work just as well.
---
Conclusion:
I managed to win 10 out of 16 with this team which allowed by first climb to >1200 Elo. I also don't do this team justice due to my low skills with predicting. I consider this a win given the absurd beginnings of this team.
On the other hand this is still very much a meme team, Shedinja is just too full of weaknesses for it to work outside of a gimmick. The build around that Shedinja necessitates makes most teams automatically have the necessary counters for it while the chance of the reverse being substantially reduced.
1. Hatterene was introduced, a OU viable Pokemon with Magic Bounce which reflects Status and Hazards.
2. Heavy-Duty Boots was introduced, a item that makes the Pokemon holding it immune to Hazards.
3. Apart from Super effective attacks and Weather (the former upon further testing being a really big deal) Shedinja is primarily affected by Hazards and Status.
4. Many other strong Pokemon in the previous generations isn't available yet.
If Shedinja is ever going to be OU viable it's going to be now. This knowledge put together made me take my limited Team Building experience and Pokemon skills to try and make a viable Shedinja team.
I'm putting a more detailed report on how well the team worked at the end but the TLDR is that it did way better than it had any rights to, but it's still not good.
Hatterene (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 23 Spe
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
- Trick Room
Shedinja @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Claw
- Protect
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Transform
Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Defog
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 23 Spe
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
- Trick Room
Shedinja @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Claw
- Protect
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Transform
Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Defog
Shedinja @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Wonder Guard
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Spe
Lonely Nature
- Toxic
- Will-O-Wisp
- Shadow Claw
- Protect
The star of the team. The idea behind this set is to switch into a Pokemon that can't damage it and hit their switch in with your status of choice. It also has added utility of scouting with Protect, perpetuating Poison and Burn turns by switching in on predicted ineffective attacks and protecting, and pivoting especially with Toxepex's Regenerator.
Shedinja is immune to:
- Hatterene's Poison and Steel weakness.
- All of Toxapex's weaknesses.
- Ferrethorn's Fighting weakness.
- Rotom-Heat's Water weakness.
I considered running Confuse Ray or String Shot instead of one of the current status moves. I still don't think it's a terrible idea with all the Fire, Steel, Poison, Burn Orb, and Unaware Pokemon running around.
I chose this over Sword Dance Shedinja since realistically Shedinja would never have the time to setup and attack unless you are already in a position where Shedinja single attack can be your win condition.
I'm honestly surprised that Game Freak didn't give Shedinja Rapid Spin or Defog alongside all the other almost useless moves it has, in the unlikely event they do add those moves it would be a genuinely good move on this set.
Hatterene (F) @ Leftovers
Ability: Magic Bounce
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpA
Quiet Nature
IVs: 0 Atk / 23 Spe
- Psychic
- Dazzling Gleam
- Mystical Fire
- Trick Room
The Magic Bounce Pokemon that's mandatory for the team to function, switching it in onto predicted status especially against Shedinja. Otherwise it works exactly like normal Trick Room Hatterene. Trick Room also has synergy with Ferrothorn and Toxapex.
I gave it 23 Speed IVs to out-speed neutral speed nature Ferrothorn, as this only comes at the cost of not being able to out-slow -1 Snorlax and Copperajah I believe it's worth it.
I tried Cleric Espeon instead of Hatterene, the issue is that it cannot do anything except for Wish pass and it doesn't do particularly well at that with Espeon's base HP not being high enough.
Toxapex @ Black Sludge
Ability: Regenerator
Shiny: Yes
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Def / 252 SpD
Calm Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Scald
- Recover
- Haze
- Toxic
Classic Specially Defensive Toxapex. A extremely strong stall Pokemon which forms one part of this teams defensive core. Walls many special threats including Clefable and Hydreigon and certain physical threats like Conkeldurr while passing around Toxic and Scald burns.
Ferrothorn @ Leftovers
Ability: Iron Barbs
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Spikes
- Stealth Rock
- Leech Seed
- Knock Off
Standard Physically Defensive Hazard Ferrothorn. Another strong stall Pokemon forming the last part of this teams defensive core and the most common lead on this team. Walls most physical threats including Corviknight as well as most threats that don't carry Fire or Fighting type moves.
Thunder Wave isn't run as normally this team gets kills with Poison or Burn status. Power Whip and Body Press isn't run as most if not all Pokemon where those moves are super effective this team already stalls.
Ditto @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Imposter
EVs: 252 HP / 4 Atk / 252 Def
Relaxed Nature
IVs: 0 Spe
- Transform
All previous Pokemon are weak to Setup Pokemon, as such Ditto is a natural fit. It also adds some much needed offensive prowess as well as being a universal check which is needed as this team doesn't have much redundancy.
Rotom-Heat @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Levitate
EVs: 248 HP / 8 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Nasty Plot
- Overheat
- Volt Switch
- Defog
Rotom-Heat provides strong Fire type attacks for Steel types in addition to being a useful Pivot, Defog-mon, and potential sweeper with Nasty Plot. Role compression being Rotom-Heat's selling point. Any Pokemon that replaces this one would have to do all of this or otherwise be strong enough to compensate.
---
Weaknesses of this team:
The first weakness of this team is that it's trying to make Shedinja viable, the second being that it's being piloted by someone who can't predict well. With that out of the way these are the team's other weaknesses.
It has no Ghost or Dark resistances. This should easily be solved by adding a Dark type but it's hard to figure out what to replace. My current ideas are either Hydreigon with U-Turn, Flamethrower/Fire Blast, and Defog or say Hazards be damned and run Banded Tyranitar with Fire Punch.
There is no redundancy on the team. Whenever a single Pokemon goes down this teams ability to check or counter threats goes down dramatically. This is further exasperated by my apparent inability to remember obvious moves including Fire Blast on Dragapult and Brave Bird on Corviknight and accidentally losing a Ferrethorn or Shedinja to it.
There are no specific counters. While a Toxapex + Ferrerthorn defensive core with Shedinja, Magic Bounce Hatterene, and Ditto can universally check or counter offensive threats, stall-mons, and setup-mons respectively, none of those Pokemon are designed to counter specific Pokemon allowing for particularly strong Pokemon or a continual assault is able to to break holes in the team which further exasperates the no redundancy problem.
Shedinja isn't good. There are way too many moves that are supereffective against Shedinja in addition to Steel types and Fire types which are immune to Poison and Burn respectively and Pokemon which are immune to their own status moves reducing the potency of Magic Bounce. While it's extremely fun to annoy people by auto-winning against a Rain team after taking out their Dracovish and Toxic user or Toxic-stalling with Shedinja buying additional turns overall a different defensive Pokemon that doesn't necessitate Magic Bounce support would work just as well.
---
Conclusion:
I managed to win 10 out of 16 with this team which allowed by first climb to >1200 Elo. I also don't do this team justice due to my low skills with predicting. I consider this a win given the absurd beginnings of this team.
On the other hand this is still very much a meme team, Shedinja is just too full of weaknesses for it to work outside of a gimmick. The build around that Shedinja necessitates makes most teams automatically have the necessary counters for it while the chance of the reverse being substantially reduced.
