Shiinotic

Shiinotic serves as a decent defensive Pokemon in ZU thanks to its typing, decent bulk, access to Strength Sap and Spore. Additionally, Effect Spore lets it reliably check many viable threats such as Silvally-Fighting, Silvally-Dark, Torterra, and Golem, while Spore can catch an incoming wallbreaker or setup sweeper off guard and put them to sleep. It's also able to spread status with Effect Spore to punish U-turn users like Silvally-Dark and Silvally-Dragon trying to pivot out. While Shiinotic mainly functions as a wall, it also threatens frailer Pokemon such as Crustle and Purugly with a moderately strong Moonblast and Giga Drain thanks to its decent attacking power, and, along with its naturally high Special Defense, it can soft check common special attackers like Silvally-Dragon, Simipour, and Kadabra, which further separates it from other defensive Grass-types in Gourgeist-XL and Torterra. However, it faces some stiff competition from them, since Torterra is able to provide Stealth Rock support, and Gourgeist-XL is able to further hinder physical attackers with Will-O-Wisp. For a physical wall, Shiinotic has mediocre physical bulk and cannot reliably switch into certain physical attackers that Gourgeist-XL can check like Marowak, Bouffalant, and Choice Band Komala, making it difficult for Shiinotic to fit onto teams sometimes. Furthermore, it can easily be worn down by entry hazards and chip damage, as it is one of the slowest Pokemon in the metagame. Strength Sap can also be exploited by the likes of Bronzor and Mareanie due to their low Attack stat, reducing how much health Shiinotic recovers. Shiinotic is also hard walled by threats like Bronzor, Muk, and Lickilicky, all of which either take it out completely or recover any damage dealt to them.