Shedinja
Shed Pokémon
SHEDINJA’s hard body doesn’t move - not even a twitch. In fact, its body appears to be merely a hollow shell. It is believed that this POKéMON will steal the spirit of anyone peering into its hollow body from its back.
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Competitive
Strategy Overview
Shedinja's role in Balanced Hackmons is a unique one. Shedinja is hardcoded to always have its raw HP stat be 1. Because of this, Sturdy Shedinja can only be KOed by very few things, as it always has full HP, which allows Shedinja to survive almost any attack. Due to its low Speed stat in conjunction with the ability to survive almost any attack, Shedinja is able to provide momentum to the team against most Pokemon. This allows Shedinja's teammates to come onto the field for free. Shedinja's 1 HP also allows it to bring any non-Ghost-type Pokemon down to 1 HP with Endeavor, which is a fantastic asset for Shedinja, as it forces a lot of switches due to this. Most teams lack a reliable way to deal with a good team built around Shedinja as well, primarily relying on entry hazards or Mold Breaker with Pursuit to get around it. These ways to check Shedinja have multiple forms of counterplay on most teams built around it, allowing Shedinja to devastate opposing teams.
Despite these benefits of using Shedinja, it suffers from very exploitable weaknesses. Shedinja's 1 HP leaves it KOed by any form of passive damage such as hazards, status, and weather. Photon Geyser, Sunsteel Strike, and Moongeist Beam ignore abilities, meaning they bypass Sturdy and are able to KO Shedinja. These moves are common on many offensive Pokemon, including Mega Mewtwo X, Kartana, and Mega Gengar. Mold Breaker users can bypass Sturdy and KO Shedinja with any attack, and if the Mold Breaker Pokemon has Pursuit, it can ensure a KO on Shedinja due to it being KOed if it attempts to switch out. Due to these weaknesses, Shedinja requires a lot of support to use successfully, such as Magic Bounce support and hazard removal. In addition to the aforementioned team support, Shedinja requires a lot of scouting to avoid being surprised by the above checks and getting KOed.
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Common Teammates
Competitive data from Smogon University via data.pkmn.cc