With LCWC over for Spain, I want to do 4 nominations:
B- >
B+ Spin is good, Tspikes are good (only 2 other grounded Mons are ranked and I think Croagunk is very overrated), being a Grass that doesn,t get OHKOd by Snover's Wood Hammer while still being resistant to Ice is very good. This Mon is great and fits in almost every structure. The 3 battles I used a Tentacool in I won, losing the 2 I didn,t bring it.
Unranked >
B+ . Gligar is the second best Mon in the Tier and has Sand Veil, an ability so good that it has been banned in many Tiers and won,t be surprised (but will strongly oppose) if it happens here too. If the opponent doesn,t bring Snover or Rain, Sand is a very strong playstyle and can succeed even vs those weathers. 2 of my wins were with Sand while facing a Snover.
Unranked >
B-. Strong secondary Sand Veil Mon. Has SD + Sucker Punch, can be defesive with Spikes + HP Ice, since it walls some Gligar variants. Faster than Munchlax and Bronzor, so can fish a miss with Sub. Focus Punch is another option to discourage Snover coming it. Being a Grass type, Cacnea can do something vs Rain, especially since Chinchous don,t even run Ice Beam often.
Unranked >
B. Main nomination. Numerous memes have been made about Steel-Rock being a terrible defensive combination and mostly there are right...in other Tiers. Shieldon happens to wall half of the Tier.
(Shieldon) (M) @ Shed Shell / Oran Berry
Ability: Sturdy
Level: 5
EVs: 196 HP / 20 Atk / 212 Def / 20 SpA / 52 SpD
Relaxed Nature
- Rock Blast / Rock Slide
- Rest
- Sleep Talk
- Ice Beam
Other moves that can be explored (in the Rock Blast slot, Ice Beam is too important for not letting Gligar switch-in): Thunderbolt, Earthquake, Flash Cannon, Iron Head, Roar, Hidden Power Fire.
Note about Rock Blast: In DPP, when called by Sleep Talk, it will always hit 1 time, therefore Rock Slide is an option (don,t use SE on a defensive Mon). However, Rock Blast is still very viable when awake due to multihit Moves being very strong in LC.
Defensive Mons tend to not be as good in LC as in higher Tiers, however if they totally wall several big threats, that changes. Shieldon can be used outside of Sand, but he is mainly a Sand and hazard abusser. Shieldon walls many Mons, so he forces switches. Any chip damage (hazards, Sand and Shieldon's hits) accumulates through the match, wearing down foes. The longer the match goes, the more damage Shieldon will be able to do.
Ice Beam is a must in this set. Since we are using Shieldon with Sand, opposing Sand Veil Gligar will already be stronger than usually, don,t let him switch-in for free if possible.
Shed Shell is the better item, since Shieldon is very vulnerable to all trappers that exist.
Match-up of Shieldon (in Sand) vs the (current) Viability Rankings (Green=100% win. Yellow=Most likely win. Orange=Can go either way. Red=Most likely lose. Black=Unwinnable).
S
Shieldon loses if Munchlax has Brick Break, Superpower or Earthquake. Shieldon fully walls otherwise. Shieldon can wear it down if Munchlax switches into it.
Shieldon loses. However, Gligar can,t safely switch-in due to the threat of Ice Beam.
A+
Currently, on-site set doesn,t have HP Fight, so Shieldon fully walls the most common set. Shieldon loses to HP Fight, but isn,t OHKOd from full in Sand, even if Gastly is LO.
Shieldon has decent odds of winning 1vs1 vs S, but can,t switch-in. Neither can Snover into it. Vs Scarf, Shieldon switches into Blizzard but can be caught by HP Ground.
Shieldon loses and can be OHKOd by Hydro in Sand (which can be avoided with another nature). Shieldon can wear Chinchou down on the switch with Rock Blast, each hit does 25%.
Shieldon hard loses.
Worst Shieldon match-up of the Tier. Bronzong not only competes with Shieldon for the role of bulky Steel, it also fully walls it while being immune to Sand and Hazards. It often runs EQ and sometimes even Recycle. If I nominated Shieldon only to B and not higher is due to Bronzor existing.
Shieldon fully walls Duskull. If Duskull uses Thief... then it won,t heal, since it will steal a Shed Shell and won,t be able to steal items from another Mon.
A
Shieldon will generally win the 1 vs 1. Can also switch-in due to having only 9,8% of being 2HKOd by Fire Blast.
Bad match-up, Shieldon can only wear Staryu down on the switch with Rock Blast.
Terrible match-up due to being Fight Mon.
Shieldon fully walls Stunky.
Koffing has 1,1% chance to 3HKO Shieldon with Fire Blast in Sand.
A-
Shieldon loses, but will surprise Diglett by having Shed Shell and escaping. Diglett can,t switch into Ice Beam if Rocks are up.
This is one of the only Waters Shieldon can actually stay in vs as long as Sand is up. It will be esentially a trade.
Shieldon is OHKOd by CC, obviously. However, most Mankey are choiced, so Shieldon can switch into every other move.
Has Low Kick :( At least can,t switch-in without taking a lot of damage and weak to Hippopotas.
Shieldon fully walls Taillow.
Worst Rain Mon to fight against with Sand.
On-site set doesn,t have Brick Break, so Shieldon most of the times will fully wall Aipom. The Monkey doesn,t really have reason to run Brick Break, except when expecting Screens.
Shieldon is 2HKOd by Flare Blitz, so can,t switch-in. Neither can Ponyta and Shieldon will probably win 1vs1.
Shieldon will take +6 Seed Bomb and combined with Sand, 3 Rock Blast have a good chance to OHKO.
Has EQ, resists every move and immune to Sand, therefore terrible match-up.
OHKOd by EQ. Most of the time this Mon is Scarf, so not the worst match-up.
A problem after it puts Rain. However, we have Hippo to reset the weather, so it ends up being a mind game. Shieldon does decent damage with Rock Blast.
B+
OHKOs with LO HP Ground or Fight, but doesn,t always run the moves. More dangerous than Gastly.
+1 HP Fight OHKOs (most of the time), +0 doesn,t. Doesn,t always run the move.
Shieldon fully walls Porygon, but fears the Trick and the rare HP Fight/Ground.
:wailmer
: Water Mon. Can switch into Boom or non Water Moves.
Well, we have Shed Shell for something. If Shieldon has Oran Berry, he has a better match-up than most Mons vs Wynaut, due to Rock Blast being a multi-hit move able to miss. Sand will wear down Wynaut and it might end up winning or at least trading.
Hilariously, +1 LO Waterfall doesn,t OHKO, so its a trade at worst (without flinches) in practice, Dratini will die to recoil, hazards and sand after Ice Beam.
Water Mon.
B
On-site set doesn,t have EQ, so its fully walled. Only problem is Pineco being able to spin and put hazards before being killed.
LO Adamant Waterfall only OHKOs 75% of the time and the Mon doesn,t even always run it or the item. One of the few Water Mons Shieldon can 1vs1 with decent odds.
Use Shed Shell to run away from this.
One of the on-site sets has HP Fight as option for some reason, but in Sand it doesn,t OHKO.
Walls Brick or Hydroless versions.
Fully walled.
Has a 9,8% to 2HKO with Flare Blitz, so this is a win most of the time.
B-
Has Fight Moves, so bad match-up. Can,t switch-in at least.
Will die quickly to sand and its own status, but will OHKO Shieldon with the right prediction.
Water Mon.
Water Mon.
Why is this Mon ranked instead of Sandshrew, who outside of Ice Shard has better everything? Its ground, so it wins but is very damaged by Ice Beam.
Hidden Power Ground doesn,t OHKO in Sand and it rarely runs the move in first place.
100% sure win, but by the time Shieldon appears, it will likely already be dead.
Fuck Water Mons.
All in all, I think Shieldon has enough merits to be ranked due to walling most normal Mons that are not Munchlax (and even some sets of it), most poison Mons and Duskull, which is also a important Mon to wall.
Edit: LCWC Replays with Shieldon:
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4lc-2028004995 < Doesn,t do anything here due to getting critted by Cranidos's Head Smash. However, it shows the bulk, since it resisted said crit.
https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen4lc-2039603548 < The actual Shieldon highlight match. Fully walls Stunky and Gastly, wears down Munchlax several times on the switch, surprises Diglett by escaping from it with Shed Shell and wins the final duel vs Snover.
Wailmer
