Setting up Sturdy Shedinja – Love & Improve Life

I love my Shedinja. I have been running it for a good three or four years with the cunning use of Soak and Lightning Rod to keep it alive and trolling. I've lost count of the number of Mega Fire-types it's taken down.

Now I want to try something a little more daring. Setting up Sturdy Shedinja in a Double Battle.

The plan is quite simple: Lead with Smeargle and a Sturdy 'mon, Role Play to copy Sturdy, then switch to Shedinja and Entrainment Sturdy onto it.

Now, here comes the tricky part: countering counters.

Obviously the whole thing falls apart if Smeargle goes down. A Focus Sash is pretty much essential there. Additionally, Fake Out is a major problem, so I plan on having the Sturdy 'mon being Sawk, with Quick Guard to block that threat. Shedinja will need Safety Goggles to survive weather, and I need either Safeguard or Thunder Wave to prevent more harmful status conditions.

Factoring all this in, I have my lineup like so:

Sawk [Sturdy] – Quick Guard
Smeargle @Focus Sash – Role Play, Entrainment
Shedinja @Safety Goggles
Delphox – Safeguard

Remaining threats: Leech Seed, and splash damage from Flame Burst. Also, contact with Rough Skin, Iron Barbs or Rocky Helmet will cause self-destruction.

Now, here is another thing to consider: When you see Smeargle lead, you expect Dark Void, right? It's obvious, surely. So… you act accordingly. Fake Out if you have it (which Quick Guard can block) and try to take out the Smeargle (which Focus Sash will interrupt). Trouble is, Smeargle isn't exactly the fastest thing out there.

That's why I'm here. What can I do to maximize my chances of successfully allowing Smeargle to survive for the two turns it needs to set up Shedinja? What other dangers should I be aware of?

Best Answer

I'm going to offer an alternate setup which may be more viable, and gives Smeargle more of a chance to survive. Like you mention, Sturdy Shedinja is a two turn setup, and you don't want Smeargle to be vulnerable for both turns, otherwise it'll go down.

In this strategy, we lead with Carbink & Smeargle. Carbink gets Sturdy and Skill Swap, which is perfect for what we need. That way, Smeargle doesn't have to worry about doing the actual copying.

The crux of this set is Kings Shield on Smeargle, which stops attacks but not status moves, allowing Smeargle to protect itself whilst receiving Sturdy. It has the same priority as Protect, so will stop Fake out, and it will lower the attack of anyone that hits it with a Physical move, potentially making them switch out.

The order of moves is therefore

Carbink uses Skill Swap on Smeargle, Smeargle uses Kings Shield
Carbink switches out to Shedinja, Smeargle uses Entrainment on the switch

The three issues I see with this type of strategy:

If Smeargle gets double-targeted on the second turn, it may not get a chance to use Entrainment
Shedinja being hit by a Super Effective move on the switch before Smeargle can give it Sturdy
Carbink getting faked out first turn

The first & second are also present in the Smeargle/Sawk set. The third we are mitigating the risk to Smeargle in place of complete protection from priority, and relying on the inherent threat of Smeargle (Dark Void or otherwise) to take the heat off of Carbink.

Anyway I believe this strategy maximizes Smeargle's survivability in this situation.

Notes:

Assuming somehow that Smeargle survives the third move, you could run Transform and change into a second Sturdy Shedinja, albeit without the Safety Goggles
If Smeargle goes down, you can switch into something else for Safeguard
Switch Carbink back in for Explosion, which can deal a great amount of damage whilst Sturdy Shedinja takes none.
Potentially run Choice Scarf on Carbink to move before some threats, swap away Sturdy and go down, allowing Shedinja a free switch in
Have something (Smeargle if it survives, or a Prankster Pokemon like Klefki) use Thunderwave on Shedinja on the third turn. That way it won't take Burn/Poison damage either