This week's Pokemon of the Week is Shiftry.


Type: Grass / Dark
Base Stats: 90 HP / 100 Atk / 60 Def / 90 SpA / 60 SpD / 80 Spe
Ability: Chlorophyll / Early Bird / Pickpocket
Introduction
Shiftry is certainly an interesting pokemon, despite its low usage. It has great utility with moves such as Knock Off, Defog, Fake Out, Sucker Punch, and Tailwind. It is blessed with a myriad of boosting moves: Nasty Plot, Swords Dance, and Growth. It even has fantastic coverage, with only Togetic and Whimsicott resisting its Dark/Grass/Fighting combo. It perhaps misses the ground coverage offered by Nature Power as far as super-effective hitting goes, but it can make do.

Unfortunately, it doesn't have the greatest of abilities. Sun is rare and either bad or untapped in RU, lessening the use of Chlorophyll. Early Bird would be more helpful if grass was not now immune to spore/sleep powder, though it could have use with Rest. It cannot even tank dark voids, as Smeargle has risen to UU. Pickpocket may be relatively useful compared to the other two abilities if shiftry is knocked off or uses a consumable, but it is still incredibly niche.

Its stats are just enough to get by. It has a fairly decent speed tier, giving it the ability to outspeed neutral base 80 and 90 threats such as kabutops, moltres, hitmonlee (87) and meloetta. Its attacking stats seem to leave much to be desired, but its good coverage and access to fantastic boosting moves alleviates this, and life orb allows it to hit surprisingly hard when unboosted. It is indeed frail, but it could be worse!

Shiftry's typing is interesting, and it actually offers great offensive utility. STAB Knock off and Sucker punch are not to be underestimated, and grass STAB allows it to plow through blanket physical walls like Rhyperior and Alomomola. It offers a bit of defensive utility with a valuable dark resistance as well as the ability to better take grass, ground, and water attacks. Beware of mach punches, though.

What to try:


Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 SAtk
Naive Nature
- Defog
- Leaf Storm
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch

One of Shiftry's better niches is its hazard-removal abilities. Its great offensive presence makes it comparable to hitmonlee as a hazard-remover. Shiftry can force switches easily with its incredibly strong coverage, and can use that opportunity to defog. Leaf storm hits incredibly hard, and the -2 SpA is offset by its mixed capabilites. Knock off and Sucker Punch offer great utility as well as hitting incredibly hard.


Shiftry @ Life Orb
Ability: Chlorophyll
EVs: 252 Atk / 252 Spd / 4 Def
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Seed Bomb
- Knock Off
- Sucker Punch / Low Kick

Shiftry can run a devastating physically offensive set. Seed Bomb and Knock Off cover all common pokemon except for Whimsicott and dark/poison types (neither of which Shiftry should stay in on regardless, especially given that they are mostly all faster than the tree-bird). Low Kick or Brick Break can be run to deal with the dark types, but the utility of Sucker Punch is usually too much to give up. A good reason to use Shiftry over comparable physical sweepers is grass coverage. Pokemon like Rhyperior and Alomomola are usually hard stops to most physical threats, but Shiftry can easily ko both of them with its STAB. Braviary is worth a mention due to its role as a defog blocker. If it comes in on a defog, it gets a +2 attack boost, so Shiftry must play with caution.

Checks and Counters:
Unfortunately, Shiftry's stabs still leave it open to a few RU threats. Cobalion and Virizion are common standouts, as they both resist grass and dark, and even receive an attack boost from dark attacks due to justified. Tangrowth's incredible physical bulk also gives it the ability to consistently deal with shiftry. Fletchinder and Hitmonlee are great checks, as their respective priority moves are super effective against the tree-bird.

Teammates:
Perhaps the most obvious choice for a teammate is Moltres. They have great type synergy, and shiftry has the ability to defog, alleviating Moltres' rock weakness. Sunny day support is a possibility, as it makes Shiftry into the fastest pokemon in the meta. Water types in general such as Slowking are nice partners, simply for the type synergy that they provide, though Shiftry's low defenses make it difficult for it to contribute to any stable defensive core. Shiftry definitely appreciates spike/rock support given its ability to force switches. Qwilfish is a prime candidate for this job given it's synergy with Shiftry.