Shaymin-Sky Analysis by Dashspin

Attacker (Shaymin-Sky) @ Life Orb/Wide Lens
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain/ Seed Flare
- Air Slash
- Earth Power / Hidden Power [Ice] / Hidden Power [Rock]
- Protect

This is Shaymin-Sky's (Skymin's) primary set; the all-out attacker wallbreaker. Life Orb is the primary item that helps it get kills while Giga Drain can help restore lost HP. Seed Flare is also an option if you prefer more firepower and more offensive presence, especially because of its staggering 80% chance to drop Special Defense of the target. Nothing really likes switching into that. Wide Lens will make its accuracy more bearable, as well as Air Slash's accuracy and GrassWhistle if you want to run it and abuse sleep mechanics. Air Slash is its primary secondary STAB with a high (60%) chance to flinch the opponent and keep it at bay for a turn. Just be careful because it won't always 2HKO Amoonguss, and it has a chance of breaking through the flinch and 2HKO'ing you with an uninvested Sludge Bomb. Earth Power is its best option for coverage ans lets Skymin break through Steel-types like Aegislash and Heatran without having to rely on teammates and most importantly, through Wide Guard which Aegislash sometimes has and that usually supports Heatran. However, if your team is literally full of Landorus-T, Hitmontop, and Heatran, etc. that can all handle Skymin's Steel-type problem, it can use Hidden Power Ice instead to hit other key targets such as Thundurus and Zapdos that Skymin normally can't touch anyway as well as key threats in the metagame like Garchomp, Salamence, Dragonite (beware of weakness policy) and most importantly, Landorus-T which can allow Skymin to function as Intimidate insurance in being able to hit the most common Intimidate users, Hitmontop and Landorus-T, super effectively with Air Slash and Hidden Power, respectively. Hidden Power Rock can also hit key targets Zapdos and Thundurus, while also surprising Charizard-Y, an overused and definite threat, as well as Rotom-Heat which it can't normally hit. Finally, if you're using Wide Lens, GrassWhistle can be considered since its accuracy is boosted to ~71 as well as Seed Flare and Air Slash, which of course are not 100% accurate. If you want to abuse Sleep Clause and Skymin's awesome Speed Stat, use GrassWhistle with Wide Lens. Just note this is mostly outclassed by Infiltrator Jumpluff, but Skymin actually has an offensive presence, making it usable. Another option not mentioned is Safeguard, which combined with Skymin's awesome Speed stat and immunity to Spore and Sleep Powder can actually make it a good counter to sleep abuse strategies.


Dedicated Tailwind (Shaymin-Sky) @ Yache Berry
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 184 Spd / 252 SAtk / 72 HP
Timid Nature
- Giga Drain/Seed Flare
- Tailwind
- Air Slash
- Protect

This set is a bit unorthodox and should only be used on hyper offensive teams. The goal is to live any one hit and set up Tailwind in order to outspeed the entire metagame alongside its partners. Its best partner is probably Heatran, which can then outspeed quite a bit and they can cover each other's weaknesses rather well. 184 Speed will outspeed the fastest Pokémon in the game, Unburden Hawlucha, after Tailwind and the rest is dumped into HP. Since this is a bulkier set, Giga Drain is preferred in order to get some health back so it can set up Tailwind again. However, if you have more than one Tailwind user on your team (two is recommended for dedicated Tailwind), Seed Flare can be used for more firepower and a chance to halve the target's SpD (if it hits). Everything else should be self-explanatory: Hit what you can and set up Tailwind first turn, just watch out for Fake Out and double targets, which is why you have Protect. If you want to rely less on Protect, Quick Guard support is strongly recommended so Shaymin can sweep or ser up without worrying about Fake Out or Ice Shard too much. Just beware, there's a lot that will outspeed you if you try to set it up a second time, which is why this set is called "dedicated".

Semi-Tailwind (Shaymin-Sky) @ Focus Sash
Ability: Serene Grace
EVs: 252 Spd / 252 SAtk / 4 SDef
Timid Nature
- Seed Flare/Giga Drain
- Air Slash
- Protect
- Tailwind

This set has more place on a hyper offensive team that's already fast but wants insurance against other Tailwind teams  or needs a way to deal with Deoxys-A, or maybe your fast team needs help with outspeeding some faster members on their team.  Whatever the case, Focus Sash is preferred since absolutely no bulk has been invested into. Also, because this set is so fast, if you keep Skymin healthy it can possibly set up more than one. In fact, in some battles you don't even need to set it up and can instead choose to just have it sweep alongside its allies. Like the other set, Quick Guard support is strongly recommended. Seed Flare is its primary nuke that destroys pretty much everything weak to it and is difficult to switch into, but Giga Drain is always an option to make it less weak to priority after taking a big hit. Modest nature is definitely possible as well.

Checks & Counters

Talonflame can flat out OHKO it with its stupid priority Brave Bird. Timid Mega Manectric can outspeed and hit it with Hidden Power Ice. Pretty much any Ice-type move you want to keep away from. Charizard-Y can handle any set without Hidden Power Rock decently well if it can live through one of Skymin's infamous Air Slashes and not get flinched. Rotom-H walls pretty much every standard set, and Chlorophyll Venusaur can outspeed it and hit Shaymin hard if Tailwind isn't up. Basically, if you can outspeed Shaymin it will probably die, so Prankster Thunder Wave and Icy Wind/Electroweb are great ways to deal with it, and that's also why the Tailwind sets are so underrated.