Schnuthelm Movesets & Wettbewerbs-Sets

Shelmet is a one-trick pony whose main draw is its ability to counter Timburr and offensive Riolu while also being able to get up Spikes to support the team. Recover allows Shelmet to continually handle Timburr and Riolu, especially considering its Stealth Rock weakness. Likewise, Acid Armor allows Shelmet to handle Timburr and Riolu even after they boost their own Attack to sky-high levels and generally serves to somewhat compensate for Shelmet's minimal offensive presence. Shelmet does have some flexibility with its last move; Bug Buzz is the first choice due to being Shelmet's strongest STAB move and therefore being mildly powerful. However, Bug is not a great offensive typing, leaving Shelmet easily handled by much of the metagame, and Hidden Power Flying can be run instead to give Shelmet the ability to substantially damage Fighting-type Pokemon without much of a loss. Either are important options to prevent Shelmet from being rendered useless by Taunt. The EV spread maximizes Shelmet's physical bulk, allowing it to reach an impressive 18 Defense with a Bold nature. Shelmet forgoes fully investing into HP in order to hit an odd HP number, giving it another switch into Stealth Rock. The extra EVs are invested into Special Defense because investments in Speed and Special Attack would be overall less impactful than giving Shelmet the ability to better sponge the odd special attack thrown its way. However, if Hidden Power Flying is used instead, an EV spread of 120 HP / 160 Def / 40 SpA / 80 SpD should be used instead; this spread also maximizes Shelmet's physical bulk. However, since 16 Special Defense cannot be reached due to lowered IVs, Shelmet invests to reach the next highest benchmark: 14 Special Defense. The remaining EVs are invested into Special Attack to allow Shelmet to always 2HKO fast Mienfoo, always 3HKO slow Mienfoo, have a chance to 3HKO Timburr, and always 3HKO Riolu. The ability Shell Armor complements Shelmet's defensive nature, making it impossible to critical hit and consequently overwhelm it. Shelmet is best suited to teams that have a substantial issue aptly handling Timburr and Riolu. This means that the likes of Misdreavus and Bronzor are some of Shelmet's best teammates, as not only do they provide Shelmet with a Rapid Spin immunity and a Drilbur counter, respectively, but they also can be preyed on by the two boosting Fighting-types. And while Fire-types are rare, both Bronzor and Shelmet are free switch-ins for them, and the duo also has issues with Misdreavus; both of these weaknesses can be covered fairly well with the addition of Munchlax. Munchlax makes an especially nice Shelmet partner, as its weakness to Fighting-types mandates a solid answer to Timburr and Riolu, while Shelmet's passiveness is largely made up for by Munchlax's walling abilities. Munchlax also has the plus of being able to phaze switch-ins with Whirlwind to rack up sizable damage with Shelmet's Spikes. Similarly, Hippopotas and Vullaby can also shuffle around the opponent's team to wear down their counters. Vullaby can also go on the offensive to wallbreak the opposing team, using Shelmet's Spikes to handle its few reliable counters. Shelmet's weakness to Stealth Rock and vulnerability to Spikes often require Rapid Spin support from Pokemon such as Drilbur and Staryu.