Shedinja (Pokémon)

**Shedinja** (Japanese: **ヌケニン** *Nukenin*) is a dual-type Bug/Ghost Pokémon introduced in Generation III.

It is considered a special evolution of Nincada, appearing only when Nincada evolves into Ninjask starting at level 20, as long as there is an extra space in the player's party and an extra Poké Ball in the player's bag. An extra Poké Ball is not necessary to obtain Shedinja in Generation III.

## Biology

Shedinja is a Pokémon based on a cicada's shed exoskeleton. Most of its body is light brown, but the abdomen is gray. It has four protrusions on its underside instead of legs; the top pair is brown, while the lower is gray. There are round protrusions on the side of its head with narrow slits for eyes. Two lines encircle its abdomen and a white halo floats above its head. On its back is a pair of tattered wings divided into three wingtips. A hole between its wings reveals that its body is completely hollow and dark, as it possesses no internal organs.

It is said that looking into this empty space will steal one's spirit. Its shell is very hard, which gives it strong defense but renders it incapable of movement. It does not breathe and floats without moving its wings. It lives in tropical and temperate forests.

### Major appearances

Shedinja debuted in *The Princess and the Togepi*, under the ownership of Colonel Hansen. It was his main battling Pokémon. It reappeared in *A Togepi Mirage!*, where it was eventually defeated by Misty's Gyarados's Flamethrower.

### Minor appearances

In *Hi Ho Silver Wind!* and *Deceit and Assist*, a Coordinator's Shedinja competed in the Hoenn Grand Festival. Another Shedinja was also in a visualization in the former episode.

A Coordinator's Shedinja appeared in *The Saffron Con*.

In *A Relay in the Sky!*, a Trainer's Shedinja participated in the Pokémon Sky Relay. It was in a team also consisting of Vibrava and Ninjask.

### Pokédex entries

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### Pokémon Adventures

Shedinja first appeared in *Can I Ninjask You a Question?*, when Amber, having been deprived of his Pokémon after being abandoned by Archie, borrowed a Nincada from his comrade Shelly, which then immediately evolves into a Ninjask, putting Wattson in quite a pinch with the incredible speed it gained by the minute. Although the old Gym Leader eventually managed to defeat it, a Shedinja formed from the shell Ninjask shed and attacked him from behind, sending him sinking into the ocean.

In *A Dust-Up With Dusclops*, Emerald used a Shedinja during his Battle Pyramid challenge, exploiting the fact that it required no healing due to it always having just one HP to save on items.

In *Sneaky Like Shedinja*, Greta used a Shedinja to battle Emerald's Sudowoodo.

A student's Shedinja appeared in *Movie Panic*.

## Other appearances

### Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

Shedinja appears as a Spirit. In the Spirit Battle, Shedinja, depicted as a yellow Mr. Game & Watch, has only 1 HP like in the core series games, but Wonder Guard is depicted as giving Shedinja complete invincibility for 90% of the match, as well as reflecting all projectiles. However, the invincibility is disabled periodically for about a second, allowing the player to KO Shedinja with just one hit.

## Game data

### Stats

#### Base stats

##### In the main series

* Maximum stats are calculated with 252 EVs, IVs of 31, and (if applicable) a helpful nature.

* Shedinja's HP stat is not calculated with the traditional formula, and is instead always equal to 1.

### Type effectiveness

Shedinja can also be damaged by Struggle and any of the Shadow moves from Pokémon Colosseum and Template:Pokémon XD. The moves Beat Up, Future Sight, and Doom Desire can hit Shedinja prior to Generation V.

In the Pokémon Mystery Dungeon series, the standard A-button tackle will do one HP damage. In Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, foe Shedinja always has a maximum of 5 HP, whereas in Explorers of Time, Explorers of Darkness and Explorers of Sky, foe Shedinja always has a maximum of 10 HP. However, as a team member, Shedinja's HP is not capped.

### Learnset

#### By tutoring

 * **Bold** indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Shedinja
* *Italic* indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Shedinja
* Click on the generation numbers at the top to see Move Tutor moves from other generations

#### By a prior evolution

 * **Bold** indicates a move that gets STAB when used by Shedinja
* *Italic* indicates a move that gets STAB only when used by an evolution of Shedinja
* Click on the generation numbers at the top to see moves from other generations

### Evolution

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*Note: The Poké Ball has to be a regular Poké Ball.*
*Note: In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Time and Explorers of Darkness, Shedinja will not be mentioned when evolving Nincada, but will subsequently appear in Chimecho's Assembly.*

## Trivia

* From Generation IV onwards, a basic Poké Ball (a requirement for evolution) is removed from the Bag upon evolution to produce a Shedinja. In Generation III, Shedinja instead copied the ball Nincada was in; this is the only legitimate way to get a Shedinja in a non-standard Poké Ball until Generation VIII, where Shedinja can be caught in Max Raid Battles.
* No other Pokémon has the same type combination as Shedinja.
* Shedinja:
	+ has the lowest base stat total of all Ghost-type Pokémon.
	+ is tied with Duskull and Galarian Yamask for the lowest base Special Attack stat of all Ghost-type Pokémon.
	+ is also tied with Dreepy for the lowest base Special Defense stat of all Ghost-type Pokémon.
* Shedinja is the only evolved Pokémon that has a lower base stat total than its pre-evolved form.
* Shedinja is one of only three Pokémon (other than baby Pokémon) to have a different Egg Group than its evolutionary relatives, being in the Mineral Egg Group while Nincada and Ninjask are in the Bug Egg Group. (The other two Pokémon that share this trait are Nidorina and Nidoqueen.) However, because it has no gender, it cannot breed with Pokémon other than Ditto.
* Shedinja inherits the same game of origin, personality value, IVs, Template:EVs, OT, Trainer ID number and Secret ID number, and met location as the Nincada that shed it. It also inherits the Pokérus if the Nincada had it. Among other things, due to keeping the same game of origin, personality value, and Trainer and Secret ID numbers, Shedinja will be Shiny if and only if the Nincada was Shiny.
* The Shedinja shed from a Nincada has no nickname, and the player is not given an opportunity to nickname it. The only way to give Shedinja a nickname is to take it to a Name Rater.
* Shedinja's Wonder Guard Ability renders it immune to 15 of 20 attack types, the most of any Pokémon; six of these immunities (to Ice, Bug, Steel, Fairy, Celestial and Glitch) are entirely unique to Shedinja. This also gives it a few further distinctions:
	+ Even if it is affected by Foresight or Odor Sleuth, Shedinja is still immune to Normal and Fighting-type attacks.
	+ Shedinja is the only Pokémon immune to Ground attacks during Gravity, as well as Thousand Arrows.
	+ If Soak is used to make Shedinja Water-type, it will be immune to attacks of 16 of the 18 types.
* Prior to Generation V, if Nincada learns a move upon evolving into Ninjask, Shedinja will also know this move. This means that Shedinja can learn any of Ninjask's level up moves starting at level 20, but can only simultaneously have multiple of them if they are learned at the same level. From Generation V onward, Shedinja starts with the moves Nincada knew prior to evolution.
* Shedinja is the only genderless Pokémon that can learn Egg Moves (as a Nincada). Staryu and Starmie have Egg Moves programmed into their data in

## Shedinja (Pokémon)

, but there is no way for them to learn these moves.
* Even though looking into the crack on Shedinja's back is said to steal one's spirit, all of Shedinja's back sprites display it perfectly, yet no negative effects happen to the player in-game.
* Shedinja is the only Pokémon in Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team to be able to change its name.
* In Pokémon Super Mystery Dungeon and Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX, wild Shedinja will spawn on any tile where a wild Nincada was defeated after several turns have passed. They move once every two turns and do not attack. Additionally, other wild Pokémon will try to attack the wild Shedinja if they are nearby, allowing them to evolve without defeating the player or their allies if they succeed in causing it to faint.
* Shedinja is the only Pokémon with a base stat total of 236.
* Shedinja's barrier in Max Raid Battles requires the most hits to break, with 8. However because it still faints from one hit, and there is no way to hit it with False Swipe, breaking the barrier is impossible.
* In Pokémon GO, Ditto and Shedinja can't be used in Trainer Battles. It is currently unknown why.

### 1 HP trivia

Shedinja has the lowest base HP stat of all Pokémon, with only 1. As such, it has many unique characteristics:

* Shedinja is the only Pokémon to have a stat not calculated by the standard formula; if it were, Shedinja would have at least 11 HP even at level 1.
* Shedinja is the only Pokémon that cannot gain any additional HP Template:EVs.
	+ In Generation VI, Template:EVs in HP can be earned from Super Training, though they have no effect for Shedinja.
* Having only 1 HP, Shedinja's Defense and Special Defense stats normally have no practical purpose in battle. However, if Shedinja receives a substitute through Baton Pass, its Defense and Special Defense are factored into damage the substitute takes. Shedinja's Defense and Special Defense stats also become relevant if a Pokémon uses Transform on it or if Shedinja uses Power Trick or Body Press (both via Mimic), or if an opponent has Download.
* From Generation IV onward, Shedinja is the only Pokémon that can knock itself out from full health with the recoil damage from Struggle.
* Outside of battle, Shedinja immediately recovers from poison after four steps in Generation IV; in Generation III, it will immediately faint after four steps.
* Despite it being able to learn Substitute, Bide, and Rest, they will always fail; consequently, the only way Shedinja can have a substitute is via Baton Pass.
* Although Shedinja can learn Sandstorm, it cannot normally use the move without fainting as a result of damage from the sandstorm. Use of Safety Goggles allows this to be circumvented.
* If Shedinja uses Pain Split (via Mimic), it will cut the target's HP in half, similarly to Super Fang.
* Shedinja is the only Pokémon that has its HP restored to maximum when leveled up with a Rare Candy (prior to Generation VI) or revived with a Revive.
* From Generation V onward, if a Shedinja has Sturdy, it can survive any damaging move or confusion damage.
* If a Shedinja is holding a Focus Sash, it can survive any single damaging hit (including confusion damage).
* Shedinja is the only Pokémon that can never recover HP using an HP-draining move.
* Although Shedinja can eat Dynamax Candy, its HP will remain at 1 regardless when it Dynamaxes. This makes it the only Pokémon that doesn't get an HP boost when it Dynamaxes.

### Origin

Shedinja appears to be based on the shed husk that cicadas leave behind when they finish their metamorphosis into adults. It also appears to be a reference to the fabled ninjutsu technique 空蝉 *utsusemi*, where a ninja uses a dummy or replica of itself to evade and escape from threats, and where its namesake also alludes to the cast off shed husk of a cicada. It may also be based on a guardian angel due to the halo-like object floating above its head and its Wonder Guard Ability.

#### Name origin

Shedinja may be a combination of *shed* (to cast off skin or exoskeleton) and *ninja*.

Nukenin may be a combination of 抜け殻 *nukegara* (casting off skin) and *ninja*, as well as a pun on 抜け忍 *nukenin* (a ninja who has abandoned their clan).