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Hopefully, many of you walked away with a brand new Darkrai last weekend. If you did, we'd love to hear aboutthe nature and IVs of your new Pokemon. Now that one legendary giveaway is out of the way (for Japan and America anyway), let's start preparing for the next awesome giveaway: Shaymin! This adorable Grass Pokemon look harmless, but it packs a mighty punch. However, to get the most out of Shaymin, you'll have to put a lot of work and time into it. This week's Pokemusings gives you the lowdown on this legend.
In many ways, Shaymin is similar to Celebi. They are diminutive, look super cute, are Grass types, and have base 100 stats across the board. There are many notable differences though. Shaymin does not have the advantages and weaknesses of Celebi's Psychic typing. Given how common Pursuit is in competitive play, this can be a very good thing. Shaymin's single typing also leaves it with a move pool that's comparatively limited. The biggest difference, however, is Shaymin's signature move: Seed Flare. This is one of the nastiest moves we've ever seen. In addition to its 120 base power, it also has a chance of lowering the target's Special Defense by two stages. Even a hardy wall like Blissey needs to watch out for this devastating move.
That said, Seed Flare is a pain in the butt to obtain. Shaymin learns it at level 100, making it one of the few Pokemon that you need to level up to the max. Shaymin's limited move pool also means you ought to make use ofHidden Power. When the time comes - and if Shaymin is distributed similarly to Darkrai - you'll need to do a lot of soft resetting to make sure Shaymin has a useful Hidden Power type. Ground and Ice are very useful types to get, but Fire is our favorite for Shaymin. Due to the leveling up required to learn Seed Flare and the potential time suck of soft resetting, Shaymin requires a big time investment if you plan on using it optimally. Now let's move on to move sets!
