Shadow Sandslash

PVE Movesets Grades

Quick	Charge	ATK	DEF
Metal Claw	Rock Tomb	X	A-
Metal Claw	Scorching Sands	X	A
Metal Claw	Night Slash*	X	A
Mud Shot	Rock Tomb	X	B
Mud Shot	Scorching Sands	A-	C
Mud Shot	Night Slash*	X	B
Sand Attack	Scorching Sands	A	X

Quick	Charge	ATK	DEF
Metal Claw	Bulldoze	X	X
Metal Claw	Earthquake	X	X
Mud Shot	Bulldoze	X	X
Mud Shot	Earthquake	F	X
Sand Attack	Bulldoze	X	X
Sand Attack	Earthquake	X	X
Sand Attack	Rock Tomb	X	X
Sand Attack	Night Slash*	X	X

PVE Offensive Moves Explanation

• Sand Attack and Scorching Sands is an outstanding Ground Type moveset, thematically relevant, and brings Sandslash as close to being usable as it can be.
• Mud Shot is also a great moves, but it also falls behind Sand Attack. Metal Claw, Night Slash*, Rock Tomb, Earthquake, and Bulldoze all either fall behind, or are objectively useless on Shadow Sandslash.

PVE Defensive Moves Explanation

• Metal Claw is the best defensive Fast Move that Shadow Sandslash can muster. Mud Shot is a bit behind after STAB, but is still usable with the right Charged Move.
• Night Slash* has great neutral coverage, is hard to dodge, and comes out very frequently.
• Scorching Sands is the hardest hitting move in Shadow Sandslash's arsenal on defense.
• Rock Tomb has good coverage and is also worth considering.
• Bulldoze is Scorching Sands, but worse.
• Earthquake hits hard, but Shadow Sandslash is unlikely to actually use it.

PVE Overview

PVP Movesets Grades

Quick	Charge	ATK
Mud Shot	Scorching Sands Rock Tomb	A
Mud Shot	Scorching Sands Night Slash*	A
Sand Attack	Scorching Sands Night Slash*	A
Sand Attack	Scorching Sands Rock Tomb	A

PvP Moveset Explanation

Sand Attack or Mud Shot + Scorching Sands and Rock Tomb or Night Slash*

Mud Shot provides Shadow Sandslash with outstanding Energy Generation, but very little damage output. Sand Attack switches it up slightly by focusing on Damage a little bit more at the cost of a little bit of energy generation, though Shadow Sandslash's spammy moveset can allow for the slight energy generation loss.

Scorching Sands and Rock Tomb combine to maximize Shadow Sandslash's coverage, and while Rock Tomb isn't a very good move, it's at least better than Bulldoze. The addition of Night Slash* following the Sandshrew Community Day in March 2022 is an interesting but somewhat unimpressive one. Dark-type coverage doesn't solve Shadow Sandslash's problems, but at least its low energy cost enables faster shield pressure and baiting. Earthquake has the advantage of hitting very hard if not shielded, but its DPS (Damage per Energy) isn't too far above Scorching Sands, which has lower energy cost as well.

PvP Rating Explanation

Great League: 1 / 5

Sandslash? More like Sadslash. Heavily outclassed by other Ground-types (especially Galarian Stunfisk, which has access to Rock Slide over Rock Tomb), Sandslash just isn't worth using. Its new Community Day move Night Slash makes it easier to pressure shields, but isn't enough for Sandslash to challenge most of the meta. 

Ultra League: 1 / 5

Same story as above, but add even more relevant Pokémon that can do the same thing.

Master League: 0 / 5

Sandslash is basically a harmless, infant version of Groudon in the Master League.

Fast Moves

8

Metal Claw

More Info

Steel

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	EPU	DPS	DPS w/STAB	True DPS
0.70	0.20	10.00		11.43	14.29

5

Mud Shot

More Info

Ground

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	EPU	DPS	DPS w/STAB	True DPS
0.60	0.20	11.67		8.33	10.42

4

Sand Attack

More Info

Ground

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	EPU	DPS	DPS w/STAB	True DPS
0.50	0.30	14.00		8.00	10.00

Charge Moves

80

Bulldoze

2 Energy

More Info

Ground

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
3.50	0.50	0.00	1.60	22.86	28.57		36.57

140

Earthquake

1 Energy

More Info

Ground

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
3.60	0.80	0.00	1.40	38.89	48.61		54.44

70

Rock Tomb

2 Energy

More Info

Rock

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
3.20	0.75	0.00	1.40	21.88	27.34		30.63

95

Scorching Sands

2 Energy

More Info

Ground

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
3.20	0.90	0.00	1.90	29.69	37.11		56.41

Elite Charge Moves

50

Night Slash

3 Energy

More Info

Dark

1.6x Damage	VS
1.6x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
2.20	0.70	0.00	1.52	22.73	28.41		34.44

Exclusive Charge Moves

10

Frustration

3 Energy

More Info

Normal

.714x Damage	VS
.714x Damage	VS
.51x Damage	VS

0.7 secs

CD	DW	EPS	DPE	DPS	DPS w/STAB	DPE*DPS
2.00	0.80	0.00	0.30	5.00	6.25		1.52

Purification Cost

Pokemon Type Chart

Vulnerable

	160% damage
	160% damage
	160% damage

Resistant

	39.1% damage
	62.5% damage
	62.5% damage

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