Shell Armor (Ability)

Shell Armor	シェルアーマー
	Shell Armor
Flavor text Generation III Blocks critical hits. Generation IV The Pokémon is protected against critical hits. Generation V The Pokémon is protected against critical hits. Generation VI Protects the Pokémon from critical hits. Generation VII A hard shell protects the Pokémon from critical hits. Generation VIII A hard shell protects the Pokémon from critical hits. Generation IX A hard shell protects the Pokémon from critical hits.

Shell Armor (Japanese: シェルアーマー Shell Armor) is an Ability introduced in Generation III.

Effect

In battle

Shell Armor prevents Pokémon from receiving a critical hit, even if they would usually always land one such as with Frost Breath, Storm Throw, Wicked Blow, Surging Strikes, or with Merciless (if the target is poisoned).

Outside of battle

Shell Armor has no effect outside of battle.

Pokémon with Shell Armor

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0080		Slowbro Mega Slowbro	Water	Psychic	Shell Armor	None	None
0090		Shellder	Water		Water	Shell Armor	Skill LinkGen IV+	Overcoat
0091		Cloyster	Water	Ice	Shell Armor	Skill LinkGen IV+	Overcoat
0098		Krabby	Water		Water	Hyper Cutter	Shell Armor	Sheer Force
0099		Kingler	Water		Water	Hyper Cutter	Shell Armor	Sheer Force
0131		Lapras	Water	Ice	Water Absorb	Shell Armor	Hydration
0138		Omanyte	Rock	Water	Swift Swim	Shell Armor	Weak Armor
0139		Omastar	Rock	Water	Swift Swim	Shell Armor	Weak Armor
0324		Torkoal	Fire		Fire	White Smoke	DroughtGen VII+	Shell Armor
0341		Corphish	Water		Water	Hyper Cutter	Shell Armor	Adaptability
0342		Crawdaunt	Water	Dark	Hyper Cutter	Shell Armor	Adaptability
0366		Clamperl	Water		Water	Shell Armor	None	Rattled
0387		Turtwig	Grass		Grass	Overgrow	None	Shell Armor
0388		Grotle	Grass		Grass	Overgrow	None	Shell Armor
0389		Torterra	Grass	Ground	Overgrow	None	Shell Armor
0501		Oshawott	Water		Water	Torrent	None	Shell Armor
0502		Dewott	Water		Water	Torrent	None	Shell Armor
0503		Samurott	Water		Water	Torrent	None	Shell Armor
0557		Dwebble	Bug	Rock	Sturdy	Shell Armor	Weak Armor
0558		Crustle	Bug	Rock	Sturdy	Shell Armor	Weak Armor
0589		Escavalier	Bug	Steel	Swarm	Shell Armor	Overcoat
0616		Shelmet	Bug		Bug	Hydration	Shell Armor	Overcoat
0705		Sliggoo Hisuian Form	Steel	Dragon	Sap Sipper	Shell ArmorGen IX+	Gooey
0706		Goodra Hisuian Form	Steel	Dragon	Sap Sipper	Shell ArmorGen IX+	Gooey
0776		Turtonator	Fire	Dragon	Shell Armor	None	None
0833		Chewtle	Water		Water	Strong Jaw	Shell Armor	Swift Swim
0834		Drednaw	Water	Rock	Strong Jaw	Shell Armor	Swift Swim
0950		Klawf	Rock		Rock	Anger Shell	Shell Armor	Regenerator
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

Pokémon that formerly had Shell Armor

#	Pokémon		Types		First Ability	Second Ability	Hidden Ability
0503		Samurott Hisuian Form	Water	Dark	Torrent	None	Shell ArmorGen VIII
Please note that Abilities marked with a superscript are only available in the stated generation or later. For Generation III and IV games, ignore Hidden Abilities.

• In Pokémon Legends: Arceus's internal code, Hisuian Samurott's Hidden Ability is Shell Armor instead of Sharpness, and Hisuian Sliggoo's and Goodra's Ability is Overcoat instead of Shell Armor.

In other games

Description

Games Description MDRB Blocks critical hits. MDTDS Blocks critical hits on the Pokémon. BSL こうげきを きゅうしょに うけない Conq. The Pokémon is protected against critical hits. MDGtI Moves will not make a critical hit.* Moves don't hit critically! Never ever!* SMD Moves don't hit the Pokémon critically! Never ever! MDRTDX Moves are never critical hits against this Pokémon.

In the manga

Pokémon Adventures

Crawdaunt
A hard shell protects the Pokémon from hits to its weak spots.
Pokémon	Method
User	First Chapter Used In		Notes
	Crawdaunt's shell protects it from hits to its weak spots.
A wild Crawdaunt	Stick This in Your Craw, Crawdaunt! II		Debut

• In the Japan Mini-volume 6 for the X & Y arc, Tierno's Crawdaunt was revealed to have Shell Armor as its Ability.
• Giovanni's Cloyster was revealed to have Shell Armor as his Ability in the PokéSPedia data-book.
• Lorelei's Shellder and Wallace's Clamperl were revealed to have Shell Armor as their Ability.

Trivia

• This Ability originated as a TCG Pokémon Power.
• Together with Protean, these are the only Abilities that more than one first partner Pokémon line can have as their Hidden Ability.

In other languages

Language Title Chinese Cantonese 硬殼盔甲 Ngaahnghok Kwāigaap * 貝殼盔甲 Buihok Kwāigaap * Mandarin 硬殼盔甲 / 硬壳盔甲 Yìngké Kuījiǎ * 貝殼盔甲 Bèiké Kuījiǎ * French Coque Armure German Panzerhaut Italian Guscioscudo Korean 조가비 갑옷 Jogabi Gab'ot Polish Skorupa Brazilian Portuguese Armadura de Concha Russian Панцирь Pantsir' Spanish Caparazón Vietnamese Giáp Vỏ

Variations of the Ability Battle Armor
Battle Armor • Shell Armor

This article is part of Project Moves and Abilities, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on two related aspects of the Pokémon games.