Shedinja (Japanese: ヌケニンNukenin) is a dual-type Bug/Ghost Pokémon. It is considered a "special" evolution of Nincada, appearing only when it evolves into Ninjask and there is an extra space in the player's party and an extra Poké Ball in their bag.
Shedinja is a brownish Pokémon resembling an insect's exoskeleton. Shedinja has a white halo floating over its head and a black hole on its back. As a matter of fact, it is the shed remains of a Nincada after it evolves into a Ninjask. However, there is no logical explanation as to how Shedinja gained a "life" of its own.
Gender differences
This Pokémon is a genderless species.
Special abilities
It is rumored that if a human peers into its back, their soul will be stolen. Shedinja is impervious to direct-damage from all attacks that its type combination isn't weak to. However, any direct-damage from attacks that Shedinja is weak to (or any form of indirect damage) will always knock it out.
Shedinja's movepool is the same as Ninjask's, but with the addition of several Template:Type2 moves.
Behavior
Shedinja appear to be wise and intelligent Pokémon. They are also very quiet and stealthy, like a Ninja. They are protective over Ninjask but otherwise very little is known about them.
Habitat
Shedinja probably live in forests, anywhere where there are Nincada and Ninjasks and many other bug Pokémon.
Shedinja's hard body doesn't move - not even a twitch. In fact, its body appears to be merely a hollow shell. It is believed that this Pokémon will steal the spirit of anyone peering into its hollow body from its back.
Shedinja is a peculiar Pokémon. It seems to appear unsought in a Poké Ball after a Nincada evolves. This bizarre Pokémon is entirely immobile - it doesn't even breathe.
In Pokémon Mystery Dungeon and its sequel, the standard A-button tackle will do one HP damage and wild Shedinja always has a maximum of 5 HP. However, as a team member, Shedinja's HP is not capped.
Learnset
Template:Learnset intro
In addition to its normal movepool, Shedinja can also learn a single move from Ninjask's movepool or more than one, if Ninjask would learn multiple moves in a single level. This is because when Shedinja is "shed," it copies Ninjask's current moveset.
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| colspan="13" | Bold indicates a move that gets STAB Italic indicates a move that gets STAB only from an Evolution of this Pokémon A colored initial indicates that the move is not available to be tutored in this game, while a colored background indicates that the move is available.
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Shedinja is the only Pokémon whose HP IV cannot be determined, due to it always having the same amount of HP. To figure out a Shedinja's HP IV, one must find out the HP IV of the Ninjask that shed it.
A Poké Ball is only needed to obtain a Shedinja in the Generation IV games. In other games, it creates its own Poké Ball in the same way that eggs do.
Shedinja can be in any type of Poké Ball provided it is the first one listed in the player's bag upon its evolution.
No other Pokémon shares the same typecombination as Shedinja.
Shedinja has the lowest base HP stat of all Pokémon.
Shedinja's base HP stat is also the lowest base stat number of any legitimate Pokémon (although it is tied with Missingno.'s base Defense stat).
Shedinja also has the lowest total base stat of all Pokémon that cannot evolve again..
Shedinja is one of only three Pokémon that is not a baby Pokémon to have a different egg group than its evolutionary relatives (if Nincada and Ninjask are considered part of its evolutionary line), being in the Mineral egg group while Nincada and Ninjask are in the Bug group. It cannot breed normally with Mineral group Pokémon either way, however, as it has no gender. The other two Pokémon that share this trait are Nidorina and Nidoqueen.
Despite having the lowest HP of all Pokémon, a defeated Shedinja will give 2 HP EVs.
Shedinja is one of three Ghost-types whose color isn't in the black or purple category. The others are Froslass (white) and Rotom (red).
During Generation III, Shedinja's entire body was a dull shade of gold. Shedinja's colors were changed to suit its official artwork in Generation IV.
Origin
It is based on the shed husk that cicadas leave behind when they finish their metamorphosis into adults.
Name origin
Shedinja's name is a combination of shed, casting off of skin or exoskeleton, and ninja. Its Japanese name is a combination of 抜け殻 nukegara, casting off skin, and 忍者 ninja. Nukenin is also a term describing ninja who have abandoned their clan and lord.
In other languages
German: Ninjatom - A combination of ninja and tomb.
This Pokémon article is part of Project Pokédex, a Bulbapedia project that aims to write comprehensive articles on each Pokémon species, as well as Pokémon groups and forms.
For other sprites and images, please see Shedinja images on Bulbagarden Archives.
