It is considered a special evolution of Nincada, appearing only when Nincada evolves into Ninjask starting at level 20, if the player has an empty slot in their party and an extra Poké Ball on hand.
Shedinja is a Pokémon resembling 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 crescent-shaped 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.
Shedinja is said to be a very strange and peculiar Pokémon due to how it is created from an empty shell. It has the ability to inhabit an empty Poké Ball after it evolves from Nincada. 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.
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.
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
Pokédex entries
This Pokémon was unavailable prior to Generation III.
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.
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.
Shedinja is considered a special evolution of Nincada, appearing only when Nincada evolves into Ninjask starting at level 20, if the player has an empty slot in their party and an extra Poké Ball on hand. Note that the Poké Ball has to be a regular Poké Ball. In Generation III, an extra Poké Ball is not necessary to obtain Shedinja.
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 one of only two legitimate ways to obtain Shedinja in a non-standard Poké Ball until Generation VIII, where Shedinja can be caught in Max Raid Battles and transferred from Pokémon GO.
The other option is to catch a Nincada in HeartGold or SoulSilver via the Bug Catching Contest in a Sport Ball, trade it to Diamond, Pearl, or Platinum, and evolve it there. Because the Sport Ball is not coded to exist in Diamond, Pearl, and Platinum, it copies the Ball to the Shedinja without reassigning it to have a basic Poké Ball. This effect would also apply to any other Balls that are considered "out-of-bounds" by these games, such as Apricorn Balls, but in HeartGold and SoulSilver, Nincada is only obtainable in the wild from the Bug Catching Contest, in which only Sport Balls can be used.
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 exclusively part of the MineralEgg Group, but its pre-evolution is exclusively part of Bug Egg Group. These two are the only evolutionarily-related Pokémon to not share identical Egg Groups, excluding those that transition in or out of the No Eggs Discovered egg group.
However, because it is gender unknown, it cannot breed with Pokémon other than Ditto.
Shedinja inherits the same game of origin, personality value, IVs, 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 13 of 18 move types, the most of any Pokémon; four of these immunities (to Ice, Bug, Steel, and Fairy) are entirely unique to Shedinja.
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.
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 awaken 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 is the only evolved Pokémon with lower HP than its pre-evolution.
Shedinja's barrier in Max Raid Battles requires the most hits to break, with 8. However, because it still faints in one hit, and it is immune to False Swipe and Hold Back, breaking the barrier is impossible.
Despite Shedinja's HP being its lowest stat, Shedinja awards HP EVs.
1 HP trivia
Shedinja has the lowest HP of all Pokémon, with only 1. As such, it has many unique characteristics:
Excluding Starmobiles, 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 can gain HP EVs, but they will have no effect.
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 or Shed Tail, 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 or Shed Tail.
It can also have Final Gambit from one of Nincada's Egg Moves, but it will only do 1 HP damage, due to Final Gambit doing damage equal to the user's current HP.
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.
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 an indefinite number of times.
If a Shedinja is holding a Focus Sash, it can survive any single damaging hit (including confusion damage) and remain at full HP.
Shedinja is the only Pokémon that can never recover HP using an HP-draining move.
Although Shedinja can eat Dynamax Candies, 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.
Eruption, Water Spout, or Dragon Energy used by Shedinja via Mimic will always have 150 base power, while Flail from Nincada's Egg Moves and Reversal via Mimic will always have 20 base power, due to Shedinja always having full HP.
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 themselves 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 GuardAbility.
Name origin
Shedinja may be a combination of shed (to cast off shell) and ninja.
Nukenin may be a combination of 抜け殻 nukegara (empty shell) and 忍者 ninja, as well as a pun on 抜け忍 nukenin (fugitive ninja).
In other languages
Language
Title
Meaning
Japanese
ヌケニン Nukenin
From 抜け殻 nukegara, 忍者 ninja, and a pun of 抜け忍 nukenin
For other sprites and images, please see Shedinja images on the Bulbagarden Archives.
