Shadow Banette
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Fast
Best Movesets
Analysis
Shadow Banette is a great DPS option among Ghost Types, but far from the top, and it also lacks the TDO to be genuinely worthwhile.. It can very rapidly whittle down the HP of anything weak to Ghost, but it is also tremendously frail, which makes dodging extremely important if it's to be even mildly effective.
Offense
- Shadow Claw and Shadow Ball are both outstanding moves, and make Shadow Banette one heck of a glass cannon.
- Hex has inferior performance
- Thunder and Dazzling Gleam are basically worthless to Shadow Banette on offense.
Defense
- Hex is the fast move of choice for defense due to its higher power when compared to Shadow Claw.
- Dazzling Gleam has solid coverage and good defensive performance
- Shadow Ball is also good, but the fact that it's the same type as Hex means that it's extremely easy to counter
- Thunder has solid power and an early dodge window, but Shadow Banette almost definitely won't get a chance to use it
This moveset is relatively straightforward and allows Shadow Banette to threaten with a lot of Ghost-type damage with STAB. Shadow Ball is actually the cheapest charge move in terms of energy among Banette's options, and also gets STAB which means it gets used most of the time. Thunder is the second cheapest charge move energy-wise so consider that for some interesting coverage, though it won't be used much. Dazzling Gleam can cover Banette's weakness to Dark-type foes, but a high 70 energy cost leaves it undesirable to use.
Banette is a risky Pokemon for Great League due to its squishyness. A severe lack of bulk causes it to lose many matchups due to simply not being able to finish the opponent fast enough. This becomes more apparent when looking at its moveset. With Shadow Ball as the cheapest charge move in terms of energy, Banette needs 8 Shadow Claws to be able to use a charge move. A lack of a low energy cost charge move prevents Banette from effectively being able to bait shields, which means Banette can't apply enough shield pressure to really threaten its opponents. As long as the opponent uses one shield, Banette needs to use 16 Shadow Claws before being able to hit the opponent for heavy damage, which Banette might not even get to due to low durability. Despite this, Banette still manages to pick up some wins in Great League, though mostly against opponents which rely on charge moves for big damage instead of their fast moves (ex. Forretress, Froslass, Lanturn). Obvious typing advantages also awards wins against Medicham.
