Shadow Drifblim
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
While a genuine improvement over normal Drifblim, Shadow Drifblim is still fairly unimpressive as an attacker. It can work as a team-filler, but it's not outstanding.
Offense
- Hex is only slightly better than Astonish.
- Shadow Ball should always be picked over Ominous Wind.
- Icy Wind is an underwhelming move.
Defense
- Hex is the superior defensive fast move.
- Ominous Wind is weaker than Shadow Ball, but also harder to dodge and has the potential to be spammed. Both pale in comparison to Mystical Fire, however, as it provides spammability, decent coverage, AND an early damage window.
- Icy Wind offers useful coverage for Dragon-type generalists.
Hex is recommended for its fast energy generation, while Astonish isn't great in general
Icy Wind has a decent damage profile and, more importantly, a 100% chance to drop the target's attack stat by 1 stage. This artificially boosts Drifblim's bulk and frequently forces switches or gives the next Pokemon on your team a great chance to come in with an advantage. Mystical Fire does the same thing but offers different coverage - it trades Flying coverage for superior Steel coverage. Shadow Ball is noted for being one of the better attacks in the game due to its great neutral coverage and solid damage per energy rating, and works great in conjunction with Icy Wind or Mystical Fire, as they can be used to bait shields easily. This is made especially effective when you consider the fact that Icy Wind's / Mystical Fire's Attack debuff bypasses shields.
Drifblim is an interesting Pokemon due to its unique typing and moveset. While it is not the most meta Pokemon out there (mainly due to competition from other Ghosts), it can pull its weight thanks to its wide coverage and annoying debuffs. It shines best in limited cups when its fellow Ghost competitors are banned.
Regular Drifblim is generally preferred over Shadow Drifblim. Drifblim's damage is somewhat unreliable, as Hex does not do much damage on its own, and its Charged Attacks aren't particularly cheap. This in turn makes it not particularly efficient at making use of the Shadow bonus. Furthermore, the Attack debuffs from Icy Wind or Mystical Fire synergize better with bulkier Pokemon; non-Shadow Drifblim stands a greater chance at applying multiple debuffs before it faints.
