Shadow Sandslash
Attack
Defense
Stamina
Best Movesets
Analysis
Even with the shadow boost, Sandslash just doesn't do much on offense. Better to find another Ground Type.
Offense
- Sand Attack and Scorching Sands is an outstanding Ground Type moveset, thematically relevant, and brings Sandslash as close to being usable as it can be.
- Mud Shot is also a great moves, but it also falls behind Sand Attack. Metal Claw, Night Slash*, Rock Tomb, Earthquake, and Bulldoze all either fall behind, or are objectively useless on Shadow Sandslash.
Defense
- Metal Claw is the best defensive Fast Move that Shadow Sandslash can muster. Mud Shot is a bit behind after STAB, but is still usable with the right Charged Move.
- Night Slash* has great neutral coverage, is hard to dodge, and comes out very frequently.
- Scorching Sands is the hardest hitting move in Shadow Sandslash's arsenal on defense.
- Rock Tomb has good coverage and is also worth considering.
- Bulldoze is Scorching Sands, but worse.
- Earthquake hits hard, but Shadow Sandslash is unlikely to actually use it.
Mud Shot provides Shadow Sandslash with outstanding Energy Generation, but very little damage output. Sand Attack switches it up slightly by focusing on Damage a little bit more at the cost of a little bit of energy generation, though Shadow Sandslash's spammy moveset can allow for the slight energy generation loss.
Scorching Sands and Rock Tomb combine to maximize Shadow Sandslash's coverage, and while Rock Tomb isn't a very good move, it's at least better than Bulldoze. The addition of Night Slash* following the Sandshrew Community Day in March 2022 is an interesting but somewhat unimpressive one. Dark-type coverage doesn't solve Shadow Sandslash's problems, but at least its low energy cost enables faster shield pressure and baiting. Earthquake has the advantage of hitting very hard if not shielded, but its DPS (Damage per Energy) isn't too far above Scorching Sands, which has lower energy cost as well.
Sandslash? More like Sadslash. Heavily outclassed by other Ground-types (especially Galarian Stunfisk, which has access to Rock Slide over Rock Tomb), Sandslash just isn't worth using. Its new Community Day move Night Slash makes it easier to pressure shields, but isn't enough for Sandslash to challenge most of the meta.
