Johto introduced us to a lot of unique Pokemon. Evolved forms and Pre-Evolved forms of the orginal Pokemon were made. Smeargle was introduced, a Pokemon used completely to showcase the move Sketch. We even saw Blissey, something with extreme stats including an HP and Sp. Defense stat so huge, the other stats are ridiculously low. Shuckle is another one of those Pokemon. Its Defense and Sp. Defense stats reach up to a base stat number of 230, making it more defensive than even Deoxys Defense Form. Shuckle also has the highest defense stats of any Pokemon. But the rest of its stats are extremely low. It has a base HP stat of 20, Offensive stats with bases of 10, and the lowest Speed stat of any Pokemon, tied with Munchlax; a puny base of 5. Although most people would rather use a different Bug-Rock type, most likely Crustle, Shuckle is still of some use, and can make for a surprisingly good Staller. With such high Defensive stats, you're highly likely to endure at least one hit. You could use Toxic and Protect, making Shuckle indeed an annoying Pokemon for your opponent.
Shuckle has a few noteworthy moves. Use an old-school stalling strategy of Toxic, which does more damage each turn, unless your opponent switches out. Then use Protect, which, as the name suggests, Protects you from the opponent's attack(s). But with Shuckle, it goes a little further. Teach it the move Power Swap. This exchanges Shuckles offensive stats with the targets offensive stats. So your opponent has Shuckle's low offensive stats while you have whatever kind of offensive stats the opponent has. This effect doesn't stay on your opponent if they switch out. To get around this, you could use Power Swap again. If you're in a Double or Triple Battle, you could have a partner with an ability like Shadow Tag or Arena Trap. The second option is to use a move that prevents switching out. Anyway, with actual offensive stats- (unless you somehow used it on something like Unown), you can use an Offensive move every other turn. So after setting up Toxic and Power Swap, you can use Protect, a move that almost never works on consecutive turns, and then an offensive move. What the offensive move is would be up to you. However, it'd be smart to make it a STAB move. Good STAB moves Shuckle wields are Rollout, Bug Bite, Stone Edge, and Rock Slide. Use a move with high PP. You could also use Gastro Acid, though that takes up all 4 moves, making it pointless to have an offensive boost. Besides this corny Staller set, you could combine Power Swap with any other moves for a good movepool. So that covers Shuckle's movepool.
Shuckle's first ability is Sturdy. It protects Shuckle from getting KO'd with one hit at full HP. Kinda useless considering Shuckle can practically live any hit himself. I guess it could save your butt from One-Hit-KO-Moves, but if you're doing competitive battles, that's different. The next ability Shuckle has is Gluttony. Berrries are used earlier in battle. I guess if an opponent were to use Guard Swap and make it easier to lower your HP, than a Sitrus Berry would be useful, but if you're using a Non-Dream World ability, stick with the bad, but better, Sturdy ability. Shuckle's Dream World Ability or as some call it, the "Hidden Ability", is Contrary. Moves that raise your stats will lower them, and moves that lower your stats will raise them. A random Shadow Ball attack, for example, has the secondary effect of lowering your Sp. Defense stat. But with Contrary, it will boost the Sp. Defense stat rather than lower it. Although this ability can also be used against you. Moves like Flatter and Swagger, would lower your offensive stats and confuse you, rather than raise your offensive stat and confuse you can really stink, but the ability is way better than Sturdy and Gluttony, at least, on Shuckle, that is.
The overall opinion is that Shuckle can be like real mold- hard to kill, if used correctly. This Pokemon has great moves like Gastro Acid and Power Swap to help it, along with a fairly okay movepool. It has huge defenses and the rest of its stats are just downright puny, but Power Swap, again, gets around this. With bad abilities, with the exception of Contrary, may hold it back in battle. But you know the saying- when Shuckle is kicking butt in battle you just want to say "Everyday I'm Shucklin'..."
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