Shinx Guide: A Pokemon That Sparks Excitement

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Jesus Cruz, Lifelong Pokémon Fan

It all started in 2010 when Jesus was 10 years old. His dad gifted him a Nintendo DS and let him choose a game for it. A weird, enormous, and grey serpent caught my attention on the box art for Pokémon Platinum, and since that moment he's been hooked! He can only thank his 10 years old self for choosing the game that he loves the most in the series

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Shinx, the flash Pokémon, is an Electric-type Pokémon introduced in Gen 4. It is the pre-evolution of Luxio and Luxray. Shinx’s whole evolution line is based on a mix of lions and lynxes; in this case, Shinx is only a little cub. It is also said that Shinx is based on an Egyptian Sphinx because it has human-like eyes but a lion’s body, but the only flaw of this theory is Shinx’s absence of wings Sphinx has. 

Shinx and its evolutions are pretty competitive and territorial; it likes to fight with other Shinxes constantly. But, at the same time, they will not get into battles they can’t win, so they start to shine intensively to blind the menace and run away. 

Shinx is a quadrupedal and feline-like, mostly light blue Pokémon but with a black rear made of fur, dividing Shinx into two colors. It has two big yellow eyes and a little pink nose on its face. In addition, it has a black tail with a star-shaped tip, which is characteristic of this Pokémon’s evolution line. Shinx also has a tuft of fur on the top of its head that is smaller in the female Shinxes. 

Shinx’s name comes from the union of Shine and Lynx. 

Shinx Summary of Appearances in Pokémon Versions and Media (Games, Anime, Movies)

In the games, you can find Shinx in the following places: 

• Gen 4: In Diamond and Pearl Shinx can be found in Routes 202, 203, 204, and in the Fuego Ironworks, while in Platinum, it appears in the Routes mentioned before and in the Valley Windworks. Also, in HGSS, you can find Shinx in the following routes: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 29, 33, 36, 37, 38, 39, 46, 48, and in the National Park, only by using the Sinnoh Sound. Also, you can find it in the Safari Zone.
• Gen 5: Shinx is an exclusive Pokémon in White, where you can find it in the White Forest. If you want it in Black or in B2W2, you have to trade it.
• Gen 6: Shinx can only be obtained by breeding Luxio or Luxray, which can be found in an Electric-type Friend Safari.

Shinx doesn’t appear in ORAS either, but you can breed a Luxio, which can be found in Route 118 as a hidden Pokémon.

• Gen 7: Shinx can only be obtained by breeding Luxio or Luxray and only in Sun and Moon. You can find Luxio and Luxray on Route 8 using the Island Scan.
• Gen 8: Shinx wasn’t available in the game until the Expansion Pass got released. Here, you can find it in the Challenge Beach, Training Lowlands, Challenge Road, and Potbottom Desert. 

In the Anime, Shinx made its debut in Not on My Watch Ya Don’t! under the ownership of Landis. This Shinx was special because it was an expert detecting fake Poké-Watches. After that, it only made several minor appearances. 

Also, Clemont (one of the Anime protagonists when Ash was in Kalos) has a Luxray. Clemont found its Luxray when it was a little and harmed Shinx and helped by healing it, but after that, Clemont had to leave it behind. They meet up again, and Shinx, which evolved into Luxio, helped Clemont battle against Team Rocket. After this, Luxio got under Clemont’s ownership. 

In the Manga, Shinx made its debut in Pokémon Adventures in Extreme Luxio, when a pack of wild Shinx and Luxio appeared and attacked Platinum. 

Shinx has also appeared in Darkrai Mission Story: Pokémon Ranger Vatonage, Pocket Monsters Diamond & Pearl, and Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure! 

In the TCG, Shinx has a lot of cards. It has common cards in the following expansions: 

• Diamond & Pearl 
• Mysterious Treasures
• Legends Awakened
• Supreme Victors
• Arceus (in this expansion, it also has a rare holo as a Shiny Pokémon). 
• Next Destinies (With two different cards) 
• Flashfire
• BREAKpoint
• Ultra Prism
• Rebel Clash
• Shining Fates 
• Battle Styles

Shinx Evolution Line: When Does Shinx Evolve?

Shinx evolves into Luxio at level 15, while Luxio evolves into Luxray at level 30. Luxray can’t evolve. 

Shinx Stats

Shinx is a pretty weak Pokémon even in its tier, Little Cup, because it can’t learn good moves. Shinx, Luxio, and Luxray have a big problem: They aim to be Physical Sweeper Pokémon, but there aren’t decent Physical Electric-type attacks available for them. 

Let’s see its stats and talk a bit more about them: 

Stats

As you can see, Shinx has a decent HP and Attack, but its defenses are pretty bad. You can think of it as a Special Sweeper, but you are wasting its potential as a good Physical Sweeper if you do it. 

The only option left (if you want to inflict loads of damage while being annoying to the opposite team) is to discard the Sweeper idea and adapt it as a pivot, which will be getting in and out the field and forcing your rival to switch Pokémon while inflicting a lot of damage with Volt Switch every time you want Shinx to get out the field. Unfortunately, Shinx is sightly slower than other good pivot options, but this will not be a problem if we give it some EVs in that stat. 

Let’s see Shinx’s Abilities: 

Abilities

• Rivalry: The power from the attacks that Shinx does will be increased by 25% if its gender is the same as the Pokémon it is facing, but if the genders are different, then those attacks’ power will be reduced by 25%. 
• Intimidate: Every time Shinx gets into a battle, your Foe’s Pokémon will get an attack decrease in one stage. 
• Guts (as its Hidden Ability): Shinx will get a 50% buff on its attack only if it gets a status condition. Also, Shinx will not halve its Attack if it is burned. 

Sadly, Shinx, with such a great Attack stat and Guts as its ability, can’t learn interesting attacks. Nonetheless, you can use Intimidate as it will be perfect for those times when Shinx is getting in and out of the battlefield. 

Rivalry can be useful, but it is a risk we don’t want to take since it only depends on your luck. Just imagine you use a male Shinx with Rivalry, and all of your foe’s Pokémon are female; this can make your Shinx basically useless. 

Let’s see which Natures can fit Shinx the most: 

Natures

Shinx will work with the following natures: 

• Lonely (Increases Attack, reduces Defense) 
• Brave (Increases Attack, reduces Speed)
• Adamant (Increases Attack, reduces Special Attack)
• Bold (Increases Attack, reduces Special Defense)  

We will buff Shinx’s Attack since Shinx’s task will be inflicting a lot of damage in the shortest amount of time possible. Every time Shinx will get in trouble, it can get out of the field with Volt Switch (sadly, this move is Special; it would be a perfect move for Shinx if it was Physical). 

Using Lonely or Bold would be a bad idea considering Shinx will not resist a single hit because of its awful Defenses. Brave isn’t an option either; you want Shinx to OHKO its rivals while not getting damage; otherwise, Shinx will fall. Finally, the situation led us to Adamant because even if Volt Switch is a Special move, that will not be Shinx’s main resource to attack. 

Let’s check the small list of moves Shinx can learn by leveling up or using a TM/TR. 

Moves list per level (Gen 8)

Moves list by using a TM/TR (Gen 8) 

As you can see, there are not many options as almost all the Electric-type attacks Shinx can learn are Special (Like Electro Ball, Thunderbolt, Thunder, Volt Switch, and Discharge). But, Shinx has three options: Thunder Fang, Spark, and Wild Charge. We will use Wild Charge because we can use its recoil, and it’s the most powerful Physical Electric-type Shinx can learn. 

Shinx Strengths

Shinx is an Electric-type Pokémon, which means it can resist the following types: 

• It only gets ½ of the damage against Steel, Electric, and Flying-type attacks. 

Also, its attacks will be effective against the following types: 

• With its Electric-type attacks, Shinx will inflict x2 damage against Water and Flying-types. 

As you can see, Shinx works perfectly to get out, inflict a ridiculous amount of damage and then get out of the field as soon as possible; this happens because it isn’t capable of handling a lot of types, and any strong neutral type attack will leave Shinx in serious problems. 

There isn’t a lot of Steel or Electric-type attackers in LC, but we can find a big amount of Flying-type Pokémon here since they are pretty common here, and that’s good; you’ll probably find a Fletching, a Hoothoot or a Mantyke (and a lot of Pokémon like this) in the field and they will not hurt you. 

Also, the x2 damage to the Water-types is really helpful in those moments when you are in front of a Water-type starter or any other Water-type because they are pretty common in LC. 

Shinx Weaknesses 

Shinx has only one flaw, and it is against the Ground-type. Also, its Electric-type attack will not do any sort of damage to the Ground-type Pokémon. 

Unfortunately, the common way Shinx could defend itself from the Ground-type Pokémon isn’t available in the current meta since Hidden Power, a move which changes its type depending on the stats of the Pokémon (but you could easily set which type you want by breeding), got removed when Gen 8 started, as well as a lot of other moves. 

But, in this new Gen, Shinx now can learn Ice Fang! This is Shinx’s only option to hurt the Ground-type Pokémon with a strong attack; anyway, the best bet will always be to switch to a Pokémon with an effective move against Ground-type; with this, you can take care of Shinx to use it in better situations. 

Shinx Best Moveset

Shinx can work perfectly with the following moveset: 

• Volt Switch
• Wild Charge
• Thief/Crunch
• Ice Fang

With Intimidate as its Ability, Adamant as its Nature, and Berry Juice (or any other consumable like Sitrus Berry) or Eviolite as its item. 

EVs: 76 HP / 76 Atk / 244 Def / 40 SpD or 40 SpA (depending on your offensive or defensive playstyle). 

This is our recommended build for Shinx. First of all, Volt Switch will help Shinx get out of sketchy situations while inflicting damage, while Wild Charge will be Shinx’s main attack, which will inflict a lot of damage to its rivals but will hurt Shinx; that’s why Berry Juice or Sitrus Berry suits perfectly for Shinx. Fina Fang is there to give Shinx a way to defend itself from the Ground-types.

Now, Thief can be used as a strategy with Shinx’s item; after Shinx uses it, it can use Thief and steal the item your foe’s Pokémon has. This is a good alternative to a Knock Off user, but you can only use it once. Then, if you don’t want to do the Thief strat, you can just use Crunch and have an advantage against the Psychic-types. 

The Berry Juice usage will depend on the Thief Strategy, but if you don’t want to, use Eviolite instead because it will buff Shinx defenses, and we want Shinx to be in the field as much as possible. 

The EVs are set to give Shinx a bit of stability because of their low stats; Shinx’s defenses are really bad, and its only proper usage is a pivot, which is kind of contradictory; that’s why we should buff its defenses the most we can. 

Shinx in a video

In this video, we can see an alternative build to Shinx and how to complement it by surrounding it with a great team. Remember, Hidden Power doesn’t exist anymore, so we recommend changing it by Ice Fang. 

FAQs

Shinx Guide: Conclusion

Shinx is what we name an Adventure Pokémon: A Pokémon that can work perfectly to complete the adventure in the regular games, but it’s hard to give it usage in the competitive system. But, if you really like it, you can make a strategy but remember to complement it with a good and strong team! Good luck in your battles!