Shuckle
Everyone’s favorite endolith, Shuckle, is here to juice the competition!
Shuckle is a slow, heavy character that makes up for its lack of movement options and poor recovery with relatively large, safe hitboxes, armor, and a plethora of stage control tools. It specializes in chipping space from the opponent to force them off stage, then edge guarding them with hazards and harshly angled hitboxes.
NSpecial – Stealth Rock:
Shuckle summons a rock that hangs in the air with an active hitbox. This rock will remain in the air until it detects another player below it, is hit by a player, or Shuckle creates a new stealth rock, at which point it falls down, setting whoever it hits up for follow-ups. This move is great for controlling space and setting up for tech chases, be creative with it!
FSpecial – Rollout:
Shuckle curls up into its shell and rolls forward, stopping if it hits someone. Tapping the opposite direction causes Shuckle to turn around, resetting the roll timer. Tapping Shield/Dodge will end the attack early. The longer Shuckle rolls in one direction, the stronger the hitbox becomes.
In the air, Shuckle shoots forward a short distance before going into pratfall, but if it hits a player or wall it bounces off and can act again. Use this near the wall to aid your recovery!
USpecial – Sludge Bomb/Sticky Web:
Shuckle hurls a ball of poisoned silk in one of four directions, the longer special is held, the farther the projectile will go. If the ball hits a player, it poisons them, causing them to take damage until they hit Shuckle with a melee attack, Shuckle hits them with a melee attack, or Shuckle uses up special again.
If the projectile instead hits the ground, it creates a web for a short time. Players in this web cannot run or full hop. Using up special again despawns the web. Combine this with Stealth Rock to take control of the battlefield!
The secondary effects of this move are on a small cooldown, indicated by a meter on the HUD.
DSpecial – Shell Smash:
Shuckle goes into its shell and starts building up pressure. If it builds for enough time in one go, it creates a powerful explosion centered on itself. Doing this causes Shuckle to go up one "Shell Smash Stage", which Shuckle can increase twice per stock. Further uses of Shell Smash will still create the hitbox, but not increase Shuckle’s Shell Smash Stage. Dying resets the Shell Smash Stage to 0.
Each stack of Shell Smash increases Shuckles’s dash speed and jump height at the cost of reducing its weight and reducing the armor on all applicable moves by one stage (Heavy > Medium > Light > None).
DAir: A rapid flutter kick that acts as an air stall. This is Shuckle’s primary horizontal recovery move and a good tech chase option.
NAir: Shuckle pulls into its shell and spins. It has a base armor level of Medium and its initial hitbox has a shallow angle. This is Shuckle’s primary kill option.
Most moves in which Shuckle enters its shell have soft armor, which comes in three levels: Light, Medium, and Heavy. When Shuckle uses Shell Smash, all armor moves drop one stage, with Light armor moves losing their armor completely. While Shuckle is armored, it is highlighted in aqua, with the intensity being proportional to the level of armor.
Special Thanks:
Lukaru for creating the base sprite and providing me a place to discuss the character!
Darkgun163[www.twitch.tv] for creating the trailer and helping with the thumbnail!
ThirdPixel Interactive[thirdpixelinteractive.com] for their amazing software, Smack Studio, without which this character would’ve been impossible!
Zetta and the rest of the team for running the PokéJam! It’s a lot of work and I appreciate all the effort you’ve all put in!
Muno for his CSS+ Template[pastebin.com].
