Daily Red Shiftry set and strategy
Shiftry is D-tier on our Daily Red tier list (#29 of 30) — one of the hardest Pokémon to use against Red. On paper it wins 2 of 6 one-on-one matchups against Red (Pikachu, Espeon). Play Daily Red ↗
The Shiftry set in Daily Red
Shiftry
- Grass Giga Drain Special · 60
- Dark Feint Attack Special · 60
- Fighting Brick Break Physical · 75
- Normal Explosion Physical · 250
Every player gets this exact set when Shiftry is in the daily six: level 100, Serious nature, perfect IVs, holding Miracle Seed with Chlorophyll. The set never changes from day to day.
Shiftry vs each of Red's Pokémon
Estimated damage at level 100 with these exact stats (Gen 3 formula, no crits, no boosts). “Wins” means it should take the one-on-one trade, counting who moves first.
| Red's Pokémon | Shiftry's best hit | Red's best hit back | Moves first | 1v1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Pikachu |
Brick Break 79–93% | Thunderbolt 40–48% (not very effective) | Pikachu | ✅ wins |
 Espeon |
Feint Attack 47–55% (super effective) | Bite 15–18% (not very effective) | Espeon | ✅ wins |
 Snorlax |
Brick Break 37–44% (super effective) | Body Slam 58–69% | Shiftry | ❌ loses |
 Venusaur |
Feint Attack 16–19% | Sludge Bomb 77–91% (super effective) | Shiftry | ❌ loses |
 Charizard |
Feint Attack 23–27% | Flamethrower 141–166% (super effective) | Charizard | ❌ loses |
 Blastoise |
Giga Drain 35–41% (super effective) | Ice Beam 73–86% (super effective) | Shiftry | ❌ loses |
How to use Shiftry against Red
- Save Shiftry for Pikachu, Espeon — those are the one-on-one trades it wins on paper.
- Avoid leaving it in against Snorlax, Venusaur, Charizard, Blastoise; switch to a teammate that covers them (see below).
- Venusaur's Sludge Bomb is super effective on Shiftry (77–91%), so don't switch it in on that attack.
- Charizard's Flamethrower is super effective on Shiftry (141–166%), so don't switch it in on that attack.
- Blastoise's Ice Beam is super effective on Shiftry (73–86%), so don't switch it in on that attack.
- It beats Red's Pikachu lead: Brick Break does 79–93%.
- Explosion is an emergency button: it does about 123–145% to Snorlax but Shiftry faints, so it is a one-for-one trade. Our matchup numbers leave it out.
Best partners for Shiftry
If these show up on the same day, they cover the matchups Shiftry loses:
How often Shiftry shows up
Each day's six are drawn from a fixed pool of 30 sets, so any one set appears on about 1 in 5 days. Over the first 365 days, Shiftry is in the team on 69 days (19%), and it is our suggested lead on 0 of those (0%). Its most common job in our counter plans is handling Espeon.
It hasn't been in a daily team yet. Check today's Daily Red team.
Other Daily Red Pokémon
Gyarados · Jolteon · Flygon · Breloom · Slowbro · Houndoom · Arcanine · Alakazam · Machamp · Gengar · Rhydon · Starmie · Scizor · Heracross · Kingdra · Donphan · Tyranitar · Sceptile · Blaziken · Swampert · Ludicolo · Gardevoir · Aggron · Medicham · Manectric · Camerupt · Milotic · Salamence · Metagross