Pokémon GO: How good are Shadow Registeel, Galvantula, Alolan Ninetales, and Zebstrika?

Pokémon GO’s latest event, Team GO Rocket Takeover, is giving players better chances to complete their Shadow Pokémon Pokédex until this Sunday (5 February) and catch some new ones like Shadow Galvantula, Alolan Ninetales, Grumpig, Vulpix, Zebstrika, and even Shadow Registeel!

But are the new Shadow Pokémon any good in PvP?

In this guide, we will examine the pros and cons of each Pokémon and offer suggestions for how to best use them in competitive battles.

Shadow Registeel

Registeel has been one strong Pokémon in battle, despite getting some nerfs in the past. It’s considered to be one of the best in PvP lately, as it’s able to beat some of the hardest opponents with a deadly combination of Fighting and Electric-type attacks. Registeel also has a higher HP and Defense, and is resistant to 11 Pokémon attacks and types, and is vulnerable to only 3.

But how about its Shadowy counterpart? Being a Shadow Pokémon will give buffs to your attack. However, with Registeel’s already overpowered charge move, this doesn’t exactly add anything to make it better.

In fact, being a Shadow-type Pokémon takes away one of Registeel’s major strengths — Defense. With Defense reduced as a Shadow Registeel, winning battles will be an upward hill. Shadow Registeel may lose battles against Venusaur, and Altaria, which is usually a piece of cake for a regular Registeel.

This will make it hard for you to use Registeel in Great League or even Ultra League without exhausting plenty of resources in the process.

So overall, Shadow Registeel is a downgrade since building it up will cost tons of resources. Perhaps, you can keep one to complete your Pokédex.

Shadow Alolan Ninetales

Generally, Alolan Ninetales isn’t as much of a standout compared to Registeel’s bulkiness or Galvantula’s heavy attack power. And when we look at this Pokémon, it can be evaluated based on two different attack types: Powder Snow and Charm.

Shadow Alolan Ninetales with Powder Snow gets more wins across the board, with a chance to beat the likes of Lickitung, Venusaura, Skarmory, Shadow Walrein, Froslass, Lanturn and more. However, in Ultra League, Shadow Alolan Ninetales with Powder Snow isn’t as impressive. Investing in Ultra League would be a waste of resources.

Instead, you may want to focus your attention on Shadow Alolan Ninetales with Charm. This Charmer can easily breeze through more PVP fights, including Noctowl, Water Azumarill and Lanturn. The technique is to keep using Charm throughout the battle. This should make the battles shorter, especially against Noctowl before it can reach a third chare move.

Overall, Shadow Alolan Ninetales (Powder) is an upgrade for Great League, so building this Shadow Pokémon could be worth your time and resources.

However, in Ultra League, while it also yields some good results, building one might not be as worth it since it would consume too much dust and candy.

And you’re in luck if you’re able to catch Charm Alolan Ninetales, because it’s worth to build it up for both Great and Ultra League.

Shadow Galvantula

Galvantula isn’t known for its bulk and defense like the Registeel, but it’s quite known to be an attacker. With increased Attack stats as Shadow Pokémon, Galvantula benefits by winning more in 1v1 shielding and 2v2 shielding in Great League.

This Shadow Pokémon can defeat huge grass-types like Venusaur and Trevenant and only lose to Shadow Walrein in 1v1 shielding.

In 0 shielding, Galvantula can take down Registeel, Noctowl, Mandibuzz, Drapion, and Toxicroak, but at the expense of potential losses against Azumarll.

This makes Shadow Galvantula worth it in Great League.

In Ultra League, however, Shadow Galvantula seems to be more of a downgrade vs its Normal version. In 1v1 shielding, Shadow Galvantula may lose against Talonflame and Umbreon.

It may seem to still look okay to build this Shadow Pokémon for certain scenarios but to make sure you’re successful, you’d need a perfect 15-15-15 IV candidate, 356 XL Candy, and more than 500 million stardust to level 50.

Yikes. So maybe skip that near-impossible attempt.

Shadow Zebstrika

Opinions are split on this electric-type Pokémon, Just like other Electrics, Zebstrika has a glassy quality. Its stats are almost similar to Galvantula but with less impact. You can, however, consider Zebstrika (both Normal and Shadow-type) as an off-meta curveball in the Leagues.

In Great League, it’s mostly a downgrade. With 0v0 Shielding, it can dominate other Pokémon, however, as the shielding goes up, the chances for a Shadow Zebstrika to win go down.

It’s good to know that with the right team, it can defeat creatures like Vensaur, Deoxys, Lickitung, and even Registeel.

You can consider keeping a couple of these ones with good stats and IVs in your team for different scenarios.

Ultra League is a different story. Shadow Zebstrika can strike off opponents easily in 1v1 shielding, electrocuting the likes of Virizion, Buzzwole, CharmTales, among others.

0v0 Shielding matchups have losses against Mandibuzz and a couple of others, however, the ability to defeat Cresselia, Toxicroak, and Registeel make up for it.

Players can also save XL candy because this Shadow Pokémon can be built up to level 40+, and still reap the benefits and wins. Overall, Shadow Zebstrika is better built for Ultra League.

There are other new Shadow Pokémon arriving too like the Shadow Spoink, Grumpig, Blitzle, and Joltik, however, these Pokémon aren’t really that remarkable so don’t waste your efforts finding the perfect one. Instead, maybe try to find a Shadow Vulpix with good stats and don’t evolve it, in case Little League returns.

There are other new Shadow Pokémon arriving too like the Shadow Spoink, Grumpig, Blitzle, and Joltik, however, these Pokémon aren’t really that remarkable so don’t waste your efforts finding the perfect one. Instead, maybe try to find a Shadow Vulpix with good stats and don’t evolve it, in case Little League returns.

Anna is a freelance writer and photographer. She is a gamer who loves RPGs and platformers, and is a League of Legends geek. She's also a food enthusiast who loves a good cup of black coffee.

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