With Power Split, Shuckle can use its hideous base 10 Attack and Special Attack stats to effectively hamper the attacking power of an enemy. With the given nature and IVs, Shuckle has 30 Attack and 13 Special Attack, which turns a Modest Chandelure's 216 Special Attack into a significantly less threatening 114 Special Attack. After using Power Split on a strong physical attacker, Shuckle can use its improved Attack in an attempt to deal damage with its STAB moves. However, Shuckle has to be wary of Taunt, which stops it from using Power Split and Rest. Rock Slide is a very good move in VGC, hitting both targets for decent damage. Helping Hand is considered a very useful move in VGC, turning 2HKOs into OHKOs; however, Shuckle is not the best user of it, as it is already complete Taunt bait. Bug Bite is Shuckle's secondary STAB move, and has a nifty secondary effect of stealing the opponents' Berries. It is also useful for dealing damage to Ludicolo, who is a threat to Shuckle. With Rest, Shuckle can take advantage of its ability, Sturdy, if the opponent is using a bulky setup Pokemon, such as Calm Mind Cresselia.

Chesto Berry is essential when using Rest, as it allows Shuckle to recover all of its health in one turn. Shuckle functions best in sandstorm, which grants it a 50% boost to its Special Defense. Sandstorm also provides residual damage, which helps Shuckle wear down the opponents. Considering Water is one of Shuckle's few weaknesses, you can opt to invest more heavily in Special Defense to better take special hits. Earthquake can be used, as it has good coverage in tandem with Rock Slide, but be careful about not hitting your partner.

Scizor makes an excellent partner for Shuckle, as it deals with rain teams that threaten Shuckle, and is also impervious to the residual damage from sandstorm. Zapdos also makes a good teammate for Shuckle, as its main coverage moves—Thunderbolt, Hidden Power, and Heat Wave—help eliminate some of Shuckle's counters, namely. With its base 5 Speed, Shuckle benefits from Trick Room, and can flinch the opponent with Rock Slide once it is set up.

Shuckle receives Contrary as a Dream World ability, which can be useful for turning a possible Defense or Special Defense drop into a boost. While Shuckle's other abilities are more important, neither of them are essential, and Contrary can be used so you do not have to worry about Defense drops from Crunch and Special Defense drops from Shadow Ball, Psychic, and other moves.

Guard Split is the main attraction to this set. Thanks to Shuckle having defensive stats can that reach into the 300's, the recipient of Guard Split has its defensive capabilities boosted through the roof. Shuckle's other moves are mainly for situations where using Guard Split is not favorable, or has already been used. Helping Hand allows Shuckle to strengthen its partner's attacks, while Toxic is used to wear foes down. Lastly, Protect allows Shuckle to scout for the opponent's attacks, and helps stall opposing Pokemon to death when used in tandem with Toxic.

While the EV spread doesn't do much for Shuckle, it maximizes the effectiveness of Guard Split. Mental Herb prevents the opponent from stopping Shuckle in its tracks with Taunt; however, a Lum Berry can be used instead if you are worried about being afflicted with sleep from moves, such as Spore and Hypnosis.

The best recipient for Guard Split is Chansey, due to Eviolite further boosting the effects of Guard Split. After a Guard Split, even Terrakion's Close Combat will be a 4HKO, and because critical hits do not bypass the effects of Guard Split, Chansey becomes pretty much indestructible. Porygon2, Rhydon, Snorlax, and Blissey are also good recipients of Guard Split, though they are not nearly as hard to defeat as Chansey is after the boost.

Trick Room users, such as Cresselia, Jellicent and Chandelure, are effective at helping Shuckle set up, as Shuckle becomes the fastest Pokemon on the field under Trick Room, making it extremely hard to stop from using Guard Split. On the other hand, hard hitting sweepers, such as Latios, Salamence, and Rotom-A, are also effective partners for Shuckle. By threatening the opponent with powerful moves such as a Dragon Gem-boosted Draco Meteor, it can force the opponent to play defensively, providing an opportunity to switch out Shuckle's attacking partner in order to use Guard Split on the desired Pokemon. Alternatively, Shuckle can use Helping Hand to boost these Pokemon's attacks in an attempt to KO an opposing Pokemon.