Shiinotic #756: the bedside lamp that drains its visitors

A meter of glowing mushroom. Shiinotic (called "Lampignon" in French) is Alola's Illuminating Pokémon, the evolution of Morelull. Its light leads walkers astray, its flickering spores put them to sleep, and it drains their life energy with its fingertips. The same energy it sometimes shares with a weakened member of its kind.

Contents

• Who is Shiinotic?
• Type and abilities
• Light, sleep and life energy
• Evolution: Morelull at level 24
• Shiinotic at a glance
• Frequently Asked Questions

Who is Shiinotic?

Listed as #756 in the National Pokédex, Shiinotic is the "Illuminating Pokémon" of the seventh generation, the Alola generation. It shares this category with its pre-evolution, which says a lot about their shared specialty.

It looks like a big mushroom standing on a thin, white, stalk-shaped body, topped with a large purple cap. Its black eyes are ringed with the same pale green half-moon markings as Morelull, but it adds a big black mouth.

Its long, thin arms end in three pale green filaments that serve as fingers, and its lower body and feet are covered in a soft, pink substance. Its cap has a pink trim, small buds and pale green gills : those are what it makes glow.

One meter tall, 11.5 kilos, and a lot of mycology behind it: the bioluminescent mushrooms of the genus Mycena, but also Amanita mushrooms for the bulb at the base of its stalk and the warts on its cap. Its French name, Lampignon, stacks up lampe (lamp), champignon (mushroom) and lumignon (a small, dim light), while its English name refers to the shiitake.

Type and abilities

Like Morelull, its typing is Grass and Fairy, a combination that only five species have naturally: Cottonee, Whimsicott, Morelull, Shiinotic and Tapu Bulu, to which Pokémon Legends: Z-A added Mega Meganium. Its type chart is therefore identical to its pre-evolution's.

It starts with bad news: Poison deals four times the normal damage, since it's super effective against both Grass and Fairy. Four types hit it for double damage: Fire, Ice, Flying and Steel.

The rest is much more comfortable: it halves damage from Water, Electric, Grass, Fighting, Ground and Dark, and its Fairy half makes it completely immune to Dragon.

Its Abilities are Morelull's, without the slightest variation: Illuminate, which prevents its accuracy from being lowered and lets it ignore the opponent's evasion boosts, and Effect Spore, which gives a 30% chance of paralyzing, poisoning or putting the attacker to sleep on contact. Its Hidden Ability is Rain Dish, which restores HP in the rain.

Fun fact: since the sixth generation, Grass-type Pokémon have been immune to Effect Spore. So Shiinotic can wage its spore war against Parasect without ever having to fear its rival's spores. As for its stats, they climb to 90 Special Attack and 100 Special Defense, for a base stat total of 405.

Light, sleep and life energy

The Pokémon Moon Pokédex describes its full method : "It emits flickering spores that hypnotize its prey and put it to sleep, then comes to absorb its life energy." Pokémon Sword specifies that it drains this energy with its fingertips.

That same energy is also used for good. Ultra Sun is clear on this: "It puts its victims to sleep, then drains their life energy with its fingers. It helps weakened members of its species by sharing this energy with them."

Its light, for its part, is something like a will-o'-the-wisp. Pokémon Sun warns: "It is risky to venture into a forest where Shiinotic live at night. Lured by their bewitching light, some people have never come back." Those who enter its territory lose their way.

It also has a sworn rival: Parasect, with which it competes for territory. "When a territorial dispute breaks out between it and Parasect, a fog of spores fills the entire area." What's more, the two mushrooms both stand exactly one meter tall and have the same base stat total.

✨ Got a fan of Grass- or Fairy-type Pokémon to spoil? Alola's glowing mushroom and its friends are waiting for you in our Pokémon gift ideas.

Evolution: Morelull at level 24

Shiinotic evolves from Morelull at level 24, simply by leveling up: no stone, no held item, no trade. The line ends there, with two stages and no pre-evolution before Morelull.

Neither it nor Morelull can Mega Evolve : the seventh generation has only five Mega Evolutions, reserved for Crabominable, Golisopod, Drampa, Magearna and Zeraora. No regional form either, and no Gigantamax form.

Its trademark move is Strength Sap, learned at level 27: it restores HP to the user equal to the target's Attack, then lowers that stat. Throughout the seventh generation, it was the signature move of the line.

In the Lush Jungle, it plays the guardian of the Tiny Mushroom during Mallow's trial in Pokémon Moon; in the wild, you'll find it on Route 11 at night in the Ultra versions, then in Galar, in the Glimwood Tangle. Its night-light look works beautifully in plush as well as in figure.

Shiinotic at a glance

Frequently Asked Questions

• How do you get Shiinotic?
  By leveling Morelull up to level 24. The evolution is triggered simply by leveling up, with no stone, no held item, no trade and no friendship or time-of-day requirement. Shiinotic is the final stage of the line.
• What are Shiinotic's weaknesses?
  Poison deals four times the normal damage to it, since it's super effective against both Grass and Fairy: that's its only quadruple weakness. Four other types deal double damage: Fire, Ice, Flying and Steel. On the other hand, it takes half damage from Water, Electric, Grass, Fighting, Ground and Dark, and it's completely immune to Dragon.
• What are Shiinotic's Abilities?
  Exactly the same as Morelull's. Two regular Abilities, Illuminate and Effect Spore, and one Hidden Ability, Rain Dish. Illuminate prevents its accuracy from being lowered and lets it ignore the opponent's evasion boosts; in French it used to be called Lumiattirance, and back then all it did was double the wild encounter rate. Effect Spore gives a 30% chance of paralyzing, poisoning or putting to sleep an opponent that hits it with a contact move. Rain Dish restores one-sixteenth of its HP each turn in the rain.
• Does Shiinotic really put people to sleep?
  That's what its Pokédex entries say, yes. Its flickering spores hypnotize its prey and put it to sleep, after which it absorbs their life energy with its fingertips. Pokémon Sun goes as far as saying that it is risky to venture into a forest where Shiinotic live at night, because some walkers lured by that bewitching light have never come back. Its light can also cause confusion and make people lose their way.
• Where can you find Shiinotic in the wild?
  In Alola, it only appears in the wild on Route 11, at night, and only in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon: in Pokémon Sun and Moon, you have to evolve a Morelull. You can also encounter it during Mallow's trial in the Lush Jungle, where it guards the Tiny Mushroom spot in Pokémon Moon, a spot held by Parasect in Pokémon Sun. In Galar, it lives in the Glimwood Tangle and at the Lake of Outrage.
• Does Shiinotic have a Mega Evolution?
  No. Neither Shiinotic nor Morelull can Mega Evolve. The seventh generation has only five Mega Evolutions, given to Crabominable, Golisopod, Drampa, Magearna and Zeraora. The line has no regional form or Gigantamax form either.

In short

A walking bedside lamp that hypnotizes and siphons off life energy: Shiinotic is probably the politest predator in Alola, since it sometimes gives back what it took. Still, you'd better steer clear of glowing woods.