Although Shelmet ultimately evolve into Accelgor, they fight as though they are preparing to evolve into Shuckle. These slow pokemon battle by spitting poison at their foes, then clench their shell tightly shut for the rest of the match in the hopes that their foe will either faint from poison or get bored and give up. These shy creatures have at times been cited as the exception to the supposed rule that all pokemon love to battle, for although their strategy does not guarantee defeat – far from it, at least against low level pokemon – it makes a mockery of everything which makes people love the sport.

While the first Shelmet took easily to trainers, for they saw in poke balls a larger, stronger shell than their own, they soon learned the danger Man posed to their defensive methods. The overwhelming majority of Shelmet trainers do not raise these pokemon for the Little Cup, but in the hopes of evolving them; Shelmet view this less as the process of becoming stronger than as having their shell stolen and being left defenseless, so they fiercely resist this fate.

Shelmet's code of honor forbids them from defying their trainers, but they often come to resent them after evolution. When the word spread to their wild counterparts about the Karrablast trades, Shelmet started trying to avoid capture, but this is far easily said than done. Their heavy shells, so useful against pokemon attacks, can not protect them from a pokeball, and makes them far too slow to run away. All they can do is hide in the mud and hope that they will not to be found, or that their halfhearted efforts to fight back will convince prospective trainers that they are far too boring to bother.