Pokémon Chien-Pao

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Take your straw hat...and my goob.
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:sv/chien-pao:
Chien-Pao
Typing:
Dark.png
Ice.png

Base Stats: 80 HP / 120 ATK / 80 DEF / 90 SPA / 65 SPD / 135 SPE
Abilities: Sword of Ruin
Notable Moves:
- Icicle Crash
- Ice Spinner
- Ice Shard
- Throat Chop
- Crunch
- Sacred Sword
- Sucker Punch
- Psychic Fangs
- Tera Blast
- Ruination
- Swords Dance
- Taunt
Level Up
Spite @ Lv. 1
Powder Snow @ Lv. 1
Mean Look @ Lv. 1
Icy Wind @ Lv. 5
Payback @ Lv. 10
Mist @ Lv. 15
Haze @ Lv. 15
Ice Shard @ Lv. 20
Swords Dance @ Lv. 25
Snowscape @ Lv. 30
Night Slash @ Lv. 35
Dark Pulse @ Lv. 40
Icicle Crash @ Lv. 45
Ruination @ Lv. 50
Sucker Punch @ Lv. 55
Sacred Sword @ Lv. 60
Recover @ Lv. 65
Throat Chop @ Lv. 70
Sheer Cold @ Lv. 75

TM Moves
Swords Dance, Take Down, Blizzard, Hyper Beam, Rest, Substitute, Protect, Scary Face, Icy Wind, Endure, False Swipe, Sleep Talk, Rain Dance, Crunch, Facade, Taunt, Brick Break, Aerial Ace, Dark Pulse, Giga Impact, Avalanche, Ice Fang, Hex, Acrobatics, Snarl, Psychic Fangs, Tera Blast, Ice Spinner, Snowscape

New Move:
Ruination | 90% Accuracy |
Dark.png
|
Special.png
| Does damage equal to 1/2 target's current HP.

New Ability:
Sword of Ruin - The Defense stat of all other active Pokémon is reduced by 25%.

Pros:
- Very neat offensive typing; being able to spam a near unresisted STAB combo
- It's revenge killing capabilities are good due to its 135 base Speed stat and STAB Sucker Punch and Ice Shard
- Sword of Ruin can soften up counters and checks to it due to it lowering Defense stats on the field

Cons:
- Very frail and prone to revenge killing such as Bullet Punch and Mach Punch from Scizor and Breloom respectively
- Stealth Rock weakness can wear it down; but this can be negated by using Heavy-Duty Boots

Terastal Potential:
- Tera Dark and Ice can give Chien-Pao an extra boost to its strong STAB Dark- and Ice-type moves
- Tera Fire or Ground can let it break through Pokémon that can sit on it such as Scizor and Iron Treads

Potential Sets:
Chien-Pao @ Heavy-Duty Boots / Life Orb
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Tera Type: Fire / Ground / Dark / Ice
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance
- Throat Chop / Crunch / Sucker Punch
- Sacred Sword / Tera Blast / Recover
- Ice Shard / Icicle Crash / Ice Spinner

Swords Dance on Chien-Pao is straightforward; being able to destroy offense once boosted and more defensive builds if hazards are present. You can use either Ice Shard or Sucker Punch as priority depending on what Pokémon to hit, and can customize your Tera Blast typing to hit Pokémon like Scizor and Iron Treads. Recover can be used for healing from Life Orb recoil, but I would only use this is you are sticking with your Dark-type and Ice-type STAB. There is nothing else to elaborate about here, but I would not recommend using double priority, as you need a usable STAB attack that is high in power or not having to be activated by other Pokémon attacking.

Chien-Pao @ Choice Band
Ability: Sword of Ruin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Throat Chop / Crunch
- Sacred Sword
- Ice Shard / Sucker Punch

Choice Band can escalate Chien-Pao's power to high levels, being able to dent a hefty amount of Pokémon due to the power boost Choice Band gives it and the Defense-lowering effect of Sword of Ruin.

Chien-Pao @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Sword of Ruin
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Icicle Crash
- Throat Chop
- Sacred Sword
- Sucker Punch / Facade

Choice Scarf gives Chien-Pao very high opportunities to revenge kill Pokémon such as Flutter Mane, Roaring Moon, and Houndstone in Sand. Sucker Punch can be used as emergency priority, while Facade is a niche pick which can benefit from Pokémon that status it such as Toxic Spikes from Glimmora.

Overall, Chien-Pao is a very potent offensive Pokémon that can easily shred through teams if they are unprepared for it. Now, I would like to hear what you think about the icy weasel. Is it overpowered? Broken? Potentially meta defining? To me, it has been very good so far in my experience, so I would like to hear about experiences from others!
 
chien-pao is a very strong offensive threat , but is rather weak against stuff like bullet punch , mach punch and hazards . Being a ice types means that it is weak to stealth rock , and takes that 25% entry hazard damage ( with only rocks up) . The 4 times weakness to fighting means , it cannot even try to stay on a pokemon with mach punch ( like breelom , which actually recieved a huge buff this gen). Moreover , its fighting type move coverage is pathetic , with sacred sword being the best fighting type move it gets - which means , even with +2 its not guaranteed to kill its specially attacking counterpart: chi-yu with no hp or def investments.
+2 252 Atk Weavile Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Alomomola: 446-526 (94.6 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO .
(evs and typings of the mons are changed to match chien-pao and chi-yu )
My thought so far ( although I didn't get to test chien-pao a lot - so bear with me) - chien-pao is a good mon , but its poor defensive typing and lack of proper coverage hinder its potential as a wallbreaker. No hate to Sword of Ruin - its still a great ability , chien-pao has wallbreaking capabilities , but unlike weavile of previous gen ( with which its compared a lot) which had great ice and dark moves in triple axel and knock off respectively, it doesn't really have the necessary moves in the arsenal to be a completely broken mon or even a strong af mon.
Everything I said above is my opinion though , point to be noted - I did not use it a lot , and your opinion might differ . Chien-pao might even go on to become a top tier threat , once the dust settles - we will see. :blobthumbsup:
 
RIP Weavile: was a great mon before, but with Chien-Pao and its massive speed stat, great ability, and better bulk, it pretty much outclasses Weavile in every way.
pratik2007 said:
+2 252 Atk Weavile Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Alomomola: 446-526 (94.6 - 111.6%) -- 68.8% chance to OHKO .
Click to expand...
also Chien Pao's ability sword of ruin lowers defense, plus chi yu is weak to dark. Even without boost sacred sword kills.

accurate calc with 25% defense drop included with Alomomola being dark type and hp to 80 like Chien Pao's.
252 Atk Weavile Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Alomomola: 300-354 (119.5 - 141%) -- guaranteed OHKO
 
SoBalancedGuys said:
RIP Weavile: was a great mon before, but with Chien-Pao and its massive speed stat, great ability, and better bulk, it pretty much outclasses Weavile in every way.

also Chien Pao's ability sword of ruin lowers defense, plus chi yu is weak to dark. Even without boost sacred sword kills.

accurate calc with 25% defense drop included with Alomomola being dark type and hp to 80 like Chien Pao's.
252 Atk Weavile Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Alomomola: 300-354 (119.5 - 141%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Click to expand...
yea i had changed the type of alomomola , just forgot to subtract the defense drop , mb. :psysad:
 
Chien-Pao is extremely threatening before the opponent has used Terastal.
This is because Pao is one of the few pokemon who has perfectly equal viability for all 3 styles of Terastallization (superSTAB, defensive and Tera Blast) making it unpredictable even if you know what set it runs, usually the SD+Sucker Punch+Ice Spinner/Crash+SD/Tera Blast Fire or Electric one.
Its counterplay is completely different depending on whether it runs SS or Tera Blast or gets superSTAB or switches into a Ghost type to circumvent priority.
As many have said, the match isn't truly over as long as you have a healthy Pao, especially if the opponent hasn't fully scouted it.

It pairs well with Slowking because they cover each other's weaknesses well and exploit Future Sight + Chilly Reception shenanigans (are you switching a fighting type into Pao when FS is coming?) which let Pao have surprisingly good physical bulk.

Also, it single-handedly makes Pinchurchin unviable in OU for obvious reasons.
 
Last edited:
SoBalancedGuys said:
RIP Weavile: was a great mon before, but with Chien-Pao and its massive speed stat, great ability, and better bulk, it pretty much outclasses Weavile in every way.

also Chien Pao's ability sword of ruin lowers defense, plus chi yu is weak to dark. Even without boost sacred sword kills.

accurate calc with 25% defense drop included with Alomomola being dark type and hp to 80 like Chien Pao's.
252 Atk Weavile Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Alomomola: 300-354 (119.5 - 141%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Click to expand...
SoBalancedGuys said:
RIP Weavile: was a great mon before, but with Chien-Pao and its massive speed stat, great ability, and better bulk, it pretty much outclasses Weavile in every way.

also Chien Pao's ability sword of ruin lowers defense, plus chi yu is weak to dark. Even without boost sacred sword kills.

accurate calc with 25% defense drop included with Alomomola being dark type and hp to 80 like Chien Pao's.
252 Atk Weavile Sacred Sword vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Alomomola: 300-354 (119.5 - 141%) -- guaranteed OHKO
Click to expand...
you happen to play chess by any chance
 
I think this will pair well with Skeledirge during VCG since it's immune to fighting and it resists Fairy, Steel, Bug and Fire which will help protect Chien-Pao in my opinion
 
Chien-Pao is one of the most powerful new threats in OU. Even though it's attack isn't crazy high to begin with, it's ability bolsters it significantly. Also gets pretty good coverage and can hit many threats SE. It is weak to priority though but that is counteracted by its own Sucker Punch/Ice Shard. There are only a few pokemon around that can actually counter this beast.
 
STEELDRAGON said:
Chien-Pao is one of the most powerful new threats in OU. Even though it's attack isn't crazy high to begin with, it's ability bolsters it significantly. Also gets pretty good coverage and can hit many threats SE. It is weak to priority though but that is counteracted by its own Sucker Punch/Ice Shard. There are only a few pokemon around that can actually counter this beast.
Click to expand...
This. THIS THIS THIS
 
I have been using CB Chien-Pao a lot more and it really is a dream killer. Terastylizing it into dark or Ice just boosts it power to insane levels. There is very little that can actually stand up to this thing and live to tell the tail. It reminds me of a faster frailer version of Kyurem-B it's that powerful. Azumarill and Dondozo are basically the only pokemon commonly seen that can take more than one hit.
 
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