Do you find yourself using Chien-Pao too often? Does using Chien-Pao just not feel the same any more? Are you in need of more Chien-based dopamine? Or do you just want a new team to ladder with while voting on the Chien-Pao suspect test? May I introduce to you... the double Chien team for the ages.
The Teambuilding Process
When building a team, many would look through the available mons in OU and think "what defensive core should I use?". Ting-Lu, Hatterene, Dondozo, Great Tusk, etc... all amazing options. But sitting in UU, Wo-Chien goes unnoticed by most. Thus, I set out to use Wo-Chien as best possible, and to keep on theme with Wo-Chien, I wanted to pair him with Chien-Pao for the double Chien core.
Pokepaste: https://pokepast.es/d45253d6eaf0d932
WO CHIEN
MEET THE WO (Wo-Chien) @ Leftovers
Ability: Tablets of Ruin
Tera Type: Fairy/Rock
EVs: 252 HP / 92 Def / 164 SpD
Impish Nature
- Leech Seed
- Protect
- Taunt
- Knock Off
Now, I'll be honest. Aside from great defence stats, Wo-Chien is severely brought down by a poor typing, bad movepool and distinct lack of offences. By using Wo-Chien in OU, you are essentially putting yourself at a disadvantage. It takes a real one to be able to use Wo-Chien to his maximum potential. However, he can be quite effective at walling many Pokémon that it resists or is slightly faster than. With base 70 speed, Taunt enables Wo-Chien to shut down slower defensive Pokémon like Ting-Lu, Clodsire, Dondozo, and Amoonguss, while also being able to knock off their Leftovers/Black Sludge. The Leech Seed/Protect combo allows Wo-Chien to effectively stall out Pokémon who cannot 2HKO it after switching in. Mixed bulk allows Wo-Chien to survive most super effective hits and comfortably take any resisted or neutral damage. Wo-Chien's biggest weakness is it's 4x weakness to bug, which results in every Pokémon with U-Turn being a massive threat, as Wo-Chien must either take massive damage, or you must switch out Wo-Chien and forfeit any momentum to the opponent. Thus, Tera Fairy is used as a potential resist to U-Turn (although in my opinion, using terastallize on Wo-Chien is a waste) and fighting types, while Tera Rock could be used as a resist to U-Turn and fire types.
CHIEN PAO
2fang baby keem (Chien-Pao) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Sword of Ruin
Tera Type: Dark
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Swords Dance/Sacred Sword
- Crunch
- Ice Spinner
- Sucker Punch
With one Chien on the team, all we need to do is add another. Not much really needs to be said about the strength of Chien-Pao. With Sword of Ruin, any stab move hits like an absolute truck, and using Tera to boost that stab makes it hit even harder. I prefer HDB on Chien-Pao over Choice Band since he is naturally weak to rocks, and using him as a revenge killer becomes incredibly easy with boots. I prefer this set with Swords Dance, as it can be nice to threaten teams without an unaware wall. However, Sacred Sword can also be used instead. With Sucker Punch, Chien-Pao can reliably kill Scarf Gholdengo, Dragapult, and plenty of other high-speed pokemon that dominate the tier, including setup sweepers. Tera Dark is used to power up Crunch and Sucker Punch, but an alternative build with Tera Ice could run Ice Shard instead of Sucker Punch. Many will argue that adamant is better than jolly on Chien-Pao, but I find jolly much more reliable for outspeeding Roaring Moon with Ice Spinner, since Icicle Shard doesn't OHKO Moon when Chien has boots.
GARCHOMP
Count Chompula (Garchomp) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Rough Skin
Tera Type: Steel
EVs: 252 HP / 128 SpD / 128 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Stealth Rock
- Spikes
- Earthquake
- Dragon Tail
You know him, I know him, he's the pride of gen 4... And on this team, he is also our hazard setter. Hazards are crazy good this generation due to our favorite little string cheese character, and as such Garchomp has rocks and spikes to abuse this. 128 Speed EVs and a jolly nature allow Garchomp to outspeed max speed jolly Glimmora with Earthquake. Rocky Helmet and Rough Skin allow for Garchomp to be switched in on an incoming U-Turn that would threaten Wo-Chien, punishing the opponent with hefty chip damage. HP EVs are invested so that Garchomp can get more Rocky Helmet hits by living longer, and SpDef EVs allow Garchomp to comfortably survive Moonblast from Booster Energy Valiant and Draco Meteor from potential counterlead Garchomp, along with giving more bulk to outplay Draining Kiss from Hatterene (who will also suffer from Rocky Helmet chip).
Dragapult
Twin Glocks (Dragapult) @ Heavy-Duty Boots
Ability: Clear Body
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Fairy
EVs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Will-O-Wisp/U-Turn
- Dragon Darts
- Dragon Dance
- Tera Blast
What's better than one Dragon? Two Dragons! Dragapult has been and still is one of OU's strongest offensive Pokémon. Dragapult's ridiculous 142 base speed allows it to outspeed pretty much any other attacker in the metagame, meaning he can consistently use Will-O-Wisp to shut down any offensive threat in the tier. Alternatively, U-Turn can be used to keep up momentum against a team with Pokémon like Dondozo who are unaware or physically defensive. Clear Body is used in turn with Dragon Dance to create a setup sweeper who can't be dropped by Intimidate on Pokémon like Paldean Tauros, or Chilling Water from an opposing Toxapex. With Tera Blast Fairy, Dragapult can flip the switch on most offensive threats that can deal with it setting up, such as Iron Valiant, Chien-Pao, Garchomp, Meowscarada, Roaring Moon (with booster) and even opposing Dragapult. Why Tera blast fairy over ghost? I just felt like it!
Gholdengo
GargBeGone (Gholdengo) @ Covert Cloak
Ability: Good as Gold
Tera Type: Flying
EVs: 4 HP / 252 SpA / 252 Spe
Timid Nature
IVs: 0 Atk
- Recover
- Make It Rain
- Shadow Ball
- Nasty Plot
Everyone's new favorite cheese-string themed pile of coins is here to relieve the team of a crucial weakness. With two fast physical attackers, Gholdengo is a needed teammate to break through Garganacl. Thus, Covert Cloak is used. Between Cloak, Immunity to Body Press, and Recover, Gholdengo will always wall Garganacl and force a switch. Make it rain answers for rock and tera-fairy Garganacl, while nasty plot allows the user to set up before making it rain. Recover with Tera Flying allows Gholdengo to live from the potential Curse-Earthquake Garganacl set (though those tend to be rare). In addition of course, it's nice to have an immunity to all types of status AND have a spinblocker for Garchomp's rocks and spikes.
Corviknight
The Biggest Bird (Corviknight) @ Rocky Helmet
Ability: Mirror Armor
Shiny: Yes
Tera Type: Water
EVs: 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD
Impish Nature
- Roost
- U-turn
- Defog
- Brave Bird
Corviknight is arguably the best physical wall in the tier due to it's utility, recovery, and defenses. Max Physical defense is used with rocky helmet to additionally punish opposing U-Turners, and disincentivize physical attackers such as Chien-Pao, Azumarill, Dragonite, Kingambit, and more from attacking. Defog is this team's only hazard removal, as two teammates have HDB, two steel types are immune to Toxic Spikes, and rest of the team takes stealth rocks neutrally/resisted. Along with being the team's only hazard removal, Corv is also the team's only ground immunity, so keeping it alive is top priority. Brave Bird is used to threaten opposing Iron Valiant, who need to terastallize electric (assuming booster energy) or predict Corv's switch in with a Thunderbolt to kill (assuming specs). Brave Bird can also get valuable chip on opposing Great Tusks, who usually Knock off or Rapid Spin, taking helmet damage and brave bird. Mirror Armor is preferred on Corv so that it can safely switch in to Scarf Gholdengo without getting a Spdef drop from shadow ball and getting 2HKOd. Tera Water is used to Tera out of a fire weakness, giving the team a much needed extra resist from offensive fire types.
Note: Originally I used bulky Iron Treads instead of Corviknight, but was struggling due to no ground immunity and more shared weaknesses.
Thus, the Double Chien, Double Dragon, Double Steel team was born.
Team Weaknesses (that I can think of):
- Cinderace's fast speed tier and very strong stab Pyro Ball can pose problems for the team, along with court change and heavy duty boots. The best way to deal with Cinderace is by using Tera on Corviknight, who can defog on court change, punishes U-Turn with helmet, and can win 1v1 with brave bird and roost. Once a little bit of chip damage has been dealt to Cinderace, U-Turning into Chien-Pao is an easy way to get rid of it.
- Greninja can be a problematic counterlead to the team with it's Ice Beam/Dark Pulse combo hitting most of this team pretty hard. The best counterplay imo is to use Corv to pivot out into either Wo-Chien or Chien-Pao, as the former can survive an Ice Beam 2HKO as long as it's pivoted into, and Chien-Pao will do it's thing and crunch.
- Volcorona can be challenging to outplay if it has Will-O-Wisp. The best play in front of Volc is usually to try and dragon tail it out if it has Quiver Dance/Morning Sun,
but when Will-O-Wisp comes into play I would advise terastallizing Corviknight and using brave bird. If they tera grass to counter, it becomes easier to handle with Chien-Pao
- Espathra is such a lame ass Pokémon, but it's always a threat with it's setup. Garchomp can reasonably live a stored power from a +2 Spa +2 SpD +2 Spe Espathra with his SpDef investment, but if Dragon Tail misses then you pretty much lose on the spot. The best way to beat Espathra is to use Wo-Chien with a mix of Taunt, Leech Seed, and Protect, but if Espathra terastallizes fairy and Dazzling Gleams, you might be cooked.
A few replays:
One of my first few games with the team: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1786445916-ckgpsqtqfma7ntti2hmemt325d2ktitpw
Vs Scarf Glimmora Hazard Stack Stall: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1786732688-kgupj370xn0nrxc8wt84lrq6hc90gjapw
Vs Cinderace/Dragonite Balance: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1786746793-qsy47m2mipzr9p2er2hmjqbylaom0qcpw
Vs Jugulis Rain featuring WO CHIEN DOMINANCE: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1787052966-l80bhvku8vup78kmzh517wet9n1962jpw
Vs Hyper Offence featuring Chien-Pao Sweep: https://replay.pokemonshowdown.com/gen9ou-1787060262-i6gb5t76ev11mxhfik9ggtx2g4m123jpw
Thanks for Reading through my first RMT ever! It's just a team I put together for fun, but I have been having a lot of fun using it with some decent success. Let me know what you think about it, or what I could improve on when writing RMT's in the future. Thanks and much love <3
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