Chansey
QC: 3/3 (ben gay, AM, liberty32)
GP: 2/2 (P Squared, Goddess Briyella)
Overview
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Astronomical HP and Special Defense, combined with the ability to use Eviolite, makes Chansey the ultimate wall in OU. Unlike that of her sister Blissey, Chansey's augmented physical bulk with Eviolite allows her to take powerful physical hits, making her a staple on defensively oriented teams. Wish and Natural Cure allow Chansey to heal her teammates and absorb status for them, while access to Seismic Toss and Toxic helps prevent her from being setup bait. Even with two ways of dealing damage, Chansey is still very passive, and because of this she is largely shut down by Taunt. Chansey's defensive typing is also rather poor for a wall, as Normal-types have no resistances and only an immunity to Ghost. Couple this with Eviolite Chansey's inability to hold Leftovers, and it is not all that difficult to wear her down. Chansey is also extremely reliant on Eviolite and loses much of her usefulness if hit by Knock Off or, less commonly, Trick. Nonetheless, Chansey is still one of the best walls in the OU metagame and is a must-use on any stall team.
De Blob
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name: De Blob
move 1: Toxic / Thunder Wave
move 2: Softboiled
move 3: Seismic Toss
move 4: Heal Bell / Wish
ability: Natural Cure
item: Eviolite
evs: 4 HP / 252 Def / 252 SpD
nature: Bold
Moves
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Toxic and Thunder Wave allow Chansey to cripple opposing offensive Pokemon with a status effect, thus cutting their sweeps short. Soft-Boiled gives Chansey easy recovery, prolonging her presence on the field. It is crucial to keep Chansey healthy with Soft-Boiled, because she lacks Leftovers. Seismic Toss gives Chansey some offensive presence and will break Substitutes if the foe has less than 404 HP. Heal Bell lets Chansey act as a cleric, while Wish is an alternative way to recover HP and can be used to heal Chansey's teammates. Alternatively, Protect allows Chansey to stall out the foe with Toxic and heal herself safely with Wish, while Stealth Rock can be used to punish opposing switch-ins, allowing Chansey's teammates to sweep more easily.
Set Details
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The given EVs maximize Chansey's physical and special bulk. Full investment in Special Defense maximizes Chansey's capabilities as a special wall, and a Bold nature is the best one to make Chansey as physically bulky as possible. Alternatively, you can use a spread of 252 HP / 252 Def / 4 SpD to truly maximize Chansey's physical bulk and to pass the largest Wishes possible to her teammates. Natural Cure grants Chansey an essential immunity to status problems, and Eviolite makes Chansey even bulkier, boosting her Defense and Special Defense by 1.5x.
Usage Tips
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Chansey's main jobs are tanking hits and spreading status. Lum Berry and Substitute are major problems for this set, as the foe can stop Chansey's attempt to give it a status ailment. Though Seismic Toss gives Chansey some offensive presence, she remains serious Taunt bait and will do little for the team if affected. Be cautious when trying to pass Wishes to teammates with low health, as the opponent can recognize this and send in a check or counter of their own. Moreover, because Roar and Whirlwind hit through Protect, Chansey can be phazed out when attempting to heal herself with Wish. If you are running Protect, use the move to scout users of Knock Off and Trick in order to preserve Chansey's Eviolite, as she is completely reliant on the item to tank hits well. Chansey is also very vulnerable to wallbreakers due to her lack of Leftovers. If you predict that a check or counter to Chansey is about to switch in, use Wish and go from there.
Team Options
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Chansey works very well on dedicated stall teams, so she should be paired with stall team staples such as Quagsire, Clefable, Skarmory, and Mega Sableye. Entry hazard removal is necessary, as Taunt users will easily force Chansey out, and you will be switching Pokemon around a lot in order to keep passing Wishes, provided you are running Wish. Starmie, Skarmory, and Zapdos can remove entry hazards while providing defensive utility. As Chansey will force a lot of switches herself, an entry hazard setter makes for a good partner. Tentacruel can both set and remove entry hazards, making it a prime choice. A user of Taunt such as Gengar or Mega Gardevoir can help against Pokemon with Substitute and phazing moves. You also need teammates that Chansey can support; you can pair her with nearly any setup sweeper in order to keep said sweeper healthy. Setup Pokemon that she can support include Bisharp, Keldeo, and Mega Altaria. A Mega Evolution such as Mega Scizor or Mega Venusaur can take a Knock Off for Chansey in order to preserve her Eviolite.
Other Options
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Counter can net a surprise KO against physical attackers, but Chansey doesn't typically have room for the move. It also requires great prediction to use properly. Healing Wish can be used to bring one of Chansey's teammates back to full health, but Chansey is already a good enough cleric with Wish or Heal Bell.
Checks & Counters
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**Fighting-types**: There are plenty of them in the OU metagame. Keldeo, Terrakion, Mega Heracross, and Breloom are all Pokemon that hit Chansey for super effective damage on her weaker Defense stat.
**Wallbreakers**: Due to Chansey's lack of Leftovers, wallbreakers wear her down easily. For example, Knock Off Landorus-T 2HKOes Chansey after Knocking Off her Eviolite, physically based Kyurem-B often 2HKOes Chansey with a Life Orb-boosted Dragon Claw, Mega Gardevoir can Taunt Chansey and 3HKO her with Psyshock, and Taunt Gengar walls Chansey completely.
**Pokemon with Knock Off**: As Chansey relies heavily on Eviolite to tank attacks, she loses much of her tanking ability if hit by a Knock Off from the likes of Conkeldurr, Bisharp, and Tornadus-T.
**Gothitelle**: Gothitelle can trap Chansey with Shadow Tag and Trick its Choice Specs or Choice Scarf onto Chansey to lock her into a single move. After this, another foe can use Chansey as setup bait and KO her. Because Chansey is generally a team's check to special wallbreakers, the ability to trap and remove her can make the team very vulnerable to a sweep from a powerful special attacker such as Mega Charizard Y or Landorus.
**Pokemon with Taunt**: If Chansey is hit by Taunt from a Pokemon such as Gengar, Talonflame, or Gliscor, she will be unable to do much, and the opponent can subsequently use her as setup bait.
**Status Avoiding**: Chansey cannot spread status to Pokemon behind a Substitute, so sweepers such as Substitute + Calm Mind Keldeo can use the move to gain a free turn of setup. Furthermore, if the Pokemon has a maximum HP of 404 or higher, Seismic Toss will fail to break the Substitute in one hit. Similar to Substitute, Lum Berry provides Pokemon with protection from Chansey's attempts to status them. Dragonite, for example, enjoys Lum Berry to protect itself from a single Toxic or Thunder Wave.
**Setup Sweepers**: Pokemon that do not mind Toxic or Thunder Wave, such as Swords Dance Gliscor, Calm Mind Clefable, Swords Dance Mega Scizor, Calm Mind Mega Sableye, and Swords Dance Bisharp, can all use Chansey as setup bait.
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