View attachment 467906
Azumarill @
Assault Vest
Ability: Huge Power
EVs: 252 HP / 112 Atk /
144 SpD
Careful Nature
- Liquidation
- Play Rough
- Superpower
- Aqua Jet
252 SpA Choice Specs Adaptability Chi-Yu Overheat over 2 turns vs. -1 252 HP / 144+ SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 304-358 (75.2 - 88.6%) --
Not a KO after Stealth Rock
-1 SpD approximates the effect of beads of ruin because it's not coded into the calc yet. In practice, it actually makes the hit seem stronger than it really is, but there is no other option for the time being.
This Azumarill set I've been using lately allows you to
live two hits from fire-terracristallized Chi-Yu's overheat even with rocks up and to kill it back, so you can almost always switch in to it and force it out (or kill it). With SR support, it allows you to put some pressure on Chi-Yu and keep it out. It's also pretty serviceable as a general blanket check for special attackers, as Water/Fairy is a fairly good defensive typing. It's able to eat two freeze-drys from
Iron Bundle pretty comfortably even after rocks, and thanks to the attack investment, has a good chance of koing back with superpower into aqua jet.
252 SpA Iron Bundle Freeze-Dry vs. 252 HP / 144+ SpD Assault Vest Azumarill: 138-164
(34.1 - 40.5%) -- guaranteed
3HKO after Stealth Rock
112 Atk Huge Power Azumarill Superpower vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 214-254 (84.5 - 100.3%) -- guaranteed OHKO (idk why it says that when its not but whatever calc lol)
-1 112 Atk Huge Power Azumarill Aqua Jet vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Iron Bundle: 18-21 (7.1 - 8.3%)
Although I will say it's crazy that we have to go so far to counter this thing. I think
Chi-Yu might need to go on the radar as well, because it feels like a
better Tapu Lele, which was already an overwhelming offensive presence in gen 8 OU, a gen that had more defensive options than we have in current gen 9 meta.
Beads of ruin is essentially a Psychic Terrain that works for all types as lowering enemy spdef by 25% feels very comparable in term of damage amplification to boosting psychic type moves by 33%. It's also effectively better versus pokemon with big spdef and doesn't have a time limit attached to it.
Just like Lele, Chi-Yu can effectively run either specs or scarf, and guessing which one it is wrong will usually cost you at least one mon, if not more.
Dark/Fire is also a double stab combo that is, in my opinion, better than Fairy/Psychic, as the former isn't resisted by any mono-type (and only resisted by Azumarill and Quaquaval) while the latter is resisted by Steel. It's also important to note that Dark/Fire hits 6 types super effectively, while Fairy/Psychic only does so against 4 types.
Finally; and probably most importantly, Chi-Yu, although not faster than Lele by much, has a much better speed tier, being able to hit the classic "good speed tier benchmark" of 328 with a timid nature.
In my opinion, all of this warrants for Chi-Yu to at least be considered for a possible ban.
(BONUS for those who read this long post in its entirety:
Tera-Electric sandaconda sweeping. I wasn't using the goated azu spread yet, so it lost to gholdengo which was pretty disappointing.)