[OVERVIEW]
Chesnaught has a small supportive niche that few other Pokemon can fill. In a metagame where most Pokemon run Protect, Feint is a useful attack to catch your opponent off guard and pick up a surprise KO with the aid of your partner. Chesnaught also has decent bulk and STAB coverage, allowing it to soft check a handful of prevalent threats such as Kangaskhan, Landorus, and most Water-types bar Volcanion. Despite this, Chesnaught struggles to compete with other Grass-types because, well, they're just generally better. It is outclassed by Virizion as a bulky attacker, both in speed and power. Breloom does the same and has access to Spore, though it is much more frail. Ferrothorn outclasses it as a Leech Seed user, boasting a better defensive typing and better overall base stats. What's more, Chesnaught can be easily KO'ed by common attacking types such as Fire, Fairy, and Flying, and its low Speed leaves it rather vulnerable.
Though Chesnaught is good at what it does, Feint support just isn't a necessity for any team. Most of the time you'll find that it does more to impede your team than to benefit it.
[SET]
name: Bulky Support
move 1: Wood Hammer / Seed Bomb
move 2: Drain Punch / Hammer Arm
move 3: Feint / Leech Seed
move 4: Spiky Shield
item: Sitrus Berry / Leftovers
ability: Bulletproof
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 32 Def / 156 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Wood Hammer is Chesnaught's primary STAB, hitting Water-types hard. The recoil can be problematic, however. To avoid this Seed Bomb can be used, but do note that the damage drop doesn't allow you to OHKO Keldeo reliably. Drain Punch hits Kangaskhan and Steel-types hard while also stacking with its recovery item, making it annoying to deal with. Hammer Arm is a more powerful alternative which has a chance to OHKO Hydreigon after Life Orb recoil. Also after a Speed drop Chesnaught can underspeed some Pokemon in Trick Room. Feint has a variety of applications. It allows you to break Protect, Quick Guard, and Wide Guard. It can guarantee teammates essential KOs or force out your opponent in fear of a KO through Protect. It can also be used to catch mega Pokemon off guard as they Protect turn one to get a speed boost, only to find their protection broken and themselves KO'd. With +2 priority it can also break Sashes on Pokemon like Weavile and Breloom or get in tiny chip damage before Chesnaught dies. Leech Seed allows Chesnaught to whittle down foes while recovering HP, especially bulkier Pokemon that resist its dual STAB such as Aegislash and Thundurus. From there Chesnaught's teammates can deal with the weakened Pokemon. Spiky Shield lets your teammate deal with a Pokemon that threatens Chesnaught, stall out field conditions such as Trick Room or Sun, or get more Leech Seed recovery. It can also be used to get chip damage on physical attackers, putting them into range for a KO the next turn or even finishing them off.
Set Details
========
The given EVs assures Mega Kangaskhan cannot 2HKO Chesnaught with a Sitrus Berry and survives Kyurem Black's Ice Beam. The remaining EVs are dumped into Attack. Chesnaught is given an Impish nature to take advantage of its natural physical bulk. If you run Leech Seed, Leftovers should be used. Together they grant greater recovery over a longer amount of time. Otherwise the one time use Sitrus Berry is the safer, more reliable option. Bulletproof is Chesnaught's preferred ability as Overgrow is unreliable. Bulletproof grants Chesnaught immunity to a strange handful of attacks, most notably Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball.
Usage Tips
========
Chesnaught makes a good switch-in to neutral or resisted attacks due to its good bulk. It also does well in the late-game when its checks have been taken care of. From there it can proceed to whittle away at your opponents' remaining Pokemon. If facing a Taunt user like Thundurus or Gyarados it should just keep attacking to get some damage in.
Team Options
========
Chesnaught works particularly well with strong spread attackers due to its access to Feint. Diancie makes a good partner for Chesnaught since it can kill the Fire and Flying-types that threaten it, and in turn Chesnaught resists all of Diancie's notable weaknesses. Diancie also appreciates Feint support for Diamond Storm. Similarly, Landorus makes a good partner since it KO the Fire and Flying-types Chesnaught fears and Chesnaught can deal with the Water-types Landorus dislikes. What's more, Landorus appreciates Feint support for Earthquake. Heatran is a good partner for Chesnaught due to their complementary typing. With the addition of a Water-type such as Rotom Wash, they can form a neat Fire / Water / Grass core. Heatran appreciates Feint support for Heat Wave, too. Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon appreciate Chesnaught's Feint support for Hyper Voice. Also to note, Bulletproof grants Chesnaught immunity to Shadow Ball which Gardevoir appreciates. Chesnaught also needs teammates that can remove its offensive checks, namely Talonflame, Charizard, Diancie, Gardevoir, and Kyurem Black. Again Heatran makes a good partner, able to completely wall three out of the five above. Offensive Thundurus makes a good partner since it is able to remove Talonflame and Charizard reliably, as well as Diancie if it is running Flash Cannon. Feint also breaks Quick Guard, so priority users such as Talonflame and Thundurus benefit from its support. Very powerful attackers like Deoxys and Belly Drum Azumarill appreciate its ability to break Protects, so they can KO your opponent's Pokemon without fear of attacking into a Protect.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Due to its expansive movepool, Chesnaught can run many different moves according to your team's needs. Low Kick is an alternative option for a Fighting STAB that hits some foes harder than Hammer Arm, but is weak against select threats like Rotom formes and Jirachi. Helping Hand is another option to power-up a teammate's move, and a good last-ditch if Chesnaught is about to die due to its +5 priority. Taunt allows Chesnaught to shut down Amoonguss, prevent Trick Room, and stop Thundurus from spamming Thunder Wave. Quick Guard allows Chesnaught to protect itself and allies from priority attacks, notably Brave Bird and Prankster Thunder Wave. Synthesis is another recovery option over Leech Seed, healing more HP more reliably, albeit not doing any damage. Roar allows Chesnaught to beat Substitute users, prevent Trick Room, and remove setup sweepers, even through Protect.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-type Pokemon**: Flying-types are especially threatening to Chesnaught. Though it can take big hits, Chesnaught simply cannot live a four times super effective attack. Even if said Flying-type is not running a Flying-type attack, such as Thundurus, it can still wall Chesnaught by resisting both of Chesnaught's STABs.
**Fire-type Pokemon**: Fire-types such as Heatran, Charizard, and Volcanion threaten Chesnaught with super effective attacks and also resist one of its STABs. Though Heatran can be hit for big damage with Drain Punch, it forces you into mind games of whether to attack to prevent a Substitute or to switch to avoid taking damage.
**Grass-type Pokemon**: Grass-types check Chesnaught defensively since they resist at least one STAB and are immune to Leech Seed. Amoonguss is especially annoying since it resists Chesnaught's Fighting STAB as well.
**Faster Pokemon**: With its pitiful Speed stat, Chesnaught usually has to stomach a few hits before being able to attack. This leaves it vulnerable to strong, fast attackers.
**Burns**: Burns especially diminish Chesnaught's effectiveness, not only by removing its little offensive presence but by also damaging it each turn.
Chesnaught has a small supportive niche that few other Pokemon can fill. In a metagame where most Pokemon run Protect, Feint is a useful attack to catch your opponent off guard and pick up a surprise KO with the aid of your partner. Chesnaught also has decent bulk and STAB coverage, allowing it to soft check a handful of prevalent threats such as Kangaskhan, Landorus, and most Water-types bar Volcanion. Despite this, Chesnaught struggles to compete with other Grass-types because, well, they're just generally better. It is outclassed by Virizion as a bulky attacker, both in speed and power. Breloom does the same and has access to Spore, though it is much more frail. Ferrothorn outclasses it as a Leech Seed user, boasting a better defensive typing and better overall base stats. What's more, Chesnaught can be easily KO'ed by common attacking types such as Fire, Fairy, and Flying, and its low Speed leaves it rather vulnerable.
Though Chesnaught is good at what it does, Feint support just isn't a necessity for any team. Most of the time you'll find that it does more to impede your team than to benefit it.
[SET]
name: Bulky Support
move 1: Wood Hammer / Seed Bomb
move 2: Drain Punch / Hammer Arm
move 3: Feint / Leech Seed
move 4: Spiky Shield
item: Sitrus Berry / Leftovers
ability: Bulletproof
nature: Impish
evs: 252 HP / 68 Atk / 32 Def / 156 SpD
[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========
Wood Hammer is Chesnaught's primary STAB, hitting Water-types hard. The recoil can be problematic, however. To avoid this Seed Bomb can be used, but do note that the damage drop doesn't allow you to OHKO Keldeo reliably. Drain Punch hits Kangaskhan and Steel-types hard while also stacking with its recovery item, making it annoying to deal with. Hammer Arm is a more powerful alternative which has a chance to OHKO Hydreigon after Life Orb recoil. Also after a Speed drop Chesnaught can underspeed some Pokemon in Trick Room. Feint has a variety of applications. It allows you to break Protect, Quick Guard, and Wide Guard. It can guarantee teammates essential KOs or force out your opponent in fear of a KO through Protect. It can also be used to catch mega Pokemon off guard as they Protect turn one to get a speed boost, only to find their protection broken and themselves KO'd. With +2 priority it can also break Sashes on Pokemon like Weavile and Breloom or get in tiny chip damage before Chesnaught dies. Leech Seed allows Chesnaught to whittle down foes while recovering HP, especially bulkier Pokemon that resist its dual STAB such as Aegislash and Thundurus. From there Chesnaught's teammates can deal with the weakened Pokemon. Spiky Shield lets your teammate deal with a Pokemon that threatens Chesnaught, stall out field conditions such as Trick Room or Sun, or get more Leech Seed recovery. It can also be used to get chip damage on physical attackers, putting them into range for a KO the next turn or even finishing them off.
Set Details
========
The given EVs assures Mega Kangaskhan cannot 2HKO Chesnaught with a Sitrus Berry and survives Kyurem Black's Ice Beam. The remaining EVs are dumped into Attack. Chesnaught is given an Impish nature to take advantage of its natural physical bulk. If you run Leech Seed, Leftovers should be used. Together they grant greater recovery over a longer amount of time. Otherwise the one time use Sitrus Berry is the safer, more reliable option. Bulletproof is Chesnaught's preferred ability as Overgrow is unreliable. Bulletproof grants Chesnaught immunity to a strange handful of attacks, most notably Sludge Bomb and Shadow Ball.
Usage Tips
========
Chesnaught makes a good switch-in to neutral or resisted attacks due to its good bulk. It also does well in the late-game when its checks have been taken care of. From there it can proceed to whittle away at your opponents' remaining Pokemon. If facing a Taunt user like Thundurus or Gyarados it should just keep attacking to get some damage in.
Team Options
========
Chesnaught works particularly well with strong spread attackers due to its access to Feint. Diancie makes a good partner for Chesnaught since it can kill the Fire and Flying-types that threaten it, and in turn Chesnaught resists all of Diancie's notable weaknesses. Diancie also appreciates Feint support for Diamond Storm. Similarly, Landorus makes a good partner since it KO the Fire and Flying-types Chesnaught fears and Chesnaught can deal with the Water-types Landorus dislikes. What's more, Landorus appreciates Feint support for Earthquake. Heatran is a good partner for Chesnaught due to their complementary typing. With the addition of a Water-type such as Rotom Wash, they can form a neat Fire / Water / Grass core. Heatran appreciates Feint support for Heat Wave, too. Mega Gardevoir and Sylveon appreciate Chesnaught's Feint support for Hyper Voice. Also to note, Bulletproof grants Chesnaught immunity to Shadow Ball which Gardevoir appreciates. Chesnaught also needs teammates that can remove its offensive checks, namely Talonflame, Charizard, Diancie, Gardevoir, and Kyurem Black. Again Heatran makes a good partner, able to completely wall three out of the five above. Offensive Thundurus makes a good partner since it is able to remove Talonflame and Charizard reliably, as well as Diancie if it is running Flash Cannon. Feint also breaks Quick Guard, so priority users such as Talonflame and Thundurus benefit from its support. Very powerful attackers like Deoxys and Belly Drum Azumarill appreciate its ability to break Protects, so they can KO your opponent's Pokemon without fear of attacking into a Protect.
[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
=============
Due to its expansive movepool, Chesnaught can run many different moves according to your team's needs. Low Kick is an alternative option for a Fighting STAB that hits some foes harder than Hammer Arm, but is weak against select threats like Rotom formes and Jirachi. Helping Hand is another option to power-up a teammate's move, and a good last-ditch if Chesnaught is about to die due to its +5 priority. Taunt allows Chesnaught to shut down Amoonguss, prevent Trick Room, and stop Thundurus from spamming Thunder Wave. Quick Guard allows Chesnaught to protect itself and allies from priority attacks, notably Brave Bird and Prankster Thunder Wave. Synthesis is another recovery option over Leech Seed, healing more HP more reliably, albeit not doing any damage. Roar allows Chesnaught to beat Substitute users, prevent Trick Room, and remove setup sweepers, even through Protect.
Checks and Counters
===================
**Flying-type Pokemon**: Flying-types are especially threatening to Chesnaught. Though it can take big hits, Chesnaught simply cannot live a four times super effective attack. Even if said Flying-type is not running a Flying-type attack, such as Thundurus, it can still wall Chesnaught by resisting both of Chesnaught's STABs.
**Fire-type Pokemon**: Fire-types such as Heatran, Charizard, and Volcanion threaten Chesnaught with super effective attacks and also resist one of its STABs. Though Heatran can be hit for big damage with Drain Punch, it forces you into mind games of whether to attack to prevent a Substitute or to switch to avoid taking damage.
**Grass-type Pokemon**: Grass-types check Chesnaught defensively since they resist at least one STAB and are immune to Leech Seed. Amoonguss is especially annoying since it resists Chesnaught's Fighting STAB as well.
**Faster Pokemon**: With its pitiful Speed stat, Chesnaught usually has to stomach a few hits before being able to attack. This leaves it vulnerable to strong, fast attackers.
**Burns**: Burns especially diminish Chesnaught's effectiveness, not only by removing its little offensive presence but by also damaging it each turn.
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