Chiyuri

[DoctorShanks]

Chiyuri
Type: Reason/Water
Abilities: Intimidate or Swift Swim
Base Stats:
HP: 90
Atk: 90
Def: 70
Spd: 80
SpAtk: 90
SpDef: 100

Overview
Chiyuri can do one of two things, both tasks of which are dependent on her choice of ability. Her first role is as a supporter being able to set up Spikes and spreading Paralysis for her team. Her second role is as a Swift Swim "Sweeper." While her role of Swift Swimming is outdone by Nitori, a puppet with a better typing and stat distribution, Chiyuri instead makes a home for herself in the lonely QQ tier, a place where Nitori and Attack Murasa are not allowed to (or simply refuse to) roam. That's not to say that Chiyuri is bad in Standard; in fact, Chiyuri can perform admirably with proper team support.

Chiyuri has a unique typing with a unique play style. She doesn't have a lot to choose from, but she has no reason to ask for more. With proper team mates, she can be that one puppet on your team that all of your opponents will want dead as soon as possible.

Support
Chiyuri @ Leftovers
Ability: Intimidate
EVs: 252 HP/252 Def/4 SpDef
IVs: 0 Atk
Bold nature (+Def,-Atk)
- Hydro Pump/Mana Burst
- Roar/Mana Burst
- Spikes
- Thunder Wave

I'd like to hope that something like this would be straightforward. The EVs/Nature alongside Intimidate reduces the threat of Physical attackers significantly. Hydro Pump (recommended) or Mana Burst protects you from becoming Taunt bait, and Chiyuri is no slouch with her base 90 Special Attack. Spikes, Roar, and Thunder Wave are your general enfeebling moves.

Now, let me tell you why this is so cool on paper: This set is designed to be able to switch in on many Physical attackers and obtain a free turn to do whatever you think is appropriate. Chiyuri isn't the fattest supporter out there; she's chubby at best... but she certainly has enough to get by. Chiyuri takes hits well from both ends of the spectrum, so your choice of EV distribution in Defense or Special Defense is entirely up to you (although I hope you realize why I've chosen to give Chiyuri Defense EVs). Due to Chiyuri's lack of reliable recovery, Clerical support is very much called for. With Wish support, you can ideally set up some very nice combos with intimidate (Advent Alice gets special mention). Lastly, It matters little whether you choose to use Chiyuri as a lead or not, but for the reasons below, I'd prefer to have her in the back. Happy team building!

Adamant 252 Atk -1 AYuugi Earthquake vs. 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 34.1% ~ 40.1%
Adamant 252 Atk -1 Elly Thunderpunch vs. 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 30.7% ~ 36.2%
Jolly 252 Atk -1 Youki Shadow Hit vs. 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 38.0% ~ 44.8%
Adamant 252 Atk -1 Youki Shadow Hit vs. 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 41.7% ~ 49.0%
Adamant 252 Atk -1 ASuwako @ Sport Sweater Earthquake vs 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 34.4% ~ 40.4%
Jolly 252 Atk -1 Mimi-chan Head Smash vs. 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 20.8% ~ 24.5%
Jolly 252 Atk -1 Mimi-chan Explosion vs. 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 85.4% ~ 100.5%
Jolly 252 Atk -1 ANue @ Airline Uniform Brave Bird vs 252 HP/252 Def Chiyuri: 36.2% ~ 43.0%

Swift Swim
Chiyuri @ Lum Berry/Swimsuit
Ability: Swift Swim
EVs: 228 HP/28 Spd/252 SpAtk
IVs: 0 Atk
Modest nature (+SpAtk,-Atk)
- Hydro Pump
- Mana Burst
- Rain Dance
- Thunder

She's no Gorebyss, and she's certainly no Starmie, and she's definetly no Nitori, but she does make an honest effort. 28 Speed EVs with a Modest nature is just enough to outspeed Lyrica after a Rain Dance, however, you could push that up to 52 Speed EVs should you wish to out-speed Mimi-chan in standard (pull out of HP EVs in this case). Swimsuit Hydro Pump in the rain hurts; Specially Defensive DPatchouli takes 97.4% from it, which is a 100% OHKO after spikes damage. The other moves are there for obvious reasons: Mana Burst runs off STAB and Thunder doesn't miss/has a 30% Paralysis rate.

Team Options
A good portion of the calculations listed in the first set absolutely demand Rapid Spin support. Defense Tewi is a great spinner that can take any Heart, Dark, or Ghost-type attacks aimed at Chiyuri. You didn't hear this from me, but Yuuka makes a great cleric when it comes to Aromatherapy as Chiyuri can take any Fire/Ice-type attacked directed at Yuuka. As Chiyuri is plagued by Nature-typed puppets, Flying-types make excellent team mates regardless of the set you decide to use; as a result, Wriggle or Attack Kazami, two of Chiyuri's most ruthless High School bullies, can become great allies.

Other Options
An Agility set is viable, but Chiyuri loses that awesome boost to Hydro Pump. The only other super cool option that catches the eye is Hyper Beam (umad Gengetsu?) which offers some neutral coverage, but it's not like Chiyuri needs extra help combating Reason-types. There's Air Slash for the flinch rate and as a last resort against Natures, but there's fierce competition for a move slot at this point, and Choice specs doesn't exist in Touhoumon. Lastly, Chiyuri has an Atk stat of 90, but for the love of all things good, never consider dipping into her pitiful Physical movepool.

Counters
Some great news to put here is that the set Chiyuri is running is dependent on her ability, and with Intimidate being one of them, it's never a guessing game.

Chiyuri hates Natures; they just about ruin Chiyuri's day overall. There's nothing Chiyuri can do to stop an onslaught from a Wriggle or an Attack Kazami, choiced or not (unless she's unfortunate enough to switch in on a Thunder vs the rain set). Attack/Speed Flandre straight up ruins the support set. Bar Kedama and A/Tokiko literally everything with Limber is hit Super effectively by one of Chiyuri's STAB moves. With this in mind, take caution when countering the Supportive set when using a Limber puppet. When looking at the rain set, her moveset is more than likely going to be as shown above. Once again, offensive natures are likely to be your best bet in this department. All in all, she's not difficult to counter, but she likes to Paralyze things.

Chiyuri is a huge wuss; she doesn't stay in long, and she relies heavily on her team mates. Take those out, and Chiyuri is dead weight, just like every other supporter on the planet. Very susceptible to bullying due to her lack of reliable recovery as well. Have fun.

[Naï]

Running Restochesto could actually be considered "reliable recovery" for Chiyuri, considering she gets Recycle. With that, she can be far less reliant on her teammates for recovery. It'd be equivalent to running Wish + Detect or Resttalk. (Why is Rest + Recycle so underrated, really?)






Agility does have the benefit of allowing you to run Intimidate. The ability does cause a lot of switches, so you might get free set-ups. This is another set I've gotten curious about qq

Discharge could be an option if you care more about hurting than paralyzing. It's special Wind-type Body Slam, which takes care of opposing Water types.

And uh, she has Light Screen if you want to try your luck, I guess? Dunno, maybe force a physical threat out by Intimidating, then screening when a special attacker comes in? Or it could work if she ran 252 SDef... I don't know, really.






Her physical movepool is not good enough that she'd have enough to run a full physical set, but it IS enough to run a pretty decent mixed support set.

Psycho Cut, for one, isn't bad. People seem to keep forgetting that the 70 BP comes with a huge 25% crit chance, which, if you do a lot of random math, is equivalent to approximately 82.35 BP with the normal 6.25% critical; and that's accounting for criticals as 2x damage, since they actually seem to deal a bit more than that considering they ignore defenses... not bad at all, you know?

All hail gen III crit moves

Other than that, weren't you annoyed by Natures earlier? She does get Ice Punch as coverage against them, as well as Thunderpunch if Waters annoy you instead (and you don't want to just run Discharge for some reason). Those should be more than enough options to consider a mixed, uninvested support set. Of course, there's always Return.

[DoctorShanks]

Rest and Recycle occupies two move slots. Chiyuri wants all four of them.

Agility sounds cool and all, but her Special Attack is still a measly 90, and to be honest, if I wanted intimidate+set-up, I would probably be running Momiji.

Light Screen sounds interesting. Maybe it'd cause double-switches? Idk.

Running weak moves to deal with Chiyuri's threats is a sure-fire way of getting her killed. Killing things is what Chiyuri's team-mates do.

I've been thinking of removing the Rain Dance set, actually. Nitori sounds much more threatening for that role. I'll do some calcs next week after my vacation and decide then.

[Naï]

Sure, but you do have to agree that it does give her reliable recovery, like Wish + Detect. I'd at least list it as an option. Besides, it's not like it's gimmicky or anything: you lose a moveslot, and in exchange you gain some independence from your teammates, as well as a lot more durability... sounds like a good deal to me.



Oh, okay. Momiji does sound better at it.

That doesn't mean they aren't an option, although that's admittedly gimmicky already. Ice Punch could be worth a try.

Yeah, I don't think the Rain Dance set'll ever see much good use, either. It's probably better if you remove it, then mention why you chose to remove it and such (as a way to tell people not to run it, perhaps).

[joshcja]

Sure, but you do have to agree that it does give her reliable recovery, like Wish + Detect. I'd at least list it as an option. Besides, it's not like it's gimmicky or anything: you lose a moveslot, and in exchange you gain some independence from your teammates, as well as a lot more durability... sounds like a good deal to me.



Oh, okay. Momiji does sound better at it.

That doesn't mean they aren't an option, although that's admittedly gimmicky already. Ice Punch could be worth a try.

Yeah, I don't think the Rain Dance set'll ever see much good use, either. It's probably better if you remove it, then mention why you chose to remove it and such (as a way to tell people not to run it, perhaps).

With rest + recycle chiyuri loses a whopping 2 moveslots. So if you want to keep hydro pump and roar you would need to sac both T wave AND spikes.

[Naï]

With rest + recycle chiyuri loses a whopping 2 moveslots. So if you want to keep hydro pump and roar you would need to sac both T wave AND spikes.

...Oh.
Lol, I was thinking about ATewi, who already runs Rest on a lot of sets anyway (in other words, I was thinking only one moveslot would be lost).



A Rest/Recycle/TWave/attack set doesn't sound too bad, though. Sure, it gives far less utility than the full support set, but it does have the advantages mentioned previously: survivability, more independence from her teammates... the most important benefit, though, is being able to actually work as a physical pivot with Intimidate and reliable recovery.

From there, she still retains her TWave support (which is, imho, her most important support feature, unless your team is super fast) while being able to hurt things when needed/not being Taunt bait. Not half bad for something with Intimidate + 90/70 phys bulk.

As for phazing/spiking, there are many other options for that... that and I don't see Chiyuri being able to set up Spikes too well without reliable recovery if there isn't Wish support, although Intimidate + Roar is a nice combo.



Bottom line: it's true that it's a different set altogether, since it focuses more on survivability and pivoting rather than support. However, I still think it's a valid set, since giving her actual, reliable recovery opens up new defensive possibilities, rather than being a strictly supportive mon.