May’s Community Day got announced abnormally early! Despite this being the Season of Alola, this time we’re actually going all the way back to Kanto to celebrate the Egg Pokémon, Chansey!
Chansey Community Day
| Event Start | Event End |
|---|---|
| 11:00 a.m. local time | 5:00 p.m. local time |
- Chansey will be spawning more often in the wild
- Happiny will be hatching from 2km eggs
- Any Chansey caught during the event will know the Fighting-type fast move Counter, and the Normal-type charged move Body Slam. Any Chansey evolved into Blissey for up to 2 hours after the event will also get these moves.
- Several bonuses will be available during event hours:
- 1/4 Hatch Distance
- 2x Catch XP
- 2x odds of obtaining XL Candy for Chansey for players Level 40 and above
- Incense and Lures will last for 3 hours
- A special box will be available in the shop that features an Elite Charged TM
- This box will be available for 1280 Pokécoins.
- A Paid Special Research line titled “Your Lucky Day” will be available for purchase in the shop for $1 or equivalent local currency
Analysis
PvE
Sadly, Chansey and Blissey’s attack stats are far too low to make them useful in raids. They were considered valuable raid anchors back when that was relevant, but that hasn’t been the case in years. However, that certainly doesn’t mean they’re useless. Chansey and Blissey’s titanic bulk has rendered them some of the most relevant gym defenders available. Do note, however, that Counter and Body Slam aren’t necessarily upgrades. Zen Headbutt, Psychic, and Dazzling Gleam have the notable benefit of hitting top Fighting-type counters for super effective damage. Counter provides benefits against Lucario and Melmetal, though, and can hit Metagross for slightly more chip, which certainly can help! While it’s not necessarily a straight upgrade, it’s certainly likely to add a bit of extra flavor to your gym defense scenarios. That said, the best gym defender is, and always will be, the Golden Razz Berry, so prepare your expectations accordingly.
PvP
The Chansey line’s relevance has historically been limited by mediocre moves. While Psychic and Hyper Beam are fine, Zen Headbutt and Pound are actively bad, with mediocre damage and pitiful energy generation. However, that hasn’t completely stopped them from seeing play. Chansey has seen occasional limited format play (most notably in Love Cup) as part of stall strategies. The addition of XL Candy took its maximum CP up from 1255 at Lv40 all the way to 1418 at Lv50, helping its viability immeasurably. Blissey has seen play mostly as a meme pick in Ultra League for stall strategies, but it’s certainly less noteworthy than Chansey.
All that said, the addition of Counter and Body Slam functions as a massive boon for these two! Counter Chansey is something the PvP community has been clamoring for as long as PvP has been a thing, and Body Slam (as arguably the most powerful Normal-type charged move) is a fantastic upgrade as well! In Chansey’s case, it’s a 65% winrate increase against the Great League metagame in the 1shield! The return to a 6 hour community day (combined with retention of the 2x XL Candy chance bonus) should make it much easier for all players to stack up the requisite 296 XLs!
While Chansey is all but strictly better than Blissey in Great League, it can’t reach the stats to compete in Ultra League, so that’s where Blissey shines. The new moves arguably benefit Blissey even more than Chansey, giving Blissey a 77.4% winrate increase against the Ultra League (again, vs meta, in the 1shield). Thank goodness, a rank 1 Blissey is only Lv41, meaning you can either make a very slightly XL’d one, or a slightly worse one that will remain legal in Classic formats.
In either case, Chansey and Blissey running Counter, Body Slam, and Psychic are going to be very powerful, and you’ll absolutely want to get them ready if you’re a serious battler. Do keep in mind that if you want to get these special moves on your Chansey, you either need to catch them during the event or spend multiple Elite TMs, so any Chansey you caught before risks being rendered irrelevant.
Happiny doesn’t get any new moves from this event, but given that it only maxes out at 419 CP at Lv50, that’s probably for the best for everyone’s stardust hoards.
Note that it's probably best to wait just a bit to invest, just in case Niantic makes any changes along the way that could render these two less effective. Better safe than sorry, and saving your stardust is very important!
