Chesnaught is getting Frenzy Plant as part of the January 2023 Community Day (Saturday, 1/7/23, 2-5pm local time). Given that Chesnaught has often been a solid spice pick, held back by Energy Ball being bad, this could be its opportunity to be an even more viable spice pick and cup star in the Great League. The Chesnaught PvP IV Deep Dive puts Chesnaught’s matchups under the microscope, highlighting its most relevant stat checks and associated IVs for the Great League. Chesnaught generally enjoys high stat product, but it does have that spicy >121 Atk range, enabling Charge Move Priority against Froslass and Sableye, among other things.
Note: this guide discusses the hidden true stats of Pokemon in Pokemon GO. In order to see these true stats you need to use an IV checking app (CalcyIV, Pokegenie) or an IV checking website (GOStadium, PvPIVs.com, or PvPoke itself). To make things simple, the guide also features standard PvP IV tables.
If you’re not familiar with PvP IVs, check out this PvP IVs Simplified video:
Chesnaught Basics
- Chesnaught is a Grass/Fighting dual-type Pokemon, giving it a unique resistance to the powerful Rock+Ground coverage combo
- This can make it a potent Galarian Stunfisk and Dunsparce hardcounter
- This also makes it doubly weak to Flying-type attacks
- Chesnaught has Frenzy Plant and Superpower, making it a slightly slower but bulkier and harder hitting analogue to Lurantis
- Like Lurantis, Chesnaught is generally held back due to its inability to manage Flying-type Pokemon well
- Chesnaught also has Smack Down as a Fast Move option
- Unfortunately, Smack Down isn’t quite enough to pressure Pokemon that aren’t doubly weak to it (Flying vs Flying+Fire)
- Chesnaught could benefit heavily from a future Shadow bonus, as it’d maintain most of its non-Shadow matchups but would also be able to hammer in Medicham, Sableye, and Pelipper in more scenarios
PvP IV Tables
The tables below feature the IV spreads that meet some of the more important stat checks highlighted in the article. It’s important to review the guide itself to make sure you’re getting what you want out of your Chesnaught. For example, you may want a slightly higher Def or HP weight for more consistency.
Bulk Focus (122.21 Def, 127 HP)
- 129 HP can potentially 1-0 Pelipper
- The Rank 1 can 0-1 some low Atk Galarian Stunfisk with only Frenzy Plant
- ~119.35 Atk can 0-1 & 1-1 Scrafty more consistently
Froslass Slayer (121.89 Atk, 117.7 Def, 125 HP)
- Generally Def>Atk=HP
Froslass Slayer, Def focus (121.89 Atk, 122.21 Def, 122 HP)
- The 6/3/5 is also viable, but pushes it
Chesnaught - Great League
Chesnaught has 2 general flavors in the Great League, high bulk and high Atk. The bulk focused Chesnaught wants ~122.21 Def to potentiate the Pelipper 1-0 & 2-1, along with at least 127 HP to manage Galarian Stunfisk, Lickitung, Bastiodon, and Vigoroth more consistently. The high Atk Chesnaught is mostly aiming for Froslass Charge Move Priority (CMP), with most Atk weights running over 122. Both high bulk and high Atk Chesnaught have additional Def/HP considerations to manage specific matchups better.
Below are most of Chesnaught’s notable stat checks, based on Rank 1 opponent’s unless stated otherwise.
Atk Breakpoints:
- 119.35, Scrafty 0-1, 1-1 no bait
- 120.8, Rank 1 Froslass CMP for the 1-1 & 2-2
Def Breakpoints:
- 119.98+, Vigoroth 2-2 potential (with at least 126 HP)
- 121.28+, Pelipper 2-1, 1-0 potential (with 129 HP)
- 121.53 Def covers 2/15/15, 121.97 Def covers 1/11/14, & 122.21 covers 3/14/14
- For most high end Pelipper, 121.97 Def should be enough
- 125.71, Froslass no matchup changes
- 128.65, Cofagrigus 0-0
- The high Def misses out on more important HP checks
HP Bulkpoints:
- 121, bare minimum for the Froslass 2-2 with CMP
- No Def needed
- 122, Toxapex 2-1 & Bastiodon 0-1 consistency
- 125, Galarian Stunfisk 1-2, potentially 0-1 with enough Def
- 126, Vigoroth 2-2 with at least 119.98 Def
- 127, Lickitung 2-2 consistency
- 129, Pelipper 1-0 potential
- Trivialized with a 1 Fast Move energy lead on Chesnaught
Closing
With Frenzy Plant, Chesnaught is back in the saddle as a powerful Grass-type that can hard counter Galarian Stunfisk. No longer shall it live in Lurantis’s shadow. Despite the upgrade, the inability to manage Flying-types still holds it back in the general meta. It will either take further movepool advancements and/or a Shadow bonus to make Chesnaught more of a household name in the Great League.
