![[Image: Mienshao.full.1777080.jpg]](http://static.zerochan.net/Mienshao.full.1777080.jpg)
Mienshao has to be, without a doubt, one of the best Fighting types introduced in Gen 5 and Pokemon. It has a monstrous base attack stat of 125, a workable special attack stat of 95 and 105 base speed which allows it to outspeed a good amount of Pokemon in the UU meta as well as a fewer amount in the VGC'15 meta. In singles, this Pokemon makes a great pivot and a great clean up sweeper. With access to U-turn as well as its ability, Regenerator, Mienshao can easily deal damage while simultaneously regain health. In VGC, however, Mienshao's usefulness is limited as a majority of the meta is comprised of CHALK, Japanese Sand, Trick Room Mega Gardevoir, alongside other uprising trends. Mienshao can effectively take on 2 out of 5 Pokemon in CHALK (Kang and Heatran) but it struggles greatly with Cresselia, Amoonguss and Landorus, since it has no strong means of KOing these mons without getting tanked out then either statused or KOd. Mega Salamence, Terrakion, Suicune, Excadrill (in sand), scarfed T-Tar, among others easily cripple or outright take this mon out. I know you're thinking "Mienshao gets Fake Out, Wide Guard, Quick Guard, Helping Hand and Feint so why not use it as a support mon?" Simply put, Mienshao has abysmal bulk of 65/60/60 so your only option is to be fast and hit hard.
![[Image: mienshao.png]](http://www.pokestadium.com/sprites/black-white/mienshao.png)
Type: Fighting
Base Stats: 65 HP, 125 Atk, 60 Def, 95 SpA., 60 SpD., 105 Spe
Weaknesses: Fairy, Flying, Psychic
Resistances: Rock, Dark, Bug
Immunities: N/A
Abilities:
Regenerator: This Pokemon restores 1/3 of its max health, rounded down, when it switches out. Mienshao's ideal ability in Smogon. As stated before, the combination of U-turn and this ability makes Mienshao a great pivot option as it easily shrugs off entry hazard damage, High Jump Kick miss damage and Life Orb damage. I personally use this over Reckless because it has more perks in my opinion.
Inner Focus: This Pokemon cannot be made to flinch. VGC-wise, this ability is ideal for checking Kangaskhan as well as other Fake Out users and people who pray for Rock Slide to flinch. It has more perks in VGC than the other abilities but in Singles it is useless.
Reckless: This Pokemon's attacks with recoil or crash damage have 1.2x power; not Struggle High Jump Kick does 20% more is basically all you need to know. The damage boost is notable but trust me, you'll be U-turning more with Mienshao than actually attacking with this move. You should never run High Jump Kick in VGC so this ability is redundant for the format.
Pivot Set for Smogon
Mienshao @ Choice Scarf / Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator / Reckless
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Adamant / Jolly Nature
- High Jump Kick
- U-turn
- Knock Off
- Stone Edge / Fake Out
Choice Scarfed Mienshao with a Jolly Nature outspeeds scarfed Darm, Infernape, Krookodile, Salamence, among other fast Pokemon in UU and even OU. Life Orb gives you a good damage output so if that's more important for you, go with this item. It really doesn't matter which ability you use on this set. High Jump Kick is Mienshao's strongest viable STAB move, U-turn for pivoting, Knock Off for coverage against Ghost types and Psychic types and Stone Edge to hit Crobat, Salamence, Aerodactyl among other threats in the UU tier. Please note that you can substitute Stone Edge for Fake Out if running Life Orb.
All Out Attacker; VGC
Mienshao @ Life Orb / Focus Sash
Ability: Inner Focus
Level: 50
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Low Kick
- Rock Slide
- Protect / Fake Out
- Feint / Fake Out
Firstly allow me to state that Mienshao's shallow movepool combined with its speed makes it near nonviable for VGC offensively and its defenses make it nonviable for a support role. You would only run Mienshao over Lucario or Sawk because it outpaces the 100 speed tier. Otherwise, the latter do better jobs in the format. Mienshao is extremely frail so don't expect any defensive calcs here. This set is geared towards taking out Kangaskhan, Heatran and Charizard Y as Low Kick and Rock Slide OHKO these mons. If your concern is with faster Pokemon, Focus Sash at least allows you to sponge a possible OHKO and retaliate.
Damage Calculations:
Offensive
Potential Teammates include, but aren't limited to;
- Dark/Ghost Types - Primarily Bisharp, Gengar and scarf Tyranitar, Dark and Ghost types can hold off Pokemon that Mienshao can't touch with it's movepool.
- Prankster Pokemon - Not specifically Pranksters but they're preferred. To compensate for Mienshao's abysmal speed tier and bulk, status moves such as Thunder Wave, Will-o-Wisp, Quash, screens and Tailwind give Mienshao a better chance to get the job done
Threats include, but aren't limited to;
- Bulky Support Pokemon - As I've mentioned before, Cresselia and Amoonguss poop on Mienshao. Not only that, Pokemon like Porygon2, AV Lando, Rotom-Wash, Suicune etc. can easily wear down Mienshao and hinder its full offensive power.
- Aegislash - Barring Knock Off, you can't hit Aegislash at all for at least neutral and it strikes back with fatal Life Orb boosted Shadow Balls
- Faster Pokemon - Get outsped and it's GG. Mienshao is a glass cannon so don't expect to survive a lot of neutral hits or even some not very effective ones
Other Notable Moves
- Hidden Power Ice - If you want to opt for a mixed set, you can run HP Ice with LO as it allows Mienshao to OHKO Landorus-T and gives it a chance to OHKO Mence (which doesn't matter since it outspeeds)
- Knock Off - It removes items and does a good chunk to Cresselia, Gengar and Aegislash
Other Notable Items
- Choice Band - More damage output
- Expert Belt - If LO recoil is an issue and Mienshao only needs to attack against things it hits for super-effective then this will work for you
CONCLUSION
Mienshao is great in Smogon but is nearly nonviable for this year's VGC metagame with there being so much that do a better job than it.
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