POTW Pokémon of the Week #75: Pawniard and Bisharp

Maniacal Engineer · Jan 7, 2018

Well hello there, Pokémon fans. It is I, Maniacal Engineer, coming at you with this week's Pokémon of the Week. This week, we'll be covering a Pokémon that I think is pretty cool, and I just caught as a Shiny in my playthrough of Ultra Moon, the Pawniard family!

Based partially off of the concept of chess pieces, Pawniard and Bisharp are, to date, the only Pokémon with the Dark/Steel type combination.

Debuting in Generation V's Black and White versions, this family was found very late in the game. Furthermore, the fact that Pawniard needs to wait until level 52 before evolving can make it difficult to train, especially so late in the game. However, its type combination is fantastic. Pawniard also appears in X and Y on Kalos Route 15, as well as in the Lost Hotel, again, fairly late into the game, and still difficult to evolve. Bisharp can be found, underleveled, in Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon on Ula'ula Island, just outside of Po Town. Getting into an SOS battle with the Bisharp will summon Pawniard.

Numerous PokeDex entries for both Pawniard and Bisharp mention how large groups of Pawniard go into battle, often at the whim of a Bisharp leader. Given their chess origins, this makes sense. Pawniard are the pawns, while Bisharp are the bishops. This evolution line is based on a pawn reaching the opposite side of the chess board, and being replaced by one of the better pieces. However, in this, there is my one major disappointment with this evolutionary line. There is no chance for Pawniard to evolve into any Pokémon aside from Bisharp, so the pawn always becomes a bishop. However, Pawniard and Bisharp's chess theme did fit in very well in their debut game, as Team Plasma was also based around chess, with the Grunts being pawns, the Seven Sages being rooks, knights, and bishops, and N acting as the king. Bisharp is also one of the Pokémon used by Grimsley, Unova's Dark type Elite Four member.

Pawniard and Bisharp appeared in the anime under the ownership of Georgia, a Dragon Buster and rival of Iris. Bisharp also appeared most notably in Finals Not for the Faint-Hearted, under the ownership of Alain, as his second to last Pokémon used in the championship battle against Ash. Bisharp was able to take out Ash's Hawlucha and Goodra, before being defeated by Greninja.

Competitively, Bisharp has good defensive typing, resisting Dark, Flying, Rock, and Ice types, among others. It's Dark/Steel typing covers its weaknesses well, though it does leave it with Steel's weaknesses to Fire and Ground types, as well as a quad weakness to Fighting types. Bisharp has access to moves such as Swords Dance, Knock Off, Iron Head, Stone Edge, and Sucker Punch. It has a solid 125 base Attack stat, and a good 100 base Defense stat. Its 70 base Speed is rather slow for the higher tiers, though STAB Sucker Punch does help mitigate that. Bisharp also has a good ability in Defiant, which sharply raises its attack every time any of its stats are lowered. It also has a more defensive ability in Pressure, which is helpful at whittling down your opponent's Pokémon's moves.

With that, I've made my move, so now it's your turn. Here are some questions to get the conversation going. You can definitely propose other Pokémon for future PotW segments, but please make sure to follow the rules and to respond to at least some of these questions first!

Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
How is this Pokémon in-game?
How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
What do you think about the Pawniard family's signature Dark/Steel typing?
Do you think that Pawniard should have been able to evolve into different Pokémon based on the different chess pieces? If so, what would some of those look like?

Previous Pokémon of the Week:

Sunsette · Jan 7, 2018

I like this line a lot. As ME said, it'd be neat if Pawniard had more evolutionary options which tied into the chess theme (maybe a gender split where female Pawniard get to become something queen themed, or something), but I think it's a solid enough two-step evolutionary line.

Bisharp's been pretty good in battle whenever I've used it, and I like the Dark/Steel typing aside from that double weakness to Fighting moves. I wouldn't mind seeing that sort of typing in other Pokemon in the future.

ocelotlrama jaguar · Jan 7, 2018

Love this line! There is just something so badass about them. They don't look like it, but their Pokedex entries really bring to mind predatory wild animals. They don't look like animals, but their pack behavior and brutal nature brings to mind savage beasts in the form of Pokemon that you think wouldn't behave like that in the wild. Just awesome. I've never really connected chess to these creatures, but reading it makes sense. I'm more fascinated by their predatory nature than their association with chess (even though that fact is still interesting on its own).

In-game and competitively, they are excellent. Despite the double weakness to Fighting, Bisharp can really hold its own. Its good movepool and high defense can come in handy. The only thing that makes me fearful in using it is if the opponent has Aura Sphere, but that's not too common. I typically don't give it a Focus Sash as I prefer to bump up its Speed with a Choice Scarf or have a Pokemon out that knows Follow Me while I bump up its stats. It works well enough for me.

I never saw these Pokemon in the anime, unfortunately. No opinion there.

I'd imagine these Pokemon to be dangerous in the wild. They'd probably be compared to wolves due to their pack behavior. When captured, they could be tamed to the point of, while still dangerous, mingling with humans as trusted partners or guards.

I would give these Pokemon Bullet Punch. That is what I would change. That, or bumping up their Speed stat. Those are the main changes that I have in mind.

The Dark/Steel typing is very nice, despite the 4x weakness to Fighting. I don't care too much for that as the typing is cool, much like Fire/Ground is.

I don't know. I think the line is fine the way it is. A Mega Evolution would be cool, but that's the extent of it. I don't really see this line getting extra evolutions, and that's fine by me. If they did, I wouldn't complain, but I'm good here.

Zexy · Jan 8, 2018

Do you like or dislike this Pokémon? Why?
Like. Nice design, concept and typing.
How is this Pokémon in-game?
Obtainable a bit too late to be worth a slot in my in-game team.
How is this Pokémon in competitive play? Are there any interesting strategies you like to use for them?
Haven't tried it, but it has a decent moveset, you can make use of that.
Do you like this Pokémon's representation in the anime? Are there any moments or qualities in particular you enjoy/dislike?
I don't remember something that really caught my attention.
How do you think this Pokémon would interact with our world?
Some people would like it, others would be afraid.
If given the power to, would you change anything about this Pokémon and if so, what would you change?
Better stats.
What do you think about the Pawniard family's signature Dark/Steel typing?
It's really nice, glad they gave us this combination.
Do you think that Pawniard should have been able to evolve into different Pokémon based on the different chess pieces? If so, what would some of those look like?
That would be interesting, perhaps we could get them in future generations. They'd resemble their respective chess piece while still keeping the design motif the original two have.

Guzma · Feb 2, 2018

I personally adore Pawniard and Bisharp. However, I think they're based more on tokusatsu like Kamen Rider than chess pieces.

Camille · Aug 19, 2023

Pawniard and Bisharp are pretty cool-looking, but Kingambit is so ugly and dumb-looking. At least Bisharp can use Choice Scarf effectively, unlike Kingambit. I love the fact Bisharp is a Dark-type that destroys Fairy-types and its movepool with moves like Knock Off, Low Kick, Psycho Cut, Stone Edge, and the priority move in Sucker Punch. If given the power to, I'd never create Kingambit and keep Bisharp as a fully evolved Pokemon.

POTW Pokémon of the Week #75: Pawniard and Bisharp

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Maniacal Engineer

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Sunsette

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ocelotlrama jaguar

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Zexy

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Guzma

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Camille

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