Top 100 Pokemon #91: Bisharp

Gold and Silver, a.k.a. the Gen II games, introduced two new Pokemon types, in part to help balance out the then-overpowered Psychic-type. The Dark-type provided a Pokemon immune to Psychics and strong against them while also providing a way to hit Ghost-types hard outside of their own type, while the Steel-type provided a slew of resistances (including to Psychic) to provide a very defensive typing.

It was only a matter of time before there would be a Pokemon that would have both of these types, and Gen V did not disappoint.

Call me the Psychic Exterminator.

#91: Pawniard/Bisharp

It's hard to say what exactly is the concept behind Bisharp. However, it is not hard to tell that he looks awesome. His body is made of blades, after all! He definitely has a very sleek design, and that alone is good reason to use him.

His concept has a number of possible origins. He may be based on the Black Knights of Arthurian legend, or on Japanese Super Sentai or Kamen Rider heroes, but there is also a definite resemblance to Pulseman, the hero of another GameFreak game.

Ken Sugimori: "Less Ledian-ness, more blades."

Bisharp commands a group of Pawniard to attack prey, with Bisharp doling out the finishing blow. A Bisharp must battle to become the boss, and if he loses, he is exiled from his group. Their English names are based off chess pieces (if you're still puzzled about the hint, remember that a Bishop can only  move to a square the same color as the one he starts on), referring to how the pawns can be promoted and are generally led around by their leader.

Oh yeah, and their bodies are made of blades. Which is awesome.

Competitively, Bisharp has a great Base 125 Attack and good Base 100 Defense. Other stats aren't too notable, and Base 70 Speed is kind of on the slow side, but Bisharp does have a way around that--more on that later.

As mentioned, Dark/Steel is a very unique type that has a number of resistances as well as immunities to Poison and Psychic. However, he does have a 4x weakness to Fighting, so watch out for those moves.

As if Base 125 Attack wasn't brutal enough, he has the Defiant ability. I've talked about this ability on Braviary already, and Bisharp gets it as one of his normal abilities (the other one being Inner Focus); it means that attempts to lower his Attack will only make him stronger.

I dare you to try to Intimidate me.

 Bisharp has two main tricks up his sleeve: Swords Dance and Sucker Punch. The former boosts his already high Attack to killer levels, and the latter bypasses his somewhat low Speed to strike first with an 80 Base Power attack against anyone that uses a direct attack against him. Combined, this makes Bisharp very dangerous to fight with, as one wrong move will get you sucker-punched out of the fight. Other attacks in his arsenal include a more reliable Dark STAB in Night Slash, a solid Steel STAB in Iron Head with a nice flinch chance against slower foes, Pursuit to chase after escaping Psychics and Ghosts, additional coverage through Low Kick or Brick Break, and even support moves like Stealth Rock and Thunder Wave.

This is all to say that Bisharp is cool, has a cool design, and is quite a handful in combat. Again, though, being a Dark-type, he's not quite going to reach the higher ranks on my list. And knowing that, I have a feeling that this Bisharp here is going to want to slice me up...

"You shall be annihilated... in a game of chess!"

...or he's going to force me to play chess with him. Which is probably worse.

Anyways, while I go and lose horribly at that, you all shall be treated to yet another episode of Pixie Theater to look at metagame stats and in-game usage for these last five Pokemon. And when you get back, expect a Pokemon that has gained a certain level of infamy in a certain generation...