Typing: Fighting
Stats:
HP: 65
Atk: 125
Def: 60
SpA: 95
SpD: 60
Spe: 105
Abilites: Inner Focus / Regenerator / Reckless (H)
Notable Moves:
Acrobatics
Aura Sphere
Bulk Up
Calm Mind
Close Combat
Drain Punch
Fake Out
Focus Blast
Focus Punch
Grass Knot
High Jump Kick
Hone Claws
Ice Spinner
Knock Off
Low Kick
Poison Jab
Stone Edge
Swords Dance
Taunt
Tera Blast
Trailblaze
U-turn
Vacuum Wave
Acrobatics
Aerial Ace
Agility
Aura Sphere
Baton Pass
Brick Break
Bounce
Bulk Up
Calm Mind
Close Combat
Detect
Dig
Drain Punch
Endure
Facade
Fake Out
Feint
Fling
Focus Blast
Focus Punch
Force Palm
Fury Swipes
Giga Impact
Grass Knot
Helping Hand
High Jump Kick
Hone Claws
Hyper Beam
Ice Spinner
Knock Off
Low Kick
Low Sweep
Poison Jab
Pound
Protect
Quick Guard
Rain Dance
Rest
Reversal
Rock Tomb
Sleep Talk
Stone Edge
Substitute
Sunny Day
Swift
Swords Dance
Take Down
Taunt
Tera Blast
Trailblaze
U-turn
Vacuum Wave
Wide Guard
Aerial Ace
Agility
Aura Sphere
Baton Pass
Brick Break
Bounce
Bulk Up
Calm Mind
Close Combat
Detect
Dig
Drain Punch
Endure
Facade
Fake Out
Feint
Fling
Focus Blast
Focus Punch
Force Palm
Fury Swipes
Giga Impact
Grass Knot
Helping Hand
High Jump Kick
Hone Claws
Hyper Beam
Ice Spinner
Knock Off
Low Kick
Low Sweep
Poison Jab
Pound
Protect
Quick Guard
Rain Dance
Rest
Reversal
Rock Tomb
Sleep Talk
Stone Edge
Substitute
Sunny Day
Swift
Swords Dance
Take Down
Taunt
Tera Blast
Trailblaze
U-turn
Vacuum Wave
Wide Guard
Pros:
-Great Attack of 125 with a strong STAB option in Close Combat makes Mienshao a menace for a lot of pokemon to take on.
-Access to the rare Regenerator makes Mienshao difficult to take down via chip damage, and allows for usage of Life Orb with little risk to one's self.
-Great coverage, meaning you can pick to beat whatever is needed for your team, to a degree.
-Respectable speed tier gets the jump on a lot of slower mons even when they're using scarf.
Cons:
-Mono-Fighting isn't all that good of a typing, making it harder for Mienshao to get in without a free switch.
-4MSS, Mienshao wants all of CC, Knock, Ice Spinner, Poison Jab, and U-turn to cover all the threats, and that's not even looking at more niche but still nice options like Stone Edge, Tera Blast, and Grass Knot.
-Despite Regenerator, Mienshao's poor bulk still leaves it open to taking huge damage from neutral and even resisted hits, meaning it can't really switch in without getting in for free.
-The speed creep is real, so many other offensive threats are still faster than Mienshao, meaning you're likely to take a hit before moving, something that Mienshao can't really do.
Tera Options:
Steel turns all of Mienshao's weaknesses into resists, and has the most defensive utility. Fire is great for Mienshao as it ensures you won't be taking any burns to neuter your damage, but be careful as your new SR weakness will take away a lot of Regenerator's healing. Poison has the benefit of turning you into a Toxic Spikes absorber and scares away Fairy-types with a new STAB Poison Jab. STAB Tera is always an option as well but I think for Mienshao in particular it would be a bit of a waste due to how many options it as access to.
Example Sets:
Scarf
Mienshao @ Choice Scarf
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Steel / Fire / Poison
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Ice Spinner / Poison Jab / Stone Edge
- U-turn
Mienshao's great natural power means we can opt for outrunning everything with Scarf. CC hits the usual host of targets for it, such as Ting-Lu and Kingambit. Knock is required as otherwise we let in threats like Glowking, Gholdengo, or Dragapult in for free off CC and it's just overall nice to be able to remove items from walls coming in like Dondozo, Toxapex, or Corviknight. Ice Spinner is the preferred last option to hit other pokemon that could have an easy in like Zapdos, Landorus-Therian, or Amoongus. Poison Jab is an option as well to discourage Fairy-types like Azumarill, Iron Valiant, or Hatterene from sticking around. Stone Edge catches any Moltres or Iron Moth trying to get comfy as well while still retaining coverage against other Flying-types. U-turn is a generally amazing move for Mienshao ensuring you can get healing off Regenerator and also threatening the various Ogrepons.
Lure
Mienshao @ Life Orb
Ability: Regenerator
Tera Type: Grass
EVs: 156 Atk / 100 SpA / 252 Spe
Naive Nature
- Close Combat
- Knock Off
- Grass Knot
- U-turn
HEAR ME OUT. With Tera Grass + Grass Knot, this set can effectively lure and destroy walls that would want to sit on Mienshao such as Great Tusk, Dondozo, Tera Water Garganacl and Alomomola who would otherwise see Mienshao as a free switch-in. With LO as well CC and Knock might have unexpected damage for opponents as well since LO itself is a rare item. EVs guarantees the OHKO on max HP Dondozo and Great Tusk after 1 layer of Spikes(you don't even need Tera for Great Tusk!).
Swords Dance access might beg the question of why I didn't put a set with it in there, and the answer is simply Mienshao is too frail and gets revenged too easily to pull it off, and Dondozo will still just sit on you any day all day. A pivot set with HDB or AV is an option as well but I think it's not really worth it, but you're free to prove me wrong there.
Speed creep is cruel to Mienshao but I forsee a pretty nice UU future for this mon at the very least.
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