Introduced in generation five with Pokemon Black and White, Bisharp is a dual type dark and steel Pokemon. It evolves from Pawniard at level 52 and functions as a powerful physical attacker in battle. Bisharp’s appearances in the anime are rather limited, but fans have become big fans of this Pokemon and therefore it has appeared more often. While Bisharp requires a decent chunk of investment, it has become a common choice for many casual teams. This guide will showcase Bisharp’s capabilities in battle, its appearances in the anime, as well as other general facts about Bisharp.
About Bisharp
Bisharp and its evolution line was introduced in generation five with Pokemon Black and White. It evolves from Pawniard at level 52, and no other Pokemon in the game has the type combination of Pawniard and Bisharp. While it is a relatively new Pokemon to be released, it has already appeared more frequently than other Pokemon that were released around the same time. It first appeared in the anime in the Black and White season with the episode Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia!. The Pokedex states that Bisharp is quite ruthless and commands a group of Pawniards in the wild.
| First appearance in anime | Pokemon the Series: Black and White Cilan Versus Trip, Ash Versus Georgia! |
| First appearance in game | Pokemon Black and White |
| Region | Unova |
| Evolution | Evolves from Pawniard, not known to evolve into any other Pokemon |
| 1st Evo level | 52 |
| 2nd Evo level | N/A |
| Pokedex Entry | This pitiless Pokémon commands a group of Pawniard to hound prey into immobility. It then moves in to finish the prey off. |
Bisharp Base Stats
| HP | 65 |
| ATTACK | 125 |
| DEFENCE | 100 |
| SP. ATTACK | 60 |
| SP. DEFENCE | 70 |
| SPEED | 70 |
| TOTAL | 490 |
Appearance
Bisharp is a bipedal Pokemon that looks like a human in a suit of armor. The shoulders on Bisharp resemble pauldrons, and its thighs appear to be armored as well. Its red and gray helmet resembles a war helmet and the golden crest in the middle is similar to the ruffles of feathers on medieval helmets. Most of Bisharp’s body is red with gray accents, but there are sharp ornaments around Bisharps body that are white. Bisharp is 5 feet and 3 inches, or 1.6 meters, tall.
Behavior
The Pokedex states that Bisharp commands a group of Pawniards in the wild. They attack ruthlessly and the Pawniards will weaken their prey before Bisharp finishes the job. It is known to have no pity and it expresses no emotion during a hunt. Bisharp’s life seems to be a constant battle as it will fight to maintain its leadership, but will be left behind if it ever loses. The Pokedex also states that it gets into territorial disputes with Fraxure over sharpening stones.
Strengths and Weaknesses
The best selling point of Bisharp is its impressive physical attack stat. Not only does it hit like a truck, it can be difficult to mitigate its attack stat through debuffs. Bisharp has access to the ability Defiant, which increases its attack stat from any other negative stat changes. It also has decent defensive typing as only ground or fire types have 2x effectiveness, however, fighting has 4x effectiveness. That being said, Bisharp is immune to poison and psychic type moves. It’s access to powerful setup tools also makes a prolonged battle against Bisharp likely to snowball out of control.
Shiny Bisharp
A Shiny Bisharp has it’s entire colour palette change although it does retain some of the original colour scheme. While it still has a gray body with white bladed ornaments, the rest of Shiny Bisharp’s colours change quite dramatically. Shiny Bisharp’s red colors are swapped out for a purple, and the plumes of its helmet are changed from orange to yellow. Like all shiny Pokemon, Shiny Bisharp gains a starry animation upon entering battle.
Best Moveset
Bisharp is quite powerful in competitive play. Throughout its history it has never fallen below UU (Under Used) and more commonly resides in OU (Over Used) competitive brackets. The difficulty in shutting down a Defiant Bisharp, along with its strong matchups, against other popular Pokemon makes it a solid offensive option. For moves consider running Knock Off, Swords Dance, Iron Head, and Sucker Punch for the best chance of success. Knock Off can remove your opponent’s held item while benefiting from STAB (Same Type Attack Bonus), Swords Dance is one of the most powerful set up tools in the game, Iron Head also benefits from STAB while sporting a 30% chance to make your target flinch, and Sucker Punch gives you some outplay potential.
| Knock Off | Swords Dance |
| Iron Head | Sucker Punch |
How to Catch Bisharp in Pokemon Go
If you want to obtain a Bisharp in Pokemon Go, your best odds are obtaining a Pawniard. Unfortunately, the only way to obtain a Pawniard is to hatch 12 km eggs. There is no other way to obtain a Pawniard as it has not appeared as a raid battle, and neither has Bisharp. It also appears that Pawniard and Bisharp will not spawn in the wild yet. If you want to get a Pawniard/Bisharp, you will need to hatch as many 12 km eggs as you can. If you want to evolve your Pawniard into Bisharp you will need 50 Pawniard candies. As they do not appear in the wild, you will want to use the first Pawniard you find as your buddy until you have enough candies.
Trivia
- No other Pokemon in the entire game has the same type combination as Pawniard and Bisharp.
- The name Bisharp is likely inspired from chess pieces with Pawniard possibly deriving from the pawn piece while Bisharp resembles a bishop piece.
- The inspiration for Bisharp’s design likely comes from Japanese bandits from within Japanese history and even Bisharp’s armour resembles the armour worn by samurais.
FAQ
Is Bisharp Good Competitively?
Throughout history, Bisharp has been a strong pick to counter other popular options in competitive Pokemon battles. That’s not to say that it’s only strength lies in countering Pokemon, especially as it has access to the Defiant ability. Once a Bisharp has set up, it is nearly impossible to slow it down.
How does Bisharp Evolve?
Bisharp does not evolve into any other Pokemon. If you want to evolve your Pawniard into Bisharp you just need to level it up to level 52. This is a two stage evolution line, meaning that Bisharp is the final evolution and thus does not evolve again. While the level threshold is quite high, the payoff of Bisharp is well worth the investment.
Is Bisharp good in Pokemon Go?
Bisharp functions perfectly fine as a dark or steel type attacker in Pokemon Gym Raids or PvP. There is not much else to say, but if you need a Pokemon to help you beat ice or rock type Pokemon, Bisharp has access to steel type moves like Iron Head. Not only that, if you need to beat ghost and psychic type Pokemon, you can beat them with the help of moves like Snarl.
Conclusion
Congratulations, you now know just about everything there is to know about this sword blade Pokemon. Bisharp has made a big impact on competitive play as another popular offensive Pokemon that is difficult to shut down. While it is not the fastest offensive Pokemon, it can be difficult to slow a Bisharp down and with enough support, Bisharp can sweep an entire team at ease. Its design, roles in the anime, and popularity in casual play has become common among the fan base. Bisharp is a memorable Pokemon of the generation five games.
