252 Spa Choice Specs Beads Of Ruin Tera Fire Chi Yu — Pokémon battle showing Chi-Yu using Overheat against Skeledirge in sunlight for 100% damage knockout.

252 Spa Choice Specs Beads Of Ruin Tera Fire Chi Yu

2022Copypasta / text memesemi-active

Published April 6, 2026

Also known as: Chi-Yu copypasta · Chi-Yu damage calc meme

"252+ SpA Choice Specs Beads of Ruin Tera Fire Chi-Yu" is a copypasta from the competitive Pokémon community that lists the absurd number of damage-boosting conditions needed to turn the Legendary Pokémon Chi-Yu into an unstoppable one-hit-kill machine3. Originating on Reddit's /r/stunfisk subreddit in December 2022 after the release of Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, the format became a go-to joke template among competitive Pokémon fans who found humor in the sheer stack of buffs required to obliterate even the tankiest defenders1.

pokemon copypasta memes competitive pokemon memes reddit memes

Overview

The meme takes its name from a string of competitive Pokémon jargon that reads like an incantation: "252+ SpA Choice Specs Beads of Ruin Tera Fire Chi-Yu." Each term in the string represents a different layer of damage optimization3. Broken down: "252+" means maximum EVs (effort values) invested in Special Attack with a boosting nature, "Choice Specs" is a held item that increases Special Attack by 50%, "Beads of Ruin" is Chi-Yu's signature ability that lowers all opponents' Special Defense by 25%, and "Tera Fire" means the Pokémon has Terastallized into pure Fire type for a same-type attack bonus12.

The result is a Chi-Yu using Overheat, one of the strongest special Fire-type moves in the game, with so many multipliers stacked that it can knock out Pokémon that should comfortably survive Fire-type hits. The comedy comes from the ridiculous length of the damage calculator output and the fact that even dedicated walls crumble under this specific setup3.

Origin & Background

Platform
Reddit (/r/stunfisk)
Creator
Phoenix-Rising-78
Date
2022

Chi-Yu was introduced in Pokémon Scarlet and Violet (Generation IX) as one of the four Treasures of Ruin, a group of Legendary Pokémon sealed away in Paldea1. Designed as a fish-like creature formed from cursed jade beads and dark flames, Chi-Yu packs a base 130 Special Attack stat, making it one of the hardest-hitting special attackers in the game1.

Its signature ability, Beads of Ruin, passively cuts the Special Defense of every other Pokémon on the field by 25%, a free defensive shred just for showing up2. Combined with Choice Specs, maximum EV investment, a boosting nature, and the Terastallization mechanic new to Generation IX, Chi-Yu's Overheat reaches damage numbers that look like typos.

The earliest known post calling attention to this absurd damage output appeared on December 11, 2022, in Reddit's /r/stunfisk (the competitive Pokémon subreddit)3. User Phoenix-Rising-78 posted about how a fully optimized Chi-Yu could potentially one-shot Toxapex, a Water/Poison-type Pokémon famous for being one of the most durable special walls in competitive play. The post gained over 70 upvotes in its first year3.

How It Spread

The concept of listing every buff in a damage calculator output existed in competitive Pokémon discussions before Chi-Yu, but the specific Chi-Yu string caught on because the stack was so long and the results so ridiculous3.

On January 29, 2023, Redditor FungalPlague posted a "My Child Will X" meme about Chi-Yu on /r/stunfisk, earning over 1,500 points within a year3. Two weeks later, on February 12, 2023, Redditor pacmanboss256 dropped a Valentine's Day e-card featuring the copypasta on the same subreddit, pulling in over 630 points3. That same day, user Botbuster111 posted an "I'm Not Gonna Sugarcoat It" edit with the full damage string, which picked up over 120 points3.

The meme jumped from Reddit to Twitter on July 21, 2023, when user @Spcrashworks posted a comic built around the copypasta3. The tweet pulled over 850 retweets and 4,400 likes in roughly six months, bringing the joke to a wider audience beyond the /r/stunfisk regulars.

The format also spread to other Pokémon, with players applying the same damage-stacking copypasta structure to different attackers, though Chi-Yu stayed the most iconic version3.

How to Use This Meme

The standard format lists every damage-boosting factor in a row, mimicking the output of a Pokémon damage calculator like calc.pokemonshowdown.com. People typically:

1

Pick a Pokémon with high offensive stats (Chi-Yu is the classic choice)

2

Stack every possible damage multiplier: EVs, nature, held item, ability, Tera type

3

Name the move (usually Overheat for Chi-Yu)

4

State the target, often an extremely bulky defensive Pokémon

5

Deliver the punchline: the damage roll shows a guaranteed one-hit KO on something that should never go down in one hit

Fun Facts

Chi-Yu's flames burn at over 5,400 degrees Fahrenheit (3,000 degrees Celsius), hot enough to melt rock and sand into lava that it can swim through1.

The Pokémon is based on the Chinese mythological figure Hundun (混沌), an embodiment of chaos described as "scarlet like cinnabar fire" in the Classic of Mountains and Seas1.

Chi-Yu's true form is just the jade beads that make up its eyes. The rest of its fish-shaped body is constructed from flames it controls1.

Beads of Ruin is the only ability in the game that passively lowers all opponents' Special Defense just by being on the field2.

The copypasta's home base, /r/stunfisk, is named after one of the least competitively viable Pokémon in the franchise, making it a fitting birthplace for a meme about absurd power3.

Frequently Asked Questions