This page explains how to encounter and catch Chi-Yu, one of the Legendary Pokémon in Scarlet & Violet.

Chi-Yu is a Ruinous Pokémon and a member of the Legendary quartet known as the “Treasures of Ruin”.

Where to Find Chi-Yu¶

Chi-Yu is sealed behind the blue shrine in North Province (Area Two), inside a cave at the top of Fury Falls.

To release the seal, you must remove 8 blue stakes dotted around north-east Paldea. For their precise locations, please refer to our Blue Stakes page.

After doing so, there will be a message saying that a sound is coming from the shrine. Inspect the seal on the shrine (you may want to save your game beforehand) to encounter Chi-Yu.

Useful Links¶

• All Blue Stake Locations
• Blue Shrine Map Marker

How to Catch Chi-Yu¶

When the fight begins, Chi-Yu’s Beads of Ruin ability will activate, lowering the Special Defense of all Pokémon except itself.

In terms of stats, Chi-Yu has exceptional Special Attack and Special Defense, and otherwise good to OK stats, excluding its abysmal HP (you can’t have everything!).

Also, it’s worth mentioning that Chi-Yu is a Fire type, not a Water type like you might expect by its fishy appearance!

For attacks, it can use Lava Plume for Fire STAB and decent chance to Burn, Bounce to fly into the air for one turn, Ruination to halve your HP and Swagger to confuse your Pokémon while boosting their Attack by 2 stages (so they hurt themselves more when confused).

Chi-Yu has a very low catch rate, so you should inflict a status ailment to improve your chances. Paralyze is a nice, unfussy choice because it doesn’t disappear–you can apply it with Nuzzle, Thunder Wave, etc. Sleep has better odds, but only lasts a few turns–you can use moves like Hypnosis or Yawn for this.

When damaging Chi-Yu, regular super-effective attacks are fine, so long as they’re not super strong (so not 100+ base power ones). As Chi-Yu’s HP begins to fall, you should swap to False Swipe (obtained from Jacq, your homeroom teacher) to avoid accidentally KOing it.

Chi-Yu cannot heal itself, so once you’ve got it down to low or 1 HP, you can relax a bit. However, Chi-Yu can inflict a lot of damage with its moves, so don’t hesitate to use healing items yourself! If you’re taking big damage, X Sp. Def can help reduce the impact. But keep in mind Ruination deals fixed damage.

When it’s time to start throwing Poké Balls, Ultra Balls are great by default. Because you’re inside a cave, Dusk Balls are a better choice. If more than 10 turns have passed, Timer Balls are the best choice. If Chi-Yu is asleep, Dream Balls are also great, but those are hard to come by.

By the way, you might experience Chi-Yu using Bounce to evade attacks/Poké Balls. This could be a good chance to switch out or use an X Sp. Def. If Bounce is really annoying, you can temporarily disable it with Gravity (learned by Stonjourner).

Recommended Pokémon for Catching Chi-Yu¶

Pokémon that resist Lava Plume are recommended, since Chi Yu has high Special Attack and your Pokémon’s Special Defense is vulnerable from Beads of Ruin. Fire types are ideal, because they can’t get burned. Rock types are also good, because they resist Bounce, but Bounce doesn’t do that much damage anyway.

Ruination is a nuisance as always and the only real way to combat it is via healing. That said, you could use moves like Double Team to boost your evasion and/or Sand Attack or Mud Slap to lower Chi-Yu’s accuracy. Swagger can be dealt with by using a Full Heal or, y’know, not attacking when Chi-Yu is at low or 1 HP.