Metagame np: Stage 7 - Problem

[Aladyyn]

Time to dust off the Specs HP Ground Musharnas?

Also what does Hariyama do against SD Shiftry? :P

 

[Teddeh]

Time to dust off the Specs HP Ground Musharnas?

Also what does Hariyama do against SD Shiftry? :P

I'm using physically defensive hariyama...

 

[MegaFlareon]

Probably the biggest drop in the 6th Generation.

How do you think will Hitmonchan fare in the NU metagame? It has good Attack, Iron Fist boosted moves, as well as Rapid Spin. It also has Foresight if it really needs to get past Ghost types.

 

[Aladyyn]

Honestly I think it's going to be mediocre to very bad. It has nothing to differentiate and no real way to beat spinblockers except for Foresight, which is an awful move to use on an offensive pokemon. It can't spin reliably and doesn't do anything that other Fighting types don't do better.

 

[Cheryl.]

Hitmonchan is pretty meh. It has nothing to differ from other Fighting types and is walled by every Psychic and Ghost type ever.

 

[SlickHippo99]

Hitmonchan might not be amazing, but it's a spinner. A SPINNER. Hazard removal is terrible at present, the best options being Claydol and Prinplup (Kabu is much better as a sweeper). It might not be great, but it can clear hazards. Spinblocking really isn't all that prevalent anyway I don't feel like (except maybe on hazard stack HO), since there are very few good spinners, so having nothing to hit ghost types isn't SO bad (still wish it had Knock Off thought).

 

[Shuckleking87]

Hitmonchan might not be amazing, but it's a spinner. A SPINNER. Hazard removal is terrible at present, the best options being Claydol and Prinplup (Kabu is much better as a sweeper). It might not be great, but it can clear hazards. Spinblocking really isn't all that prevalent anyway I don't feel like (except maybe on hazard stack HO), since there are very few good spinners, so having nothing to hit ghost types isn't SO bad (still wish it had Knock Off thought).

I think hazard removal/prevention is incredibly easy in no, with Xati also doing a great job, in addition to now skunktank and shiftry in the tier as well

 

[Syncrasy]

Skunk tank seems like a nice addition mushy would at least be some what more ez to handle. and Shifty seems nice. dotn really care about hitmonchan but the idea we finally got it is nice

 

[DnB]

why would u use hitmonchan with spin? :[
give it a life orb, CC, mach punch, ice punch, pursuit (to catch vswitch rotom :P) and you have a sawk with less speed and less power, but better spdef...oh wait

dont think it would be that good, maybe fighting plate with foresight, cc, mach punch and spin, but other than that, theres no reason u woud use it over sawk :[

 

[SlickHippo99]

Hitmonchan could run Bulk Up...? Maybe? It has Fake Out + Bullet Punch + Mach Punch which is something anyway. I guess it also has Foresight + Spin so it can spin on ghosts but yeah I guess it is pretty booty.

 

[Cheryl.]

Bulky Up Chan is outclassed by Gurdurr.

 

[Melons-N-Soda]

I doubt Hitmonchan would be very good in either role. Also a bulky Fighting-type its outclassed by Gurdurr, but being less maimed by Knock Off is a bit of a plus. As a spinner, it has to waste a turn using Foresight in order to hit spin blockers, and can't do shit to things like Garbodor. I'm honestly having trouble

IMO, Skunk coming back is whats the most hype for me. (Seriously though, why the fuck did Trev stay RU? (Or is it not as bad as some users are claiming it to be in RU?))

Edit: Ninja'd about Hitmonchan < Gurdurr.

 

[Ares]

Y'all are theorymonning the shit outta chan and making it out to be terrible, when in reality this is not the case. Instead of saying its going to be terrible and just assuming this because of how it fared in RU can we actually test it out and see how good it'll actually be? Cause there have been other cases where something was bad in RU and is good in NU, see Claydol for a prime example.

 

[Machineae]

LO+4 attacks will be fun to use. I like the idea of a LO+IF boosted mach punch. Might be really good on hazard stacking teams similar to the one Kiyo posted here. Maybe agility+3 attacks for late game cleaning? Feels fitting because boxers moving quick ya kno? I don't see myself using rapid spin at all. Iron first boosted punches seem too strong to pass up on.

RIP fire bird :( Looking forward to angry tree.

 

[Cheryl.]

Skuntank our new lord, beating all dem CM Psychics.

This is what I think will be the best Skunk set:

Skuntank @ Life Orb / Black Sludge
Jolly / Adamant Nature
EVS: Still need to think of them lol
- Fire Blast
- Sucker Punch
- Poison Jab
- Crunch / Pursuit / Defog
While it is a special attack lowering nature, Fire Blast can still do decent damage to stuff like Shiftry or Ferroseed, or Mawile as well. Sucker Punch is to pick off weakened threats, and Poison Jab is neat for STAB and helps Skuntank beat Fairy Types. Crunch is my main choice for the last move, as it heps you beat Psychics easier. Pursuit can be used to trap stuff, or you can use Defog to remove hazards.

 

[Kiyo]

Damn, I really would've like to see the tier with Registeel (too bad its usage rose dramatically). Unfortunately we lost one of our best blanket checks to threats such as Tauros and Archeops, and didn't get anything good to help deal with them. I'm interested to see how the metagame plays out allthough I'd still expect to see a lot of physically based offensive teams utilizing top tier threats such as Sawk, Tauros, Archeops, and Klinklang.

Best of luck to everyone trying out the new drops!

 

[QueenOfLuvdiscs]

EVS: Still need to think of them lol

Correction, still need me to think of them

But to make this post not completely unrelated, Skuntank is gonna see a lot of hype around it (trust me, I'm as hyped about it as the next person) and I've already started trying to build teams with it. The major issue I've already found with it already is that it has a huge case of 4MSS, like I wanna run Defog, Taunt, Haze, Fire Blast, Sucker Punch, Crunch, Pursuit and Poison Jab all in one set as well as run enough speed for Mesprit but still run an Adamant nature. I think I'm expecting Skuntank to do everything for me and singlehandedly carry my team, its gonna be really good, but all i see i doing is stopping Mesprit/Xatu/Fairies and making Fighting-type's checks easier to deal with (which is amazing).

 

[Shuckleking87]

As a spinner, it has to waste a turn using Foresight in order to hit spin blockers, and can't do shit to things like Garbodor.

Actually, hitmonchan has eq, which probably 2hkos garb without taking rocky helmet(on mobile so not entirely sure) which is nice

 

[Magcargo]

Hitmonchan's largest niche will most likely be as a Rapid Spinner to differentiate itself from other Fighting types like Gurdurr and Sawk. Being able to get off a guaranteed rapid spin with Foresight is a huge and was a large reason as to why Hitmonchan was considered the best spinner in LU last gen (Pokemon Online's version of RU). It also has a good priority move in Mach Punch, allowing it to pick off quite a few threats such as Klingklang, Kabutops, and Tauros. I'm thinking Hitmonchan's main set will be this.

Hitmonchan (M) @ Fist Plate / Life Orb
Ability: Iron Fist
EVs: 252 Atk / 4 SpD / 252 Spe
Jolly Nature
- Rapid Spin
- Close Combat
- Mach Punch / Foresight
- Ice Punch

Pretty self explanatory set for the most part. The choice between Foresight and Mach Punch depend on your team's needs (priority to revenge kill certain mons vs guaranteed spin). Pursuit support from Skuntank will be almost mandatory for Hitmonchan, as it struggles significantly in damaging psychic-types.

Overall, I feel Hitmonchan will largely be a niche mon. As a rapid spinner, its inability to defeat garbador and to a lesser extent Mesprit are large issues (you can run EQ if you really want to hit Garbodor, but its a useless move otherwise). As a fighting-type, its inability to damage psychic and ghost-types are also large problems. However, Hitmonchan still has the core benefits of both a Rapid Spinner and a Fighting-type, which no other mon in NU has, allowing it to fit onto specific teams that cannot fit both.