To say this is good at taking out walls is an understatement. Close Combat absolutely ruins anyone silly enough to switch in something weak to it. After a single Nasty Plot, Grass Knot will OHKO Suicune, Slowbro, and Milotic unless they're running Special Defense. It also has a chance to OHKO Gyarados if it doesn't invest in HP, and does about 65% damage to Vaporeon. Swampert, Donphan and Hippowdon don't even stand a chance. You can then sweep with Flamethrower and Close Combat. Flamethrower is suggested over Fire Blast because it's your main sweeping move and you really do not want to get killed after setting up because Fire Blast misses (Infernape WILL die if it gets hit), but Fire Blast has a shot at OHKOing Cresselia with no Special Defense EVs when they switch in on Stealth Rock, provided Sandstorm is in play. Any form of prior damage means it loses, with or without Sandstorm. Hidden Power Ice is an option over Grass Knot, as it will OHKO Salamence, who otherwise resists every attack that you carry. This set has problems against Salamence and some Cresselia, so try to make sure they're damaged or eliminated before setting this up. Gyarados can also be problematic if you don't have Stealth Rock up (Grass Knot will do around 290–342 damage after a Nasty Plot to minimum Special Defense versions).
This set is the same as above, except that instead of attempting to set something up with Nasty Plot, you drop it to be able to use both Grass Knot and Hidden Power Ice. When people see one of those two, they will automatically assume you are using the above set and that you don't have the other. You can use this to your advantage to get a surprise kill in.
Your primary attacks will be Flare Blitz and Close Combat. Stone Edge / ThunderPunch are for Salamence and Gyarados, who will otherwise stop you. Be careful when using this, as the recoil from Sandstorm, Flare Blitz, Life Orb can add up quickly. A safer option is Expert Belt, which allows you to OHKO Salamence and Gyarados with Stone Edge even after being Intimidated. The EVs allow you to outspeed adamant Dugtrio and any base 105 Speed Pokémon. This Infernape can wreak serious havoc, but probably isn't as effective as the mixed sweeper.
Like most Choice Banders, the set requires good prediction skills to work but the payoffs are great. Not much to say here; you send it out, predict, and kill things. Still tough to get in, but capable of dealing massive damage once it is in. Stone Edge can be annoyingly unreliable with its 80% accuracy and is really only used to hit Salamence and Moltres. ThunderPunch hits Gyarados harder than Stone Edge but fails to hit Salamence for major damage. U-turn can score a nice hit against many more things and allow you to freely switch out to an appropriate counter. One of Infernape's main counters, Starmie, can be hit for 69.8 - 82.1% damage, assuming it has max HP. This puts it squarely in KO range from something like a Pursuit Pokemon or Dugtrio. Dugtrio actually goes great with this set, because it catches many of Infernape's common counters when you U-turn out. The major drawback of using U-turn is that if you U-turn into Infernape, you have to use U-turn again thanks to your Choice Band. For this reason, you can use Stone Edge and ThunderPunch.
Like the Choice Band set, you need good prediction to pull this set off correctly. Fire Blast will be your main attack. Overheat is also a option, but you will not gain a OHKO on any Pokemon worth mentioning, and is generally a worse choice in comparison to Fire Blast. Grass Knot will 2HKO Starmie, and has a chance of 2HKOing Gyarados, but you will need Stealth Rock up to ensure it. Hidden Power Ice will OHKO Dragonite, Garchomp, and Salamence. Every other Pokemon is hit harder by one of your other moves (Pokemon hit by Fire for neutral damage and Ice for super-effective damage take more from the Fire attack than Hidden Power Ice). Attack EVs aren't important in this set, since you're not boosting Close Combats power with a Life Orb. The damage gained from investing an extra 20 EVs is negligible, and not worth losing those valuable Speed points.
This set allows Infernape to outspeed and OHKO many Pokemon that it would not be able to normally, but comes at the price of being locked into just 1 attack at a time. The reason Overheat should be considered over Fire Blast is because the extra power is needed to OHKO Gengar, who otherwise may cripple Infernape with a Hypnosis or Shadow Ball. Hidden Power Ice will OHKO Garchomp and Dragonite most of the time, and definitely OHKO Salamence. Close Combat will 2HKO Blissey. You will also be able to outspeed and 2HKO Scarf Heatran. Close Combat will also OHKO any Weavile that isn't expecting Infernape to outspeed it. U-turn is a great move, allowing you to scout what your opponent switches to. The EVs will let you outspeed +Speed, base 90 Pokemon holding a Choice Scarf, such as Roserade.
This set is somewhat similar to the mixed attacker, but it eschews the ability to easily smash things like Blissey and Heatran for the ability to put Salamence and Garchomp in major pain while still setting up Nasty Plot. This set primarily relies on the assumption that Infernape carries Close Combat. For this reason, you'll want to hide as many of your moves as possible as long as possible. Other OptionsMach Punch can OHKO Dugtrio on the Swords Dance version about 50% of the time, almost all of the time with Stealth Rock, and all of the time if you're holding Life Orb. 232 EVs in Speed with a Speed boosting nature allows you to outspeed Adamant Dugtrio already, although most Dugtrio use Jolly for this very reason. Focus Blast is available on the special sets and can OHKO Blissey with a Nasty Plot and Life Orb, but its 70% accuracy is too low for Infernape's liking. If Blissey invests in Special Defense, it will also survive your attack. Infernape can Blaze Kick if you hate the recoil of Flare Blitz, but Flare Blitz is almost always better thanks to greater power and accuracy. Grass Knot can be used over U-turn on the Choice Scarf set, as it will OHKO Swampert, and 2HKO any Starmie that switches into it. It will also 2HKO Hippowdon, and it is your best chance against Gyarados. Using Grass Knot will also allow you to U-turn into Infernape; if you have U-turn on your Choice item Pokemon and U-turn to them, you are forced to select U-turn again. EVsInfernape is a Pokémon in its own Speed tier, and thus does not need to run max Speed to outspeed all threats. That said, given Infernape's fragility there is no real reason to not max Speed when Infernape is not likely to survive more hits with a few extra Hit Points, and that Speed may come in useful in the rare event of a mirror match or against random Choice Scarf Pokémon. The mixed sweeping set (232 EV points) is an exception that appreciates the 24 Attack EV points to raise your chances of OHKOing Blissey that invest in HP EVs and use Bold over Calm, while still outrunning Adamant Dugtrio and +nature base 105 Speed Pokémon that sit at 339 Speed. Should you wish to go lower for whatever reason, 208 EV points will outrun Garchomp. No lower Speed should be used unless you plan to use a Choice Scarf. In all cases, max your main attacking stat, obviously. 128 Attack EVs are needed on the mixed attacker spread to guarantee the OHKO on Blissey. If you have 68 Attack EVs, 252 HP / 252 Def Bold Blissey or the standard Curse Snorlax can switch into Stealth Rock as you Nasty Plot, and then you follow up with a Close Combat for the OHKO. OpinionInfernape has just the right stats in just the right places and the moves to abuse them, making it capable of kicking ass on both sides of the spectrum. It's one of the best users of Life Orb too, giving it just enough of a push to turn what would be a 2HKO on many things into an OHKO. Infernape is what Blaziken wishes it could be. Be warned, however: it's hard to switch in, and it dies very easily. CountersWater types are the most common counter to Infernape. Here, the lighter the Pokemon, the better, as that means Grass Knot does less damage. Suicune's high all-around stats make it a great counter, but it is like Milotic, in that both need a high Special Defense investment to be able to take on Nasty Plot Life Orb Grass Knots. Slowking is in the same position as Milotic, except that the Psychic typing means it doesn't have to worry about being 2HKOed by Close Combat, which can happen to Milotic if it doesn't invest in any Defense EVs and Infernape has some Attack EVs. Gyarados can take on those without ThunderPunch or Stone Edge, but it needs a high HP investment to not be taken down by Grass Knot. Vaporeon is a great Pokemon to switch into Infernape because it is lighter than most other Waters. Tentacruel is the best counter to the most common set, the mixed Nasty Plotter. It resists Flamethrower and Close Combat, and isn't weak to Grass Knot thanks to the Poison type. It has a massive Special Defense and can take down Infernape with Surf. The most common switch-in to Infernape is probably Starmie. It's faster than Infernape, and Infernape cannot OHKO it without some form of set-up. Starmie can also use Recover to keep from being worn down. Salamence resists nearly every move the average Infernape has, and thanks to Intimidate it doesn't take much from any physical move. However, Infernape is faster and will sometimes use Hidden Power Ice to give Salamence a big surprise (OHKO). Dragonite is the same as Salamence, except it lacks Intimidate to take physical attacks as well. Most Infernape have Close Combat as their sole physical attack, however. Garchomp doesn't resist Grass Knot or Close Combat, but just switching in Garchomp can make Infernape flee due to the threat of Choice Scarf. If Infernape has Hidden Power Ice and decides to stay in, however, it's lights out for Garchomp. Hippowdon and Swampert can kill physical Infernape, but most Infernape carry Grass Knot, so they are not safe switch-ins. Dugtrio can trap and kill Infernape, but it needs to be Jolly or it risks being outsped. Dugtrio also cannot switch into any attack aside from ThunderPunch or Stone Edge, so it will usually need to come in on Nasty Plot, after Infernape KOs something, or by predicting Infernape's switch-in. Azelf can come in on anything but Fire Blast or Flare Blitz and OHKO Infernape with Psychic. Aerodactyl is faster than Infernape and isn't weak to any of its common attacks, and it has enough defenses to survive one good hit as it comes in. Then it threatens to OHKO Infernape with Earthquake. Cresselia cannot be OHKOed by Infernape if it maxes HP. It needs Psychic to kill Infernape, although Thunder Wave is a good enough option to just make it useless. Togekiss has the defenses to take a Nasty Plotted Fire Blast or a Close Combat and can OHKO back with Air Slash. You need 252 HP, 120 Special Defense, and a Calm nature to survive Nasty Plot Life Orb Fire Blast from Naive Infernape 100% of the time, however. Infernape is frail. It has difficulties switching in except for after one of its team members faints. As long as you are throwing out attacks that Infernape doesn't resist, it won't find time to come in. If your team is fast, it won't be able to stay in, either. |
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