Earthquake covers the Nidos, Muk and Toxicroak. Ice Punch hits Altaria harder than Stone Edge, and also helps against Vileplume. U-turn scouts your opponent (and takes a big chunk out of most Psychic-types). Punishment only starts at a measly 60 base power, but it is still Primeape's best attack against Ghosts. It also works great against Calm Minding Psychics (like Grumpig and Claydol), as it powers up to 100 BP after they boost once.
Slap a Choice Scarf on something with good type coverage and call it a "Revenge Killer". Primeape actually does an adequate job at this, thanks to his great physical movepool. Ice Punch gets rid of Dragon Dance Altaria, who fails to outrun a Scarfed Primeape, even after one Speed boost. U-turn is very useful as the extra Speed this has over the Choice Band set, makes scouting more effective. If you want better type coverage, feel free to drop it in favor of Earthquake, to kill off Toxicroak or Stone Edge to cover Bug-types. If you're using this in OU battles, you may want ThunderPunch in the last slot, so he can kill off Dragon Dance Gyarados. The EVs generate 280 Speed (420 with Choice Scarf), enough to outrun most Reversal Hitmonlee after a Salac boost, all Choice Scarf Absol, max Speed Electrode, and Modest Swift Swim Omastar in the rain. You shouldn't need any more than that in UU, but if you fancy your chances against opposing Primeape, you can max Speed and hope to win the 50/50 chance of going first.
Anger Point will raise Primeape's Attack by 6 levels (equivalent of a free Belly Drum, but without the HP loss) if your opponent scores a critical hit. Leftovers allows you to Substitute 5 times in a row, to give your opponent a compounded 27.58% chance of activating Anger Point. Taunt stops things trying to Roar/Whirlwind your Substitutes, although the extra type coverage is usually a better option. Substitute is required to survive most critical hits, although if Primeape comes in on a Night Slash (Absol's CB Night Slash won't even 2HKO when critical) or a weak Stone Edge, he may survive. Just don't switch into CB Golem or Kabutops as both will OHKO.
Similar idea as before, but you only get to Substitute 4 times at most, so Anger Point will activate 22.75% of the time. Even if you don't get Anger Point to kick in, Bulk Up and Reversal should be enough to sweep with, once you get down to 1 HP. After a Bulk Up, Punishment can finish off the weaker Ghosts-types, like Rotom and Banette.
Primeape must be at 100% health for Focus Sash to work. This means you need to remove Spikes/Stealth Rock to give this a chance. The idea is to Meditate on the switch, Counter a physical attack, then sweep with Reversal. The Hasty nature and 0 Defense IV ensures Primeape takes greater damage from physical attacks, making the chances of getting to 1 HP higher, and thus allowing for a full power Reversal.
Primeape's decent Speed stat, great typing, and movepool all make it a wonderful Choice Scarf Pokémon in Ubers. Primeape, outside of being a good revenge killer, is an amazing Darkrai counter. Being resistant to Darkrai’s Dark-type STAB and immune to sleep, Primeape can switch in with ease and then proceed to U-turn out or OHKO Darkrai with STAB Close Combat. There really is not a whole lot more Primeape can do, so the given moves are usually the best to run. U-turn allows you to scout out your opponent's team, while avoiding getting trapped by the elusive Wobbuffet. Close Combat is a general STAB move to hit Pokémon who aren’t the Giratina formes or Psychic-types. Punishment is a make or break move against Calm Mind Mewtwo and Giratina-O, hurting them for every time they decide to boost a stat. The throw up between Ice Punch and Stone Edge is your call. If you go with Ice Punch you can hit the many Uber Dragon-types for super effective damage, while Stone Edge will give you more coverage against the likes of Ho-oh while still hitting Rayquaza for super effective damage. The EVs are a bit odd, but they serve a purpose. The 180 Speed EVs will give Primeape enough Speed to outpace Timid Mewtwo with an Adamant nature, but if you decide to go with a Jolly nature, Primeape will outrun a max Speed Deoxys-A. If you want Primeape to outpace positive nature base 90 Choice Scarf Pokémon, such as Kyogre and Dialga, then you should run at least 216 Speed EVs. 252 Attack EVs to give Primeape more of a kick, and the rest is dumped into HP to make sure that Dark Pulse off of a non Life Orb Darkrai is only a 3HKO. Vital Spirit is the only ability to run with this set, as the main goal is to be able to switch in on Darkrai and threaten it out. When using Primeape the main problem it faces are other Choice Scarf Pokémon such as Palkia, Garchomp, and the annoying Ghost-type Giratina formes. The Choice Scarf Pokémon are easily handled by Primeape’s best friend, Wobbuffet. Wobbuffet can come in on most Choice Scarf Pokémon and KO them with either Mirror Coat or Counter. Rayquaza is a different problem altogether. As it has three deadly sets: mixed, Swords Dance, and Dragon Dance, Rayquaza is really a wild card. Most Rayquaza are the Swords Dance version, so using a Pokémon such as max Speed Dialga will handle Rayquaza rather well. If it turns out to be the Dragon Dance set, Choice Scarf Palkia is the one of the only Pokémon who can revenge kill it safely, though Choice Scarf Gengar can switch into Rayquaza as it uses either Swords Dance or Dragon Dance and OHKO with Hidden Power Ice. Giratina and Giratina-O are big problems, as Giratina-O is a powerhouse and can leave your team in rubble. If Giratina-O isn’t running Hidden Power Fire, and the sun is out, then Forretress with Payback makes a nice counter to it, Scizor also works equally well with Pursuit. Giratina-A will bow down to Taunt Calm Mind Mewtwo, who can set up on it with little to no threat. Team OptionsUbersPrimeape, like most Choice Scarf Pokémon, enjoys having Stealth Rock and a layer or two of Spikes on the field to help it sweep. Deoxys-S leads are good at making sure you’re getting Stealth Rock and one layer of Spikes on the ground right away. If not, using something like a supporting Groudon would also be nice, paralyzing your opponents Choice Scarf Pokémon and easing your sweep. Primeape is going to have a difficult time getting past the Uber walls such as Giratina and Lugia, so having a Pokémon, like Mewtwo, who can easily come in on the two and set up is something worth considering. If Mewtwo isn’t your type of Pokémon, and if you can find a place where you can set up a Swords Dance Garchomp, then Garchomp can also take down the two walls rather easily. With poor defenses, Primeape really needs to be careful of priority users in the Uber metagame. Rayquaza, being the most common priority user, poses a large threat to Primeape, so carrying a Pokémon that is either immune to ExtremeSpeed, such as Gengar, or resists it, like Dialga, will severely ease the problems which Rayquaza can cause. Other OptionsNUPayback powers up to 100 BP against incoming enemies, and can be used over Punishment on the Choice sets. Aerial Ace for Heracross is viable if you intend to use Primeape in OU battles. You can still use Endure/Reversal if you want Vital Spirit to switch into sleep attacks. Overheat isn't much use as it fails to 2HKO Skarmory, when factoring in the Special Attack drop. If you want a Fire attack, go with Fire Punch as it will tear through Forretress and Scizor if you have a Choice Band. UbersThis set is really the best that Primeape can do, though a Choice Band set that invests heavily into HP and Special Defense could work. Outrage could be used on the Choice Scarf set to hit Dragon-types harder than your other moves will, but it leave Primeape very easy to revenge kill. EVsNUAlways max Attack on any Primeape. Jolly is recommended with at least 224 Speed EVs to reach 310, thus outrunning max Speed Rotom. Dump the remainder into HP or Defense. UbersMaxing its Attack stat is the first thing you should do when using Primeape, making Primeape hit as hard as it can. The next question is how much should you invest into Speed. With a Jolly nature and 252 Speed EVs, Primeape will Speed tie with threats such as Scarf Dialga and +1 Rayquaza. If you do not like risking a game on Speed ties, then invest enough EVs into Speed so you can outrun non Choice Scarf Mewtwo. Dump the remaining EVs into HP. OpinionNUWith various other Fighters being much better options, you will not see many Primeape in standard play. However, it does occupy its own niche in the Underused environment. With Anger Point, it has the potential to sweep at a moment's notice. Its defensive frailties are covered somewhat by substituting until Anger Point is activated, or abusing Focus Sash. Alternatively, Vital Spirit will give you a free switch into any sleep inducing attack. Importantly, Primeape is the second fastest Fighting-type after Infernape. Used well, this thing is just scary. UbersWhen it comes to revenge killers in Ubers, there is better. When it comes to Darkrai counters, there is nothing better. Primeape can make use of its excellent Fighting-type STAB in Ubers to hurt almost all Pokémon which do not resist it. When it boils down to your team you have to ask yourself if you are weak to Darkrai. If so, can you use Primeape on your team? CountersNUResidual damage messes up Focus Sash and to an extent, Substitute/Salac Berry options. With Choice Scarf, it is relatively weak offensively, but without, many Pokémon are faster. In OU, Choice versions get walled comprehensively by Weezing and Dusknoir, and Skarmory to a lesser extent. In UU, a surefire counter is difficult to find. Scyther can come in safely on Close Combat and Earthquake, outspeeds Primeape, and easily delivers the coup de grâce with Aerial Ace. Rotom doesn't outspeed Primeape, but can come in safely on Thunder Punch in addition to the aforementioned two attacks and threatens with Will-O-Wisp. Claydol works quite well if he avoids Ice Punch, U-turn or Punishment. Quagsire and Gastrodon risk a 2HKO from the Choice Band version but work fairly effectively against Scarf variants. In all environments, Primeape has a relatively tough time switching in. Nidoking and Nidoqueen both wall Fighting/Rock attacks (Nidoqueen is a safer bet thanks to her superior defenses). Toxicroak can do the same, although he doesn't have the defenses to stand up to CB Close Combats for long. Muk only resists Close Combat, but his high HP helps to survive most of Primeape's other attacks. All four of these will fall to Earthquake though. UbersGiratina, Giratina-O, Choice Scarf Dialga and Palkia, Swords Dance Rayquaza, and Groudon are the best answers when it comes to Primeape. Groudon can OHKO it with its STAB Earthquake, or better yet it can even set up on Primeape if it is running the Rock Polish set. A supporting Groudon can paralyze it, making Primeape useless. Rayquaza resists its STAB Close Combat, making it easy enough to set up a Swords Dance, or just using ExtremeSpeed right away for a good portion of Primeape’s HP. The Choice Scarf users outspeed Primeape, so they can OHKO with their STAB Dragon-type attacks easily, though they should be wary of switching in, as Close Combat hurts. The Giratina formes don’t have much to worry about. Giratina-A can burn Primeape, while Giratina-O can set up a Substitute and Calm Mind. Wobbuffet handles Primeape with ease thanks to its trapping ability, Shadow Tag, Counter, and resisting Primeape's Fighting-type STAB. |
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