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 Pinsir. 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 278 Speed (417 with Choice Scarf), enough to outrun most Reversal Hitmonlee after a Salac boost, all Choice Scarf Absol and max Speed Electrode. 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. If you use Primeape in OU battles, bump his Speed up by a few points to 280, making him faster than most Scarfed Porygon-Z.
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, 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. Other OptionsPayback 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. EVsAlways 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. OpinionWith 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. CountersResidual 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. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
