Medicham

QC: 49 / Spirit / galbia
GP: Kingler12345 / The Dutch Plumberjack / Snobalt





[OVERVIEW]
Pure Power makes Medicham ridiculously powerful; its STAB High Jump Kick hits harder than Reckless Hitmonlee's and is the strongest attack in the tier, making it a huge nuisance to slower teams. It has a good STAB combination that only misses out on Psychic-types. Medicham also has a workable movepool; access to the elemental punches provides it with good coverage options, and Baton Pass is great for gaining momentum. However, Medicham's mediocre defenses make it a glass cannon. Base 80 Speed is also somewhat average, leaving it outsped by a good portion of the metagame and vulnerable to being easily OHKOed by strong STAB moves. Additionally, Medicham is somewhat outclassed by Gallade due to the latter's access to Knock Off, leaving Medicham reliant on Pursuit support to get past Ghost- and Psychic-types.

[SET]
name: Wallbreaker
move 1: High Jump Kick
move 2: Zen Headbutt
move 3: Thunder Punch
move 4: Drain Punch / Fire Punch / Bullet Punch
item: Life Orb
ability: Pure Power
nature: Jolly / Adamant
evs: 4 Def / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]
Moves
========

High Jump Kick is by far Medicham's most powerful STAB move; it is even stronger than Reckless Hitmonlee's thanks to Pure Power and OHKOes many bulky offensive Pokemon such as Eelektross, Escavalier, and Druddigon. Zen Headbutt provides nice coverage by reliably hitting Poison- and Fairy-type physical walls, particularly Qwilfish and Aromatisse. Thunder Punch is arguably the most useful elemental punch, as it hits Pokemon that do not take much from Medicham's STAB attacks, such as Sigilyph and Togetic, while still touching Spiritomb and hitting defensive Jellicent harder than Ice Punch. Drain Punch gives Medicham a safer Fighting-type STAB attack and prevents it from being worn down too quickly by Life Orb recoil. Fire Punch can be used as a safer attacking move to hit Steel-types as well, especially when the opponent has a Ghost-type such as Gourgeist-XL or Trevenant on their team. Bullet Punch can also be crucial in some situations to revenge kill some weakened faster sweepers such as Sneasel, Mega Glalie, and Rock Polish or Choice Scarf Tyrantrum.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed and Attack investment lets Medicham hit as hard and fast as possible. With a Jolly nature, Medicham Speed ties with non-Mega-Evolved Glalie and outspeeds Jolly Tyrantrum as well as Adamant Hitmonlee. However, an Adamant nature is still viable because it guarantees the 2HKO on offensive Spiritomb with Thunder Punch after Stealth Rock. Life Orb is used to deal significantly more damage to sturdy walls such as Jellicent, Aromatisse, and Alomomola.


Usage Tips
========

Due to Medicham's frailty, it should not be brought in directly even on defensive tanks such as Rhyperior and Mega Steelix, as they 2HKO it; therefore, you have to get it in through free switches or directly switch it into slower foes that can't 2HKO it, particularly Fighting-types such as Hitmontop and Gurdurr. Spamming High Jump Kick is quite dangerous if there is a Ghost-type or a potential Protect user on the opposing team. In that case, using any other move is the safest way to scout for a Protect user or a switch to a Pokemon immune to Fighting. Most of the time, you have to predict well if you want to ensure a KO. For example, it is important to nail Sigilyph as it switches in, as it is faster and can OHKO Medicham before it can use the right move.

Team Options
========

A Stealth Rock user helps Medicham ensure 2HKOs such as with Thunder Punch or Fire Punch on Spiritomb and with Zen Headbutt on both Bold Aromatisse and Jellicent. Lead Archeops is a pretty good one considering how it lures in most Rock- and Steel-types to be OHKOed by Medicham's High Jump Kick. Mega Steelix and Bronzong pair fairly well with Medicham, covering all of its weaknesses. Medicham also really appreciates Pursuit support, as it is walled by most Ghost- and Psychic-types. Reliable Pursuit users include Skuntank, Escavalier, and Houndoom; Houndoom is also immune to Will-O-Wisp from Ghost-types. Additionally, because Medicham's poor bulk can be problematic for it to start sweeping when you just bring it out directly, momentum grabbers make for great partners. Mesprit and Uxie are good examples, as they tend to lure in bulky Steel- and Dark- types and can set up Stealth Rock. Baton Pass Jolteon also pairs well with Medicham, as Medicham forces out a lot of slower bulky Ground-types, most of which are easy High Jump Kick bait. Furthermore, seeing as how Medicham applies pressure on balance teams and common offensive Pokemon that resist Fighting, sweepers such as Sawk, Hitmonlee, and Durant are good partners to take advantage of Medicham's wallbreaking.

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: High Jump Kick
move 2: Zen Headbutt
move 3: Thunder Punch / Rock Slide
move 4: Trick / Drain Punch
item: Choice Scarf
ability: Pure Power
nature: Jolly
evs: 4 HP / 252 Atk / 252 Spe

Moves
========

Even without a boosting item, Medicham's High Jump Kick hits like a truck thanks to the boost from Pure Power. Though Zen Headbutt isn't as spammable as High Jump Kick, it's still a safe STAB move to hit Poison- and Fairy-types. Thunder Punch is probably the most useful elemental punch Medicham has, as it hits Pokemon that do not take much from Medicham's STAB attacks, such as Sigilyph and Togetic, while still touching Spiritomb and hitting defensive Jellicent harder than Ice Punch. Rock Slide lets Medicham revenge kill another dangerous target, Delphox, while still hitting Sigilyph, Togetic, and Spiritomb. Trick in combination with Choice Scarf lets Medicham cripple all of its common checks, especially Wish + Protect Alomomola and Aromatisse, preventing them from putting in any more work in the battle. Drain Punch is a safer Fighting-type STAB, being much more spammable than High Jump Kick in the late-game.

Set Details
========

Maximum Speed and Attack investment lets Medicham hit as hard and fast as possible. Medicham can revenge kill many fast threats when equiped with a Choice Scarf, such as Swords Dance Virizion, Hone Claws Durant, and +1 Dragon Dance Scrafty. A Jolly nature is used to outspeed opposing Jolly Choice Scarf Tyrantrum and Emboar, as well as Jolteon, which can make it quite annoying for Medicham to clean offensive teams late-game.

Usage Tips
========

Due to its frailty, Medicham should not be brought in directly, even on defensive tanks such as Rhyperior and Mega Steelix, as it will take up to 90% from their attacks; therefore, you should get it in through pivoting moves. However, Medicham avoids the 2HKO from any of Virizion's moves, allowing it to switch into Virizion and force it out. Spamming High Jump Kick versus opposing teams is discouraged if there is a Ghost-type or a Protect user off the field. In that case, either crippling them with Trick or using Drain Punch is the safest way to bypass them. Additionally, if you see a potential fast threat that might bother your team a lot, try to hold on Medicham's Choice Scarf as long as possible; otherwise, it might not be able to handle the threat anymore. However, Trick is better to use when facing more defensive teams, as many Pokemon on those teams are crippled by it, and Medicham has less need for the increased Speed because it outspeeds most Pokemon on defensive teams anyway.

Team Options
========

Stealth Rock lets Medicham ensure 2HKOs, such as with High Jump Kick on both Alomomola and offensive Tangrowth, Zen Headbutt on Calm Aromatisse, and Thunder Punch on defensive Jellicent and Togetic. Mega Steelix and Bronzong pair fairly well with Medicham, covering all of its weaknesses. Additionally, some physical setup sweepers such as Bulk Up Gurdurr, Hone Claws Durant, and even Dragon Dance Scrafty appreciate Medicham's Trick support, as it gives them an easier time getting through clerics such as Alomomola and Aromatisse by stripping them of their reliable recovery.

[STRATEGY COMMENTS]
Other Options
========

Medicham can use an Endure + Reversal set, but it is not very reliable, as unlike Hitmonlee, it doesn't get Knock Off or Unburden. Foresight can be a good alternative on the wallbreaker set to hit Ghost-types such as Spiritomb with High Jump Kick for free. Psycho Cut can be also used over Zen Headbutt; although it's not as powerful, it's perfectly accurate and has a high chance to land a critical hit. An honorable mention goes to Baton Pass, as it can grab momentum and allow Medicham to freely bring in Pursuit trappers against its Pursuit-prone checks. Fake Out can be used to get chip damage on many sweepers and scout for the opponent's actions in the battle. A Bulk Up set with moves such as Substitute and Baton Pass is a possibly feasible option. Choice Band can be also used for significantly more raw power.

Checks and Counters
========

**Psychic-types**: Uxie is Medicham's sturdiest counter, as it resists both of Medicham's STAB types and has huge natural bulk, preventing it from taking too much damage from coverage moves. Sigilyph and Mesprit are pretty reliable soft checks; however, the former has to watch out for Thunder Punch, while the latter can be 2HKOed by Choice Scarf Medicham's High Jump Kick after Stealth Rock damage.

**Ghost-types**: Spiritomb is immune to both of Medicham's STAB types and can easily take it down with Foul Play. However, it risks getting 2HKOed by a Life Orb-boosted elemental punch after Stealth Rock damage. Cofagrigus replaces Medicham's Pure Power with Mummy if it gets hit by Zen Headbutt and can burn it with Will-O-Wisp.

**Fairy-types**: Though Fairy-types can check Medicham by virtue of their super effective STAB moves and resistance to High Jump Kick, they still have to be careful about Zen Headbutt, which OHKOes or 2HKOes all of them after Stealth Rock except for physically defensive Granbull.

**Flying-types**: Flying-type moves such as Choice Scarf Braviary's Brave Bird, Sigilyph's Air Slash, and Fletchinder's Acrobatics really bother Medicham, as they OHKO it before it can move, making it a necessity to have an answer for them in your team.

**Faster Pokemon**: Because Medicham's bulk is not that good, STAB-boosted moves with high Base Power from faster Pokemon easily destroy it, often OHKOing it. These includes Choice Scarf Emboar's Flare Blitz, Mega Glalie's Refrigerate-boosted moves, Jolteon's Choice Specs-boosted Thunderbolt, Flygon's Outrage, and Meloetta's Choice Specs-boosted STAB moves.
 
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Finished the writing of both Wallbreaker and Choice Scarf set.
I wanted to know what do you guys think about Bulk Up set before doing anything, does it deserves an entire explanation in the analysis or if it should be done separately.
 
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For now i would say to try and get this out for QC and we can think about Bulk Up later either as a separate analysis set or as a set added to this
 

boltsandbombers

i'm sorry mr. man
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  • Before anything else, set up Stealth Rock. Stealth Rock is imperative in helping Medicham's sweep; the lack of them may result in typical 2HKOs turning into 3HKOs (Fire Punch on Doublade), something Medicham cannot afford. Same goes for both Spikes and Toxic Spikes that can come in useful as well, especially in RU that has many reliable users of them.
This seems like a really weird usage tip.
Usage tips are how to play the pokemon itself, not how to battle. It's more or less obvious that its important to get up stealth rock to support offensive pokemon, so that point should be removed. In team options, you list hazard setters. Sure, all offensive Pokemon like hazards. But does stealth rock or a certain amount if spikes help medicham achieve a notable OHKO or 2HKO? If not, then its arbitrary information and should be removed.
 

boltsandbombers

i'm sorry mr. man
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One other small thing, in c&c change flying-spam users to flying types since birdspam or flyingspam isn't a term we're allowed to use. This looks solid imo for your first time (I think it is, correct me if I'm wrong lol)
 

aVocado

@ Everstone
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Stress in the overview that its stopped cold by Pokemon such as Reuniclus and Cresselia for the most part, seeing as how they resist both STABs and don't take much from any coverage move. Cresselia especially literally only cares about Trick from the Scarf set, otherwise it gives no shit, and either sets up CM, thunder waves, or simply goes for the kill.

In Usage tips of wallbreaker:

"Start sweeping with Medicham should be mostly done as a lead or as a revenge kill. Its troo frail bulk might prevent it from being sent out in a defensive tank such as Rhyperior or Mega-Steelix as it takes at least 80% from their hits."

What. Please rephrase lol
 
Stress in the overview that its stopped cold by Pokemon such as Reuniclus and Cresselia for the most part, seeing as how they resist both STABs and don't take much from any coverage move. Cresselia especially literally only cares about Trick from the Scarf set, otherwise it gives no shit, and either sets up CM, thunder waves, or simply goes for the kill.

In Usage tips of wallbreaker:

"Start sweeping with Medicham should be mostly done as a lead or as a revenge kill. Its troo frail bulk might prevent it from being sent out in a defensive tank such as Rhyperior or Mega-Steelix as it takes at least 80% from their hits."

What. Please rephrase lol
ugh that was weird, done
Added the point about cresselia and reuniclus too
 

boltsandbombers

i'm sorry mr. man
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I feel like I'm always that guy that talks about speed creep in analyses, but the spread on the bulk up set should probably be changed. Basically, the rule of thumb is that we arent allowed to speed creep pokemon with specific investments in main ev spreads for analyses, but it's ok to be mentioned in set details. There must be some other benchmark to hit.
Also, does cress even need to run that much speed with pangoro gone? Idk if I'm missing something obvious here.
 
Ah yeah that's true, completely forgot that point, how about 44 EVs then ? To at least outspeed 0 EVs Cresselia. Or should just go to a standard max HP/Speed+ spread ?
Though I've seen many speed creeps mentionned in other analysis' main set (Mega-Camerupt and Mega-Abomasnow for example)
 

boltsandbombers

i'm sorry mr. man
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Ah yeah that's true, completely forgot that point, how about 44 EVs then ? To at least outspeed 0 EVs Cresselia. Or should just go to a standard max HP/Speed+ spread ?
Though I've seen many speed creeps mentionned in other analysis' main set (Mega-Camerupt and Mega-Abomasnow for example)
Just to clarify, both of those are for uninvested base [X] speed pokemon which is allowed since its not creeping a specific speed investment.
I mean, is the point of outspeeding cress just to baton pass out of it? You're not setting up a sub versus it in the first place since it'll just moonblast or psychic / psyshock medicham.
E: 44 EVs make sense to with that imo, but see what QC says
 
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No as you said it's just to Baton Pass the boosts before taking the Moonblast basically. If you are running Substitute, being able to outspeed Cresselia is still important if you are facing the RU Wall set (which is by far more used than the CM one atm) to avoid the Thunder Wave. Also Moonblast is not exactly the most used offensive move in this set, I've seen Psyshock being used a lot and considering it doesn't break the sub after one bulk up it turns out to be a huge set up bait for Medicham.
 
sorry, i was holding off on this b.c i generally don't use this 'mon too much, but i guess someone's gotta do their job, haha

mention, in brief, sigilyph as a thunderpunch target, given it can otherwise come in and outpace, either poppin' off for ~80-95% w/lo psychic or straight ohkoing w/air slash (idt running both is ever optimal, and whoever decided psyshock > psychic was a better choice is a dork). mention that fire punch is a primary b.c it puts a lesser strain on pursuit support, since doublade is the most irritating to trap by a ways. really, really, dislike dd tyrantrum (probably will reject it for an analysis, personally), so i'm not sure how i feel about it being mentioned as a bp target. rp might be more appropriate, and i'm fairly certain at least pearl would agree on this front. disagree on it being referred to as a 'revenge-killer', b.c it's quite bad at it haha. you can just say that it can't switch in on attacks, meaning you gotta get it in through momentum moves (u-turn, volt switch, bp) or make some aggressive switches to bring it in safely. i'm also not a fan of spikes mentions, b.c it doesn't really need them as much as it does just want them, which can be said of every pokemon ever, so i'm keen to not mention them, but eh. i like double fighting as a whole, but i wouldn't go highlighting scarf ones as pokemon that flourish in a stall match-up with medicham breaking for them; it's still stall, chances are good they would much rather be banded or lo there haha. saying 'cham can apply pressure on balance or offensive fight resists in order to better allow cc / hjk spam in the late-game is sufficient.

i actually have used scarf an o_k amount in this meta, and trick doesn't feel like a utility i'd give up in this meta; there are way too many fat 'mons that 'cham would seem to target with the move for it to be pragmatic to get rid of this. personally, i found myself running hjk / zhb / trick / (drain punch / bp) most of the time, given just how useless coverage is here under normal circumstances. durant takes, like, 90% min from hjk, doublade is getting broken by fire punch never in a realistic scenario, and other fat psychics are shrugging it off regardless, making it better to just throw hjk or trick most of the time anywho. also do not know how i feel about the whole usage tip about pressuring the sr 'mon, given not only this is the worse off of sets in terms of doing so (lo performs such a function better), but players aren't 100% assured to lead with their sr setter, given it should be more of a risk v.reward, determining whether the risk of conceding momentum to a potential threat, such a medicham, is worth the utility of t1 sr, yeah? also, which virizion sets up on cress? to my understanding, it just twaves twice (once to burn lum, second for results, then dips to preserve its hp for the cham, taking maybe 30 or so percent from the exchange e_e

i am v.dubious of the bu set currently; it seems to stretch itself way too thin rn (it's a bu set, a subpunch set, a bp set, and maybe others?), the ev's / nature seem very odd (though that may well be a typo), etc. if the draw is exploiting slow defensive 'mons, which i think is the goal here, i'd just go w/ bu / drain / zhb / sub, perhaps with consideration to recover > zhb, but idk, it comes off as rather underwhelming currently. would like some further input on this one haha

i'll stamp with that / once a consensus is reached out the final set
 

Martin

A monoid in the category of endofunctors
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baton pass is fucking useless most of the time and bullet punch revenges jack shit; remove both
I disagree personally. It is a great way of gaining/maintaining momentum v.s. common switchins to Medicham such as Reuniclus, as well as pairing up rather well with things like NP Houndoom for that very reason. But I digress.

Anyway, mentions of Cresselia and Doublade need to be removed 'cause RIP.
 
Sorry if that took so long, was pretty busy lastly, but w/e the write up including tier shifts changes has been done, here's the capital changes;

  • Removed all Fire Punch mentions, since its only target was Doublade that is now gone.
  • Thunder Punch is now the main 3rd slot that lets Medicham hit targets such as Sigilyph, Togetic as well as Spiritomb.
  • Removed all Spikes mentions.
  • Moved Bullet Punch and Baton Pass mentions to Other Options.
  • All mentions about Cresselia, Slowking and Doublade are now removed.
  • Bulk Up set is also removed as it seemed to be unrelevant.

Thanks a bunch for your rates 49. and Spirit though, i've considered p much all of your advices, feel free to check it out!
 
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done, also i changed all T-Punch mentions for Ice Punch as it does the same thing but has the advantage to get the KO on Noivern; and added a mention about gallade in the overview.
oh and how about Baton Pass as a slash instead of Drain Punch in the Choice Scarf set ? unlike with the life orb set, Reuniclus is not exactly forced to recover after a High Jump Kick, especially seeing as how obvious the switch into the trapper might be in this kind of situation.
252 Atk Life Orb Pure Power Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Reuniclus: 146-172 (34.4 - 40.5%) -- 51.3% chance to 3HKO after Leftovers recovery

252 Atk Pure Power Medicham High Jump Kick vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Reuniclus: 112-132 (26.4 - 31.1%) -- 14.2% chance to 4HKO after Leftovers recovery
 
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i think spirit meant that fake out should get addressed in moves as an option over sub, not that it should get replaced on the main set e_e also, very much ok w/bp mentions on the scarf set myself. personally, i find myself running hjk / zhb, with the remaining slots being filled with any of ice punch / bp / trick in this meta, based on the necessities of the team, so go for it.

2/3
 
Sorry if i was holding off on it a bit lately, was pretty busy with my exams plus the followed vacas period. But anyhow i've actually did a big update 3-4 days ago (mostly due to Reuniclus leaving).
Also wanted to actually give a shot to LO wallbreaker set first in a couple of battles, and i've found out some moveslots that IMO fit better with the new metagame.

I honestly think that fire punch should be a primary 3rd moveslot, this is actually fairly useful when Medicham is facing a pretty tough 50/50 as the opponent has a Steel-type really threatened by High Jump Kick but actually has an immunity on the back, while he could easily decide do stay in predicting you to go into another move or to opt for an agressive switch. In that case going for Fire Punch gives you a solid advantage in both situations especially when the aforementioned Ghost-type is a Gourgeist or a Trevenant. Same goes for offensive Spiritomb which dies to two Fire Punches after rocks. Though this is dealing with pretty solid damage in any Steel-type target (mega-steelix takes 40-45ish) which is most of the time enough to prevent them for putting in work anymore given their lack of recovery.
Tried Fake Out a bit as Spirit mentionned and this is actually worst than all the other options list, you don't benefit from it at all; not stab-boosted, no speed mechanics of mega-evolution, and overall just a waste of life orb recoil, leaving the mon easier to revenge kill.
I'd rather mention bullet punch on 4rd slot, pretty useful with ice sweepers shining on this meta, providing a solid ohko on Sneasel and Mega-Glalie after some recoil plus rocks damage. Also serve as a good way to revenge aweakened threats such as scarf/rp Tyrantrum and even Sigilyph.
Removed back all ice punch mentions for tpunch since Noivern is gone and bold Jellicent actually is kind of a pain for 'cham.
 
rock slide is a decent option for the choice scarf set that can go in OO. It guarantees the RKill on both Sigilyph and Delphox which are often the best switch ins offense packs for this outside of spiritomb
 
My bad then, really really misunderstood that since I was pretty sure that fake out was mentionned in oos already. Also rock slide will be added as a 4th move slash.
Anyway the write up is done already i just wanted to update this a bit first so this should not take long.
 
Mention drain punch late game value and switch the order of the sets. I'd also say fire punch has way less value than trick or drain so I'd demote it to moves
3/3 :toast:
 

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