Countering Infernape

Phuquoph

is a Site Content Manager Alumnusis a Team Rater Alumnusis a Senior Staff Member Alumnusis a Top Contributor Alumnus
Garchomp got one of these threads, so...

Infernape, "The Flaming Chimp Of Death". Known for his speed, power, versatility and his ability to ruin days out at the Safari Zone by furiously masturbating in front of your children and flinging flaming turds at surprised onlookers. Monkeys are fun, aren't they?

So how do you stop this simian menace? Firstly, you need to work out his set. Infernape's versatility is one of his strongest assets, here's a couple of his likely sets.

All calculations are based on max Attack/Special Attack. Many prefer a speed boosting nature for Infernape, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Physical Sweeper

Swords Dance
In Fight
Flare Drive
Stone Edge/Thunderpunch

Milotic With Max HP, a Bold Nature and 180+ Defense EVs she can survive an Adamant Swords Danced In Fight and easily OHKO with Surf.

Swampert No problem here. Max HP and 280 Defense is common on most Swampert, which is more than enough to take a boosted In Fight. Either STAB move finishes the monkey.

Slowbro Excellent. Even with only max HP he survives a Swords Danced Thunderpunch. Like Swampert, either STAB move downs Infernape.

Suicune No problem surviving a boosted In Fight or in OHKOing with a STAB Surf.

Salamence Only works for Thunderpunch variants. Intimidate and a resistance to both STAB moves means Salamence can take Infernape very well.

Dragonite Same as a Salamence, but without Intimidate.

Rhyperior Despite him technically being weak to Fighting, Hard Rock all but removes this. A massive defense stat and powerful STAB Earthquake make Rhyperior an excellent choice. Be sure to max out HP and Defense though.

Donphan/Hippowdon Both can take a boosted In Fight/Flare Drive and OHKO with Earthquakes.

Cresselia Can survive a Swords Danced Flare Drive and hit back with Psychic and/or paralyze with Thunder Wave.

Starmie Survives a predicted Thunderpunch (unboosted) and can outspeed and OHKO with Surf.

Vaporeon Requires maxed out HP and Defense, Bold nature to survive a Swords Danced In Fight.

Mixed Sweeper

Scheme
Flamethrower
Grass Rope
In Fight

Salamence Resists everything on this set. Aerial Ace, Earthquake or STAB Dragon attacks take Infernape down.

Dragonite See Salamence.

Gyarados Beware of repeated Grass Ropes when sending Gyarados in, they won't 2HKO without a boost though. Otherwise a decent counter.

Gardevoir/Gallade Both have excellent special defense to take boosted Flamethrowers. You'll need to invest some EVs to truly make either a counter. 320 HP is enough to survive although you may want some in special defense just to be on the safe side.

Charizard/Moltres Resist the whole moveset and can hit back with STAB Flying attacks.

Manaphy Takes pitiful damage from Grass Rope (Flamethrowers actually do more) and has the defenses to survive In Fights. Surf is an easy OHKO.

Milotic Shaky. While she only needs minor special defense EVs to survive a Schemed Grass Rope, any kind of previous damage and she's screwed. Can work, but not really recommended.

Cresselia Same with the physical set, she can survive boosted Flamethrowers more easily though.

Starmie Survives any unboosted hit. Outspeeds Infernape and OHKOs with Surf.

Vaporeon Grass Rope is only 60 BP against Vaporeon so he survives a Schemed hit with ease.

Grumpig Resists Fighting and Fire (Thick Fat) and a Schemed Grass Rope is a 3HKO with only max HP.

Special Sweeper

Scheme
Flamethrower
HP Ice
Grass Rope

Blissey Blissey walling a Fighter is just funny.

Snorlax Fatty survives easily, Thick Fat helps a lot. Throws STAB Normal attacks or Earthquakes back at the monkey.

Cresselia Works just as well as it does for the mixed set.

Manaphy Again, this works like it does for the mixed sweeper.

Starmie Survives any unboosted hit. Outspeeds Infernape and OHKOs with Surf.

Vaporeon Grass Rope is only 60 BP against Vaporeon so he survives a Schemed hit with ease.

Grumpig Resists Ice and Fire (Thick Fat) and a Schemed Grass Rope is a 3HKO with only max HP.

Non-boosting/Life Orb Mixed Sweeper

- Hidden Power [Ice]/Stone Edge
- Fire Blast/Flamethrower
- In Fight
- Grass Rope

Cresselia Walls this quite decently, however it will take a furious dent from Fire Blast, to the point you'd need to Moonlight.

Gyarados Only if you don't have Stone Edge. Practically destroys this.

Manaphy Works for all predominantly special sets.

Salamence Works if it's Stone Edge, to a certain extent.

Starmie Survives a Grass Rope. Outspeeds Infernape and OHKOs with Surf.

Charizard/Moltres Only for HP Ice variants.

Grumpig Resists Fighting, Ice and Fire (Thick Fat) and takes little damage from Grass Rope.

"Insurance"

These Pokemon can outspeed and kill Infernape, though may require a sacrifice to get in.

Starmie Needs a Timid nature, can easily OHKO.

Dugtrio Must be Jolly to outspeed all Infernape. Kills with Earthquake and even better, Infernape can't switch.

Aerodactyl Finishes Infernape with an Earthquake, can even afford to go Adamant and still outspeed it.

Azelf Like Starmie, you'll need a Timid nature to ensure you are faster. Psychic OHKOs no problem.

Please contribute any other vaild counters or specific movesets that should be considered. I'll edit them into this post for easy reference.
 
Lol I'm gonna make one for the exploding elf next.

Needs to mention nonboosting Mixed Gouka @ Life Orb IMO on the offensive field
 
I feel like I'm spouting the obvious here, but a pure special attacker should at least be considered. Something like:
Scheme
Grass Rope
Flamethrower
HP Ice/Electric

Pretty much the exact same as mixed attacker, with HP Ice over In-Fight. You pretty much exchange counters here, Blissey can stop this but Dragonite/Salamence or Gyarados can't. Fortunately for everyone, Infernape's special movepool is much smaller than his physical movepool.
 
I prefer the Mixed sweeper set, with its attacks countering things you need help with, ie Garchomp or Gyra. Something like this:

Thunderpunch
HP Ice
Fire Blast
In Fight/Earthquake
 
Carefull when using Menace or Dnite, as some Infernapes carry HP [Ice] so dont go all brave on em just like that. try to find out its set.
 
isn't the mixed infernarape In Fight,Grass rope,HP Ice,Flamethrower with life orb.That and the SD set are the only variations i have seen,the scheme version is inferior imo.

Dugtrio isn't a counter becuase it cannot switch in to it unless it predicts a stat up same goes for aerodactly and azleaf.
 
Nonboosting mix sweeper

- Hidden Power [Ice]/Stone Edge
- Fire Blast
- In Fight
- Grass Rope

@Life Orb

Counters
- Cresselia - Walls this quite decently, however it may take a furious dent from Fire Blast, to the point you'd need to Moonlight. Still very effective
- Gyarados - Only if you don't have Stone Edge, or if you're very bulky (watch out for Stealth Rock if it's on the field). Practically destroys this at times.
- Salamence - Only if you can predict the non SE moves, otherwise you'd lose. Or once again if you pack an SE move when you're very bulky, but beware of HP Ice. (Wishmence, anyone?)
- Manaphy - If you can predict Stone Edge/Fire Blast/Grass Rope you'll easily stop this.
 
Should I add Starmie? It survives anything that isn't boosted, plus it can be faster. It just gets battered by predicted Grass Ropes/Thunderpunches.
 
A counter has to be able to switch in (safely) and pose a large and immediate threat to it. Grass Rope might hurt but the other moves aren't much of a threat.
 
Manaphy is a counter for every set with 401 HP and 30 DEf alone, so why do I not see this in the physical set counters?

Infernape is countered easiest by finding out it's set, then send out the appropriate counter and rape. Anything that survives a physical attack screws this duder, as In Fight lowers Defense and Flare Drive has recoil. Must not forget the CB set either, my friend:

@Choice Band
In Fight
Flare Drive
Rock Slide/Stone Edge
Mach Punch/Thunderpunch
 
I left out the Choice Band/Glasses set because you pretty much need to outpredict them or die.

I'm having trouble finding anything that can feasibly take repeated abuse from everything on the CB set. Maxed out Slowbro is 3HKOed by Thunderpunch, that's all I can think of.

Anyone have any ideas?
 
Phuquoph said:
I left out the Choice Band/Glasses set because you pretty much need to outpredict them or die.

I'm having trouble finding anything that can feasibly take repeated abuse from everything on the CB set. Maxed out Slowbro is 3HKOed by Thunderpunch, that's all I can think of.

Anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...

STalk Cune/Milo? Both have better defences than Slowbro (if Milotic is sleeping). Swampert also works, but CB In-Fight hurts after a while. Same probably goes for Cresselia, except with CB Flare Drive and Cresselia has Moonlight (Infernape will rarely be used with TTar or Hippowdon).

Thank you for adding the pure mixed set, it is definitely the hardest to counter due to Grass Rope owning all Waters besides Manaphy (Vaporeon too, but Vappy can't take very many In-Fights). The physical Fighting STAB kills all Special Walls besides Cresselia, who is hard pressed to take Flare Drives. I feel Stone Edge is better than HP Ice, if only because Garchomp gets smacked around by a faster In-Fight. Life Orbed sweeper is beast with Wish support, the best way to counter him is to make him kill himself through LO damage. Wish negates that strategy.
 
Phuquoph said:
I left out the Choice Band/Glasses set because you pretty much need to outpredict them or die.

I'm having trouble finding anything that can feasibly take repeated abuse from everything on the CB set. Maxed out Slowbro is 3HKOed by Thunderpunch, that's all I can think of.

Anyone have any ideas?
Click to expand...

Why would you use tpunch when you have somersault available?
 
Hyra said:
To hit Suicune/Manaphy/Milotic harder. Besides, you can never 3HKO with Somersault because you switch.
Click to expand...

Well, why would infernape stay in vs those pokes? Also In fight does more than tpunch except to slowbro whom you 3hko but would be stupid to stay in against.
 
I wasn't advocating Thunderpunch, but for something to counter the CBer it needs to switch in on everything Infernape might carry. Thunderpunch isn't a bad idea, it's more reliable way to kill Gyarados than Stone Edge is.

Suicune needs to be maxed out to survive two Adamant In Fights, which still isn't guaranteed (45 - 53%).

Milotic needs to be sleeping, which is a bit too shaky for my liking. Even with maxed out defenses and HP, a Jolly In Fight from the CBer will 2HKO Milotic.
 
Phuquoph said:
I wasn't advocating Thunderpunch, but for something to counter the CBer it needs to switch in on everything Infernape might carry. Thunderpunch isn't a bad idea, it's more reliable way to kill Gyarados than Stone Edge is.

Suicune needs to be maxed out to survive two Adamant In Fights, which still isn't guaranteed (45 - 53%).

Milotic needs to be sleeping, which is a bit too shaky for my liking. Even with maxed out defenses and HP, a Jolly In Fight from the CBer will 2HKO Milotic.
Click to expand...

Eh... Wow, In-Fight, Stone Edge, and Crunch mean physical walls must have lots of resistances. I highly doubt a CBer would run Adamant. It loses the ability to outspeed Garchomp and Adamant Dugtrio. I don't like STalk Milo as a reliable counter either, I was just throwing out ideas.
 
If you can get Entice to work, Gatr can be a pretty good Ape counter.

Feraligatr @ Life Orb
-Entice
-Waterfall
-Shadow Claw
-Dragon Dance

DD up and Entice when it tries to Scheme. Shadow Claw is there to help take out any Dusknoirs or other ghosts you may encounter, but it's mostly a filler attack.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top