Hitmontop (Attacker)

Status: Complete

www.smogon.com/dp/pokemon/hitmontop


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[SET]
name: Attacker
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Mach Punch / Rapid Spin
ability: Intimidate
item: Life Orb
nature: Adamant
evs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>Hitmonlee normally faces stiff competition from his Fighting-type counterparts Hitmonlee and Hariyama. The selling points of this set that distinguishes it from the aforementioned Pokemon are high Defense and Special Defense along with Intimidate. Additionally, Hitmontop has slightly higher Speed than Hariyama, which ultimately makes him a viable choice and not one inferior to its brethren.</p>

<p>Close Combat is the primary attacking choice for this set and is capable of 2HKOing physical walls like Donphan and Milotic with a little residual damage. Sucker Punch allows Hitmontop to hold his ground against offensive teams; his Speed stat is still quite low, but priority will deal with a slew of faster threats such as Mismagius, Alakazam, and Rotom. Stone Edge wards off overzealous Flying-types who would normally switch into the defensive set easily. Mach Punch serves as a secondary priority move to use against Houndoom, Swellow, and Absol. Rapid Spin is also a viable alternative if you want to effectively spin on many physical walls switching into this set. Thanks to Life Orb, this set can feign a pure offensive set and will therefore lure in dedicated physical walls like Tangrowth, Weezing, and Slowbro, ultimately making spinning easier.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The Speed EVs hit 212 Speed, allowing Hitmontop to outpace Adamant Torterra by one point. This also means Hitmontop outruns the prominent Milotic, allowing him to 2HKO her with Close Combat with Stealth Rock in play. If you opt not to use Mach Punch in the final slot, an EV spread of 84 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spe is recommended as it allows Hitmontop to outpace Jolly Aggron, who has a slight chance to 2HKO Hitmontop with Stealth Rock and Intimidate.</p>

<p>Foresight and Pursuit are viable options in the final slot depending on what you plan to do. Foresight allows Hitmontop to bypass the Fighting-type immunity of Ghost-types, which can help scare away Mismagius, Rotom, and Spiritomb switch-ins. On the other hand, Pursuit can come in handy against Mismagius and Rotom who flee in fear of Sucker Punch.</p>

<p>To demonstrate Hitmontop's ability to hurt Pokemon, here are some calculations:</p>

<ul class=”damage_calculation”>
<li>Close Combat vs. 248 HP / 252 Def Bold Milotic - 48.1% - 56.7%</li>
<li>Close Combat vs. 252 HP / 0 Def Adamant Donphan - 50.3% - 59.4%</li>
<li>Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Venusaur - 43.5% - 51.2%</li>
<li>Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Venusaur - 38.5% - 45.5%</li>
</ul>

<p>As with the other offensive sets, Hitmontop has difficulty beating Slowbro, Uxie, Mesprit, Weezing, and Spiritomb; the latter two have access to Will-O-Wisp and can greatly reduce Hitmontop's effectiveness. Slowbro and Weezing can be dealt with by using offensive lures such as Swords Dance Leafeon and Swords Dance Blaziken. Spiritomb, on the other hand, is a harder Pokemon to lure, but a good option is Life Orb Mismagius. Uxie and Mesprit can be dealt with by using Close Combat and Stone Edge on consecutive switches until their HP drops to Sucker Punch KO range.</p>

<p>Stealth Rock is required to gain a higher chance of 2HKOing Milotic and Donphan. Although it's not completely compulsory, Spikes can also be used to score a higher chance of 2HKOing the defensive juggernaut Tangrowth. Omastar makes a fine choice for setting up both Stealth Rock and Spikes.</p>

Just a little nitpick, neither the HP or Speed EVs are divisible by 4.

Nonetheless, it's still kind of redundant. You can still run Speed on the Technician set to outpace Milotic and get the 2HKO. I don't see Stone Edge being really helpful here either because you have to be incredibly good at prediction for Venusaur and Moltres not to cockblock you, whereas Hitmonlee can (potentially) just KO them on the spot.

I mean, you're sacrificing a lot of Hitmontop's trademark bulk to function more like a traditional sweeper when it's really more of a tank, spinner, and priority powerhouse and I don't think it's really worth using over the sets we have now.

Use rock slide in place of stone edge; against stalltres (rare, I know, but it's still to be watched for) you will be stalled out by substitute and it will roost in your face and laugh at you.

Plus you now have a more reliable way to hit mismagius - SE will miss more and Sucker Punch is godawful when trying to hit it.

Also you're speed creeping and ironically running a point over your speed creep, lol

You should be running 172 to outrun jolly aggron; running more for milotic is speed creep. The spread should thus be 84/252/172

approved 1/2

i agree this set plays differently enough from the tech set so it should get its own analysis. foresight is "ok" on it but i think it is more effective in a tournament setting rather than a ladder setting. its prolly not reliable enough to get a slash either way, but it should be mentioned!

franky said:

-This is a good benchpoint for the Speed as it blitz Jolly Aggron by two points (for those Milotic who invest one to outpace it - hopefully this is not speed creeping). remaining of the evs is sent to pillow hits from mismagius and other pokemon.

Click to expand...

unfortunately it is speed creep :( but investing in just enough to beat jolly aggron is fine. but actually since the primary spread has mach punch and this set runs intimidate, why not just ev to beat adamant torterra (hit 212, not 213)?

Love this set you might want to give pursuit a mention in a paragraph somewhere I find very useful for trapping missy who switches into hitmontop alot. It prevents offensive calm mind/np missy from setting up (by breaking subs) and prevents her from switching.

On one side I'd like to see Pursuit mentioned but on the other it seems like it would just basically make this a Technitop set. I think a small mention in AC wouldn't hurt though.

Also, you'd really need to emphasize why someone would use this over something like Hitmonlee (bulk + Intimidate, for example).

pink is grammar edits
blue is prose edits

[SET]
name: Attacker
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: Sucker Punch
move 3: Stone Edge
move 4: Mach Punch / Rapid Spin
ability: Intimidate
item: Life Orb
nature: Adamant
evs: 112 HP / 252 Atk / 144 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set faces stiff competition with its Fighting-type counterparts, Hitmonlee and Hariyama. The selling points of this set that distinguish Hitmontop from the aforementioned Pokemon are his high defensive stats and Intimidate. Additionally, Hitmontop has slightly higher Speed than Hariyama, which ultimately makes him a viable choice for a physical attacker.</p>

<p>Close Combat is the primary attacking choice on this set as it is capable of 2HKOing physical walls like Donphan and Milotic with a little residual damage. Sucker Punch allows Hitmontop to hold his ground against offensive teams - his Speed stat is still quite low, and priority will deal with a slew of faster threats such as Mismagius, Alakazam, and Espeon (to name a few). Stone Edge wards off overzealous Flying-types who would normally switch into the defensive set easily. Mach Punch serves as a secondary priority move against Houndoom, Swellow, and Absol. Rapid Spin is also a viable alternative if you want to effectively spin on many physical walls who switch into this set. Thanks to Life Orb, Hitmontop can feign a pure offensive set, and he will often lure in dedicated physical walls like Tangrowth, Weezing, and Slowbro, ultimately making spinning easier.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>The Speed EVs reach a good benchmark point, allowing Hitmontop to outpace Adamant Torterra by one point and anyone lower. This includes outrunning the prominent Milotic and 2HKOing it with Close Combat with Stealth Rock in play. If you opt out on Mach Punch in the final slot, an EV spread of 84 HP / 252 Atk / 172 Spe is highly recommended to outpace Jolly Aggron; otherwise, it cleanly 2HKOes Hitmontop and has a slight chance of 2HKOing with Stealth Rock in play with Intimidate factored in.</p>

[the last sentence in this paragraph made no sense to me...maybe it's due to my limited experience with UU, but I still think you should consider revising it]

<p>Foresight and Pursuit are viable options in the final slot depending on what you plan to do. Foresight allows Hitmontop to bypass the Fighting-type immunity of opposing Ghosts, which can help scare away Mismagius, Rotom, and Spiritomb switch-ins. On the other hand, Pursuit can come in handy against fleeing Mismagius and Rotom due to their fear of Sucker Punch.</p>

<p>To demonstrate Hitmontop's sheer power, here are some calculations:</p>

<ul class=”damage_calculation”>
<li>Close Combat vs. 248 HP / max Def Milotic - 48.1% - 56.7%</li>
<li>Close Combat vs. 52 HP / 204 Def Donphan - 48.5% - 57.5% </li>
<li>Close Combat vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Venusaur - 43.5% - 51.2%</li>
<li>Sucker Punch vs. 0 HP / 0 Def Venusaur - 38.5% - 45.5%</li>
</ul>

<p>Similar to the other offensive sets, Hitmontop faces difficulties beating Slowbro, Uxie, Mesprit, Weezing, and Spiritomb - the latter two have access to Will-O-Wisp and can greatly reduce Hitmontop's effectiveness. Slowbro and Weezing can be dealt with by using offensive lures such as Swords Dance Leafeon and Blaziken. This will either leave them brutally injured with little HP left, or KOed with a little residual damage. Spiritomb, on the other hand, is a harder Pokemon to lure in and damage, but it can be lured in by using a lead Mismagius carrying Life Orb. Uxie and Mesprit to a lesser extent can be dealt with by repeated Close Combats and Stone Edges until they are eventually dropped down to Sucker Punch's KO range.</p>

<p>Stealth Rock is required to achieve the higher chance of 2HKOing Milotic and Donphan. Although it's not completely recommended, Spikes can also be used to score a higher chance of 2HKOing the defensive juggernaut, Tangrowth. Omastar makes a fine choice as it can set up both Stealth Rock and Spikes.</p>

Click to expand...

Cool set, franks. imo some of the prose in this analysis was "iffy", but I'm not an awesome prose-freak like DZ or RD, so I'm leaving most of the prose nitpicking to other proofreaders

GP Check 2/2

uploading cause no one else is gonna do it. the second gp check was over two weeks ago and I barely remember checking this, so it's not a big deal.