Mankey (Analysis)

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Mankey


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[Overview]

<p>Mankey is a predictable, yet effective Pokemon
that immediately poses an offensive threat with a good physical movepool and high Attack stat. With three great abilities in Vital Spirit, Anger Point, and Defiance, Mankey can switch in on many attacks unaffected. With Mankey's popular Choice Scarf set, it can check a wide variety of threats including Houndour and Scraggy. However, it has its flaws. Mienfoo arguably does Mankey's job better with higher Attack, a better ability, and access to the powerful Hi Jump Kick. Mankey also got almost nothing new this time around to use effectively. Still, underestimate Mankey at your own peril, as it will always be a reliable and useful Pokemon to have on your team.</p>

[SET]
name: Choice Scarf
move 1: Close Combat
move 2: U-turn
move 3: Final Gambit
move 4: Punishment
item: Choice Scarf
nature: Jolly
ability: Vital Spirit
evs: 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>
With its good Speed and Attack stats, Mankey plays the role of a revenge killer very well. Close Combat is a great move that Mankey can abuse to deal big chunks of damage and switch out without worrying about the drops to its defensive stats. With a Choice Scarf, Mankey can also outspeed key threats such as Scraggy and Axew. Close Combat gives Mankey a very distinct advantage over Mienfoo and its High Jump Kick, allowing Mankey to comfortably abuse its Fighting STAB without having to predict a switch to a Ghost-type. With U-turn, Mankey can switch out while causing damage along with scouting the opponent's switch-in. Since it lures in Psychic-types, Mankey can utilize this strategy very effectively. When a Psychic-type switches in, Mankey can smack it with a super effective U-turn and go to the appropriate Pokemon to finish it off. Final Gambit is an attack that will easily defeat walls since Mankey has a relatively high HP stat to use this strategy effectively.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Mankey makes a great
lead due to its ability to switch while doing damage with U-turn. It has Assurance too, and can use it instead of Punishment if desired; however, Punishment will always be stronger unless the foe is hit with residual damage before Mankey attacks. Due to Death Gambit working better the more HP Mankey has, you can swap the Attack EVs with HP EVs if you're using Mankey mainly for Death Gambit, though this will be a big waste of its offensive capabilities.</p>

[SET]
name: Substitute + Encore
move 1: Substitute
move 2: Encore
move 3: U-turn
move 4: Close Combat / Cross Chop
item: Oran Berry
nature: Jolly
ability: Anger Point
EVs: 196 HP / 36 Atk / 76 Def / 196 Spe

[SET COMMENTS]

<p>This set is based on Mankey's ability to lock Pokemon into setup moves by using Encore. Mankey and Machop are the only two Fighting-types with access to Encore, and Mankey arguably does it better with higher Speed. Many threats that would normally set up on Mankey successfully such as Gastly will be locked into their setup move. Substitute allows Mankey to scout the opponent's move to see if it's Encore-worthy; this is especially helpful to block status moves and lock the foe into them. U-turn allows Mankey to scout the opponent's switch when they're locked into a status move. It also lets Mankey do some damage while it switches to a
set up sweeper if the foe decides to stay in. Close Combat and Cross Chop are both powerful Fighting-type moves that Mankey can utilize effectively. Close Combat is the stronger of the two, but it will lower both of Mankey's defenses after use. Since this set is supposed to be bulky rather than offensive, Cross Chop is worth consideration to keep Mankey's defenses at an acceptable level while still boast a high Base Power.</p>

[ADDITIONAL COMMENTS]

<p>Mankey is EV
ed to be bulky rather than strong, but if you wish to trade durability for power, you can use an EV spread of 116 HP / 196 Atk / 196 Spe. If you want Mankey to take special hits better, you may move the 76 Defense EVs to Special Defense. Anger Point is the preferred ability as Mankey will become extremely powerful if hit by a critical hit behind a Substitute. However, if you wish to use Vital Spirit to allow Mankey to switch into random sleep-inducing moves, it is also an option. Since Mankey will often get the chance to set up a Substitute, Focus Punch can also be used in the last slot for maximum power.</p>

[Other Options]

<p>Mankey doesn't have
too many other options to work with. Assurance is an option over Punishment to hit Ghost-types switch-ins that are hit with Stealth Rock. Mankey has access to Claw Sharpen which can be used to boost its already high Attack while also grabbing an Accuracy boost. Choice Band is another option on the Choice Scarf set to boost Mankey's Attack, but it will lose its ability to check Scraggy.</p>

[Checks and Counters]

<p>Bulky Ghost- and Psychic-types such as Frillish, Solosis, and Natu can all switch into Close Combat and
KO Mankey. Natu, as mentioned before, can switch in on the SubEncore set with ease.</p>

[Dream World]

<p>Mankey's Dream World ability is Defiance. With Defiance, Mankey can switch into Pokemon with Intimidate and
gain an Attack boost. Pokemon that try to lower Mankey's attack such as Sandile with Intimidate will also fail to do so as Defiance will instead increase Mankey's Attack.</p>
 
Should really be mentioned that Kojofuu really does a Scarf set better than Mankey, with Regeneration, Hi Jump Kick, U-turn, and a decent 55 Base SpA stat to use for Hidden Power [Ice] against Gligar.
 
Oh yeah, forgot about Kojofuu. The problem is it doesn't get Ice Punch and has to use Payback as it's Dark move. I'll mention it
 
I'm curious to know the accuracy of Dynamicpunch after a Claw Sharpen. I think I recall doing the calcs once and it ended up being like 66% or something, which really, is still pretty terrible. :0 Maybe a regular Sub set, or Claw Sharpen without 'Namicpunch would be better.

Or have you tested it? Did it perform well?
 
Yeah, 66. Then 83. Then, um, around 100%.

But yeah, Dynamicpunch is really not a good idea. Especially with them Machops running around.

Mankey gets Sub+Encore, and it can use it more effectively than Machop with higher base speed.
 
Yeah, there you go. If you're trying Sub-Claw Sharpen, Cross Chop would be the move to use. Though really, I think Sub-Encore is a better idea.
 
You really only need to hit at 66 because you can set up more while your opponent hurts themselves. The moves work in conjunction, and yes I've tested it
 
A small nit pick, well, a couple, aside agreeing with the Cross Chop > Dynamic Punch suggestion. Most of the time you won't b getting 2 Claw Sharpens off against a smart opponent, even behind a Substitute, so 66 Accuracy is mediocre at best, whereas Cross Chop becomes a lot more reliable after that same Claw Sharpen.

Here's some peer edits I made, that aside, it's looking good.

  • Claw Sharpen makes you strong and makes DynamicPunch viable
  • DynamicPunch can confuse and give you more time to set up Substitute or Claw Sharpen
  • After a Claw Sharpen, DynamicPunch hits 66 Accuracy, then 82, then 98.
  • Rock Slide and Ice Punch both have 100 accuracy after a Claw Sharpen and both hit flyers.
  • Ice Punch hits Gligar and Rock Slide can cause flinch.
  • Substitute is to scout, block status, and to set up while your opponent hits themselves in confusion.
  • Anger Point is because Substitute blocks Sleep anyway, so Vital Spirit is useless, and you might be struck by a critical hit behind a Substitute.
[Additional Comments]

  • Wynaut helps you set up
  • A Dark move could be useful somewhere
 
tbh I don't care about grammar; this is a skeleton.

Also, if you confuse your opponent, you can easily get 2 Claw Sharpens up against a "good" opponent. This set works really well for me. I'd like to get some QC input on that.
 
You're missing the point, dude. You're not going to be able to confuse anyone if you can't hit them, and you have to set up 2 Claw Sharpens to even have a halfway decent chance at that. :\ By your argument, you'd say that you hit them with Dpunch, THEN set up? With 50% accuracy unboosted? Naw, man, naw... it's.. it's not good. Just drop it. Or, for all I care, keep it, but it'll never get past QC.

In any case, You should still add Sub-Encore to the analysis.
EDIT: LOL, 'raging'.
 
Ok for all those raging about Cross Chop: I've tested it and I like it. I'll put DynamicPunch in AC though

EDIT: I'll put DynamicPunch in the AC, not Cross Chop, my bad
 
I'm not too sold on the claw sharpen set. It seems too slow to pull it off in a metagame filled with gligar, misdreavus, and murkrow, not to mention strong priority coming from meditite.

The Scarf set seems fine. I would just use Payback over Assurance or Punishment since its better than both. (Assurance starts out at low BP right?). You should really be stressing that its only advantage over Kojofuu is Ice Punch though as far as scarfing goes. Might want to mention that in overview as well.

I'm curious about Sub+Encore, although i'm too lazy to test it. It seems like there are better pokemon for the job
 
I'm on my iPod so I don't want to type a longish reply, but I just wanted to address em's comment. Payback no longer gets the power up on the sworn so punishment is better cause it hits nastyplot missy and stuff harder. Plus, I think assurance has 60 Bp not sure though. Subencore seems interesting, I'll test that

Alright now I'll address stuff. I agree that Claw Sharpen has been underwhelming for me and I'll replace it with Substitute + Encore if I find it effective. Actually, Payback no longer does 100 damage on the switch, so Assurance and Punishment are both better.

Assurance starts out at 50 BP, just like Payback, and has 100 if the opponent takes prior damage that turn (Stealth Rock, Spikes, Pain Split, etc.) It's essentially the new Payback as it's pretty much what Payback was last gen if you have Stealth Rock, but Payback sucks now since Mankey doesn't want to go last.

Punishment is the best thing it has. 60 BP + 20 for every boost the opponent has, going up to 200 max. That means it has 100 base power against Misdreavus after a Nasty Plot or Yuniran after a Calm Mind boost. Now that I think of it, that should be the only thing in the slot as it's so much better than Payback and Assurance.

EDIT: plus I want to test Death Gambit on the Scarf set. Mankey has one of the highest DGs in LC
 
Updated the Choice Scarf set with Death Gambit and replaced Claw Sharpen with Substitute (I was originally going to call it SubEncore, but I found out Mankey can do some cool stuff with Substitute alone like make use of Anger Point and possibly even Focus Punch.)
 
Does Punishment start at 60? According to serebii, it starts at 1, making Payback the superior choice.

Edit: Fire Punch doesn't hit Tesshiido harder.
Close Combat: 120 * 1.5 * 2 = 360
Fire Punch: 75 * 4 = 300
 
Yeah, iDunno is right. I guess I'm just used to saying "use the fire-type move it hits tesshiido," sorry, I'll remove mentions of Fire Punch.
 
might be worth renaming the substitute set. substitute isn't even move 1, and i myself was confused by the set seemingly being revolved around substitute but then you have u-turn for move 3 which is completely counterproductive. maybe renaming it "encore" or something would make it less misleading/confusing.
 

macle

sup geodudes
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You need to remove all the mentions of the claw sharpen set. There are mention in counters and other parts.

Also i don't get how abra is a counter. It's paper thin and can't take a u-turn or anything.
 
Alright I'll rename it.
I'll remove mention of the Claw Sharpen set, I probably didn't notice. And I don't know why I mentioned Abra >_< probably meant Yuniran.
 

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