Ambipom

[Pitcher]

After thinking about this for awhile I've been wondering why people would run Choice Band on the Fake Out version of Ambipom. Wouldn't doing this force you to switch out regardless after your Fake Out? If you run Life Orb you get to Fake Out and then, if you are faster, U-Turn into a counter for extra damage. The recoil damage problem shouldn't matter much since Ambipom will probably die from most attacks anyways. This would also allow for Fake Out followed by a King's Rock Double Hit if you want to go for Flinching or if you think you can kill the pokemon. If Double Hit gives King's Rock two chances to flinch, it might cause Life Orb to trigger more than once. I'm probably leaning towards King's Rock if I use Double Hit, Life Orb if I don't.

The only other thing I'm wondering about now is Pursuit or Shadow Claw. After Technician Pursuit is 60 BP compared to Shadow Claw's 70 BP. At first I thought Pursuit would have been better cause it has the chance to do double and hit on the switch if you think they will run. Now as I'm typing this, Shadow Claw also has the chance of doing double and probably not many pokemon will be running from Ambipom. I'd still like to hear people's thoughts on Pursuit.

 

[Problem2]

The way I see it, since you can't attack the turn your opponent uses Fake Out, you might as well take the opportunity to get in a good switch if you think you could use it. In that case, Pursuit (with Technician) would come in handy.

 

[DevilinDenial]

The reason I opt for Choice Band is because 299 Attack is, like speed, simply average, and Ambipom needs every extra bit of damage possible for it to work. It doesn't need CB for it to work, it is just my way of getting the best of it. It allows for more than enough damage for X to KO Y on the switch after a Swords Dance, so I decided I'd CB Ambipom and make it clap.(Yes, pun)

I'm currently unsure of Pursuit vs. Shadow Claw, but my main point over Pursuit is that Ambipom isn't OHKOed by Duggy. In other words, with Pursuit, you won't make the needed % to KO Duggy, while with Shadow Claw, all you need is a layer of Spikes or two layers of Stealth Rock to OHKO, and you might CH. On top of that, Pursuit is resisted by Fighting types, and my team has a huge weakness for them.

U-Turn can be replaced with Return/Focus Punch, etc., etc. If you have anymore questions PM me Pitcher.

 

[Pitcher]

Another thing I'd like to add that I don't think has been mentioned is that Fake Out is pretty good for ruining Focus Sashes.

 

[stealth_viper]

Pitcher, just to make sure your question gets answered, Choice Band would be used because he needs the extra attack to be effective. Choice Orb would take your health down, making usless for hitting anything with a high base HP(Blissey ect.)
Fake Out always goes first(Kills those annoying edure/reversal-ers), and you could also use it to do a little damage to other starters that counter Ambipom.
It could be possible to use Life Orb and Fake Out then Double Hit to kill the opponent, but not very likely, plus the fact that you would only have 1/2 HP after the attacks.
I would say no Pursuit. Ambipom is really a OHKO pokemon with Choice Band. You want power more than surprise for him.

 

[Pitcher]

My point is that with Choice Band, after you use Fake Out as your opening move, unless the pokemon dies you're really screwed. You are forced to switch out. The calculations on the previous page show that Fake Out alone with Choice Band do not OHKO very many pokemon. With Life Orb, you can Fake Out, and then follow that up with a Double Hit or U-Turn out to a counter still dealing more damage.

I've finished breeding my Aipom and I'm in the process of trying different items on him now in the battle tower. I first tried King's Rock which was nice, but the extra flinching wasn't overly useful. Fake Out has already a 100% chance to flinch and many pokemon who aren't resistance die to a Fake Out + Double Hit. I never really noticed double chance at flinching thanks to Double Hit.

My next choice was Life Orb. I was very pleased with this. My Ambipom died to most hits so I didn't mind the recoil very much and the extra damage was a welcome addition. Double Hit triggers many things as if it were two attacks but Life Orb only gets triggered once.

My next item is going to be Focus Sash. I think it'll atleast get in another Double Hit or let me switch out with U-Turn to come in later for another Fake Out. Hopefully it'll allow you to survive the Brick Break from Weavile so you can finish it off.

Before I go, I'd just like to make a comment on Double Hit. The miss rate isn't very high at only 10% but I've noticed it to be a huge pain. Also, after the first hit, if the pokemon's health is low enough to trigger their held item it will trigger before the second attack. This has actually allowed several pokemon survive an extra turn thanks to the regained HP from their berry. I'm quite tempted to switch to Return and take the loss of a few BP.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm making an Ambipom which passes Nasty Plots to either a Gengar or Porygon-Z and I was wondering what the best EV spread would be.

So far I was thinking this:
Ambipom@Salac Berry/Focus Sash (Not sure yet)
Jolly
Technician
252 spd/xHp/xAtk
-Nasty Plot
-Substitute
-Baton Pass
-Double Hit

The first 3 moves are obvious and Double Hit is nice with Technician and STAB. Also, it will break substitutes on some of the most common leads.

As for the EV spread I don't know how I should distribute the EVs for HP and Attack after I max out speed.

 

[Toshi0220]

On a BL team, have Ambipom Agility/Nasty Plot pass to Octillery, then watch the fun when the octopus sweeps their team :D

 

[Frozen_Quinn]

one thing bad about pursuit is that nobody gets very scared when facing an ambipom. they're basically just there to dent things with fake out and then u-turn on the non-baton pass set. unless i interpreted that wrong...