Hitmontop

[leingodf8]

Name: Hitmontop
Type: Fighting
Abilities: Intimidate: Upon entering battle, lowers opponent's Attack one stage.
Technician: Moves with a base power of 60 or less are increased 1.5 times.
Dream World: Steadfast: Speed raises by one level when flinched.
Stats:
HP: 50
Att: 95
Def: 95
SpA: 35
SpD: 110
Spe: 70

[U][B]Level Up Moves:[/B][/U]
1. Revenge
1. Rolling Kick
6. Focus Energy
10. Pursuit
15. Quick Attack
19. Triple Kick
24. Rapid Spin
28. Counter
33. Feint
37. Agility
42. Gyro Ball
46. Wide Guard
46. Fast Guard
51. Detect
55. Close Combat

[U][B]TMs/HMs:[/B][/U]
TM08. Bulk Up
TM10. Hidden Power
TM11. Sunny Day
TM17. Protect
TM18. Rain Dance
TM21. Frustration
TM26. Earthquake
TM27. Return
TM28. Dig
TM31. Brick Break
TM32. Double Team
TM37. Sandstorm
TM40. Arial Ace
TM42. Facade
TM44. Rest
TM45. Attract
TM46. Thief
TM47. Ankle Sweep
TM48. Sing A Round
TM67. Vengeance
TM71. Stone Edge
TM74. Gyro Ball
TM78. Level Ground
TM80. Rock Slide
TM83. Cheer Up
TM87. Swagger
TM90. Substitute
HM04. Strength

[U][B]Egg Moves:[/B][/U]
Rapid Spin
Hi Jump Kick
Mach Punch
Mind Reader
Helping Hand
Counter
Vacuum Wave
Bullet Punch
Endure
Pursuit
Feint

Well, what can be said about hitmontop. In gen 4, it was a top tier UU pokemon, acting as both a powerful priority abuser and great rapid spinner. Not a whole lot has changed for Hitmontop this generation, but everything around him sure has. Gen 5 brought forth a plethora of fighting types that are eager to take over. Here's a few sets I've found work exceptionally well for the little guy

Muscle Training
Hitmontop @ Leftovers
252HP / 252Att / 4 SpD
Adamant
Intimidate / Technician

Bulk Up
Hi Jump Kick / Ankle Sweep
Sucker Punch
Stone Edge / Mach Punch

A simple bulk up set can work in a pinch. Hi jump kick got ridicuously powerful this gen, and hitmontop is one of the few bulky fighters that can learn it. This punches holes in many a non resistant wall after a bulk up. The rest of the moves are for coverage, sucker punch is always nice as priority, though it can be stalled out fairly easily by certain pokes, so stone edge provides a powerful second option. If you want a more reliable priority move, then Mach punch with technician can help.

Techni-top
Hitmontop @ Life Orb
252 HP / 252 Att / 4 Spe
Adamant
Technician

Fake Out
Mach Punch
Sucker Punch / Bullet Punch
Stone Edge / Hi Jump Kick

One can't deny that hitmotop has an amazing supply of priority moves. There's not much to say about this set, as its really the same as it always was, come in on fast frail sweepers, net a free turn with fake out, and use the appropriate priority move to knock em out. Sucker punch is a stronger move with better coverage, but bullet punch can still hit most ghosts for some neutral damage, and prevent them from trying to stall out Sucker Punch. Stone edge helps in coverage as well, and HI jump kick is Hitmontop's best attack. Helps check some big threats like doryuuzu, most shell break pokemon, and most any version of tyranitar.

Aside from the above sets there are quite a few other options such as a possible choice bander with pursuit or a rapid spinner with foresight. But such sets are already covered in the fourth gen analysis', so I will not go into detail on them.

As for counters, if hitmontop does not run stone edge and only has sucker punch, then any ghost with substitute will easy set up in its face. The lead set is rather weak to trick choice leads, so reading one and switching to a suitable recipient would be advisable.

So really, overall hitmontop hasn't changed all that much, and competition has only gotten stronger. There are many new and better sweeping fighters, and Zuruzukin Nageki and Roopushin seem better suited for the role of bulky fighting. But, hitmontop still holds a nice little niche of its own, with technician and a flurry of priority that few of the other fighters can match. So tell me your thoughts.

 

[RaRaRabbit]

I really like that lead set. I may end up running that in a team. So far, the old aerodactyl suicide lead has been doing wonders for me, and part of me doesn't want to part from it, but if I do, it would be to this (or offensive lead Machamp...).

 

[XxbraedonxX]

Hitmontop's main selling point was foresight rapidspinning, so I would suggest making a set on that.
However, I believe there is a new item called aiming mark that removes the holders' immunities, so this may actually be made obsolete by a trick/rapid spin Claydol.

Or would Hitmontop's foresight have enough of an advantage over the fact that the opponent may see the trick coming and send something to absorb it, while the only thing that can stop Hitmontop is two ghosts on the same team, and their constant switching back and forth will lead to their demise, due to your entry hazards.

Anyways, please add such a set, and commenters, discuss

 

[Celest]

I'm surprised to see that Prioritop hasn't made it in here. I achieved a moderate amount of success with this one, and though I haven't tried in since 5th Gen, I think it could lead to good results with the advent of all these Glass Cannons.


Prioritop@Leftovers/Life Orb
Ability: Technician
Nature: Adamant
EVs: 252 HP/ 252 Atk/ 4 Def
~ Fake Out
~ Mach Punch
~ Bullet Punch
~ Sucker Punch/Quick Attack/Rapid Spin

Fake Out + Technician and Life Orb does GREAT free damage. In fact, that's a good part of the reason this set works. Fake Out takes a good chunk of their HP out, removes Sashes, and can often put less defensive pokemon into KO range. Mach Punch is hitting for a whopping 90 BP with TechniSTAB, and is your main offensive move. Bullet Punch/Sucker Punch can cover the Ghosts/Psychics/Flying that you hit NVE. Quick Attack is an option if you don't Like Sucker Punch, or Rapid Spin if you feel you need a Spinner. Fake Out+ Mach Punch wrecks Doryuu, and other speedy sweepers(Particularly Shell Break Abusers like Abagoora and Cloyster). Also puts a stop to Outrage, leaving the opponent in a state of confusion.

All and all, this set is designed to clean up weakened opponents and stop rampaging Glass cannons that you can't seem to outrun.

 

[Sorax]

Hitmontop can't actually learn Magic Coat ingame, Smogon and Bulbapedia mixed up the tutor lists for Magic Coat and Role Play. I tested this in Heart Gold already
Of course this only matters if they ever bother to fix it!

 

[Acklow]

Hitmontop can't actually learn Magic Coat ingame, Smogon and Bulbapedia mixed up the tutor lists for Magic Coat and Role Play. I tested this in Heart Gold already
Of course this only matters if they ever bother to fix it!

Au Contraire

 

[leingodf8]

Hitmontop's main selling point was foresight rapidspinning, so I would suggest making a set on that.
However, I believe there is a new item called aiming mark that removes the holders' immunities, so this may actually be made obsolete by a trick/rapid spin Claydol.

Or would Hitmontop's foresight have enough of an advantage over the fact that the opponent may see the trick coming and send something to absorb it, while the only thing that can stop Hitmontop is two ghosts on the same team, and their constant switching back and forth will lead to their demise, due to your entry hazards.

Anyways, please add such a set, and commenters, discuss

I did mention that with some other options at the end, and there I also stated why I didn't post the moveset. Its because the rapid spin set with foresight has not changed aside form close combat being changed to high jump kick, so it feels redundant to post it when you can just go look at a better analysis in 4th gen.

Hitmontop can't actually learn Magic Coat ingame, Smogon and Bulbapedia mixed up the tutor lists for Magic Coat and Role Play. I tested this in Heart Gold already
Of course this only matters if they ever bother to fix it!

Hohoho, this is strange indeed. I decided I would check for myself in game and lo and behold, it can't learn magic coat from the tutor. Hmmm, but the entire internet and its cat says that it can... Ahaha this may be a rather large screw up you've stumbled upon man. I'll leave the set in tact for now, as all the sites and simulators still say its viable.

 

[Sorax]

Au Contraire

Telling you man, if Hitmontop could learn it I'd have been able to make one. Veekun doesn't effect my Heart Gold version as far as I know. I'm going to check again just for you though!

The same move tutor that can teach Jirachi Magic Coat doesn't have the option to teach Hitmontop Magic Coat. Both can be taught Role Play. Smogon doesn't have Role Play listed under Hitmontop's moveset (Veekun also doesn't have Role Play listed. Bulbapedia has Hitmontop under the page for the move Role Play, but the page for Hitmontop doesn't have Role Play listed)
Bulbapedia also has no Hitmontop under the Magic Coat page, but Magic Coat listed on the Hitmontop page.

"They mixed up Role Play and Magic Coat" is the simplest solution to this contradicting database evidence. It's come up before, I'm surprised people didn't think twice about Hitmontop and Machamp throwing up moves with Magic in the name

 

[Shadow hunter]

i was loved technitop

what about

hitmontop @life orb
adamant
technician
252 hp 252 atk 4spe

fake out
mach punch
bullet punch/sucker punch
hi jump kick/stone edje/pursuit

having the 3 punches seems your asking for a ghost pokemon to set up on you and with so many fragile pokemons running around like kojondo doryozo etc this set can check them all i dont know how much damage this would do to sazandora or onnokosu but probably ko sazandora and onnokosu with stealth rock suport and fake out plus mach punch

 

[Sorax]

Hohoho, this is strange indeed. I decided I would check for myself in game and lo and behold, it can't learn magic coat from the tutor. Hmmm, but the entire internet and its cat says that it can... Ahaha this may be a rather large screw up you've stumbled upon man. I'll leave the set in tact for now, as all the sites and simulators still say its viable.

This isn't new. I got the RolePlay/MagicCoat thing off of shoddy's chat like a month ago or something
Switching Lum Berry Machamp into Roserade leads to bait them into Sleeping themselves was great fun, too bad it's technically impossible. Someone should check if PokeLab fixed this not-in-game bug. They included Acid Rain so they're probably more through about this kind of thing

Downloaded PokeLab and surprisingly they didn't fix it. Machamp and Hitmontop both have Magic Coat instead of Role Play! I personally prefer Magic Coat on my simulators so I'll hold off on reporting the bug

 

[Shimrit As]

Yeah, priority is critical in this fast paced metagame. I've been using a set with Fake Out / Mach Punch / Hi Jump Kick / Sucker Punch @ Life Orb and it's been really important to my team's success; without it I would be having boatloads of trouble with the likes of Doryuuzu, Terakion and Latios. A powerful Fake Out has great utility as well. I hope technitop is able to play a more prominent role in the OU metagame d:

 

[EliteFourSeth]

When I saw Hitmontop, I had a totally different role in mind. This is the only pokemon who can learn both Fast Guard and Wide Guard. In a triple battle, if you are able to read/understand your opponent's lineup, you could completely negate a Fake Out, Ice Shard, but probably not ExtremeSpeed with Fast Guard. Wide Guard would render all the AOE attacks useless while letting your other two pokemon attack with impunity, and might be able to nullify SelfDestruct/Explosion 'mons.

Granted, his HP is miserable. I would still lean towards Intimidate with Helping Hand and Mach Punch thrown in.

 

[Acklow]

This is the only pokemon who can learn both Fast Guard and Wide Guard.

Interesting. Hitmontop will probably make itself a niche in triple battles as a the main supporting Pokemon. Being able to prevent priority bar Extremespeed is saying alot. Wide Guard is also a plus. Not only that, but it also has Intimidate, which basically makes any physical sweepers you are up against ineffective. Hmm this is pretty good. I'll use it for Triple battles when Black and White come to the U.S.

 

[leingodf8]

Hmmm well I added techni-top up above as a few people were stating its one of its best qualities, but I still think its basically become a lesser option with techni-breloom hanging around. Only advantage that hitmontop really has over him is sucker punch, where as breloom gets spore and swords dance.

When I saw Hitmontop, I had a totally different role in mind. This is the only pokemon who can learn both Fast Guard and Wide Guard. In a triple battle, if you are able to read/understand your opponent's lineup, you could completely negate a Fake Out, Ice Shard, but probably not ExtremeSpeed with Fast Guard. Wide Guard would render all the AOE attacks useless while letting your other two pokemon attack with impunity, and might be able to nullify SelfDestruct/Explosion 'mons.

Granted, his HP is miserable. I would still lean towards Intimidate with Helping Hand and Mach Punch thrown in.

LoL I love that idea. I can't wait to try out triple battles for myself, and this definitely screams great support.

 

[Zoap]

I'm wondering if on the lead set that Steadfast could be used with a more offensive moveset and similar evs, as there are quite a few Fake Out leads and who doesn't like a +1 speed boost.

Although at the same time, Hitmontop isn't exactly hitting very hard with base 95 so maybe more of a gimmick.

 

[Shimrit As]

Hitmontop isn't inferior to Breloom. It's bulkier, suffers from less weaknesses, and has a whole slew of priority moves to abuse. Breloom is certainly a threat with Spore and moves like Ankle Sweep and Bullet Seed which are too boosted by Technician, but it is limited to Mach Punch for revenge killing purposes. Please don't thumb Hitmontop down without trying it out because it really is extremely potent and useful. With Fake Out, Mach Punch and Sucker Punch it takes care of stuff like Doryuuzu, Kyumeru, Starmie and whatever very easily, and it does a crapload to stuff like Borutorosu even with neutral damage - enough to KO them once their hovering around 50% of their health.

 

[Sandstreamer]

Hitmontop isn't inferior to Breloom. It's bulkier, suffers from less weaknesses, and has a whole slew of priority moves to abuse. Breloom is certainly a threat with Spore and moves like Ankle Sweep and Bullet Seed which are too boosted by Technician, but it is limited to Mach Punch for revenge killing purposes. Please don't thumb Hitmontop down without trying it out because it really is extremely potent and useful. With Fake Out, Mach Punch and Sucker Punch it takes care of stuff like Doryuuzu, Kyumeru, Starmie and whatever very easily, and it does a crapload to stuff like Borutorosu even with neutral damage - enough to KO them once their hovering around 50% of their health.

This. Hitmontop is awesome and I'd say the priority sets have the greatest potential. Also, you should probably list Triple Kick which effectly gets 90BP before STAB after Technician and breaks through Subs.

 

[Camisado]

With such a low HP, but moderate defenses, Drain Punch is probably noteworthy somewhere.

Sadly, the boost to 75BP makes un noncompatable with Technician, but it's still STAB.

 

[leingodf8]

I'm wondering if on the lead set that Steadfast could be used with a more offensive moveset and similar evs, as there are quite a few Fake Out leads and who doesn't like a +1 speed boost.

Although at the same time, Hitmontop isn't exactly hitting very hard with base 95 so maybe more of a gimmick.

It could work in theory, but something faster with a higher attack could probably pull it off better (lucario or gallade maybe). Technician is a better choice as it helps boost those ever useful priority moves, as well as still comes in handy if the opposing lead doesn't carry fake out

This. Hitmontop is awesome and I'd say the priority sets have the greatest potential. Also, you should probably list Triple Kick which effectly gets 90BP before STAB after Technician and breaks through Subs.

While that is a good point, breaking subs can be very effective, it has a lot of reliability issues. While it will always hit 3 times, if any one of those moves miss, then the attack stops all together. So, since this move has 90% accuracy, this means you only have about a 73% chance to hit all 3 times (not terrible but can really screw you over at the worst of times). This is why it wasn't a big option last gen either

With such a low HP, but moderate defenses, Drain Punch is probably noteworthy somewhere.

Sadly, the boost to 75BP makes un noncompatable with Technician, but it's still STAB.

I'm afraid hitmonchan is the only one of the chans that learns drain punch. If it could learn drain punch, then it would have been a hell of a lot more formidable bulk upper back in gen 4, what with having a 90 base power draining move.

 

[Bad Ass]

bumping this.

the op is terrible. top's best set is fake out / mach punch / close combat / sucker punch -- and BOY is it good!

first of all, it checks two of the top threats, doryuuzu and darkrai, without even breaking a sweat. second, it can ohko lati@s with sucker punch after stealth rock. close combat hits ridiculously hard, doing ~70% to the likes of garchomp. fake out is great for some free damage, and often pushes things into mach / sucker punch range. i really hope more people give their opinion and try this out.

 

[Chomper The Sharptooth]

I should probably try using Close Combat on mine some day, right now Stone Edge is fine and allows me to hit Pringles with something if he decides to switch in and makes a fine attack against Urgamoso.

 

[CanadiEntei]

How much more damage does Fake Out do on Normal Gem Technician percent-wise?

 

[leingodf8]

I personally have found fake out to be a rather inferior option to using close combat or high jump kick. It might net you a KO or 2... but most people expect it, and I find being able to k/o things like scizor, natt (you still kill after 2-3 hits with mach punch... but man does life orb + iron barbs add up), and roobushin much more useful. Stone edge is also more useful generally... beats mence and d-nite, hits burungeru kinda hard, and basically helps to stop people from trying to stall out sucker punch. I find all fake out does, is give me a free turn of life orb recoil... It has its advantages against a few faster frailer sweepers... but I find they will run away from hitmontop.

How much more damage does Fake Out do on Normal Gem Technician percent-wise?

Not a whole lot... I find jewels to be extremely pointless myself but here ya go, a quick calc...

Hitmontop @ Normal Jewel vs 226 Def (just a random number)
91~108 HP
Hitmontop @ Life Orb vs 226 Def
79~93 HP

Like 14% more~ish... So you got a slightly stronger attack, and then made all your other attacks weaker... I can't see it being a good option, but w.e floats your boat

 

[tarspaceheel]

I was thinking about raising a Hitmontop for BW today, and it struck me —*without EV-reducing berries in the game, is there any reliable way to evolve Tyrogue into Hitmontop without permanently screwing up the EV spread? The only solution I can think of is to go with a Jolly build, or something that won't affect Attack or Defense, but I really wanted to go Adamant. Any solutions?

 

[PlatinumDude]

I was thinking about raising a Hitmontop for BW today, and it struck me —*without EV-reducing berries in the game, is there any reliable way to evolve Tyrogue into Hitmontop without permanently screwing up the EV spread? The only solution I can think of is to go with a Jolly build, or something that won't affect Attack or Defense, but I really wanted to go Adamant. Any solutions?

Evolve Tyrogue into Hitmontop in a Gen IV game, reduce its EVs there, and then transfer it over to B/W.