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Overview
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- Kangaskhan is one of the strongest attackers in the tier due to having a solid 125 base attack in addition to one of the best abilities in game that essentially gives kangaskhan a choice band on all its moves.
- Thanks to parental bond, kanga can easily set up on non ghost types with power up punch which gives it +2 attack which further improves its already dominant offensive presence.
- Has solid 105/100/100 bulk that lets it take hits rather well.
- Kangaskhan has a decent base 100 speed which is a solid speed tier which lets it outspeed a good amount of the metagame, while also being able to threaten the mons that outspeed it with sucker punch which threatens the mons that would normally be able to outspeed and ko kanga.
- Kangaskhan also provides decent team support with stab, parental bond boosted fake out which helps its teammates have a free turn.
- Kangaskhan being a normal type gives it no resistances and only one relatively uncommon immunity in ghost, this works both ways since although kanga might not have any resistances, it also doesn't have any weaknesses outside of fighting types.
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name: Wrath of Kangaskhan
move 1: Fake out / Protect
move 2: Return / Double Edge
move 3: Power-Up Punch / Low Kick
move 4: Sucker Punch
ability: Inner Focus / Scrappy
item: Kangaskhanite
evs: 252 Atk / 4 Def / 252 Sp
nature: Jolly / Adamant
Moves
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- Fake out is an excellent utility move that helps provide chip damage on your opponent while also being able to let your partner set up and/or attack due to the guaranteed flinch of fake out that helps kanga mega evolve safely. Easily one of the most important moves to run on kanga since it pressures your opponent immensely when kanga comes out.
- Protect is there since if you feel you don't need the utility provided by fake out, you can instead opt to use protect instead to help scout out moves or provide a free turn for kanga in case it feels threatened, protect in general is a solid move and shouldn't be overlooked.
- Return is your primary stab attack providing a 100bp stab with essentially no draw back and the move you'd use in most situations due to how hard it hits.
- Double Edge is a viable option over return since it has a notable increase in power, however it does have nasty recoil that compromises kanga's bulk, though the 20% increase in power is definitely worth considering over return despite the recoil.
- Power-up Punch is to allow kangaskhan to massively increase its attack should an opportune moment arises. Not to mention that thanks to parental bond's unique mechanics, as opposed to only gaining +1 attack per use, kanga gets +2 attack if it uses it.
- Low kick is if you don't intend to use kanga as a sweeper and instead need the fighting type coverage
- Sucker Punch is your priority and essential on mega kanga since it allows it to nullify its chance of getting screwed by speed control and allows it to beat mons that outspeed it such as latios or skymin, while also giving it an option to use while under trick room or your opponent has tailwind up.
Set Details
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- Kangaskhanite is self explanatory since it allows kangaskhan to mega evolve, and normal kangaskhan isn't worth using.
- Full investment into attack is to allow kangaskhan to hit as hard as possible.
- Full investment into speed is to ensure kanga outspeeds everything with under 100 base speed, while also speed tying with other base 100 speed mons.
- The choice of using Jolly or Adamant is up to team preferences, since Jolly ensures that it won't be outsped by mons such as excadrill, non scarf lando-t, and speed tying with other base 100's however adamant will ensure you hit as hard as possible, so both are usable.
- 4 def is to give genesect a special attack boost which threatens kanga less than physical moves, ultimately a minor nitpick and you can go either way.
- Inner Focus allows kanga to always pull off a fake out pre mega evolving in case you cannot afford to lose a speed tie on lead turn.
- Scrappy is used to fake out ghosts which is helpful in some situations.
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- Fake out is an excellent move for applying pressure on your opponent because the threat of fake out forces your opponent to make risky plays such as protecting or quick guarding anticipating the fake out, which is the opportune time to power up punch your partner or your opponent's mon who you think won't protect. Fake out can also be used to help your partner set up.
- Sucker punch may be a powerful move, however it's a coinflip with its usage since your opponent might predict it and instead of opting to attack, switch or set up and thus if you used sucker punch, you just wasted a turn for nothing, so it's best to weigh risk and reward accordingly when you're thinking about using sucker punch.
- Return/double edge is the most abusable move you have, so make sure to use it unless you're sure you can get a power up punch off without kanga or its partner getting too injured because at +2, essentially nothing but the bulkiest of resists can live a return/double edge.
- Power up punch is the most threatening move you have in your arsenal, the mere threat of it forces your opponent on the back foot and makes them make plays that they wouldn't have to do against other set up sweepers, so use it wisely.
- You don't have to mega evolve immediately when you're using kanga and instead could opt to use one of its pre mevo moves should the situation call for it, keep inner focus in case you can not afford to mispredict your opponent's fake out, or keep scrappy in case you desperately need to hit your opponents ghost type.
Team Options
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- Bisharp is a good partner to kangaskhan since it discourages intimidators with its defiant ability since although kanga might drop one stage in attack, bisharp would gain a stage, so kanga + bisharp is an effective partner since it discourages kanga's checks.
- Redirectors tend to be good partners to kangaskhan such as amoongus or togekiss, since they resist fighting and can proceed to rage powder/follow me, while kanga can freely attack the opponent without fear of harm except from weak spread moves.
- Set up mons in general, greatly benefit from the free turn and the immense pressure kanga provides with its mere existence and since kanga is so often targetted, these mons can proceed to set up while kanga diverts attention away from them.
Other Options
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- Crunch is an option to hit ghosts that wall you otherwise, however it makes you miss out on sucker punch which leaves kangaskhan open to faster mons (or slower mons under trick room)
- Ice punch is usable to hit landorus-t on the switch since landorus-t is one of the most common switchins to kangaskhan.
- Seismic toss is usable if you want kangaskhan to still be useful even while statused since it does a static 200 damage which is enough to threaten to 2hko the whole tier unless they have heavy hp investment alongside a high base hp.
Checks & Counters
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**Typing Advantage**
- Ghosts that don't necessarily have to attack wall kanga's standard set unless it runs the sub optimal crunch. (gourgeist, aegislash, chandelure)
- Bulky Fighting types that can live a hit and threaten to ohko in return are also a huge threat to kangaskhan.
- Like all other physical attackers, Kanga has some problems against intimidate users however it has power up punch to mitigate this to an extent and due to kanga's speed tier, it allows kanga to either dent/ko intimidators that it outspeeds after a power up punch (hitmontop/scrafty/lando-t) or threaten faster intimidators with sucker punch (mega manectric, scarf lando-t)
- Mega Mawile pre mega evolve does a decent job of checking kanga due to intimidate + fantastic bulk while resisting kanga's whole arsenal bar the weak power up punch.
- Mons that outspeed kanga and resist sucker punch are decent checks to it, however it's worth noting that they cannot switch in, examples include terrakion, mega diancie, and keldeo.
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