Kangaskhanite Tiering Discussion [+Demographics Poll Added to OP]

[sidakarya]

Thank you so much for doing this, I just want to say.

Yeah, M-Kangaskhan has absolutely no place in OU and in my opinion is even more deserving of a ban (even a quick-ban) than M-Gengar. Many things make this utterly unwelcome in OU.

• Its sheer power. The only thing that is comparable in damage output is Mega Mawile, which suffers from several problems (including base 50 speed, severe 4MSS, and being one-dimentional) none of which Kangaskhan has. That list of calculations of of mine that was quoted earlier says everything that needs to be said about M-Kangaskhan's absurd sweeping potential.
  
• Its combination of bulk and speed. Having Celebi's stats with an effective ~180 212 base Attack and a better typing means that trying to OHKO it without it OHKO'ing back is a tall order. Normal-typing is fantastic in this metagame, having a crucial Ghost immunity and a sole weakness to Fighting, which works to Kangaskhan's advantage due to most Fighting-type's poor defensive potential. 100 base speed combined with Sucker Punch ensures that the list of things that can outspeed and kill it is extremely limited (only the musketeers and Infernape if I recall, and they can't switch in). These separate M-Kangaskhan comparable megas, like the frail M-Lucario and glacier-like M-Mawile into a wholly higher level.
  
• Its movepool. People say, that Kangaskhan has 4MSS, but this really isn't close to the truth. Dark/Normal/Fighting alone, which almost all Kangaskhan carry (in the form of Sucker Punch, Return/Body Slam, and Power-Up Punch) already has phaenomenal coverage. With Fire Punch alone, you can cover everything you need to cover in OU, including Skarmory (who already gets 2HKO'd by +2 return are you fucking kidding me), Ferrothorn and Aegislash. Even Ghosts fall to Kangaskhan eventually because of its base ability, Scrappy, which lets it beat potential "checks" like Gengar one-on-one. Crunch is another option just to have more insurance in beating Ghosts (which is more of a bonus if anything, thanks to Scrappy.)
  
• Adding to this, Offence isn't the only thing M-Kangaskhan can do. In Pokebank, a defensive moveset of Wish / Protect / Seismic Toss / Crunch can 2HKO the vast majority of the OU metagame while supporting the team with Wish, and beating its most common checks such as Rocky Helmet Skarmory and Garchomp. You know, as if PuP wasn't ridiculous enough.
  
• Its ease of use. This in combination of all of the above points, is the biggest reason why I think Kangaskhanite deserves to be banned. A common anti-ban sentiment in the Gengarite discussion was that it was "underwhelming" - most of these complaints being from those who faced (or used) a poorly-used M-Gengar who was often used as a sweeper than a trapper, or attempted to trap things that Gengar shouldn't ever switch into (Volt-Turners etc.) This point does not apply to M-Kangaskhan at all. Its strategy is so brain-dead: Mega Evolve on the first turn and use PuP, and if you see a ghost in Team Preview, Crunch the predicted switch-in instead. Only Sableye throws this strategy off, and this can easily be circumvented by not Mega-Evolving first turn and using Scrappy PuP. It makes battling uncompetitive in the most reprehensible way; so many times have I been turned around from a sure win because of M-Khan, even when the person opposite of me makes a tonne of missplays. Banning M-Khan would not only free team-building tremendously, it would mean using more of your actual skill than relying on an overpowered crutch.

 

[nyczxjay]

Seismic Toss will do only 150 in Lvl 100 battles and 75 in Lvl 50 battles.

Where is the source for this? I thought it has been confirmed that ST does 200 w/ Parental Bond.

 

[avsimone]

The thing that makes mega-kang so overpowered is it's incredible ability. (Yeah I know, "thanks for stating the obvious comes to mind"), but nothing is safe against this thing. Power up punch and sucker punch alone, destroy so much. PUP hit's twice allowing you to basically get off a swords dance while dealing brick-break esque power. there really isn't a counter for this thing either. all physical walls are hurt like crazy by it's moves (PUP doesn't seem like it would deal a lot to ferrothorn, but it does), it's bulky for a sweeper, and more importantly it can hit through subs. for example, your kangaskhan comes in against a gengar that has a substitute up (or doesn't for that matter). well, if it ever uses an attacking move, the first hit will go through the sub and the second hit has the potential to seriously hurt/kill the mega gengar. if the megagengar tries to set up a sub and the kangaskhan already has boosts and crunch/earthquake, it's gg for gengar. It's just way too powerful to be in OU. I mean everything else that's in OU right now, has some means of being countered

 

[Tathens]

Where is the source for this? I thought it has been confirmed that ST does 200 w/ Parental Bond.

Doesn't the 2nd hit do half the first hit?

 

[skies]

Seismic Toss will do only 150 in Lvl 100 battles and 75 in Lvl 50 battles.

I believe that Mega-Kanga should stay in OU. Unlike cousin Mega Gengar, you actually can switch out into another Pokemon, and your not locked into any Shadow Tags. If you play your cards right and your team is built to counter a significant amount of the new and old threats of OU, I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed in this tier. Sure, you can say "omg he's broken he hits twice", and yeah his Atk is pretty high, but with the right support there are ways around him. Every team should be prepared for strong hitters, not just M-Kanga. Ghosts, Substitute, Rough Skin/Iron Barbs, Rocky Helmet, PP Stalling, Status (burn/toxic/twave/sleep) and even Entry Hazards easily deal with M-Kanga. If you have a problem with Mega Kanga, I suggest you spend a little bit more time in the teambuilder tab.

No, Seismic Toss hits for 200 Power, 100 at Level 50, this has been confirmed.

EDIT: Saw your post above this! And Seismic Toss is that weird move that breaks this rule.

 

[Jukain]

Where is the source for this? I thought it has been confirmed that ST does 200 w/ Parental Bond.

This is a fact, it's been confirmed by researchers.

 

[ishpuppy]

i am all for the ban I have to keep a ferrothorn on all of my teams just to stop this thing, and even then, there is still a good chance my ferrothorn will die, i know kangaskhan is not counterless but still, this thing needs a ban, it recks so many other pokes

 

[Orga777]

wisp is not a counter to kanga, there are a very small profile of pokemon that outspeed and pull a wisp off, or can take a +2 attack from kanga and wisp it. Even after that it will kill what has burned it, and after that it sure isn't dead, a +2 burned mega kanga is dangerous, and it can be healed later. You can quell it, but that is certainly no counter. After that, once again rocky helmet chomp and ferrothorn arent counters. They shave a lot of health off of kanga, but it's still in fighting shape at that point and can sweep you with +2 sucker and return, kanga only needs a lot of hp to sweep when you have faster priority than it, and if you have to stack rocky helmet chomp, and fast strong priority just to bring down kanga, that's massive preparation that you have to play close to your chest when you see a kanga. Substitute seems silly to even suggest with kanga's ability, not only does it hit through subs on the second attack easily, its sucker punch can even hit through subs and beat weakened pokemon that attempt to sub the nattack it. Finally, all ghosts but a small number, the only really viable one in OU being sableye are demolished by crunch in 2 hits. None of these counters are counters, but thing you have to stack on top of each other to check kanga.

100% agreed. Not only this, but what do you do against Kanga late game? There are two ways to play M-Kanga. First one is lead off with it or use it second. By doing so, you will take out at the very least one threatening pokemon, and severely cripple another other, leaving the rest of your team to have a field day with a gimped team that had to work extra hard to drop a single pokemon. However, the more common run I have seen is using Kanga LATE game where there are only two or three pokemon left on your opponents team. With having a Tailwind from a Talonflame up, or Sticky Web on board, Kanga comes in, sets up with Pup, Mega Evolves, and wrecks teh rest of the team with ease all on its own with either Return, EQ, Sucker Punch, or Crunch all hitting at the very least +1 with a speed advantage, all hitting twice for massive damage against a weakened team. Pretty nuts for a pokemon that nothing can safely switch into.

 

[Haruno]

Seismic Toss will do only 150 in Lvl 100 battles and 75 in Lvl 50 battles.

I believe that Mega-Kanga should stay in OU. Unlike cousin Mega Gengar, you actually can switch out into another Pokemon, and your not locked into any Shadow Tags. If you play your cards right and your team is built to counter a significant amount of the new and old threats of OU, I don't see why he shouldn't be allowed in this tier. Sure, you can say "omg he's broken he hits twice", and yeah his Atk is pretty high, but with the right support there are ways around him. Every team should be prepared for strong hitters, not just M-Kanga. Ghosts, Substitute, Rough Skin/Iron Barbs, Rocky Helmet, PP Stalling, Status (burn/toxic/twave/sleep) and even Entry Hazards easily deal with M-Kanga. If you have a problem with Mega Kanga, I suggest you spend a little bit more time in the teambuilder tab.

What are you talking about? Why would seismic toss mechanics be different for mega kanga using parental bond and anything else using parental bond?

 

[ouchalargerock]

/vp/ is raging about this right now, not 100% sure about what (those crazy cats) but whatever you do won't make them happy.

Irregardless this thing needs to be banned. If you look at some if the calculations done earlier in this thread, the numbers show the truth, it's obnoxiously powerful. I can't for the life of me figure out how this thing avoided ban longer than Mega Gengar. Seriously, if it can 2HKO just less than anything, and breaks Sashes, and Sturdy, it needs to be banned. No excuses.

 

[ROBx4]

Khan is easy to counter iff you have the right pokemon for which ever set khan is using.

If its using Fake Out then Rocky Helmet Ferrow will counter it
But if it uses Pup then EQ its at +2 and Ferrow is dead

If you switch to Gengar predicting Pup or FO then try to sub/disable the SuckerP you will have a completely countered Khan ...... unless it has crunch

The only real counter is Sableye, it needs to be banned IMO

 

[SuperMeep]

Mega-Khan has two, arguably three viable sets. It is crippled by status. It is predictable. It is vulnerable to the majority of priority. That being said, if its checks are taken off the field early in the match, it is likely GG. Has it centralized the meta-game? Rocky Helmet + Iron Barbs/Rough Skin, or Rocky Helmet Skarmory in general shut it down.

An argument against other Mega Evos, who are perhaps more niche is: Why waste the Mega Stone when their normal set is almost as viable? This doesn't fly with Kangaskhan. It is only viable in OU with its stone. This makes reading the enemy team easier if you encounter a Kanga in team preview. On the other hand, your evolution is far from wasted - Khan has few rivals as a physical threat. We can note that post-Bank carries some faster threats, but Kanga has enough bulk that it is almost a guaranteed kill, on top of forcing the opponent's hand. It either cleans up, or leaves a big enough dent mid-game for someone else to do so.

Imo, it isn't broken by itself. Considering what it can do when it is supported correctly... the item deserves a ban. Atm a viable OU team must be built with Kang in mind in particular.

I actually have never had to build my team around countering this thing, as my favorite spin blocker, Dusclops handles this guy like a beast, and honestly, it's not too hard to predict khans moves and switch in a ghost type, especially with defensive ghosts like Confagrius and Dusclops. I've only had a khan get a +2 off once, and then i easily revenged it with choice banded mach punch conkledurr. We ban things to Ubers based on their ability to disrupt the OU metagame, like mega Gengar who was banned Not because of it's sweeping ability, but it's ability to trap and kill checks and countersto allow something else to sweep.

Scrappy khan can't do anything worthwhile with normal Khans stats. Its not realistic. I can switch in any moderately bulky ghost, take anything from it, and burn it with ease crippling it, and sometimes for fun cursing it.

If the checks are taken off the field in any match, anything can sweep. Thats a redundant point. Khan should not be banned because, while it is quite powerful it does not break the metagame in the way M-gar did, WHICH WAS NOT FOR IT'S SWEEPING ABILITY, but for it's shadow tag trapping ability. Same with Lucario. Rocky helmet on any defensive check has always been common, not centralizing. it's about as centralizing as rain Keldeo. Which is arguable responsible for bring gastrodon into Usage. Something funny, if you give anything set up it crushes. So please stop assuming it gets set up. It reminds me of cloyster: Decent bulk, and demolishes when you set it up, but weak to priority.

Can somebody present a legitimate argument proving that M-Khan is OP without factoring things like set up, which is pointless to bring up because if anything sets up it wins. DD dragonite for example. If you let a D-nite get set up without touching it, which is what most people on this thread are suggesting khan can do, D-nite sweeps. So does Khan. The closest thing i see to a legitimate argument is when people bring up the calcs of how Khan can kill things after setting up with massive power, and then talking about how it's bulk allows it to be uneasily revenged. But how would this thing get a plus 2 without taking prior damage? Against a decent player, IT WOULDN'T, allowing it to be revenged by most priority, especially with most priority users being resistent to suckr punch. The opponent would have to be stupid for that to happen. The rest I can see so far is people whining "LOL OP" Thats it.

 

[Tathens]

What are you talking about? Why would seismic toss mechanics be different for mega kanga using parental bond and anything else using parental bond?

Sorry. I was assuming that the 2nd hit is less than the 1st. Woops.

 

[I2edShift]

lmfao this thing is broken as all shit

Quoted for truth.

MegaKhan needs multiple checks/counters on a single team. That or you need to start running obscure/whacky as shit stuff like Sabelye and Rocky Helmet Ferrothorn & Garchomp to rack up passive damage while it Power-Up-Punches your face in (lawl). So over centralization for starters.

MegaKhan basically laughs at any attempts to wall it, and it will get even worse once it gains access to Seismic Toss. S. Toss allows it to basically 2HKO the vast majority of the tier with ZERO attack investment and even a hindering nature. But even Ignoring S. Toss, the current PuP, Crunch, Suckerpunch, and XXX move completely demolishes everything anyway. Your last move picks your list of "counters". So you have an uncounterable monster that destroys every single wall you can throw at it... Even ubers.

Besides crap like Sabelye, nothing COUNTERS MegaKhan, even shit like Terrakion is only a check at best, since it can be OHKO'd by MegaKhan on the switch-in (IIRC). Running Rocky Helmet Ferrothorn & Rocky Helmet Garchomp w/ Rough Skin to just get some passive damage is... Ugh... You're kidding right?

Long story short, between it's solid speed, great overall bulk, mono-type weakness, and retarded/un-wallable offensive presence... MegaKhan is broken as shit and needs to GTFO of OU.

 

[toshimelonhead]

Not even a debate in my opinion, Kanga has to go to ubers. It is the single most broken offensive threat I have ever seen in any meta dating back from ADV OU.

 

[Shuchi]

Its OP as fuck, just toss it to ubers and rid us of it. It doesnt even deserve a discussion imo.

Khan is easy to counter iff you have the right pokemon for which ever set khan is using.

If its using Fake Out then Rocky Helmet Ferrow will counter it
But if it uses Pup then EQ its at +2 and Ferrow is dead

If you switch to Gengar predicting Pup or FO then try to sub/disable the SuckerP you will have a completely countered Khan ...... unless it has crunch

The only real counter is Sableye, it needs to be banned IMO

So basically you're saying its counters cant counter it

 

[LordRandomness]

I haven't actually played with it or anything, so I'm not gonna suggest where to put it, just post a few observations. It has enough checks that it's not just devastating and most of the checks are useful outside of checking Megakanga (the standard Steel-type physical walls do a good job of checking non-Crunch variants and an alright job of checking Crunch variants), so I don't think a lack of counterability is the problem.

No, the issue is that anything not built SPECIFICALLY to check or counter Megakanga will be utterly obliterated by it. Often teams will have a failsafe of sorts with a Focus Sash, Substitute, or even just reasonable but not exceptional defensive stats to function as all-purpose emergency backup plans to prevent a sweep, and as far as I can see these things just won't work against Megakanga. What this basically means is that your Megakanga checks/counters cannot really be used for anything else in the meantime, because if they go you're screwed. It doesn't help that offensive checks have to dodge Sucker Punch and sometimes Fake Out, which makes them practically require a faster priority move in order to be effective, and even then there's no guarantee it'll try and Sucker Punch you so if the priority fails to OHKO (which it likely will since Megakanga has quite a bit of bulk) you risk receiving a Crunch/Return for your trouble (and those two moves now have VERY potent neutral coverage, made even worse when Power-up Punch is considered, which hits Rock, Steel, and Dark SE, leaving only Fighting and Fairy to resist either one of the two without being murdered by PuP. Amusingly Klefki comes to mind, resisting both and taking neutral from PuP)

In summary the combination of effective neutral coverage, powerful priority, solid bulk with only one weakness making it relatively difficult to OHKO, access to Swords Dance with 60 BP (although admittedly the ability to foil it with a Ghost switch-in or at least guarantee a drop to +1 at 40 BP does hamper this somewhat), the unique ability to break Substitutes and Focus Sashes with powerful attacks, very powerful STAB in the form of Return, reasonable base 100 Speed making it difficult to outspeed with priority meaning Sucker Punch foils offensive priority checks, access to a phazing move (Circle Throw) that can be used to throw out and put a decent dent in many predicted switch-ins, and access to STAB Fake Out for even more free damage mean it's capable of running a set that can sweep, wallbreak, and revenge kill all at once, with very few hard counters and checks needing to be kept completely healthy or stacked, preventing them from being used for much else.

 

[effyouzion]

Ban it. It's way worse than M-Gengar. People just saw shadow tag and immediately thought OP, but Kanga is OP because of the whole package:

-Ability is a free choice band while also breaking subs and multiscale, and still allows it to switch moves
-Excellent bulk
-Excellent speed
-Excellent attack when considering the ability more than makes up for the lack of item
-Near perfect coverage
-Priority in sucker punch

The only really safe switch in is physically defensive Sableye. Other possible ones are rocky helmet users like Garchomp and Ferrothorn. And even then, those two aren't "safe" switch ins -- you're going to be taking significant damage, if not outright losing a mon, in order to deal a lot of passive damage back.

 

[Ferrato94]

I think the Kanga is actually not as OP as everyone thinks, it is easily checked by Mega Lucario, rocky helmet ferrothorn and RH skarmory, as well as Mega Bannette provided that Kanga has lost scrappy by mega evolving. It has a hard time dealing with ghosts that can set up on it and have enough bulk to survive a sucker punch. On the positive side, the Kanga has great bulk, as well as a ridiculous amount of attack that breaks through sashes and subs, it could even run a 252hp and 252atk adamament set, with fake out and suckerpunch to make up for its speed, as well as return and powerup punch to set up and hit with a powerful stab attack, this set works best in conjuction with a sticky web user such as smeargle or galvantula

 

[SmashBrosBrawl]

This thing is absolutely ridiculous, theres absolutely no way to succeed without packing at least 2 solid answers for this, if you dont you better enjoy sacking half your team to beat it, and this is keeping in mind how many of these answers actually exist. If you want to switch in directly you basically have sableye and thats pretty much it. When you have a set consisting of power up punch, return, sucker punch and either crunch or fire punch any other switch in depends heavily on what fourth move its running. If it is running crunch then rocky helmet skarmory and rocky helmet ferrothorn can take it down thanks to recoil (emphasis on rocky helmet recoil, if you dont have the item dont even bother), if it has fire punch then jellicent can come in. Thats it. In order to revenge kill it you need to resist dark AND have a strong enough move (obviously a fighting stab) to knock it out. So your choices boil down to terrakion, item boosted keldeo (emphasis on item boosted), mienshao, mega lucario (who needs to have mega evolved BEFORE kanga mega evolves or else it risks losing if kanga is jolly), infernape and scarf heracross. Notice a pattern there. Theyre all fighting types, so aside from having pretty a similar list of checks and counters (think all of keldeolando checks last gen which were pursuit weak) making them pathetically easy and predictable for the kangaskhan user to deal with, this also means that you have very little revenge killers to choose from. Ffs how can someone possible say that there are enough things to check it when thats clearly not the case. Your choices are ridiculous limited and having them in absolutely any way will prevent kangaskhan from smashing the rest of the metagame (read everything except those nine). All it needs to do is remove the lol 2 things that will possibly wall it depending on its fourth move and take care of a fighting type revenge killer. This isnt your average physical sweeper, this is something that can literally only be possibly revenge killed by 5 pokemon that all share the same typing and consequentially, similar methods to be defeated and can only be truly walled by ONE. Stop saying there are enough checks for it, there are not, you either choose from that pathetically small list (and you better get two of them) or you get destroyed.

 

[Orga777]

I actually have never had to build my team around countering this thing, as my favorite spin blocker, Dusclops handles this guy like a beast, and honestly, it's not too hard to predict khans moves and switch in a ghost type, especially with defensive ghosts like Confagrius and Dusclops. I've only had a khan get a +2 off once, and then i easily revenged it with choice banded mach punch conkledurr. We ban things to Ubers based on their ability to disrupt the OU metagame, like mega Gengar who was banned Not because of it's sweeping ability, but it's ability to trap and kill checks and countersto allow something else to sweep.

Problem is Dusclops is slow as hell and it cannot safely switch into Kanga in fear of Crunch. It will not survive back to back Crunches hitting four times. You either have to sacrifice a pokemon, and then burn it (where it will still kill Dusclops if it is +2 Burn) meaning you just lost two pokemon to take out one pokemon with a VERY niche strategy, leaving the rest of your opponents team to wreck havoc on your now completely gimped team because you had to worry about killing M-Kanga completely to have any chance at all. Oh, and a switch to a Talonflame, a pokemon almost everyone seems to be using, is the perfect response to a Dusclops hitting the field. Sorry, this is not really a sound strategy overall. :/

Scrappy khan can't do anything worthwhile with normal Khans stats. Its not realistic. I can switch in any moderately bulky ghost, take anything from it, and burn it with ease crippling it, and sometimes for fun cursing it.

Actually, it sure as hell can. Predict a Ghost swap, and PuP with Scrappy. Mega Evlove next turn and ruin its day with +1 Crunch hitting twice.

If the checks are taken off the field in any match, anything can sweep. Thats a redundant point. Khan should not be banned because, while it is quite powerful it does not break the metagame in the way M-gar did, WHICH WAS NOT FOR IT'S SWEEPING ABILITY, but for it's shadow tag trapping ability. Same with Lucario. Rocky helmet on any defensive check has always been common, not centralizing. it's about as centralizing as rain Keldeo.

Except there is usually a pokemon or two that can safely switch into other pokemon, even late game. Kanga has too much coverage to allow that to happen safely AT ALL. You will need to kill off one of your pokemon fully. That is a waste.

 

[Magnemite]

Well, i'm actually both sides on this thread, but I'm going to have to say keep it in OU.

Now, although it's able to easily destroy many sweepers (especially mega alakazam, gengar (when it existed) and other less popular threats like Chandelure and Starmie), and able to power itself up with Power-Up Punch, which is like a Swords Dance boost. Now, this might be the case for many situations, and then it continues to sweep, which can change how the game runs.

But, my reason for why it should retain in OU is simply because it does not have the bulk to live out attacks. Popular threats like Sableye can easily break it down, being Immune to Fighting and Normal, and can burn it, rendering it useless. It is also very vulnerable to status such as paralysis, but especially burn, which can easily break it down. Popular walls like Ferrothorn can also take it down, as, when it is holding a rocky helmet, can take away 25% of its health in one go, which can then proceed to Leech Seed it and just spam protect. Although the Power-Up Punch can dent Ferrothorn, it won't go very far with attacks. Ghost Types, especially Aegislash, can break it down, with King's Shield weakening Kang when Crunch is used, and then can proceed to live a Sucker Punch and then return with Sacred Sword. It's just not bulky enough for the metagame, but its offensive capabilities are endless. Most pokemon with Prankster or a Ghost typing can mainly destroy Kangaskhan.

That's why I believe that it should stay in OU. It can dish it out, but it can't take it.

By the way, I don't run mega Kang, due to the easiness of its capability.

Poor bulk? Are you serious? It has better defensive stats than Celebi. If Mega Kangaskhan has low bulk, then the amount of Pokemon that have good bulk would be somewhere around 10. It has very high natural bulk for a sweeper, on top of everything else it has. Not to mention, it can run Seismic Toss and fully invest in bulk while still being almost as threatening. One of the few ways to stop it, faster priority, isn't nearly as effective as you would think due to its good defensive stats. This isn't Deoxys-A we're taking about. It's both absurdly strong and decently bulky. Also, since when is Sableye a "popular threat"? It struggles to get above 2% usage in OU.

 

[ROBx4]

Its OP as fuck, just toss it to ubers and rid us of it. It doesnt even deserve a discussion imo.



So basically you're saying its counters cant counter it

Its counters can only counter the specific khan set they were built to counter, if you end up facing one that is a different set then you are screwed

 

[Halcyon.]

Mega Kangaskhan is without a doubt the most "broken" Pokemon that Gen VI gave us. I would go as far as to say it is even more "broken," in the conventional sense, than Mega Gengar. When I think about why Mega Gengar was broken, it falls under more of an "uncompetitive" section. It was broken because it made things easier for another Pokemon. It was able to trap any given wall, eliminate it, and then something like Garchomp could sweep the opponent's team without any issue.

But Mega Kangaskhan doesn't need a trapper. It barely needs any support at all. It plows through teams like it's nothing, and the only teams it doesn't breeze through, only withstand it because they have 2-3 Pokemon dedicated to beating it. And I don't mean something like running Rotom-W + Latias in Gen V to beat Keldeo, either. No, these Pokemon are specifically used because they are somewhat able to check Mega Kangaskhan. Teams will often run Sableye + Rocky Helmet Skarmory in order to survive this thing. I mean, the mere fact that Sableye is even being considered should show how much of an unhealthy influence this thing has on the meta. The fact that Pokemon like Garchomp and Ferrothorn are running Rocky Helmet more often than not is sickening. There are much MUCH better items for these Pokemon to run, but they are basically forced to run a substandard item (not necessarily bad, just non-optimal) because it gives you a slim chance to weakening Mega Kangaskhan.

To sum it up: Mega Kangaskhan is broken because of a few reasons:

1) Mega Kangaskhan puts a heavy strain on team building (it chooses its counters).
As I mentioned above, many teams are forced to run 2-3 specific counters to Mega Kangaskhan in order to beat it. The reason people are forced to run Sableye + Skarmory on a team in order to beat it is that Mega Kangaskhan has three slots that are a given (Return, PuP, and Sucker Punch). The Final slot is yours to choose, and each move will change what can counter it. Chose Earthquake to hit Aegislash, Heatran, etc., but this leaves it vulnerable to Pokemon like Gourgeist, Sub Disable Gengar, and Skarmory. But if you choose Crunch, you can hit all of the latter Pokemon for 2HKOs (yes even Skarmory can be 2HKOed by +2 Crunch, which forces it to Roost after it attempts to phaze you out). Heaven forbid you run into a Kangaskhan using Fire Punch, which cleanly 2HKOs Skarmory regardless, as well as hitting Gourgeist, Ferrothorn, and Trevenant as well. People often name Sableye as the be all and end all of Mega Kangaskhan counters, but I have a few issues with that. First of all, Sableye blows. Second, it's 2HKOed by Earthquake. This also forces it to Recover or risk losing to Mega Kangaskan at a later time (it can WoW, but if Mega Kangaskhan switches out on the WoW to something that forces out Sableye ala Heatran, then it is no longer a counter). In short, there is NOTHING that can counter Mega Kangaskhan. Nothing can switch into any of its sets with impunity and continually force it out. "Continually" is the key word there. Like Tornadus-T from last gen, Mega Kangaskhan has little issue wearing down its counters over the course of a battle. This obviously puts a huge amount of strain on team building, as it forces you to run multiple specific checks just to hope to beat it.

2) Mega Kangaskhan has the bulk, pre-evo ability, and speed to easily find setup opportunities
It's no secret that Parental Bond is what makes Mega Kangaskhan the terror that it is. But that's not to discount how important its other characteristics are. The bulk is huge, in my opinion. It's increase to 105/100/100 defenses (making it bulkier than Jirachi and Celebi .-.) allows Mega Kangaskhan ample time to set up. It can even survive Technician Breloom's Mach Punch if it has to (though PuP on the switch + Sucker Punch would also KO it, although this isn't likely as Breloom won't really switch in). It even has a chance to survive SPECS Draco Meteor from Latios with zero investment (not really relevant, just a surprising calc). This is a Pokemon who only has one immunity and no resistances, and yet it's still able to tank hits like those and KO back if it has to with absolutely no investment. Another great aspect of Mega Kangaskhan is it's ability before it evolves: Scrappy. Hitting Sableye for 50% with Return as it switches into you is hilarious. Hitting Aegislash with PuP and then Crunch for the OHKO is also hilarious. There is literally nothing that stops it from boosting. There are things which have a chance to deal with it after it boosts, but nothing can stop it from actually happening. It's Speed, while not perfect, still puts it at a great tier especially considering it's access to Sucker Punch, meaning Latios, Starmie, Alakazam, Gengar, and other faster threats still have to watch out for it. This makes it incredibly easy for Mega Kangaskhan to sweep teams, since it has no difficulty getting to +2. I mean, this is a Pokemon that can OHKO Hippowdon at +2. Insane.

3) Mega Kangaskhan requires little-to-no support
Often times people will be so afraid of Mega Kangaskhan when seeing it in Team Preview that they fail to concern themselves with the five other Pokemon Kangaskhan brought with it. That's because it's basically a one woman army. It breaks through cores that at one point were seen as incredibly effective (think CeleTran) as if they were nothing. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that simply beating outdated defensive cores makes something broken, it's more that usually they become outdated because of a new wallbreaker. But Mega Kangaskhan isn't a wallbreaker; it's a sweeper that just happens to blow apart defensive cores anyway. You can bring Magnezone to trap Skarmory if you want to, but honestly, you can just run Fire Punch to beat it anyway. You can run Pursuit trap Tyranitar to trap Trevenant, but you could just run Crunch instead. As I said before, there is no real counter to Mega Kangashkan already, even discounting the five other Pokemon it can have to support it. Add that in, and there is nothing that can stop it from sweeping. The only way you really "beat" Mega Kangaskhan is if the player using it misplays, or you get lucky. Mega Kangaskhan is just such a low risk, high reward Pokemon that it breaks the game.

So yeah...tl;dr Mega Kangaskhan is a fucking broken piece of shit.

 

[Cowtao]

This pokemon needs to be banned. Period.

Mega-Kangaskhan is one of the most abusive pokemon to date as of now. There are very few pokemon that can check or counter it. With it's luxurious movepool of Power-Up Punch, Fire Punch, Sucker Punch, Fake-Out Return, Crunch, and even Outrage makes Khan outright dangerous. Even to Ghost types, the pokemon that are supposed to counter M-Khan in the first place are swept by Sucker Punch or severely damaged by Parental Bond. Many people would say that it is easy to counter if you have the right pokemon but that's what makes Khan broken in my opinion. It FORCES people to run M-Khan counters/checks that might otherwise be useless on other pokemon in the OU Metagame. Ghosts cannot hurt this thing because of Sucker Punch, Genesect can hurt it but can't kill it due and risks being OHKO'd due to Fire Punch, and various other pokemon are outright scarred of this thing. I want you guys to pay attention to these key stats for a moment..

+1 0 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 248 HP / 172 Def Landorus-T: 271-321 (71.1 - 84.2%) -- guaranteed 2HKO
+2 0 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Cresselia: 253-298 (56.9 - 67.1%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery
+2 0 Atk Parental Bond Mega Kangaskhan Return vs. 252 HP / 252+ Def Mandibuzz: 279-328 (65.8 - 77.3%) -- guaranteed 2HKO after Leftovers recovery

This is outright unacceptable. I will not however fully blame Khan though. He still has to have one move where he can setup with Power-Up Punch and doing that can be a bit tricky. With a smart player they will know to not bring in something that Khan can easily setup a +2 Attack Boost on. Even with that...A broken pokemon like Khan will force you to create a team build were you will set a pokemon to counter or check it. It doesn't matter anyway. It can 2HKO most, if not ALL of the OU Metagame. Ban this immediately.