I'd like to make a likely controversial nomination, but hear me out before any knee-jerk reactions.
E -> C+
Yeah yeah, Ambipom the trashy scrub mon that only clicks Fake Out and U-Turns away, doing more damage in recoil than it does to its opponent. Ambipom has gotten a lot of admittedly warranted flak due to the large number of inexperienced players that only use it as I mentioned above. However, I think it's time to hop off the hate bandwagon and see if Ambipom is really as bad as a lot of people make it out to be.
Let's compare it to Cinccino, a C+ pokemon that's considered by many as completely outclassing Ambipom. Cinccino's certainly got a few traits that stand out, such as coverage in the form of Rock Blast and Bullet Seed that let it hurt Alomomola, Golbat, and Rhyperior, three pokemon Ambipom really struggles with. Cinccino also has Tail Slap which of course hits harder than Return.
252 Atk Life Orb Ambipom Return vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Amoonguss: 181-214 (41.8 - 49.5%) -- guaranteed
3HKO after Black Sludge recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Cinccino Tail Slap (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 160+ Def Amoonguss: 215-260 (49.7 - 60.1%) -- approx.
88.7% chance to 2HKO after Black Sludge recovery
That's a fair bit of damage more on any neutral target, although you do sacrifice 15% accuracy for the extra damage. A fair comparison would be running Fire Blast over Flamethrower, although with less of a damage increase. I'm sure most of you already know all this and that's why you've all decided that Cinccino outclasses Ambipom. However, something that's been
Extremely undersold is Ambipom's access to
Low Kick. This move allows Ambipom to deal with a number of switch ins that Cinccino can't scratch. (please no wake-up slap calcs)
252 Atk Life Orb Ambipom Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 160 HP / 0 Def
Cobalion: 229-270 (63 - 74.3%) -- guaranteed
2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Cinccino Tail Slap (5 hits) vs. 160 HP / 0 Def
Cobalion: 85-105 (23.4 - 28.9%) -- possible
5HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Ambipom Low Kick (120 BP) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def
Registeel: 200-237 (54.9 - 65.1%) -- guaranteed
2HKO after Leftovers recovery
252 Atk Life Orb Cinccino Tail Slap (5 hits) vs. 252 HP / 4 Def
Registeel: 80-95 (21.9 - 26%) -- possible
5HKO after Leftovers recovery
Even though Ambipom's not quite capable of taking out Rhyperior as handily as Cinccino, Low Kick still manages to
3HKO Specially Defensive
Rhyperior, which is not terrible all things considering. And to keep things relevant, Ambi can handle Pangoro easier than Cinccino, and without having to use shaky accuracy moves.
252 Atk Life Orb Ambipom Low Kick (100 BP) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def
Pangoro: 291-343 (87.6 - 103.3%) --
62.5% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
252 Atk Life Orb Cinccino Tail Slap (5 hits) vs. 4 HP / 0 Def
Pangoro: 275-320 (82.8 - 96.3%) -- approx.
6.3% chance to OHKO after Stealth Rock
Yeah I know, not the most reliable thing in the world. Still, a 60% chance beats a 6% chance with 85% accuracy. A few other notable targets of Low Kick include Magneton, Tyrantrum, and Mega Steelix. Ambipom falls slightly short of a few other OHKOs such as Pangoro, although one or two layers of spikes from Crustle or Accelgor can easily remedy this issue.
And of course we all know about the much overhyped Technician boosted Fake Out. I will say that Ambipom is very handy at forcing switches whether or not you actually use Fake Out which is always appreciated for hazard stacking teams. It is a passable backup check for frail but blazing fast sweepers such as Slurpuff and Fletchinder and scarfers that may not be easy to outsped naturally including Moltres and Delphox.
I'm not saying Ambipom is a fantastic mon by any means. It's not that powerful, noticeably less than Cinccino, definitely requires a fair amount of team support, and is still easily walled by a number of pokemon. However, Ambipom gets past multiple counters of Cinccino and has more than one small niche over it. It is definitely not outclassed and E rank worthy. Ambipom is at least as good as Cinccino is, and should be ranked accordingly to its actual viability rather than just dumped into the E rank because it's commonly misused.