PU Suspect Coverage: Machoke

By Megazard. Art by Bummer.
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Machoke by Bummer

Introduction

Machoke's rise to notoriety in PU can be tracked back from its humble beginnings to its slow rise to power, before it finally became the most dominant Pokemon in the metagame. Throughout XY and early ORAS, Machoke was simply outclassed by Throh, which had the advantage of being able to hold Leftovers and having a STAB move that didn't have 8 PP or cause defense drops for its RestTalk set in Storm Throw. However, when Throh was banned, Machoke finally managed to get some time in the spotlight. While Machoke made a fairly good replacement, it was not the dominant threat it is today at first. It was when Machoke's defensive set first rose to prominence that it turned the metagame upside down. With it, Machoke could wall over half the tier thanks to its bulk and could survive throughout longer games with Rest and Sleep Talk. However, the more notable side effect was enhancing its Dynamic Punch set. While previously confusion could be annoying but not devastating, since offensive Machoke could not stay around for too long before being KOed, defensive Machoke could keep firing off strong STAB attacks and confusing foes while simultaneously walling half the metagame. Ultimately it was the confusion factor that led to Machoke being suspected, where it came down to whether its presence as the best Dark-, Rock-, and Normal-type check to foes such as Pawniard and Golem was worth the uncompetitiveness of confusion.

Sets

Machoke

Although it remained in the tier for months without its defensive spread becoming terribly popular, it seems fairly obvious that Machoke would have a good defensive set in hindsight. Its bulk is simply incredible, being able to avoid the 2HKO from attacks such as Life Orb Regice's Ice Beam, Choice Specs Floatzel's Hydro Pump, and Golem's Earthquake. Machoke became a hard check for any attacker lacking a strong super effective attack, which not only gave it the positive trait of keeping attackers such as Pawniard and Rotom-F in check but also came with the problem of enabling it to easily confuse foes over and over. Dynamic Punch allows Machoke to break through defensive switch-ins such as Grumpig and Roselia as long as they end up hitting themselves. Even foes such as Clefairy, which Machoke can't outright KO on its own, don't appreciate confusion, as it allows Machoke to freely switch out and bring in a Pokemon that can deal with them while they hit themselves. And, of course, anything trying to switch into Machoke would have to deal with having its item knocked off. Confusion is not a 100% self-hit chance, of course, but the uncompetitiveness of being able to take on normally solid switch-ins such as Grumpig and confuse them to death is what made Machoke such a notorious Pokemon.

Machoke

Machoke's all-out attacking set, while good, did not play much of a role in the suspect discussion. It is simply a decent set, nothing more and nothing less. It has great coverage to hit switch-ins such as Grumpig and Swanna, a priority attack for slight extra utility, and an extremely strong STAB move to dent a large portion of the metagame. However, Guts Machoke has never had the same defensive utility as the No Guard variant thanks to due to Close Combat's defense drops leaving it easy to revenge kill, while Dynamic Punch is simply less problematic on all-out attacking Machoke because it's more easily crippled by status and worn down. While Machoke can function as a solid wallbreaker, this set contributed more to the anti-ban argument as an example of how Machoke can be a good Pokemon without being a broken one.

Results and Impact on the Metagame

Ultimately, the suspect test just came down to whether an otherwise balanced and healthy Pokemon that benefitted the metagame should be allowed to remain if it was also uncompetitive. Confusion was the only reason for Machoke's suspect, and many thought it would be unfair to damage the metagame to remove its best blanket check to potent threats like Golem and Floatzel purely based on one uncompetitive facet of the Pokemon. Confusion could win entire games on its own, but this was not always the case, and couldn't we put up with a little hax in order to keep the tier stable? Ultimately, though, nothing other than confusion was needed to justify the removal of Machoke, as it was banned by a whopping 88% majority. For now, nobody really knows what will happen to the metagame. Potential replacements such as Scraggy and Mienfoo don't come with the same excellent defensive utility, which might lead strong attackers Machoke held in check such as Golem and Rotom-F to become dominating in its absence. On the other hand, defensive powerhouses such as Audino, Munchlax, Avalugg, and Klang lost a very common check and could come in to dominate the metagame. Whatever happens, the next tier shift also has the potential to shake up the metagame even more. PU is going to change a lot in the next few months, as it has lost a powerful and restrictive metagame force.

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